Fiestas Patrias Vacation

July 28th is Peru's Fiestas Patrias, which is basically the equivalent to our 4th of July. As a Peace Corps volunteer we get 4 days of vacation, so with the kids on vacation I decided to head to the northern coast and catch some beach time. It was a great trip, and exactly what I needed at this point in my service. The two main highlights of the trip were a shaman cleansing session in  Alta Piura (the Sierra part of the "state" of Piura) and bio-luminescent algae bloom of the coast in Tumbes.

First, I was lucky to get to see Kyle's (a Peru 17er buddy) site. Volunteers generally do go to others' site (not counting site mates), especially during vacation. So when it worked out that I could crash a Kyle's site, meet his host-family, and see the work he was doing, I jumped at the chance. Kyle is doing great work, and I saw just how different it is to serve in the coast. Besides being a lot hotter, the people, music and culture have a completely different flare to it.

Kyle's world map.

The sunset was very impressive. 

Where moto taxis and mules are common in my site, this setup was more common in Kyle's site. 

Now the shaman. I know, I know my years logged at St. Joes and Loyola Sacred Heart told me I was flirting with the devil, but let me tell you it was fun and interesting. We went to Huancabamba in the Sierras of Piura, a town known for it's shamans and traditional/alternative medicine practices. Not to many gringos pass through there, but it is very popular for Peruvians who want to see a shaman.

B chance we got hooked into the cleansing ceremony. We (myself and about 7 other volunteers) were hiking to a lake, when we caught up to a family going up on horses to see a shaman. We struck up a conversation, where they told us that their sister was sick, and they wanted the shaman to help them focus/pray/cure her. They were very nice, and excited to have foreigners interested in this part of their culture. So excited, that they encouraged us to take picture. The shaman did them one better, and invited  us to join the cleansing ceremony.

The ceremony is a interesting mixture of this shaman chanting, speaking rapidly, and shaking a rattle towards the lake. Meanwhile, the participants stand behind him and observe, pretty normal stuff. Then the shaman faces the people (us) and hands out sea shells to each person. The shell is then filled with a liquid tobacco juice. The shaman prays some more, and has the people focus on releasing the negative, and focusing on what they want. Then the participants snort the juice through their left nostril (it burns worse than a pixie stick... so I've heard). Then the process is repeated with everyone snorting more chew juice through their right nostril (much harder to be enthusiastic about this while still feeling the burn from the other side). Then with blurry, red eyes, and ever present smell of tobacco, the group is separated, and each person get one-on-one time with the shaman. This one-on-one time involves more focusing on the positive things you want, more rattles, the shaman spitting alcohol on you, and you exhaling forcefully in all four cardinal directions (kinda grunt hard breath combination).

Then the coup de grace (shout out to Claire), the shaman prescribes a certain many of dips in the freezing cold lake (kinda like finding out how many Hail Marys you've racked up since your last confession). Seven was the determined number for me. It was COLD, and I did 3 solid, "no fear" dunks, but I have to admit numbers four through seven were preformed like a house cat going for a swim, and that Sienfield episode about shrinkage came flooding back to my memory.

The cleansing ceremony typically leads to the shaman assisting the people in a 'vision quest' which is aided by a hallucinogenic tea made from a local cactus call San Pedro. We didn't stick around for this, so I'm not sure if the family did this, but that's purpose of the whole cleansing process so I assume they did.


Here are a few pictures:

Kyle checking out the cloud forest on our way to Huancabamba.

Hard to  see but there is a slight rainbow to the bottom left. 

The lake. 

Phil holds his tobacco filled shell. 

Starting to take my seven dips. 

Nothing to see here, just a few guys doing guy things.

The shaman at work.

 After the Sierra portion, we headed north to the beach. This was the most important part for me, as I needed some beach time to tan my fanny. We headed to Tumbes where we enjoy a campfire on the beach and mud baths in the day. The campfire alone was great, but it was made even better by a bio-luminescent algae bloom that appeared around 3:00am, making the waves look electric blue when they crashed on the shore. Unfortunately pictures of the bloom didn't turnout, but I'll always remember swimming in the electric blue ocean that night. Pretty cool.

