Seaweed and a Megaphone: Dia de la Playa en Peru

I sit here still exhausted, a little burnt and my legs rather stiff, but I’m going to go ahead and call the operation a success. Let’s recap.

The beginning of last week felt a little… sludgy. We came back from one of the most amazing weeks of our lives and jumped immediately back into work. The combined effect of leaving the wonder of the jungle and picking up our worries and responsibilities again left us feeling slightly deflated.  

La Playa de Santa Rosa--Great day to be at the beach!

One of those worries was the annual “Dia de la Playa” celebration. Dia de la Playa (Beach Day) is an annual event the congregations in Peru hold to celebrate the anniversary of the church in Peru. Marlene proposed that Katrina and I coordinate it this year, and we happily took up the challenge; however, as the event inched closer and closer, Katrina and I quickly found that not everyone had complete faith in us. Throughout the week we had people repeatedly checking in with us: “Where are the balloons for the games? What about the net? What songs have you picked out? Have you heard from Eder yet?” We repeatedly responded with “tranquila, tranquila” (calm down, calm down) but we couldn’t help but feel a bit of pressure to really deliver a solid event.

As occupied as we were with Beach Day, we a few other things on our plates: Katrina was presiding and I was preaching the day before Beach Day in Monte Sion. Preaching is still a lot of work for me (especially because it’s in Spanish) but I have gotten used to speaking in Spanish for over 20 minutes without reading from a paper. My struggle this week was the subject matter: adultery.

Jhonny giving the welcome at our beach service. 

Now—cheating and divorce, unfortunately, are common around the world; however that doesn’t make them any more comfortable to talk about. It was especially difficult in this community, because the heart of the church centers around the nine siblings of the Carlos family. Among the nine siblings, nearly all of them have had problems with infidelity.  The common denominator? The men having mistresses.

I chatted with one of our host cousins, Eder, about it and he told me that the older generation in Peru is dominated by men. We still see pieces of it today: women are always the ones serving, and it’s always the men who are served first. Graciela does all of the cooking and laundry for her only son Jhonnny (who’s 38.) The good news? Things are changing. We see PSAs about domestic abuse on TV all the time here, and I can’t imagine any of the boyfriends our host sisters and cousins have cheating.

All the same, the topic was still uncomfortable to talk about. Eventually, I found my way to address it and I feel like I was able to do both the scripture, and m my own feelings and sentiments justice, without causing a ruckus.

Our theme was "Let's Go Fishing!" so everyone got string to make a net!

After the sermon was over, I could finally focus full heartedly on beach day. In true Carlos family style, we left nearly an hour and half late, piling into a combi that the family had rented. After about an hour of driving we arrived on the beach at Santa Rosa, with the dry, dirt covered mountains behind us, the Pacific stretching out before us and an array of umbrellas all over the beach. I would not be remotely surprised if the skin cancer number in Peru are significantly lower than the numbers in the United States; everyone here was obsessed with staying in the shade and applying sunblock. A cultural thing about Peru is that nobody wants to get darker—the thought of laying out in the sun is unheard of here.

After nearly an hour of finagling with our tent, we finally got things organized and were able to get our service off and running. Marlene whipped out the megaphone so we could hear over the crashing waves and the screams of children playing on the beach, and Katrina had the glorious job of being megaphone holder while people talked. With a few songs from Betzabe and Eder, a short sermon by Mirtha and a few words from the leaders in the congregation, the service ran smoothly and it proved, by the end of it, that there was no reason to worry.

We're a bit toasty, but we're very happy campers. 

After the service the games commenced and one of my students promptly popped a giant orange water balloon all over me. I promised him my revenge, but eventually the ocean beckoned and I forgot about it. Katrina and I spent hours diving through the waves and fighting with the current, just enjoying the simplicity of the ocean. A decent number of Peruvians don’t know how to swim but they’re rather fearless in the water, wading out, getting toppled by a wave, then standing up and asking for more. I started the day on edge, afraid someone would drown, but the Peruvians knew exactly how far to push themselves.

By the time we crawled on the bus home, sandy, salty and burnt, we were exhausted, but completely pleased with how the day went.

As for this week, Friday begins the glorious eight hour drive through the mountains and we’ll be in Huanuco until Monday. While I always dread the drive, I’m dreading it a little less this time around since I’m excited to see Orlando’s family, and, of course, the dogs, for the first time since December. Until next time!