feb. 16, 2011
This one might get long winded, but hey, you’re probably looking for a good distraction on the Internet. After all, one can only read so much about Egypt and spend so much time on Facebook before getting bored enough to check in on the “adventures of pedro”…
Some months back, a few of us volunteers began to discuss the possibility of a trek through the mountains in order to visit a large tree forestation center (supposedly the country’s largest), implement a new monitoring system for flora and fauna within the national park, and mainly just to go on what could only be an amazing 5 day trek throughout the Andes Mountains. We began to plan and settle on some dates and other necessary items. The dates we finally selected were February 9-16 – give or take a few extra nights here and there. Sounds great right? Oh, February is during the height of the rainy season in the mountains? Psh, no problem. We’re Peace Corps volunteers…we can do just about anything. A little rain can’t hurt, bring it on nature!
Every thing was ready. Last week we started off with 6 of us volunteers and two members of the national park. Our goal was to implement a new monitoring system for the wild flora and fauna that our friend and fellow volunteer Jess has created while trekking through the park and then visit the forestation center on the other side of the mountains upon reaching the city of Pomabamba. We all met in the city of Caraz where we would hire a car to the trailhead about an hour up into the mountains.
Tents. Check. Rain coats. Check. Stove, fuel and plenty of Ramon, crackers, GORP, and tuna fish….check, check, check. Knives, cameras, socks, monitoring plan, matches, good spirits….check, check, check, check. Oh yeah, we were ready. Nothing could stop us now, and so we began our journey up into the high Andes. Our first day was only accompanied by a few small kinks. A few people had planned on using donkeys to help carry some of the heavier gear throughout the trek. At the trailhead we soon realized that no one was there with their donkeys. Furthermore, no one in the whole village was willing to drop their work in the field and accompany our ragged group to the other side of the mountains with their beasts of burden. Hmm, an oddity. That would have been a weeks worth of work guiding their donkey for an equivalent pay of a small potato harvest (7 months work). Normally a campesino would jump on an opportunity like that. Something that perhaps should have been noted, but ah, hindsight is 20/20 or so I hear.
So we decided as a group to split up. Two of us would wait back in the trailhead village and see if another arriero (donkey driver) would show up in the next few hours. The rest were to head to the first night campsite about a 5 hour hike straight up hill. So our esteemed 3rd year volunteer Rabbit and myself stayed behind to wait on the arriero. We waited for about 1.5 hours and realized that no one was coming and we needed to get moving or nighttime darkness would catch up with us. While waiting for the arriero a thick fog had rolled in and visibility was low to say the least. It looked as though the rains were going to hold off though. We got a bit lost as the darkness of night tumbled together with the existing fog. We ended up taking a “scenic” route through highland tall grasses and mountainsides during the rain and night to reunite with our friends who were already at camp. We were led by their blinking headlamps and random yells for we had “decided” to leave to trail a few hours back, opting for the previously mentioned scenic route. So the first day wasn’t too bad. Just some kinks.
Day two came with a continuation of the heavy fog allowing us to see a generous 20 to 30 feet ahead. The air was dense with precipitation and we began our hike into what seemed like a cloud. We spent a long day hiking that included going up two mountain passes both of which were around 4,800 meters (~15,500 ft). We finally arrived in a small…I mean small…“village” of 5 houses, although we only saw one due to the fog and approaching dusk. We found the owner of the house and he led us to a small field to camp in. Phew, long day but a good day. And most importantly the rain held off, just the cloud like fog that took away most of the breathtaking views of hiking over two mountain passes.
Day three. Things get interesting. We woke up fairly wet due to a moderate rain falling all around us. Good news was that the fog broke. We could see the majority of the lush green valley with the raging river cutting through it, framed by the enormous peaks. Peaks we had passed over and those we still needed to climb. It was quite the site. By now, everything was wet. Our tents, our boots, our clothes, everything. The owner of the house came over to our camp and began to warn us of the day’s hike and current weather conditions. He told us rather bluntly and with the knowledge of a man who has lived amongst these mountain peaks and passes his whole life, that the rain down where we were meant that the day’s pass would be covered with snow. Perhaps lots. Mixed with the snow, ice, and low visibility the already narrow and dangerous mountain pass (4900m) renowned for knocking down donkeys with gusts of wind was going to be something we perhaps were not prepared for. Our mountain friend told us that he wouldn’t go near the pass himself and recommended with did the same. Damn. What now? We had trekked for 2 days into the mountains and needed to go 2 more in order to come out on the other side. We were right in the middle. Ahead of was a seemingly impassable mountain trail covered with snow and ice and behind us the two passes we had already climbed leading down to the small village where we had started. We were in a tough spot. We discussed the options and agreed that attempting to climb the pass after being advised not to by a local was not our best option. Even if we managed to get to the top, it would still be a three-hour hike down in mud and snow to the campsite. Our tents were wet, the temperature was dropping and the sun was nowhere in site. Just more rain and clouds. So, stifling our pride we decided the best option would be to turn back and try to get out the following day. This still didn’t solve the snow, rain, and wetness. The trail we needed to go back on would surely be mud and snow even if it was supposedly an easier climb than the one ahead of us. But climb we did. We climbed right back up the near 16000 ft passes that we trekked over the day before. And snow it did. We were walking through snow and sleet the entire time and trudging through muddy and snow covered trails to get back. Get back to where we started to think? Back to the first night’s campsite? Pop up our wet tents and sleeping bags and climb in? It didn’t sound like a vey inviting option. The wind whistled past us and made every break a frigid and numbing experience. If you stopped for more than a few minutes your hands would start to go numb and the cold, dried sweat and snow would quickly push you to continue moving up and up and up.
We finally found our campsite…at least where we were going to camp. We had passed it the day before but couldn’t really see due to the intense fog. It was a small, stone cabin and guardhouse for Duke Energy. We met the extremely friendly and jolly guard who was monitoring the surrounding glacial lakes’ water levels that fell down to a huge generator in the valley and were turned into hydroelectric power. The place was heaven. The small stone building was like a 5 star hotel for our tired, soaked bodies and crushed spirits after another long, arduous climbing trek. Our savior and new friend, Victor, didn’t think twice about opening up his doors and putting on pot after pot of hot water for tea and coffee. He cleared out his kitchen area and guest room for us to roll out our sleeping bags and hang up sopping wet clothes. It was incredible. We used his stove to prepare our feast of pasta and tuna and invited our jolly friend to dinner. We were able to spend a dry night in his cabin regaining the motivation to keep going the next day, making terms with the “failed” trip, and getting to know another amazingly friendly Peruvian. Without our little hotel suite we would have been forced to sleep in wet tents and bags in the rain and fight off hypothermia and crushed morale. Victor, you are the man.
