Papers, Parties and Parasites

Matias with Julie

Party Prep

The missionaries with Matias

The missionaries with Matias and his papis

Hay Stationwagon

Wall cleaners at work

Ruins before being covered 1

Ruins before being covered 2

Ruins before being covered 3

Ruins before being covered 4

Ruins before being covered 5

Ruins after being covered 

Catholic Confirmation

Shoe shiner

Foreshortened pooch

Inviting street merchant

Goes to show, you can build a nice hotel but can't do much about the view

Hotel view

Sicuani roof dog

We recovered on Monday from our three day trip to Puno. It’s always an adventure to travel, but it sure is nice to be home and get back in a routine, although the week never plays out as we plan it! Monday however was pleasant and we were able to get caught up on errands, laundry, defrosting the mini fridge, etc.

Julie worked on Tuesday while Rich had some much needed time to work on his mission counselor calling. We had a late lunch and Rich had his Quechua class at home, by Skype. He said it was one of the best classes he’s had. Orlando didn’t come for his English class and Julie was pretty relieved as 

She wasn’t feeling well by then. She stayed home while Rich taught the Isaiah class. 

We worked on Wednesday and are into some awful books again, so our numbers are down. They are huge paperback things that have to be taken one side at a time, so the work goes much slower, but we are making progress. Rich ordered another pair of glasses and actually bought some decent sunglasses with a hard case. He is the worst with sunglasses. He losses them, breaks them or leaves them in the lunch bucket, so to speak. He has chosen to buy the Faux-kleys or bogus Ray Bans in the market but they don’t break your heart when they get broken at five dollars a pop, but still…. We shall see how long this new pair lasts.

Wednesday night we received an invitation to Matias’ birthday party.  He is the grandson of the Agüeros downstairs and is two now. We went with the Agüeros to their daughter Katie and her husband Paul’s apartment to celebrate. They had made banners and had balloons and all kinds of goodies, it was a fun evening. They live on the ninth floor of a new apartment complex and while we were riding down the elevator after the party, we wondered just how long the elevator would really function.  Rich found out soon enough as he stopped by Friday afternoon and had to climb nine floors!

We spent a good chunk of Thursday running back to the Notary office, getting more papers signed, fingerprinted, legalized etc. etc. etc. to update Julie’s visa that was due in July. Bureaucracy is a headache anywhere, but its extra special in a third world country! One of the papers, a power of attorney had expired, so the elders were told, by the mid-level bureaucrat who thinks he is the glue that holds immigration together for all of Peru. 

When Rich asked the submissive elder, “How long are these supposed to last?”

The elder with a hang-dog look that would have appealed to Mark Twain said, “I don’t know… Last time, he just yelled at us.

These four stickers are what all the hoopla was about!

We also spent a bit of time looking at “real refrigerators.” Last week we had to through food away because our mini-fridge wasn’t keeping things cold enough. After Julie defrosted the thing on Monday, everything was frozen by Tuesday and has stayed that way all week. After two weeks of emails flying one direction to the person who is supposed to take care of this and hasn’t, we have permission from everyone else to buy a new one, so that’s the project for Monday. 

Julie was feeling really sick Thursday afternoon and she was really hoping her little English students weren’t coming, because they didn’t show up on Wednesday. But no; they are supposed to come at 4:00pm and at 4:40pm the doorbell rang and there they were. The mom asked if she could leave them for the lesson and run to the market to buy the things she needs to open up her new little restaurant. After all Julie’s experiences living here and dealing with this type of request and with every fiber of her being screaming “NOOOOO!” She smiled sweetly and said, “Sure, just be back in an hour.” 

When Rich arrived home from his Quechua lesson the boys were still here and Julie was shivering with chills from a fever, when he started getting ready for his Institute class, Julie was still chattering with layers of jackets and the boys were still here. The mom had no phone so Rich called the sister as he was leaving for his class, saying someone has to come and get the boys.  Julie was so sick by this time she plopped them in front of the TV and put on a cartoon for them. As Rich left, he promised the father was on his way. He had never been here, so we did not know how he would ever find us. Ha effectively! Another twenty minutes and the doorbell rang. Julie got the boys up and out assuming it was the dad. But it was the mom finally! Julie told her the dad was on his way and let the mom use her phone to call and see if he had left, which surprise, surprise… he hadn’t. It all worked out in the end. 

Julie spent the rest of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and Sunday fighting a miserable dose of parasites, from something she ate somewhere! Who knows, she and Rich ate the same things, but it just takes one of the little buggers to make your life miserable. 

Rich traveled to Sicuani by himself Saturday afternoon since Julie was improving but not well enough to travel. He had made plans to visit with the branch and district presidents in Ayiviri weeks ago and needed to keep the appointments. He got the last ticket on the Rapido Bus that was ready to leave and of course the last ticket was in the middle of the back seat, the “hell seat,” as we have come to think of it. He was able to buckle his seat belt and stay on the seat so that was a plus, and since he hadn’t slept well for two nights nursing the whining invalid, he was able to sleep most of the way. 

Once in Sicuani, he made his way to the hotel, had some dinner and slept until the next morning. Though that may sound mundane and pedantic, sleeping all night long is just something Rich does not do. 

The next morning, he caught a combi to Ayaviri but the driver told him they would leave in an hour.  Rich fretted that he would arrive late for church. He had been told that the meeting started at 9am. Once in Ayaviri he bee lined it to the chapel and arrived at 9:01am only to find it locked up tighter than a drum. The meetings started at 10am…

While he  waited, a very large husky trotted up. Rich tried not to show that  the dog made him nervous though he, the pooch stood a few centimeters from Rich. After a few seconds, the dog nudged him so, what the heck, Rich scratched his head. Then, the dog groaned and begged more attention. When the missionaries showed  up they said, "Oh, that's just Lobo (Wolf). A little later he trotted into the chapel. Obviously he recognizes the missionary name plate/tag.

Rich attended the meetings, did interviews, ate some Kankacho and caught a combi back to Sicuani. The seat from Cusco to Sicuani, the night before turned out to be the comparative lap of luxury. Combis come with this jump seat by the door. It has a minimal back and the actual seat will accommodate the backside of a three year old. It resembles and has all the charm of sitting on a moving rail fence or  a three-legged milking stool, swerving down the road for an hour and a half. In comparison, the ride from Cusco to Sicuani turned out to me nothing more than a mere “heck ride…”

Once in Sicuani, Rich dashed, got the last seat on the next bus out and spent less than fifteen minutes before being back on the road to Cusco. He walked in, somewhat worse for wear at 7:15.