We walked out of the airport and onto the bus that was going to take us 45 min outside the city to our hotel. The parking lot of the airport looked like the one of a small airport maybe in a city in florida or something, but outside those gates was a whole new world. Our bus pulled out to the streets and motorcyclists and motorchariots are zipping by driving anywhere they can. I was nervous to see how we were going to get out onto the road because they never seemed to stop coming. Finally we start pulling out and I thought we were surely going to hit someone, but all the motocycles and chariots just zipped right around us. I also picked up very quickly that when people honk their horns in America, they are angry or trying to warn someone, while in peru they honk to let them know they are passing someone. I saw no cars. Just buses that looked about 30 or 40 years old and JAMMED PACKED with people, and motorcycles and motorchariots. You get up close and personal on a bus. I sat beside the three kids of the family of 5 that went with us on the trip. They came here a few days before we did to explore Machu Pichu and a few other breath-taking places. I was holding onto my backpack for dear life. Our driver was driving on whatever side of the road he wanted and was going very fast on curvy roads, I was sure we were going to crash. The girl beside me saw I was nervous and said "Don't worry, they never crash. We went to Machu Pichu and I thought we were going to die. We were driving like this only on the side of a mountain on a narrow road. " I was relieved some. I took out my iPhone and began to film our ride to the hotel, not because I wanted to make a sad video out of it, but because I wanted to remember what I saw. I didn't want to forget this moment I was in. I was experiencing culture shock at the time and did not know what to think, so I recorded it to remember later.
Not Forgotten's Land
We arrived at the Hotel 45min later, got off the bus, and waited for the truck to get there with our luggage. At the hotel, there was a pool, and all the roofs were thatch roofs, but wooden roofs in the rooms. We waited at the gazebo/ outdoor eating area. There was a flatscreen TV out there to watch soccer. The hotel was RIGHT beside Not Forgotten's (organization I went with) new land. It had just been cleared off with bulldozers the week before we came. It was beautiful. As I looked out over the land, this sense of hope came to my mind that comforted me of whatever was in store for the rest of the week. The luggage truck finally got there and we were assigned our rooms. I roomed with Christie and Jenna. There was no air conditioner for those wondering. We were lucky, we had 2 fans in our room. The beds were dressed in orange comforters and white sheets. The floor was tile with a few rugs near the beds. We had this big wardrobe thing that looked like the entrance to Narnia in the corner of the room. We let another team member put her big bag of gifts for the boys in the wardrobe. Kristen came in and informed us that after we finished putting our things, we were to return back to the gazebo. I noticed some cockroaches crawling around on the walkway and knew they would be in our rooms. After I sprayed on some mosquito repellent, I put my suitcase up on my bed and MADE SURE it was closed shut. I did the same with my backpack and purse. I walked down to the gazebo to meet up with the rest of the group. A group of Koreans were staying at the lodge as well. They were slightly loud and already eating (it was about 4 or 5 in the evening). Some others were staying at the hotel as well. There usually weren't that many people to stay at the lodge, but the day happened to be San Juan's day. It is a holiday to commemorate Saint John , but kinda seemed like marti gras in a way. The legend is that every night on San Juan, it rains. Kids were swimming in the pool and running everywhere. We were served dinner, chicken and rice, with these potato stick things..I really do not remember what they were called, they were not potatoes. I think they were plantains. Anyways, they were pretty good. They had a sauce that was suppose to go with them. I noticed people eating the peruvian mayonnaise with the rice...so I tried it. It was great! When we finished eating, the boys arrived and we were to go meet them. We small-talked for a while then we were all hearded to Not Forgotten's land.
