Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Entry # 13 Long day in Sacred Valley and train ride
Today was the longest day of our touring, we woke up around 6 and didn't get home until 6:30 pm. We walked around the property with Suzy as she promised. It was truly amazing to see these ancient Inca terraces being used in everyday life! On this solely local path we pass grazing cows and goats, orchids and wild roses, roaring water ways with original stonework. It is something totally off the beaten path! We hike back down to the car drop off to being out day after a delicious breakfast where Jesus and Lorenzo are waiting for us. Our first stop is one of the most important Inca sights called Ollantaytambo. It's one of the most important sights because the largest rocks of any Inca sight are found here, at what remains to be the Temple to the Sun. When we pull up it's a tiered system of terraces, remains of grain storage buildings and huge perfect stones facing east for the sun. We climb to the top, which requires a few breaks to catch our breath, and it's an impressive view down the entire valley. There is access to see another valley for protection as well. Jesus tells us that these huge rocks were actually carted here from across the river!! Some of these stones weigh a few tons, how could they possibly have brought these boulders halfway up a mountain side! Well Jesus told us that when it was the dry season the river was a lot lower and they would divert the river and bring the stones using Llama rope and man power! Crazy. I have to add that nowadays in each of these small towns the women and men wear distinctly different hats distinguishing themselves from different villages. Some of the hats are small with red flowers, some are stark white tophats with black ribbon and others are yellow medium sized. It's pretty cool to see all these different hats. Anyway so we leave Ollantaytambo and head up to almost 13,000 ft to the Moray circles. Theses are circular terraces that instead of going up the side of a mountain they go down into a huge crater sized area. The circles are perfectly sized and stopped me in my tracks. They're crazy. Please google them right now just to see, Moray Circles Peru. The whole area looks like the wooden Russian nesting dolls, where the one inside is smaller and they keep getting smaller. At least that's what I saw. You're able to actually climb down to the bottom of these terraces, which we did, and hear the perfect echo once fully at the bottom. My mom and I were really lucky because our guide Jesus timed it perfectly that when we were hiking down everyone was leaving so we were in this ancient spiritual sight alone! When we were at the bottom we stayed silent just listening allowing our ears absorb everything. Next was the hike back up- which was brutal at that altitude. The steps aren't normal staircases, they're rocks jutting out called a floating staircase. I like the look of these floating staircases they're very cool because when you're at the top the staircases make a perfect zigzag lines down the entire structure - just look it up in google to see what i'm talking about. I would put pictures up on this thing but I need about 200 more GB of space for all my pictures which is why none are on facebook either. My computer is full.
We left the Morays and head towards the Maras salt deposits, but we take a brief pit-stop to have a picnic on the side of the Andes no big deal. Lorenzo and Jesus work like a well oiled machine getting the table and chairs and propane tank (would have been a little more worried while driving had I known that was in the back) and we have a hot meal looking over fields of crops and in the distance enormous mountains tower over us, the clouds exposing snow caped mountains and glaciers, it was amazing. I just kept thinking, 'Yep, here we are, just having a 5 star picnic in the Andes, traveling after graduation was the bests decision ever!!' After eating we pack up the picnic and head off to Maras. Along the way we had extra food so we stopped and gave the remaining fruit and bread to this little boy and girl who were in charge of about 30 goats/sheep and cows. These kids were elated, their smiles still make me smile! We arrive at the salt mine and it is jaw dropping - again please google Maras Peru and you'll see a shallow pooled terrace covering 3/4 of the mountain. The Incas found the natural spring containing a fair amount of salt and decided to set up terrace systems to harvest and use the salt to their advantage. Each small pool had an aqueduct delivering the water and continuing onto the ones below. Sometimes just a small pebble could cut off the water supply because the aqueducts are so tiny. Jesus takes my mom and I down through the salt fields on a 45 min hike down to the bottom where the Urubamba is flowing ferociously! Once down we cross a small wobbly pedestrian bridge where Lorenzo is waiting for us to take us back to our slice if heaven. We hike back again to our oasis where the next day we're going to MachuPicchu!!!
Early wake-up and departure because we're catching the 8:30 train from Ollantaytambo to Aquascalientes- which is now renamed MachuPicchu Pueblo because too many tourists kept saying they wanted to get to MachuPicchu - but didn't want to go to Aquascalientes. . . they're the same place people! Stupid tourists not doing their research. The train is amazing, huge windows, a little snack, but one of the slowest trains i've ever been on. We arrive to a rainy Aquascalientes, so we purchase a poncho and board the bus which takes you up to the historical sight. The bus company runs about 35 buses for the short 20 min drive, but there will always be a bus waiting for tourists - it's actually a very good system, absolutely no waiting around so no unhappy tourists. As the bus ascends up the mountain face and it's magical, seriously magical. Clouds are everywhere changing the scenery every few seconds and the lush green mixed with a constant waterfall in the middle of every switch back, the place is seriously out of a hollywood film set. We reach the top and eager tourists make sure their newly purchased ponchos are going to do the trick. We get inside and Jesus lets guest zoom past us as we wait for the foot traffic to calm so we're left standing alone looking over the lost city of the Incas. It immediately a sense of calm, when we look over trying to squint through the clouds, the place is huge, with the sense that this place was a real community where people actually lived, complaired to the previous sights we've seen before. The rain and wind add for dramatic effect whipping small beads of rain at us from every-which-way. Jesus gives us a great tour and keeps us away from the blobs of bright colors (ie the poncho covered tourists) He shows us all the temples, the famous Condor, and let us wonder around. MachuPicchu is the a home to 15 Llamas and one baby! These Llamas have free range over the place and on our second day at the slight nearly mauled someone over, they had to literally jump out of the way onto another terrace!
