Last Day and onto Lima

So, yesterday was our last day in Ayacucho. Boo.

We started the day be going down to the market and getting some travel day fruit (including a new funny stripy fruit that was melon-esque). And then we went up to the bakery to get some traveling sweet bread. Yummy.

Next, we headed on an important errand that had been put off until our last day. When mom was in Peru last year, she got to know a lovely little girl named Rosa Cristina. Then, really tragically, this young lady was hit and killed by the number eight bus (remember how we always take the 14...) a month later. So, we needed to get over to the cemetery and pay our respects. We got some flowers and added them to the large collection at her grave. Even in a society where losing children is more normal, it never gets easier, and to have had this beautiful face taken from the world in such an unnecessary way is pretty unacceptable. She deserved a full life. So, that was a pretty sad thing for yesterday, but at least Rosa Cristina can live on as people remember her. Here's a picture of her last summer

Anyway, after that we went home to get things ready. I packed while mom prepared some math tool kits for the classrooms. I don't know if I told y'all, but mom's suitcase broke in Lima on the way here, so we had to go back one suitcase down. Luckily, our suitcases were almost entirely full of stuff for KATC, so we didn't have as much stuff. Plus, I'm a packing extraordinaire, so I got everything put in no problem.

Then, yesterday was Sunday, so even though I had puca for lunch and dinner on Friday and for breakfast and dinner on Saturday, we had to go up to the mirador and get some more. No regrets. Gilli + puca 4lyf.

Last night, I drank coca tea and inca kola and ate freshly picked granadilla from the tree in the backyard and generally just had a jolly good Peruvian time of it.

But! It was super stormy! Rain and wind and lightning! And planes can't even take off from Ayacucho if it's cloudy, because taking off from a valley at 10,000 ft and gaining enough altitude to get over those mountains all around is hard work, ya know? Luckily, it was pretty clear when we woke up and the plane took off no problem.

After a lovely 50 minute flight over the Andes, we are now in Lima for 16 hours. In theory, we could go into the city for a bit, but that's an hour drive and we'd have to do something with our bags, and Lima is a scary place where people smash taxi windows to steal bags off your lap, and there's a Starbucks at the airport, so we're just spending the day here. And I am so pleased with my soy hazelnut latte right now, I don't even mind the thought of a whole day right here... And we have so many snacks too!

So, hopefully we'll be Houston-bound around midnight, and then back in the States tomorrow morning! Wish us luck!

Independence Day Party!

So, yesterday was our last day with the kids. Boo. But! It also happened to be the day before Peruvian Independence Day, so we had a big party, and that eased the sadness a little bit.

On Thursday, GeGe and Hilda went to the big market to buy lots of meat, and then we went to the market here to buy 36 kilos of potatoes (which is a lot) and rice and oil and purple corn and everything else we needed to make an amazing meal! A meal of what, you ask? Why, a meal of puca picante, of course!!!!! Puca picante and chicharron (fried piggy) and chicha (that yummy purple corn drink), to be exact.

Hilda got the chicha started on Thursday, boiling the corn in one of the giant pots we bought, but the majority of the preparation began Friday morning. Rosa is one of the staff members at the school, and she and her mother make the puca every year for this celebration. So, they came over early Friday to start boiling potatoes. Then, we had to peel all of the potatoes! With our hands! I got pretty good at it by the end. Here's a picture of the rest of the ladies working, and you can see one of our tubs of potatoes there.

Then, we had to cut the potatoes into little pieces for the puca. At the same time, other people were grating beets and slicing onions and garlic and peeling carrots, and it was just a busy scene! After that, Mom and I weren't really so useful anymore because us white girls don't know how to cook puca, or really anything over a fire, so we got out of the kitchen. Here's  a picture of some of the food cooking

Not too long after we finished with the potatoes, the kids started to show up. GeGe had set up a few games and put out beach balls and jump ropes, plus coloring activities inside, so there was lots for them to do, and they very quickly got to playing. I took a few turns spinning the jump rope, and that was fun for me, plus it kept me a little removed from the mass chaos that is 120 children at play.

