On the road again...

Don't know if you have noticed, but today we are playing blog catch up.  It is a holiday here, and we are at home.  We have been busy doing mission visits.  We have been asked to go with the Clarks to attend some returning missionary training seminars.  The area presidency felt that the missionaries who were returning home needed some training in staying spiritual, finding jobs, continuing to study English, and the opportunities that they can take advantage of.  Missionaries spend one day at the end of their mission getting this additional training. Our part of the training deals with the Pathway program.  Pathway is a one year program in conjunction with BYU Idaho where students can study at institutes and on line.  It is a great way to get a college education for a little less cost and from your home town.  Our trip to Iquitos was in conjunction with the returning missionary program.  We also got to travel to Arequipa and Chiclayo. Interestingly, the three cities they asked us to visit were the three cities we felt we needed to go to.  Tender Mercy!  In addition to missionary training, we also take time to visit with the mission presidents to see how the Companionship Language Study program is going, specifically what we can do to be of help to them as they try to encourage missionaries to study English on their missions.  We were able to do our Power Point presentation in Iquitos and Arequipa. In Iquitos we met with zone leaders and in Arequipa with three zones. What fun to interact with the missionaries and the presidents and their wives.  It is always the highlight of our mission.

President Zobrist

President Gomez

Temple lot

Arequipa, is the second largest city in Peru and has a European feel to it with narrow streets and a large square surrounded by a large cathedral and colonial style buildings.  One of its claims to fame is a mummy of a young girl recently found when ice melted revealing her.  Our hotel was beautiful and just a block away from the mission home.  Arequipa is also scheduled to get a temple.  They had just finished acquiring the last of the land needed for the temple site, so President Zobrist (who just happened to be a neighbor of our friends the Van Wagoners when they lived in Las Vegas) and his wife took us to see the temple site and presented us with our very own little bottles of temple dirt. How fun is that.


The day after, we took a tour of the downtown cathedral.  They took us to the top and we could look out over the entire city.  Amazingly enough, you can see the temple site from there.  Won't it be fun when it is done and people look out and ask "What is that beautiful building over there?" We also got this fun picture of a little girl and her goat there at the Plaza de Armas waiting for people who pay for pictures. Notice her colorful, traditional dress.

We also visited a convent.  It was the tradition that the second daughter of the cities wealthy would be sent to the convent when they were about 13.  Each had her own room complete with space for a servant.  From that time forward, they could only see their families through a grated hole.  At 16, they had to decide whether or not they were going to be nuns.  If they decided not to, the family was embarrassed and often the girls were shunned.  At the time it housed over 200 young women and their servants. So not only did the girls live a life of solitude, but so did their servants.  It was a city within a city complete with streets, a communal bath and laundry area and a dinning area.  Now it is a museum with only a small section dedicated to the nuns who still live there.  I think there are only about 20 now.

Chiclayo is a smaller city and we were only there for two and a half days.  Since most of our time was spent with missionaries, we didn't see much of the city  But on the way there we met an amazing young woman on the plane.  She spoke beautiful English and we had a delightful conversation.  At the end, she asked if we were going to have time to see the city and offered to be our guide.
So, Tuesday morning she and her brother met us at our hotel and took us to tour a museum that housed artifacts from El Señor de Sipan.

With Candy at the Lord of Sipan Museum

This was a tomb that was only recently discovered in 1987.  They found many mummies (the wives, servants and children were buried with the "King"), artifacts of gold and silver and clay pots.  Afterwards, we were able to talk to Candy and Josémaria a little about the church and give them a Restoration video and a pamphlet.  They are our new Facebook friends. We also got to see our friends Sister Moore and Sister Arana.  They are now serving in Trujillo which is about a three hour bus trip.  It was fun to see them again and catch up on what they are doing.

Up the River numero dos...

Cinthia

Monday, it was downriver to the Ceiba Tops Lodge for a three day, two night stay in a rain forest lodge.  The boat ride took about an hour and a half.  Our room was air-conditioned (thank goodness) and in a beautiful setting on the edge of the Amazon in the middle of the rainforest.  You take a short walk to get the the main lodge where meals are served.  Next to the main lodge was a beautiful pool and hot tub and large "gazebo" with hammocks for enjoying the outdoors and a view of the river. Our first day there we were greeted by the resident tapir (all 500 lbs. of her).
While the Clarks rested, we took a short boat ride to another native village and then went to search for dolphins.  We found them and they put on a delightful show for us. Tuesday morning they got us up early, 5 AM, for a trip into the rainforest to enjoy a walk on the Canopy Walkway, the longest in the world.

