Christmas Vacation: Schonau-Taylor Style

In Peru there aren’t many Christmas trees standing in windows or presents hiding under the tree. Sure there are lights and Christmas songs, but they celebrate the day so differently that if you didn’t have a calendar, you might not even know it came. Christmas Eve started much like any other day. In fact, Sean came to spend Christmas with my family and I in Huánuco, and we spent most of the day just walking around and enjoying the sun (yep 80 degree Christmas). Around 10:00 pm we had a dinner celebration with close family and friends. It’s normal in Peru to stay up very late on Christmas Eve; in fact most families don’t even begin their big Christmas feast until at least 12:00 am. When we returned, my host brother began to light sparklers in the living room (yes in the house, it’s normal), and that began the night of constant fireworks going off on the street. Now Christmas day here is used for resting, in fact my host family and I didn’t actually have any plans that day. Sean and I were graciously invited, however, to join Terry and Carla (my very good missionary friends from Oregon) for their Christmas feast. Needless to say we ate very well and enjoyed just being able to sit back, relax, and eat well. We then got sucked in a long game of Dutch Blitz, and by long I mean roughly 6 hours on nonstop playing. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my first Christmas day away from my family.

                                     Sean and I at our Christmas Feast

One of the best things about the Peru YAV program is that we get to travel so much. We have monthly retreats to see each other and we always go to a new part of Peru. We also were just given two weeks of vacation after Christmas to do with what we wished. So on the 26^th, Sean and I packed our bags and headed to Lima to wait the arrival of my parents and brother Jacob.

First stop on the Schonau-Taylor family vacation: Puno. For those that don’t know, Puno is a very small town that sits on Lake Titicaca. Most of our time was spent on the water visiting the regular and floating islands of Lake Titicaca. We spent New Years in Puno, but because we had been on the boat all day, our celebration consisted of sitting by the fire and getting to know a group of women from Colombia. Perfect if you ask me!

                Mom and I trying on traditional dress on the Uros floating Islands

Just in case you are curious though, Peruvian traditions for New Years include wearing yellow undergarments for good luck (the markets are practically all yellow a month before), eating 12 grapes at midnight for good luck in all 12 months, and my favorite is that some take their luggage out and run around the block. This is their way of asking for the opportunity to take vacations during the year.

Second stop: Cuzco, where my parents, Jacob and I finally met up with Jesse and Martha! For two days we stayed in Cuzco to acclimate to the altitude and walk around the beautiful historical city. Our days were filled with walking tours, small cafes, and wonderful restaurants, while our nights were filled with family time and lots of cribbage. Unfortunately Jesse and Martha had Jacob and I beat… a few times.

Third stop: MachuPicchu. My family decided to do MachuPicchu slowly, so we spent the night in Aguas Calientes (hot waters). Now I didn’t see any warm water in Aguas Calientes, but our hotel was right beside a wildly flowing river that was not only beautiful but also put us all to sleep immediately. The next morning we met our guide around 6:00 am and took the bus up to MachuPicchu (some people walk this two hour hike straight up.) I can’t even full explain MachuPicchu other than to say that it has to be seen in person. The amount of land it takes up and the view that it obtains by being so high is just breathtaking. It was a common joke in my family that the Incas make me feel lazy and out of shape. Not only did they make huge cities out of natural rock, they also made their cities on mountains, which requires a LOT of walking up and down stairs.

The next stop on the trip just involves everyone going home, which is too sad for blog talk, so we will skip over it.  I will mention though that I was so incredibly blessed to have my family come and see me. I was constantly locked onto my parents with the thought that I was drawing strength out of them to get through the next seven months (I apologize mom and dad if you were totally exhausted when you got home!) Plus it was just nice to have everyone together considering we all live so far apart.

 Now I’m back in Huánuco and starting off the new year of work with a few promising projects. Our next YAV retreat isn’t until the end of February in which we will do a 20-hour bus ride to the most beautiful beaches in Peru (sounds horrible right?) Until then, it’s work, work, and work! Hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I missed everyone greatly! Much love from Peru.

                                                     The Family and Sean! 

 "When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile." -Unknown