TravelStream™ news feed for member vaughnquinn on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/vaughnquinn en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:51:48 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1230419700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1230419700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1230419700/tpod.html Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:51:48 -0500 Mami Mission

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Santa Clotilde, Utah, Peru

Dear Friends,
Each one of you was remembered in a very special way at Midnight Mass, celebrating the Birth of Our Savior.
Santa Clotilde has a population that is anywhere from fifteen hundred to two thousand, depending on the season.
This being Christmas, it is more like two thousand, the students who have graduated from the high school have
returned from Iquitos, families have returned for the holidays. One the Eve of Christmas presented a pagent involving close to fifty students from the very first years of schooling, right up to and including those who are at university in Iquitos. It was truly a wonderful celebrationa presented as part of the liturgical service.

I want to take this time to wich you a Happy New Year filled with joy and peace for all of 2009.

I am not too sure when I will kbe able to post another blog. The electrictry is available from around
six in the evening until eleven o'clock and Mass is celebrated anywhere from seven to seven thirty.

Lots of visitors arriving for the official opening of the new wing at the hospital.

All the best to each of you,

Vaughan
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Lima, Utah, Peru

This is a test.
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Lima, Utah, Peru

Hello again and it is still Wednesday and I just finished posting a blog about our Christmas dinner here at the Oblate Centre House in Lima. Now lets try to send some pictures.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1229532780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1229532780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1229532780/tpod.html Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:15:06 -0500 Mami Mission

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Lima, Utah, Peru

Good Day from Lima,Wednesday morning the 17th of December and at noon today is the gathering of the Oblates in the area and special friends for Turkey Feast with all the trimmings. Now I know why Fr. Moe asked me to bring four cans of cranberry sauce and a little Canadian Club to share with the members of the community and their friends. You see, on Sunday the 21st, Fr. Moe, Kristine and myself, and most probably others will be flying to Iquitos, maybe an hour and a half flight, and then by water transportation. Equitos is the world's largest city that cannot be reached by road. I think we are on the Rio Napo for the best part of a day before we reach
Santa Clotilde or final destination. I've heard that Fr. Moe wants to stop at the villages on the way to see if any-
one is in need of medical help or needs to be transported to the hospital at St. Clotilde. The doctor is always on
call over land and water.

Lots of action around here, preparing for today's turkey dinner. Yesterday afternoon my job was chopping
onions for the turkey dressing. I know that Kristine got up at 3:00 AM to put the bird in the oven and Moe
was working on the gravy at a very early hour this morning, before we celebrated Mass/

If you would like some great photos of Machu Picchu, google Machu Picchu, scroll down to the second page
and open on the number 3 and you will open a 360 degree panoramic view of Machu Picchu by National
Geographic Magazine.
Got to run,
Vaughan.

The time now is 4:20 PM and we have finished cleaning up after the Christmas Turkey Feast. Twenty people
Oblates and friends enjoyed the magnificent meal, the camaraderie, the laughter, the merriment, the affirmation.
Every guest received Italian Christmas Bread (panetone, not sure if that is the right spelling) and a bottle of bubbly. A great time was had by all.

I think there may well be six people on the flight to Equitos. That many will be needed to bring all the supplies to Santa Clotilde, curtains for around the beds that Moe ordered at the market about ten days vests for the people working on the river boats, medical stuff, gowns for the young children in the choir, etc,etc. Some staff, nurses and lab technicians that trained with Fr. Moe and Fr. Jack McCarthy, maybe 20 years ago are planning a little reunion at Santa Clotilde to reminisce of their first years at the hospital and recount the stories that touched their
hearts and gave meaning to their lives to this day.

On Friday, the woman gynecologist, her husband and two sons will be coming back to Lima, on their way home to Wisconsin after the doctor gratefully gave two weeks of her needed services in return for Moe looking after
her oldest son when his eye was infected a couple of years ago, while trekking in the jungle, and he was brought
to the hospital in Santa Clotilde. Their are many heart rendering stories just like this one. They will arrive Friday
morning and fly to the states later that day.

I hope you get a chance to google Machu Picchu and appreciate what the ancient tribes and the 14th century
Inka Empire, the lost city, which was discovered in 1911 by an American historian Hiram Bingham while be
guided around by locals. Actually he was looking for the lost city of Vilcabamba the last stronghold of the Inka's
and he thought he had found it at Machu Picchu. Vilcabamba is much deeper in the jungle. Machu Picchu site was
overgrown with thick vegetation, and Bingham returned in 1912 and 1915 to carry out the difficult task of clearing
the thick forest and discovered more ruins on the so called Inka trail.

