Saludos a nuestra Familia y Amigos

Shaken all over! Yes, it is a line from a favorite Rock and Roll song and it also describes the feeling that you get from a siesmo.

A couple of weeks back I had an upset stomach, not unusual for me in Peru, and I had sort of fallen asleep sitting up on the sofa. At around 3:00 AM I heard a roaring sound that kind of sounded like big truck was going to come right through the house. That would be significant event because we live on the second floor. As I was regaining my faculties I realized that we were experiencing an earthquake. I struggled to get to my feet to get Debbie, it was a sensation something like trying to walk up an escalator going down, only to find her coming down the hall exclaiming “I think it is an earthquake.”

The big roll finished rather quickly and the first thing that went through our minds was, “was that the little one before the big one or was it over.” Thinking somewhat quickly but not thoroughly we grabbed our 72 hour emergency kit, which we now realize was in a completely inconvenient place in case of an emergency, and placed it by the door for a quick get away if necessary.

Our hearts were racing but the seismic shaking was finished. We looked out our front room window to see most of our neighbors in the street, probably wondering the same sort of things that we were, is it over or is it just beginning?

With our emergency kit ready at door we were discussing the right thing to do, should we quickly get out of the house or what? Some experts say that you should not leave the safety of a good building others the opposite.

In this moment while observing the neighbors I questioned, “do you suppose we should get dressed?”

In that moment we realized exactly how unusual we might appear on the street with our neighbors and everyone standing around in their underwear.

The quake registered 5.9 and the epicenter was about 25 miles away, which in terms of earthquakes is relatively strong and close. The big quake here in 2007 registered 7.9 and leveled buildings for a hundred mile radius. Although strong it was short and that apparently makes a big difference. We have felt several tremors but this was powerful.

We learned a few things about unpreparedness as a result of the little shake up. For one, the first thing to grab is your clothes which should be close and together because there will be no time to make up a earthquake outfit (think like a fireman). Second, there is a difference between an emergency kit and storage. Third, we don’t want to experience any more earthquakes.

We finally found a new “casa capilla” for the members in the family group in Quilmana. We have been looking for several months to not much avail. We are challenged by the fact that as a “Family Group” they are not recognized by the Church as an organized unit notwithstanding that a “Family Group” is recognized in the manuals as the basic unit of the Church. Which makes them an officially unrecognized group, the bottom line, they are not afforded their own budget for physical facilities. They have to be funded through the budget of one of the Branches which means less funding for both congregations. (We have included some pictures in the photo section.)

Several months ago when we started looking for the new casa capilla that the long term solution to the budget problems was to become a recognized Branch and receive funding for the physical facilities and other programs of the Church. My initial inquires about qualifying as a Branch were all turned down on the basis that they said the group did not meet all the requirements. Being told no is not much of a deterrent for us.

As I meditated on the subject the thought came to me, “all of the answers are in the General Handbook of Instructions.” That is what we tell all of the leaders, look in your hand book. Sure enough the answers were there and according the written word we could qualify with a little work.

The next step was to get past the “no sayers” and unbelievers. If it is one thing the temporal church has it is bureaucracy and everyone has some one over them so I followed the instructions in the manual and started making requests for maps and applications for forming a new Branch through the proper channels. The hitch was that I made all the requests in English apologizing for lack of proficiency in Spanish. To our amazement it only took 2 days for our requests to end up in the office of the Area President.

They confirmed that my interpretation of the General Handbook was correct but stated that they Area had established additional criteria with the intent that new Branches have the ability carry forward and grow. However, based on the information that we had provided they would support our application when it was properly presented to them. They further offered suggestions on how to make qualifying simpler.

With that written response we cured all of the nay sayers and instead of red lights we now have green lights.

I have no idea how long the actual approval will take but it does it will make things a better for the faithful saints that have been hanging on in Quilmana.

A few weeks ago we went to interview a brother in Mala that had been told, 25 years ago, that he was to be excommunicated from the Church for conduct unbecoming. He now wants to be reconciled to the Church, wants to be married to his conviviente wife with whom he has 6 children, and his wife and three children want to be baptized. The General Handbook of instructions prescribes the process very clearly. Except, when his leaders, 25 years ago, said they were going to excommunicate him they never did. Twenty five years is a long time to carry that burden.