On our second day at MachuPicchu we hiked to an old Inca bridge which is part of the Inca trail, were able to wander more throughout the sight and sit to meditate. On our second day it was also sunny which was amazing! We left for Cuzco the next day and Lima the day after then home. It was a truly amazing trip, the whole 5 weeks and I encourage EVERYONE - whoever reads this- and others to travel to Peru. It is so lush with nature and vegetation, different landscapes, and seriously wonderful people. The food is amazing and the history is so vas. Also while I was in Peru I was reading off and on Three Cups of Tea and it is seriously an amazing book! Everyone should read it!! This is my last post because I'm home right now looking for a job. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!!
xoxo
over and out
Lola
We left the Morays and head towards the Maras salt deposits, but we take a brief pit-stop to have a picnic on the side of the Andes no big deal. Lorenzo and Jesus work like a well oiled machine getting the table and chairs and propane tank (would have been a little more worried while driving had I known that was in the back) and we have a hot meal looking over fields of crops and in the distance enormous mountains tower over us, the clouds exposing snow caped mountains and glaciers, it was amazing. I just kept thinking, 'Yep, here we are, just having a 5 star picnic in the Andes, traveling after graduation was the bests decision ever!!' After eating we pack up the picnic and head off to Maras. Along the way we had extra food so we stopped and gave the remaining fruit and bread to this little boy and girl who were in charge of about 30 goats/sheep and cows. These kids were elated, their smiles still make me smile! We arrive at the salt mine and it is jaw dropping - again please google Maras Peru and you'll see a shallow pooled terrace covering 3/4 of the mountain. The Incas found the natural spring containing a fair amount of salt and decided to set up terrace systems to harvest and use the salt to their advantage. Each small pool had an aqueduct delivering the water and continuing onto the ones below. Sometimes just a small pebble could cut off the water supply because the aqueducts are so tiny. Jesus takes my mom and I down through the salt fields on a 45 min hike down to the bottom where the Urubamba is flowing ferociously! Once down we cross a small wobbly pedestrian bridge where Lorenzo is waiting for us to take us back to our slice if heaven. We hike back again to our oasis where the next day we're going to MachuPicchu!!!
Early wake-up and departure because we're catching the 8:30 train from Ollantaytambo to Aquascalientes- which is now renamed MachuPicchu Pueblo because too many tourists kept saying they wanted to get to MachuPicchu - but didn't want to go to Aquascalientes. . . they're the same place people! Stupid tourists not doing their research. The train is amazing, huge windows, a little snack, but one of the slowest trains i've ever been on. We arrive to a rainy Aquascalientes, so we purchase a poncho and board the bus which takes you up to the historical sight. The bus company runs about 35 buses for the short 20 min drive, but there will always be a bus waiting for tourists - it's actually a very good system, absolutely no waiting around so no unhappy tourists. As the bus ascends up the mountain face and it's magical, seriously magical. Clouds are everywhere changing the scenery every few seconds and the lush green mixed with a constant waterfall in the middle of every switch back, the place is seriously out of a hollywood film set. We reach the top and eager tourists make sure their newly purchased ponchos are going to do the trick. We get inside and Jesus lets guest zoom past us as we wait for the foot traffic to calm so we're left standing alone looking over the lost city of the Incas. It immediately a sense of calm, when we look over trying to squint through the clouds, the place is huge, with the sense that this place was a real community where people actually lived, complaired to the previous sights we've seen before. The rain and wind add for dramatic effect whipping small beads of rain at us from every-which-way. Jesus gives us a great tour and keeps us away from the blobs of bright colors (ie the poncho covered tourists) He shows us all the temples, the famous Condor, and let us wonder around. MachuPicchu is the a home to 15 Llamas and one baby! These Llamas have free range over the place and on our second day at the slight nearly mauled someone over, they had to literally jump out of the way onto another terrace!
On our second day at MachuPicchu we hiked to an old Inca bridge which is part of the Inca trail, were able to wander more throughout the sight and sit to meditate. On our second day it was also sunny which was amazing! We left for Cuzco the next day and Lima the day after then home. It was a truly amazing trip, the whole 5 weeks and I encourage EVERYONE - whoever reads this- and others to travel to Peru. It is so lush with nature and vegetation, different landscapes, and seriously wonderful people. The food is amazing and the history is so vas. Also while I was in Peru I was reading off and on Three Cups of Tea and it is seriously an amazing book! Everyone should read it!! This is my last post because I'm home right now looking for a job. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!!
xoxo
over and out
Lola
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Entry #12 Life After Ayacucho!
