Perusers

Nos vamos

2007-06-15T13:04:00.000-05:00

Leaving Peru in a few hours. We're really going to miss this country and it's people.

Amazoning: Day 5

2007-06-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

Today is the day of piranha fishing. After a "Big Boy's" style breakfast, we jump in our "slow boat" bound for coves in the Nanay. We attach worms to a long stick with fifteen-feet of line and toss out. And wait. And wait. And "Nothing's happening here, let's go to the piranha farm," Nixon says.

The piranha farm is a private lake downstream on the Nanay. Nixon quickly hooks a piranha and wastes no time chopping it into bloody bits for the rest of us to use as bait. Then our other guide catches a piranha and dices it up. A few minutes later, he catches another. That was the last piranha we say before the sun started beating down on us from three degrees south of the equator.

We all take a dip in the pool, eat lunch, and take a short naps. Piranha fishing near the equator is tougher than it looks on Wikipedia!

At 4 o'clock that afternoon, we get in a canoe with Nixon and other lodge employee. The canoe is essentially a huge, hollowed out tree trunk. It works great but sits dangerously low in the water.

We peacefully canoe the main river body and other hidden smaller bodies until the sun sets. Here's a video Hannah took (I think I was fiddling with my camera the whole time):

Amazoning: Day 4

2007-06-11T11:02:00.000-05:00

It may be 10 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon in the Amazon rainforest, but it's five o'clock somewhere. Off to the jungle pub!

After a short boat ride and a shorter walk, we reach a jungle pub and rum distillery. The owners brew fresh "jungle juice" from sugar cane and molasas. Here's a quick vid of the joint:

Then we jump on a "slow boat" with villagers bound to sell their food at a nearby village soccer game. The food is turtle and rice delicately wrapped in a steamed leaf.

We spend the rest of the day playing in the pool, eating huge portions during lunch and dinner, and watching the sun set over the Nanay River.

Last Saturday in Arequipa

2007-06-09T18:37:00.000-05:00

Hannah and I have moved our return trip up one week. Instead of leaving Arequipa on the 22nd, we are leaving next Friday, the 15th, and arriving home the following Saturday, the 16th. This new intinerary means today is our last Saturday in Arequipa.

We're taking Karina and Beto our for dinner tonight. Karina is going on a business trip, and we may not see her before our flight out.

Amazoning Day 4 coming up!

Amazoning: Day 3, taming the jungle

2007-06-05T10:47:00.001-05:00

We're eager to begin our tours of the jungle, so we ask Nixon if we can wake up early and listen to birds along the river. Nixon agrees, so at 6:30 a.m. we take a "slow boat," which is a eighteen-foot wood boat with a 15HP outboard, up the Nanay River.

We travel from for twenty minutes, turn off the motor, and listen for our feathery friends. We see several birds and learn about their different calls. The jungle has it's own version of our mocking bird. We even see a few hawks and one eagle.

After the bird watching and listening excursion, we come back and grab breakfast. We had bread, eggs with ham, cheese, breakfast potatoes, fresh fruit, fresh juice, and powdered coffee. A breakfast of champions before our 9:30 a.m. jungle walk.

About thirty minutes before we head out to tame the wild jungle, we meet in the lodge's hammock room to review safety precautions. We each get machetes and Nixon carries a sawed-off shotgun. Rabid jaguars and pumas roam the jungle outskirts during the rainy season, which we are in.

After discusssing the proper ways to fend off quicksand in the event of a suprise attack, Nixon gives us "gum boots," big, thick rubbery things, to keep our feet dry in the jungle marshes.

Here's a quick video of Hannah trying to cross a fallen tree over one of those jungle marshes. Sorry for the horizontal framing. I didn't think about this as I held my camera upright to take the video. Anyway, you can still see Hannah help one of our jungle guides across the fallen tree:

The jungle walk took about three hours, and we never ran into jaguars, pumas, or deranged quicksand. We did, however, drink purified water from a thick vine, eat jungle fruit straight from the tree, rest at giant tree (left), identify poisonous spiders, and visit a native tribe. In the tribe's village, Hannah and I had a chance to practice our blowdart skills. Turns out Hannah would be a better hunter and gatherer.

After a huge lunch back at the lodge, there's just enough time to play in the pool before our next jungle adventure: the botanical garden.

To get to the botanical garden, we have to walk through two neighboring villages. A soccer field (right) is the center of each village, and all other buildings, such as homes, school houses, and libraries (yes, bibliotecas), are built around the fields' parameter. Nixon tells us that these villages spend most of their Sundays playing soccer with themselves and other villages. Apparently Sunday is a day of soccer for the men and relaxation for the spectators, women and children.

At the botanical garden, Nixon shows us several dozen plants and tells of their medicinal purposes in the jungle. We drink "Seven Root," a elixir for impotence made from a phalus-resembling tree root. Also, Hannah plays with a nocturnal monkey (left) being bred in by the gardenkeeper.

The gardenkeeper gives us a lucky bean, and it's back to the lodge for dinner and 199 channels of DirectTV.

Animals at the Amazon Rainforest Lodge

2007-06-02T13:44:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of the animals at the Amazon Rainforest Lodge.

"Sam" (as I call him) the tucan:

A wild turkey:

Turtles:

"Michael" the monkey (yea, that's his real name):

"Sam" and "Michael" feasting on some bananas:

Amazoning: Day 2

2007-05-31T19:42:00.000-05:00

After leaving Home Peru at 4:00 a.m., we ask our taxi driver to swing us by a McDonalds for coffee and a quick breakfast snack. He takes us one block to a gas station which has hot water and instant coffee mix. We mix three cups of joe (one for our driver), head to the register, drop a few soles, and ask for lids for the coffee. The gas station is out of lids. So we take three full cups of near-boiling coffee through a twenty-minute pot-hole, speed-bump infested ride to the airport. My shirt was ruined before we made it half way.

We check in with Aero Condor, pay our airport tax (all national departures require a tax ranging from three to six dollars per person; international flights, such as ours to Canada, will be about twenty-six dollars), pass through security, and wait at gate four for an available condor. We end up sitting across from two guys from the University of Oklahoma. I didn't have the guts to ask them if they knew how to say "Statue of Liberty play" in Spanish.

We arrive in Iquitos, meet Nixon (left), our jungle guide at the Amazon Rainforest Lodge, and take a quick tour of Iquitos before jumping aboard a "fast boat" bound for our lodge. One quick note about Iquitos: While Arequipa is ruled by small, yellow Daewoo taxis, Iquitos is bursting at the seams with "mototaxis," which look a little like a ferris wheel carts with two wheels attached to the back of worn-out motorcycles.

The lodge is about forty-five minutes by boat from downtown Iquitos. To reach the lodge, you have to take the Nanay River, one of the three rivers connected to the Amazon Basin. Here are two brief videos of the voyage:

Once at the lodge, we eat a huge lunch, check out the lodge pool, hot tub, and observation tower, and make friends with the lodge's resident animals. We'll post those videos tomorrow.

As the sun sets, our guide take us for a short boat ride down the river to listen to the jungle at night. We then grab dinner before settling into our bungalow. After a long day, it's time to relax with our 19-inch television and 199 channels of complimentary DirectTV.

Yes, we had it rough.

Amazoning: Day 1

2007-05-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

We leave our house in Arequipa at about 9:30 in the morning and drop ten soles (less that $3.30) for a fifteen-minute ride to the airport. Our plane leaves around 11:30ish (everything seems to be "-ish" in Peru) and we arrive in Lima before 1 p.m. (We flew the airline "Aero Condor," which is an appropriate name for how the iron birds seem to takeoff and land). We grab our luggage, find our driver from Home Peru, our hotel in Lima, and settle down in Miraflores, a wealthy shopping district.

Home Peru is nice. It's an old mansion renovated into a multi-winged hotel. A dog named "Kahlua," like the liquor, roams the mansion and likes to think she knows how to play fetch (eating the stick is not fetch). There's a common room with a large television, free wireless Internet (though the signal did not reach our room), and hot--I mean steamy hot--water.

After finding our hotel room, testing the hot water, and trying to play fetch with Kahlua, we head out to discover downtown Miraflores. Home Peru is just a few blocks from several restaurants, shopping centers, and a CitiBank. We definitely picked a better place to stay this time around in Lima.

When roaming the shopping districts, Hannah becomes lightheaded. We realize it's 4 p.m., nearly eight hours since we last ate. So where do Americans go for a quick bite when they're in a foreign city? Straight for the golden arches, of course. Bah dah dah dah dah, I'm lovin' it. Actually, "me encanta."

At first we just wanted a light snack to hold us until dinner. But that was before we tasted our first hamburguesa con queso for only S/.2 (two soles).

The hamburger was absolutely amazing. We each order one more, plus soda for me (Chris) and coffee for Hannah. What was supposed to be a snack turned into a live pictorial of what we thought was a misinformed sterotype: the McDonald's craving-Americans who can't stop at one value meal. The cashier laughed when we came back. How dare she be so uneducated about the "super-sized" eating habits of Americans!

We grabbed pizza later that night at a fake Romano's Italian eatery (I say fake because I feel like I've eaten at five different Romano's in my lifetime). The pizza was horrible, but it came with two free glasses of wine. The bill was S/.20, bringing our food tally for Day 1 to a whopping total of less than $10.

After withdrawing from Citibank to pay for our lodging in the Amazon, we walked back to Home Peru and went to bed early. Tomorrow's wakeup call was at 3:00 a.m. for a 6:30 departure. Good thing we had hot water.