We awoke the next morning to the first sunshine we had seen since we started out 3 days earlier. We breakfasted and said goodbye and thanks to Victor and started out on the easy downhill hike to our trailhead town. It was a leisurely and pleasant 4-hour descent compared to the arduous climbs and rain of the last few days. We finally arrived at the trailhead in mid day sun and found a car that was willing to fit all 8 of us plus gear in and take us down to the city. We wrapped up the trip with a plate of lunch in the market and relaxed. We had made it. Perhaps not to our destination, but we had made it.
It was a great adventure and we quickly realized that no matter how young, wilderness-ready, and stubborn a group of Peace Corps volunteers could be, Mother Nature can still put us in our place. Trekking in the rainy season is never really encouraged and we found out why. As I sit here, back in site with a cup of coffee and dry clothes, I realize just how nice my room in the campo really is. As much as we liked being wet and close to miserable, we all decided that June - the height of the dry season - would be a much better time to go than at the height of the rainy season. So, we will take a “rain check” (literally) and reschedule our excursion for a dryer few days. But, an adventure nonetheless filled with snow, stories, and the raw power of nature was had by all…that’s what matters.
Well, to those that have made it to the end of my long and slightly disconnected adventure story: thanks for reading! I hope all is well back home and that you are staying dry and enjoying your Ramon noodles in relative comfort. Keep in touch!
Cheers,
Peter
2/26/2011
1/21/2011
yes, i'm still here.
January 20, 2011 – 10 am
Well, it’s been quite some time since I’ve had the ganas to update this. But, I will take advantage of this foggy morning to attempt to fill all of you, my faithful readers, in on the past few months.
I went home for the holidays. I assume that I spoke to or saw the majority of the people reading this so I will just saw a few words about the trip. I was home for about ten days for Christmas. It was great. I got to spend a lot of time with the family and eat amazing food and raid my parents freshly stocked beer/wine/booze collection. Hot showers became a daily part of my life again…I didn’t mind in the least. I saw snow and made fires for the sake of making fires and not simply for boiling potatoes. I drove a car and wore clean clothes. Cereal and pancakes were the norm for breakfast, not soup. Sandwiches replaced boiled potatoes for lunch. I will never underestimate the simplicity of a sandwich again. They are fantastic. I got to see a lot of my friends from both the Toledo area and elsewhere. We had some good times catching up to say the least. They were nice enough to fill me in on all the joys of American culture I had missed in the last year. So yeah, home was great. It was home and I was glad to see not too much had changed besides a new couch and an interesting type of malt liquor. Thanks to all who made the trip worthwhile. After all, it’s the people who I miss, not the trivial amenities like hot showers and good drink.
So that was my trip to the states. Before I left I spent a few days in Lima for our mid-service medical exams and a few technical training days. I won’t bore you with the details. The short of it is that I am healthy enough to continue my service and received some riveting new technical knowledge while spending 4 days with all of my fellow volunteers and friends in the capital city.
Now I’m back in Peru and my site. I came back to a new year, a new season (the rainy one), and a new routine. The school year here in Peru ends in mid December and the students have vacation until March. The normal “vacation” however just consists of working more hours in the fields with your parents. I was extremely lucky to be able to run around the neighborhood barefoot having water fights and eating ice cream during my summer vacations as a kid. So the routine has changed a bit with no school in session for me or for my host brother and sister. I spend my days going with them to the fields and helping to harvest, plough, plant and all the fun steps in between. We just harvested a small field of native potatoes yesterday and the day before. Now I know I have a cynical attitude towards potatoes in most of my blog entries and emails/calls back home but this time was different. First of all Peru has over 3000 types of potatoes. Yep, lets repeat that for emphasis: 3000 types of potatoes. I can think of maybe 5 back home and that’s if I include Lay’s potato chips. We spent the day high in the Andes pulling out 4 different types of native papa. The first few kilos we harvested went right into the pot on the small wood fire my mom and sister started in the same field. If that’s not fresh I don’t know what is. For lunch we had our papa with a spicy salad made from green onions, lemon, and rocoto the hot pepper of Peru. The papas were all sorts of colors ranging from a deep purple to yellow to red to white. Each one had a distinct taste and texture to accompany its color. We finished by loading up the burros with the full sacks of potatoes and hiking back down to the house. The afternoon rains rolled in and I spent the rest of the day sipping on coffee and reading (I’m attempting War and Peace with the rainy season down time I now enjoy…). That is a glimpse at the new schedule for the vacation months.
I am still in the midst of my healthy homes project so some parts of the day are spent coordinating with the health post or going on house visits. Once a week or so we have a charla, or session, on the various topics of the project like nutrition and organic fertilizers. The stovetop element of the project, which is the pinnacle, should be finished by the beginning of March. So when I’m not enjoying the papa harvesting and grazing the cows I am working on that project. The group seems to be enjoying the topics and my oddly eccentric way of demonstrating why nutrition is important and how to compost. Seem to would be the important phrase in that thought. I’m glad it is working out and the grant money just came back from D.C., so thanks to all of you for paying your taxes!
We (Alex and myself) just visited an informal recycling “center” (really just a plot of land with mounds of crushed plastic bottles) an hour or so away that is willing to buy our recycling and will even come up the mountain and get it. Hopefully we will be able to organize our communities and the schools when they come back in session to start a recycling project that will keep things clean and generate a small income for the participants. Thoughts for the future…
Other than that, things have been going well. I am still truly enjoying this awesome experience and can’t believe that I only have 10 months left. So, after completing well over half of my service, I have come to learn and love the culture of Peru, specifically the indigenous highlands I have made my home for the last 17 months. This life seems so normal for me now, despite the lack of showers, food diversity, constant connection to the internet (iPhones haven’t caught on quite yet) and putting English on the back burner. I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Thanks to all those who continue to keep in touch, it’s always nice to receive an email/message/letter/other form of communication from all of you back home. I will try to keep the blog frequently updated during my last year of service…just don’t hold your breath in between posts - unless you’re really good at holding your breath. I’ll end my rambling here for today. Hope all is well with each and every one of you back home.
