i successfully arrived in chimbote at 3:30 pm yesterday. scott and i were greeted by 3 very friendly peruvian men from the parish, one of which spoke english quite fluently. driving through chimbote to the parroquia (parish) was a good view of my new home for the next 5 weeks. it is definitely much more poor than lima. most of the roads are dust, which they "water" each morning to keep it from flying up off the road. most of the houses are made from cement or from a plant that is native to this area (i forget the name), but it's a cross between bamboo and straw, only not as strong as bamboo and not as flimsy as straw. the parroquia itself is very beautiful and large, with many facilities to utalize. right now i'm using the internet in the bibliotecca (library of the parish) on my 3 hour siesta (break, or nap time) which i get everyday from noon to three. there is also an excercise room, and an entire quarters for the gringos, known as the gringo room, which is a nice place to hang out and eat. there are couches, books, tables, lockers to keep your stuff in - basically anything you may need while at the parish.
i honestly think i have fallen in love with my placement immediatly. i don't want to instantly assume that this place is a perfect fit, but so far it seems it is. after i arrived to the parroquia, i was taken to my host families home which is only 2 cuadras (blocks) from the parroquia. it's a large house, obviously much nicer than most in chimbote, and i was greeted by my friendly mother, who is japanese decent of some sort. she showed me to the room i'll be staying in, which is her daughter's room, but her daughter is studying in lima and only comes home on weekends, so apparently that's why i get her room. i didn't bother asking where she would stay on weekends - sometimes it's just not worth it. after i settled in, i was then introduced to person after person after person! first it was one of my sisters, who actually married a german and lives in germany with him. she speaks spanish, english, and german, so she converses with me in english quite often. i then met my adorable grandpa who loves to sit in the living room and stare out the window at children playing on the soccer courts right in front of our house. then therr is the grandma who is also adorable, and quite old, but still up and running, and apparently who makes declicious cuy (guinnea pig). then i met two of my sobrinos, or nephews, who lives in the house too apparently. i don't exactly understand where they belong in the string of the family, but they enjoy making fun of my spanish. that's about the whole interacction the young boys and i have had so far. then there was a father, but i do not believe he and my mother are married because he has a girlfriend. but both him and the girlfriend were over for dinner last night, and then he was there again this morning, so honestly i have no clue. then there was another man there this morning at the breakfast table with me. i have no idea who he is either, but i am just going to assume it is the boys father. and then i met another daughter after dinner, who looks about my age, who apparently works and is studying for exams so she can go to university in lima. in the backyard there are cages upon cages of cuy, birds, and rabbits, and then some chickens wondering about as well. so overall, i think there are 10 people living in our house, but there could definitely be more. they're all extremely friendly and love to joke around and have conversation with each other. we sat and watched tv for a bit last night and they enjoyed asking me questions. i told them i wanted to try cuy and they got so excited and promised me we would surely eat it.
this morning i wondered over to the parish around 8:30. everything here is so laid back and we were never given a time we should appear, so i just did what felt right. i couldn't find katie, my gringa contact person, so i just went into the gringo room where i found an english man who lives in ireland, who worked here for 5 years of his life, and is currently on holiday reuniting with old friends. he was apparently a priest, until he met the woman of his dreams, which at that point he quit the whole priest thing, got married, and then came to chimbote and worked in this parish. in any case, we had an interesting conversation and he informed me more about the dangers in chimbote and what all goes on in the parish. scott then showed up and we both went to search for katie, who we eventually found in her office. she took us across the street to a different branch of the parish (did i mention this parish is HUGE... and beautiful. with many different buildings in the 10 blocks surrounding the main parish). anyway, we were given to a man, who i already unfortunately forget the name of, and were told we would be under his instruction for the next 5 weeks. he works with the young children in the area as well as matt talbot, a halfway house for drugs addicts. also in the room was rul, a 28 year old from belgium who has been here for 4 months, not knowing any spanish, and now speaks spanish fluently, and english semi-fluently (did i mention im incredibly jealous of this?) also, i met a 19 year old guy from germany who has been here working for 7 months and also now speaks spanish fluently,and english semi-fluently. anyway, we made a schedule with our supervisor, which honestly now i have no idea what it is because everything was in spanish, but from what i can understand apparently i'm going to work on starting up a group at the church for girls 14-18 years old, because at the moment there is only one for boys. then in many of the mornings, scott and i will be making a garden at the half-way house for the men who live there. many afternoons we will be working with children and teaching them english, and sometimes i will be working with a women's group who weave chairs and rugs. apparently they'll teach me how to do it, which will be pretty awesome because these rugs they make are out of the same plants as the houses, and they're pretty awesome. i was hoping to purchase one and take it home with me. we'll always take groups to the river, which apparently is large and has beaches, or to the pool, or to the beach. tomorrow we're going to one of the three, but i already forget! (did i mention everything is pretty overwhelming at this stage? and the english speakers are only speaking to us in spanish because they say its the only way we'll learn, which is true, but extremely frustrating).
this morning after our meeting, rul, scott, and i, along with a pack of about 10 boys, set off walking the streets of chimbote, knocking on doors and talking to girls about their participation in a girls group if one started at the parish. many were very interested. it was crazy to see the poverty they live in. one girl was only just 17, she had a two year old son, and was living in basically a dirt home. she seemed very excited about a group getting started and wrote her name down excitedly. we only found about 4 other girls, but i'm hoping this continues and we can start up a group. then all the boys requested we play a match of futbol (soccer) so we all went to another building owned by the parish, which actually has an amazing open soccer court inside it. i sat down with a 12 year old girl and we had a conversation about my family at home and about living in lima, which she informed me that everyone in lima is rich, which is a huge assumption but is what many rural peruvians believe because supposidly lima is where the opporutinity is, which is also an assumption made by many because lima itself actually does not have very much opportunity. that is a whole different topic to talk about though...
as i was chatting with this girl, a little boy ran up to me and handed me a fruit icy, which was delicious and quite sweet of him to think of me. the girl knew some english and loved to ask me what different words were in english. i told her i would only tell her if she promised to help me with my spanish. apparently we're meeting again at 7:30 pm, although i don't know where, so perhaps i will see her again and we can both help each other out! which i don't mind a 12 year old tutor at all...
anyway, im supposed to meet back with our supervisor at 3, and then i think we're getting a tour, more or less, of everything that is here, and then who knows what we'll do. i already love this placement because it is so laid back. we have a large variety of things to work on. everyone is friendly, joking around quite a bit, and they all have such extremely large hearts.
i don't completely understand everything this parish does, or how it came about. i obviously hope to learn more as the days tick by, but essentially what i understand is father jack, a priest from the united states, started this parish back in 1970 something. he and sister peggy, who i havent met, devoted their live to the work in chimbote and built up this extremely large and functioning parish, which appears to be a major asset to this city in extreme poverty. not only do they have a working half-way house, as well as many groups of women and children, but they also have a hospital, a hospice center, orphanage, women's shelter, food kitchens, and other programs i have not even encountered yet. it's pretty amazing to see all the different volunteers here, and to see how many people have given up time in their life to work at this really incredible place. as it is a catholic parish, i'm pretty excited to learn more about the catholic religion, especially here in peru, and see the "good side" of it (as my parents in lima were hard core evangelicals and didn't care much for the catholics, therefore all i heard were the "bad things" about the church - which this in itself is again a totally different topic i could talk about for days).
well, i think that's about all i have for now. i will surely have more i want to say at a later date. in fact, i'm sure each minute there will be something i want to share with someone, but alas this is an experience i need to have on my own. therefore, once again, even though i have computers at easy access, i'm going to limit my time spent on them just to insure that i'm immersing myself here and not staying too connected to home. i do want to continually inform you on my happenings though, so count on hearing from me occasionally!
i hope all are doing well, and i love and miss you very much.
ps. cj posts photos on his blog, so if you would like to see some of the things i talk about, you should check out his block which i have a link to on the side of my page. i would put photos up, but honestly it's just too much work, so you'll have to wait to see them until i return!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
trekking amoung peruvian protesters
for those of you who received the GC email about our adventure early, early friday morning... it was nothing like they made it out to be. that email was to reassure all the crazies that life was okay. now, life WAS okay, but it was far more huge of a deal than they made it out to be. we were told not to exaggerate any of the events that happened - the following is not an exaggeration.
i thought my next blog would be about machu picchu and how amazing that experience was. well... that experience was quite amazing, can not lie. but it seems like that happened a century ago, and the past 48 hours have been far more overwhelming, adventurous, and incredible in a different way than machu picchu.
at the moment, i'm writing from an internet cafe in cusco. i was supposed to be on a bus on my way to chimbote, but that one isn't happening until tuesday. and now i shall explain:
we got back to ollantaytambo, an extremely small village in the andes where we were staying for the machu picchu adventure, at about 8 pm thursday night. we had to walk a mile and a half from the train station to our hostel in the pouring rain, and we were all thoroughly exhausted from exploring all of machu picchu for about 6 hours earlier in the day. i would estimate i walked 5-7 miles there. at our hostel, we all sat down for dinner and then our tour guide elvis stood up to make an annoucement, which was that we apparently had to be on the bus, packed and ready to travel to cusco at 3:00 am friday morning. the reason being that cusco was going through a 2 day strike and it could potentially be difficult to get through, therefore they wanted to aim to get to the airport at 5:30 am and wait until 11:00 am when our flight would take off for lima. in my last blog i explained a bit of the situation here in peru, but i'll give a brief overview again. basically, the government is passing a law that would let developement happen near the Incan ruins here in the Andes. people are pissed with an incredibly good reason to be. but not only are they mad about the fact that developers will come in and destroy their beautiful land, but they're also upset with their living conditions, their pay, their lives. here in peru, when people are angry about one thing, it developes into about 32 other things, therefore everyone gets invovled and things can get crazy. i hope that gives you a bit more context of why the following events then happened.
