6 am, January 7, 2010
Our Soon to be Friends, the Aquino Family.
L to R: Jordona, Philipia, MarJorie, Yoisi
with Vinko, our Vintage team member from Kelowna Canada.
For the most part the Aquino's were our transportation,
One evening with 12 people in this little car,
we had a flat tire,the foreigners took a taxi home,
and in the morning Aquino's were back to pick us up!
This is the home of a SDA member of another church
in the city,she has rented this little group her
living/dining room to meet in.
The door on the bottom Right,
takes you up a long stairway to her home.
Here we are being greeted in their typical way, "the wave".
When someone gets up to sing or read,
they wave to the audience,
and the audience waves back, I think it's really cute.
Our First Sabbath, Hector's Brother, Pastor Wailu
is dedicating the brand new niece of our translator.
During a Sabbath afternoon visit with the Aquino's
(using the Spanish English dictionary to help us)
they discovered that it was Hector's Birthday,
within a few hours, the whole church was gathered at
Aquino's home,and when they took us in
(thinking we were going to use their internet),
we were totally surprised!!!
Building of the Church
Thursday, January 7, 2010
After settling for the rooms they had chosen for us,
and having breakfast at a restaurant,
we went to see the church site. This temporary structure
was on the lot, put there by a member who was concerned
that the lady renting her living room to them needed
her space back, and they weren't sure how long it would be
till they would get a church, so they had put up
this re-bar shelter, which turned out to be
in the way and had to be taken down.
This is a site plan,
so you can see how the church sits on the lot.
It will help you to understand
what you are seeing on the pictures.
This is the best picture I can show of the building lot,
somehow, I missed a full shot of the lot,
but I have spliced 2 pictures together, to give the idea,
the black lines indicate where the lot line actually is.
The left 1/2 of the picture is showing the guys
starting to take down the temporary structure.
They started on Friday January 8, and by noon were this far.
A street shot to show the neighbourhood the church is in.
January 11, 2010
Starting the digging process.
85 year old Vinko, getting right in there.
January 12, 2010
Here the structure is gone, just the canopy
to give some shade, but the trench is now getting to
where the concrete slab is in the way,
so it has to be removed and that was no small job.
January 13, 2010
A demonstration of how they removed the slab.
Wailu and Hector working with hammer and pole.
Another view.
January 14, 2010
Supplies were stored in the walled yard of a neighbour,
here they are getting their supplies for the day.
Tried to get a picture of the inside
of this families living arrangement without
being to noticeable. Once they have their walls built,
they make any kind of shelter, and begin living there,
they continue to build as they have money.
It never rains in Tacna,
so they don't need to worry about a good roof,
but it does get cold in their winter, April to August.
I was so amazed at how they just claim the street to park
their gravel, sand, cement mixer, and anything else
that they can 't fit onto their building lot.
The rest of the population does not get excited
when they turn down the street to find it blocked,
they just back up and go another way.
Another shot of the cluttered street!
Here they were using the sidewalk and the street
to put their pillar re-bar together.
Hector tying re-bar for the large
earthquake resistant structural pads.
January 18, 2010
Some of the pillar re-bar standing in place now,
and more tied and ready to be cemented into place.
The street completely closed off now.
Those are big holes for the footings,
and they all had to be filled
with something, they first put big round rocks,
then concrete with re-bar,
this is to make it movable when the earth starts to quake.
Just some more views.
The person in the red, is the contractor's wife,
she was there on the job site every day
working just as hard as the men.
Lunch time for the workers.
January 19, 2010
Cement lined up waiting to be poured in.
Forms starting to take shape.
January 20, 2010
And the walls begin.
January 22, 2010
The first wall that reached the tie beam height.
Close up of the pillar re-bar in the footings.
Here Vinko inspects the work that was done while
he was in his room caring for a injured toe.
January 25, 2010
Our last pictures on the day that we left to come home.
This is the area where the toilets will be,
near the back of the church.
Standing in the same spot, just a 1/4 turn,
takes in a good share of the rest of the building.
Roberto, the contractor that is doing the project.
This picture is spliced together, so not perfect,
but it does give the idea of the size of the church.
VBSIsn't she the most beautiful baby!!
A perfect Peruvian Icon!
