I have arrived!

I have arrived back in pimampiro! How amazing to come back to a place with so many people who are so happy and so happy to see me! I love this place! 

After spending two days in Miami, where all I wanted was a little bit of sun, I arrived in Caracas where I was supposed to spend a mere 3 hours which turned into 7! I got to practice my spanish and meet a few nice people, other than that waiting was getting old. When we finally boarded...we sat on the runway for quite some time. I have no idea how long since I fell asleep almost immediately after finding my seat. I awoke when they fed me, by this time I was starving...the bagel that I had in Miami was long gone. I finally arrived in Quito around 11pm...only 5 hours after my scheduled arrival time. I was the last one to pass through the doors because one of my bags was/is missing. I went through the whole process of trying to locate it and placing a claim. Hopefully tomorrow it will show up somewhere. 

Luckily Paul didnt get tired of waiting for me....and was there when I got there. Also, a friend of mine who lives in Quito was there to meet me! I missed Ecuador and its people so very much!

I will never ever get used to taking a cold shower, I know it seems like something that I should just get used to but the water here is like ice!  I am more than thankful for the house that I am staying in, I have my own room and am living with a very nice family. I made a very good friend when I was here before and I am staying with her family. The deal with the shower, no one knows why its not hot but I pray that very soon it is hot again! 

Today I spent the day in Paragachi, hanging out with the guys that are building my house and looking at...doors. There is a man in town who is going to make the doors for us, this book that he gave me to look at has doors that you would imagine on a church or castle! I kept telling him, simple...I just want simple doors! I can live in the house once I have windows, doors, and at least a bathroom. Once those three things are complete then the rest can come as I live there. We are hoping that in less than a month that is possible. But...then comes the question of security, no one wants me to live there alone. So, I guess you can say that I am on the hunt for someone to protect me! Haha! And skilled construction volunteers would be nice too!!

I want to start getting things going at the house, classes and programs but obviously I dont want to get too far ahead of myself...and I have plenty of other things happening too. Im going to be working with another guy to teach some people in the far reaching communities some basic medical care. The concern is that when things happen in these remote communities no one knows what to do in the meantime, before help arrives or before they can be transported to the closest hospital. The government has granted us the ability to make available basic items in a central location in each community. 

Tomorrow I will be visiting the “old people” (the government provides a lunch 6 days a week to people 65 and older, they have a building and some land) and seeing the progress that they have made  with their gardens. They have planted and already harvested their first crops since I left! Cant wait to see their smiling faces! 

Paul is super busy with all of the projects going on, he just cant seem to share everything all at once, I keep learning more every day. So much has changed, not so much change, but advanced since I was last here. It is amazing how involved the community is and how much they are helping us help them! Speaking of which in Paragachi 2/3 of the people now have irrigation water! Only a little more time to go and the entire community will no longer be brown and dusty....but green! 

Such amazing things happening...

Bittersweet

First off I would like to apologize to everyone for my lack of blogging while in the states. This time at home has been great but very busy. The main objective of returning home was to make money, see my family, and work on paperwork to establish the foundation/organization/non-profit. Indeed those things have been accomplished and the time is nearing that I will return to Ecuador!

I am excited! Excited to see all of those beautiful faces! to hug all those kids and to just be and live such a simple life once again. But, I am also thinking of leaving home again. This time with my family has been great, being so close to my sister and being in the same house with my parents (which I have not done in more than 10 years!)...and missing my brother from far away.

I have had the opportunity to share with so many people what I/we are doing! I am amazed at the support and love that I have received from every single one of you. I am excited to see this project flourish and become exactly what it is supposed to become!

Yesterday I was informed that there are so many donations coming in we have nowhere to put them! Amazing! We are currently working on getting a container and having it sent down to Ecuador! With the help of some of our friends of course!

Please keep me/us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks. We have a lot of decisions to make and a lot of things to take care of. Please keep the people that we will touch, as always in your thoughts.

Thanks again for your continued support!!

