La Guardaría

One of the sites we go to is the guardaría, the day care. The building was built entirely by short-term teams. It was built on an old garbage dump near another garbage dump, so kids whose parents work in the dump can come and get a good meal and have a safe place. All the kids at the daycare have sponsors (though a few still are waiting for sponsors). Three days a week, the day care hosts Inca Link kids, and the other three days it hosts Compassion International kids. They eat lunch there, learn how to brush their teeth and wash their hands, and are taught a Bible lesson.


There's me and my girls Jesús and Antonela. (Photo credit Ray Majoran)



When we visit the daycare, teams often have a Bible lesson prepared, we sing songs, and we take them out to the "canchita" -- the soccer court-- to play. The kids are like little monkeys. They climb right up into your arms and cling to you for the afternoon. Kisses they give you free. Most just want your attention.


Jordan and some cuties.

Their ages range from 3 to 17. Many are siblings. The older kids look after the younger ones. Sometimes they get kind of crazy, but they're always fun. It's a hopeful place.

(Photo credit: Amber Kasnick)

Trujillo

Since May 21, I have not slept in the same bed for more than 7 consecutive nights. I'll break my record tonight... and reach 9 until I move into a new bedroom to make space for the team that's coming in on Friday.

In total, I've spent about two weeks in Trujillo. The first week was training with the interns, Lisa Merritt, and the Wellers. We are staying in a guest house called Helping Hands. It's in a really nice area and there's a beautiful park across the street. That's me and Lauren en el parque grande.
The giant, maze-like house sleeps 55 people and has at least 12 bathrooms. It's a very comfortable place, which is nice because we have long days of physically and emotionally taxing work.

That's me in my room... by the bed I've slept in the most :)

After the first week, I went back to the USA for my brother's wedding in Utah. It was beautiful.

However, going from serving the poor in Peru to staying in one of the biggest ski resorts in the United States was a bit of reverse culture shock. The suites and luxury houses were quite the contrast to the small brick, dirt floor houses I see here. I can hardly swallow the fact people own multi-million dollar homes that they live in for part of the year. And after swallowing it, it sits and churns in my stomach. I want to puke.

I know I'm rich.

Now I'm back in Trujillo. I've been back for about a week. We've had our first team here. I wasn't the team leader, so I haven't been with them all the time, but I have spent some time with them and different sites. Most days, teams work at the construction site building a children's home. The teams also spend an afternoon at Inca Link's daycare and an afternoon visiting people in the garbage dump. Because I wasn't leading the team, I got to pick when I went to what sites or other ministries. I spent a few mornings at the construction site, two afternoons at the daycare, and one at the dump. The rest of the time, I planned and worked on my Creative Summer Project, which I am excited about and will blog about later.

I'm glad to be back in Trujillo. I felt comfortable right away. Being here feels right.

En la Frontera

We left Quito at 8:15 pm on a bus to the border of Peru. The first 12 hour bus ride wasn't so bad. We played some rounds of 20 questions, I popped some Tylenol PM, and slept off and on until 6 am. We got to the Ecuador border town at about 7 am. We got our exit stamps and walked through no-man's land. Legally no where.

We took taxis to the bus station to recover our bags. As soon as we got to the station, we were affronted by "taxistas" who wanted to take us to the Peruvian customs in a town about 30 minutes away. They told us one bus line had a bus leaving at nine am, and they could get us there in time.

One man piled all of our giant suitcases and duffle bags on top of a cart, which he proceeded to pull through the streets of the little town and across the border into Peru. They took us to a car yard, haggled prices and insisted on using three small cars instead of two big cars, all the while offering to buy our US dollars for 2.08 soles... the exchange rate is 2.8 soles to the dollar.

First they drove us to customs. At customs, the officials gave us papers to fill out. Non-officials "offered" to fill the papers out for us for a small fee. A man took my paper and said "Passport?" to me. I clutched my passport tightly and held it close to my chest. "No way, guey," I said and snatched my paper from his grimy hand.

After we all went through, we climbed in the taxis and made our way to the bus station. A few minutes into the drive, the taxista shoved is hand toward us palm open, demanding for five dollars to get gas. We looked at the gas level on the dashboard. It read "full." We said no, he persisted. We continued to say no. He finally relented.

They dropped us off at the bus station with the said 9 o'clock bus and sped off. There was no 9 o'clock bus. Mentirosas. The next bus was at 7 in the evening.

Lisa and Cory left to find another station. The rest of us waited at the liar's station with all of our bags. They found one with an 11 o'clock bus. We dragged our bags through town, making a spectacle of ourselves. Miren a los gringos con tantas maletas grandes.

We made it to the station, bought tickets and snacks to sustain us until 11 pm. We past coast line and hours upon hours of desert. After 27 hours of travel, mostly boring but with adventure in the middle, we arrived in Trujillo, our summer home.

