Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year

My neighbor and host siblings with our paper snowflakes

Happy New Year to all! Since I last wrote, Papa Noel made a visit to Huarimayo, I celebrated turning a year older as well as the beginning of a brand new year, did a little exploring close to home and later made a trek a bit farther away, took a hard look at my last year in Peace Corps and evaluated what I will do differently in the coming year, and gave myself some new, more realistic, goals. I’ve learned so much in the last year about managing projects and working with people that I could never have learned at home. Through all the ups and downs, I’ve had my family and friends to support me- whether it was through encouraging emails, care packages, or phone calls- and for that I can’t say thank you enough. It’s been a wonderful year and I’m looking forward to my last 10 months in the Peace Corps.

One of the moms cutting up paneton

We’ll start with Christmas. For some reason, this Christmas was harder than last year. A lot of volunteers went home but I decided I wanted to take a trip later in January with my parents. So I stayed in my site for Christmas. I tried to be festive and made a bunch of paper snowflakes and hung up some Christmas lights in my room. We also had a Christmas party at the primary school where I am doing my healthy schools project. The teachers and I decided that the money we were going to use for prizes should go towards a Christmas celebration. A couple of moms prepared the hot chocolate and cut up the paneton while the kids sang Christmas songs. Then I handed out little toys for all the students. It turned out to be a great celebration and put me in more of a Christmas spirit. The people who live in my area of the Andes don’t really have big Christmas celebrations. In other parts of Peru, Christmas is a big deal- families stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve, everyone hugs, and then there is a big turkey dinner with hot chocolate and paneton. In the campo, we go to bed at 8 pm on Christmas Eve. I believe this year I made myself some honey mustard chicken, watched half a season of How I Met Your Mother, and went to bed. On Christmas morning, I had my host family hang up socks and Papa Noel (me) filled them with little presents. My host siblings, who are 8 and 4, get a real kick out of this and had been asking me for months when we were going to hang up socks like last year. The opening of socks was followed by a feast of hot chocolate and paneton (a sort of fruitcake-esque thing). I then went back to my room and made phone calls to volunteers still in the country, wishing them Merry Christmas. Later, I helped my host mom cook some chicken for lunch. We had a really fun Christmas breakfast and lunch, but then my family went out to pasture the animals all afternoon, leaving me by myself. I made some brownies, talked to friends and family from home, and watched movies. Let’s just say I’m happy I’ll be home for Christmas next year.

Emerson taking down his stocking

The week following Christmas was tough. I was anxiously waiting for my birthday and New Year’s Eve to arrive. All of the people I work with at my site had left to be with their families for Christmas, either in Huaraz, or Lima, or elsewhere. Everything was pretty much shut down, from the schools to the health post. So I had no work to do and was a bit bored, and for me, there is nothing worse than boredom. However, I ended up traveling away from my site for New Year’s Eve to be with some friends and had a blast. Thanks to Sophie, I had mimosas at breakfast, which went with the cake the hostel bought me for my birthday. It turned out to be a really great day and a much better birthday than I had expected after a rather dull Christmas.

After New Year’s, I went back to site, counting down the days (or maybe the hours) until my vacation to Argentina. I asked for 10 vacation days to travel to Buenos Aires with my parents and it was exactly the breath of fresh air I needed. Buenos Aires is a truly incredible city and unlike any other city I’ve seen in Latin America. I was not expecting it to be as modern and European as it is, even down to the Italian-influenced accent that Argentines have. It’s clean and organized and intriguing. We spent about a week just walking around the different neighborhoods, admiring the architecture, ranking the various ice cream places, making fun of the mullet my dad got at a Argentine salon, and making the taxi drivers do extra loops around the city. I think it was the first time we’ve ever done a trip without planning every second down to the detail.

My parents and I at the Iguazu Falls

We woke up each day to beautiful, sunny, warm weather and then decided where to go from there. Somehow everything always worked out timing wise and we got to see and do everything on our list of possible Buenos Aires activities. I absolutely loved being able to run around the parks in Palermo. It was so refreshing to be outside jogging in shorts with other people and not being stared or whistled or honked at. The rose garden and the Japanese garden in Palermo are beautiful and definitely worth visiting. We stayed in another neighborhood called Retiro, but we could walk or take a short cab ride to the other neighborhoods. With the weather so wonderful, we mostly opted to walk.

Where to begin! I could basically copy and paste the travel journal I kept during the vacation, but there’s just so much talk about steak, and pastries, and hot stone massages that I don’t want to bore you. However, if you go through my pictures here and here, they tell the story of our favorite places. My mom and dad might have other opinions, but my blue ribbons go to the following:

Best place to jog: Palermo

Best place to take a romantic walk: the docks in Puerto Madero

Best museum: MALBA (it gets bonus points because it had an Andy Warhol exhibit)

Best steak sandwich: La Rambla

Best ice cream: Volta

Best history lesson: Recoleta Cemetery

Best market: San Telmo

Best monument: Florelis Generica

Best alfajores: La Puerto Rico

Best architecture: Colonia (in Uruguay, a side day trip we did)

Best natural beauty: Iguazu Falls

Best haircut: my Dad’s new Argentine do- the rat tail

Best trick: The taxi driver swiping out my dad’s real bill for a fake one and telling us ours was fake

Best steak: The tenderloin at Las Lilas

Best souvenir: The 5 pounds of Argentine food that is still on my waist line and worth every bite

My trip really was amazing, but the best part, by far, was seeing my parents. It was the part I was looking forward to the most. We could have been in any setting, but being in Buenos Aires in summertime certainly didn’t hurt. I will definitely go back to Argentina. I almost have to in order to make the $131 traveler fee they charge now, worth it. So now I’m back at site, writing this blog update, refreshed and recharged and ready for another year. A second cocinas mejoradas project is in the works, along with a girls’ leadership camp, and a school library. The radio show and pen pal program continue, although my English classes might be over (if I have my way) due to the fact it is not fun at all to teach English. I have to go to Quechua class next week, which is probably good because I still haven’t managed to learn much of this unwritten language. I’m off to chambear, but I’ll keep on keeping you posted!