Well now, I think that will do if for today.

God bless,
Vaughan


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1229357160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1229357160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1229357160/tpod.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:56:43 -0500 Mami Mission

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The City of Cuzco, Utah, Peru

The flight from Lima to Cuzco took about an hour. Cuzco's population is around four hundred thousand and is at the heart of the once mighty Inca empire. Lying within easy hoping distance of the city is the country's biggest
draw-card of all, the 'lost' city of the Incas Machu Picchu. More later. Sister Rosario greeted us and treated us to
coca leaf tea, to help us with the adjustment to the high altitude, and advised us to sleep for two hours. We attended Mass at 6:30 and found quaint little restaurant for a light supper and a much appreciated cup of coffee.

Thursday morning was filled with a visit to the Museo where our guide Irma gave us the history of the pre-Inka cultures and explained all the beautiful artifacts in the museum. Cuzco is now the undisputed archaeological
capital of the Americas, as well as the Continent's oldest continuously inhabited. In the afternoon we joined a city
sight-seeing tour and visited the places of interest, temple of the sun, tambomanhay, saqsaywoman, and a few others that I can't even try to spell. Fortunately, we attended Mass at the Iglesia de Santo Domingo and then attended a musical and dance theatrical presentation of the traditional songs and dances of the region. Very lively
and colorful. Exhausted and starving, we found a place that served sandwiches and ice-cream and that is how we
ended another full day.

Friday was the Feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, we celebrated Mass the the Dominican community.
In the afternoon we went to the bus station to board the bus for Aquas Caliente. On arrival we learned that
our travel to Allantaytambo

was a taxi, not a bus. Cesar our driver and Jose, riding shot gun, dashed us over
hills and down through valleys at speeds that would have had the vehicle confiscated in Canada. At one point,
we were flying down the mountain side, at about 140 klicks, came around a corner, and low and behold a great
truck cutting across the race track right in front of us. Cesar hit the brakes big time, the truck swerved to the right
to avoid a major crash, end result the truck went into a bunch of rocks and the taxi suffered a fender-bender and
a broken head light. We were lucky that nothing really major happened.

The two hour ride was really spectacular, nine thousand foot mountains of solid rock on each side, sometimes so
close you could almost reach out and touch them. I was like driving through the deepest valley of Mother Earth.
At other times, the valley opened a little and there was not one inch of rich land that was not being prepared for
planting. And other plush crops, like corn, almost ready for harvest. There were a least twenty teams of oxen
ploughing and tilling the soil. These people are very hard workers indeed. We arrived in Ollantaytambo and took
a stroll to the town square had a cup of coffee and talked with a beautiful couple and their three year old son who
were selling paintings in the town square. They sure don´t have much in the order of material things, but seem very
happy and willing to take the time to answer question and practice their English as we practice Spanish. We then went looking for a church and a Mass for the Third Sunday of Advent. We were informed that there would be a service at 7:00 P.M. However, this was only a liturgy of the Word, I guess there is no priest here on a regular
basis. I talked to the young man presiding at the service and he told me he was a seminarian. Now since we had
already celebrated the Liturgy of the Word, (I had a English translation we shared) we found a quiet restaurant
asked for bread and a little white wine, and completed our Sunday Eucharist, on Saturday evening..

The next day, Sunday, our guide Juan Carlos had studied Inka history, their rise and fall, and more importantly
Inka archeology and their incredible ability of working with stone. Some stone weighed ten tones and more.
How these were transported from the quarry, a mile away, carry over land and then brought to the temples,
some five and six thousand feet above the valley. Kristine invited Carlos for lunch and we learned more of the culture and ancient traditions. We ate Alpaca for the first time.

At 4:00 P.M. we took the train to Aquas Caliente and arrived at our Hostal Payacha, which is only a 30 minute
bus ride zig zagging up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Yesterday was an all day fantastic experience at this most sacred site. For more information, just google Machu Picchu, you learn an awful lot more then I can tell you here.

