A Picture's Worth 10,000 Spores

 Ok so here’s the full scoop (kind of) on the mold story.  Here’s the reason we’ve evacuated our second story (where we live) and are being threatened to leave our lovely town to go to a strange new Peruvian city several hours away (ahhhh even just typing it breaks my heart!)

So when we first moved in, we noticed that our ceilings are covered in mold…lots of it. Looking back, we now realize that we were all just in culture shock with absolutely everything that was going on around us, so we thought that ceilings carpeted in mold was just a normal thing in Peru, thus we didn’t think too much about it.

Welcome to our bedroom :)

This is normal right???

 Well last week, we had Peruvians come and see the mold. I was shocked at how shocked they were! “THIS IS NOT NORMAL!” they all said and couldn’t believe that we’d been living there for a month.

When Abigail found THIS, we knew we had to do something

We informed headquarters about our living conditions and they were appalled as well. They told us to get out of there at once and that they'd get to work on taking care of it. 

So on the day of the water fight and of the accident, we packed up all of our stuff and moved it downstairs. We went through every article of clothing and everything we owned to check it for mold. I didn’t have too many things go moldy, but Brit and Abigail both had some doozies.  

We invested in cheap masks!

We moved everything into our new bedroom/storage/dining room/living room etc

From much studying and researching on mold, I have found that it is best not to disturb that nasty stuff, because once it gets airborne, you're in for a treat (lungs made of mold). Well it's a good thing I don't know how to communicate that to angry Peruvian men!

Feliciana's husband came in one night while we were sleeping downstairs and was like, "what the...? why are all the gringitas and their junk downstairs?"

So the next morning he comes in and was like, "Uh why is all your stuff downstairs?"
I told him that a man was coming to look at the mold and he kind of flipped out.

Pretty much he said that we didn't even have money for supplies to finish the third floor (which is true) and we surely didn't have money to pay a man to come paint over the mold that is just going to come back with the third floor unfinished (also true). He then proceeds to say that we can take care of the mold ourselves (FALSE!)

Here's where it gets bad. He's saying all this to me while Brit is in Banos and Abby is in the shower. So I'm alone with this angry Peruvian who then takes a BROOM (remember what happened with Feliciana and the broom? Like husband like wife) and starts sweeping the mold off the ceiling and straight into my lungs. Ohhh how I tried not to breathe it in, but it was inevitable because he was going to town.

Shoot, shoot, shoot!! What do I do?

I say, Ok! Yeah thanks! We'll do that later! Tomorrow morning! Al the while I'm praying that I don't die and that he'd just stop and leave.

Eeeek as soon as he left I ran and found my mask and stuck it on and went outside to get fresh air while people looked at me funny.

Anyway, since it's Carnaval and since it's the rainy season, and we're broke, the mold problem probably won't be fixed for quite some time. Eagle-Condor doesn't want us here, because it's super dangerous....so they want to send us to an orphanage all the way down in Trujillo. Which would be super cool if it weren't for the fact that I have made AMAZING friends in Cajamarca, I am madly in love with my kids, I love Puylucana, Banos and Cajamarca so much and the thought of leaving it all so early is seriously heartbreaking.

 I'm pretty sure I'm refusing to go.
Actually i know for a fact I won't go.
I'll find a friend in the ward to stay with or something.
It's going to take a lot more than a house covered in black mold to get me to leave this little bit of heaven I call home.

-Elia

Hurrah For Israel

Have you ever wondered what you’re first instinct/reaction would be if you were to witness an accident? Are you a fighter or a flighter? Would you run to find help or respond to the scene yourself as fast as you could? I’ve often wondered this. I pass out at the sight of blood and even talking about accidents makes me queasy. I am not tough when it comes to this sort of thing. So I’ve often wondered what I’d do if I were to witness an accident of some sort.

Well, on Friday, I found out.

We had just had an awesome water fight to celebrate Carnaval with our kiddos. (If you haven’t yet, read about it here first, it might make this post make a bit more sense)

Well at three o clock, after much chasing, chucking, and ducking for cover, I was cold, wet, tired and ready to end this fiesta.  Of course the kids weren’t. I retreated upstairs and watched the kids continue to battle it out from the window on my second floor. Feliciana and Melchora were also watching from a window in a different room. 

