Walking with the Washburns

Valley of Volcanoes

 

The flight to Arequipa went well. It was only an hour or so, so the kids did not have any problems. Hannah even fell asleep for a short while. The views from the flight were pretty incredible.
Lots of mountain ranges and desert. As a matter of fact Arequipa is smack right in the middle of the desert. It is very dry and dusty here - which makes it nearly impossible to keep the kids clean. I have virtually given up on keeping them presentable. They constantly have black little toes, knees, and faces. Oh well :)

 

Arequipa is located in the Valley of Volcanoes (approximately 80 in total within the valley). Arequipa itself is surrounded by three volcanoes - at least one of which is ACTIVE. Yes, you read that correctly - it is active. As a matter of fact we had another earthquake a few days ago but apparently we did not notice it. That seems a little crazy to say. Caleb really enjoys the fact that we are right next to a volcano. He constantly talks about how it is going to explode and smoke - well we hope not son :). The last time there was an explosion was quite a long time ago (1600s? I believe). Apparently it smokes quite often but we are pretty safe.

 

The town of Arequipa is so radically different from Lima. There is no daylight savings time here so to us the days appear to start earlier and end earlier than normal. We are living in the SIM guest house here in Arequipa. The kids are enjoying sleeping in the same room together - which  is a first. It is going pretty well but they are getting a lot less sleep, which has made for grumpy children. In addition to this Caleb is sick. Please pray the rest of us stay healthy and he gets better soon.

 

We are slowly adjusting to a different way of life here. Groceries are not as accessible and getting to the store has been a little more difficult since our luggage with our stroller and baby carrier has not made it in yet. We  are not really sure currently where our luggage is - somewhere in the desert between Lima and Arequipa. One of our fellow missionary friends offered to bring it with him to Arequipa, but he has had some mechanical issues with his vehicles and so has been delayed. This has been slightly emotionally taxing on all of us I think. Please pray that it gets in, as well for our friends who are bringing it here - that they may get here safely.

Our internet is not as fast here either. So I am not sure if you will see many pictures from us while we are here. I am about to try and upload a couple.

 

Currently we are trying to find a more permanent place to live, which is proving to be a much more difficult and time-consuming adventure than we expected. Thank goodness John speaks a good deal of Spanish or we would be completely lost. We are also going to try and contact a doctor here today - of course this is all in Spanish as well. I think our brains( or should I say John's brain since he is doing most of the dirty work here) are fried :) We are certainly thankful to have the help of our SIM friends here...things would be very difficult without their help! Oh, and by the way it looks like I will be having a natural delivery whether I want to or not as it appears epidurals are not offered here. Oh nuts..good thing it is my third baby.

 

Our hope is to have our luggage, an apartment, and furniture before the baby arrives. Not sure if it is possible but a girl can dream right? :)

 

Pray for us as we are all feeling a little worn out both physically and emotionally this week.

It bugs me to see such poor quality in these photos - oh well.