Three more weeks in Arequipa

2007-05-30T11:53:00.001-05:00

We arrived back in Arequipa at about 9:30 this morning. We're going to take the subsequent few days to retell the seven days of our trip. Check back later today for Day 1.

And as of today we have twenty-three more days in Arequipa. Three weeks gives us plenty of time to finish the projects we've started. I (Chris) just hope we can stay motivated.

Taken at sunset from the our lodge's observation tower.

Destination: The Amazon

2007-05-23T21:08:00.000-05:00

Chris and I are leaving tomorrow for a visit to the Amazon! Below is our itinerary:

Thursday
Leave Arequipa. Arrive in Lima and stay here. Hit the sheets early because we're off to the jungle the next day!

Friday
Leave Lima at 6 a.m. to arrive in Iquitos, Peru in time for our tour. We're staying at this jungle lodge(sorry, it's in Spanish but you can check out the pictures). We'll take a quick city tour of Iquitos, travel the rivers of Momon and Nany by boat, visit a native tribe (Los Boras), visit a place where we can see many different kinds of snakes and other animals (yikes!), arrive at the lodge to get settled in, take a night canoe ride, and listen to legends about the jungle.

Saturday
Wake up at 5:00 a.m. to take a canoe ride to observe many species of birds as the sun rises, take a walk in the jungle as the guide explains the many medicinal plants (Chris's med school starts early), birds and other species, visit the Jibaros tribe, visit a mini zoo and a botanical garden.

Sunday
Visit an island to see the process of making Aguardiente (a typical licor made from sugar cane ... I think), fishing excursion for piranas, listen to traditional instruments of the jungle.

Monday
Full day on the Amazon River. We'll visit Monkey Island and see river dolphins!

Tuesday
Visit the Yaguas tribe, visit a butterfly sanctuary, head back to Iquitos. Tour a zoo and the floating city of Belen, then head back to the airport. Fly to Lima to spend one more night.

Wednesday
Back to Arequipa to put all of our photos online (hopefully without many annoying bug bites).

The Home Stretch

2007-05-20T14:38:00.000-05:00

Well, our time here is growing short ... just 5 more weeks before we board the plane for home. We've got a lot of things we want to do before then. I (Hannah) just hope that we don't hit any more closed doors along the way. It's a frustrating process to try to help and then find resistence (mostly in the form of bureaucracy and local politics).

Lately we've been working on the video project. I finished the script last week and it's currently being translated by some of our great friends here. Chris has done some animation work. Now we just really need to get ahold of the actors, shoot the scenes, and get a lot of footage for filler. Needless to say we're in a little over our heads, but we're going to do our best and see if it all comes together. The new women's shelter we've been going to has promised to support our efforts and provide us with some testimonials from the women.

We've also been doing art therapy with the kids at the new women's shelter for the past two Saturdays. They are cute kids, and they absolutely adore Chris! I'm having a great time observing what they draw during the therapy sessions. It is amazing how much a child can say in one simple drawing.

Last Sunday for mother's day we were invited to the shelter to help the women celebrate. It was like night and day compared to Hogar de Maria. Whereas Hogar doesn't have any programs for the women other than talking to the psychologist, this shelter makes sure women and their children have the chance to relax and enjoy themselves. The kids performed different acts ... some of these children are very talented! It was a really fun night of music, dancing and laughter. When we left, Chris and I felt so hopeful that this place was different, and that we can invest our time and energy there. We only wish they had things for us to do throughout the week (other than just helping out on Saturdays).

We've booked flights to Iquitos to spend a few days relaxing in the Amazon. This is a much needed trip and we're very excited about it! I'll post our 5 day itinerary soon :) We just hope this last minute trip doesn't prevent us from getting everything done ... these next few weeks are going to fly by!!

Flickr

2007-05-18T02:18:00.000-05:00

Hannah and I have been busy, though not with anything earth-shattering. We're trying to find alternative charities for CardioStart, finish the groundwork for our video (Hannah finished the script, and I finished a brief animation describing the "Cycle of Abuse"), and book tickets to Iquitos to visit the Amazon. We have been in the country for three months and only really travelled to Cusco. The Amazon should be equally fun.

On tap tomorrow: renewing visas, going to the post office to pick up a package from Hannah's mom, visiting Chavez de la Rosa, and catching a movie with Jesus. That's "Hey-Soos," not Christ.

In the meantime, check out some of the pictures I've uploaded to my Flickr account. I'm uploading a few of my best pictures each day. You may have seen some of them before.

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T03:22:00.000-05:00

Here's a little diddle we created for our mothers on their special day. We love you. Peace!

Recovered footage from Easter celebration

2007-05-08T23:31:00.000-05:00

Chad, this video is for you, brutha. A real, live marching band in Arequipa, Peru. I (Chris) thought I lost this exclusive footage, but now that my laptop is back up and running, I found it in the a hidden archive: "My Videos." After the band passes, look down the street to see a giant statue of Jesus carried by a dozen men. A little like the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, except this float doesn't. Happy Belated Easter!

P.S. Now that my laptop works, we all know what to expect: The ArequiCam, a popular alternative to the always boring BourboCam in New Orleans.

The Peru postal service

2007-05-07T01:08:00.000-05:00

Janine Henson, CardioStart's mission director during this April's trip, sent Hannah and I the following email about the Peru postal service. Looks like Monday could be a lot of fun.

God bless you at the Peru post office. Here is the routine:

Sit for 1/2 hour while 2 people play with papers, stamp them to look busy
and rearrange them to take some time.

You have been directed to sit and then lose eye contact, forever.

When you are pointed at you may come to the desk and recite everything that is in the box.

Then as a game to see if you are correct you will open them with a blade,
which by now you are considering for different uses.

They will be scattered around the ladies desk for all to see while she rolls
her eyes.

Then you will put them back in the box, they never fit quite how nicely they were placed in the first place.

you will then sit again. The knife again giving you ideas.

Another 1/2 hour goes by. (For sure going postal now)

Do the above again.

Your total investment besides the soles they will get out of you will be at
least 1 1/2 hour.

When you get back to the U.S. you will be kissing your postal
clerk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Closed doors

2007-05-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

This morning I (Chris) surfed onto our blog to see if we had received any comments on recent posts. I then noticed the most recent post was on May 1. It is now May 5. I'm terribly sorry if you feel left out of the Adventures of Chris and Hannah (Hannah would say Adventures of Hannah and Chris) in Peru. The truth is, we've been wading through Amazon swamps and attempting to find the last known Incan city. Figuratively speaking, I'm only half joking.

I think the main reason we haven't updated in a few days is frustration. It's hard to write about the frustrations we're encountering. And are they even appropriate? We don't want to cast a negative image by commenting on a few frustrating events. We love Peru. But writing is apparently therapeutic, so here goes.

The synopsis is we are growing increasingly frustrated. Our work at the women's shelter was recently brought to a screaming halt when Elena, the shelter's director, was fired. Although Elena has been hesitant in helping us help the shelter, she always took time to talk with us, ask us how we were doing, and give us a general idea of the shelter's needs. Her replacement is an older woman who formerly directed Chavez de la Rosa. Without being too verbose, this new director didn't like us at Chavez, and she doesn't seem to like us at Hogar. She immediately told us we could not persue our video project at Hogar. Both Elena and the Hogar psychologist previously approved the project.

So now we are left searching for a cracked-open door. On Monday, we're going to visit the other women's shelter in Arequipa and see if they will let us ask women for interviews. Sr. Felix also want to go with us to Hogar and convince the new director that our video is not critical of Peru.

Oh, and four packages for us have been sitting in Arequipa since April 28. We just received paperwork saying we need to come open the packages in front of customs. We'll be charged about S/. 40 for each box we can't prove is worth less than $200 USD. For every box weighing over a kilogram, we'll have to pay another S/. 8.

In other news, we visited a mummy yesterday. More exclusive reporting to follow.

I mean, what the heck?!

2007-05-01T23:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay. Enough is enough. I (Chris) have two major grievances to settle. Tonight.

The first, and more important of the two, is James Lewis, whoever he is. For those of you who haven't already heard, this self-proclaiming hall-of-famer to the world banged on the Virginia Tech English Department about a week ago. You can read his piece here. If you have one of those stress balls near your desk, grab it before reading.

After a day of "I can't believe that jerk really said that," I finally wrote a reply. Of course, American Thinker, which is obviously, despite all attempts at disguise, a extreme right-wing thinktank, wouldn't publish my reply without a corresponding rebuttal from Mr. Lewis. Cue the "What the Heck?!" soundbyte.

I find great satisfaction in the fact he did not (e.g., could not) address anything from my response. I did, however, learn the German word for "destruction" as it applies to Western philosophy. This will come in handy the next time "German translations in Western Philosophy" is a category on Jeopardy.

Grievance Number Two: Just when in the world did McDonald's start serving iced coffee and providing free wi-fi? I love McDonald's Premium Blend coffee, and I really love its price. Iced coffee + summer + McDonald's Dollar Menu = a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, Peru doesn't have McDonald's. Make that one more thing to add to the "When I get home..." list.

Lights, Camera, Action!

2007-04-29T17:28:00.000-05:00

Chris is out playing soccer and, since I'm not able to play with the boys, I decided to update you all on our projects here.

CardioStart's presence in Peru did indeed give us the inspiration we needed to more clearly define our purpose here, although not the way we had expected. It came in the form of a spunky Korean American woman from the Bronx named Aminda Jacobs. Not only did she quickly become a friend to us, but her experience as a social worker greatly helped us. For one, she encouraged us tremendously, telling us that we had more or less accurately evaluated the situation in the women's shelter. Basically, we believe more and more each day that we can't come in and throw money at problems, nor can we advocate "professional" tactics employed in the United States. For one, this is not the U.S. The culture is different and the resources available are much more limited.

