Green Space

Yesterday Matthew and I went on a little adventure. Although I would have been perfectly happy hanging out in the Plaza eating ice cream or going back to the house to write, I am glad that I am here with this curious boy. I get to see so much.

Our walk wasn´t extremely exciting or anything (at least not in comparison to what we´ve been doing...), but it was nice to see part of Oropesa that we had somehow missed. We just headed up a street that runs along the side of the cathedral and kept going up and up and up. First, we came upon yet another church. We peeked through the doors and saw some of the giant figures that are part of the pre-Easter procession. It was creepy. Then, we found a field which apparently seems designated for trash dumping, we´re not really sure what else. Yes, it´s garbage, but I love all the colors of these discarded school notebooks. Then up and up and up farther on a rocky road full of animal poo to a beautiful green space and a stream.

I was scared, like always. I don´t know why. I am always concerned about space, especially invading it. But everything was beautiful. Then we saw all these sheep and goats (coming down from grazing all day?)! A man followed them with a giant bundle of sticks on his back and a whip in his hand. He was so friendly! I ws afraid he only knew Quechua, but he greeted us and said it was nice that we were taking a walk. He continued on down (the sheep jumped over the stream like they were in a Serta mattress commercial!) and Matthew wanted to keep going up to see what else was there, but then a herd of noisy cattle started down from another path and that made me more nervous. Up farther in another part of the hills, we could see another group of animals heading down, too.

Continuing would have been fine, I´m sure, but we headed back down to the city safely positioned between the sheep/goat herd and the cattle, dodging poop the whole way.

The view in front of me (man with sticks, sheep, goats, and a few dogs)

The view behind me (Matthew and noisy cows)

P.S. Matthew found a real live jaw bone

making belts and washing clothes

I have an action-packed blog post for everyone, with wow factors and everything. I will start right off with something that few will believe. I just finished washing my clothes by hand. Amazing right? Why I washed my clothes by hand will remain a mystery until later.

So this past weekend Sara and I went on a different sort of adventure that was lacking dangerous hikes and climbs. We learned how to weave our own belts in a traditional Andean style! This adventure started bright and early Saturday at 6.40am. We arrived in Cusco at around 8 and started our belt crafing fun.

I have made a weaving before, but the style and technique used here is truly amazing. Everything is done by hand, from the spinning of the alpaca yarn to the building of the hand loom, to the weaving itself. The loom was made by pounding sticks into the ground like tent stakes, then lashing another stick across it to form a little box (refer to photo). Then two people sit facing each other on opposite ends of the box and throw yarn under and over the box to form a figure 8 with the yarn. They then readied the pattern for us by arranging 4 sections of pull cords (in our case bamboo) that must be pulled to seperate the top and bottom sections of yarn. I memorized my pattern almost instantly and my instructor kept joking that he was going to leave because he did not need to be there anymore. Sara on the other hand had a bit of trouble remembering her pattern (its 4-3-2-1-4-1-2-3-4, for those who might want to try and remember it for her). She kept thinking they were making fun of her in Quecha for not being able to get it, I think they were just talking about how amazing I was doing on mine, which might not be too far from the truth because they kepts stroking my belt and saying "Muy Bien" (very good).

To make the belts, we had to sit on the ground in the hot mid-day sun for four hours. We had a cactus to shade us until about 2 hours into the weaving when suddenly an umbrella magically appeared for Sara and a sign was placed next to me for some shade. We had rope tied around our waist with the belts pinned to them and the other end of the loom was a lashed stick. I got to sit on a nicely crafted slab of wood, while Sara sat on a tarp.