Candy is still encouraged….
Cheers,
Peter
Well, it’s been quite some time since I’ve had the ganas to update this. But, I will take advantage of this foggy morning to attempt to fill all of you, my faithful readers, in on the past few months.
I went home for the holidays. I assume that I spoke to or saw the majority of the people reading this so I will just saw a few words about the trip. I was home for about ten days for Christmas. It was great. I got to spend a lot of time with the family and eat amazing food and raid my parents freshly stocked beer/wine/booze collection. Hot showers became a daily part of my life again…I didn’t mind in the least. I saw snow and made fires for the sake of making fires and not simply for boiling potatoes. I drove a car and wore clean clothes. Cereal and pancakes were the norm for breakfast, not soup. Sandwiches replaced boiled potatoes for lunch. I will never underestimate the simplicity of a sandwich again. They are fantastic. I got to see a lot of my friends from both the Toledo area and elsewhere. We had some good times catching up to say the least. They were nice enough to fill me in on all the joys of American culture I had missed in the last year. So yeah, home was great. It was home and I was glad to see not too much had changed besides a new couch and an interesting type of malt liquor. Thanks to all who made the trip worthwhile. After all, it’s the people who I miss, not the trivial amenities like hot showers and good drink.
So that was my trip to the states. Before I left I spent a few days in Lima for our mid-service medical exams and a few technical training days. I won’t bore you with the details. The short of it is that I am healthy enough to continue my service and received some riveting new technical knowledge while spending 4 days with all of my fellow volunteers and friends in the capital city.
Now I’m back in Peru and my site. I came back to a new year, a new season (the rainy one), and a new routine. The school year here in Peru ends in mid December and the students have vacation until March. The normal “vacation” however just consists of working more hours in the fields with your parents. I was extremely lucky to be able to run around the neighborhood barefoot having water fights and eating ice cream during my summer vacations as a kid. So the routine has changed a bit with no school in session for me or for my host brother and sister. I spend my days going with them to the fields and helping to harvest, plough, plant and all the fun steps in between. We just harvested a small field of native potatoes yesterday and the day before. Now I know I have a cynical attitude towards potatoes in most of my blog entries and emails/calls back home but this time was different. First of all Peru has over 3000 types of potatoes. Yep, lets repeat that for emphasis: 3000 types of potatoes. I can think of maybe 5 back home and that’s if I include Lay’s potato chips. We spent the day high in the Andes pulling out 4 different types of native papa. The first few kilos we harvested went right into the pot on the small wood fire my mom and sister started in the same field. If that’s not fresh I don’t know what is. For lunch we had our papa with a spicy salad made from green onions, lemon, and rocoto the hot pepper of Peru. The papas were all sorts of colors ranging from a deep purple to yellow to red to white. Each one had a distinct taste and texture to accompany its color. We finished by loading up the burros with the full sacks of potatoes and hiking back down to the house. The afternoon rains rolled in and I spent the rest of the day sipping on coffee and reading (I’m attempting War and Peace with the rainy season down time I now enjoy…). That is a glimpse at the new schedule for the vacation months.
I am still in the midst of my healthy homes project so some parts of the day are spent coordinating with the health post or going on house visits. Once a week or so we have a charla, or session, on the various topics of the project like nutrition and organic fertilizers. The stovetop element of the project, which is the pinnacle, should be finished by the beginning of March. So when I’m not enjoying the papa harvesting and grazing the cows I am working on that project. The group seems to be enjoying the topics and my oddly eccentric way of demonstrating why nutrition is important and how to compost. Seem to would be the important phrase in that thought. I’m glad it is working out and the grant money just came back from D.C., so thanks to all of you for paying your taxes!
We (Alex and myself) just visited an informal recycling “center” (really just a plot of land with mounds of crushed plastic bottles) an hour or so away that is willing to buy our recycling and will even come up the mountain and get it. Hopefully we will be able to organize our communities and the schools when they come back in session to start a recycling project that will keep things clean and generate a small income for the participants. Thoughts for the future…
Other than that, things have been going well. I am still truly enjoying this awesome experience and can’t believe that I only have 10 months left. So, after completing well over half of my service, I have come to learn and love the culture of Peru, specifically the indigenous highlands I have made my home for the last 17 months. This life seems so normal for me now, despite the lack of showers, food diversity, constant connection to the internet (iPhones haven’t caught on quite yet) and putting English on the back burner. I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Thanks to all those who continue to keep in touch, it’s always nice to receive an email/message/letter/other form of communication from all of you back home. I will try to keep the blog frequently updated during my last year of service…just don’t hold your breath in between posts - unless you’re really good at holding your breath. I’ll end my rambling here for today. Hope all is well with each and every one of you back home.
Candy is still encouraged….
Cheers,
Peter
11/11/2010
yep. another update.
It’s 7:42 pm and I drank a cup of coffee at 5. This means I can’t go to bed yet, despite the rapidly approaching bedtime (currently between 8:30 and 9:30), so I figured I would sit down to update all of you on my current happenings and shenanigans.
Well where to begin. This past month or more has been filled with good things all around. Treks, projects, festivals, and new people. I’ll begin with the trek.
Alex, myself, and our buddy Will from another department set out on the Santa Cruz trek a few weeks ago in the end of October. After living in Ancash and outside of Huaraz for a year you begin to hear an awful lot about this particular trek. As some of you may know due to my rambling emails and occasional phone calls, Ancash and better said, the Huascaran National Park, receive a great number of tourists and the area is full of exciting outdoor trekking, mountaineering, biking, etc. This particular trek is the Park’s and region’s most popular and is completed by a great number of tourists each year between May and September. We figured after all the good hype we would give it a shot. I mean it’s practically in our backyard. I won’t bore you with small town names and mountain valleys. Lets just say that the trek was amazing and we ran into no one save a group heading in the other direction our last night on the trail. We completed the trek in about 2.5 days passing through the Punta Union towards the end of the second day. The mountain pass sits at 4,750 m high and cuts right through the Andes. It was pretty incredible. I’ll try to post a picture or two. If you want more details I suggest grabbing the nearest Peru guide book and paging through it. All in all it was a great trek passing through native queñual forests, glacial run off rivers, and of course the incredible mountain landscape. The three of us had a great time and it was fun to welcome Will to Ancash after a few months of not seeing him.
