Full Circle

To start off I’ve gotta say sorry for the complete lack of blogging in the last 4 months, wow! Somehow, when being down here in S.A. crossed over from feeling like a “big trip” to feeling like my real life, the habit of blogging every week faded out.  But, for those of you who followed us along our journey all year and are now wondering where in the world we are, here’s what I am hoping is a better-late-than-never-update:

After a short, jam-packed 3 weeks at home in July, we boarded the plane back to Quito, this time accompanied by 16 other people, all members of my family’s church back home, University Lutheran. The 10 days we spent together working at For His Children were nothing short of amazing. Seeing everyone fall as in love with the kids as Renae and I had the year before was incredible, and we got to re-live the excitement of experiencing Ecuador for the first time all over again through them. We grew so much closer as a church community and the fact that my parents and sister Anna were a part of that was especially cool for me. It was sad to see them go after such a short time, but it felt beyond normal to send them off back to the states while staying down here ourselves. Back to the two scrubs working together, as usual without a plan as to what would come next…

Luckily for us, the volunteer coordinator at FHC Jen Schneider is beyond amazing, and welcomed us back to the orphanage once everyone left. We only planned on passing through, but got sucked in by those babies’ cute faces and a group of 4 awesome, college aged volunteers. Before we knew it 2 weeks had passed, even though our original question to Jen was, “Can we come stay for 1 night??” At the same time we found ourselves facing a surprisingly hard decision: to keep travelling or to use our flight back to the states that was coming up in a couple weeks? Both of us obviously wanted to continue the adventure, but what we were working with was a small lack of direction and a large lack of funds. We both felt called to go back to Cordoba, Argentina to continue where we left off, but maybe it would be smarter to head back to the states. We already had our 9 months to bop around, we didn’t really know how Cordoba round 2 would go, and maybe it was time to just get a little more serious. You know, grad school, a salaried job, boyfriends who spoke our same language, something like that?

Or not. Instead of dwelling on it for too long, we decided to trust our instincts, trust God, and were on a bus within a couple days. The second we walked into the city after 5 surprisingly fast days on the bus (new record for longest trip!), we knew we had made the right decision. I can’t quite explain my love for that city, but it’s real. We moved back into our foreign student house from before, met 6 more incredible, lifelong friends from all over the world, and were settled in before we knew it. We got the opportunity to teach an English class to a group of PhD biology students at the University, which was great (not to mention VERY different from teaching 20 1^st graders), and best of all got to go back to the community center to see the kids. I’m not kidding when I say I have had many of my happiest moments on that basketball court, surrounded by some of the most fun, loving, affectionate kids in the world. Being able to fulfill our promise to them that we would come back some day, and show them that they ARE worth it and ARE important to us alone was worth all the money spent and all those days sitting on a bus. I have a feeling that that group of kids will always be on my heart, and may have a lot to do with what I decide to do with my life in the future.

The initial Cordoba plan was to find paying jobs so we could post up there for another year or two, but after seeing just how bad the economy is right now we soon realized that just wasn’t going to happen. Definitely disappointing, but it is something that is out of our control, and at least we tried instead of always having to wonder what might have been. So once we gave in to that we decided just to enjoy our 2 months there a.m.a.p. (as much as possible?), since it’s impossible to know when we’ll be able to go back. We soaked up time with friends and with the kids, went to see Argentinean films, cooked elaborate dinners with the roomies every night (new sushi experts right here!), and got our fill of Mendoza wine. As our landlord said when it was time for us to leave, “a lo menos nadie puede decir que no vivieron esta vida”. “At least no one can say you didn’t live this life.” How true.  In a sense we were heading home after a failure, without jobs, savings just about spent, but we both felt the opposite was true. The people we met and the lessons we learned, especially about taking a risk when you feel like it’s right, are priceless.

