MINI UPDATES (to make up for my long blogging absence)
CHRISTMAS DAY
Although everyone says that
Christmas Day is the 25th, I almost don’t believe them. The
celebration starts on the evening of the 24th and carries into the
early morning hours of the 25th. Many families goes to mass in the
evening, bringing their baby Jesus from their nativity scene. Baby Jesus has
been covered in the nativity because he really shouldn’t be in the scene yet,
but for the mass he lies uncovered on a table with dozens of other baby Jesus’s
and waits for the priest to come bless him after the mass. He then disappears under
a cover again until midnight. I think my family really sought to understand the
last hours of Advent because after mass ended at 8:00pm – ¡¡8:00pm!! – we sat
bored out of minds in various places around the house and waited until
midnight. I figured the TV in the living room didn’t have cable because no one
turned it on. I came to find out at about 11:30pm that they did indeed have
cable, but like I said, I think they were just subconsciously seeking to
understand the waiting period of Advent. At midnight we all wished each other a
Feliz Navidad with kisses on the cheek and then ran famished to the dinner
table. It was finally dinner time. I ate about four different kinds of pureé
(mashed potato, mashed sweet potato, apple pureé, and pineapple pureé), a
seaweed salad (or something that looks like it), and turkey. We toasted with
about an eighth of a glass of sweet wine. Dessert was my beloved (not!) panetón
with hot chocolate. Then came presents and chatting. But by 3 or 4:00am on
Christmas Day the celebration was over and everyone was sleepily rubbing their
eyes and starting to wonder whether they’re going to try to find a taxi to get
home or just sleep on the living room floor under a blanket. My theory: I think
those wee hours of the morning still belong to the day before.
I met my host mom’s sisters for the
first time at our Christmas celebration, and all jokes aside, it was a
difficult experience to finally meet her sister who had a severe stroke a year
ago. She can’t walk, has difficulty moving her arms and hands, and only
recently has been able to form a few garbled words. The hardest part is that
she is very much there mentally. There has been some damage, but she
understands everything going on around her. She is extremely frustrated with
her physical limitations and verging on depression. She broke down in tears
twice while I was there out of embarrassment and shame I think. It is beautiful,
however, to see the way that the sisters have come together and sacrificed so
much to take care of her. It has cost a lot emotionally for them though. Prayer
would be very much appreciated.
CUZCO & MACCHU PICHU
Because of the fact that Christmas
Day has shifted to the 24th of December here in Peru, Blake and I
were able to head to Cuzco on the 25th. I got a few hours of sleep
before I had to get back to my house to shower and pack really fast before
heading to the airport for a 1:00pm flight. The 10 days I got to spend in Cuzco
were just what I needed. It was absolutely wonderful to get to spend quality
time with my YAV friends and meet some new friends as well. We spent a lot of
time relaxing around Cuzco and trying out the different worldwide cuisines that
I’ve missed even while enjoying my host mom’s cooking. My favorite was some
deliciously spicy falafels. It was the rainy season, so it was relatively
chilly and poured down rain most afternoons and some mornings as well. We spent
a lot of time shopping for sweaters for Blake and long sleeve t-shirts for
Spencer and hiking to the top of all the hills for me. The highlight of the
trip, though, was the Salkantay trek that we did. We spent three days hiking up
and over a 4,600-meter pass and then the fourth day enjoying Macchu Pichu
through the fog. There were so many great moments but hopping from rock to rock
to avoid probably a mile of thick mud, crossing a river on a little cart
connected to a cable, having great conversations when there was room to walk
two-by-two, and making it to the top of Macchu Pichu mountain stand out.
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| Panorama of Cuzco. |
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| Trying out the cuisine. |
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| The whole group. |
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| Picture with the llama! |
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| Crosses at the top of the hill. |
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| That's Salkantay Mountain in the background. |
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| We made it the pass - 4,600 meters! (Our guide Abel is on the far left.) |
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| Lunch site Day 2 of trek. |
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| Crossing the river. |
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| There were stairs like this all the way up Macchu Pichu Mountain. |
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| Top of the mountain. It was too foggy to see the ruins except for a short 30 second glimpse! |
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| It cleared up a bit in the afternoon. So impressive. |
BIRTHDAY
Birthdays here are such a big deal!
