Taquile Island and Local Collaboration

Welcome to Taquile Island....a 3 hour boat ride from Puno. Our friend, Dra. Paula, is a young dentist who goes to the island once a month as a volunteer to give dental care at their Puesto de Salud. Her friend, Hugo, is the local physician there. It is the first dental care they have received, so you can imagine how busy she is. Our dental team in March will be spending two days here to help.

It is an island that reminds us of Greece and the Middle East. There are no cars, no dogs, no electricity (except solar panels), no running water. There is an abundance of sheep, gardens, preserved local Quechua culture, and friendly smiles.

On Taquile the women all spin yarn and the men knit. The men use 4-5 very small needles to create the finely knit gorgeous hats they all wear. The hats that are all red signify they are married, if they are both red and white, they are single and available!

We came with a group of young professional women with whom we are collaborating.

Wilma is a dynamo presenter; here on nutritional needs of infants and toddlers.

We are so pleased to have met these young women who are also collaborating with our Methodist healthcare educational training.

They are so bright, fun, and well-received by both the men and women on Taquile.

Wilma's audience....mothers who have walked from various parts of the island. Although initially very shy, they gradually opened up. Very conservative traditions persist on Taquile. Women generally walk behind husbands, sit at the feet of their husbands at public gatherings, and do not have much of a voice. Things are gradually changing.

Although tourists come here daily from Puno, very few stay the night. The dental team of John Kriz and Jill/Dave Wagers will have the opportunity to stay overnight with us in March and work with Dra. Paula and Dr. Hugo. Here is where we will stay....definitely not a 3-star, but an opportunity to experience their life here.

As we passed these three children laden with the greens they were taking to their sheep, a little voice said in clear English..."Welcome to Taquile." The oldest girl on the right was learning English in school and was eager to practice.

We appreciate having the time to meet so many people. We are learning so much from them...little pearls of wisdom dropped in our path.

Under yet another arch before our departure back to Puno. Paola, the dentist, is in the white jacket; Velma, the biologist, is in the white hat; Wilma, the nutritionist, is in the green sweater, and Lucy, coordinator of "Junto" collaborative women's training program is in the blue jacket. Those of you joining us on teams from Boise FUMC will probably meet some of these well-trained, kind-hearted, and dedicated women.

They are a blessing!

Yes, we too have been having a lot of rain....thankfully without the flooding that is in Cusco.

The kids did not seem to mind a bit!

Successful visit to the Frontera

We have just returned from three days visiting communities and Methodist Churches on the far northeastern side of Lake Titicaca, literally a stone's throw from Bolivia. Gorgeous part of the lake! Not easily accessible, and we were some of the first Gringo visitors they had ever received.

It was a five hour drive through challenging terrain on even more challenging roads. Much like the back roads of the Owyhees outside of Boise. Unfortunately (or fortunately) you can not see that off to the left the swift little river we forded becomes a little waterfall!

Thank heavens we have a 4 x 4! Scott did a great job at getting us all there and back safely. As always, we ended up with a car full of lively passengers, including Venancio and Yessica's happy little baby, Christian.

Yes, Peru is having unusually heavy rains right now, and cold temperatures. The road went on and on and on to reach the communities we visited. We were miles from nowhere, but in some gorgeous wild country. We weren't too sure how deep some of the many ponds and washouts were going to be until we plowed through. A few merited scouting.

Local mode of communication!

Florentino and Venancio raising the flag so that all of the villagers living in the valley could see we had arrived and it was time to gather at the church. Other communities used a huge megaphone or sound sysltem to broadcast the news we had arrived.

Pastor Florentino has energized his church and gotten them very enthused about the healthcare project. They were full of great questions.

Here he proudly displays the Spanish Healthwise Handbook- La salud en casa: Guia Practica de Healthwise we are using for the base of our training of the Promotores de Salud, community healthcare workers. Our thanks to our friends, Jim, Marty and Steve for making its use possible! When appropriate we are also using parts of Where There is No Doctor.

Doing a community assessment outside of Talile- We are so excited to have things moving forward. We have 7 Promotores de Salud confirmed to begin training in early March, with more expected to enroll in the next few weeks. After our initial training, they will continue their training and work with local doctors and nurses at their regional medical outposts. The response from the local doctors and nurses has been very positive, and we are very pleased with the collaborative network that is growing.

