Collecting Supplies and Running Out of Water

I walked down to the house after breakfast with Daniel and Lamar to think and plan. I was feeling chilly inside, so I went out into the sunshine. Ah! It felt wonderful.

I noticed a cushy patch of grass in the front lawn and thought it’d be nice to just soak up some sun for a few minutes. Over an hour later I woke up a bit disoriented. No one was around, so I walked up to Lamar’s house to find them and my phone, which I had left somewhere. While napping on the grass, I received a significant sunburn on a narrow patch on my leg above my sock that was exposed. Something to watch out for in such high altitude.

I found my phone with a message from Lamar asking me to come down to my house. Back down I went. Daniel had ideas endless for how to get innumerable projects done. We made measurements and lists and headed to Rafael’s hardware store around three with hopes of a 5:00 supper. (I think Juanita knew better…)

Our first stop was the bank to exchange some dollars into soles. Because we were exchanging a large amount, the bank wanted to set Lamar up as a client. The ladies had made some wish lists of furniture and house supplies. While Lamar finished up at the bank, I went to meet them at the furniture shop.

There wasn’t much to choose from. New stock is scheduled to arrive this weekend; we’ll get more stuff next week. We did get a bed frame and a couple dressers, as well as alpaca wool blankets and some comforters.

We finished furniture shopping just after 5:00 (Sorry, Juanita.). Beulah and Steph went shopping for stuff necessary to keep a house running. Wives are amazing that way.

I met up with the fellows in time to pay for all the stuff they had purchased in my name. We then walked to the ceramic shop and picked out the tile for the bathrooms. Naturally, they didn’t have it in stock. It’s to come today. Daniel and Lamar went down the street and left me to expose my limited Spanish to the shop owner.

I could feel my brain struggling hard to pull Spanish up, but it was just too tired, poor thing. Where do I live? I have no idea what you’re saying, nor do I know how to answer.

Our taxi scheduled for 5:00 was no longer around at 6:30 (Surprise!), so we walked downtown to find another taxi large enough to take five people and all their purchases home. We may need to buy a vehicle once our house sells.

We arrived back to the house close to 7:00. The rice and chicken with guacamole was greatly appreciated. Immediately after supper we commenced with showers.

I walked the children down to the house, my back loaded down with stuff. I tried to calculate how many hundreds of pounds of stuff I carried or tossed yesterday; I think it surpassed two tons. My shoulders are sore. I was thankful (mostly) for those with energy who kept me pushed along.

Jolynn slept with the girls, and we put the boys in our room for the immediate future. The little people are showing signs of the lack of normalcy and security, but are mostly cheerful. After the children were asleep, I walked back to Lamar’s under a full moon to take a shower. I passed Stephanie coming down. How romantic!

What was less than romantic was turning on the shower only to have air come out. We ran out of water. Lamar ran out to hook up the pump into the ditch to pull water from there, so I could shower. Thanks, brother.

The tank could not be filled because water in the ditch ran too low. That will only get worse as the dry season continues. We meet with the mayor/president of the community today, Lord willing at 12:00. Perú is on EST, but doesn’t follow daylight savings time, so we match CST for now.

Please pray that we can get permission to hook up the water!