Peru -- Food

Trip leaders took all possible precautions with regard to food safety. Every meal was eaten at the hotel or in a restaurant.


The only exception was a group of women from the church in Arequipa who fed them one night. The kids were very much encouraged at every meal to eat everything on their plates, so as not to offend.

And, yes, to answer the biggest question, Holly tried cuy. (Google this, if you must!) Wisely, she didn't choose it for her meal, preferring instead to taste from another's plate. But she liked it!

Fried guinea pig on a plate

Breakfasts were typically eaten at the hotel dining room, including ham and eggs (she passed), bread, and her new favorite fruit, granadilla. The fleshy seeds are scooped out and eaten with a spoon.


No drinking water! She knew her favorite would be Inca Kola, which she'd already sampled at home.


They ate one meal at a mall food court. A couple of people were quick to say that Peruvian Burger King is nothing like what we are used to.


She sampled cheese ice cream and loved it.


They ate a lot of chicken. And french fries.



One restaurant in particular had a stunning view of the ever-present El Misti.


At a buffet, some of the kids tried fried blood. Holly had it on her plate, but before she could eat it, the translators came through and told them not to. She's still disappointed she didn't taste it earlier!

She brought chocolate home for us to share. (It lasted about 3 minutes, as you can imagine.) She's encouraging me to begin cooking Peruvian style food, and I may just take her up on it. Chicken, though; no rodents.

Peru -- Travel

Holly took loads of photos. I've been challenged on how to record them; it's her experience, and I'm just a casual observer through what she's shared. I'm sure I'll leave out important parts.

The group of 12 from our church drove up to DC a day before flying out. There was a disproportionate number of females; they were given the Presidential Suite, albeit a tight fit. They had pizza for dinner, and a local Calvary Chapel pastor from Reston visited and spoke to the group.



They met up with the rest of the groups at the airport before their morning flight.


They flew from Dulles, changed planes in Panama City, and spent the night in Lima at the dorms at Calvary Chapel Bible College. This is where they met up with their group of eleven translators, Bible college students who traveled with them through the remainder of their trip.


In one of those small-world-church things, Robert and I met this Bible college pastor a few years ago when he taught one evening at our Roanoke church.

The group flew the last, and thankfully shorter, leg of their trip the following afternoon to Arequipa.

First view of Arequipa

They checked into Hostal Santa Marta, where they stayed for the rest of their trip.



(No, they did not sleep on the roof!)


The rooms slept anywhere from three to a lot (!) of people, each room with a private bath. Holly's room had three girls total.


They mostly traveled around the city in these tiny little taxis. Since their team consisted of 41 people, they'd smash 3-4 people in each taxi and take a string of them.

Arequipa, at the base of El Misti volcano, is the second largest city in Peru. El Misti provides a dramatic backdrop from everywhere in the city.


They spent seven days in Arequipa before flying back to Lima.


Part of their flight was along the coastline.


Lima from above.

They landed in Lima in the afternoon, returning to the Bible College.



They spent their last day playing tourists at the famous Iglesia de San Francisco, known for its architecture and catacombs (no cameras allowed). They also drove along the coast, shopped in the city, and visited city's beautiful Rainbow Fountains at night.


Spending their last night in Lima,

they headed toward home,

stopping in Panama City, and heading back to Dulles.


Landing around midnight, they cleared customs, broke up into smaller groups, with our group heading back to Lynchburg. We met up with Holly at 5 a.m. As expected, she had an amazing time, more pics and stories to follow.

Overheard at my house

Holly: Do you know what is amazing?

Mom: No.

Holly: Ice.

* * *

Trevor: Is it made from alpaca?

Holly: No, it's made from wool.

* * *

Holly to Mom: The only time I missed you was when I threw up.

* * *

Holly, whining: I'm full, I don't waaant my corn.

Trevor: Oh, just eat it. You ate HAMSTER.

Holly: That was guinea pig.

* * *

Yes, life is almost back to normal around here. It's good.

Peru chatter

I'm hearing most of this second hand. The team flew back to Lima yesterday. They had a "free" day today and planned to visit the Catacombs, then shopping, to the cliffs overlooking the Pacific, and then the Rainbow Fountains tonight. They are, as I guessed, staying at the Bible College; they'll be flying out tomorrow afternoon and will be home on Saturday!

The bread church

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. John 6:35

Of course that's true. The "new" church is gifted by a member who works at Panera. Every week, he brings day old bread, tons of it, and it's packaged up for anyone who wants to take it home. It never tastes like day old, and it freezes well.