Domestic violence is something influenced greatly by culture and socioeconomic status. These are things that Chris and I cannot change. So, we came hoping that we could support the aide that battered women and their children receive once they escape their abusers. In this women's shelter, the psychologist counsels abusers under the same roof as the women seeking refuge. The social worker travels to the home to "check up" on the woman for months after she has left the shelter. In the U.S., these practices would be considered very dangerous considering the already volitile relationship between man and woman. In most cases, it is the abuser who needs to change and receive counseling. However, the legal system greatly fails abused women by providing little to no security. Abusers walk free and are not mandated to attend any kind of counseling or therapy. For this reason, the women's shelter sees about an 80% return rate of abused women. This is a number that Aminda, who has worked with domestic violence victims in New York, was shocked to hear.

However, through our conversations with the psychologist we did stumble upon a project that may be within our reach. During a group therapy session the psychologist showed a video that had been produced by a church in the U.S. The actors were white, they lived in large homes with lavish furnishings, and the family seemed just like the one on "7th Heaven." The video demonstrated the "ideal family" ... and while it was just too sugary-sweet it had some positive messages. The problem was that it was nowhere near the reality of these women. Two of the women present were reduced to tears. One of them sobbed that she wanted to have a family like that, but it was just unattainable. One man who was present asked if he could go to the church that had made the video. They all wanted to be a part of it. Even for us Americans though, it seemed too unreal. The psychologist said that she showed videos like this at all of her therapy sessions.

This got us thinking. Why not create a video using Peruvian actors, in Peruvian homes? Something that the women here could relate to, and that could empower rather than depress them? Chris's background in videography and editing, and mine in theater would help. It obviously would not have to be professional, just sufficient. Within two days we had also located an acting school where we could recruit actors hungry for experience. Now all that's left is the script (a daunting task given that it needs to reflect the reality of Peru, yet the psychologist wants us to write it), casting, filming and editing. And we have less than 2 months to do it! We definately need some inspiration, and some very productive days. But Chris and I are excited to have a project that we truly believe will contribute positively to the current circumstances.

So that's that. Sorry I'm so long-winded, but we're very excited (and slightly nervous) about this new project. In fact, I better get back to the script. :)

Alpacas

2007-04-28T16:38:00.000-05:00

What you are about to watch is a CNN I-Reporter Exclusive! Fighting alpacas in the wild and dangerous Arequipa desert.

Five ways to stand out in Peru

2007-04-26T00:14:00.000-05:00

Hannah and I have been in Peru for just over two months. Like most travellers, we want to "fit in." Of course, having skin tone that people casually call "crudo," which is Spanish for undercooked, is an immediate disadvantage. But, we have pressed on, and now we are practically Peruvian. During assimilation exercises, we have learned five fail-safe ways to look like a complete tourist in Peru:

1. Run in shorts. Actually, just running period. Hannah and I went running today and enjoyed one man instructing us to "run" (thanks for the advice), another man running after us to make sure we were okay ("Where are you going," he said), and at least two-dozen taxis honking to see if we needed a ride.

2. Wear sandals or shorts. Funny, both items are the foundation of our wardrobes.

3. Go into a small bakery, order one cola for two people (which is seventy soles, or appoximately one U.S. quarter), and then eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches brought from home.

4. Eat the wrong parts of a cuy, Spanish for guinea pig. Apparently the feet and brain are not for munching. Oops.

5. Go to a birthday party with lots of dancing, partner with a Peruvian dance instructor, and then dance like this:

More thoughts on the Virginia Tech Massacre

2007-04-25T00:08:00.000-05:00

My (Chris's) brother made a video tribute to all thirty-two victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre. You'll find it embedded below. If you like the video, consider clicking the video screen and giving it a good rating. I also encourage you to email it to friends using the "share" button below the video screen.

After watching the video, I was struck with a sense of isolation and guilt. I realized how disconnected I feel from my university. Had this event happened last year or were I in the United States, I know I would be taking part in every vigil, memorial service, and prayer session I could find. Instead, I find myself on the other side of the equator, reading online news stories and talking to Hannah when we both have the energy to swallow the tragedy. Sometimes I don't even feel part of Virginia Tech.

I feel guilty because for the past two or three days I have not been avidly following the news. I was glued to the television last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Sometime between then and now, I have distanced myself from the event. Maybe it's too much for me now, here. I haven't read the profiles of all thirty-two victims, either. I don't know how I feel about any of this.

How can I feel so disconnected from my favorite place on earth? Does trying to distance myself from the tragedy make me an insensitive alum or, even worse, person? At times I cry when I hear Brian's laugh or think about the disgusting beer he loved at Hokie House. Other times I purposefully surf to ESPN instead of the Roanoke Times's online newspaper. Is this how I'm suppose to feel and act? Is there a right way? Would it be any different under other circumstances? Does it even matter?

Anyway, here is Chad's video:

Fubito and amputee molds

2007-04-22T23:08:00.000-05:00

Today was my (Chris) most famous day as a soccer player. We left Hostel Soliel and arrived back in Umacollo around 2 p.m. Then around 4, Carlos, a relative of our host family, invited me to a game of fubito. Fubito translates literally as "little soccer." It is played on a cement surface the size of a normal basketball court with small goals and no more than six players per side.

I rock at fubito. I scored two goals in four games. Pele himself never had that kind of success. (To be fair, I received excellent passes on both goals, and I missed several other shots that should have been "gimmes.") After about an hour and a half of fubito, a woman came and chased us off the court. Apparently you have to pay five soles per hour to use the court, which isn't as bad as paying fifty centimos for a bathroom.

We spent the rest of the evening at Saga (a gringo's paradise), which is a clothing store, American food court, and grocery store rolled into one. I needed deodorant, and Hannah wanted yogurt.

Five days prior, Wednesday, CardioStart volunteers made the hour-long trek to La Joya to celebrate their successes in adding an emergency wing to their medical clinic, to present a motorized chair to a boy with minimal leg control (I never caught the name of the actual condition), and to cast plaster amputee molds for locals needing prosthetic limbs.

Below is a brief video of the casting process. The nurses essentially made plaster molds of the amputations and took measurements. CardioStart's hope is to deliver five custom-made prosthetic limbs during September's mission (only one limb is promised).

Cusco

2007-04-21T12:36:00.000-05:00

We spent several hours touring downtown Cusco the day after visiting Machu Picchu. The city is beautiful and totally different than Arequipa and Lima. Much of Cusco is green, and many residential districts are built on the sides of nearby mountains. Here are a few of the many, many pictures we took.

Taken from the center of the plaza de armas. This is one of the two main cathedrals in the plaza.

We love the Spanish design of the plaza. Here is a street lamp in front of the cathedral shown in the above photo.

The second cathedral in the plaza de armas. The rainbow-colored flag is the flag of Cusco. The fountain on the right operated mainly at night.

Is this sign warning about crosswalk safety or pickpocketing?

We had beautiful weather for our entire three-day stay in Cusco.

The oddest, most beautiful sunset I've ever seen.

The fountain at the center of the plaza de armas.

Machu Picchu

2007-04-20T18:29:00.000-05:00

Few of the hundred or so photos from our trip.

Machu Picchu!

We lucked out with great weather and a beautiful sky. Others say they toured Machu Picchu in steady rain.

A shot from a temple window.

This should give you an idea of the steep grade on all sides of the city. The Incas used these "terraces" for crops.

We proudly displayed our Hokie gear in front of Machu Picchu!

Exclusive footage from Mollendo

2007-04-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

Here's exclusive footage from a Mollendo water park. Chris, Beto, and Karina take their time sliding down a water slide into a six-foot, shark-infested pool. Well, actually, there were no sharks, but you wouldn't have been able to tell otherwise by Chris's thrashing as soon as he hit the water.

Mollendo

2007-04-18T19:32:00.000-05:00

We owe you photos from Mollendo. When we visited, Mollendo had just entered the Fall season, and many of the Peruvian vacationers and tourists had left the area. Much of the beach was empty, and we enjoyed peaceful naps to the sound of crashing Pacific waves. We fooled around at a nearby water park. Hannah has two videos of the water park that we will post later.

A shot of Playa 1, the first of three beaches along the Mollendo coast.

The Pacific waves crashed harder than those we have seen in North Carolina.

A shot at sunset.

Another sunset shot.

We love Brian Bluhm

2007-04-18T01:34:00.000-05:00

Brian's name is now appearing on major news Websites. One of our good friends did not make it on Monday. The New York Times seems to have the best profile, so far.

Today we hibernated between the television and Internet. News is actually very current here in Peru, with three channels devoted to world news in English. When we did force ourselves to get fresh air, we exercised by running around the neighborhood. Then, we walked a few blocks for cheap pizza.

Tonight we were able to finally hook up with our families via Skype. During a time like this, part of us wishes that we were just home with families. Something about a mom's soothing voice or a father's reason is comforting, even across the globe. Rach and Chad, we are thinking of you as you continue to grieve and study.

We are toying with the idea of writing a letter about Brian, as we knew him, and offering it to one of the major newspapers that contacted Hannah. Perhaps The Collegiate Times is a more appropriate medium. We read full-length stories about other victims. We want Brian to have the same written memorial. The world needs to know who they just lost. We will seek permission from Brian's family before writing the letter.

It is well past bedtime in Arequipa, and we need rest for tomorrow's trip to La Joya with CardioStart. To any Hokies reading this, know that you are not alone. One of the victims, Daniel Cueva, was Peruvian. Peru grieves with you; a world grieves with you. We have not forgotten our university, our friends, our home.

