El final de mis aventuras en Peru

Exactly two years ago from today I started my adventures in Peru.  The time has just flown by. It feels like I got on that plane just a day or two ago. 

On my way to Peru!

I can still remember what I was wearing when I got on the plane, who I met when I arrived in Arequipa, being thankful that she spoke English, arriving at my host family's house(and then there's the adventure of starting school and experiencing the public transportation the morning after my arrival).  Besides all of the logistical stuff, I can remember having a peace that after all of my preparations over the past couple of years, I was at my final destination and was finally home (for the time being).  There were plenty of challenges and struggles in my six months of language school, but also many joys and sweet times with new friends from all over the world, getting to know Peruvian culture and just enjoying where God had put me for a time.  

It was hard for me to leave Arequipa for many reasons.  I had grown to love my Peruvian family and some dear friends, teachers at the language school, extra curricular activities, the city, and the people of Arequipa in general.  Arequipa will always have a special place in my heart, but I was also thankful to be moving to the next stage in my adventure and to seeing what God had next.

A favorite spot in Arequipa

graduation day!

When I made my move to Cusco, I cam remember thinking that it was VERY different than Arequipa. There really isn't that big of a contrast, but I had just left a bigger city that I had called home for six months to a less developed city in a somewhat poorer area.  As I adjusted Cusco, there were many things I came to love (some of the things that I still miss after moving back to the States).  I developed new relationships and friendships (with Peruvians and other extranjeros-foreigners), was involved in various ministries, grew a new love for the people of Cusco, and also fell in love with the kids at La Casa Josefina.

My time in Cusco also flew by.  God has taught me many things during my time there and I would imagine will continue to teach me things through those experiences.  As I reflect and process everything from my time in Cusco, I am thankful to be able to see God's hand in many things.  Even if some things turned out differently than I expected (good surprises and not so great surprises), I can say that I have been stretched and have grown in many ways.  God has definitely changed me through this experience. 

visiting some ruins with the parents

Coming back has not been as easy as I’d like it to be.  I’m not sure the Peruvian part of me will ever disappear.  It is nice to come back to many familiar things, but other things (and seasons of life for people) have changed.  I’ve enjoyed having many conveniences in the States, but on the flip side, the pace of life here is killing me.  At times, I feel like I’m in middle of two different worlds with no choice but to become a North American again. I can still keep some of my changed ways of living and new ways of looking at things, but finding a balance of how to merge my two worlds and figuring out what that looks like has been a challenge.

outskirts of Cusco

a very tame llama

It’s been wonderful to be living near family and friends, and my home church. I’m also thankful for the beautiful spring weather in Baltimore.  What a great time of year to come back to the States!
As I reflect on what God has done in my life over the past few years, I’m thankful for some of the times and frustrated with other times, but I know that God has been in control of everything that has happened and has good for me in all of it.

As my traveling days have come to an end, I want to thank you all for reading and for walking with me through many of my adventures in Peru.  I appreciate all the ways you have supported me. I am sad to see this adventure come to an end, but overall, I look back at my time in Peru thankful for the many gifts God has given me through my time there. 
I’m going to miss sharing all my silly stories on this blog, but who knows….maybe there’s other far away adventures to come.  Thanks again, it’s been fun!

An early birthday present. zip lining with a dear friend!!

Transitions for all...

I know it’s been a month or so since I’ve come back to the States, but I thought I’d give a little update on my cat drama.  Sam, my Peruvian cat traveled to the States like a champ (thank you all for praying for that potentially disastrous  trip).  After finally finding someone who would give me medication to sedate him, I was able to travel a little more at ease.  He didn’t make much noise at all for the 17 hour trip (except crying a little for the landing).  I was really impressed and relieved when it was all over.

His adjustment to living with another cat hasn’t gone so well.  He wants to play with the other cat, who is a good bit older and isn’t interested at all.  There has been lots of hissing and Sam always has lots of scratches on his face.  He doesn’t seem to want to give up on the idea that one day the other cat might want to play with him.

Hopefully in the  near future they will get along(or at least tolerate each other…)

The closest together I've ever seen them on peaceful terms(with the distraction of birdwatching)

Hard goodbyes

As my time in Cusco comes to a close, I have been able to see and spend time with dear friends have started having to say some sad goodbyes. Yesterday I went to visit and say goodbye to the kids at La Casa Josefina.  I was glad to see all the kids after being away for so long.  It was so sweet to get hugged and tackled by them and just enjoy being around them and playing with them. 

My time with the kids at La Casa Josefina has been one of my favorite things in Cusco and I will dearly miss spending time with all of them.  As I think about Jesus’ love for orphans, I am so thankful for the people involved in this ministry and how they love all the children.  As I have witnessed a few children come into the home, they are sometimes in shock and are a bit withdrawn.  Its been neat to watch as they gradually become more open and thrive on being loved by the people who care for them. 