After an hour or so of playing, it was time for lunch! So, we got all of the kids lined up, had them wash their hands, and got them into seats. Then, we started the assembly line process of loading up plates and delivering them to the children.. That took quite awhile because there were a ton of people, but the ground is also super uneven in the backyard and the plates were not the sturdiest, and they were very full of food, so you could really only carry two at a time. But! It went pretty fast, and eventually everyone (including me!) was settled down to eat. Mom and I sat with the 5th/6th graders- pretty cool kids (and look at how good my plate looks)

After we finished eating, it was time for kids to get seconds if they wanted! Now, those plates were really full, and I was good after one, but there were first graders going back for seconds. I was impressed. Many of these kids often don't get enough to eat, and the majority certainly doesn't have the opportunity to eat in excess, so more free, warm food would be hard to turn down. Here's my little buddy Abrahan in line for seconds!

Anyway, after everybody went through for seconds, we started getting ready to pass out chicha. Drinking is often done after eating here, which is weird to me, but it made organization a little easier in this instance. We had the giant tub of chicha out in the yard, and the teachers brought pitchers from that to pour into cups. I was in charge of refilling the pitchers. It felt pretty important. Then, we did refills of chicha too. And then! Play time! Back to chaos! Here's little Shmom playing with one of her favorites- Jhonatan.

Professor Aydee also set up this fun game where the kids had to feed each other this oatmealish stuff while blindfolded, very entertaining, with lots of oatmeal hair as one result. So good!

 Then, it was time to wrap things up. So, GeGe gathered all of the kids outside and they talked about what the celebration was for (independence day) and got cookies, and then they thanked the cooks, and then they all thanked us, and it was really nice, and shmom cried. Here's a picture of the whole group from up on the stairs (I had to go and grab goodbye candy! Also, sorry for the sunshiney and it really doesn't look like as many people this way, huh?)

Then, time for goodbyes. So sad. We gave out candy and got hugs and kisses at the door. I'm going to miss all of those precious little faces. They're pretty much the best kids around. Here's me and one of my new best buddies who glued herself to me come the end of the day. I'm really gonna miss all of the kid love...

Then, after all of the kids left, it was time to say goodbye to all of the teachers. Wilbur, the door guard and a general kid organizer at the school made me and mom each a bracelet, which was so sweet. And we got lots of hugs and kisses and good wishes. Here's mom with Professor Aydee and her daughter Karol, good people right there!

After all of those goodbyes, we settled in for the night with our piles of extra puca and rice, and a bucket of chicha. Rough life. We went to bed real early because it had been a pretty tiring sort of day.

This morning, we went into town for a bit to see what there was of actual independence day celebrations, do some last minute shopping, and buy plane snacks. Now, we're back at home, there's a wedding happening across the street, and a wind storm is just wrapping up.

According to GeGe, there are two seasons in Ayacucho, not rainy and dry, but rather mud and dust. The latter season is now upon us, as was clear with the billowy clouds of dust rising up throughout the valley. We just have to hope that the weather is clear enough for our plane to take off Monday morning...

Teacher Strike

I don't know if I've mentioned it already, but the public school teachers here have been on strike the whole month of July. So, all of the kids are out of school, leaving them, at best, pretty bored, and, at worst, really behind and getting into trouble. GeGe's mission is to keep kids off of the street, giving them a place to learn and play without getting into the wrong crowd and messing up their lives. The English name of the program is Kids at the Crossroads, but the Spanish name is Ninos en la Esquina, which I'd translate ,ore as kids on the corner. We don't want kids out in the street during their formative years, when they should be learning and growing and playing. So, GeGe makes a point of always being open when the other schools aren't, during vacations and strikes or whatever, so the kids have somewhere to go for at least part of the day. This time around, that meant that her vacation was cancelled in order to keep the school going during the strike.

Anyway, today all of the buses and taxis aren't running in support of the teachers. (Personally, I feel like that decision may have involved some coercion on the part of the teachers) So, the roads around here are all blocked with stones so a car couldn't get through. We walked down to the market, but it was closed too, probably because you can't really get goods to the market without transportation, and if the big supplier market is closed, they don't really have a source for stuff anyway. The bakery was closed too. Everyone was just kind of sitting around, and it felt really weird. A lot of police hanging out outside of the station down there too. Just strange. Luckily, a few little stores were still open, so we were able to get sone chapla and some other basics we needed for today.

