Post # 1

On November 11th, we left our house extremely early, long before the sun began to rise. We got into Lima around 11:30pm on the 11th. I'll share some pictures and small details about the trip and first day there.

 Watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico was quite beautiful! Pictures never do scenes like this justice! God is truly an amazing Creator.

 I was looking out over the plane, and wow! We definitely are living in an image driven society. It's amazing how absolutely addicted people are to TV and technology in general! On the way back from Peru the man next to my brother and I fell asleep during his movie, so Paul reached over and shut it off - he never noticed. Bless his heart. Paul also photo-bombed someone taking a selfie in front of us. Gotta have fun on long plane rides somehow!

 I like to look at the flight map and see how close you are to your destination. Of course they say a watched pot never boils, and I didn't sleep at all the whole way there.  I did slept pretty good that night once we got to the Nix's house.

 I will miss this house.

 Peruvian breakfast. I LOVE the empanadas in Peru. They are unlike any other.

 This jam was so good! I wish we had Maracuya in the states. They have some really good fruit that we don't have.

Jack, the guard dog! He's such a cute dog and does good around people he knows are friends, unless they spook him! He is definitely a guard dog, which is needed in Peru, along with the walls and electric fences around the houses.

 Snack basket in my room. Dona Pepa's are cookies and Lentejas are kind of like M&M's.

 The currency in Peru is the Sol. Here are some pictures of Soles. (So-lays) I collect foreign money so I like stuff like this! :)

 Purple corn is pretty big in Peru. I tried some purple corn chips and they were really good!

 Anyhow, on the 12th we headed kind of towards the valley and just drove around for a while before heading to a church in that area just for a visit. Kids were walking in the school uniforms everywhere! It seems all of the schools there have uniforms.

 This little dog was just hanging out on the roof; I'm not sure how he got up there!

 We headed to the church to find the 80 year old pastor working up on top of the roof! They are meeting in the little building below for now. They are doing a lot of construction and building around it.

 The pastor of the church. (I can't remember his name) He doesn't look 80 at all to me, but then again, most Peruvians look way younger than they are.

After the church visit, we went to Starbucks. (You can click on the picture to enlarge) They had some cool Frapps that we don't have in the states! Like Lucuma, which is a fruit there that doesn't really taste fruity. It has a rich, creamy flavor that I don't even have the words to describe.

 I have my days a little mixed up, but I think the same day we headed to a huge, brand new mall and ate there. The mall was about 7 stories.

Yes, basically we ate a lot there. lol! The above drink is Chicha Morada, which is a purple corn drink. Below is a stuffed avocado appetizer.

 Lomo Saltado - probably my favorite Peruvian dish!

We arose from our slumber very early on the morning of the 13th and headed to the airport to catch a flight to Iquitos, which is a city in the jungle practically right on the Amazon river. The Amazon is so HUGE, not to mention dirty. You could see the gigantic river from high in the air with its reddish brown color showing well.

 We took a boat ride on the Amazon, which I'll put in another post later on. At some points the river is so wide that you can hardly see to the other side. The Amazon has several types of fish, including Piranha's, which have extremely sharp teeth and will eat humans. If you get baptized in the Amazon, you better get it done real fast! There are also lots of dolphins, and many of them are pink. :) For reals.

We landed in Iquitos at 8 something in the morning and got off the plane to be met with a gulp of fresh hot and sticky, humid jungle air. Aside from the intense heat and humidity and a few different pungent street smells, I absolutely loved the jungle and would love to go back.  The people there are so nice and have the coolest accent! They speak Spanish in the jungle, but they do sound very different. I'll post about our jungle experiences next, and the most important part - the crusade. The presence of the Lord was so beautiful. You can go anywhere in the world and still touch God.