I feel privileged to have had a glimpse of what God is doing through his people in this ministry and am thankful to have met all of the kids.  This was one place I will dearly miss after I go back to the States, but am encouraged by everyone who cares for and have a special love for the kids.  And, I’m thankful for the time I was given to love on each and every sweet kid, it’s been great!

some of the funnest and silliest kids I've ever known 

Change

Well, it’s been a wild ride these past three years, but change is coming.  In the next couple of weeks I will be transitioning out of life in Cusco and back into the States.

As I prepare to make this transition out of Cusco, I am happy to be around dear friends, others I have met in my time here, adventures I have gone on, the breath taking mountains around me, spring weather, great food, speaking in Spanish, sweet kids at La Casa Josefina, and so much more. I am sad to leave many things here in Cusco, but am thankful that God has made it clear to me that it’s time to come back to life in the States.  I am excited to be closer to family, friends and my home church, to renew precious relationships and be involved in my church in the States.

In a little under a week, I’ll be traveling back to the States into the dreadful cold, but on the upside, I’m looking forward to being around friends and family, for new beginnings, and...........to seeing what's next.

Paseo!!

This week seems to be flying by as Friday (the day I leave for Baltimore) is right around the corner.  Yesterday I got to spend some time with some of my favorite peeps here. It was so good to spend time with all the kiddos at the Josephine before I’m away for a while.  After the 40 min walk there, I can’t help but smile when I’m greeted by all the kids.

Yesterday we went on a little paseo (“field-trip”).  It was just down the road to a little store to get some Gatorade as a special treat for all the kids to share, but I was amazed at how excited the kids were about it and how much they enjoyed it.  It was fun to see them so interested in different things on the way, like trees they haven’t seen, flowers, and of course, the chanchos(pigs). I did end up carrying one of then kids on the way back, but it was well worth it.    

I’m glad to have had the chance to spend some time with all the kids(and 4 infants) before leaving Cusco for a bit.  It will be good to see them when I get back.

the long road back....

Snack time after the long walk

one of the newest additions to the JH, cute little Samuel at 3wks

nail polish is an amazing thing...

painting rocks with the boys!

sweet Adriano!

Rain!

I think rainy season has finally arrived. A couple of weeks I got a new raincoat in preparation for rainy season.  Sadly, I haven't worn it all that much, but have managed to get caught in the rain unprepared a few times.  Typically here, the day starts out beautiful and sunny with almost no clouds in the sky and then by 2-5ish anything goes as far as rain  is concerned.  It can last anywhere from 10 minutes of light to hours of heavy rain(sometimes hail) with flood like conditions.  I guess I still haven't learned my lesson yet, but it just feels silly to be wearing a heavy rain coat when I leave the house in the morning with the sun shining brightly.


The foto below is a shot from beautiful rain shower the other day.  It was one of the coolest rain storms I've ever seen.  My apartment is on the 4th floor, so I got a sweet view of it all.

Home for Christmas

I’ve never been a huge fan of decorating the tree and playing Christmas music right after Thanksgiving, but it seems like this year I don’t have much choice in the matter since I’ll be in Cusco only til the 16^th of this month.  I’m super excited to go to the States for Christmas, see family and friends ,but also a bit sad to miss all the Christmas fun here.  I guess you can’t have everything….  At least for now my house is all decorated, the tree is up, the Christmas is on, and I have plenty of Christmas cookies in my house.

I’m hoping for a white Christmas or at least snow at some point during my visit (and hopefully my body won’t go into shock from the cold). 

the tree is up!! hopefully the cat won't bring it down...

the makeshift tree topper

Christmas is coming!!

I’m so excited that the Christmas season has officially arrived for me.  Christmas in Cusco always seems a bit strange for me, mainly because it doesn’t feel like Christmas at all.  Since our weather is opposite the weather in the States (we’re in the middle of spring and coming up on summer, which the kids here are getting excited about) it doesn’t feel like the right time of year to be having Christmas.

This past week I was tasked with making a few dozen cookies for a Christmas cookie exchange. AAACK!!  I’m a huge fan of baking, but I’ve had a bit of bakers anxiety since moving to Cusco at an altitude of 11,000 feet.  Over the past year I’ve been able to get a handle on breads and cakes, but for some reason, cookies haven’t ever worked out for me.  But, I went ahead and attempted one of my favorite Christmas cookies.  To my surprise, they turned out great!  I was so excited, especially since some valuable imports from the States were used to make the cookies.

It’s a really good thing they turned out well since they ended up making more than 5 dozen.  Otherwise, I would have had a lot of cookies to get rid of…..  yay!! Christmas is coming!!

yay for peanut blossems!!

Raining

Well, it looks like rainy season has finally arrived.  The past couple of months, I've been enjoying some lovely sunsets from my apartment, so I just wanted to share with you all.
Enjoy!

and.......this was the first good rain for the start of rainy season, which has put an end to the beautiful sunsets

change up

This past week we had a huge team from all over the world to do a medical campaign in Cusco for a few days and then in outlying areas for another couple of days,.  It has been a bit of a change from normal daily life here.

Pretty much every day was super busy with lots and lots of patients.  I helped out with triage most of the days. One of the days I was curious about how long patients were waiting to be seen, so I asked one of the patients how long they had been waiting and she told me that she had arrived at 530 a.m. and she ended up coming through triage at 10 a.m. as the 30^th patient in line. Yikes!  We were able to see lots of patients, but it just wasn’t possible to see everyone.

