Y Camp, Ica City, and Paracas

So much has happened in the past few days that it is hard to pick where to begin. After we arrived at Y camp the kids had some time to settle in and explore. We had our devotion on a cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Jeffrey ("El Jefe") won our MVP for the day for his willingness to help out some of the local ladies carry rocks. He never once let them pass him without offering to take their load.

The next morning we set off for Ica City, an oasis in the middle of the Peruvian desert. We had a short time at the oasis town for some shopping and paddle boating (Mary Carlisle got soaked) before we loaded into the dune buggies for our desert adventure. The ride to the desert was an adventure itself- imagine speeding up and down giant sand dunes at speeds up to 60 miles per hour (goggles came in handy). Every few minutes we would hop off the buggies at the top of a huge dune, and proceed to sandboard down it. A quick word about sandboarding: you're pretty much on a single-person rollercoaster drop, riding a narrow surfboard on your stomach down huge hills of sand - it's incredible and incredibly easy to end up with a mouthful of sand. That's how its supposed to work, but Chandler ended up wiping out and rolling down half a mountain of sand at least twice, laughing the whole way.

After about six separate hills were conquered, we arrived at our campsite for the night. We were in a huge natural bowl in the desert, but each ascent up the hill gave you an incredible view of the cities below. We had a fantastic barbeque dinner and evening games of 'Body, Body, Body'. An amazingly beautiful and quiet sleep led to an early wake-up and drive back to Ica City, where we grabbed breakfast and headed off to Paracas.

When we arrived at Paracas we had a few miutes to shop around the market. The kids tested their bartering skills while trying to buy gifts for familes and friends. Afterwards we loaded a boat and headed to a natural preserve where hundreds of sea lions and thousands of penguins crowd the beaches. The sites were memorable and the smells were unforgettable. Since the bird poop that landed on Jeffrey wasn't a souveneir anyone would want, we headed back to the market to blow some solas. We wrapped up our time in Paracas with a huge seafish lunch (not everyone was a fan of the mini octopus), but fun was had by all.

A long drive back to Y Camp (with a quick stop for ice cream, of course) gave us a chance to rest up before a beautiful campfire night with marshmallows, nutella, and reflections on the week we've had (as well as questions about what's next for all of us as servant leaders). Kyle took the cake (and the cape) as our final MVP, thanks to his unfailingly generous nature. Several of us took the opportunity to sleep on the camp beach, with the sounds of the Pacific lulling us as we passed out from another great day.

Our final day in Peru (!) began with a quick breakfast and a couple of hours of aqua-trekking. The natural caves around Y Camp are only accessible occassionally due to tides, so we took full advantage. Caves as big as a room, caves that could only be crawled through on our bellies - nothing stopped our team. Dirty and salty, but with heads and cameras full of memories, we're now back at Y Camp, ready for lunch and a drive back to Lima, where we'll have our last dinner as a team before heading to the airport.

This week has been an amazing experience for each and every member of our team. Each of them has shown their strengths and love throughout our work in Peru. While we are sad about our time in Peru coming to a close, we are proud of the impact we have made and impact the trip has had on us. We can't wait to see all of our families at home, to take a long nap, and to hand out parents the biggest and dirtiest bag of laundry ever. Adios, or ciao (as we have found that no in Peru actually says adios) and hasta manana. Prayers for safe trip and happy reunion with you!

Dinner at the Y

Katherine figured how to upload pictures from her phone using the Wi-fi. A real post will be posted later but this will hopefully hold you over until then!

Here are the kids ready for dinner.

Day 4 and Day 5 of the trip took place in Independencia, a poverish community about an hour away from the Y in Lima. Both days revolved around our work project, which was continuting the help up building a pharmacy for the community.

