My travels

The main attractions in Peru are Cusco and Mantu Pichu- I have not seen either of those but I feel like i know Peru better then your average visitor. i have visited 3 different cities and gotten to see Peru from a Peruvian's perspective. I love being at the Albergue and being with the kids but it is also nice to get away and enjoy different sites and sounds. :)

The first city I visited was Chepen. It is a small town about 2 hours northeast of Trujillo. It is built into a mountain/big hill so all the streets are really steep. The streets are really narrow and only one car can go through at a time. That's not really a problem in Chepen because most everyone either walks or takes a Motor-taxi (or Tuk-Tuk) It is like a motorcycle with 3 wheels and a back seat for passengers. I visited Chepen with Nancy, one of the worker's wifes, her 2 little girls, and Emily. In this picture, from the left is me, Nancy, and her friend. We are in the Plaza de Armis of Chepen. Notice how we are almost the same heighth? don't look at our feet! :)


The second city I visited was Cajamarca. It is breathtaking there!! It is surrounded by mountains and is really cute. The looking at a map, Cajamarca is only an hour or so more than Chepen. So it should take about 3 hours to get there, right? In actuality, because Peru didn't cut down any hills or trees or anything to build their roads, the bus goes up and down mountains, along clifts, down in valleys and all around to get to Cajamarca. It ends up being a little over 6 hours for the journey. But to me, it is worth it! The weather is a little chilly and you can see mountains all around- my idea of a perfect combination! It rained the whole weekend we were there but I didn't mind- it was the first time in 3 months that I had seen rain! (for those that don't know, Trujillo has rain once upon a never). I went to Cajamarca with Emily and we spent the weekend hanging out with her boyfriend, Augusto.
This picture was taken up on a hill overlooking Cajamarca- when you are down below it feels like a small town- but as you can see it is pretty big.
While in Cajamarca we got to visit a place called Porcorn. (yes I know that sounds and looks like popcorn- that's what i always call it :) ) It is a Christian community started by Burt Elliott, a missionary here for 50 years. It is literally in the middle of nowhere but is a self contained town. They have shops, churches, houses, crops, restaurants, everything you can think of. It is truly amazing because they work together and help each other in every way imaginable.
This picture was taken on the way in to Porcorn- all along the way there were these signs with different bible verses. It was a beautiful place!



The last part of the country I visited was the Piura area. Yulissa, one of the Madres, invited me to go home with her to visit her family and see where she grew up. Piura is the city, but her family lived north of Piura in the country. It was a beautiful area and the people were amazing! I got to see Cantelope, Mangos, Psalm Trees, beautiful rivers, ride horses, learn to drive a motor-taxi, learn to take showers with no running water, practice sleeping under a mosquito net, try different food, and generally have an amazing time. It was in the more tropical part of Peru so that means it was really hot and the sun was really intense. But it also means it was GORGEOUS!
This picture was taken at a river we played in one afternoon. Those are goats stopping by to get a drink of water.
This is Yuli and her family outside of their house. (Yulissa is on the far left) They are a wonderful family and even though they don't have a lot of money they definitley are rich in spirit and love.