Category: Travel Journal Tuesdays

Travel Journal Tuesdays

Travel Journal Tuesday: August 6th, 2009- Cieneguilla, Peru

Jessica Lippe
Some of us missionary girls with some of the Peruvian girls. Bethany has Claudia on her lap, and I'm side-hugging Ericka, who if I remember right is the sister of Melany (mentioned several times in this entry).
Some of us missionary girls with some of the Peruvian girls. Bethany has Claudia on her lap, and I’m side-hugging Ericka, who if I remember right is the sister of Melany (mentioned several times in this entry).

Today started off with being tired, followed by bun pan and eggs (over easy con queso y jamon), as well as mango (I think) juice and anis tea (sounds funny, I know, but it’s black licorice flavored). We had a life-threatening bus ride as usual, and my first task at Posada was sanding. I started out sanding in “style”- mp3 player and sunglasses I took from a summer coworker’s car. Later, I decided to just rough it. A lot of the older boys helped sand and get pebbles out of the cracks, which was nice. But, before I knew it, it was VBS prep time.

Today was the story of Noah’s Ark, interpreted by puppets. I played two of the three sons, as well as the dove and the ark itself. We also had to put together craft kits about God’s promises and a little rainbow decoration. This took quite a bit of time.

Oh, the snacks this morning were GOOD! They served us brownies, and their little breads and bananas were amazing as usual. Lunch was a traditional Peruvian meal, with rice, beans, carne verde, a sweet of rice and milk and purple corn, and a choice between lemon or lucuma pie. (I chose lucuma.)

After lunch, we set up the puppet stage for VBS. It started off with music, and then Jeff, Lisa, Grace, and I performed while Krista narrated. It continued with crafts, and then I went back to sanding. All in all, it was MUCH better than yesterday!

It was then time to play with the kids. I stood in the volleyball court for about thirty seconds, and then played with Melany. Once she saw Bethany with a girl on her shoulders, she wanted us to mimic them. Bethany and I didn’t understand it at first, but the girls wanted to play tag…and we had to run. That was tiresome, and the girls didn’t understand why because they felt fine!

Due to our tiredness, we sat on the schools steps and talked with others. This turned into a million kids running off with my camera to take pictures. I then realized my mom told me to take pictures of up-close facial features like a teacher did at her school. I tried it, but they all turned out either shiny or fuzzy. Then I had a theme idea: Hands and Feet. That turned out a lot better! It also made me realize their need for shoes. Some of the kids only had dress shoes to play in, while others had falling-apart converse knockoffs. Soon, we left for Loma Linda.

Dinner included an anis drink, chicken cordon bleu with potatoes and lucuma ice cream. Then we had Nicole do room devotions, and Dylan did group devos. Both were great.

Tonight we played a few rounds of Mafia before retiring to our rooms. And I forgot to mention: this morning I found a scorpion crawling out from under my bed. Yeah, sweet dreams!

Highlight of the Day: When I tired from attempting to take pictures of hands and feet, I stood by the trampoline and watched the kids jump! Melany came up to me, breathing heavily, and said “agua”. Since she was barefoot, I picked her up, carried her over to the hose, turned it on, let her have her fill, turned the spigot off, picked her up, and carried her back to the trampoline. Sure, I was tired of carrying her during tag and running around and working all day, but everyone, whether a wealthy American or a third-world orphan, needs water. And even Jesus said to not deny a child a cup (or in this case, a hose full) of water. No, Melany won’t remember this act tomorrow, but I’ll remember it ’til heaven.

Travel Journal Tuesdays, voluntourism

Travel Journal Tuesday: August 5th, 2009: Cieneguilla, Peru

Jessica Lippe

Note: This is the third entry in the Travel Journal Tuesday series. Click here for part one, and click here for part two. 

Grace and I playing with the “Rayito” girls

Okay, so I thought that I was going to fall asleep after the last diary entry, but Nicole and I were forced to move to the other girls’ room due to a roommate’s snoring.