Our Translator Ricci (pronounced R-r-rek-see)
bringing her niece Mesha, and another little boy to VBS
The kids playing on the equipment
at the recreational center where we held the VBS
Lupe, the VBS leader with the children.
My only picture of the small building where we did VBS.
Singing with a Video she showed them on a TV
I couldn't speak to the kids or the leader, and the
translator was with the building crew ordering materials,
and keeping the work going,
so I just enjoyed their beautiful faces, and took pictures.
Here they were doing their crafts, which was simply
coloring pictures and then pasting them
onto a nice sheet of paper, less then what kids
in this country would expect as a craft.
Big kids and little ones all did the same project
and were happy doing it.
Here they were singing for Church on the
Sabbath after the VBS.
The same week we did VBS,
Wailu preached a mini evangelistic series in the evenings,
in this tent on the Recreational Center grounds.
Same tent on Sabbath, it got pretty hot in there.
January 17 we went to a nearby (Maranatha built) church,
to baptize 2 of the 3 people who chose
Jesus during the meetings.
Accepting the vows.
Introducing the new members.
We Called it Home "Mi Casa".
Our rooms were on the second floor of this retail building.
The white arrow shows where we entered.
There doesn't seem to be a "right" place to put this picture. The "X" on the top right of the picture is where "Mi Cassa" is located. Follow the red line all the way through the center of the city, and at the far end you find an "X" for the church site. I am glad that it was a straight line, because after the first week I was able to stay in the room for the morning, and do things like wash cloths by hand and hang them on a string above the tub, or go looking for places to shop for fresh vegetables, or for stores selling more "American" type products, and then take a taxi to meet the guys and go to lunch with them. I had the address of the church written down, but being it was in a new area of town not all drivers knew where it was. So I would show them the address, then pointing straight ahead, I would indicate "2 de Mayo" (the name of the street) to keep going & going, and I always got there!!
This was our daily view,
the glass sliding doors on the near left
is where we went up the stairs to our rooms.
This little oasis was, directly across from the stairs.
The upstairs hall, taken from our room,
Wailu and Vinko's door is the first on the left.
Hector and I had a "mini apartment" with a kitchen,
where we prepared breakfasts suppers for all 4 of us.
Eating area.
Exit door on left, and bedroom door on right.
Our room.
With Bathroom attached.
Little nook allowing for light and city air
to enter the building from the roof,
these buildings are built one against another,
so there are no windows
along one side of the building.
Window on right is Wailu and Vinko's
This is what we saw out of our bedroom window,
the wall and window of the neighbouring apartment,
and plastic panel that acted as a sky-light
for a shop downstairs.
...And this was the view from our other room,
again the window of another apartment,
sky-light and the back of a building
that we think was the grocery store around the corner.
Food
January 17, I didn't go to the Building site at all,
and after lunch (at the place that was open Sunday)
they dropped this food for me, it was very good,
there you see: soup, a good portion of gluten,
1 & 1/2 a yam, regular baked potato, med size corn,
and salad all of this was served with either soya milk,
or some kind of juice, but both were quite watered down.
We soon learned to ask for the milk put into a small bag,
and be brought it home to use for breakfast.
At the vegetarian restaurant operated by Chinese people,
(Where we ate every day except Sundays)
they had these beautiful fresh water lily flowers every day.
They served salad, with a big fat salty olive,
(which we didn't like)
and we squeezed our own lime juice on for dressing.
Next came the house soup, no choice, take what they bring.
Then the meal... always the rice, and cracker, but a choice of 2 daily items, or "combinedo", which was 1/2 of each of the 2 choices. We always took the "combinedo", and enjoyed our lunches, this was not typical Peruvian food, it was vegetarian, with a Chinese influence, and an attempt to satisfy Americans. Here you see gluten, and a bean type stew, or almost like a curry, but not spicy. the red decoration was pickled radish, colored red.
These were the 3 girls that served us daily.
The one on the right could speak a little English.
Our New Friends
The Aquino Family
L to R: Yoisi, Jordona, MorJorie, Philipai, and Fernando.
Here we were taking a walk Sabbath Afternoon
on the Beautiful Boulevard. Tacna is a Desert City
with a population of over 300,000, the buildings
are close together on very small lots,
there are no single family homes with lawns
to beautify the city. So they create Boulevard's on some of
the major streets that give beauty to the city,
and gives the people places to hang out.
