Peru 2009 - Day 5

We were dropped off in a small village around noon. We unloaded, strapped on our daypacks and began walking down a dirt road through a small village. It didn't take long for a group of children to start gathering. They watched us as we began walking. I walked over and took their picture with a digital camera. When I showed them the picture on the viewfinder, they went crazy! They wanted me to keep taking pictures and showing it to them! That was fun...















We stopped and ate lunch, then hit the trail.

Two Rules:

Before we set out, Ade gathered us all around and gave us some instructions. He said "There are two rules! First rule - nobody goes ahead of me...second rule, don't ask how much longer..." I like this guy! Those are the rules when I travel!

Everyone was feeling great - we were all excited to finally be hiking. This is what we came for - and it was finally coming to reality! We ended up walking for about 3 hours. We stopped to rest along a dirt road leading into a small village. As we waited to find out where we would be spending the night, we played around with some of the children in the area.

The people are very shy. It was not easy to take pictures. Kids and adults would hide their faces as soon as they saw the camera aimed in their direction. But after spending some time together, they would let their guard down.

Our packs, tents, and other supplies were traveling by donkey. They followed a different trail than we did. Since we were stopping at villages along the way to find kids and schools, the donkeys would take a shorter, more direct route. After about 45 minutes, we finally heard from the other group. Our campsite was just up the road, in a soccer field in front of the school.

We all joined together and did a quick sweep over the field to pick up garbage. Then we spent time hanging out with the kids, playing soccer (at 11,000 feet!), and just relaxing.

After dinner the presentation began. A sheet was hung in the makeshift soccer goal. A generator was fired up, and a projector and DVD player were turned on. We showed the Jesus Film in Quechuan (the local language). After the film, Pushpi (one of the leaders of the organization we were with) got up and sang, and spoke, and then we got to help him hand out Bibles to the people. It was quite an experience.

It also got pretty cold. As soon as the sun disappears behind the mountains, the temperature drops quickly. We were glad to finally crawl into our sleeping bags for a much needed night of rest.