Festivals. We had our town festival as well this past month. I made the mistake of buying a guitar (not really the mistake part) and then showing it off to my family, who if you remember from constant blog reading has their own huyano group. So, not knowing the basics of guitar let alone rocking huayno rifts I was thrust into the practice sessions for one night of the festival. I practiced and attempted to learn but after a few jam sessions realized that this might be better suited for next years party and not the one in 4 days. The band agreed, ha. In any event I followed them up as a groupie and drank some of the “delicious” warm sugar cane grain alcohol to stay warm. Campo parties like this are just hard to put into words. You dance, drink, and go buy the occasional fried fish/potato combo when hunger strikes. This plus the huayno music continues for 4 days straight. Not like 4 nights and some rest. 4 days. Straight. I only got to witness the first 2 days this time around because with left for the trek during the parties. Another great time with my community. We also celebrated Halloween this year in Ancash as volunteers. It was a bittersweet weekend as the amazing group of Peru 12 said their goodbyes amidst costumes and beers. We had a pretty epic goodbye party for them, however bittersweet it was.
Projects. “Work” has actually been picking up this last month and I might be forced to stop putting it within sarcastic quotation marks. My PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS prevention program) grant has been approved and we have been pushing forward with that. I think the kids enjoy it, if nothing else because they get to see me talk about sex. We have a few murals planned that should hopefully go up this month and then the big finish on World AIDS day December 1. On top of this I finally got around to starting up and putting in the application for the grant for our healthy homes project. Basically the healthy homes idea is going to incorporate a project focusing on trash management, organic fertilizer like worm composting, bio-gardens, nutrition, hygiene, and at the end of it all the ever coveted improved cooking stoves. You may be asking yourself “how the hell did Peter fall into this one?” Not a bad question. The improved cook tops are focused on in the Health program of Peace Corps, so I knew what they were and had the resources about them. Furthermore, like I mentioned before this type of cook top is coveted…literally…in my area. It is a relatively simple metal cook top with a chimney that is installed on top of an adobe or brick base. It has a great deal of benefits including smoke reduction, more efficient fuel usage (wood), etc. It is also a shiny metal thing that costs about 200 soles. In other words, due to their already existing presence in some home of the area and the shininess factor, people know what they are and want one. Perhaps not for the more efficient fuel usage and less smoke, but because Joe next door has one. Regardless of the motive, they are a hot topic. So, I figured I could build a project focusing on both environment and health issues that revolved around something everyone wants. Thus, the healthy homes idea. We have started the few month process of giving educational sessions on various themes like trash management and organic fertilizers. After all these sessions we will install the cook tops and wrap things up. These two projects coupled with my time at the school are actually keeping my busy and like I said before, allowing me to work. Let’s hope things keep up with minimal setbacks (often a struggle here…)
So there it is. The last few months in review. Nothing outrageous, but a great trip into the woods and the start of a cool project. I apologize if the subtle humor was lacking in today’s post – Its now pretty late into the night (8:30).
Like always, I hope things are going well for all of you back home. Send me updates when you get a chance!
Peter
Well where to begin. This past month or more has been filled with good things all around. Treks, projects, festivals, and new people. I’ll begin with the trek.
Alex, myself, and our buddy Will from another department set out on the Santa Cruz trek a few weeks ago in the end of October. After living in Ancash and outside of Huaraz for a year you begin to hear an awful lot about this particular trek. As some of you may know due to my rambling emails and occasional phone calls, Ancash and better said, the Huascaran National Park, receive a great number of tourists and the area is full of exciting outdoor trekking, mountaineering, biking, etc. This particular trek is the Park’s and region’s most popular and is completed by a great number of tourists each year between May and September. We figured after all the good hype we would give it a shot. I mean it’s practically in our backyard. I won’t bore you with small town names and mountain valleys. Lets just say that the trek was amazing and we ran into no one save a group heading in the other direction our last night on the trail. We completed the trek in about 2.5 days passing through the Punta Union towards the end of the second day. The mountain pass sits at 4,750 m high and cuts right through the Andes. It was pretty incredible. I’ll try to post a picture or two. If you want more details I suggest grabbing the nearest Peru guide book and paging through it. All in all it was a great trek passing through native queñual forests, glacial run off rivers, and of course the incredible mountain landscape. The three of us had a great time and it was fun to welcome Will to Ancash after a few months of not seeing him.
Festivals. We had our town festival as well this past month. I made the mistake of buying a guitar (not really the mistake part) and then showing it off to my family, who if you remember from constant blog reading has their own huyano group. So, not knowing the basics of guitar let alone rocking huayno rifts I was thrust into the practice sessions for one night of the festival. I practiced and attempted to learn but after a few jam sessions realized that this might be better suited for next years party and not the one in 4 days. The band agreed, ha. In any event I followed them up as a groupie and drank some of the “delicious” warm sugar cane grain alcohol to stay warm. Campo parties like this are just hard to put into words. You dance, drink, and go buy the occasional fried fish/potato combo when hunger strikes. This plus the huayno music continues for 4 days straight. Not like 4 nights and some rest. 4 days. Straight. I only got to witness the first 2 days this time around because with left for the trek during the parties. Another great time with my community. We also celebrated Halloween this year in Ancash as volunteers. It was a bittersweet weekend as the amazing group of Peru 12 said their goodbyes amidst costumes and beers. We had a pretty epic goodbye party for them, however bittersweet it was.
