Okay—so it’s hard to know where to begin—I usually don’t go
so long between posts! And the past few weeks have been particularly eventful—I’ll
try to do this justice, without blabbering on too much so you can get back to Christmas
with your family.
So—starting with Huánuco—let me break it down. Katrina and I
tried to make the most out of our last week in Huánuco. We started by making a trip
to the river—just the two of us—to do nothing more than splash around and play.
We continued by having our campfire we’d planned for the previous Sunday. Katrina
and I were a little skeptical that the campfire would have great success since
we had to move it to the middle of the week—and our fire was made of random
sticks, but were pleasantly surprised by the outcome. A big part of the success
was Jimmy being in town—he has the amazing ability to unite people. We sang
songs, rolled on the round a little, and swapped some scary stories, ending the
night with s’mores. The week continued trucking by celebrating Katrina’s
birthday, complete with her own mototaxi driving lesson, courtesy of Jimmy. Finally,
we topped things off by helping Eynor play hooky from school (with parental
approval, of course) and taking him to the only pool in town with a slide
(which we promptly realized was placed inside of a rather creepy bar.) 
Thursday night, Wilfredo came into town to help us prepare
for the Christmas service in Huánuco. He was also nice enough to drop us by the
local mall, so we could FINALLY get our pictures with Papa Noel, aka Peruvian
Santa Clause (who turned out to be phenomenally creepy looking.) That night was
when the goodbyes started—Jimmy and Tonio were headed out on a work assignment,
so it was our last night together. Jimmy gave an unexpected, but emotional
speech that really made it sink in to us just how hard leaving Huánuco was
going to be. Saturday was upon us before we knew what was happening and we put
together an imperfect Christmas service that ended with a massive dog fight in
the backyard. Dog fight’s aside, the service went okay with Katrina and I tag
teaming preaching duties, and afterwards we sent everyone home with a snack bag
and bellies full of Peru’s traditional Christmas food and drink: Chocolatada
(which is basically hot chocolate) and Paneton (bread with dried fruit.)
Sunday morning we woke up with heavy hearts, knowing we’d be
saying our goodbyes all too soon. When the hour was upon us, we shared tearful
hugs with Eynor, Fabrizio and Carolina, the only ones left at the house, and
made the long journey back to Callao. Though we only had a few short hours in
Callao, we used them to help Graciela’s family decorate their Christmas tree
and pack our bags for our next big adventure: Cusco.
In complete honesty, Cusco deserves its own blog post…but it’s
not going to get it. So here’s a break down of what we did there.
Monday, we arrived early to give ourselves a little time to
acclimate to the high altitude of Cusco. We spent our time poking around Cusco
and we quickly discovered that the Cusquenan flag looks a lot like the gay
flag, but upside down and with one extra color. Tuesday, we were off for a tour
of Cusco, where we visited nearby ruins and the Convent of San Domingo, which
used to be an Incan temple. One of the biggest things in the Convent was the architecture—something
I love about the Incans is that we still don’t understand a lot of things about
them, including how they carved out their rocks and were able to mold them into
shapes with 12 different corners. 
The next day we hopped on a bus bright and early to take our
tour of the Sacred Valley. We spent most of the day poking around ruins and marveling
at the Incas. We stumbled upon more than one place where the Incans irrigation systems
were still working today, a feat which continues to baffle scientists today. We
ended the day by hopping the train to Cusco and hitting the hay bright and
early to prepare for the main event: Machu Picchu.
Thursday we started the day early than we cared to, but wide
awake and at the foot of Wayna Picchu by 6:15 a.m. Wayna Picchu is the
monumental mountain that you see surrounding the Incan ruins in all of the
Machu Picchu pictures. The mountain was a little over an hour hike and
unfortunately when we got the top the view wasn’t exactly breathtaking—all we
could see was fog. The downside of visiting Machu Picchu during the rainy
season is that you can end up stuck in the clouds. However, wandering through
the mist of Wayna Picchu isn’t a bad way to spend a morning. From there we took
a Machu Picchu tour, and by the end of the day we were able to shed our ever
attractive ponchos and snow hats and embrace the warm air and wonder that is
Machu Picchu. I could have sat on the lookout point all day, but alas, we
eventually had to go back and we ended our day by soaking in the natural hot
water springs that the local village had to offer.
The next day it was back to Callao and we had to get ready
for our Christmas service in Callao. Katrina and I’s role in the service was
very minor, and for the most part we simply got to enjoy what the Callao team
had organized. They gave away toys to all the kids, and of course, the ever
popular Paneton and Chocolatada. After hugs and chatting with everyone in
Callao that we hadn’t seen in a few months, we had to whisk away to the airport
to catch our flight back to the US. And after a long and tiring night of travelling,
I’m back in the States with the family and happily plopped on the couch with my
Dad. Which brings us up to date. 
Katrina and I are living the life of an average American for
two weeks and January 5th it’s back to Callao. January we’re getting
a visit from Steven and Emily with the church and we’ll get to map out a
schedule for our final six months in Peru. We’re ending the month with a visit
from my friends Dave and Erica and by early February we’ll be in Iquitos—a city
in the Amazon river basin.
So as I sit here on Christmas, talking about trips from one
of the Seven World Wonders to the Amazon River—I feel obligated to say how
truly blessed I’ve been to have such amazing experience over the last few
months—that will continue on into 2014. There’s a million and one things I
could say—but since it’s after midnight now and officially Christmas, I’m
simply going to say Merry Christmas.
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