High, Lows and Lessons

Guinea Pig is a delicacy here!

This last week has been a week of highs and lows to say the least.  I will start by telling you about where I left off last time, last Friday at Mistura.  Mistura is a annual food festival that happens in Lima that offers basically every type of Peruvian food imaginable.  They call each section its own "world" which tips you off right away that there is going to be a lot of food. There was an Amazonian World, Bread World, Coffee World, Chocolate World, Ceviche World and more worlds than I could visit! My taste buds were thanking me, and my stomach was reveling in the richness.  At Mistura, eating is like a sport; you have to pace yourself, take breaks and strategize.  It was definitely not an experience I will forget.
Mistura was one high, and the next day I got up super early to  go with my study abroad group to Caral.  Caral is the most ancient city in the Americas, complete with pyramids and breathe taking mountain backdrops.  The bus ride to the city itself took several hours.  This was partly due to the distance, and partly the fault of our driver who was very slow and had to ask for directions several times.  We were all ready for the bus ride to be over, but I also found it to be a fun chance to get to know more of my fellow international students.  Caral was definitely worth the trip, but then that night began the lows of my week.

One of the ancient pyramids of Caral

Saturday night I got sick with a form of Montezuma's revenge.  It's something that was bound to happen at some point, but is miserable while you are going through it. After two days of staying at home, I decided it was time to go to the local clinic to get rid of the bug I had gotten. Luckily, I have been blessed with a great director, who gave me all the information I needed for the local clinic, and an awesome host dad who took me to the get checked out.  Within 24 hours of going to the clinic I felt immensely better and started moving from my BRAT diet, which consisted of crackers and liquids, to real food. On Tuesday I was back at school, and by my class that night I was craving something substantial, like a nice big tasty burger.  It is amazing how much more you appreciate food after not being able to eat it for a couple of days!

A sample of the awesome mountain backdrop of Caral

I have now returned back to normal and am getting back into the swing of things.  The time while I was sick was a definite low, but I also found that it gave me a chance to think.  While I was sick I did a lot of sleeping and watching Netflix, but what I didn't do was spend time with God.  I could see how that affected me other areas of my life such as what I thought about, or my daily priorities.  After I had gotten better, the part of the Lord's Prayer came to my mind where Jesus said "Give me this day, my daily bread."  I had always heard that phrase applied to physical things; we should rely on God's provision for our needs. But it just struck home this time that maybe Jesus was also talking about our spiritual needs too.  Just like physical food is important for our bodies, we have to have daily time with God to be able to grow spiritually.  When I wasn't able to eat, I felt physically weak and I think that spiritually speaking it isn't really all that different.  Anyway, that is what I have been going through here in Peru. Life has all sorts of twists and turns.  Who knows what will happen next!