The other side of Peru

Coming into this experience, I had heard about the two extremes of Peru, the rich side and the poor side. But never would I have thought that the gap was as big as it is, even in the same city. I am living in one of the poorer areas, work in some of the poorest, and this past weekend, I was able to spend time in the wealthier part of town. The missionary couple that heads up Team Peru, lives in one of the nicer districts, and close to an area known as the Miami triangle. This area houses the richest people in Peru and is home to many Americans and other foreigners, many who have lived here for years and cannot speak Spanish. There is at least one American school and much of the night life and social scene is catered to Americans and English speakers. I spent the 5 days that the YAVs were together without using much Spanish at all...the most being when I ordered my Big Mac from McDonalds.

We started out our retreat with some sharing time to find out how everyone was doing, and share all the funny things that had happened to us. We also went to renew our Visas so we could stay in the country legally for a few more months. We were on our own for dinner, so we headed to Larco Mar which is a mall on the beach and had Pizza Hutt. I got a call from my cousin while we were waiting for our pizza which made the whole scene quite funny to me. Eating pizza in an ocean front mall while talking on my cell phone in English to someone in the US, not my normal Wednesday night in Peru! While the pizza was good, our next destination was the only thing in my mind. The Corner Bar is a sports bar on a corner that has American ESPN and even gets CBS and ABC. UNC and Gonzaga happened to have a game that night and we were headed there to watch it. Unfortunately, my boys played like the freshman they are, and somehow, Tyler had an off night, but they made a respectable run to close it off, and they had to lose sometime to show the freshman they aren't the greatest players in the world like they think they are. But this blog isn't to discuss UNC basketball so I'll move on.

Day 2 was Thanksgiving! We got to Ruth and Hunter's house by 10 (Peruvian time, so almost 11) to start with the cooking process. I don't think that I have ever seen so many people in one tiny kitchen, and no one lost a finger or an eye or anything! We all worked together and prepared a delicious Thanksgiving meal that almost felt like home. After lunch we played some games and worked on a puzzle. We all made calls home and were able to talk to our families, by far the hardest, but best part of the day.

Day 3 included more meetings and times for sharing. That night there was a special evening planned. All the volunteers and the people who work in the Joining Hands office (my host parents included) went to Las Brisas, a restaurant that has traditional folk dancing from different parts of Peru. The fun started at 10 and lasted til about 3. In between acts the floor was open for us to dance...or try to dance depending on the person. I am going to take this brief opportunity to give a "shout out" to the MPC dance group. Without you, I would have had no idea what I was doing. We decided to walk back to the hostel which was about 25 blocks away, stopping for a late night hamburger on the way home. It wasn't Wendy's, but it was satisfying.

We all slept late on Saturday, and then headed over to Ruth's house for some pancakes and bacon! That was a welcome breakfast! Then it was off to the beach! That was an adventure. Ruth and Hunter have a car, but its only so big, so some of us took the bus. I volunteered thinking that I might like to go some other time and it would be good for me to know how to get there. That failed miserably. We weren't really sure which bus to take, so we asked a couple people, did some walking, tried to flag down a couple buses, and then finally gave up and got a taxi. The car group had passed us at the bus stop and honked...but since everyone honks, we didn't notice. They would have had better luck getting our attention if they had not honked. Then we would have been like, that car didn't honk it must have been them! The sun was peeking in and out of the clouds but it was still a nice day. We played some volleyball. We rented a ball, and believe it or not, the ball had my name written on it. At first I noticed the Milton in big letters, but then after further examination, Jeime Milton was written on the ball. So I took it with me when we left. After the volleyball we played a little football, and then all enjoyed a dip in the cold waters of the Pacific. I got to ride in the care home, so we had some time to take showers waiting on the bus crew. Saturday night we stayed in a different hostel. This one was designed more for the young adult traveling the world. Everyone there spoke English and there were a lot of people there my age...well, younger than me...that were just traveling. It was definitely a side of Peru that I had not seen.

Sunday concluded my 5 day tour of the "other side" of Lima. We went to an English speaking church where the people had no idea where Caraballyo was (the district of Lima I live in). We went to McDonalds for lunch, and then caught a movie in English. The movie theater was in a mall, next to a Chilis and a TGI Friday's. After a dinner of Chicken enchiladas at Ruth's we each headed back to our little nooks in Peru. As I climbed on the bus with my hour and a half ride across the city, I thought again about how different the lives of people are here in Lima. It is just so amazing to me how people in the Miami triangle don't know anything about other districts, and how much they don't want to know. The church I went to was in the middle of its stewardship campaign and it made me think about how an affluent church has to press its members for money to pay the bills, while the people in the churches I work with give so freely of what they don't have, in hopes that one day they will be able to buy the building that they worship in, or be able to move out of the room in someones house to a building they can call their own. But even with these hopes in their minds, they never forget that the church is not a building to worship in, but that the church is with each one of them, and the church IS them.

It was nice to get back to my little house in Caraballyo, and my host parents that have become so close to my heart. Even more so, it was nice to get back to being surrounded with Spanish. I know that to accompany God in His work here that I have to work harder that I have been at learning it so that maybe I have something to offer the people here that have already taught me so much.

Pictures for Grigno weekend:
http://unc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088233&l=9d455&id=2717014


Pictures from Huacho:
http://unc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088263&l=96584&id=2717014