Generally, I'm a fan of the working man, and if they organize themselves effectively to strike, then I think that's good. But! I don't like the idea of the teachers keeping other people from earning a living, even for one day. And! Teaching is fundamentalky a selfless profession. Good teachers do it for the students, not for themselves. So, I like how teachers strike in the US, usually one day with everyone involved to make a statement, but then they go back to work to help their students. I know my mom sure isn't earning what she deserves, and she's not even getting the cost of living raise each year that voters approved, but she also would never walk out on her students for a month. The teachers here have given the government an ultimatum- meet all of our demands (and there are many) or we won't go back to work. I don't pretend to understand how things work in Peru because it is definitely different, but I think that a little more compromise might make the situation better for everyone involved...

Rosaspampa and Soccer Balls!!!

First, a little bit of background info. Kids at the Crossroads works in a few different ways. The primary work, which is what we've been doing, is the school here in Ayacucho that offers support and supplementary education to at-risk kids here. Then, KATC also does some limited work out in the tiny villages in the mountains. Every Christmas, GeGe buys hundreds of Christmas toys and some special food treats and, with the teachers, takes them out past where all of the other organizations go. These villages are pretty isolated- running water is rare, electricity is newly installed in some places, and nothing grows up there, so they live almost entirely off of the alpaca that they raise. Here's a picture from the center square of the village we went to, Rosaspampa

Anyway, back to yesterday. So, we mobilized at about eight and drove down to the bakery to pick up some sweet bread that GeGe had ordered to take with us. And I learned that 400 pieces of bread is a lot of bread! Then, we got gas and started on our way. But! We had to stop at the big produce market too to get 400 oranges for the people in the village. And that's really a lot of oranges... Then, we were really on our way.

We climbed out of the valley that is Ayacucho, starting our assent from 10,000 ft to 14,000 ft (we had started back on altitude meds a few days before so that we wouldn't get sick, especially me since my lungs are all broken). It was so pretty to look down on Ayacucho and see the mirador and everything. As we kept driving, you could tell that we were getting away from the more populated areas. Just lots of mountains everywhere!

Then, we got stopped at a police checkpoint, which is pretty typical. The police are use to just receiving a bit of money and letting the person go on their way, but we weren't doing anything wrong, so we didn't want to pay! They were mad that the van we were in didn't say that it was  a tourist van because three gringas definitely equal tourists. But, Alejandro (the dad of the family we live with) convinced them that we weren't tourists by telling him all of our names. And on our way again!

Right after that, there was a bunch of barley stalks in the road. "Weird," thought me. But Alejandro explained that they don't have machines to thrash the grains, so if people live close to the highway, then they have the cars do the work for them! Smart.

As we got higher up, we started to see frozen water on the faces of rocks where there was shadow. If the sun hits anything, it stays pretty warm, but the places in shadow and everywhere at night gets really cold. Only a little bit of snow way up on the tops of these mountains, but I sure believe that it gets chilly! And! So high up, we start to see alpacas! Yay!!!! You can't go to Peru without seeing alpacas. Pictures to follow, don't worry.

After about an hour and a half of driving, we exit off of the highway onto a dirt road, and we soon see a whole herd of alpaca. We keep going to get closer, driving over a little river, and pulling off to the side of the road. As we approach, we meet five little kids who are taking care of the alpaca. Here they are (not very old to be tending alpaca out in the country all day, huh?)

And here they are with oranges and sweet bread!

They were basically the sweetest kids ever, and they were so thrilled with the food and attention! (it probably gets a little boring out there). And then! They let us go meet their alpacas! No llamas because llamas live higher up, but alpacas are cuter anyhow. I made special friends with this one

After hanging out with the alpacas a bit, here comes another little girl running along and herding the alpacas with her whistling skills! We tell her to come over, so she races back to where we all are. See her there running on the other side of the river?

This lovely little girl, Sayra, gets to us and accepts her fruit and bread. I found her maturity pretty striking.