So here I am, back at FHC in Quito, about to hop on a plane to North Dakota later tonight. I always said by the end of the trip I would know what I wanted to do with my life, what was next. But guess what? I’m farther from that than ever, and it feels really good. The possibilities are endless, and while it can be the slightest bit stressful not having an answer if you think about it too hard, it is mostly just really exciting. Grad school is an option, so is finding a new group of underprivileged kids to love up on back in the states. Or maybe we’ll just book a ticket to the next country once we have enough money? I hear you can make good money teaching English to refugees in the Middle East…

All I know is I feel like thee luckiest girl in the world to have had this last year, and all the experiences it’s held. Like unexplainably lucky. And although I think it’s going to be a very hard transition from a year spent on the continent that has slowly become my home, I can’t wait to see what comes next.

All my love,

Jenna Flynn

Sobrevivimos!

Well, here we are back in Lima! We survived our jungle adventure, which of course ended up being pretty freaking epic. Once we made it through one last night of incredibly sketchy Peruvian Andes busing (por fin!), we were able to relax a bit and let ourselves be dragged along by the slow-moving jungle culture. Not that you have a much of a choice but to go along with it; things out there happen when they happen, without any way to predict it, or hurry it along. Which as you can guess, doesn't bug us one bit. But it is like a whole nother world. A world filled with dusty huts covered in palm leaves, barefooted people, animal noises, crazy heat, and green as far as you can see. AKA about as opposite of North Dakota as you can get. 

We arrived in Yurimaguas, a small village right on the river, expecting to hop right on a boat to Iquitos, but were soon informed the boat had yet to arrive, and no one in town knew when it might. A day? 2 days? A week? No one seemed to agree on an answer, so we gave up on asking, found a hostel right by the river to post up in for an indefinite amount of time, and set out to explore the town. Yurimaguas doesn't have much of a reputation as a tourist town, but true to form we enjoyed it just the same, if not more. There aren't any sights to see, fancy shops, or many gringos coming through, but we felt like we got a taste of how the people really live their lives. We pushed our way through the big, bustling market, wandered the dusty streets, ate in whatever scrappy restaurants we could find (only 1 dead fly in the coffee), and even got to talk and have a snack at a family's house on the outskirts of town. Of course we had to make our way down to the port every couple of hours to check the status of the boat since the answer changed every single time we asked by at least 12 hours, but like I said you just gotta go with it.

FINALLY the men had the boat loaded and ready to leave, so we made our way to the top deck to string up our hammocks. The boat had 3 levels: the 1^st full of cargo, the 2^nd full of Peruvian families making the trek back home or to visit family, and the 3^rd made up mostly of travelers, some gringo backpackers and some South American crafts-makers. The next 3 days were about the most peaceful ones I've ever had. Some people may call it boring, I'd just say tranquila. The days' activities included card playing, bracelet making, reading, watching the jungle go by, listening to the Brazilians next to me play the guitar and harmonica, and best of all: hammock naps. The sunrises and sunsets were among the most gorgeous I have EVER seen, and we even spotted some pink river dolphins following along. It was damn close to magical, and I don't think I've ever been more content doing absolutely nothing. 

The city of Iquitos, however, has a bit of a different feel. It is the largest city in the world not accessible by roads, and after passing nothing but jungle and tiny riverside villages for 3 days, it took a little getting used to. It is big, loud, dirty, and busy. The roads are crammed with motorcycles and moto-taxis, and there are people everywhere, most of them shouting in your face about jungle tours. “100% of people who come here do them....” but unfortunately for us we were out of money, so a trek into the wilderness was out of the question. We still hung out for a few days before heading back to Lima, however, spending time with our new friends from the boat and doing our best to acclimate ourselves to the strange, sometimes dark-magic-feeling town. One day we got a boat tour through the floating shanty town Belen, sometimes called the “Venice of South America”. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was definitely entirely different from anything I have ever seen before. The shacks are small and dirty, some balanced precariously on stilts above the water, others just floating in it. There is a school and church but no stores or anything else, and nothing to connect them all together. No sewage system whatsoever, but tons of kids swimming in the river nonetheless. It was definitely a sight to see, but paying to get brought through to marvel at these people's normal lives made me feel a bit uncomfortable for the first time in a while. I can't imagine living my whole life out there on the water, and sometimes still can't believe the inequality in the world. 

