Well, it's been a dream to take Caren around the old stomping grounds of Peru for years now, and luckily, we were finally able to make a trip down. I was really hesitant to go with just the two of us, but we had great company from one of my Peruvian mission companions and his wife everywhere that we needed company. We're still not calling it a vacation, because while it was really fun, after all of the traveling, food, insect bites, and lack of air conditioning, it ended up being more of an adventure.
To start off, our flight to Peru was delayed, and we spent the night in Panama with about 50 other people that were headed to Lima as well. Sometimes it's hard to realize you're not in the USA when you fly into a foreign airport at night, but the big cockroach in our hotel room was plenty to remind us. After losing half a day of Peruvian fun time, we got to Lima where Eddy picked us up and drove us around to do some sight seeing. Seeing the temple, the MTC, the Plaza Mayor, and a few other barely recognizable parts of Lima brought back some great memories, but hanging out with one of my favorite companions after 8 years was the best. Poor Caren at this point was starting to realize that not being able to speak Spanish for the next week and a half would be somewhat frustrating. The temple president's wife made it clear that she better get started learning sooner rather than later. For those of you who remember the MTC president's wife back in the day, they are now serving in the temple, and her Spanish is just as bad as it's always been. = )
The minute we got to Peru, all those distinct smells started letting my nose know that we were back in a place that is like a second home to me. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the majority of the people we went to visit love me more than my own family does. Not that my fam doesn't love, but missionaries are very dear to their converts. There are about 8 or 9 distinct odors that fill the air of Peruvian homes, streets, and buses. Each smell helped me appreciate the moment and understand that it wasn't all some crazy dream...I really was in Peru again.
We found out during the first day of enjoying Lima that our plans to Cuzco and Machu Picchu were about to be radically altered by a semi-national strike that had just been anounced. Peru is supposedly giving away a lot of its natural gas that's located around Cuzco to Mexico while Peruvians are paying higher and higher gas bills, and there is only one train company transporting people from Cuzco to Machu Picchu - giving them a monopoly and complete control over the tourism at Machu Picchu...perfect excuses to go on strike. When Peruvians strike, they shut down all businesses and baracade the roads with big rocks and burning logs. If you don't support the strike and try to work, you will most likely be attacked by mobs of protestors. So, with word of the strike, we made plans to get out to Aguas Calientes (the small town at the bottom of Machu Picchu) a day earlier and leave a day later. We originally planned to do a lot of tourism around Cuzco on the way to and from Aguas Calientes, but we only had time to grab a bite to eat and see a little bit of downtown Cuzco before we had to jump on two different buses and a train that would get us up to the main attraction before it was too late (since the 4 mile wide mudslide a few months back, the trek up is pretty complicated). Thousands of unknowing tourists flew all the way down there and had no idea that they would get within 73 miles of Machu Picchu and not be able to see it because of the 2 day strike. I saw a newspaper headline that said over 4,000 angry tourists couldn't make it. We literally caught the train up within minutes of its last departure.
The next morning, we were up bright and early at 4:00 a.m. and headed up to Machu Picchu. I've seen some cool ruins before in Mexico and Belize, but to be honest, after 10 - 15 minutes, it gets kinda boring. Machu Picchu, however, is a different story. After a double "wow" when walking through the entrance, we spent the whole day walking through this ancient mountain top city admiring what the Incans have left behind. Well worth the trip is really all I can say!
We were the first people out of Aguas Calientes when the strike was lifted, and it was only after I teamed up with 5 or 6 other Peruvians to sweet talk a cop that was preventing any cars from traveling back to Cuzco. If he had held us up like everybody else, we would've missed our flight back to Lima and then our flight to Pucallpa (we had already missed our original flight that left that morning). We made it to the airport just in the nick of time. I really can't describe how excited I was at this point to be heading out to the jungle again. I was a 14 month jungle rat in the mission and prefer it over Lima any day. While Lima is completely different with an economy 100 times stronger than it was 8 years ago, Pucallpa is pretty much the exact same. Maybe 10-15% more paved roads, but everything else is igualito.
The next morning was Sunday, and we made our way over to the 8:00 a.m. Ucayali and 10:00 a.m. Vista Alegre wards where nobody had any idea we would be visiting. The chapel was three times bigger than it was the last time I had seen it, and I didn't recognize 85% of the members at first. It was a frustrating feeling at first as I was thinking "a ward cannot possibly change this much in 8 short years." Then, about 20 minutes late, several of the members I remembered started pouring in. The next few hours added up to the most spiritual experience of my life. The looks on their surprised faces as they recognized us made the whole trip worth it 10 times over. To see converts that I really didn't expect to see was overwhelming. You can't put into words what it feels like to see people you baptized holding callings, directing meetings, going on missions, getting married in the temple, and baptizing their friends and family. It was a beautiful morning full of joyful tears, warm hugs, and big ol' smiles.
The following day, we did a jungle tour where we went around a big lake that connected to the Ucayali River (the mother of the Amazon). It was pretty fun to see a lot of animals in their natural habitat. We saw a sloth, iguanas, freshwater pink dolfins, and a lot of cool birds. We stopped at a small village called San Francisco where a Shipibo tribe lives, and then we headed over to an ecolodge where they have several common jungle animals in captivity. This is where we got pictures with a 12 ft anaconda (they wouldn't let us get the 18 footer out). The highlight of the day for me was definitely fishing for piranhas, though. They're not the easiest fish to catch, but it was wild seeing how vicious they are when your bait hits the water.
Our last day in Pucallpa, I took Caren to the Bellavista Market where you can find monkeys, parrots, osalots, sloths, turtles, and of course, all the live food and delicious fruit you can imagine. We walked away with a $15 "fraile" monkey that we played with for the rest of the day before giving it away at the airport. We spent most of our time in Pucallpa visiting converts...I used to know this city like the back of my hand, but it was really tough trying to remember where everybody lives. It would've been nice to have another day or two out there, because there just wasn't enough time to do everything we wanted to.
Thanks to my and Caren's parents for helping out with our little project while down there. Piero Vasquez Guzman, who is getting married in the temple in January, is now earning a better living with his own photography business.
Our last day in Peru was spent traveling around Lima in combis and ticos looking for old friends and shopping. Eddy and his wife Cathy were so amazingly generous to us during our visit. They bent over backwards to make sure we were taken care of throughout every moment of the trip. What an experience. Hope to do it again in the near future!