So as many of you know I'm back in the USA and this is going to be my last blog about my time in Peru, so get settled, it's going to be a long one!! I left Ayacucho on January 9th to meet my mom, who came down for a week to travel all throughout the Sacred Valley, Cuzco and Machu Picchu. However in Ayacucho there are only 4 flights in and out a day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. But since it's the rainy season the afternoon flights are usually canceled because the storms roll in across the mountains. The previous day had been just beautiful, Amelia and Caitlin had gotten out with no problems to go to Cuzco, so I just knew that we were going to have problems getting out. And sure enough when I woke up it was the second day in the whole 4 weeks that it was cloudy in the morning, so I knew something was going to happen. We leave for the airport at 6:15 and I was supposed to be meeting my mom in the Lima airport for our 9:30 flight. We we're checking in the wonderful staff of StarPeru informed us that our 7:30 am flight was now scheduled to depart at 3:30 PM. The reason being for the delay was because they were repaving the runway. YEP. Repaving the runway. Only is Ayacucho, Peru would that EVER be the problem. Why couldn't they have done it the afternoon before when it was super nice and sunny ensuring that it would be fully functioning in the morning? So now we're all driven back to the house to sit and wait for 8 hours. I have to frantically try to get a hold of my mom who was in Lima, and I instructed her to take the flight to Cuzco and I'd have to spend the night in Lima because the last flight from Lima to Cuzco was at 1:45 pm. . . before my Ayacucho flight ever takes off!
Anyway, such a mess, my mom and I finally met up at the Cuzco airport and we headed straight towards the Sacred Valley, the main area of the Incan civilization - Cuzco was actually the capital before the Spanish conquered them. Lorenzo (our driver) and Jesus (our amazing tour guide) inform us as we drive along the canyons, stopping to let us take pictures of the gorgeous landscape. Everything is green, it reminds me of the movie Land Before Time, with this roaring mud colored river called the Urubamba, which is actually the mouth of the Amazon, and very vas mountain ranges. Some have snow caps, but most peaks are hidden behind rapidly moving clouds. The whole place is magical. Our first stop was one of the most magnificent sights I'd ever seen. An almost 13,000 ft. mountain littered with these perfectly preserved or restored Inca terraces. Pisca is the name of this small town, and women are waiting as we pull up to the entrance of the ruins each one of them holding what I guestimate to be around 40 lbs worth of the exact same merchandise. Of course my mom gets hounded by these women with her lack of spanish but excellent talent to want to look at everything, she was like a mouse being pounced on by cats! She agrees to buy a head strap and we proceed. This is my first encounter with the Inca ruins and it is seriously mind blowing! The way the HUGE terraces trickle down the steep mountain side and the way the rocks perfectly fit together like a lock system that not even a blade of grass can penetrate in some areas! Jesus tell us that Pisca was one of the Incas main agricultural areas and not many people actually lived where we were it was just for farming. There is an excellent waterway system that is still running! An area where the imperial family used to wash or give to the gods- a reason why the majority of their buildings were so high so they could be closer to the gods. We get to an area where one can look down both sides of the mountain, on one side, facing south are the vas terraces and on the other is a small waterfall cutting into a little valley. On the opposite mountain wall you can't help but notice holes everywhere in the side of the mountain rock. Jesus tells us that this is where the Incas would mummify and engrave the dead. The Spanish looted all these tombs, stealing everything ounce of gold the Incas had, but the holes are amazing. The whole Sacred Valley is amazing, extremely lush with not only vegetation but as well as animals and humming birds - they're everywhere!! We leave the ruins after spending a good almost 2 hours wondering around to go to this local restaurant to eat some local lunch! The whole place was amazing!! Right on the river, Lorenzo, Jesus, my mom and I ate outside in an enclosed porch, because inside was super noisy and outside was tranquil. The food was amazing too!!! Quinoa soup, corn, avocado, pollo, anything you could dream of! Then after lunch we drove along the river towards our hotel, stopping to look at more Inca ruins - they're seriously everywhere! We finally arrived just as the rain started to a small village called Yucay. As we pull onto a street we stop to grab one of the workers because he was going to show us to the hotel. I had no idea at the time why we had to pick up this old little man until the van stops at a dead end - we get to hike to our hotel!!! It is completely unreachable by car, one must hike along old Inca waterways just a short 5 mins, in the rain mind you but no big deal. Huge 20 ft Inca terrace walls are on your right while fields of potatoes and corn pass us on our left. The path is narrow so we watch out step. Finally we make it to a small flight of stone stairs and as we ascend the most enchanting place you've ever seen in your life awaits you! Suzy is the owner who speaks fluent english thanks to a British boarding school from the age of 10, but she's Peruvian and wont let you forget it! Palm trees and mowed grass, a few small separate spanish style adobe buildings only linked by connecting roofs sit pleasantly against an enormous mountain beckons for visitors to explore the once Royal Inca palace. Suzy invites us for tea and tells us all about how she acquired this wonderful property and what it's meant to her. She dines with us too since we're the only guests- the place can only sleep 6 guests total. Suzy is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu when she was 17 so she knows her way around a kitchen, so you can assume the food was amazing! Because of the high altitude Peruvians eat their larger meals at lunch time and a small tide over for dinner to help with digestion, so we ate a wonderful soup, equivalent to squash but the best thing I've ever tasted! The next morning Suzy asks if we'd like to take a walk about the property and the surrounding lands to get a feel for the place - so we being the next morning with a nice walk for about an hour. This is taking too long for one blog so i'm going to do it in two, sorry.