Israel is an adorable kiddo with a big smile, a big heart and a little bit of mischief mixed in there. He was on Ricardo’s team for the water fight, determined to not leave a single dry square inch on my body.

This is my Fierce Israel

Israel (the lion in the middle) with his Camo brother Lazaro and his spiderman neighbor Reuban

I painted all of Israel's siblings faces. This is four of the 8 in their family

He had taken his shirt off and was standing on the ledge of our side walk, laughing in triumph at my retreat.  Ninos were cheering in agreement, and I watched in horror as Israel lost his balance on the ledge and fell backwards off of it and onto who knows what. I knew that there was a 6 or 7 foot drop off, but I wasn’t sure what was on the other side.  I just knew that he had gone straight back off of it.

So here we are. I just witnessed a crisis. My little boy was down. From what I could tell, there were no other adults around.  And…Here’s what I did.

I screamed! Just one, kind of short, scream.

Then I ran.

I sprinted down the hallway, literally flew down the stairs, taking 3 or 4 at a time, flung the door open, sprinted across the road and found a path down to where Israel had fallen, not knowing what I was going to find. It didn’t really pass through my mind that he could be unconscious or dead, I just knew I had to get down there and do something.

I found Israel on the ground, his body contorted, conscious and crying hysterically (THANK GOODNESS!). His legs were underneath him and he was holding his left arm in pain. I looked up to the group of people standing up on the ledge looking down on us.  All my ninos had gathered round and I found Melchora’s face in the crowd. Desperate for help, I yelled out, “What do I do?”. Of course, no one answered me (I spoke in English) and at that point Aleksi had rushed down and was by my side with Israel.

I knew that you weren’t supposed to move bodies when there was a chance of broken bones until there was a trained professional there, so I was hesitant. And then it hit me, “Hello Noelle. You are in the tiniest little city in Peru, and the closest hospital is 30+ minutes away, and even if we could get someone to help him, Israel comes from a family of 8 children. They are as poor as poor can be and could not afford the medical bills, doctor visit, let alone the bus ride up there. How on earth is this going to work out?”

Aleksi and I carefully lifted Israel out of the trench and carried him up the hill and back up to the sidewalk. Ricardo (who had been off with his devious team, plotting an extreme attack against me….) showed up right then and took Israel from us and brought him inside to lay him on the table.

At that point, Israel was still crying, the kids were following us in a little train and my mind was racing. Ok we have to check his entire body and see what’s hurt the worst, we have to get him warm and dry, we have to make him comfortable, we have to calm him down. I think at this point I got a little bossy (forgive me!) “Abby, can you get a towel and a shirt or jacket?” “Aleksi, Ice and a pillow!”  And then my American’s were gone and I was left in a room full of Peruvians, and a hurt Israel.

And then I witnessed a miracle. 

Ricardo (who speaks English and Spanish, wahoo!!!) was awesome! I knew what had to be done, but I haven’t gotten to the chapter in my Spanish book that talks about accidents or injuries so I had no idea how to express to Israel what I needed him to do or tell me. 

Luckily Ricardo was on the same page and knew exactly how to handle it. We went through Israel’s body, head to every last pinky toe and made sure that he could move it in every plausible direction and that it didn’t hurt.

 I cringed when we got to his legs, expecting the worst. He was scared too and hesitant to move them.  It took some coaxing to let him allow us to bend his knees, rotate his feet and twist his hips. His right hip was really sore and giving him lots of grief, I figure that must’ve hit the ground first. 

His knees: clear. His ankles: clear. His feet: clear. His toes: clear, each and every last little toe.

His tummy: fine His arms: a bit scratched up, but I cleaned those right up with my first aid kit (wahooo Nurse Noelle!). His shoulders: Good as gold. Elbows: working great. His one wrist was in a lot of pain, but from what we could tell, it wasn’t broken. Wahooooo!!!!

Next came the big test, can he walk? Again, he was hesitant to put his weight on his legs and walk by himself, but we were pretty adamant and guess what? He walked like a champ. Yes, it was slow and shaky, but one foot in front of the other, he propelled himself forward.