After four of so hours of weaving (and only finishing about 10 inches of belt) we backed up our weaving and headed to my new favorite place-Cafe Punchay, a German-owned cafe that sells massive waffles covered with sugery milk cream (I love sugery milk cream) and some really good coffee. We met our Colorado friend, Charlie, for some after-weaving breakfast/lunch. I say breakfast/lunch and not brunch because Charlie and I ate two full meals, not a mix of one. We both had a nice sandwich and a huge waffle. The newest addition to this lovely restruant is a new, very clean, kitten. This kitten was crazy and kept running around attacking anything that moved. Then it got a little too excited and released its bowels all over my shirt and crotch region of my pants. The kind barista took me to the bathroom and gave me a scrub down, both shirt and pants! I did´t even get a discount for getting shat on, but I love the sugery milk cream so much I will go back anyway.

So I am sure some have now guessed why I did some hand scrubbing on my clothes. Sundays are usually laundry days, but very few people have washers, and none have driers. Let me tell you something, washing clothes by hand in the hot sun is no easy task, scrub scrub scrub, rinse, scrub, rinse and hang. I hate it, but it saves me money, and makes me more thankful for what I have and what I would expect of someone to wash my clothes for me for just 8 soles ($2.70ish) Also once I wash my clothes I can see how brown the water turns and know how dirty they really are (something you never see using a machine).

Apparently, I am some sort of sight to behold because not only can I wash my own clothes, I can also wield a needle and thread well enough to repair some holes (which I guess is not a common male task, though most of the men here can weave and knit like no one´s buiness).

So there you have it, the action-packed blog post of weaving belts, cleaning clothes, and a cat that shat.

A Poem, and English Lessons

A Poem

The chickens are dead, but there are still flies

on the ceiling, in the wind chimes, sitting

next to my toothbrush buzzing in the morning

begging to go out the closed window.

I stretch in my bed like the animal

I tell the children I´m not. At school, they tug

on my hair, smooth their hands over my white

arms, and pull me to their classroom.

It´s a room with a dusty wooden floor,

rolls of colored paper, and a broken

cash register. They fight over the play

money, jump on the desks laughing,

and swing from the door. After they find

the ball behind the teacher´s desk and run

outside, only three remain

coloring pictures of Jesus.

I haven´t written a poem in a long time, but there´s some practice and a little insight into our volunteering at a small public school in Oropesa. It´s always a surprise how the days will go and what I learn from the children. Classroom control is usually non-existant and I feel like many times I just have to trick the children into being interested in learning. I have found that children of all ages love songs, whether it´s "Head-Shoulders-Knees-and-Toes" (which doubles as a nice little English lesson) or "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." I´m with a different group of students each day, ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade, sometimes teaching art or English, sometimes just helping out as I am able. Always interesting. Always a challenge. Two hours a day is definitely plenty for me.

and English Lessons

As Matthew said, I also started teaching Engish lessons, which is a completely different experience than volunteering at school. (And as I´m writing this, about 8 sixth-graders are asking me questions about whether I can help them with their homework and about these private lessons...so we may have more customers...) I don´t want to speak too soon, but I really enjoy the private lessons because the students are eager to learn and don´t take much prompting to copy down words, etc. Yesterday the two girls were thrilled to learn about colors, and maybe they were more eager to finish the coloring sheet I made for them, but there was definitely some enthusiasm in the room. Loved it. Above is a photo of the finished project. I took the song from an Internet website (thanks Diane!) and drew some lovely little pictures (ha!). Unfortunately, there are no plums  or cherries here, but the song still works...if only it included pink!

and an afterthought
Today is Earth Day, and we celebrated properly at school. Each class (or, each teacher) made one or two posters and we paraded around Oropesa chanting pro-earth slogans. (This is after I dragged two kids out of the classroom because they were hiding under the desks while the entire school was gathering on the playground.) We made it down the main drag, stopping traffic because of so many people walking in the road. It was like an organized event, sort of. There were police officers wearing giant costume heads, which the kids loved. The teachers hung up many of the posters on the walls around the main square.

