Day 8 - Peru 2014 - Tourist Day and Time to go home.

Day 8 in Peru. 

Time to be tourist. 

But before we do that...

A picture of me at my blogging station last night.  

You can see I'm hunched over...that's because I was seeing double at times.  Quite tired.  : ) 

Another picture of our blog. 

Not sure why we are taking these pictures, but Colin asked me to put it on the blog, so here it is. : ) 

After a great night of sharing positive comments about each other we awoke at 7 am ready to face the day as tourist. 

We all donned our Peru Jerseys.  Comes in handy on a day like today.  Helps us keep track of everyone.  

We read your wonderful comments again and then I made some announcements about the day, and then a short devotion on reentry into Canada and how we can be a neighbour to anyone we come into contact with back at home.  

We ended our time in a group prayer.  

Time for a team picture with our Jersey's on.  

Our better sides.  : ) 

Peru group.  

Ottawa group and "strays" as someone mentioned. : ) 

Time for breakfast.  The final meal at our retreat centre. 

The group socializing.  

We gave gifts to Carlos and his cooking crew. 

The food was excellent all week long and we really enjoyed his explanations of the foods we ate. 

Don't ask me to tell you though. 

I honestly can't remember. : ) 

Some of our crew being goofy again.  

After breakfast it was time to pack up our stuff and put our luggage on the bus.  We left a pile of cloths at the retreat centre.  They will find good homes for people at Gamaliel church and other places that the nuns support.    

We loaded the buses and traveled downtown to the city centre.  

We spent 20 minutes in the open courtyard that has a fountain and nice flowers.  Time for some good picture.  

Seems like these girls were afraid of getting lost so they held hands as they walked.  

The 3 amigo's.  

Hey, who took that picture.  

It was nice to get to know you Andrew BTW. 

Your a pretty neat guy...even if you are a di hard Leafs fan. 

Gigi with Sarah and I.  

hmmmm,  reminds me of a picture of Mina in between Ben and John a bit ago. : ) 

Daniela sharing a moment with Julia and Sheldon. 

Daniela was an amazing interpreter for us.  Julia and Sheldon are the best of friends.  Neat to see.  

Hey Ben.....

picture intruder.....

A great shots of good friends.  

Great smiles Mina and Daniela.  

Colin and Sheldon. 

Thanks for taking WAY more pictures Colin.  : ) 

Sarah and I.  I thought I was smiling for this picture, but I guess not.  

From left to right...Samantha, Lucy, Tobie, Ben and Annette B.  They all had a blast on this trip.  Good for the family to share this Learning Opportunity together as well. 

Father Martin, with daughter Marsha. 

I think Martin had a good experience in Peru. 

I saw his humorous side a great many times this week.  

We soon began walking to the church called San Francisco based on the saint names Francis.  The catacombs are there as well.   

Another flower picture for those of you who like those sorts of things.  : ) 

We arrive at the church, ready to take a tour. 

From left to right...Dianne, George, Julia and Steve K. Another family unit (I'm doing my best dear to get family groupings, but you don't know how tired I am.  : )  Simply forgot to do that.  

We wait in the sitting area for our tour to begin.  The first group went in fairly quickly for an English tour with a not so great English speaker.  Too bad.  I was part of the second tour, and after 20 minutes I asked Gigi what was taking so long, because we did have a schedule to keep.  I discovered that it would be another 20 minutes for another English tour, so Gigi became our interpreter and we did a Spanish/English tour.  

Sorry, no picture taking allowed, but the tour was good (I've done it before) and the catacombs are cool, for most people.  : ) 

While we were waiting, Gigi noticed my somewhat larger feet than her feet.  She wanted a picture.  

After the tour we waited for our buses. 

On the buses and on our way to Lunch. 

Here you see our luggage packed in the back, with more under us in the baggage compartment.  

It is still tiring being a tourist, as we can see from Robert.  

We arrived at Mira Flores, where we were to have lunch.  On the ocean and not far from where Erin and Pepe live. 

Off the bus and time to walk to the mall. 

Our shorter bus always arrives earlier than the long bus.  Our driver is amazing. 

Confident and fast and its like driving in the indy 500 every day. I have complete confidence in his driving ability, even with the many close calls we have. 

Here is our group waiting for the other group to arrive. 

Gigi and Erin explain where we can eat and what time to be back by.  