Oh my goodness, I couldn’t believe it. How was this little boy walking away with only a sore hip, wrist and a scratched up arm? I’ve replayed watching him fall from the window over and over again. From that very instant he fell, I knew that major damage was going to be done.

I tried to count the number of silent and verbal prayers I offered from the moment he fell to the moment Ricardo and I dropped him and his siblings off at his home, but it was impossible. There were prayers offered out of urgency, from confusion, from the need for enlightenment. Countless, “Please let him be ok, please let him be ok.”.  Prayers asking Israel’s pain to subside. Prayers asking for him to be calm and at peace. And finally prayer after prayer of gratitude.

Israel and his brother Lazaro

Thank you so much for the prayers said on my behalf and that of my ninos. As I sat next to Israel while we were checking him for injury, my job was to mainly keep him calm and comfortable. I held him close while he sat up and stroked his head while he laid down. In that moment, I realized that I love these kids so much. I wished so badly that I could trade places with him. I knew that if I had broken an arm or leg, sure it’d stink big time, but I’d manage. I couldn’t stand the thought of one of my kids being seriously hurt. So thank you for keeping them in your prayers because I’d be a mess without them.

Oh I am so grateful that he is ok. Like I said before, these kids are poor, in a way that I don’t think you or I can fully comprehend (at least I know I can’t). I was so scared that he was going to need medical treatment that he simply would never have the opportunity to get.

But he’s safe, he’s well, he’s a little sore, but he’ll be alright. And for that word’s cannot express my joy and gratitude.

Hurrah for Israel, Hurrah for Israel.

P.S. Keep in mind that this was also the day of our Extreme Mold Crisis (blog post coming soon) where we were told we had to pack up and leave THIS instant. Talk about stress!

Attack of the Ninas

This week and next, all of Peru, and who know’s where else, is celebrating Carnval. Cajamarca happens to be the capital of Carnaval and it’s dangerous, so we decided to avoid the crowds and just have a mini celebration with our ninos.

IT WAS A BLAST!!!

We had an awesome lunch of….you guessed it, lentils and rice! (oh and we made some pink lemonade to share with the kids, they LOVED that and couldn’t figure out why it tasted like lemon, but it was pink ;)

We started off with face painting. For those of you who don’t know, you can take water color colored pencils, dip them in water and voila, they become instant face painting brushes. It’s beautiful.

It was so fun to paint their faces. I’m not artistic to say the least, but take a gander of some of our creations J

Spiderman was a popular request, I did the bottom one

Me pretending to know what the red power ranger looks like...I love being the adult!

I painted these three, spiderman a lion and camoflauge

Blue Power Ranger!

My little flower face

Next came the water fight. It was a surprise attack! I had spent the morning filling up water balloons and had them stashed away upstairs ready to whip out at the right moment.  I had rallied up all the ninas, loaded them all up with water balloons and gave strict instructions to get out there and attack the boys with…no mercy! Oh it was soooo fun!!! I loved every minute of it! Most of the little boys were absolutely intent on taking me down, but my girls were amazing and kept me as safe as they could (granted I still got soaked through and through).

Some of the stinker boys (you avid blog followers know exactly who I’m talking about J ) ran home and armed themselves with their heavy duty water guns and came back ready for war. When our balloons ran out, we armed ourselves with buckets and cups and anything that could hold water. 

Doesn't Allesandro look fierce with half his makeup washed off?

At one point, I could see that we were being over powered by the sheer number and ravenousness of the boys (compared to the sweet gentleness of all most of my girls). So I used my awesome war tactics and made a public announcement:

Hey boys! Who want’s to be on the winning team? Who wants to be on…MY TEAM!?!?

And then I began chanting, “No more Ricardo, Team Elia is going to win!” (haha sorry Ricardo!)

And partly to my surprise, and entirely to my enjoyment, a giant pack of little boys ran down the hill chanting along with me, ready to fight on my team! Oh it was awesome. They ditched their shirts and their smeared face paint looked like dramatic war paint. I had myself a little band of fierce Lamanites! 