Kyle getting clean. 

The mud bath. 

Cone head. 

Huinchu Puya de Raimundi

A S/.100 taxi (we split it four ways) up the Cordillera Negra site takes you to a curve in the road call Huinchu. Huinchu is a bosque (forest) of a unique type of tree, the Puya de Raimundi, and breathtaking (I don't ever use this word unless it is truly deserved) panoramic views of the whole Cordillera Blanca. You can also see the Pacific Ocean from here too. The pictures are the only way to truly describe it. 

Paula looking out at the sheep. 

The drop off point.

Jeff and Nico. 

Currently taking applications. 

The Cordillera Blanca

Nevado Santa Cruz. The peak you can see from my site. 

There's the road we came up on. 

The Puya de Raimundi trees. 

Special Olympics Update

While on vacation I received a phone call from the Special Education School Director saying the Special Olympics in Huaraz have been canceled. The reason: it's canceled. Pretty frustrating, but not a deal breaker. We've got plenty of other things to focus on.

Keeping up with the Jones.

Roger's return home from working at the isla brought a big change to the house. It's very similar to what we called in the Anchorage School District "Disneyland Dad Syndrome" (referring to when a military parent would return from deployment and spoil the kids and spend money like crazy). In Roger's case, he bought a satellite T.V. subscription. Not a huge deal, but deserves a slight rant (keep in mind I'm and outsider, invited to live in their home). Here we go:

There wasn't money (S/.9) for Yeferson to buy his school uniform, but the cable T.V. cost S/.60 per month.

Yefer is now late to school every day as he watches cartoons instead of eating breakfast.

After school, Yefer wiggles his way around homework to watch T.V. instead.

The T.V. was shut off after 5 days, due to non-payment. Instead of 40+ channels, a billing notice popped up, covering each channel. Dina, not knowing how to read, made me read the same warning over and over again, as she flipped through the blocked channels.

Even with 40+ channels, Dina and Roger still only watch the programs that were available free through the bunny ears.

Anyway, this isn't meant to be over critical of my host-parents or T.V. in general. It's just a few observations I've made. Also noteworthy, was how it was really nice to see how proud Roger was to show it off to any one who came by. Also, neat to think about how something that is so often taken for granted, is a real luxury for some.

For those you wondering, the T.V. bill has been paid (and I do find myself catching a few of the Olympic events when I can).

Fiesta in Huaylas

Last month Jeff's site, Huaylas, went on complete shut down while everyone in the valley prepared for his town's fiesta. Huaylas is usually the sleepiest town in the valley; however, for about one week a year it wakes up and goes nuts. 

There are 7 barrios, and each one competes to out do the other in the daily activities. Activities include, street dances, marches, costumes, fireworks, and a boat/float competition. Yes, boats at 9,000 feet above sea level.

The people are super friendly, and they all love Jeff (the gringo del barrio Yacup). They are also proud of their history and traditions. As the tale goes, when Pizarro marched up the Sierras in search of  Inca gold, he married a woman from Huaylas a long the way. This marriage solidified a the following two things: 1)The Spanish didn't sack the village, and treated the town very well. Leaving the town with a very distinct colonial feel (which was severely damaged in the 1970 earthquake); and 2, Jeff is always asked when he's going to marry a Huaylina (woman from Huaylas), with the argument of "Pizarro did, so why don't you". (Remember kids, just because Pizarro did it, doesn't mean you should too... I'm more talking about wiping out a whole culture, instead of marrying a Huaylina). 

This town history of being significantly influenced by the Spanish was the catalyst for the boats and the costumes seen at the fiesta. The boats are giant floats that resemble the ships the Spanish arrived on. They are very elaborate and usually hold a large cargo of fireworks and as many as 2 full grown men dressed like sailors. More impressively, they are carried by 10-20 SUPER DRUNK volunteers. The drunk boat carriers wobble and ram their way through the town plaza to the pounding beat of each neighborhoods marching band. But don't worry, each neighborhood also elects a person to yell at the boat carriers, and try to prevent them from running anyone down (safety is always paramount here in Peru). Jeff was asked to take this role, but he wisely declined. 

