The last few days have been pretty wild for me. Every group met back up in Nicaragua to have our debrief. It was a much needed time of sharing what had happened for everybody and a little bit of relaxation as well. We stayed right on the beach of Lake Nicaragua. It is really a surreal place because the lake is so big, it looks more like an ocean, full of waves and everything. But in the middle of the lake protrudes an enourmous volcanoe, two actually. That formed the island that team Zeo was staying at. We had an amazing view of the sun rising from directly behind the volcanoes each morning. It was great for me to be able to see everyone else, especially all the guys. Its nice to have a group of guys that I can be an idiot with without all the women thinking that we might actually be handicapped.
Our view of the volcanoe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua
Thursday we all loaded our stuff up on buses and headed out to the airport. Flying with 50 people is fun! Actually its not any fun checking people in, but its a whole load of fun with 50 friends on an airplane. We arrived in Lima late, and had a fair amount of trouble getting everybody through customs and on the bus with all of our bags. But we all made it safe and sound. We then had to drive another hour to actually get to where we were staying. We pull up to this church at 2 am, and half of the congregation had been waiting up to greet us! We stumble off the bus mostly asleep after our long day of travel to thousands of hugs from people we didnt even know, now thats hospitality!
The following day actually had the race portion of the trip (since racing from the back of the airplane to the front of the cockpit wasnt really an option). We had to run all over Lima (literally) finding obscure statues and the stories behind them, swimming into the frigid ocean (not in Costa Rica anymore) to get mini toys from a buoy, climb a thousand stairs back up the coast to go to a restuarant to order cow heart and eat it all (actually very tasty), race to the catacombs and take a picture with our new friends we met down there (a bunch of stiffs if you ask me), and race to the top of a hill that overlooks all of Lima. Whew! It was a full day, but not done. The race was good and over (our team came in second) and we headed back to the church pretty late. We showed up at 10:30 pm back at the church, only to find church service still going, and still rockin. We were all exhausted, but we couldnt help but go and dance with the congregation as they worshipped. It was amazing. I was dancing with 50 people I knew and about 200 I did not know. It was wild for sure, more like a dance party than a your typical worship service from back home. Thats when it hit me. What kind of a crazy life am I living? There I was, in Lima, Peru dancing my heart out. I had just enjoyed an amazing day running all over Lima, had just come from a huge volcanoe in Nicaragua, and about to go deep into the heart of the Andes mountains. I do not deserve this life. But what a gift it is! It is truly a blessed life!
This morning the clouds were incredible! This is our town of Musho where we will be living for a month
So to continue with what a blessed life I get to live, I am now way back in the Andes mountains. I woke up this morning, stumbled out of my room and looked up. I was slapped in the face with the 22,000 foot peak of Huascaran looming over me. Yesterday was cloudy and we couldnt see any of the peaks, but this morning, the clouds were off the peaks for long enough for me to be completely and thouroghly amazed. It is like having Mount Mckinly in your backyard, actually, Mt. Mckinly would be the younger brother of Huascaran. We are allready camping at over 10,000 feet, and the mountain soars another 12,000 feet higher. Simply incredible. I do not think I have ever been in a more beautiful place in my entire life! The trail to climb to the top starts just down the road from us. I began hiking it this morning, it did not take but a few minutes to realize I wasnt at sea level anymore. Maybe I will have to work my way up, aclimatize a bit, before I have any dreams of the summit.
I get to see this everyday, pretty rediculous aint it?
I just wanted to let you all know how excited I am about being here in Peru. I know that this month will be an amazing time of ministry and of fun. I already feel at home here. The people are so friendly, the scenery is unbeatable, and I am growing a manly beard to keep me warm at night!