Kristen spoke to the boys in spanish telling them to introduce themselves by name and age. One of the boys knew english and introduced himself that way. We were glad to know SOMEONE knew what we were saying haha. We also introduced ourselves. Kristen, Tyler, and Allison (Leaders) then explained what work we would be doing on the land. Kristen and Allison noticed that the land was marked at Kilometer 49. This was a crazy God thing because Not Forgotten's scripture verse for the organization is Isaiah 49:15-16. We went back to the lodge to put on our swimsuits and get ready to go to the river/beach place. The boys came over on a smallish bus where some of them were standing up already...we decided to fit 25 more big Americans on that bus as well. In total, we probably had 40+ people on the small bus.. and 2 dogs.
* At this time I would like to correct myself. In a previous post I wrote before going on the trip, I referred to the boys as "street boys". I do not like this term for several reasons. One being that these precious boys do not belong to the street, they belong to Christ. Not all of them were abandoned on the street by themselves. Many have stories just like to mine and yours. Some may come from divorced parents, some in an abusive home, much like our stories. We aren't to look at them and take pity and feel sorry for them, we are to embrace their reality and share and show the love of Christ. We are their brothers and sisters in Christ, and having compassion for our brothers is different then taking pity. Compassion shows true love and caring for someone, serving them with only the intention of their benefit. Pity shows a temporary emotional obligation. This is about people. This is real life, with real people, real stories, and a real powerful God.
We arrived at the beach/river. Music was playing loudly, and we were ready to have some fun with the boys! we all unpacked from the bus (even the dogs) and walked a long tall bridge to the main area where there was a restaurant with a live music performance. we walked to the other side of that area and walked down the stairs, passed the volleyball place and to some benches where we could set our things to go swim in the river. I sat my things down, got my camera out of my bag and began to film. I did not want to forget this scene. It was fabulous. The music, the sun, the beautiful scenery, it was magnificent. Me and some other team members got in the water, it was slightly chilly. At first we were a little scared because we didn't know what creatures were in the water besides fish (anaconda). Then we began playing with some of the local children near by. Their parents layed on the beach and laughed as they watched their children splash the americans. We had so much fun! we took water balloons with us hoping to fill them up and ambush the boys, but there were no places to do that, so we manually filled up some water balloons and played with them in the water. One game we played with some little girls was" find the balloon in the deep muddy water" We would throw it in the water and wait for it to pop up to the surface and hurry up to get it. Some of our team members raced the boys across the river and stayed on the bank and explored and took pictures. We stayed in the water for about 45 min then I was done with the water like most of the boys. I went to hang out with a couple people from the team and a few boys. Soon it was time to go because the boys had school the next day and could not stay out too late. We walked the long bridge again and piled back on to the bus (even the two dogs). They dropped us off at our lodge and said goodbye.
When we arrived at the lodge, it was time to get a shower and get ready for devotional. Mind you, there was one female shower and one male shower. The married couples got their own rooms with their own showers. In the main building was where everyone else was. There were 15 girls and 4 guys. This took a while. After washing the mosquito repellent off, we put it right back on after the shower. The humidity was so high, our devotional papers were soggy. They felt like they had been dropped in the pool and were almost dry. I don't know why but I just found that hilarious. We met up for devotional. Tyler and Allison gave us a history about how Not Forgotten got started. We went over our bible lesson and how it related to what we were doing there and how God is working in Peru. After that we went to SLEEP!! After not much sleep, we were so excited about this. I pulled back my covers, checking for cockroaches (we were clear), and covered my pillow up with the airplane blanket (in case of lice-you never know) and got ready for bed. Just incase I did not have enough DEET on, I sprayed more, and the other girls in my room did the same-we didn't play around. About the time we were about to turn the lights off we hear glass break and a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot. We ran outside the room and the ladies across the hall had broken the window. They were 3 ladies on our team (who called themselves the geriatric wing because they were older,but not old, women on the team) and they tried to open their window and it was stuck. So they tried to pull it really hard and it broke. I got a little scared since we knew the guy that owned this place was a Big guy that was guarded by armed men at all times, and who liked his space. But tyler assured us everything was okay, so we went back to bed.
Not Forgotten's Land
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