We love Virginia Tech

2007-04-17T00:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks, Chad, for the news update...

To watch, across the globe, international news unfold reports of the worst massacre in U.S. history occurring at Virginia Tech is the most surreal experience of our lives. We spent most of the day in front of the television, then tried to venture downtown for some fresh air. Tonight, we came back to the hostel only to discover one of our best friends at the Baptist Student Union fell in the tragedy. He must have been an instructor in one of the classrooms. We can hear his laugh now.

We want to walk across campus. We want to get ice cream at Deet's. Hannah wants to study at GBJ. Chris wants to lead orientation groups in cheers of "Old Hokie." We want our university back.

Virginia Tech is, and always will be, our favorite place on earth, the place where we ran the cross country trail at night by the sole light of fireflies.

Go Hokies.

Back from Cusco

2007-04-16T07:39:00.000-05:00

We haven't been able to update during the last few days because we've been in Cusco (originally named "Cuzco" by the Incans) and our hostel didn't have Internet. We went with four other CardioStart volunteers and had a great (and expensive) time. The main draw to Cusco is Machu Picchu, or the Incan ruins set at the crest of Amazon Andes. Machu Picchu was amazing and breathtaking beyond any photographs you'll find on the Internet (we'll upload photos later today). We were also suprised to find Cusco is a uniquely beautiful city itself, Machu Picchu aside.

The trip began Thursday evening when Kathleen, Aminda, and we boarded the economy-class deck of a Cruz del Sur bus. After a small dinner provided by the busline, we watched an American movie in Spanish with English subtitles. Then, six hours of curvy-Peruvian roadway later, we arrived at Cruz del Sur's main Cusco "terminal," which quickly became the setting for a very strange, scary story for another time. We eventually arrived at our hostel safe and with luggage. Two other CardioStart volunteers, Gerri and Toni, joined us a few hours later after a 45-minute flight from Arequipa to Cusco.

After napping a few hours, we decided to explore Cusco and headed toward the main plaza, which doesn't have the two-story archways of Arequipa's plaza but is beautiful in its own right. We grabbed a nice lunch, took lots of photos, did some shopping in local markets, and found dinner in a small cake shop (we joked Gerri can sniff-out a cake shop from miles away). We went to bed early because our trip to Machu Picchu began the next day at 5 a.m.

For $150 USD, you can take a four-hour train ride to the foot of Machu Picchu, climb the Amazon Andes in a Merc-Benz bus, and get a ticket to see one of the most curious areas on earth. We were game. Peru Rail took us on a gorgeous trip through the Peruvian country-side that included small pueblos, rivers, intimidating, snow-capped mountains, and fields of flowers. Then we boarded a bus that climbed the Andes in a "Z" formation. Our final stop was the remains of an Incan city (30% authentic, the rest reconstructed) scraping the clouds of the Amazon jungle. Hannah appropriately recalled a line from The Motorcycle Diaries: "How can you feel nostalgia for something you've never known."

The next day and our last in Cusco, Sunday, was perhaps our best. After resting from our long day at Machu Picchu, we recharged our cameras and wallets for another day of picture-taking, shopping, and dining. We found a new market, an Incan painter's gallery, a great lunch right on the plaza, more shopping, a woman carrying a lamb (although she said it was a llama), and, finally, coffee. Then it was time to quickly head back to the hostel, back up our things, and head to Arequipa.

We arrived in Arequipa from Cuzco at about 6 a.m. this morning. The bus ride was first-class coming back, as we sat under blankets in large, leather lounge chairs. The ride back to Arequipa was more comfortable than the ride to Cuzco, although Hannah found sleeping much easier the first time around.

Photos to come soon.

P.S. Mr. Bayne: can you find a computer adaptor somewhere in the states? Chris's laptop needs an adaptor with an output of 19 volts. We can't find one with output greater than 15 volts.

Earthquakes, suntans and new beginnings

2007-04-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

Well we've left you pretty high and dry about our coming and goings recently. I'll try to recap without writing a novel!

Friday was our first full day in Mollendo. It began with a pretty significant earth tremor in the morning. Fortunately it wasn't terribly strong nor long lasting. However, Beto still took the opportunity to remind us that with earthquakes come tsunamis ... and we just happened to be spending all day on the beach. Fortunately, we survived the day without even getting horribly burnt. Even Chris, who spent a good deal of time going down the slides at the local pool/waterpark , didn't get burnt. The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventual. We did a lot of relaxing, laying around and trying to find food in a town shut down by the Easter holiday. I (Hannah) got pretty sick and ended up with a fever the last night we were at the beach. I'm still not quite sure what brought it on.

We returned late Saturday night and decided to pack our bags for the hotel. A good number of the CardioStart team was arriving on Sunday, so we wanted to be settled in. We'll stay with the team at the hotel during their two week stay in the country. Chris and I both view CardioStart's arrival as a much needed breath of fresh air. We are sure that we'll be inspired by their work and fresh perspectives, and we hope this mission will give us some needed momentum to focus and fuel our future work.

On Easter Sunday I was still feeling horrible and spent most of it in bed recovering, and taking time to meet the CardioStart volunteers. Now that I feel better, I realize it was such a shame to have missed out on the Easter experience in another country. At the time, though, I wasn't interested in much of anything. Fortunately whatever was wrong with me passed quickly.

On Monday the Cardiostart Team split up, with half going to the hospital and half following Chris and me to the orphanage and women's shelter. It was actually a lot of fun showing people where we have been working, taking them to a trusted restaurant for lunch, being able to translate and answer questions about the city. It's just hit us that Arequipa now feels like home. I actually feel much more comfortable speaking Spanish with our Peruvian friends and translators than talking with the volunteers (although they are all wonderful!) Chris and I just realize that we really have been changed by this experience already. It's wonderful to have an opportunity to step outside of yourself and see your situation in a fresh light. I'm also very encouraged with my abilities in Spanish. I'm able to converse much more easily now, and Chris is also making great progress. Very exciting ... and just in time too!

We'll keep you posted about the CardioStart mission, and all our various activities. Thanks for checking in!

Happy Birthday and Easter

2007-04-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

To Chris´s brother: Happy 20th Birthday! You lucky guy--you get Cadbury Eggs, Birthday Cake, and presents on the same day! Don´t worry, we´ll be looking around Arequipa for someting...reeeal niccce. Hope you have a great day!

And to everyone else, Happy Easter. Sra. Elma gave us a small Easter egg hunt last night. And Chris´s mom, we received your card. Thanks!

P.S. Internet in the hotel is down. Hopefully we can get some pictures from the beach up soon!

The beach is beautiful

2007-04-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

So, we lied about not updating for the next few days. After dinner tonight we decided to stop in an Internet cafe. Hannah had to send some emails, and Chris is always game for anything Internet.

The beach is beautiful. Today, we woke up around 5 a.m., threw some clothes in one suitcase, and raced to a bus station in Arequipa so we could wait 45 minutes for a late bus. Beto accompanied us on the bus, and we all fell asleep during the two-hour ride. Once we arrived, Beto's aunt had fried fish, rice, bread, and Coke ready for our breakfast. We then took a quick nap while waiting for Karina to arrive (she had a meeting at work earlier in the day).

At the beach we slept some more, watched brave gringos venture too far into the Pacific surf (the waves were much stronger than we have experienced with Hannah's parents in North Carolina), climbed some rocks in search of a few good pictures, watched a sunset, and hailed a taxi for pollo and papas fritas.

Time to close down this cafe account, but before leaving, we want to tell Chris's brother, Chad, that we are shipping him fish and beef for his birthday on the 8 de abril. Don't worry, Chad, people here ship raw meat all the time. Keep an eye on the mailbox!

A la playa

2007-04-04T23:16:00.000-05:00

Good news and bad news. The good news first: We are going to the beach for two days before CardioStart arrives! Beto's aunt owns a house on the beach, and she agreed to let us use it for the next couple of days. We'll be getting back either Friday evening or Saturday afternoon (everything is up in the air in Peru).

The bad news: Chris's computer is dead. Well, not dead, but dieing. We think the 220 volt outlets blew the power adapter. The computer currently has about 20% battery life yet. Somehow we don't think that will last the rest of the trip.

The extra news: Hannah found an assistanceship at W&M that will completely cover her tuition. Chris emailed VCU a letter of intent. The Air Force's scholarship timeframe has expired, so now Chris's HPSP application will be pushed to next year. And, we went to a cooking class at the Spanish Cafe (the place where we take our Spanish lessons) and met several people from around the world. We learned Americans travel the least and are the least educated with respect to foreign languages. Maybe the rest of the world is on to something...

We don't be able to update while at the beach, so don't expect anything for the next few days. Something cool to expect upon our return: a video of Arequipa's marching band! Chad, don't get too excited.

Webcam

2007-04-02T20:14:00.000-05:00

Well, it took nearly 5 hours, but our Webcam is finally up and running. We'll try to leave it up during most daylight hours. The Webcam page auto-refreshes, but you'll have to manually-refresh this page to see a new photo in the upper-left corner.

Also, we've discovered that with YouTube's infinite file space, video blogging will probably be much easier (and less time consuming) than text. Look for more videos soon. Hopefully they'll be better than the bus ride video.

P.S. National Lampoon's Summer Vacation is on television in Spanish.

Embedded reporting from La Joya

2007-04-01T22:10:00.001-05:00

Today we went to La Joya with Karina and Beto. We spend nearly three hours at the pool with Beto's family, ate some good food, and then high-tailed it back to Arequipa for Palm Sunday Catholic mass. Here's a photo and a brief video of the trip (don't get too excited).

