A day at the beach

I don't know why it never occured to me that being closer to the equator means closer to the sun. Not only is it hotter, but you can burn easier too. Lesson learned. My feet resemble lobsters, and my poor sweet baby has a tiny bit of a burn on his arms. Luckily, I'm definitely the worst off, and baby's sunburn should heal in a day or two.

I've heard that Peru has some incredible beaches and definitely wanted to check them out, especially since it is hot. We decided that today was the day! We were going to adventure out to find the beach! So a taxi, convi, and long walk later we found ourselves at the water!... except, this place was NOT for swimming. I wish I had taken a picture. tons of fishing boats and big barges, and two men peeing into the water. Not quite what I was expecting. We went to a little sit down shady area with benches and sat down, debating what to do. There was a cute older couple sitting next to us and we struck up a conversation. Within minutes we had adopted them as our Peruvian grandparents. They were the Sweetest!! They had just had their 50th wedding anniversary. They were originally from Chiclayo, but currently lived in Lima, but were here visiting their daughter (who married a frenchman) and their grandchild (a little girl). They told us how to get to a quiet little beach that not many people know about, and accompanied us to the van to get there! We got all their information and may hopefully be able to see them later in Lima. Also, I am pretty sure our meeting them was divine intervention. Heavenly Father is looking out for us, even in the little things. I feel extremely blessed.

Eventually we got to the beach, and had it all to ourselves! It was the most perfect little town. When we arrived everyone in town was eating lunch together. Like, literally everyone! We made our way through town and down to the beach and got quickly into the wonderful cold ocean water. It was glorious! Especially since it was easily 95 degrees out. and this is considered their winter. and people were in long sleeves and jeans. and i have never sweat as much as I have in the past 4 weeks of being in South America.

William was NOT a fan of the water. It was too cold for his tastes and every time we dipped his little toes in he would cry and I would have to give him some serious cuddles to make it ok. Once, a big wave splashed him and he wouldn't calm down till I breastfed him. lol my little sweetheart. Bradley has it on video, so hopefully we can post some of our adventures soon 

 Side note about this swimsuit. I forgot to bring a swimsuit! Then, where we first stayed, when I realized how hot it was and that I DEFINITELY wanted to go to the beach, I went looking for a suit. But it's supposedly winter here, so there were only super overpriced swimsuits in the mall! I had just about given up when we went to the supermarket to get food, and they just happened to have a swimsuit, in my size, for the equivalent of only $3! Score!

 

Mama needs a pedicure, but this view was perfect

Lima, and lots of pictures!

We spent this past weekend in Lima! It was sooo much cooler there. Didn't even need a fan. A nice little break from the heat. Missed our friends from up North though!

Lima is pretty. The beach is absolutely gorgeous. It doesn't have a ton of access, but it's got this road that runs right next to it for a while that is pretty awesome :)
We spent one of our days at this mall in the very expensive part of town. We had some great food, and just enjoyed the view for awhile.

Please ignore my messy hair and lack of make-up. Doing my hair and make-up just takes too much time, especially when I know it won't last in this humidity.

So one thing about developing countries is that the homes are usually still in the process of being built. Families will literally build brick by brick. When they get money, they put it into building their home, something tangible, as opposed to a savings account. When they have an influx of money, they build another row of bricks. Due to this slow building process, the roofs are made out of moveable material. Most roofs are made out of tin in the cities, and then some are made out of wood and mud, and others out of woven palm leaves.

Lima is a lot more developed than most places here. A lot of taller apartment buildings for housing. It also has a beautiful LDS temple! We were fortunate enough to stay in temple housing, where I had my first hot shower, and night in air conditioning in weeks. It felt a little surreal to be in such a calm and comfortable place. It was very peaceful.
The next 2 nights we stayed in a hotel, it was right next to one of the big malls, a church, and several parks. I'm fairly certain William is going through another growth spurt cause I am ALWAYS hungry, so I was grateful to have a burger king across the street.Also, there were ceramic St. Bernards in pretty much every park. not exactly sure why.

 William has a newfound love of grabbing anything that comes anywhere close to him! None of my food is safe anymore. He really wants to start eating soon. But the little mister is just gonna have to wait at least another month and a half. I'm pretty dang strict on the nothing but milk till 6 months rule. Especially in a country where the water isn't safe to drink. William has also discovered that when he smiles at someone they will almost always smile back, so he will stare at someone till they look at him and then smile really big. It's adorable. So glad to have my little travel buddy with me!

Piura

This is literally the hottest I have ever been. No joke. We are talkin well up into the 90's with tons of humidity and no chance for a/c and only having fans at the mall and church. William is rocking it by sleeping through the hottest part of the day, and I am just sweating. Constantly sweating. If you can handle the heat though, it's a beautiful place. This city is bigger than Chiclayo, and has a lot more paved roads. We are staying with a super sweet family :) everyone has been so kind to us here. I havn't spent a ton of time with everyone here though as yesterday was spent fighting a bout of Mastitis, a really really fun thing to go through in the heat let me tell you ;) on the bright side I was able to sweat out the worst of it last night. Today is for recovery and I think we will go to the market to get some sweet relief by hanging out in A/C in a couple stores. I think we will go after a Liahona meeting with a local church leader here.
Today is Bradley and my 3rd wedding anniversary!!! We have decided that it is far too hot to celebrate now, and will celebrate in a week when we are in Cusco.