This morning, nothing interesting happened until breakfast. While sipping coca tea along with the normal breakfast, I learned about interesting Peruvian laws.

We started sanding when we came to the orphanage. Soon, Dale informed me, Grace, and Jeff that the Bible study turned into a full-blown VBS. We had to choose crafts (hats) and get John to sing worship along with our skit. Then, we had some time before lunch, so I played with the kids and made them balloon animals, tried to get a girl out of a locked room, and ate cereal.

Lunch involved chicken, rice, potatoes (big surprise), pineapple cake and sitting with the little girls. They took my camera and went wild. That continued until after lunch when Grace and I played games with the little girls. These included Pato, Pato, Ganso, Cola, Sharks and Guppies (but with a wolf instead of sea creatures), and other games I couldn’t understand. We sanded for about 10 minutes, and then played games with other kids at the school. We played randomly until it was time to go.

The bus we caught on the way home already had all its seats filled, so we all stood. It was EXTREMELY comical! At the hotel, I shared the verses I found about orphans as a sort of room devo. Then we looked at our pictures. Dinner, reduced to only two courses, started with rice, filet, and potatoes, and ended with chocolate cake. And I had about five cups of mandarin-ade.

After dinner, a group of us went to the store and I bought a glass liter of Inca Kola (no, I DON’T have an addiction!). While purchasing, I knew the guy was implying that buying glass was different from plastic, but I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. I called Krista over, and by the time I understood exactly how much more I needed to pay if I wanted to keep the glass bottle, Krista re-questioned him about six more times.

Upon returning, Scott and Dylan told us to be quiet because they were making Alex sit in their closet and made him think they were sleeping. It sounded funny, but it turned out the be a stupid prank. Then we had devos.

Not much has happened since devos except for a few conversations. I need a shower, and I need the guys next door to act human, and I need the ginger pill I took an hour ago to work, and I need my deep hand wounds to heal. But most important, I need to serve!

Highlight of the Day: Instead of telling about a special event or story that took place at Posada today, I’ll dedicate this section to how I felt. My heart goes out to the ones who suffer mental and emotional problems due to their tragic childhoods. However, I’m really mostly thankful that they found an awesome forever family at this home, and that they have cool extended family living in Oregon! I’m proud to be part of this family!

culture, Travel Journal Tuesdays, voluntourism, writing

Travel Journal Tuesday: Peru, August 4th, 2009

Jessica Lippe
Giving the first of 5,000 shoulder rides in during this week. I never did learn this girls name.

After we landed for the night, we waited forEVER in the immigration line. Then it was on to grabbing luggage, customs, and finding Gary and Estabon so we could take the bus to Loma Linda. There were some really cool lighted buildings, like a Vegas-style “Hello Hollywood”, a bank tower that had lights shooting across it, and a cadaver art exhibit. Most people fell asleep, but I stayed awake, listening to Dale and Gary talk about Peru stuff and watching the slum buildings go by outside. When we got to the hotel, I was put in room 20 with Nicole, Callie, and Patty. We even had a TV! We also got other luxuries like a closet, extra soap, and a toilet seat. We pretty much went to bed.

Around 8:30, I woke up and took a shower. After getting ready, Nicole and I went exploring. We went up the hill trail and over to the water tower. Soon, it was breakfast time. Bun buns and eggs- with ham- and papaya juice. We then had time off, so a bunch of us went to the store for Inca Kola, and walked to the suburbs, which was very interesting to see real Peruvian homes up close. We came back just in time to go to the orphanage… finally!