Home Sweet Home

I have arrived back in the good 'ol US of A...I am happy to see my family and my doggers Leila but I am missing Ecuador...the people...my friends the most. I know that this time is a time that I must take to plan for the future, to make money and to do all of the necessary paperwork. I have realized that this dream that Liz and I share is not going to be an easy feat...not that I ever expected it to be but as the days go by I realize how overwhelming the logistics of this project have become. Dont get me wrong, I am ready for them...for the ups and downs...the good and the bad...but I am ready to see some results!

Why is it so hard to throw toilet paper in the toilet? Instinctively I automatically attempt to throw it in the trashcan every single time...I have anxiety when I about drop it into the toilet. This is getting better every time that I use the bathroom but still not quite comfortable as of yet.

Why when I hear Spanish words or Spanish music do I automatically want to be back in Ecuador? There is so much to be done there...and I cannot wait to have all of my friends and family share in some part of this dream!

I am super thankful for my family, I appreciate that they support me in everything! Being home and being able to hug them and tell them that I love each and every one of them is a feeling that I will never get tired of. I cant wait til the day that each of them can be a part of my dream in Ecuador! 

PS...we have put together a powerpoint presentation introducing our project if anyone would like to see it please Email us at serviva2011@gmail.com and we will get it to you ASAP! Thanks for all of your support!

Getting ready...

So today I realized the short amount of time that we have left here...I cant believe that in only a few short days we will reenter the United States. I have mixed emotions about this event...of course I want to see my family and friends but my work here has only just begun. I feel like this is home, I love the people...I love being involved in the lives of these families. I am not ready to reenter the world of materialism and fast-pace life.

I was told the other day by an Ecuadorian that...Americans think with their heads and Ecuadorians think with their hearts. How sad of a realization this is for me. Good in some senses but in most senses Id much rather be thinking with my heart!

Last night we went with some friends to the Inti Raymi festival-Inti Raymi is Quichua for ¨festival of the sun¨-it is held in alot of places all over Ecuador but we attended in a town called Otavalo. The event takes place near a waterfall, Peguche, where there are shamans who perform a ritualistic ceremony by bathing in the waterfall. This takes place around midnight, an amazing experience to see so many people in that frigid water in the dark! But it truly was an amazing experience, they prepare all year for this festival. All of the food is a gift to each person who participates in the festival, no you do not have to get wet to ¨participate¨. Lots of dancing in circles and stopping of feet...all night long.

Unfortunately we had to be up and at em at 8am this morning, not pleasant after being up all night dancing! We were asked to become godmothers for a school by the director of one of the community schools. We were not exactly sure what this would entail but kids were involved so we agreed. Apparently in the Catholic religion everyone gets a madrina (godmother) and in this case we became the godmothers of 65 kids in a school in a poor community. It was a beautiful symbolic event and then afterwards we got to play games with the kids and have lunch. Basically we are godmothers for life to the children of this school, so from time to time we will be checking in on them and getting to celebrate all their accomplishments in life!

Im not sure if i mentioned before but Ramiro, a guy that we work with at the foundation, who also works with Child Fund from the US identified two kids who supposedly have no parents. They live in this community that we visited today and go to the school that we became godmothers for. Once we got up there and started talking to the teachers and people around we found out that they have an older sister who is 21, who also has a 4 year old child and a grandfather that lives in the house with them. We pulled the sister aside to see what the situation is, apparently the parents left her with her siblings 9 years ago, the mom would come back every so often over the years but not recently. The sister leaves every day to look for work and the grandfather works in the fields whenever he can. The sister, Maria, started crying when she was explaining their situation and how hard that it has been for her to provide for them and to be their mother for all of these years. Then the grandfather came over and got teary-eyed while he was explaning how dire their situation is. Let me tell you about these children, the little girl who is 13, her name is Diana, she is the school president, super smart and very motivated. She is constantly smiling and has a very positive outlook on life. On the other hand her brother who is 10 has caused alot of problems, he has been caught stealing stuff from people at school and just being a general pest to the other kids. This has landed him in some trouble but recently he has been doing better. I got to spend most of the day with Diana, either holding her hand or having her sitting next to me, she truly is an amazing little girl with her whole life in front of her. In the end we left some food that we had purchased for them, we will definitely be checking in when we get back and hopefully building a strong relationship with each of them.