This is Sister Teresa, she is a business woman who sells
Rena Ware Cookware.
She is the one that sponsored our lunches
at the restaurant, each meal cost her about 5 soles,
(3 soles is about 1 US dollar).
Teresa is a charming person,
very hospitable, and we grew to love her very much.
We loved to ride in her little red bug.
She has a beautiful office,
about a block from our home at Mi Cassa.
Here we were able to use internet on occasion,
but usually we went to an internet cafe.
Her office also included
a training room for her reps, and a reception area.
This is Ricci, our translator, at her family motorcycle shop.
They also build this onto a motorcycle,
and they are used on the outskirts of the city as a taxi.
Later in Puno, a different city,
we squeezed 4 of us into one of these
to get to the Bus Depot in the pouring rain.
Inside view.
They also import "Auto Rickshaw's" from India, which are
the blue and white ones behind the blue and yellow one.
Sights
Bougainvillea trained into a Gazebo on the Boulevard.
"Arch of the Hero's"
is located in the Paseo CÃvico, a promenade built to honor
Admiral Grau and Colonel Francisco Bolognesi,
heroes of the War of The Pacific.
The Ornamental Fountain. Built in the last century,
this fountain is a piece of art of delicate lines and
harmonious contours.
Its singular beauty shines day and night.
Cathedral. Majestic and serene quarry stone structure.
The original plans were designed by the French firm
of the famous architect Gustave Eiffel.
Christmas was still pretty visible when we got there.
What is this??
Answer: it is sidewalk tiles, that are placed in such a way
as to give this optical illusion,
and when walking it gives your mind
the idea that you need to step high
to avoid stumbling over the ridges!!
Even in the concrete jungle
they find a place to plant a little beauty.
Typical seen on the street, the ladies selling a little produce.
They bundle it all up in the blanket that she is sitting on,
and carry it on their back.
One was to the left and one to the right of Mi Cassa.
Evidently partying, is a big thing,
and they have many stores
where you could go rent a party dress,
they also have the shoes,
and other accessories to rent also.
All these stores were within the block where we lived.
Trip to Chile
Tacna is about 30 min drive to the Chile Boarder.
One day we hired a Taxi, that took us to see Arica Chile.
Once there we hired a tour taxi,
and for a couple hours we traveled
around the city seeing the things of interest there.
Definitely Desert
Little desert houses.
Impressive apartment buildings in Arica.
The Pacific Ocean, Arica Chile
Some Colorful Buildings and City Sights.
Happy New Year 2010.
Shanty Town.
Tourist part of town.
From the top of the Hill with the New Years sign.
Cruse Ships in Port,
we saw some of their passengers on bus tours.
Yup we really were there!
No we weren't in Rio de Janeiro.
Finally we got to the beach and took off our shoes.
The water was cold and the sand was very hot,
it was a long run
from the water to the shade at the end of the sand,
I thought I would have blisters on my feet,
but thankfully not.
Rising, Rising...
Breaking!
More sights!
Dianna, our friend and guide/translator for the day.
Captured the "Big M", but didn't get to eat there.
A very large store, like a Walmart Super Center,
everything including groceries, and an eating area.
The place where the cross boarder Taxi's congregate.
Puno & Lake Titicaca
We took the bus Saturday night about 7:30,
and rode it till 6am to get to Puno,
a city on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
It was a cold night, and we were lucky to have a
jacket smuggler on the bus with us who handed
out jackets to all the passengers
so that she wouldn't get caught
with more then her allowance.
It was a blessing to sleep snuggly warm.
Wailu's seat mate, somehow he didn't get the 1/2
that he paid for!!!
She wasn't happy about me taking the picture,
and when we got to Puno, my camera card had an error,
I seriously think she cast a spell on it.
I had failed to take an extra one with me,
so we had to go find one to buy, which wasn't cheap!!
When we got off the bus it was very cold,
we had dressed in our warmest cloths,
but we really wondered
if this was summer, how cold must it be in winter?
We found out there was going to be a parade,
so we found the spot,
and settled in to wait about an hour.
Following are some of the parade pictures,
I took tons, but can't show all of them.
Treats for sale.
The little dancers were so cute.
Adorable!!!
Scary!
Big Drums!
So Colorful!
Puno is the Folk Lore Capital of Peru,
and all these different groups must
have come from all over the country.
