Vamos a Perú!

I am ashamed to admit that five years ago if you had put a map of the Americas in front of me and asked me to put my finger on Peru I wouldn't even know where to begin. My eyes furiously scanning, finger hovering over South America. But yes, this was me. Since that time my feet have planted themselves on Peruvian soil three times. It was over a year ago when I last ventured to the Southern Hemisphere. On a missions trip to Oxapampa, Peru I marveled at the sights. I mingled with the people, lived in their homes and joined their families. Then I went on a journey with my sister to the jungle, where we treked through lush forest, fished for pirahnas, ate fruit off the branch of at a local farm and marveled at exotic birds perched high in trees. I filled up every single inch of my photo memory cards, bought a flash drive, emptied them, and filled them up again. My heart swelled with the beautifulness I was capturing and would "soon" share with you all. My plan was to do little vingettes as blog posts; The missions trip to Oxapampa, Journey over the Andes, a Jungle Adventure, The Lodges of the Jungle. This was the plan. So many stories to be told.

And then... a year passed.

Now here I am, in Peru again, with sketchbooks and empty memory cards waiting to be filled. In the next 15 days I will journey to the deepest canyon in the world, the highest navitagable lake on earth, a collection of floating islands, sacred vallies and one of the seven wonders of the world. My mom and aunt are joining us in a week and at the end of it I get to bring my little sister (who has lived here for over two years) back home with me. And hopefully this time around, I will be more diligent about sharing a bit of this with you upon my return. (In the meantime, if you would like to follow our journey as it is happening, come and find me on Instagram @ carolinemaxcy. The flood of travel posts have already begun.)

I absolutely couldn't cross the equator again without sharing a little bit of what I was able to experience last year in Peru. So two nights ago, before I hopped on the plane, I stayed up way past a wise bedtime to upload a few, many un-edited, images from last year's journey. I still hope to share a more structured, curated and better narrated blog post with you all in the future but for now click on the images below to view a flickr sets and get a peek into the adventure from 2011...

Bible Fellowship Church Missions trip / Oxapampa, Peru



Peruvian Jungle Adventure with my Sis / Madre De Dios, Peru / Tambopata National Reserve

Philadelphia / A Reunion

Despite the fact that for the first two days of my stay in Philly to celebrate Lauren's birthday I found myself, completely bundled up, standing at the bottom of Lauren's three flights of ridiculously long stairs, dramatically pressing my hand against the side of my head saying, "Darn it. I forgot my camera... again," I did managed to capture a bit of the story along the way...



There was snow, and boots in the snow...


and birds in the snow, and dogs in the snow (hi, Tug!)...


and foot prints in the snow...


and signs in the snow, and just plain snow...


and Brooke in the snow with my Holga.


There was architecture...


and more architecture...


and history.............. and jokes about history.


There was texture...


upon texture...


upon texture...


upon glorious texture.


And lights...


yes, those lights again, twisted, typographic, florescent delightfulness. Still in love.


There were flowers, and beeswax candles...


and coffee, and lobsters, and a Brooke (who was always a perfect model.)


There was pre-dinner wine, and another surprise portrait of Brooke.


There was dining out...


and yummy guac, and ahi tuna tacos...


and "women laughing while eating salads"


and happy, little, blurry pictures in bars.


There were pleasant surprises in the midst of forgetful moments when I left my ISO on 3600 from the night before (for you camera nerds).


There was a wait for brunch...


with just enough time for a stroll in Old Town...


and a return visit to Franklin Fountain...


for something warm this time.


Brunch, at last. (Don't worry, we ate much more than apples.)


There was a bit more sight seeing, with typographic sightings, then cheese... for four hours while watching the Golden Globes. What a delightful end to a splendid visit with friends.


To Lauren...


and Brooke...


And Remy, and even you, Tug (although our encounter was no longer than 20 seconds in which I took 20 pictures)


And, of course you too, Philadelphia, I miss you already. Until next time...


au revoir.

