In the end

What a trip this was! Even now, almost a year later, I still think about it almost every day. Those two weeks hold some of my best memories. I loved it; I miss it. Its difficult to put into words what a trip like that does to people, or at least, to me. I learned just how good it feels to serve. The smiles we got from the people of Salkantay was better than any paycheck. If I could, I'd do that forever. As it is, I have quite a bit to pay for. It makes me sad; sometimes I wonder why the world can't just get along and work together. If we could all love each other like the brothers and sisters that we are, no one would have to worry about money, we'd just help each other out. I think that's how its going to be in the millenium. The time I spent in Peru, and the time since as I've thought about it, has made me feel more solid as a person. I know who I am, I know what is important to me, I know what is right. Helping people just for the sake of helping them, out of love and not out of obligation, is right. It feels right, it feels warm, it feels totally and completely joyous. Just thinking about it brings back the feelings I had when I was doing it--my heart bubbles and I feel like dancing. The jungle was amazing, Cusco was fun, Machu Picchu was incredible, but the best days I spent in Peru were in Salkantay, working harder than I ever thought my body was capable of. It was so hard, but I'd do it again. I WILL do it again. Maybe not in Peru, but this was something that affected me deeply, and I intend on being affected again, and hopefully changing someone's life for the better because I was able to serve them. I've never been so dirty as I was in Peru, never been so tired or so overwhelmed. I've never been happier.

Coming Home

Forty hours of straight travel. Oh my heavens. It took so long to get home! The day before we left, there had been a storm upriver, so the river was filled with all this debris, mostly huge logs and branches. It took extra long to get back to Puerto Maldonado because of all that stuff in the water, and the fact that we were going against the current. We finally got back to the town and got on the buses to the airport. We got on the plane. We had a quick stopover in Cusco to let Amberley off for her extra three weeks in Salkantay. Then, we flew to Lima. When we got to Lima and loaded everyone on the bus, Jan told us that the temple was closed so we wouldn't be able to do baptisms as we had planned. I was devastated and very close to tears. I had been looking forward to that the entire trip. We went to lunch at a mall that was right by the ocean. That was neat; I love the ocean. After that, we drove around the city doing who knows what (I sure don't! I think we were running some errands, but I was so tired by that point, I wasn't paying much attention), and then we finally went to see the temple. Some temple workers let us on the grounds, and that was cool. Ah, I just wanted to go inside so bad! We packed onto the bus again and went to the market. I was entirely broke by that time, so I just looked at the stuff. It was a huge market, and more expensive than the other ones we've been to. There was a funny guy that I bargained with for Haley. She wanted a Peruvian top, and he told us they were five soles. I told him we'd pay three. He glared at me, in good nature, and said, in his Peruvian accent, "You hard customer!" He sold it to us for four in the end. After the market, around nine thirty, we went to the airport to catch our midnight flight. We stood in line forever and finally got everything checked in when they told us our flight was three hours delayed. I'm used to waiting for planes, so that wasn't a big deal. The big deal was that this delay made it so that we would miss our connection in Atlanta. About half of us got on a flight that would leave almost as soon as we got to Atlanta, and then the lucky other half of us got a flight that wouldn't leave until 6:30 the next night. Instead of being home at noon, I would be home around eleven pm. I tried really hard to hold in the tears, but I was so tired and I wanted to be home so bad! Chance was a sweetheart and tried to cheer me up by playing me songs on his ipod about sunshine and smiles. Thanks Chance, it really did help. He sat with me and made me laugh, even though I didn't want to. He, of course, wasn't too upset because he got the early flight. So, in my seven hour layover with half our group, I ate a lot (Dominos, Chick-fil-a, Ben and Jerry's, etc), walked around the airport, sat around, and talked. I was never so happy as when our flight finally left. I could have danced! It was a long flight, and just to test me, we had to wait about half an hour or more to land because of a little weather. We kept on going in these huge circles in the air. I was about ready to jump out of that plane. Still, being in Utah (or at least above it) was comforting. My mom and my little sister were there to pick me up. It was great to see them. It was nice to see English on all the billboards and to be in a vehicle with only two other people. I love home.

