These are the people in our neighborhood...

I thought you might like to see some of the common visitors to our neighbourhood or barrio. We live in a district of Lima called Magdalena del Mar. Although very urban, like our neighbourhood in Calgary there is a variety of wildlife here to enjoy outside our front window. Living on the third floor directly opposite the park has given us a front row seat to observe the goings-on. The most obvious, because of numbers and song, are the doves. But before the images of Noah's olive branch, and wedding celebrations fill your mind, these doves are also known as 'rats with wings' by some Peruvians. For many of you, just substitute 'dove' with 'sea gulls' and you will get a more accurate picture. Circling overhead we often find the Black Vultures a.k.a Turkey Vultures (photo above). These are medium-sized, soaring scavengers and they seem to like the midday heat to loft themselves high above us. But our favourites are the others - daily we are visited by parakeets, tanagers, hummingbirds, tyrannulets, mockingbirds, grosbeaks and little yellow Saffron Finches (they are always in pairs), and if we're lucky, a Vermilion Flycatcher with his bright red feathers. To make the mix of birds exciting, throw in the daily raids from the aggressive hawks (Harris Hawk, we think) who cause all the birds to scatter. We have recently noticed that when the hawk arrives, one bird will make "suicide runs" trying to knock the hawk off it's course. The longer we have lived here, the more we recognize patterns in the behaviour of these birds and the more we marvel at God's creation.

Another difference is the many vendadores who frequent our community. They usually ride or push their portable shops through the streets. To make sure that we don't miss the opportunity to buy from them, they each have their own unique whistle or call to alert us to there arrival. We can buy fresh buns twice daily from the bread wagon, ice cream, flowers, tamales, etc. Pictured below is the knife sharpener sharpening our knives for us. One of my favourite salesmen is the broom guy. He pushes a large cart through the street and lets out a loud moan. I have video of him and will try to post it. We always giggle when he rolls through the neighbourhood. Nothing about the sound he makes gives me the desire to buy from him, but it certainly is entertaining. With the birds chirping, dogs barking, "shop keepers" whistling and broom guy moaning, our street is rarely quiet and never boring!

I had to include a photo of our new babysitter, Betty. She has been wonderful with the kids. Thank you for praying for this need. We are praising God for His provision! She is a patient teacher and the kids are learning a lot from her. Betty is full of spunk and loves to challenge us all. After she speaks to me, she asks me to translate what she said. Nothing like a little pressure!! It is good for me and I am learning from her. Some people are easier to talk to than others. She is a good teacher that way. She is also willing to wow the boys with her tree climbing ability. Having grown up in the jungle, tree climbing was more of a life skill than a game. What interesting people (blessings) God has brought into our life!