Taken from our inside our bus. Nearly all the land from Arequipa to La Joya is desert, save a few isolated pueblos.

And, finally, shaky, unprofessional video from inside a bus. All that time Chris spent with the Television Production Club in high school is finally paying off!

After exactly one month in Arequipa, our best day yet!

2007-03-28T21:45:00.000-05:00

Exactly one month ago we boarded a plane in Lima for Arequipa. One hour later, as our plane decended toward Arequipa, we stared out the window at dusty pueblos and wondered if we made the right decision. The first two weeks were wonderful, as we felt more like tourists while we held the hands of our family and friends in Arequipa. But then the frustrations of living a new culture set in. Today, everything seemed to resolve. The unidentifiable tension in our backs let up, and we felt completely at ease perusing the streets of downtown Arequipa. It was a good day.

The main problem we've faced is, of course, the language barrier. Although Hannah understands nearly everything, she says her own speech has hit a wall. Translating for Chris is one thing; vocalizing her English thoughts into Spanish sentences is another. Chris speaks enough to survive--for a few hours.

Two days ago Hannah found a Spanish language institute for tourists. Today, we went to case the joint. The institute teaches in a cozy, second floor apartment one block from the Plaza using informal instruction over coffee. We signed up for three hours of instruction a week. Tomorrow we begin our first lesson at 10 a.m.

Another frustration has been our "work," which is in quotation marks because we don't even think it's worthy of the title. We've been trying to help at the orphanage, but some of the staff doesn't completely trust us (we can't blame them; they think we're floaty tourists). Some days we'll play and feed infants. Other days we'll try to keep attention-starved toddlers from crying while we rotate them through our arms. We also dreamed of helping at Hogar de Maria, but the shelter turned out to be in better shape than we originally thought. It really needs a new roof. We can't exactly help there (at least not yet).

Today, we found a seamless routine at the orphanage and shelter. Fabricio, the child we are trying to help walk, attends brief school classes during the morning he's not at the rehab clinic. On these days, we can get to the orphanage after our Spanish lessions, around 1 p.m., and work with Fabri for an hour. After Fabri, we can pluck ADD and LD toddlers from their group and work with them, one-on-one, away from other children. On mornings Fabri is in the clinic, we can accompany him and then fix up a room at the shelter in the afternoon. This may seem trivial, but to us it means everything: we finally have a set schedule for ourselves and the orphanage and shelter staff.

Perhaps the best part of the day, however, was discovering Cusco Coffee Company one block from the Plaza. It's a virtual Starbucks in the middle of Latin America. The menu listed cup sizes as "short, tall, grande" and the lounge area featured leather couches with glass tables. For us, it felt like home. Plus, the bathrooms were spotless and included toilet paper. We will be visiting Cusco Coffee again. Soon.

To top the day off, Chris spend an hour on the roof tonight trying to overexpose a few taxis streaking through our neighboorhood. Unfortunately, Umacollo is calm and not a night photograher's (which Chris isn't) dream. Here is one of the better photos:

For the past couple of weeks, sleep hasn't come easy. But we are excited about sleeping tonight.

It was a good day.

We've upgraded to video

2007-03-28T21:04:00.000-05:00

To complement our photos of last Sunday in La Joya, we've joined the YouTube revolution. Captions below!

Hannah gives an authentic Spanish inauguration speech as an in-country CardioStart PR representative. With foreign diction like this, expect to see her next in the White House Press Room. No, seriously, she did really well.

Chris breaks a bottle of champaign to the inauguration of the new Emergency Health Center of La Joya. He broke one more in Susan Nesbit's new shock trauma room.

Finally--new photos!

2007-03-28T19:39:00.000-05:00

Be sure to check out our new photos on the Yahoo picture site. We have posted a lot from this weekend in La Joya. Enjoy!

Click on the Yahoo link to the left of the page. Once there, find the La Joya album to see the new pictures.

Representing in La Joya

2007-03-25T19:42:00.000-05:00

**From left to right: Dr. Malaga, Beto (also Dr. Malaga), Me, Karina, Chris, Sra. Linda (Beto's mom), and Guillermo. We're standing in front of the newly constructed Emergency Room in La Joya, beneath a plaque dedicated to CardioStart.**

On Saturday we woke up bright and early to catch a bus to La Joya (a small town about an hour away from Arequipa). The Health Center was celebrating the inauguration of an Emergency Room, built thanks to donations from CardioStart. Since we are the only members of CardioStart currently in the country, we were invited to act as representatives for the ceremony. Chris and I both had to give a short speech (I decided to give mine in Spanish ... I was so nervous!) We also got to be a part of the ribbon cutting ceremony. Chris and I unveiled the CardioStart plaque, and cut the ribbon for the room dedicated to Susan Nesbit, RN and CardioStart mission director. Chris also got to shatter a few champagne bottles (for each new room that was unveiled, someone would break a bottle with a hammer). At the end of the ceremony everyone in attendence was served a delicious meal of steak and potatoes. Chris and I were also interviewed by the local news (both TV and newspaper). I gave my interview in Spanish (I hope I said something coherent!) Chris, on the other hand, answered the questions in English. The reporter was so excited to be talking to us that he completely forgot about needing to have Chris's responses translated for his viewers. It was pretty funny when he finally realized it.

Chris and I standing in front of the new Trauma Shock room, named Susan Nesbit, RN after CardioStart's Mission Director.

It was so rewarding to see the results of CardioStart's past efforts, and the pride of the local community. For the past few weeks Chris and I have been in the planning stage of our work, and we can only speculate about the impact we hope to have. Seeing this small community unveil an emergency room, and hearing how their dreams of progress are growing, helped us see that people here are ready and willing to improve, they just need a taste of success.

After the ceremonies were over, Beto's parents took us all to a private club in La Joya. It was beautiful! We "rode" horses (Chris managed without injury ... it was a miracle!), swam in the pool, ate amazing food and just took a few hours to relax. We've got lots of pictures to post on the Yahoo photo site soon. Check in the next day or so for new photos.

All of us in front of the pool.

He'd make a great cowboy if he wasn't so accident-prone!

TGIF

2007-03-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

What a lazy day for both of us. I have been sick the past few days and not sleeping well. Today, it all caught up to me. Stuffy sinuses, headache, dry cough, perhaps a slight fever. I spent the day in and out of naps. Beto just came over, gave me a quick checkup and the hookup: Zithromax, nasal decogestants, and cough suppressant. I was happy to avoid an "injection," which seems to be the most popular medical term in the country.

Hannah was only slightly more productive. This morning she attended a meeting at the hospital with Jesus (pronounced "hey-sus"). She then came home and made me lunch--how lucky I am!

Throw in some TV, cursing of VCU Medical School (they still haven't released the waitlist), and a short walk for ice cream, and it's time to say goodnight. I would tell you what we're doing tomorrow, but Hannah said that would bore our readers ("Newspapers report on the past; No one wants to read the same thing twice!"). Let's hope the trip to ^&%&# with Beto, Karina, and Guiarmo is safe and the U.S. State Department doesn't need our blog to direct a search effort.

***

Now that Hannah is asleep, here's a clue about our trip destination embedded in March Madness cryptic. Call me Nash, John Nash. You might need a mirror for this one: The (la) Hoya (joya) of Georgetown beat the Commodore of Vanderbilt tonight.

Sunset from rooftop

2007-03-21T18:09:00.000-05:00

Here's a sunset from our rooftop. It's not nearly as bright and colorful as the real thing. No photographs are, I suppose.

Chris Bayne InjuryTally On the Rise

2007-03-21T15:53:00.000-05:00

Well, after about a week of no new injuries, Chris must have felt it was necessary to liven things up by falling down the stairs. Actually, I guess it would be best described as falling UP the stairs, backwards. I'll let you figure that one out. As luck would have it, he escaped with one very bruised toe and a few cuts on his finger. Maybe next time he'll think about turning on a light before he navigates such complicated territory.

In other news, we're in pretty good spirits today. We took the morning to finish some materials for CardioStart on the computer. Then we walked downtown in search of some t-shirts for Chris, and to get prices for some basic items we'd like to buy to decorate the women's shelter. It was pretty nice to walk around just the two of us. And we weren't even robbed! We're pretty sure this means that we're on our way to becoming Peruvian. Although the homesickness is definately starting to set in.

For those of you who are interested (which I imagine is very few), we are putting our "quotes/thoughts of the day" below. This is mainly for our own enjoyment ... and yes, it's quite likely that we are going a little loco.

"Everything is calm, no robberies!" - Neighborhood Patrolman. He patrols the street day and night. We think he likes us, because everytime he sees us he blows his whistle (even if he's 2 blocks away) and waves. Today he said the quote above which we thought was hilarious. When you're a gringo, it's good to have a patrolman on your side. Now if only he'd stop blowing that whistle!

"Tell your mom to send a semi-automatic so we can shoot the dogs" - Me to Chris. Each house near us has about two dogs. These dogs live on the roof and having nothing better to do all day than to bark at each other. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is ... 3 am, 9 am, 2 pm, 10 pm ... you get the picture. They bark at people. They bark at other dogs. They bark at cars. They bark just because they haven't barked for the past 30 minutes. And six of them live right in front of our house. Needless to say, each day that passes makes me more of a cat person.

"God Bless America" - Chris, as we were standing in the middle of Plaza de Armas, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drinking a Coke. As he said this his skin was probably getting scorched by the Peruvian sun. Poor, pale gringo.

