Week Seven--ciao, Perú

As I write this final blog post, I'm sitting at my desk here in good ol' Texas. What an amazing month and a half it's been in Peru! Natali and I spent our last couple of days in Curahuasi going out to a chicken restaurant with the other interns (because the trustworthy restaurant that serves Guinea pig was closed--darn!), celebrating Natali's birthday on the 17th, and doing Kids Clubs. Also, we joined the Diospi Suyana dental clinic for a campaign in a nearby orphanage, where we got to develop x-rays by using a "dark box" and soaking the plates in three different solutions for varying amounts of time. On the morning of the 19th, we said goodbye to the precious Caire family and began our few days of tourism before leaving the country. We toured several sites in the Sacred Valley, including Moray, the Salineras, and the ruins of Ollantaytambo, all of which were fascinating and impressive. Since sweet Natali got sick the night before our Machu Picchu tour, she didn't get to see much of it, but I climbed Machu Picchu mountain and joined the tour group afterwards. The ruins are just as fabulous as they are reputed to be, and getting to explore them with a Spanish-speaking tour guide was really special. Natali and I spent much of Tuesday and Wednesday simply relaxing and gift shopping in Cusco, and our flights on Wednesday/Thursday went smoothly. Somehow, the Peruvian guy that I sat by on the flight to Lima ended up asking for my number, which I'm still fairly bewildered about. (I don't think our phone numbers are even compatible.) Arriving in Texas was surreal and exciting, and my heart just about burst with joy when I saw my family. The internship completely surpassed all expectations that I had; I have learned so much and gained countless new perspectives on life. Working alongside such a faithful missionary family taught me that God always provides, although perhaps not in the ways that we might want or expect. Seeing the suffering of people living in poverty showed me that Jesus is truly all that matters in this life. Hearing so many incredible testimonies reminded me that prayer is so powerful, and that it is the most important work of believers. I am convinced that the Lord used my time in Peru as another step on my journey of sanctification--and I can't wait for the lifetime of walking with Him on that journey that awaits.

Rocking the Quechua hats

Machu Picchu

After 1.5 hours of steep steps...

The one and only Caire family (and Natali and me)

Week Five

Time has flown, and we're already in our last week in Peru. Last Friday, Will took the kids camping, so Allison, Natali, and I had a fun girls' night. Then on Saturday morning, the three of us joined five other missionary women in Curahuasi for their annual weekend getaway to Cusco. Once again, we had a blast shopping and eating good food. Most of all, it was wonderful to spend some extended time with such a wonderful, Christ-centered woman as Allison. The three of us even bonded to the point of buying ridiculous backpacker pants together! On Monday, Natali and I spent the day with the other interns gathering and loading/unloading large rocks for the foundation of the children's home that is under construction, and that was definitely a bonding experience as well. We spent yesterday working at the hospital, and in the evening, we got to hear an incredible testimony from Lyndal, the Australian woman who is heading up the children's home project. The Lord is doing an amazing work through the organization ALMA; there are so many orphaned and abused children in this community. This morning, I climbed the Mirador one last time. It was an unusual morning, cloudy and sprinkling, and when I reached the top, I was literally in a cloud. In that moment, it seemed as though the cloud surrounding the mountain was the tangible presence of God. Standing there in the mist, I felt like he was saying, "You may not always be able to see what is ahead of you, but as long as you abide in my presence, I will guide you in my perfect paths. When you trust me through the uncertainty, I go before you and behind you and all around you, protecting you with my love." I'm so thankful to serve a God whose power is made perfect in weakness!

A lovely Friday morning walk

Will explaining a CT scan

Crosses at the top of the cloudy Mirador

Crazy backpackers (Allison, Natali, and me)

