Every once in a while, we have what we missionaries affectionately like to call "snow days". They are days when those who work in public transportation decide to go on strike for some reason or another (usually protesting the cost of living increases or other such things). They don't really do anything, honestly. But they keep happening anyway. Well, no one can get to school on those days, so we have off. Yesterday was a paro day, one we knew about in advance. So we decided to ride out to Lucre from San Jeronimo and back on bikes (approximately a 25 mile bike ride). Well...
We began our adventure at the bike rental place in San Jeronimo. There were 11 of us. And then the deaf-mute brother of one of the students at the school invited himself along. So there were 12. We rode out of San Jeronimo around 9, headed towards Saylla. We passed Saylla without any notable incidents and headed towards Tipon. My friend Illary and I got behind. At this point, she was on a bike too big for her, so she was going slower. So we were behind. And then I heard a noise like she was going to sneeze. And then I heard a noise like the bike crashed. So I stopped and sure enough, Illary was on the ground. She wasn't hurt, just a bit scared. So we managed to get her back on the bike, though it took some doing. And we headed into Tipon. Coming into Tipon, we saw people gathered on the street protesting who knows what. Illary was like "Oh no! What are we going to do? I'm going to have to get off my bike and how am I going to get back on?" Well, I dismounted and walked my bike through to the other side. Illary was going to use a low cement wall along the side of the road as support to climb back on her bike, but there were people sitting on it. A policeman noticed her predicament and offered to help. So she came out on the other side too and he helped her get back on her bike. To the sound of the cheers of people in Tipon, we rode off together to Oropesa. On the road between Tipon and Oropesa, as we laughed about the situation and Illary recovered her dignity, it began to rain. As we rode into Oropesa, we saw the rest of our group stopped along the side of the road at a bakery (Oropesa calls itself Peru's bread capital...and they do have really good bread). So we stopped. Rain showers in Peru usually don't last very long, so we figured we'd buy bread and wait out the rain. Which is what we did. Predictably, after about 10-15 minutes, the rain stopped and we began again. Shortly after leaving Oropesa, right after I had just told Ron (another missionary) "I really like this bike!", I began hearing a funny noise. Turns out there was glass on the road and a nice big sliver decided it was in the mood to puncture a tire. The deaf-mute brother (Joel) removed my tire, put it on his handlebars and began to ride out to Huacarpay, where we knew there was a tire place. Along came a taxi, so Illary (who was tired because now she was riding a bike that was way too small for her), flagged it down, hopped in, we put the bike in the back, and off she went to Huacarpay. The last mile or so, I rode the little bike to Huacarpay. By the time we got there, the tire was fixed and my bike was back in commission. We went from there to Lucre, where 3 of the youth from the Huacarpay Mennonite church joined us. We had a delicious meal of fresh fried trout at the house of Pastor Eloy, the pastor of the Lucre Mennonite church, who also has a fish farm.
While we were in Lucre, relaxing and enjoying our trout, it decided to rain. We decided to wait it out as long as we could. Just as we decided that we really needed to go to get back in time and started getting onto our bikes, the rain stopped. We made it back to Huacarpay without incidents and decided to split up on the way home so everyone could go at their own pace.
Coming in to Oropesa, Mari, Illary and I, who were all traveling together, met up with Shannon and Carrie. Apparently, the same patch of glass which had been the undoing of my tire earlier in the day, also decided that Shannon's tire looked pretty inviting. Luckily, there was a tire place in Oropesa as well, so she was getting her tire fixed. The 5 of us continued on to Tipon, without incident, then back to Saylla, where Shannon and Carrie went on ahead. By this time, Illary, on her wrong-size bike (too small), was exhausted. Mari was determined to get back to San Jeronimo, by hook or by crook, and I was determined to not leave Illary behind. So we became traveling buddies. By this time, it was getting dark. Between Saylla and San Jeronimo, it officially got dark and began to rain. But we were still determined. Walking for a lot of the time, waiting for Illary, and praying for protection, we arrived on the outskirts of San Jeronimo. We traded bikes one final time, Illary taking mine, which was much more her size, and me taking the little one. And so, at 7:00, we rolled into San Jeronimo and made it back to the bike rental place, exhausted and sore, but very much proud of ourselves and our accomplishment.
It was a great day, a day of learning how much determination can really do, a day of being the one determined not to leave someone behind, a day of enjoying adventures and rain and exercise and just doing something different. I'm not sure I'm necessarily ready to do another 25-mile bike ride again for a little while and I'm still tired, but it was definitely a great way to spend a "snow day". And a great sense of accomplishment.
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