I have had a few interviews but none as moving as this one and hearing about his journey back to the point where he wanted to be reconciled to the Church. How he discovered that there was a Branch in Mala 700 miles from where was baptized and presumed excommunicated. Tears flooded his eyes when I told him as far as the Church was concerned he was still a member but we still had some work to do for him to be a member in good standing. He asked if he would now have to excommunicated before being readmitted. I answered that I did not know at this point and then asked him how that would affect him if it was necessary. He answered, ”what ever it takes I am prepared. I want to be an active member for the rest of my life.” I told him that was right answer.

Today we had lunch with him and his wife here in Cañete along with Elder and Hermana Reich, and Elders Schofield and Chancafe after they had filed all of the required documents and set a date for their marriage. Elder and Hermana Reich have taken them under their protective wings and are guiding them along the path to marriage so that they can make this first major correction in their lives so they can focus on looking forward and not looking back. (Elder Reich also paid for lunch.)

It is so exciting to be a part of this great work and to be blessed with so many great people around us. We were not really sure what we expected when we decided to serve a mission, we are quite sure that we did not know what to expect when we got here, and for certain we know that we could have never imagined what we are experiencing and the blessings that we are receiving.

This is the familia Cuba at the Temple in Lima, the little girl in the red(Annie) is not part of the family but like a lot of people here when they see someone is taking a picture they all want to be in it. It was a long but important day for them. This photo was taken at about 5:PM and we started this journey at 7:AM

Annie does belong in this photo with her mother and father, the familia Chumpitaz. They are part of large family in Quilmana that comprises the backbone of the family group.

This is Elvis and Luchero, the familia Garcia. Elvis is the Branch President in Quilmana. You can tell how special this day was for them by how Luchero is dressed, Elvis borrowed Presidente Acervedo's jacket for the picture. They have a daughter that is not quite two yet, she is not in the picture, that was sealed to them. She is the poster child for the terrible twos but she likes me.

Although this looks like a prayer meeting at the beach but it is not. When you look at the fire you might conclude that it is some kind of weird sacrifice near the ocean......

Well there were some burnt offerings but as you can see we were having a cookout at the beach for our preparation day. Normal comida(food), hot dogs, hamburgers, and bananas. Okay bananas are not usually found on my BBQ but according to Elder Ponciano, todos bien.

Yes I am happy, I have my fishing rod and I have my line in the water. The fishing rod is the block of wood in my left hand. All the locals use them, it is a block of wood with the line wrapped around, has two hooks, and a lead weight. I did catch something but never saw it as took my hooks and lead.

Penguin

Last week I caught this beauty sitting in a park in Lunahuana, which is about an hour from home. We had been asked by the Elders in Nazca to obtain a birth certificate for an investigator that was getting married.

This statue is in the center of the plaza de Armas in Lunahuana and depicts the harvest of grapes. The are is famous for the grapes which are grown here for making Pisco.

It was elections in Peru last week and this one of the countless/endless political rallies that we observed. This one is in Quilmana, we had gone to meet with the owner of the new casa capilla.

The missionaries wanted to have an international food day where each missionary prepares a dish from his home country. We have had them before and they are always very good. I am not sure of the authenticity as these elders were making crepes and none of them are from France.

Kids and canned whipped cream.

Moving day for Elders Sardon and Jurez. We helped them move, hook up their shower, and left. We could tell that they were not going to clean the place before the set up and we could not stand to watch.

The old casa capilla in Quilmana, the chapel room was on the second floor behind the big sign and the class rooms were on the main floor in the back next the pig pen, no seriously. The sign on the roof was a political advertisement that was big enough to be seen from outspace.

Even though there is a resemblance of a jail cell it is not, is the new casa capilla and we had just started our make over.

This the living room which is now converted to a class room.

Painting here is like nothing you have experienced. The paint comes in gallon buckets and then is mixed with three parts water. They don't us roller trays they just dip the rollers in the tub and start slapping paint or water or tinted water.

Las Chicas came to watch but getting dirty working was not in their program.

This long narrow space is where we now have set up for sacrament meetings and hopefully this week will find the money to order a nice glass front for the chapel. It will be bright and with a smooth surface floor we will be able have be clean. We have seating for about 60 people and we look forward to having full.

In conclusion just a brief thougth about topic that one of our new friends of another faith brought up to us last night. They commented that you people don't seem to be into idolatry. He explained what he meant about images and statues ectera and although we did not argue with him I did cause me reflect on what other types of things we tend to put our trust in.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by the blog and we hope that you have enjoyed this edition of YOU ARE IN PERU NOW as much as we have enjoyed providing it.

