Peru, Days 1-2

Juan Mejia Baca, Private University in Chiclayo, Peru

Summary: I was asked to help UMB (Juan Mejia Baca) build a career and academic advising center.  In return, they are offering internships to BYU students.  We currently have 14 BYU students interning in Chiclayo, plus Justin Zamora who just finished a masters degree and has been working as an academic advisor at BYU.  I will be helping Justin with the career/employer relations side of things.

May 26, 2013

Lima to Chiclayo, Peru

Yesterday I flew to Lima where Cesar Cornejo was waiting to take me with him to his University in Chiclayo.  I arrived in Lima around 11:00 PM and we stayed the night in a hotel nearby.  This morning we woke up and caught a taxi to Miraflores, a district of Lima that overlooks the ocean.  It was beautiful.  We walked along the beach and had lunch at a place on top of a cliff, overlooking the beach.

Cesar was reading messages on his phone in the back seat of the taxi on our way to the airport when we stopped at a red light.  Suddenly a hand reached through the open window and grabbed his phone.  Fortunately, he was able to hang on to the phone as a 20 year old kid in a white tank top ran off.  I asked Cesar if that was common, and he said, unfortunately it is, but only in Lima. 

Yesterday while I was waiting in line to go through customs at the Lima airport, a woman behind me asked if this was my first time to Lima.  I said that it was.  She said, pointing to my back pocket, “you need to put your wallet in your front pocket.  People are very good at stealing wallets in Lima.” 

Yesterday, on the plane ride to Atlanta where I had a 45 minute layover, I was sitting next to a man, Roy Lewis Pino (Named after Roy Rogers and Jerry Lewis).  He was taking his wife (of 6 months) back to visit his home country, Peru.  In talking he said he was from Trujillo, and that all of his family is LDS.  He was baptized when he was 12.  I told him the person who helped facilitate my trip to Juan Mejia Baca is from Trujillo, and is a good friend and colleague.  He asked his name.  I said it is Alberto Puertas.  He stopped to think, and then  asked, “Alberto the father or Alberto the son?”  We figured out that is was Alberto the son.  Roy said that Alberto’s family were pioneers in Peru, and that his dad was a regional leader in the church when Roy was young.  (Roy looked like he was in his early 60s.)  What are the odds that I would get a on a plane to Atlanta and sit next to a man that knows Alberto’s family from Trujillo, Peru.  It truly is a small world.

This morning, I had breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant.  They asked if we wanted coffee and Cesar, knowing that we don’t drink coffee, said, “no, but can we have milk?”  So the waiter kindly brought out a warm glass of milk in a coffee cup with two packets of sugar – Mmmm!

A few pics:

View from Lima Hotel

Fishing

Ice Cream - Cesar Cornejo

Popular Peruvian Dish

Lima Pier Restaurant

Mmmm!

"Ceviche"

Raw fish, sweet potatoes, and some other stuff.  It was actually very different, AND very tasty.

Home for the next week.

Oh, and the hotel the first night was a classic Big City Latin America experience - Spanish Music blaring, horns honking (they love to use their horns), planes flying overhead, sirens, etc. I did manage to get a little sleep.  Oh, and here's a tip: Don't assume your hotel will have an iron.  I don't know what I'm going to wear tomorrow.  :)