A Few Key Moments: We Made it to Peru!

(scroll down for pictures)

We made it to Arequipa, Peru! We arrived yesterday afternoon after a long afternoon/evening of travel. All of our flights went smoothly, though we were close to missing our flight out of Atlanta. The flight from Birmingham was delayed 30 minutes, and our layover was only an hour to begin with. So we were the last ones to board, but there turned out to be plenty of space on the flight, so we got a 3-seat row to ourselves, which was a huge blessing. Finn did very well on the flight all things considered. It was still incredibly exhausting trying to keep him entertained for the 6 hour flight. He finally nodded off to sleep for the final hour before landing in Lima.

We were all exhausted when we got to the Lima airport, but I think the adrenaline must have been flowing, because as I lifted one of our 50 lb storage tubs at baggage claim, I thought to myself, oh, I must have gotten a light one! No sooner had I said it than I realized that there wasn’t a light one. Derek also said that everything felt way lighter than he remembered that evening. We knew our travel from baggage claim to the hotel across the street from the airport would very possibly be the most trying part of the trip. We had 8 checked bags/tubs in addition to a carry-on bag, a guitar, two rather heave personal item bags, and Finn in a stroller.

So we grabbed 3 of those luggage carts, loaded (read overloaded) them up, and made our way very, very slowly to immigration. Derek pushed two carts side by side, and I pushed one while pulling the stroller behind me. I’m sure it was quite a sight. The immigration officer was very curious about what all we had in the tubs. She asked specifically if we were bringing medical equipment (which made us think about the time we did enter Lima with a bunch of medicine on a church mission trip several years ago. At the time we were very fortunate that no one asked that question!). We assured her that it was mostly clothes and baby things, and she was just fine with that.

Next we slowly wheeled our way toward the nearest elevator so that we could take the upstairs crosswalk out of the airport to the adjacent hotel where we had a reservation for what was left of the evening (it was after midnight already). We discovered that no more than one person and one luggage cart could fit in the elevator at a time, so Derek went up first with the cart, sent the elevator back down to me, and then I pushed the next cart in and sent it up to him by itself. Several people gathered about that time, so I let them take the next few trips up, before sending the next cart up, and then finally Finn and myself rode up. The whole elevator thing probably took about 45 minutes.

After wheeling down the hall to the hotel, a very nice bell hop came to help us, and things got much easier. They put most of our bags in storage for us, and we checked in and went to our room. Finn wasn’t too happy about being stuck in his bed in a strange place, but he was so tired that he didn’t have the energy to cry for long before falling asleep, and we all slept well.

Our flight the next day wasn’t until 12:45, so we got to take our time getting up and going in the morning, and the concierge man from the hotel was kind enough to help us get our luggage back over to the airport to re-check them. This last flight to Arequipa was just over an hour long, and then we were greeted by a familiar and welcoming face. How nice that was! Nate Bonham, an MTW missionary here in Arequipa, came to meet us at the airport and help us get to our apartment. Our contact from the language school and his son were also there to greet us and lead us to our new apartment.

Our apartment. It’s a simple, 3rd floor 3 bedroom/2.5 bath flat that we are slowly making our own. There are lots of big windows with a beautiful view of the Arequipa snow tipped volcanos. I’ll have to take some pictures soon. When we first arrived yesterday the first thing we did was to set up Finn’s pack n play and get him in bed. Then we went to bed ourselves. Finn didn’t sleep long, though, so neither did we. We exited the bedrooms to a livingroom full of luggage, and slowly started to open them and search for Finn’s toys and books (top priority!). The Bonhams and Gutierez’s (the other sweet MTW family here) had gotten us a bunch of groceries to make it through the first few days, so we were thankful not to need to go out grocery shopping immediately.

We took our time about things the first day, focusing primarily on Finn’s needs, trying to make him feel secure. I found his stuffed animals and books and did what I could to make his room feel like home. We gave him lots of milk (Finn’s #1 comfort food), fed him some banana and noodles (also favorites), and then bathed him and put him to bed. Finn slept like a champ the first night. Even when the sun came up at 5am.

Today the Bonhams picked us up for church. Everyone was so friendly and kind to us, though we couldn’t communicate a whole lot yet. A few people tried out a little English with us. The Bonhams have apparently started an English class as a ministry of the church, and when they told the class that we would be coming they were excited about the opportunity to try out what they had learned. After church Nate and Nathaniel had to lead a new membership class at the church, but Nikki and Alicia took us and the kids (they each have 3) to a local mall where we got lunch and then did some shopping. It was so nice to have that time with Americans who have done this transition themselves in recent years. They answered so many questions and helped us find the things we needed at the store. Nikki was also kind enough to let me borrow her cell phone to make a facebook post to let everyone know we had arrived safely! (We still don’t have sim cards for our phones or any internet access).

Our first impressions of Arequipa? It’s very very dry. My eyes and skin have been tingling from the dryness and I’ve been applying lotion and chapstick constantly. It’s warmer than I expected, and the sun is pretty brutal in the middle of the day. It is the dessert, but with the backdrop of the huge volcanoes, Arequipa is truly beautiful. The city seems much like other Latin American cities I’ve visited with bumpy streets, lots of taxis and many boxy buildings all squished together. The people we’ve interacted with so far have been very friendly, though, and the grocery store seemed to carry a lot of familiar things. Most importantly they had lactose free milk, which we loaded up on for Finn (a huge answer to prayer!)

We haven’t used public transportation ourselves yet, but we’ll try that out soon. We are just starting to get our bearings, and want to make sure we can tell a taxi driver how to get us home! I’m so thankful that we have a week to figure everything out and establish a routine here before starting classes. I am looking forward to class though. I’ve already picked up on a few new Spanish words that I’m excited about now knowing.

We still feel exhausted all the time. Part of that may be the altitude (I think it’s around 8000ft. here?), some of it is recovering from our long day of travel, and some of it is just taking in everything new. It’s comforting to have our own space, though, and to see Finn’s excitement already when we return to it after being out. He’s been such a joy to have along for this journey. He’s been overtired most of the last couple of days, but still he regularly says please and thank you, and gives lots of smiles. We are so thankful for how well he’s handled everything so far.

We are biding our time until sickness inevitable sets in. We’re being careful about drinking only bottled water, and not eating fresh cut vegetables unless they’ve been disinfected, but in reality we know we’ll likely be sick quite a bit our first year here. That won’t be fun, but it’s all part of moving to a 3rd world country, and we know God will provide for all of our needs through the good and the difficult.

We’re so thankful for all of the prayers and sweet notes of encouragement on facebook from all of our friends and family! What a blessing it is to know so many are interceding for us before our heavenly Father.

It’s 8pm, now, and though it’s early, I think it’s bedtime for me. We’ve made it through day 2!