A Trip to Canete

Erick and Lacy came to the house this week and gave us some cute cupcakes Lacy had made.  She is a really good baker. We've enjoyed her cakes and cupcakes but Curt's favorite is definitely her apple pie. We really enjoyed visiting with them and learned a lot about some of the sights to see while in Peru.  

Decorated with a yummy soft marshmallow fondant. 

Aren't they adorable!

  

We traveled to Canete for a 3 day young single adult  (JAS) conference.  We were scheduled to leave at 7 a.m. and left just before 8:30.  Typical.

This week Peru was celebrating their Independence Day.  This is the military marching through Nasca as we were waiting to load the bus.  The crowds were out in full force!  Prices were hiked up for busses, taxis, restaurants etc though the weekend.

Since we were just standing around waiting, I was able to practice a little Spanish at my pace - very slow!

 I don't know if you can tell from the picture but ... trafic was crazy!

There is no rushing when a bus is passing a marching band.

We rode the bus to Ica and bought tickets for the next leg of the journey.  We bought our tickets and then found out the young adults had gone off to find snacks and didn't get their tickets purchased in time so they had to take the next bus - "We're their leaders!  Which way did they go?!?!"  
The two bus rides were about 6 hours and there are no bathrooms on the buses so water intake is carefully monitored!

We finally made it to Canete.  Now we just had to wait for the other bus to get there.

We got there a little late but they'd saved us some food and we were ready to eat and enjoy the conference. 

This is the JAS at the Thursday night activity starting off the conference.

The Myers (the other senior couple in the mission) gave a little presentation on manners.  Curt translated for Sister Myers.  He told her, "you say what you want to say, and I'll say what I want to say."  The hotels and hospitajes were full because of the holidays.  The Myers were kind enought to share their home with us and feed us and listen to us snore! Good people!

This is a pizza Curt and I had ordered in Nasca last week.  Yes, that's a hot dog topping (they called it sausage).

This is more like it!  We ate real pizza in Canete and it wasn't as expensive either!

On one of the days, we were going to Lunahuana, it's about an hour drive up the mountain from Canete.  The JAS had rented a bus and were going to pick us up near the Myers home on their way through.  Guess what?  They forgot us!  "We're their leaders!  Which way did they go?!"

We ended up with a very young driver in our van.  He was egged on by some of the passengers to cut some time off the trip.  He would pass a half dozen cars at a time on blind curves!  I believe he thought one of the pedals had to be pressed to the floor at all times for the car to run.  It went something like this:  smash the gas pedal - drive in the wrong lane until we were almost at a speed bump, hit the brakes - bounce over and hit the gas again, only swerve back over in the right lane when something bigger than our van was passing!  Am I exaggerating?  Maybe a  little but I was crazy car sick by the time we got there.  I was sure all those religious ornaments he had hanging from his dashboard weren't going to be enough for all the evil thoughts I was sending his way!

After the van, we jumped on a moto to find the JAS.  Four adults don't fit very well.

Traffic was stopped so we got out and walked the rest of the way.

Some of the JAS waiting for their lunch to arrive.

Beautiful river, and a cool breeze, I could have sat there for hours. 

This area offers ziplines rafting, shopping and horseback riding.  The horses were tied at the picnic tables.  It's not the first time we've experienced eating near the corrals!

Curt and President Otsuka hamming it up.

Snapped a picture of Curt on the hanging bridge.  Their were little vendors on both sides of the bridge selling honey, fruit, games, toys, grilled meat, etc. 

I was very grateful for a front seat, fresh air and a better driver on the way back to Canete!

Back in Canete, all cleaned up and ready for some dancing.

Two sets of our sweet Elders (Larricilla/Romero - Nasca & Gastello/Gonzales - Vista Alegre) were transfered out of our zone this week.  President has more missionaries returning home than coming into the mission so there are areas that are having to close for now.  That leaves lots more for the Sisters to do.  Here they are studying the Nasca map.  We (the Sisters and I - not Curt) decided that sometimes, waterproof mascara is a blessing while you're on a mission.  Some days are just hard!

Accompanying the Hermanas.  Agusto is the young men's president.  His conversion story of being contacted in the streets by the missionaries is pretty motivating.

We almost made it through the week without anything breaking but on Sunday evening - our lock wouldn't work!  If I stood close to the house, I got some internet service so I skyped Virgil and Mari while we were locked outside waiting.

Curt called Meko again.  They went up and Curt scaled the wall, dropped through some rebar around the grape arbor and finally was able to get in.  His shirt and pants look like they will make a full recovery!