It's pretty popular--we have bread lines at church. It seemed a little weird at first. It still seems a little weird, but it's really good.

I usually go for the bagels; this is what we brought home last week.

Peru update

We haven't heard much. They've been splitting most of their time at the VBS and a local park, putting on a skit and working with the translators. The police (!) told them to move, and they were sent elsewhere. (Not a big surprise, I think this happened once last year also.) The team preferred the new location, passed out balloon animals and continuing the skits.

And by the looks of the umbrellas in the other pic I saw, it's drizzling.

Holly is in the middle, gray sweatshirt, holding the pink balloon.

During one of the days, they also went to a local university cafeteria before 300-400 students.

Today is their last full day in Arequipa. Tomorrow they will fly to Lima, sleep at the Bible college for two nights, spend Thursday doing something fun, and begin the flight back home on Friday.

And more book reviews

After the Leaves Fall
Summer Snow by Nicole Baart

One of my library patrons recommended this debut series (from 2007). It sat on my nightstand for several weeks (months), but once I began, I could not put it down. The author's beautiful prose and authentic characters made this such a sweet read. As soon as I finished the first book, I read the second, and I ordered the third book for our public library collection. (Oh, the advantages of working at the library!)

Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board by Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton is the teenaged, Hawaiian girl who lost her arm to a shark in 2003 on Halloween. She celebrated Thanksgiving by getting out on her surfboard again. Interesting story by an enthusiastic girl whose faith in Jesus remains her constant.

A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury

I unintentionally read the second book in this series earlier before discovering there was an earlier book. I'm glad I did. I loved the second book, and if I'd read this one first, I probably would have stopped. This was too depressing. I also found myself irritated by the way the characters kept hearing God speak to them, "daughter" this and "daughter" that. Sometimes I really like Kingsbury, sometimes I don't care for her, but this is the first time I've been split in a single series.

How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less by Nicholas Boothman

Incredibly, I have found myself stuck at the beginning of several conversations with nothing to say. I fake my way as an extrovert; I can usually bluff my way through nice small talk for a few minutes. I've become too used to internet communication and enjoy my unsocialization, but it's not convenient and not how I want to live my life. This wasn't the greatest book, but there were a few points that I hopefully will be able to use and put myself back on track. I hate those awkward moments when I can't think of anything to say, and I stand there with someone in dead silence.

This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson

It's unfortunate that this book had little to do with the title. It seemed that the author set out to prove a point, rabbit-trailed off, and ended up doing--well, I'm not sure what, and I don't think she knew either. About halfway though this book, I lost my bookmarked spot, knew it was no great loss, and stopped reading.

The Bridge Over San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

I chose this Pulitzer Prize winner because it is about a bridge in Peru. Holly wasn't interested in it, and I wasn't really either, except that I figured it might be good for me to read something "literary." Great idea, but it was a little boring, nothing to hold my short attention span. Whatever Wilder's theology is (and I honestly don't know), I didn't care to finish the book to find out. I would have kept going, though, if I had nothing better to read.

Red Azalea by Anchee Min

This author was recommended to me by a library patron. Min's autobiography details her childhood in Mao's China, and assignment to a labor camp at the age of 17. She later left the camp after being chosen to star in a movie promoting Madame Mao's political agenda. Min's book ends prior to her immigration to the U.S., where she is now a citizen and author of Chinese historical fiction.

This was a great read about an intriguing subject.

Baseball!

Trevor and I went with a group of church friends to watch the Salem Red Sox game a few weeks ago. "Watch" might not quite be accurate; I spend the entire evening chatting and people watching. When we've gone in the past, we've sat way down in front for that more intimate feeling with the game. This time, as a larger group, we sat up high.



It was dollar night: $1 admission, $1 pop, $1 hot dogs. And a free comedian to boot.



The views were gorgeous.



The night was gorgeous.



We'll have to make it back as a family before summer is over.

Scattered updates from Arequipa

They landed in Lima Wednesday evening, where they spent the night. On Thursday afternoon, they flew into Arequipa. After checking in to the hotel, they began working at one of the local parks.

Yesterday (Friday), they spent the morning at the church plant in El Mirador. Half of the group worked at the VBS; the other half did light manual labor at the church. The afternoon was spent back at the park.

Today they will be going to a local orphanage.

We've not heard from Holly (and don't expect to), but there is a glitchy wireless connection that some have accessed. One posted a few things on facebook; some updates can be found here.