Week Four

It's been another week of adventures here in the anise capital of the world. We've gotten to do several kids' clubs in nearby farming villages, which has been really sweet. This past Saturday, Natali and I joined all six of the Caires and two Germans on an all-day horseback ride, starting at 6AM. It truly was an adventure: 3.5 hours each way, steep rocky trails with an abundance of thorny trees, some of us (myself included) riding horses without stirrups. Our destination was a beautiful, remote lake at the top of the mountain. Despite our many layers of clothing, no one was prepared for the lake's frigid winds, and we all found it a bit harder to fully appreciate our surroundings due to the utter numbness of our extremities. After about half an hour of eating and shivering, we decided to head back down--to the great surprise of our Quechua guides, who were undoubtedly expecting to spend several hours leading us in a mountain exploration. I think they were even more confounded when over half of us opted to walk the majority of the way down the mountain in order to avoid even more saddle sores. (I can just hear them telling their village about us that night: "You should have seen this wimpy group of gringos we had to haul around today…. Unbelievable!") We all had to sit rather gingerly for the next day or two, but overall, it was such a fun and unique experience. That night, we had a little 4th of July party for the few Americans here, complete with a backyard campfire and Peter's homemade rockets. On Sunday afternoon, two of the other U.S. interns came with Natali and me on a hike up to Capitan Rumi, which is close to the Mirador. We also had fun with them last night having an intense ping-pong and foosball tournament. Yesterday morning, Natali and I went to the hospital with Allison at 5:30AM to help with her weekly bread-baking, and since the bread-forming machine was out of commission, we formed 750 rolls by hand--but great conversation with good friends made the time pass quickly. A few days ago, I got to shadow Will, and one of his patients was an 8-year-old boy with severe developmental delays. He was pretty much uncontrollable throughout the consultation, running around the room and screaming. His family was explaining that they don't have the financial means to put him into any kind of quality therapy program, which he desperately needs. That little 10-minute window into their lives kind of rocked my world, and the Lord has really continued to put him and his family on my heart. Raising a disabled child in a first-world country is hard enough; I couldn't imagine raising that boy in such seemingly insurmountable circumstances. Still, I can rest in the fact that that boy is God's child. Please join me in praying that the Lord would work a miracle in this boy's life, and in the lives of so many suffering people in this region.

Our horseback riding destination

Capitan Rumi

Me, Natali, Alexa, and Phillip at the Mirador

Working at the hospital

Week Three

The Lord continues to teach me and stretch me in new ways here in Curahuasi. This past week, we've kept busy with Kids' Clubs, Bible studies, and working at the hospital--I even got to assist Will with an ingrown toenail extraction! (I've excluded the photos for our more queasy readers.) Last Tuesday, Natali and I joined the other two college-age female interns from Texas in painting a bathroom for the new orphanage that is under construction, and it was great to share life stories with them. We've been particularly busy since Friday evening, when we left for a dental campaign in the Quechua village of Atancama. On Friday night, we spent the night in Abancay, which is where the dentist (Erin) and her family live. We left for Atancama at 6AM Saturday morning, and just like last weekend's medical campaign, we set up a makeshift dental clinic in a cluttered schoolhouse. Before beginning, a Quechua family served us a breakfast of boiled potatoes, dried corn, and a sweet, hot drink made from lima beans and milk. Over the course of the day, we saw 22 patients. Some came for a cleaning, others for a filling, and still others for an extraction (or two, or six). My main job was filling out paperwork for each patient and collecting the fee of 3 soles, but I also got to help sterilize the instruments--and, yes, I did get to extract a tooth. (Once again, I will spare you the photos.) The same Quechua family served us a lunch of stewed yucca and rice, along with puffed corn and tea. I enjoyed the day so much, especially being able to interact with the Quechua people and receive their genuine gratitude. We arrived in Curahuasi late Saturday night, and at mid-morning on Sunday, Natali and I made our little one-night getaway to Cusco. Cusco is such a neat place, having once been the capital of the Incan Empire. Needless to say, we had an absolute blast just exploring the city. We toured the temple of the sun god, went to an ancient ruin called Saqsaywaman (or "Sexy Woman" for us English-speakers), bought the obligatory tourist stuff (like backpacks, sweaters, and unbelievably fuzzy llama dolls), and ate some GREAT food. At first, we thought Cusco must be a really gay-friendly city because of the abundance of rainbow flags, but as it turns out, those are the flags of Cusco. I'm so glad to have such a sweet friend as Natali for my intern partner, and I can't wait for the many experiences that await us! Throughout everything that we have seen, God has been working on my heart to love the "unlovables" and "untouchables," and to put myself aside for the sake of his kingdom.

