news from Ayacucho

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Feb 14

After pulling my back out and riding all those miserable hours on the plane, I feel much better today. We finally left the Lima airport about 1 AM and pushed our way through hordes of taxi drivers, and crowds of people to the taxi area, where my companion negotiated at length with several drivers to get a fare he thought was reasonable-about $7…which I didn’t think was so cheap!! This is how you drive in Lima- ignore all traffic lights and signs, and go as fast as you can, laying on the horn the whole time, hoping the other person stops. Luis, the fellow that met me, said, “Don’t worry, that’s how everybody drives here.” I am glad I don’t intend to drive! I was left at a sort of bare bones hotel-the sheets were so thin you could read a newspaper through them, and the pillows reminded me of the awful lumpy ones at the cottage I have been meaning to throw out for the last 5 years! But it appeared fairly clean, with a nice hot shower, and a big fan. It is very hot here, and muggy. But I slept surprisingly well. I was exhausted. My back is still killing me. I am thinking of tracking down a pharmacy today for some better pain killers.
The café at the hotel served me a huge breakfast, since the only thing I could read on the menu was “desayuno Americano” American breakfast. Apparently they think we all eat like pigs- I got 2 eggs, 2 big pieces of ham, rolls, coffee, and papaya juice. I am now totally addicted to papaya juice…mmmmmmmmmm. The coffee came as a small pitcher of really concentrated expresso, a jug of hot water, and what he said was milk, but was really very thick sweet, yellow cream. When I poured all those things together it was delicious, but very high test, as I can feel my heart pounding now! It was the cream-I don’t think it was cow’s cream, but it was yummy. Maybe it’s best I don’t know what animal it came from..
So now I am waiting for Luis who is going to show me around Lima a bit, and then he has to work at three, and the hotel will find me a taxi to the bus. He is a language teacher as well, but works evenings after adults are done with work and can attend English classes. It will be interesting at the bus station, since I don’t speak Spanish. I hope I get on the right bus, who knows where I will end up. Then an all night ride, and if all goes well, I will be in Ayacucho tomorrow.

Adios for now

Feb 15-
An all night bus ride HIGH in the mountains, and here I am. It was a little scary last night because I had to get a taxi from the hotel to the bus station, and then sit in the bus station for an hour trying to figure out which bus was the one I should take. All the announcements were in Spanish, the woman at the ticket counter knew one word of English, which was “later”. And all that heavy luggage-whose idea was that anyhow?  Go ahead Dad, say “I told you so!”
I slept quite a bit on the bus, which was infinitely more comfortable than the plane. It creaked and groaned VERY slowly up the high mountain roads. Even though it was night, I could see quite a lot because of the moonlight. Mostly what I could see, though, was either that my bus window was 2 feet from a cliff that went straight up, or a sheer drop-off that went who knows where. As it got closer to dawn and we got higher and higher, it also got colder and colder. In Lima it was about 85 when I got on the bus, and by the time I got to Ayacucho, I had on wool socks, winter coat, and was wrapped in a fleece blanket-still shivering.

