Well, I disappeared in Peru for a while and it seems a bit of Peru disappeared in me as well! I have just spent 36 hours on a drip being rehydrated after a couple of days of severe sickness upon my arrival home last Wednesday. Once I started passing blood, I was sent to ER and I was not going anywhere! It had been a long trip.
Starting with my train being delayed to the airport back on February 1 I missed my flight and had to return the next day $220 poorer for a ticket change. At least I took Gill out to the movies as an unexpected date! Late that night I was stressing as my revised plane ticket had not been sent and the office of LAN Airlines was closed. Thankfully at 5am it arrived and I headed for the airport on the train - round 2. "I'm sorry Mr Davis we can fly you to Auckland, but the flight to to Santiago is oversold by 14 seats so you won't be able to get on that flight, do you really still want to go?" Already my crazy 6 day trip has been cut to 5 so I press on...and get on. I was reading in Revelation 3 that God calls himself the one who opens things that no one can close and closes things that no one can open, so I figure if God wants me to go, there's no closing me down! Good faith building stuff, even if a bit stressful.
I connect with a Peruvian surfer on the flight and we strike up a great conversation as he lives just around the corner from CS Peru friend Muelas. Amazing connections. I get to share my Jesus story and he believes our meeting was 'fate'. He gives me the email address of an Australian Catholic surfing priest who has been there 5 years, can you believe that? I finally see Sergio Busatto and Aldo Ventura's smiling faces at Lima airport and they have had an extra day speaking Spanish and Portuguese without me. We are transitioning the leadership for South America from Sergio to Aldo and we all sense God's hand in it. There's ceviche to eat, salt water to wash off the jet-lag and Estella, Antonella and Camilla's wonderful company as Aldo's supportive wife and daughters. I'm always struck with the grey beach-scape around Lima, the color green does not exist here unsupported. Then there's the desolate poor houses set in the dirt of dirt poor people. Some of them are surfing now.
We leave the upper middle class and go to a local CS meeting at Pacochi's place, a radiant 57-year-old surfer with his sons and his grandchild. I'm told I would not have recognised him just 6 months ago before he received Christ. All his life he had been a dope smoking surfer hanging out on the beach selling ceviche and having his share of hard times. We are invited to his cafe next day and he insists on plying us with raw fish and mussels cooked in lime juice and a range of chillies and onion. The surf is crowded, some 40 out at Caballeros and they are surfing well. Peru has just won the ISA World Games Open Teams Title as well as the ISA World Junior Title taking out the Aussies as they are quick to tell me. This has to be the most consistent surfing location in the world. The huge Chilean swells head up north and are met with still, dry conditions. Punta Hermosa must have 12 reefbreaks in 10km and it is never flat. Pico Alto can hold 30' waves and somewhere will hold everything in between.
The fog descends. I'm out in the lineup with the new Peru National Director Antonio 'Toñito' Farfan and we are jostling with the 20 strong crowd of 35+ year olds out before work. The lineup is just the same as anywhere in the world. I don't speak Spanish but I do speak the language of the lineup and soon take a back seat to the locals. The fog is getting thicker. Cold water and warm air combine. There's a shout from a tiny wooden fishing boat 200m out to sea. It is CS Peru founder John Chuman. I paddle out and he is greener than the color of the boat he is in. Diving overboard and resting on my board we catch up. Bobbing about in the sea with the mist swiriling about, the birds calling and his mate pulling the bottom net up and separating the fish. I leave and paddle back...but the fog has really descended. No visibiitly beyond 50m and soon I cant see anything in any direction. Straight away I think of what my life would be without Christ. Lost. Aimless. Fogbound. I hear a bit of Spanish banter and see the startled faces of some guys who see a strange gringo emerge, a gorilla in the mist. Each night is an amazing sunset with a blood red sun setting over the coastal islands.
Heading into Lima we are able to attend church and conduct a commissioning service for Aldo and his family. Pastor Lucho is a passionate communicator and though I can't understand anything, his antics and conviction are obvious and the audience responds. I like to worship in another language and sense the community spirit of God's people as they join together. I get to meet with Bruce and Marsha Blackwell and tribe who are Aussie missionaries dedicated to teaching the Bible and are on the CS Peru board. Such a big step to live cross culturally. Outside the Lima traffic is chaotic, there are four lanes of traffic for the two lane road and we get stuck between two narrowing buses at one stage and I thought we were gone. Horns honk continuously and somehow everyone gets by. Inside with the church service it is a small oasis of peace and community.
All the way I have taken Skegman the mascot for the 2012 International Conference and he features in many photos for his upcoming Facebook page. A final night with John Chuman and family and I am whisked off to the airport, barely five days there. So I find myself back home and recovering. I love the Peruvian food, but maybe it didn't love me back. "It was LAN Brett. Those Chileans don't know how to cook!" explained John on Skype today. The Peru/Chile rivalry runs high!
