Peru 2012

 My husband and I had the chance to go to Peru with 30 BYU engineering students.  (April 23 - May 7) The students take two semesters to study world problems and find engineering solutions.  Our first projects took place in Matinga, a little village not too far from Cuzco.  This is one of our service projects.  The school asked us to prepare their green house.  Above is the before and below the after.  We removed lots of weeds, rocks, trash, glass, and brought in top soil.  The students will help plant and take care of the garden and the school will use the produce for school lunch.

 The cooking is done inside without ventilation so lung and heart problems develop as a result of smoke inhalation.  The students designed more efficient stoves that had better combustion to decrease the smoke.  This is an oven they are building for the school.  The challenge is to use affordable materials and to teach the villagers how to make and use these inventions.

 The oven team after completion.  With this oven, they will be able to bake bread for the whole school.  To primitive?  The school was given a beautiful three burner propane stove with to propane tanks and large pots.  It is sitting unused in the library because they can't afford to buy propane and they don't know how to use it.  They were excited to learn how to use the oven and even asked for the recipes we used to make the bread.

 The students jumped right in to make the adobe for several projects.

 See, you really can bake bread in a barrel.  It was delicious too.  We also made brownies and cookies.  (When I say "we," I do mean the students.  It's the "royal" we.)

 Working along with the villagers to make this stove and oven inside a families' kitchen.  Now he will teach others how to make their own.  He worked with our students for two days to build this.

 The stove team with their completed stove.  I got to help shuttle tools back and forth.

 I also got to go to all the classrooms and tell a story about, "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything."  Brandon and Sarah helped me.  Brandon was great to dramatically retell my story in Spanish.  We gave all the boys little matchbox/hotwheel cars and the girls made pipe cleaner bracelets, and received pencils.  We had so much fun playing soccer with them, braiding hair, painting fingernails, teaching them how to do "Cat's cradle" with string, making balloon animals, and just playing in between working on projects.

 This is one end of one families kitchen.  Those are guinea pigs.  They raise them and eat them.  Yes, we even ate guinea pig.  I can't say that any of us liked it very much...just in case you wanted to know...too many little bones.

 We had to shop for supplies in Cuzco.  We found all kinds of interesting things while looking.  Snakes in a bottle anyone?  We watched as one vendor make a poultice for a women using liquid from this bottle and other creepy things to help with arthritis.  I wonder if it really works.  It sure must stink if nothing else.

 Maybe you would like to make soup out of these.  We aren't sure what kind of animal that is but I hope I didn't have that for dinner somewhere on my journey.

 The school was given some computers by the government but they hadn't been able to figure out how to use them.  Our students figured it out and then taught the teachers so they could teach their students.

 The first day in Cuzco, they were celebrating the anniversary of their artisans market so we got to see lots of dancing and wonderful costumes.

 We even got to go to church in Cuzco.

 And, we were able to tour and hike around Machu Picchu.  It was so incredible.  Unfortunately we only had one day to sight see before getting back to work.

 Our next stop was Puno.  We worked for 4 days on the Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca.  Dora and Nelson were wonderful to host us all.  We loved the time we spent there.  Below, the students are teaching the people to build water filtration systems.  All their water comes straight from the lake...the same place all their waste goes...not a good combination.  There are many health problems as a result.  (The students built a filtration system last year for Nelson and Dora. Before the filtration system they had to have their children treated for parasites every few months.  Now they don't have that problem.  Others islanders reported the same results.  This time, they taught people how to make their own systems so they could build and maintain the systems on their own and we could reach so many more people.)

 The students also built a washing machine.  The women were excited to test it out.  All the washing in done by hand.  In the wintertime, that is an especially miserable experience since they can't help but get wet while doing it.  (The elevation is 13,500 feet above sea level.  It took some adjusting to be able to breath in that high altitude and the sun was intense during the day.  So easy to get sunburned.  Quite a few of us left our sunscreen behind for the children to use.)

 This is Emerson.  At age 6 he is a hand full but you couldn't help but love him.

 Emerson even gave me a ride around his island. (See the boat in the background?  His dad makes those for a living.

 I was usually surrounded by children.  We made things out of pipe cleaners, braided hair, painted fingernails, played duck, duck, goose. (pato, pato, gonzo), London bridges,Ring Around the Rosies, and anything else I could think of.  In this picture, I'm fixing "boo boo's" with triple antibiotic and "cars" and "mickey mouse" band aids.  It seemed like everyone needed a band aid after that.

We also built water pumps.  The islands have to be watered by hand in order to keep from drying out and splitting.  That gray pipe you see sticking up to the left in our group picture is the pump.  They were so excited to have one.  Other islanders made them for their islands too.

Life on the islands is hard.  They fish every day for food to eat. 

They islands are made out of reeds.  (Twice a year the reeds detach from the bottom of the lake and they use that as the base.  They have to move all the buildings and put more reeds underneath every two weeks.  They spend 4 days cutting the reeds.  No running water, no hot water, no bathrooms, not even a kitchen sink.  They had one solar panel that provided electricity for a couple light bulbs at night.  No heating, no air conditioning, no refridgeration.

