Well, Camaná once again treated me to a great time- the camp was all "good times"In all, about 80 turned up, I left earlier in the morning with Anthony and some others to get things ready etc (and get a another sneak preview of the beach!) before the others arrived. I guess before I talk of some of the stuff we got up to I should give you a brief idea of the schedule: If you were to give the schedule one word that summed it up I’d be this: Chilled...The day started at around 6-7 to get up (or earlier- on the first day some of the guys woke up to play football at around 5 (it's alot cooler then, but still crazy) thankfully it was only the first day that was so early)After that was the time slot for a Bible reading/study, I was in the young guys group, with Ronny leading it.Then breakfast, a morning meeting with singing and a talk- THEN TO THE BEACH (from 10.30 till 1.00) less than a five-minute walkThen lunch, a siesta/nothing time (or football), then games in 2 teams, ranging from volleyball to sack races etc. for points in the competition.Then dinner, Indoor games/competitions later (a play of a bible story, a song as a team and more crazy games)Then nothing until bedtime at 10.So, as you can see, it was a very chilled schedule and not packed out at all.The people were all really friendly, and it didn't take me too long to make friends. It was a little weird at the start though, sorting stuff out in the cabin, I could kinda feel a 'who is this guy' vibe. But that passed after the first full day. It's quite strange looking back now to think how I fit into the camp lifestyle in a different culture. Normally I get more vocal back home (depending on the crowd) and here was the same, but in a very different way. The games were alot of fun, but sometime hard to understand... but they were all patient with me. Volleyball was great fun, as, for the first time in my life, I was the tallest one at camp (weird aye) so they were always passing for spikes (funnily enough the term they use for spike "matar" is literally 'to kill'). Also the games at the beach were a highlight- as my team kicked butt, and sand is always the best for crashing in. It also amused the rest of the people close by; mostly with the Sand sculpture competition and with a classic combination race, which went like this:Firstly the competitor would jump in a sack up to a container full of water, fish out a wrapped lolly, then run to the next container with flour and take out another lolly, then run up to a stick in the sand, place their forehead on the stick and run around it 10 times, run to a line and do a 'roly poly' then run back to the next team member. Some of the players didn't seem to have a high dizziness threshold, esp. Angél how fell about three time on his way back (into the crowd on the side) while trying to run straight (I wish I had it on video, it was classic..) and of course all the competitors had flour all over their faces... good times. People were always stopping and having a look (we made a bit of a scene In some ways I guess)The camp was full of characters, like this little chubby kid (I called him 'gordito' lit, little fatty- the -ito on the end is either used to talk of something’s size or as a term of endearment--I was called 'gringito' all the time) who was always a good laugh, loved singing, full of life. Ader was another legend at the camp, all the guys really (I was really bad at learning the names, as it seemed weird and out of place to ask someone once you had done so much with them and they knew your name... it was a big group as well).The beach treated us to some wonderful surf, and, strangely enough, it was different everyday- ranging from big walls of foam, to waves with a half decent break (never lasting that long though) In general the waves were powerful and really easy to body surf (some times for a good 5 metres) Unfortunately there were sometimes holes that you could walk into and (far rarer than last time) sometimes a little bit of a rip, but I don't think I ever felt it during the week (unlike at New Years). I did well on the tan... with only my nose showing signs of redness; the rest of me is "casi Peruano"(nearly Peruvian) which was a running joke during the week.One of the days some of us went into Camaná (the town itself) for a seafood delight called cerviche (fish chopped into little bits with lemon juice and a soup with it- muy rico) and some queso helado (an ice-cream typical in Arequipa), which was another culinary experience. The food here is great: Generally full of flavour and cheap (for example our cerviche meal cost 4 soles, or $2 NZ/600 Chilean pesos for those reading this in Chile) including a coke, and the ice-cream is only 1 sol (or 50c NZ, 150 pesos) I've been fortunate not to get really sick (yet) from food here, I should be more careful with my food sources really- the main problem has been my stomach adjusting to the different microbes here. All in all I’m having a great time here, I recommence my Spanish classes tomorrow, and well be working with both the past tenses (I need to learn when to use which, and how the work abit more... I know a little now). The first week went really well, with me having to cover about 200 and something irregular verbs in the present tense (I hope there isn't as many irregulars in the other tenses) and filling in other gaps: Masculine/feminine, adjectives and more. Julio is my teacher for the grammar and Juan Carlos for the conversational class. The people at the institute are really awesome, both the teachers and the students- Anyway, I better finish off now... Look after yourselves and enjoy these photos:
Some Delicious Cuy (guniea pig)
Antonio (the cook) and Ronny
Puquina in the highlands around Arequipa (I htink it's at around 3,000 metres above sea level)
At Puqunia: If you look close you ca see the ridges that the Incas created back in the day
Me as King Darius with 'Gordito'
In one of the races at the beach, with Ader holding my legs
Some of the girls racing
Some of the boys: Daniel (If I remeber correctly) Cesar, Horacio, Ivan and Ader
And osme of the others (I wont even try with the names, but its a cool pic)
I'll put up some more picks this week, including ones that I haven't put up yet from my time in Chile.