Saludos a Nuestra Familia y Amigos

This morning as we were careening our way down the two lane highway to attend church in Quilmaná and as we were speeding towards a possible head on collision with a semi I determined that if we lived I would publish another blog to update those that still care to read about our lives. As you can presume by now WE LIVED!

Since Quilmaná has been reopened for missionary work we have been spending more time there supporting the local leadership and missionaries. The president of the group there is very young and hence is lacking in experience and as per normal some of the older members think so as well. His name is Elvis Garcia, of course I like him already because he has the names of two legends that some, myself included, think are really still alive and living incognito. I am of course referring to Elvis Presley the king of rock and roll and Gerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead. I wonder if his parents knew this when they named him.

This weekend we will be going with Pdte. Elvis and his wife and two other couples for the first time to the temple in Lima. Thanks to the encouragement of some really strong missionaries, Elders Sardon, Parker, and Jurez, and brother and sister Allyon. These couples have been prepared and are excited about this important step in their lives. One day, but not today, they will see how really important this step has been not only for their eternal families but for the growth of the church in Quilmaná.

One of the project that we have been working on is to have the Quilmaná group recognized as a branch by the church. When they are, they will be able to receive all of the funding for their local programs and we will be able to get the funding we need to obtain a more satisfactory place to worship. Today after church Debbie and I reviewed with a couple of the local leaders a potential different meeting place and although not fantastic it is better than what we are currently using.

We had been told a couple of time that we did not qualify as a recognized branch there but in my usual stubborn fashion could not accept the answer that was given to us so I started to do the research and network with our contacts. It now seems that we will qualify and we have garnered support all the way up the chain. I am hoping that we will have all of our ducks in a row to make application for branch status in couple of weeks. I don’t know how long the bureaucracy will take afterwards but I do know that once it starts they don’t let go of it.

We are finding that we have less and less time for actual meeting with investigator type of missionary work because of our callings in the district and our lack of great health. Debbie in particular has been enduring the lingering effects of an awful cold for more than 6 weeks. It has been very debilitating and discouraging for her as you all know that she does not like to be limited in her activities.

Yahoo! It looks like we are planning another wedding. In fact it looks like we are planning three more weddings and if everyone keeps progressing they will most likely be in October. Which when I think about it that is spring time in Peru. There were 4 couples but when one sister told her boyfriend that he had two choices because she was going to get baptized with or without him he opted for the other choice and left her and the two kids. The really awful part is that he was a member. Now I guess we will have something new to deal with.

I think we have mentioned our new neighbor Helen, which lives a few doors down. She and her family are from the West Virginia USA. What an interesting story she has to tell. Helen was born in Taiwan, grew up in Iran and Paraguay, and educated and married in the USA. We have a standing Monday night appointment with her to share our message and have fantastic conversations. Her husband is coming this week to visit for a month and we are looking forward to meeting him. This week Helen and her family and us have been invited to Juan Carlos and Adriana’s for family home evening. It is time for one of my observations, “ it is funny how much fun doing missionary work can be when you are doing it the way it teaches you to do it in Preach my Gospel.”

Truthfully, it has not been hard to talk to Helen about the gospel. After we made chocolate chip cookies for them and took them over she said, “why don’t you guys come over and tell me about your church?” We found out that she has friends back in the states that are members but they respected her right to not have to hear about the church and when she was 13 and living in Paraguay her boyfriend was the mission president’s son.

We love the missionary work and working with the missionaries. Doing that work is much easier than the work we do with the people that want to take their own lives, those that took lives of others, and who said what about who first.

As usual we have a litany of photos and we hope that you will enjoy them.

Although Debbie keeps hoping for a transfer I am very content with my companion and assignment here in Canete. However September we were due for some big changes and we had to say good bye to some missionaries that we had been working with for more than six months. For them they look forward to the transfers for us it like having our children ripped away from us.

Our great friend Elder Parker went to Pisco.

Elder Arajo completed his two years with honor and is at home getting used to civilian life along with his twin brother that finished his mission the same day

Anything we could say about Elder Granados would not be good enough.

Hermana Romero transferred to Nazca, they are very lucky to have her.

Hermana Acmac drew the short straw and went to Lima with a great new companion.

