Well, here it is, August 2008 already and the Artesania is entering the final preparations phase of our annual Alpaca Sweater Sale, for which we are becoming famous! I can tell you with great certainty; our Ladies in Peru are VERY busy putting the final touches on the order and getting the shipment(s) ready for export. That means that there is much work to do in the United States as well and the “vacation is indeed over!” We are expecting some new models this year so prepare to be impressed!

As many of you know, this year was the bi-annual Peru Mission Trip. I was very privileged to be among the individuals from St. Pius X who took the time out of their very busy lives of work and family, to see first-hand the origin of our Mission. Several of us were going for the first time and the experience of Manazo was, at least for me, very humbling and emotional. We are so blest to have the honor of serving this very warm and deserving community living in such remote territory. Having made this journey in good company, I feel that I can now count as my friends, the following persons: Mike and Janet Dawson, Steve Ringrose and Margo Helms, Yuri and Beth Romero, Kevin and Lisa Murray, Mary Layman, Tom and Tita Wofford, Drew Wofford. We all shared an incredible experience even though we were not all there for the same reasons. I know that I came back a changed person; more spiritual, more thankful, more aware and, I hope, more loving.

Our first six days in Peru were spent in the town of Manazo, during which (with the exception of me, Margo and Steve) the rest of the group went to the even more remote villages of Rosario and Conaviri for Educate-A-Child. While in Manazo we lived as they do, without the comforts of hot water, bathing facilities and heat. What we lacked in “creature comforts” was made up for in the way we were embraced by everyone we met. It may have been cold outside, but it was warm in our hearts.

After our time in Manazo, we embarked on a tour of central Peru. Our first stop was Puno where we spent the night in the Hotel Italia, complete with hot water, television and heat! It would be impossible to enumerate all the sacred places and ruins we visited, however, chief among the experiences were the ruins of Machupichu and the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable fresh-water lake.

I have to say that we had some absolutely wonderful guides throughout our visit! Each one of them was highly knowledgeable of the subject matter, professional in appearance and enigmatic in personality. Not surprisingly, they usually spoke more than 3 languages, very impressive! Our last adventure before leaving the mountains and returning to Lima was to spend a few glorious days of shopping and fine dining in the very artistic city of Cuzco, nestled high in the Andes. Cuzco shines like a jewel with all of its magnificent Cathedrals, the Plaza, and colorful buildings; It is a city rich with Incan and Spanish cultural artifacts, an example of which would be the sacred ruin known as Sacsayhumann, which lies at the North end of Cuzco and is still used today for annual celebration. I, for one, hated to leave Cuzco, but all good things have to come to an end and God willing, I will be back!

Our final stop was our first stop, Lima. Once again we were graciously received by Father Filipe and his household. Although our first arrival was to spend the night and rest up for our trip to Manazo, this visit would only be for 8 hours. We spent the time touring the Capital; the Plaza San Martin, even visiting the Catacombs of the Church of San Francisco, where reportedly live the remains of some 70,000 individuals! Our tour guides and chauffers, Father Pablo and Deacon Julio, did their best to navigate the insurmountable traffic to take us to the beach, where we had a wonderful meal at the Rustica, a magnificent structure of wood and stone, “rustic” in architecture and facing the Pacific Ocean. We then drove back up the cliffs and parked the vans in order to do some last minute shopping at Larcomar, an International mall perched high amid the cliffs above the Pacific. Soon after returning to Fr. Filipe’s we were on our way to the airport for the flight back to America, carrying back with us treasures of a lifetime.

I cannot close this brief synopsis of our trip without making mention of the many wonderful people in Peru that made our experience so profound: Yuri, without whose organization none of this would have been realized; Fr. Filipe and his priests and seminarians in Lima, our dear Father Lucho of Juliaca, Victoria, Neri and the Ladies of the Artesania, the children, parents and teachers of the Educate-A-Child Program, the Comedor providers, Humberto and Amina of the Hotel Italia, all of our drivers and guides and, of course, Sister Barbara who paved the way for us over so many years of dedicated service in Peru.

There is no doubt that I have left a lot unsaid, there is just no way to encapsulate the 12, very intense, eye-opening days we were there. For any oversight(s) please forgive me, there was just sooo much to write about!

Thank you, and God Bless!

Pam Rohlman

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