so, we're all driving along in a freezing cold bus, tired and hungry, just wanting to get to the airport. we appruptly stop because apparently their is a large tree across the road. their are a few other cars ahead of us, and people pile out to remove the tree. the first tree was removed after about 10 min. and we went on our way. only 5 min. down the winding, mountain road we encountered another tree. at this moment we all understood that these trees were intentially placed on the road as a blockade into cusco. this time there were about 10 cars ahead, and as this was a much larger tree, it took about a half hour to remove in the cold rain. we continue on our way and again stop abruptly. honestly, we didn't really know what was going on. we had blinds over our windows and it was still dark out. we just knew the protestors were putting road blocks up so we couldn't drive through to cusco. our tour guide, elvis, got off the bus to talk to people we couldn't see. then all of a sudden we heard many spanish voices outside our bus, screaming different chants, yelling words like "turistos." apparently, it was a mob of drunken men who had decided to stay up all night and then go out on the roads to stop from driving during their strike. the voices grew louder and louder, and then people started pounding on our bus, throwing rocks at it. one man started ramming up against the side, which at that point people started fearing they would push it over. when they started hitting our bus, it was the first time i have ever seen our entire SST group voluntarily shut up. everyone was completely silent, staring straight ahead. the only sounds one could hear were the spanish cries of angry men, the pounds on our bus, and the hiss of the air being let our of our tires. (we were lucky, they only let air out of ours. they actually popped others). i personally didn't know what to think - i had never been in this kind of situation in my whole life. i didn't know what was going to happen, i really didn't know what WAS happening. it was just a shock.
the mob left us and went to a car behind us. at this point, kathryn started freaking out a bit, exclaiming how she didn't want to die. then i went on rant about how they weren't going to injure a bunch of gringos because that would completely screw peru over. number one, tourism industry would end, and they need the tourism. number two, the united states government would flip out and the relations between peru and the u.s. would be disastorous. and number three, possibly the most important to keep in mind, is that the people of peru are pissed off at their goverment, not the tourists. they're angry and all they want is to be heard, and this is the way they can get heard. when a goverment doesn't listen to their people, the people must take drastic measures. and if that means pissing off a tourism company by letting air out of their tires and by throwing rocks at the bus, then that's what they're going to do. they don't want to injure anyone. and that's the truth. i honestly don't think we were actually in danger at any moment.
elvis then got on the bus and explained that we were 9 miles from the entrance of cusco and we had no choice but to walk. if we walked, we would be safe because we would be complying with the strike, almost as if we were joining in. if we would drive, we would not be safe because we would not be complying with the strike (the strike was that no one was going to work for 2 days - or more - and it was happening all over the country, in some places it's still going on, and no one was supposed to drive or use any form of transportation. basically everyone's lives were supposed to stop. and then they had massive protests and burnings and bill board bashings all day). so anyway, we went through our stuff and took what we wanted in small bags, obviously left the large ones, and at 5:50 am we set off for a 9 mile hike to cusco. we had no water, no food, no sleep. it was raining and we were wearing giant ponchos. it was cold. i could see my breath. but somehow the first 4 miles went by quickly. at every village, elvis would stop and ask to buy water at a corner store, but no one would sell it to us because of the strike. we weren't the only ones walking - there were many groups of people, and many deserted cars along side the road as well. the road to cusco had many different blockade methods. we had to walk over large rocks, trees, even dumpsters in the middle of the road. finally after about 5 or 6 miles, a kombi drove up to us yelling, "cusco! cusco!" i really have no idea how he got through. there must have been some back roads? but in any case, we all jumped on and road 2 or 3 miles to the outskirts of cusco, where it was absolutely impossible to get any further by driving. here we were left off again to continue our long trek into the city. the road was a mess of blockades with broken glass everywhere and large rocks. we continued on our way, watched by many andean people who would make comments such as "blancos!" or "gringos" or "hace frio, no?" i don't really know what they thought about the massive group of whities walking through their chaotic protesting, but we just kept walking, not thinking about how tired we were or about how much our legs burned from the day before of hiking up the large mountain, wuaynapicchu, at machu picchu.
finally, after half an hour, we stopped and were told we were going into our tour guide's friends house for breakfast, which was apparently also a very small restaurant. we all piled into this tiny room and they quickly shut the doors behind us, blocking out the sights and sounds of spanish protesting. at this point it was almost 8:00 am and we were all ravenous. it took quite some time to cook eggs, rice, and tomatoes for all of us, but by 9:30 am all our bellys were satisfied and we were craving some sleep. at this point we were informed that no flights had gone out of cusco the day before, nor would they be going out friday because of the strike, and we would be staying in cusco at a hostel for an indefinite amount of time. the hostel was an hour walk from where we were, so we once again prepared ourselves and headed out. unfortunately, as we all piled out of the house/restaurant, there was a group of angry people. apparently our tour guides had done a very bad things in serving us, because it was a strike and no one was supposed to work, and they had worked. there was a bunch of yelling and finally elvis just told us to walk away and keep walking down the road.
i'm going to pause: this whole situation is very complicated. the woman who made us food obviously felt horrible as the protestors were yelling at her for cooking, yet she felt she needed to serve us. she had been along the whole time, so she understood the hunger and fatigue all were going through. everything is complicated because people want to protest. they're protesting because they need money, they need food, they need to be heard. yet people don't want to protest because that means they won't have money for those 2 days they did protest. there are so many different layers that go into this situation - so many i can't even see with my shielded eyes.
our giant gringo pack continued walking down the cusco streets. this time we ran into a huge parade of protestors with signs, sticks, rocks, and chants. it was an incredible sight to see - it gave me goosebumps and tears in my eyes. the stream of people just went on and on and they were so passionate. i've never seen people fight for their lives like these people. their faces just told all. as we continued walking, we saw people tearing down big billboards, burning tires in the middle of the road. we saw businesses, such as lan airline, which we flew on to cusco, have rocks thrown through their windows. we saw people with all sorts of emotions with one common goal - to be heard. they even had signs that said, "tourists. this has nothing to do with you. please just try to understand why we are doing this." okay, so maybe it didn't say exactly that, but something quite similar. and we just kept walking... walking... and walking. i would say we walked 3 miles, give or take, within cusco itself.
finally, about 10 am, we arrived to the hostel, quite dishelved, quite wet, no clean clothes or belongings. our goshen group all gathered together, everyone sitting their, attempting to process what had just happened to us over the past 7 hours. it felt as if it was 3 in the afternoon - we had been up since 3 am after all. duane opened the group up for discussion and we decided to sing "down by the river we pray," which was somehow sentimental and touching, we said a prayer, and they we all went to ours beds with thick llama and alpaca blankets to attempt to regain life from our trek.
i slept on and off from 11 am - 4 pm. i started a cold the second day we arrived in the andes, most likely because of the drastic temperature change (it is SO cold here - i've been quite miserable), and the lack of sleep. in any case, this cold has turned into a full fledge flemmy sickness and i woke up with a clogged up nose, raspy throad, and juicy cough. there wasn't much of a point to shower because we didn't have anything to shower with, nor did we have clean clothes... or even underwear for that matter. our group met and we were informed that they found a flight for us on sunday, therefore we would be spending two more nights in cusco. honestly, i didn't really mind this, i only cared about the whole no clean clothes thing. but we're all making the best of this adventure and situation and so far it has been quite entertaining! last night we went to the plaza in cusco (basically the downtown), and then ate at a really nice pizza restaurant for dinner. we again encountered protestors... it was pretty crazy. they were angry that businesses opened after 7 pm (that was when the strike was technically over so people started actually opening up their businesses and restaurants). in any case, the group of protestors were banging on windows, so as we were walking the stores keepers and restaurant owners were temporarily shutting up their businesses as to not get harassed. once we got inside our restaurant, they locked us all inside and boarded up the outside. the waitress told us it was normal and we shouldn't worry, which honestly none of us were because we all felt we had been through much worse.
i hadn' t eaten since our breakfast at 8:30 that morning, so i was quite ravenous. our table of 7 ended ordering 4 giant, delicious, brick oven baked pizzas. afterwords a group of us wondered next door to a pretty awesome bar called "underground cafe -bar." and we had a pretty nice evening, just hanging out and enjoying each others presence in finally, a relaxing manner. because we slept so late in the day we weren't tired. i ended up not being able to fall asleep until 5:00 am today, due to my sickness (i couldn't breath out of my nose), and probably due to my enourmous nap as well.
