"This May Be The Last Thing That I Write For Long"

I have had a good amount of time to reflect on our trip. It seems so long ago now. Especially with starting this new adventure, it is farfetched that just a week ago I was riding a rickety bus in the dirt roads of Alto Trujillo, Peru.

I want to reflect on the last day of our trip. We had to be packed and ready to go before our big presentations, our presentations that held so much weight. Yes, they were a part of our grade, but that was trivial compared to the lives we had in our care. We were working with real people trying to take care of their families, trying to make a better life for themselves and their children, trying to make a living. This presentation was our recommendation to the board of loan approvers about their lives. It wasn’t something that we stressed or worried about; we just took it seriously.

The presentations did well. They started running long, so we made it a goal to make ours short. We were the shortest of the day, and we also received complements from the judges (the three amigos, to make the connection) when we sat down. I was quite pleased with our performance, proud of our effort. We sadly did not recommend that Luis get his loan, but we believe that he will have more opportunities to start his own business if he has the desire. He has a solid character, but the market conditions were not in his favor. We hope for great things out of Luis.

We changed out of our business clothes and into our traveling clothes, aware that these would be our uniforms for the next several days. We boarded the bus at about 3:00, not knowing it would be another 24 hours (for me at least) until we were home.

Who knows why, but we were at the Trujillo airport several hours early. I guess we just wanted to be super sure, but it was good practice for waiting in airports. When we landed in Lima, we found our flight was delayed, which extended our layover to about 8 hours. We couldn’t even check our bags that early, so we waited in the front of the airport for three of those hours. Braulio met me at the door, and we talked. I really like Braulio (remember he was the one who met us in Lima last time). He gave me some packages to give to Rhett and another missionary; the packages were always questioned because I guess its bad to take wrapped packages on a plane from a stranger. I told them I trusted the packages, and of course, it turned out to be chocolate, not a bomb (or snakes; apparently, the day before, a Peruvian tried to bring snakes into the country).

When we were finally able to check in, I had the best cheese bread sticks ever. Maybe it was the recipe; maybe it was the fact that I was craving American food, but the Papa John’s in the airport was a god-sent. After dinner, we parked our butts in the terminal and slept until three. It was quite noisy when they decided to board because a line of workers ruffled through everyone’s carry-on, throwing away water bottles and, presumably, checking for snakes. Tyler purchased a Coke in the airport that they would not let on the plane, so he chugged it, only to have his bag passively checked. It was funny, even in my groggy state.

Plane rides have been stressful, yet fun. I hate the feeling of leaving because I always feel like I have left something, even though I know I packed it. I love flying though. That is half of the reason why I love to travel. I also sit by very interesting people. On our flights in South America, I always sat by Brennon and Luribel, and they were fun to talk to and to listen to them chatter. On the flight from Lima to Dallas, I sat by an Aussie who was a marketing guy who worked from wherever part of the world he wanted to work. We didn’t talk much, but I would never think that a life like that could even exist. On the flight from Dallas to Salt Lake, I sat by a lady who worked in the healthcare system. She is currently a nurse, but has worked with the Chinese Olympic Team and something else super cool that I can’t remember. She admires the IHC healthcare system and wants to move to Utah because of the outdoors and the hospitals. These experiences sandwiched the tightest layover I have been through (which isn’t saying much unless Dave says the same thing, which he did).  We spent forever in the immigration line (they only had 3 attendants that morning), when finally we were given express passes to jump ahead of all the lines. We jumped on the tram, dashed through customs, threw our luggage onto the loading belt, scampered to our terminal, and were just in time for our boarding call.  Hence, the stressful, yet fun.

The landing in Salt Lake was bitter sweet. We saw Nate, Natalie, Aniko, Susana, and Luribel leave us in Lima (some stayed in South America, some took a different flight home). In Salt Lake, Dave, Cliff, Erin, Liza, Shannon, and Brennon all went their separate ways. Cooper, Alex, and I rode to Logan with Tyler. We stopped for a Carl’s Jr. Burger, which was super weird because it was in English, but super delicious because it was American.

