Travel is never dull, that's for sure.
Made a pit stop in the beach town of Paracas to see the pelican man, had lunch, and continued on our way to Lima. Had some van issues about 10 miles from Lima, resulting in Victor only being able to drive in 2nd gear....so that added to some fun stories of strange motorcycles & potty breaks.... But, thankfully we made it back safe & sound, with enough time to pack, and get ready for the airport. Had our last meal in Peru - pizza, and headed to the airport around 1030pm. As the flight was at 230am, check in started at 1130pm. Girls got all checked in, easy peasy, and came up to find us in Starbucks. Had a surprise for them....just as they were semi-calmed from crying, we surprised them with a couple of the boys from Las Lomas....and here came the water works. :)
We then had to sadly say our good-byes, but really not a good-bye but more of a "See you soon!"... and off they went.
First flight to Panama went smoothly, 2nd flight was delayed as they had to change the tires on the plane. Tires are important!!! Found the shuttle and off they went. Made it home safe & sound!
Thank you to Group #3 for being such a blessing to the community of Las Lomas. I know you fell in love with them as much as they fell in love with you. Thank you for your time & energy this summer of spending quality time with a community very different from your own. Thank you to Voices4Peru & Daniel Klopp for welcoming us with open arms. It was definitely a summer we won't forget!!
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Day 9-10: Huacachina
Friday we did a quick tour of the Miraflores district of Lima. The kids did some shopping at the Inca Market, got La Lucha for lunch (yummmmmm), and made a quick stop at Love Park before hitting the road. We headed south 4+ hours to the province of Ica, to the city/oasis of Huacachina. It's basically an oasis in the desert. We stayed at Las Bananas hostel, which is always a new experience for my gringos. Ordered some pizza for dinner and just relaxed and hung out after our long day in the car. It's a bit warmer down here, so hoping to see some sun tomorrow for our buggy ride!
Saturday we got up for breakfast and then did some exploring of the town of Huacachina, which sits around a lake/lagoon. It was pretty quiet in the town....and we soon found out why. Friday afternoon a buggy flipped over and a German tourist died, the driver lost both his legs, and 9 other tourists were injured. Terrible. Hasn't happened for years....and definitely not the company we use - at all. The owner of the company we use is super safe and has even let drivers go for being too reckless out in the dunes. He is constantly doing safety checks on his drivers and on the buggies. Sadly, the police shut down the national park and no buggies could enter....we find out later that, as of Wed, no buggies have run yet. So, we ended up with a chill day, and after the tears of Thursday, I think it was okay. Girls just relaxed, wandered, sat in the hammocks, just chilled. Had a nice BBQ dinner, played some games - spoons, twister, war....and enjoyed the beautiful sun that came out - what a nice surprise!
Tomorrow we get up and head home- long day of travel back to Lima and back to the States
Saturday we got up for breakfast and then did some exploring of the town of Huacachina, which sits around a lake/lagoon. It was pretty quiet in the town....and we soon found out why. Friday afternoon a buggy flipped over and a German tourist died, the driver lost both his legs, and 9 other tourists were injured. Terrible. Hasn't happened for years....and definitely not the company we use - at all. The owner of the company we use is super safe and has even let drivers go for being too reckless out in the dunes. He is constantly doing safety checks on his drivers and on the buggies. Sadly, the police shut down the national park and no buggies could enter....we find out later that, as of Wed, no buggies have run yet. So, we ended up with a chill day, and after the tears of Thursday, I think it was okay. Girls just relaxed, wandered, sat in the hammocks, just chilled. Had a nice BBQ dinner, played some games - spoons, twister, war....and enjoyed the beautiful sun that came out - what a nice surprise!
Tomorrow we get up and head home- long day of travel back to Lima and back to the States
Thursday, August 9, 2018
Day 8: Thursday: Last Day = Tears
Well, we all knew today was going to be hard, but it was sure harder than we expected. Just goes to show what amazing hearts these kids have. Amongst the tears at dinner, one commented about the hole in her heart....to which I said, it's not a hole that makes your heart hurt, it's that you have so much love in your heart, that your heart has grown and that's why it hurts.
