29 de Agosto (Chincha)

4:45 a.m.-We woke up. That’s right, people. We left the apartment around 5:15 this morning to take a trip south on the Pan-American Highway to a town called Chincha. Liz and I met up with two other missionaries, Quentin and Gina, at a church at 5:30 so that we could follow a bus full of volunteers to take supplies to people who had lost their homes to the earthquake. Well, at 6:30, we saw no sign of a bus and decided to check out the situation. Apparently the bus that was supposed to take the volunteers had broken down. Unfortunately, the pastor was unable to locate another bus. So, we took off on our own and some volunteers came a little later.

We took off down a long stretch of highway complete with tolls and speed traps. During this three hour car ride, I learned many things about the world. I learned that beachfront property is much more beautiful in Peru than Galveston, yet the cost of land is vastly different. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for a nice beach house, communities of people squat on these lands in shanty towns until the time comes where they are granted ownership of these properties. What a juxtaposition this sight was for an American like me. Imagine. . . beautiful ocean waves rolling in on the shores of a shack covered landscape inhabited by poor Peruanos who greet each day with the hope of someday owning their lot of land. Along with this site comes an even stranger one. . . chicken farms! Chicken farms line up along certain areas of these coastal lands. Things I’d expect to see in the outlying areas around Beaumont are settled in on the beach. Wow. Here it is:

Meanwhile, we of course are in need of a potty break. More fun to come during this part of the adventure, for sure! So, we stopped at a roadside restaurant. . . Clean bathrooms in Peru are the equivalent of bathrooms in the USA that dogs probably wouldn’t go near. But, we brought in our own toilet paper (which you can’t flush) and took care of business. I made sure I didn’t drink too much water so I wouldn’t have to go as often. . . turned out to be a good plan. :)

OK. So on the road again, we finally arrived in Chincha around 10:30. Once we got there, we had to find the rest of the group. Since they were in an area we weren’t familiar with, we paid a taxi driver to lead us there. It was a roungh ride with all of the rubble in the road. At one point, we got stuck between a tent and a pile of stones and had to have some people help direct us. We barely made it. Whew.

When we pulled up to our destination, it was a sight to see! People were standing in line to receive wool blankets and the supplies we had prepared from the day before. We began filling the prepared bags with additional items including harina, aceite, spaghetti, leche y atún (flour, oil, spaghetti, milk and tuna). Then we tied up these bags and gave one to each family who had a ticket. The week before, volunteers went out into the town and door to door gave out Bible tracts that included a number. They were told to bring this back to the site and would receive their supplies that way. The system actually worked surprisingly well. At that site we were able to give out approximately 400 sets of supplies to the families. Of course we had people who came that didn’t have a ticket. It felt terrible to turn them away, but we only had enough for those who had signed up. Tiene un librito? No? Pues, lo siento. Here are the supplies we packed:

After we gave out the supplies, we had a little bit of time to spend with the children. They seemed fascinated with us and our gringo selves. :) I began talking to several little girls who asked me questions about America. Tienes una casa grande? No, no es grande. Tienes hermanas o hermanos? Si, tengo tres hermanas se llaman Keila, Karley y Kalley. One girl asked me to write down the names; she seemed intrigued. Then they started asking me how to say things in English like “buenas dias, comer, hola, ciao, ropa” y mas. Then they started teaching me a few new words. After we got all of the kids in a big group, we sang some songs like the “Hokey Pokey,” “Father Abraham” y una cancion sobre una rana. All of these songs were in Spanish, so that was fun. :) Then we had a little puppet (títere) show for the kids. While that was going on, some of the locals people had prepared food for our lunch. I’m not really sure what it was, but I know there was rice and then some sort of sauce that had chicken and potatoes. We were told that it would be rude not to eat the food, but to be careful. We are advised not eat any of the local food and to ESPECIALLY not drink the water. But, we did survive this little bit of Peruvian food! Thank goodness. We were told that since chicken was in the food, it had probably been killed just for our sake, so that we could have lunch. Such generosity and kindness from those that have so little could not be turned away.

Some of the damage:

We left this town and we on to another area to distribute supplies to 100 people. When we arrived there, we formed a cadena (chain) and got all of the things into the home of a lady who was gracious enough to help with the cause. Her house was really interesting; she let us her bathroom which was down an uncovered hallway. He house had tile floors and even had a diploma on the wall dated 1957. Here is the owner of the house:

While supplies were being distributed, we left for home. On the way, we were stopped by the police. They had a checkpoint where they pulled people over to check for things like license and registration. Along with those things, in Peru you are required to carry in your car a fire extinguisher and orange triangles to be set up in case of an accident. The police officer asked if we had been working in Chincha that day. We told him yes and he let us pass through without the full inspection. We arrived back home around 7:45 in a heap of traffic. I wish I could explain how people drive here. Instead of using their blinkers to make turns, they just honk. In fact, they honk for everything. You can be in the right lane turning left, and when you’re ready, you just honk and go even if your lane isn’t for turning. They have these tiny little taxis here that pile two across one lane! It’s absolutely the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. People THINK New York or Los Angeles driving is bad, I tell you this place is insane! I’m going to try to get a good video of it before I leave. I promise you just wouldn’t believe it until you’ve seen it.

After we got home, we packed up our computers and went to Starbucks to check out what was going on in the rest of the world via the internet. We stayed there until about 11:00 or so. We even met a guy named “Jay” who works at Starbucks and said he knew the missionaries that were here in the summer. How interesting.

We went home, took our much needed showers and crashed. What an eventful day!

To see more pictures, click on the following link:
http://uta.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063386&l=120ac&id=25307822
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God is love:

Katrina