Projects. “Work” has actually been picking up this last month and I might be forced to stop putting it within sarcastic quotation marks. My PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS prevention program) grant has been approved and we have been pushing forward with that. I think the kids enjoy it, if nothing else because they get to see me talk about sex. We have a few murals planned that should hopefully go up this month and then the big finish on World AIDS day December 1. On top of this I finally got around to starting up and putting in the application for the grant for our healthy homes project. Basically the healthy homes idea is going to incorporate a project focusing on trash management, organic fertilizer like worm composting, bio-gardens, nutrition, hygiene, and at the end of it all the ever coveted improved cooking stoves. You may be asking yourself “how the hell did Peter fall into this one?” Not a bad question. The improved cook tops are focused on in the Health program of Peace Corps, so I knew what they were and had the resources about them. Furthermore, like I mentioned before this type of cook top is coveted…literally…in my area. It is a relatively simple metal cook top with a chimney that is installed on top of an adobe or brick base. It has a great deal of benefits including smoke reduction, more efficient fuel usage (wood), etc. It is also a shiny metal thing that costs about 200 soles. In other words, due to their already existing presence in some home of the area and the shininess factor, people know what they are and want one. Perhaps not for the more efficient fuel usage and less smoke, but because Joe next door has one. Regardless of the motive, they are a hot topic. So, I figured I could build a project focusing on both environment and health issues that revolved around something everyone wants. Thus, the healthy homes idea. We have started the few month process of giving educational sessions on various themes like trash management and organic fertilizers. After all these sessions we will install the cook tops and wrap things up. These two projects coupled with my time at the school are actually keeping my busy and like I said before, allowing me to work. Let’s hope things keep up with minimal setbacks (often a struggle here…)
So there it is. The last few months in review. Nothing outrageous, but a great trip into the woods and the start of a cool project. I apologize if the subtle humor was lacking in today’s post – Its now pretty late into the night (8:30).
Like always, I hope things are going well for all of you back home. Send me updates when you get a chance!
Peter
10/02/2010
parades and such
Well it’s the end of September and I realized that this month has been fairly blog-less. I can’t think of an interesting anecdote in particular right now [my life in general has become such an anecdote…], so I will revert to the “old school” update of the past month or so.
A few weeks ago I accompanied a delegation from the Huascaran National Park to Lima for a parade. Now here’s a funny little quip about Peru: they absolutely love parades. I mean any sort of civil, religious, or other holiday there are parades. Not just the large cities like Lima and Huaraz but even in my site they prioritize the perfection of their parades over some things like say, latrines. In other words, parades are a big deal and we got invited to be in one. In Lima. I mean that’s like when Maximus and his crew get called up from the provinces to fight in the Coliseum in Rome [that’s Gladiator for those who are still confused]. The special event that called for the parade was the “Day for Cleanup and Citizenship”. Okay, an interesting theme for this environment volunteer and since I have been trying to work more with the park services I figured helping them out with their delegation would be good “face time” and a nice gesture. Plus, it was an all-inclusive trip to Lima: food, transportation, etc.
So we embarked on a night bus Friday for Lima and got in at 5:30 am Saturday. This left us with plenty of time to have a market breakfast feast and get into our costumes. Now the delegation consisted of 5 park guards, two of the engineers [tourism and education], a youth from a volunteer’s site, and us 3 Peace Corps volunteers. The park guards dressed up as, well, park guards. The two engineers dressed up as alpine mountain climbers and boarded a sweet float of a snow-capped mountain. The youth and another park guard dressed up in a bear and deer costume, respectively. So this left the 3 gringo volunteers. What better costume than the traditional regional dress of our communities?! So we got decked out in our traditional garb: hats, colorful skirts [they vetoed my desire to wear one as well], recycled tire sandals, colorful woven belts, vests, the whole nine yards. And this got us to about 9:15 am. So we milled around the city park and watched the other participants get ready. There were floats promoting recycling, the trash collectors of the area, lots of signs, and even a Peruvian scout troop. We milled in such a fashion until we started around 10:30. Before we started, the head of our group informed the 3 of us volunteers that there would be a band following us playing music for us to dance to. “Cool, we get our own band! Oh, you want us to dance huayno music. Ah. Yes, that makes sense. Damn it.” That was a sample of what went through my head. So off we headed dancing huyano [which for me is a combination of skipping and turning in a series of uncoordinated circles] for the next hour or so. It was a blast. We even got complimented by a professional marinera dancing couple, who asked if “we had taken lessons”. Well, most of my formal huayno training [by most I mean all] consists of being dragged into a group of people after a few too many beers in the campo and just trying to keep up with the rest of the folks in my community. So yes, in a way I am “formally” trained. Anywho, we finished the parade and had some lunch to close up the ceremony. A pretty fun(ny) day in Lima. Not what I expected, but that’s what makes life fun. We spent the rest of the day jaunting around Lima before heading back on another night bus.
Nothing helps you recover from two back-to-back night buses like going on a 3-hour day hike culminating in a frigid glacial lake jump. So that’s what I did the next day before heading back up here to site. A beautiful hike and, I repeat, a frigid lake jump was the best way to wrap up a hectic day in Lima.
I guess that turned out to be at least a semi-interesting anecdote. Cool.
In other news we started our HIV/AIDS prevention project the other week with a group of youth at the school. We are aiming for a series of talks regarding sex-ed , especially HIV/AIDS, some murals, and a puppet show. Nothing to exciting but it should be helpful for the kids. This week we [Alex and I] have prepared a pretty cool environment day for our schools with the guys from the park. They are coming up to give some cool presentations about the plants and animals we have, a puppet show [we love puppet shows], and other activities to motivate the kids to appreciate and protect our environment, especially the park. So that should be fun and hopefully run smoothly…fingers crossed. OH YEAH! I can’t believe I almost forgot to add this. At the beginning of the month my host mom told me something incredible: we ran out of potatoes. Yep, that’s right – no more papas until the next harvest. I was blown away. I thought such an event could never happen expect perhaps after a nuclear war. So yeah, this month has been potato free. We have been eating instead a lot of wheat, rice, pasta, and other tubers (!!) and cereals that we harvested. But fear not, the next harvest is supposed to take place in the next week or so and my beloved tubers will be back on the menu…in full force. Well I think that about concludes the excitement that has been the month of September. A year into this. Crazy.
Anywho, like always I hope things are well with each and every one of you. If you are every in the neighborhood don’t hesitate to give me a call!
