Peru

Matt and I went to Peru for a week and a half to visit my parents.  Katelyn, Marisa, Lauryn, and Matt's parents helped out with the boys back home.  We had a blast and took TONS of pictures.  I am making a book of our trip so I am not going to put too many pictures here but here are the highlights of our trip.

Cautacos- tourist city.  The streets are lined with little ladies selling trinkets, pottery, & souveniors they make.  My kind of place!

Adrian, Matt, & I at the chapel in Cautacos

mototaxi- These are everywhere!  It has a motorcycle front and a bench in the back with two back wheels.  You can flag them down and they'll take you anywhere you want for a sol or two.  They are also the family car- you'll see whole families shoved in the back seat.  They are kind of fun but very scary!  There really aren't rules to the road down here, they just honk and wave their hand and go...it is interesting.  We are not going to let me parents drive when they come back!

Matt & I in the banana plantation.  Funny story:  Bananas have the coolest flower but they are pretty rare to see.  I found a picture online and looked and looked for them as we drove through several banana plantations throughout the week.  Finally I saw one so I dove across the car, asked my Dad to slow down and shoved the camera out the window.  As I am about to take the picture everyone screams at me and Matt yanks the camera away...apparently right in front of the flower is a man taking his bath in the canal...I didn't see him- I wanted a picture of the flower!!  And I still don't have a picture.

Their mission borders the base of the Andes Mountain range.  We could see mountains building up in the distance.

They grow the bananas in these bags coated in pesticide to keep the bugs out.

 

Each city has a statue in its entrance to welcome you- this was one of my favorites.  A neat culture.

Each city has it's Central Plaza- a block of garden in the center of town.  This is Marapon- my favorite plaza.  It was beautiful!  The plants we grow as annuals and fight to grow just for one season they have growing as huge woody shrubs.  Not fair!

The girls

and the boys!  Marapon has these stairs that take you up to the top of this hill where you can overlook the city.  A beautiful clean, happy city.

Looking over the city- Matt was mad at me (just kidding).

Very poor and humble homes.  We have much to be grateful for.

The garbage cans- They haven't quite grasped the concept of garbage cans or dumps...most of the garbage just ends up on the side of the street or dumped wherever it is convenient.  But there are these metal stands all over where you are supposed to put your garbage.

most of the garbage stands are plain but some get a little fun.  Here's my Mom posing in the garbage-haha.

Elise- here's the little park in Mom & Dad's neighborhood your kiddos can try out.  It doesn't look like its been played on for a couple of decades but you can get it all running I'm sure!

The mission home- beautiful!

Colon- a small town right on the beach

They say this is the oldest Catholic Church in South America

Dad and Matt overlooking the pier at Piuta

Mom and Dad

These barges were HUGE!!  Shipping produce and fish to Asia.  Massive!!

My companions!  Hermana Burton & Hermana Vargas- we went out with the missionaries for the afternoon & evening one day.  This was one of my favorite parts of our trip.  I had the neatest companions and really got to see what it is like to be a missionary.  They were so happy!  We had several visits and I memorized my testimony to share in Spanish.  I even gave away a Book of Mormon!  We walked a lot and sang hymns everywhere we went.  Luckily Hermana Burton spoke English so she did a lot of translating but I caught on and figured a lot out too.  I got a small taste of what the sisters do each day- hard work but still happy as they share the gospel and their smiles.

This was neat- this guy is climbing these coconut trees!  The tree was swaying as he climbed and I was scared for him but he knew what he was doing- he climbed right up there and got to work!

This is what an average street in Peru looked like

Matt and I overlooking the ocean

Matt with a fishing raft

Our last day we went out and stayed on the coast.  It was so beautiful and relaxing!  I could easily become a beach bum!  Just give me some sun, a good book, and the ocean waves in the background and I'm in heaven- oh I almost forgot the most important part- fresh squeezed lemonade!!!  AMAZING!

There is an amazing sunset behind us but the flash went off and ruined it so just use your imagination...

Matt & I collecting shells on the beach- my favorite souvenior:  My floppy hat.  I looked like a Peruvian woman and fit right in with my hat.

 

 

Well I could have put 200 more pictures but this is just a few from our trip and all that BlogSpot would let me load in one post so that is all you get!  It was a once in a lifetime thing and so nice to spend some time with my parents.  They are such great examples to me for giving everything they can to share the gospel and taking care of these missionaries.  They work really hard and are so busy but they are happy and do it without complaining.  I love them and enjoyed our short time together.  Thanks to all back home who wrestled with the boys- Katelyn you are a lifesaver!