Holiday, Celebrate

So this is about 2 months a little late but I'm going to update everyone on my Peruvian Christmas experience. Since I already wrote a bit about the holiday season about sharing my traditions and learning new ones, I'm just going to update you all a little bit on my actual Christmas Eve/Day celebrations and my vacation time with the other YAVs.

For most Peruvians the Christmas tradition to celebrate more Christmas Eve night and leave Christmas day as a day to sleep in and rest, that means no presents from Santa to wake up to. So the day of Christmas Eve I spent talking people back home on skype, hearing about and seeing via webcam all the crazy snow they were getting back home while I was sitting in a short sleeve shirt, a skirt, and my chacos. I think there was mutual jealously going on. I'm not a huge fan of the cold and snow, but I do miss it sometimes, epecially around Christmas when the hot weather was not helping me get in the "Christmas spirit."

That day I went to the mercado with my host mom and sister to buy stuff to make our dinner that night (more on that later). There were so many people out doing the traditional last minute Christmas shopping, except in this case I have a feeling the items being bought were more out of necessity because most of the shops would be closed for the next couple of days. That evening I went back out to the centro to run some more errands, mainly to get some cash for my upcoming travels, and when I rejoined my host dad and sister I saw that Pastor Abdon was just now buying his Christmas presents for the family. I hate to stereotype men, but all I can say is typical! We then grabbed a quick little bite to eat since our dinner wouldn't be served until about 10:30 that night, so we needed something to tide us over until then. That evening out in the centro, I was finally feeling the excited buzz of anticipation that comes with Christmas. Seeing everyone else out and about with family and friends, you could just see and feel the joy of that evening.

That night we had the traditional Peruvian Christmas dish of .... chinese food! Ok so it wasn't really a typical Peruvian dish, but the chinese fusion food here called Chifa is everywhere and really popular so it might as well be traditional food. So we had a delicious spread of Chicken and pinapple with rice and wantons. And of course to top things off Paneton and hot chocolate!

After we finished dinner it was close to midnight so we opened up our presents as per tradition here. The presents were simple and sweet, not the usual crazy spread as it is at my house, but it was nice to celebrate a little more simply. Then, right at midnight, we started hearing fireworks going off all around the neighborhood. So we went out to join them with our sparklers. Everywhere around me people were out in the streets celebrating the joyous arrival of our Savior! And in that moment of pure joy and excitement I forgot that I was thousands of miles away from home, in a foreign country, speaking (well trying to speak) a foreign tongue, and adjusting to foreign customs, I was celebrating with my fellow brothers and sisters and giving thanks to God for gifts of love and grace that was given on that night and every single moment since then.

Christmas day was quite the lazy affair. I parcipated in the great American tradition of watching A Christmas Story, except this year I watched it on my laptop instead of the the TV, and other than packing for my vacation, and skyping the family I didn't do anything! I was back to being a bit homesick and missing everyone, so needless to say I was so ready to get this vacation started!!

The next day I left on my bus to Lima to meet up with Sarah "Alta," Ginna, and Anna. We left the day after that with a friend of Joe's to spend some time in a beautiful city called Arequipa. There we met up with Joe and his girlfriend. Alissa, the remaining YAV, couldn't join us on this leg of the trip because she was traveling with her family. I don't have much to say about my vacation other than you should just look at the pictures, because they tell the stories so much better than I do.

I do have just a couple of short stories that I want to share from this vacation.

The first one involves traveling woes. No vacation would be complete with out a bit of complications involving transportation especially when we are talking about the Peruvian bussing system. As we learned some agencies (Cruz del Sur) are reliable and nice, others (*ahem* Ormeno) are not. We had planned on visiting a small coastal town called Paracas and seeing some rare wildlife, but our bus from Arequipa never arrived! After a few minutes of trying to figure out what to do we decided to go on a different bus that was going all the way to Lima. So we got like the last 4 seats on this bus, on the top floor, which if you don't know is where the smaller, less comfortable seats are. But we were finally on our way and settling in for a 15 hour bus ride. Well apparently our travel woes weren't over after that. While I was sleeping (I heard about all of this after the fact) our bus swerved to miss a semi-truck coming at us and ended up hitting the guard rail on the side of the road. I was told that we were stopped for quite a while and that most of the people where out of their seats looking out the window to see what was going on - and I slept through the whole thing! So my first and hopefully only Peruvian bus crash I slept through!