Cheers,
Peter
A few weeks ago I accompanied a delegation from the Huascaran National Park to Lima for a parade. Now here’s a funny little quip about Peru: they absolutely love parades. I mean any sort of civil, religious, or other holiday there are parades. Not just the large cities like Lima and Huaraz but even in my site they prioritize the perfection of their parades over some things like say, latrines. In other words, parades are a big deal and we got invited to be in one. In Lima. I mean that’s like when Maximus and his crew get called up from the provinces to fight in the Coliseum in Rome [that’s Gladiator for those who are still confused]. The special event that called for the parade was the “Day for Cleanup and Citizenship”. Okay, an interesting theme for this environment volunteer and since I have been trying to work more with the park services I figured helping them out with their delegation would be good “face time” and a nice gesture. Plus, it was an all-inclusive trip to Lima: food, transportation, etc.
So we embarked on a night bus Friday for Lima and got in at 5:30 am Saturday. This left us with plenty of time to have a market breakfast feast and get into our costumes. Now the delegation consisted of 5 park guards, two of the engineers [tourism and education], a youth from a volunteer’s site, and us 3 Peace Corps volunteers. The park guards dressed up as, well, park guards. The two engineers dressed up as alpine mountain climbers and boarded a sweet float of a snow-capped mountain. The youth and another park guard dressed up in a bear and deer costume, respectively. So this left the 3 gringo volunteers. What better costume than the traditional regional dress of our communities?! So we got decked out in our traditional garb: hats, colorful skirts [they vetoed my desire to wear one as well], recycled tire sandals, colorful woven belts, vests, the whole nine yards. And this got us to about 9:15 am. So we milled around the city park and watched the other participants get ready. There were floats promoting recycling, the trash collectors of the area, lots of signs, and even a Peruvian scout troop. We milled in such a fashion until we started around 10:30. Before we started, the head of our group informed the 3 of us volunteers that there would be a band following us playing music for us to dance to. “Cool, we get our own band! Oh, you want us to dance huayno music. Ah. Yes, that makes sense. Damn it.” That was a sample of what went through my head. So off we headed dancing huyano [which for me is a combination of skipping and turning in a series of uncoordinated circles] for the next hour or so. It was a blast. We even got complimented by a professional marinera dancing couple, who asked if “we had taken lessons”. Well, most of my formal huayno training [by most I mean all] consists of being dragged into a group of people after a few too many beers in the campo and just trying to keep up with the rest of the folks in my community. So yes, in a way I am “formally” trained. Anywho, we finished the parade and had some lunch to close up the ceremony. A pretty fun(ny) day in Lima. Not what I expected, but that’s what makes life fun. We spent the rest of the day jaunting around Lima before heading back on another night bus.
Nothing helps you recover from two back-to-back night buses like going on a 3-hour day hike culminating in a frigid glacial lake jump. So that’s what I did the next day before heading back up here to site. A beautiful hike and, I repeat, a frigid lake jump was the best way to wrap up a hectic day in Lima.
I guess that turned out to be at least a semi-interesting anecdote. Cool.
In other news we started our HIV/AIDS prevention project the other week with a group of youth at the school. We are aiming for a series of talks regarding sex-ed , especially HIV/AIDS, some murals, and a puppet show. Nothing to exciting but it should be helpful for the kids. This week we [Alex and I] have prepared a pretty cool environment day for our schools with the guys from the park. They are coming up to give some cool presentations about the plants and animals we have, a puppet show [we love puppet shows], and other activities to motivate the kids to appreciate and protect our environment, especially the park. So that should be fun and hopefully run smoothly…fingers crossed. OH YEAH! I can’t believe I almost forgot to add this. At the beginning of the month my host mom told me something incredible: we ran out of potatoes. Yep, that’s right – no more papas until the next harvest. I was blown away. I thought such an event could never happen expect perhaps after a nuclear war. So yeah, this month has been potato free. We have been eating instead a lot of wheat, rice, pasta, and other tubers (!!) and cereals that we harvested. But fear not, the next harvest is supposed to take place in the next week or so and my beloved tubers will be back on the menu…in full force. Well I think that about concludes the excitement that has been the month of September. A year into this. Crazy.
Anywho, like always I hope things are well with each and every one of you. If you are every in the neighborhood don’t hesitate to give me a call!
Cheers,
Peter
9/05/2010
another phlog!
A random selection of photos from the last few months. Enjoy.
Three great Peace Corps volunteers teaching about trash after a puppet show.
A view of my house and Huascaran (6,768 meters/22,205 feet) .
In the rock forest Hatunmachay in front of the campesino's houses.
The above mentioned rock forest of Hatunmachay.
Cave paintings from around 6000-8000 years old in Hatunmachay rock forest.
Taking the hair off of our freshly killed cuy.
Same as above. Note the blood tripping down the cook top.
The two volunteers and our little brothers at the start of the glacier of Huascaran. 4,800 meters high.
Me and my little host brother at the ice.
Marching with the school and the professors in the Independence Day parade in Yungay.
Harvesting wheat with the family. Donkeys, sticks, and a big black tarp are all you need.
The new baby cow. Taken only a few hours after her birth.
The trash truck right outside my house. Win.
One of the freshly painted trash cans. We have 10 of them now in the community.
Plowing to prepare for the community potato planting.
The potato harvest of the family. Bagged and ready for the market.
Yet another beautiful view of Huascaran. It just never gets old.
9/04/2010
one of the club...
I recently celebrated my birthday here in Peru. My actually birthday was spent with the rest of the environment volunteers during a training event on the coast. My birthday gifts included a really fascinating PowerPoint on northern Peruvian marine life [read with heavy sarcasm], a machete [good/bad idea while given at a bar], a sea lion canine cut out of the washed up beast [don’t worry environmentalists – we found it dead], and plenty of good wishes. However, before I left for the above mentioned training event I celebrated my birthday the good old campo way with my family: cuyes and beer. Nothing unusual, I have enjoyed plenty a guinea pig feast so far and love the little guys. This time however, I offered to step up and prepare the meal...from start to finish.
Yep, I got to kill my first cuy. Now I know this might not be exciting if you are accustomed to killing your own livestock i.e. chickens, pigs, etc. But for this guy it was an experience. I told my mom a few months ago that I needed to learn how to kill/cook cuy so that when I go home and buy them at the pet store [this is only 60% a joke] I could prepare them myself for all of my friends and family. When we planned to have the lunch for my birthday I thought to myself “what a perfect opportunity to master the art of cuy”. So we planned on me helping out with every step of the process. I awoke the morning of my birthday lunch and realized that the day had come to put my jabbering mouth to the test. I figure if I can raise and eat the little guys I should at least have the stomach to prepare one. We started preparing lunch around 9:45, giving a bit of time for breakfast to properly digest.