unfortunately i woke up at 9:00 am this morning, so at the moment i feel pretty crappy. luckily our bags from the bus arrived late last night, so i at least have my belongings. we have tourist passes for cusco, so there are tons of things to do today, but i'm thinking a nap may be necessary. tonight i'm planning on going to "centro Qosqo de arte nativo danzas folkloricas" which is basically a native dance program. i also wanted to go to the contemporary art museum, but it closes at 1 so i don't think that will happen. i plan to do a bunch of market shopping today - buy all my loved ones some gifts and such. then late tonight we're planning on heading out to a disco tecca, even though all we have our disgusting clothes that we hiked in for 3 days. cusco is the most tourist town i have been in, which has it's negatives and positives, but a positive is that it has an amazing night life. we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience it for at least one night. i'm planning on being even sicker tomorrow, but hopefully i can sleep all day monday in lima and then be fresh and ready to go to chimbote with scott on tuesday. i'm scheduled for a flight tomorrow at noon, which will hopefully land me in lima about 1 in the afternoon.
i feel like this is enough information for one blog entry. i'm still attempting to process the protests, or perhaps process isn't the right word, but i'm still attempting to piece all the events together. i really want to understand the problems of peru better, and i feel like this weekend i received a first hand experience, which i am thankful for. i hope none of you are now worried for my safety, because honestly, we were fine the whole time. it's just a part of life here.
the one thing about this "vacation" that i absolutely loved was that i was able to apply everything i learned in lima. through traveling through all sorts of incan ruins and buildings here in cusco, i was able to apply my andean history and actually see where past events took place. i was able to walk on the same groups that pizzaro and the incans fought on. i was able to walk on the same trails the incan runners delivered messages on. i also was able to apply my knowledge of current politics, decentralization, poverty, and life in peru through witnessing the protests and the everyday lives of people here in more rural peru. i feel like this trip brought all the loose ends together.
i hope to talk to you about all this when i am home.
and i hope you are all safe and well.
i thought my next blog would be about machu picchu and how amazing that experience was. well... that experience was quite amazing, can not lie. but it seems like that happened a century ago, and the past 48 hours have been far more overwhelming, adventurous, and incredible in a different way than machu picchu.
at the moment, i'm writing from an internet cafe in cusco. i was supposed to be on a bus on my way to chimbote, but that one isn't happening until tuesday. and now i shall explain:
we got back to ollantaytambo, an extremely small village in the andes where we were staying for the machu picchu adventure, at about 8 pm thursday night. we had to walk a mile and a half from the train station to our hostel in the pouring rain, and we were all thoroughly exhausted from exploring all of machu picchu for about 6 hours earlier in the day. i would estimate i walked 5-7 miles there. at our hostel, we all sat down for dinner and then our tour guide elvis stood up to make an annoucement, which was that we apparently had to be on the bus, packed and ready to travel to cusco at 3:00 am friday morning. the reason being that cusco was going through a 2 day strike and it could potentially be difficult to get through, therefore they wanted to aim to get to the airport at 5:30 am and wait until 11:00 am when our flight would take off for lima. in my last blog i explained a bit of the situation here in peru, but i'll give a brief overview again. basically, the government is passing a law that would let developement happen near the Incan ruins here in the Andes. people are pissed with an incredibly good reason to be. but not only are they mad about the fact that developers will come in and destroy their beautiful land, but they're also upset with their living conditions, their pay, their lives. here in peru, when people are angry about one thing, it developes into about 32 other things, therefore everyone gets invovled and things can get crazy. i hope that gives you a bit more context of why the following events then happened.
so, we're all driving along in a freezing cold bus, tired and hungry, just wanting to get to the airport. we appruptly stop because apparently their is a large tree across the road. their are a few other cars ahead of us, and people pile out to remove the tree. the first tree was removed after about 10 min. and we went on our way. only 5 min. down the winding, mountain road we encountered another tree. at this moment we all understood that these trees were intentially placed on the road as a blockade into cusco. this time there were about 10 cars ahead, and as this was a much larger tree, it took about a half hour to remove in the cold rain. we continue on our way and again stop abruptly. honestly, we didn't really know what was going on. we had blinds over our windows and it was still dark out. we just knew the protestors were putting road blocks up so we couldn't drive through to cusco. our tour guide, elvis, got off the bus to talk to people we couldn't see. then all of a sudden we heard many spanish voices outside our bus, screaming different chants, yelling words like "turistos." apparently, it was a mob of drunken men who had decided to stay up all night and then go out on the roads to stop from driving during their strike. the voices grew louder and louder, and then people started pounding on our bus, throwing rocks at it. one man started ramming up against the side, which at that point people started fearing they would push it over. when they started hitting our bus, it was the first time i have ever seen our entire SST group voluntarily shut up. everyone was completely silent, staring straight ahead. the only sounds one could hear were the spanish cries of angry men, the pounds on our bus, and the hiss of the air being let our of our tires. (we were lucky, they only let air out of ours. they actually popped others). i personally didn't know what to think - i had never been in this kind of situation in my whole life. i didn't know what was going to happen, i really didn't know what WAS happening. it was just a shock.
the mob left us and went to a car behind us. at this point, kathryn started freaking out a bit, exclaiming how she didn't want to die. then i went on rant about how they weren't going to injure a bunch of gringos because that would completely screw peru over. number one, tourism industry would end, and they need the tourism. number two, the united states government would flip out and the relations between peru and the u.s. would be disastorous. and number three, possibly the most important to keep in mind, is that the people of peru are pissed off at their goverment, not the tourists. they're angry and all they want is to be heard, and this is the way they can get heard. when a goverment doesn't listen to their people, the people must take drastic measures. and if that means pissing off a tourism company by letting air out of their tires and by throwing rocks at the bus, then that's what they're going to do. they don't want to injure anyone. and that's the truth. i honestly don't think we were actually in danger at any moment.
elvis then got on the bus and explained that we were 9 miles from the entrance of cusco and we had no choice but to walk. if we walked, we would be safe because we would be complying with the strike, almost as if we were joining in. if we would drive, we would not be safe because we would not be complying with the strike (the strike was that no one was going to work for 2 days - or more - and it was happening all over the country, in some places it's still going on, and no one was supposed to drive or use any form of transportation. basically everyone's lives were supposed to stop. and then they had massive protests and burnings and bill board bashings all day). so anyway, we went through our stuff and took what we wanted in small bags, obviously left the large ones, and at 5:50 am we set off for a 9 mile hike to cusco. we had no water, no food, no sleep. it was raining and we were wearing giant ponchos. it was cold. i could see my breath. but somehow the first 4 miles went by quickly. at every village, elvis would stop and ask to buy water at a corner store, but no one would sell it to us because of the strike. we weren't the only ones walking - there were many groups of people, and many deserted cars along side the road as well. the road to cusco had many different blockade methods. we had to walk over large rocks, trees, even dumpsters in the middle of the road. finally after about 5 or 6 miles, a kombi drove up to us yelling, "cusco! cusco!" i really have no idea how he got through. there must have been some back roads? but in any case, we all jumped on and road 2 or 3 miles to the outskirts of cusco, where it was absolutely impossible to get any further by driving. here we were left off again to continue our long trek into the city. the road was a mess of blockades with broken glass everywhere and large rocks. we continued on our way, watched by many andean people who would make comments such as "blancos!" or "gringos" or "hace frio, no?" i don't really know what they thought about the massive group of whities walking through their chaotic protesting, but we just kept walking, not thinking about how tired we were or about how much our legs burned from the day before of hiking up the large mountain, wuaynapicchu, at machu picchu.
finally, after half an hour, we stopped and were told we were going into our tour guide's friends house for breakfast, which was apparently also a very small restaurant. we all piled into this tiny room and they quickly shut the doors behind us, blocking out the sights and sounds of spanish protesting. at this point it was almost 8:00 am and we were all ravenous. it took quite some time to cook eggs, rice, and tomatoes for all of us, but by 9:30 am all our bellys were satisfied and we were craving some sleep. at this point we were informed that no flights had gone out of cusco the day before, nor would they be going out friday because of the strike, and we would be staying in cusco at a hostel for an indefinite amount of time. the hostel was an hour walk from where we were, so we once again prepared ourselves and headed out. unfortunately, as we all piled out of the house/restaurant, there was a group of angry people. apparently our tour guides had done a very bad things in serving us, because it was a strike and no one was supposed to work, and they had worked. there was a bunch of yelling and finally elvis just told us to walk away and keep walking down the road.
i'm going to pause: this whole situation is very complicated. the woman who made us food obviously felt horrible as the protestors were yelling at her for cooking, yet she felt she needed to serve us. she had been along the whole time, so she understood the hunger and fatigue all were going through. everything is complicated because people want to protest. they're protesting because they need money, they need food, they need to be heard. yet people don't want to protest because that means they won't have money for those 2 days they did protest. there are so many different layers that go into this situation - so many i can't even see with my shielded eyes.
our giant gringo pack continued walking down the cusco streets. this time we ran into a huge parade of protestors with signs, sticks, rocks, and chants. it was an incredible sight to see - it gave me goosebumps and tears in my eyes. the stream of people just went on and on and they were so passionate. i've never seen people fight for their lives like these people. their faces just told all. as we continued walking, we saw people tearing down big billboards, burning tires in the middle of the road. we saw businesses, such as lan airline, which we flew on to cusco, have rocks thrown through their windows. we saw people with all sorts of emotions with one common goal - to be heard. they even had signs that said, "tourists. this has nothing to do with you. please just try to understand why we are doing this." okay, so maybe it didn't say exactly that, but something quite similar. and we just kept walking... walking... and walking. i would say we walked 3 miles, give or take, within cusco itself.