Currently we have two new faces in our apartment! Stef who was one of the students that we worked with in Lima and Gina who is a friend of Paul´s from home. They are both university students looking into all of our projects here. The first thing that we did with Stef was a card project with the elderly. The government supports a ¨kitchen¨ where people over the age of 65 can go and have a good lunch six days out of the week. They can go a few hours early and work on arts and crafts, so we took advantage of this time and had them color/draw for us. The colorings and drawings will be used to make thank you and happy birthday cards to be sold (or given as thank you for donating) to support projects here. The elderly have so many stories to tell and so much knowledge, it is truly amazing to sit and just listen to their life stories.

Last week was spent mostly in Quito working on our visas. Boy was this an experience, I think Liz said that we were lied to 15 times and sent to 32 different offices before we actually got to the right place. After we found the right place and submited all of our paperwork we were told to go back in two days to pick up our passports with our visas. Of course, it wasnt that easy!! When we arrived, with my new passport I might add, (with 52 pages!!!) the guy tells me that we must go to another office that is ´poco lejos´ (not too far) and get my entry stamp placed into my new passport since it was currently in my old one. So, once again we taxi to another unkown office where I take a number...this number taking business is overrated! It tells me on ¨the number¨ that there are two people ahead of me....so I sit down and think that this wont take too long considering. Well, more than an hour later and one simple stamp and signature I leave this office and head back to sit in front of my man Fernando with hopes of walking out of there with my/our visas. After we finish everything, and he changes all of the mistakes that he made the week before, he tells us to come back at 2pm and we can pick up our passports and visas. Hahaha...funny how we thought that this might actually be possible. At 5pm, when everyone else had left and they were ready to close down for the day the security guard asked what we were waiting for...our visas of course. He just laughed and told us to come back tomorrow...we told him that was impossible and he better go figure out where our visas and passports are. He returns and says that they dont know where our passports are and the guy who has them is gone for the day...with our passports?!? Then a lady comes out and tells Liz that her visa will be ready soon and that no one gave her the paperwork so she hadnt been working on them for the past 8 hours that we had been waiting. Ridiculous! only in Ecuador! After telling Liz that hers will be ready she points one finger in my face and tells me that ´mine has a problem´.  What exactly could that mean? After sitting there for another 30 minutes she reemerges and gives me my passport with visa and says that the ´major problem´ is that Mr. Fernando put an ´N´ for my gender...meaning ninguno (nothing)...unstead of ´F´ for feminino!

Im about to fall over in my chair from exhaustion but one last hilarious Ecuadorian incident...boy will I miss these adventures while in the states! We were on the bus to Ibarra, about an hour ride, there is a ´control stop´where police are supposed to be checking documents. Well, we have passed this place more than a thousand times and never have we had to show any documentation. We do not carry our passports with us every day since Id like to leave the country whenever I would like and not be stuck here if it is lost of stolen. So, she asks for our passports and of course we dont have them...so then she tells us to get off of the bus and that we must remain at this place in the middle of nowhere until our passports arrive. Interesting seeing that we told her that our passports were at our house and that there was no way for us to get them, she quickly told us that she would take us ´somewhere else´ if we didnt get them to her soon. Who do we call, no one else but Paul, he had a few words with her and we were back on the next bus that passed. Almost detained...in Ecuador.

You know you have been in a third-world country for quite some time when you spend an evening drawing a map of the US and naming all of the states and capitals! Yes, it really did happen...and the best part is that we didnt even think that there was anything strange about it until we were telling Paul and his only comment was to Gina...´they have been here longer than you will be, so dont worry!´ Hahah! Mrs. Root (my 4th grade teacher) would be so proud...we got all of them except for two!

Life here is amazing...I cant wait to get back!