They dropped me off at my doorstep. Then I wasn’t that sad; I was super happy to be home, and it was just a good goodbye. But now, looking back at all our memories, I miss them. I miss the culture we created within our group. Maybe its because I have been quite stressed today from camp, but I would love to relive those days.

Thanks for making it such a fun experience. Thanks to everybody. I still want your pictures, and I will try and get mine up someday. But Thanks.

Final Day to Ourselves

Because I again was not successful finishing my part of the project, I had to finish it Tuesday morning. After the boring breakfast, I sat poolside and finished the last part of the paper. I was under a time constraint as well; we were headed back to the beaches of Huanchaco on our last free day in Peru.

We were supposed to leave about noon, and that was about the exact time I finished. Everybody else was a little behind schedule as well, so I finished with perfect timing. There were ten of us going. We crammed into two taxis (they charged one sol extra for the extra passenger) and had them take us to lovely Huanchaco.

I may have already mentioned this, but Huanchaco is regarded as the best surfing beach in Peru. The current is strong and the waves are tall. When we went the other day, the sun was displayed on a beautiful azul background, giving more surfers courage to surf the chilly winter waters. Today was not as idyllic. The common ocean mist filled the sky, creating a gray haze that only allowed the sun to peer through a translucent curtain. The temperature was still fairly warm, but the ocean water was not as inviting as it was when the sun shone.

Our first goal when we arrived was to find some place for lunch. During our wanderings, we found nooks with stores like the ones in Cuzco, so we did a little window-shopping. I found shirts that made for my final purchase of souvenirs; because of my business, the business owner gave me a simple bracelet, which may be my favorite purchase of the trip. We decided on a place and were seated up stairs with a view of the ocean. The place was nothing fancy, although the prices were a little exaggerated because of the touristic location. I ordered chicarron de pollo, which may be my favorite dish of the trip. We all shared a jar of limonada, which has become a beverage staple, along with Inca Cola and wonderfully sweet Coke Cola.

The rest of us sat on the beach and played in the water. Brennon and I were jumping waves and skipping rocks (but the rocks were too flipping small to skip!). The beach was not as fun as I thought it would be. As I said before, the push and pull of the water is very strong, so the waves easily pushed us over. The beach had good sand, but when tide pulled the sand away, the ground was covered with rocks that grew larger the deeper you waded. My baby feet got used to it eventually, but I could feel the rocks picked up by the waves crash into my legs and ankles; if I bruised, I would have a large one on the right side of my left ankle. It was fun just messing around. The farthest we waded out was accompanied by the biggest wave we went over, which scared the crap out of me. I felt useless against the force of the wave, and I was afraid of getting carried away by a rip current. I don’t know if Brennon felt the same way, but we both had the same idea to swim back towards the beach.

Another time, I had bad timing when going through a wave, and it threw me against the ground, rolling me on the rocks and scratching my back. It drug me a significant distance back on-shore, and that was when I decided to just stay in water up to my knees. Shannon and Erin were also on the beach with us (Alex was ill, so he volunteered to watch our stuff), but they didn’t get in the water as much as Brennon and I did. We stood on the shore, letting the water splash our feet and feeling the sand sucked out by the water from under our feet. With the next waves, the water would pull more sand from under us then fill in the hole on top. The tide buried our feet, and we competed to see who could stand longest against the strongest waves.

Once the ocean got the best of us, we meandered back to find the others. They were just about finished, except for the Kodak moment, so some of us found a taxi to take us back to the hotel. I was finished with the paper, but I wanted Nate and Shannon to read through it, so we met to help me fix the errors I had made. They showed me the PowerPoint- their part of the project- and assigned me my part of the oral report.

The girls all went out for dinner again, so we stayed behind with the initial plan of ordering a pizza and watching the NBA Finals game from our room (it was on the Spanish ESPN channel, but it was in English!). After some reconsideration, Nate, Brennon, Tyler, Cooper, and I taxied to Chili’s at the mall to take advantage of the S./15 dinner special and the large TVs.