Family cuddles cause the kid won't sleep alone

Don't have a mosquito net big enough for the whole bed? No problem! 

This kid just loves making friends!

More Naptimes

my handsome boys

One thing I have not talked enough about but will have AT LEAST one whole post about is the food. ohmygoodness, the food here is AMAZING!!!! I can't wait till I can try to recreate some of these dishes at home. Some highlights have included Cuban rice (Fried eggs, fried banana, and rice), Milagros (A fried breaded chicken, with a great white sauce, and rice), this drink made of oatmeal or quinoa that is possibly the best breakfast ever and helps keep my milk supply up for the little mister, the best burger of my life, and a peruvian/chinese mashup rice dish that was crazy good! I should have taken pictures, but I was always so excited that I would forget. I've always been a bit picky, but the only time I struggled with liking the food was the first day, and that was due to my stomach struggling to adjust to a new diet and all the travel.

What we are doing here

So Bradley and I are here in south America for two reasons, 1 is helping Liahona Children's Foundation, http://www.liahonachildren.org/#/home  where we are training area coordinators, setting up new areas, and most of all screening children for malnutrition. our second reason is that we are doing projects with BYU, we are evaluating the organization, and surveying the mothers in the program in a few areas.

Last night we had our first screening here. It was pretty rough. Both Bradley and I have a lot of kinks to work out in what we are doing, but I think we will be able to make the adjustments and do some serious good here. Another hard part is seeing these malnourished children. I feel for them so much. I can tell how badly these mothers would love to have healthy, well nourished children, but they don't have the resources. It breaks my heart. I am so grateful to have such a healthy, strong baby boy.

The screening was chaotic. i have trouble understanding the language to begin with, but it was really discouraging realizing how much I have to learn. It was worse too because I would get frustrated and it would be harder to remember the words. I need to work on that.

Bradley was also frustrated because speaking and writing are different and he struggled with translating the survey into Spanish, and it needs a lot of work. Thank goodness for this test run!

It's only been a week tomorrow, and I already feel like I've changed. I will never be the same person again. And that is probably a good thing.

Earlier in the day we went to a fantastic museum here! First time seeing another tourist, and also first time having A/C since getting here. 

After the screening we decided to chill for a bit before dinner and go to one of the many gorgeous parks here with Rocio's family. 

Oh and did I mention that my baby is 4 months old??? How is time going by so fast?!

Peru, the first weekend

Wow. I am actually here. In Peru. It took a lot of hard work and A LOT of faith to get here. Bringing along an almost 4 month old baby was a big decision. But one I am now glad we made. He LOVES traveling. I am pretty sure we birthed an angel instead of a baby. seriously. We were traveling for 24 hours, with three flights, two of which were  around six hours with a six hour layover between. The kid slept, smiled or ate during all of the flying time. We did have one blowout incident right as the second flight was taking off, but it was easy to clean.
My first time struggling with the language was in the airport of Lima. I was looking forward to a cold salad from Subway cause it was HOT at the airport, and I'd had William strapped to me with a Moby wrap to get through customs and all of that. I ended up accidentally asking for hot mustard on my salad instead of vinegar. it was very very spicy. I didn't end up eating all of it cause I couldn't handle the spice.
One of the coolest things about traveling in Peru is that it feels like anyone who comes though the airport is a celebrity! There are tons of people waiting to greet every person arriving! They are also the friendliest people I have met. I adore the people here already so much and it has only been a few days.
We are staying with a couple here in Peru right now who are just amazing! They have been married for three months, live in the city, and have been the best hosts!
On our first night they immediately greeted us and had another LDS member who had a cab come meet us at the airport. My first experience with traffic in Peru was exhilarating! I realized I am definitely not in Utah anymore. Also, I will never complain about bad utah drivers again. I am sooo glad I do not have to drive here. Most of the roads in the city are dirt, and have a ton of potholes. Trash is burned in the street here. and Pedestrians most certainly do not have the right of way. But I think of driving like being on a roller coaster and it makes it fun ;) I'm going to try and get a good video of what it is like being in a mototaxi going through the city soon.
Our first day was a whirlwind. I woke up excited to explore the new surroundings. We went to the market (for shoes), the supermarket (for food), spent time with our Rocio's family who are very sweet and fun, went to the beach for the sunset (one of the best sunsets of my life), and then attempted to go to see the avengers in theatre but it was sold out!!! Such a fun and crazy day. William LOVED it all, and especially loved all the attention from the girls in Rocio's family. he is a little flirt.
Our second day we were able to go to church. It was at 8 in the morning. Everyone was so sweet and talked to us asking us about William. They love how bald he is lol. I think he had at least 50 people rub his head. Also, it is super hot and humid here! Like Houston but without A/C. the church building has A/C but they don't turn it on cause it is too cold for them when they have never really had it before. We napped long and hard after lunch and a shower after church, called our parents to assure them that we were alive and well, then spent the evening chatting with Roberto and Rocio.
Today has been fairly laid back so far, which is good cause my body is finally adjusting to the food and not in the best way ;) but we are doing well. Starting to get some work done and going to the park in the city today.
The next post should have some pics and possibly videos :)