But it warmed up very quickly once the sun was out. I don’t even know where to start to try and describe to you what it is like here. I feel like I have been dropped off on a different planet. As we drove down into the valley, mostly what you could see was bare subsistence farming-small huts with thatched or tin/tile roofs, a few skinny cattle tethered about, pigs running about, and women and children dressed in brightly colored clothing. Most of the women wear a sort of a round felt hat, with long dark braids down their backs. They wear dark leggings, full cotton skirts over that and 2 or 3 bright sweaters. The children were in rags, except those waiting for the school bus. I was impressed by how freshly scrubbed and neatly dressed the school children were- waiting in front of these very poor farms. The small plots of crops- no bigger than what I would call a large vegetable garden- surround the huts. It seems so odd to see cacti growing next to scrubby little corn patches. It is clearly very dry here- cacti, succulents, and low scrubby brush is mostly what you can see in the country.
Even though I am told this is a fairly large city, it really doesn’t feel that way at all. It feels like a small town, only sprawled out over quite a large area. It sits in a valley surrounded on all sides by mountains, brown and dry looking.
I will post some pictures as soon as I find a grounded plug. I should have brought one with me. When the battery goes on this thing I will be stuck without one. If I can’t get one, someone will have to mail me one. I have been given a very nice room on the 3rd floor of a building that used to be apartments, and that is where the school is. There are 3 large classrooms, and this apt, which I share with the school director, Thijs. He is Dutch, and has been very nice, even put flowers in my room this am. I can’t guess his age, maybe early thirties or so. I have to share a bathroom and a kitchen with him. The funny thing is, because of the way the apartments have been renovated into classrooms, the stove is in what used to be a shower stall, and the sink is next to that, with the refrigerator in another room. Makes for tight quarters when we are both trying to make coffee/tea. I am glad I brought some coffee for the first few weeks. I shall either have to get used to tea or instant Nescafe, because that is what is here!
Several people have introduced themselves to me, but of course I have no idea what they are saying!! One person stopped in that spoke some English, and that was music to my ears.
So I have a nice room, very clean, with a table and chairs, bed (with an alpaca blanket) and a small chest of drawers. There is a stairway to the roof nearby, which has some spectacular views. There appears to be a large sink and drain board, with a clothesline nearby, where presumably one does laundry. I shall have to drag a chair up there, as it is very pleasant and sunny. I can hear lots of birds, none of them familiar!
Thijs is taking me to lunch and to walk around the town a bit in a little while. The altitude isn’t really bothering me except for as bit of a low grade nagging headache.
I am fine- don’t worry about me. I miss you all, even though it has only been a couple of days!
Love to all, Kathy

Feb 16

It is 5:30 PM and I am really tired. I had 4 hrs of Spanish lessons, which is too much. Tomorrow we’ll do 3 hrs. I have to study tonight-it isn’t soaking in very easily. I have an altitude headache, that doesn’t help.

We had an amazing afternoon. At least it was amazing to me. We went to the market so I could buy some groceries. The market is under a canvas “tarp” but it’s huge, maybe 5 or six rows of stalls or booths so long you can’t see the ends. All the food is grown on the farms around Ayacucho- you can grow things year round here. It’s on a lumpy, rocky dirt floor, with rows of women and children selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, dried beans, meat, anything you can think of. LOTS of different kinds of potatoes-since I don’t speak Spanish, I can’t ask what the differences are! It’s sort of like the market in Raleigh, only make it really dirty and poor, with everybody sitting on the floor, and a tent covering instead of a roof.. I guess I wouldn’t call it dirty exactly-certainly not by local standards, just everything including the people look kind of grubby by American standards. Everybody was friendly and smiling and laughing at my attempts to ask prices. I was able to mostly negotiate without help, and it was great fun. I stayed away from the side with all the live animals, though. It was bad enough when I bought a quarter of chicken, I had to watch her chop the feet off. Of course nothing is refrigerated, so I will have to boil it to death before I eat it, if I decide to eat it!! I don’t have much of an appetite-I think that’s the altitude too. We have been walking all over the city, and my apartment is on the 3rd floor, so I am getting lots of exercise. But back to the food- you can’t believe the prices. I could literally eat for a month on $10. I bought a little over 2 lbs of tomatoes for less than a dime! I can’t remember what I paid for the rest of the stuff, but it was pennies for 6 eggs, or 2 lbs of rice. I also bought bananas- they are fresh because the jungle is so near.
It is what they call Carnival here right now- I’m not exactly sure what that is, but it lasts all week. Children throw water from the rooftops, so you have to watch where you walk. Then every once in a while a marching band goes by…..totally spontaneous, just seems to appear out of nowhere! I was on the roof this AM when the first one went by, and I was so amazed- the traffic just went around them, and nobody really was watching. On the way home from the market, a parade of dancing men and women in traditional clothing went by. They were in rows, holding and swinging ropes made of real fruit-all while laughing and dancing!! Don’t ask me how all the fruit was held together. I didn’t have my camera-since this is carnival, I guess I better take it every day! I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. I was bemoaning the fact I didn’t have my camera, but Thijs said we’ll see lots of that.
Thijs and his friends are deciding where to take me for an outing this weekend. Since I don’t understand a word they are saying, it’ll be a surprise I guess! Something about a park outside of town. I have a hard time imagining that, since all you can see from town are poor farms going up the hillsides no matter which direction you look.
I have met at least 20 people already. Everyone is really friendly. When you meet someone, you are expected to kiss their cheek and say something like- “How very nice it is to meet you.” Then upon parting, you are expected to do the whole thing over again. “It was such a pleasure seeing/meeting you.” Those pleasantries are very important, and it is terribly rude just to stand there and smile.
I watched the sun come up over the mountains from the roof this am, and it was spectacular.

