Last Blog from Lima
While walking round the park at 6.30am last week, I stopped to ask one of the road sweepers about her hours. She gets up at 3am to cook for her family; leaves home at 4.30am to start work at 6am and works until 3am We don’t know how lucky we are!!
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| Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go |
We have a lovely lady called Teo clean for us once a week, which is a huge blessing because I have neither the time nor energy after working in the Office all day. She comes on 2 buses to get here. Last week she couldn’t come becuse she had to stay in while electricity was being installed in the pueblo joven (shanty town) where she lives, near Chorrillos. I was surprised to learn that even in this day & age, there are still villages without electricity, & therefore no hot water!!
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| Teo, our faithful cleaner |
Another occupation is dog-walking. We see several young lads, probably late teens who take up to 6 or 7 dogs out in one go, several times a day, starting about 6.30am. The Peruvians feel the cold, and assume their dogs do to, so at the first sign of winter, out come the dog coats
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| A fashion-conscious dog |
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| Morning "walkies" |
Many people, of all ages, scavenge through the rubbish (garbage) that has been put out for collection. I love giving them a big black bag full of recyclables that they can sell on. We met this little lady walking home from work.
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| Fortunately recycling "stuff" is light |
I think I’ve told you our rubbish is collected daily, for us it’s about 7 - 7.30pm. On the Peruvian Independance Day, 28th July, they came at nearly midnight. Obviously they didn’t get the day off like many of the workers.
In our neighbourhood we see several men who clean cars for people in our neighbouring roads, starting about 6am. There are always lots of people gardening, & trimming trees and grass verges etc.
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| Watering the grass, Peru style |
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| Keeping the grass verges looking good |
The people opposite had a couple come and drastically cut their tree down, it took all afternoon. The lady was left cutting all the branches that her husband (presumably) had hacked off the tree. Then she prepared them all in small piles to be carted away on his bike.
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| Peruvian Tree Surgeons |
That house is on a corner that is frequented by skateboarders - at all hours, even 9.30pm going clackety clack over the pavements (sidewalks for our US friends!!) and kerbs. If I have a nap at the weekend, you can be sure that’s when the skate boarders will come out!
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| Why are skateboarders so noisy? |
Another minor nuisance here is the ants. Fortunately they´re much smaller than ants in England. I´d got used to a few of them in the apartment, at any one time, but things came to a head a few months ago. I went to offer a friend a mint from an opened packet that was in a zip-lock bag in my shoulder bag. When I opened the packet, there were ants inside!! That evening, just before I turned off my bedside light, I picked up my glass of wáter to drink. Fortuntely I hadn´t turned off the light because there were ants swimming in it!! Of course I changed the glass & wáter, & during the night I went to have another drink. Luckily I turned on the light first, only to find more ants swimming in the wáter!! From thereon, I always keep the plastic top from a Pringles box over my bedside glass of wáter. Brian has also attacked the apartment several times with ant killer. I think we´re winning slowly.
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| Do you make that 374 ants? |
In July, as in many other parts of the world, we celebrated the arrival of the early pioneers in Salt Lake City. They had trecked hundreds of miles across the plains with handcards and wagons. We had a lovely activity in our Ward talking about how they lived etc. and ate the sort of rolls & cakes they did. We even had a bonnet to wear to help us feel the part!
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| It could be a scene from 1840 |
In Lima we visited a silver factory and bought "Sunburst" earrings and matching necklace.
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| Traditional Inca jewelry |
I’m sure I’ve written about the Health & Safety issue before. The H&S people would die a thousand deaths if they came to Peru. Usually it’s not suitable to take a photo, but here are just a couple to give you an idea.
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| A typical bus seat |
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| A typical pavement |
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| Keep looking out for damaged pavements |
Last week I had to take a second look when I saw a man riding a scooter (thank goodness it wasn’t a morot bike) with a todler on his lap!! Many cars and buses, in fact vehicles of all types should have been put in the scrapyard years ago!! Today, from our office, Brian saw a water tanker passing by. A man was climbing down the ladder down the back of the vehicle. He was OK though because there was still a man sitting on top to check he didn’t fall off & get run over!!!
Peru has a TV program on now similar to “Britain’s Got Talent”. We heard that one of our Bishops was taking part, imitating a famous singer. Shanir Salirrosas works in the Area Office, so we were interested in how he got on. When in Cusco with the Perez family in June/July, they mentioned him, so we were able to watch him on the Internet in their home. He did really well & lasted for 3 rounds. Last week he was in our part of the Office, so we had him come & sing to us - he sounded really great.
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| Bishop Salirrosas gave us an impromptu song |
The senior sisters continue to meet with the wives of Embassy & Bank workers, Mission Presidents & the Area Presidency once a month taking a plate of food with us to “Lunch Bunch”. We enjoy the opportunity to meet other women, in a lovely spacious home, and have a good natter, while enjoying tasty food.
