"just being" together

On Sunday, March 18, the Peruvian government issued a presidential decree that it would come down much more harshly on informal mining (mining of whatever mineral without belong to a specific company, i.e., somebody who has iron ore on their land so they just mine it and sell it).  Later that day, hundreds of men and women who work in informal mining got together all over the country to voice their opinion.  In Peruvian democracy, that means blocking major highways so that no travel or commerce can happen, thereby calling everyone’s attention.  This time, it meant blocking the Pan-American Highway in a town called Casma, about 2 hours south of Chimbote, thus restricting any travel whatsoever to the capital, Lima, from anywhere in the northern part of the country.

Normally, it wouldn’t phase me too much as I really spend most of my time in Chimbote, but this time, I was especially grateful for the strike, because I happened to have a visit from two people that I love very much, and because of the strike got to spend another whole day with them.  Yes, my parents have now experienced cuy, anticuchos, crazy taxi drivers, dust upon dust upon dust, hand-washing, 24-hour cars honking and dogs barking, the delicious odor of the fish factories, Peruvian rice, fresh maracuyá juice, the sparkling waves of the Bay of Chimbote, the serenity and poverty and diversity of the agricultural zones surrounding the city, cold showers, ceviche AND chicarrón de pescado (yum!), Peruvian hospitality, and lots of others things that make up my daily life… (by the way, if there are words above that you don’t understand, that means you need to come visit Peru!)  As my mom said so well, meeting the people of Peru is much better than seeing the touristy sites of Peru!

But most of all, we got to hang out, catch up, get to know each other again (I’m only begin to discover all the characteristics I’ve inherited from them), have fun, laugh, talk about God and a little about politics (but not too much, haha), and as my dad said, just “be.” 

So for that extra day… thank you to the miners for standing up for their rights (and for resolving the conflicting in good timing!), hair dresser who had a cancelled appointment, to the Confirmation leaders who had to go it alone in the rehearsal, to our feedlot employees who were reliable and helped my dad be stress-free, to Jeff for lending an extra hand at home when he could have been doing a million other things for spring break, to Kim for taking care of Zoe, to Orbitz for finally referring us to American Airlines, to American Airlines for at least attempting to reduce to transfer fees, to Giancarlo for being relentless with the bus line, to my community mates for being all-around amazing, and to my PARENTS, Steve and Joan, for stepping outside their comfort zones into a completely foreign and unknown world, trusting that everything will work out, in order to better understand their daughter and why she does what she does. 

We live the lives that we live so that they may be shared, and in that sharing we all walk a little deeper into the mysterious beauty of life.