The City of Brotherly Love

I can certainly say I have some love for Philly after spending a few days there last week helping a friend settle into her new place near Rittenhouse Square. I fell in love with the streets, with the history, with the old signage and painted brick walls. I fell in love with the colors, textures and tiles found in every building and have decided that I shall have honeycombed tile in a house of my residence at some point in my life. I fell in love with the color red, which seemed to be everywhere (and may or may not have been contributed to the Phillies being in the playoffs.) I fell in love with the long, twisted, typographic lightbulb signs that hung in most every store front window and dreamed of one day having my name of business spelled out in all its twisted, typographic glory. I was in love with the super secretive, speakeasy style bars in the basements of buildings and back alleys (and certainly loved it when we were called from the back of the line to get in.) And, but of course, I fell in love with the food. It was love at first bite with a burger at Village Whiskey. Stood wide eyed, heart pounding, as angelic voices came down from the heavens, in the cheese section of Di Bruno Bros. (which happens to be just downstairs from my friend's place.) Had nothing but love for the creamy guacamole at El Rey. And true, mad, deep love for the enormous Root Beer Float at Franklin Fountain (although after recently watching an episode of Man vs. Food, will definitely try the Mt. Vesuvius Ice Cream Sunday next time around.) Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmmmmm.









And, of course, I came home with a few instant pics in my pocket...




Good luck in Philly, Lauren! I will have to be back to visit soon, afterall, there is much more food to try, and that Mt. Vesuvius.

FOOD CREDITS:
Best Burger Ever (also try the homemade cheese puffs and pickled beets) (all pictured) / Village Whiskey
Delicious Granola (pictured) and Huevos Benedictos for brunch / Tintos
The smooth and yummy Humbert Humbert on a rock (pictured) / Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co. (a.k.a. Speakeasy)
Gi-normous and delicious Root Beer Float / Franklin Fountain
Excellent Mexican food with a perfectly creamy heaping serving of guac / El Rey
Gourmet Grocery and Cheese Heaven / Di Bruno Bros.

La Misión, Mexico

It is hard to believe that it has been over a week since I returned from a missions trip with Bible Fellowship Church to La Misión, Baja California, Mexico. This past week has been spent adjusting back to east coast time, catching up on sleep, reliving the experience through the over 1500 photos I brought back and trying to process the journey I took physically and spiritually.

The trip, organized by Phil and Mindy Steiner of Be 2 Live, allowed us to spend eight days in the community of La Misión partnering with Open Arms Childcare Ministries (which is a no-cost childcare to needy families) and Door of Faith Orphanage to invest, give back and hopefully in some small way reveal God's love. Over the course of the week our team installed drywall, plumbing, electrical and two roofs on homes throughout the community as well as framed a house on a hillside perch. We orchestrated a health fair, community donation delivery, a men's, women's and couple's bible study, a brunch for the workers at the orphanage and took care of the kids all along the way. We listened to testimonies of incredible faith from those who started off with a prayer and a desire in their hearts to provide better lives for the children and families of La Misión and now through Open Arms and Door of Faith they are seeing their plea evidently answered every day.

While preparing for this trip I didn't quite know how this "foriegn" missions trip would in any way, shape or form have any effect on the incredibly "domestic" issues of my life. But on day one we headed off to church and walked into a music filled chapel, and while the language was unfamiliar to many of us, the tune was the same. As I sang the song and scribbled the words in my notebook, "Abre mis ojos, Señor" I had no idea that it was becoming the theme song of my trip. This was partly due to the fact that I just couldn't get it out of my head, but mostly because none of us at that time could begin to comprehend the ways in which the eyes of our heart would be opened over the next seven days and how that would in turn effect our lives after our return home.

