Miraflores and Historic Downtown Lima

November 17, 2014

Sunday was suppposed to be a retreat day, but due to some miscommunications, it was cancelled. Around noon, Sr. Rosie's niece showed up and invited me to lunch with them. I was planning on a sweat pants kind of day with not much going on and felt like a shower, a pinch of makeup and a comb would have been nice. But, I threw on some jeans, a sloppy ponytail and headed out for a fancy lunch. Que verguenza. For this reason, there are no photos of me in this post. But I wore my jeans, a black tshirt, a hoodie and my chaco sandals...gringo i was. 

Sr. Rosie's niece, Carmen, lives in the beautiful district of Miraflores. Maybe a 20 minute drive from our neighborhood in San Miguel. Sr. Rosie and I sat on her 5th floor balcony sipping our Inca-kolas(typical soda drink here they refer to as the the "national flavor"), watching the surfers, parasailers, and tourists walking while Carmen prepared lunch for us. I promise I offered to help, but they told me to sit and just enjoy myself. It's killing me!

It was a simple lunch. Sr. Rosie is from Lima and in the last few years, all her siblings have passed away. She makes a point to keep in touch with her family and it was so nice of them to invite me to along...just Carmen, her two sons Sebastien and Eduardo, Sr. Rosie, and their bulldog Jamon. 

Here's the view from the apartment while there were still partly blue skies:

El Morro Solar from the apartment. 

El Parque del Amor (Park of Love)  A huge statue of two lovers right in the middle. 

Lots of green grass and flowers and dogs...a nice day. Notice the grey skies again. Don't see blue skies for long here :( 

Poor quality photo plus grey skies make for a interesting photo. But the highway Verde Express (I think) is down below and the little strip of land is a famous restaurant. I think they call this area the valley of Lima. 

Oh, I'm embarassed by these photos! But this is looking to the north from parque del amor. There is the foro (lighthouse) in the distance. So pretty in person! 

After our walk along the seaside (malecon aqui), Sr. Rosie, Carmen, Carmen's son Sebastien and myself went for a ride to the city center. They didn't think it was right that I spent a week in Lima without seeing it. I agree! Sebastien speaks English very well and he was easily able to tell me about all the historical stuff downtown. 

Street venders: 

So many people selling food, toys, balloons, etc... You'd think there was a festival or something. Apparently just a typical day in downtown Lima. 

Here is the famous Plaza San Martin. It's one of the largest and most impressive squares in Lima. The square is named after José de San Martin, who was a hero of South American independence, and there is an huge monument with a bronze statue of San Martin in the centre of the square.

The square is surrounded by impressive buildings like the Gran Hotel Bolívar, the Teatro Colón, and several other. There are a few restaurants and bars around Plaza San Martin, but we visited the bar ‘Bolivarcito’ (‘La Catedral del Pisco Sour’). Carmen said this is the famous place to try the famous Pisco Sour. 

Inside Hotel Bolivar:

Where we sat to try our pisco sour!

Here it is! Pisco sour and for dessert: Algarrobina. I'd translate it as Pisco eggnog. OMG delish! It's made with Pisco (the alcohol), carob syrup (algarrobina), sugar, evaporated milk, egg whites, cinammon, and a blender. I doubt the sisters will be able to teach me how to make this one. But forget about ice cream...I've found my new favorite dessert!

And most importantly, in Peru, carob is known for it’s high nutritional value...so it's kind of a healthy drink, right? 

The Cathedral...maybe someday I'll get ambitious and lighten up these pics ;) It was crazy to me how many people were downtown. The pictures can't capture it all. My favorite sighting had to be the people of the jungle. They were dressed in bright orange clothes, had funny looking hats...maybe going for the tiger look? I didn't catch a picture, but apparently every once in a while you'll catch a glimpse of the jungle people in the city. Made me think of the movie "Jungle 2 Jungle" with Tim Allen ;) 

Plaza San Martin at night: 

That's all for now! Off to buy my bus ticket hasta Chulucanas! 

Hasta la proxima :) 

Gringo days...

Friday is considered "pick-up" day here at the house. Each day, the sisters take turns cooking up lunch and on Friday, everyone is one their own. Sr. Saane is spending about a week down here in Lima, (she's currently assigned up in Huarmaca) and was ever so gracious to let me follow her around yesterday. 

