El Kiwi en Sudamérica

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

posted by Nathan Sinclair @ 1:34 PM