We chatted and watched the game; I don’t like Lebron or Miami, so I am cheering for the Spurs, who I normally do not like. The Heat had started a comeback while we were watching, but by the time we got back to the hotel to finish the game, the Spurs were back on top. The girls came back to finish the game (well, only Aniko, Shannon, and Erin came to the room), and they were cheering for the Heat. Sadly, after Ray Allen forced overtime with his crazy corner three, the Heat won game six, making all the Miami fans turn on me. My life is unaffected either way, so I don’t really care, but I think its funny.

This last day with everybody was really enjoyable. I love our crew, and I hope we won’t just fizzle out, even though that’s what usually happens. I packed my bag for the last time on the trip, reflecting on the good times and wishing I had just one more set of clean clothes (I did have one last pair of G’s, so it was ok).

Reflections on Monday

The whole purpose of traveling to Trujillo was to perform due diligence on these loan projects that were assigned to us back in April. Then, at the end of our trip, we are supposed to present our findings to the Three Amigos, Blake, Tim, and Scott, who fund the program and have the ultimate say in the decision. The three of them also give us a grade on our projects to pass on to Cliff and Dave; we have a class from each and this project is part of the final grade.

Because I spent all of my time Sunday not writing the paper, I had to spend most of Monday writing. Even that didn’t work out that well. I only finished three of the seven to eight pages.

Our group had another excursion planned at 2:30, so we had all morning to do what we needed to do. My body still would not let me sleep in; I woke up at seven every morning. The breakfast here got old very quickly. I wish they would just serve things I liked regularly. I mean, they always, at every hotel we stayed, always had sandwich meats and cheeses. I don’t get it. Serve pancakes and French toast every day, not weird lunch food. Serve bacon every day, not weird meat mix with onions. They did serve cereal everyday, but usually the milk was warm. They also served fruits everyday, which was the only constant thing that I liked.

Sorry for the rant (gotta have something to say when you don’t remember squat from that day). Our trip out to Luis’ place was very interesting this time. Jaquelin came along with us to help us find our way. We took a short taxi ride to a central roundabout where we met Luis. He had gotten off work early so he could work on the house. He seems like such a decent guy, really humble.

From here, we boarded the bus and took a 40-minute ride out to his place. It was interesting to see the change from the city center, where it was developed, to just outside the city center, where the houses where a notch lower in terms of quality, then to the outskirts, where the roads are not paved and the houses are adobe and tin.

The bus ride itself was an experience. All the busses are rickety, old, dirty, and worn. I sat by Jaquelin for the ride up, and we tried to talk, but I don’t speak Spanish well and she doesn’t know any more English than, “Hello,” “How are you?” “Good.” Actually, it is fun being forced to use Spanish. It pushes me to remember everything I learned from my two semesters, which turns out to be more than I expected. I also am good at making up works that actually make sense.

With my knees dug into the seat in front of me, we trusted our crazy bus driver through the crazy Peruvian traffic until we were almost the last people left. There are not any bus stops on the route; you just have to signal for them to stop and they do. So we got off on a corner and walked a very short way to his house.

His wife, Luz, was already there with their two hijos working. Nate talked with them, mostly, while Shannon and I just listened. I would run off questions we had to Nate who would translate them, then translate the answers back to us if we didn’t catch what they said. We spent some time there, but soon boarded the bus back. The ride back was just as bumpy, but like I said, it is an experience.

I don’t remember what we did that night. I know we had dinner, and I’m pretty sure that we worked on our projects, but I just can’t pull it out of my brain what exactly we did. It was not that eventful, so you’re really not missing out. Oh, and happy birthday Jesse!

