Today was the best day so far. First let me say mountains. Now let me explain. We left the center this morning before 5:00 and began our trip out way past Morochata through the National Park of Tunari into a 100% AmerIndian village where all spoke Quechua or Quechuanol. It was still dark for a few hours after we got on the bus to the mountains but I just couldn’t sleep. As we began our ascent into the mountains I was so anxious for the sun to come up that I couldn’t go to sleep. I was also FREEZING and couldn’t have gotten warm enough to sleep if I did want to. I was enthralled by the journey that I couldn’t take my eyes away from the windows because with every hairpin turn and bump along the dirt road the scenery continued to change. The mountains got taller, more rigid, and more beautiful as we progressed. Eventually we crested the mountains and throughout our decent we were watching as we passed the llamas on one side and saw the clouds below us on the other. We continued to twist and to turn for hours until we finally arrived at our destination just as the sun was warming the entire mountainside, a very welcome visitor.
We arrived at the house of Asunta, one of the most well known and well respected health promoters that MAP has trained. She has been working as a volunteer health promoter for nearly 20 years now and has seen some very serious transformations in her village. Asunta never did marry much to the dismay of her family originally but now her father, who only speaks Quechua recognizes the incredible wisdom that she has. She attributes much of her dedication to a spiritual calling from God to serve others in the work that she does. She also carries a great deal of pride for her village and her traditional way of life and hopes that people can learn to celebrate the traditional way of life. There are many people that are migrating out of the villages and usually when people receive training they leave the village for a better job in the city.
There is really incredible work being done in these places and I am happy to be a part of it. Of course there are frustrating times and challenges but for the most part I am very thankful.
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