Ooooh we’re half-way there!

Ancash hug

The time has arrived! Mid-Service medical check-ups and meetings. I really can’t believe it. When I swore in as a volunteer last November, I would never have imagined how quickly a year can go by. They say here that the days go by slow and the weeks go by fast and somehow it’s true. The daily frustrations of trying to build a bathroom seemed never ending, but once it was completed, 9 months had somehow flown by. And now here I am in Lima, reunited with the other Community Health volunteers from my training group, reminiscing about the last year, comparing notes on projects, sharing an endless amount of ridiculous stories and strange occurrences. It’s the last time we’ll all be together like this until we have our completion of service conference next September. And the second year is supposed to go by even faster! It makes me worried that I won’t accomplish everything I want to do. However, after a year out in the campo, I’ve got a good base for the coming year. It’s about time I update everyone on what I’ve been up to the last couple months!

To start, I finished my Cocinas Mejoradas project on November 8th. The whole process started last July when I applied to USAID for a grant to implement a “Healthy Homes” project in my community. I received the money and started the project in September. Forty families signed up for the project, which required the participants to make certain changes to their homes in order to receive a thick iron stove top and an aluminum chimney. Thirty-four families actually completed all the requirements, which were to make guinea pig cages, some kind of plate/utensil storage unit, a vegetable garden, and adobe bricks for the stove. I also required the attendance of 9 out of 10 educational sessions about nutrition, hygiene, etc. It turned out to be a much more challenging project than I imagined and there are many things I would do differently next time around, but after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (literally), I was so impressed and touched by the women in my project that everything was worth it.

I learned a lot about what it takes to run a project, and that as the manager of such a project, you absolutely must have a thick skin. A few times I got yelled at by different people in the community for reasons that were not my fault- their wife got kicked out of the project because she didn’t show up to the meetings, I wouldn’t let one Senora participate because she already had a cocina mejorada, etc. Meetings almost always started with an argument of some sort, but I think this might be a cultural thing. It seems strange but in my community, when there is an important decision to be made, there is always a heated debate, but after 20 minutes or so, opposing parties always agree on the same thing. So the women in my project would argue about something like one Senora showing up late and then after 10 minutes of arguing they would be ready to pay attention to my charla. After a couple educational sessions like this, I realized I couldn’t take their comments to heart. It was hard to be strict about attendance because I didn’t want to kick anyone out, but I had to. The women learned to show up on time and often beat me to the meetings by half an hour saying “Senorita, estas tarde!” when I was still 5 or 10 minutes early. I think the Senoras are my favorite people to work with- they laugh at me and make me say dirty words in Quechua and make me dance huayno, and at the same time are generally interested in improving the health of their families. I know they appreciated the hard work I put into the project- putting together all the educational sessions, riding in a truck for 7 hours from Huaraz with all the stove tops and then unloading each 60 pound iron stove top by myself at 2 am, printing out photos and diplomas for each participant, finding chimneys that “got lost” on the bus route from Huaraz to San Marcos, and visiting each house several times leaving my house before sunrise to walk to all of them (once getting bit pretty badly by a dog). We had a fantastic party at the end, complete with cuy, potatoes, huayno music, and cake. I have some great photos of the party here.

The whole gang

I couldn’t have done the project without the help of many people, including a health promoter that works with the NGO ADRA-Peru. She translated all of my educational sessions into Quechua and helped me with my project, without any other motive than to help me as a friend. An engineer in my town let me load my stove tops on his truck without even charging me. I had a lot of support from other volunteers too, especially my friend Mike who had done similar projects and gave me good advice when I was really stuck. Throughout the project, I felt like for every obstacle that appeared, some other problem got resolved. Luck and coincidence somehow played on my side many times. All in all, it was a good project that I know could be improved if I do it again in a different community.

Now on to my other project! I’ve been working pretty hard on my school vegetable garden. Managing a garden with elementary school is a challenge. I think we made our garden too big for the little guys to handle and the two biggest problems we’ve had are weeds and irrigation. The kids are too small to pull out the weeds and the hoses don’t get enough water pressure to run the sprinklers. Now it’s rainy season so the watering isn’t an issue. Despite some problems, we did harvest our first crop- radishes! The other crops are coming up slowly but surely, and some just haven’t germinated at all for whatever reason. We’ve made three different types of organic fertilizer, but I mostly manage them which is defeating the purpose. The teachers are afraid that someone will rob the trash can we’re using for biol and the worm cage that I built. So the biol is in a friend’s garden and the worms are in a teacher’s house. I’m trying really hard to make this project a success, but it’s been really difficult.

Harvesting our radishes

We aren’t going to build the latrine because apparently they are building a new school next year with a latrine. However, we did install the sink which was a huge break through! I handed out the toothbrushes and soap to each student and did some handwashing and toothbrushing charlas, and now it’s up to the kids to brush their teeth and wash their hands every day for a month in order to take their toiletries home as a prize. The teachers are supposed to be keeping track on the charts I made with each student’s name, so hopefully they’re helping me out with that. I plan on painting the mural during the rainy season when the kids are on vacation and can help me out with it. I plan on maintaining the garden and composting through the rainy season, and the educational sessions on hygiene and nutrition until school ends around Christmas. This project has been more frustrating than the cocinas mejoradas project and probably more work. It’s also really hard to convince people to work on something that doesn’t get immediate results or to convince someone to incorporate a new thing into the daily routine, such as handwashing. I want to thank everyone for their donations to the project and I would love for you to check out my pictures. Know that I am working hard and putting all the money to good use! The money not used on the latrine will go to something else to improve the school. I haven’t figured it out yet, but it might be new white boards or books or school supplies. It will depend on what the school wants and needs. Here are some photos

Recycled soap holders

I’ve also been busy with my radio show, La Gringa Saludable. It keeps me busy every other week and introduces me to new people in town. I also helped out with two different field-based trainings that took place in Ancash. All the trainees in the health program came to Ancash to get some hands-on experience in the field. I helped out my friend Mike at his site with some latrine building. The following week, the one trainee who will be working in Ancash came to my site to shadow me for a couple days and help me work on some of my projects. I’m still teaching English and helping out with random things in San Marcos, such as a hygiene training for food handlers (restaurant and hotel owners). My youth group kind of collapsed after the swine flu outbreak in July and the students were out of school for a month. I got busy with projects and my youth group kind of dissipated. I’m going to try to teach summer school again this year and pick up my youth group again as kind of an art/cooking club. I got an oven from a returning volunteer in August and it has been keeping my entertained. Baking at 10,000 ft is a new concept, and making creative dishes from the ingredients I can find in San Marcos is pretty fun. I’ve also learned to knit and crochet and I watch all the TV at night that Uncle Steve and Aunt Sandy send me (Thanks!). So I’ve been a busy girl the last couple months!

