Moving from Australia to Peru

3 November 2016

Moving from Australia to Peru

By Rosanne Menacho

Moving house is said to be one of the most stressful experiences of life, and when that move is to another country, the process becomes even more complex. It was during our last visit to Peru in February this year that Josue and I decided the time had come to live with his family for a while, especially seeing as it had been 15 years since he had left his hometown for study and work in other cities, settling in Australia in 2005. We purchased our tickets on a special offer within two weeks of making the decision, and shared the news with my family via video chat. They were understandably saddened, but recognised what a great opportunity this would be to reconnect with relatives in Peru and for me to have a turn being the ‘foreigner’ – learning a new culture and system, and increasing my language skills in Spanish (and perhaps learn some Quechua too!).

So we returned to Australia with eight months to finish work and study and sell most of our possessions in preparation for the move. I started selling things I wasn’t using almost straight away, and knuckled down to continue my Master of Interpreting and Translation Studies at Monash University (hoping to finish before we moved). Everything continued full steam ahead until I had a big energy crash at the end of first semester, having developed stage 3-4 adrenal fatigue (burnout) from years of pushing myself too hard and then classroom teaching followed by full-time study. We all have our limits, and I discovered mine at age 26! As a result, I reduced my activities down to part-time study, hosting international students and selling our things, thankful that my final masters unit could be completed by distance from Peru in 2017.

Two months before leaving, my parents came to look over the house we were renting from them in Pakenham and we made a list of things to fix and things to touch up. This became a joint project during September, readying the house for the 12 inspections in October which eventually attracted new tenants (due to move in on 11 November 2016).

Two weeks before leaving, Josué finished work to help me with house cleaning and clearing, and I finished my major translation project a few days later and handed it in (the project was translating Latin American Christian songs from Spanish into English). My sister Christy came over to help lay out and label our remaining household goods, ready for a drop-in farewell/indoor garage sale on Sunday 23 October. We sold most of our goods on the day and enjoyed time with family and friends, and some of Josue’s Peruvian friends came over the collect most of the remainder the next morning while Dad loaded furniture for my parents and for the op shop in a rental truck.

Monday 24 October we moved to my parents’ house for a week of sorting, visits, music, games and meals together, and treated ourselves to a couple of 1-hour massages on the Friday to get loosened up before flying on Monday 31 October.

The day of the flights started early with a 3am wake up. We flew first from Melbourne to Auckland (New Zealand), then to Santiago (Chile) and on to Lima (Peru). The dense sea of smog above Lima city (pictured) was a wake-up call to the tragic consequences of the ‘convenience’ lifestyle for producer cities, and a strong motivator to meet our basic needs in a planet-friendly way while living in Huancayo. After a night of relaxation at the Costa del Sol hotel connected to Lima airport, we took the 35-minute domestic flight from Lima to Jauja and Josue’s family met us there to drive us to their home in Huancayo, Junín region, Peru.

Sea of smog hanging above Lima city

Sunset as we flew in to Lima

View looking left out of the hotel window

View looking straight ahead out of the hotel window

The domestic plane we took to Jauja airport

At different points in the preparation and moving process, it was interesting answering the question ‘How are you feeling?’ The answer was usually some variation of ‘nervous and excited’, but in the end all I felt was peace and enjoyment of each experience at hand and the people around me. Eight months turned out to be a good amount of time to sell things and prepare for such a big transition – it’s a similar length to a pregnancy once you include the initial weeks of ‘knowing’ but not yet being able to do much about it. Our friends and family were very supportive, encouraging and helpful, and by focusing on relationship in the final weeks this allowed for a smoother transition and positive ‘send-off’. The way one leaves a place is extremely important and we wanted to show each person in our lives that we value them, and that we are not so much ‘leaving them’ as continuing our relationship from a distance so that we can nurture relationships which have been waiting at a distance in Peru for a number of years. In the many farewells, it felt as though we collected gifts of love and affection from each person which we will treasure and appreciate, especially when challenges present themselves during our time in Peru.  

And so here we are, finally in Peru. To honour the opportunity we have been given to move here, I now really want to focus on exploring my new surroundings and building deep relationships with the people around us, meaning that I will need to limit the time I spend chatting with my friends and family in Australia. My plan is to write a blog post once a month, and have an interactive prayer support network on Facebook Messenger for mutual encouragement. Josue and I recognise that life has a supernatural as well as a physical dimension, and want the opportunity to rejoice with our loved ones in God’s blessings as well as seek his help and guidance in the many twists and turns of life. 

We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend and ‘see you’ for next month’s blog post.