Jungle Adventures

The next morning, we woke up at five o'clock. The generators weren't on, and wouldn't be until later that evening, so we got up and got ready in the dark, and then had breakfast by candlelight. There were these tiny bananas they had there that were SO good! They were really sweet and flavorful. Those made up the bulk of my breakfast. After breakfast, the sun started to rise. It was so beautiful. Our guide, Elias, then took us on a walk through the jungle. It was so incredible! I felt like a T-Rex was going to burst out of the bushes at any second. Once while we were walking, we heard a huge thud. It was a fruit about the size of a cantelope, but it had a hard shell on the outside. I thought Elias said it was a papaya, but I think I heard him wrong because it didn't look much like a papaya. It would have killed a person if it fell on their head! We saw so much on our walk. There was a termite nest we stopped at. Elias said the people there make them into tea because they taste minty. Sure enough, they do! Yes, I ate one. I made Daniel kill it for me first, but I did eat one. Our hike ended at a small lake that REALLY reminded me of Jurassic Park. There was a row boay that we took turns going out in in groups to look for birds. Those that weren't on the boat went up this raised platform where we could see the lake from above. It was incredible. While I was in the boat, I saw a cayman, a little turtle, and some vultures. One group saw a toucan and bats. The other group saw some macaws. On the walk back, we stopped at a tree that was covered in fire ants. Elias said that the jungle people used trees like this as punishment. If someone did something wrong, they could get tied to a tree like this. Fire ants are very protective of their trees, and would sting the prisoner in order to protect their home. Some of the boys in our group decided it would be cool to touch the tree to see what it felt like to get stung. They all yelled when they got bit because it hurt so bad. Some of those getting punished would die from it! After we made it back to the lodge, we had lunch and some free time. Me and Bailee had a nap, some people swam in the pool, and others explored. After lunch, I put my legs in the pool, which felt amazing and totally helped me cool down. After our break, we got back in the boat and went up river to visit a native family. They live in the jungle for tourists; its how they make their living. It sounds lame, I know, but it was really actually very cool! The patriarch spoke Spanish and the native language, so Elias translated for us. A lot of the time the guy was so animated in his story telling that we got the jist of what he was saing through his tones and actions. He made fire by rubbing bamboo sticks together. He showed us some dances, one of which ended up with Jake and Amberley being married! He told us about the life and history in the jungle, and all sorts of other stuff. There was a little boy that walked around handing everyone a flower while the old man spoke. Then, they brought out their "pets." I was thinking, chickens, dogs--no, boa constrictor. One of the men in the village put it around whose ever neck dared. I had it put on my neck, and it tried to strangle me!--more or less. Not really, but it definately got tighter and tighter. He also brought out two tortoises. Elias had me stand on one to show how strong they were. The patriarch showed us his wooden machete and other tools they use. The ladies and necklaces and bracelets and even some cool spears they were selling. Me and Haley got cousinship bracelets. After we got back to the lodge, we had family night, which got interupted momentarily when a tapier walked through our circle. Things like that just happen when you are in the jungle! Maria gave us each an award. Mine was "loved by all the children," or something to that effect. Then, we played a game, which was so much fun! We partnered up, boy-girl. My partner was Mat. I had to either sit on his knee, jump into his arms, or jump onto his back, depending on if Jan said "Rooster onthe roof", "Chicken in the basket" or "Hen on the egg." If you were too slow, you were eliminated. It was so much fun, and a goofy way to end the night.

Sunday in the Jungle

We finally left Cusco for the last time the day after we toured all those ruins. We took a plane to a jungle town called Puerto Maldonado. It was so warm and humid--completely opposite of Salkantay. It was a nice change at first, but my hair severely misbehaves in humidity so I quickly got tired of that. I loved being warm, though. One kind of funny observation I made was that in Salkantay it was hard to breathe because the air was so thin, and in the jungle it was still hard to breathe because the air was so heavy. We stayed at a place that was down river from Puerto Maldonado. The river we were on was the Madre de Dios, which is a tributary of the Amazon. Can you believe I was in the Amazon jungle? I know, its crazy. We took a boat down the river to our lodge; it was amazing. We all had little bungalos that we shared with two or three people. Me, Haley, and Bailey shared one. It felt like I was on that Jungle Cruise ride in Disneyland, or maybe Indiana Jones, but this wasn't the magic of Disney, this was absolutely real! Once we got settled, we got back in the boats and went across to the middle of the river to Monkey Island. Isla del Monkey, or something like that. It was so amazing! A monkey took a banana straight from my hand! They were all over the place. Some climbed onto people's shoulders and some just kept swinging around in the trees. They told us to not get close enough for the monkeys to climb on us because they bite, but I still wish one would have climbed on me. We spent at least an hour or two there before going back to our lodge. The sun was setting by then and it looked beautiful on the water. After we got back, we regrouped and had church in a bigger bungalo a little deeper in the jungle. It was so fun because all the jungle noises were mixed with our meeting. The jungle gets so loud at night! After that, we went cayman hunting. We got in the boats and Elias brought a huge flashlight. He shined it on the banks of the river, and when the light hit the cayman's eyes, it made them glow. Cayman, for those who are like me and didn't know what they were until they saw one, are small alligators. We saw so many. It was quite the experience to be out on the jungle river at night. We had dinner after that, then the power went out (it was only on for about three hours every day, from about 5 to 8) so me and Haley and Bailey went to bed. We were so paranoid about bugs in our beds, but we ended up having very few instances of bug invasions. I was completely freaked out about the tarantulas.