Sunday Funday

Church was early on Sunday. Well, I’ve been waking up a quarter to 7 for the past week or two, so it was early for most of us. The church sits right behind our hotel, so we walked over and were among some of the first to arrive. Doug and Dallin, the interns, attend the same ward, so they were there greeting and getting everything set up. Dallin plays the piano, so I got to sing instead of play. We sat in the back because we planned on leaving a little early so we could attend mass. When we did, we tried the front doors, and they were locked. We tried other doors, and they were locked. To our relief, a boy came and showed us they way out so we didn’t have to embarrassingly wait until the meeting was over to be rescued. The cathedral is kiddy corner to our hotel, so we walked a short block to meet everybody else for mass. Personally, I do not mind sitting and listening to other meetings, but I do not like to join in. The cathedral was very beautiful though. For some reason, they had decided to paint over everything. The walls were a hue of yellow with the ceilings painted with detailed replicas of famous works of art. The building was still gothic, but there was not any stone showing except for the tiled floor. We left mass a little early as well so we could catch our bus to go on our expeditions.

We started by traveling south to Huacas de la Luna y del Sol, which translates to Temples of the Moon and Sun. They are huge mud edifaces, eroded by the wind and ocean water from the coast, which marked an indigenous community that existed before the time of the Incans. We started our tour in the museum, which was only built three years ago. They displayed many artifacts and showcased the strange culture of the Moche people. Our tour guide tried to lecture us at every corner, but most of us got bored and wandered at our own pace. He probably didn’t like it very much. We then made a short trek to Huaca de la Luna where we hiked up the adjacent mountain a short way, then was able to enter the ruins. They are protected by roofs and glass walls to keep the rain water from eroding the ruins, but there has still been extensive damage done to it. The damage comes from erosion as well as grave robbers before it was excavated. Anyway, the walls of the temple are lined with intricate designs of red, white, black, blue, and yellow. The outside layer of the temple was lined with colorful drawings and murals. The view of Trujillo is spectacular from the top, as well as the view of the excavation of the ancient city, which lies in between the two temples. We didn’t get to see the other temple or the city, but with the tour guide getting impatient, one temple was enough.

We then drove an hour north to visit Huanchaco, the city with the best surfing in Peru. We had lunch at a restaurant almost on the beach, and I had the best fish ever. It was covered in various fried seafood and leche de tigre, which is the juice from ceviche. Down the road a little ways was a little market, and I found the Peru jacket for Rhett I had been looking for.

The beach was calling our names, so we took off our shoes and played on the playa until we had to go. I wore shorts, but not shorts I would want to go swimming in. Brennon and Cooper purchased cheap Peru swim trunks from the market, and they went full out into the cold ocean. The pool water at the hotel was much colder though.

After an hour-ish of beach time, we piled back into our cramped bus and shuttled to the Chan Chan ruins, which was between Huanchaco and Trujillo. These, too, are made of mud, so erosion has left the city in ruins. There has been some restoration, but it mostly blends in with the real ruins. It was fascinating, but mostly it was the same thing in different shapes. What was left of the designs was really cool; there were fish and fishnets and squirrels, but mostly, it looked like melted crayons. I may just be a Debbie-downer because our tour guide was getting ornery, but we just meandered at our own pace.  Late in the afternoon sun, our tour was finally over, and we made it back to our hotel and got some rest.

We had a semi-late lunch, so I was not hungry for dinner. We walked to the closest bodega, and I got a Coke and a candy bar. This bodega owner is starting to recognize us because we are the Americans who buy out all of his Snickers. The other guys went out later for chicken, but I was not feeling that kind of meal, and my snack was just right.

The funniest part of the day was in Chan Chan when we were deciding who of us would win if we had a Hunger Game. Everybody was throwing out ideas and laughing because mostly it was just fun (and a little button pressing), but to top it all off, we watched The Hunger Games before we went to bed. And when I say we watched it, I mean we watched the first 20 minutes of it then fell asleep on Susana’s queen-sized bed. Susana kicked us all out so she could get to sleep, and I gladly crawled into my bed.