We went to a restaurant about a 10 minute walk down the street for what she calls "chifa". I don't really know why they don't just call it "comida de chino". From what I can tell, it is typical chinese food. Anyway, we got a huge bowl of egg noodle soup, a platter of our chifa and a mountain of rice. It seems everything here is super cheap. All that food for like $3! You know when you order a chipotle burrito and you think "I really shouldn't finish this, but I totally could"? Well, that's how I felt yesterday with sister. I totally didn't need or really want to finish the entire plate, but I also didn't want to appear picky on my 2nd day here! I left and didn't feel like I needed to eat anything the rest of the day. But Sister really wanted an ice cream. After giving Nikki a hard time in Colorado last week for always wanting ice cream, I had to laugh Sister was dead set on finding it! We found a little McDonald's ice cream kiosk and Sister Saane was so excited to have her ice cream cone. I had some too...tasted just like American McD's :) 

We made up for our huge-mongous lunch by walking a lot the rest of the day. We went to the Saga Falabella, which is just a big mall here. They had a lot of American shops. It was almost like stepping outside of Lima for the time we were there. Next we walked to the famous Indian Market. All kinds of Peruvian made stuff. I bought a little purse but nothing else. I figure if I come back through Lima on my way back to the states, I'll swing by this place. Lots of neat souvenir type stuff at really cheap prices. I just don't want to fill my suitcase up yet. Still got lots of time here!

Bingo with Sr. Saane. We were intrigued by these people sitting outside the casino. 1 sol per game to play Bingo! We didnt win, but we had so much fun playing! 

We made it back home and I was ready for my late siesta. Which, surprisingly, is not as common here as in Spain! I was exhausted. I passed out on my bed and left my door open because I knew Sr. Rosie wanted to show me around the Parque de la Reserva once it was dark out. I didn't think I'd sleep that heavy but I woke up to a puddle of drool. (maybe not a "puddle"...but a fair amount!) Sr. Rosie, Sr. Saane and I started our evening by another stop at the chifa restaurant. I'm telling you, these ladies have big appetites! This time we all ordered a quarter of a roasted chicken and a mountain of fries. I could not finish it. I think we had the same waiter that served us at lunch and I felt like he was laughing when he saw us walk in for a second time! 

Onward...We finished our night off at the Parque de la Reserva. We caught the wrong bus and what could have been a 10 minute ride lasted a good 30 minutes. Anyway, the buses here drive kinda crazily (i know i've mentioned that before) and apparently while on the bus quite a big earthquake shook Lima. We were oblivious. I'm not asking for one, but I missed Kansas's quake by a day and didn't even feel the one in Lima. The Park was really neat. I think it's one of largest, if not the largest, fountain park like it in the world. 13 different fountains: some you could play in or under if you wanted to get wet, some just had pretty lights, another one was a huge show that lasted 20 minutes with typical Peruvian dancers in lights. It was a really neat surprise I didn't know existed in the middle of Lima!

Saturday is cleaning day around here. We cleaned all morning and after lunch, I kept my tradition of a siesta. The sky here in Lima is grey a lot. Google it. It's really kind of depressing. Today, for the first time, I saw blue skies! I couldn't resist taking my siesta out in the sun. And, although it's only been a few months since I was oceanside without sunscreen, my skin is white as can be again. I burned. I didn't time my siesta, but I also dont think I slept that long. I'm gonna say the sun here in Peru is pretty strong!

I cleaned this patio... (back of the house-My window is far left, second from the top)

And poor Sr. Rosie napped on it later...(i think we kept her out too late last night!)

This evening Sr. Saane and I went to a little get together at the San Jose Marist Missionary chapel. It was the 139th anniversary of the death of Fr. Jean Claude Colin, the founder of the Marist fathers. We are praying for his canonization. It was a really nice evening with some really nice people. It was my first time to get to talk with the locals here and I enjoyed it so much! I also must say I really like the accent they have here in Lima. The whole evening was in Spanish and I understood almost everything! Only 3 days here and I haven't lost my Spanish from home yet! 

Tomorrow is retreat day. Apparently it's a day of silence and prayer in the house. 

Wednesday I'll catch the 10 hour bus trip North for a conference with a few other sisters I haven't met yet!

Whew! That was an extra long one! I am usually a journal keeper but while I'm here I just want to have pictures with the memories too! Thanks for reading! 