Now. we are off to catch a flight back to Lima.
God bless,
Vaughan
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228832040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228832040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228832040/tpod.html Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:51:57 -0500 Mami Mission

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Lima, Peru, Utah, Peru

Good Day to All,
After checking my last entry there are a few corrections that are in order. I mentioned that yesterday being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a National Holiday in Peru that it would be interesting to attend Mass at
the Cathedral. No such luck, there was no Mass at the Cathedral. Second correction, the banquet yesterday evening was not at the Oscar Romero Centerer, like I said in the blog, but rather at Jesus the Worker Industrial
School.
Yesterday after breakfast Kristine Vanderham and I jumped on one of those little vans and headed downtown to
visit the Cathedral and a few other touirist attractions. As I said above, the Cathedral was closed, but we noticed
a lot of activity in the square in from of the St. Rose of Lima Chapel. About five different marching bands were
warming up and preparing for the big parade. Several groups were donning the most elaborate costumes what seemed to be heavy and cumbersome headress of another time and place. The colors were very bright and the
music very lively. The beadwork that adorned all of these traditional outfits, from the smallest children to the
grandparents, was spectacular and depicted the beliefs and customs of the Peruvian people today and predating the Spanish conquest, somewhere around AD 1400. The remainder of our time downtown was spent visiting chapels and convents. The Church of St. Rose of Lima, ( I read somewhere that she was the first Saint
of the Americas. Next was Iglesia de Santo Domingo, one of Lima's most historic churches. The church contains
the tombs of Saint Rose and Saint Martin de Porres. An aside, Father Les Costello of Topront Maple Leaf
Stanley Cup fame (1948) and heart and soul of the infamous Flying Fathers hockey team had a tremendous
devotion to St. Martin de Porres. The night that Costy (Father Costello) spent in the bush in sub-zero wether,
after getting disoriented while cross-county skiing, and not all that sure that he was going to come our alive, he
told us, he prayed to St. Martin de Porres, in a style that only Costy could get away with: "If you want me to
keep working for the poor in Northern Ontario, get me the hell out of here", St Martin. End result, seven toes
were amputated. The Associated Press (AP) picked up the story the Flying Fathers became the guests on Naational TV shows in the states like "Real People" and the teams popularity, south of the Canadiam boarder
grew overnight.
The Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception was a here in Comas at Parroquia "Nuestra Senora
de La Paz". A packed church, about twenty Oblates, a couple of bishops, and many religious men and women
who have worked with the Oblates since the Congregation came to Comas over fifty years ago. "Jesus the
Worker" industrial school, founded by the Oblates in those early years was the place for a magnifient banquet
about three hundred people enjoyed the turkey dinner. Most of these have worked in the different ministries of
the congregation for the last half century. A Sister of Chrarity from Kingston, an RN who trained at St. Mary's
hospital in Montreal in the days when Dr.John Quinn, my father was practicing at St. Mary's. The event was a
meaningful way of recognizing, and exppressing gratitude to all the folks and who freely donated their time and
talent to the realization of the Oblate presence in Comas.
Tomorrow Kristine and I will fly to Cuzco, the Sacred Valley. This is at the heart of the once mighty Inca
empire. The magnetic city of Cuzco draws hundreds of thousands of tourists. And lying within an easy hopping
distance of the city is the country's biggest drawcard of all, the 'lost' city of the Incas, Machu Picchu, a lofty
Inca citadel perched high on an isolated mountaintop. We are boked in at a Dominican Convvent and due
back here in Lima next Monday. I just read that internet cafes are found are almost every corner, and we'll
try to keep up with short blogs while on this expedition, but we'll take it one day at a time.
So for now Adios,
Vaughan




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Lima, Peru, Utah, Peru

Good Evening,
The Eugene DE Mazenod chapel is one of the fourteen chapels that are all part of the Oblate Parish of
"Nuestra Senora De La Paz, and the Oblate Centre House, where we are staying is just around the
corner, and that is where we con-celebrated Mass this morning. Same place as a week ago and since
the children's' choir was so joyful, I just wanted to go back one more time. I con celebrated with Fr.
Heinner the pastor of the Parish. Fr.Moe was celebrating Mass in the main church. Len Rego OMI
is the director of the Oscar Romero Centre and he invited me to tag along with him as he made the rounds
at market for crafts and souvenirs. Len Rego has been in Peru for over thirty years has been the driving
force and leader in uniting groups in order that the workers would be fairly represented in their commercial
endeavors. A university professor who volunteers at the centre and whose seven year old daughter was
celebrating a birthday was the occasion of Leonardo's magnanimity in inviting the family of four and yours
truly to lunch at a very traditional Peruvian restaurant. They pretty well do the same as in Canada. All the
waiters and waitresses gather around the table and sing "happy birthday" in three languages, bells and
whistles and all that good stuff.
Tomorrow is a national holiday here and it is also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. An important
day in the oblate world. We will celebrate with Mass at five in the afternoon at the Oscar Romero Centre,
followed by a dinner. Since there is nothing of great urgency here, I would like to go back to the Cathedral
where the Cardinal will be officiating in honor of Our Blessed Mother.
Wednesday of this Kristine and I will go to Inca Country, which everyone really worthwhile and a must on
the things "to do" list,
Time to wrap this up and hit the hay,
Vaughan

