When the Goshen College students arrived in Lima and emerged from the airport about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, they were greeted with exceedingly rare summertime raindrops. It almost never rains in Lima, where the average yearly rainfall is less than 2 inches (and what moisture accumulates comes mostly from fog). Friday afternoon, we had a few more sprinkles and we even saw a rainbow as the host families were picking up the students – another rare sight in Lima. We’ll take those as signs our students will have a very special time in Peru!
Posing for a group photo at the Ovalo Gutierrez were (front row, left to right) Maria, Gina, Aimee, Natalie, Neal, April and (back row, left to right) Malaina, Gretchen, Dean, Caleb, Derek, Jake, Jackson, Jonathan and Thomas.
On their first full day in Peru, after a breakfast of coffee and tamales at the Miraflores House hostel, the group walked to the Ovalo Gutierrez, a big traffic circle and central location for businesses in the Miraflores and San Isidro districts. The students posed for the traditional first-day group photo and exchanged money. Then we walked on to Casa Goshen.
Jake checks out the rocky beach. In the background: high-rise apartment buildings in the Miraflores district.
The morning included introductions, worship time and working through the Orientation Handbook with Peru SST Co-Directors Judy Weaver and Richard Aguirre. At lunch time, we strolled to a beachside park, just a few blocks from Casa Goshen. We descended a path from the top of the cliff to take in the magnificence of the Pacific Ocean. Then we climbed back up to the park to enjoy a picnic lunch and some activities to get to know each other better. It was a hot, sunny day and a few of the students looked a little rosier when they returned to Casa Goshen.
Some of the bounty available in Peru.
In the afternoon, Alicia Taipe Tello, who cooks lunches for the group twice a week, gave us a delicious fruit-tasting demonstration. Afterward, Richard gave an illustrated presentation about Peru’s gastronomy. Then our Lima study coordinator, Celia Vasquez, talked with us about how to manage Lima’s sprawling public transportation system and taught us how to greet people, Peruvian style. Celia helped prepare the students for meeting their host families on Friday.
Aimee and Gina try to eat despite the presence of a persistent photographer.
Alicia made us a delicious dinner of chicken, rice and vegetables, with mango-passion fruit juice. Finally, students received their first assignments and a big pile of books and headed back to the hostel for the night. It was a fun and rewarding day.
– By Judy Weaver
Posing for a group photo at the Ovalo Gutierrez were (front row, left to right) Maria, Gina, Aimee, Natalie, Neal, April and (back row, left to right) Malaina, Gretchen, Dean, Caleb, Derek, Jake, Jackson, Jonathan and Thomas.Students get acquainted with the lovely courtyard of the Santa Maria Reina Catholic Church.Peru SST Co-Director Judy Weaver leads the students to Casa Goshen.Students gaze up at the fourth-floor apartment which houses Casa Goshen.Students take a break on the balcony of Casa Goshen.A view of the Pacific Ocean looking toward the Miraflores, Barranco and Chorrillos districts of Lima.Students take in the magnificence of the Pacific Ocean.Students seemed entranced by the Pacific Ocean.Jake checks out the rocky beach. In the background: high-rise apartment buildings in the Miraflores district.A tiny crab washed ashore on the rocky coastline.Maria and Aimee enjoy the view. Also on the beach: Gretchen, Thomas, Neal and Jonathan.Gretchen, Aimee and Jonathan return to the malecon (beachside park) after visiting the beach. Caleb, Malaina, April and (backs to camera) Jake and Gretchen discover their commonalities and differences.Aimee, Natalie, Jonathan, Derek and Jackson discuss their commonalities and differences.Tom, Gina, Maria, Dean and Neal discuss their commonalities and differences.Peru SST Co-Director Judy Weaver leads students in a game in which they quickly repeat each others’ names.Peru SST Co-Director Judy Weaver leads students in a name game. In the foreground, Judy and Aimee play the game.Malaina and Caleb quickly repeat each other’s names.Caleb and Jake play the name game along with Natalie (back to camera) and Malaina (view blocked by Natalie).Maria and Gina share a laugh with Natalie (back to camera).Thomas and Aimee repeat their names quickly. To the right of Thomas is Dean.The selection of delicious fruit students enjoyed during orientation along with an explanation of the delicacies by Alicia Taipe Tello.Some of the bounty available in Peru.Malaina, April and Neal enjoy new exotic fruit.Natalie and Maria try some fruit.Derek enjoys new flavors.Thomas and Jake eat unfamiliar fruit.Aimee and Gina try to eat despite the presence of a persistent photographer.Alicia Taipe Tello explains how to eat a granadilla, an orange egg-shaped fruit filled with tasty seeds in a gelatinous pulp.Dean enjoys the tasty seeds and gelatinous pulp of a granadilla.Derek, Gretchen, Jackson and Caleb dig into a delicious dinner prepared by Alicia Taipe Tello. On the menu: oven-baked chicken, rice, broccoli and Russian beet salad.April and Neal savor their first dinner in Peru.