I also learned how I will get my laundry done. It costs practically nothing to have it done, and as a visitor you are pretty much expected to provide the mother of one of the children with the work. It costs something like $1 for six large items like jeans, and less for smaller stuff. What a life, someone else doing my laundry!!
Well, I guess that’s it for today, I have to do some curriculum editing over at the shelter tomorrow, and I will try to get some of this on the web.
Love to all,
K

Ps A funny thing I forgot to write about. My Spanish lassons and attempts to communicate in the stores are hilarious. Yesterday, during my lesson, we were talking about parts of the body, and got to talking about hair and eyes. Roxana said,” Que colour es mi pelo?” what color is my hair? I said “Tu pelo es negre.” Your hair is black. She says “Queque colour es tu pelo?” I stopped to think how to say light brown, and she says “Tu pelo es gringo.” Apparently your hair is either Peruvian (black) or any other color (gringo). You don’t see many white skinned or light haired people here, so there is no need for a lot of different words to describe us!
I also had dinner at a café in “Gringo Plaza”, where you can buy a hamburger ( which comes with the French fries inside the bun!) or a hot dog, or kafe Americano (real coffee). I had a giant glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, which was HEAVENLY, a hamburger, which sort of looks like a hamburger but doesn’t taste much like one, and a cup of coffee for a little over $2. That is generally considered an outrageous price, but it is a place where the waitstaff know two or three words of English. I watched 2 couples get up and leave, I think because they couldn’t make head nor tail of the menu, and couldn’t understand the waitress. It takes a LOT of patience, and the Peruvians are patient, but it’s not always true of foreigners. You have to be really patient because nothing happens on time, or necessarily on the day you think it should (like my internet connection GRRRRR…..), but that’s just part of the culture. It’ll happen when it happens and that is all there is to it.


SORRY no photos yet-I forget to bring my camera to the shelter with me, and we still don´t have internet. Typical-3 days really means 6, and that might REALLY mean 8 or 10. I´ll try to remember the next time I come to the shelter.

love to all
K

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Comments

[P trick]

Thijs the Terrible
Hi Cool to read your blog ... we (Izzy and Patrick) lived in the school-house the month of january. Who are you working with? As in, what organization in town? Hey, a word of advice for the kids with water-balloons. Get a packet, go up to the roof, and snipe them. They´ll love you, and then give you respect. Or maybe they´ll just take it as an invitation to pelt you every time you step out the door. I wouldn´t know, I did the roof-thing my last day, ha. Anyways, tell Thijs Izzy and Patrick say hi, as well as the whole gaggle of english teachers - Roxana, Yosenia, etc., as well as Thijs. Have you met Marisol yet? She rocks. And lastly, if you go up to Quinua, would you mind going by the health centre and saying hi to Alan and Betty? At any rate, you should go to Quinua, because it´s beautiful... I have a blog of our time in Ayacucho, if you want to check it out - http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/P-trick/ Have a great time in Ayacucho... Patrick