MONTH TWO : PERU!!
Walking across the Ecuador Peru line…
Well, after a ride in a pick up truck, a
two hour long bus ride, a day in Quito reuniting with the Dub Squad (which
mostly consisted of taking the Jungle teams to a real supermarket and
re-introducing them to things like Nesquik and cheese), a 12 or so hour bus
ride overnight to the Peru border, spending a few hours on the Ecuadorian side
getting our passports stamped to leave, taking another bus, WALKING ACROSS THE
BORDER through a super sketchy town, catching another bus to a town an hour
away, spending the day in that sketchy town still reuniting with our amazing
squad, and taking another 12 hour overnight bus to where we are staying in Peru
(which included getting stopped SIX times and checked for drugs). Quite the
travel day. Not to mention, on both overnight bus rides we slept in some
interesting places. I believe at one point I was sleeping in the middle of the
aisle, with my head on my teammates foot as a pillow, my legs up on a seat, and
my arms underneath another seat. It was also at that point that the Peruvian
police stopped our bus and came on and made me move (the nerve!). After
realizing we were not smuggling drugs, they began to leave. After the third or
fourth time this happened we considered offering them Nesquick cereal (bought
at aforementioned grocery store) to get them to leave us alone. No such luck.
But we made it! Welcome to The World Race.
Somehow getting some SLEEP on our 48 hr travel day.
The legit desert.
View from our house!
Some fun facts about where we’re at in
the Peruvian desert:
Closest town: Trujillo
Climate: Desert. We’re talking straight
up Afghanistan here.
Colors: Everything is brown. Really. It’s
the desert. Pretty sure Star Wars was filmed here.
Food: Cooking our own. We have an oven!
Accommodations: MUCH nicer than last
month. Such a blessing. We are staying with another team (Team Fireproof) in
what will one day be a children’s home. We have BEDS! Who would have thought?
Internet: Nada. Won’t be on a ton this
month. I’ll try to keep up with blogging though!
Ministry: Sundays are church and
evangelism, Mondays are our days off (zip-lining, surfing in the pacific ocean,
sandboarding in the desert, four-wheeling in the desert, and hiking have all
been mentioned: we’ll see), one day a week we’ll go work with the kids who live
in the city dump (heartbreak much?), and the other four days will be here at
the compound helping make bricks and then build with said bricks. We may or may
not sing songs from the Prince of Egypt as we stomp in the mud and make the
bricks. It really does look like the Middle East here. It’s like straight up
Nazareth. Pretty awesome 🙂
Anyway, that’s the lowdown on what our
month’s going to look like. Pray for safety, hydration, team unity, rest, and
our digestive systems.
P.S. You know you’re on the world race
when you are so excited to find out you have a
clothes washer that it takes you almost a day to realize it’s weird that
it’s on the roof.
Hi Steph, we’re loving the very interesting photos and videos with your running commentary. It helps so much to pray more about the things you mention,digestion, safety etc.
Love, Peg
Thank you, Stephanie and team members, for doing the Lord’s work in places where I could only imagine being. You are all close in my heart and prayers. May the Lord be merciful to you all in this new desert area.
Thank you again for the time you all have given to this endeavor of bringing the Lord’s love to many in His world.
Hugs all around from the homeland. 🙂
Joanne
Hi Steph! Thank God you all arrived safely to Peru. Quite an adventure — but you still have your sense of humor — you are so funny! I’m so happy that you have beds and a washer. Rooftop washing; what a concept; and in the desert yet! I’m sure it will make washing your clothes a more exciting experience.
But serviously, so very glad to hear from you. I will keep the issues you mentioned in prayer. Please be careful!
God bless you protect you,
In His Love,
Angela Martine