My final thought before the pictures is that: this was an amazing experience that you'd never read about in a guide book. And if it was in a guidebook, it would still be a tough to summarize in a couple sentences. There was only one other extranjero (foreigner) in town, a older gentleman from Holland that volunteers here in the 70's after the earthquake, and married a huaylina (I guess he followed the Pizarro-logic).

Arriving at the plaza.

This is the boat for Jeff's 'hood. We showed a ton of neighborhood pride, and yelled "Viva Yacup" most the night. 

Building one of the many "castillas", platforms used to shoot of tons of fireworks. 

The plaza at dusk. 

Here comes our boat. 

Jeff's host dad and host sisters.

Jeff gently stole his host dad's hat. His host mom is the back enjoying being with her gringo son.

Casitlla were set off at 1:30am, instead of the scheduled 11:00pm time.

Brice

Jeff tries on the traditional costume. He's holding a whip, which I'm not sure where that tradition came from,.

The Roach Brothers came down from the US to visit Ryan (far right). They were lucky to catch this event. 

Last shot of the Plaza as it slowly returns to the lazy town Jeff loves and knows. 

GLOBE

The GLOBE program is something that I'm trying to get started here in my site. It's a school/kid focused science program founded in the United States, through such notables as NASA, the National Science Foundation, and various universities (shout out to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks) and focused on measuring the world's climate. It's in over a 100 countries in the world, and Peace Corps is helping roll it out here in Peru. There are cool interactive, science-based, observations that kids around the world share together (one close to my heart is a school here in southern Peru is linked to a school in rural Alaska tracking birds as they migrate... imagine emails diciendo (saying) "have they left yet"... "Todavia no" (not yet)).

I personally like it because it is the perfect platform for me to address various areas that I feel the community could benefit from. The kids learn the scientific process, observations and creative thinking, and environmental issues; meanwhile, the school staff will learn basic computer and internet skills, and dynamic teaching methods (not just writing something on the board and have the kids copy it).   Here's the link for the Globe program (it does a way better job of explaining the program): GLOBE Program Homepage

For Yuracoto, I invited a teacher to a two day workshop in Huaraz (shout out to Julio) where we learned about the program and how to construct and place a weather box. So that's were we are going to start. Sara Jane gave me her weather box that she couldn't get anyone in her site excited about, and I'm going to pick up some thermometers while I'm in Lima for my one-year medical exams. Hopefully, we'll have it up and running by September. Look for updates.

Here are a few pictures from the workshop:

The socios and Pat checking out the caseta meteorologico (weather box).

The trainer explaining the three different thermometers. 

The final location for this box is not perfect, and will require an asterisks next to the data, due to being placed too close to obstructions and concrete.  

Roger's Leg Went on the Chopping Block

Roger came back* with a great amount of enthusiasm to house chores and basic "honey-do" projects. One of the chores was cutting firewood for Dina's kitchen. While cutting wood, the ax slipped and he sliced his leg pretty deep.

Roger is typically a macho guy that doesn't show pain, fear, or fatigue, but I couldn't help to note a specific look in his eyes (similar to when I once tried to catch a football right after it hit an active bee hive) when he came into the house with a bloody rag wrapped around his leg to report that he was going to the health post.

Anyway he returned later that morning with 4 stitches and a notable limp. Since my host-family doesn't make much money, they have state paid health insurance, but the nurse told Dina that if roger continues to work on the island (see below), they won't continue to qualify for insurance. Dina was greatly distraught about this, but Roger said that it would be fine, and he'd just pack his wound with leaves and wrap it tight with a rag**

*Roger has returned home from working two and half months in Ica, a department/state to the south of Lima (home to the Nasca lines), where he worked 7 days a week 4:00am to 2:00pm picking up bird droppings (to be sold as fertilizer) on an island off the coast. The main motivation for him to leave and do this was to make money. Working the restaurant in Yuracoto he makes S/.600 a month (if the owner has money to pay him), but on the island he makes nearly S/.1200 a month. Unfortunately, the island jobs is fairly dangerous, and requires him to leave Dina and the boys for long periods of time.


