Dec. 16 - Asking For Help

Last week, my friend and teacher Alfredo from Chachapoyas messaged me asking for help.  If you recall from my November 3rd post, he and his loving family invited me into their home and taught me Spanish.  They are lovely, warm-hearted people that open their doors to impoverished children, feed them, teach them English, and council them about problems in their lives.  They are actively building a community of support and learning to help children escape poverty.

Last month, Karla underwent surgery to save her life.  She is recovering at home but the medical costs depleted all their savings and they are at risk of losing their home/school.  I am helping them with their finances, but they need our help to keep the school open and their dream alive.  I've created a GoFundMe campaign and I am matching the first $500 in donations.  We're hoping to raise a total of $2000.

In this season of giving, please consider donating to this worthy cause, and help us by sharing with your networks. With your help, hundreds of children can break out of the cycle of poverty.

Excitement and Fear

I was originally planning to leave Paracas Wednesday, but after a trip to the other side of town, I realized there’s amazing kite surfing here and decided to stay for a few more days.

The Paracas national reserve extends into a peninsula, creating a bay of calm water that is perfect for learning kitesurfing.  My first day out I decided to cross the entire bay.  Boy were my legs tired after that!

Red line marks the 11 km roundtrip

The next day I took a lesson to learn how to jump and spent the next 5 hours practicing.  I wanted to go longer but my abs cramped up and would not release!  Overall I had a wonderful day but I experienced my first kitesurfing scare.

During the lesson, my teacher had warned about kite position so I was overly focused on the kite when jumping.  After one jump attempt, I looked down to see I was barreling towards another rider.  I dove the kite down to the water to avoid tangling the lines, but the other rider was a student who panicked and also dove their kite on top of mine.  Fortunately, the lines didn't get tangled but my leg got wrapped in his lines.  I struggled underwater for a few seconds eventually loosening the lines enough to slip my foot out and free myself.  I was a bit shook but after a few minutes rest I was back out and riding.

Moral of the story: don't get so absorbed in what you're doing that you lose sight of where you're going. 

Waste and want

Paracas is located at the edge of the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. The hostels I stayed at warned that we should limit water consumption because the entire town of Paracas only receives water for a few hours a day. The water in this area comes from the rapidly receding Andean Glaciers which will disappear within the next decade.

That’s why I was surprised to see a mile of beachfront property adorned with perfectly watered and manicured lawns. And the worst part is that nearly every one of these houses is sitting empty because it’s the off season. What a terrible waste.

Bike tour of Paracas National Park

BIRDS