Feliciana and Melchora even got in on the fun. One minute I was sittin pretty observing the water fight and the next thing I know, I'm being soaked and sprayed by water. I look up to find Feliciana and Melchora up on our roof with a hose laughing hysterically. They thought they were SO funny...but really, they were!

It was SO much fun and I know the kids loved it just as much as I did. We had awesome weather too! Tons of sunshine! 

Well I wish I could say the day ended on that good note, but I'm afraid THE SCARIEST part of my ENTIRE TIME IN PERU came just seconds after our amazing afternoon. 

Keep your eyes peeled for the next blog post about my dear friend Israel.

Ciao Ciao!

-Elia

Noche De Hogar

Oh my goodness,  FHE in Peru is the greatest. I thought I would miss having my Rexburg FHE groups and the friends and fun that come with that , but I’m pretty sure my Peru FHE’s have topped a great deal of my college FHE’s.

So we went to a family in the ward’s home. Dirt floors, tin roof, make-shift walls and couch. We had an opening song and prayer and then we all went around and shared our favorite scripture and why. Ever since our little “We don’t need the Book of Mormon” fiasco that happened on Sunday, I’d been studying specifically about the Book of Mormon and shared a verse about that and bore my testimony. I decided that talking about the church in Spanish is a lot easier than trying to talk about anything else in Spanish, so I totally don’t mind doing stuff like this.

After we all shared our thoughts, we had a closing song and then I said the closing prayer. The man of the house called on me to pray, and then it was time for activity.

We played the funnest game of hot potato I have ever been a part of! Ohhhhh goodness. We sat in a circle passing around a little kids toy ball while one person stood with their eyes clothes chanting “Papas secema, papas secama”  and then when they wanted to stop, they say, “papa secemO” and whoever is holding the ball at that point is the loser. If you lose three times, you get a punishment. Alecksi’s punishment was that he had to go outside and yell at the top of his lungs that his pig died. The older man of the house lost too, so his punishment was “Poor Kitty” so he had to get down on his hands and knees and try to make someone laugh by meowing and pawing at their leg. Ohhh it was hilarious to see this old Peruvain man do this.

We also played, Habla Chanco Habla. That’s where one person is blindfolded in the middle and they spin and whoever they landed on had to honk like a pig and the person in the middle has to guess who it is. Holy cow, it is the most hilarious thing in the world to listen to a 60ish year old Peruvian woman who is missing major teeth, snort like a pig.

Oh good times.

Here’s what else is great, even though FHE didn’t get over til like 9:30, it’s Peruvian custom to feed the guests. So after our games, out came the food! We had yummy popcorn and really good buttered bread along with some AMAZING tea that just warmed our souls. It was called herba lousia I believe and we loooved it dearly.

Noche de Hogar with Peruvian families in their homes, totally one of the things I’ll miss most about Peru.

Picture Perfect Sweet Revenge

This morning I had one of those moments where I just wanted to freeze everything and make that moment last for forever. It was a simple setting, not too exciting but I was just so content. Allow me to paint a picture for you.

I was sitting on the sidewalk outside our front doors, reading my scriptures. It was about 9:15 am and the sun was behaving rather nicely. I had on my shorts and my chacos and was loving basking under the blue skies and inviting sunlight. Occasionally, I would look out into the distance and have my breath taken away by the sheer beauty of the sights that I have seen countless times before. The clouds, the hills, the mountains, the little shack-like homes that were scattered along the mountain side. Ah I live in the most beautiful place.

As if things couldn’t get better, while I sat there studying, I’d hear my name shouted out from the distance. “Elia!” “Elia!” Only to see two of my favorite ninos (Rodrigo y Antony) going about their morning business, but not before they had shouted their good mornings to me.

It was a picture perfect scene…until….

All of a sudden, the 2^nd Nephi Chapter 9 that I was studying right in front of me took a beating with a strong, consistent stream of water pouring onto it. Horrified at the fact that my new scriptures now looked like they had gone for a swim, I looked up to see the little stinker Alvierri standing there with his MegaSquirt Gun 3000X (or something like that).

This is the demon in question.