Canopy Walkway

Didn't get away, but should have

It is a series of walkways that when you are finally at the top, you are looking at the rainforest from the canopy of the rainforest trees.  What a sight!


Wednesday morning,  it was another short boat ride to go piranha fishing (Success - I caught the smallest which got thrown back).






 Luckily, we ate them for lunch before they were able to eat us.  Check out those teeth!!!

Just before the small one on the back pulled my hair!

 Next it was a visit to the Isla de Monos.  I was lucky enough to find a couple of friends who decided they wanted to climb up and give me a hug. That was okay until one decided to start pulling my hair.  Not fun!  This picture is just before the hair pulling.  Wednesday afternoon, it was back to the airport and saying goodbye to our new friend and guide,
Armando.

Thanks, Armando, for a delightful stay.

While waiting for the airplane, we met up with a young missionary who was on his way to renew his visa in Lima.  Another tender mercy since we got to spend time with him talking about his experience with the CLS program.  Thank you Father for watching out for us.

Up the river - Amazon that is - without a paddle.

Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagined that we would be spending our 48th wedding anniversary on the Amazon River near Iquitos, Peru.  But tender mercies are never planned. They just happen.  Sunday, August 31st, we were wondering what we wanted to do for our anniversary in seven days.  No clues!  Monday, we went into the area office and discovered that we would be flying to Iquitos, Peru to observe some training and do a presentation to a group of missionaries there.  By Tuesday, we had our flight plans and had planned an extra few days to take a trip down the Amazon to stay at a jungle lodge in the middle of the rain forest. A few trips to the cash machine, that was interesting adventure in itself, to get the money to make a down payment on the lodge stay and were ready.  All we needed to do was hurry and pack. Our flight took off on Thursday afternoon. It was a bit scary flying during a lightening storm, but it was also amazing to see.  Unfortunately, no pictures. By the time I got the camera out, it was over.  We landed in Iquitos in the middle of a rain storm, which happen quite frequently there.


We got settled in our nice hotel. Friday morning, we got brave and hopped in a Motor Taxi for the short ride to the chapel where the training was to be held.

Minutes before the downpour

The weather looked beautiful, but halfway there, it started to pour.  Our taxi driver stopped, got out his nifty plastic cover for the front of the taxi and then took off.  Unfortunately, Elder and Sister Clark were behind us and thought we had reached our destination.  So when their taxi driver stopped to cover up, they got out, paid him and then wondered where we had gone.  They had to hail another taxi, wade through the water to get to it and then try to find the chapel.  By the time they found us, they were soaked.

Our morning training with the zone leaders of the Iquitos mission was great.  Even the mission president and his wife participated.  What fun! We love doing these presentations as we watch our North American missionaries teach the Spanish speakers and then cheer them on when it is their turn to say the scripture in English all by themselves.  They are always the highlight of our mission. We had lunch with President and Sister Gomez at a fun little restaurant down the street.  We decided to try the alligator.  Of course, it tastes like chicken.  Friday afternoon and evening was spent observing the training for the missionaries who are ready to go home.  Dinner with them was delightful.  We opted for fried rice (?) instead of more chicken and potatoes which is the national meal of Peru.

Saturday we took a short ride up the Amazon to visit the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm (a Nature and Wildlife Conservation Park).  Along with some rescued animals - monkeys, a jaguar, and an anteater, there were beautiful butterflies.  The monkeys were illusive, though.

We also visited a native village and met the Bora tribe.  They danced for us and explained their culture and the boa constrictor dance. Very interesting.  Elder Clark explained that they came from the tribe of Joseph.  He said he was from the tribe of Levi, since that's what his hat said.  Not sure they understood that one.

Sunday, Sept. 7th, was our 48th wedding anniversary.  We attended church at one of the local wards where we were treated like royalty.  It was all in Spanish, so we had to stretch to understand.  But the ward members were so welcoming.  I think they hoped we were there to stay.  It was sad to disappoint them.  After church, we had dinner at a floating restaurant in the middle of the Amazon River.  It was sooo fun to take a boat out the the restaurant which also has a swimming pool, so after dinner you can take a dip in the pool.  It was a beautiful setting complete with a rainbow in the background. It doesn't get much better than that.

How's this for romantic!