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

 

 

Papas Para Los Papás (Potatoes for the Fathers)

We are ridiculously bad in Spanish, but we were proud of ourselves for coining the phrase above. Today, Saturday, was a HUGE celebration in honor of Fathers Day. Held in an outdoor gathering space, the entire school community assembled at 9am for a pageant of Peruvian dance and music. The theme introduced by Sr. Monica stressed that becoming a father is easy to, but being a father takes great love and commitment.  (The sisters have noted that the poverty in Peru combined with the chauvinistic culture has not led to faithful fathers.)

Sr. Matilde and two teachers saying opening remarks.

With that introduction, the fathers were all invited to the front for a blessing, a plate-sized gold pin being awarded to one man who was the Father of the Year for this year, and a sprinkling rite. (They seem to have a connection to sprinkling rites here.)

The dads being blessed and sprinkled with holy water.

Sr. Matilde told us the parents mostly rented costumes for this, dance being an important and typical way of celebrating in Peru. We were so impressed with the intricate movements and footwork of the children of all ages in their beautiful, traditional dress.

After the pageant, the sisters held their annual fund raiser, a meal consisting of a large cut of barbecued beef, and a side of a sweet and a yellow potato, with some Peruvian sauces. We volunteered to help serve, but the sisters had lots of help from mothers of their students, and we were too many cooks in the kitchen, especially with the language barrier.

Meals were assembled and sold for 8 soles (equivalent to $3.00). Each school family was required to purchase 5 meals. After the event was over, Sr. Monica told us they were now going to package meals for those families who didn't show, as the sisters wished the families to receive something for their mandated participation. We told the sisters to allow us to help with clean up, but it is 5pm and so far, nothing from them. We believe the sisters are exhausted, and are looking forward to relaxing this evening, with Saturday being the one day of the week that the sisters don't catch a moto to downtown Paita for 7pm Mass.

Discubriendo el moto!!

 

On Friday afternoon, we made a huge discovery - el moto! In Paita, people do not drive around in cars. Instead, there are hundreds of motos. What is a moto, you ask? A moto is essentially a Vespa with a rickshaw on that back for 2-3 passengers. You can easily jump in one of these on any street corner and for 3 soles (= $1.2) they will take you anywhere you want to go in Paita. While they don't have a lot of horse power, they are not afraid to tailgate and cut in front of anyone who is going to slow. It is certainly an adventurous take on a boring commute!      If you've been following our blog carefully, you should realize that when we arrived in Paita yesterday, we were going on roughly 2 hours of sleep. But, those who know us, know that exhaustion didn't keep us from exploring the city and the school. When we first walked outside the school, which is next door to the convent, the children ran to us, so excited to shout ''Good Morning!!'' in perfect English and to get a look at the American ladies. As part of our tour of the convent, Sister Monica explained to us that we needed to take great caution in our water use. They do not have hot water for showers or dishes and they must use their water sparingly. Of course, this came at no surprise to me. How many times have I heard that third world countries don't have the water they need? Yet, adapting to this has proved challenging for all of us. As I wash up with baby wipes and hand sanitizers, I'm constantly reminded of the long, hot showers I like to take and the gallons of water I waste while washing dishes each day.   After we settled in and unpacked, we visited the off-campus preschool a few miles away. Riding there (in our motos), you could see a shift in the housing. There is no paved road to get to the neighborhood, only a dirt path leading to a complex of hand-built homes - many without electricity. At the pre-school (2 one-room buildings), we met with 56 children. Because Lisa is a nurse, the sisters and the parents wanted her to examine the children for medical issues. The first girl we saw was almost two and lacked the muscles to stand on her own, most likely from vitamin deficiency. Unfortunately, we were very limited on the help we could provide as we could not hand out medicine or treat her. However, I believe that merely consulting with Lisa was beneficial for the families and each child left with a yummy sucker. For example, one woman brought in her one year old son who had a fever and a cough. Because she didn't want him to get sick, the mom had him dressed head-to-toe in fleece pajamas in 75 degree weather. Lisa was able to explain, through a translator, that he was overdressed and needed to cool down. It was incredible to witness Lisa offering advice and sympathy to the mothers and giving each child a big hug.            We ended our evening with a packed 7pm Mass downtown and a chat with the sisters about life in Paita. A perfect ending to a great (but tiring) day!

Stranded in Miami...Then on Our Way Again

Waiting for our flight to Lima, we decided the best thing to do in Miami was to take a boat tour. Here you see us fighting our misery cruising "Millionaire's Row" on Biscayne Bay. There were no Pina Coladas involved. After our cruise, we shopped a bit at Bayside Market. Lisa had to buy a few things since she was without her carry-on for the day.

 

 

For dinner, we wanted a fun "locals" place so we wandered into downtown and walked into a place serving none other than Peruvian food. We ordered Ceviche, Yucca fries, and shared two desserts since we saved a lot of room!