More to come!
Anyway, such a mess, my mom and I finally met up at the Cuzco airport and we headed straight towards the Sacred Valley, the main area of the Incan civilization - Cuzco was actually the capital before the Spanish conquered them. Lorenzo (our driver) and Jesus (our amazing tour guide) inform us as we drive along the canyons, stopping to let us take pictures of the gorgeous landscape. Everything is green, it reminds me of the movie Land Before Time, with this roaring mud colored river called the Urubamba, which is actually the mouth of the Amazon, and very vas mountain ranges. Some have snow caps, but most peaks are hidden behind rapidly moving clouds. The whole place is magical. Our first stop was one of the most magnificent sights I'd ever seen. An almost 13,000 ft. mountain littered with these perfectly preserved or restored Inca terraces. Pisca is the name of this small town, and women are waiting as we pull up to the entrance of the ruins each one of them holding what I guestimate to be around 40 lbs worth of the exact same merchandise. Of course my mom gets hounded by these women with her lack of spanish but excellent talent to want to look at everything, she was like a mouse being pounced on by cats! She agrees to buy a head strap and we proceed. This is my first encounter with the Inca ruins and it is seriously mind blowing! The way the HUGE terraces trickle down the steep mountain side and the way the rocks perfectly fit together like a lock system that not even a blade of grass can penetrate in some areas! Jesus tell us that Pisca was one of the Incas main agricultural areas and not many people actually lived where we were it was just for farming. There is an excellent waterway system that is still running! An area where the imperial family used to wash or give to the gods- a reason why the majority of their buildings were so high so they could be closer to the gods. We get to an area where one can look down both sides of the mountain, on one side, facing south are the vas terraces and on the other is a small waterfall cutting into a little valley. On the opposite mountain wall you can't help but notice holes everywhere in the side of the mountain rock. Jesus tells us that this is where the Incas would mummify and engrave the dead. The Spanish looted all these tombs, stealing everything ounce of gold the Incas had, but the holes are amazing. The whole Sacred Valley is amazing, extremely lush with not only vegetation but as well as animals and humming birds - they're everywhere!! We leave the ruins after spending a good almost 2 hours wondering around to go to this local restaurant to eat some local lunch! The whole place was amazing!! Right on the river, Lorenzo, Jesus, my mom and I ate outside in an enclosed porch, because inside was super noisy and outside was tranquil. The food was amazing too!!! Quinoa soup, corn, avocado, pollo, anything you could dream of! Then after lunch we drove along the river towards our hotel, stopping to look at more Inca ruins - they're seriously everywhere! We finally arrived just as the rain started to a small village called Yucay. As we pull onto a street we stop to grab one of the workers because he was going to show us to the hotel. I had no idea at the time why we had to pick up this old little man until the van stops at a dead end - we get to hike to our hotel!!! It is completely unreachable by car, one must hike along old Inca waterways just a short 5 mins, in the rain mind you but no big deal. Huge 20 ft Inca terrace walls are on your right while fields of potatoes and corn pass us on our left. The path is narrow so we watch out step. Finally we make it to a small flight of stone stairs and as we ascend the most enchanting place you've ever seen in your life awaits you! Suzy is the owner who speaks fluent english thanks to a British boarding school from the age of 10, but she's Peruvian and wont let you forget it! Palm trees and mowed grass, a few small separate spanish style adobe buildings only linked by connecting roofs sit pleasantly against an enormous mountain beckons for visitors to explore the once Royal Inca palace. Suzy invites us for tea and tells us all about how she acquired this wonderful property and what it's meant to her. She dines with us too since we're the only guests- the place can only sleep 6 guests total. Suzy is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu when she was 17 so she knows her way around a kitchen, so you can assume the food was amazing! Because of the high altitude Peruvians eat their larger meals at lunch time and a small tide over for dinner to help with digestion, so we ate a wonderful soup, equivalent to squash but the best thing I've ever tasted! The next morning Suzy asks if we'd like to take a walk about the property and the surrounding lands to get a feel for the place - so we being the next morning with a nice walk for about an hour. This is taking too long for one blog so i'm going to do it in two, sorry.
More to come!
Friday, January 08, 2010
Entry # 11 Daily Life in Peru!
So I don't know if I've written about this before, if I have, well sorry. Recently I've been waking up around 6:30, sometimes earlier, to hop into a FREEZING shower. I can count on one hand how many times we've had warmish showers. No wonder everyone wears 17 layers of clothing a day here, because their showers are always freezing! But then we come downstairs to breakfast, including a roll (awesome because I was trying to be gluten free), butter, strawberry jam and a freshly made smoothie, usually mango, pineapple, banana, strawberry and some kind of mixture. Only this week have we been getting eggs on some days! Then we leave for placement. Since everyone's at different placements and we only have one van, the Prison folk aka me and Amelia are last to leave because our drive is close to 25-30 mins! We jam out to Zeta Pop and Rock (the only station that plays english music) with Alejo, our driver, and count the number of stray dogs roaming the streets! The other day we counted mas or menos 140 stray dogs!!! And there are so many more!
