Retiro

This weekend I went on a retreat with a youth group to Chaclacayo. It turned out to be way different that I had expected. There were many people from the church there. I'd expected to be going on a weekend excursion with the youth group of 30 or so people, not staying in a fancy place, and spending time doing activities together.

As it turned out, we went to a religious retreat place where we stayed in really nice rooms lined with bunk beds. I actually felt like I was at a camp or something. Enormous masses of food were prepared and we all did a simple craft of painting a plastic cup. That seemed to be a somewhat unsafe idea that night when we lit candles in them... paint + candle + plastic cup+ fire...for a procession. We also went swimming and went for a walk. That evening there was a bonfire with singing and dancing and jumping around it. Definitely unique.

There were a lot of worship services. I really liked the music, but discovered more and more as the weekend went on that I definitely have some disagreements with what they were professing.

On Sunday, several people chose to be baptized in the pool there. This was performed in a way I have never witnessed before. All in all, I learned quite a bit and it a one of a kind cultural experience, but something I would not partake in again.