I don't remember the date for this, but Sr. Jospeha and i went for a little hike up a "mountain". Chulucanas is a valley kind of.... It's got lots of big hills around it. Some of the hills are close, but most are more mountain-like and far away. Anyway, it took us all of 20minutes from our front door to the top of this hill. Here I am looking over the river that no longer exists. Yep, dried up, looking at a sandy riverbed.
The newly ordained bishop is somewhere in this crowd of people. He actually had a group of about 10 young men in a circle around him to protect him. I could be mistaken, but I don't think we had to get a security team for any of our bishops in Kansas.*Cultural differences*
Classic Sr. Josepha pose:
This one makes me laugh. It makes it look like a really technical climb. I had come down to take Sister's pic and was trying to go back up. Seriously, wasn't that steep, just loose dirt. I should have just run up, but I did it nice and slow and made it super difficult. Not a mountain climber I guess? But, I do love them!
Made it! The star and lights on the letters are just there for Christmas. This is the Hollywood of Chulucanas sign!
Afterwards, Sr. Jo treated us to a few too many scoops of ice cream..Dessert first, lunch came later ;)
Dec. 9th-The day after the feast of the Immaculate Conception, I made a day trip to Piura. It's a big city an hour long bus trip away from Chulucanas. I just go to the city center here in Chulucanas and pay 4 sols to board a bus, then I sit and wait till the bus fills up. Once it's full, it goes to Piura. All day long, people just coming and going. I mostly just walked around Piura. It's a big enough city that I didn't want to wander around too much and get lost. I stuck to the same streets, saw the local street market, a few big shopping centers, the bridge and then I headed back home.
This here is the cathedral in PIura:
When I got home, we walked a block down the street to this youth event with our bishop, Monsignor Daniel. Around a hundred kids aged 10-14 ish showed up. We sang P&W, heard some vocational testimonies, had Monsignor give a short talk, and had a light dinner. I thought it was really nice. Made me miss my TEC days...
Monsignor Daniel is originally from Chicago but has lived here over 40 years. He is so loved by the people and such a joyful person himself. Every time I see him he always greets me so kindly, you'd never know I've only met him a few times. So blessed to have him here.
Thursday afternoon Sr. Jo and I decided to spend our afternoon at the public pool. We were pretty popular. According to these boys pictured especially....here I caught a pic of them all staring at us. All. Day. Long. We played with them and talked with them. They all wanted to know where the gringas were from, how old we were, what we were doing there, etc. You'd think after a few hours they'd stop staring. Nope. After this pic, I went and had a talk with them about how they shouldn't stare and laugh at people. I told them in my country it wasn't very nice. They tried to act like it was normal to stare here, but I finally got out of them that we were fun to watch bc we were different, the "gringas". They eventually left, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was the first white girl they'd seen or Sr. Jo the first black girl, or maybe the 2 of us together was quite something. oh well! It was a very nice day none the less!
5:00 am Friday morning, the feast day of our Lady of Guadalupe, we left the house the board our bus for the 4 hour trip to Chiclayo. Monsenor Rovert F. Prevost, orginally from the states I believe, was ordained bishop of the diocese of Chiclayo yesterday. It was a standing room only Mass that was over 2 hours long. But, I'm really glad I was able to go.
In the back of the church was this huge replica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. All those flowers from the people on her special day. Also, the bishop specifically requested to be ordained on this day. Cool!
After Mass, Sr. Vivi, Josepha and I went out for lunch with a few priests and seminarians from Huarmaca (where we'll soon be going). We got back on the bus at 4 and made it home by 9pm. A long, full day. But all part of the fun!
Killing time just before the ordination. Love my coffee! (even if it is mostly milk!)
Just a few more days till Sr. Saane returns and we head up to Huarmaca. I'm ready to get this show on the road!!
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