Day 05: Girl’s Café Day and Triple Carbs!

This morning included waking up at the crack of dawn in order to hike to a place my friends and I could peacefully watch the sunrise over Huascaran- the tallest and arguably the most beautiful snow-capped mountain in Peru. Until the sunrise, this expedition proved to be anything but peaceful. As our posse trail-blazed (possibly through someone’s backyard…oops) we came across a massive spotted-pig snoring on the shoulder. Continuing our exploration of the trail, we came to a fork in the road and veered off right. Which is ironic because it was not the right way. It led us down to a seemingly serene stream in the gorge. We decided to go rock-hopping and of course I fell and now have a huge painful knot on the side of my leg; also being completely blinded to the sunrise due to the layer of dense foliage above us, we decided to venture back up the trail and take a different, more promising trail. But apparently none of us are lucky because this trail led us directly into someone’s backyard where there dog chased us and we ran for our lives. Naturally, we got somewhat turned around after this escapade and frantically began searching for the trail back to Kusi as the sun was about to rise in 30 minutes. By the grace of God we found a trail that led us back and we were able to sit (and nurse all of our wounds) as we watched the sun rise over Huascaran.

For lunch we were able to go a café called Kawaq- Yaku (Ketchwa for “Living water”). Kawaq- Yaku is a café operated by two missionaries affiliated with Scripture Union and their goal is specifically to support the boys of Kusi with the revenue generated by the café. Apart from the ketchup which apparently Peruvians like with eight times the normal amount of vinegar added in, the food was delicious; they serve American dishes with a Peruvian twist added in. The atmosphere is cozy. To further illuminate the two collusion of the two cultures, they played Mumford and Sons with a traditional Hispanic beat mixed in - it was awesome.

-        Kellyanna

Once the girls returned we began to prepare for our VBS in the afternoon. This included the usual practicing of songs in the kitchen, putting together all the crafts (which today involved gluing together two popsicle sticks to form a craft that los niños would then decorate with shells, shout out to the moms for setting up the crafts every day), and rehearsing the skits. Once the kids arrived, we began to play with them up on the soccer field until it was time to start with the official first game, which today was a scuba relay race. Afterwards, we sang our theme song (Sumergido) with them. Around forty plus kids showed up and participated with us.

That night we had a traditional Peruvian meal of rice, French fries, and beef stir fry. Of course, like every meal we have had, it was also served with pan (bread) – leading us to discover the “Genius!” (as Lauren would say) of a triple carb meal. We fully intend on marketing this triple carb diet upon our return to America. One of the kids, José, created a French fry sandwich, which was also rather genius. After dinner we ran around with the kids in the court yard (it should be noted that these are the most energetic kids I have ever encountered in my life) and gave them piggy back / shoulder rides. Once we had sufficiently worn them down, we returned inside to play various board games, all of which were American and in English so we had to modify rules based on our ability to explain the game.

-        Danny  

 Andres preparing for the relay.

 Our theme verse for the week: Psalm 139:23-24

 The many children who attended the VBS, along with Rosa (left), the house mother.

Photo Gallery

Photos from Mr. Bas

Bricks set out to dry - Prepping for some dusty work!

The boys!

Crafts at VBS

           

Ready for the hike

Chores!

Games!

Day 04: Hiking Through Peru

After our breakfast of yogurt and cereal (yes, we ate them together, but I promise it’s normal here), we prepared ourselves for a hike with liberal applications of sunscreen and bug spray. Once we were all thoroughly covered from head to toe, we began to make our way over the river and through the woods to a national cemetery located at the original location of Yungay. Over 20,000 bodies are buried there after a major earthquake had decimated the entire town in 1970. Following this Peru declared the area a national cemetery and has since then never excavated it.

-        Danny

Later that day, we went to the town of Caraz. The town is vibrant with colors and la comida es muy bueno. Our first stop was the bakery where we loaded up on tons of pastries and ice cream. Next we explored the market. The market is filled with various smells ranging from the delicious scents of exotic spices to the occasional not as pleasant whiffs of fecal matter. The items being sold were as various as the scents- live guinea pigs (for eating) to hand-woven blankets. It was quite the experience and learning how to haggle with the vendors was interesting; I definitely got swindled a couple times. Jacob and Katherine both bought guinea pigs to eat which we brought back with us to Kusi and ended the day with a nice dinner of fried guinea pig. (I did not eat the guinea pig because they were cruelly stuffed into bags and squealed the entire bus ride back to Kusi- Andrew Bansek enjoyed eating one of the heads and I might not ever forgive him.)

-        - Kellyanna

Later in the afternoon we began our second day of VBS. Today we split in groups, half of the SouthLake students ran VBS and the other half worked on paving sidewalks and continuing to prep for paint work. The VBS was run at Kusi today, which seemed to work much better. We had a turn out between 30 to 35 children, some from the boy’s home and some from the school. The children were much more engaged and were genuinely excited to be there. They participated in our songs and responded to the questions we asked them (something that did not happen when we went to the school to do it). The children were very excited to make their craft today as well, which was a periscope. The children always ask if they are allowed to keep the crafts and initially try to return them to me. However, it’s easy enough to explain in Spanish that it is theirs. 

- Danny 

Day 03: Submerged in Work

After a good night’s sleep, in our Windy Gap comparable accommodations, and a breakfast of scrambled eggs, we immersed ourselves in preparations for our very first VBS. For starters, a hundred and twenty climbing Zacchaeus’s had to be cut and divided into groups. Following that, we began practicing our two songs and corresponding hand motions (“Sumergido” and “Me Conoces” which can be found on YouTube, if you are curious). Coordinating twenty highschoolers to do the same exact dance is more difficult than one would imagine, and we took all the practice we could get. Additionally, we had a last minute run through of the full VBS before loading up into three vans and heading our way to the local school where we would be hosting day one of the VBS in hopes to encourage the children to make their way up to Kusi for the rest of the days.

Upon arrival, the children began swarming me and chasing the pelota grande (translation: big ball). Cayla and I played monkey in the middle with some second graders before I passed it onto to Preston who ran around the court yard with a swarm of small Peruvian children chasing him (pictured, if I remember), but all good things must come to the end and the adults told us to put the ball away.  We began our VBS with going over our theme, “Jesus Sees, Jesus Knows, Jesus Saves.” After that we did our main song, “Sumergido” with minimal participation from the children. However, as we progressed the kids became more involved and participated when we did the songs for a second time. Shuffling the children back to their respective classrooms, we began to show the kids how to make their Zacchaeus craft that we had prepared in the morning (our Bible story for the day was about the Zacchaeus, for clarification). The children were a lot of fun to work with one on one. Some would ask for help drawing trees or people, while other kids would show off their artwork to us. After pointing to a classroom rule that they must clean up before they can go home, they helped us clean up all of our art supplies. 

Once we made our way back up the mountain, we were given soup for lunch and an hour break before returning to begin our first experience of manual labor on the trip. One group was assigned to sanding down bookshelves, another group was assigned to make bricks that will eventually be put towards building an adobe hut for Kusi, and the last group was in charge of prepping a wall for paint. I eagerly joined the “brick squad” to fulfill a lifelong dream of making my own bricks (I have weird goals, okay?). While I ended covered in mud, I was not nearly as bad as the paint prep group who were covered head to toe in white plaster. In our eagerness to have a hot shower after work, we turned on all of our hot water heaters, which unfortunately caused the power to go out, and no one got hot showers. But it’s okay, they say cold showers are better for you anyway. Tomorrow we will continue brick making and sanding, and have our second day of VBS.