Sounds like a good idea, but it was tainted with kids buying all sorts of snacks at the shops along the way and throwing the garbage on the ground, not to mention the typical rough-housing/smacking/punching/throwing each other down to the ground just because behavior. Unlike Monday, though, I didn´t find anyone crying because she tore off most of her fingernail. phew. I did scold the same kid three times for throwing his popsicle wrapper on the ground today of all days, when we´re celebrating the earth. Finally, he found a garbage can. I´m trying to remember that I´m not here to fix anything. I´m here to support the teachers and the students, not start a revolution. Happy e.day...wherever you are.

Music Stuffs

Going to Cusco means getting to enjoy a beautiful city with an incredible history and amazing architecture. It also means being bombarded by people who want to sell something-a massage ("ma-sa-HAY") for weary trekers, jewelry, belts, hats, and artwork. I´ve become sort of used to walking around repeating "no gracias, no gracias" over and over (and over and over...).

HOWEVER, it´s a different story with Elias Vargas. We met Elias, the host dad to our friend Charlie, when Matthew and I spent  the night before leaving for our Machu Picchu trek. (and again at  the amazing birthday party I wrote about a bit ago). He was incredibly hospitable, offering us coca tea and showing us around his workshop.

He and his brothers make beautiful instruments, including Quenas (flutes), pan pipes, and small guitars. He makes them from wood, by hand. The guitars are amazing, as they are carved from a single piece of wood. Elias eventually would like to sell his instruments in a shop, or have a website, but as of now sells them at the plaza in downtown Cusco. I hate imagining the rejection he faces each day, as not every traveler is a musican and many just want to walk down the street in peace.

 Elias´ brother-in-law is also a talented artist, making drawings and paintings in charcoal, pen, oil, and watercolors of musicans, the streets of Cusco, people in traditional dress, and alpacas. Matthew and I have already made a few purchases from Elias, a talented musican and just a very kind man in general. If you´re interested in supporting his work, Matthew and I are happy to bring or send the instruments home to the states. Let us know if you´d like any more information or photos.

 

An old photo of Elias with a piece of wood before starting to carve it into a guitar,

and early stages of the guitar process

A photo of a block of wood that he hasn´t begun, with a guitar-in-progress sitting on top of it.

(Finished product in first photo.Each guitar is a little different, some painted, some burned, all beautiful.)

This is what the Quenas look like. Some have actual condor bones for the mouthpiece.

**I tried 3 times to upload a video of the talented Elias playing both the pan pipes and guitar. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of space for the video before he finished the song. Trust me, the finale was amazing. Will try on another computer another day...**

The Country Life

We are now all recovered from days of celebration and long hikes to ancient ruins. It has been a couple of weeks since our adventure to Machupicchu, our hiking friends have moved on to other adventures while we have stayed behind in the small, semi-isolated town of Oropesa. We are now one and a half weeks into straight volunteering at the school, with only a few lapsed trips to Cusco. Adapting to rural (I know thats a hard word to pronounce but you can do it) life can be a challenge at times and never fails to surprise.

 

Now looking back on my JV year, I realize my ideas of simplicity were a joke. I tried to shorten my shower time to less than 10 minutes everyday, with hot water. I only rode my bike for non-work related activites, and spent very little money, only visiting the local watering hole (coffee shop) once or twice a week. And only sent about 300 text messages a week, give or take.We also tried to buy local food.

 

Here in Oropesa if I want to set up a meeting with friends, it must be prearranged, as cell phones generally do not exist. Looking back on life, it´s really hard for me to remember the days of pre-arranged meetings. Maybe those were the days of elementary school when I walked to my friends house and see if he was around to play, or used a can on a sting. Our showers are with only cold water and are always less than 10 minutes. There is no coffee here, and all meals must be prepared with food grown nearby the town, within walking distance (mind you this is walking distance for we fit folk of South America). Peru also has a huge advantage, with soils and climates that can grow about anything. We do not have bikes and our cell phone is mostly used as a kinda-fancy clock. What is really the amazing thing of this rural lifestyle is that its not a simple life, its just life, and I enjoy the peacefulness of it. I challenge everyone to take just one evening, shower with cold water, make a simple meal, light the house with a candle, and turn the power off on American life.

