Trip high lights

Day 1: Things are going to be different Ruby.
It didn't take long for our girl to learn that her very strict night time and nap schedule would be thrown away. If she wanted to sleep, she'd have to find some way to do it on her own.

Day 2: Day of the Traveling Pants.
Moll noticed Camm had huge hole in butt of pants
Then Camm sat on and smashed a fruit snack into his pants
Camm spilled water that made it look like he wet his pants (or at least that's the story he told me!)
And then the fiasco all ended with Ruby throwing up all over Camm's pants. We finally arrived in Guayaquil where Camm was free to throw those things away.

Day 3: Fell in love.
Guayaquil is the most beautiful place I've ever been in my entire life.
Ruby started to figure out that she's basically a movie star in south America. She started strutting around looking up as people cooed and told her she was beautiful. This trend continued the entire week. Something my very confident child probably didn't need.
Fun with Carmen and JuanCarlos (friends from when I was a missionary in Peru who are both from Ecuador)

Day 3.5: Unethical bribery?
Carmen came with us to Peru, but as the bus stopped at 3am to go through customs, they told her she wasn't allowed into Peru. For some "unknown" reason, she was not allowed to enter the country. She argued with the customs agent for an hour. Then the bus driver was getting impatient so started arguing with the customs agent for her. The thing that didn't make sense was that there was absolutely NOWHERE for her to go. We were in the middle of nowhere where there would be no bus to get back to Guayaquil. It was the middle of the night. We could have either left her on the side of the road to maybe hitch hike the five hours to Guayaquil. Or, we could pay the customs agent $50 to let her in. It wasn't really a fair decision to say the least.

Day 4: Finally in Peru
Hung out with many old friends
Ruby kissed a baby boy (this was not even close to her first kiss)
Went to church activity where the teenagers did cultural Peruvian dances.
Ate delicious food
Rode Mototaxis
Fun to be back to a place I once considered home

Day 5: Vamos a la playa
Beautiful, sand, digging, sandcastle, running barefoot, jumping waves, ceviche, criollo, chicarron de pescado, friends, fun. Excellent day

Day 6: Ferreñafe Ferreñafe Ferreñafe
Try saying that three times as fast as you can.
From Chiclayo you have to take a thirty minute "combi" (a van that functions like a bus) to get to Ferreñafe. The combi drivers yell out "Ferreñafe Ferreñafe Ferreñafe" very quickly repeatedly as they try to get your business from another combi driver.

Day 7: Geography lesson
Nor and Pio - two older men that I love to death taught me that Arequipa is NOT part of their beloved Peru. The map may say so, but those Arequipans are way too cocky to be a part of them.

Day 8: Barrio Angamos
Carmen and I left early Sunday morning to go to visit some friends who got baptized while we were there but who no longer go to church. They didn't know we were coming and when we knocked on the door, they screamed with excitement. It didn't take much convincing at all for them to get ready and walk to church with us. They now have a baby around Ruby's age and it was fun to have them interact.
Last day in Peru. Spent the day hanging out with friends.

Day 8.5: Customs was much easier this time.
No bribery, no problems. Bus drivers were happy.

Day 9: Let's move to Guayaquil
As we spent our last day walking downtown the most beautiful city in the world, we couldn't help but talk about how much we would love to live there...one day

Day 10: CNN in the airport, sleeping on the plane
Not much else to add here. Obama won though!!!

Day 10.5: our flight had arrived at 1130pm and Camm had to be at work at 7:30am. And we live five hours away from the airport. You do the math. We were driving all night...
Special thanks to Dana and Tim for picking us up so late and sending us off with a bag full of snacks.
Also, special thanks to the caffeine that kept my Camm awake.


By far the best trip we've ever been on in our entire lives.

the end



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