The Amazing Race

Every year, IncaLink interns compete in an "Amazing Race" all around Ecuador for four days. In teams of three to four, we traveled from town to town, learned how to use the buses, and completed various challenges ("cultural experiences). Here are some things an intern may do during the Amazing Race:

1. Ride a bus to Mindo.
2. Get sick on the bus to Mindo... then miss all but the last day of the race.
3. Take a quiz about Ecuador.
4. Hike up the mountain to "Canopy Adventures" and proceed to ride 13 zip-lines over the jungle canopy and through the misty clouds.
5. Take a pick-up truck to Los Bancos. Make bologna sandwiches in the back of the truck and pass them through the window to those in the cabin, including the driver.
6. Take a bus to Santo Domingo, then El Carmen. Then ride in a truck to the Alliance Church in Bramadura.
7. Play soccer against nationals. An intern may sprain an ankle while playing.
8. Catch a chicken.
9. Ride a chiva (a bus with seats on top)... and some chickens.
10. Buy various items at a market.
11. Ride a moto to a house.
12. Make lunch with said items from market at said house with an Ecuadorian family.
13. "Machete" grass.
14. Take a five hour bus ride to Riobamba.
15. Make a fort on the bus with extra sweatshirts and change into warmer pants.
16. Eat at a Texas Grill.
17. Hike up a cobblestone road to a farming community.
18. Harvest potatoes.
19. Ride a burro.
20. Buy maracuyas at a market to make juice.
21. Take a bunch of buses to a bunch of different towns.
22. Watch guinea pigs be killed, skin them, cook them, then eat them for dinner and call it "cuy".
23. Watch a volcano erupt 12 miles away.
24. Wake up at 4 am to the boom of the volcano and be rather convinced there is lava flowing down the street (even though there isn't).
25. Take a truck to Bolivar and hop on a bus whose driver says it's going to Pelileo, but really goes to Huambalo and back to Bolivar before going to Pelileo.
26. Ride to Ambato then Quito.
27. Learn the song "Chulla Quiteño" on the bus from strangers.
28. Take the Trolley around Quito.
29. Walk right past the Alliance Church (the first Evangelical church in Ecuador), and go way farther to Catholic church with a similar name.
30. Eat lunch in a plaza. Share the extras with some kids.

We Made it to Ecuador!

After a week of training in Ensendada, Mexico and Los Angelos, California, along with a far too long stay in the Miami airport, we finally made it to Ecuador. At training, we did work projects, had guest speakers, and met other intern teams who will be serving all around the world this summer. We enjoyed the other teams and were sad to leave them, even though we spent less than a week together.

On Friday, our teams moved on to our sites... or tried to. Due to volcanic activity in Guayaquil, Ecuador, our flights to Quito were either cancelled or postponed (yeah, I know, I have really lousy luck getting to Latin America). We spent Friday night at a hotel in Miami trying to figure out new flight plans. None of us knew Miami, so we walked around until we found a Cuban restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, prayed together, and went to bed.

Saturday morning, we got up at 3 am -- some of us for the second day in a row. Four of us were scheduled to fly out at 6 am, three at 6:30 pm and three more at 6:30 pm on Sudnay. We all went to the airport to see if we could get the Sunday departures an earlier flight. We couldn't. There were too many people trying to fly to Quito.

I was part of the 6:30 pm Saturday group. One other intern(Samantha Gale) and I left the airport to save our sanity, but the others stayed to save their money. First we took a cab to IHOP for breakfast, mostly because that's where the driver suggested and we were hungry for second breakfast at 6 am. So, we got to IHOP, spoke Spanish with the servers, and looked up the address of Panera Bread in a phone book. We wanted internet, comfy chairs, and good food. There were a few listings, so we asked a group of Miami Cops having breakfast which was closest to the airport.

We spent a good four hours in a corner of Panera. We took little naps, had some snacks and grabbed lunch to go. It was perfect. Then we went back to the airport (and paid a lot for a cab). We waited with the others, the Sunday group was still trying to get a different flight. Eventually, we parted ways, and the three of us flew to Quito.

After landing in Quito, going through customs, and finding our bags, some Inca Link-ers picked us up at brought us to Casa Blanca, the guest house that Inca Link runs.

Yesterday, those of us who were here went to El Refugio, a camp just outside of Quito that does team building and has ropes courses. If you know Megan Moberly, El Refugio was where she worked last year, which was a fun connection for me. We made a contract with each other to always give 110%, challenge by choice, be here now, and choose joy. Our team is really awesome, and I'm excited to work with them all summer.

Today, we have the day off. Hallelujah. We need it.

And tomorrow, we are starting the "Amazing Race!" We are going to be traveling in small groups all around Ecuador and competing in challenges, much like the TV show. We're excited to explore and nervous for four intense days of travel. Please pray for our health and safety this week!