Happy One-Month-In-Peru-iversary: Our First Field Trip

I can’t believe it’s already been a month and that we only have two left. It’s really, really bittersweet! Well to celebrate, we went ALL out. We took the kiddos on a field trip! We are about a 30 minute bus ride from the grand town of Cajamarca. I have come to absolutely love this town and it’s history. Read all about how the Spaniards came and tried to share the gospel, but the Incan King threw the Bible on the ground and didn’t accept it, so the Spaniards took him captive and did all sorts of sad things. Anyways, read more about it, it’s cool.

So today, we took the ninos to Cajamarca and took them to all the historical sites. We hired a tour guide and everything! Here’s how it went down:

We told all the ninos to meet us at 8:00 am on the dot because that’s when we were leaving. We were all ready, the tour guide was here, and we had about 15 ninos ready to go by 8:10, however none of the other adults who were supposed to come with us were there (Feliciana and Melchora). So we waited and waited and finally by 8:45 am, the ladies had come and we were on our way! 

When I say “On our way” I mean that myself and 7 other adults along with 19 small children, piled into a Micro Bus. A bus that should only legally hold…maybe 20 people. There were already a few people on it, and we squished on there with them. I shared a seat with my ninos Fernando and Sonia, with Milagros on my lap. They jibber-jabbered to me the whole time as we were leaving Puylucana and heading into Cajamarca. It was cool though because they were showing me all the places where their relatives lived and worked, so I got to know more about them. The whole time I was making eyes at Brittany and Abigail. We all seemed to be communicating the same thing, “OH MY GOSH, are we crazy?!?! What are we doing on a bus with 20 ninos?!”

We got off at our normal bus stop on a street called Dos de Mayos. From there we walked to a Cathedral. I should know which Cathedral it was, but I could only catch a few things that the tour guide was saying (keep in mind that I spoke and heard no English during this entire 7 hour long field trip).  From there we walked to the Cuarto de Rescate (where the Incan King was held). Next camee other places that I’m not sure what they’re called. Something of Belen, a museum and an old hospital. All of which were really cool! We then hiked up to what is called Santa Apollonia. Lot’s of cool history there too, but to the kids (and a bit to us Gringas) it was just a giant stair case to climb up. The view from the top was breath taking! Definitely worth it and the one sol per person it costs to be up there.

This is where we bid our guide goodbye and he was off to help his wife at the hospital who was going into labor with their first BOY! Baby Boy Barbosa!

We had the ninos bring lunches, so we made camp all about this beautiful mountain top. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting it, but the lunches the kids brought totally surprised me! Each kid brought a giant Tupperware stuffed full of rice. Some had rice and noodles, some had rice and egg, most had rice and some form of potato. I’m not sure what I was expecting them to bring.

 Lunchables? Fruit snacks? Granola bars? (None of which I have seen in the country, in the slightest).  We probably looked silly with our cute little ham sandwiches, bananas and cookies.  To me, their lunches were super cool!

I was sitting with Aurora who had a big ol Tupperware of rice and potatoes that she shared with her cousin and I asked her if her mom or her sister had made the food for her. But nope, she cooked it all by herself, and I’m willing to bet it wasn’t with a rice cooker or oven. My kids are so cool!

This is Aurora and she is amazing

After lunch we let the kids  go play at a play ground while us adults (weird… I’m the adult on a field trip!) rested up and I snapped some pictures. And finally it was time to go home. At this point our child count had increased to 24 kids (so glad our count went up rather than down!)  and it was back onto the Micro. The Micro we happened to hop on was already pretty stuffed, so I had to stand the whole time, but the kids were safe and we were on our way home, I couldn’t have been happier!

We tuckered these ninos right out!

When we arrived back in Puylucana, I paid the bus and the kisses began. I’m pretty sure that every single one of my ninos (boys and girls) came up and kissed my cheek and gave me a hug and told me they’d see me on Monday. Lots of them did so twice. I think that they really did have fun, and that they learned quite a bit. I know several of them had never had the chance to really see or learn about the city that they grew up so close too, so it was really neat for them to see what they’d been hearing about in school.

Ohh how I love my ninos. And how I love Feliciana and Melchora. And how grateful I am for Abigail and Brittany. The combination of these three loves makes for one way happy girl.