Carmel Peach Torte

Passion Fruit Cheesecake

Flight from Miami to Lima, and then Lima to Piura, which was on LAN Airlines. We loved the LAN new shiny plane. We had some great Peruvian help and had our 10 pieces of luggage out of baggage claim at airport in Piura before we found the rest room! There was Sr. Monica waiting for us, and the time was 8 am Friday morning.  Sr Monica had brought 2 drivers and 2 vehicles to accommodate all of our luggage. 

Sr. Monica accommodated our wish to visit Santisimo Sacramento (Blessed Sacrament) in Piura, to meet the dynamic Fr. José, who is an ex-pat from Wisconsin. (See picture below of four people, Ken and Ignatius, California, Jeanette, Missionary Liaison, and Father José. Wow were we blown away by this Catholic parish!  We learned that they house up to 70 missionaries at any given time in the missionary guest quarters, and were given a brief tour and breakfast in the missionary dining hall,; a meal made by young missionaries from the US.  We met a father/son team from San Jose working on the internet network, an ophthalmologist from Kansas who had just completed a week of doing cataract surgeries at their on-site operating room, nine nursing students from Marquette University spending one month assisting with the various medical teams, a "medical site designer" volunteer advancing for the next group of doctors. Beautiful place!

 

In Miami for the Day

American Airlines insisted that Lisa gate-check her bag. They assured her that it would be in Miami when we got there. After we landed at 1:30am we were on a mission to find Lisa's checked bag.  We asked a maintenance man at 2am this morning if he could help us. He told us that he used to work in the cargo/luggage area and he tried looking for her bag, with no avail. We sure hope her bag will be in Peru on Friday morning.

We called the Hilton-Airport and stayed there for the morning. They gave us a late checkout of 1pm and we took advantage of sleeping from 4:30am until around 11:30am. We got enough sleep to give us some energy to continue our day.

We worked with American Airlines to reschedule our flight because we missed our connecting flight in Miami. We will be leaving Miami this evening at 11:55pm and will arrive in Piura, Peru at 8am. (We transfer in Lima at 4am, have to go through customs first and then connect with another flight to Piura.)

We're spending the day in South Beach and will shop and hang out at the beach watching the people.

We'll be taking pictures and post them later today.

We're Flying High

 

Today's the day we've been planning for since January. We're on our way as I write this.

Our flight was delayed due to thunderstorms. We were supposed to take off at 5:45pm. But instead, we took off at 9:53pm. We won't arrive in Miami until 1:30am. Since we've missed our flight to Lima, we'll have to work with American Airlines to get on another flight. I checked aa.com and found that the flights are all booked so we're not sure if we're going to make it to Peru today. We hope that American Airlines knew of our flight delay and booked us on a flight.

We're 30,000 in the air. It was somewhat turbulent when we took off due to the thunderstorms all around. The flight is rather peaceful and quiet. Some people are sleeping, while others are typing on their laptop or tablet.  Of course, I'm the latter. I brought all sorts of technology on the airplane... a Surface Pro, speakers, mouse, headset, camera, video camera, a digital voice recorder, a case of cables, and batteries, SDSX cards and other miscellaneous items. I needed a suitcase just for all of those items.

Lisa, Sarah and I are sitting in different rows. Sarah is sitting right in front of me on the airplane. I have no idea where Lisa is seated except I think that she's way back in the airplane. Well, I'm going to sign off for now because we are descending and it is becoming extremely bouncy.


We'll keep you all posted and let you know when we make it to Peru.

Packed and Ready!

It has finally arrived. It's been a busy six months...

meetings, emailing, planning, packing, and most importantly, praying...that God uses us for what He wants and that His delegates (the three of us) make the right decisions.

On Wednesday, June 12, we'll be driving to Mitchell International to take a bus  to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. We have to be at O'Hare at 2:45pm, a required three hours lead time for international flights. Our plane leaves at 5:45pm, a long layover in Miami, and then we'll be at our final destination on Thursday, June 13, at 10:45am. There's no doubt, we will be tired.

Please continue reading our posts. We hope to post daily when we're in Peru.

We're taking the six suitcases below containing clarinets, 500 rosaries, school supplies, candy, marbles, jacks, blankets...everything but the kitchen sink! Thanks to our anonymous donor for paying for the additional two suitcases. We are grateful!

Thank you for reading our blog postings. Please keep us in your prayers for a safe trip.


Deb, Lisa and Sarah

Special School Activities

We're getting ready...in just six days we leave for Paita, Peru. Lisa Bixby, Sarah Daszczuk and I (Deb Passino) will be at the Sunday Masses for a blessing this weekend. We hope to see many of our friends supporting us at the Masses.

All of the suitcases, filled with donations, will be displayed in the Gathering Space. Thanks to the many generous people of St. Paul Parish and School, we have six suitcases to take with us. Money was also collected from our parish and school and will be sent to Peru via the International Headquarters of the School Sisters of St. Francis, located in Milwaukee.

We asked Sr. Monica, director of St. Clare School in Paita,  how she plans on using the donated money. She said that the children use an area for special activities and she'd like to have a brick floor installed. Here are three pictures of the children dancing on the sandy, outside floor. I hope that we can get some pictures of the new floor, once it has been installed.