Lima, Peru

I arrived in Lima on June 26th at 2:15pm. Fortunately, I was able to get plenty of shuteye en route because of my rock-solid sleep kit: ear plugs and my baby-blue, satiny eyemask (only female ones were left at Kmart). I was carrying a suitcase full of old eyeglasses that Josh´s father needed to get to Arrequipa, Peru as part of his philanthropic work in optometry for MMI. As planned, David Gonzales, an Anglican priest and local volunteer with MMI, met me at the airport to pick up the suitcase. Unfortunately, the same-day bus to Cuzco was booked out.

David, kindhearted man that he is, refused to let me die young and alone in the streets of Lima. He not only found me an affordable ($10 dollars!) and safe hotel, but also gave me a tour of his city: Plaza de Armas, el Palacio de Gobierno, innumerable cathedrals (where you can´t help but notice the stark contrast between the opulence (gold, everywhere) inside and the poverty outside), and the Circuito Magico del Agua Parque, complete with tallest public fountain in the world (80 meters). We then ate at a restaurant where David had helped some members of his parish secure employment.

It was a great chance to test drive my abysmal español (6 years jr and high school, virtually nil since) and learn about a life, the clergy, which is quite foreign to me. Lima is a sprawling city of 9 million (about a third of Peru´s total population) with huge slums and squatter communities. David works with a poor community on the outskirts of the city. It gives him joy when the fatherless children he tutors in religious studies and homework call him father.