He looked like he had just gotten up for the morning and was on a mission, his first target being my 2^nd Nephi Chapter 9 and all the surrounding chapters. Ooooo I could have killed that boy (I have a bit of a hard time loving this one) but his father was right there, so I asked him to please stop because this book was special to me and he had just gotten it all wet.

I then gathered my things, and as I was walking through the door, I turned back and said, “Gracias Alvierri”….right before I pelted him with my secret waterballoon. .. not my most mature moment

 He cried, his father laughed.

Although Each time I turn to 2^nd Nephi I will have a constant reminder of that little stinker…. but the  revenge was sweet.

-Elia

It's a Good Thing I'm In Love

Because it just so happens to be Valentines Day!

And I am irreversibly, incandescently, completely, perfectly and totally in love with my ninos.

This may be the only time in my life when I will have 40 different Valentines that I love with all my heart.

Somebody please tell me how I got so lucky?

Happy Valentine's Day!
-Con Amor, Elia

Just Another One Of The Locals

You know that feeling when you think you’ve had the greatest day ever….and then the next day is just as good if not better? Well, here’s the thing. That has pretty much happened every day here in Peru. It just gets better and better and better. Remember how awesome our Friday was? Well Saturday may have topped it.

Here’s why:

We started our morning off with a run into Cajamarca. We’ve come to love the stretch of land from Banos to Cajamarca and were set with our tunes and our tennis’ to take it on on this sunny, Saturday morning. We didn’t have much planned for the day, so we thought we’d stroll through Cajamarca to see what we could find. We found sweet after treat after sweet. Cajamarca is dusted with dozens of quaint little bakeries and panaderias. Each filled to the brim with fresh bread, empanadas, and sweet treats I couldn’t pronounce or prepare if I tried all day. We decided to do a cake walk of our own and stop at every single panaderia that we passed to buy one treat to split. It was so much fun and we tried all sorts of yummy new treats! None of which were very close to the treats we’d find in American bakeries.

After that, we got a nasty bite from the shopping bug and went up to Santa Appolonia to do some shopping in the little shops filled with cool Peruvian things. At this point we were on a time crunch because Liz and Miguel and Alecksi had invited us over for a homemade Peruvain lunch! (Wahoo!) Well, right as we were walking out of our last little shop, guess who we saw!? Our friend Robert (who we had gone out for Pizza with the previous Wednessday). We couldn’t believe that we actually ran into somebody that we knew in Cajamarca!! Awesome. For sure. After chatting with him for a bit, he invited us to come back into Cajamarca that night so that he and Jorge could treat us to one of their favorite Peruvian meals at a really good restaurant. Of course we were down for that, so we rushed off to the Quinde to do some rapid shopping (we needed ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies, and a chicken ) and then bused home.

The second we got home, Brit hopped in the cold shower while Abby and I gathered our things to take a hot shower in Banos (a Saturday tradition, anddd since we were going out that night, we needed to smell about 100 percent better than we smelled at the moment).

On our way down to Liz’s for lunch, a white guy on a bike passed us and said, “Hey, hows it going? You look lost.” I think that would have offended me if I hadn’t been so shocked that a white man in Puylucana was speaking ENGLISH to us. After chatting with him for a bit, we learned that he and his wife are from New Hampshire and that he works in the mines. His wife needs white friends, so stay updated on our new friends Danielle and Charlie.

Meanwhile, lunch at Liz and Miguel’s was incredible!! We had Lomos Saltaba (sp?) and I just about died and went to heaven. So delicious!  Have I mentioned lately how great Liz and her family are? Because we truly love them. Liz then went through and helped us plan our wild adventure into the Amazon jungle and into Cuzco. Let’s just say that we are a little bit more than SO EXCITED for that little adventure of a lifetime!

Since we were supposed to meet up with Robert and Jorje in Cajamarca at 5, we split up to get work done from here. Abby and I went to go shower while Brit went to buy water. We met up with perfect timing and we were Cajamarca bound in no time.

At this point, (and for the past 4 hours) the rain had not stopped pouring on us. So we were wet and quite the sight to see. But Jorge and Robert easily spotted the wet, gringas with brightly colored umbrellas, so we didn’t even have to wait long for them in the giant park.

