Cause to Celebrate

 This month we celebrated two major holidays here in Peru: Labor Day and Mother’s Day. Labor Day was on May 1^st and meant a day off work. For a long time my coworkers, Daniela and Karín, and I had been talking about visiting EcoTruly Park just north of Lima, so we finally made up our minds to go. I was under the impression this place was an ecological farm where people lived off what they could grow on the land. It was that, but it was also a religious center for the Hare Krishna religion that Daniela is a part of. There was really beautiful architecture – tall adobe cone-shaped buildings – and most of the buildings formed part of the central temple. It was quite a surprise and an interesting experience to see first-hand the deities and idols that they worship and to learn more about their beliefs. I have many more thoughts on this topic if you want to talk more.

Mother’s Day I celebrated with my host mom and all of her sisters. We spent the afternoon together and shared a big lunch. But exactly one week later, I got to see my real mom in person! My family came to visit me for 10 days, and we had all sorts of adventures on Lake Titicaca, at Machu Picchu, and here in Lima. We had a dinner with (almost) all my YAV people and lunch with my host family. It was wonderful for them to be able to see my context and meet the people that have become so close over this past year. It was sad to see them go, but it’s crazy to think that it really won’t be much longer before I am back in the U.S. and will get to see them again.

Dad and I trying cuy (guinea pig) for the first time!

The floating reed island of the Uros people that we visited. 6 families - 21 people - live there.

The women on the island dressed as they dress every day. Look at that ancient musket that they actually use to hunt birds in the reeds!

We got to take a short ride on their reed boat.

On the island Amantaní where we stayed the night with a local family.

The sunset from the highest point on Amantaní.

On the island Taquile where they are famous for their textiles. The women weave and the men knit.

Dad and I got roped into doing a dance with them. I'm a little lost.

After our tour of Lake Titicaca we had some time to kill in Puno. We camped out at Black Coffee and played some cards for the afternoon.

(Almost) to the top of Huayna Picchu. The very top was super crowded.

A gorgeous sunny day at Machu Picchu!

Although not a holiday, this month we also “celebrated” our third YAV retreat. We went to a retreat center run by the cutest little nuns just outside of Lima in a town called Chaclacayo. Besides the nuns, we had the place to ourselves. It was a beautiful oasis of green grass and vegetation in the middle of a desert. The theme of this retreat was finishing well. We spent some time looking back on the year and reflecting on both big social justice type issues and interpersonal issues that we don’t want to cast aside without fully addressing. It was a great exercise that motivated me to continue investing in relationships and my work here even as the year is drawing to a close.

Spencer, Blake, Mary Kate, Abby, and Emma

Right before the retreat, this quote was posted by a friend on Facebook and the phrase “redemptive memory” kept coming to mind as I spent time reflecting:

“How can we engage the present moment in a redemptive way? How can we remember the past in a way that frees us to live – truly live – right now? It starts with redemptive memory, which enables us to remember the past differently – not as an ideal to which we would like to return or as a regret we would like to reverse, but as one chapter in a larger redemptive story we continue to live out in the present moment. God is in the past, however ideal or horrible; he rules over the past and promises to use the past, as it is, to work redemption. He makes all things serve his plan and fulfill is redemptive purpose. There is no Golden Age to which we must return, no hellish experience that consigns us to a lesser life. There is only God writing his story, a story of redemption.” Jerry Sittser, A Grace Revealed