THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507070070
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Close-Up
SOURCE: Rebecca A. Myers
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
Peru's biggest mountain range, the Huascaran at 22,205 feet, was right outside her window to the north.
She played in the snow at 17,500 feet.
Her toes touched the sand of the most beautiful beaches south of Lima.
She marveled at Incan ruins.
She spent a month in the Peruvian rain forest.
All this before Lauren Staples' 20th birthday.
And all this within a year's time.
After graduating ninth in her class of 269 at Churchland High School last year, Staples decided to postpone college for a year to do missionary work in Huaraz, Peru, an eight-hour drive north of Lima.
``I decided that what I was supposed to do was not go to college, but go to Peru,'' said Staples, who plans to major in speech pathology and audiology at the University of Georgia in the fall.
``It was what I wanted to do. I just felt like that was the right thing, to take a year off and work down there.''
Staples came to this conclusion after hearing the stories of Mike and Cheryl Miller, close family friends and missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Staples lived with the Millers, who have been missionaries in Peru for 13 years. She worked as a teacher's assistant to two teachers and 12 students in a small school set up for the children of the six American families living in Huaraz.
``Our mission bought this house and turned it into a school, so it was basically a one-room school house,'' said Staples.
``It had one big room where second- through 10th-graders studied, and the first-graders had their own little room. We also had a library, a room for our computers and a little art supply room.''
The children worked at their own pace in independent studies. The curriculum was American and included social studies, science, language, spelling and math.
``They work hard,'' said Staples of her students. ``And they do real well.''
While in Peru, Staples also spent some time in the jungle, site of the mission's largest and oldest center, built in 1950.
Just before landing there for the first time last November, Staples looked out the window of the airplane and couldn't believe her eyes.
``It just looked like an entire head of broccoli,'' she said incredulously. ``You couldn't distinguish one tree from another.''
November was also the peak of the mango season there in the jungle.
``When we landed, there were mango trees everywhere. And the trees were almost completely yellow, they were covered in so many mangos.''
Thanksgiving 1994 was a memorable one for Staples: ``Everything was made out of mangos: mango jelly, mango butter, mango pies.''
Staples also saw a number of unusual pets.
``Lots of people there have pet monkeys,'' she said. ``And everyone has a pet snake. They have pet boas and pet anacondas and all that kind of stuff.''
The pet snakes didn't faze Staples. After all, she swam in a lake rumored to have contained alligators and piranhas.
``I never saw any (alligators) and I never got nibbled on by any piranhas either,'' she said.
The jungle was nice place to visit, but Staples's favorite destination was her home in Huaraz, a tourist destination at the base of some of Peru's most breath-taking mountains.
``The Cordillera Negra (black mountain range) was to the west, and the Cordillera Blanca (white mountain range) was to the east,'' she said.
``The Cordillera Blanca is so beautiful . . . huge snow-capped mountains that are truly awe-inspiring.''
Though she doesn't quite know how to put it into words, Staples knows her experience in Peru changed her.
``It's kind of hard to explain,'' she said. ``It's like a physiological change.
``I loved being outside,'' she said. ``There was absolutely nothing around, and it was completely quiet on the hikes that we would go on. I loved being away from all kinds of civilization.''
Talk about roughing it. Staples once went a month without electricity and three weeks without hot water. And she can't wait to return to Peru ``as soon as I have enough money.''
``It just seems that stuff that was important to me before I left is not as important now,'' she said.
For example?
``Last year, a really, really, really big part of my life was music,'' she said. ``I was up on everything that was happening in music. And now, that's not such a big deal.
``I mean, I still like music a lot, but who plays what and exactly who's coming in concert for the next five months is not that big of a deal to me anymore.''
Name: Lauren Denise Staples.
Nickname: Pepper.
Hometown: Portsmouth.
Birthdate: Jan. 26, 1976.
School and Grade: Upcoming freshman, University of Georgia.
Parents: Patti Hardy and Dennis Staples.
Siblings: Brett, 17, and Jodi, 20.
Pets: Three cats: Ashes, Tiger, Esperanza. Two iguanas: Arash and J.J. (from Pucallpa, Peru, in the jungle).
Favorite subjects: History and literature.
Favorite food: Mexican and Italian.
Favorite restaurant: Taco Bell, La Tolteca and Didio's.
Hobbies: Going to the beach, going on hikes through the mountains.
Favorite movies: I work at The Naro, so I see a lot of really good movies.
Favorite song or musical group: ``Sweet Marie'' (song) and Hothouse Flowers (group).
Favorite sport: Gymnastics.
Last book read for fun: ``The Awakening,'' by Kate Chopin.
Last smart thing you did: I went to Peru.
Last dumb thing you did: I came back to the United States.
Pet peeve: People's ignorance and lack of respect toward other people and cultures.
Who do you highly respect? Donna Saune and her family; people who are honest and just and who research issues before forming opinions.
Your worst habit: Being a slob and a slacker.
Last vacation: I went to Hilton Head for my dad's wedding.
Favorite way to spend a day: Going to the beach or on hikes with my friends and then hanging out with them later that night.
If you had 15 minutes on national television, what would you discuss? My time in Huaraz and all of the wonderful things about Peru.
When I get older, I want to be: Happy, healthy, loving, caring of others, respected and understood. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
by CNB