Our Temple Mission: The Coast, The Jungle &The Mountains

The temple was closed from January 18th thru February 1st for cleaning and maintenance, so we decided to take some time away from Trujillo and do a little traveling. We went to Lima (the coast), Iquitos (the jungle) and Cajamarca (the mountains). We flew from Trujillo to Lima for 3 nights, Lima to Iquitos for 4 nights, & Iquitos to Cajamarca via Lima for 4 nights. We then took the bus from Cajamarca back to Trujillo. We had a wonderful time and took way too many pictures, so it will be hard to keep this blog from growing too big.

Saint Augustine said, "The world is a book, and those who do not travel,

read only a page."

We certainly read lots of pages during this trip.

Lima

We arrived in Lima Saturday night after officiating our last session before the temple closing. We wanted to be in Lima on Saturday evening so we could attend church in Comas, a subdivision of Lima. Bill was one of the first missionaries in Comas 50 years ago. He and 3 other missionaries opened the first branch in this area. Now there are 3 stakes in Comas and lots of wards.

Lima is a huge city of over 11 million people with lots of cars and lots of traffic. It takes a long time to get anywhere. It took us over an hour to get from the airport to our hotel in Mira Flores and it was in the evening on a Saturday. it should have been about a 20 minute drive.

Bill in front of the first chapel built in Comas

Bill talking to a primary class about being one of the first missionaries in Comas.
The primary teacher's father was one of the first people baptized while Bill was here.
He was a Bishop, Stake President and is currently a Stake Patriarch. He has come to the
Temple in Trujillo. Her husband was just released as Stake President. All their kids have
gone on missions. It is so good to see the fruits of the labors of those early missionaries.

The Hotel Estalar (with the flags) in Lima where we stayed.

Our room. It was so nice to sleep in a King Sized bed again after 7 months in a Queen.

Sunday breakfast on the 21st floor of our hotel, overlooking Lima
and the ocean in the distance.

We were thrilled to find a Subway in Lima, just down the street from our hotel.
Another taste of home.

This casino was across the street from our hotel. There are almost as
many casinos in Lima as Las Vegas. I don't really know that as a fact
but we sure saw a lot of them.

A fun place to shop - The Inka Market. Lots of shops and souvenirs.
We bought so much stuff we had to buy another suitcase to get it all home.

Sisters Marler, Vaughn and Angell told us about a place called Woodflair. It was started by a British guy 25 years ago. He runs it out of his home with his wife and daughter. His work represents the three regions of Peru, the Coast, the Jungle & the Mountains.

We bought this Nativity set along with a few other items.

We stopped in at the Hard Rock Cafe to buy a couple of tee shirts.

There are two main Plazas in Lima. They are about 6-8 blocks apart. It is an easy walk between them, down a street that has no traffic. One is the Plaza de Armas with the Presidential Palace and the other is the Plaza de San Martin.

Plaza de Armas

The Presidential Palace and guards.

The walk between the two plazas.

Bill buying chiclets gum from a little "chola".

Plaza de San Martin

Aaron - our taxi driver to the airport. He is a member of the church and knew
all the back roads to get us to the airport in record time during rush hour traffic.

Checking our baggage. The purple one is the new one we bought to
transport all our souvenirs. I don't know what made us think we could
travel for 10 days with just two carry-ons the size of the black one.
Now it is on to the Jungle!

Iquitos

We arrived in Iquitos around noon. As soon as we got off the plane, we were hit by heat and humidity which lasted morning, noon, and night. I don't know how the people can stand living here. Very few places have air conditioning and it wasn't even the best in our hotel. My hair and makeup melted within the first 10 minutes we were there so I decided it was impossible to look good in the jungle and stopped even trying.

There are no roads into Iquitos. You either come in by boat or by plane. So there are very few cars because they cost so much to import. Most people get around by motorcycle, bus or moto taxi. There are hundreds of moto taxis and they are very cheap to ride. We actually liked riding in the moto taxis because you could cool off a little from the breeze. They transport everything in the motos, even furniture.

Our taxi driver from the airport bought his car for $60,000 and it was a piece of junk.

Bill with our driver and his taxi.

Iquitos is a quaint city. It is the 5th largest city in Peru with 450,000 people but it has a small town feel. Most people have never left the jungle; they are born, raised and die here.