Our last day of camp was so much fun! Lots of kids - the old stand-bys and some new ones. Played volleyball, dodgeball, Sharks/Minnows, we danced, we did the limbo, did musical chairs - so great to watch this community come together and play with complete strangers! We gifted out about 60 gift bags and took a group pic at the end of the day...and then came the good-byes. Needless to say, the girls bawled the whole way to dinner and pretty much all through dinner. Ice cream helped, but it was a quiet ride home. Back to the house we came to pack up for our sand dune adventure this weekend, but it's pretty quiet in the house tonight. Lots of full hearts and happy/sad faces. Just shows me what amazing kids are on this trip!!!!
Our last day of camp was so much fun! Lots of kids - the old stand-bys and some new ones. Played volleyball, dodgeball, Sharks/Minnows, we danced, we did the limbo, did musical chairs - so great to watch this community come together and play with complete strangers! We gifted out about 60 gift bags and took a group pic at the end of the day...and then came the good-byes. Needless to say, the girls bawled the whole way to dinner and pretty much all through dinner. Ice cream helped, but it was a quiet ride home. Back to the house we came to pack up for our sand dune adventure this weekend, but it's pretty quiet in the house tonight. Lots of full hearts and happy/sad faces. Just shows me what amazing kids are on this trip!!!!
Day 7: Wednesday: DayCare, Camp & Soccer
We left a bit early today and headed up to Ventanilla, but instead of heading up the Hill to Las Lomas, we went to visit another community, Pachacutec and a day care in Wawawasi. It's a community mainly made up of people from the mountains, hard working, humble people. There s a day care we try to visit with donations as they have no Voices4Peru to support them. We stayed about 15 min as it was lunch time, and brought some simple toys and clothes for them.
Day 3 brought the kids a hike up to the top of the antenna and the hills of Las Lomas. With some great Peruvians guides, off for an hour long hike they went. Kate stayed behind and helped me sort clothes. After they returned, we got going on games, dancing, and fun. We played Sharks & Minnows - huge fan favorite, but they all cheat and cry, so i'm not real sure why they want to play it so much lol. We did a relay game with a very small spoon and a fuseball. Our big final game was volleyball with a beach ball.
After another delicious dinner, we headed to our last soccer practice only to find the electricity to that block was out, so they were playing in the semi-dark. lol We gifted out vitamins to the kids and they were much appreciative!! The lights came back on for the 1st division practice, so we stayed til the end and gifted out vitamins to them too...and sadly said out good-byes to those kids. They have all made us feel so welcome, tomorrow is going to be hard......
Day 3 brought the kids a hike up to the top of the antenna and the hills of Las Lomas. With some great Peruvians guides, off for an hour long hike they went. Kate stayed behind and helped me sort clothes. After they returned, we got going on games, dancing, and fun. We played Sharks & Minnows - huge fan favorite, but they all cheat and cry, so i'm not real sure why they want to play it so much lol. We did a relay game with a very small spoon and a fuseball. Our big final game was volleyball with a beach ball.
After another delicious dinner, we headed to our last soccer practice only to find the electricity to that block was out, so they were playing in the semi-dark. lol We gifted out vitamins to the kids and they were much appreciative!! The lights came back on for the 1st division practice, so we stayed til the end and gifted out vitamins to them too...and sadly said out good-byes to those kids. They have all made us feel so welcome, tomorrow is going to be hard......
Day 6: Tuesday: Camp Day 2
Another great day up the hill!! After our morning Starbucks & Metro run, we headed up the Hill for Day 2 of camp. Most of our days start with some dancing, but today we started with some bubbles. HUGE hit! Watching the kids do bubbles with the little ones and watching them try to pop them... priceless!! We did get some dancing in again today - crowd favorite!! Did some Duck Duck Goose too...and they play that real well. Did some balloon pop where they run down to a chair & sit on a balloon to pop it. Hilarious to watch the little kids try to pop their balloon. We did some pass the Hula Hoops.Out last relay was to put a ball between 2 people on their backs and have them watch down and back. A fun new one to add to our toolbox! We ended the day with some good old fashioned dodgeball. After another delicious dinner, I made good on the bet and bought the girls ice cream! Way to go clean plate club!!!
Our early night home allowed us to sort out vitamins and gift bags. We sorted all the donated vitamins into baggies of 50 to be able to gift to the soccer boys Wednesday. The kitchen looked like a bad scene out of Breaking Bad! lol We also decided to gift out bags to the kids on our last day. We filled them with candy, suckers, toys, socks and a stuffed animal. We made 42, so hopefully that will be enough....but cool if we have more kids show!!