The Parade started at 11 am, and was to go till about 5 pm,
we didn't stay to watch all of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Breakfast, we couldn't find a vegetarian place to eat,
so finally we bought Avocado Sandwiches at a market,
& went to a Hot Chocolate/Tea House for a hot drink,
that was Breakfast.
Our luck finding Lunch wasn't any better,
we ended up with dry bread, and a 1/4 block of cheese,
and we asked the seller to cut it for us,
and here we are sitting on a narrow boulevard
eating our bread & cheese.
To the LakeThe reason we punished ourselves all through the night
by riding that bus was to experience Lake Titicaca,
the highest lake in the world,
with a floating village made out of reeds.
Finally we are on a boat heading to the Village of reeds.
Pictures of Puno on the hill as we are pulling away.
Our Boat Driver.
Heading into the wild blue yonder.
The biggest attractions on the lake are the Isla Flotantes. These are a series of “islands” made by the indigenous peoples (The Uros) when the Spaniards came in. Not wanting to be assimilated, they built their own floating islands out of reeds to live on far away from the marauding invaders. It worked, but now they’re inundated daily with tourists wishing to see these highly interesting structures.
We are now in a channel between the reeds.
Boat loads of reeds going to be used to
rebuild their islands and homes.
Welcome to the Village.
A clear picture of the Welcome Sign.
Just the wonder of the things we were seeing.
Everything made out of reeds,
the Islands, the houses, the watch towers, the boats.
When you step off the boat coming onto one of the islands
you can feel the reeds give way a bit.
In some parts where the reeds are thinner,
your foot can sink quite surprisingly.
Notice the pom-poms tied to the ends or her braids...
I had those things slapping me in the face through the night
on the return trip, as the ladies got on and off the bus
with their big bundles on their backs.
Here our boat driver and Guide,
was explaining about the lake and the Islands.
I have added the bold white arrow
showing where the Islands are located
in the big picture of the lake,
and below that is the name Puno,
the major city on the Peruvian side of the lake,
and where we had taken the boat from.
A translated close-up of the writing on his sign.
Here he is showing us how they build their Islands.
The brown blocks are the roots and bulbs of the reeds, and they cut them in chunks like this, and they actually float, so that is the base for building. The island needs a new layer of reeds every 15 days, and the floor of the houses has to be re-done every 30 days. This is because the reeds continuously rot from the bottom due to the moisture of the water.
Bet they have computers in that house too!!!
The people used to make their living from fishing,
but now they make it from the tourists.
Some of the crafts they sell.
She is holding the straw boat
that we were getting onto for a ride to another island.
Brightly dressed ladies.
On the boat we had 3 children singing songs to us in English,
Japanese, Korean, and their own language.
Wailu with Diana,
our SDA friend and translator
who came with us from Tacna.
I had heard that there was an Adventist church on the island, and asked about it, we were taken to see it, and it turned out our boat driver said he is also SDA. This church is not built on a reed Island, it is on pontoons, and is anchored to one of the Islands.
These are SDA members of the floating church.
A quick snap of their little snack shop,
as we headed back to the boat
to rush off to meet our bus to go back to Tacna.
We passed the Adventist School
on our way back to the Port.
As we were coming back to the City, we could see bad weather coming over the hill, and before we got out of the boat, it was pouring rain. Needless to say we got soaked before we got back to the bus depot. This is not warm rain, so we spent the next 11 hours on a bus without heat, the night was cold, and we were wet!!!
Our Last Sabbath
Wailu preached in another church in the city of Tacna, so Hector Preached in the church we were building for. Here you see the size of the area they are meeting in, which is between the bedrooms, and the kitchen in the home of an Adventist lady from another church.
The open door leads to a
long stairway that goes to the street.
A picture of the farewell lunch they had for us.
From the other end of the table.
Our friend Vinko, has found a sweetheart...
well nothing too serious!
She just realized a picture had been taken!!!
A nice plaque they gave us as a thank-you.
Jordona, had taken a liking to Vinko,
and called him Grandpa,
here she was already feeling the loss of him leaving soon.
He took a big liking to the hugs
that were coming from the girls and ladies.
Friends...
Friends...
and more Friends!!
At the airport.
L to R: Beth, Hector, Jordona, Milli, Dianna, Yoisi,
Philipia, Vinko, Yoisi's mom, Ricci