The Plaza de Armas.

We stopped to book our tour for the next day. The guy in front was our
guide, Carlos Leon. He spoke good English and did a great job.

We were a little disappointed in our hotel, the Amazon Apart Hotel, until we saw what else the city offered. They all looked to be about the same quality. We did have an air conditioner that worked most of the time, a refrigerator that kept things nice and cold and a big screen TV that got one fuzzy station in English, HBO. We watched whatever was on that channel, including Cinderella, Planes, Snitch, Seventh Son, Jersey Boys & Click. We wouldn't have chosen some of these to watch if there had been other choices. We had twin beds, small pillows, no blow dryer and no hot water but it actually felt good to take a cold shower at night after sweating all day. We were grateful that the room was clean.

The Lobby

They had these pretty flower arrangements in the lobby and restaurant,
made from flowers that grow in the jungle.

Our room.

We took a day tour on the Amazon River. We went to a native Indian village, a piranha farm, and Monkey island. We cruised on the Amazon for 4-5 hours getting to the different stops. The boat also felt good because we were able to feel a breeze. Our guide called it central air conditioning.

Walking to the pier.

Lots of food vendors. We didn't take advantage of any of it except a slice of
watermelon we bought for 1 sol (28 cents).

She bought her juice in a plastic bag with a straw.

Carlos with fresh piranha.

With an alligator foot.

Truly disgusting! They BBQ these nasty looking worms - and
people really eat them

This is where we boarded the large canoes you can see in the center.

Inside the boat.

Going towards the Amazon.

Our first stop was at an Indian village. They performed some dances and singing for us and sold us some of their handicrafts. The women do not wear tops. It was a little shocking at first but our guide told us this is part of their culture and they even dress like this when they come to town.

We only posted this so we could remember our time in the village,
not to shock anyone. It was kind of hard to witness their culture.
It was like a scene out of National Geographic.

We stopped at a "Lodge" for lunch. We were so hot, some of us went to the Hammock Room to relax with a pop and cool off.

Bill with his Inka Kola

Hot & sweaty.

The dining room.

Lunch: catfish, alligator nuggets, beans, rice, fried banana and salad.
It was all very tasty.

Walking in the jungle.

Piranha Farm. We watched them feed them but couldn't get a good picture.

A cute alligator sunbathing.

Next stop was Monkey Island. The Monkeys ran to the boat to greet us.
They were all very tame and liked to be held and petted.

Bill was a brave soul and befriended lots of the animals on the island. He held a Toucan and a Python. The cute little monkey jump on his head and shoulder, pushing his hat off.

Bill never served in Iquitos, but one year after his mission, he brought his parents back to South America. They spent a couple of days in the jungle. At that time they had a different airport and they stayed in Hotel Tourista which was a high class hotel 50 years ago. Both are out of commission but we had a moto taxi driver show us where they were.

The runway at the old airport where Bill flew in with his parents.

The old Tourista Hotel. It is not a hotel anymore for tourists but
local Peruvians can spend the night for a small fee.

The Hotel Lobby. The lady at the desk let us look at one of the rooms.

The walk along the street in front of the hotel, overlooking the Amazon.

Standing by the river.

A Honda dealership where you can buy a new motorcycle or
a new moto which sells for 6500 soles or $1,800 US.

Motos filling up with gas. They can fill up for 3-5 soles ($.86 - $1.44). A cheap mode of transportation.

We were surprised to see all these athletic shoes in the local
Saga Falabella Department Store. Thought it would be too hot
for anyone to workout in this city. Sandals & bare feet seem
more appropriate.

We spent the afternoon with this cute moto driver. He showed us lot of things.
His name was Arturo and he also teaches math at one of the high schools.

This is the way they buy coal to cook with.

They can also cook with wood.

Arturo took us by his house to meet his family.
This is his wife and brother-in-law.

His mother-in-law lives there too. She actually helped us find Francisco Lizama.
Bill had baptized his wife and daughter Violeta when he was serving in Comas.
He knew they had moved to Iquitos and wanted to look them up.
Unfortunately the wife and daughter had both passed away but Francisco
was thrilled to see Bill. He is 92 years old.

Arturo's wife and daughter.

Francisco Lizama with Bill at his house.