Bev doing an example of the healthcare education sessions that the Promotores de Salud will soon be doing. Subject of the day.....handwashing and germs. There is no word for "bacteria" in Aymara since they can not see it, so she had to do a lot of vivid and convincing presentations.

Unfortunately many of the people are too used to only getting free handouts of medicines by groups that come periodically. They are having to learn that we are doing things differently.

"Es mejor ensenar pescar que dar un pescado.....it is better to teach to fish than to give a fish." Some of them are starting to get it.

Happy New Year 2010!.

The first two weeks of 2010 have had a few memorable moments. First, was watching Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl long distance with my brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Mary Ann. Doug put his laptop in front of his TV, turned up the volume, and we Skyped for three hours and shared the evening with them. Technology!

With our Peruvian carne de extranjeria (long-term visa) we are able to leave Peru. We were able to go to Bolivia last week and meet with church leaders and begin our preparations for the Bolivian side of this Peru/Bolivia Lake Titicaca Border Mission. We especially enjoyed spending time with the Funk family....John and Suzanne (and their two sons) have been Methodist missionaries in southeast Bolivia for 3 years. They are currently in La Paz for 6 months serving as Methodist National Volunteer Coordinators. We learned more about Skype from their son Jeffrey....he was playing Chinese Checkers long distance with his grandpa when we arrived at their house for dinner!

This car is being blessed in front of the large cathedral in Copacabana, Bolivia. It is a riot to watch....the grand finale is to pour wine or beer over them! Our car had been so excited about the same, but yet another hurdle confronted us at the border....they refused to let our car leave Peru, so we had to find someone to park it with for a few days at the little town nearby. Sadly, our car will probably never be blessed in Copacabana....they require a permit AND a sizeable deposit to take our Peruvian car out of Peru. Total cost each time would be $250 PLUS a sizeable deposit. It is going to make it much harder to get people out to some of the more of remote villages of Bolivia, but we're working on that.

I must share that this mission is turning more international than we had dreamed possible. We met with a group of Cuban ophthalmologists who have been working in Copacabana for 3 years. The office management was pretty unsure of us at first; but when we met with two doctors, one of them turned out to be Methodist! He is a general practitioner and is very interested in working with us.

This is a possible Rotary project site outside of Puno in the beautiful little valley of Jayllihuaya (good luck with pronunciation!). It has a perfect climate for growing flowers and vegetables. It is a proposed literacy/economic development project which has a lot of potential but needs some more work to get it all organized. We met with leaders and members of the community (and a few dogs) to get their input.












An agronomist has experimented with this ornamental flower greenhouse and has developed a successful business and model for them. They were gorgeous and of couse Bev came home with some!

I leave you with good news....three Methodist representatives from General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) from New York were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. One of them, Clint Rabb, is a friend who trained us as Individual Volunteers in Mission. We are currently awaiting more details, but know that they were in a hotel that was destroyed, and the last we heard two were able to get out and were working at rescuing the third. All are thankfully alive.

More good news....Cammeo Medici, a delightful young 23 year-old from Iowa, arrived yesterday. She will be living and working with us here for 6 months. Her energy is very welcomed!

P.S. I must edit to add some very sad news for us ....two of the three Methodist leaders from General Board of Global Minisitries (GBGM) have died as a result of the Haiti earthquake. One of them was Clint, the other Sam Dixon, the Executive of United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), ironically the mission branch which responds to emergencies like this. They had been trapped for over 50 hours, and although they were able to evacuate Clint to Florida, he did not survive. Please keep their families and friends in your thoughts and prayers.

More information is available on the GBGM website. We have appreciated that GBGM has done well at keeping all of us volunteering around the globe for the Methodist Church up to date with the news they received. It leaves you feeling very vulnerable, so far away and without your normal infrastructure of medical and emergency support we take for granted in the U.S.

Fishing on Peru Coast

Welcome to Lucho's fishing school. What a patient guy. Tucked under his right arm is his handheld fishing tool....no rods or poles for these guys!

You circle your weighted line overhead and toss it out into the surf.


"You're going to catch a big one!!" he reassured us.