Our early night home allowed us to sort out vitamins and gift bags. We sorted all the donated vitamins into baggies of 50 to be able to gift to the soccer boys Wednesday. The kitchen looked like a bad scene out of Breaking Bad! lol We also decided to gift out bags to the kids on our last day. We filled them with candy, suckers, toys, socks and a stuffed animal. We made 42, so hopefully that will be enough....but cool if we have more kids show!!
Monday, August 6, 2018
Day 5: Monday: Camp & Soccer
Today was the first day of our sports camp of games with the kids! What a blast!
We left around 11 and made a Starbucks run (of course), and then headed up to Ventanilla. Takes about an hour to get there with all the crazy traffic. First stop was lunch: chicken, potato & rice in a delicious green sauce! Yum!! Potty break & shopping fun at Metro and then up the hill we went. A few kid were already there, so we blew up some balloons to prep for a game and got the tunes playing. Did some dancing to the ever popular Macarena, YMCA, chicken dance, Hokey Pokey, Cupid Shuffle, etc.... Played a round of musical chairs as well as Sharks & Minnows (Tiburones). Next up was MataGente (Dodgeball). Afterwards, we split the kids (and the gringos) into 4 teams and did an obstacle course with them. We then did Dress like a Gringo, which always brings laughter to moms maybe more than the gringos! Last up was Tug of War. We played the 4 teams against each other and then did Peruvians vs. Gringos What a gran battle it was!! It was great to see many old and some new faces there - probably had 40+ kids play with us today!!
We went down the hill for dinner (chicken saltado), and then headed to soccer practice. There are 2 practice times: 6-8pm is the Juniors (12-16 yr olds). The gringos were divided up onto teams and played with the boys, and then we ended with a Peruvians vs. the Gringos....sadly tonight we lost :( From 8-10pm are the older boys (18-25 y/o). Many of them have a sponsor who pays for their college ($150/month) and there are many still looking for a sponsor so they can study to be accountants, truck drivers, hotel & management, veterinarians, etc....
All in all, a great day....a bit chilly, but it's winter here so it's to be expected.
Another day of games coming our way tomorrow - cannot wait!!!
We left around 11 and made a Starbucks run (of course), and then headed up to Ventanilla. Takes about an hour to get there with all the crazy traffic. First stop was lunch: chicken, potato & rice in a delicious green sauce! Yum!! Potty break & shopping fun at Metro and then up the hill we went. A few kid were already there, so we blew up some balloons to prep for a game and got the tunes playing. Did some dancing to the ever popular Macarena, YMCA, chicken dance, Hokey Pokey, Cupid Shuffle, etc.... Played a round of musical chairs as well as Sharks & Minnows (Tiburones). Next up was MataGente (Dodgeball). Afterwards, we split the kids (and the gringos) into 4 teams and did an obstacle course with them. We then did Dress like a Gringo, which always brings laughter to moms maybe more than the gringos! Last up was Tug of War. We played the 4 teams against each other and then did Peruvians vs. Gringos What a gran battle it was!! It was great to see many old and some new faces there - probably had 40+ kids play with us today!!
We went down the hill for dinner (chicken saltado), and then headed to soccer practice. There are 2 practice times: 6-8pm is the Juniors (12-16 yr olds). The gringos were divided up onto teams and played with the boys, and then we ended with a Peruvians vs. the Gringos....sadly tonight we lost :( From 8-10pm are the older boys (18-25 y/o). Many of them have a sponsor who pays for their college ($150/month) and there are many still looking for a sponsor so they can study to be accountants, truck drivers, hotel & management, veterinarians, etc....
All in all, a great day....a bit chilly, but it's winter here so it's to be expected.
Another day of games coming our way tomorrow - cannot wait!!!
Day 4: Sunday: Swimming with Sea lions
Today we headed down to the port to go swim with sea lions. There is a colony outside of Lima on the Palomina Islands where oodles of sea lions (lobos) live. They have no natural predators up here as there are no sharks in this area. We boarded out water taxi that took us out to our boat, where is was a bunch of Peruvians and us 7 gringos. The ride out lasted about 90 minutes and, even though we all took Dramamine prior to departure, it was pretty rough once we made the turn around San Lorenzo island and were out in the open seas. We all just went to our 'happy place' and survived without vomiting...but it was touch and go there for a while. The 4 girls who decided to go in got their wet suits on, and Diego joined in the fun as well. Carly was the brave one and volunteered to jump in first. The water was a balmy 65 degrees (at best), so was a bit of a shock to the system but then they adjusted. They swam out towards the sea lions and some swam near them but none touched them. After about 20 min, they returned to the boat, exhausted, but glad they did it. We took the long way back to the port and missed seeing the penguins so as to avoid the horrid waves.