In the midst of all these projects, I’ve done a little bit of traveling and site seeing. I had the opportunity to go to Tumbes up near Ecuador for an HIV/AIDS training. On the way up their and back, I spent a lot of time on buses and had some time to kill at ruins and museums. I stopped in Trujillo on the way up and got to see the ruins of Chan Chan and Huaca de la Luna y del Sol. On the way back, I went to the Museo de Sipan and had some Pizza Hut at the mall in Chiclayo. I’ve done some hiking around Ancash too- I went to the Laguna Churup and the Laguna Purhuay. My town’s festival was in October and a bunch of the Ancash volunteers came out to my side of the mountains for the party. September, October, and November have just flown by and it’s hard to believe that I am at my mid-service point.

Sandboarding in Huacachina

At that half-way mark, Peace Corps sends us to the doctor and the dentist and we have individual program meetings. My mid-service meetings and doctors appointments fell conveniently right before Thanksgiving. We had two days of program meetings then a couple of the Health volunteers and I went down south to see penguins and seals at the Islas Ballestas, drink Pisco in Pisco, and sandboarding at an oasis called Huacachina outside of Ica. Then we returned to Lima for doctors appointments, and then to Arequipa for Thanksgiving. I’m writing this blog from Arequipa, because I’m on the last legs of my vacation. A group of maybe 20 volunteers or so from different programs, departments, and training groups celebrated Thanksgiving by making a ton of side dishes (thanks for all the stuffing, bread mixes, thin mints, and cranberry sauce Mom and Dad!) and grilling or buying rotisserie chicken. It was a really good way to load up for my hike the next day.

Ten of us decided to do a 2-day trek up the volcano Misti. The summit is at 5,825 m or about 19,000 ft. We left at 9:30am from the base at 3,400 m and then hiked until about 3 pm. We made our camp at about 4,000 m, ate a late lunch, and went to bed by about 6pm. I was exhausted and was already feeling the effects of high altitude. I live at 3,100m but I still was nauseous and had a pounding headache. I tried to sleep it off until 1 am when they woke us up to start hiking again. We hiked up rocks and volcanic sand all night. We were all basically zombies just walking on autopilot. Fortunately, it wasn’t windy or super cold like it typically is. I hiked up in ski pants, a fleece, hat and gloves. We finally made it to 5,400 m at about 7am. We hiked up to the summit about 45 minutes later, where there was a giant iron cross. It was snowing a little bit and cold, but for a few minutes the adrenaline took over the nausea and altitude sickness. All 10 of us made it up, which is impressive considering the guide told us only 7 out of 10 people make it up. The way back down only took about an hour and a half because you run down volcanic sand. It was possibly the most physically challenging feat I’ve ever accomplished. It might even be harder than running a marathon. The hiking part wasn’t super difficult; it was the altitude that hit us hard. When we got back to the hostel we all passed out asleep. I was exhausted! Arequipa is a beautiful city and I wish I had a few more vacation days to just relax, eat at all the amazing restaurants, hike through the Colca Canyon and just get to know the city. Instead, it’s back to the grind and back to the rainy season in Ancash. Here are photos from my trips.

Rocoto Relleno (Stuffed spicy red pepper)- A typical Arequipean dish

I won’t be coming home for Christmas, sadly, but I will be traveling to Buenos Aires in January! I’m really looking forward to some beach time and some time away from the rain and cold, and of course some time with my parents. Until then, I’ll just be wrapping up my projects and planning the next half of my service. If anyone wants to come visit me, please let me know! Hiking season in Ancash is June-August and I’m planning on going to the jungle up to Colombia/Brazil next November when I finish my service. Now I’m off to site! Hasta la proxima.

Soy chambeadora!

So much has been going on since my last post! I should probably share the best news first- I now have a bathroom! It’s completely installed and has a toilet, sink, and shower. We had an inauguration party of sorts, with a delicious Pachmanaca a la olla lunch, my homemade banana bread, and some toilet paper decorations. I bought a little trash can, a shower curtain, and a mirror to make the whole thing complete. I’ve only taken a couple “showers” in the bathroom because the water is so cold it actually hurts. My host family thinks I’m nuts for using the shower but sometimes it’s just easier than heating up water for a bucket bath. I’m also not sure that my family uses the bathroom. They’re just not used to it. They actually told me they were going to put a lock on the door and give me a key so only I could use it. But that just defeats the point. The little ones are getting better about washing their hands too. They had a ball painting the bathroom door with me.

My bathroom door

In other news, I’ve gotten two grants to do two different projects in Huarimayo. One of them, my “Healthy Schools” project, was funded thanks to you all. The vegetable garden is well on its way but it’s been a very slow, painfully slow, process. But I’m learning so much along the way that I know if I had to do some of this stuff again, I could do it better. I won’t bore you with all the road blocks we’ve encountered, but I’ll tell a couple quick anecdotes. The first official day of the project, a couple men in my town were supposed to water the land so that the following day the parent association could till the land. I’m not sure quite what happened, but the men never showed up, probably because I didn’t go to their house that day to remind them. I’ve definitely learned that personal reminders/personal house visits are necessary here. So the following day, I had to call an agro-engineer friend of mine to tell him not to come because our land wasn’t ready. And sadly, he was going to Lima the following week and wouldn’t be able to help us the next weekend. Fortunately, the next week I got myself and the Committee of the Parent Association on the same page and on Saturday we watered and tilled the land, and the next day removed rocks, organized the land into parcels, and formed the beds. I got out there with my pick axe along with the rest of the parents and hauled rocks off the land. They kept telling me, “Gringa, tu no trabajas!” (“Gringa, you shouldn’t work!”) but there was no way I was just going to stand there. That would be boring!

