Meetings, Meat and More...

We attended the Izcuchaca Family Group on Sunday. The branch president greeted us and said “you’re my saviors!” I need you each to talk about 7 minutes in Sacrament Meeting! That’s what we did. Julie told about the family, living in Peru before, and a little about what we are doing on our mission. Rich explained more about our work here and our experience with the family group in Espinar. Thank goodness they were warm and welcoming because the building they met in was FREEZING!! It was miserably cold as it doesn’t get any sunshine.  We’ll for sure dress more warmly next time.  They have handbooks and manuals and seem very organized so that was a great thing to see. There are four Elders in the area and they are keeping busy, it was a fun day.

We had a good week at work, lots of interruptions to measure cable for the internet, which we still don’t have! Even with all the disruption we were able to take 3,736 images. On Thursday we decided to split our time at the archives. Rich goes to work from 8-12, and Julie is there from 12-4. We really don’t need both of us there at the same time so we’re able to get other things done.  Julie has been studying Spanish and will probably start a Spanish class in September.  

We had a fun Thursday night date. We went to Gaston Acurio’s restaurant “Chicha.” Gaston is a famous chef in South America; he has restaurants in Peru, Chile, Colombia, New York, Chicago, etc. https://www.facebook.com/gastonacurio.  The food is divine!  Julie ordered “Lomo Saltado” a Peruvian dish with beef, potatoes etc. The waiter asked how she would like her meat cooked, and she, not thinking said, “medio raro.” “Medio raro” is an idiomatic expression meaning “kind of strange!” What she should have said was, “termino medio,” meaning medium. We all had a good laugh, and the waiter, being very gracious, didn’t start laughing until we did.  Ahh, foreign languages!

Friday brought us a city wide transportation strike. It didn’t affect our work, but it did make getting to the office much more pleasant.  It was quiet and calm in the streets. Our office is about a mile from our apartment so we walk to and from work every day.  By law, pedestrians have the right-of-way, however, no one obeys that law here and you literally take your life in your hands every time you cross a street. If you don’t quite make it across, the taxis and busses honk at you as though you had no idea they were near, and some come within inches of you before they stop! So today was like a walk in heaven!

We arrived late to Curahuasi because of the strike, combined with road work on Saturday. We went there for the training meeting we had scheduled in the branch. By the time we arrived, an hour late we were already tired. Despite that, we had a good meeting with the branch leaders, taught them about branch councils and internet access to the church website. They convinced us to have a look at a hotel in Curahuasi rather than drive into Abancay, an hour and a half away over one of the world’s windiest roads. We found the local hotel to be absolutely acceptable and we took rooms there. We were forced to eat anticuchos, Peruvian shishkabobs off the street. They are a mix of beef heart, beef, chicken, hot dogs and all served with a spicy/cream sauce. Julie cringed and then ate three of them! We were starved and exhausted.

Before leaving town on Saturday, Rich went out early to take photos around Cusco. He met a street vendor named Juan who offered musical instruments. Not having what Rich was looking for, for friends at home, he asked if he knew a place that sold quenas (a Peruvian flute/recorder). Juan told Rich that he did and that he would take him the short four or five blocks that separated them. After about ten blocks they had arrived in the bowels of Cusco where they raise chickens and sell food in bulk to restaurants and visiting mountain people. Rich had the sinking recollection that he was heading into the very area where the last attempt at robbing him occurred. Sure enough, when they entered the “Baratillo,” Juan said, keep an eye on your wallet and your camera; this is not a safe place… Snaking their way in among the teaming masses of merchants and patrons he became more and more nervous, but Juan kept looking back and was very attentive. Rich bought the quenas for half the cost that they ran in the local Indian market. In the end, he made it out with his wallet, camera and body parts intact. Juan turned out to be a great find.

This is a "Keep Wanchaq" (our neighborhood) clean sign... Note, the dog eating from the garbage bags just under the sign.

Just another creative use of a station wagon. That is a heap of beef carcasses awaiting the opening of the supermarket.

One of our books with Julie's hands for scale

Our Apartment; The  third floor.