Cuzco part 2

This post will be short, because its finals week! I've been busy preparing a presentation on Peruvian food to be presented on Thursday (wish me luck!) I can't believe it is the final week of the program, so much has happened, and it still feels like I just got here. During the second week of our Cuzco trip, we spent a few days visiting various Incan ruins near Cuzco, including Machu Picchu. The visits were all sort of rushed, which was a bummer, but I think I'll visit a lot of the same things with Annie next week when we go back to Cuzco. For now, here are a few photos of some of the ruins/Machu Picchu!

After visiting Machu Picchu, we had a free day before going to Paru Paru and Parque de la Papa. We had a homestay for three nights with quechua-speaking families in a rural village. It was a lot of fun, although we were all cold most of the time because we were not told what to wear! We helped harvest potatoes, went for a long hike, and participated in a festival on the third day (complete with a llama sacrifice). It was a whirlwind of experiences, and very difficult to summarize, so I'll try to write more about it at a later time. For now, here are a few photos:

The house we stayed in

One of our dinners

Me in "traditional"garb...haha! Okay, that's all i have time for now! Love, Phoebe

Cuzco Trip part 1

Wow. This is going to be a difficult post to write, simply because so much has happened in the past two weeks! I'll start by saying that our trip to Cuzco was amazing. We not only went to Machu Picchu and other Inkan Ruins, we drove through mountains, hiked through the jungle, saw the most amazing night sky I'll probably ever see, ate potatoes, and oof, so much more!

Our trip began with a few nights in Andahuaylillas, which is a pretty small town in the mountains. We spent the first day relaxing and acclimating to the altitude. The next day we visited a few old churches, from the days of Spanish conquest. We couldn't really take pictures inside, but the images on the walls were beautifully painted. Here's a picture of one that's being restored.

The next day, a group of us decided to climb one of the nearby mountains before we moved on to Ocongate. We got up pretty early in the morning and managed to hike pretty high up, stopping a few times along the way for breakfast and photo ops. Here is a photo of the mountain we hiked:

We climbed all the way to the letters, here's the view:

After spending one night in Ocongate, we separated into two groups. My group went to Quincemil, which is over the mountains in the high jungle. We spent the day driving, stopping for a few hours in a mountain village learning how to use a knitting machine, loom, how to throw a pot, and then got to paint them! Unfortunately, my camera's batteries died pretty early in the day, and I could not find batteries ANYWHERE! that worked. During our stay in Quincemil, we conducted a few interviews with people in the town about the impact of the new highway (the Interoceanica) that runs from Peru into Brazil. The next morning, we left for a "four-hour hike" in the jungle, to go see an Artesinal Gold Mining area. I wrote that in quotes because, due to the conditions of our terrain, we were hiking for seven hours in total. Our trail was extremely muddy and by the time we got to the mine, our feet were weighed down by lots and lots of mud. We walked back along a riverbed, so we were able to get a lot of it off, but since we were in two groups, the second group bought boots before they set out. I'm in the green and black:

After the hike, we cleaned up and returned to Ocongate for a few nights, until the other group caught up. I will post later today/this week about part 2!

Trujillo

Wowwy, It has been a while longer than I'd have liked since my last post, but I'll make it worth your time! First of all, a shoutout to Pamela is necessary since she emailed me about the food I posted a picture of last time!! YAY PAMELA!!! Last weekend, we took a four day trip to Trujillo, which is on the northern coast, about an 8 hour drive from Lima. We took a very fancy overnight bus, which felt like a spaceship. In Trujillo, we stayed in the City Center, near the Plaza de Armas, which is kind of like a square park, with a fountain and lots of space for gatherings, etc. Here's a photo of one of the churches in the Plaza that I took one evening.

Half of our group stayed at a Fe y Alegría Training Hotel, which is a program with the schools that we visited during our first week..They also have training programs for young adults--housekeeping, cooking, factory work, car painting, and they also have two sites in the countryside, a farm and a vineyard. We spent a good portion of our trip visiting these sites, which was a surprise to us, but ultimately a worthwhile endeavor! Here are a few photos:

First of all, they gave us awesome vests and hats to wear during out tours to the various sites. We felt a lot like elementary students on a field trip

Artsy shot from the shoe factory

These are the Guinea Pigs we worked with during our afternoon at the farm site. We spent an hour or so beforehand collecting Alfalfa from the fields to feed them! (And later, they fed some of us...I passed!)

