by Adam Beswick, West London Alliance Church
Today was not a day that any of us will soon forget. From the moment our cramped feet finally reached South American soil, we were on the move, travelling, talking, and visiting our new temporary home.
One thing that we immediately noticed about Lima was the number of people on the streets, lingering around shops or selling food / merchandise to whoever would be walking by. The buildings are generally small, and many of them are old and obviously worse for wear. As well, it is clear that where London has squirrels, Lima has more stray dogs than any of us had ever seen.
We had the chance to visit St. Francisco’s Cathedral today which was beautifully historic. Our group got to see inside of the catacombs underneath the cathedral, and we saw several chambers filled with countless dusty bones. The Cathedral had the added bonus of being home to hundreds of doves. This of course resulted in the unleashing of a cloud of feathery flappers about our heads whenever someone made a sudden movement in their direction (which was more often than could be called merely coincidental). It is also worth mentioning that our group fulfilled our patriotic duties by singing a very loud, very spontaneous rendition of our national anthem downtown today to anybody and everybody who would listen.
We also went to the city square this afternoon where we were met by a class of Peruvian school kids. Both groups were equally excited about meeting the other, and it didn’t take long before cultural and language barriers were broken down by high fives and the help of a few key questions with which we could engage the children in their own language.
Oh, I almost forgot! Here is what I learned today about Peruvian road traffic : I spend so much time being baffled as to how it is physically possible to fit so many road violations into a single outing, that I actually forget to fear for my life.
I don’t think our trip could have started any better.
Cristo nos da fuerza.
This made my day!