 

Similar story of a different kind. Sara has started teaching some English classes, leaving me along to dwindle my time. Yesterday, I braved the plaza of Oropesa and started to draw the buildings surrounding me. I was off to a good start, semi-alone to make some progress with my drawing. Then, two Peruvians from a ways southwest of here were visiting Oropesa to buy bread and sat their items next to me to take some photos. I was listening to my ipod, in the drawing zone, until I realized I was being asked to have my photo taken with each of the travelers (I should have said for one sol). They left town, leaving me with a little breathing room again. Then I was swarmed by kids looking over my shoulder asking me questions about my drawing, where I am from, how much my ipod cost. I respond, I am from Illinois, do you know Illinois, they say no, Do you know Chicago? they say no, Do you know Obama, they say no, Do you know of the United States, they say no. I am surprised and end up saying I am from north of here. I never thought I would be living in a town with residents who have never heard of the United States. By the time I completed my drawing, kids were asking me for my signature.

 

 

On a completely seperate note, Check out this mustache. Its pretty wicked I think.

Peru: Party Central

From our limited experience, I have come to the solid conclusion that Peuvians know how to throw good parties.

Matthew and I went to our friend Charlie´s host family´s house the other night to celebrate the 18th birthday of his Peruvian brother Antony. We´ve learned that arriving early or on time is not usually necessary, as things almost always begin late here (bus rides, classes at school, parties...). When we got there an hour "late," only a few people had arrived and we were sitting around talking until the birthday boy arrived with a crate of beer and a group of friends. We all moved to Charlie´s room, which had been transformed into a full-out dance club, complete with sound system, disco ball, strobe light, and another series of flashing colored lights. Intense you think? Migraine is what I was thinking, but survived just fine.

His aunt came in serving a platter full of pisco sours, the famous Peruvian drink that is pure deliciousness. We listened to two heart-felt toasts from his aunt and uncle before toasting and getting the dancing underway. No more shy stuff from me! I tried to be patient for people to start dancing and once it started, there was no stopping me. However, I must point out that a lovely 4-year-old sobrina (niece/goddaughter) out-danced me for sure. She went strong for hours, finally konked out around 11:30 or 12, but when someone woke her for bed, she was back on the dance floor!

Antony´s aunt was great with keeping everyone stocked up with piscos and other drinks. We had a round of pork/tamale/bread dinner, more dancing, sang happy birthday (and Antony´s friends tried to smash his face in the cake...is this a Peruvian tradition? see photo 1), danced, and finally gave up to go home around 12:30. ALSO, finally got a group photo of the 5 Machu Picchu trekers (Paria, Charlie squatting, Rhi, Matthew, and me). Made it to bed around 1 or 1:15, but I sure felt that party all day yesterday, even with an hour-long nap in the afternoon! What is this? Am I getting old??! oye.

Machupicchu: Photos!!

Sara made it to Huaynapicchu and is now enjoying the views with some stranger!

The postcard photo. Huaynapicchu is the mountain in the back right. The city is devided by the green series of plazas. To our right (out of frame) is steep terracing that runs the whole height of the site.

This one is of Sara huffing her way up Huaynapicchu, she is so close to the top!

An example of Incan genius. One solid rock to the right with stone steps laid into the carved part. They planed the entire site around the lay of the land.

Sara´s friends eating at the Machupicchu Buffett

Thinking about how to get down from her. (you cannot see it now, but I am wearing a shirt with Obama´s face on it. It was nice of him to take time off to visit MP with us. I got some comments about the shirt as well)

A Incan window. It is trapazoidal to give it extra strength to hold up to the frequent earthquakes in the area.

Sara living on the edge. Below that step, which is a 600 year old rock jutting out of a wall, is a 1000m or so drop.

Incan terracing, this is an example of an incan neighborhood. notice the stonework is a little more rough.

On top on Huaynapicchu! That zig-zagging road to the left is the bus path to MP. All of MP is on the right.