Amigos

2007-03-21T07:16:00.000-05:00

Amigos on Saturday night. Beto y Karina are probably in the middle of trying to teach us to dance. What a disaster that was!

I think my vegetables at lunch were washed in local water

2007-03-20T17:31:00.000-05:00

On Saturday night Hannah and I went downtown with Karina, Beto, Guiarmo, and an English girl we met at Chavez. We first tried to go to a karaoke bar, but the prices were outlandish, so we high-tailed it to an Italian resturant for pizza (I think Karina and Beto just wanted us to feel at home). The pizza was great, the atmosphere better: this place had a man playing the accordian near our table.

After dinner, we hailed a taxi back home where us gringos tried an alcoholic drink called pisco. (Interesting side note: pisco is the national drink of Peru and Chile. Both countries claim to have invented it first. From my gringo perspective, I think this conflict is no smaller than that surrounding the Gaza Strip. Seriously, Peru and Chile fight over this drink.) Pisco is distilled from grapes, is clear, tastes a little like Vodka (but is smoother), and is around 40% alcohol. It was good with Sprite, but apparently we have to try the famous Pisco Sour. We both look forward to that.

On Sunday Beto took us to his sport and health club. It's exclusive to doctors and their families. Hannah and I felt privileged. We sat around a pool, played un poco de futbol, and napped in the grass. What a beautiful time. Afterward, we walked to a restaurant and ate fried everything.

Today Hannah y yo accompanied Fabricio to his physical therapy session a la clinica. He was in a good mood today (evidenced by many besos, or kisses, on our hands), but was still a struggle for the therapist. She worked with Fabri for about an hour with minimal success until the end. The child just doesn't want to stand or walk, even with help.

Hannah and I have differing opinions on Fabri' development, but one thing is abundantly clear: the staff doesn't give him the help he needs. In the staff's defense, the orphanage is drastically understaffed (by American standards) and no child receives much attention. Nevertheless, Fabri, a six-year-old, is stuck in the nursery with infants. He is simply too much for nurses with twenty other six-year-olds to handle. He receives more attention in the nursery. And by attention I mean a stroller.

Where is the line between challenging a child too much and not challenging enough? In addition to his spinal condition, Fabri seems to suffer from a mild retardation. But Fabri still wears diapers--at six! I debate nature versus nurture. Spina bifida aside, is Fabri mentally slow because he was born retarded, or is he slow because he has never received the attention a child with a crippling spinal condition needs? My unprofessional opinion is that the staff feels sorry for Fabri and is afraid to challenge him. He spits without repercusion. Today, a nurse asked me to teach Fabri not to pinch people and rip out their arm and neck hairs. Did they ever try to potty train him?

This is getting long, so I'll cut it short with my favorite part of the day. At his therapy session, Fabri continually tried to unzip the therapist's vest and get inside her shirt. At least part of him is developing normally.

P.S. My favorite child at Chavez

2007-03-17T20:27:00.000-05:00

I can't pronounce this girl's name, so I won't begin to type it, but she is my favorite at Chavez. I don't get to see her much because her nurse hates me. (Well, to put it in perspective, the nurse hates all of us because we "disrupt" the group, i.e., the children want to play instead of sitting on a bench watching a 12-inch television that's 20-feet away.)

A little night out

2007-03-17T20:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Karina, Beto, Guiarmo, Katherine (a English teenager we met "The Chavez"), Hannah, and I are heading downtown for some food, drink, and little fun. This is a nice break for Hannah and I, as we have been running ourselves into the ground at the orphanage and "The Maria."

We spent some time at Chavez this morning. Hannah and Guiarmo followed Fabrecio (spelling???), the child with spina bifida, to his physical therapy session. The child psychologist at Chavez wants Hannah and I to teach him to walk. Of course, we don't know the first thing about teaching children with mental and physical deficiencies to walk, but the psychologist again told us we are "American psychologists." Whatever that means.

Tomorrow Sra. Linda, Beto's mother, wants to take us to LaJoya, a rural area about one hour away. We have to find a way to politely point out that Virginia's team plays tomorrow afternoon at 1:10p AST. We don't think she'll understand the urgency.

A more in-depth post to come. The novelty of living in another country is wearing off, and Hannah and I are learning some of the brutal truths underlying the many problems in Peru.

May Tennessee mop the court with UVa, and may Va Tech advance to the Sweet 16. Oh, and Mom, your box finally arrived. Que rico!

P.S. Thanks, Chuck!

Loco marzo!

2007-03-16T17:42:00.000-05:00

We have DSL, SlingPlayer (online television), and platano chips. Let's go, Hokies! Tipoff at 6:10p AST (Arequipa Standard Time). It's loco marzo en Peru!

Mosquitos

2007-03-14T21:31:00.000-05:00

Hannah wouldn't post this picture, but I feel it's muy importante. After a friendly game of Sunday soccer, I came home and found 21 mosquito bites on one leg alone (I numbered each bite with a pen so wouldn't miss any when applying Mrs. Barnhill's steroid cream)! My legs feel have felt like they've been on fire for the past three days.

To those coming to Arequipa for the first time, be sure to bring long pants and shirts. The climate is dry, so you won't overheat.

Whirlwind

2007-03-14T17:51:00.000-05:00

Wow, so much is happened. I'll try to be short on words to fit it all in, without boring everyone to tears.

I think we left off on Saturday night, so I'll pick up there. Karina, Beto, Chris and I went downtown and had "pizza" and sangria at a small restaurant. The pizza here doesn't really have tomato sauce ... or any sauce for that matter. But it's pretty good, and it was great company.

On Sunday we got up early to go to the church of Carlos, a relative of the family (married to their cousin) who lives next door to us. He and his wife attended a Christian Alliance church downtown. It was nice ... I am still really missing the fellowship I had back home at New Hope. The rest of the day I spent working on things for the upcoming week (ie: researching domestic violence and appropriate therapies for battered women). Chris played soccer ... twice! He was in heaven. That is, until he sprained his ankle pretty badly playing with some of Carlos's friends from the church. Chris stepped in a ditch and was out the rest of the game. His ankle swelled pretty badly and he had to spend all of Monday in bed working on the computer. Our family is always quick to help, and they insisted that he remain in bed with his foot elevated and covered with cloths soaked in cocaine (not kidding ... I got really worried when they brought the leaves out and told Chris they would help him get better. Apparently it's a common technique here, though). Chris also got eaten alive by mosquitos while playing outside. I'm trying to save you all from him posting a picture of his leg online ... but he'll probably do it anyway.

On Monday Chris woke up unable to walk due to his ankle. We both decided that I should go on to Hogar de Maria and Chavez de la Rosa to help our work progress. He stayed and worked all day, putting together the list of pictures and descriptions for all of the needs we identified in the orphanage. I met Guillermo at Hogar de Maria and we got a chance to speak with the psychologist. She is going to let us sit in on some of her individual therapy sessions so that we have a better idea of the process, and what we can contribute outside of individual sessions. Mostly the women and their children spend all day waiting their turn with the psychologist, so Chris and I feel that even a casual activity would be beneficial. After the meeting at Hogar de Maria we went to Chavez de la Rosa and spoke with the psychologist there. She desperately needs help working one-on-one with children, helping them with their development. Obviously Chris and I are limited by language, but she still thinks we will be a great help. Several children are very behind in their development ... some children refuse to speak, or still can't walk while other children their age are already running. I came back home on Monday a little intimidated about all we were expected to do. It seems as though everyone expects us to have this magic touch, and the knowledge to make everything ok.

On Tuesday Chris and I went to the hospital for a meeting with the main staff, along with Vicente, Jesus and Guillermo (CardioStart translators). The hospital insisted that they will be ready for the upcoming April mission, but we are still a little skeptical. It was pretty neat to act as CardioStart representatives. We made sure the hospital knew what was expected of them, and what the CardioStart team planned to do in April. We have another meeting planned for Friday morning, where the hospital staff plans to assess their progress at meeting the list of requirements CardioStart provided in September. We're hoping to have everything ready for the team well before they arrive on April 8. After the meeting at the hospital Chris and I met with a pschologist in the psychiatry wing. She gave us some notes on domestic violence, and opportunities for research. The most interesting, from my perspective, was the idea to add a Family Education program to Peru's schools (currently they have Sex Ed). She said that the problem of abuse continues because of the machismo culture ... boys are encouraged to assert their masculinity from very young. Also, children who come from abusive homes are much more likely to continue abuse within their own families. Perhaps education outside the home can increase awareness of proper conduct, and potentially displace some of the behavior they may have learned from their parents.

Tuesday night we went to see Sra. Elma off at the train station. She is going to the North of Peru for two weeks for her grandson's birthday. We're going to miss her ... I'm in charge of making breakfast every morning, which wouldn't be a problem if it was just for Chris and me ... but I have to factor in Sr. Felix's taste buds as well. Wish me luck! We also went to the supermarket Tuesday night and bought a lot of comfort food (gummies, peanut butter, etc.)We're definately not losing any weight here!

Finally to today! This morning I made breakfast for the first time ... it was a little difficult since the power was out, but luckily they have a gas stove. After breakfast Chris and I walked to the orphanage. Once there we spent some time with Febrecio ... the boy with spina bifida. He is quite a handful. He refuses to learn to walk, and knows exactly how to get attention. Chris and I felt pretty frustrated, especially since the other nurses were not giving us much freedom to work with him. We believe he needs someone firm, who won't give into his tantrums. We also "worked" with some of the older children. Basically they hung all over us, and cried whenever we put them down. These children lack a lot of stimulation during the day, and when we showed up ready to play they just got out of control. After speaking with the psychologist again we have arranaged to work with one or two kids at a time so as not to get swamped by a whole group of demanding children. At this point Chris and I are unsure how, if at all, we can begin to make up for the daily stimulation these children lack. We came back home around 1:45 pm, completely exhausted. Hopefully we'll get the hang of this work soon!

