Hasta Pachas

Come along with me on a trip to Pachas, one of the Quechua villages that held the 5th in a series of 5 workshops on the Women of the Bible this past weekend. We'll take the Bensons' truck, pack the back full of supplies for the workshop and the following graduation day, and drive about 6 hours out into the countryside. The road will be bouncy and the other drivers will be unpredictable, but around every curve will be breathtaking views of the hills and valleys of the Andes.

Now we're traveling from up from about 6,000 to around 11,000 feet. The air is getting thinner and it's chilly all day long, unless you're standing directly in the sun. We slow down for herds of sheep and goats, as well as the occasional donkey. This one has an albino baby!

Now that we've reached Pachas, we're driving up to the church, unloading all of our stuff, and parking the truck down by one of the participants homes near the plaza. Every town in Peru has a central plaza, or town square, and this one happens to have a bell tower too.


We are staying the next few nights in these rooms on the church property. The trainers are getting together tonight to adjust their lesson plans, to account for the absence of their leader hasn't been able to make it due to her late-stage pregnancy.

I am having fun reconnecting with Kayla, my 8 year-old friend, whose mom is on the teaching team. We are playing with my camera and telling Bible stories. Her mom has done a great job training her, because when Í try and translate what Jesus says from English to Spanish, she always has a correction for me. She remembers the Bible verse and my translations aren't that great yet!

Tomorrow morning, we'll all get up as soon as the sun rises, and start the first day of the workshop. But for now, it's time to snuggle under layers of wool blankets and get some sleep.