Ice cream carts getting ready to leave for the day from
the Ice Cream warehouse.

Shopping for jungle souvenirs.

A selfie in the moto. You can almost see the sweat rolling down our faces.

There are lots of Mormons in Iquitos. Arturo said he knows of at least

seven buildings. We went by three of them.

For dinner that night we went to Frio y Fuego (cold & fire), a restaurant on a raft in the middle of the river. We had to take a boat to get there.
It was really a fun place to eat. They even
have a swimming pool out there.

We were surprised to see so many children riding on motorcycles. It seemed that only the drivers wore helmets. They drive pretty fast so I would hate to see an accident on one of these.

Peru is very late taking down their Christmas decorations. We still saw Christmas trees and Santa Claus in all the cities. I had to take a picture of this Native Indian

nativity. I was just glad they put a top on Mary.

Some boys from the local Navy. Kind of funny since we were
told they don't have any ships. There is also an Air Force and
Army in Iquitos.

Street vendor selling fruit. They have to import apples from Chiclayo,
grapes from Ica and oranges from Lima. They can't grow these
in Iquitos.

Opening coconuts.

Banana market.

Well, we had a fun time in Iquitos, but it is time to move on. This is our plane disembarking before we boarded to go to Cajamarca via Lima. We left around noon and arrived in Cajamarca by 5:00 pm.

Cajamarca

Heading to Cajamarca.

We felt like we had died and gone to heaven when we stepped off the plane in Cajamarca and felt that cool mountain air. It was probably 70 degrees but after 95 degrees with 100% humidity we were almost cold. Almost, but not quite.

We loved Cajamarca. It is beautiful, green and mountainous. Approximately 220,000 people live here. We stayed in the Costa del Sol Hotel, right on the Plaza de Armas. We were there during Canavales so the Plaza was very busy at times as the local people celebrated.

Our room. Another king sized bed.

The view from our room.

Our hotel on the left, Catholic church on the right.

We ate in the restaurant when we arrived. It overlooks the Plaza.
The masked face is a decoration for Carnivales.

I had a Monte Cristo chicken sandwich with avocado.

Bill had a cheeseburger. Both were very good.
They also had a nice breakfast buffet every morning.

Pictures around the Plaza. There are two Catholic churches.

Bill served in Cajamarca at the end of 1966 for about five months. There was just one small branch at that time which was created earlier that year. Today there is one stake and at least 7 wards. We went to church in the first chapel built in Cajamarca, not far from the Plaza.

The Chavez family. Brother Chavez's father was the first Peruvian
branch president in Cajamarca. Several missionaries served as branch
president prior to him.

Mercedes & her sons Benjamin & David. We met Mercedes at the temple
in Trujillo a few months ago. When she heard we were coming to Cajamarca,
she invited us to come to her ward.
She was the first sister missionary to leave from Cajamarca. That was in 1984.
She went to Arequipa and President Casos was her mission president.

These cute missionaries are under President Marler's direction. They love Cajamarca and
had several investigators at church that day.
Elder Malo from Lima, Elder Logan from Fruit Heights, UT, Sister Messina from Las Vegas & Sister Mayante from Chinca, Peru.

At 2:00 Sunday afternoon, Mercedes came with her sons and friend Lidia to take us to visit Sofia Padilla. The Padilla family with 10 children were here in 1966. Sofia was 14 years old the time. Her mother loved the missionaries and invited them to their home on numerous occasions.

In the hotel lobby. Lidia is in the blue.

Sofia's husband left her to raise 5 small children. She had a hard life. We also went to her younger sister Sara's house. Sofia lives in a nice house now, bigger than most and she keeps it very pretty but It is in need of lots of repair. She lives there with her daughter and two granddaughters.

Sofia with her parrot, Arturo.

Sofia & her cute granddaughters.

To help raise her children Sofia worked in the silver mines during the day and crocheted items to sell at night. She showed us some of her work and it is beautiful. When I saw this king sized bedspread, I told Bill to ask her if she wanted to sell it.
She got emotional and said she had been praying for a way to get some extra money because she had been waiting to get some dental work done.
Then she insisted on giving us other things. She wouldn't let us leave until she had given me a silver ring from the mines, a poncho and one of the pictures her brother paints.
Later Mercedes told us her brother sells his paintings for 3000 to 5000 soles ($800 to $1500). He is pretty well known as an artist in that area. Her brother was a little boy when Bill was here. It took Sofia 6 months to crochet this bedspread, working on it in her spare time after working in the mines. She made it years ago and hadn't sold it because most people do not have a king size bed in Peru. I guess it was just waiting for me.