Some of the group took this time to give gifts to our translators as well.  Well deserved.  

Then it was time for lunch.  

I guess this was to show how big the burger was??? I wasn't there.  : ) 

Pasta dish with a beer. 

Sarah and I shared a meal with Erin and Pepe and Sandy, Cheryl, Simon and Miranda T (another family unit that came on this trip).  

I had roast beef with mashed potatoes and rice, and then shared some food from the others because they were full, and then had dessert, with a beer and Inca Cola chaser.  : ) 

After lunch some of the group gave Erin and Pepe some baby gifts.  No Erin, you have to wait until the baby is born before you try the close on her.  :) 

Lunch was over by 3 pm and it was a short walk to our buses. 

A picture of our translators. 

From left to right (I do listen to you dear)  

Cynthia, Ines, Maria-Gracia, Gigi, Erin, Daniela, Pepe and Daniel.  Missing is Erika, as she sprained her ankle.  These translators were amazing.  

Can't say enough about them...so I won't.  : ) 

Next stop the Inca Market to get some souveniers.  We had 1 hour and 45 minutes to shop. 

Steve, did you buy up everything in the Market.  Wow!  :) 

Sheldon sharing a touching moment with some translators.  He's a sweet man. 

Sarah and I with Maria-Gracia. 

She is an amazing shopper.  

She helped Sarah and I get gifts for us (Sarah got a purse, blanket and necklace.  I got another sweater and another blanket because my wife keep stealing the one I got two years ago and my standard t-shirt.  We also got some items for you Katrina and Joycegina. Sorry Chris, we ran out of time for you, and you already have stuff from your previous trips).  

After the market it was time to eat again....I wasn't too hungry as we just ate a couple of hours earlier.  

Sergio and Genesis were able to join us. 

His church made a small gift for everyone on the team.  

A small picture in plastic. 

Sweet.  

Genesis helped hand them out to everyone.  

We ate at the same chicken place as last year. 

The food is good, and the Inca Cola Amazing.  : ) 

Basic Chicken and Fries.  

I'm sitting with Sergio and visiting. 

After dinner it was time to say good-bye to some of our translators.  Martin and Maria-Gracia saying goodbye.  

More good bye hugs.  

Even a few tears I think. 

Chris, our resident photographer (and Colin too). 

Thanks Chris for all the pictures you took.  I think we have about 4000 ish to go through now to whittle down. Should be fun as many of the pictures are good ones. : ) 

Sheila saying her good-byes to Sergio.  

I'm still smiling...but I think my brain is fried.  : ) 

Next stop the airport.  Plane departure time is 10:35 pm

Should be at the airport about 2.5 - 3 hours early.  Just in case. Well, we left the chicken place at 6:45 pm and arrive at the airport at 8: 15 pm.  1.5 hour to go not that far.  I've never seen traffic so bad on the roads. Literal grid lock.  Even our driver was frustrated, but he did his best to maneuver through traffic.  I was in the front seat enjoying the ride, but getting stressed that the group might miss their flight.  

Upon arrival everyone packed their purchases in their carry on or checked luggage and formed the line to get their tickets. 

Hey Mina, you look stressed.  : )

After check in, we moved to the secure area (well, not that secure as I found out 4 years ago) and then to the line that we could go no further on.  I hugged everyone good-bye, as did Sarah and the translators who came and Erin and Pepe, and before you knew it, we were alone. 

A strange feeling. 

The team is now flying home and by the time many of you read this blog entry, they will be safely in Newark N.J. awaiting their connect to Montreal/Ottawa. 

Pray for a safe connection for ALL of them. 

Please welcome them all back with open arms and hearts ready to listen to the passion and excitement in their hearts as they share the joys, struggles, challenges and God moments of this Learning Opportunity. 

It's been fun to blog the trip once again, though I'd be lying if I didn't say I didn't want to go to bed rather than write it, but it provides a great memory for you all in real time, and for our team, and even for me. 

I'll re read the blog in a couple of weeks, and probably realize some things I didn't even remember typing. 

Thanks for all YOUR comments. 

Greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for all your prayers too. 

Tomorrow Sarah and I leave at 8:30 am and travel to visit with Keysi and Fernando, our compassion children. 

I'll blog that day as well. 

Feel free to read it, or not.  : ) 

Blessings to you all, and good night.