Arriving in Peru and Touring the Neighborhood

November 13, 2014

I mentioned in my last post that I was a little concerned about the Peruvian authorities letting me into the country. It was a legit concern that I wasn't aware should have been a concern until I was about 2 hours from departing Miami. The agent at the check-in desk was very adament about me having proof of my return to the United States. I told her I didn't have proof but that I planned to leave Peru in 90 days (that's how long I thought was legal to stay on a passport visa). She gave me my boarding pass but I then spent the next 2 hours googling all the info I could on customs and entering Peru without a visa. I sent Sr. Connie (who was to pick me up from airport) an email telling her if I didn't exit, I was probably stuck in customs. She put together a sponsorship letter and had all sisters praying for my smooth entry to the country. To the point: It was not even worth the worry. The border control agent asked me how long I planned to stay in Peru. I asked him how long I could stay. He asked me again how long I wanted to stay. I said 90 days again. THEN he told me I could stay up to 183 days. He again asked if I wanted to stay 90 days and I said if I could, I'd prefer to stay the entire 183 days. He wrote 183 days on a tiny slip of paper and told me not to lose it. And that's all on that note!

Today was such a nice day. The sisters are reallly allowing me to just soak in life as a tourist right now and I can't complain. I slept in this morning and had a nice breakfast and tea on the patio. 

After breakfast, Sr. Rosie (she has to be at least 75 years old) took me on a couple hour walk around the neighborhood. She is born and raised in Lima and had so much to share. We walked all the way to the ocean and back through the slightly dangerous neighborhood. It's not a neighborhood I'll go through again solo but I was safe with Sr. Rosie :) 

We came home and Sr. Helen prepared us a nice lunch of beef shepherds' pie. After lunch, we had some exciting visitors disguised as city water line workers. Good story that added a bit of drama to our day. Add to my list of stories to tell you someday, but I'm not gonna type that one up ;)

Let's see....after lunch, Sr. Rosie took me on a bus trip to La Punta. It's a tiny little peninsula completely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. It is a neighborhood significantly better off than where I'm living now. Just a 20 minute bus ride away. While our house is protected with an electric fence, there they are iron gates and beautiful historic homes. The bus ride was quite a trip. Some of the buses/large vans look like they're straight out of the 70's while others could probably pass for the 90's. On the trip to La Punta and back home, loud techno or mariachi type music blared from the bus speakers. Each bus had a driver and a money collector who seemed to be half hanging out the door most the time and as we'd approach our stop he'd yell really loud for everyone to hear where we were headed. Sooo different than my Spanish bus experience with the built in wifi on the bus! 

Sister and I walked quite a while (let me say again, Sr. Rosie is pretty amazing!) and near the end of our tour stopped at a little cafe/restaurante. Thanks to my good friend Katie, I was prepared for what came next. There was a huge bowl of skewered cow hearts covered in some red sauce that were beckoning to Sister. I'd heard of these "anticuchos" but was pretty decided not to try one. Sister said, "You don't have to try them, but I'll order 2 just in case you change your mind." Well, I've never really been one to be a picky eater. After Sister took the first bite and assured me they were good, I ate grilled cow heart for the very first time. I honestly have to say, it was really good! I ignored the massive amounts of bacteria that were likely growing on the meat since it'd probably been sitting out for a while, and 4 hours later, no symptoms of food poisoning. And, I'd definitely try it again. Just in case I didn't like the heart, Sister also ordered a side of picarones. Fried sweet doughy things smothered in a honey sauce. So much for losing weight in Peru! Oh and the crazy part? All this food for just 12 soles ($4.09)!

Off in the distance you can see the mountains. It's a little island (i think de Lorenzo) and apparently there used to be a prison on one of them. kinda like alcatraz, right? ;) 

The bucket of raw, unrefrigerated, skewered cow heart:

Sr. Rosie inspecting the anticucho before taking the first bite:

Picarones....with plenty of extra honey to dip them in:

Finished off our walk by the sea to these birds. Thousands of them sitting on the bank and something scared them. They filled the sky and it was just beautiful...picture doesn't do it justice. Just a memory for me...

If you read this whole thing, I'm impressed. It's more of a journal for me but I want it to be available for family and friends to follow my journey too. I don't expect most of my posts to be this long either. There is just so much to see this week! 

A short glimpse of my thoughts

Nov. 12, 2014

Window seat. 38, 000 feet. Beautiful ocean below. Headed south. How did I get here? Trying to remember all the details of what brought me to this very moment. It's been a desire of my heart since nursing school, and I knew that going to Spain 2 years ago was just the start. Yet, now that the time for me to go abroad is here once again, I have so many mixed emotions.