**I am going to keep this next part real. If you are from PETA or have a weak stomach tough luck, you’re reading this voluntarily**
Some people choose to kill cuy with a very dull rusting knife. I was glad when this option was thrown out for the easier snapping-of-the-neck approach. I hope to attempt the knife version at some point but if can get a little graphic when the “clean cut” ideal turns into a 3 minute struggle. So, we snapped the necks. My mom, as a professional, was able to hold the neck in one hand and use the other to forcefully snap the neck and quickly/painlessly kill our lunch. I’m still an amateur. My mom showed this amateur that the hard adobe ledge of our cook top could double as a cuy smashing station. You simply press the head down really hard until you hear a “snap”. Okay, I was up to bat. My mom killed two in a matter of seconds. I started without the ledge method but quickly moved to it when my strength was only enough to draw blood and whimpering from the cuy. The ledge method wasn’t immediately successful either. I was pressing pretty hard and heard a few “snaps” but the little dude kept squirming about. Finally, with my mom’s guiding hand I was able to find the right spot and complete step one of preparing the cuy. Not as bad as I had thought.
Next, you need to de-hair the critters. This is a pretty simple procedure that includes hot water and lots of plucking. We dipped the freshly killed cuyes into a pot of hot water and began ripping the hair out. It worked surprisingly well. Now, you had to clean and shave the naked cuy. We washed them in our sink/shower/faucet/generic water source and shaved the rest of the hair off with a knife. Next, you had to really clean them…all of them. Meat is such a rare commodity at the dinner table that every scrap is put to use. That means instead of just cutting open and tossing out all the inside goodness you need to spend a half hour cleaning all the nooks and crannies of the intestines and internal organs. After washing out all the feces from the innards we seasoned the meat. We used freshly ground garlic and salt. That’s it. We let them marinate for an hour or so and then threw all the meat into a frying pan until it turned crispy and golden brown.
Alex climbed up the hill for lunch and together with my family we sat down and enjoyed the delicious Andean treat. It turned out superb and now I can transform a PetSmart purchase into a tasty meal. I hope you are all ready for that when I return.
After lunch, my parents, Alex and I shared some beers and I even pulled out the Glenlivet scotch my dad brought from the states for a round of shots. A good campo birthday and a great learning/cultural experience in the preparation of our dear friend: the guinea pig.
I hope all is well with everyone, and that you enjoyed the above. Thanks for reading and feel free to shoot me an email whenever you want.
Cheers,
Peter
Yep, I got to kill my first cuy. Now I know this might not be exciting if you are accustomed to killing your own livestock i.e. chickens, pigs, etc. But for this guy it was an experience. I told my mom a few months ago that I needed to learn how to kill/cook cuy so that when I go home and buy them at the pet store [this is only 60% a joke] I could prepare them myself for all of my friends and family. When we planned to have the lunch for my birthday I thought to myself “what a perfect opportunity to master the art of cuy”. So we planned on me helping out with every step of the process. I awoke the morning of my birthday lunch and realized that the day had come to put my jabbering mouth to the test. I figure if I can raise and eat the little guys I should at least have the stomach to prepare one. We started preparing lunch around 9:45, giving a bit of time for breakfast to properly digest.
**I am going to keep this next part real. If you are from PETA or have a weak stomach tough luck, you’re reading this voluntarily**
Some people choose to kill cuy with a very dull rusting knife. I was glad when this option was thrown out for the easier snapping-of-the-neck approach. I hope to attempt the knife version at some point but if can get a little graphic when the “clean cut” ideal turns into a 3 minute struggle. So, we snapped the necks. My mom, as a professional, was able to hold the neck in one hand and use the other to forcefully snap the neck and quickly/painlessly kill our lunch. I’m still an amateur. My mom showed this amateur that the hard adobe ledge of our cook top could double as a cuy smashing station. You simply press the head down really hard until you hear a “snap”. Okay, I was up to bat. My mom killed two in a matter of seconds. I started without the ledge method but quickly moved to it when my strength was only enough to draw blood and whimpering from the cuy. The ledge method wasn’t immediately successful either. I was pressing pretty hard and heard a few “snaps” but the little dude kept squirming about. Finally, with my mom’s guiding hand I was able to find the right spot and complete step one of preparing the cuy. Not as bad as I had thought.
Next, you need to de-hair the critters. This is a pretty simple procedure that includes hot water and lots of plucking. We dipped the freshly killed cuyes into a pot of hot water and began ripping the hair out. It worked surprisingly well. Now, you had to clean and shave the naked cuy. We washed them in our sink/shower/faucet/generic water source and shaved the rest of the hair off with a knife. Next, you had to really clean them…all of them. Meat is such a rare commodity at the dinner table that every scrap is put to use. That means instead of just cutting open and tossing out all the inside goodness you need to spend a half hour cleaning all the nooks and crannies of the intestines and internal organs. After washing out all the feces from the innards we seasoned the meat. We used freshly ground garlic and salt. That’s it. We let them marinate for an hour or so and then threw all the meat into a frying pan until it turned crispy and golden brown.
Alex climbed up the hill for lunch and together with my family we sat down and enjoyed the delicious Andean treat. It turned out superb and now I can transform a PetSmart purchase into a tasty meal. I hope you are all ready for that when I return.
After lunch, my parents, Alex and I shared some beers and I even pulled out the Glenlivet scotch my dad brought from the states for a round of shots. A good campo birthday and a great learning/cultural experience in the preparation of our dear friend: the guinea pig.
I hope all is well with everyone, and that you enjoyed the above. Thanks for reading and feel free to shoot me an email whenever you want.
Cheers,
Peter
8/16/2010
mas obras!
08-10-2010
Everyone wants to be the mayor. Everyone wants to talk about the mayor’s failures. Everyone wants to paint the side of houses with their preferred mayoral candidate. Election time is upon us here in Peru.
