Tour of Duty

I would love to write more often, but the computer is pretty full. Most of the team likes to use the computer at night, and none of them appears interested in using it in the wee hours of the morning. I decided this was the best time to get uninterrupted computer time, and time to update all of you.

So yesterday was a "trip" day. We started the day by visiting the farms that Nester´s team has been working on: Cooie (guinea pigs that are used as food), dairy, and snail. The snail farm will be ready for production in two weeks, which is only one year from the time they started the project. They have many buyers in Europe, so they will get lots of sustained income. The cooie farm already has a major buyer who has contracted to buy 9,000 cooies a month (they currently have 940). They also have many other buyers that are trying to buy them, at even higher prices, but they are honoring their contract with the one individual since it´s good, sustained business. The dairy farm is currently producing 1,000 Soles of milk each day (around $300 USD), and it is only 70% production. They bought 50 cows at $3,000 each (US), and they were all pregnant. There are MANY baby calves running around! The farm looks very professional. It is hard to believe it has only been a year in the works.

After the tour, we had lunch at a restaurant that serves Canan ceviche, or lizard ceviche. No, I didn´t try that one. Unsure of how good a lizard would taste cooked in lime juice. Doesn´t sound too appealing to me.

After lunch, we visited Huaca de la Luna (not Walk-A-De Luna as I previously thought). Huaca means "temple," so this was the Temple of the Moon. On the other mountain is Huaca de la Sol, but they haven´t gotten very far with that excavation. It was very cool to listen to the guide talk about the ancient culture.

Uh oh, someone just showed up to use the internet. Let´s see how much longer I have before I get kicked off...

After the tour, we went to Mike and Danell´s house and then went into Trujillo to visit the town center and the market. I bought Anabel a jean outfit (pants and jacket) for 58 Soles, a purse, a mirror, a brush that has a mirror on the back, some hair adornments (a variety), and a small beaded purse. Oh, and some socks. I think I spent close to 100 Soles that day, as I only have about 70 Soles now. It should be enough for the rest of the trip. If not, Esaiah has money he hasn´t spent yet. I also have $100 I haven´t converted yet. We´ll see how much is left after I shop on Wednesday. I still would like to find a doll for Anabel.

When I talked to Danell, she said it is completely fine to do what Debra did. We just need to do it in private, in Anabel´s home. I plan to do this on Thursday or Friday.

After shopping, we went back to Mike´s house and Glen and I helped Mike fix his computer. Mike seemed happy about that. They also had Loys and Theresa over and few other guests. Later in the evening, Nester and his wife showed up. I was so happy to see him and finally get to meet him. It was wonderful to tell his wife (cannot remember her name), that I was Livonia's spouse. Her eyes lit up, much like everyone else´s eyes, when I mention her name. It still amazes me how much people adore my wife. I talked to Nester a lot about the work he´s doing at the farm and with the women on the needlework. I bought a genuine alpaca sweater for my wife that was only 90 Soles; much different than what she had to pay in Cusco last year. I hope she likes it. It is a lighter brown sweater, and she looks so good in brown. The ladies say it is nice.

Okay, I´m being asked to get off the computer, so I need to go. Please pray about my lesson today. I´m a little nervous, but I know God will make it exactly what it needs to be!