finally, about 10 am, we arrived to the hostel, quite dishelved, quite wet, no clean clothes or belongings. our goshen group all gathered together, everyone sitting their, attempting to process what had just happened to us over the past 7 hours. it felt as if it was 3 in the afternoon - we had been up since 3 am after all. duane opened the group up for discussion and we decided to sing "down by the river we pray," which was somehow sentimental and touching, we said a prayer, and they we all went to ours beds with thick llama and alpaca blankets to attempt to regain life from our trek.
i slept on and off from 11 am - 4 pm. i started a cold the second day we arrived in the andes, most likely because of the drastic temperature change (it is SO cold here - i've been quite miserable), and the lack of sleep. in any case, this cold has turned into a full fledge flemmy sickness and i woke up with a clogged up nose, raspy throad, and juicy cough. there wasn't much of a point to shower because we didn't have anything to shower with, nor did we have clean clothes... or even underwear for that matter. our group met and we were informed that they found a flight for us on sunday, therefore we would be spending two more nights in cusco. honestly, i didn't really mind this, i only cared about the whole no clean clothes thing. but we're all making the best of this adventure and situation and so far it has been quite entertaining! last night we went to the plaza in cusco (basically the downtown), and then ate at a really nice pizza restaurant for dinner. we again encountered protestors... it was pretty crazy. they were angry that businesses opened after 7 pm (that was when the strike was technically over so people started actually opening up their businesses and restaurants). in any case, the group of protestors were banging on windows, so as we were walking the stores keepers and restaurant owners were temporarily shutting up their businesses as to not get harassed. once we got inside our restaurant, they locked us all inside and boarded up the outside. the waitress told us it was normal and we shouldn't worry, which honestly none of us were because we all felt we had been through much worse.
i hadn' t eaten since our breakfast at 8:30 that morning, so i was quite ravenous. our table of 7 ended ordering 4 giant, delicious, brick oven baked pizzas. afterwords a group of us wondered next door to a pretty awesome bar called "underground cafe -bar." and we had a pretty nice evening, just hanging out and enjoying each others presence in finally, a relaxing manner. because we slept so late in the day we weren't tired. i ended up not being able to fall asleep until 5:00 am today, due to my sickness (i couldn't breath out of my nose), and probably due to my enourmous nap as well.
unfortunately i woke up at 9:00 am this morning, so at the moment i feel pretty crappy. luckily our bags from the bus arrived late last night, so i at least have my belongings. we have tourist passes for cusco, so there are tons of things to do today, but i'm thinking a nap may be necessary. tonight i'm planning on going to "centro Qosqo de arte nativo danzas folkloricas" which is basically a native dance program. i also wanted to go to the contemporary art museum, but it closes at 1 so i don't think that will happen. i plan to do a bunch of market shopping today - buy all my loved ones some gifts and such. then late tonight we're planning on heading out to a disco tecca, even though all we have our disgusting clothes that we hiked in for 3 days. cusco is the most tourist town i have been in, which has it's negatives and positives, but a positive is that it has an amazing night life. we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience it for at least one night. i'm planning on being even sicker tomorrow, but hopefully i can sleep all day monday in lima and then be fresh and ready to go to chimbote with scott on tuesday. i'm scheduled for a flight tomorrow at noon, which will hopefully land me in lima about 1 in the afternoon.
i feel like this is enough information for one blog entry. i'm still attempting to process the protests, or perhaps process isn't the right word, but i'm still attempting to piece all the events together. i really want to understand the problems of peru better, and i feel like this weekend i received a first hand experience, which i am thankful for. i hope none of you are now worried for my safety, because honestly, we were fine the whole time. it's just a part of life here.
the one thing about this "vacation" that i absolutely loved was that i was able to apply everything i learned in lima. through traveling through all sorts of incan ruins and buildings here in cusco, i was able to apply my andean history and actually see where past events took place. i was able to walk on the same groups that pizzaro and the incans fought on. i was able to walk on the same trails the incan runners delivered messages on. i also was able to apply my knowledge of current politics, decentralization, poverty, and life in peru through witnessing the protests and the everyday lives of people here in more rural peru. i feel like this trip brought all the loose ends together.
i hope to talk to you about all this when i am home.
and i hope you are all safe and well.
Monday, February 18, 2008
tomorrow, at 6:15 am, i am leaving my house for the airport to go to cusco. can't lie, i'm pretty pumped. machu picchu? who would not be excited?
what else is new in my life?
well, yesterday, carlos and bachy went back to the united states. i'm pretty sad, and excited that now is the time i'm leaving for chimbote, because i don't know if i could return to life in peru without carlos and bachy. they became such a part of my life. and bachy is insisting the minute i return to the united states i take a drive down to cincinnati and stay at their house. she's even going to show me how to cook my favorite peruvian dish, lomo saltado (which basically consists of steak, tomatoes, onions, rice, and spices and sauces of sorts, of course - que rico!). in any case, they left peru last night and it was basically "THE HUGEST DEAL EVER!" no, really. i haven't seen a family become so obsessed with people leaving as what yesterday turned out to be, but i suppose that is the difference between having your family leave your native country, rarely returning, versus having some family in a different part of the world, easily accesable and living stabily. also, plain and simple, it's the difference between the peruvian culture, and the "culture" of the united states. so, at about 7:30 pm, while i was in the middle of studying for my SST final exam (worth 25% of our grade), 20 some family members all pile into our small apartment and start talking rapidly, giving any advice they could think of as to how much bachy's suitcases could weigh, if she could really sneak in food, where she should put specfic items, how she should carry it all in the airport... on and on. i don't think there was a person there who didn't have some sort of "helpful" advice to offer. and then there was all this commotion, and i became overwhelmed, and even had to retreat to the roof for 10 min. out of sheer over-stimulation. but alas, it was about 9:30 and they were heading off to the airport. i kissed bachy goodbye, about 4 times, and hugged and took multiple photos with carlos. and then 10 people, 5 in a taxi, 5 in an uncle's car, all zoom off the airport! what a family commotion for something so common in my own person life. but i won't lie, i loved it (even though i thanked god it wasn't how my real family opperates).
saturday night we had a "fiesta de disfrases," aka costume party, at reuben's house. honestly, it was just like something like the disney party at goshen, only in peru, with costumes rented at some shop in jesus maria, peruvian music, and peruvian people. oh, and walking down the streets of lima where everyone looks at you - especially when dressed as a bubble bee. and an english speaking bubble bee at that! (ps. i went as a bubble bee).
but yeah, basically we all went and rented costumes, and then showed up at reubens house, drank and dance a bit, ate a bit, laughed at each other a lot... yup. overall, a grand time. i must say the best part was when cj (a monk) and i went on a search for a certain drink and had a little trouble finding it. we ended up walking an extremely main road in lima, where the sidewalks were crowded with native peruvians getting a pretty good chuckle and the white people dressed up in ridiculous costumes. to make it a little better, we decided to act like we were arguing. we made it into a walmart like super store, and just went at it, "fighting" in english. it was great. ive never had so many people look at me with such astonished faces as i did that night. you may want to look at cj's blog. he was going to write about this and his perspective may be a bit more funny.
but all you need to know is that it was a great night, and i was one badass abeja.
and i realize i never wrote about the crazy holiday called carnival (and if i did and just completely blanked out on it, please correct me), but in any case, all of the month of february, peru celebrates carnival. orginally it was invented to celebrate the fact that peruvians made it through another year. now it's just a fun tradition where boys can fill up water balloons, pelt all the girls with them, and not get in trouble for it. the first sunday of carnival (the craziest carnival day of them all), i was hit with water baloons on 3 different occassions. the first was on a kombi ride to church. i was just sitting quietly in the backseat, bumpin along the rode, looking out the open window with a breeze running my hair when BAM! all of a sudden i, and the rest of the cambi, was covered in water! we had been carnivaled. thank goodness for the hot weather - i dried in about 10 min. the second time i was hit was when i was walking to my friend gisela's house. that time i wondered if they scored more points hitting a gringa, because they definitely aimed for me, not her. the third time was on a bus ride home. i actually wasn't hit with the balloon, but everyone around me was.
i wish i had more time, because i could then explain this whole carnival thing in a bit more details, but this may just have to be something we need to talk about when i come home.
right now i'm flying around the house. i have to wash some clothes before i go to cusco tomorrow, so they can then dry while i'm gone. friday we all get back from cusco, and then need to turn around and leave for chimbote on saturday. therefore, i need to pack my bags for cusco, but also get everything ready to leave on saturday. crazycrazy business. it snuck up on me so quickly, i don't even know what to think.
i will admit i am nervous for chimbote. for one thing, there are huge protests and riots going on in peru right now. alan garcia, the president, isn't making the smartest of decisions (seems like presidents all over the world can be dumbasses), and all sorts of workers are going on strike. one of the biggest things is that cusco people are striking because the peruvian government might let foreign interprises come into the cusco surrounding area and machi picchu, and build all sorts of glorious resorts and such. we actually aren't completly sure if we'll get through to cusco, but everyone is praying for the best. anyway, protestors have been blocking the highway to chimbote. therefore, people haven't been able to get through, or have had to walk a few miles past the road block, or have had to sit in a bus for hours upon hours because of these protestors. protestors who throw rocks at the bus windows even. so yeah, i won't lie, i'm a bit nervous about that.