It’s been a long couple of days for my brain.  I’ve forgotten how much of a challenge it can be to continually switch between Spanish and English all day long as I was talking with the patients when they came and was then writing it all down in English since most of the doctors were from the States.  I had to laugh at myself when I wrote uterectomy on a patient’s history and couldn’t figure out why it just didn’t look right.  Glad I came up with hysterectomy a minute later.  But…….I did survive.

It was a bit of a crazy week, but I’m glad I could be involved in the fun.

one of the little villages where we had clinic for a day

patients waiting.....

triage

one of the many cute kids we saw at the mobile clinic

Explosion!!

There seems to have been an explosion of activity at the Josephine house over the past few weeks. In the past 6 months or so, there have been quite a few kids who have been adopted or have gone back home to their parents, which is great, but has left us empty at the Josephine House.  A number of people have been praying for more kids to come and a few weeks ago, God opened that door wide open....

Luke…….

A few weeks ago, one of the ladies who works at the JH was walking along the street, taking her normal route to her destination. She always walks on one particular side of that street, but on this particular day, there were a bunch of dogs who seemed a bit crazy, so she decided to walk on the other side.  As she was walking down the street, she heard crying.  As she looked around, she found a baby, wrapped in a blanket and a diaper bag next to him.  Shortly after, the process to get Luke into the JH was started.  Luke was just three days old when he was found.  He is a beautiful, healthy, content baby, is growing like crazy and enjoying his sleep.

Little Luke, just a couple of weeks old

Marleni came to the JH just days old as well.  Her mom brought her because she has a cleft palate that will require numerous surgeries.  Mom would like to take her back after the surgeries are completed, but for now, she can’t care for Marlene.  As with most babies with cleft palates, feeding and getting an adequate intake of calories can be a challenge, but the mamás at the JH are working diligently with this little one to help her get enough calories so she can grow and develop well.  Other than difficulties with feeding, she’s a happy baby.

The "battle" with Marlene to get her to eat.  I lost and ended up handing her over to one of the mamás to work their magic with feeding her.

Carlitos……

This little one came one day after Marlene’s arrival.  I would imagine life has been difficult for him from day one.  This little one was brought to the JH by his mother who is an alcoholic and willingly gave him up. According to his mother, he is five months old, but he’s about the same size as the other two new babies.  After taking him to La Fuente the pediatrician said, it looks like Carlitos is probably closer to 3 months old, but he is still severely under weight.  Eating has been a challenge and sleeping as well, but he is in good hands. Since some of the feeding issues have improved, he’s a calm little baby at times.

Marlene and Carlitos

Marlene(3 weeks), Carlitos(3 months), and Luke(3 weeks)

One more…Adrean

Last Friday, I found myself at the Josephine house playing with the kids and holding one of the babies.  All of a sudden, one of the mamas came in with a naked kid(wrapped with a  towel).  They went straight to the bathroom, immediately started applying lice shampoo into the kids head and then proceeded to wash him from head to toe(he wasn’t happy about all of it, but he was good and clean…).  Adrean is about a year and a half.  He was found sitting next to his mom who was passed out from alcohol intoxication.  He’s a VERY active child who just jumped right on in playing with the other kids. Photos on this little one to come soon!

So...as you can see, the Josephine House is plenty busy these days with all kinds of fun and activity for now.  Stay tuned for more soon!!

The lion sleeps tonight....

One thing I've wanted to do before leaving Peru is visit the Amazon.  During my parents visit, I had the opportunity to visit Puerto Maldonado, a southern portion of the Amazon in Peru.  It was just beautiful.  Besides getting to enjoy a few days of summer (temps from 70’s-90’s and 70-100% humidity), it was just so cool to visit the jungle.  The few days I was able to spend there were just so much fun, even though the days started pretty early(one day we left for a hike a 0500). 

The lodge where we stayed was pretty simple.  It didn’t have electricity, so we used candles at night. Also, there wasn’t hot water, but it didn’t really matter since it was so stinkin hot outside.  During rainy season, mosquitoes and malaria are a big issue, so we had mosquito nets around the beds to protect from the mosquitoes at night.

One of my favorite adventures was the night walks in the jungle.  Our guide saw and was able to point out some pretty cool animals “hidden” in the jungle.  There were plenty of spiders and bugs to be seen, but thankfully no snakes.  I was really hoping to see a puma, but sadly they were shy and or hidden too well for us to see them.

One night we ended up going out in a boat looking for Caymans (an animal in the crocodile family). We got to see a few and some bats as well.  Another morning we went out at 6 to go bird watching and saw plenty of macaws at a feeding sight where they licked minerals off rocks. It was pretty cool! 

Overall, the whole thing was a blast and a sweet time away to enjoy other regions of Peru.

La Selva

la selva

a truly wild monkey

sunrise on the river

caymen

banana boat

a wild "pet" at the lodge

cool beetle on night hike

time to eat!!

my bed

cute little spider we saw on a night hike

cool frog