L-I-F-E

As I sit here right now I do not want to write (or even think about) what I am about to tell you. Life...life has a funny way of showing us things. This time since we have been back in Pimampiro we have worked on our website, presentations and emailing and talking to as many people as we can about our project. We spend as much time with the people as we can...but we are focused on this house...this dream of a self-sustaining place where we can take care of children. How can we make this a reality...the answer is money. Money, something that I wish that didnt make such an impact on life. It doesnt here...everyday life here has nothing to do with money. It costs pennies to live here, we (Liz and I) are happy and relieved to be in a culture that doesnt put so much worth in what you have or what you are going to buy. We have been wearing the same clothes (one backpack full), shoes, etc. for the past 4 months...yea it gets old but its not important. We still have only three mattresses on the floor, a kitchen table, and 6 plastic chairs...our living room and two other bedrooms are empty. Yea, it would be nice to have some things hanging on the walls or a couch but our focus is these people.

After saying all of this we are going to have to come home...we dont have enough money to stay here. This kills me having to admit this, but our savings are running low and its not easy to fundraise from here. Saying this, the plan is for us to come home as planned the end of this month and work as much as we can....save as much as we can, set up as many meetings as we can, and tell as many people as we can about our project here. We are trusting that this process will take 3-4 months and then we will be right back here fufilling our dream once again. Leaving here is not going to be easy...the people here have captured our hearts but we know that when we return we will be right where we left off.

Now that i got that out of the way...Larry was here last weekend! Larry is the director of Solidarity in Action, the organization that we worked with in Lima...and he is interested in doing a program up here with us! He works with university students and does volunteer projects...we will see what comes of this.

Stefanie is here with us! She was a part of the trip in Lima with SIA and then another trip in Guayaquil and then she decided she wanted to spend the rest of her summer here with us! She will be working on projects with the elderly people and with the kids...all those details are still being worked out but we are happy to have her here with us!

I think that we finally got our visas worked out!! Did we write about our issues? Our current visas run out on June 21 and our flights are on June 28...thats a problem. If we overstay our visas then we have to pay $200 when we leave the country and we cannot reenter the country for 9 months afterwards. We have only been to Quito (4-5 hour bus ride) 22 times and been to a million offices and talked to a million different people...but we think we got it taken care of...finally! After lies, money, and paperwork...we are waiting...and hoping that there are no more issues. After we get this then we will be able to stay here for a year!! and..the best part is that we can get an Ecuadorian ID card!!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, check out our blog, and if you have any fundraiser ideas we are open for any and all help!

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
Mother Teresa

You can make anything out of flour and water...

Today we are back in Pimampiro...so nice to be ¨home¨! Yes, I know that home is a stretch but it is my home for right now and its nice to come back to my bed here after being gone for a month. When we arrived on Tuesday morning we had nothing in the house...flour, water, and pancake syrup. That...became breakfast and then lunch too! You would be amazed how far just a few ingredients will go...

We arrived back in Pimampiro on Tuesday morning...after a super speedy bus ride. We left the beach (yes we spent a few days soaking up some sun before coming back to work) at 5pm and arrived in our beds by 8am! That is super fast...and definitely surprised us!

The 26 hour bus ride was quite uneventful, except that we got to sit in the front and look out the front window the whole time! There is place to rest your feet...and space to move around...its most definitely the best seat in the bus! After that ride, we will NEVER sit in the back again...we decided. Our ankles werent swollen and we actually had pretty decent sleep. Crazy...for a bus...I know! It was also a pleasant ride since we were accompanied by 5 of the Canadian students and Javier! We had also bought a 10 pound bag of candy and cookies to take along with us...that also helped pass our time.