Here's a photo of us looking for caterpillars in the asparagus plants, which was my groups morning activity..it was fun!! We also went to the Vineyard one day, but I was feeling pretty crummy so I slept in the bus during the tour. Here's a photo of the vineyard taken by a friend (thanks Facebook!)

The second part of the trip involved visiting the Temples of the Sun and Moon and Chan Chan, which are both pretty ancient ruins. The Sun and Moon are much much older, from the Moche people, who lived between 100AD and 800AD (WOW!!) Here are a few photos from the Temple of the Sun (Huaca del Sol):

And here are some of Chan Chan (which was built by the Chimu around AD 850 and lasted until its conquest by the Inca Empire in AD 1470):

YAYYY, Teo, I found the Fish!! Okay, that's it for now. I'll post again (sooner) with an update about my volunteer work in El Agustino. We leave for Cusco on Sunday, so I'll try to do it before then! I miss you, and love you all! Happy MAY!!!

Carral

This past weekend, we took a trip north to Carral, which is one of the oldest in the world, and the oldest sacred city in the Americas!

I obviously know how to look like a tourist, check it!

A view of one of the pyramids.. they were used for sacrifice and religious events

Another scenic view


Afterwards, we went to Barranco, a town on the coast, for some lunch. If you can guess what this is called, I'll give you a shout out in my next post! (Hint: rice, beans, with seafood)

A beautiful sunset on the drive home

In the forefront you can see the edge of the cliff we were driving along

Update: The week has gone by really quickly. I've been very busy in El Agustino, preparing and conducting interviews with women who work in the Comedores. They have some really moving stories about why and when they became involved. I wish I had stronger Spanish already, so I could take away more, and ask more follow-up questions. Its frustrating when you don't have the right words to say what you're thinking!

Tonight, we're driving to Trujillo for a long weekend. Look for my next post within the next week!

Trabajos Voluntarios

View from Terrazas, one of the "Casa del Niños" sites... Yes, we walked all the way up!

As part of the Peru program, each of us was assigned a volunteer position for the first half of term in El Agustino, a poor area of Lima. We're all working with Servicios Educativos El Agustino (SEA), which is an organization that offers innumerable services to community members of El Agustino, including workshops on computer training, providing micro-loans to first-time business starters, as well as management assistance to business owners, after school programming, and many other services.

Unfortunately, when we first arrived last Monday to begin our volunteer jobs, they were not as organized as our director hoped, so we did a fair amount of shuffling and restructuring who would be doing what, when. Last week, I helped the Carls who have been placed in the various after school programs, assisting elementary school students with their math, spelling, and religion homework. Don't worry, we got to play, too!

This Monday was my first day working at my "official" volunteer job: helping women with their "Comedores", better understood as "Open Dining Rooms", which function similarly to a hybrid soup kitchen/food pantry. The format is really different from anything I've heard about in the United States, and awesome. These women get funding and government assistance (albeit little) to prepare daily meals that families pick up and bring home--either to provide the evening meal, or to add to what they already have at their table. Each portion is equivalent to $0.60, and I don't think there is a limit to how many a family picks up.

Anyway, SUPER COOL, right!? I was under the impression that I would be helping the women prepare the daily meals, but on Monday, I found out that Arielle and I are charged with visiting each of the 29 Comedores to listen to the testimonies/histories of each, and to collect observations for SEA managers to more properly assist the Comedores' needs. EVEN COOLER!!

The first steps for this project have been to hold meetings with the Comedores of various zones (the 29 comedores make up 5 zones). Ari and I were in charge of preparing the structure to these meetings, which has not been an easy feat. We decided to focus on some pretty basic concepts: Defining the organization, its purpose, and functional strengths and weaknesses. I won't bore you with more details (this is already a long post!)

In short, today was the first of the "Zone Meetings". My meeting began with the Zone's Director introducing herself and asking me what the meeting was about. I was shocked that she hadn't been given ANY information about the purpose of this meeting, but once I explained what Ari and I prepared, she took over and the meeting went smoothly. Apparently, Ari was not as lucky. Her Zone's Director sat in the back and had her lead the whole meeting, gasp!

Today really taught me that while I understand a fair amount of Spanish, I really need to strengthen my speaking skills and vocabulary.. It was really difficult to answer the questions these women had and to accurately portray my ideas during small group discussions. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Photo entry

Hello again! Because I didn't include any photos the last time I wrote, I decided to make this a photo journal. I have been very careful with bringing my camera around because I don't want anything to happen to it, but the times I have brought it, I've been very pleased with the products. (if you double click a photo, it should open a slideshow, where they will view more clearly) Enjoy!