We took public transportation, which was definitely a learning experience! It’s one thing to cram on a bus with the team, but another to cram on a bus with people you don’t know! We had to walk a few blocks from the dropoff to get to the orphanage, but once we got there, it was great. The orientation included the kids singing songs in Spanish and Quechua, dancing, and asking us to join for some jumping song, Every Move I Make, and Happy All the Time. Introductions were made, lunch was served (rice, meat, fries, and Pecan cake- and the beverage selection included Inca Kola), and then we just hung out. I talked with the older girls after lunch, but after that, I spent most of my time playing with a little girl. After getting tired of playing volleyball, I went off to talk with a girl on the play set (speaking of which, a play set, volleyball court, and new building were built on the school side since we left). I still don’t know her name, but she had a blast chasing me, throwing pebbles at me, having me chase her, and riding on my shoulders. She barely spoke, just laughed. In the midst of this, I also hung out with the 2-year-old twins (which is a rare thing to take in kids younger than 3, because of diaper costs and stuff. The twins must have had a really devastating situation), as well as some of the older girls and Melany. Melany didn’t forget how I gave her shoulder rides from last time, because as soon as she was on my shoulders, she covered my eyes. Aw, good times. Soon, we left for hotel. Before dinner, I was insane enough to go with Nicole for another hiking trip- to the padded room and the far side of the hotel. That got us ready for dinner, starting with my favorite soup, which made it hard to eat the rice, fries, chicken chops, and caramel crepes, along with my favorite warm drink. Then came ad-libbing Spanish Disney, devos, and finally winding down for the night. Good night!

Highlight of the Day: While hiking this morning, Nicole encouraged me to take a shortcut downhill. I followed her but I slid down… hard. Dale was in frong of his room when I walked by, with my hand bleeding in two places. Apparently, it took awhile to get ointment and band-aids because the medical stuff hadn’t been gotten into yet (they weren’t anticipating an accident so soon). Krista had to take me in her room, clean my wounds, cut off my skin, and so forth. Dale made fun of me all day.

Travel Journal Tuesdays, voluntourism

August 3rd, 2009: Somewhere Over Latin America

Jessica Lippe

Context: This was the first entry of my second trip to Peru, written before landing in Lima.

Do you ever get the feeling that you just want to dance and have the energy to run to South America, but you’re forced to sit in one spot? That’s exactly what it feels like as I am now sitting on a plane headed toward my second-ever Peruvian voyage! To think, it all started yesterday afternoon as the group took a big bus ride from our church to Concordia University. I hung out in the dorm lobby, attempted to sleep on the lawn, in a hallway, and on the couch, got my hair done, read, and got a grand total of 1.5 hours of sleep before we had to leave at 2:15 to be at the airport by 3 for our 6 o’clock flight. I had muffins a teammate brought and a Wendy’s egg-n-cheese breakfast sandwich (and a lot of water!) We then boarded a plane to Atlanta, which had personal TVs. Unfortunately you had to pay to watch almost everything! We then ate Arby’s in Georgia and sat next to our boarding gate (oh, and we got to ride on one of those airport subways!) Now we’re on a 6+ hour flight to Lima. Everything’s free on our TVs this time, so I’m enjoying a movie marathon of Monsters vs. Aliens, 17 Again, and Race to Witch Mountain. In about an hour, we’ll be landing and getting ready to go to Loma Linda for the night. And tomorrow, we’ll see Posada de Amor! I miss them so much and I want to see how the kids have grown and I want to meet the newer kids. But for now, I’m stuck on a turbulent plane!

The mission team before we started our journey

Highlight of the Day: Not exactly a “highlight”, but an embarrassing moment worth remembering! On the first flight, I didn’t want to use the lavatory, so I decided to wait for the end of the 5.5 hour trip. After several hours (okay, I didn’t have to go the WHOLE trip; it just seemed that way) I realized I needed to go, so I was about to get up, when the seat belt sign turned on! They announced we’d land in 20 minutes. Well, 20 turned to 30, and I soon couldn’t keep still or silent. After a bumpy ride to the landing strip, I anxiously awaited for the seat belt sign to go off. Then I dashed off to the lavatory, which was in the back. When I came out, everyone was already in the aisle, so I have to wait a half an hour to get out, and the whole group had to wait for me!