also, everyone in our group seems so excited to get out of the city, but i personally love it here. i don't notice the pollution, and i've even begun to not notice the noise so much. the crazy highways seem normal now. i also sleep all the way through the nights, and i'm pretty capable at getting around anywhere here in lima. i truly do love it here in this city, and as much as i know service will be an incredible experience, i just don't want to leave what has become so familiar and comfortable for me.
but alas, i must leave, and i know it will be an exciting and advenurous experience.
i hope to inform you on all the excitement, but i will be going to an extremely poor area of lima, in fact one the poorest with the biggest drug problems, so i'm not promising a bunch of contact from me. especially not compared to how accessable i was here in lima.
plan to hear from me in a week or so?
peace and love.
what else is new in my life?
well, yesterday, carlos and bachy went back to the united states. i'm pretty sad, and excited that now is the time i'm leaving for chimbote, because i don't know if i could return to life in peru without carlos and bachy. they became such a part of my life. and bachy is insisting the minute i return to the united states i take a drive down to cincinnati and stay at their house. she's even going to show me how to cook my favorite peruvian dish, lomo saltado (which basically consists of steak, tomatoes, onions, rice, and spices and sauces of sorts, of course - que rico!). in any case, they left peru last night and it was basically "THE HUGEST DEAL EVER!" no, really. i haven't seen a family become so obsessed with people leaving as what yesterday turned out to be, but i suppose that is the difference between having your family leave your native country, rarely returning, versus having some family in a different part of the world, easily accesable and living stabily. also, plain and simple, it's the difference between the peruvian culture, and the "culture" of the united states. so, at about 7:30 pm, while i was in the middle of studying for my SST final exam (worth 25% of our grade), 20 some family members all pile into our small apartment and start talking rapidly, giving any advice they could think of as to how much bachy's suitcases could weigh, if she could really sneak in food, where she should put specfic items, how she should carry it all in the airport... on and on. i don't think there was a person there who didn't have some sort of "helpful" advice to offer. and then there was all this commotion, and i became overwhelmed, and even had to retreat to the roof for 10 min. out of sheer over-stimulation. but alas, it was about 9:30 and they were heading off to the airport. i kissed bachy goodbye, about 4 times, and hugged and took multiple photos with carlos. and then 10 people, 5 in a taxi, 5 in an uncle's car, all zoom off the airport! what a family commotion for something so common in my own person life. but i won't lie, i loved it (even though i thanked god it wasn't how my real family opperates).
saturday night we had a "fiesta de disfrases," aka costume party, at reuben's house. honestly, it was just like something like the disney party at goshen, only in peru, with costumes rented at some shop in jesus maria, peruvian music, and peruvian people. oh, and walking down the streets of lima where everyone looks at you - especially when dressed as a bubble bee. and an english speaking bubble bee at that! (ps. i went as a bubble bee).
but yeah, basically we all went and rented costumes, and then showed up at reubens house, drank and dance a bit, ate a bit, laughed at each other a lot... yup. overall, a grand time. i must say the best part was when cj (a monk) and i went on a search for a certain drink and had a little trouble finding it. we ended up walking an extremely main road in lima, where the sidewalks were crowded with native peruvians getting a pretty good chuckle and the white people dressed up in ridiculous costumes. to make it a little better, we decided to act like we were arguing. we made it into a walmart like super store, and just went at it, "fighting" in english. it was great. ive never had so many people look at me with such astonished faces as i did that night. you may want to look at cj's blog. he was going to write about this and his perspective may be a bit more funny.
but all you need to know is that it was a great night, and i was one badass abeja.
and i realize i never wrote about the crazy holiday called carnival (and if i did and just completely blanked out on it, please correct me), but in any case, all of the month of february, peru celebrates carnival. orginally it was invented to celebrate the fact that peruvians made it through another year. now it's just a fun tradition where boys can fill up water balloons, pelt all the girls with them, and not get in trouble for it. the first sunday of carnival (the craziest carnival day of them all), i was hit with water baloons on 3 different occassions. the first was on a kombi ride to church. i was just sitting quietly in the backseat, bumpin along the rode, looking out the open window with a breeze running my hair when BAM! all of a sudden i, and the rest of the cambi, was covered in water! we had been carnivaled. thank goodness for the hot weather - i dried in about 10 min. the second time i was hit was when i was walking to my friend gisela's house. that time i wondered if they scored more points hitting a gringa, because they definitely aimed for me, not her. the third time was on a bus ride home. i actually wasn't hit with the balloon, but everyone around me was.
i wish i had more time, because i could then explain this whole carnival thing in a bit more details, but this may just have to be something we need to talk about when i come home.
right now i'm flying around the house. i have to wash some clothes before i go to cusco tomorrow, so they can then dry while i'm gone. friday we all get back from cusco, and then need to turn around and leave for chimbote on saturday. therefore, i need to pack my bags for cusco, but also get everything ready to leave on saturday. crazycrazy business. it snuck up on me so quickly, i don't even know what to think.
i will admit i am nervous for chimbote. for one thing, there are huge protests and riots going on in peru right now. alan garcia, the president, isn't making the smartest of decisions (seems like presidents all over the world can be dumbasses), and all sorts of workers are going on strike. one of the biggest things is that cusco people are striking because the peruvian government might let foreign interprises come into the cusco surrounding area and machi picchu, and build all sorts of glorious resorts and such. we actually aren't completly sure if we'll get through to cusco, but everyone is praying for the best. anyway, protestors have been blocking the highway to chimbote. therefore, people haven't been able to get through, or have had to walk a few miles past the road block, or have had to sit in a bus for hours upon hours because of these protestors. protestors who throw rocks at the bus windows even. so yeah, i won't lie, i'm a bit nervous about that.
also, everyone in our group seems so excited to get out of the city, but i personally love it here. i don't notice the pollution, and i've even begun to not notice the noise so much. the crazy highways seem normal now. i also sleep all the way through the nights, and i'm pretty capable at getting around anywhere here in lima. i truly do love it here in this city, and as much as i know service will be an incredible experience, i just don't want to leave what has become so familiar and comfortable for me.
but alas, i must leave, and i know it will be an exciting and advenurous experience.
i hope to inform you on all the excitement, but i will be going to an extremely poor area of lima, in fact one the poorest with the biggest drug problems, so i'm not promising a bunch of contact from me. especially not compared to how accessable i was here in lima.
plan to hear from me in a week or so?
peace and love.
Friday, February 15, 2008
una rápida update!
it has been awhile since i have updated you on the details of my life. honestly, i don't really know what has all happened since the last information i have relayed to you. but i'll attempt to do a quick sum-up right about... now.
so, to being with, yesterday was my birthday. and thank you all for the many birthday wishes, emails, cards, etc. i would love to reply back to all, but it's just impossible. but it still meant a lot and it made me think of you all fondly!
an incredble amount has happened, but i'm going to tell you about the biggest and most fantastic.
last saturday we all swam with sea lions!! if you check the goshen blog than you would have seen that there. we piled into a boat at calloa, which then took us to a yacht. we traveled out into the ocean, and in about an hour we arrived to an island COVERED in sea lions. we all just jumped right into the ocean and swam about with them! besides the fact that the water was so cold it took me 2 minutes to regulate my breathing, it was fantastic.
that night we all went to a discotecca, producto peruana, for matt's sister's birthday. now that was quite an experience. it only cost 25 soles to get in (about 8 dollars), and once in, all alcohol was free. loco? si. i'm not sure where else you could find such a thing, but here they've got it and it's quite the fun time. i would go more into this, but due to my lack of time and the want to update you on everything, i won't. i'll just say this - i think the men in our group experienced peruvian women quite pleasurably that evening.
i've mentioned my cousin carlos a few times. he moved to the united states when he was 12, not knowing any english. now he is 19, quite fluent in both english and spanish, and he, his mom, and another aunt all moved into our teeny little apartment here in lima! so these past 2 weeks have been very crowded, but tons of fun. them moving in has actually been a blessing. there are so many family members here, i'm never bored and always have someone to talk to, or someone to take me to some new place. it's been great - minus the fact that i feel like i have NO free time! but i wouldn't trade the love of my family for anything.
so anyway, carlos and i spend a lot of time together, mainly conversing in english, but occasionally spanish. it helps to have him take my friends and i places... and all my friends enjoy him a lot, so all works out well. his mother, batchi, is WONDERFUL. i absolutely adore her. she's always looking after me, making sure i'm safe and comfortable. it's cute - she's more worried about my safety than my own mother ever was! and she made my birthday quite special.
unfortunately, my mother's mother has gotten quite ill. therefore, around midnight of the 13th, or 14th, whichever way you want to look at it, my mother got up and left and won't be back for quite sometime, apparently. therefore, batchi took over the whole mothering routine, more so than she was. we had tons of family over because an aunt who was visitng here, but who lives in germany, was going back on the 14th, so they were all having a farewell get together. anyway, my family made me stay up until midnight so they could all toast to my birthday and sing. so i stayed up.. and then we ended up having a two hour conversation, almost all in spanish! minus the fact that i stayed up until 2 am and i had my spanish final exam the next day, it was one of my favorite nights thus far. it was just so great to finally be able to communicate to my family members in spanish, and to understand what they were saying to me. and just to feel their love for me, and how much they wanted to make my birthday special.
