Bebebino's Baptism

Last weekend, I went to Bebebino's baptism cos Luciano and Rossmary were godparents. It was pretty interesting since I've never been to a Catholic baptism before. Bebebino is a kid that the family has known since he was born... I think his real name is Josue.

Part of the job of godparents is to buy new clothes and the cake... so we dropped the cake off before the baptism and took some photos... here's Diana, Bebebino, me and Javier.



We then headed over to the church, where I found out that there was going to be a wedding, baptism and first communion... all on the same day! It all seemed very low key, the bride walked in and there wasn't even music playing, she just sorta appeared at the front!



The parents and the godparents help to baptize the child and I think they make some promises and light a candle. It was all over pretty quickly.



Everyone then headed to Bebebino's place to eat and drink. To thank the godparents, the parents gave them 2 chickens and 4 guinea pigs... we ended up eating meat all weekend...! Here's Luciano and Rossmary with their present...

Entre Amigas

About a year ago, Stacey and Cynthia (SIM USA missos) started a group for girls from the churches here in Abancay who got pregnant but weren't married. It's a cool time for the girls to encourage one another, talk about mum/baby stuff, pray, do craft... I've been going along to play with the babies...! They're all about 1 and are SO cute. It's also been a good opportunity to get to know some of the girls.

Last weekend, we went on a day trip... and had a fun time hanging out.


And this little one... people keep thinking she's my kid...

Pray for the mums and their babies... more like toddlers...!

Choquequirao

I set off on Saturday morning for Choquequirao with 5 other missionaries from Diospi Suyana (a predominantly German hospital in Curahuasi which is about 2 hours from Abancay).


In 2004, I went with the Baptist church here in Abancay to the same ruins, it's a 3 day hike from Cachora and I thought I was going to die but this time, we had 6 mules, so we didn't have to carry our stuff, so I figured it would be fine.


The first day we hiked 10 k's down the mountain to the river, crossed and then hiked another 7 k's to the campsite. The view was awesome... I love the Andes.



The next morning, we woke up early and hiked to Choquequirao. The ruins are similar to Machu Picchu, with way less tourists.

The Incans built these cities as centres for religion and culture, they're pretty interesting, especially since Choquequirao continues to be excavated.


They say it's only at about 60% at the moment. It's pretty amazing how much the ruins have changed since 2004!


It was fun looking around and imagining what it would have been like as a city!


It was pretty cool. After a couple of hours, we started heading back. It's amazing how long it takes to go up and down a mountain, it's pretty steep (unlike Oz)!

My toes were starting to hurt even though I had good shoes and socks. The last time I went to Choquequirao, both my big toenails fell off and by 2k's from the river, I was in pain with every step. So lucky we had the mules, so I got on one of the mules for the rest of the way down the mountain and to the next campsite. When we got to the campsite, I took off my shoes... and... someone accidentally stepped on my toe...

OUCH! And my toe started bleeding, lucky I was with 4 nurses! They bandaged me up and that was it for walking and I had to ride a mule all the way back. Now my toenail is all black and is gonna fall off again...

Besides a squashed toe, it was a pretty cool trip and I got back safely even though my toenail wasn't so lucky.

So I guess no more hiking trips for me just yet... just Spanish. Things are going well with the family and also with Haydee my language helper... I think I'm improving, it's hard to tell but my family thinks so cos I can make jokes in Spanish that are actually funny. I guess that's a good sign?