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Aucayacu, Utah, Peru

Greetings to all,
In the last blog I think we were all getting ready to jump on the afternoon bus back to Lima from Aucayacu. That´s an overnighter and since we boarded around five it was not very long before nightfall. Fortunately we
had the opportunity to admire all the magnificent scenery on our way to Aucayacu, because it wasn't very long
before we were enveloped in darkness. From time to time we would pass through at mining operation all lit with seemingly thousands of lights and searchlights, making every one aware of the fact that ¨¨there´s money in them there hills´´and night is no time to sleep. Since we started at a pretty high altitude the descent was easier on the ears than going up.
Yesterday afternoon another trip to themardet downtown to ckeck on all the things Fr. Moe had ordered the last time we were there, remember, curtains to go around the beds in the new wing at Sana Clotilda, two hundred calendars for the people of San Clotilde, and jackets for the people working on the river boats. As always, the market was swarming with crowds looking for whatever.
Since we were in the neighborhood, it was an opportunity to visit the museum of the Spanish Inquisition. Certainly not one of the most glorious epochs in the history of our Church. I think it lasted a couple hundred years. Fourteen
hundred people were brought to trial and something like twenty-six were sentenced to death and executed. Crimes against the faith were considered the most serious. Long prison sentences were given by the inquisitors and the jail cells and punishments where these poor souls were shackled, hand and foot, were part pf the museums
display for all to see. Now to the Cathedral of Lima. This is the part of the world that is subject to earthquakes.
The Cathedral has suffered more than its share. Recently it has been totally renovated and it is magnificent. December the eighth, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a Holiday in Peru and the Cardinal
of Lima will celebrate Mass at the Cathedral on that day. I don´t know the schedule for the coming week, but if
we are free, it would be a worthwhile experience. I hope we can take it in.
Ever since coming to Peru, the plight of the poor has been the subject of a couple of my impressions, however,
words are such flimsy fragile things and can only give a surface descriptions of something much deeper, and from my first-world view pretty in human. Prayer and the writings of the profit Isaiah in the readings of the Mass of today: "Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not
hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, ""This is the way walk in it" For a beautiful meditation for the time of waiting for Christ´s coming, continue to read; Isaiah chapter 30 versus 19 to 21 and versus 23 to 26.
It is a meaningful way to recall God`s gifts to each one of us, and to reflect that Christmas is really much more than a commercial holiday
Blessings to all,
Vaughan.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228345320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228345320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228345320/tpod.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:05:23 -0500 Mami Mission

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Aucayacu, Utah, Peru

From the East side of the Andes,
The last time I posted a blog, if my memory serves me right, I was talking about taking the young people from
from the patients house in Lima out for a hamburger to very crowded amusement area at the public beach. Sounds
easy enough, however, two had undergone a leg amputation in the past year. The young man from an accident, and the seventeen year old girl from malignant tumor.
Sunday night after the hour ride back to Comas we too off for the airport to Kristine Vanderham, who was a teenager when Fr: Moe was in medical school in Calgary and was celebrating Mass in a nearby parish on the weed-ends. I think that was the last time Fr.Moe saw Kristine and there we were in a packed airport looking
for a person that I had never met and Moe has not seen in about thirty yeas. No problem we picked her out in two shakes of a lamb´s tail. Kristine is here to celebrate Christmas at San Clotilde and to be present for the dedication
of the new wing at the hospital at St.Clotilde, the Vanderham family were most instrumental in the realization of the project.
Tuesday morning we were up at the crack of dawn and on the bus by 8.30 for the twelve plus hour to Tingo Maria and one more hour by cab to Aucayacu. Let me just say, that bus trip was like no other bus trip that I have ever been on before, With in three and a half hours we were at the highest point of our mountain ascent, 4752 meters some change. From sea-level to over 4000 meters in just over three hours, one a bus can sure make your ears pop and feel a little dizzy. That´s five times higher than the first and last time I sky dived thirty years ago. All the way up the Andes, we viewed some super-big mining operations. that extract all kinds of precious minerals. The sleeping dorms for the workers, built by these mega companies, right on the site, looks like they can accommodate three or four hundred employees. The issues of who has title to what and all the negotiations over peoples rights, the right of the individual, and on and on, and add to all of the above, the ecology concerns and the relations between people and their environment. I would certainly include all these topics in the context of
¨evangelizing¨.
This morning after morning prayers and breakfast we visited the buffalo herd, that is16 cows and three bulls, owned by the Oblates, as a means of financially supporting the many works. Oh, I almost forgot, the first thing we did was to visit the radio station, owned by the Oblates and broadcasts from five o'clock in the morning until nine
at night, Monday to Friday. This all happens here at the Parish and has the power to reach over two hundred
thousand people. There are religious programs and many programs dealing with the topics that are in the news and interest people. Interviews with experts in the different health fields in an attempt to educate the people on the prevention of AIDS, TB, malaria, serious causes of loss of life.
This afternoon we went and visited the first place where Blaise MacQuarrie and Fr, Moe lived when he began
his medical word in the jungle at Aucayacu in the seventies.
Fr. Joe Devlin, known as Fr, Pepi, Moe, and I con celebrated the 7.00 p.m. Mass in the Parish and then we all went out and had a chicken dinner. This was Kristine´s treat talented young Oblate who looks after the buffalo
herd, drove us around all day and sang beautifully at Mass this evening and also played the guitar joined us for the chicken dinner.
Tomorrow around 5.00 p.m. we board the bus for the ride over the top of the Andes on our way back to Lima.
That´s all for this one and may this Advent Season prepare you well for the Gift of the Christ Child's coming.
Peace,
Vaughan