on to more birthday celebrations. the 13th all the students celebrated my bithday because we have goshen tambo on wednesdays. we ended up all going to my favorite ice cream shop in miraflores. the ice cream there is delicious - almost like gellato, but honestly, BETTER. they have a mango flavor that is identical to mangos. no lie... it is identical. they also have a pisco sour flavor that is actually made with pisco sour. alcoholic ice cream? who would have ever known?
after the ice cream party, small cake, and "happy birthday" singing, a group of us went to centro de lima to go to some markets and buy a few things. then we headed off to the circuito magico del agua, which i have talked about before. it's basically these massive fountains that have lights and are incredible. someday you will see photos, and you will finally understand the enchantment of these things. i actually got in this time, and got a little wet (i have a photo here of me wet!), but it was great fun. in fact, we ended up staying there for 2 hours!
then yesterday, thursday, the day of my actual birthday, i had a final spanish exam in the morning. then we all went to the playa (beach) for the afternoon. i relished at the fact that i have never once been able to spend my birthday in hot weather, let alone on the beach. it was magnificent though, and it gave me all the more incentive to live somewhere hot when i can move on and have my own life! a birthday on a beach is the best way one can have it, i do believe.
then last night a group of about 16 of us dressed up in some formal wear and went to an EXTREMELY fancy restaurant in miraflores. it was about 40 soles per person, the equivalent of 13ish dollars, but if this restaurant was the in states it would have cost about 40 dollars per person! they had all sorts of courses. first, it was some sort of shrimp, with a kind of bread or pastry, and a delicious sauce. then we were of course given delicious, pricy wine. the main course consisted of steak, peruvian style of course, vegetables, rice (or course), with a delicious sauce. and the desert, oh the desert! it was a delicious chocolate cake with mangos and strawberries and pinapple inbetween the layers, along with a kind of whipped icing. delicious. (on a side note: peru has incredible deserts and pastries and cakes. just delicious and amazing... and cheap!).
so yes, that about sums up my birthday. this evening we are having a despidida (farewell party) for our parents. unfortunately, my mom will miss it, but i believe my dad and daniela will be attending. then after that, i'm planning on going out to a discotecca for mark's and my birthday (mark is having his birthday on monday). so yes, i'm pretty excited for my third discotecca experience! they always seem to be interesting.
i should go and attempt to take a nap. or at least a shower - it is so hot here in february! i hope this gave a better assessment of what has been happening and i really am sorry for not updating sooner. and also for this being such a rapid update because it isn't one of my best.
i love you and continue to miss you all.
so, to being with, yesterday was my birthday. and thank you all for the many birthday wishes, emails, cards, etc. i would love to reply back to all, but it's just impossible. but it still meant a lot and it made me think of you all fondly!
an incredble amount has happened, but i'm going to tell you about the biggest and most fantastic.
last saturday we all swam with sea lions!! if you check the goshen blog than you would have seen that there. we piled into a boat at calloa, which then took us to a yacht. we traveled out into the ocean, and in about an hour we arrived to an island COVERED in sea lions. we all just jumped right into the ocean and swam about with them! besides the fact that the water was so cold it took me 2 minutes to regulate my breathing, it was fantastic.
that night we all went to a discotecca, producto peruana, for matt's sister's birthday. now that was quite an experience. it only cost 25 soles to get in (about 8 dollars), and once in, all alcohol was free. loco? si. i'm not sure where else you could find such a thing, but here they've got it and it's quite the fun time. i would go more into this, but due to my lack of time and the want to update you on everything, i won't. i'll just say this - i think the men in our group experienced peruvian women quite pleasurably that evening.
i've mentioned my cousin carlos a few times. he moved to the united states when he was 12, not knowing any english. now he is 19, quite fluent in both english and spanish, and he, his mom, and another aunt all moved into our teeny little apartment here in lima! so these past 2 weeks have been very crowded, but tons of fun. them moving in has actually been a blessing. there are so many family members here, i'm never bored and always have someone to talk to, or someone to take me to some new place. it's been great - minus the fact that i feel like i have NO free time! but i wouldn't trade the love of my family for anything.
so anyway, carlos and i spend a lot of time together, mainly conversing in english, but occasionally spanish. it helps to have him take my friends and i places... and all my friends enjoy him a lot, so all works out well. his mother, batchi, is WONDERFUL. i absolutely adore her. she's always looking after me, making sure i'm safe and comfortable. it's cute - she's more worried about my safety than my own mother ever was! and she made my birthday quite special.
unfortunately, my mother's mother has gotten quite ill. therefore, around midnight of the 13th, or 14th, whichever way you want to look at it, my mother got up and left and won't be back for quite sometime, apparently. therefore, batchi took over the whole mothering routine, more so than she was. we had tons of family over because an aunt who was visitng here, but who lives in germany, was going back on the 14th, so they were all having a farewell get together. anyway, my family made me stay up until midnight so they could all toast to my birthday and sing. so i stayed up.. and then we ended up having a two hour conversation, almost all in spanish! minus the fact that i stayed up until 2 am and i had my spanish final exam the next day, it was one of my favorite nights thus far. it was just so great to finally be able to communicate to my family members in spanish, and to understand what they were saying to me. and just to feel their love for me, and how much they wanted to make my birthday special.
on to more birthday celebrations. the 13th all the students celebrated my bithday because we have goshen tambo on wednesdays. we ended up all going to my favorite ice cream shop in miraflores. the ice cream there is delicious - almost like gellato, but honestly, BETTER. they have a mango flavor that is identical to mangos. no lie... it is identical. they also have a pisco sour flavor that is actually made with pisco sour. alcoholic ice cream? who would have ever known?
after the ice cream party, small cake, and "happy birthday" singing, a group of us went to centro de lima to go to some markets and buy a few things. then we headed off to the circuito magico del agua, which i have talked about before. it's basically these massive fountains that have lights and are incredible. someday you will see photos, and you will finally understand the enchantment of these things. i actually got in this time, and got a little wet (i have a photo here of me wet!), but it was great fun. in fact, we ended up staying there for 2 hours!
then yesterday, thursday, the day of my actual birthday, i had a final spanish exam in the morning. then we all went to the playa (beach) for the afternoon. i relished at the fact that i have never once been able to spend my birthday in hot weather, let alone on the beach. it was magnificent though, and it gave me all the more incentive to live somewhere hot when i can move on and have my own life! a birthday on a beach is the best way one can have it, i do believe.
then last night a group of about 16 of us dressed up in some formal wear and went to an EXTREMELY fancy restaurant in miraflores. it was about 40 soles per person, the equivalent of 13ish dollars, but if this restaurant was the in states it would have cost about 40 dollars per person! they had all sorts of courses. first, it was some sort of shrimp, with a kind of bread or pastry, and a delicious sauce. then we were of course given delicious, pricy wine. the main course consisted of steak, peruvian style of course, vegetables, rice (or course), with a delicious sauce. and the desert, oh the desert! it was a delicious chocolate cake with mangos and strawberries and pinapple inbetween the layers, along with a kind of whipped icing. delicious. (on a side note: peru has incredible deserts and pastries and cakes. just delicious and amazing... and cheap!).
so yes, that about sums up my birthday. this evening we are having a despidida (farewell party) for our parents. unfortunately, my mom will miss it, but i believe my dad and daniela will be attending. then after that, i'm planning on going out to a discotecca for mark's and my birthday (mark is having his birthday on monday). so yes, i'm pretty excited for my third discotecca experience! they always seem to be interesting.
i should go and attempt to take a nap. or at least a shower - it is so hot here in february! i hope this gave a better assessment of what has been happening and i really am sorry for not updating sooner. and also for this being such a rapid update because it isn't one of my best.
i love you and continue to miss you all.
Monday, February 11, 2008
a window into my life.
it's 8:32 am, the morning sun is shining down, already heating the asphalt and baking my back as i'm making my daily trek to the micro that takes me to school each day. same as everyday, i walk in a brisk fashion, attempting to avoid all male eye contact, particularly the usual street vendors and tienda owners who just love to tell me how extraordinarily beautiful i look that day, even though it must not be too extraordinary since they tell me this same line everyday. i've crossed the busy road of arenales, where zooming taxis, cars, and buses stop for no one, and i'm about to get to arequipa when i walk by a gentlemen who says, "hello, america", with a big grin on his face. without even thinking, i react by throwing up hand in a, "what the heck?" kind of pose, bewildered at why any person would ever walk by another and say, "hello, america."
but this is not unusual here in peru. no, in fact, here in peru i am bombarded by the strangest greetings, as well as the most incredible attention-getters and noises. i have come to the conclusion that lima is a city of noise, and this noise never ceases. at 4 in the morning i have been awoken by a man playing a saxophone below my window, with another singing loudly with a bottle of something swaying in his hand. a different night, around 2 am, i was awoken by a man screaming in the street, with another yelling words in spanish. from my observations, it appeared the one man had drunkenly fallen down and severely injured a body part, and the other man was screaming at him to shut up, get up and walk, and that it wasn't as bad as the other man was making it sound. it sounded pretty bad to me... after all, it was a man crying in the middle of the street.
so you see? this city is never quiet. and people just love to get each others attention in the loudest ways possible. helado sellers wandering the street enjoy blowing duck like horns. apparently, duck like noises encourage children and adults to come running for ice cream, nevermind the fact that they have probably heard that same horn 26 times already in that day. women at markets love to call you the equivalent of "sweetie" in spanish, hoping the compliments will encourage you to buy their items. and nevermind the flocks of men who exclaim at your beauty, such as the man selling popcorn in miraflores who said, "ah muy linda. muy bonita! si, necestas mi comida!" to which my friends and i often walk off and mutter a reply in english of, "wow! you know, that's the first time anyone on the street has ever complimented me! of course i now want to purchase your popcorn. thank you so much. you are so very sincere."