This entry has been very long ... thanks to everyone who read it! We'll keep you posted as things develop.

Happy Birthday wishes to my Mom

2007-03-14T00:08:00.000-05:00

Although it is now 1:15a in the USA, it is just past 12a in Arequipa. I want to wish my mother one more "Happy Birthday." Mom, I wish we had been able to speak over the phone or Skype tonight. We had a busy night, and unfortunately, I couldn't be home (tell you about it tomorrow). Know that I thought about you often today, and I wish I could have taken you out for dinner tonight (I knew a few good restuarants in town!) or at least given you one big hug. Hopefully Dad treated you to a nice meal, complete with his patent Giant ice cream cake.

I have a Arequipena present for you in June (or May). Love you and miss you. Talk to you soon.

Our Casa

2007-03-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

This is the front of the house we're staying in. Chris is standing outside the door and my bedroom window is directly above him.

This is the view of the neighborhood from the front of the house. Chris "The Gringo" gives it two thumbs up!

The cocina (kitchen). We're well fed (Chicken feet soup aside).

The living room.

My bedroom.

Chris's bedroom.

Karina (our new sister), me and Beto (Karina's boyfriend) in downtown Arequipa.

For more pictures of where we are living, and to see pictures from the orphanage and women's shelter, visit: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/perusers07. We'll create captions as soon as we can.

We should have a reality TV show!

2007-03-10T18:45:00.000-05:00

Goodness a lot has happened the past few days!

Yesterday, Chris and I finally got our paperwork turned in downtown to permit us to work with the children at the orphanage. It was a REALLY slow process, but hopefully we will now be able to proceed with our work. In honor of the International Day of the Women there was a conference in the Plaza de Armas. I decided to go since we hope to be working with abused women and the theme of the conference centered on familial violence. I was accompanied by one of the CardioStart volunteers in the community ... the poor guy was the only male there. It was interesting. Most of the women who attended were from poorer areas of Arequipa. One of the main speakers never showed up so most of the conference was spent stalling for time. They did a few raffles, had different "representitives" from various districts of Arequipa come forward (basically they would call out a district and a woman would run forward, declare how valuable women were, how brave, and then be applauded). The psychologist from Hogar de Maria spoke and I took notes on her speech, since Chris and I will most likely be working with her. The thing that struck me most was that the who conference centered around applauding the woman for all that she does, and for talking about how horrible familial abuse is. Many people talked about the physical and emotional scarring that women and children of abusive households go through. And yet, there was really no talk of how to proactively address the issue. The representatives from Hogar de Maria said that anyone could come and talk to professionals ... but even then abused women can only stay up to a month. There aren't many practical solutions. It will be quite a challenge for Chris and I to figure out how, if at all, we can address this issue.

Since Chris would have been bored out of his mind sitting in an auditorium listening to people speak Spanish and applaud each other, he walked to Hogar de Maria to take photos of some of the shelter's needs. We plan to make a web site with pictures of needed items and projects, along with prices in soles for buying some of the items. Hopefully CardioStart will be able to address some of the projects when they arrive in April, but we also hope that the web site will give potential donors a clear idea of what their money could support. We'll let you all know when the site is up and running! Chris also went to Chavez de la Rosa to see his new friends at the orphange. He spoke with the psychologist there (they spoke mostly in hand motions, due to the langauge barrier), but she told him that we can help the orphanage by working with this one boy (he's QUITE a handful) who has spina bifida (meaning his spinal cord is underdeveloped and therefore he can't walk). She also needs our help planning and leading activities for the older kids, who currently spend most of their morning in front of the television.

El Misti

2007-03-08T15:27:00.000-05:00

The days in Arequipa are usually cloudly enough to completely hide El Misti, the largest volcano in Arequipa. Today the cloud cover parted just long enough for me to take this picture from our rooftop, though the few clouds that were out still managed to dull the colors of the city. If you look on the right-hand side of the picture, you'll notice the two church steeples of the cathedral at the Plaza de Armas.

Last day of idleness

2007-03-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow we'll finally begin working in the orphanage and women's shelter (crossing fingers). We need to visit the city's benefits office and obtain official certification to work with small children. Sr. Felix knows someone in the office, and he should be able to help us.

We can't wait until we have slightly more freedom during the day. Right now, we are being pulled in several directions. All our Peruvian friends seem to have a facination with showing the Americans around the city. I don't know if this is a facination unique to American visitors or just visitors in general. Nevertheless, there seems to be distrust between some of our friends and our host family. Both parties want to be the ones to help us, and each party thinks they can help more, and better, than the other. This is a good problem to have. We're happy to have so many resources, but we wish we had a little more freedom to make our own choices.

As a side note, Hannah has begun translating Peruvian psychological research on domestic violence. We planned to perform an original study--and may still be able to find a unique design--but we have found many existing studies in Spanish that are currently unknown. Translating the articles may help raise awareness outside Peru.

And in conclusion, Hannah and I have met the most intelligent four-year-old on the planet. Camila, the daughter of a CardioStart volunteer, can speak English and Spanish, and she can mentally rotate geometric objects and letters. For four-year-olds, these tasks are extremely advanced. Camila can even write her name upside down. How many of you can do that?

New opportunities

2007-03-06T18:13:00.000-05:00

Hannah, Guiarmo, and I went to Hogar de Maria (the women's shelter) and Chavez de la Rosa (the adjoined orphanage) again today. Guiarmo is a CardioStart volunteer living in Peru. He recently passed all the exams necessary to begin a pharmacy career in the United States and has plenty of free time this and next month to prepare for CardioStart's arrival.

The goal for today was to tour the buildings and get a sense of how we and CardioStart can help. Before we arrived in Peru, Hannah and I assumed identifying problems would be the easy part. We were correct in one sense, as there are plenty of things that both the women's shelter and orphanage need. The greater dilemma, and the problem we faced today, was triage. The shelter and orphage need so much by American living standards that we had a hard time deciding which issues to address and which to ignore. The easy solution, especially in America, is to just throw money at problems. But even then, where do you throw it? After a women leaves the shelter, she could eat for a month on $20. But then the orphange classrooms need new tables and supplies. Would $20 of new school supplies, which could help young children learn elementary English, be a better investment? Is there a better investment? Is investment even the right perspective?

The women's shelter and orphange staff hold three specific ideas about Americans, especially young, educated Americans. First, the staff seem to think Hannah and I are trained psychologists who can invent, or borrow from the United States, a "therapy" that will dramatically change the battered women's psyche. Second, they seem to think we can teach all the children English. Third, they think we can do both right away.

After today's walk-through, Hannah and I made a brief schedule outlining our daily activities. Guiarmo will, hopefully, be with us each day.

9:30a - 11:30p: "Working" (as in "therapy," a word to which everyone here responds well) with babies and toddlers at Chavez de la Rosa. The most apparent issue we noticed is that the orphage is drastically understaffed. One nurse cares for approximately 23 children. For example, one nurse bathes 23 children, one child at a time, while the other 22 children sit crying on plastic toddler toilets. When we walked into rooms with children, they ran to us, begging for a hug or to be picked up.

11:30a -1:00p: Surveying projects for CardioStart and developing and implementing activities for women and their children at the women's shelter. Last year, CardioStart built a beautiful room atop the clinic. One year later, it sits in silence with only a defunk ab cruncher. Young children who come to the clinic with their victimized mothers end up spending days devoid of any physical activity. Perhaps we could develop programs for women and their children in this new, wonderfully-bright room. And we still hope to perform our baseline psychology study.

1:00p - 2p: Lunch. We only have an hour, so we'll probably have to take combis (transportation vans) if we come back to the house. (Don't worry, parents. Combis are monitored by the transportation department and are safe. They are not the infamous "unmarked" taxis.)

2p - 3p: Helping older children at the orphage with their schoolwork.

After 3p, we've alotted ourselves discretionary time for preparing CardioStart's mission, researching therapy techniques for the women's shelter, and teaching English lessions (perhaps earning a small amount of money).

Tomorrow, Hannah, Guiarmo, and I are going back to the clinic and taking photographs of the women's shelter and orphage. We'll use these pictures to help CardioStart's mission team prepare donations and gain a better idea of how they can help during their two weeks in Arequipa.

Overdue photos from Lima

2007-03-06T00:57:00.000-05:00

It took hours, but I finally updated the camera drivers on my laptop, and now I can upload some of the pictures we've taken along the way. Google allows you to upload photos in full-resolution, so click the thumbnails to view the actual images. Photos from inside our "bed and breakfast" in Lima are blurry when viewed in full. (I feel like I'm on MTV Cribs. Cue the salsa music.)

This is in the hallway of our apartment complex in Lima. I took the picture from a few feet inside the doorway, and to my left is a small room with a TV, a computer, and a set of lockers (see below). This apartment complex houses backpackers, and there are four rooms in the complex. We met two other people our age staying in the complex (a man from Mexico and woman from Argentina). The sliver of light coming from the end of the hall is our room.

Here's the communal room. Though our room locked, we kept our things in the lockers when we left the apartment complex.

Inside our room. The shot is tight on purpose, as the room isn't much bigger than it looks here. We had two beds, a small desk to the left, and a plump easy chair. Behind me is a balcony looking out on Barranco, Lima. Hannah will hate that I posted this picture. She looks absolutely exhausted.