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228141680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228141680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/vaughnquinn/1/1228141680/tpod.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:17:53 -0500 Mami Mission

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Lima, Utah, Peru

It's Monday morning and the week-end was pretty busy. For starters Fr. Moe had to do some
errands at the big market in downtown Lima. Material for the hospital curtains that hang from
rods that encircle the the beds in a hospital ward. Once accomplished, bring the cloth to people
who are cutters and sewers who will take this huge pile of the same cloth you see hanging
around hospital beds, and follow the measurements given to them, perform the tricks of their
trade, and bingo! picked up this week and ready to be loaded on the plane and river boat
that will transport us to Santa Clotilde on the 21st, of this Month. Next find a store that will
make six jackets for the boat crews that transport patients and goods to and from the clinic
in Santa Clotilde. After that, find a place that can make 200 calendars, marked Santa
Clotilde, friends and supporters of the clinic. As I type this, it really sounds all so simple,
cut and dry, but believe me the Lima Market, (Moe just told me that I misinformed you in
my last writings. Correction, it's the City of Lima that has a populatiom of 9 million not the
country of Peru. Sorry about that). Well I'm certain, that everyone of the 9 million went to
the market in downtown Lima last Saturday. Finding the little shops that had what was needed
would have been out of the question for someonelike who does'nt speak Spanish. In the middle of
the afternoon I mentioned to Moe: "I'll bet God does'nt know how many people are in this
market". After that an hour ride home on a Combi (looks like a Dodge van) had a dish of
ice cream and strawerries, and off to the church, Our Lady of Peace, Parish, to assist at two
weddings. Actually, my participation is limited to distributing Communion and sprinkling those
who present themselves with Holy Water, and of course blessing children. All the above are
popular.
We were on the road by 6,30 Sunday morning in a little ricksha sort of machine, powered
by a small mortor-cycle with two seats in the back and a roof over our heads. The Parish
consists of one hundred thousand, now I don't remember if that's people or families, there
are 14 chapels also run by the people of the parish. Fr. Moe had the 7.00 a.m. Eucharist
in the first chapel and the same thing all over again at 8,30 in another chapel. About ten
minutes apart by the ricksah-like machine. Around 200 of the faithful had gathered in each
place for a very lively celebration for the first Sunday of Advent. The choirs were made up
of very enthusiastic and talented teen-agers and folks in their early twenties. Reminded me
of the celebrations in Kenya. Everyone singing and clapping to the beat of the bongo
drums. Fr, Moe was in his element, and had the entire congregation singing in two parts with
the choir a very lively hymn inviting the Lord to be with us in this Season of Advent as we a
a new Liturgical Year, filled with hope.
Yesterday afternoon, another bus ride downtown, to the house of patients from Santa
Clotilde, for an outing to the sea-side, an amusement place like Ontario Place in Toronto,
but bigger. The place was crowded and for all but one of the young patients from the house
this was their first visit to the ocean. We ate hamburgers and ice cream and the kids helped
me with my spanish. I keep calling them kids, but really the youngest one is seventeen, so
should be refering to them as young adults.
Before this all disappears, like the two entries I lost on Saturday, I am going to send this and
try to edit it after the trip down-town and the Spanish lesson at four o'clock this afternoon.
Hope to continue later, bye for now,
Vaughan















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