souvenir, Travel Journal Tuesdays, writing

Travel Journal Tuesday

Jessica Lippe

A little over five years ago, my grandmother gave me a travel journal. I had previously kept some sort of documentation for some of my travels. During my first mission trip to Peru, I had brought along one of those cheap spiral-bound school notebooks where I wrote about my thoughts, feelings, and activities of each day. I don’t know where that journal is anymore. When I started my first job by the Pacific Coast, I was diligent to journal for each of my thirty-three days of employment. Again, it was a not-so-special spiral-bound journal. I don’t know where that journal is anymore, either. When my tenth-grade class flew to the East Coast, our tour company provided everyone with a colorful booklet with blank lines and writing prompts. I normally would have loved to use something like this, but since we had to turn it in to be graded, I may have been a little snarky and short in what I wrote. I don’t think I even finished filling out that journal, and its possible that it was destroyed after my teacher read it. I really don’t know where that journal is anymore! Even as far back as elementary school, I recall that my second-grade teacher gave us her handmade journals so we could write and draw about our adventures during school holidays, plus anytime we were taken out of school for a vacation (such as my first trip to Disney World). I’m sure my mom has those memories stored somewhere, but I don’t know where that journal is anymore!

Travel Journal Cover

But when I received this beautiful travel journal, I knew right away that this would be superior to all previous travel journals. I initially used it to record my experience on my 2009 mission trip to Peru. Since then, I’ve taken it along to recount my days on my 2010 Northwest choir tour, my mission trip to Mexico, my backpacker vacation to Tennessee, my international trip to Niagara Falls, and my bus ride across the country. And I know exactly where this journal is. It’s the centerpiece of one of my travel-themed shelves!

Travel Memento Shelf

I don’t write in my journal for every trip I take. For weekend trips and other trips where I try to cram too much in too few days, I believe its a better use of my time to go out and experience as much as I can instead of taking a break to write about it. I also haven’t kept a journal for any trips that are primarily focused on working, such as camp conferences I’ve attended. I don’t think it would be interesting to read my journal years later about how I sat in meetings for most of the day. I memorialized these sorts of trips in different ways, such as photography, videos, or blogging. (If you visit The Rivercrester, you can read about almost everything I did while living in Nebraska, from the cool trips that I took to the times I was stuck at camp and only wishing that I could travel!) I don’t really have a criteria for which trips are worthy of my travel journal, but it’s treated like a near-sacred relic, so I use it for the trips that I feel are the most important.

This journal has a great layout, including a bookmark, a secure band, and a pocket inside the back cover to hold small mementos. Each page has plenty of room to write, plus an extra box to emphasize my highlight of the day. I also really like that each page has both a travel quote and a travel-themed Bible verse. It’s almost like having a mini-devotional each day of travel. I can usually fit everything worth mentioning about one day on one of these pages, but on some of the more mundane days (like all-day transit or staying at someone’s house), I can fit two days on one page. There have even been days that were so full of events and emotions, it was a challenge to fit everything even on two pages!

Travel Journal Entry Page

I had never really considered whether or not my journal was suitable for sharing. It wasn’t until a few months ago when I was journaling in the commons area of a Canadian hostel. A Japanese guy sat down next to me, and attempted to make conversation as a way for him to learn English. When he noticed the book on my lap, he asked if it was a diary. Then, he asked to read it! I handed it to him, and maybe it was because I was pretty sure he wouldn’t understand most of the content, but I felt okay with letting him look at it.

After thinking about that ever since starting this website, I decided that I am comfortable sharing the contents of my diary with the internet-connected world. I may change names to protect the innocent or remove pieces that don’t make sense outside the context of my own mind, but I’m willing to be real and unfiltered. So starting next Tuesday, I will have a “Travel Journal Tuesday” where I will post a journal entry every week until I run out. Even though my journal’s only halfway filled right now, I have enough entries to last until at least next summer! Enjoy!

Do you keep a journal for any reason? How do you remember your travels?