We enter the prison by three different check points - each equipped with a stamp, so by the time we're finally inside we're tattooed up on our forearms! They search our bags, smell our water bottles and give us a pat down while passing check point 2! Today ALL the volunteers from the insight program came today and one asked when the stamps come off, and I simply said 'they don't' I have a faint ink mark from Monday at the prison! ha but the stamps change daily and we have our favorites! Amelia and I prepare an activity of the day before we go to placement, some including making valentines day cards, origami, learning english, coloring with the kiddies and of course dancing! These little activities provide the women with breaks during the monotonous days of weaving, knitting and embroidering. Although they do make wonderful things, which I hate to take them away from, but they are more than wiling to participate! By the time we get in it's around 9:15 and we have to leave by 11:30 when the guard comes back to let us out, so our day is the shortest out of all the placements. Alejo comes back to get Amelia and I around 11:45 and we're FAMISHED by the time we get back because in higher altitudes you burn more calories! We're just over 9,000 ft in altitude, so we're pretty high! We get back to the house around 12:15 ish and this meal bell rings signifying that lunch is ready!! Everyone RUSHES to get food because everyone is hungry! The food is good, larger meals at lunch and smaller ones for dinner, which I'm not used to! But after 4 weeks I've gotten used to. Yesterday we had guinea pig!! BLAHHH No gracias!! The new volunteers ate some while I passed, I had tried it earlier and really didn't enjoy! Then we have a speaker, spanish lessons, field trip, or free time. Yesterday we went to a Shining Path Museum which was really awesome - not because of what happened but it was really informative. Before coming to Peru I knew of the Shining Path but to no extent as to the damage they caused! It was a pretty scary and terrible movement. What we found out yesterday was that in Ayacucho - not only where it began- but about 70% of the population in the 80s went missing or killed! Just in this provence alone. So here in Ayacucho there are many streets named after significant events that occurred during the Shining Path Movement. I have to pack my things because I leave tomorrow, SERIOUSLY TOO SAD!! I can't believe it went by this quickly! Well until next time!
xo
Lola
We enter the prison by three different check points - each equipped with a stamp, so by the time we're finally inside we're tattooed up on our forearms! They search our bags, smell our water bottles and give us a pat down while passing check point 2! Today ALL the volunteers from the insight program came today and one asked when the stamps come off, and I simply said 'they don't' I have a faint ink mark from Monday at the prison! ha but the stamps change daily and we have our favorites! Amelia and I prepare an activity of the day before we go to placement, some including making valentines day cards, origami, learning english, coloring with the kiddies and of course dancing! These little activities provide the women with breaks during the monotonous days of weaving, knitting and embroidering. Although they do make wonderful things, which I hate to take them away from, but they are more than wiling to participate! By the time we get in it's around 9:15 and we have to leave by 11:30 when the guard comes back to let us out, so our day is the shortest out of all the placements. Alejo comes back to get Amelia and I around 11:45 and we're FAMISHED by the time we get back because in higher altitudes you burn more calories! We're just over 9,000 ft in altitude, so we're pretty high! We get back to the house around 12:15 ish and this meal bell rings signifying that lunch is ready!! Everyone RUSHES to get food because everyone is hungry! The food is good, larger meals at lunch and smaller ones for dinner, which I'm not used to! But after 4 weeks I've gotten used to. Yesterday we had guinea pig!! BLAHHH No gracias!! The new volunteers ate some while I passed, I had tried it earlier and really didn't enjoy! Then we have a speaker, spanish lessons, field trip, or free time. Yesterday we went to a Shining Path Museum which was really awesome - not because of what happened but it was really informative. Before coming to Peru I knew of the Shining Path but to no extent as to the damage they caused! It was a pretty scary and terrible movement. What we found out yesterday was that in Ayacucho - not only where it began- but about 70% of the population in the 80s went missing or killed! Just in this provence alone. So here in Ayacucho there are many streets named after significant events that occurred during the Shining Path Movement. I have to pack my things because I leave tomorrow, SERIOUSLY TOO SAD!! I can't believe it went by this quickly! Well until next time!
xo
Lola
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Natural Healer and orphanage!
Tuesday we had a natural Healer speak to us about all the different types of natural medicines that the Peruvians have used for thousands of years. She came with a bunch of little dishes filled of crazy looking nuts, berries and coiled-up vines! She was not a healer herself but a student of natural medicine, however, she did show us pictures and speak about natural healers and shamans. Let me just say that everything she told the group just brought back all my memories of watching the guinea pig and blahh it is still the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life! But in terms of it working, I believe that it worked. Caitlin who had the guinea pig done to her, she had blood clots in her lungs and gets her blood tested every where of being here and her blood has been getting better since she went to the healer. . .
The healer also had these red dried berries and flap silvery button seeds that both had meanings. The berries are symbols of good luck in health and the button looking seeds are for good luck in wealth. To obtain the good luck a person must give them to you has a gift, you can't just buy them at the market which is where you could buy everything she brought in. The lecture was super cool and I had been looking forward to it this whole time.