Here is a photo of my room! As you can see, it's definitely big enough for two.. just sayin'... ;)



This is a view from my window, looking out on the street. Welcome to my neighborhood!




Here is one of many photos I took during Brisas de Titicaca, a "traditional Peruvian dance" extravaganza. This dance was special because the costumes told a story, while the other dances were more definitively "m/f" pairings, this dance consisted of warriors, señoras, and other "roles". Below are two more photos from Brisas








Here is a picture from Thursday evening, the first day of Semana Santa (Holy Week) Julian, my host-cousin Gaby, and I went to Central Lima to tour their churches, along with probably 50% of Lima's population (in other words, 4,000,000 people) This is in one of the two main squares in Central Lima, in front of the Cathedral.


Here is a photo from the beach... I chose this one because I think it turned out pretty well, and I'd never seen a crab in real life before today. Also it was foggy/pollution-filled so I'm going to try again another day.

And for fun, I included a few group photos (thanks facebook!):


This one is taken in El Agustino, at the top of one of the cerros (big dirt hills) with some of the kids we're entertaining through an after school program


Here is a picture from the same square in Central Lima, taken during the day on our first week


One night we went to a fountain park..here's evidence! The park was really neat, I want to go back during the day when playing in the fountains would feel more refreshing!

I plan to bring my camera with me one of the days I go to El Agustino, so I can show you more graphically what its like there. Pictures of the University campus will also follow! Oh, also a food post!! Get excited! Love, Phoebe

Experimentation

Wow, what a long week it has been! I feel like I'm starting to develop a bit of a routine, but in many ways, each day is completely different. Living with a family provides the most consistency: I wake up in the morning around 7:30am for breakfast and conversations with my host mom. Then I get ready for school and walk the four sunny blocks to the university. After school, I get dropped off by a driver, search for my host mom, and we have the following conversation:
Mom: Oh, Phoebe, how was your day?
Phoebe: good, I'm tired
Mom: Yeah, what did you do today?
Phoebe: details, usually something along the lines of "Class was good (but too long) then I had lunch, and we went to El Agustino for volunteerism"
Mom: What did you eat for lunch?
Phoebe: "Rice, potatoes, {enter peruvian carne dish here}, and a weird dessert I don't know the name of (but explain vaguely)"
Mom: oh good (she tries to figure it out), then asks: Are you ready for dinner?

It is the rest of the day that provides the most spontaneity. When I first get to school, I find our classroom (where all three of our classes are held). It's obvious that as Carleton students, we are more time conscious than the rest of the university, because class rarely starts on time, and we all notice. We have three classes, but have yet to begin the third class (the professor is traveling).

Our professor for Peruvian Modern Culture is a professor here in Peru. If you imagine the comic book store owner from The Simpsons, you're not too far off from what Alex looks like: curly hair put in a ponytail, sneakers, khakis, a button up shirt that sometimes shows his belly, glasses, you get the idea....Don't be fooled though, his lectures are really entertaining. We've talked about a lot of really interesting ideas and he's shared a lot of information with us already, the two times we've met so far. He has really elaborate whiteboard drawings.

Our second class is with our Carleton professor, José. His philosophy for this study abroad program, he told us, consists in large part on Experimentation, and Improvisation. And that's exactly what he does. I think this is a good test for each of us in the program; we are all very accustomed to being told "Go here now, do this now, here's your schedule for the next 10 weeks, follow it!" We received a schedule like this, but every day ends up being a little different than suggested in the calendar. To summarize, we have all learned a few things:
1) always carry your cellphone with you, in case the bus is running late and you aren't yet on it.
2) Check your email in the morning, directions change (when class starts, whether or not its a good day to wear shorts)
3) I should have packed more than one pair of jeans
4) Look at the schedule from our program, add two hours to the time it says we get home, and you still might be a little late (because of traffic, etc)
5) During traffic grid-lock, have a few songs prepared to sing as a group, it helps pass time

Its difficult to design a new study abroad program for 22 students that involves classes in a university, volunteering in a neighborhood on the other side of town, and getting everyone home safely. I think we're all beginning to breath a little better as we get used to spontaneous changes in the program, and are learning to "go with the flow". I think it will become more stable after a few more days of working out kinks. At least until we begin our travels to Trujillo and Cuzco.