Tuesday -- she's off!

Hard to imagine today is finally here!

Holly is so brave, I can't imagine doing the many things she's stepped out and done this year. I started feeling quite overwhelmed by all of it this morning, until I realized she doesn't actually leave for Peru until tomorrow!

She packed everything up with special care to keep her bag well below 50 pounds. She was quite happy that she could squeeze her beloved Sozy in her suitcase. Usually Pumpkin (Holly's cat) gets quite upset before Holly leaves; she was fine this time, perhaps not recognizing that Holly was using a different suitcase than usual.



We drove out to Lynchburg and met up with the other people from this church who are going. People are coming from two or three other Calvary Chapels in Virginia. Everyone's bags were weighed just to be sure. Our friend Brett brought a suitcase just for twenty something bags of balloons and a bunch of Spanish Bibles. We laughed at what security might think if the bag were searched. Robert quipped that they were bringing the balloons in to fill with drugs, swallow, and return to the U.S.

Good thing we weren't at the airport.



The group was prayed over once again--that will surely be constant for the time they are gone. They climbed into the van, with Holly planning ahead to grab a back corner spot, hopefully a quieter spot. We watched them take off for their three and a half hour drive to Washington, DC. They'll stay in a hotel tonight, when a local CC pastor will speak to them, and then they'll fly out Wednesday morning.



They have a brief layover in Panama City and will be in Lima Wednesday night. They'll be spending a night or two at the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Lima before heading to Arequipa.

Oh my goodness, she is so sweet. She even remembered to take the last link of her paper chain, the one that's supposed to be opened tomorrow.



Any contact with the group will be extremely limited. I am going to miss her so much.

Monday night

In an effort to take up some of our Monday and not FREAK OUT about Holly's leaving for her Peru trip today, we distracted ourselves.

Holly began packing, and we went to Dairy Queen for Happy Hour. Okay, so it's ice cream drinks, but that's good enough. Mr. Misty Floats are no longer on the menu, but DQs will make them when asked. Sometimes they have no clue what they're doing, but they make a good effort anyway! We also stepped at the library and WalMart. After dinner, Holly and I dropped Trevor off at CAP and headed to the mall.



Holly tried on fun shoes, while I worried she'd end up in the emergency room with a broken ankle.



We snacked.



We hung out at Barnes & Noble and read magazines.

A nice way to relax and avoid making another trip to go back to town and pick up Trevor.

Trevor and the solar oven

We (meaning *I*) have wanted to try this for several years. I have great intentions, but at some point, my kids will be too old. I made a spur of the moment decision last week that we'd have hotdogs for dinner the next day. Since I'd be working, Trevor could cook them in a solar oven during the afternoon while I was gone.

Sometimes I'm just brilliant!

Directions for the oven were simple. They called for a pizza box, but who wants to use an old pizza box, blech. So we substituted a small box we had from amazon. Trevor and his friend cut the lid to make a flap and covered the flap with foil. They stuffed newspapers in the sides of the oven to help as an insulator. We stuffed an 8x8 pyrex dish into the box (you could cook on dark colored construction paper too).



Trevor's directions were to put the hot dogs in, tape plastic wrap over the hole, set the box in the sun, and position the flap to reflect more rays into the box.

But it was overcast. Terribly. All afternoon.

I got home at 6, and he said he'd finally put the box out at 5:30. Not enough time to get things heated up.

So we ate dinner at the regular time. At 8:30, Trevor and his friend opened the box and enjoyed the steamy hot dogs.



Pretty much a success, especially considering we didn't have a lot of cooperation from the sun. And who wouldn't want to eat hot dogs for an evening snack?

Signs of the times

Sage advice from a local middle school.



"A book or two," seriously? After graduation, you might could get a job down the street at the fire station.



I drove past this gem for three or four days before it was finally changed.

Wining

Robert and I used a Groupon a few weeks ago for winetasting at a local family winery. It was a gorgeous day, low 90s, but a little too humid to be perfect. We drove about 20 minutes a bit further back into the Appalachian mountains. We didn't know what to expect, as we didn't need reservations, and we've never done anything like this before.



There were half a dozen cars out front and people sitting out on a covered patio. We went into a garage building that was set up inside like a small store. With air conditioning. Thankfully.

At a bar-type counter, we sampled about 15 different wines. It was hilarious to stand there and pretend to know what we were doing, holding the glass in our hands, swirling the wine, and tasting it. (No, I skipped the sniffing, I'd probably sneeze.)