Saturday in Trujillo

This morning didn’t start with roommates jumping on me, which is not a bad thing. I got ready and had breakfast before 9:30 so our group could go out to Alto Trujillo, the place where our bodega is planning on going. Doug, the intern, took us up there. It is fairly complicated, so he caught us a taxi and explained where we were going. The driver said that was a weird place to go, but he complied. It was a 20-30 minute ride, up to the outskirts of Trujillo to a place where the driver said they would rob from him, let along a group of gringos. The road was paved most of the way, but eventually we started driving on sand roads (not dirt because its very deserty here, so we are surrounded by sand). We wound our way through barrios, where the houses got less and less complicated. By the time we got out there, the houses brick walls with dirt floors and a simple corrugated tin roof. The most expensive part of the houses was probably the bars on the windows.

We had our driver drop us off at a local market, Mercado Jesus. We walked around the shops, peering in to see the products, watch the people, and speak with some of the owners. It was strange for us (probably not Nate, who served his mission in Colombia) to see markets so open and unsanitary, but it was probably weirder for them to see gringos in their market.

We paid the taxi to wait for us and to take us back when we were finished. He expertly trucked us up a steep hill to get us closer to the street of the bodega, which was just a 10 minute walk from the market. Doug gave us a tour of the bodegas, showing us the many bodegas that are just a short distance from his place. We purchased some cookies and Inca Kola from the tiendas to not waste their time, and told them we were students doing a project to make them feel important. They opened up with very useful information, not that we want to use it against them, but just to have a benchmark for the market.

After our short interviews, we found our driver to taxi us back to the hotel. I never felt uncomfortable out there, but it is definitely not a place where many tourists go. We got back to the hotel only to leave again with Jaqueline, Alena’s partner who works with the SEED program and DanPer. She is very pregnant; she will have a baby girl in August. Anyway, we joined up with another group whose project is a bodega to visit a successful bodega that has had two loans from the SEED program. The lady who owns the bodega was very nice and welcoming, although she showed up right as we were about to leave. We asked the attendant, who was the daughter of the owner, several questions about the bodega that related to our projects. Their bodega was very different from our bodega’s plans: the location was better, the competition scene was better, the place seemed better. An example of a good bodega plan was exactly what we needed to see.

The group split up on the way home. Jacqueline, Nate, and I had to make a stop at another previous loan that was near by. I’m not quite sure why, but it was Jacqueline’s business. We had heard about this loan, and it hasn’t been good things. It was a livestock loan, meaning they got a loan to purchase cattle to start into the cattle industry. The loan has been a learning loan, meaning that the program will probably never fund a livestock business again. They have had many problems with payback of the loan and growth of the farm. They are confined within four walls, large enough for a couple cows, but not large enough for a growing cattle business and a house for the people.

When we got back to the hotel, we were desperate for lunch, so we walked down to a restaurant that Doug recommended. I liked the place, especially because it was a fairly cheap meal. After lunch, we came back to the hotel and debriefed with each other about what we learned. We also spoke with our advisors about our project and asked their advice as well.

I ended up falling asleep for a bit; I was zonked out until Alex came in our room, and I am glad he did or else I would have been out the whole night. I was warned of dinner later, and I don’t remember what we did between that and dinner, but I don’t think there was much time. Anyway, for dinner, we were invited to have tres leches by the three amigos (they are they guys who fund the SEED program through the non-profit Wasatch Social Ventures: Blake, Tim, and Scott). There were some of us who had decided to wait for others to get back from their long day, so we had desert before we had dinner. After a delicious slice, we walked just down the road to this quaint place for dinner. They had a dinner special for S/. 11, and I was all about that, especially with how much food has been costing. We had a great meal; the food was pretty good, but I just love talking with everybody. The table next to us left pretty quickly when we arrived; we are just kind of loud and Americans.

The girls decided to have a girls’ night, so I hung out in Brennan and Cooper’s room. The Fast and The Furious was on, so we watched the end of the old show. We chatted for a bit, then I decided it was time for sleep.

At night, I usually listen to music as I go to bed. On the trip, I haven’t been able to do it because usually people do not like my music or do not like noise as they go to bed. I usually listen to Sunday music Saturday night, and it sets the tone for the Sabbath. I did not turn on my music, and the Sabbath’s out here have not been anything special. I am looking forward to when I can go back to my traditions, but I am very grateful that right now I am where I am.