An example of finer Incan stonework, notice the window shape.

To the midright of this photo is the temple of the sun. It is crafted with quartz in the finest stonework found at MP. What is impressive is if the stones are quartz, they needed to find other stones that were stronger than quartz to carve them. The temple is complete with a basement and series of underground tunnels. There is also a finely carved alter below.

Machupicchu: The Journey to the Top and Back Home

Sara described the easy steps to get to Aguas Calietes, which was so thrilling it needed its own post. It was the kind of adventure when the truths are actually more exciting than lies. The journey to the top of Machupicchu is no different. Truly a breathtaking adventure.

First, some background info.
One: Machupicchu is not only the name of the famous site of the Incans "lost city" but also the name of the mountain on which it rests. "Machu" means "old." Huaynapicchu is the name of the mountain above Machupicchu and "Huayna" means "young."
Two: The "lost city" was never actually lost. When Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor, rediscovered the site in 1911, he found two families living there. What happened to these two families after excavation of the site, I have no idea. Even though the site is only 80K from Cusco, the Incan capital, it was never dicovered by the Spanish, and that is what makes it famous. There is a whole Incan city undefiled by Spanish hands! (When the Spanish discovered an Incan site they always destroyed any sign of paganism and stole the stones to build their own cathedrals and palaces, thus placing themselves above any local tradition and forcing Catholicism upon any survivors.)
Three: There are only two ways to get to the top of Machupicchu; take a bus for 21 soles or walk up a steep, twisting stone stairway. If Huaynapicchu is on your list, like it was ours, you must leave early in the morning to be sure you are one of the first to arrive because only 400 people are allowed to make the climb each day. Only half of the 400 are allowed to make the climb at 10am (once the clouds have cleared) which is the time our group was aiming for. So to get to Huaynapicchu you must leave at about 4am (before the buses start running) and take the stiff uphill climb to Machupicchu, and if you happen to go in April before the mass hordes of tourist arrive, you may be hiking in the rain, up slippery stone stairs, but you will be rewarded with amazing sites. We have photos to come to show what the ruins look likearound 6am when the site opens. (An interesting side note- early in the morning, the average age of visitors to Machupicchu was probably around 27. Later in the day, after the busses let off loads of retired Americans and Europeans, the average age was probably around 57-60, and these old people said multiple times "everyone here sure does look tired..." )

Why we were tired:
We (I) really wanted to see Huaynapicchu, so our group left our hostal at 4am with a few food rations and some water, I had some expired yogurt that was actually quite tasty. We started climbing up a zigzaging stoneway that periodically crossed the road made for the not-so-fit tourist who would arrive latter in the day. About three minutes into the hike it started to rain. After about an hour and half we made it to the top of the mountain greeted by a few other trekkers and a huge luxury buffet that sold 90 sole lunches (no thanks). Sara and I entered the park as visitors 188 and 189 , and were granted our 10am ticket into Huaynapicchu. At this point we had a nice view of the inside of a cloud with a visibilty of about 20 feet. We walked around lost for a while, taking lots of cloudy photos and eavesdropping on guides until about 9.30 when the clouds rolled out and we made our way to the entrance of Huaynapicchu. At the entrance is a sign that says this hike is only for the fit. Not five minutes after the start of our hike to Huaynapicchu (the mountain that rises above MP) we were greeted by return hikers, breating hard and sweating a lot with disgruntaled looks on their faces. They were upset because there was nothing but the interior view on a cloud greeting them at the top of HP. We set off at a slow pace stuck behing an older couple, but soon broke free and within 30 minutes (for me) were granted with pristine views of MP below. It was a stiff climb to the top and we have some pictures that might make some parents squeemish (ahem...Mitzi (we can include a parental warning)). The climb included some ladder climbing, tunneling, cliff-hopping, and lots of stair climbing, some of which were just rocks jutting out from a wall with a 1000m drop below. The climb down was a breeze as that gravity did much of the work.