there are the people who hop on to micros and again, inform you of your beauty, then whip out a piece of candy, expecting you to purchase it for 50 centimos, or whatever the bidding rate may be. but that's not the only sound you will hear on the micros. these things are full of noise and attention-getters. for one thing, the combradors (these are the people who stand at the doors and let people on and off the buses as well as takes your change) tend to shout out their destinations at the top of their lunges, constantly urging you to get onto their micro, even if you stand there shaking your head no. then there is the music, which can be a range of anything from typical peruvian music, creolle, american hits, reggatone, but whatever it is, it's loud. and then there is the sound of the traffic in general... which is about as loud as anyone can handle.
the micros aren't the only ones encouraging people to jump on, even when they don't want to. taxis just love to toot their horns, expecting you to jump in their car. this one boggles me the most. if i'm walking on a sidewalk with my head straight forward, not attempting to the get the attention of ANYONE, wouldn't one assume i DON'T want a taxi? i mean, i'm pretty sure i'm capable of standing at a corner, waving a taxi down when i need one. therefore, stop honking your horn at me when i'm minding my own business, taking a nice stroll to the park! not only do they like to honk their horns, but occasionally they enjoy leaning out the window, yelling some absurd comment in spanish. those, i tend to ignore.
in any case, peru, or at least lima, is a very noisy place full of greetings and attention-getters, never ceasing even at the early hours of dawn. and as much as i love this city, i wouldn't mind walking down a street without an absurd greeting from a man, or a horn being blown in my face, or a taxi driver encouraging me to use his service. for once, i really would like some peace.
but this is not unusual here in peru. no, in fact, here in peru i am bombarded by the strangest greetings, as well as the most incredible attention-getters and noises. i have come to the conclusion that lima is a city of noise, and this noise never ceases. at 4 in the morning i have been awoken by a man playing a saxophone below my window, with another singing loudly with a bottle of something swaying in his hand. a different night, around 2 am, i was awoken by a man screaming in the street, with another yelling words in spanish. from my observations, it appeared the one man had drunkenly fallen down and severely injured a body part, and the other man was screaming at him to shut up, get up and walk, and that it wasn't as bad as the other man was making it sound. it sounded pretty bad to me... after all, it was a man crying in the middle of the street.
so you see? this city is never quiet. and people just love to get each others attention in the loudest ways possible. helado sellers wandering the street enjoy blowing duck like horns. apparently, duck like noises encourage children and adults to come running for ice cream, nevermind the fact that they have probably heard that same horn 26 times already in that day. women at markets love to call you the equivalent of "sweetie" in spanish, hoping the compliments will encourage you to buy their items. and nevermind the flocks of men who exclaim at your beauty, such as the man selling popcorn in miraflores who said, "ah muy linda. muy bonita! si, necestas mi comida!" to which my friends and i often walk off and mutter a reply in english of, "wow! you know, that's the first time anyone on the street has ever complimented me! of course i now want to purchase your popcorn. thank you so much. you are so very sincere."
there are the people who hop on to micros and again, inform you of your beauty, then whip out a piece of candy, expecting you to purchase it for 50 centimos, or whatever the bidding rate may be. but that's not the only sound you will hear on the micros. these things are full of noise and attention-getters. for one thing, the combradors (these are the people who stand at the doors and let people on and off the buses as well as takes your change) tend to shout out their destinations at the top of their lunges, constantly urging you to get onto their micro, even if you stand there shaking your head no. then there is the music, which can be a range of anything from typical peruvian music, creolle, american hits, reggatone, but whatever it is, it's loud. and then there is the sound of the traffic in general... which is about as loud as anyone can handle.
the micros aren't the only ones encouraging people to jump on, even when they don't want to. taxis just love to toot their horns, expecting you to jump in their car. this one boggles me the most. if i'm walking on a sidewalk with my head straight forward, not attempting to the get the attention of ANYONE, wouldn't one assume i DON'T want a taxi? i mean, i'm pretty sure i'm capable of standing at a corner, waving a taxi down when i need one. therefore, stop honking your horn at me when i'm minding my own business, taking a nice stroll to the park! not only do they like to honk their horns, but occasionally they enjoy leaning out the window, yelling some absurd comment in spanish. those, i tend to ignore.
in any case, peru, or at least lima, is a very noisy place full of greetings and attention-getters, never ceasing even at the early hours of dawn. and as much as i love this city, i wouldn't mind walking down a street without an absurd greeting from a man, or a horn being blown in my face, or a taxi driver encouraging me to use his service. for once, i really would like some peace.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
peru: a backwards country.
each week i have the same problem: how do i even begin to explain to all my loved ones the many events that i have encountered in the short 7 days from the last time i wrote? this week it is going to be particularily hard, because i feel like as the time goes on, the pace picks up. more things are done in the day, i become acquianted with people better than before. it's hard to keep up with myself.
but i shall attempt to begin.
peru: it continues to be a place of bewilderment, amusement, enchantment, and my heart grows fonder each day. such strange things happen in peru: sercurity guards tell you you can't jump on the park trampolines past 10 or they'll lose their job, yet they light up a joint as they're speaking to you. uncles get pulled over for speeding, he hands the cop a 20, nothing more is said. apparently massive ponds lined with stones count as swimming pools here... quite nice, resort style ones even, without the chlorine of course. people sell porn on the side walks. people wail for glass as their living. it's normal for people to sit on top of an open semi hauling bottles upon bottes of coca-cola, nevermind the fact that the traffic is ludicrious here, tossing and turning from one way to the other, never knowing which way a car may decide to go. children line the streets with candy, begging you to buy with their beautiful eyes. oh peru. it's so fascinating, strange, and lovely. a mix of hot and cold.
as far as what i do here in this massive city, i'll attempt to summarize.
someday last week, i believe it was thursday, we had dance lessons. that was quite enjoyable. there is a goshen blog about it if you care to read a bit more. friday, after school, a large group of us went to the beach. it was quite delightful as well, and we had a grand ol' time. again, much more happened than that, but i'm giving the brief synopsis of all.
after the beach trip, sara and i went back to my place where we met up with my cousin carlos and his surfer friend. after showers, all four of us went to a place called "circuito magico del agua" also known as, "the magic circuit of water." we had a good chuckle about the name, but overall, it truly was a magic circuit of water! there were fountains upon fountains with different pulses and colors shooting up. people were allowed to go in them and get surprise attacks. it was all such a grand adventure of water. and quite strange. i've never seen anything like it in the states.
and that is why peru is so backwards. they spend a billion dollars on a magical circuit of lighted water, yet about 75% of their nation are in poverty. where is the sense in that? no one knows. i've really been enjoying my classes on the current issues of peru. i honestly feel as if i'm better aquainted with all the ins and outs of peru than i am with even the united states! i've been receiving extensive knowledge on it all, which i would love to share with you, but perhaps we should have that conversation in april when i am home.
to continue on... after the magical circuit of water, we wondered about a few other places and ended up in my park of trampolines, where we drank a few beers and attempted to talk the security guards into letting us jump on the trampolines. but apparently they're off limits after 10 pm, and if their supervisor saw us on them, the guards would be fired. but apparently it didn't matter if they would smoke pot on the job, because as they were telling us "no," they were busy lighting up a joint. again: how backwards peru is.
saturday: we all piled in a bus at 7:30 in the morning, and headed down 2 hours south along the pacific ocean to a small city called chincha. the scenary on the way was fascinating. it was the first time i had been out of the city of lima, and the first time i really realized we sure are stuck in the middle of a desert. on one side was the pacific ocean, spreading out for miles and miles with it's salty, fishy water smell wafting in with the breeze through out open bus windows. and on the other side were dunes upon dunes of sand, piling on top of each other in interesting formations, occasionally words scrawled across them claiming love to a person, or perhaps pointing the direction to a town, or even a political statement every now and then. it was dry, colorless, yet beautiful. i fell in love with a desert, and that is one thing i never expected to happen.
in chincha, we went to a hacienda. it was gorgeous and green and smelled of unpoluted air. we went to a restaurant where i had sopa seca, the traditional food of chincha. and then we saw a peruvian-african dance group who were amazing, beautiful, and powerful. i won't go into too many details, because eventually the goshen blog will provide those for you, with pictures as well.
saturday was also the national pisco sour day. yes, peru has a national day celebrating their national drink. therefore, all the towns along the coast had celebrations in their squares with many booths set up selling pisco sours, 2 for 10 soles (quite the deal). and lima itself was the most bustling i have seen it so far, with crazy people out everywhere. so you can imagine what the majority of our sst group did saturday night...
onto sunday. i went to church and of course, afterwards, my church friends had all sorts of plans for me. this time gisela invited me to her house, which i had never been to, and which was a ways away from the church but still in a shanty town. so off i went to her (as she called it) "makeshift home." most of the shanty houses are makeshirt, for they basically built them with nothing, and as they aquired items, they slowly began to build some sort of home. her family was wonderful and fed me ceviche and other yummy peruvian dishes. they also talked quite slowly for me and we had a great conversation in spanish, with gisela only helping out when i was attempting to explain what exactly a Mennonite is. they complimented me on my spanish and said it was quite good. i told them they were quite wrong and the only reason it was good was beacuse i was discussing things i discuss with every peruvian i have met here (ie. what i study, where i am from, what i think of peru, what i like and don't like, hobbies. the easy stuff.). but i will admit the conversation made me feel more confident.
