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Mary Frances and Jaimie at the beach
Our days off have been full, but fun and relaxing—a good break for the team after all their hard work last week. It’s also given us an opportunity to experience some of the beauty of Peru, enjoy the culture, and get to know the history of the country.
Philip, Allison, and Leah—no, they weren’t in any danger of falling out of the boat
Monday—We toured the Palace of the Congress and a museum, then went shopping. Shopping may sound fairly normal and tame to those of you who have never seen a Peruvian market place. Imagine everything from jewelry to sports jerseys to exotic butterflies to bull whips crammed into one building and you’ll start to get the picture. Add to that haggling and bargaining over every price and you’ll get even closer. Then add some very interesting and unknown smells. It’s quite the cultural experience, especially if you choose to bargain for an alpaca skin or something along those lines.
Tuesday—Devotions happened on the beach! We then took a while to enjoy wading in the water, picking up shells, and listening to the waves. On the way to find a place for lunch, we stopped at a Peruvian fish market. Jacob decided to talk with a fisherman which led to the whole team enjoying a tour of the bay in a fishing boat! We all smelled slightly fishy afterwards, but it was a blast.
Sitting on a piece of history—this wall was built by the Incans as part of their temple of the sun
Wednesday—Drove a ways south of Lima to the ruins of Pachacamac—a religious site and city occupied by a number of different cultures in Peru’s history. We had fun climbing all over the ruins and hearing about the spiritual history of the country. More shopping in the evening, with lessons in bargaining from Jacob. He does have quite the knack for it—all the way to getting down on his knees to beg for a bargain. Vendors from other booths even stopped to come over and watch the show.
Tomorrow we start back to work, refreshed and having had some great times building relationships among the team.
Welcome to the fishing boat!
There is actually a boat underneath all these people—great team experience!
Molly and Lizzie on what used to be one of the main roads of Pachacamac
The girls at the Pachacamac ruins
(Pictures courtesy of Jaimie Rebelez, Philip Roth, and Elizabeth Fox.)