October 3 marks the local elections all over the country and the buzz of who will take the throne come the new year is ragging through all areas. Here in Ancash is no exception. For my small district of Mancos we have 11 mayoral candidates. 11. For an estimated population of about 20,000 people. The political system differs from the DNP/GOP dominated US politics. Each candidate or platform (district, provincial, regional, etc.) usually creates their own party with creative slogans. However, the 11 candidates for our small district in the Andes seem to be campaigning on one of my favorite slogans in Peru: MAS OBRAS, or “more works”.
We (my site mate and fellow volunteer Alex) have gotten into the habit of exhibiting the well-perfected cynical smirk/chuckle when we see every sign and banner promising more public works. (That coupled with an outstanding picture of ever candidate giving an awkward “thumbs up”). Nothing speaks success like a big new water reservoir or a cement soccer field. Now I understand that infrastructure is an important topic especially in developing countries like Peru, and I am not saying we shouldn’t focus on necessary public works like latrines, electricity, and potable water systems. I myself would possibly run a campaign promising more essential public infrastructure. I recently had an enlightening talk with my host-dad however about why candidates might want “more works”. **As a disclaimer I am not implying every politician in the zone is corrupt or focuses on the following process….only a few are.**
So why more works? Why does every alcalde (mayor) want to run on the same agenda? Well for one I do feel that here the people get more excited over a big cement project than a talk about hand washing or new text books for the school. [side note: this theory is furthering my rationalization for a giant cement statue in my likeness for the town square.] So the “MAS OBRAS” slogan will theoretically help you win votes. Okay, I feel you Peruvian mayor, votes are definitely a must for winning. Here’s the good part. My host-dad and I were discussing the whole “mayor thing” after we found out our beloved alcalde was being charged with embezzlement charges. Big shocker right? It’s always the politicians. Anywho, I asked my pops what for, and he told me it was about a scandalous “obra”. How can building stuff for the public be scandalous? Isn’t that a generous act of public service? Well apparently here in Peru when an obra is carried out the mayor receives 10% of the total budget for him and his crew. So lets say the mayor builds a new water system under his term for 30,000 USD. That means he gets 3,000 USD for his own good work to share among his regiadores, cabinet type underlings. Aha! So you mean to tell me that the more obras you do the more money you get. So the mayoral position is paid largely on commission. Well that explains it. But then why isn’t my district scattered with shiny new bridges and such? Now, I don’t want to launch into an anti-corruption tangent so I will let you smart folks think out the rest from here. One legitimate reason is that our district is also fairly small and the yearly budget is not enough to support the “shiny new bridge” theory. Anywho, bottom line is that I now understand why everyone – mayor and people – want MAS OBRAS!
So, with the electoral buzz making its way all over the mountain things have been pretty exciting. You can at least turn all the “weather” and “what’s the US like?” conversations into a heated political debate, and just step back and enjoy. Or you can wander around and make small talk with all the crews of people painting the sides of houses with candidates’ names (no yard signs here). Who knows who will win? My only hope is that they care passionately about the environment and want to help me pick up garbage.
Everyone wants to be the mayor. Everyone wants to talk about the mayor’s failures. Everyone wants to paint the side of houses with their preferred mayoral candidate. Election time is upon us here in Peru.
October 3 marks the local elections all over the country and the buzz of who will take the throne come the new year is ragging through all areas. Here in Ancash is no exception. For my small district of Mancos we have 11 mayoral candidates. 11. For an estimated population of about 20,000 people. The political system differs from the DNP/GOP dominated US politics. Each candidate or platform (district, provincial, regional, etc.) usually creates their own party with creative slogans. However, the 11 candidates for our small district in the Andes seem to be campaigning on one of my favorite slogans in Peru: MAS OBRAS, or “more works”.
We (my site mate and fellow volunteer Alex) have gotten into the habit of exhibiting the well-perfected cynical smirk/chuckle when we see every sign and banner promising more public works. (That coupled with an outstanding picture of ever candidate giving an awkward “thumbs up”). Nothing speaks success like a big new water reservoir or a cement soccer field. Now I understand that infrastructure is an important topic especially in developing countries like Peru, and I am not saying we shouldn’t focus on necessary public works like latrines, electricity, and potable water systems. I myself would possibly run a campaign promising more essential public infrastructure. I recently had an enlightening talk with my host-dad however about why candidates might want “more works”. **As a disclaimer I am not implying every politician in the zone is corrupt or focuses on the following process….only a few are.**
So why more works? Why does every alcalde (mayor) want to run on the same agenda? Well for one I do feel that here the people get more excited over a big cement project than a talk about hand washing or new text books for the school. [side note: this theory is furthering my rationalization for a giant cement statue in my likeness for the town square.] So the “MAS OBRAS” slogan will theoretically help you win votes. Okay, I feel you Peruvian mayor, votes are definitely a must for winning. Here’s the good part. My host-dad and I were discussing the whole “mayor thing” after we found out our beloved alcalde was being charged with embezzlement charges. Big shocker right? It’s always the politicians. Anywho, I asked my pops what for, and he told me it was about a scandalous “obra”. How can building stuff for the public be scandalous? Isn’t that a generous act of public service? Well apparently here in Peru when an obra is carried out the mayor receives 10% of the total budget for him and his crew. So lets say the mayor builds a new water system under his term for 30,000 USD. That means he gets 3,000 USD for his own good work to share among his regiadores, cabinet type underlings. Aha! So you mean to tell me that the more obras you do the more money you get. So the mayoral position is paid largely on commission. Well that explains it. But then why isn’t my district scattered with shiny new bridges and such? Now, I don’t want to launch into an anti-corruption tangent so I will let you smart folks think out the rest from here. One legitimate reason is that our district is also fairly small and the yearly budget is not enough to support the “shiny new bridge” theory. Anywho, bottom line is that I now understand why everyone – mayor and people – want MAS OBRAS!
So, with the electoral buzz making its way all over the mountain things have been pretty exciting. You can at least turn all the “weather” and “what’s the US like?” conversations into a heated political debate, and just step back and enjoy. Or you can wander around and make small talk with all the crews of people painting the sides of houses with candidates’ names (no yard signs here). Who knows who will win? My only hope is that they care passionately about the environment and want to help me pick up garbage.
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