We explored some of the Peruvian coast south of Lima for two days with Liz and Lucho after Christmas. We had a lot to learn about fishing Peruvian style.

First we had to find our bait, "muy muy." We had to compete with all of the seabirds that also think that muy muy is quite delicious. They use their long beaks to dig into the sand where the muy muy are hiding.

We, on the other hand, used long nets to dig down into the sand and used the surf to wash the sand out.

Which left these little wiggly "muy muy", which look like beetles, in the net. You then bait your two hooks on your weighted line. Yum!

The handheld wooden tools with the line wrapped around them are a more refined version of what we, and some of you, have seen on the Mexican coast.

A big one? Well.....the next day fishing from a boat Bev was happy to catch anything!"

We spent the night in Pucusana, a quaint little fishing town with a unique feature. At the end of town there is a little beach where the ocean passes through a natural tunnel in the rock bluff. See the opening in the back that looks like a door that passes through?

Swoosh!! Very impressive and powerful, especially to watch from above at night in the dark.

Feliz Navidad, Lima

Oh dahling.....don't you just love Christmas shopping??

Are you kidding?

We had to drive to Lima to retrieve our long term visas, carnets de extranjeria, so took advantage of the timing to spend time sight-seeing enroute. We visited a national reserve on the Bellista Islands and Paracas. We also stayed in Nazca and took a flight to seee the 500 year old mysterious line drawings (HUGE!) in the desert sands. These guys were having a delightfully lazy day on the Bellista Islands. There were also an amazing amount of birds...penquins, pelicans and different kinds of terns.

The Bellista Islands are called the poor man's Galapagos, well worth a visit and they ARE much cheaper than the Galapagos Islands.

We celebrated a very festive Christmas Eve in Lima with Liz and Lucho Nakagawa and various family members, including Lucho's 93 year old mother, who is a remarkable woman. We ate a huge turkey dinner between 10:00 and 11:30 p.m., followed by a midnight street party complete with fireworks.

Hmmmm.....a not so subtle statement of what is happening to Christmas?

Tired, but happy Christmas Eve participants.

A Special Day with Puno Rotary Club

Just when we were feeling a little sorry for ourselves and missing family and friends during the Christmas season, we were sent a reminder of how blessed we are!

We went with the Puno Rotarians and their wives for an afternoon at one of the most impressive orphanages we have ever seen. There are approximately 35 girls who have been given a second chance at life under the supportive guidance of three very lively nuns. The girls have not only a loving home, they receive education, counselling and occupational training. What impressed us the most was the poise and confidence they have developed in this environment. They each stood up and shared a few words....more than we could have done with such grace in front of adults at their ages! They were captivated by our being from the United States, and wanted to learn some English....so here is Bev teaching them "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." We would love to garner support for these dedicated and talented nuns, as well as these young women who are becoming empowered to support themselves and give back to their communities!

Trekking in the Colca Canyon

Driving anywhere from Puno provides pastoral views and experiences with herds of alpacas, sheep, cattle, and an occasional vicuna, which is the smallest and most delicate of the llama/alpaca family. We saw many on our way west to the Colca Canyon. The shepherds are always close by, while the guard dogs seem to hang by the road. We thought they were posted there to keep the herd from wandering onto the roads. Turns out they are not that well-trained, they are simply waiting for motorists to throw them food.

Precious faces!

The Colca Canyon is said to be the deepest canyon in the world, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. After hiking down (way down), along, then back up.....I believe them!

It is also known for its soaring condors; poor guys have no muscles to fly. They have to hang out until they can catch a ride on an updraft.

No.....these are just local chickens where we stayed at Roy's place. How Quechua or Spanish is that? The condors were too far away for my camera.

In the town of Chivay they were having their annual dance festival. Outstanding costumes! While sick Bev hung out in the bathroom, Scott met the locals.

A couple of canyon views. We had a great guide for 4 days. He was born in the canyon, but left at the age of 11 for more education. When he pointed out his village high on a ledge down in the canyon, we knew why he was in such good shape. The remote villages were fascinating-tough people! The only mode of travel is by foot or mule. To climb out of the canyon they usually travel during the night to avoid the heat. We could watch their single lights climbing the canyon walls.

View down to the Colca River