Friday, November 7 - Andahuaylas, Lima, and the voyage home (Mark)

We woke up and didn't take a shower, but washed our hair in the sink and got ready for the journey ahead of us. We didn't have much time before we would be heading off to the airport, so we ate breakfast, got ready to go, and said our goodbyes. Hermano Cesar came by with some homemade cheese - much more than we could handle all at once, and certainly we wouldn't be able to take it with us. We ate what we could, but left the rest with Hermana Rufina. We took a cab to central Andahuaylas, and then caught another cab that would take us to the airport.

The night before with the Solano Family: Rufina, Fernando, Mario, and Araceli

Taxidermy!

The way to the airport was...unconventional. We never figured out why (perhaps road closures or tolls on the normal road?), but the driver did not take us on the main route to the airport. Instead, he took us on a winding, primitive road that we weren't sure where it was actually going. At times we drove over water, and we went for quite a long time without seeing signs of civilization. Not gonna lie, it was a little unnerving. However, we eventually broke through into the main road again, and found ourselves right next to the airport. We were both very relieved.

I'm not sure if this is the smallest airport I've been to (it may well be, its only competition being Rio Gallegos), but it's certainly the only airport I've been to with no paved roads leading to it. We sat in the small terminal for much longer than we expected - the plane was apparently late in arriving. There were a lot of people in the terminal for such a small plane, and most of them were children. They were evidently on some kind of class trip. After a while, we finally got to move on through security to the gate. The kids were pretty amazed when the plane came by, all of them pressing up against the windows to get a look. I'm sure it was the first time for most of them to see an airplane up close. We got on board, and went along our way.

Once we returned to Lima, we rented a locker to keep most of our luggage at, and went on our way. In possibly our proudest transportation moment on the whole trip, we walked right past the taxi drivers and hopped on a micro, paying the equivalent of a dollar to get transportation back to Pueblo Libre. Taxistas were trying to charge us $20.  Plus, it's much more adventurous than taking a taxi! We walked to a grocery store and bought some food to bring back with us to the USA. It ended up being a nice variety of standard Peruvian treats, and unusually flavored American snacks like pollo-a-la-brasa flavored potato chips.

We needed to get some food, so our strategy was to walk around and find the busiest-looking place and get lunch there. It turned out to be a successful strategy. The food was relatively standard Peruvian fare, but higher quality than we'd had in other places. I had fish, Liz had Peruvian-style arroz con pollo. We also had some passionfruit juice, which we downed quickly and had to get more of. It was definitely one of the better meals we've had here.

We set out to find a house where three old men lived that Liz used to teach (Hermanos La Monja), but we had the wrong house number written down and couldn't find where they actually were. Liz was feeling a little upset to her stomach, so we stopped at a nearby park to relax for a few minutes. After some resting time, we returned to the grocery store to use the restroom, and then went looking for another one of Liz's converts, María Rosa. She was apparently home, but her son told us she was asleep, so we didn't get to see her.

We then decided to drop by the home of the Cardenas family. They were the family Liz lived with in Lima. They were definitely the most well-to-do Peruvian family we visited on this trip, the inside of their home looking not unlike what you would see in your standard American LDS home. Their daughter Araceli was home and let us in. We waited until their parents got home. They were happy to see us, and graciously offered to let us use the showers. After some of the shower facilities we had used (or deliberately not used), this was the best shower of my life.

There was a church activity that night, so we accompanied the Cardenas family to it. It was a Relief Society activity, a showcase of the various crafts they had concocted and skills they had learned over the year. It was pretty well attended, mostly by women in the Relief Society (naturally) but there were some Elders there too. I chatted with them briefly. They didn't realize at first that I was American, not quite picking up on the accent.

After the activity, we went with Los Cardenas to a restaurant, where I would experience my final Peruvian culinary experience for this trip: Chifa. It's basically a Peruvian twist on Chinese food. Hno Cardenas took great pains to explain how Chifa was better than your average Chinese food. He thinks it's better than Chinese food just about anywhere, with the possible exception of China. To his credit, it WAS pretty good. I don't know if I would praise it quite to the extent that he was, however. We think he's just been to the wrong Chinese restaurants in the U.S.

We briefly stopped by at their house on the way out before departing to the airport for our journey home. The flight to the USA would be an overnight flight, so we were hoping to get some sleep. They had a mini-security check before boarding the plane and they made Liz discard her large, overpriced water bottle she purchased in the airport for this trip. She was very upset about this. Our flight was from Lima to Miami to Denver to Seattle. In Denver, we took advantage of our credit card perks to use the United lounge, where we could relax, eat complimentary snacks and drinks, and enjoy our longish layover.

We were happy to return home and we sure missed Claire, but this was an unforgettable and endurance-testing trip. We won't be returning to Peru for a while, if at all, so we were glad to be able to have the experiences we had while on this trip. We're plotting our next big international trip and we promise it won't take as long to get the photos up.