As soon as we arrived in Guayaquil, (after Liz had slept most of the 26 hours-which is abnormal for her)we had already decided that we werent going to spend any time there, we jumped on the last bus to Moñtanita! We arrived a few hours later after being packed like sardines into a tiny bus with way too many people in it...but super grateful to be back at the beach! All that Pimampiro is lacking is the beach....can someone take care of that for me? I got to surf again and get tan...super enjoyable! Also, a little slice of home showed up in front of my face...no bake cookies!! Laying on the beach a girl passed...suddenly I smelled the warm chocolate...I looked up and what else could it be?? I wanted to eat her whole plate...but I decided to leave a few.

One night we went to a birthday party...a barbecue....with a few of our friends from the beach. We ate before going but of course they insisted that we eat on arrival...the food was great...but the only thing I could manage to say was "I cant eat any more of this, there is too much sand!". Truth is, no matter where you go or what you do everything is covered in sand!

I mentioned that Liz slept a lot on our last adventure...I think that Solidarity in Action wore her out...thats the only explanation! I am the one that sleeps while in  moving vehicles...but this time she was unable to be awoken by anything or anyone. While in that small bus, with 20 other people, and our legs intertwined with the people sitting across from us, and no headrests...she slept! After we arrived at the hostel, she went straight to bed...no shower and without even changing her clothes! Best part...she woke up in the morning covered in bed bug bites! I told her that that is what she gets for getting in bed so incredibly dir-ty! Kidding, I was actually pretty worried about her...I dont think I have ever seen her sleep so much...glad she is finally out of that funk!....and waking up at the butt crack of dawn once again. Yay for me!

Currently we are working on a presentation...hopefully that we can use as a tool for awareness and fundraising. We are hoping to finish it over the next few days and get it out there. If anyone knows of anyone who might be interested on more details of what we are doing....please let us know! The grand plan is to send my little brother to as many places as we can and have him be our voice until we can get back to the states and do it ourselves. Thanks Jo!!

My sister is working on a website for us, yes I do have an amazing supportive family, and as soon as I get that link worked out I will attach it to here also! This will be where our progress will be kept and there will be a ¨donate now¨ button available. All types of contact info, and hopefully anything and everything that someone might need to find out about what we are doing.

Paul will be back next week and we are super excited! We have a lot of talking to do with that man and a lot of future planning!

We have one  major issue that we must overcome before heading home...our visas! Unfortunately the man at the boarder only gave us 31 more days...and we need 40! The way that it works is that all US citizens receive 90 days per  year, free per say to visit Ecuador. After those 90 days you must apply for an actual visa, whichever type best fits why you will be staying in the country, if you do not take care of this you are banned from the country for a period of time and must pay a $200 fine. We definitely do not want to deal with that, so Thursday we got up early and headed to Quito to take care of this...or attempt to take care of this rather. We were sent to four different offices...all the wrong place...until the last place that we arrived was closed. This place is the right place but who would have known that it was only open from 9am-12pm? Great, now we traveled more than 3 hours to Quito and accomplished nothing! So, please think about us this week as we go back to Quito and request this 9 day extension. We are hoping that "requesting" it is all that it takes...and we wont have to change our airline tickets.

While we were in Cusco we celebrated our 3 month anniversary in South America and as a traveling duo! Just so you all know, we are still sleeping in the same room...the anxiety is too great when we sleep in separate rooms! Funny...but true!

To conclude this blog of a million things...yesterday I had a migraine...my first one since I arrived in South America. When I opened my eyes Liz was already out of bed and rattling things in the kitchen...I knew what she was doing...heading to the roof to start the laundry. All I could think was that I had no desire to move straight from my bed to the roof to pretend that my hands are a washing machine. But...this is what I did! Liz and I scrubbed and washed all of our laundry by hand! We have done it before, but this is the first time that we have actually done it all by ourselves! This will become a habit...and for anyone who comes down to help us or stay with us...this will also be your reality!! I consumed some food...then started on the house. Remember our house had been closed for about a month while we were gone...shortly after starting to clean I started to feel a migraine coming. boo! I hate migraines, not that anyone likes them but they always seem to come at the most inopportune times! Anyway, I laid down and thankfully Liz finished cleaning! Later on we went to visit Elaina (our mom here) and she asked me what was wrong, I told her and she said that I am very sensitive to change. Apparently since the house was closed up some bad energy got caught in the house which in turn gave me a headache, true or not her method of getting rid of it worked. She took a raw egg and rubbed it on my head...and then my back and legs...but mostly on my head. Apparently the egg absorbs the bad energy and gets rid of the headache...my headache did dissipate! Crazy...I know...but whatever works Ill take it!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers...We are in a very crucial time...things are on the verge of exploding!! ....and we are super excited about it!

