The one where I finally write something serious

I have begun to get to know Peruvians my age by going to the young adult group at the church I attend. Last night, three girls were accompanying me home and we were walking next to a busy street. Gabi, one of the girls pointed across the street, and asked us if we knew what was going on.
We all looked across the street to see chaos: pedestrians clearing off the street, cars driving out of control. We looked closer to see a crowd of shouting, angry looking men carrying sticks. Then we realized that the crowd of men was running full speed in our direction.
Cynthia, another girl with us, yelled, “RUN!” and so we did, frantically looking for somewhere to hide ourselves. We stopped at an apartment building and Cynthia pressed the intercom button frantically to see if someone would let us in. Fortunately, someone did and we sat down inside, watching men run past, police on their tail.
Meanwhile the girls explained to me that the men were likely a part of a gang and that the worst they would do is steal wallets and scare people.
They said that this kind of thing happens only occasionally in Lima, but that it is especially rare that it would happen in the area we were walking through.
I have never before seen a large group of people so out of control unless you count going to Wal-Mart for an after Christmas sale (How do I miss thee Wal-Mart? Let me count the ways…)

My understanding is now stretched, the definition of civil unrest is now truer in my mind, the world is a much more serious place than I once thought it was.
My faith in my own world has been shaken up and I see now there is only one thing I can ever have complete faith in.

Though it wasn’t as scary as it was interesting, afterward, I had an unpleasant nightmare about my school being attacked by the Sendero Luminoso, the Maoist guerrilla organization in Peru. They were dressed up as clowns which put it on my top 10 scariest nightmare list for sure.