Just a short note...
I'm off to Camaná again, with the church for Camp until the 15th, so I probably won't be able to check my email much during that time (i'd be suprised if I can even once) so, as i'm unprepared for a long post, i'll tell you some things to look forward to in a week or so...
I ate my first guinea pig yesterday ina little town three hours away... not to shabby- you just had to eat around the head, hands and feet- mmmmm, ¡muy rico!
of course the upcoming church camp will feature heavily...
and some stuff about my time at the institute learning Spanish
Photos if i can get to an ecafe with a CD drive....
anyway, have a fun week, as I have some serious tanning, swimming, beach futból, camp shower action the next few days...
Nathan
My time here so far...
Arequipa! POR FIN!!!!
Peru is the best thing since sliced bread! (What a weird saying, because in general sliced bread is the cheap crappy stuff)
You probably think I'm writing this in the Highlands, with a friendly Llama outside, wearing a poncho and chewing coca leaves - That'd be great actually - But I'm in a city with twice as many people as Christchurch (that doesn't say much does it!) But my point is this: Peru has everything!
My time here has been awesome so far. I'm sorry I haven't written a Peru post yet, having to catch up and stuff, but I’ve only been here for less than two weeks (and I was away for part of that time, away from my laptop, but I’ll get to that)
So, yeah, the day after arriving I went to the Greens church here and got to meet the people, get a feel for the place etc. It went really well, the people are friendly, but there is a slightly different cultural vibe. For example in Chile, when a man greats a woman they kiss each other on the cheek, but here it's only some who practice that- a soft hand shake is the other mode of greeting (interesting aye...I read this in a guide book before arriving so I was kinda ready, but I now I'm a bit hesitant when I greet someone, but it's all really about going with the flow).
The people at church are poor, some are without work, and pay is shocking- poverty stares you in the face in Peru, In Chile it was kinda on a different level (it exists definitely, but in different forms, and more often hidden - More like a glance now and then).
The people are really friendly, and it's Bacán to be able to hit the ground running (ok, more like walking - with a Zimmer frame!) in regards to making friends with the church. I had a good chat to the young people after the service (it was a bit quieter than usual due to peeps being away for Christmas) todos son buena onda.
That evening we had a Christmas celebration at the house I'm staying at with the extended family and some missionaries from Germany (I'm staying with Anthony's brother and law, and some more of the family live nearby as well) so we sang some carols, played some games, had a feed and had a great time. And at midnight the whole city seemed to be setting off a whole lot of crazy cheap/loud/dangerous yet fun fireworks, which was a good laugh.
The next day I just relaxed really, we went to the Green's place for lunch (which I kinda missed as I gave the fam a skype call at the time...) but caught some leftovers. It's really weird to arrive somewhere and the next day celebrate Christmas with some people you hardly even know- But it was good times- Different to my usual Navidad experience (For the record my first time away from the family for Christmas, and I definitely missed a lot of the build-up etc.)
The next few days consisted of: Sleeping in a lot, having a look around the city with Anthony, going to the Wednesday nite prayer meeting, the Thursday evangelistic meeting in San Pedro (a poor town/suburb on the outskirts of the city), a visit to another poor outskirts area with another of Anthony's brother in laws to look at the social work he is involved with out there with the Peruvian version of the YMCA (good work, I'll probably be there in some of my free time to help out) and hanging out with some of the young people I’ve met here- Some young German guys on a one-year short term mission trip, and some locals as well! All good fun.
Actually for New Years I went with some of them (including of cause the German dudes (from now on I call them either by their names: Rudy, Nataniel and 'kique' (short for Enrique I think- His name might be Henrich in German? I didn't really get the full story…) Or 'Los alemanes' (Germans in Spanish)) so, back to the point, I went with the Alemanes and some other to a beach house in Camaná (right by the 'playa') for a few days. Camaná is the second best thing since sliced bread! The beach is a favourite getaway for Arequipeñas (People from Arequipa, and also a brand of Beer for the record) and at this time of year is packed out. It has a nice beach a little way away from the town, with 'Punta arena' the place with the most action. It's quite a surfy beach, but the waves aren't good for surfing- but not too shabby for body boarding.