Asking two of the girls what they carry around in their manta (the little packs they have on their back), we found a pretty incredible answer. Both Sayra and Maria Elena pull out their toy kitchen sets that Kids at the Crossroads had given them seven months ago. These little girls, out all day tending the alpacas, carry around only what is most prized and necessary. Out of all of the things they could carry, they choose their true treasures, and the KATC Christmas presents meant so much to to the girls that they still carry them around. One of the little boys talked about how he still played with the car he received every single day. Pretty incredible. If anyone ever doubted that KATC makes an impact with its Christmas program, there can certainly be no doubt now. Here's Sayra's kitchen set

After that, we said goodbye to the kids and headed back to the van to drive to the village. When we got there, almost everybody was still in church. The evangelical missionaries made it up there, so everyone is evangelical (and I think that evangelicals are generally scary as shit, real loud and stuff, ya know), but I don't really know much about how their practice works up there. Anyway, we hung out, waiting for awhile. Luckily, Alejandro, Hilda, and Aydee (a teacher from the school who went with us) all speak Quechua fluently. I've mentioned Quechua before, it's the native language spoken here, and all of the people way out in the mountains speak Quechua- learning Spanish in school. Most people in Ayacucho are of Quechua descent, so the majority of people here speak Quechua too, but they're bilingual with Spanish. So, our Quechua speakers were able to communicate exactly what we were there for and talk to the little kids who don't know any Spanish yet.

Here's a picture of a little sweetie we met there. You can see that her face is all dry and cracked. Alejandro asked her if it hurt, and she said yes. Poor thing.

Now, more background info. In the US, KATC has found a friend in the Timbers Army Northern Alliance- a fan group for the Portland Timbers soccer team. Troy Maxcy read an article in the Columbian about my mom's work to raise money at Orchard's Elementary School, where she teaches, and he has since coordinated with the Timbers Army to help raise money for KATC. They had this great night at Burgerville where Brent Richards (a player from Camas) came out and did autographs and pictures and stuff, and proceeds from the food went to KATC, and people gave change, AND a bunch of people gave money to buy soccer balls for the kids in Peru. All-in-all, 24 balls were donated (not all of which we brought because customs wouldn't have liked that). We thought about what it would be best to do with the balls, and we decided that the kids up in the villages needed them more than the kids at the school here. There are a variety of toys and activities here, but soccer is one of the primary activities for the kids up there. With the rough conditions they play in- lots of rocks and pokey things, their balls pop a lot. And you can't exactly buy a new soccer ball in Rosaspampa, so the nice thick balls that the Timber Army sent are perfect for these kids. So, our trip yesterday was primarily to donate balls. Here's a picture of some kids playing with their old soccer ball

And here's a picture of Yamile and Alejandro inflating the balls.

When church got out, we got the president of the town and explained to him what we wanted to do. Then, we mobilized everybody to receive their bread and oranges. Here's everybody all lined up, getting their treats

And the result was some really happy faces

 

Then! We got down to soccer business! First, mom presented the president of the village with a Timbers scarf.

Next, we started out the fun business of getting out soccer balls, and the kids all flocked over! Notice the Tursi Soccer Store bag, they donated 50% of the balls! Thanks to them! And it looks like we've got a Timbers fan in the village president, doesn't it?

Then, GeGe gave out some volleyballs and jump ropes for the girls because girls don't really play soccer there.

And then the kids got to playing!

It was pretty fun to watch! Such sweet kids, and they were really enjoying themselves. And, they're pretty darn good at soccer considering most of them are pretty young!

Then, it was time to leave, but there were a lot of Alpaca in the road as we tried to get out. Our little friends from earlier were herding them back into town.

We got buy, and stopped out in the pampa for a picnic (pampa means field in quechua, so one would think that rosaspampa would be like a flowery field, but maybe rosas means something else in quechua, because I certainly did see any flowers up in this mountain climate). Now, when I think of a picnic, I think of mostly cold stuff and junky food, but you know what Aydee brought?? Puca. My life is just awesome. So yummy! Here's Jasson and Alejandro at our picnic (obviously roughing it, huh?)

