What’s the longest amount of time you’ve traveled recently? 2 hours? 6 hours? How about 84 hours? Yep, that’s what we traveled to get to Huanuco, Peru from Quito, Ecuador. On a bus. Multiple buses actually. Let’s just say it was 3 and a half days that felt like 12 days at least.
Let me give you a little breakdown of our travel days.
3/9/17 – Left house in Quito around 9pm
3/10/17 – Arrived at border between Ecuador and Peru around 9am (we waited in line at the border for over 4 hours…); Made it to Tumbes, Peru where we waited all day to figure out our buses to Lima, Peru; Found a bus that left Tumbes at 3pm the next day so stayed in a hostel for the night
3/11/17 – Left Tumbes around 3pm for our 20-something hour bus to Lima
3/12/17 – Made it to Lima around 3pm and couldn’t get a bus to Huanuco, Peru until 9pm
3/13/17 – Made it to Huanuco around 7:45am where our ministry host picked us up and we got started with our day
As you can see, it was a very hectic few days getting to Huanuco. It was cool because we got to spend it with most of our squad until we left Lima. After doing life together for a month, I think I had forgotten that we had to say goodbye because I got a little sad when we parted ways.
When we arrived in Huanuco, our ministry host picked us up, and we walked (with all of our belongings) to the church which was a few blocks away. He showed us around and gave us some inside scoop on the church and how it got started.
Our home for the month is about 10 blocks from the church. We walked all the way there. With all our belongings for the year strapped to our backs. It was so hot, but we eventually made it. Longest 10 blocks we’ve ever walked.
So that’s how we made it to our home in Huanuco, Peru.
Our ministry this month consists of a few different things: teaching English in schools, going to work in a home for abused women and children, teaching in a women’s prison, helping at a local church, street evangelism, and spending time with our hosts and new friends. On and off during the last 2 months, we prayed for the Lord to give us more ministry, and this month He has truly delivered!
This month we have Mondays off, and since there isn’t much to do in our city we spend a lot of time relaxing and preparing for the week of ministry. We usually sleep in, go to the market, cook food, and have a lot of alone time. The market we go to has this terrifying section called the “Meat Section.” It’s literally just raw meat everywhere. It smells terrible, and the children just put their hands all over everything… I almost threw up when we were waiting on them to cut up our chicken. The outer layer of the market is full of clothes, purses, wallets, shoes, fabric and so much more. The inside is all food. It’s helpful because we can buy things in bulk, and we’ve been doing really well with our budgeting! (Which is nice for me since I’m the team treasurer…)
A little about our housing! We have bunk beds, running water (that we have to boil to drink), an ice-cold shower (a shower is a shower at this point, so I’m definitely not complaining!), the loveliest woman who comes and cleans our bathrooms and bedrooms (her name is Rosita, and she’s the mother of one our church friends. She’s amazing!), a kitchen where we cook our food, lines to hang out laundry, and a huge open space with a basketball court/soccer field. Oh and also bugs from satan. They live in the grass and bite you. The bites itch so badly, and they don’t go away for weeks. The locals call them mosquitoes, but they are not the same as mosquitoes back home.
So there’s a little insight on how we got here, what we do for ministry, off days, and where we live!
BONUS: Here are some photos from our time here!
We worked in a lot of different classes at a private school, and this is my group from one of the classes!
Shout-out to my resident photographer, Haylee Butler, for taking this shot.
We taught an English class at a public school in town, and after class the kids surrounded us like we were a zoo. We had the opportunity to tell them that we were missionaries from the States and tell them a little about what we are doing here.
Here’s a panoramic photo of part of our house this month! Sports on your left, mountains straight ahead, and two doors that lock us in (sometimes out…) on your right.
