The Cusco Chronicles

Greetings again from beautiful Cusco! We are enjoying our second full day here. We worked at the orphanage this morning, and this afternoon came back to the hotel, since the girls at the orphanage had to go to school. After catching up on blogging and such, I hope to go exploring a little – using the buddy system, of course!

Above is the all-girls orphanage we are working at while in Cuzco. As I mentioned in the previous entry, my fellow interns and I are working with a short-term team from Texas this week. The men in the group are laying tile in a room in the orphanage, and all of us women are doing a VBS program with the girls. There are about 40 girls between the ages of 7 and 19.

Yesterday, as part of our program, we gave each girl her own Bible. Wow, what a special experience that has been. The girls love them. They have been reading and studying on their own. Today we all sang “Jesus Loves Me” in Spanish, and it brought tears to my eyes. Something about hearing Jesus praised in other languages always touches me deeply. And hearing these girls, who have been orphaned or abandoned, sing with smiles on their faces about Jesus’ love for them… and about knowing because “the Bible tells me so,” while they held their new Bibles… I can’t find words to explain it. I’m so thankful.

I have connected with several girls in particular, and one of them is Ursula. She’s 19, only 1 year younger than I am! She has been living at the orphanage for 5 years, and she now attends a local university. She can speak Spanish, French, and English! She is so sweet and such a joy to be around. Today she asked me a question that I have been asked by so many teenage girls since I came to Peru: “Do you have a boyfriend?” I laughed and said no, and she grabbed me by the shoulders and said, “Why not? You are muy bonita!” I laughed so hard. I’ve never gotten that reaction before. So I said, “Do you have a boyfriend?” and she said no, so I took her shoulders and said, “Why not? You are muy bonita!” It was such a funny moment.

That’s a view of the mountain outside the orphanage. The weather here is lovely. It’s very cold in the morning and at night, but it’s sunny and blue skies during the day. We hardly saw the sun at all during our stay in Lima, so we have been soaking it up this week. As I said, Cuzco is beautiful. It’s quite the tourist attraction, largely because of the proximity of Machu Picchu. I hope to post some photos of the picturesque downtown area soon.

We saw many beggars in Lima, especially children doing tricks at stoplights. There are some here, but more than that, there are dozens and dozens of street vendors everywhere you go – old women selling hats and ponchos, boys selling postcards, girls selling dolls and finger puppets. I hate saying no to the small, dirty children who try to sell me things. Last night I bought a llama finger puppet and a postcard. Then two more boys started following Klista and me, trying to sell us finger puppets and dolls. I said, “No, gracias, I just bought a finger puppet!” and the boy said, “Well, you have ten fingers!”

Katie, on the left, is our new intern (and leader) who joined us on Saturday. She’s awesome. It’s been so nice to do group devotionals and have some more spiritual community that has been lacking since our original leader left so early. I really appreciate both of my fellow interns. Even though I’ve only known Katie for three or four days, I am already really blessed by her friendship and kindness. And I admire Klista’s energy and flexibility so much. I’m so thankful to serve with these girls.

Well, that’s about it for now. Thanks again to those of you who read – if you want to comment, just click on the “No Comments” link at the beginning of the entry, and there’s a form at the bottom. I know that sometimes that’s been hard to figure out. But whether you comment or not, thank you for reading! I’ve loved being able to share my trip with you!

10 beautiful days to go,
Anna