Looking down the street from our balcony. We later heard Barranco is an affluent area of Lima, which makes sense: this district is less busy and less commercialized than other areas we saw. If you turn right about two blocks down, you'll find the Latin America equivalent of an American boardwalk: a brick walkway, lined with small hotels, outdoor resturants, and vendors selling snacks or hand-made crafts, leading to the beach.

Finally, one more shot from within our room. This is the baseboard adjacent to the bunk beds. Hannah and I spent nearly the whole day sitting on the bed, looking out the balcony, reading, and trying to nap between the crashes of cars hitting speed bumps at probably 40 and 50 miles an hour. While Hannah napped, I found this baseboard and thought of the different ways it embodied what we had already learned of Peru.

Culture Shock, Part I

2007-03-05T15:57:00.000-05:00

Hello family and friends!

Chris and I have experienced a lot of ups and downs over the past few days. We were both pretty sick over the weekend. I had a cold and an upset stomach and Chris's stomach was in knots. We think it's just the change in diet, and fortunately we both feel better today (thanks to my mom for the Cipro!) It didn't help Chris's stomach when we went to a "fresh" market on Saturday. The vegetable and fruit stands were fine ... but we felt faint when Sra. Elma took us by the meat. The vendors come and hang it up in their stands. Everywhere you look there are chicken heads and feet, cow tongues, and huge chunks of meat covered in flys. For some reason I've felt an extreme aversion to meat ever since ... which is unfortunate since Peruvians eat meat at pretty much every meal. And of course later that day we had what I like to call "Chicken feet soup". I don't know what the real name of it is, but I feel like that pretty much sums it up ... and I'd rather not go into the details.

It looks as though the things taken from our luggage are gone for good. The U.S. doesn't allow luggage to be locked, but apparently in Peru it's essential. We didn't see our luggage after we left D.C., so it gave plenty of time for someone to sort through it. They did a pretty thorough job too ... everything that was stolen was newly purchased and unused. At least we have our clothing and essentials.

Both Chris and I are struggling with the language. I go through phases during the day. Sometimes I have no problem communicating ... other times it's very difficult. And Chris is just starting to realize how complex another language is. But he is learning more each day, and he truly wants to have a working knowledge of the language by the end of the trip. Perhaps the most painful thing we've faced is taking freezing cold showers every day. I'm not talking about lukewarm ... when I say freezing, I mean COLD. I think Chris may have figured out how to get the water lukewarm though ... we'll see tomorrow. I guess if that's the worse thing we have to face each day we are very lucky.

On the positive side, we've made a lot of great friends here. Karina and I are getting along really well. Her boyfriend Beto is learning English, so we all have a lot of fun teaching each other. They want to take us to Cusco to see Macchu Piccu which would be great fun. Today we also met up with Vincente ... he is an amazing person and is going out of his way to help us. He took us by the women's shelter, Hogar de Maria, and the nearby orphanage. We were able to speak with the staff and make tenative plans about our schedule. Apparently we may be able to come in the mornings and take care of the small children in the orphanage (not schoolaged). We can also help organize activities for the women at the women's shelter as a kind of therapy. More on that as it develops. We also may be able to return to the orphanage after lunch to help the older children with homework and English lessons. Vicente introduced us to two young men ... Guierrmo and Jesus. They both know English and want to help us out. They've also offered to include Chris in their Sunday soccer games. Apparently it's not common for women to play, so I'll have to get my exercise elsewhere. It's good to have some new friends ... especially ones with whom Chris can communicate.

We are going to Vicente's home soon so I better wrap this up. We just want to say that we miss everyone back home and we love hearning from you. Thanks to everyone who has sent messages the past few days. Every time we go outside the house we get a lot of stares from people. I have yet to see other Americans, so we definately feel different. Karina told me the other day that when people see us they assume we are very rich, and that we have come only to give money to the people. She said, "they think that you HAVE to give ... that it's your duty." This has been a difficult concept for Chris and I, who only have time and compassion to give ... something which does not seem to be valued as much as "plata" (silver, or money).

Finally ... Clean Underwear!

2007-03-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

Hello again! Chris and I finally got our luggage this morning, only to discover that the airline had taken items out to make the suitcases weigh less. We now have to rely on our contact in Lima to get the items back ... hopefully they are still there!

We went by the women´s shelter, Casa Refugio Hogar de Maria, yesterday and spoke with the director. She said we should come by on Monday to discuss in detail what we´ll be doing. We also met a wonderful man, named Vicente, who is studying to be a pharmacist. He helps CardioStart with their mission and has offered to accompany us on Monday. He speaks English and plans to continue his study in Boston soon to become licensed as a pharmacist in the United States as well. Chris will help him with his English in exchange for playing some futbol games. We feel so fortunate to have so many people eager to help us. There have also been several offers for us to teach English at a few language institutes. We´ll have to see what we have time for.

Our host family continues to be such a blessing ... their daughter Karina is close to my age and I hope that we can become good friends. She has taken five years of English in school and can understand a lot of what Chris and I are saying, but she is too shy to speak it herself. Sr. Felix really likes Chris ... he has offered to give him Spanish lessons, and he takes great joy in watching Chris eat. He has also said that he´ll give us dancing lessons (after a showcase of local music proved that Chris and I cannot dance ... at all). We do have a lot to learn, and we are eager to start investing in places that need help around the city.

¡Hasta luego!

(Hannah)

Arequipa es muy tranquilo

2007-03-01T16:59:00.001-05:00

We arrived in Arequipa on Wednesday afternoon after a short, 1-hour flight from Lima. The Arequipa airport doesn´t have our traditional terminal gates. Instead, we got off the plane using a large staircase on wheels and walked from the runway to the main terminal. Meanwhile, a huge jet landed right behind us on the same runway. We guessed the Arequipa airport has never had problems with planes overshooting their landing zone...

Before we reached the main airport building, three Peruvians began shouting ¨Hannah, Hannah!¨After a lot of pointing, Hannah and I realized the people shouting Hannah´s name were our host family. It was probably easy for them to locate the only gringos getting off the plane.

We couldn´t have imagined a more kind, accomodating host family. Mr. Alvarlez, or Senor Felix, as we call him, is retired from public administration. He seems to be a generous man who enjoys his family, country, and giving to others. Mrs. Alvarez, Senora Elma, has a warm personality and seems to enjoy cooking for us. (As a side note, Hannah has yet to put away everything Sra. Elma cooks, but I´ve had no trouble at all.) The Alvarez´s have two children, but only one, Karina (her name is similar in spelling to the Spanish word for sweetheart), who currently lives at the house. Karina is 25 years old and works in downtown Arequipa, less than 10 minutes from the house. She works in securities, which we think translates to insurance. Neither Sr. Felix, Sra. Elma, nor Karina speak English, though Karina seems to understand more English than she lets on. Karina´s novio (boyfriend), Beto, frequents the house. He´s a physician in La Hoya and speaks some English--actually, he probably speaks more English than I do Spanish (he joked that I speak Spanglish).

We are typing this at an Internet Cafe just a few blocks from the house, and we don´t have much time remaining on our account. Karina called an Internet company today about getting wireless in the house. We look forward to being able to check our mail, and ESPN, on a regular basis. For now, suffice it to say we are comfortable, happy, and getting plenty of food and sleep. Oh, and we´re getting our suitcases tonight, which means Hannah will have her retainer and I´ll have a new set of underwear.

Hasta Luego!

(Chris)

Somewhere...literally... in Lima

2007-02-27T15:39:00.001-05:00

Well ... we´re alive! We made it into Lima at about 3 a.m. and then spent another hour trying to figure out where our luggage was. We saw it bording the plane in D.C., so we´re pretty sure it´s chilling out in Canada. But it sure would be nice to have some clean underwear. It would also be nice if Air Canada could tell us for sure that they know where our bags are. We were picked up at the airport by Eliana ... the poor thing waited for us for hours! She drove us to a bed and breakfast that her cousin owns in Barrocco ... and artsy subdivision of Lima. Chris and I are sharing a room with bunkbeds, and starting the sweaty adjustment process to the climate. No one else seems to think it´s hot here, but we are roasting! Our room is also convieniently located overlooking a busy street. The street was pretty quiet for the first ...umm.. 2 hours this morning. After that it sounded like a tanker truck on three wheels with no muffler was barrelling down the hall right outside our door. I only wish I was kidding. It´s proving impossible to sleep. Chris and I only hope that the street doesn´t get much traffic for at least a few solid hours tonight.

We had a great breakfast this morning at a store right next door to the place we´re staying. After that we went for a walk and somehow found the ocean. The Pacific! It was hot, especially considering that we only had jeans packed in our overnight bags. After that short tour of the area near our room we sort of hid indoors for the rest of the day ... trying to nap but having a hard time drowning out all the noise. Eliana is getting off work soon, and so we are waiting for her to show us a good place to have lunch. She´s also going to help us find some essential clothing items to tide us over until our luggage appears. Tomorrow it´s off to Arequipa, and we are very excited to get there!

Despite some of these early inconviences, we are happy to be together, and we have faith that God is looking after us. If only he could locate our luggage soon! Oh ... and I recently found out that I have been accepted to both Old Dominion and William and Mary. Now if only I could decide what exactly I want to do with my life!

(Hannah)

Blog up and running

2007-02-21T23:02:00.000-05:00

The blog is now up and running. We'll be flying out of D.C. on the 26th, arriving in Lima on the morning of the 27th, and flying out of Lima to Arequipa on the 28th. Once we can find a stable Internet connection, we'll try to update on a daily basis. Hasta luego (until later)...