So I'm back from my whirlwind trip to Lima, Peru with World Vision and I'm finally ready to share a little about my time there. The experience was quite overwhelming and my mind is still swimming from everything I have just seen. Just letting you know that my thoughts may be a little scattered still at this point.

Last Sunday I hopped on a plane in Memphis to begin my overnight journey to Lima. I arrived at the small airport around 6:00 Monday morning. From there, it took me another 2 hours to get through customs and finally to my hotel to take a quick shower and join up with the rest of my group downstairs in the lobby at 8:45. (Everyone else arrived the night before) I thought I had an idea of what to expect on this trip, but I was very wrong in my assumptions. Lima is a sprawling city of 10+ million people. When I thought of Peru, I thought of lamas, beautiful mountains, and Machu Picchu. Lima is the furthest thing from that picture. It is a coastal city situated between the Andes Mountains with no major rivers and dessert like terrain. Basically a bunch of dust, rock, sand, and huge hills everywhere. As guests, not missionaries for World Vision, we stayed in a safer part of town. So one of the very first things we noticed was the harsh contrast between wealth and poverty that exists there. The wealthy area was almost like the California coast line with high cliffs over looking the beach down below and very clean, trendy shopping areas. Drive just 10 minutes and the landscape and houses change dramatically. I still don't know how to express it all in words yet, and I likely never will. So for now, here a few pictures from day 1 in Peru (more thoughts and photos to follow soon): 

Lima Day 1