I don't like wine. I even skipped two of the offerings, waiting to get to the sweeter white wines. By then, I was puckering at all of it.

But the crackers were good.



When we were done, we each chose a glass of which wine we'd like to drink on the patio, and we were given a box of cheese and crackers.


We wandered across the driveway to take pics of the vineyards.


And we had a really nice time. It was close and convenient, and we appreciated that. It was fun to take off with Robert for a few hours and do something we've never done before, to kind of be around other people but not really have to socialize. There are several small places wineries nearby, and now it won't be so intimidating to do this again.

If it's . . .

1:30, it must be lunchtime.



Holly's lunch on this day: 5 pretzels, a spoonful of peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies.

Brain food.

Book Reviews

A Mile in My Flip-Flops by Melody Carlson

A year and a half after getting dumped, Gretchen is still depressed. She watches a lot of HDTV and gets the brilliant idea to flip a trashed house with the help of her dad. Her dad has a heart attack and asks her to get advice from a single man he tried previously to set her up with. No need to tell the rest of this way-too-boring, way-too-predictable story. A huge disappointment from a "Christian" author. (Acknowledgment of God in a book does not make it Christian fiction.)

Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo

Another boy-goes-to-heaven-and-lives-to-tell-about-it story. I was more doubtful about this story and didn't care for it as much as the one I read a few weeks ago.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler

Oh my. I so wanted to like this book. It was possibly the worst written autobiography I've ever read. Steven writes how he speaks--everything just sort of falls out, and if it actually makes sense, well, it's a miracle.

A Time to Embrace by Karen Kingsbury

A beautiful and believable tale about commitment and the healing of a marriage. In the middle of this book, I realized it's the second in a series. I'm now reading A Time to Dance but finding it not as gripping as this sequel.

Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut by Mike Mullane

Fascinating, unprofessional, sobering, gossipy, patriotic, whiney, detailed, disrepectful, sincere. For as much as there were parts I didn't like, there were other parts that I did. A little bit of everything here.

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

A sequel to Shanghai Girls, this story continues with the life of daughter Joy. While at Chicago University in the late 1950s, Joy is seduced by thoughts of the new socialist China, where she flees to find her birth father, work at a farming commune, and fall in love.

While I've often read Chinese historical fiction, I've never read anything from this time period. It was gripping, and many of the parallels we see in today's American government were shocking, an eye-opener.

The story was fast paced, and I found it hard to put this book down. I have enjoyed everything I've ever read by this author, with the exception of Peony in Love.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I tend to avoid popular fiction but finally succumbed and read this book. Now elderly, in a nursing home, and generally forgotten by his children and grandchildren, Jacob reminisces about his post-college life working in a Ringling Bros.-like carnival. It was an okay book, interesting in that it kept me reading, and memorable mostly due to the unusual subject (circuses).

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins

Interesting and informative non-fiction read which follows six high school students from around the country, each belonging to a different clique/social group. Interspersed in their stories is commentary regarding the psychology behind being popular and being an "outcast." Part way through the book, each student is given an individual challenge to change how they are seen by classmates, and are followed as they work through their challenge.

I highly recommend this book. It should be required reading for any parent, teacher, AND teen. I'm a little sad to have finished it.

Smooth road

When we moved into this house, the driveway was in serious need of repair. I could only park my little car on one side of the garage, and we had to back the van out of this side v-e-r-y slowly when everyone was in the car to keep from bumping the frame.



We've been patiently waiting all spring for the weather to warm up. The dip was removed, filled in, and retarred, and we had the whole driveway resurfaced.



It took a few weeks to get used to not having that big bump when going in or out of the garage.

Yes, the driveway is wet here

The other surprise is that, for six months, I successfully managed to avoid hitting the pole for the basketball hoop. Now that I'm parking on the other side of the garage, I no longer have to worry!

Spoils of the night

Now that Holly and Trevor will stay up later than me, I find myself waking up to this in the mornings.



To be clear, everything in the dishwasher is clean; these dishes have nowhere to be "put away." But it always surprises me in the morning to realize people are up and about in my house while I am deep in sleep.

I finally caved . . .

and joined the crowd. Everybody here has personalized plates. Well, maybe not EVERY body, but we have the highest percentage of personalized plates in the country, because they are so cheap ($10/year).


I was totally inspired by my long time loopy friend Liz. Okay, I was more than inspired, I shamelessly took these words from her old signature line. But she doesn't mind.

------------------
P.S. No, if EVERY body jumped off a cliff, I would not.