Our group's task was to make concrete for the Peruvian workers that were making the walls of the building. This was a strenious task but something that the group was able to actually visualize the impact that they were making. On Monday afternoon we had to take 20 barrels of sand, mix that with 10 bags of cement which took about 20 minutes. After that, we create a crater like formation out of the pile and begin to add water. While the water is setting into the cement and sand mix, we begin to haul down buckets of rocks closer to the pile. As we add rocks and water to the cement and sand mix, we have to consistently mix the concrete with shovels. Once the concrete is ready to transport, we formed an assembly line and passed buckets to the future pharmacy building. This process took about 5 hours to complete. We were all exhausted, but a sense of pride was definitely over the group. After a night of sleep, we woke the next day and headed back to the work site for more mixing. Today we needed to leave Independencia around 2pm, so we only mixed 5 bags of cement. Again we worked hard but we had fun doing it. With music (both spanish and english songs) in the background, we were able to dance and sing. There were definitely sore muscles and blisters formed from the work. We left Independencia around 2:30pm and we were heading back to the Y in Lima with one thing on our mind.... a shower!

With Independencia being more poverish than the other parts of Lima that we have seen, it was an interesting aspect to witness. On Monday night the group had a great discussion around the life that they saw in Independencia. For a community that isn't as technologically advanced as most parts of the USA, the community rallies around each other and their is a sense of pride in their daily life. The children in Peru continue to amaze us, as the ones around our work site would come and hang out and chat with us. They were excited to see everyone when they got out of school on Tuesday afternoon, and came to the site with hugs and kisses on the cheek.

While spending the night in Independencia, we spent our Monday night with a trip to the mall just outside Independencia. We all ate dinner at Bembos in the courtyard, which is a popular fast food chain in the country. Most everyone either got a burger or chicken sandwich with fries and a drink. However, there toppings on the sandwiches were the interesting aspect. Options ranged from pineapple, avocado, grilled bananas, an egg, and more. After dinner, we had a brief amount of free time to walk around and most of the group treated ourself to icecream, yogurt, or a milkshake. It was great!

After heading back to the Y in Lima, we are going to repack our bookbags, eat dinner, and then head to the coast at Y Camp for the remainder of the week. Y Camp is essentially their version of Camp Seagull/Seafarer that we are accustomed to. There are awesome views! We won't have an opportunity to post something until Thursday evening since we will be sleeping in the desert tomorrow night!

PS - The blog and the internet service isn't cooperating with us tonight with uploading some pictures... Sorry...

Palm Sunday - Day 3, Downtown Lima

Well, another successful day in Peru is wrapping up here in the Lima YMCA. Just a few minutes ago the teens finished a reflection/devotion about their time here so far - the impact the teens are experiencing in themselves is almost as great as the impact they're having in the community. They are growing more and more comfortable with each other; able to laugh uncontrollably one minute and have deep conversations the next. Incredible stuff.

After breakfast we all loaded up and headed to downtown Lima to learn a little bit about the history of the city. The history tour consisted of the museum of the Inquisition and a tour of the Franciscan monistary and catacombs. With today being Palm Sunday, there were unique services which we were able to observe. We continued the history tour by walking through downtown Lima and seeing the Presidential palace, another cathedral, and the Parliment building. The kids had a few minutes to shop at the downtown stores where bartering was a new experience for some. Get excited, followers of the blog: souveneirs may have been bought for some of you.

After lunch we headed back to the orphanage. Yesterday our YMCA volunteers led the activities with the kids while today our teens were responsible for leading games and songs. Luckily, games of animal charades (roar!), duck duck goose, and tunnel tag translate across languages. After a fun two hours, and sad goodbyes, we left the orphanage and returned back to the Y for evening. A dinner of bistec, rice, and plantains (like bananas), it was time for a Salsa dance class led by one of the local Y staff. While not all of us found the rhythm, we all had a great time and were ready to reflect on the day and head to bed for rest. Tomorrow, an early wake-up to travel to Indenpencia to begin our major service project there: helping to construct a local pharmacy. More stories and photos to come, but due to spotty internet in Indenpencia, you may not see a new post until Tuesday evening.

Hasta luego, amigos....