but that was about the only time that happened all day. the rest of the time i was extremely frustrated and at points wanted to cry. i was with gisela and 3 other guys from the church. the 3 guys are all lovely peruvians, but they want to talk to me all the time, and all at the same time. and gisela really doesn't like translating so i try not to ask her to do that. i basically became extremely frustrated with having 4 people attempting to talk to me at the same time and finally told gisela she had to tell them i needed a break and they had to talk to me individually if they wanted to talk to me. it turned out... okay.
they took me to a "pool." i write it like that because it was more of a mini jungle, with trees and horses all about, and crazy jungle-jim creations for children (or in our case, 20 year olds), to play on. and then the piscina (pool), was humungous, but not a pool at all. more like a stone pond, with the pond looking water and all! it was fun though, and even though i had to buy a swim suit just for the event, because of course i didn't have my suit at church (it was only 10 dollars, don't worry), i still had a grand time.
monday. yesterday. i went to the peruvian art museum, which was beautiful and had all peruvian artwork. i fell in love, of course, because i do love good art which there was plenty of. then sara and i went to a massive market called "apolos azueles", or something similar to that. this market was bigger than any i have seen so far, and had anything you could possibly want. but we were getting horrendously ripped off, so we decided to go on a search for my cousin carlos, so he could go with us and help us out in the whole "gringas getting ripped off" department. the rest of the night consisted of me hanging out with sara on the roof (we never did find carlos at that point of time), me doing homework, going to the center of lima with carlos and his childhood friend, and then chit chatting on the steps of my apartment building until the late hours of the night.
i do quite enjoy this whole knowing peruvians, yet peruvians who can also speak english, thing. it's really quite ideal and i feel like i am being completely spoiled. yet, i think it helps my spanish. today in class my profesora said i did a wonderful job speaking, so that pleased me because i often feel so helpless here.
there you have it. the extremely CONDENSED version of my life. again, i shall try to update sooner, but there are no promises because sometimes it just doesn't work out.
i miss and love you all. and as always, appreciate knowing how your lives are as well. i hope your noses don't freeze off in the cold, midwestern weather. and if you don't live in the midwest, then lucky you. i hope your weather is treating you nicely. mine certainly is... and i must admit, i have a pretty nice tan.
but i shall attempt to begin.
peru: it continues to be a place of bewilderment, amusement, enchantment, and my heart grows fonder each day. such strange things happen in peru: sercurity guards tell you you can't jump on the park trampolines past 10 or they'll lose their job, yet they light up a joint as they're speaking to you. uncles get pulled over for speeding, he hands the cop a 20, nothing more is said. apparently massive ponds lined with stones count as swimming pools here... quite nice, resort style ones even, without the chlorine of course. people sell porn on the side walks. people wail for glass as their living. it's normal for people to sit on top of an open semi hauling bottles upon bottes of coca-cola, nevermind the fact that the traffic is ludicrious here, tossing and turning from one way to the other, never knowing which way a car may decide to go. children line the streets with candy, begging you to buy with their beautiful eyes. oh peru. it's so fascinating, strange, and lovely. a mix of hot and cold.
as far as what i do here in this massive city, i'll attempt to summarize.
someday last week, i believe it was thursday, we had dance lessons. that was quite enjoyable. there is a goshen blog about it if you care to read a bit more. friday, after school, a large group of us went to the beach. it was quite delightful as well, and we had a grand ol' time. again, much more happened than that, but i'm giving the brief synopsis of all.
after the beach trip, sara and i went back to my place where we met up with my cousin carlos and his surfer friend. after showers, all four of us went to a place called "circuito magico del agua" also known as, "the magic circuit of water." we had a good chuckle about the name, but overall, it truly was a magic circuit of water! there were fountains upon fountains with different pulses and colors shooting up. people were allowed to go in them and get surprise attacks. it was all such a grand adventure of water. and quite strange. i've never seen anything like it in the states.
and that is why peru is so backwards. they spend a billion dollars on a magical circuit of lighted water, yet about 75% of their nation are in poverty. where is the sense in that? no one knows. i've really been enjoying my classes on the current issues of peru. i honestly feel as if i'm better aquainted with all the ins and outs of peru than i am with even the united states! i've been receiving extensive knowledge on it all, which i would love to share with you, but perhaps we should have that conversation in april when i am home.
to continue on... after the magical circuit of water, we wondered about a few other places and ended up in my park of trampolines, where we drank a few beers and attempted to talk the security guards into letting us jump on the trampolines. but apparently they're off limits after 10 pm, and if their supervisor saw us on them, the guards would be fired. but apparently it didn't matter if they would smoke pot on the job, because as they were telling us "no," they were busy lighting up a joint. again: how backwards peru is.
saturday: we all piled in a bus at 7:30 in the morning, and headed down 2 hours south along the pacific ocean to a small city called chincha. the scenary on the way was fascinating. it was the first time i had been out of the city of lima, and the first time i really realized we sure are stuck in the middle of a desert. on one side was the pacific ocean, spreading out for miles and miles with it's salty, fishy water smell wafting in with the breeze through out open bus windows. and on the other side were dunes upon dunes of sand, piling on top of each other in interesting formations, occasionally words scrawled across them claiming love to a person, or perhaps pointing the direction to a town, or even a political statement every now and then. it was dry, colorless, yet beautiful. i fell in love with a desert, and that is one thing i never expected to happen.
in chincha, we went to a hacienda. it was gorgeous and green and smelled of unpoluted air. we went to a restaurant where i had sopa seca, the traditional food of chincha. and then we saw a peruvian-african dance group who were amazing, beautiful, and powerful. i won't go into too many details, because eventually the goshen blog will provide those for you, with pictures as well.
saturday was also the national pisco sour day. yes, peru has a national day celebrating their national drink. therefore, all the towns along the coast had celebrations in their squares with many booths set up selling pisco sours, 2 for 10 soles (quite the deal). and lima itself was the most bustling i have seen it so far, with crazy people out everywhere. so you can imagine what the majority of our sst group did saturday night...
onto sunday. i went to church and of course, afterwards, my church friends had all sorts of plans for me. this time gisela invited me to her house, which i had never been to, and which was a ways away from the church but still in a shanty town. so off i went to her (as she called it) "makeshift home." most of the shanty houses are makeshirt, for they basically built them with nothing, and as they aquired items, they slowly began to build some sort of home. her family was wonderful and fed me ceviche and other yummy peruvian dishes. they also talked quite slowly for me and we had a great conversation in spanish, with gisela only helping out when i was attempting to explain what exactly a Mennonite is. they complimented me on my spanish and said it was quite good. i told them they were quite wrong and the only reason it was good was beacuse i was discussing things i discuss with every peruvian i have met here (ie. what i study, where i am from, what i think of peru, what i like and don't like, hobbies. the easy stuff.). but i will admit the conversation made me feel more confident.
but that was about the only time that happened all day. the rest of the time i was extremely frustrated and at points wanted to cry. i was with gisela and 3 other guys from the church. the 3 guys are all lovely peruvians, but they want to talk to me all the time, and all at the same time. and gisela really doesn't like translating so i try not to ask her to do that. i basically became extremely frustrated with having 4 people attempting to talk to me at the same time and finally told gisela she had to tell them i needed a break and they had to talk to me individually if they wanted to talk to me. it turned out... okay.
they took me to a "pool." i write it like that because it was more of a mini jungle, with trees and horses all about, and crazy jungle-jim creations for children (or in our case, 20 year olds), to play on. and then the piscina (pool), was humungous, but not a pool at all. more like a stone pond, with the pond looking water and all! it was fun though, and even though i had to buy a swim suit just for the event, because of course i didn't have my suit at church (it was only 10 dollars, don't worry), i still had a grand time.
monday. yesterday. i went to the peruvian art museum, which was beautiful and had all peruvian artwork. i fell in love, of course, because i do love good art which there was plenty of. then sara and i went to a massive market called "apolos azueles", or something similar to that. this market was bigger than any i have seen so far, and had anything you could possibly want. but we were getting horrendously ripped off, so we decided to go on a search for my cousin carlos, so he could go with us and help us out in the whole "gringas getting ripped off" department. the rest of the night consisted of me hanging out with sara on the roof (we never did find carlos at that point of time), me doing homework, going to the center of lima with carlos and his childhood friend, and then chit chatting on the steps of my apartment building until the late hours of the night.
i do quite enjoy this whole knowing peruvians, yet peruvians who can also speak english, thing. it's really quite ideal and i feel like i am being completely spoiled. yet, i think it helps my spanish. today in class my profesora said i did a wonderful job speaking, so that pleased me because i often feel so helpless here.
there you have it. the extremely CONDENSED version of my life. again, i shall try to update sooner, but there are no promises because sometimes it just doesn't work out.
i miss and love you all. and as always, appreciate knowing how your lives are as well. i hope your noses don't freeze off in the cold, midwestern weather. and if you don't live in the midwest, then lucky you. i hope your weather is treating you nicely. mine certainly is... and i must admit, i have a pretty nice tan.
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