The second story I will end this blog with goes along with the theme of holidays and celebrating. We spent New Years Eve in Lima, and after a wonderful meal of sea food in Barranco (a very hip, kinda bohemian part of town) we headed back to our Hostel, Loki to bring in the New Year at the bar there. That night was about our 3rd night there so we had already made friends with some of the people who were staying there as well. We had met and made (at least temporarily) friends with people from Ireland, the U.S., Israel, Lima, Arequipa, England, and Denmark. At midnight we all toasted and gave hugs and cheek kisses and shouted and sang, celebrating a New Year, a new day to be alive. For me it was what I call a little "Kingdom moment," times when I experience what I think the Kingdom of Heaven will be like. And it might seem rediculous but I felt that in a bar in a hostel in Lima. Here we all were, a bunch of strangers really, from all different parts of the world, different religions, beliefs, cultures, etc., and yet for this one night we were all friends, together we were singularly celebrating an event that proclaims new beginnings and celebrates life!

So I end this blog hoping that you all experience a "Kingdom Moment" today in your life! More blogs to come, I'm really trying to play catch up here, so I hope that you enjoy them!!

In Her Shoes

I thought that I would change things up a bit and add a new voice to this blog by having my mom write an entry reflecting on her time in Peru and especially in Huanuco since she is the only one from my family who got to really experience what my life is like.

I had a really great time with my family while they were visiting Peru and I was so glad that I could share this country that I've fallen in love with with the people that I love.

And now without further adieu... My mother -

Hello to everyone who visits Sarah's blog. I'm Renee, Sarah's mom and Sarah has asked me to write about my experience in Peru. So now after a good bit of time to reflect on my time in Peru, I am finally getting some of my thoughts and feelings put together in this writing.

We(myself, Sarah's dad Larry, and sister Jill, as well as Jill's friend Melissa) arrived in Lima late the night of January 1st and began our journey in this unfamiliar country. From the time we left the arirport we were totally in Sarah's hands to communicate for us for all our needs including negotiating prices for taxis ordering our food, and of course shopping. It was a new experience to suddenly be almost completely dependent upon your child for everything. She took the responsibility firmly in her hands and was a very competent guide during our entire trip.

We as a family (plus an "adopted" daughter) had a wonderful trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. We moved from one amazing incredible place to another each with their own uniqueness. When in Cuzco area our guide Juan Carols had an extensive knowledge but more importantly an intense passion for the ruins near Cuzco. He spoke of the spiritual aspect of how the now ruins of Ollantaytambo and Saqsaywaman were built. The Incans truly had a great reverence and respect for the earth and what the Creator provided for them through this earth.

After a couple of days in the Cuzco area we moved on to Machu Picchu. As I walked through the ruins of Machu Picchu I had such a respect of how the Incans built on and among those mountains with such thorough planning and execution of those plans that the buildings looked as if they were a part of the mountains. While standing hte midst of this rightly titled Wonder of the World, the beloved hym How Great Thou Art, frequently flowed through my mind. "Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made"... Machu Picchu and the people who built and inhabited thouse mountains are certainly God's creation.

I could spend pages on the amazing and interesting sites in those aboce placdes but I think I want to spend more time writing on my time with Sarah in Huanuco. She and I said good-bye to the rest of the family as they returned to the U.S., then we took the 9 hour bus ride from Lima to Huanuco. Huanuco is a very unassuming community without the spoils of tourism, but a busy small city nonetheless. It also was surrounded by small mountains with lovely scenery in all directions. I now was going to see how Sarah is living. Upon arriving in the Camarena's home I was welcomed with the traditional kiss on the cheek and shown to Sarah's room where they had arranged a bed and space for me. With a true sense of hospitality they reconized our need to rest for the remainder of the morning and gave us time together much as tehy did most of my visit there. Any concerns I might have had regarding the people Sarah was living with were quickly eliminating in meeting this welcoming family.

