Apurimac - The Voice of God

Basking

Peruvian Basset 

Dog with a bone

Shar pei around the block

Shar pei  as close to a full howl as you get...

yet another Shar pei 

Helado

Cusqueno Charos

The Johnsons

Balancing act

Trash 

Squashes

Yuca

Cheese Truck

Little stinker

Here comes the train...

Right through there

Half of a beef

Red twins

We got back from Puno last Sunday and on Monday evening we took Matthew over to our district meeting in Urubamba only to discover that it had been cancelled. It became a dry run, except for the ice cream bars, and we just came home, fixed dinner and had a quiet evening. 

Something that Matthew ate did not agree with him, as in parasite stuff. He got sick after dinner and spent a long night and lost a couple of days to the usual Montezuma/Atahualpa stuff. He was doing better by the end of the week however. It is just disappointing to come to Peru and lose days to such things.

We tried to get as much work done as possible because we learned of a strike on Wednesday and Thursday. However the strike never really came together. They called it a “paro” (stoppage,) but then when we asked around they called it a “movilización”  (movement)… Socialists have such a tough time making up their mind! By Thursday there were some of the usual protesty parades, noisy banging horns and drums, no melody etc. Still, it  never really gave us any trouble.

On Thursday night, Rich taught his class on Joseph Smith - Matthew. This has been an interesting project. We were supposed to go to Abancay on Friday to be there in the morning on Saturday for the district conference. However, Rich had to release a missionary before leaving town. He was scheduled to fly in from El Salvador at 7am but the flight could not land because it was overcast. It had been clear as a bell all week. By the time the flight landed, it was too late to leave for Abancay. 

We took our time getting ready to leave and caught the early morning taxi out. We bought the middle seat to not be so crowded into the car. It was a pretty good trip through Apurimac… Apu means god or mountain in Quechua and Rimaq means the word or speaking, hence one of the major tributaries of the Amazon is named the “Word of God," or, "Voice of God.” We have crossed it many times and have seen it at its highest, slamming through narrows with positively deafening results. 

We made it in time to get a bite to eat before Rich had to be at the church for interviews and coordination for the conference. Julie and Matthew took advantage of the lull to see the sights of Abancay, oh, wait, there really aren’t any. It is situated in what is called Valle meaning despite its’ elevation, about 8,000 feet above sea level it is basically subtropical and has been laid out on a very steep hillside. 

We had a wonderful conference with some great people. We are so impressed with the love and warmth with which we are received wherever we go for these meetings. The people are so grateful for the effort we make to be with them and to prepare messages for them. They love to hear about our life in Peru and our children. They seem little things to us, yet they have a positive effect and we love to spend time with them.