I will write again with more exciting details of what the last week entailed. but now, I'm going to the beach! Happy Holy Week (no classes!)

Contrasts

The past few days have been filled with tours of Lima. On Tuesday we returned to the Historical Center of Lima as a group, and with some help from UARM students, I got to learn a little more history of the area! Later, we went to Miraflores and to the cliffs on the shore. It was a lot of walking, but definitely worth it.


The next day showed a sharp contrast, as we went to Mi Peru, a developing part of Lima. We went to a Jesuit elementary school called Fe y Alegria. There are many of these schools all over the developing areas in Peru, and other countries in South America. The kids there were really excited to see us, and had a lot of good questions about what we think about Peru and about our lives back home.

This is a picture from inside the school of the community and where many of these students live.

A classroom of four year olds! They sang us "I'm a little teapot" in Spanish, and we sang it to them in English

Venturing to Mi Peru was important. I already value my education a lot, but this drove something home to me. I was born with a lot of privileges that have allowed me to have access to my experiences, and while my ambition certainly is important, there are so many other factors at play that I haven't even thought about. This school has a scholarship program that allows ten of their smartest students to study at UARM for free. But what about the 100s of other smart, talented students who can't afford to study after they graduate Fe y Alegria? I'm so grateful that I've had easier access to education and financial aid.

Mi familia peruana

(Huaca Mateo Salado, is only a few blocks from my host family's house!)





This week has gone by so quickly! Julian and I have had a lot of fun beginning to explore our new home for the next few months. On Thursday, we went to the university where we will have classes and met with a few faculty. It was a very hot day so we were glad to not be bustling around too much. That evening, we decided to cook dinner together in the hostel. To make it more interesting, we also bought a bottle of Argentinian wine for 7.80 soles (that's less than $3)When we returned to the hostel, we prepared our humble meal of rice, chorizo, and fried onions, with salsas. When it was time to eat, we were very excited to open the bottle of wine, but after numerous attempts of trying to open the bottle with a defunct opener, we set it aside for our meal (to save for dessert). After our meal, we eventually were able to open the bottle, only to find (not to much surprise) that the wine tasted approximately like armpit or old sneakers*. Luckily , we bought some watermelon also, which provided a nice balance of flavors (or so we thought). Half way through this second course, one of the women who works at the hostel approached us in passing and was very alarmed to see our table: "You're not supposed to drink wine with watermelon! In Argentina, doing this means you will get kidney stones and die!!!" Apparently, our "genius" solution to combat the flavors of this beverage FROM Argentina will kill us, even if the flavors don't... we laughed it off, but we were nonetheless both a little more skeptical of the wine after her announcement.
*If you've seen The Little Rascals movie, you'll remember Alfalfa and Darla's "romantic" dinner in the clubhouse, with the sneaker juice

Friday included quite the adventure as well. We decided to walk to the coast to see and swim in the ocean. After confirming our walking route down Arequipa Street, we left in the early afternoon for the neighborhood Miraflores and the coast. There were many interesting buildings to marvel at during our walk, and before long, we arrived in Miraflores, a bustling area with many shops and restaurants. We had to do a little navigating, but it wasn't too bad, since we had been there a few nights ago with the Carleton alumni, and soon found our way to the coast, where the view from the cliffs was amazing. I'd never seen the Pacific Ocean before. I couldn't stop smiling! We decided to walk along the cliffs to Larcomar, which is basically a mall built into the cliff (a consumerist equivalent of Mt. Rushmore) We didn't stay long, and eventually meandered our way down onto the beach. The great thing about Lima, I've found so far, is that people don't hassle me to buy things from them. When I was in Istanbul two summers ago, I was frequently on guard against pushy merchants and restaurant hosts. Instead, when we arrived to the waterfront, we were greeted by surfers saying "Welcome to Peru! Do you want to surf with us?" haha, it was great!

While the beach was more pebbles than sand, the water was perfect! It was relaxing to watch the waves and to go in the water. There was a little boy in a wetsuit running along the shore, testing how far he could get away from his parents. Very cute. After an hour or so, we became hungry and decided to start our long walk back to our faux-home. When we got back, we cooked some more rice for lunch and took naps. Later, we realized that we didn't add enough sunscreen, and thus labeled ourselves as typical, lobster-hued tourists.