My eyes (mis ojos) that originally squinted at the poverty of La Misión, were gradually opened to something that can only be described as a richness that the community possessed. My eyes were amazed at the not just contentment but joy that shone through the smiles of the children. My eyes watched those of us from Bible Fellowship Church from various backgrounds and walks of life, with diverse skills and talents came together as a family, as a body of Christ and a vision of Christ to reveal His love and bring glory to Him in this community. And my eyes were opened to the heart of God in these individual's lives through their realness, selflessness and love. And while I would pack up and head back to La Misión in a heartbeat (or anywhere around the world for that matter), my prayer going forward is that my eyes remain open to those who are hurting and needy right here in my own community.

This blog post is quite possibly the longest I have posted to date. And part of the reason it has taken me so long to get it up is because I was having the hardest time narrowing down my photos (this is the narrowed version, I promise). I hemmed and hawed over which photos to include, the stories that were being told in juxtapositions, and how I could even begin to convey the experience. I finally had to give up and realize that I may have given myself an impossible task. So here you have it, my best, narrowed down shot at giving you a glimpse at what we were blessed to experience in La Misión, Mexico.




Our campsite was just up from Door of Faith Orphanage. Colorful bunk houses sat up on a ridge and the two bathrooms (1 John and 2 John) were housed in a building that looked like a Panda. The fire pit allowed for heartfelt conversations and a little smore indulgence. And the kitchen and dining area provided us with a open area setting for coffee, delicious breakfasts and every variety of Mexican food for dinners.This camp was the perfect place for us to come together as a team as well as personally encounter God (and maybe the occasional curious dog or horse.)


Each morning we had some time set aside for devotions. We could climb farther up the mountain to "the cross" overlooking the Orphanage and La Misión valley for a quiet space.

The building team I was on framed a house on the side of a mountain. When we arrived at the site on Sunday afternoon there was just a slab of cement and a pile of lumber on a hillside with a treacherous climb. And when we finished up on Friday there was the shell of a home and even a roof. To the left is Pastor Todd Patterson helping out with some roofing. And the picture to the right is our worksite mid-way through the project. The view was incredible from up there. From our perch we could even see the other roofing team working way off in the distance.

The house we framed was for the family of two girls that went to Open Arms Day Care. Meet the adorable Alejandra (left) and Bernice (right). The folks from Open Arms told us a story of a seven year old little girl that was taking the church and worship services they had at the day care and recreating it at night in her living room for the neighborhood kids. That was Bernice, and now she has a much bigger living room to work with.

We had a free half day where we loaded up and took a road trip down the coast to Ensenada. On the way there we stopped at La Fonda's for lunch overlooking the Pacific.



Another big project we took on was a community health fair. Several members from our team worked at organizing this project far before we left for Mexico. We got donations from local FL doctors and collected supplies. The day before the health fair as we were working on the house on the hill we heard a loud speaker projecting news of the health fair all throughout the valley town. Kids and families showed up to get information on things such as hand washing, teeth brushing, eating healthy, eye examines and much more. They also got to walk away with a beautifully painted face and maybe a polaroid or two.






Ms. Dorthy worked for months before we left for Mexico sewing a whole pile of beautiful dresses to give to the community girls. Here is Patricia and Carmalita proudly trying on their picks.


We had the opportunity to deliver community boxes to needing families around La Misión, that included food, supplies and toys for the kids. The day I joined in on the delivery we went down by the river to drop boxes off at the door of "houses" (if you can call them that) like I have never seen before. Then came to find out that the kids that lived there were some ones we had already meet at the day care. They were ones who always had the biggest smiles. That is what I mean by joy.




On our last day there we provided a brunch for all the workers of the orphanage. While they were eating we watched after the kids. Abby Bone and Lauren Taylor organized a visor craft project that kept the kids very happy and busy for a bit.





The building project I was on involved framing a house for a family of two girls that attended the day care. You can check out our progress here...

Framing / La Misión Mexico / Missions Trip from Caroline Prietz on Vimeo.