In front of the Catholic church

The group after our fun adventures at the orphanage. No pictures allowed inside so we took one as soon as we left!

...Let's Get Started!

After a flight to Atlanta, and then a seven hour flight, we made it safely to Lima! We arrived around midnight, and after making our way through customs, we connected with our Peruvian hosts Laddie and Brad. We then got settled in at the Y in Lima, and finally were able to get to bed around 2:30am (1 hour behind NC time).... luckily we didn't have to be ready to go until 9am.

We woke up and had breakfast and an orientation of the week with Laddie and Brad. After breakfast, we had our first experience of Peru in the daylight as we walked 10 blocks to the children's orphanage that we would volunteer at for a couple of hours. At the orphanage, the teens jumped right in and made instant connections with the kids, despite the language barrier for most of our group. We sang, we danced, we played, we helped write letters, and much more. Tomorrow, our group will be in charge of leading songs and activities for the kids. This will definitely push their comfort level, but it sure to be an awesome and rewarding experience.

On to Miraflores! This is considered to be the more touristy part of Lima. It rests on the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean and, needless to say, there were many pictures taken! We made our way to Mangos, a declicious restaurant that offers a buffet in which we were able to taste a little bit of everything revolving around Peruvian cuisine. Ceviche (fresh seafood that is tossed in lime juice, onions, and other spices) was a popular option for most people. A lot of non seafood lovers stepped out of their comfort zone and tried what Peru claims to be their national dish. Other dishes at the buffet included roast chicken, roast pork, pasta, potatoes, seafood this seafood that, and much more! Lunch is the primary meal in Peru, which meant we were stuffed and probably needed a nap... but it was on to the bus tour of Miraflores.

We were able to take in some of the sights of Miraflores including some of the low-lying trees which were fun to dodge on a open air double decker bus. After the tour, we had about 30 minutes before we left, so we decided to play a group game of Ninja. We played this in downtown Miraflores, and before we knew it, we had a crowd of locals that were watching us. We also had one local teen jump in and join in on the fun. It was awesome! We then headed back to the Y, ate dinner (chicken, rice, french fries) and changed clothes to head to the water park. The water park consists of huge fountains that are not only gorgeous, but some also give the opportunity to play in, which our group jumped right into as well! We were all wet but it was definitely a different experience for the group.

The first day in Lima was very long and very tiring for our group, but with the knowledge that a lot had been accomplished. As we update this blog, the teens just went to bed and are all already asleep. The group is continuously growing together and forming a bond in which they don't want to seperate from each other and take every experience in that they can. But like the food at the buffet, the game of Ninja and inviting the locals to join, and playing together as a group at the water park... this group has definitely jumped right in to this opportunity!

More pictures to come, until next time... Ciao (not "Adios" - something we learned today)!

Until We Arrive In Peru...

Greetings!

It's that time of the year again for a lot of teens being on their Spring Break. The YMCA of the Triangle utilizes this particular week to run numerous life changing trips for those same teens. This blog will follow one of those opportunities... our International Mission Trip. For the 3rd straight year, we will be traveling to Peru where we will experience a different culture and a different way of life through our Lima YMCA hosts. We are excited to be sending 9 teens and 3 YMCA of the Triangle staff as trip advisors.

Over the past couple of months, the group has met a few times. Through learning about the history and culture of Peru, participating in fun teambuilding activities, having conversation around our personal excitement and challenges for the trip, and other time spent together... we've already formed a close connection as a group. The teens decided to collect school supplies and winter clothing for the children at the orphanage in Peru and for the community in Independencia. They were able to collect 8 suitcases full of donations in a 3 week span!

We are in our final days of preperation for the trip. We are all going over the packing list once more to make sure we have what we need. We are excited about the adventure that awaits before us! We depart from Raleigh around noon this Friday and should arrive in Lima, Peru around midnight. We will do our best to update the blog every couple of days to fill you in on what's been happening. Please share this blog with others that might be interested in following our group.

Pray for safe travels and an impactful experience!