Super Sunday

We had a really busy day on Sunday. Our morning began with Mass. In order to get to the church, we had to take a moto taxi into town to attend Mass. Well, we had a little mishap...another moto-taxi pulled out in front of us and we had a slight collision with it. Not a big deal. Nobody was hurt, nor the vehicles damaged. We were just a little startled.

Mass was to begin at 9am.  There are two priest at this parish. One of the priests had surgery and Father Jaime had to officiate at 8 different Masses throughout the region. He had already said a 7 and 8 am Mass across town, and had to drive a distance to this church. So Mass began at 9:25am once he arrived. The Youth Mass was packed. Not only was each pew filled with lots of children, teenagers and adults, families were standing along the side isles. We thought it was Easter Mass. We were all amazed at how many people attended. I thought to myself, at St. Paul’s, we have this big beautiful new church, with many empty pews.  St. Francis Parish in Paita is a very old church and it was bursting at the seams. Even when we were at Mass on Friday evening at 7pm, there was standing room only. What’s wrong with this picture? Do people go to Mass because they are so poor and they know that God is their only hope? That has to be it! God is our only hope!

The youth music was loud, and well done. After the Mass, Sarah asked if it was a CD because she thought the kids sang perfectly. No, it wasn’t a CD.  It was just darn good music! Bravo to the children who sang on key with enthusiasm.

After Mass, many of the parishioners stayed in the church to pray. We were there for at least 30 minutes after Mass and people were busy walking from statue to statue praying. There’s the Captive Jesus, which is very important in northern Peru, and then there’s the Lord of the Miracles, and  the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There's also St. Francis, St. Martin de Porres, St. Rose of Lima, Our Lady of Fatima,  St. Anthony and most importantly Our Lady of Mercy, she’s also very important among the people of Paita, and many, many, many more statues. People spend hours walking around the church communing with the various saints after Mass.  

St. Martin de Porres     St. Rose of Lima         St Francis Solano

 

 

The Captive Jesus

We continued our day touring the harbor on boat. We were able to see all the fish factories in Paita that take advantage of the people by hiring them sporadically and paying $5 a day. We also saw lots of fishing boats arriving in harbor after being out at sea for a week. Can you believe it? They also have sea lions and of course, seagulls (rats of the sea).  

 

 

 

 

 

We drove to Catacaos, a very picturesque village just south of Piura. There were vendors selling silver, gold, leather, wood, and clay items. This city is also known for its cuisine. We stopped at one of the local restaurants for lunch. We tried the ceviche which is fish marinated in sour lemon, onion, salt and hot pepper. It was accompanied by sweet potatoes. We also ordered a combination plate consisting of beef and pork, accompanied by mashed plantain banana dish and mashed yuccas. Sarah had the chicken nuggets, which were deep fried, and included a raw carrot and cabbage dish. The food has been excellent. Knock on wood…we haven’t gotten sick yet.

We haven’t told you about their famous drink called “chicha”.  It is fermented drink, made from a special type of corn only found in Peru. We can’t wait to have it again. Here's Sarah drinking chicha.

We bought quite a few souvenirs to show our parishioners and look forward to sharing our stories of Peru. One more thing, we stopped at a cathedral in Catacaos after our souvenir shopping. It was around 7pm and the church was at least half full with people saying the rosary. We found out that the rosary is prayed every day of the year. How awesome!

By the way, if you click on the picture, you'll see a large version of the picture and view all pictures used in the blog post. Try doing that. You'll see more detail.

-Deb