Onward to Arequipa, the Ancient City of Caral, and the Castle of Chancay

16 July 2017

Onward - Project Arequipa Soup Kitchens

Around the world, charitable donations are sometimes diverted and sold off by greedy people. Our job is to make sure that what we donate actually makes it to the poor. Part of this involves labeling what we give as being a "donation".

We spent time this week preparing our donation to help the soup kitchen project in Arequipa. This meant that the 225 blenders and 900 large pots for our donation were labeled to help protect them from theft and help ensure they are used by those we intended. (Click here for the link to the story about the Arequipa soup kitchen project.)

Blending the Fun

Three of us went to the warehouse of Saga Falabella, a large department store chain, to label the blenders we purchased for this donation. We then spent several hours opening every one of the 225 blender boxes, applying special metal labels stating that they were a donation, then sealing them back up.

Sandy, Marshall, and Jose labeling 225 blenders in the warehouse. Labeling is key to protecting donations and helping to ensure they are used for the intended purposes.

Blenders being donated to the soup kitchens - a quality donation designed to work for years to come in the Arequipa region. We are helping 225 soup kitchens with donations designed to help improve the nutrition levels of food provided at Government-sponsored soup kitchens that serve the poor.

We applied metallic labels to the base of each blender, plus labels on each box, to help protect from theft and misuse. Although thieves could remove the labels, most are afraid to get caught with products that bear any label identifying where they came from, especially if it is a donation they have no right to sell.

We were pooped when we finally finished the job.- 225 blenders and cartons labeled in 3-1/2 hours.

Pots for the Poor

Later, we visited the plant where they are manufacturing the 900 pots for our donation to the soup kitchens. The manufacturer is stamping each pot with the donation logo. Again, this process of labeling is mostly intended to help ensure no one along the way subverts the donation and tries to resell it for personal gain.

In the pot factory with one of the 10-gallon pots being donated. We are donating 450 of the 10-gallon pots and 450 of the 5-gallon pots.

Stick-on labels do not work for pots and pans. We had the pot factory actually stamp the donation information onto the bottom of each pot.

Close-up of the stamped-on donation identification. We had to work with the manufacturer on where to put the stamp because, as seen here, part of the labeling was ruined in the manufacturing process. We decided to stamp the pots after each one was finished rather than before.

Oldest of the Old - Caral Pyramids and Archaeological Site

On our day off, we made the long journey from Lima to Caral, the oldest urban center in the Americas. Built 5,000 years ago, Caral is as old as the pyramids of Egypt. The site with its pyramids was intentionally covered with earth and rocks before being abandoned. Thus, the site slept undiscovered for the next 4,000 years until it was rediscovered in the 1940s.

Caral, site of the oldest urban center in the Americas, includes over a dozen temple pyramids that are still being uncovered.

Pyramids where everywhere in the complex, most of which were as tall as 5- and 6-story buildings. Most of the locals thought they were just naturally occurring hills. Imagine the surprise when archaeologists dug into the hills and found more than a dozen stone pyramids.

Archaeologists continue to uncover the pyramids, a job that has been ongoing since the 1940s 

This civilization predates all others in the Americas, and later groups trace their ancestry back to Caral. The Caral complex is a UNESCO world heritage site (one of 11 in Peru, including Machu Picchu), and it is visited by people from around the world.

'Circle of the Eternal Fire' at the 'Great Pyramid', one of a dozen pyramid temples at the site.

Passageway leading up onto a pyramid. Note how all the stones on the outside walls were flattened and covered with stucco. Some of the original yellow stucco is still shown near the bottom.

Incredibly, as the civilization was in its last days, the inhabitants combined their efforts to cover all the temple pyramids with many tons of dirt and rocks to hide them. This shot shows a staircase that has been excavated while the rest of the pyramid remains hidden. Before the discovery, everyone thought the pyramids were just dirt hills.

The pyramids were hidden by the last inhabitants of the site under tons of dirt and rocks. 

We and another couple hired a van to drive us the 4 hours to get to the site. The site was really hard to get into with an awful dirt road for the final 15 miles, which included having to drive through a wide river (with no bridge).

Senior missionaries Ivan and Ramona Jones from Portland joined us for this journey to this ancient site. Just getting to this remote site was an exhausting experience.

The Caral Valley is extremely fertile. Just a mile from the desolate pyramid site are lush and green fields now growing passion fruit, sugar cane, and other produce. We stopped next to a field of towering sugar cane for a photo.

Fields of sugar cane in the Caral Valley.

Castle of Chancay

On the return trip from Caral on our day off, we stopped near the ocean to visit the castle of Chancay. Built in the 1930s by a rich family from Lima, this castle is a re-creation, designed to look like an ancient castle from Europe.

Chancay Castle, home to a rich family from Lima about 80 years ago.

Chancay Castle, located about 2-hours north of Lima, was abandoned by the owners after they decided to return to Lima to live. It stayed empty for about 30 years but has now been restored as a museum and entertainment center to draw the crowds from Lima.

The castle, built in the 1930s, was recently restored after years of abandonment. It is hard to imagine a castle like this in Peru.

The castle was built on cliffs overlooking the ocean with spectacular views.

Down below the castle, we saw a group of pelicans following a fishing boat, awaiting the treat they hoped to receive as the fishermen cleaned out their catch of fish.

Pelicans waiting for a handout.

As part of the castle experience, we got to try out the throne seats. For just a few moments, we felt like royalty!

Throne chairs at Castle Chancay

Sad News - Lima Bus Crash

A few months back we took a double-decker bus tour to the top of a steep hill overlooking Lima. This week, one of those same buses was coming down the narrow, twisting road, traveling too fast, and flipped over the guard rail, killing 9 and injuring 40 more.

News photo of the bus crash - the same tour of Lima we took just a few months back.

Security video of the accident showed all the people on the top deck being thrown out of the bus as it tipped over the railing, and then they were crushed when it landed on them. We count ourselves fortunate that we were not on that bus, and we mourn those that died.

Apple Pie in Peru

Peruvians love apple pie. They pronounce 'pie' just like we do. However, they spell it differently - 'pye'. The reason for that is that the English spelling of pie is pronounced as 'pee-EH' in Spanish, which means 'foot'. Who wants to eat a foot?

'Pye Manzana' - Peruvian apple pie. 'Pie' or 'pye' is pronounced the same in both languages.

Our blog - Too many disasters?

Our daughter Chelsea wrote to us this week with something that made us laugh:

"We pray for your safety from earthquakes, floods, water shortages, steamy jungle bug diseases, and freezing llama-killing snowstorms in your Andes winters."

Oops! We hope we aren't playing up too much of the challenges and dangers of living here in Peru. We love our mission. It is actually lots of fun, but lots of hard work at the same time.


And so our weekend diversion comes to an end and we return on Monday to the work that often consumes us.