After Sarah and I had rested and were rejuvenated we took off to see the town. As I walked down the streets and along the park, I could hardly recognize anything that seemed in any way familiar. The sites, sounds, and smells were very different from Jenks/Tulsa, Oklahoma. But Sarah moved through this environment with an ease and comfort, and if she was nervous she never showed it. She made me feel comfortable as she lead me though her new home community. We experienced The Market, the place where most all groceries and others items of necessity are purchased. This place certainly took an opening up of preconceived notions of marketing and overall sanitation expecations. There were no refrigerated cases holding the meats, no sealed bins holding bulk food items, and certainly no obvious rhyme or reason asto where items were located. We wove through this market that offered items from frest meats, vegetables and other food stuffs to clothing and even toys. We came across some booths offering the unusual items we saw was a type of fermented potato [Sarah's note: This is a traditional delicacy in this region called takosh. It smells horrible, I always have to hold my breath when while passing by it, but I've been told by people here that it tastes good. I haven't gotten up the courage or the stomach to try it yet.] Our response was "yuck" but it was an obviously popular food item for many in the area.

We returned home that evening to a wonderful meal of Aji de Gallina [Sarah's note: my favorite Peruvian dish!]. Aji de Gallina is a common meal consisting of yellow potatoes, some shredded chicken, with a spicy cheese sauce served over rice. It was very tasty and satisfying after a busy day. It felt pretty uncomfortable having to sit as an outsider as I cound not understand the dinner conversation. But I did love the meal blessing at the beginning of the meal as I understood, "Gracias Senor." In understanding only the thank you Lord part of the prayer, I could share in that thankfulness for so much.

The next day Sarah tooke to the Paz y Esperanza office and I met many of her co-workers was introduced to much of what the organization does. Each person had a quite unassuming approach to their part of the mission of the organization. Later that day we were able to go out to farm, la granja. The farm is a fully operating farm with milk, cattle, cuy (guinea pigs), chickens, and small gardens that produce many fruits and vegetables. We walked down to the area wher the new shelter was being built. The complex is to have housing for women and children, mostly adolescent girls, who need a temporary place to stay while their abusers face prosecution and Paz y Esperanza is working to find them a permanent placement. It was this trip that I got to experience "Peruvian time." We rode to the farm with the director of Paz y Esperanza with the expectation that we would be there 2-3 hours. About 8 hours later we were back in truck finally making our way back to Huanuco. While spending time more time at the farm than we expected kept us from doing some other things in Huanuco it gave Sarah and me some time to simply hang out and be together with specific expectations or plans. I enjoyed this quiet time together.

With that evening being our last one together we found a movie to watch on her computer and laughed during this odd event of watching a movie with Spanish subtitles and poor video quality. I will remember that evening as one fo the best moments we spent together.

The next morning we spent a short time in the city and Sarah took me to the bus station for me to return to Lima. I'm sure the sight of thse two Anglo women hugging and crying during our goodbyes was an interesting sight for the locals, but I think they understood. I left Sarah knowing she was well incorporated into her new family and work community. I know she feels she is still in the early stages of her ability to communicate and in many ways she is, but she has certainly grown and developed in that area since leaving the U.S.

I want to end my part of this blog with a note of admiration and respect for the passion all of these young adults serving the Presbyterian Church as YAVs. They are committed, enthusiastic, and bring pure motives in working to bring the love of Christ to their brothers and sisters in this far away country. I pray for each of them as they countinue their journey and wish them well as they grow in faith and compassion for the world beyond their own backyards.

I close now with the English.... Peace and Hope.

Love and blessings to you Sarah and all the YAVs in Peru, other countries, and in the U.S.