Yesterday, we went with another visitor from the hostel to the historic center of Lima. It consists of some really amazing colonial buildings and two beautiful squares. We walked around a little, and got stopped by some students our age, studying English, who asked if they could interview us for a class assignment. It was very sweet, and the questions they asked were surprising, for example: "Where are you from? What is your first language? What are your life's biggest regrets? What are the major problems in your country, and how can you fix them? If you could swap something in your life for something else, what would it be?" etc. Needless to say, they threw us for a loop! I made note of these questions, to ponder more later.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. We watched The Descendants while waiting for two other program participants to arrive for the night to the hostel.

And Today. I'm a little sad to say goodbye to the freedoms of living in a hostel, but am very glad to unpack my things and to have the privacy of my own room. My family lives very close to the school, it's only four or five blocks away. We're also very close to a huaca that is being restored.

My hosts are very nice. My mom's name is Balbina, and she is very easy to talk with. She and her husband Rodolfo have three children, who are all grown, and one grand-daughter. Their son, Rodolfo, and his wife live in an apartment off of the house, and their daughter Sandra, lives in another (at least until she gets married in June). I met her fiance today also. I haven't met their other daughter, but I met her baby, Luna, who is 4, and her father (I forget his name!!) After I arrived, it was soon time to eat lunch, which was: Mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, rice, and steak.

I really like being immersed in a different language. I watched Fast and Furious (5) with Sandra and her novio this evening, but we talked through parts of it, mostly about music and dancing. A good sign of fun times ahead! Tomorrow I go to University for our program's orientation. I'm excited to reunite with everyone and hear how their days went today. I know this post was very long, but thank you for bearing with me! Forgive me, also, for not having posted any pictures yet..I hope to have some up soon. I miss you all. xoxo Phoebe

Arrival

I am now writing to you from Lima! Traveling went smoothly enough, I'm still recovering from such little sleep, but I'm very glad to be here. 24 hours ago, Julian and I were flying over Cuba, eating a typical plane meal while sharing glances of excitement with one another from across the plane. Its hard to believe how much has happened since then. Our professor picked us up from the airport with his brother-in-law and drove us to a hostel near his house. There is also a Carleton alum (Alex) staying here until tomorrow. He's going to Cusco for June to shadow doctors before he starts his medical residency in July.

In the morning, Julian and I went to exchange money so that we could pay the hostel and also got some breakfast at a restaurant near by. We were planning on going to the beach, but our professor emailed and picked us up to get cellphones so we can contact each other. We had a nice lunch and conversation with Jose and Alex about Spanish,Peru, our program, and other things. Afterward we did some more walking and went back to Jose's house. He fed us again, and eventually we left with Alex to see Miraflores, an area of the city that is very popular in the evenings. Today I tried Chirimoyas, a very sweet fruit native of Peru. I like it a lot!

Tomorrow we're going to visit the university with Jose and explore the city more. Speaking Spanish today has been easier than I thought it would be. I understand almost everything people have said to me. The hard part is knowing how to respond. That being said, I've found myself making silly mistakes typing this entry, switching my brain back and forth between the two languages. Still being tired from traveling doesn't help! Good night!

Preparations

As the days progress, my excitement grows. I applied to go on this trip nearly a year ago, and while the trip is merely days away, it hardly seems real. I've packed out of my dorm room, and the next time I return to campus I will be a junior. Finally, after literally, years of daydreaming about studying abroad, I'm going!

Today I ran around the cities getting last minute items before Monday's departure. Tomorrow I have more errands to run, and will spend time with family and friends before my departure.

My travel plans include busing from Minneapolis to Chicago with a friend who is also traveling to Peru. Together we will fly out and arrive in Lima early Wednesday morning, and plan to spend a few days exploring hostels before joining our host families at the end of the week.

I've asked some of you for blog title suggestions, and Mom, I like yours the best, so this is for you. "Darkest Peru" of course, is where Paddington Bear hails from. After being orphaned during an earthquake, he lived with his Aunt Lucy until she moved to the Home for Retired Bears in Lima. She taught Paddington English and sent him to London as a stowaway in a ship's life boat. There you have it. Some other suggestions that are worth noting include:
Peru-sing
PPP: Phoebe Promenades/Parades Peru
Perupalooza
Living in Lima

As time allows, I hope to post weekly with updates on my studies, travels, adventures, and other experiences. Please, don't be shy with comments or questions. Feel free to subscribe for email alerts when I post!

Love, Phoebe