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| Lunch Bunch about to dine |
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| Another feast just finished |
The Mission Presidents & wives are adopted parents to approximately 200 young men & women, who of course get ill from time to time. If it is more than a minor ailment, they ring and ask the Area Medical Advisor (AMA) for advice. We don’t treat, but can give recommendations as to how to help them feel better. Our most common ailments are:-
Diarrhoea, constiption, gastritis, gripe (pronounced greepay) which is flu to the latins, upper respiratory tract infections, backache, knee and ankle injuries after Preparation Day sports activities, skin problems, ingown toenails, insect bites. As you can see these are general medical problems that Brian has been dealing with for the 30 years he was in General Practice, so he has been very quick to suggest a treatment that the “Mission Mums” can give. I’m still amazed with how much knowledge he has about tests, blood results & obscure illnesses & their treatment, that occasionally come up.
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| Outside the old Mission Home in 1977 |
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| Same place, 35 years later |
One interesting case that came up about 2 months ago was a missionary who had an appendicectomy earlier in his mission, then was getting more abdominal pain. The MRI scan showed an appendix!! A Peruvian doctor who does voluntary work in the Area Office knows the surgeon who performed the operation, & rang him. He confirmed that the doctor had definitely removed the appendix. So what was showing on the scan we don’t know!!! Fortunately the missionary has no more symptoms, so this hasn’t been persued.
I wrote recently that Mission applications are increasing in number, partly due to the fact that the boys can now go at 18 due to their education. Last month 20% of the 279 sent were 18. 140 of the total were from Peru. I saw a big pile of white envelopes, all Mission calls waiting to go to Stake Presidents in our 5 countries to be distributed. I counted, there were 105, of which 50 were for Peru. I asked if these arrived every month. “No, weekly” was the reply. Admittedly not usually so many.
This is a far cry from the dark days when terrorists ruled the country. Terrorism was a constant harassment. Poverty was everywhere. Civilians were massacred. Homes had to use domestic electricity generators due to constant blackouts. People couldn’t go to work or to Church. Missionaries had to leave Peru & some members died defending their beliefs.
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| Each envelope contains a mission call |
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| Making missionary badges |
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| Missionaries studying at the C.C.M. |
In the last couple of weeks the weather has become colder, (17 - 19C in the day, 11C at night) but nothing like as cold as it gets at home. I have been so grateful for our electric blanket, & the very little portable radiator we have in our apartment. In most of the homes there is no heating. When we visited a family last week, they all had thick jackets on. It will be nice to have the end of Summer (what little there was of it!) when we return to England in 2 weeks.
We are busy tying up loose ends, and having Despedidas (Farewells) with different groups of friends & church members.
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| Santa Felicia Relief Society bid Jane farewell |
We will meet our replacements - Steve & Lynda Bramwell - at the airport on the night Friday 24th, having moved all our things of our apartment that day. They come from Washington State, & Steve is an Orthopaedic Surgeon. That experience will be very useful each week for the missionaries with injuries from playing sports on P Day. We are excited to show them around, & take them to the local Supermarket etc so they can begin to settle in. It took me a few weeks to become orientated here. We are pleased we an take them to the CCM, where they can see us give our Health Presentations to the Americanos & then the Latinos. We’ll be able to show them the work we do with Mission Applications, & introduce them to the 4 Lima Missions that we visit weekly.
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| The Area Presidency bid us farewell |
Sarah & Paul moved into The Homestead (our home) on Friday 17th August. The next day, Simon & Mitchell, his son, brought down most of the things he took up to Yorkshire for storage. He has the unenviable job of beginning to unload our study, (which is packed up to the ceiling with double beds etc) loft & 2 sheds. Fortunately they will have Missionary Elders to help on both days, & some men from Church, who also helped pack it all away 19 months ago. We are so grateful to know that Church members are happy to help with acts of service like this. This all means that when we fly into London City Airport on the night of Wed 29th, we won’t have to go to a hotel as we previously thought, which will be great. By having Sarah’s little girls there, I can also have hands-on practice to remind myself how to be a Grandma.
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| Our Mission President and wife bid us farewell |
We want a few days to chill out & get over jet-lag, so have decided to go to Eastbourne on 3rd - 7th Sept. This will mean we can visit our friends Lois & John, & also go to the London Temple, where we were living for the month before our Mission, whilst waiting our Visas. We can then return & continue unpacking & putting our home to rights, & be there for when our little grandson makes his entry into the world later in September.
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| Some Senior Missionaries bid us farewell |
Would you like to see, hear and ask more about our time in Peru? We are having a Fireside (social activity) in the Witham Chapel on Sunday 9th September at 5.30pm for any of you who’d like to come. Please let us know if you plan to come, so we can know roughly how many to expect.
I’ll be sending a final posting a little while after returning home, when I get time to sit down & write it!