We were further down the beach where it was a bit quieter, in Mauricio's girlfriends family's holiday home (which was getting its finishing touches done to it) so there was a whole lot other friends of theirs as well, which lead to busy showers and fun times!
To make a long story short I should put down some highlights/things of interest of my time there, or just random thoughts:
The waves were really random, at times really powerful, but not with any good break to catch. They were more like walls of foamy water at times- but heaps of fun to jump around in/get thrown around by. But unfortunately they sometimes packed a nasty rip or two in to make things un poco peligroso. I saw two rescues by the 'salva vidas’; two girls got pulled out (really close to us at the time) and a friend of theirs tried to help them out, but was pulled away as well. They all got pulled out really far, esp. the guy, but after about 15 minutes they were all back at the beach (thankfully the life-guards were right where we were) and the other was a group of drunk men who didn't take necessary precautions and got pulled away as well. There were a whole lot of them, and I’m not sure if they all got pulled out the water. Beer was really easy to get your hands on at the beach, even some of the stands would come out and supply you with some bottles (very handy) but I guess some people don't look after themselves- It's not the best mix in the world!
We went out two of the nights (New years eve being one of them of course), to the same ‘Discoteca’, which was great fun. There were a whole pile of them right at 'la Punta' (one which we saw advertised in Arequipa "para gente cool" which we thought was pretty funny spanglish, and became an inside joke over the weekend- the party for gente cool looked pretty lame actually, judging from the lame hats some old people there where wearing (you know the type, cheesy new years hats). So we had a great time with all of us, sometimes making a big group showing off our moves in the middle... good times
New Years eve went kinda like this, a late dinner, chilling afterwards, some Peruvian pisco with sprite, blowing up balloons and draping streamers around, waiting for the clock to strike... and once it stuck; Champagne, fireworks all over the town (like at Christmas) and then of to the Punta for a night out.
On New Years we had a mean as BBQ, chilled as we always did at the beach (and working on the killer tan that I now posses, los alemanes had some burning action. most notably kique hahaha, I did warn them...) and sand boarding on the hills around the town (a whole lot of fun, and sand in every crevice of my body- we just sat down on the boards as they weren't that flash... and, more often than not, we'd careen down the hill at breakneck speeds in a cloud of sand)
The last few days I've just been relaxing, attending various meetings of the church, saying goodbye to los Alemanes, as they now have to go back to the Jungle where their mission is (in Pulcama for the record) they were here just for Christmas to meet up with some friends they made while they were studying Spanish (at the same institute that I’ll be studying at for about a month) so I’ll probably visit them in the Jungle, to use up my Malaria pills (woo woo, I’ve always wanted to go to the jungle, I might even take the boat up to the border with Brazil/Colombia on the Amazon (now that'll be a serious adventure, and would add to my passports stamp collection!)
I might be going with Ronny (a Peruvian pastor that works with Anthony) to a village about three hours away this Saturday, but I’m not 100% sure on that yet.
I'll also be starting my Spanish classes on the 8th for a week, then after that I'm off to Camaná another time, this time with the Church for the annual Church Camp (the 15th to the 20th) so I’m quite pumped for both of those things, It'll be a great time with a lot of beach soccer and a great opportunity to get to know the people of the church. There's probably going to be about 60-70 people there. Peru is a country of many different things: Jungle! Beach! (Ok it's not that amazing, but in the north I’ve heard it is) Mountains! Ruins! Culture! (I should really put cultures, as there are more than one) and more... It's definitely quite exciting to be here, and I hope this post was interesting enough, I know there's a lot that I had to leave out -for brevity (well, not today) and for the sake of anonymity! I guess I’ll need to make up a 'friend' that needs to behave better, that stays up too late, eats too much, and has interesting escapades but that'll be beside the point.
So, yeah, God bless, look after yoursleves, and tune in for the next not-so-exciting episode.
and soon I put up a whole lot of photos (I ned to buy some more CDs for them...)
Nos Vemos,
Nathan
Some Delicious Cuy (guniea pig)
Antonio (the cook) and Ronny
Puquina in the highlands around Arequipa (I htink it's at around 3,000 metres above sea level)
At Puqunia: If you look close you ca see the ridges that the Incas created back in the day
In one of the races at the beach, with Ader holding my legs
Some of the girls racing
Some of the boys: Daniel (If I remeber correctly) Cesar, Horacio, Ivan and Ader
And osme of the others (I wont even try with the names, but its a cool pic)
