the market

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March 10, 2006

Hi-

Hard to believe it’s March. It was a really hot day here.

I’ve been pretty busy, and Thijs has suddenly appointed himself my social director, so my schedule gets fuller and fuller. I was feeling kind of old, because everybody here is at least 20 years younger than me, but lately everybody has been asking me to go places and do things; makes me feel a little more a part of what’s going on. Thijs has decided that every Saturday we’re going to have a teacher’s day out- picnics, swimming, and whatever else he comes up with. After my morning class today, we went shopping for all the ingredients for a barbecue. Four of us went-it was a HUGE undertaking, because we had a long shopping list, and of course every little thing, right down to spices had to be purchased at a separate place! We went to a different market-very large, and the fruits and vegetables seemed fresher. There was a lot more tropical fruit, and the meat section that we went to was kind of half outdoors, so it didn’t smell quite so awful. I never saw so many bananas in my life, and they cost only a few cents! We were shopping for 14 people so that meant big sacks of potatoes, lots of meat, all kinds of vegetables for 2 kinds of salad, even 2 watermelons. Mind you, there are no carts like the grocery stores at home, and all the while we are climbing over dirt and rocks, occasionally stepping over the horns of a steer, that were tossed in the gutter. I’m not kidding. We eventually hired 2 little boys with hand carts to lug everything around. When it got to be around noon everyone was fading a bit, so we went to the juice counter and had big glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice and slices of cake; kind of a pound cake. Four big glasses of juice and four slices of cake cost 6 soles, about $2.

When we were finished, we sent the boys to find us a taxi, and rode home. I gave each of the boys 2 soles, and Thijs did as well. Theijs said that was a day’s pay for them, usually people give them 50 centimos- about 15 cents! The boys looked at their hands like they couldn’t quite believe it. They probably scampered off to get a soda and cake or candy, but that’s ok, they earned it. Be sure and check out the photos - they were really cute little boys, around nine or ten, but clearly desperately poor, very sad.

So tomorrow’s a picnic and volleyball. I see there are 2 cases of beer in the apartment, so it should prove interesting.

On Sunday, one of my English students informed me we were going “camping”. I’m quite sure we’re not staying over night, or taking a tent or anything, so I’m not sure what “camping” involves. I will keep you posted.

My assignment today is to make pasta salad for 14, in the “kitchen”-remember, our kitchen is a former tiny bathroom. Thijs has gone to the shelter for some big pots. I will let you know how the picnic goes and what camping is here in Ayacucho.

Love to all, kathy

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