** Roger is campo, born and raised high in the Sierras, and according to the doctor that used to work at the special education school, there are some very interesting (and probably medically unsound) cures that originate from the the alto campo. One of the more interesting stories she told me, was of a broken arm that was wrapped in leaves and then supplied with a healthy amount of urine (baby's urine, if that makes it any better).

I'm Baaaack!

Dear loyal followers, sorry for the lack of updates last month. No good reasons for the slump, I just couldn't pull myself into a locotorio (internet booth) to post my updates.

With that weak excuse out of the way, let me give you a quick preview of the future blog posts to come. Look for such topics as: health insurance in Peru, questionable family budgeting, life sized ships high in the Sierras mountains, travels to the northern beaches, and many more tales (also, check your emails for a peacecorts insider's update, and be sure to email me if you want it, but didn't get it). 

Yefer's Birthday

Yeferson had his big day on July 5th, and we tried to celebrate it in style. I went to Caraz and bought some cake, Dina cooked Cuy Picante, and then we played pin the tail on Tony the Tiger (thanks Uncle Pat). His only gift was a shirt mom had sent down to me awhile ago (which I held on to for the occasion).  Reflecting on the day, it was simple family get together (minus Roger, who is still working on the island). Not too much money was spent, gifts weren't the center point, and Yefer had fun. Like I said, simple, but nice. Unfortunately, I had to go to Huaraz that night, so I left around 5:00PM. But when I cam back the following day, Tony was still pinned to the wall, and Yefer made it a point to thank me again for the cake. Great kid. Here's some pics:

Yeferson and Tony with his new shirt.

Note the table cloth. Happy birthday Yefer.

Yordan really cleaned up for Yefer's big day. 

Random brother picture. 

And here are a few bonus Yordan moments from that day:

Yordan wearing my USA hat. 

Proud American. 

4th of July, 2012

This year's Forth of July celebrations were pretty simple, although fun. I taught a morning class to the 5th graders entitled "Diversity in the USA". Basically, it was my attempt to explain that the United States is more than just "rich/backpacker White people", Maimi and the city of Nueve York (New York). I touched on the racial and cultural diversities in the US, and how we do have unfavorable things like poverty, gangs, etc. To counter balance the negative, I ended the presentation on the "American Dream". Here are the boys after class, with the flags I handed out:

After the class, I jumped on a combi and met up with some other volunteers in the area for a BBQ at local hotel outside of Huaraz. They didn't charge us anything, let us use their grill, and even filled up the pool for us; however, it was a little cold and cloudy to really enjoy swimming (I have other methods of cooling off).

John William grilling some meat.

Note the Hat and Scarf... thanks family. Also not that John William donated his shirt as a  flag. 

Pat approves this burger. 

The pool. 

In Search of Naked Babies

My buddy Sara Jane, lives at the my entrance point of a famous hike here in Ancash/Peru, the Santa Cruz Trek. Entonces (So), during tourist season, she sees a lot extranjeros (strangers/foreigners) walk by her doorstep. In one case, it was a couple who had brought a bunch of gently used children's clothing to Peru to give away. However, according to Sara, they had a tough time finding clothes for one kid in a previous village, and wound up feeling horrible as all the other kids got "new" clothes, minus the one kid. So they passed the clothes onto business owner here in Caraz, who then passed them on to Sara. However, Sara wasn't having much luck finding naked babies in need, so she passed them on to me. After a quick search through my site, I came to realize that it would be best to give the goods to our health post, so they could distribute them as needed, to the new mothers in need. Here is a couple of pics of my health post receiving the clothing.