I was ready to pass the day with a few “Happy Birthdays” and maybe a special
lunch, but it turned out that the festivities stretched for about a week and a
half. People kept expecting me to have big plans and worried about me when I
said that I was okay with just having a chill day. Here’s a glimpse of the
activities… Friday before: Lunch out with my coworkers followed by singing
(first Happy Bear-thday in English, then two or three Spanish versions) and
apple pie and ice cream. Jan.12: Brought gifts by my host mom and brother at
8:00am. Delicious shrimp pasta lunch with host family and Jed and Jenny. The
movie Frozen with my host mom. Over
the next week: Birthday donuts with Emma. Delicious nut pasta with host family
and Emma. Two homemade and beautifully decorated birthday cakes from Aunt
Fabio. Cake (1of 2) and singing at Ada’s sister’s house. Birthday cake (2 of 2)
shared with the office. Receive gift of German pretzels and coffee. Birthday
cards in the mail.
Thank you everyone for making me
feel so extremely loved and taken care of!
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| The fam. (My host mom is on the far left.) |
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| Blowing out the candle. |
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| Cake 1 of 2. |
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| Cake 2 of 2. |
UPDATE ON WORK
Since the end of the year I have not been working for CENCA
anymore. With my YAV coordinator, Jenny, I decided for many reasons that it would
be better to focus my time and efforts on my Fair Trade job. So since getting
back from Cuzco I work full-time with Bridge of Hope.
The decision was a good one. My time has been well occupied
over this last month with Bridge of Hope. Over the past couple of years there
has been a lot of changes in leadership and because of that, there has not been
good follow-up as far as updates go. We get emails all the time wondering if
our organization still exists because the website hasn’t been updated at all since
2010. Because of that, we are working on getting up a whole new website in both
English and Spanish. I am more or less the point person on that project. I
visited all 8 artisan groups in Lima to work with them a little on design of a
new “product line” for 2014 and to get new pictures and information to update
their profiles on the website. I have been rewriting and translating the group
profiles and meticulously posting and adding titles, captions, etc. for all of the products that we sell –
that’s a lot of products! That project should be done pretty soon. I will post
the link on my next (hopefully!) blog so you can check out all my hard work ;)
The one thing the artisans always ask of us is to find them new clients so they
can get more orders. Many of them depend on this work to provide for their
families, so when there is a slow year, like this last one, they struggle to
get by. We hope that with this new website we can attract some new customers.
Once the website is up you will get to see some of my
pictures, but if you’re interested in getting a sneak preview of the group
profiles, check out my drafts in the Google Doc.
COMING UP
Next week a group from the Hudson River Presbytery in New York,
which supports Jed & Jenny’s ministry, is coming down to visit Peru and see
first hand the work that the Joining Hands Network is doing. Jed is leading the
visit, but I will be accompanying them the whole trip to help with translating
and a few logistical things. We will be doing things like visiting a few of the
members of the Joining Hand Networks, visiting an artisan group, traveling to
La Oroya and Huancayo, and seeing a few sights around Lima. That’s from
February 13th – 22nd.
On the same day that I’m finishing up with this visit, the
22nd, we are taking off for our second YAV retreat. (I can’t believe
it’s here already!) We have a 16-hour bus ride to get to the far north of Peru
to Mancora. We are staying in a house on the beach. I am so ready to spend some
time soaking up some glorious rays with my lovely YAVs! We have to jet up to
Ecuador to renew our visas, but other than that we are just relaxing on the
beach and spending a lot of time in worship and reflection. We arrive back in
Lima on March 1st.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“Christianity is not first and foremost a concept. It is, above
all, a fact.” – Gustavo Gutierrez, Theology
of Liberation
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come
alive, and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come
alive.” – Howard Thurman, theologian
