Snatched from the Jaws

Today I had to stop denying I’m suffering from altitude sickness. I slept the day away and still felt horrible when I got up in the late afternoon. Altitude sickness medicine left over from our trip here in October, coca-based tea (!), an asthma inhaler, aspirin, and the grace of God, and I’m at least able to post this and look forward to a full day tomorrow.

Our plans to make it to two church services didn’t quite pan out. As we were preparing to go to the morning service, Rosa began telling us about what her life was like growing up in a remote Quechua village, how her entire family had suffered during the time of the terrorists, and how God had put their lives together after the terrorists were defeated. Church had ended before the conversation was over, so I took my headache back to bed and Ginny enjoyed a quiet afternoon in a sunny meeting room with a glorious view of the city.

Lunch was early in the afternoon, after which we took a walk down the hill into the town. I was especially impressed with the churches that had been built before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

By the time we returned, I was feeling horrible, so I went back to bed. Meantime, Miguel (our translator for the workshop) and his wife were flying here from Lima. While Ginny was preparing for tomorrow, she heard a plane try to land and pull up, then fly off. It turns out that the plane’s front wheel would not go down, and because Ayacucho does not have the emergency equipment needed for wheels-up landings, they had to fly back to Lima. After circling to burn off fuel, they landed, and everyone got off the plane uninjured.

They will try again tomorrow, but no one will breathe easily until they have landed safely.

(UPDATE: They arrived safely in Ayacucho this morning.)