The bedspread.

The Painting. We had to take it off the frame and roll it up. It is beautiful.
Hope we can get it home okay.

Sofia's daughter has two dogs. This is Leo.
She calls him "ugly" but I thought he was cute.

This is the "cute" dog, Toto.

Waiting for the taxi outside Sofia's home. The street is dirt.

Sofia's younger sister Sara.

They took us by the original branch building that was used when Bill was a missionary here.
They met on the 2nd floor.

On Monday we went to the Banos del Inca. It is a spa that uses the water from thermal springs. These are famous baths that have been around for centuries. King Atahualpa used them in the 16th century and they were frequented by Peruvian princes.

Bill went there in the 60's with his parents but it has changed a lot and is used by tourists as well as the local people. You can rent a bath house for 6 soles ($1.72) for 30 minutes. It is clean and feels more like a hot tub, you fill and control the temperature. It was fun and relaxing and the mineral springs soothed our aching muscles.

Buying the tickets. You have to bring your own towels. We didn't have
any but there are several people willing to sell you some.

Each door is a "bath" room.

The water coming in.

Bill stood there to show you how big they are.

It was a beautiful place.

We did a lot of walking and shopping in Cajamarca. Parts of the city actually have a European flair.

The church on the hill.

The view from the church on the hill.

Because we were wearing out missionary name badges we ran into members of the church. Here are some of them.

This family was from Cusco.

This sister is from Cajamarca and owns a gift shop.
We bought several things from her.

This family was vacationing from Lima.

Another important part of Cajamarca history is the story of Atahualpa. He was an Incan ruler who in 1532 was captured by Pizarro and a handful of men on horses. They held him for ransom. Noticing their lust for precious metals, Atahualpa offered to fill a large room about 22 feet long and 17 feet wide up to a height of 8 feet once with gold and twice with silver within two months. It is said he did this to keep from being killed. Later he was told that if he converted to Catholicism, they would convince Pizarro not to kill him. Atahualpa was baptized but he was later strangled anyway.

The door to the Ransom Room Exhibit.

The actual Ransom Room is where those people are standing.

Looking inside the ransom room door. The red and white marker on the
right is the line where Atahualpa held up his hand to show how high
the gold and silver would go.

These next pictures were taken out and about our visit to Cajamarca during the three days we were there.

The moto taxis in Cajamarca are closed in because it can be quite cool in the mountains.

We watched an old episode of Jimmy Fallon with Ray Romano.
It was in English with Spanish subtitles. Cajamarca didn't have many things we
could watch in English but we also got to watch some older episodes of Ellen.

These two pictures show some of the crowds around the Plaza for Carnivales.

Notice how wet the street is. One of the ways they celebrate is
to throw water balloons at people and cars. There are also lots
of large water guns..

These three pictures were taken on an evening walk. We bought water and snacks from the little man on the corner.

This little "chola" from the mountains is 55. She was selling some little hats (in my hand)
that she made. She said she needed to get some shoes. I bought all four of them for 5 soles ($1.44) a piece.
It was probably her biggest sale of the day. They are the perfect size for some of my little llama herd.

The last day we were here I woke up with a sore throat. I felt like I was
getting a cold. We went to the pharmacy to get some medication (you don't
need prescriptions down here) and whatever she gave has cured me in just
a few days. I may have to bring some of that stuff home with me.

This little man from the mountains makes guitars of various sizes.
They are kind of rough and I doubt that they play very well, but we
bought one so I can hang it on the wall with my Peruvian flutes.

We found a Bart Simpson gumball machine
in the mall.

Well, we have come to the end of our vacation and the end of this gigantic blog. We had a great time but we are ready to go back to our little apartment and return to the temple on Tuesday. It was great to see some of the areas where Bill served as a young missionary and to get a feel for other parts of the country.

We took the bus back to Trujillo. Not my favorite mode of transportation but it was doable. It took almost 7 hours but we had more leg room than the plane and our seats reclined. Our tickets were 25 soles a piece ($7.25).