Dental campaign

At Saqsaywaman 

Just trying things on

Cusco Catedral

Medical Campaigning and Potatoes for Lunch

Haley and I got our first Peruvian sunburn this last weekend! Curahuasi weather is amazing. It is usually around 60 to 80 degrees outside and the sky is clear. It is wintertime now and drought season so there hasnt really been much rain (we got a light drizzle one day). Anyway, all this to say that I was not expecting to get a sunburn at all since the weather is so pleasant. However, since Curahuasi is set so high up in the mountains, the sun is very intense.
Where did we get our sunburns? I can answer that: We got them while in a little town further up in the mountains than Curahuasi, on a Medical Campaign with Diospi Suyana Hospital. The town was a two hour drive from Curahuasi, mainly because of all the twists and bumps along the way. The name of the town was Ccocha (pronounced "Jocha"). Ccocha really does not look much like a town at all and I would have said it definitely was not a town except for the solitary cluster of school houses located by a lake. This is where we set up for the campaign. We left Curahuasi at around 6:00 am and once there began pushing tables together and covering them with blankets and sheets to make makeshift beds. In one school house was the clinic, and in the other was the pharmacy. Outside, was admissions. It turned out to be a pretty relaxed day, especially for us volunteers. Not enough publicity was done and where, last time there had been a line all the way down the hill by 8:00 am, our first patient did not show up until 9:00 am. Most of the patients were Quechua and they had the traditional Quechua dresses and hats on. I helped out a bit in the pharmacy (under Claudia, the pharmacist) mainly putting medicine in bags for the patients and pulling different medicine out. Most patients only spoke Quechua so there was much translating needed.
Come about 1:00 pm one of the guys who had opened the schoolhouse for us came up saying lunch was served. We all gathered around two red chairs with bowls filled with potatoes and cheese and lunch was served. Someone produced a guitar at some point and began singing different songs in Quechua, Spanish, and English.

 By the end of the day, there were about 55 patients who showed up in all. Everyone had mixed feelings about how few patients had been able to come because, while on the one hand it would have been good to see as many people as possible (especially since we traveled 2 hours there and were going to travel 2 hours back to Curahuasi), it was kind of nice to sit back and enjoy the beautiful weather and view while we waited on people to show up.

Week Two

Another week has gone by here in Curahuasi, and all is well. It was "Project Week" at the Diospi Suyana school, meaning that each teacher picks a special topic to teach all week to 15 students of mixed grades. Allison taught her project class about New York City, and Natali and I were at the school from 7:30 to 1:00 every weekday to help Allison. Throughout the week, we constructed Lego skyscrapers, watched clips of Elf and Enchanted (in Spanish, of course), sewed and decorated blue felt hats, and even walked to Natali's and my house to make typical NYC delicatessen food: sandwiches, bagels, and pickles. On Friday night, all the parents came to the school to see the class project presentations. Afterwards, there was a ceremony in the gym to honor the school's first anniversary, complete with dramatic poetry readings, a gymnastics routine, and a play based on Max Lucado's book "You Are Special." The next morning, Will drove Natali and me to the hospital at 5:30 AM where we met up with other volunteers, and we drove for two hours over perilous and ridiculously bumpy mountain roads to an extremely remote Quechua village, where we set up a clinic and a pharmacy for the day. Although not too many patients showed up, we had a great time singing together, eating boiled potatoes, and enjoying the gorgeous scenery. Yesterday morning, the Diospi Suyana school put together a street spectacle, including several acts from Friday night's ceremony and, most importantly, a parade and marching band. In the afternoon, Natali and I bought some sweet Quechua hats at the market and headed up to the Mirador, which is a trail leading to the peak of a mountain from which you can look down on all of Curahuasi. It was absolutely stunning. During this internship, I have been continually reminded of how insignificant I am compared with the Almighty God, and how He deserves absolutely everything that I have to offer. He has already given everything for me; how could I not do the same for Him?



A pig's head at the market


The idyllic view at the medical campaign this weekend

 
Diospi Suyana students marching in the parade


Looking down at Curahuasi from the Mirador

Week One

Almost exactly a week ago, Natali and I arrived here in the pueblo of Curahuasi, Peru. In some ways, it's a completely different world: learning to coexist with bugs, taking cold showers, perpetually hiking to get to any destination, and, most of all, constantly having my Spanish skills put to the test. Still, I cannot overstate how overwhelmed with joy I am already. The Caires, our host family, absolutely could not be more precious. This past Friday, I had the opportunity to shadow Will in the hospital all day, and watching him interact with his patients was truly inspiring. I am convinced that Allison is WonderWoman, constantly cooking meals, planning for school, and loving on her children. Speaking of the kids, each of them is such a delight. Natali and I stayed home with them this past weekend while Will and Allison made a weekend getaway to Cusco, and we had an absolute blast going on bike rides, swimming, and watching movies. The weather here is glorious, to say nothing of the breathtaking scenery all around. Despite the widespread poverty and times of civil unrest, it is so clear that Jesus is working here! Going to church yesterday was such a beautiful experience--worshipping in Spanish with Peruvians, Germans, Americans, and many other representatives of God's family. Although I miss home sometimes, the Lord is showing me new ways of looking at the world and at my relationship with Him. I could not be more grateful.