For ten glorious days the Canete version of the Calgary Stampede was set up across the field from our apartment. Every night was a concert starting at 10:00 PM and went until 3 or 4 AM and night until the sun came up at 6:00. We were thrilled.

The Ferris wheel provide lots of thrills and screams which we could hear clearly in our home.

This is a picture of our home taken from the fair grounds, looks really close - it was.

Patricia and Jose, some of our other neighbors wanted to introduce us to a restaurant at the Huarco Hotel near San Luis (which is near San Vicente) so they invited the Iruri's and us to dinner. Thursday night is sushi night and Friday is pizza night, we went for pizza. We will leave it as the pizza was okay. The company on the other hand was fantastic. The pizza oven.

The next day I went on a service project with the brethren from Imperial. This is the second time that we have taken down a home and moved it. This time we were turning the casita so that the door you see on the left would be facing the other direction and would be sitting where everyone is standing.

Here we are about half way done. If they would have told me before we started what the object of the task was I would have offered to buy another door and just installed it at the other end of the building. It would have been much simpler.

Here is the casita now facing the opposite direction. The door would not close properly and I could not get my spanish to work well enough to explain how to fix it so they took the door off and trimmed the door to fit the crooked opening. I suppose that it will be good enough until they decide they need our help to move it again.

Elder Sardon and Elder Juarez taught and baptized this family from Quilmana.

Hermano Norberto was on his tenth set of missionaries, or so it seemed, attended church faithfully for months and finally was baptized last week. He was waiting to be baptized on his mothers birthday.

Elder Tombs and Elder Cuque invited us on a service project to meet Fatima and Roxanne. They live on a very small farm on the beach in a place called Playa Hermosa. They have dairy and beef cows, sheep, goats, chickens, cats, dogs, and a parrot. This is cattle feed that they mix and sell to their neighbors that have similar little farms. We mixed and bagged feed for them to sell and use for their own cattle.

The vacas or cows.

The Parrot.

The Sheep.

The service included a very delicious lunch which we all enjoyed, seca cordero. (Lamb)

Playa Hermosa

Friday we visited friends with the Elders in Mala and finally took a picture of this sign that has always intrigued us. Who would not want to go to a blind dentist?

The district Young Women's Presidency was responsible for the annal Oro y Verdi Fiesta, the Gold and Green Ball, as we used to call it back home. I was appointed to be the fashion police to uphold the dress standards for the event, with 3 and a half years as a dance manager I felt uniquely qualified. Like a lot of youth dances it started out with all the girls on one side the boys on the other.

A few moments later it was mayhem. Situation Normal.

RRHHH RRHHR mates. This is a great lesson for all fathers, when you are buying costumes and toys for your children always get some that fit you as well, or should I say when you are buying costumes and toys for yourself get some that fit the kids as well.

The sun sets over Canete and over another issue of YOU ARE IN PERU NOW! This lovely picture of the setting sun is filtered through the smoke of a huge garbage fire to create this beautiful effect.

Remember that all the glitters is not gold, save a little for a rainy day, and you can't always get what you want but if you try, sometimes you will get what you need. Hasta luego

Los Whitney, gringos in Canete.

Saludos a Nuestra Familia y Amigos

I know that it has been awhile since the last entry and those that check regularly are probably tired of the old entry, perdóneme por favor.

We sort of pride ourselves in how we have created a routine that we can follow and it gives a certain amount of order to our lives. A certain portion of our weekly schedule is allocated to visiting people that we see regularly for ecclesiastical and missionary purposes, we have a regular meetings for capacitación(training), presidency meetings (Hermana Whitney is now the primera consejera en la Mujeres Jovenes distrito presidencia), noche de misiónals, baptisms, ect. ect. ect.

Not found in the white missionary handbook of rules and regulations we find one night a month for “date night,” on which we do not book appointments. Instead we make some popcorn and sit down in our theater room and watch a movie. Before you get too excited about our theater room it is the same room we do everything else and our movie screen is our laptop computadora and a small set of speakers that we bought for about $30, notwithstanding it is our theater room.

All movies here are pirated movies and cost about $1.20. We get movies that have just hit the theaters in America, that it the good news, the other news is that some of them are video taped in a theater and you can actually see people get up and go get refreshments, ect. You just never know what quality it is going to be until you get it home. It makes it that much more interesting.

