¡Arequipa!

After a rough entry in to the city we are getting used to our new surroundings. We flew in Tuesday, a rather painless travel experience, considering. Again, the gracious Peruvians at the airport came through, looking past what could have been at least $100 in fees for extra weight (requirements are tight within country) and charging us nothing. When the plane landed in the tiny Arequipa airport, we first took our time getting all of our baby gear (and baby) off, not realizing that there was only 20 minutes before it was scheduled to take off again. We hurried out the door and across the jetway, and were almost inside when we realized I had left the camera on board. I ran back but was stopped by a guard who was not impressed by my begging in broken Spanish. He finally got his boss and I was able to retrieve the camera just before they closed the door.

Our new best friends, Bob and Noel Rich picked us up at the airport and took us to their place where we are now living (they have a guest apartment below their own). They are missionaries who have been in Arequipa for 40 years! We got in contact with them because they are from one of our supporting churches, Cherrydale Baptist Church, in Arlington. Noel actually went to Wakefield High (where I taught), so she reminisced, and there we were in Arequipa, Peru, singing the Wakefield Warriors fight song. Anyway, they have been incredibly helpful to us, providing this apartment, getting us oriented, taking us grocery shopping, and bringing us a doctor. We had both been suffering from a bit of what Laura´s East Asia friends call ¨Big D¨ (diarrhea), par for the course as American travelers, but it was taking a turn for the worse when we reached Arequipa. We both were wiped out Tuesday night, though Laura graciously put up a good fight until Noah went to bed. Various effects of the offending parasites kept us up most of the night, and I was still feeling terrible in the morning, when the doctor came. He prescribed some good medicine and rehydration, and thankfully today we are both back at (almost) 100%. But wow, when you´re down and out like that, you don´t want any part of another culture or language or ministry or anything. Nothing like a stomach bug to make you long for 1st world comforts. At the same time, I can´t help but look back and think of how much I do have here. For so many people here, there´s no respite from an illness like that. There´s no doctor to come, no medicine to relieve, no family or hosts to assist, and certainly no imagined American care to dream of. Lord, let these trials make us thankful, and mindful of those with greater suffering.

Alright, the ¨long-winded blog¨ alarm just went off, so I´ll call it a day. Today we explored the city, so I´ll have to post pictures later. ¡Ciao!