Battle of Angamos... and monkey suits

Su Muñequita

Our attentive ambling buddy

Morning Calisthenics 

Dancing gear

Dancers fortifying before the event

Dancers fortifying before the event

Dancers fortifying before the event

Dancers waiting for the event

Dancers waiting for the event

The event

The event

Monkey suits, go figure

Monkey suits, go figure

The event

The event

The event

The event

Preserving the ruins

Preserving the ruins

Preserving the ruins

Preserving the ruins

Tuesday, as we were taking our morning walk, a black dog decided to join us. He stayed with us for a good 45 minutes. He was so funny; he would walk a little ahead of us and then stop and watch us as we caught up to him. He would then walk ahead again and wait for us. He even waited long enough for us to pat his head a time or two. He kept this up the entire time and we eventually lost him near a corner with a lot of traffic and a food stand. Who knows, maybe he just wanted some company. 

Wednesday was a national holiday; “The Battle of Angamos” fought with Chile. We didn’t see anything remembering the battle, but we did see a big parade ushering in the observance of the “Mes Morado” (or purple month) in Peru.  The Catholic faithful dress from head to toe in purple as a sign of their devotion to El Señor de los Milagros (the Lord of Miracles). This Christ figure, known for its miracle-working powers, is housed in the Church of the Nazarenes, and thousands of purple clad worshippers come to pray and make offerings during the month of October. While we were busy watching and taking pictures of the procession, we realized that we were both wearing purple shirts! It was pretty funny, with our missionary tags very prominent.

On Thursday we had lunch with a couple of the young missionaries and a couple of friends of Rich’s brother in Colorado Springs. They were touring and one of the elders was also the son of a friend of theirs.

On Friday we arrived in good time to catch our bus to Abancay. All went well until we went out of the station to get on the bus. There was no bus! We had a good chuckle over this. The bus finally showed up about 10 minutes late. The bus was clean, modern and comfortable but we nearly melted! There were no windows that opened and of course the driver wouldn't turn on any air, the air isn't good for us or the bus's engine, so we’ve been told. It took 5 hours to get to Abancay. The country is spectacularly beautiful as we wound up and down the mountains; the road gets really windy as you come down the mountain to Abancay.  We were both feeling pretty woozy by the time we arrived. 

Even given the discomforts of the trip Rich said, “Getting on a bus in Peru is better than going to the movies. You don’t have to worry about being disappointed by insipid plots and story lines. Nothing is predictable and you are always guaranteed to see something cool and it costs about the same amount of money.” Just then, we saw this huge sow, sleeping in a back yard of a house. Just goes to show you.

Abancay is a mid-sized city that sits in a valley and climbs up the sides of the surrounding massive, heavily forested mountains. It smells all jungly. The roads are San Francisco steep and it's especially treacherous during the rainy season, which has just started. Elder and Sister Sandburg, a senior missionary couple who are serving here, had us for dinner and we enjoyed a delicious bowl of vegetable soup. We always have fun with them. Our hotel was just around the corner from their apartment and we were grateful to have a new, very comfortable room and decent bed. We slept like the dead.

Rich had 30 or so temple recommend interviews scheduled on Saturday so he left early for the church. While Julie relaxed in the hotel, flipping through the channels on the TV, she was stunned when she came across President Monson speaking in English! She had stumbled across the Mormon Channel and was able to watch the first session of General Conference again, in English. She was pretty happy.

While Rich was still in interviews, Julie watched the afternoon session of conference with Sister Sandburg and the six of the sister missionaries assigned to Abancay. It was a great afternoon. We finally left the church just in time to catch our 6:00pm bus for Cusco. We were pretty tired and dozed on and off for the 4 ½ trip. We walked into our apartment at exactly 11:00pm, dropped everything and fell into bed. What a trip!

On Sunday, the General Conference was broadcast throughout all of Peru. We slept late and again enjoyed a relaxing day at home. Wow, two Sundays in a row at home, what a treat! We had lunch with our friends downstairs, the Agüeros. A young couple we knew years ago was also there with their children. We knew the Cuba family and their several lovely daughters when we lived here before. It was so fun to visit with Janet and her family. We had a wonderful afternoon with our dear friends.