Out of Ancash

It has been a while since I have written, but here is a nice compilation of blurbs and happenings.

The other day I ate one of those aforementioned hens.  Do I feel badly about it?  Well, she had it coming I suppose.  My host sister tells me the chicken misbehaved and that her mom had killed it this morning and that we would be eating it for lunch--I will do my best to stay in line and not upset the host mom from now on-- I headed to the kitchen waiting to be served, and as my mom plops a hefty piece of our feathered friend on my rice and yucca, she tells me, “llupsha tula,” which roughly translates to suck that bone dry, eat every last bit.  “Sure,” I say as a duck out the door and the memories of my friend flash through my mind.  I didn’t even like the chicken, but it is strange to think about the personal relationships you had with your lunch.  For this, I will not befriend the crate of guinea pigs out back.  

I have learned how to start my own fire to warm my water for bathing myself.  My sister can no longer go around taunting me in front of the family telling me, and everyone, that I do not know how to start fires; that is a success in itself. However, I can still count the number of times I have bathed myself at site on two hands (only been here 3 months).  

I have been in Perú for six months already.  It is hard to believe.  Time goes by so fast, before I know it I will be heading back to Lima for my Medical Check Up and a year in site will have been completed.  While I am also excited to be done with my Community Diagnostic now, and am finally able to begin different projects, vacations also make the time fly by.

            Perú is an incredible country; it is so diverse and spectacular. I began my first vacation with a hike to Laguna Churup in my home department (state) of Ancash.  We had a warning from another volunteer before our ascent that “the end is scary.”  That was all that she told us; we didn’t think much of it at the time.  I mean what could it be?  We began the hike up, a cold, cloudy day made the mountains look like the floating islands in Avatar.  The only scary end I could think of was flying dragons; it didn’t seem that bad.

            However, we finally reached, what I can only imagine to be the “scary end.”  We came up to a rock wall, and on the other side lay a waterfall.  It is misty and wet out and I am wearing only two-year-old completely worn sneakers.  We see hanging from above the flat five foot tall rock a cable.  We stood there for a while examining our options.  Out of nowhere from behind us came a group of about 8 Peruvian youths.  In their own worn sketchers or converse, each one grabs the cable and more or less trusts him or herself over the boulder.  Now, it is our turn.  My tall friend with long legs goes first.  She grabs the cable, puts one leg over the top and pulls the rest of her body up.  It didn’t look particularly graceful to me at the time, until I attempted. 

            I grabbed the cable myself, put one foot up on a little crack in the rock and pulled myself up.  Before I knew it I was holding on for dear life with both hands onto the cable while my legs dangled over the edge of the rock above the gushing waterfall.  Thank God for my incredible upper body strength, without my toned biceps and finger muscles I don’t know how I would have heaved myself up to the next level of rock.

            I am now on both feet--thinking the scary part is over.  I look up and there is a sequence of cables connected to a flat rock wall scaling the mountainside with a waterfall to the right.  Again, praise Jesus for my immense upper body strength.  Clearly, I made it to the top, to a beautiful greenish, blue glacial lake.  Took us about an hour to muster the strength to descend the mountain.  I went down more or less on hands and butt.  Swinging back over the rock was a similar disaster where I faced death; however, one scraped stomach, one bruised knee, and one heart attack later I was on the other side: safe and sound.

            From my Ancash I bussed and planed it to Arequipa.  The adventure and Giggle Fest began at the bus station in Lima where I met three of my close and great volunteer friends from training.  Though we only knew each other for 10 weeks before we left for sites, and then we were separated throughout Perú for 3 months, when we were reunited it was so sweet and glorious.  Our first day of travel was one of my favorite days of my 7 day vacation in Arequipa.  Even when times seemed hopeless and that we would never make it to our next destination we made the best of it, and we thoroughly enjoyed our unconventional 4 hour bus ride to Chivay, Arequipa.  I kind lady at the bus station gave us more or less forfeited tickets for an already overly full bus.  However, eventually after being crammed, squished, laughed at, stared at, shooed and moved from seats, we landed a spot in the front of the bus closed off from the rest with the driver, his cobrador, and a kind old man.  From there, we could see the amazing high altitude desert landscape that is Arequipa.  We saw the most incredible sunset; it was a truly amazing start to an amazing vacation.    

I think this is enough for now; I will fill you in on the rest of my trip and my amazing Early In-Service Training I had the week following Arequipa—Stay tuned.