!

My little guys

For the next couple days, the different grades took turns planting seeds in their parcels. On the second day, the 5^th/6^th grade teacher stole my carrot seeds. He had asked me earlier to “regalar” him some seeds (which is one of the few phrases I cannot stand here in Peru, it’s kind of a way of saying “give/gift me” something; in some contexts it’s ok, but in this situation the professor wanted me to give him seeds because he thinks I’m rich and can afford to buy more). I told him no, that the seeds were property of the school and the students, and I think that made him mad. As I went to gather up my things, I noticed my carrot seeds were gone, which were the ones he had asked me for. I knew he had stolen them and I didn’t know what to do because the last thing I wanted was to be in bad graces with the people crucial to the success of the project. Fortunately, Mike, our new third year Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator, was coming out to Chavin to do some site development. We ended up going to the professor’s house (with the auspice of we were just in the neighborhood and wanted to introduce Mike) and talked to him about the seeds. Mike explained to him that if I didn’t find the seeds I was going to be in trouble and have to pay for new ones and the professor started to get all nervous and fidgety. He said he’d look for the seeds and talk to his students and let me know the next day. And miraculously, the seeds appeared the following day. So it all worked out in the end!

We already have a couple baby plants sprouting up! It makes me feel so proud after all the work getting the project going, and keeping it going. Watering the garden has been a nightmare. I’ve gotten in a couple little squabbles with some of the farmers who said it was their turn to use the stream system (you have to redirect the water toward your land when you want it) when it was my turn. The problem would be solved if my hoses and sprinklers worked, but their isn’t enough water pressure to get the sprinklers going. We’re going to install some kind of reservoir/tank thing, but that requires setting up a meeting with the parent association, pulling a few teeth to get the parents to help me, and then setting a date when everyone will show up. So that’s for the future.

And what’s going on in the school at this moment while I am in Huaraz buying supplies? Hopefully they are installing the sink! I bought a pre-made cement sink with the Peace Corps Partnership grant money so that the kids would have a place to wash their hands. I also bought toothpaste, soap, and toothbrushes for all the students and soon I’ll be teaching some personal hygiene classes. The rule for the hygiene campaign is that the students have to leave their personal items at the school, and after 3 weeks, if they’ve brushed their teeth and washed their hands every day, they can take their things home. I want them to get in the habit of taking care of themselves every day. This should be starting as soon as the sink is in!

And what’s left? Installing a latrine, painting a health mural, and maintaining the garden. The garden is something I’m hoping to keep up for the next year of my service. I just bought worms in Lima to do worm composting and I plan on doing a couple of other types of composting. There’s a long way to go, but really you have to go poco a poco. The teachers and parents are getting more supportive I think.

I am also working on a “Health Homes” Project and just received my SPA Grant money from USAID yesterday. We’ve already had 6 educational sessions, which have absolutely not been as easy as I thought they would be. Every week there is a new complaint/issue/problem- one Senora yelled at me because I wouldn’t let her participate in the project since she already had a cocina mejorada, another Senora yelled at me because I wouldn’t let her send a replacement to the meetings (the practice of sending replacement to meetings is really common, but the problem is they often send their children), and a couple Senoras got angry when I canceled a meeting so they could attend the funeral of a little old lady who died in the town. This project has not come without it’s complications, and I have to admit, I have run to my room and cried after several of the meetings. It’s hard being an authority figure when you are half the age of the participants. It’s also hard when you don’t speak their language. I realized after trying to do the first 2 educational sessions in Spanish, that the women just didn’t capture any of the information. So I got smart, and now I make sure I have a health promoter come to every meeting to translate and help me. The latest problem is that people have missed more than 2 meetings (which means you lose the opportunity to receive the cocina mejorada) and are telling me they were sick or had to work or whatever. I’m going to have to be strict and tell them they can no longer participate because they signed a contract saying they wouldn’t miss more than 2. There really is no excuse for them to be missing meetings at 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday, especially since they picked those times (and I’ve sacrificed going into Huaraz on the weekends for more than a month to accommodate their schedules). It’s going to be really difficult to tell them no, since I really want everyone to receive the cocina mejorada. However, it’s not fair to the ones who have come to every meeting.

Despite all the bumps in the road, it’s been exciting to see the plans I’ve been working on for months being put into action. It definitely gets frustrating but the little kids and Senoras make it worth it all. I would never have imagined I’d be doing worm composting or building adobe cooking stoves or broadcasting a health talk show, but that’s the job I was given, that’s what the community needs, and that’s what I’m enjoying doing right now. I thought the months of September/October/November were going to be really low key months, but there is a lot going on besides the two projects I’m working on. I’m being sent to an HIV/AIDS training in October, which is followed by two different field training sessions here in Ancash for the volunteers in training. And in November, we have our one year medical checks right before Thanksgiving. I’m planning on spending Thanksgiving hiking volcanoes in Arequipa. I guess Peru is kinda cool. :)

It’s hard to believe I’ve been out of the US for a little bit more than a year now. Time really does fly by. So all of you who have promised to visit me better get here soon- I’ve only got a little more than a year left!

Independence Days

Again, another long hiatus since my last blog update. I just wanted to accumulate enough stories to keep you entertained! July happened to be the month of American and Peruvian Independence Days. To celebrate July 4^th, I ran in a half marathon that another Peace Corps volunteer started last year in a coastal town called Pacasmayo. I signed up in January thinking that would give me plenty of time to train, but living at 3000 m above sea level (a little over 10,000 ft) proved to be too big of a challenge for me. I ran maybe 10 times at my site, and each time I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest and my lungs were going to spontaneously combust. But I guess those 10 times were enough to give me a slight advantage over the other entrants- I ended up winning the race for the girls. It was a really hard course! I think about half of it was on sand. At least I didn’t do the full marathon. Tyler and Erica completely amazed me and finished the marathon in about 5 hours without much training at all. I ran the last 3 miles or so in with them which was really fun. The whole weekend was a blast and Steve, the volunteer in Pacasmayo, did such an incredible job of organizing the race. Trying to organize a road race in the U.S. is a big enough headache, I can’t even imagine attempting to do one here!