"When we dare to see things differently, life opens up to our eyes". -Paulo Coelho

"All we have to do is understand that we are here for a reason and to commit ourselves to that. Then we can laugh at our sufferings, large and small, and walk fearlessly, aware that each step has meaning." -Paulo Coelho

Where to even begin

What a super duper long two weeks this has been...this is the first time since the students arrived that I have actually had time to sit here and even think about writing. 30 students from Canada are here working with Solidarity in Action in different placements around Lima. Liz and I are helping in every way that we can. All week I have gotten the chance to be in the orphanage! I have gotten to spend every day with my kids! I love and miss them so very much!

A little background....we first came to Lima and worked with Solidarity in Action in February, after our time here Larry (the guy who started and organizes the groups) asked us to come down and be a part of their project for these two weeks. The students got the opportunity to see the "shanty towns" of Lima and make a lasting impact on these people. Their eyes have been open to an all new world and many of them have mentioned that they would like to do more work like this! Of course...I am super happy about that! The had the opportunity to teach English in a middle class school, work in the orphanage playing with the kids and cleaning and organizing, building onto the orphanage to make a bigger space for the kids, and working in a school for mentally handicapped children. They also did a project in one of the poorest areas of Lima where they picked up trash and planted some grass and a few plants to make them a "peace garden" since all of their living space is sand. By doing this project we have left them something to take care of and be reminded of the people that came from Canada to help them make their lives a little better.

Thursday before the students arrived we got to visit the orphanage and see all of our kids! As we were walking up the hill one of the kids was outside...he just started yelling and telling all of the other kids that we were back! Before we could even reach the door they were all out in the street screaming and hugging and kissing us! What an amazing feeling to see these kids after so many weeks and be able to hug them and tell them that we missed them!

After the students arrived late Thursday night, we got up Friday morning and took the them to visit all of their potential placements. An eye-opening experience for some but an amazing time to get to show them all that they could do in their short time here. Saturday we were supposed to do a dental campaign inside of a building in a very poor part of Lima, when we arrived the building was locked and their was noone to be found. We had taken the orphans with us, so we started playing soccer...as we played soccer more and more people arrived. Eventually we busted out the toothbrushes and toothpaste and started showing the kids how to brush their teeth...right in the middle of the soccer field! Everyone got a new toothbrush and some toothpaste and hopefully enough teaching to keep their teeth for a bit longer.

Sunday was a beach day...before the start of a crazy week! Little did we know the extent of this crazy week...little sleep with lots of work and lots of happy Peruvians! Monday we arrived at the orphanage first thing...to be greeted with those beautiful faces! Liz unfortunatey was placed in the clinic with 2 students this day, but she got to join us most other days. I had three students with me playing with the kids and teaching them English. The kids love to learn, they love to ask questions and have to attention that they are not getting.