The Belen market was also something to see. SO packed I could hardly believe it, both with people and with just about anything in the world you could think of to buy. Medicines and spices from the jungle, river fish as big as a person, reeking animal parts, snake skins, tons of fruits I've never even heard of before, even necklaces made from monkey teeth. We also went to the manatee refuge where we got to help feed orphaned baby manatees (SO cute), saw the zoo, and got to try lots of jungle cuisine, excluding big fat shishkabobbed grubs....

From Iquitos we had a short flight back to Lima, and here we are! Only 3 short days left of the trip, which we plan to do nothing with but watch the Mundial aka World Cup! How do I feel about going home so soon? It's hard to describe such a complicated feeling. I'm SO ready to see my family it's insane, so mainly I'm just excited to be with them. But am I ready for this year to be over? Not one bit. It really has been the absolute best. When I think all the way back to last October and how much I have learned and experienced since then, how many of my passions I've discovered, how many miles I've bussed, flown, and boated, how many people from how many countries I've met, I can hardly believe it! I am just crazily grateful to have had this year to grow, and am curious and excited to see where I end up from here. All I know is after a short month in the states spent loving up on fam and friends and trying to remember how to speak English to store owners, I'm coming right back. Let the adventures continue! 

THANK YOU, THANK YOU for being a part of it all,

Jenna Flynn

Inches from death... (just kidding, mom)

Thought I'd fill you in on the end of our time in the Andes, since we´re going to be off the map for the next couple days...

Well, yesterday we decided to visit the Pre-Inca, Chachapoyan city of Kuelap. Its kinda like an off-the-beaten-path Machu Picchu. One that we can afford. The city itself is completely amazing. Sitting on the top of a 9,000 foot tall peak, surrounded by green mountainsides, Kuelap is about 3 times the size of Machu Picchu (said someone in our tour group) and has the remainings of over 400 stone buildings inside its giant walls. Wow. SO glad we got to see something so beautiful, and for like 30 bucks for the both of us. Why is such a site so cheap to visit you ask? This is why...

 It´s a two and a half hour drive out there up and down unpaved mountain roads. The definition of gut-wrenching. On one side, you´re hugging the stone walls, where there are landslides covering half the road at times, and then the other is a straight drop, probably 3,000 feet, down the side of the mountain. I mean, nothing beats the view, but I was literally hyperventillating the whole time. Jenna and I sat in the front of the tour bus with the driver and he was making fun of us freaking out the entire time. He took his seat belt off half way through and said it was safer, so that "when the van starts to roll down, you can escape more easily". Only half kidding...? Mine didn´t work anyways. Jenna took hers off, just in case it wasn´t a joke. He said he has been driving that route almost every day for the last nine years. "You know you have thee most dangerous job in the world right?". "No, todo tranquilo!" (Everything´s easygoing... right.) On the way back down, he told me to honk the horn around curves so he could keep both hands on the wheel. It was probably overkill, but I honked it pretty much the whole time. Safety first, right? Holy shit. 

He did get us back safely though, with only a few near-collision encounters. Again, thanks, God. And now, we need God´s guidance some more... because we´re doing it again. We just bused an insanely curvy hour from Chachapoyas to Pedro Ruiz (sitting next to a Peruvian girl who literally threw up into a garbage bag...) and tonight we´re taking our last night bus of the trip (I think) to the port town of Yurimaguas. From there, we´ll hop on a boat, string up our hammocks, and spend the next 3 days drifting down the river in the Amazon River Basin. Pretty awesome. Well, as long as we don´t get Malaria....

Bring it on.

