The beginning...

Well I made it to Peru! It was a long day of traveling on Saturday ...from Mpls to Huston, then to Lima! It was so crazy getting to Peru at the late hour of 1230 am...and not getting to the hotel until 2am! The hotel, and the whole city in general, was kinda sketchy but OK. Then we woke up early Sunday morning to catch a bus to Chimbote! We rode the bus for about 7 hours...and 6 of those hours consisted of only ocean on our left, sand on our right. Kinda boring but oh well! We still had fun. When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by our new Peruvian friends who brought us to the Parish where we will be staying. I absolutely LOVE the set up of this place. It´s like one giant maze...always finding something new! The main level is just like a big plaza with the sky as our roof. Upstairs are the boys and girls dorms. We unpacked our things and settled in, then went up to the ROOF! Just oneflight of stairs away! We hang out up there a lot...it´s such a cool place and you can see so many things. Peru is definitely different than what I ever would have thought it would be like. So much poverty and simple living, yet people are so nice and there is really no danger at all to us while we are in Chimbote at the Parish. Last night we had supper - the food is not real great at all but oh well...i´m getting by... - and we went to¨mass since this is a catholic organization. WE´re here with a really great group from St. JOhns-St. Bens, and I´m getting along great with them! We turned in soon after we went outside for a bit. We were all doing great, but Alysha was suddenly hit with a very sick feeling. She had horrible pain in her stomach, was sweating, and icky. It turned out to be a long night. She was sick with vomiting - of both ends at the same time- from midnight until 7am. Since we´re all in the same room, I was also up with her. It was pretty awful, she got sick about every 15 min. It was really hard, but I´m glad to say she´s feeling better now. Keep us in your prayers, anything we eat could be dangerous!! THis morning I was running on no sleep but ready to take on the day. I spent the morning at the clinic, where I observed about 15 patients. There was everything from simple shots given, to huge cuts and gouges being sewn up. It is SO unsafe here medically. NOthing is clean, sterile, or safe really. It was hard to see these conditions, but this is the best they know how to do. THen at noon, we were introduced to Siesta! Everyday at noon everything here closes and people rest for three hours! It´s nuts! WE headed back, ate lunch, went to the craft sale, and I took a lovely shower! Now I¨m enjoying the rest of my Siesta...it´s wonderful! HOpe all is well, I will report back soon! Love, Emily