Wednesday is visiting day at the prison so we never go, instead we usually go to the orphanage! Since it was my last time going I decided to bring my camera and tell the kids it's only to look not to touch. The actually obeyed my request which was shocking because when the last volunteers brought the camera the kids took it and were taking pictures with it! But the kids not only remembered me by face they were screaming LOLA!! (my Peruvian name) The women at the prison call me Lola also! haha But I got the best pictures ever! The boys LOVED the pictures, seriously went crazy, posing every where and tackling others out so it was just a solo picture. The kids received new clothes from Papa Noel on Christmas and halfway through the day changed and were showing me and the other volunteers their new clothes! Around 11:30 they had to be round up to go on a special trip into town! The kids were PUMPED! We had to leave which was really sad because I don't know when I'll see those kiddies again.
Later on Wednesday Caitlin, Amelia and I had to go to a meeting with the Wawa Wassi (baby house in Quechuan - Native language to Peru) mama's to teach them about CPR, chocking, treating cuts, burns and concussions. These Mama's are like daycare teachers who teach in some of the worst conditions. The government set up this program and funds it so that both parents of a household are able to work. The WawaWassi soup kitchens and volunteered women who are able to take some of the food for their families as payment for cooking and distributing the food to all the various WawaWassi's. Anyway, since we're interns we had to teach these women and demonstrate what to do in an emergency situation. Many people a year die of chocking because in the poorer areas they're focused on brushing teeth and washing hands more so than CPR or heimlich. So I decide to be the dummy for the demonstration for CPR (Not really knowing where we were going to be doing the teaching) We arrive on the dirt road full of trash and feces and think 'Oh Crap, what have I gotten myself into. there is NO WAY I'm lying on the street to act as a dummy.' THANK GOD it looked like it was going to rain so Rudy (the man in charge here) asked to move it inside of the WawaWassi. The inside actually had a floor, which was nice, but the amount of flies to feed an army! So there I go on the floor, pull my rain jacket hood over my hair so I didn't catch anything and play dead! The lesson seemed to be very beneficial because we made the women actually practice after we demonstrated so they would learn. It was awesome to see that with such a small piece of knowledge from us - that we take for granted - they can now hopefully save a life and teach others so that if they were chocking or unconscious someone would help them because of us!
We got dropped off in town because almost everyone is sick in our house - including me- We needed to pick up some couch syrup, etc. But as we're walking back we see this little boy, probably 3 or 4 just pull down his pants in the middle of the sidewalk and start peeing!!! If we hadn't of stopped for a second we would have been peed on!! It was a close call. Sorry this one was so long!! There are more to come too!!
xo
Lola
The healer also had these red dried berries and flap silvery button seeds that both had meanings. The berries are symbols of good luck in health and the button looking seeds are for good luck in wealth. To obtain the good luck a person must give them to you has a gift, you can't just buy them at the market which is where you could buy everything she brought in. The lecture was super cool and I had been looking forward to it this whole time.
Wednesday is visiting day at the prison so we never go, instead we usually go to the orphanage! Since it was my last time going I decided to bring my camera and tell the kids it's only to look not to touch. The actually obeyed my request which was shocking because when the last volunteers brought the camera the kids took it and were taking pictures with it! But the kids not only remembered me by face they were screaming LOLA!! (my Peruvian name) The women at the prison call me Lola also! haha But I got the best pictures ever! The boys LOVED the pictures, seriously went crazy, posing every where and tackling others out so it was just a solo picture. The kids received new clothes from Papa Noel on Christmas and halfway through the day changed and were showing me and the other volunteers their new clothes! Around 11:30 they had to be round up to go on a special trip into town! The kids were PUMPED! We had to leave which was really sad because I don't know when I'll see those kiddies again.
Later on Wednesday Caitlin, Amelia and I had to go to a meeting with the Wawa Wassi (baby house in Quechuan - Native language to Peru) mama's to teach them about CPR, chocking, treating cuts, burns and concussions. These Mama's are like daycare teachers who teach in some of the worst conditions. The government set up this program and funds it so that both parents of a household are able to work. The WawaWassi soup kitchens and volunteered women who are able to take some of the food for their families as payment for cooking and distributing the food to all the various WawaWassi's. Anyway, since we're interns we had to teach these women and demonstrate what to do in an emergency situation. Many people a year die of chocking because in the poorer areas they're focused on brushing teeth and washing hands more so than CPR or heimlich. So I decide to be the dummy for the demonstration for CPR (Not really knowing where we were going to be doing the teaching) We arrive on the dirt road full of trash and feces and think 'Oh Crap, what have I gotten myself into. there is NO WAY I'm lying on the street to act as a dummy.' THANK GOD it looked like it was going to rain so Rudy (the man in charge here) asked to move it inside of the WawaWassi. The inside actually had a floor, which was nice, but the amount of flies to feed an army! So there I go on the floor, pull my rain jacket hood over my hair so I didn't catch anything and play dead! The lesson seemed to be very beneficial because we made the women actually practice after we demonstrated so they would learn. It was awesome to see that with such a small piece of knowledge from us - that we take for granted - they can now hopefully save a life and teach others so that if they were chocking or unconscious someone would help them because of us!