Nae

From an Internet Cafe in the Andes

We´ve been out of Lima for ten days now, and falling in love with more of Peru. Last Monday we overnight-bused 10 hours up the coast to a beach town called Huanchaco. Originally the plan was to stay 2, maybe 3 days, but the sunny beach and laid-back feel held us down for a week there. I can´t complain. Travelers, and a LOT of surfers, from all over the world head to Huanchaco to relax, catch some waves, and see the sites. The town is famous for its 20-ft long reed boats which line the beach, and you can even paddle one out on the ocean if you want. Jen and I didn´t try it because you apparently have to have “mucha fuerza”, a lot of strength, to do it. We did rent some surf boards though, and had fun getting tossed around by the ocean. The beach is divided by a long fishing dock: one side with waves for the pros, one side with waves beginners can handle. Fortunately, the beginner´s side is loaded with people who have never tried to surf in their lives, so Jenna and I could hold our own over there. We´re gettin it down. Slowly, but surely.

The best thing about the town was the collection of tourists it brought in that week. We met surfers and non-surfers from Germany, Poland, Bolivia, England… everywhere. Our best friends for the week included a 45-yr-old Australian on vacay, and some Israeli backpackers trekking South and Central America. The Israelis had just finished 5 years of mandatory army duty and were taking the year, as is common now, to travel the world. It was mind-blowing to hear about life as a 23-yr-old kid, being a military leader in charge of a platoon of men, fighting terrorism, and making decisions on million-dollar government projects. Just a little different than the life I´ve known…

At the end of the week, everyone had to continue on their journeys. Most to Brazil for the World Cup (SO jealous) and for us, deeper into Peru. We took another night bus 14 hours east, in towards the Andes. I slept all of an hour, maybe 2, as the bus turned around sharp mountain roads all night. We´ve bused the Andes quite a few times now, but the horror stories of Peruvian buses crashing down the mountainside kept me up for some reason… But, we didn´t crash to our deaths. Thanks, God. We made it 5,500 ft up to Chachapoyas. We scouted out an Alaskan-looking mountain lodge, and planned out how to make the most of the last few days in the Andes. The town itself is a site to see: loud and friendly people, crazy mumbled Spanish, and gorgeous views from every angle. The main draw of the town is that it’s a central drop-point to visit some of Peru´s less-tromped caverns, hikes, and archaeological sites. Yesterday, Jenna and I spent 6 hours hiking to the world´s 5^th tallest waterfall, Catarata Gocta. The hike was tough, but worth it. 

Well, I think we´ll be here in Chachapoyas another 2 days, see some more sites, and then bust into the jungle, should be an awesome way to end the trip.

It is SO starting to set in how close to the end we are...

19 days,

Renae

Falta Poco

Okay, gotta say sorry for the lack of blogging lately, but life really has been super normal up until recently! We were so busy with the kids, hanging out with the teachers, and helping out as much outside school as we could that we didn't really even notice the end of our time at MCS creeping up on us until it was time to say goodbye. But come it did, so Renae and I spent last Friday going around to all the classrooms and saying goodbye to all the kids and teachers. We had SUCH an awesome experience at the school; the only way to leave it was to promise to make it back again someday. It's starting to seem like we have been making that promise a lot lately.....

And true to form, our 7 weeks spent at MCS taught us more than we ever could have imagined. As you know we have learned some pretty important lessons throughout the course of the trip so far, not just about cultures and the world we live in, but about openness, generosity, and trusting in God's grand scheme for us (just to name a few). And we've come to realize that God really did know what he was doing when he brought us here to Lima. He has poco por poco, little by little, let us discover His lessons for us all year long, just to have them cemented in here at the school. Living with someone as open and caring as Natalie, and having such great mentors everywhere we turn, has been the perfect environment to jump in even further, opening ourselves up to what might come next, and to how we really want to live out our lives. It's hard to explain it well enough for you to understand just how great and eye-opening it's been, even this far in. But my time here will always be precious to me, that's for sure.