After the marathon weekend, I had to say goodbye to my best friend in Peace Corps. After almost year of a lot of ups and downs, Tyler decided to return to the U.S. I know he’s going to be a million times happier back home; I think being here made him realize what he’s passionate about and what he really wants to do. I know that I’m going to be a lot lonelier without him, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to be site mates with him and that he’ll be in DC when I get back home!

Life at site has involved a lot of planning and getting the groundwork set for my projects. My healthy schools project was funded in a week thanks to your help! After I get back from a week of training on vegetable gardens, latrines, and cocinas mejoradas, I’ll be starting up two of the 3 at my school. I will definitely post pictures! I also just wrote a grant proposal for a 40 family cocinas mejoradas project. However, it’s a grant hopefully to be funded by USAID. So don’t worry, I won’t be hitting you all up for money!

In other news, the 4 or 5 students who show up to my English class on a consistent basis are actually getting really good. They say “Good morning Miss Shannon!” to me when I’m walking down the street or will knock on my door, yell “GUINEA PIG!” and run away. I told them that was my favorite word. They’re pretty cute. I’m still doing a pen pal exchange with Feehan, but the students here are on vacation until mid August due to the swine flu outbreak. I was also recently in a fashion show. The artisan groups around San Marcos had an artisan fair in Chavin, complete with a fashion show. I was announced as an “international model.” I did my best catwalk, but there is certainly no future in modeling for me post Peace Corps. The knit products that the artisan groups make are beautiful. Here’s a link to some of the photos I’ve taken of their products: Artisans Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the fashion show because the power went out that day and my camera battery wasn’t charged. I think they were saving the power to light up the ruins of Chavin that night- they had the first ever night visits to the ruins and completely lit them up and had fireworks and traditional dances. It was freeeeezing! But beautiful.

The day after the fashion show, a bunch of volunteers from other departments came out to visit my site. We got 5 days of vacation for Peruvian Independence Day so most people traveled. I stayed in Ancash since it is the perfect time of year to see all the different types of natural formations around the department. We went to see the Pastoruri glacier which was only open for Fiestas Patrias, I went on an adventure with Brad to see the Canon del Pato (and also to pick up an oven that the volunteer in Caraz sold me), and I did a solo trip to Campo Santo while everyone else went to see Lake Llanganuco. There were 16 volunteers from Peru 12 in Ancash! It was awesome to have volunteers come see my department, and 5 of them came all the way out to my house. Having them here gave me an excuse to go see things I never have time to see when I come in to shower and use the internet and an excuse to go eat good food. I also don’t get to see most of them very often since they live so far away and are in other programs. I might not see many of them until November! I’m glad I stayed in Ancash for Fiestas Patrias, and I’ll probably do it again next year.

Campo Santo in Yungay with Huascaran in the background

Pastoruri Glacier in the background (way cooler than it looks in this photo)

Brad and I at the Canon del Pato

The last and most crucial part of my blog entry- bathroom update! So the walls are build, the pipes are in, the toilet, sink, and shower are installed…all I need now is a door and the pipes to be connected to the water system. SO CLOSE! I’m hoping that we have an inauguration party for it this week. If that is the case, there will be a special blog update just on my bathroom. Hasta luego!

My first official Peace Corps Project!

Hi loyal readers :)
A lot has been going on since vacation with my family. Things are finally getting put into motion! I wrote a proposal for a Peace Corps Partnership grant about a month ago and it is finally on the PC website so that people can donate to it. The elementary school in my town doesn't have bathrooms or latrines for the students (kind of like my house) or a sink. I'm asking for donations for the materials to build 2 latrines, a sink, a wall mural, and a vegetable garden, and my community is contributing the labor for the project. The donations will also go to a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a bar of soap for each student. As soon as my project is funded, I can start making things happen. If you'd like to make a contribution, here's the link. My healthy school project
Muchos besos! An updated blog to come in a few weeks.
Shannon

VACACION!

Now that I am back at site and have plenty of free time at night to write blog entries, I’ll give my loyal readers out there a recap of the Dorans’ adventures in Peru the last 2 weeks. I think my mom, dad, Kyle, Pat, and Liz got a little taste of everything, from lomo saltado in Lima to condors in Colca Canyon to altitude sickness in Puno to Irish bars in Cusco. We followed the typical Gringo Trail by visiting Arequipa, Puno, and Cusco but it was a unique vacation for my family and we got to see three distinct areas of Peru. I’ll do my best to recount the trip in order of the places we visited and maybe our experiences can help out anyone thinking about visiting Peru. The whole adventure began in Lima…

Although Lima is the capital, I wouldn’t advise anyone to spend a significant amount of time there. The Plaza de Armas has an interesting history and architectural style, but after a brief tour, my family was ready to move on. We roamed around Parque Kennedy in Miraflores, checked out the Pacific Ocean from Parque del Amor, and had some tasty Pisco Sours at the Rosa Nautica. Later on we went to a typical dance show in LarcoMar at La Dama Juana. It was a really good introduction to Peruvian dance and I even got chased around on stage by a man with a candle trying to light a paper attached to my bum (a typical dance of Chincha). It probably wasn’t as professional as the show Brisas de Titicaca, but since my family got in so late the night before, there was no way they could have stayed awake to see a show that doesn’t even start until 10 pm. And we had to leave super early for Arequipa the next morning.

