Ayacucho - Day 4

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THE SHORT VERSION

things are going well... its a period of adjustment =) no hot water, got a little sick when i got here and fainted in the middle of the night. soon to be eating all the delicious food i see around me, but will write details later because the computer just rebooted as i was writing this entry.


OK, HERE´S THE LONG VERSION (apologies to my family who got this before i added this next part and was worrying about my dramatic oversimplification of ¨fainting¨)

< shower >

yes, the shower is cold (there is no water heater at all) and much of the city uses cold water, so i´m adjusting and now feeling grateful for the last warm shower i took before leaving Seattle. cold showers, for anyone who hasn´t taken one in a while are like something pricking your skin. i hold my breath and hop under the cascading icicles and brace myself to force my body to stay underneath and let the water rinse my skin. once i have soaped up, there is no going back. yet, the temptation to stick just one hand and then up to my elbow and then maybe lean a shoulder in (como dijo Laritza), but succumbing to that temptation only prolongs and exacerbates the already painful process. so, i imagine the feeling when Daniel and i jumped in the freezing cold water of the Puget Sound at Richmond Beach with our karate dojo for New Years and the comparison helps me put this shower situation in perspective. ¨impossible is nothing¨


< fainting >

now, the fainting... i arrived in Lima, Peru and felt pretty normal, but by the time i got to Ayacucho Monday morning, something wasn´t quite sitting right in my tummy. thinking not much of it and excited about tasting Peruvian cebiche (different types of seafood cooked through a marinating process with lemon juice, onions), i went to lunch with Laritza, Lorena, and Giovanni (Laritza and Giovanni returned to Lima Tuesday evening and Lorena is the permanent member of the Peru Sonqoykipi program, my boss =) ). cebiche i would definitely recommend, but cebiche when you aren´t quite feeling 100% and are trying it for the first time is a different story...
i kept turning to one side and then another, hot then cold. all i wanted was the little pillow off the stool about 15 feet away and when i closed my eyes, a silouette walked over and brought it to me. yet, when i opened my eyes, the pillow was not under my head. to be continued...

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