Then, we had some leftover sweet bread and oranges, so we went to another village where we do Christmas stuff and gave the food to them! They were pretty happy, and this was a weaving village, so they pulled out some beautiful alpaca hats for us to look at, and we obviously had to get a few. Here's a little sweetie on his mom's back while she gets her treats. 

After that, we headed back to Ayacucho! On the way, we got stopped by the police again- lame. And they questioned Jasson as to why he was eating a lollipop, which we had brought for a fun snack. Alejandro got out to go talk to them, and they were being a pain I guess, but it turned out that they just wanted some lollipops, and we had some left, so we gave them to the police officers and they let us go ahead. Only one more police stop on the way home, and they let us go real quick, and then we were back in Ayacucho. It left us pretty tired, but what a great day!

Lunch at the In-Laws

Last post of the day, I promise!

So, mom did a little workshop for the teachers this morning to teach them some techniques and activities and explain all the new math tools we brought. It went really well, and it seemed like the teachers took in a lot, and they had a chance to express their frustrations and get sone good ideas on how to better deal with things. Super good overall, and I was very proud of my shmom, being such an expert on things. She knows that teaching is a science, and she has done everything she can to better understand the subject and help kids as effectively as possible. Pretty cool. Here's a pic of the teachers playing students.

After that, we quickly mobilized because one of the teachers, Percy, and his parents had invited us for lunch! They are all weavers, and they live in Santa Ana, which is the weaving community. Everyone there weaves. It seems weird to me, but you walk down a street downtown, and that's where blankets are sold, so each store is a blanket store. On a different street something else. Santa Ana is like that but exponentially larger because it's not just a street, but a whole neighborhood. Peru has a super long history with weaving, and the art form has been perfected. In Santa Ana, there are masters who are famous worldwide and many others who sell their pieces in the US and Europe. Percy and his parents operate on a smaller scale, but their work is beautiful!

Anyway, we got there and they let us in through the little convenience store they operate and sat us down at a little table. Then, they brought us lunch! And you know what it was?! Puca!! My favorite. The best. And we won't be able to eat it tomorrow because we're going on a little paseo, so it was just a great thing. Plus, their puca was really good! And there was a lot on our plates! I ate all of it, just to be polite... (actually not much could have separated me from that plate before it was all gone). Then, you know what they served us? Inca Kola. Life made. Best meal ever. Then, we chatted for a little bit, and then they brought out the weavings for us to look at! Everything was so pretty and so skillfully done, I was impressed. We obviously had to buy a few things, although it took awhile to decide, and then we left! Overall, I like Santa Ana! Here's a picture of some of our purchases...

Then, we skipped over to town because GeGe needed to buy some things, including two giant pans (each can feed 100+ people) so that we can make puca next week at the school for Peru's 4th of July-esque celebrations. Let me tell you, it took awhile to find a taxi that could fit those and us (although it wasn't nearly as difficult as I would have thought), but we soon made it back to our house, safe and sound and ready for some downtime!

Observations

Driving in Ayacucho

So, driving in Ayacucho is terrifying. As in most countries, the roads are a lot smaller than those in the US, and people are a lot better at driving. When I'm within like three feet of a curb, I'm like "Ahhh, too close, going to crash!" but people here can be within three inches of a dog or a person or a bus- no problem. Freaks me out, but I've learned to trust that everyone here can drive a lot better than me, so I'm pretty safe. Like I said, the roads are very narrow, but that doesn't stop a bus passing another bus on a one lane, one-way road. Intense. Plus, all of the dogs. When there are a bajillion dogs in the road, sometimes chasing the cars, you'd thinking that a lot of them would get hit, but they usually don't. Drivers and dogs somehow know exactly how to play the game so that they come within inches of each other with everyone being okay. Crazy. Pedestrians also have no right-of-way here. Cars won't stop, and they often go really fast. So, you have to be careful. But, if it came down to me drivsing a car or me walking here, I would so pick walking because I would crash here in like five seconds. Plus, they drive manuals here, and that's hard. And there are potholes everywhere. Rough.