The next stop was Arequipa, better known as the “White City” for the white volcanic rock used to construct many of the buildings around the main plaza. Getting off the plane, you get an entirely new view of Peru. The city is surrounded by desert mountains and volcanoes but the hub of the city has pristine white buildings and cobble stone streets. After checking into our hotel, we went on a tour of the Santa Catalina monastery. I think at first we were all kind of dreading tours of monasteries and churches, but it was a really interesting tour and a very beautiful monastery. Apparently, the women who got sent there were all from wealthy families and brought with them their own servants, had their own rooms, got sent gifts of gold, etc. If there was ever any convent to want to get accepted into, it was this one- their lives of luxury were far cries from their vows of poverty. But then some head honcho nun changed it all and it became a convent as we know them today. It was definitely worth a visit to the monastery. We got a brief walking tour of the other major buildings around the plaza and after our trip to Colca Canyon we went to the Museo Santury where “Juanita, the Ice Princess” resides. Some archaeologists found a perfectly preserved Incan mummy, a 12 year-old girl (or about 500 years old now), on the top of the mountain Ampato. This museum was one of my favorite places in Arequipa. The artifacts that archaeologists have found and the information they have uncovered of Incan mummies is incredibly fascinating. Definitely a to-do for people visiting Arequipa. Another absolute to-do is eating at the restaurant Zig Zag. It was kind of an unexpected highlight to our trip. We all ended up ordering what the menu called a “trilogy of meats”- alpaca, beef, and ostrich- which arrived on sizzling blocks of stone. I also decided it would be fun to order a peach cocktail that came in a giant ostrich egg. The presentation and the quality of food would make this restaurant a for sure do again.

We only stayed in Arequipa city one night before heading out to the Colca Canyon. It was a day-long bus ride to the lodge we stayed at in Colca Canyon, but along the way you get incredible views of volcanoes, mountains, and rock formations. You also get to spend the bus ride guessing which animals are vicunas, alpacas, or llamas since there are a million along the way. You reach an altitude of over 14,000 ft as well. Thank goodness no one got altitude sickness. The lodge we stayed at had amazing natural hot springs. At that altitude, it’s pretty cold outside, so you never want to leave the thermal baths. I even went in for round two at about 5 in the morning the next day before we left for the Condor Cross. The Condor Cross was still another hour or two away from our lodge, so we left early in the morning along with all the other tourists. We saw a whole clan of condors soaring above the canyon. I’m sure Liz got some fantastic photos. On our way back from the canyon, we stopped to see another clan of condors perched on a cliff. I think they knew I had Choko Sodas and they were waiting to snatch them from me. If we had more time, it would have been interesting to stay another night or two to hike around the canyon. I’ve heard it’s really beautiful, but if you’re trying to do Arequipa, Puno, and Cusco, you’ve got to cut some things out.

We spent one more night in Arequipa before getting on a plane to Puno. Up to this point I forgot to mention that I certainly did not pack well for the weather in Arequipa, Puno, and Cusco. For some reason, I didn’t think that 10,000-14,000 ft about sea level would be cold. I think somewhere in my head I connected vacation with hot weather and brought a sun dress. I was very wrong. It’s realllllly cold in Arequipa and Puno and Cusco. Especially Puno. We were all exhausted the day we arrived in Puno, so after some naps and lunch, Kyle, Liz, and I went to the Sillustani ruins nearby. We kind of winged it and decided to hire a taxi instead of going on a tour (which probably ended up being cheaper anyways). The ruins were a real surprise for me. Since I live near the Chavin ruins and I saw a million Mayan ruins when I lived in Mexico, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed, but the Sillustani ruins were really cool. On top of a high plateau are a series of enormous funerary towers. Llamas roam around the ruins and there are gorgeous lakes on all sides. We got there late in the afternoon, so it was pretty quiet and the setting sun gave the place an almost ghostly feel. I was really glad we decided to venture out to the ruins. We stayed at a hotel that was a little bit of a ways from the center of the city directly on Lake Titicaca, so we ended up sitting in front of the fire and getting some dinner at the hotel that night. Staying right in the center of Puno would have been a different experience. My dad and I went into the center to get some medicine for my sinus infection and the streets were packed with people. We definitely were at a more tranquil location.

The next morning we left for a boat ride on Lake Titicaca. We stopped at the Uros Islands, which are floating islands made out of reeds that the Uros people made to escape the Incas. The islands were really impressive and worth a visit. There a bit touristy (you can even buy Diet Cokes and Snickers on the islands) but the people who live there still speak Aymara and dress in traditional clothing. From the islands, the boat continued on to the Taquile Island. You hike up a giant staircase to the top of the mountain to the main plaza. We happened to be there when the town was celebrating Corpus Christi so we got the chance to see the Taquile people in traditional dress and doing traditionally dancing. At first I thought the celebration and the parade might be something they do every day for tourists, but then I was told it was Corpus Christi. From the top of the island, you can see Lake Titicaca extending for miles and the snow-capped mountains on the other side of the lake in Bolivia. After lunch on the island, we hopped back on the boat. My only complaint on this day trip was that the boat, along with the other tourist boats, was painfully slow. The trip took about 2 ½- 3 hours each way, but I feel like it should take about 1 each way. Maybe we had just had too much travel and long rides at that point for it to be a relaxing boat ride. Nevertheless, it was an awesome trip and I never would have imagined the immensity of Lake Titicaca. We only saw a tiny portion of the entire lake and I suppose it would take several days to get around the whole thing.

After the tour, we all huddled around the fire at the hotel and had a much needed low key evening. An early bed time prepped us for another early wake up call. In the morning, we hopped on the train Andean Explorer to Cusco. If I remember right, the train has been around since the 1930s but has been remodeled on the inside. It was a beautiful 10-hour ride from Puno to Cusco that Kyle unfortunately didn’t get to see much of since he was suffering the wrath of the previous night’s salad. They keep you entertained on the train with a fashion show, live music, and Pisco tutorials, but I was more fascinated by the little towns you pass through and the countryside you get to see. It was an interesting experience and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to see the various changes in landscapes along the way, but it is a long train ride.

