Dulce Hogar (Home Sweet Home)

Greetings everyone! After an exciting period of three weeks in Lima for the Peruvian reality course, one week home, Michi`s visit to Chimbote, and then our two-week journey to southern Peru, it is good to be home again. A few new photos from our time in Chimbote and the first leg of our trip are available through the link at right.

Some highlights since my last entry:

FEAST OF ST. PETER, PATRON OF CHIMBOTE
Michi`s arrival coincided with the annual fiesta honoring St. Peter, the patron saint of fishing-centered Chimbote. Thus, our four days here were a bit more packed with activity than they would have been, but all worth it in the end. Besides accompanying me to a couple confirmation meetings, an English class, and on a morning of hospice visits, Michi was able to take in the fireworks and musical performances downtown on Saturday night and the nautical procession (with the image of St. Peter in the lead boat) to the mouth of the bay on Sunday morning. We arose early to be at the pier at 7:00 am for a place in line and found a place with other young people from the parish on a large fishing boat -- a number of the fishing boats load up passengers for the free cruise/procession. After a bit of waiting, St. Peter`s boat appeared and the rest of the boats followed to the mouth of the bay, where the bishop blessed the boats, fish, bay, etc. Our boat then took a forty-minute additional cruise out past the mouth and the White Islands on a day that had turned beautifully sunny after a foggy start. We closed the morning with ceviche at a local restaurant with some friends from the parish.

Besides the procession, we also joined a group of my friends to tour the vivero forestal (city park) and see the fair there, with products and animals for sale from many regional towns and farms. Also, my friend Lucciani helped us prepare ceviche in our house, accompanying us to the market to buy the raw materials and orchestrating the production once we got back home. Though the hot water shower head stopped working a couple days before Michi arrived, she was a good sport about it. And at least the pump was working to provide water in the tap -- during our trip it died once again and we are now back to collecting our daily water in buckets in the morning and evening.

AREQUIPA
After our full time in Chimbote, we boarding a bus for a two-part trip to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru and reknowned for its white stone buildings. The overnight trip wasn`t great, and I got sick with diarhea and headache later in the day, causing us to miss the key attraction of the Santa Catalina convent. We were fortunate, though, to enjoy the hospitality and company of Isabel and Inma, two Spanish missionaries who I`d met in Lima at my course on Peruvian Reality. I slept most of our second day there before we took another night bus to Cuzco -- but before getting sick were able to cruise around the downtown and the square, even enjoying some live traditional music in a coffee shop.

CHIMBOTE
Back in Chimbote, I am preparing for the start of a new term of English classes -- we are adding one more night each week in order to offer a beginner`s course in addition to continuing with the two groups we had during the last term. I have a few ideas for projects in the upcoming year, and am excited for what lies ahead. Thanks for tuning in!