The sky was clear blue and the usual layer of smog was missing this morning. It was by far the hottest day we have experienced in Peru so far. Today was also the day I had signed up with half of the World Racer’s to do construction work on the church building in Lomo De Corvina. We finally received permission to begin work so we climbed up the sandy hill to a slanted sandy spot. The task for the day was transforming the very slanted and uneven spot into a flat lot on which we will build the church. As we surveyed the spot we realized two things; we did not have the adequate tools for the job and the site smelled really bad.
We only had a few shovels and a pick which would not moved the massive amount of sand necessary for the foundation. The sand we would be moving was filled with decaying, half-burned, and decomposing garbage. A few Racer’s walked through the neighborhood asking for additional tools and successfully acquired a wheelbarrow and more shovels. The smell intensified as we dug through rotting vegetables, dirty diapers, discarded articles of clothing, and a lot of unidentifiable items.
Unfortunately we breathed in a lot of the dust from the sand as we shoveled. After about 4 ½ hours of hard work and a lunch break we had leveled as much as we could. The next step will be putting water on the sand to pack it down. We were covered in sand and sweat, but it was satisfying to look over the level ground knowing we had accomplished the difficult task.
This evening my team was invited to the house of a member of the church, Katia. Her mother had promised to make us some typical Peruvian desserts. Katia’s father picked us up in his Taxi, which the translator’s explained runs on natural gas. Katia’s mother welcomed us into her home with big hugs a kiss on the cheek. We were served two amazingly sweet and delicious desserts. The first dessert was Winter Cake, which was made with pudding-like jello and layers of vanilla cookies.
The second dessert was coconut rice pudding; I usually don’t like rice pudding. We were served a huge bowl with a delicious chai tea flavor; I was able to down it all.
Katia’s mother loves to make “Postres”, but is not able to eat them because she suffers from Diabetes. She almost lost her legs three months ago due to her ailment, but says that God healed her. She was so excited that we would come to try her desserts, because her husband and father are tired of eating the sweets. The conversation flowed as they asked questions about the US and we asked about Peru. Katia’s mother invited us to come back next week for her special homemade ice-cream.