We spent the night one night and it was freezing.  The ground was frozen in the morning.  I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful night sky than I did that night though.  So many stars and it was so quiet.

We had fried trout, rice, and potatoes that night for dinner with a mint tea to drink.  We had bread and eggs for breakfast in the morning.  It was such a fun experience.

I loved being with my husband and sharing this adventure with him.  I also loved all the students.  They worked hard and played hard.  We had a devotional every morning and night and I loved hearing what each of them had to say when it was their turn to give one.  Many of them were return missionaries who were able to practice their Spanish skills.  I don't know how we would have done it without them.  The students were gracious and loving and embraced the people we visited.  I hope we made a difference in the lives of those we tried to help.  I know that they made a difference in ours.  I would love to do it all again.

New York City... the last one!

After the Martha Stewart Show, we headed over to Totally Baked to eat lunch. Interesting presentation don't you think? Yum!
I met up with Brett and Eli at this point. They had just finished with the Empire State building. We headed to Wall Street. This is a church in the middle of New York. So historical and beautiful. It just seemed so out of place. We even walled through the church. It was like being in Europe.
Next was Ground Zero.
That is the before and plans for the after where the twin towers were.
A monument to those who fell giving service.
Pictures of all those who lost their lives. Isn't that incredible how many fire fighters/police officers fell? So sad. I was supposed to fly to Ohio on Sept. 11, 2001. I airport was shut down before I left for the airport. I flew 5 days later and got a blood clot as a result of flying. It was a week and a half later that I was hospitalized in intensive care for pulmonary emboli. I felt like I had a lucky escape from death. I can't think about 9-11 without thinking about my own close call.
The boys eating Falafels from a street vendor. They looked so good but I'd already had my baked potato.
Another pic of Eli.
Eli at the end of Wall street. We were on a hunt to find the bull.
Guess where we are now. Yep, Tiffany's looking at diamond rings. This sale women was so nice. She was telling us what to look for and what made Tiffany's cuts so brilliant and unique. That was actually fun.
We really got brave enough to check it all out.
Oh look, Eli found the bull. Kind of a gross shot. But not as bad as those girls who were reaching under the bull and ...I don't think I want to explain what they are taking pictures of.
Ahh, this is a better shot of the bull. Too bad he's not pulling his weight in the market these days.
On our way to find the David Letterman theatre. We were so disappointed that Dave wasn't taping his show while we were there.
My husband doesn't look too happy there. He was on stimulation overload by this point. We got around pretty well for rookies though I think.
Hey look, we found it. We also wanted to get something to eat in the Hello Deli but it was also closed. What's the deal with that Rupert?
Then it was off to Central Park.
Eli is saying, "take a picture of this." Nice!
Here we are in Central Park. Such a cool place.
The famous Tavern on the Green. We didn't have time to stop though because we were off to the Yankee's game.
Grant and I on the train.
Our seat at the game.
The Yankees and the White Socks.
A last look at Yankee Stadium. They are off to the new stadium across the street.
So, that pretty much it for the trip. It was so much fun. Thanks Candice, Mark, Grant, and Cole for helping us have a great time. We miss you.

I did get to go to some of the fabric, trim stores. I found a few things I couldn't resist at Tinsel Trading. I also got some great paper lanterns for Halloween from China Town. We even did a little clothes shopping. Eli and I now have clothes from New York City. Wooo hoo!

New York City Continued

I give up. I tried to download all the rest of the NY trip but the computer has crashed once and now it won't let me upload any more pictures. Arrrrgggg! Any who, this was the last game at Yankee stadium. We sat in the back row. This wall was right behind us. They were to move to the new stadium after this game. The Yankees beat the White Sock 9-1.
This is Cole. He loved being at the game. At one point he start waving his index finger and saying, "I want one of these." Candice finally figured out that he wanted one of those foam thingeys you put on your hand that indicate that we are number 1. He loved it and even slept with it for a few nights. He also tried it on his foot for awhile. He is so funny. I have more pictures that will have to wait til I can get things working again.
Here are Grant and Cole riding the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty.
See it over there?
We are exciting to embark on this next adventure.
Looking back at the city. The ferry was packed!
Oh look, we are almost there.
Resting on the wall while listening to the audio tour of the Statue of Liberty.
Isn't she beautiful?
Eli and the view of NY from the island.
Eli and the Statue.
I love all my beautiful children. Mark what is that look you are giving me.
Coley loving his papa.
We think the president or some other big wig flew around Lady Liberty. You should have seen the military and presidential helicopters flying around. I didn't think to take a pic of that.

Looking up into the Statue of Liberty. Too bad they don't let you go up there anymore.
We were pretty worn out by the time we headed home. We also toured Ellis Island.
For Grant's birthday we went to Max Brennen's for dinner. Yum....chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate for dinner. and dessert. If you haven't been there, you need to try it.
Grant blowing out his birthday candle. Grant was baptized earlier in the day but I didn't get any pictures before the baptism because of was in the kitchen with Sarah and Emily preparing food for the luncheon afterwards.
Eli had to have a slice of famous New York Pizza before he went back to Utah.