Cusco was my favorite city of the trip, which was somewhat unexpected. I was prepared for a city overrun by tourists and street vendors endlessly harassing you with their “home made” souvenirs. It definitely has no shortage of tourists, but it is a city that still clings to its traditional Quechuan roots. We ended up canceling our tour of the Sacred Valley the day after we arrived in Cusco, since Kyle was still recovering and I think we were all recovering from exhaustion a little bit as well. My mom and I walked around the city in the morning on our own, and then in the afternoon we all went on a guided city tour. Pat and I might have grabbed a McFlurry along the way. Later on, we had a briefing with our Inca Trail guide and got packed and ready to go on our 4-Day hike. And what better way to fuel up for a trek? Pizza at Chez Maggy’s. Probably one of the few places in Peru that serves up decent pizza, even though there are a million places that call themselves “pizzerias.” So we packed our bags with the bare minimum and got one last night’s sleep in a bed.

At about 5:30 AM, our guide Jose from Wayki Trek came to our hotel to pick us up. He took us to a small town about an hour away from Cusco to meet up with the other people in our trek group. They had stayed a night in the town where the porters live to see what the life of a porter is like. We all had a very traditional campo breakfast together (toasted corn kernels, potatoes, lima beans, cheese, tea, and quinoa porridge). Then we took off for the starting point which was still another hour or so away. It was a gorgeous drive to the start- you have to drive through the Sacred Valley to get to the start at Km 82. We stopped in Ollantaytambo first to pick up any last minute items. Pat, Liz and I bought walking sticks, which turned out to be really helpful on the trail. So did my 3 Musketeers bar. Right before the start of the trek, we got handed our sleeping bags and mattress that we had rented. We didn’t hire an extra porter, so we had to carry our personal items and our sleeping stuff on our own. Many people hire an extra porter so they can just care a small backpack with water and maybe sunscreen and bug repellent. We decided to be tough guys, which definitely made the second day really hard, but since everything else on the trail was done for us by the porters, it made me feel like I had at least a little more credit. My bag definitely was heavy (or maybe it just felt heavier as the days went on), but it wasn’t unbearable by any means.

The first day was a piece of cake. After getting through the checkpoint, we continued on along the River Urubamba, which had spectacular views of the snow covered mountain Veronica. Jose and his assistant tour guide Victor gave us some history lessons along the way about Quechuan beliefs in the Pachamama, the Mother Earth, the duality, the cardinal points, and the importance of coca. After some pretty flat terrain, we ate our first lunch prepared by the porters. They had a tent, chairs, and a table set up for us, and even had little wash bins with soap so we can could clean up. The food they cooked was great the entire trip, a million times better than anything I could have cooked on the trail. Lunch and dinner always had soup first, garlic bread, some kind of salad, rice, potatoes, or quinoa, and different main dishes like pizza or chicken. After our first lunch, we proceeded on to see the ruins of Llactapata from atop a hill. Then we started our descent down to the first campsite, Wayllabamba, where our tents had already been set up. We even had a “happy hour” before dinner complete with coffee, tea, popcorn, crackers and jam. Dinner was a really good chance to get to know the other people in our group. Three girls were freshmen/sophomores in college, there was a married couple from Australia who had been traveling around the world for 2 years, and then the 3 Dorans and Liz. Our group ended up meshing really well. And I certainly learned a lot about Australia that I didn’t know (turns out Foster’s really isn’t “Australian for beer” as the slogan says, bars apparently don’t even carry Foster’s that often). Having a small group was also a blessing. Most of the groups we saw were pretty large, maybe 15-20 people. Even though they allow 500 people to start the trail per day (including porters, which are half the group), everyone moves at different speeds so you don’t feel like your stuck in this giant mass of gringos. Our guide did a phenomenal job with timing our days. He was always spot on on how many more minutes we had to go and we always got to camp a little before dark so we weren’t waiting around with nothing to do. Since it got pretty cold at night, I appreciated not having to sit around the campsite. It was much better to take a longer lunch break.

The second day of the trek was definitely as hard as they say. I admit, I went into the trek thinking that it must be easy if so many tourists can do it. But the second day was rough. It was basically all uphill, and what makes it hard is that you have to climb up stone steps with all your belongings strapped to your back. I got more than a little sweaty climbing up to the top at Dead Women’s Pass, which is at 4198 m, the highest point on the trek. We took some good photos when we finally got to the top and rewarded ourselves with some mini snickers, goldfish, and Choko Sodas. Fortunately, no one in our group needed to be fed oxygen on the way up like some other hikers. The hike down the mountain to the next campsite at Pacaymayo was not easy either. It was still about an 1 ½ away and was a real knee-ruiner. Good thing I had my wood walking stuck that I bought for a dollar. That night at camp we were all pretty exhausted but pretty stoked we finished the hardest day. We had a lot of laughs playing cards, telling stories, and hanging out.

The next day started with another big hill. Fortunately, we stopped a little ways up to see the ruins of Runkurakay where Jose gave us another history lesson. Runkurakay was apparently a sort of checkpoint for chaskis, or messengers, along the Inca Trail. Then the climbing continued, past a false summit and two small lakes, to a pass at 3950 m. I was totally wiped by the time I got to the top of this pass. My bag felt like it weighed a million pounds. But the views of the Cordillera Vilcamba were incredible and I knew the rest of the way was pretty much downhill. From this pass, we went down to probably the biggest ruins along the way to Machu Picchu called Sayaqmarka. This was a small town and perhaps another checkpoint along the way. After the ruins, we ate lunch at a big campsite and continued on until we reached another pass at 3700m where you can see a fantastic view of the Urubamba valley and the Peru Rail train that brings tourists to Machu Picchu. I also got cell phone service all of a sudden at this point and my phone started beeping like crazy with voicemails. I think at this point I realized how close we were getting to our destination. We passed by another set of ruins on our trek downward called Phuyupatamarka, which have an interesting series of “Inca baths.” We kept going past these ruins and opted to detour to another set of terraced ruins called Intipata before packing it in for the night. Even thought it’s probably 40 minutes out of the way, I would recommend checking these ruins out. The terraces are enormous and offer a great view of the valley below. The last campsite sold beer and had hot showers, although I didn’t participate in either. We thanked our porters after dinner since the next morning was the last time we’d see them and we knew we’d be in a hurry to get to the Sun Gate.

