Week-end in Arequipa

Greetins once again from Peru. Yesterday we went to the outlying area of Arequipa called Enaces. We had a good group of kids present to learn English. After that we went to the center of Arequipa for lunch. They usually have 3 specials of the day, beginning with the first course, segundo course, then dessert. We chose the first course of ¨causa¨. Dan had said that is was mashed potato. When we got it, it looked like a dessert. It looked like a huge jelly roll. The yellow potatoes were filled with a creamed chicken and mayonnaise. It was very good. I took a picture of it so I can show you when we are home and download our pictures. Our second course was chicken for 2 of us, and beef steak (does not resemble our steaks at all) for the other 2. The beef was fairly tasty. All is served with white rice and usually french fried yellow potatoes.
Following lunch we went to buy airplane tickets and bus tickets for the remaider of our time here. That took a couple of hours. On Wed. morning we will again all board a bus for Puno - a five hour ride. The attraction there is Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world - 12,500 ft. The lake joins Peru and Bolivia. There are floating islands made of reeds where people actually live. We will visit there for 2 days and nights. We will then return to Arequipa until Sunday when we will leave for Cusco - Don and I will fly at 6:45 a.m., and July and Dan will take an all night bus Sunday evening. They just couldn´t imagine not spending the last couple of days with us and asked if they could join us.
Sunday until Tues. next week we plan to be in Cusco, leaving Tues. early afternoon to fly to Lima and wait until midnight to board the plane for Houston.
Today we went to Enaces for S.S. with the kids there. There were 12 of them there. Two girls, Lucia, 11 years old, and Katiuska, 8 years old, just clung to me most of the morning. They are so sweet, and want to make sure that we will be there next Saturday for English class. They do not want to see us leave. Others in the class were Piero, Fernando, Miguel, Gabriela, Danetza, Elias, Jovani, David, and Tabita. They have become very special to us in the several times we have been with them.
Don and I returned after lunch to rest, while Dan and Jully left to have a couple of meetings at their house. It is on 2nd and 3rd floors, and I have difficulty climbing their steep steps, so they said we did not have to come. Jully is going to cook us lunch tomorrow and bring to our hostel room.
Thanks again for all of your prayers. God is doing a special work in the lives of Dan and Jully, and it has been so beneficial to them to have us here. We truly feel that the Lord ordained this trip.