When I arrived in Lima I was smacked with the reality that signs of creation are difficult to find. I realized that I worship God’s creation just as much or more than God Himself. So, for the last two weeks I have been praying that God would reveal some of His other characteristics. I just returned from an overnight trip to the mountains and not only was I able to worship God through His amazing creation, but I was also able to see that God is a provider.
My alarm went off at 5:15 and 45 minutes later I crammed into a Combi (small public transport van) with Candice, Ryan, Ginger, and Eric. After the hour and a half ride in a Combi we paid 10 Soles or about $3 for a three hour bus ride to Canta. We had planned to get groceries before we left, but the store was closed so we bought crackers and tuna. The crowded city streets of cars and buildings gave way to open fields and mountains. In the last hour of travel the mountains and vegetation changed from a dull brown to amazing shades of green.
The town of Canta…
Canta is a small little mountain city that rests between lush green rocky mountains. We were dropped off at the base of a mountain near a river that was rushing to the tops of its banks from the previous rain. A food stall provided an amazing meal of rice, corn, French fries, and rainbow trout fresh from the stream for about $1. 50. I don’t usually eat fresh water fish, especially when it still has a head attached. The cook gutted it and fried it up right before our eyes; it was delicious.
“Its going to rain,” was the greeting we received as we started out on our hike to the Incan ruins. The first portion of the trip took us up a flight of stairs for about 15 minutes. At the top of the stairs I was so out of breath and my heart was racing; I felt like I had just run 3 miles. Our starting elevation was 8,800 feet; which is about 8,500 feet more than we are used to in Lima. Despite the warnings we received from many people we decided to continue up the trail attempting to camp out in the ruins. The trail was surrounded by crisp greens and wildflowers, but also contained evidence of the cows, horses, and mules that use the trail. My eyes have been thirsty for such beauty; they were refreshed from drinking in the surroundings.
We reached 10,000 feet after about an hour of hard hiking and decided to keep going rather than heading back down to stay in a hostel. I was a little nervous about this decision because of the impending rain and because we had not seen a flat spot to pitch a tent. The hike was very physical so I did not do much talking on the trail because I was so out of breath. As we continued to climb, clouds moved up over us and the mountain. At times the clouds were so thick we could only see about 20 feet in front of us. After about 2 hours we had reached almost 12,000 feet and a semi-flat rocky spot to camp. But, we decided to keep going because the rain had not started and the ruins supposedly had a better spot to camp.
At about 12,500 feet we reached some flat plateaus that looked like they were or had been farmland. We pitched our tents and had our gear all set up and the rain still did not come. We had four cans of tuna, some bread, and some crackers for dinner. We only ate three of the cans of tuna and still had bread and crackers left. God stretched what little we had and provided enough to fill us. While we were eating the Lord opened up the clouds so we could catch a glimpse of the sun setting on the mountains. He also held off the rain until we were snug in our tents. Ginger, Candice, and I were really snug; the three of us slept in a two man tent. Earlier in the day the Lord provided two dogs for us. I don’t usually like dogs a lot, but I appreciated Pepper and Fido because they followed us up the trail protecting us from other dogs and then they served as guard dogs throughout the night.