On a different note, we ran a 10k in the city this morning! And won.... NOT! But I gotta say it was a little easier than the last time we did it, probably because we weren't at an altitude of 9000 feet this time, so we did manage to shave about 10 minutes off our time from October. We finished in a little over an hour, then headed over to cheer people on as they reached the final stretch of the half and full marathons. Before running in Quito last fall, I had only ever done one race, which was the half marathon in Fargo. There, people line every street, clapping and cheering for you the WHOLE time, which helps keep you going more than anything. I just assumed that's how it was everywhere. But the races in both Quito and Lima have been almost entirely silent, with nothing but the masses of runners on the streets. How there are WAY more people out supporting in a city of 100,000 than in one of 11 million I have no idea, but it's true. So when we saw some of those marathoner's faces by the end, and knew from experience how much a little moral support could help at that point, we took it on as our job to cheer for every single one of them. About two hours and a couple hundred funny looks later we had to leave before we lost our voices, but it was super fun to see everyone go by, and we hope we managed to pump up a few of them at least a little. We may have been a little of a spectacle with our braided, ribbon-ed up hair and painted legs on top of our height and gringo-ness (apparently no one goes all out for races around here), but by now we're not used to fitting in anywhere anyways so it's all good.

Other recent highlights include a Mexican potluck with the other teachers, a trip to see the water fountain park, which is WAY cooler than it sounds and even holds a Guinness world record for tallest fountain geyser, shopping at the Indian market, helping out at a church youth carnival event, and finishing off every night with a good old pirated movie and some popcorn. Life has definitely been treating us well.

But as comfortable as we've been, and as close to the end of the trip as it feels with only 30 days left, we have decided to bust out one last big adventure. So tomorrow night we will hop on a bus and start the trek over to the JUNGLE, complete with time on the ocean, in the mountains, and 2 days on a boat down the Amazon. All we have to do is pull out our scrubby trail clothes from the bottom of the pile, put some wraps in our hair, finally pick our beloved packs back up, and off we go. Can't say what shape we'll be in when we get back to the states after this, or if we will still be able to claim being lice-free, but I couldn't be more excited. Like I said to Renae, “I feel WAY too normal to go back to the U.S. right now”. I know at least some of you are expecting crazy, unshaven, bug-bitten, bracelet-wearing, jungle adventurers to hop off that plane, so I guess we better do our best to meet those expectations.

Turning my cardigans in for trail pants,

Jenna Flynn

Lima from every angle

Ello mates! A few updates from your favorite S.A. backpackers...

First of all, we have adopted a full-time teacher's schedule here at MCS. We start at 9 am and run around all day, bopping in and out of classrooms. We are kind of like teachers on reserve. Ms. Renae and Ms. Jenna. At any moment we can be hunted down and told to teach an English lesson, proctor a test, or take over the 1^st grade class for an entire day. (Which we did last week when their teacher called in sick. We tried to teach some of the lessons, but mostly just had them color about 6 pictures. Hey, nobody died so I'd call it a win.) Then, after we get done with 7-yr-old crowd control at the end of the day, we walk home to work on teachers' requests: grading, posters, etc. At the end of the days we're pretty beat, but it is so great to be able to help out the staff there, and get to know and love up on the kids. It's going to be hard to leave Lima in two weeks.

Then, on Friday, we bused to one of the outskirt neighborhoods of Lima called Manchay. An

 organization called Kids Alive started an elementary school there, in one of the poorest parts of town, surrounded by shack-covered hills and dusty, desert streets. We were welcomed in and put to work in the 3 and 4-yr-old rooms for the day. We also got to meet the women of their education program for mothers. Ten local mothers, some as young as 16, are enrolled in a year-long program to be taught childcare, trades like sewing and jewelry-making, and religious education. The day was filled with new faces and, as usual, more discoveries about the broad and diverse need for help in this world. Yet another expansion of my heart, mind, and world-view and being blessed with another opportunity to reach out to God's people... I could never get bored of this.

