Casa Hogar San Jose - Day Three

Broken streets, abandoned trash, graffiti, stray dogs, and more than enough taxis sharing the space for one car… poverty abounds.  Beauty in people, kindness of strangers, politeness in children, alpaca enjoying the weather, and a rare flower in a pile of rubble… wealth of the heart thrives.  Arequipa… a place full of sadness to outsiders, but much happiness to those who live day-to-day in a community of love and respect for others, and for a strong faith in Christianity.  There’s no political correctness, here.  I happen to love it. 

Dave and I picked up our children (I love saying that) at San Jose this morning around 9:40.  We were expected at 10, but quite frankly, I couldn’t wait and apparently neither could they.  They were ready, sprinting downstairs, greeting us with hugs and kisses.  We brought them to our house where we’re staying.  The kids remembered we have a DVD player, so they borrowed a DVD from San Jose featuring several Walt Disney cartoons.  All three, yes, including Xavier, wanted to watch Cinderella, which coincidentally, is their mother’s favorite Walt Disney movie.  Their attention span was wonderful.  Dave taught Xavier how to use the pump for inflating his new soccer ball and American football.  We were going to play in the backyard, but the gardener was cleaning up brush and pruning the perimeter of the yard.  He found that pump to be like a new toy.  I guess when you have nothing it truly is the simple things.  For instance, the other day I saw a couple five-year-old boys in a street kicking around an empty box.  It’s sad to me, but they were so happy.  For lunch, Naty made vegetable soup, and we sopped up every last bite with leftover bread.  The children all wanted orange juice, even though we had offered Coke Zero.  We also offered potato crisps and leftover hamburgers, which Xavier enjoyed.  It’s so interesting to see Lizet eat mayonnaise with her chips.  They all like mayonnaise.  After lunch, I explained to the kids that papí was going to el supermercado for some groceries and asked if they would like anything.  They all suggested chocolate.  Surprised?  I wasn’t either.  We headed back upstairs to watch Cinderella 2.  Did any of you even know there was a Cinderella 2?  I certainly didn’t.  Angela, Lizet, and I played several games of Uno.  Angela really likes it!  I couldn’t believe that Xavier kept watching his sisters’ favorite movies so cooperatively, but he says he likes them, too.  I thought it was funny since the night before he had mentioned how much he loves terror, like The Exorcist.  He thought it was funny to see her head spin. I asked him where he saw it and he said on the Internet… so, that’s still puzzling me since I think they’re pretty well supervised at the orphanage; although, it was possibly seen in free time at school.  There’s a large map of the world on the wall upstairs, which piqued Lizet’s interest.  She found Peru and was looking to see how far it is to the United States.  Lizet wanted to take a “siesta” with me today… she didn’t really want to sleep… only cuddle on the bed.  So we did.  She held my face and was so close to me and said so sweetly, “Mamí”.  Around three o’clock, we hailed a taxi to take us to Plaza de Armas to look for blankets since tonight is the last night the children will be staying at San Jose.  We couldn’t find any, so we stopped for sundaes instead.  Angela chose strawberry, but Xavier, Lizet, and I had chocolate.  After our afternoon treat, we found Maria and Raul at the fountain in the center of Plaza de Armas.  They informed us that the children’s doctor’s appointment had been cancelled so we had to go to SNA to reschedule.  We waited and were able to reschedule with another doctor, so off we went in two taxis to the doctor.  The pediatrician was very nice and I told the children I would go in with them, which seemed to put them at ease.  It was a very brief exam and the results were good.  Doctor Talavera reported the children are in wonderful health, although their stature is a bit small.  Weights for instance: Lizet is 30 kilo., Angela is 41 kilo., and Xavier is 35 kilo.  Those weights sound healthy to me, but perhaps for Peruvian standards, it’s small.  Maria at the orphanage let us know they’ve all had Chicken Pox, and Xavier and Angela have had the mumps.  I still don’t know what sizes the kids wear, since they’re not too comparable to American sizes.  But, I do know that Xavier is wearing jeans that require his belt to loop around twice.  Lizet had the same trouble with a skirt the other day.  I think they will also enjoy wearing clothes that don’t have their name on it somewhere on the inside.  But, I can’t wait to buy them plenty of clothes, which they need, since they’ve worn the same outfit four days in a row.  We left and were planning to attend Cristo el Redentor, but they were all (especially Angela), muy cansado (very tired).  So, we took them to San Jose… again, kisses, and hugs farewell until mañana.  As I got in the taxi, I looked back and then up, to see my three children waving from the upstairs bedrooms.  Dave and I decided to go to Saga Falabella, a department store, to buy their blankets, which we found successfully.  On the way, our taxi managed to get sideswiped twice and rear-ended once.  There’s nothing like sitting in traffic behind two dozen diesel-fueled buses to brighten your night.  The thing is, these taxis keep driving… they don’t seem to care, hence all the dents and scraped paint.  We ate dinner at China Wok in the food court.  We both had mandarin chicken and Pepsis sin hielo (without ice).  We are now home and resting peacefully… our last night, just the two of us.