The past few days have been so much more emotional than I had imagined them to be. I kept myself busy over the last month between moving, studying (spanish) and travelling, so that when anyone asked me how I felt about the move, I really didn't know what to say. It seemed so far away. Well it's here now. Scared that maybe I should have gotten a Visa....Will the Peruvian authorities let me in? The check in lady questioned me and said I needed a return ticket (which I don't have yet) and said it was very necessary. Yet, she gave me the boarding pass anyway. Hoping the folks in Peru won't mind too much! I fear that something may happen to me or my family and I won't be close to them. I'm excited to have the opportunity to help others in a capacity I never have before, to live amongst some very joyful religious sisters, and selfishly, to speak Spanish on a daily basis. But, the nerves come and go. When I think about all I'm leaving (even though it's only temporary) it makes me sad. I suppose I would be more worried if I wasn't sad. I'm not running from anything. I'm running towards something I've always wanted and it just so happens it's in the opposite direction of everything good I have in my life now. I don't think that's a bad thing though. Despite all the emotions I'm feeling, I know this is what I should be doing right now. I feel at peace with this decision. I'm excited about the possibilities this one little choice in my life may bring to me. 

Each time over the last few days that I felt a little overwhelmed with everything, I remembered cousin Heather's story about walking down the aisle on her wedding day. It's easy to get wrapped up in everything we have to do to prepare for something big in our lives and when the big event finally arrives, it's hard to breathe. As Uncle Frank told Heather right before she walked down the aisle and I've told myself a hundred times these last few days..."Can you still wiggle your toes? Then it's going to be ok." 

Wiggle my toes, wiggling my toes, make those toes make me wiggle my way a delante. Here's to not knowing what my future holds!

Hiking in Estes Park

Found some wildlife around the house this morning: 

Group shot at Bear Lake with Mt. Hallet in the background. We finished hiking about 3 hours after this shot. 

View from the top of Alberta Falls. 

Sun setting way too early (darn day light savings!) 

Finished the night off with a long game of Heads-Up and pizza. I'm exhausted. 

Oh how i love the mountains.....

Friend trip 2014. I hope to not forget how much I love the mountains. Such peace and beauty here. So happy here. 

The view out my window this morning:

Anxiously awaiting breakfast, prepared by the Leshs. 

Movin' on...

On September 30th, 2013, I worked my very first shift at Wesley Medical Center. Offered a position in labor and delivery (somewhere I'd always wanted to work), I was very excited about all the women I would get to help and all the births I would get to witness. It took me at least a good six months to get to the point that I felt like I knew what I was doing. I remember saying to friends how much I was looking forward to when I felt comfortable with what I was doing and could actually enjoy that special miracle moment of birth that I was allowed to be a part of so often. 1 year later, I can honestly say that most of the time I feel comfortable with what I'm doing and thank God every time I get to witness another miracle. 

On May 8th, just 7 months later, I received a message from Sr. Claire asking me if I would be interested in joining the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary (or Marists) as a volunteer in 

Peru. I talked with Sister over skype and prayed about it a lot. To anyone who has known me over the years, it's no secret that mission work has always been a dream of mine. I got the idea long before nursing school. Going to Spain in September of 2012 was always (in my mind) a first step so that I could later serve others in a Spanish speaking country. No matter how much I tried to convince myself I shouldn't go, I continued to feel a peace that this was what I had been waiting for and it was God's will.  

My mind tells me this is an irresponsible thing to do. I've only been at Wesley for a year. I still have so much to learn. I could save up money so I don't ever have to be a beggar. We are super short staffed and there seems to be an all time high amount of women pregnant in Wichita. I have so many friends and family here that I will miss so much. And when I come back, things will be different. But, then I pray about it and remember why I started looking into this in the beginning. My heart wants to make a difference for others...for those most in need. I often feel like I'm just spinning my wheels and I wonder if I could better serve others and find my purpose in life elsewhere. 

I wish I could say that I hate what I'm doing and that this was an easy decision for me. But, it's not so. I worked my last night at Wesley LDR. I am so glad I've had this experience. There were a few shifts that I was running and so stressed all night, that I wondered why the heck I was doing it. But, overall, it has been the most rewarding job I've had yet. I work with some of the best nurses I know and they are so good at what they do. They have taught me so much. They have all been so supportive in my decision to leave, even though I feel terrible about abandoning them now. Leaving early this a.m. was weird. It seems like I'll be back, but I honestly have no idea what the future has in store for me. (except for a bunch of empty boxes that need to be packed for the movers in the next 80 hours!) 

I sometimes wish I could just get a quick glance at my life and what is going to happen! 

"Now I'm old and feeling grey. I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave. I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell. I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing." ~Priscilla Ahn