Cusco
Where am I?
This month, I am located in a small town outside of Cusco, Peru. Cusco was once the capital of the Incan empire from the 13th-16th century until the Spanish conquest. This town is in the highest of altitude levels I have lived in yet, at over 11,000 feet!! So the water required to drink here is more than usual. I also find myself pretty winded after climbing the stairs… yes I am a bit out of shape, but I think part of this is altitude 🙂
What do I do?
This month, our work entails caring for children at the Josephine house orphanage, helping with ongoing construction projects for our host family, and supporting other churches in the area. Our main job is with the Josephine house. Here, we mainly help with the “Tia’s” (the people in charge of taking care of the kids). The next few weeks we will take some of the burden off the the Tia’s here and take care of many of the kiddos who are of the ages of 1-6 years old. There are many more kids than Tia’s so the help is needed! Our work includes everything from changing diapers (cloth diapers…), feeding kids, playing with kids, cleaning the orphanage, and much more. I am excited to work with this organization because it is clearly organized/well managed and an orphanage that does not damage kids. It merely loves them until they find their “forever family.” The schedule looks like morning/ afternoon shifts and odd projects to fill in the rest of the time.
Who is hosting us?
This month our hosts are Tim and Holly Anderson- they are Peruvian…
Hah jk, they are American missionaries. And amazing American missionaries! My gosh, they are absolute inspirations, they are mentors, they are wise in their faith, and they strive to really get to know World Race teams that come here. They are two of the most humble people I have ever met. They moved out here 4 years ago with their family of 5 children. The couple does ministry work here with the Josephine house, but they also really strive to walk alongside the people they have met in a quality way. Their work as missionaries does not look like what most would expect, not outward evangelizing, but pouring into the circle of influence they have around them, striving to love people here very deeply. It really is amazing! They hope to walk alongside WR teams who come here, share their wisdom and equally learn from us and our faith journeys as well. So, the first few days here, our team had 3-4 hour conversations in the mornings because they just wanted to get to know us, share with us what they are learning here, and hear about our faith experiences at this point. Gosh the conversations with them could go on and on. They really want to get to know us. The first few days this week have been some of the best conversations, the most enriching and challenging thoughts, and some of the most care I have seen out of a host. I believe that I will learn a lot from this family this month. Yay!
Where do I live?
This month, we live in the Anderson home. They have sectioned off part of their house for teams. Girls have a room with bunkbeds and same with the guys. We have some very cozy spaces here. There is a basement room with couches and a fireplace for us to use whenever. Feels like the winter we never had! It is fun living with the family. There is always stuff going on and kids running around. The house is located about an hour outside of the city of Cusco, so we are nestled in these beautiful mountains, but not close to much city.
What do I eat?
Since we have a kitchen this month, we cook on our own and buy our own groceries. We are on our own for breakfast and lunch is usually with the family! The market experience is fun here, we go to the market to get verryyyyy cheap fruits, veggies, grains, potatoes, etc, and the grocery store for our fancier foods (cereal lol). I will l truly miss the market experiences to get foods when I am back in the states.
Currency?
The money here is the Peruvian Sol. 1 Sol= 3.33 USD!
Transportation?
Since our home is outside of the city, we have to walk a good 30 minutes to get to a bus stop or a place to find a taxi. We are about an hour drive outside of the city of Cusco. In general, we don’t go many places yet. lol
Exercise?
Exercise this month is just awesome! We have so many mountains to hike, walk, and run around! It is really fun to explore the mountains, but there is always a risk in encountering a herd of cows, or evil dogs.
Tourism?
We honestly have done very little exploring yet. We have big plans to see Machu Picchu at the end of the month, and perhaps Rainbow Mountain that is pretty close to Cusco. We hope to go on some hikes with the family and explore the old city of Cusco more in the next few weeks! So far this month is happy, beautiful in scenery, and just feels like a unique place. I am in Peru!