Since much of our time in MP was filled with clouds, I made Sara walk the whole thing with me again so I could get better pictures. Another fact I should mention is MP does not have a bathroom on site...you have to walk quite a ways to find it through the maze-like architecture of MP. By the time we climbed down and walked around MP again it was near 2pm. We had been up since 4. 10 hours without a bathroom. I made Sara climb to the hut of the caretaker (where people can get the famous postcard photo) and afterwards she had to sprint to find the bathroom. She made it, but just barely because there was a bus in the way, getting ready to take the lazies down the mountain.

I stayed a bit longer in the ruins getting some photos then met Sara, Rhi and Paria outside the ruins. (This is when the new group was arriving, and made the comments about us looking really tired.) We choose to take the trail back down and avoid the 21 sole ride down the mountain. As we were marching down, some sprinting Peruvians passed us shouting that they were Incans. I believe they could beat the busses down the side of the mountain.

The next couple hours were filled with rest, as we had to wake up early the next day to start our hike back home. The trek home was (thankfully) all-in-all uneventfull because it was daylight. We could see a trail that ran along the train tracks as well as foot bridges that crossed the most dangerous parts of our journey. We then took an alternate route back where we crossed the remains of a landslide and arrived at the cable car in just four hours of walking. We passed some of my favorite trees along the way, including coffee trees (ít´s too bad I didn´t have any peppermint creamer with me), coca trees, and avacado trees. The large landslide we had climbed over the first day had been cleared and the river was a lot lower.

This was an adventure of a lifetime that I will probably never forget. It was exhausting, spiritual, and rewarding.

Due to my amazing photography skills, we are going to make a separate post filled with photos that will blow your mind. Stay tuned.

Machu Picchu: The Journey to Aguas Calientes

We´re splitting up the giant post...here´s the first part....

You can read the "plan" for our trip sin guia (without a guide) in the last post. Our main goal for Wednesday: Travel with Charlie, Rhi, and Paria (three other travelers we met at our hostel in Cusco) and arrive in Aguas Calientes and buy our Machu Picchu entrance tickets before the office closed, reportedly at 10 p.m.

Wednesday Charlie, Matthew and I caught a taxi to what turned out to be the wrong bus terminal (apparently, there are three in Cusco). After a confusing hour, we ended up at the other terminal and met Rhi, who told us to run because the bus was about to leave and was waiting on us. Finally, we were on the road, at the very back of the bus, for a 5+ hour trip to Santa Maria. Matthew was all very excited about the scenery (see photo above), while I was excited about trying to sleep and trying not to get sick from the motion/bumps.

When we finally made it, we crowded into a car for about 2 more hours of riding along the mountain side. We passed many exhausted walkers, some of whom looked toward the car longingly. One girl was panting and told us that we were "so f-ing lucky" that we weren´t walking, as her friend asked our driver for directions. We continued around the curves, exiting at one point to walk over a muddy area that the car wouldn´t make it through with all our weight (and hoping the driver wouldn´t reverse and drive away with all our stuff), stopping at one point so the driver could cover his engine with plastic to protect it from the water we had to drive through (see photo above, we´re about to drive through that river), and stopping at another to pick up a man who got in the trunk. The driver had agreed to take us to Santa Teresa, however stopped short, along with many other parked vehicles, and told us that´s as far as he went. We were confused, and asked if he was sure, but eventually got out, paid, and started walking.

We had only been on the road for a few minutes before seeing a huge crowd of people, a bulldozer, and a landslide. Great. Luckily, we had to wait only a few more minutes before it was cleared enough to cross to the other side! There was a van whose driver was eager to take passengers the rest of the way to Santa Teresa, so we piled in. Thinking we had to walk the rest of the way to Aguas Calientes, we exited and asked which way, and the driver told us he would take us farther for a little more money. Worried about time, we all were ready for the ride. The driver took us as far as the cable-car river crossing.

