my flight left at 645am saturday morning…. i’m not bad at organizing stuff for other people, but if it comes to me USUALLY i do admit – i procrastinate.
so shopping happened at midnight…. packing began around hmmmm 2am? i finally finished oh you know about 530am.
hahahaha. it was a rush to the airport, but it worked out. i said goodbye to mom. dad drove me to the airport. steph and denielle met me at the airport to wish me off, which was so awesome! [….i have a pic, but promised not to post it.] carolyn finished one awesome skirt for me to bring.
i ran to my gate…just made the flight!
i slept as much as i could… got to fort lauderdale around noon..
picked up my bags and found another fellow teammate in the terminal.
it was apparent that i overpacked……
our flight left at 445pm on spirit airlines…. it was about a 6 hour trip. i was exhausted and slept as much as i could, but at the same time picked up a cold, which i wasn’t so stoked about because it thus took my energy the next couple days.
we finally arrived at our hostel about 2am… got to sleep around 3am. had to be packed up by 8am so we could have our breakfast and start the “race” part of the trip.
at the beginning of each month when we enter a country our hosts put together a scavenger hunt and/or challenge to explore the city/country we are in.
so we all have teams and pretty much “race” against each other.
it was a packed day!
we started off exploring different parts of the city…. a statue, a church, the plaza with a horse carriage.
we got to eat of authentic peruvian food…
and even cebiche…. which half of my team didn’t like at all. we were supposed to clear our plate. all seafood… pretty much boiled/raw with some sort of lemon mixture on it. SO GOOD. i loved it.
we all decided since it was our last good meal for a while to indulge in the buffet. it was AMAZING… awesome soup, authentic food…. just such good stuff. i think most of the teams decided to take it slow and enjoy our time in lima and enjoy the lunch.
after that it was a race for about 2 hour a small town where we were supposed to go white water rafting…. we didn’t make it in time because it was almost 6pm and the sun was setting. we are determined to go back if we ever have an off time.
ok, ok, ok… now you are saying JEN we paid money for you to do THIS?! trust me days like this are far and few between. i don’t know if i will get to my blog tonight about our first day in Tambo De Mora…. a fishing town that was obliterated by the earthquake…. but here is a precursor.
info about it.
—-
On August 15th in the early evening, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck in the region of Ica a coastal area about three hours south of Lima, Peru. Of all the places that incurred major damage, Tambo de Mora took a direct hit.
The government has decreed that Tambo de Mora will not be rebuilt. This is due to the city’s proximity to the ocean. While some families have simply departed the ruins of Tambo de Mora, many families have lived here for generations and they have not left, nor do they intend to leave. In some cases the families were able to salvage some of their possessions. They were helped for about three months with provisions being provided to feeding centers and with tents and some temporary shelters.
Many individuals lost their employment as a result of the quake. The government has declared that the town can not be rebuilt, but no assistance has been provided or offered to help them relocate to date. The situation is truly desperate and for many, it will become more so as time goes on.
For our first month we will be going to distribute rice, blankets,
tear down, and clean up where ever the needs are greatest. I also hope
to capture a few stories with video to post in the next month. We are
just going to go love these people and definitely learn a ton in the
process.
—