We took a Taxi down to San Martin and were pleasantly surprised and treated to a wonderful meal at a comparatively fancy restaurant. We had Papas Fritas, ensalada y Pollo a la brazza (sp?) and we loved every bite of it. 

We had an awesome conversation with our Peruvian friends and it is helping our Spanish improve leaps and bounds. Since we can only communicate with them in Spanish, and awkward silences are not my thing, this forces me to work extra hard on speaking and understanding what they’re saying. By the end of the night I truly felt like we were speaking the same language and that it came so easily. At one point, I completely just asked them a question in English because I had forgotten that they spoke something different from my native tongue. It wasn’t hard or difficult any  more, it was almost (ALMOST) like speaking English to my American friends.

Our lovely new gentleman friends helped us get a bus (and paid for it) and accompanied us all the way to our front door (even though it’s 30+ minutes away from their homes, what gentleman!) We were talking outside for quite some time and we accidently made them miss the bus to take them back to Cajamarca….actually we made them miss it three times!!! By this point, it was too late and no more buses were coming, so we bid our friends adieu as we watched them walk home on a cold, dark night. We felt kind of bad about that J

We came home, made some popcorn and continued planning and preparing our amazing Amazon adventure, and I got to talk to my Pops and Beebs on the phone, always a pleasure.

SO it was a fabulous, fantastic, awesome day! We have big plans for this week too, with our kids, ourselves and our new friends! P.S. It’s Carnaval this week too, pray that we don’t die!

-Elia

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. 

My Peruvian Nightmare

For some reason in Peru, I have and remember my dreams every night.

It's practically the same dream every night with slight variations as to the setting, characters and time frame.

Setting:

I am all of a sudden home from my Peruvian ventures. (Home is a term I use loosely to describe practically anywhere in the USA.)

I'm with friends/family/old acquaintances answering questions about my time in Peru.

It all of a sudden hits me that I didn't do anything in Peru! I didn't make a difference in anybody's lives, I didn't teach anybody anything, I still can't speak Spanish, I didn't see the sites I wanted to see. Heck, I didn't even bring home one single Peruvian anything! It's almost as if I never even went.

At this point I am frantic. What was I thinking? Why did I waste so much time and money? Why didn't I just stay in America and get married? Etc. Etc.

Enter [stage left] all the people (you know who you are :) who discouraged me (seriously or in jest)  from coming to Peru in one way or another. Those who said I wouldn't last two weeks. Those who said I'd never learn the language. Those who said "Wait... does this even have anything to do with your major?" Those who said I'd come back too old and too career driven to find a husband. Yada, yada, yada the list goes on. These people are all there, rubbing these facts/opinions in my face, smothered with 1000 "I told you so's".

Are you getting depressed yet? Because I sure do each time (every night) I dream about this. 

The upside to this nightmare is that I wake up. 

I wake up SO relieved to find myself in my little Peruvian bed under my Peruvian mold with my Peruvian bug bites and 100x more motivated to make the most of my time here. 

I count everyday that I wake up here a blessing because it means that I have yet another opportunity to make a difference.

 Whether it be by sitting with 13-year-old Luis during lunch and asking him about his hopes and dreams, his fears and his concerns. Or maybe it's by letting 3-year-old Antony chase me all around the room, laughing hysterically the whole time until he finally catches up with me and throws his arms around my neck and plants a kiss on my cheek. 

   Iknow they're just little things. But in my heart of hearts, I know that I'm making a difference here, and will continue to do so, little by little and with big things as well. Speaking of which, we've planned our first field trip with the kids. Stay tuned for more on that.

To top it off, can I just say that I am SO happy? I love my little ninos so much more than I ever thought possible. The shy ones, the outgoing ones. The chubby ones, the loud ones, the smart ones, the ones who write me sweet notes or make me cute bracelets, the ones who teach me bad words and bad hand gestures, the ones who have nothing, the ones without families, the ones who smell like they haven't seen water in months, the ones who kiss me hello and goodbye every time they see me. Ahhhhh yes. I am indeed  SO happy.

-Elia

P.S. Have I mentioned lately how awesome my parents are for 150% supporting me on my adventures from day one? Because they have and they are. For which I am eternally grateful.