On the weekends, we get to check out what Lima has to offer: the beaches, the markets, some museums, and, of course, THE FOOD. We toured the catacombs in the basement of an old cathedral and saw piles of skulls from the 1600's. We went body-boarding on a beach called Los Pulpos (The Octopi) where I almost got sucked out to sea during a no-swim advisory in 6-ft waves. Good thing I'm such a pro-athlete/swimmer and paddled back in-shore before I was lost to the Pacific forever. Also, we joined thousands of Peruvians in the main market in downtown Lima this weekend and pushed and shoved through blocks and blocks of vendors with everything from replica jerseys and pirated movies to medicinal herbs and llamas. Busting through, a man attempted to unzip Jenna's backpack and scout for valuables, but luckily we both noticed him immediately and were spared. I watched him step away and dip down an alley, knowing there was nothing in her bag to steal anyways. Sadly, that stuff actually happens, no ignoring it.

Foodwise, we've been pretty loyal to our popcorn-for-dinner-every-night regimen, except for when we explore the city and end up eating mollusks, cow intestine, or whatever else random thing we find to try. Also, why has no one ever told me how delish Arabic food is?! There is something very wrong with the fact that I hadn't tried it until a week ago. And I now understand the South American obsession with it. YUM.

 

In animal rescue news, we adopted another pet bird last week. A baby flycatcher named Benjamín. The first graders found him in the park and we took him home to give him some food for a few days until he would be able to fly. Unfortunately, the cat got to him before he took off. All I found was a pile of feathers and a mini chicken leg one day when I went outside. That makes my bird adoption track record 0 for 2. Maybe I need a new hobby?

R.I.P. Ben

I almost forgot, we also celebrated Easter here last weekend as well. On Thursday night we were invited by one of the MCS teachers to another one of the poor neighborhoods of Lima for an Easter play about the Resurrection. It was put on by the church under a big circus tent that they use for medical missions in the jungle. The second we got there, Jen and I were swarmed by the scrubby neighborhood kids and asked a million questions: Where are you from? Why is Jenna's hair yellow? How do you say “Pedro” in English?... We realized they were the neighborhood street-rats, with dirty clothes and no parents in sight. BUT they were adorable, so we kind of adopted them for the next 2 hours during the show. By the end, we each had one of the littlest ones on our laps. 3-yr-old Liliana, scared of one of the scenes in the play, came and sat on mine and fell asleep half-way through. Adorable. The show was good. The costumes and music were pretty comical, but the story was, of course, powerful. At the end, the kids rounded each other up and left to go to their scrappy houses. Jenna and I were sad we couldn't spend more time with them. It seems like every neighborhood could use some extra volunteers to love up on the kids who are left behind... Then for Easter Sunday we went to church and came home to make a big brunch and Skype our families. It was so good to see them, and my little sisters look way too old...

Well, I could go on about details and stories, but what is even more important to us right now has been an adventure that is not so easily-explainable. Our time in Lima has not been so much a physical journey, in the places we're seeing and things we're doing, but a mental one.  Along the trip, God has undoubtedly been changing our hearts, preparing us for this life. And with the trip heading into the final weeks, it is hard not to wonder what He has planned for us next. In the last 7 months, Jenna and I have been able to have deep conversations with people from every walk of life, collecting ideas and inspiration to help guide us. Now, working at MCS, we are surrounded by these amazing Christians all the time: a staff that does not hesitate to share their stories or to reach out and offer guidance to two young backpackers curious about the future. No doubt He is using some of them to help direct us toward something. I always tell God I am ready for the next thing. I will say yes to anything put in my path. Until then, I'll just hold on tight and enjoy every second of the ride. 

And as for making a real life plan, I figure I still have a couple more years before it's crunch-time...

 

51 more days as a Peruvian,

Nae