Ruins, ruins, ruins!....and alpaca.

Finished completely with the service part of our trip, the last few days were spent seeing the country. The day after Matinga was ruins day! We saw so much in one day, it was crazy. The first place we went was on the mountain just above Cusco and was called Saqsaywaman. Now, if you know the bunch of goofballs I went on this trip with, I bet you can guess how they mispronounced that name. It was a really neat place; they think it was probably a temple, but it could be a fort or something also. There was this spot where the rock had been so smoothed down that it was really slick and made a perfect slide. I'm guessing it was worn down by all the tourists, but I guess it could have been ancient. I didn't catch that part of the explanation. We spent about an hour there before climbing back on the bus. We headed towards ruins at Pisaq, but before we got there, we stopped at this llama/alpaca petting zoo type place. It was really cool. We got to go in the pens with them and feed them straight from our hands and pet them. The baby alpaca was soooooo soft! The great thing about this place was that they showed all the stages of going from alpaca to clothing, or whatever else they need to make out of the wool. There was an area where they were dying the wool with plants and minerals from the area. My favorite, though, was the women in traditional dress sitting around hand-weaving this new thread. It was incredible. The amount of effort and skill that goes into their work was staggering. If everyone did work like that, if everyone used their hands to create--well, I wish I was that talented. We spent a good hour or two there, then got back on the road. The majority of the day was spent at Pisaq. It was, again, really neat, but it was kind of a long stay and we were all so tired. We hiked around for a bit, took pictures, explored, then headed down to the village where we went to the market. It was a fantastic market; it was huge and cheap. Before we really got into the shopping, though, we ate lunch at a German lady's restaurant. It was a good attempt at American food, but wasn't quite the same. Still, it was good and gave me the energy I needed for the rest of the day. After Pisaq, we drove to MORE ruins at Ollantaytambo. We only had a little while there, since it was getting dark by then. This place had so many stairs! They were huge stairs, too. I felt like a little kid going down them, stepping on each step with both feet. The bus ride home made me feel kind of sick because we had been on that darn bus all day long. At the hotel in Cusco, when we finally got there, we had dinner. There was a Peruvian band playing for us, including dancers dressed up in some pretty wild but really cool costumes. The music they were playing was so much fun. If I had more energy and didn't feel sick, I would have found it hard to resist dancing, too! As it was, I went to bed as soon as I was done eating. I figured it would be best to get my rest since we had another big day ahead of us.

Matinga

After we finally made it down the mountain, we drove towards Matinga, a village several miles away. Matinga is a tiny little village, but it does have a school. Unfortunately, the teachers, like the taxi drivers, were also on strike, so they weren't having actual class that day. However, they knew we were coming, so the kids that lived nearby and a few of the teachers met us there anyway. What a welcome they gave us! It was like being in a parade. We parked our bus outside the school walls, and when we walked through the gate, there they were, lined up on either side, ready to play with us. Oh, they were so cute. They seemed a little bit better dressed than the kids in Salkantay, but it was still very obvious that these people didn't have much. Our group split up so that there were about four or five of us leading each age group in games. My group, which was all boys but me, was in charge of the primary kids. They were so shy and didn't understand a word of English, so this proved quite challenging. We tried to teach them games like red light green light, but aside from being so small, they were also kind of afraid of us. And rightly so, since Zack suggested we have them play Gladiator games! He's such a goof. We tried duck duck goose and sharks and minnows, but the game they ended up really loving was tug-o-war. In fact, they liked it so much, they ended up breaking the rope! It may have had something to do with the fact that those boys in my group cheated and tried helping one side or the other. I certainly didn't start that... eh hem, anyway, after the games, we read some books we had brought for the kids. I speak absolutely no Spanish, and the kids I read to got a kick out of my attempt to sound out the words. I made them help me with the harder words. So cute. We were only there for a few hours, but it was so much fun, and felt so good to just spend time with kids like them. After Matinga, we drove back to Cusco and had some free time. I desperately wanted to go to the cathedral in the plaza, but it closed just as we got there. It broke my heart to miss that, but it was still so fun to be out and about with everyone. It got a bit chilly, but it was worth braving the cold. I could hear a band playing somewhere, and on the steps of the cathedral there was some sort of protest with candles and signs that I couldn't read. Little kids kept shoving postcards and finger puppets in our faces, trying to get us to buy them. Also, if I remember right, this was the night a few of us went to this incredible little ice cream parlor and I got vanilla ice cream with strawberry syrup and coconut shavings--in the shape of Spaghetti! Oh, and I forgot one of the best parts of the day! I got to SHOWER!