Bearing Burdens

Today I held a little boy in my arms and rocked him while he sobbed and sobbed.

I was painting Katerin's nails when I heard a little boy at the end of the table burst into tears. There were two boys next to him, both of which are known for being little stinkers, but I didn't see what happened to make him cry. I asked the boys and they looked guilty, but didn't say anything.

I couldn't do much because I couldn't figure out what had happened. So I scooped up little, sobbing Wilson in my arms and sat on a bench and rocked him until he could control his tears. He was shaking and having such a hard time. I asked if he was hurt and he said no. So here's what I figured had happened.

Wilson was coloring a Dora the Explorer coloring page. He wasn't very good at coloring and the picture was kind of girly. It sounded like the older boys had made fun of him or his picture and it just really hurt his feelings.

But as he sat in my arms and sobbed, I could tell that that was not all that he was crying about. It seemed like he had just had enough, of everything and needed a good cry.

When he had stopped sobbing, I asked him a bit about himself. I had never really seen him before and didn't know much. I thought he was maybe 4 or 5, but he told me he was 7! He was so small and so frail. It broke my heart.

Hectors parents have nine children (one of which died in an accident not too long ago). His parents work on a farm two hours away and rarely come home. This leaves his big sister Alida (16) to care for the family all by herself.

The four youngest ones come to El Bichito for lunch, and they all just love to be loved. They are also the skinniest of the kids we have. They wear the same thing everyday, and they don't talk much, but they are sweet.

Finally, it was time to go and his sister Aurora (9) came and got him from me. I gave him a little Mamba candy and told him I was excited to see him tomorrow. I hope he comes!

Anyways, from this experience I learned that you don't need words to bear another's burden. In this case, I simply wasn't capable of speaking to him. It reminded me of times when I've held crying children who couldn't talk yet. All I could do was hold him and every once in a while tell him that it was ok and that he's an awesome boy. And that seemed to be enough.

P.S. If he's here today, I'll take a picture of him and post it here!

Peruvian Nights

I am about at that point where I have been in Peru long enough to see and do crazy things and not even think twice about them. Things that SHOCKED me the first time I experienced them. So I’m going to try and recount those and post them here before I become desensitized to it all.

So I just put on two pairs of pants (leggings and sweatpants), two pairs of socks (long wool ones and short normal ones), one shirt, one USA sweater, and a knitted headband to keep my ears warm. Where am I going so bundled up? Out to face a Rexburg Winter? No.  Just to bed. Yes, this is what I wear every night to bed for two very important reasons.

    1.We freeze at night. Our house is made of cement walls, floors and ceiling with absolutely NO insulation and no carpet. Also, the window panes are a bit too small for the windows, so there is a constant cold breeze coming through our window cracks.

2.       2.We live with all manner of things that we shouldn’t. Namely: Mold, fleas, spiders, mosquitos, bed bugs, mice and other creatures we have yet to discover. The layers not only keep us warm, but they keep our skin (most of it) safe from unwanted friends crawling into bed and biting us. Alas, we still wake up each morning with at least 3 or 4 new strange bug bites…. But it could be worse.

Also, it still takes me just as long to get ready for bed as it does in the states, but it’s a whole different routine. I shall walk you through it.
 

1.   1.  PJ’s on. This in itself takes some time to find all of the elements of aforementioned nighttime attire.

2.       2. Contacts out (same as in states)

3.       3. Face washed (the next step in the states is to remove my makeup, but this is entirely unnecessary here, simply because we only wear make up on Sundays. So, I wash my face, not to remove my makeup, but to remove dirt and germs that have been caked on throughout the day. This is where I also realize that I’m not as tan as I thought I was…it’s just dirt)

Ready for bed!

4. No acne cream (Our faces have been surprisingly clear here, so acne is not even a bother at all. Perhaps it’s the lack of makeup or perhaps it’s just Peru’s awesomeness)

5.       5. Teeth brushed. This is only different in the fact that we have to brush our teeth with bottled water. Super hard to get used to at first.