We got dropped off in town because almost everyone is sick in our house - including me- We needed to pick up some couch syrup, etc. But as we're walking back we see this little boy, probably 3 or 4 just pull down his pants in the middle of the sidewalk and start peeing!!! If we hadn't of stopped for a second we would have been peed on!! It was a close call. Sorry this one was so long!! There are more to come too!!
xo
Lola
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Entry #9, Discoteca!!!!
Saturday 6 new volunteers arrived in Ayacucho and we had to say goodbye to having the house to just the 5 of us! There is a family, two friends and a single woman by herself. They're part of this program called Insight - which is a group of only one week, so they do different things each day of the week, so that they are able to experience all of the different placements. They still insist that we all squeeze around one table for meals which are called to us by the cook ringing a bell.
With the new people here we thought we'd show them parts of Ayacucho since they only have a week. We arrived at the discoteca at 11, which until I arrived thought was an appropriate time - false. The place was empty, if it were a bad movie crickets would have been chirping. . . but we took advantage of the empty dance floor and the DJ was playing all sorts of American music, a few hours later they would play Grease Summer Nights, and EVERYONE knew the arm moves, it was hysterical! We danced with some local men who weren't creepy then made some friends with girls our age. We danced all sorts of dances; salsa, merengue and swing, it was super fun! As we were leaving the live band was just setting up, and we didn't leave early! The next day at 7 am I woke up, even after getting around 5 hours of sleep, probably less, but we're on such clockwork we can't break the cycle! Although I stay in bed until around 7:30 watching Amelia and Kathryn hustle and bustle around the room I finally am the last one of our roommates out of bed! What else is new?
Ever since the first week of visiting Quinoa and the Wari Ruins I have wanted to return and wonder around the ruins because they're so amazing! There's only about a 1% chance of ever running into anyone else while being at these ancient ruins. So Caitlin, Kasia, Amelia and I called Oscar, a local taxi driver who wants to great a taxi service and negotiated a price to drive us 45 mins one way to these ruins! The drive takes so long because he wanted to be safe with us around the insanely dangerous roads that hug the sides of cliffs. While there you can walk round and the ground is littered with shards of ancient pottery and Chilean turquoise that date back to around 400-600 AD. Disgusting, enormous FLYING crickets also litter the ground and use you as jumping block as they randomly will fly and hit you. The ruins also give a great view of the surrounding countryside which is nice to take pictures of the mountains and the constantly changing crazy weather! In the distance loomed an insane storm so we knew we only had an hour at most! Oscar waited/ napped in his taxi while we roamed the ancient graves and on the way back would stop along the way to have us take pictures of historical sights and picked Tuna - prickly pear - and had us try it. The tuna is found all over the cacti which grow abundantly over the rolling hills! It's about the only plant that grows in copious amounts! It was a wonderful day, and as we drove back the storm was brewing, making trees bend-over-backwards and rain pelted our windshield! When we got back it down poured! We were pretty lucky!!
Each week we'll have a few guest speakers in the afternoons regarding various subjects, yesterday we had a speaker who spoke about health insurance, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases etc etc. The obstetrician only spoke spanish so we had this male translator who decided sometimes to change what the doctor was saying. . . very annoying because we understood the majority of what she was saying - so we knew! For example, she was saying how Peru is very Catholic after the Spanish invaded, so since they're very Catholic they don't believe in condoms or birth control and she was saying that the government is trying not to step on the Churches toes but they want to educate people because in a normal family a mother will have anywhere from 5 - 12 kids!!!! Seriously insane! So the translator takes this information and turns it to tell us that the ways of catholics is the better way and the government is stopping giving the majority of the contraceptives for free - because now almost everything is free for the majority of the population. The number of births has decreased in the past few years but what appalled me the most was the Jungle statistics. The youngest age of girls having children is 10 YEARS OLD. Flipping disgusting!! The translator said no, no they don't have kids but we were staring at the statistics from 10 -15 in '08 52 ninos were born from that age group! I'm like Sir, hello we're not stupid nor are we blind! But overall a very informative speaker because we were able to learn about the different life insurances and hospitals etc.
In the prison yesterday I interviewed many of the women for the paper we have to write at the end of this internship. Their answers were very interesting and the majority of their dreams for the future are to return to school and continue working with their hands creating clothes, animals and mantas! It was really awesome to hear what they liked most about the volunteers as well.
Ciao
With the new people here we thought we'd show them parts of Ayacucho since they only have a week. We arrived at the discoteca at 11, which until I arrived thought was an appropriate time - false. The place was empty, if it were a bad movie crickets would have been chirping. . . but we took advantage of the empty dance floor and the DJ was playing all sorts of American music, a few hours later they would play Grease Summer Nights, and EVERYONE knew the arm moves, it was hysterical! We danced with some local men who weren't creepy then made some friends with girls our age. We danced all sorts of dances; salsa, merengue and swing, it was super fun! As we were leaving the live band was just setting up, and we didn't leave early! The next day at 7 am I woke up, even after getting around 5 hours of sleep, probably less, but we're on such clockwork we can't break the cycle! Although I stay in bed until around 7:30 watching Amelia and Kathryn hustle and bustle around the room I finally am the last one of our roommates out of bed! What else is new?
