Pilgrimage To Peru: DAY 6

Sunday started off with the church bells tolling a half-hour, quarter-hour and on the hour before each mass (3 this morning and 1 this evening). After a breakfast of pancakes, we attended the 11:30 children’s mass. As we entered, Sr. Gloria was front and centre with her mike and everyone was standing and singing, clapping and just filling their hearts with joy (I’m sure that this helps the smaller kids settle down for the actual mass too). This went on for a good 10-15 minutes. After mass the scholarship children were invited to come to the front and get their picture taken in their uniforms. There must have been over 150 children!! Denis, Charles and Lucie, and Joan, were meeting their sponsored children for the first time and they came over to the house for more pictures and gifts.

We had lunch in a nice restaurant where everyone got to try some Peruvian Sangria. The wine was a Malbec/Merlot, the mix was a small bottle of cream soda, and the bottom of the jug was a layer of canned mixed fruit!! – enjoyed by everyone.

We returned to the house and packed bags for the nursery school kids. The bags were made from donated material brought down by us. We gave yardage to Sr. Maria’s sister, Lydia, a seamstress, and she came the next day with a couple of dozen bags sewn up! Each packed bag consists of crayons, play dough, a puzzle, colouring book, story book, top and shorts, white socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, small towel and a toy – 25 full bags in total. We now have to find a BIG bag to put all these bags in, together with a dozen more of each item (extras) and get them to Jorge at Caritas Lima to distribute in El Agustino!! We hope we can be there when the kids receive them, but not sure if we will have time next weekend.

We gathered a number of items to take with us and readied ourselves for a visit to the seniors’ home here in Chincha. This home was 10 years in the building and finally opened in 1997. Sr. Pauline was one of the founding members. The Foundation looked for someone to run the place and an order of brothers took over for a number of years. Just recently an order of sisters based out of Korea have taken over (nothing is signed at the present time for a permanent stay). We were met by the sister and visited the seniors as they were sitting down for dinner. There are 25 residents; 8 women and 17 men. We left a number of gifts and asked the sister for a list of needed items which can be delivered at a later date. We had a nice visit with the seniors and I remembered one or two of them from our visit in 2006.

On our way home we stopped at Grocio Prado for ‘picarones’ (homemade donuts, with syrup similar to maple syrup).

Back home and a quiet evening (maybe) –you just never know what might happen unexpectedly!!

Buenas Noches…………………… Yvonne