On Friday morning my new friend Myriam came over to chat with me about our church service. She is a twenty-something, newlywed who works as a nanny. A very good one I am sure, after seeing her around my kids. We talked for two and half hours and could have gone on much longer if my kids didn’t need to eat. Her mother is French and her father from Morocco. He lives there part time and she visits quite often. Her husband was born in London but his parents are from Ghana and the Congo. It felt so good to have an adult conversation and to make a British friend.
My first Sunday here I met Nicole- she is from Minnesota but has lived in London for eight years and for an amateur linguist like myself I couldn’t tell she was American at first. But it’s funny how we adapt and sometimes when she and I are talking her British accent slips. In fact she said that people have said her husband (a through and through Englishman) sounds American. Anyway- she has three adorable little girls that Miriam fell in love with instantly. Their names are Ninette (5), Persephone(4) and Morrigan(2) and we hear nothing but “Ninette and Poppy” all day every day from Mim. On Friday Nicole invited us over to play and then our husbands joined us for dinner.
I don’t consider myself a shy person or an introvert, but I do have insecurities that make me nervous about making friends in a new city and a little unsure if I’m the kind of person someone would like to spend time with. (I’m NOT fishing for compliments or reassurances here, I’m just trying to be honest.) So I felt really relieved on Friday night that I had the chance to get to know these great ladies and I’m really excited to have friends and spend more time with them. I knew I wanted to make friends and I have always considered inclusion and belonging to be a basic human need, but I was surprised about how good it really did feel to be connected here.
– Modern technology.
– Easy access to healthcare for myself and my children, and especially the ability to get freedom from pain almost immediately. (I don’t want to get political here, and I know that our healthcare system is broken, but we are lightyears ahead of these people.)
– Primary education available to everyone regardless of money and social class, and higher education available to many.
Shoes from Chandra and Abby.
The mock-crocks were sponsored by my mother-in-law Julie, and my sister Adri. Close-toed shoes were a real blessing for these kids in the muddy rainy villages.
I’m not sure who contributed this hat and these purple socks…
This hat was made on a loom by my ambitious mother.
A blanket from Lori.
A blanket from Krista.
One evening Kim and I were wandering the streets of Cusco and came across these dancers. We watched them for awhile and after they finished I asked if I could take their photo. One young man grabbed my camera and pushed us into the picture where the others adorned our heads with their festive hats.
A couple in the market that I made some purchases from. He actually didn’t like this picture, and requested that I try again but the second one didn’t turn out.
Pepe and Ernesto are employees of Ascend that work with the American groups that come to do humanitarian work. They were so humble and Ernesto worked so hard to make us laugh.
I spent the first day in the village with the medical team. We set up a clinic that included a triage where we took vitals and a chief complaint, three exam rooms, and a small pharmacy. My role this day consisted mostly of painting the fingernails of the little girls and teaching basic toothbrushing skills. 
This girl was especially nervous, but her mother said her tooth had been hurting for over a year. I had to coax her through the entire procedure and by the end I felt like we had accomplished something major together.
Saqsaywaman is known for the sheer enormity of the rocks. Without a doubt they were huge.
Pisaq had endless terraces used for farming. We were told that they reconstructed the terraces each year to rotate the soil.
Machu Picchu deserves it’s own post. But anyone who has ever witnessed something breathtaking knows that pictures will never do it justice. Just imagine, an entire city in the middle of the jungle, built on top of a mountain 500 years ago. 
The most physically challenging part of our trip was climbing to the top of mount Waynu Picchu, which overlooks Machu Picchu. The way up the mountain is a rugged and steep Incan staircase, and by stairs I mean rocks. They have installed rope for help on the way up and down. 
The view of Machu Picchu from atop Waynu Picchu.
This is me, feeling thrilled at top of this mountain.
The Inca people may have spent their lives in hard labor, but not much has changed for the current Peruvian people. If you click on this picture you can see how high up the side of the mountain the farms are. To get a general idea of the magnitude of the mountains just use the buildings in the valley as a scale. No small task for the people to climb the mountain each day to work on the farms.
In society as we know it here in the United States and in westernized civilization we take the path of least resistance in most of what we do. Successful ideas and products are designed to make our lives easier. Our bread is sliced, “hand-wash only” articles of clothing are taken to the dry-cleaner, our pizza is delivered and even our pharmacy has a drive-through.
Just Your Average Jo 