Dusk was encroaching and we hurried down to the cable car, laughed at what we were doing, snapped a few photos, and crossed the river. I was happy for the two guys on each side of the river who did the heavy pulling for us. The rest of the journey was up to us, walking walking walking.

What was described in our travel book as a two-hour walk took almost five, due to the combination of a detour took because of another land slide, the dark (and my weak flashlight), a consistent rain, and our path, which consisted primarily of train tracks. Although it seemed like we were part of the Amazing Race, trying to get to Aguas Calientes before 10, competing with a group of Japanese travelers who also hoped to arrive in time to buy tickets, I was relieved to be accompanied by the other walkers. We  figured out the path together, and one man even lent Matthew his headlamp when Matthew´s flashlight died. It was a long walk highlighted with events like my walking into a big piece of metal and scraping my leg and crossing over a rushing river via a railroad bridge (see how scary it is even during the day...and notice that foot bridge to the left we somehow missed in the dark). However, no serious injuries (my leg is ok) and we arrived exhausted, of course after the office was closed. I paid 15 soles for pringles, juice, and gatorade at the first shop we saw, we found a hostel and crashed for the night. Enough adventure to last a little while, and this was just what we had to do to get to Aguas Calientes.

An Accidental Party

I am sacrificing my turn to write about Machu Picchu to write about our holy week. (We are leaving for Machu Pichhu on Wednesday, doing a 7 hour hike, followed by a 2 hour hike, staying in Machu Picchu pueblo, then hiking another 2 hours arriving in Michu Picchu at 5am....if all goes well, we have descided not to take a guide, its kinda like a treasure hunt and it shouldn´t be that hard...I have a compass) Now on to the story.

Ahhh Semana Santa, a fine week with a miraculous ending.

We started the week in Cusco watching the procession of Senór de los Temblores. Then, enjoyed the 12-dish lunch on Good Friday. On Easter, after having missed mass because we were sleeping at 2am (when mass was) and because we never heard the bells ring (The church here rings the bells when mass is to begin, which is all fine except we do not always know when mass is.) we decided to hike up a very large hill that has a church as its crown. We started walking and about halfway up we heard the church bells from the cathedral below, but we continued our march uphill. As we got a bit closer we started hearing music and the sounds of merry people. We were then greeted by a big gang of people who were playing music and drinking, a lot. After walking around the church a bit, I was offered some beer and accepted. Then I was offered another 675ml bottle, and accepted, then I was given another...then Sara and I were dancing to a song about some gringos. Sara was offered some Chicha (fermented corn beer which is a beverage made by the Incans). It taste like a fruit beer.

I have never spoken so much Spanish in my life. We were asked all kinds of questions, like where we are from, what our jobs where, and eventually we were asked to become private English teachers and were invited to the house of the host. We danced down the mountain side (led by the musicians), paraded with a band to the town center and back to a large house where 60+ crates of beer (12 bottles in each), another band, and a marvelous meal awaited us.

 

Sara was then asked to dance about 50 times and I got a tour of the house and learned how they make bread, which is a separate story all together. Basically it was an Easter experience like I have never had before. One which did not include any eggs or a rabbit and ended with kids at school today asking if I drank yesterday. I said "NO, now do your work."

photos added April 11

Edit

Just to let you know... there´s a new photo on the "Itinerary" post...check out this bread and try not to be too jealous.
Happy Easter Weekend,
Sara

12 Plates

¡Estoy llena! ("I am full!")
This morning as I walked to the kitchen to make breakfast, our landlady invited Matthew and me to lunch at her house to celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week). I graciously accepted, as it´s nice to be included in things here and I wasn´t exactly looking forward to going back to the restaurant that served tongue Wednesday.

After accepting the invitation, I bought Quaker (pronounced  "quacker" here) from her to attempt to master what so many other women here can make into a delicious brakfast. Yesterday was a bust, resulting in whitish water with floating cinnamon flakes. Not my best work, but today´s attempt resulted in nearly 4 cups of deliciousness to accompany the famous Oropesa bread and tea. I filled up on breakfast, took an icy shower, and tried to become presentable for whatever this lunch involved...I could hear lots of people downstairs and, as usual, didn´t know what we were getting into.