I know what you are thinking, “Wow, is that ever exciting. They are really living on the edge.”

Last week we were in Quilmana to support Elder Parker and Elder Sardon and make some visits with them. These two Elders are highly motivated and very motivation missionaries that have been given a big assignment to stimulate this area that had been closed for about 8 months. While we were there we did an apartment inspection to assure that they were in acceptable quarters, comparatively speaking, and we found their electric shower head was not installed. When we asked why it was not installed we found out what we expected and that was that they had the neither the wherewithal or knowledge to get it done. Later we decided that for our next service day we would take care of it for them. So this past Thursday we set out to Quilmana with our tool box, a Book of Mormon, and our good intentions.

A book of Mormon, por qué? Because, we had made an appointment to meet Sandy, who is one of our contacts, at 10:00 in the Plaza de Armas in Imperial to give her the book.

Now, we have made this trip many times, in fact we would call it routine for us in fact we had been there the night before to talk to a young couple that were to give us a commitment for their wedding date, which we did get.

Trust me this all comes together. Really!

The trip is straight forward we take a combie to Imperial, walk two blocks through the Plaza de Armas, and catch a colectivo taxi that drops us at the missionaries apartment, simple. The combie picks us up at the front get of our community and usually takes about 5 minutes to where we get off, but not today. The roadway into Imperial divides into two one way streets, one coming and one going, and as we were approaching the point where it divides we could see that there was some sort of trouble in the traffic. Some vehicles were stopped, others turning around and scattering. The bus slowed down then suddenly veered up the wrong way on the one way street with the pedal to the metal. As we turned we could see through the side windows that there were mobs in the street throwing rocks and bricks. (This is the part that is just like in the movies)

We got about a block and half up the wrong way where the traffic appeared to grid locked, we could see the trouble and hear the gunfire at the other end of the street and I started thinking that we would be better off on foot and hot foot it out of there. Debbie was in the jump seat in front and I said to her, “let’s get out of here.” She jumped out of the door and about as quick as she got out so did the cobrador and pushed her back into the seat and the bus jumped forward through the traffic.

They took us another two blocks and let us out where there was no trouble.

Now we had a some concerns that we did not have when left home that morning, Sandy was to be waiting for us at the Plaza which was one block closer to the tumult, we had four missionaries that we could not be sure of there whereabouts, and just how much trouble was there going to be?

Oh yeah, our cell phone was not working! Go figure.

We realized that we could pass by the meeting place with Sandy on our way to the missionary’s apartments so we took off on foot. Sandy was waiting for us, grabbed us and the book, and looked straight into our eyes and said get out of here you are white and they are killing people over there in the next block. Dramatizing, she put two fingers to head like a gun and then pushed us down the street away from the trouble. It was okay with us as it was the right street that went straight to both missionary apartments.

We found both sets of missionaries were not in their apartments and one of their landlords told us that they had left for there service project which was out side of town.

At that point we were satisfied that they were likely alright and there was nothing more we could do except a quick prayer for their safety.

We hustled through the streets to where we knew we could catch a combie to Quilmana.

Once on the bus we started to calm down and got back to the tranquilo day we started on.

Elder Parker and Elder Sardon now have hot showers and a shower curtain.

When we got back to Imperial that afternoon things had simmered down, the riot police were still geared up and present, and we discovered that although shots were being fired no one was killed. We also found out what the disturbance was about, construction workers from San Vicente were taking jobs in Imperial away from union member there. I guess we were lucky here because in April or May the miners in the south got mad about the same thing and 16 people went missing, really missing.

Just a comment about our friend Sandy, she lives in Lima but travels around selling gloves, socks, toques, scarves ect. in public squares. She has children that are members of the church, even has a missionary out but because of her common law relationship and inability to get married is not in a position to receive all the blessings that her family enjoys, todavia! The Book of Mormon was for a friend that she is sharing the gospel with. I think I sense a deeper message somewhere in that.

Not every bus trip is exciting in the same sort of way but they can be exciting in a different ways. One bus trip that we took back at the end of July was with 39 young single adults to a conference in Nazca. Nazca is about 6 hours south of where we live and famous for a number of things like the Nazca Lines, if you don’t know anything about them Google it, it is interesting. We did not see the lines as the are best visible from the air and travel in small charter planes is surprisingly against mission rules(which the President frequently points out that I breaks too many of.)

