Day 5: August 9, 2006

Camp la Joya

Today was another day of work, although it was much easier than yesterday. All we had to do was put up the rebar for the cabin walls and haul away brush. The team has been dropping like flies as Montezuma has been making his rounds and taking his revenge.

In the evening we hosted a men's night, with worship, testimonies, games, and food. However, I was not a part of it, as me and Jamie were playing with the kids all evening. This was the most rewarding experience of the trip so far for me. The Peruvian kids are just so incredibly happy and energetic, and are not the least bit shy around us gringos from Canada. One of the boys tried to get me to go up to his sister (who was FAR younger than me) and ask, "A kiss, my love?" For obvious reasons I refused, although I found it rather amusing. I think that I learned more Spanish attempting to talk with the kids than I have all trip. We even got a 3-on-3 soccer game going, and us Canadians (me and Jamie) were clearly outclassed. It just struck me how happy these kids are, even though they come from poor families and probably have few toys except for a soccer ball.

After that we joined the others, who were sitting around talking with the Peruvian men. They made up nicknames for some of us, with Newman being "King Kong" and Anton being "Jackie Chan". Jamie was "Mike Tyson". Once again it was another awesome day in Peru.