I haven’t been in Peru for very long, but I feel as though my time spent here has already made an impact on me that will last for the rest of my life. Whether it was the children in the daycare, people hosting us at the church in Lima, or the people in the dump, each person I’ve come in contact with has made an impact on me. I’ve already learned many lessons here that will stay with me forever. I learned a very valuable lesson on Sunday when our team went to the beach for the day. After swimming in the Pacific Ocean, I decided to put on my baby alpaca fur sweater over my bathing suit, throw my clothes and freshly bought souvenirs into my bag and go for a walk. While enjoying the beautiful scenery, I decided to stop and take a picture. Being the trusting, naïve person I am, I put my bag down and took the picture. Going back to get my bag, I realized that somebody took it. Luckily, I had my appropriately long alpaca sweater to cover me and I didn’t miss my clothes too much.

            Today was very eye-opening for me. After waking up at 7 and having our routine bun and jam for breakfast we headed off to the construction site for the morning. Rather than doing my usual brick making process, today I was throwing rocks into a trench where some other workers were pouring cement, then I shovelled rocks into the cement mixer. Everyone here has been doing a really good job of choosing joy while working, even during some of the strenuous tasks that need to be done. At about 12:30 we all washed up and piled onto the bus to go to the church for lunch. Rather than chicken and rice, we got spaghetti, and potatoes which was a welcomed change by all of us, I think. Next, we went out to the fruit market to buy some fruit to hand out to the people living and working in the dump. I spent 5 soles, which is about $2 Canadian, and got 50 bananas. The fruit market reminded me of China Town in downtown Toronto. There were many unidentifiable fruits, and Zoey had a nice encounter with some decapitated chicken hanging from a rope, apparently there was an interesting stench let off by these chickens, I can’t imagine why. Well, after buying our fruits, we headed off to the dump. The dump is something you can’t really fully understand until you’ve actually been there. Looking around, all I could see was mountains and mountains of garbage, piles of garbage on fire and men, women and children sifting through the garbage, sometimes in bare feet. The smell was almost unbearable. Many of the things I saw in the garbage were dangerous and I couldn’t wrap my mind around the children I saw walking through it and the men and women that had no shoes on. We had a silent bus ride back to the guest house as we all thought about the day’s events.

            We’ve all come to realize just how fortunate we really are to have the lives we do, and it amazes me that some of the people here have next to nothing, yet they’re so joyful.

Thanks to everyone who’s been praying for us and supporting us throughout this whole journey. Hola to everyone at home, I miss you and can’t wait to see you and eat grilled cheese with ketchup and chocolate milk!!!!! Love you Mom, Dad, Nick and Alicia and happy belated birthday to Kyle and Alicia, I hope you enjoyed your birthdays even in my absence.