We arrived and started talking (or trying to speak in Spanish...) about the Holy Week traditions here and differences in the celebrations in Peru and the U.S. I told about missing the Temblores procession in Oropesa because we went to the one in Cusco, and also said I had never heard about the 12 Plate meal, in honor of the 12 apostles. I thought we had missed it last night while we were in Cusco, but little did I know that was what we were celebrating at lunch! How exciting!

Originally, I thought that a 12 plate meal meant a buffett-style dinner, with 12 different dishes. I knew about half were sweets/desserts, and the rest were salads, rice, and the like. I was horribly, horribly wrong. We were about to be served a 12-COURSE meal! I felt pretty good through the first five, but after dish number six, I was feeling nervous. Luckily, we didn´t go on and just left it at a six-course meal with the seventh (a cookie) to go.

Here´s the menu:
1. Cream of Corn Soup
2. Potato (?) Soup
3. Some sort of seafood soup, including crunchy fish eggs
4. Fried trout, salad, potato
5. Peaches in juice
6. Arroz con leche (sweet rice made with milk and cinnamon)
7. Empanada (cookie pictured above)

We washed everything down with Inka Kola. Apparently there was another "segundo" ("main dish" like number 4) planned, but everyone basically gave up. I went back upstairs and took a two hour nap to recover. Like Thanksgiving, but not really at all.

Photo added April 3

Solo un chiste (only a joke)

Yesterday was April fools day...and I could not resist the chance to share a bit of my humor.

Everything in the message is true, but Sara did not hurt her ankle in any way and I am not knitting, though I do want to learn for the sake of knowing how to make a hat. The textile arts here are phenomenal.

Our house is lovely. I really enjoy the inside/outside aspects of the architecture here. Though the shower window is a bit low for me, it is also small, so no problems there. And taking a shower requires lots of psyching up because the water is so cold. Most of the time I get myself psyched up to take a shower, get ready, take a deep breath and think...I don´t really smell that bad...I can wait till the morning.

So thought I would let everyone know, everything is A-ok in Peru. You can breathe a little easier now.

Matthew

What a Day

Being April fool´s, I thought I would do an April Fool´s post, but then I thought I am currently living a life where anything is possible and how can you make up a post on a life where anything can happen at any given moment. For example, right now I am sitting at a computer surrounded by 9 other computer users and I am wearing my pajamas with a Chullo. I am wearing pajamas because it has been raining for the last 3 days and Sara and I went to Cusco and came back soaked (after having been offered cocain and some other drugs several times).

I could also tell stories about how all the sidewalks are on different levels and sometime have gapeing holes in them and in the rain its three times as bad to walk on because the stones are slippery. Sara and I were walking along such a sidewalk with holes, Sara in her not so sturdy Toms shoes, and Sara slipped in a hole hurting her ankle fairly badly, I hope she is doing better by Tuesday because that is the day we leave for our jungle trek to Machu Picchu (we have been confirmed!!) I do not think she will have to put her travelers insurance to use, but she is now soaking her foot in hot water.

Our living situation is interesting as well. We live above a shop in a small rural town. We are renting a room and the only way to get to the room is to walk along an outdoor balcony, then into our room. We also have access to another room that has been converted into a kitchen and a bathroom that has a sink a toilet and a shower head on the wall but no physical shower. We just shower right in front of the toilet. There is a window in the bathroom as well which I, being taller than the average Peruvian, have to be mindfull of when I walk by so I do not glimpse anyone inside. 

Other news, I have started knitting a hat and my artistic skills are flowing, I am pretty good. Wheather or not it will hold water, I do not know.

Now I must return home to drink some Coca tea and eat some coca chocolates. It helps me cope with all the rain.

So you see, it is hard to pick out what is real and what could be just a figment of my imagination.