Tuesday Liz and I ran a health campaign in this same poor community (Pacifico), with 4 students. We basically did what we did when we were here in February, identifying lice, flat feet, cavitites, and scabies. We documented all of our findings and gave it to the community director. But, as we were doing this a mom brought me her little boy who had an infection on the side of his face. The mom said that he had had this for almost a year, you could tell that there had been abcesses in different places on his cheek but he had one that was pretty full of infection. Since I didnt come prepared for this sort of thing, and we just happened to have our friend who is a dentist with us, I asked her for something with a point...I poked the abcess and a ridiculous amount of puss began to come out. One of the students was helping me hold the little boys head and unfortunately a large amount of that puss squirted straight onto her shirt! oops! Luckily she saw it as humerous and had a great story to come back and tell the rest! I told the mom what prescription to buy (because we did not have any with us and you can buy whatever medications that you want at the pharmacy here) and covered it.  Unfortunately I saw the mom a few days later and she told me that she didnt have any money to buy the prescription.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent at the orphange with my kids! Some amazing times were had with them...cant wait to come back and see them again! Friday was the students final day of volunteering, so we took them around once again to see the things that had been done at each site. The construction on the orphange was amazing! they did half of the concrete floor after moving dirt in and out and all around...they painted and did lots of other odds and ends. Friday was a very special day! When we arrived at the orphanage the kids put on their dancing outfits and danced for us! So cute and amazing! A married couple that was working with us that live in New York, raised money to buy a wheelchair for a child that has cerebral palsy that spends alot of his days at the orphanage. They got the honor of presenting the child and his mother with the wheelchair! This child is 7 years old and the mother carries him around all the time...I cannot even imagine! The tears were streaming down everyones face, and the mother just cried and thanked them over and over. Amazing!

Thursday night we invited Clara, the lady who started the orphanage, to come and share her story. This lady is amazing! She was a teacher and some years ago would have kids come over to her house to learn how to read, there were kids who were sleeping in the street so she slowly started taking them in. As time went on she says that she could not leave the kids in the street, so she just started taking them all in! She is truly amazing, she takes very good care of the children and they all love her tremendously. I look at her and hope that someday I can be where she is today, she is such an inspiration to me! As she shared, the tears ran down my face...I can only hope that I have half of the impact that she has had on so many children/people!

3am wake-up call on Saturday morning to head to Cusco! We arrived in Cusco, found our beds and set out to see what we could find. It was sureal being back there...such an amazing place with amazing culture. I loved being back there and seeing Liz experience it for the first time. Sunday morning was another early wake-up...so we could spend the day at Machu Picchu! Our train left sometime before 7 and we arrived in Aguas Calientes before 9. Unfortunately I slept most of the ride, since I hadnt gotten much sleep, so I didnt get to enjoy what I missed the first time when I hiked the Inca Trail. But, I did get to walk into Machu Picchu when it was beautiful and sunny and I wasnt exhausted. Machu Picchu is a beautiful place with so much mystery...and noone to tell what exactly happened but most definitely a spiritual center. So mesmorizing how much that they knew so many years ago...this year they are celebrating 100 years! A place that I dont think I could ever get tired of...

I was sharing the other night with the students after one of the girls made a comment about wanting to do this again and again and maybe for the rest of her life but her fear is that her family and friends will not support her. My response was to follow her dreams, to do what she loves and to keep an open heart. I feel so blessed to be where I am today and to have my family and friends to support me. I honestly cannot believe that I am getting to follow my dreams and that I am where I am today...I have truly been blessed! I honestly feel this way and I want these young people to understand that they can have it too..if they stick to what they think and believe and live for what they want out of life it will eventually come. I have spent more than 10 years of my life doing short term trips, travel nursing, and living my life to get to where I am today...and I want to see as many people have the opportunity to live out their dreams as well!

We just got off of skype with Paul (the one that we are working with in Pimampiro) and things are going well up there. He is in the states now and is preparing to come back and get our house together! We are working on getting the money that we need and starting the construction ASAP. We are hoping to get this project going as soon as we get back up there...which is only a few days away! Also...forget to add this in up there but as I was riding the bus down from Machu Picchu the other day I was sitting next to an older lady who was on a trip with 18 other "older adults". They are traveling around seeing the sites of Peru and Ecuador, the lady behind us heard us talking and chimed in. She is a rotarian and wants to help us out! She is going to get us the contacts that we need and the information that we need to share with the rotary in our area...and hopefully this will lead to an excellent relationship with them! Crazy how we are put in places for a reason...and how God just works things out!! I live an amazing life!

This morning we left early and arrived back in Lima. We are back at the convent and preparing to leave on our 26 hour bus ride to Guayaquil tomorrow!