Back on dry land, we headed back to the apartment, showered and changed, and went to Plaza Salaveery for dinner at Papacho's, a typical Peruvian restaurant with great burgers! After a gelatto dessert, we headed back home, exhausted but lots of awesome memories!!
Back on dry land, we headed back to the apartment, showered and changed, and went to Plaza Salaveery for dinner at Papacho's, a typical Peruvian restaurant with great burgers! After a gelatto dessert, we headed back home, exhausted but lots of awesome memories!!
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Day 3: Saturday: Lima, Soccer & Oansa
Today we got up and headed downtown Lima to take a tour of the city center. All the buildings downtown have a colonial style, beautiful architecture & bright colors. We parked and headed in the drizzling rain to the cathedral & catacombs. Peeked in the church while waiting for our English tour...only to find a memorial service going on. Kids did a catacombs tour with Diego, might have gotten a bit lost, snuck some illegal pics....but all is good! We headed around the corner toward the main square and the Presidential Palace. The square is surrounded by this yellow/mustard colored buildings with beautiful wooden porches. There's another cathedral there too and a fountain in the middle of the square. Took some pics & off we went, heading north towards Ventanilla.
After a delicious lomo saltado lunch, we went to a soccer game. V4P has a soccer team who just took 2nd place in the Ventanilla tournament, and qualified for the Copa Peru. Copa Peru is a regional tournament of 16 teams. Our first game was at 4 today against a team from the Callao. It was tied 0-0 at half when we left...and found out later they ended in a tie 1-1.
We headed up the hill for Oansa. It's like Sunday School for the 6-12 yr olds. The start out by dividing up the kids into 4 teams, and heading out to the court to play games. Most of the games involve them running around in a circle and racing toward the middle for the bottle. My gringos were able to play and were divided up onto teams. Fun to watch them participate with the Peruvians and negotiate the language. After many many rounds and many may varieties of the game, we headed inside while the kids broke into groups for a bible study. We then sang songs with them, listened to a short bible story, and found out the winning team. We also invited them to come play games with us Mon-Thurs next week, so I guess we'd better be prepared!!
We headed back down the hill for another amazing meal: Chaufa. And, even Kayla joined the Clean Plate Club tonight!!!!!!
Back up the hill we went for Youth Group. As part of their 'contract,' all the soccer boys must attend 2 Saturday Youth Groups to be eligible to play. Many of them filtered in late as they were playing and freshening up, but was good to see them all there. My gringos did pretty well with the songs - having the lyrics on the screen helped. Was great to see a community come together as it wasn't just all soccer boys & the gringos.
Another spectacular, but long day. Home to be to rest up for the sea lions tomorrow!!
After a delicious lomo saltado lunch, we went to a soccer game. V4P has a soccer team who just took 2nd place in the Ventanilla tournament, and qualified for the Copa Peru. Copa Peru is a regional tournament of 16 teams. Our first game was at 4 today against a team from the Callao. It was tied 0-0 at half when we left...and found out later they ended in a tie 1-1.
We headed up the hill for Oansa. It's like Sunday School for the 6-12 yr olds. The start out by dividing up the kids into 4 teams, and heading out to the court to play games. Most of the games involve them running around in a circle and racing toward the middle for the bottle. My gringos were able to play and were divided up onto teams. Fun to watch them participate with the Peruvians and negotiate the language. After many many rounds and many may varieties of the game, we headed inside while the kids broke into groups for a bible study. We then sang songs with them, listened to a short bible story, and found out the winning team. We also invited them to come play games with us Mon-Thurs next week, so I guess we'd better be prepared!!
We headed back down the hill for another amazing meal: Chaufa. And, even Kayla joined the Clean Plate Club tonight!!!!!!
Back up the hill we went for Youth Group. As part of their 'contract,' all the soccer boys must attend 2 Saturday Youth Groups to be eligible to play. Many of them filtered in late as they were playing and freshening up, but was good to see them all there. My gringos did pretty well with the songs - having the lyrics on the screen helped. Was great to see a community come together as it wasn't just all soccer boys & the gringos.
Another spectacular, but long day. Home to be to rest up for the sea lions tomorrow!!
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