6.       6. Hair brushed…frowned at, then put back in a bun. My hair is atrocious. Mainly because we can only afford to wash it twice a week and because it hasn’t come in contact with a straightener, blow dryer or curling iron this whole trip. So it’s healthy! But it’s not very pretty :)

7.       7. Feet soaked in water. Our feet get atrocious and super dirty. This is necessary.

8.        8. Back in the bedroom to shake out the sheets. Sheets and blankets must be shaken out every night before bed to remove any unwanted guests.

9.       9 Roommate Prayer, get into bed and try and make pictures out of the thousands of mold spores that cover our ceiling. (Today, while I was skyping with my family, a large chunk of moldy ceiling dispatched itself from my ceiling and straight onto my pillow! I died laughing.)

10.   10. Shiver until you fall asleep. It hasn’t actually been too bad lately, because Brittany has ditched her bed and crawls into bed with me and Abigail every night. 3 girls in two beds equals a lot warmer than usual.

11.   Wake up at like 2 in the morning to Brittany’s elbow in your face. Say, (while you’re half awake, half asleep)  “Que es esto!?”(What is this) as Brittany replies “Lo siento”(I’m sorry)

12.   I think that last story (#11) was hard to follow, but essentially, we woke up in the middle of the night for half a second and communicated solely in Spanish. How cool is that??

13.   Wake up at 7:30, Pray and head out on our morning run.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being here? Because I do. So. So. Much.

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

One very comical part of this trip thus far can not be written in full on this blog. However, I can say this: We can run, but we can't hide.

We thought that we'd left boys/dating/anything of that sort back home in the states. But they have found us is some of the funniest most bizarre ways. Let's just say that the Peruvian way is hilarious.

Don't worry, we're on a strict no dating while in South America policy, but it's quite flattering to be pursued even when we are looking at our absolute worst and unable to communicate with 99.9% of the population.

And that is all I have to say about that.

High Fives All Around

Yesterday we did something that we thought would be impossible. 

We went into and out of Cajamarca ALL BY OURSELVES! 

We caught the bus in, found our stop, found our way through the city and found the spot to get back on the bus and head home. After that, I felt like I could do anything. Here’s a few snippits of what we did yesterday:

First we went to the Aldea (orphanage) and played with the children for about 2 hours. I’ve never been to an orphanage before and it was a lot like playing with our kids here at El Bichito, but just knowing that these were orphans with no family and no home of their own… wow, it completely breaks my heart. But I fell in love with them just as quickly as I fell in love with my Bichito ninos.  I sat and played (and lost) four games of chess with a 16 year old boy named Jose Luis and all the while, the younger kids (whom I haven’t even met) would come and crawl up in my lap and just want to be held and loved. They all called me “Senorita” but that made me feel old, so I tried to get them to call me Elia.  Also, while we were there, we got burnt to a crisp. I remember being warned that Cajamarca is super close to the sun or something so you get a lot of sun really fast, but we didn’t have time to put on sunscreen before we left and I have never been this red in my life! Luckily mine is already starting to turn into a nice tan.

After that we took ourselves around the city and tried to get a feel for it. We spent a good 30+ minutes searching for a certain pizza parlor that we’d been told about and when we finally found it, we discovered that it didn’t open until six, which is too late for us to be in Cajamarca alone. Here are some other things we learned/saw/heard:

A boy our age, who was Mormon, from the States AND spoke English. Meet Elder Parker Seitz from Vernal, Utah. MADE OUR DAY!

Don't mind how tired, dirty and au natural we look, but do notice the cute coats we fell in love with whilst shopping at the mall!

 We walked by a man on a cell phone, after he passed us we heard him tell the person on the other line that he saw a bunch of gringas.

I am much more apt to ask directions or help from a Peruvain man with glasses. They just seem nicer and more approachable.

Pelt the gringas with water balloons as hard as you can is a popular game all throughout the city. Next time, we’ll fight back. 

There was an adorable man our age on the bus who gave us his seat. He was clean and therefore, so cute!

We saw a cage of dead guinea pigs on our way home.

When you order fried chicken…it’s not like KFC. It’s more like normal chicken that has just sat in a pool of oil for an allotted amount of time. 

Old ladies with no teeth follow us around and beg us to by their weird candies.

We made it in and out and around all by ourselves. We are alive! Over all it was tons of fun!