Ever since the first week of visiting Quinoa and the Wari Ruins I have wanted to return and wonder around the ruins because they're so amazing! There's only about a 1% chance of ever running into anyone else while being at these ancient ruins. So Caitlin, Kasia, Amelia and I called Oscar, a local taxi driver who wants to great a taxi service and negotiated a price to drive us 45 mins one way to these ruins! The drive takes so long because he wanted to be safe with us around the insanely dangerous roads that hug the sides of cliffs. While there you can walk round and the ground is littered with shards of ancient pottery and Chilean turquoise that date back to around 400-600 AD. Disgusting, enormous FLYING crickets also litter the ground and use you as jumping block as they randomly will fly and hit you. The ruins also give a great view of the surrounding countryside which is nice to take pictures of the mountains and the constantly changing crazy weather! In the distance loomed an insane storm so we knew we only had an hour at most! Oscar waited/ napped in his taxi while we roamed the ancient graves and on the way back would stop along the way to have us take pictures of historical sights and picked Tuna - prickly pear - and had us try it. The tuna is found all over the cacti which grow abundantly over the rolling hills! It's about the only plant that grows in copious amounts! It was a wonderful day, and as we drove back the storm was brewing, making trees bend-over-backwards and rain pelted our windshield! When we got back it down poured! We were pretty lucky!!
Each week we'll have a few guest speakers in the afternoons regarding various subjects, yesterday we had a speaker who spoke about health insurance, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases etc etc. The obstetrician only spoke spanish so we had this male translator who decided sometimes to change what the doctor was saying. . . very annoying because we understood the majority of what she was saying - so we knew! For example, she was saying how Peru is very Catholic after the Spanish invaded, so since they're very Catholic they don't believe in condoms or birth control and she was saying that the government is trying not to step on the Churches toes but they want to educate people because in a normal family a mother will have anywhere from 5 - 12 kids!!!! Seriously insane! So the translator takes this information and turns it to tell us that the ways of catholics is the better way and the government is stopping giving the majority of the contraceptives for free - because now almost everything is free for the majority of the population. The number of births has decreased in the past few years but what appalled me the most was the Jungle statistics. The youngest age of girls having children is 10 YEARS OLD. Flipping disgusting!! The translator said no, no they don't have kids but we were staring at the statistics from 10 -15 in '08 52 ninos were born from that age group! I'm like Sir, hello we're not stupid nor are we blind! But overall a very informative speaker because we were able to learn about the different life insurances and hospitals etc.
In the prison yesterday I interviewed many of the women for the paper we have to write at the end of this internship. Their answers were very interesting and the majority of their dreams for the future are to return to school and continue working with their hands creating clothes, animals and mantas! It was really awesome to hear what they liked most about the volunteers as well.
Ciao
Friday, January 01, 2010
Entry #8, FELIZ ANO NUEVO!!!
HOLA 2010!! Feliz Ano Nueno mis amigos! I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years Eve last night!! In Peru they do things a bit differently! For starters EVERYTHING is yellow. From confetti to face-masks to balloons, EVERYTHING is yellow! It's crazy. They have venders covering the streets of the plaza, and the pedestrian walkway leading up to the market. Inside the covered market you can get anything from meat, cheese, herbs, electronics, new years decorations, school supplies, candles, etc. But yesterday especially, because Amelia and I went back two days in a row, for picture taking, the market was packed! The side street to the market yellow flowers and Ruda (an herb that you can either wash in or rub over your clothes right before the new year for good luck in the new year) overflowed the streets, as well as people trying to sell every type of firework. When the clock struck 12 on xmas eve and the beginning of Christmas the Peruvians celebrate by setting off fireworks. I thought there were a lot that night but last night was something I've never seen!! My house mates and myself decided that we were going to just hang at our house because we'd heard that some of the discotechas had rival wars between each other and people died. I didn't really want to be apart of a discotecha war, so we had a fire on our roof deck instead. The moon was so bright and clouds loomed in the distance of the mountains, with warning flashes of lighting, we didn't know if we were going to have a dry countdown. We lit the fire, had it going for about 2 hours then the inevitable RAIN. Miraculously, the rain cleared 20 mins before the countdown, so up to the roof we went again to see the coolest thing I've ever seen! We have a roof deck but then there's another plateau where our water and oil tanks live, so we climbed up there to get a 360 degree view. 5 mins before the countdown and until about 20 mins after the New Year, I want to say around 200,000 fireworks went off, not an exaggeration!! From small bottle rockets to huge beautiful fireworks!! It was the most amazing experience. The whole time I kept screaming I LOVE FIREWORKS, since Ayacucho is so small it felt like we were going to be killed for 50% of it because people just shot them off small patios and hope everything turns out okay. The air quality started out clear and by 12:20 we could barely see the top of the mountains, so much smoke! I got some good pictures of everything but Kaisa got a video which hopefully captured how loud everything was! But just wanted to update everyone!!! HAPPY 2010!!
xo
xo
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