Two weeks ago I went with a group of Peruvians and Americans from Larco Church to the region of Ancash in the Andes. Our purpose was to conduct a study and investigate the presence, influence and attitudes of people there towards the Church. We started our journey on the western side of the Andes near Huaraz, and later traveled to the other side of the Cordillera Blanca to the cites of Huari and Chavin as well as several other pueblos. The people group from this area are known as the Southern Conchucos, their main city is Huari which is at about 10,500 ft above sea level. Supposedly there are only 0.24% Evangelicals (about 700 total). The majority of the Roman Catholics (95% of the S.Conchucos) are cristo-pagan syncretistic. During our time there we took observations and talked to local folks in order to gather information. The week that we were there was during a festival so the towns were swollen with people and activity...we got to see some parades and costumes and all the folks in their best dress. We also went and met several missionaries of different evangelical denominations who are serving in the area.
I have to say that one of the most memorable experiences of the trip was a visit to a remote village outside of Chavin called Iscog. The pueblo is a few hours walking outside of the town and is only accessible by foot (or burro if your lucky). We started out from town accompanied by an caballero of 78 yrs of age...drunk as a skunk unfortunately but despite his age and condition (...ahem)he had no trouble with the terrain (unlike myself! I blame the altitude...) so we walked up up up the mountain passing through a few little stands of trees and homes with cuys (guinea pigs) and snotty nosed kids and drying hides. The valley was very dry and it has not rained there in months...a problem considering this is a herding and farming community. Eventually we reached the top and the school at Iscog but there was no one to be found at first except for a few curious kids who just wanted to play some ball with us. Everyone else was in the fields or with the animals. We had a young man who was wearing blue jeans and a graphic tee walking along and talking with us for a while. (Young people in the Sierra want to modernize and dress like Westerners...but they always stick out to me here because they are wearing rhinestone jeans and everyone else is in more traditional wear...often bright beautiful wool outfits for the ladies) Anyway eventually a man came down to talk with us for a while about the community and what they think they need. They have been desperately pleading for rain. We ended up in a circle...the Peruvians and Americans, even the snotty nosed kids. Everyone. We held hands and asked God to send rain. We asked in Spanish. We asked in English..and then we asked in Quechua too.
Wouldn't you know that once we left and started to walk back to town big fat drops started falling from the sky.
The same day we returned the interns boarded a bus for Ecuador to renew our visas. We stayed in Cuenca, Ecuador for a few days and also visited Cajas National Park (it hailed!!) before heading back across the border. It was a good time to rest and relax and get ready to go back to work. Although I have to say the 70+ hours in buses and combis over the past 2 weeks was starting to get to me!! :O If you want to see all my pictures you can always access them by by going to my Picasa albums.
