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| Tipon, Peru |
Well here I am, in the beloved city of Cusco, Peru! Today is the two-week marker of my arrival into this foreign country and its been a little under two months since I lost my dearest mother to an unbenounced breast cancer. I´m still not sure why or how I got here – how I boarded that plane and said goodbye to my closest friends and family in the midst of a difficult time in my life or why God is allowing me to be away from my support system when I need them the most… I was looking forward to this trip for years. My family even helped me put money towards it as Christmas presents one year! My mom began to grow a desire for this trip and for me to be able to have an experience that she never got to. Everything was pushing towards this trip and with one, small, two-lettered word, everyone around me would have understood if I decided not to go. Yet there was nothing inside of me that was telling me to say no, nothing that was holding me back. My friends and family were ready to support me in whichever decision I made regarding this trip. Yet to me, it didn´t feel like there were any deciding factors. This is what was planned, and this is what I was going to do. My brothers and my dad reinforced that my study abroad program was something that my mom still would have wanted me to do. This was it, there was not much questioning about it, I had to go. Everything inside of me longed for this experience. I waited and waited for the Lord to tell me to stay in San Diego, to take care of my family, and to be in the arms of my support group, but as I waited on Him, the Lord continued to grow a desire within me to leave the country. So I guess that´s how I am here… The packing, the traveling, the goodbyes are all a blur to me. If it had been any different though, I may not have left.
So here I am. Back to the reason I came on here: to update my loveliest family and friends about my experiences in this foreign place. Sorry that I haven´t updated sooner, I was sick from my arrival in Peru until almost a week later. I came down with a fever and a nasty cold, and even lost my voice! Sickness sucks and we all are bound to get it while we are here in Peru, but being sick the first week is the worst. I didn´t have the desire to talk to people and make new friends, all I wanted was sleep sleep sleep! And then when I was feeling better, I lost my voice so I literally could not meet new people! Haha. Oh my life.
Let´s fast-forward to the next week, when I was feeling better! Class days are soooo long! We go from 9am to 1pm and then walk home for lunch and have to be back at school by 3pm until 7pm! (That´s what I get to look forward to tomorrow on my birthday – bleh!) We have four hours of Spanish, which I am really enjoying, but my Spanish still needs so much work. At our host family house, Jax (my roommate) and I play charades with the family in order to communicate words that we don´t know. It´s actually quite humorous. Thank goodness about half of our class days are over and we have a lot more trips and community service projects coming up. We visited a few cool historical sites, Sacsaywaman, Tipon, Pisac, and some other one I can´t remember the name. They all have original building left by the Inca´s and it is interesting to see how stinking smart these people were. We have learned a lot of the Spanish conquest over the Incans and how brutal they were in forcing their religion upon them. It makes me sad that Christianity/ Catholicism is known in this way. I have experienced the love of God in such a different way and I can only imagine how sad it made our Lord when He saw His name and the Bible be used in such a destructive way.
We also hiked up to this mountain to see the festival of Inti Raymi! It is the festival of their “sun god” and is a big production in Cusco, people come from all over to see it. We sat in the smoldering hot sun for about 5 hours until it started. There were more people than I have EVER seen in my life! (and I live in san diego, the city of the masses!) Hopefully I can figure out how to put up pictures of the hillsides that were covered with people. Once the festival started, some people stood up to watch and others around us decided to yell “sientense” which means to sit down in Spanish. They threw water bottles, tomatoes, watermelon, and rocks! It was nuts. Pretty soon after everyone stood up and was pushing and shoving to the front. We thought we were going to die so we eventually left and walked back down to the main plaza. Now we tell everyone that Inti Raymi contuve muchas personas locas! Haha.
The other night, since I was finally feeling better, Jax and I got to experience a real “discoteca” which is what they call their clubs. Almost all 30 students from Cal Poly met up at the plaza (their downtown area) and went out together. It was so much fun and we danced the night away together. It wasn´t sketchy like I thought it was going to be, especially since we had such a big group together. Tonight we are going out to dinner to celebrate my birthday since we can´t tomorrow night because of school. It´s also another girl on the trip, Diana´s birthday too! We both fell in love with the same bracelet at a little Cusco market so we bought it for each other to exchange tomorrow. Jax also bought me the best birthday present! Hopefully I can post a picture of it when I receive it tomorrow (I was with her when she bought it.) This weekend we are going to Pono and Lake Titicaca. Quite the name, huh? Haha. Well it supposed to be a super cool lake and have some sort of floating islands and indigenous people. I´ve heard about this place from when Travis went there but I am excited to see what Lake Titicaca holds in store for us this weekend! Well that´s all for now, read my (also lengthy) personal update if youre wondering how I am doing emotionally. Much love to you all! Please email me at jenireton1989@gmail.com , I would love to hear how your lives are going! Muah!
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| Dayton and I swimming in the AMAZON! |
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| Jax and I, before my 21st BIRTHDAY dinner :) |
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