The first known civilization in the area dates back to 400 years B.C. and we are including a few cool pictures of what we saw.

Aside from spending three days with all the YSA in the district we also got to spend some time with Elder and Sister Jones the mission couple from Malad Idaho that serve in Nazca/Marcona district. I marvel at the impact that they are having in their area and they are a real testimony to what a couple can do in the mission field, it is miraculous.

We are a little jealous of the winter weather they have there because everyday is sunny and hot with cold nights but I would not want their summers which are exceedingly hot day and night.

We had another exciting bus ride just yesterday and it was yet another type of exciting but none the less thrilling. A few weeks ago, while skirting around another rule, we met a really great lady working at the G__f Cou_se in Asia. In the course of our time there Hermana shared some of our message and gave her a brochure and asked if she would like to receive the discussions. Friday we went to her home in Mala with Elder Ponciano and Elder Scoefield, who work in Mala.

Gracia and her husband (married) live just a few blocks from the casa capilla in Mala. We had a great visit with her, she has a deep testimony of Jesus Christ and knows that her current church, although good, is missing the mark. She not only had read the brochures but knew them and had researched her questions. Although her husband follows “the traditional church” is less interested in religion he is very supportive of her. What a special experience it was for us share our common beliefs and the message of the restoration.

Now that is excitement!

Here is our photo journey of the past few weeks.

It was a little weird to say to the elders, okay let's get into the bathroom to take a picture but Elder Sardon and Elder Parker were more than happy to show off their new 220 volt shower. (My daughter-in-law Melissa would be so proud of my handy work here.)

Gustavo and Nati are our friends in Quilmana that will be getting married in two weeks. They are a really neat little family and although we will not be here to go to the temple with them in a year we know that they will make it.

Debbie says that my teaching has a similar effect on both the young and the old.

This was at a family home evening (noche de hogar) that we had in a members home. The two hemanitas in the middle are Kati and Nancy neighbors of the familia Taya where we were visiting.

A couple of weeks ago we were waiting for the Sister Missionaries to go to an appointment and we saw these two boys trying to guide this young bull. It was true slapstick comedy, at first they had one rope and boy behind and one rope and a boy in front. The bull charged at the boy in front and then there were two boys behind being drug by the bull. When the bull stopped and the boys dusted themselves off they assumed this position, pulling the bull. A moment later it was the previous position with the bull pulling the boys.

This was the our group of Jovenes Adulto Solteros (YSA) as we were awaiting the bus before our trip to Nazca. Oh how they like to dance!

Valle las Trancas is a valley of tombs dating back to 400 years B.C. where thousands of tombs with mummified remains have been uncovered.

A few of us standing over one of the larger tombs, grateful to be out of the sun.

The tour guide, who is one of the JAS members in Nazca, pointed out that all though they have tried to make sense of all the findings it is just conjecture as there are no records and their are no descendants of this civilization. In this tomb there were many mummified bodies of babies, back left. because of the hot dry conditions they have been preserved very well and on of the things that was most interesting was their hair was still intact. Note on the mummy in the center that male pattern baldness was a problem back then as well.

In some instances their braided hair was more than 6 feet long. One tomb that was of the pre-Inca era had mummies with blond and brown hair leading to some interesting conjecture.

These remains were in a small museum that is on site in the valley.

Elder and Sister Jones took us to see some aqua ducts that were built by the Incas more than a thousand years ago to bring sub surface aquifer water up hill underground to irrigate the fertile ground in the valley. They are still effectively used for that purpose today.

This water comes underground from high in the Andes Mountains. Chains of these duct systems are found throughout the area. It is amazing that they could find the water so far below the surface and without mechanical pumps lift it to the surface. The water is supposed to be as pure as you can find on the planet so we drank it.

And a good time was had by all.

Some missionary mayhem at the zoo park in Quilmana. I made them promise if they would take us lunch I would not show the picture to the President.

What are the crazy people doing now?

Preparation day chillin at the mini Machu Pichu.

When I said out to lunch I really meant it and so they took us to the pensonista where she had prepared a very special lunch for the whole zone. Great food, great friends, and a great work!

Thank you again for taking the time to read about our adventures in our little part of Peru. We continue to be amazed at the experiences that we are blessed to have and for the people we are blessed to meet. Please feel free to drop us a quick note and let us know how you are doing.

Los Whitney Gringos en Cañete