Cement and Tears

The next day we got a bit of a late start, so all we did was haul cement telephone poles. Ha! All. It took every last one of us to move those things! They literally weighed a ton. As in, 2000 pounds. Okay, so we only moved about...two. And one was only half a ton. Still, it was so hard! We had a rope that we cradled it in so that everyone had a loop they were holding on to, and then we had another rope tied to the uphill end of it that served as our brakes. I cannot tell you how incredibly strong those Peruvians are. After we had taken our pole down to where they needed it, struggling, groaning, and using all of our strength, the Peruvians, about half as many of them as there were of us, told us to put it down and they'd take it the rest of the way--up the huge hill. Its funny, I am using my journal as a sort of guide as to what happened when, but I left so much out! For example, I didn't tell about what we did once we were finished with the poles. We took a very long break in which we explored the coutryside a bit. It was beautiful! There was this one hill that I would have thought was just a hill, but actually, it had a stream going right through it. There was a cool little spot that if you crawled into, you could see the opening of the huge cave that led into the heart of the hill. Once we saw that, of course, we had to climb down to the bottom of the hill and walk through the cave. It was so amazing. Here I was, wandering around the Peruvian countryside, walking through hills and finding secret little picnic places on the other side. I just don't know how to put into words what this experience was for me. It was...ah! It was beautiful. I'm sure my memory flowers up the images a bit, but still, it was something I can't use words to describe, because I've never learned words powerful enough to do it justice. It was a good day. A good two weeks. After we were finished with the poles, they told us we had to walk back to the village because the truck was down in Cusco picking up supplies. It was about a three mile, uphill walk back, and we were all so hungry! The biggest tragedy of the day was that when we got back, lunch wasn't even ready. Fortunately, we survived, but just barely. After lunch, I sat on the swingset that had just recently been built and played with five or six adorable little girls. They would touch my hands and my face and try on my necklace and my rings and jabber at me in Kechuan. One of them, Cassandra, followed me everywhere, holding my hand and laughing at me. I loved the people there so much, and very few days go by that I don't think about them. They were the most tender souls I have ever come across. Which made it all the more difficult to leave the next morning. I thought it would be easy to leave the freezing cold rooms with ten bunk beds crammed inside and go back to a warm, somewhat private hotel room with only two roommates. I thought it would be easy to leave the dirt and mud and sweat for a nice hot shower. I thought it would be easy to leave the back-breaking labor for leisurely touring around. It wasn't. As we sang "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" it sank in that these people I had been serving and coming to know may never cross paths with me again in this life. After we sang, Adrian, the President, spoke to us. He apologized for being unable to provide us with the comfort we are used to and thanked us for making the sacrifice to come to his village. That ripped my heart out and humbled me. I never wanted to complain again! After he spoke, the women of the village gave each of us a handmade belt as a gift of gratitude. They could have sold each belt for at least ten soles, which for them, is a lot of money. Then they all, women and men, gave every single one of us a hug and a "gracias hermana." That's one think I don't think I mentioned. They kept calling me "hermana," and I didn't understand at first what that meant. It means sister, and when I realized that, it struck me just what they were saying. They considered me their sister. Anyway, during our parade of hugs, I lost it. Those people are so incredible. They spend their lives laboring just for survival, yet they are so humble and so grateful and so quick to open their hearts and homes. Unfortunately, after our tearful farewell, our attempt to ride off into the sunset (so to speak) was ruined by a flat tire on the bus. After about half an hour and a much less romantic departure, we were off. Well, sort of. The ride down on this bus, which was much bigger than the other ones we had been taking, was more of an adventure than any theme park ride. There were three instances where we all had to get off the bus so it could make a turn without getting high-centered. That's Peruvian transportation for you in a nutshell.