On Thursday afternoon we caught a bus from Lima to Cajamarca. It was a sixteen hour drive. The bus line was called Cruz Del Sur and it was very nice. We sat on top floor at the very front and got a great view as we drove out of the city of Lima. We had a funny experience that evening when they passed around Bingo cards. I was excited to play Bingo and thought it was a good opportunity to practice my numbers in Spanish. Well, what we didn’t realize is that while in the United States you get Bingo when you get five numbers in a row, in Peru, you don’t get Bingo until you get every number on the entire card. When Stephen and I got five in a row, we excitedly called out Bingo! The man on the microphone invited me to come to the back of the bus (I was at the front so it was a long walk to the back) to turn in my card. When he looked at the card, he explained to me that five in a row was not Bingo. I was pretty embarrassed as I made the walk back up to our seats.
After a pretty sleepless night on the bus, I awoke to the sun peering through the window shades. I opened the shades just a little bit (as most people were still asleep) and discovered we were driving through an absolutely gorgeous landscape. We drove along a small windy road through beautiful green mountains. Occasionally we drove through a small village (most only consisting of a few houses).
We arrived in Cajamarca around 8 AM. We were picked up by Liz (another intern who has been in Cajamarca since December) and Sandro. Sandro and his family are a Peruvian family and are members of the Church. We drove to Sandro’s home where we would be staying. We ducked through a doorway about four feet tall and made our way up concrete steps. Sandro and his family live on the 3rd floor of this concrete building on a busy street in Cajamarca (actually every street is busy). Sandro took us to our room on the 1st floor. Unlike the rest of the building which has all concrete floors, this room had gray tile. There were two wooden beds in the room, one a full size and the other a twin size. The room also had two chairs. There was a window, in which one of the panes was broken and had been covered with plastic. Sandro then showed us the bathroom across the hall which was made completely of concrete. He told us the shower had only cold water. Sandro took us upstairs where we met his wife Patty. The 3rd floor has a few rooms and is open to the outside air. In other words, to get from one room to the next, you go outside. Clothing lines hung across outside of the rooms.
It’s interesting because my first thought when seeing such conditions was, wow, people here have it so hard. I can’t believe people live like this their whole lives (and I know there are lots of people in the world in worse conditions). But then, after spending time with Sandro’s adorable family that evening, I realized that these people love where and how they live. They don’t know any different, and they are very happy here with their families and their lifestyle. Sandro’s family is so wonderful. They have a six-year-old daughter named Molly (and her birthday is this upcoming week), an eight-year-old son named Kent, and a seventeen-year-old son named Harold.
On Friday afternoon we caught a ride on a micro. Micros are small buses. There are also many combes here. Combes are super crowded and super dirty vans that serve as the main form of public transportation here. Not very many people have cars. The combes and micros are super cheap. They cost about 30 cents to ride. We took a micro with Liz up to Puylcalpa, a small town outside Cajamarca where we will be volunteering. Liz showed us the building known as El Bichito (meaning little big). This is where Liz and the other interns coming next week live. Liz showed us where we will be making the food for the kids and where we will be helping the kids with their homework and doing activities each day. She also showed us the school where we will be teaching English and computer classes. We are excited to get started on Monday!
On Saturday Stephen and I went to the mercado (or market) with Patty. The market is humongous and you can buy all kinds of things there. There are tons of different kinds of fruit. That afternoon we went and saw some pretty waterfalls with Liz. The countryside outside the city is very green and beautiful. We then went to El Banos del Inca, or the bathrooms of the Incas. These are natural hot water springs in a town called Banos, which is between Cajamarca and Puylcalpa. We took warm showers there for about eighty cents each. We haven’t mustered the courage to take cold showers yet.
On our way back from the showers to Cajamarca, we got really lost! It was dark and somehow we missed our stop. Luckily we had our address. In our broken Spanish we asked a man on the combe if we had passed the street we live on. He gestured that it was down a street and told us we should get off there. We got off the combe and had no idea where we were. We had been told we shouldn’t be out at night because it is dangerous. We walked quickly in the direction the man had gestured. We still had no idea where we were and so I suggested we flag down a taxi. We flagged down two different taxis, but neither driver knew the street where we lived. We kept walking and asked people as we went. Luckily we found a few people who were able to help us. Eventually we found our house and I was so incredibly relieved!
That night we watched Yogi Bear with the three children of the family. It was in Spanish, so we didn’t understand much of it. Little Molly sat right between Stephen and me and partway through the movie put her head on my shoulder. It melted my heart!
Today we went to church here in Cajamarca. I didn’t understand any of it, but I really enjoyed meeting the members. They were very friendly and loving. My Spanish is so terrible, but I was able to speak and understand a few basic words. It is Mother’s Day, and so the primary children came into Relief Society at the end of the hour and sang to us. They gave each of us a card. In addition, the Relief Society gave each of us a card and a cute pair of earrings. Cute little Molly sat by me during sacrament meeting and walked beside me on the way home from church. This afternoon Patty's extended family came over for lunch. We got to meet her brothers and sisters and their children. Their family is so nice and so gracious! They welcomed us and told us we are part of the family. Despite our lack of Spanish, Stephen was still able to make everyone laugh and have a great time. He sure has a talent for that! More to come soon!
Pictures:
1. Taking the bus from Lima to Cajamarca
2. View of homes on the hills in Lima (from the bus)
3. View of the fruit markets (from the bus)
4. Puylcalpa (where we'll be volunteering starting on Monday)
5. Our bedroom
6. Our hallway
7. Our bathroom
8. Staying warm at night
9 & 10. Walking along the rode to the waterfalls
11. The bathrooms of the Incas
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