For some reason, there is a gate at the last campsite that doesn’t open until 5:30 AM. Everyone rushes to get up and get to the gate first at about 4:30 in the morning so that when the gate does open, you can run to the Sun Gate to see sunrise over Machu Picchu. So that is exactly what we did. The trail from Winay Wayna, our campsite, to the Sun Gate, normally takes about 1 ½ hours. We did it in 40 minutes. Halfway along the route, we basically started running since sunrise is around 6 AM. We were probably the second group to get there and it was like icing on the cake. We finally caught a glimpse of Machu Picchu with just a touch of sunlight pouring over it. It was absolutely breathtaking. After absorbing as much of Machu Picchu as possible, our group continued on down the path with another objective in mind- to climb Wayna Picchu, the tall mountain in the background of all the well known photos of Machu Picchu. The reason we rushed was because they only allot 400 tickets to go up Wayna Picchu, and anyone who stayed in Aguas Calientes the night before could get up to Machu Picchu and wait in line starting around 6 AM. There’s no way for anyone doing the trail to even get in line before 7 AM. So we sprinted our way down in hopes of getting some of the last tickets to Wayna Picchu. By the time we got there, they were sold out of tickets for the 10 AM entrance but still had tickets for the 7 AM entrance. Hot off the trail, we climbed Wayna Picchu. Fortunately, we were forced to check our backpacks, so we climbed up the steep spiraling stone staircase to the top of the mountain. The view of Machu Picchu from Wayna Picchu is one-of-a-kind, but if you have a fear of heights, this is not a mountain you should climb. It’s actually pretty dangerous and the top of the mountain was not a plateau like I expected- it’s a series of giant, jagged rocks that you kind of have to shimmy over to get across. Most people end up going back down the stairs on their bums it’s so scary. Once we had our fill of the view, we went back down the mountain to the entrance to get some water and snacks after a very full morning. We happened to come across my mom and dad at that point so they got to join us for the tour. Jose gave us a great tour of the ruins and we took tons of pictures. I probably could have stayed at the ruins all day if I wasn’t so exhausted. By about 2pm, most tour groups are gone so it gets pretty quiet at the ruins.

We all took the bus down to Aguas Calientes together and had a goodbye lunch/dinner. The Inca Trail has probably been one of the best things I have ever done and I owe that to my parents for providing me with the opportunity, my brothers and Liz for being wonderful company along the way, and to our trail guide, porters, and trekking mates for making it fun, interesting, and entertaining. The scenery along the trail is unlike anything I’ve every seen and getting to hike through cloud forests, mountain ranges, and Incan temples is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And Machu Picchu is really as remarkable as they say. I wish I was better at words to describe the entire experience, but maybe it’s something that you have to experience yourself.

The town Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu is, to put it nicely, not a very pretty town. Every tourist has to pass through there by train to get to Machu Picchu, so the town is full of tacky restaurants and artisan shops. However, we stayed at an absolutely gorgeous hotel that somehow was situated in an almost tropical oasis. They have nature walks and ponds right within the premises. The matrimonial rooms had fireplaces and the restaurant had amazing food. The hot springs in Aguas Calientes were so-so, but the pizza at Chez Maggy’s was delicious (I know that was Pat’s favorite!). We took the train back to Cusco the day after completing the trail, and after getting situated in the hotel, Kyle, Liz, Pat, and I went out to celebrate at an Irish Pub called Paddy’s (Pat and I had our eye on this pub from the minute we arrived in Cusco for our post-Inca Trail celebration). We even got to watch a little bit of the NBA finals on ESPN.

Our second to last day in Cusco, everyone but Kyle went on a tour of the Sacred Valley (Kyle stayed home with round 2 of Montezuma’s revenge). I was slightly disappointed with the tour, but it was my own fault I think. I had in my mind that we would be stopping to see several sites in the Sacred Valley but we only really went to the ruins at Ollantaytambo. The ruins and the drive out to see them were amazing, but I think I was hoping for a little more. We stopped from afar to see the ruins of Saqsaywaman, but the ruins of Pisac and other Inca sites were too far away to be included in a one day tour of the Sacred Valley. If you have more time in Cusco, I’m sure doing other day trips to see the ruins around the Sacred Valley are worth it. My mom and dad did some horse back riding and rafting in the Sacred Valley while we were on the trail, so if you don’t do the trail there are certainly other options to get to know the area outside of Cusco.

For our last dinner, we went to a restaurant called Cicciolina, a recommendation by many people around Cusco, and definitely a great place to go. Getting used to being well-fed and well-bathed was not good preparation for going back to my site but the 2 week break from reality was much needed. Our last morning in Cusco, my mom and dad and I watched little kindergarteners doing traditional dances around the Plaza de Armas for the celebration of Corpus Christi. The main plaza in Cusco is my favorite of any I’ve seen thus far. It also has several mini plazas around the plaza which make it an interesting place to walk around. There’s so much to see and explore around Cusco. Of all the places we visited, I would probably return to Cusco first.

My family vacation was better than I could ever have imagined and it was really hard saying goodbye again. It will be at least another 6 months until I see everyone again, depending on if I come home for Christmas or if I can convince them to travel somewhere with me (I know I won’t have to convince my parents!). I’m thinking Argentina for New Years. Why not turn 24 in Buenos Aires? :)

Here are some links to my pictures on facebook. Liz is putting up photos on Picasa and next time I'm in Huaraz I'll put my picutres on Picasa or Shutterfly for better quality.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177375&id=1406276&l=1ba1df35f1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177370&id=1406276&l=1a9757511b
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177367&id=1406276&l=6fc03a5730
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177357&id=1406276&l=71d3a5dbff
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177399&id=1406276&l=7b139336c4

Site Update: I returned home to find mouse poop on my bed and on my table. I bought a mouse trap and am awaiting the extermination of the mice in my room. I also bought bricks to construct my bathroom and am awaiting a “maestro” to come and help me build it. My host mom says “this weekend.” We’ll see.