Construction

Ayacucho is an up-and-coming sort of town. From what I can tell, there is a growing middle class, and you can tell that looking at the construction going on everywhere. Property is really expensive here, so you can't buy new land when you want to make your house nicer, you just build over what's already there. So, in many places you see the crude stone walls (crude, but still super skillfully made- these people descended from the Incans after all). and aluminum roofing. But then you also see new brick constructions going up everywhere. New stories being added onto existing houses. Old stone walls being knocked down one day, and the next day there's a new, pretty white wall in its place. Piles of gravel and concrete being mixed are everywhere- laying foundation and just creating something new. It's strange for me because everything in the US, especially in the Northwest, is relatively new, but in countries where there is so much history, and there is this town that has been around for such a long time, building over existing structures is just very normal. It's like the town is constantly getting a makeover. I would love to see what this place will look like in ten years because, at the rate things are changing now, I'm sure that it will look very different!

Cold and Dry 

Since we're way up in the Andes, we've got mountain-y sort of weather. It's sunny just about every day, even though it's winter now, and the temperature in the sun  is usually about 70. But outside of the sun, it sure gets cold! It's down in the 30s or so at night, and they don't have heating here. So, you curl up underneath your llama wool blanket and try not to let too much of you stick out while you're sleeping. I wear thick socks. Luckily our house is pretty great about keeping in the heat, but in the houses here that are made of stone, there are undoubtedly cracks that let in the chilly. And if you don't have glass in your windows, it really can't stay too warm in there. So, I imagine that a lot of people are cold a lot. Plus, it's super dry up here in the mountains. The kids love how soft my skin is because their's is often rough and cracked from the dry and cold. It's even worse up in the villages because it's higher up (colder) and there tends to be a lot less money (clothes and insulation). Here's a picture of one of my favorite faces- Yeni Yulissa (not 100% on that spelling, but it's pronounced like Jenny Julissa). You can see that her sweet little cheeks are red and dry. Luckily, she's still real cute.

Pinwheels


This isn't really an observation, it's just a thing. But anyway, yesterday was Friday Fun Day, so the younger kids made pinwheels! It was the best. They are all so cute and have such great ideas for their art. So, they decorated the two sides of a square of paper, made the little cuts necessary, folded the corners and glued them down, then we stuck a tack through the paper and through a pencil eraser (ingenious, GeGe!). The kids were pretty amused, and the final project was great! Here're the third and fourth graders!

And, Just for Fun!


Here're my boys Lukas and Isaac playing with a slinky. Who knew that that was how you were supposed to use it!

Buddy

I think that I've mentioned before how there are dogs everywhere here. In the ten minute walk from our house to the market, you probably see 30-40 dogs, just out in the street. I have no idea how that many stray dogs can survive with no one feeding them in a city, but they seem to do alright. Spaying and neutering doesn't really exist here, so there are constantly more and more doggies being created. It's strange to have so many dogs around, but they don't really bother us (except for lots of barking at night). They definitely never come up to us or anything.

Until Thursday! As we were walking down to the market, a dog came up real close to us, knocking into us with his head, and this was a big dog! At first, we were pretty nervous because we didn't want some dog attacking us (and that has happened to GeGe in the past, so it's a valid concern). So, we just kept going, ignoring the dog. We went into the market, and he went in also. He mostly just ran around, but he checked in on us periodically. When we left, he left with us. Then we went to the bakery, and he stood there with us. So, I gave him a name! Buddy because he was obviously a really buddy kind of dog. Here's a picture of him at the bakery. 

We walked back up to our house, and Buddy went too. Then we went in our gate, and Buddy stayed outside. And stayed outside. And stayed outside. About three hours later, we were feeling pretty bad for this poor doggy who had adopted us, but we didn't want him to stay, so we brought him some water, but no food. He drank the whole bowl and then leaned against me as I gave him pats. Such a sweetie. Then, I had to go help with school stuff, so I left Buddy outside again. When we were sending the kids on their way, there was Buddy outside again. So, I went out to give him loves, and he was just so good and calm, and I wanted to keep him forever. After everyone was gone, we went upstairs and got some dog food and some water and brought it down for Buddy. He was very happy with the food, and ate all of it real quick- making a lot of other dogs jealous. Then, we went inside, leaving Buddy out again. That evening, he went away. And I haven't seen my Buddy since! I wish that I could have taken him home with me...