So I’ve completely neglecting blogging for journaling instead, and well, living instead of chronicling. At this exact moment I’m sitting in a hostel in Cusco, which I’m loving. It’s a bit of a party hostel, but I found a few people to hang out with who are content to sit around and stare at computers with me. In six hours I’ll be getting on a bus heading to La Paz. Bit sketch because it was pretty cheap, but I’m sure I’ll be fine. Unfortunately I’ll have to be looking for a new camera because I kind of wrecked mine with a little water incident a few days ago. Bolivia will probably the most gorgeous part of my trip so I can’t really afford to not have pictures of it. I’ve got insurance for the wrecked camera, so I’m not too too worried about it. I’ve sort of been walking around in a daze since leaving Ollanta, but it feels good be back in a bit of civilization. I guess I’m headed right back out of it, as Bolivia isn’t the most touristy place in the world, but I’m really really looking forward to it!

I can barely believe that I’ll be home in two weeks, in fact I’ll probably be comfortably at home, enjoying Friday dinner by this time two weeks from now. I do want to be at home, really, but I wish I could have both worlds.

 

Just as a quick update, we’re pretty sure we killed the rat! (we moved from thinking it was a mouse to a rat because of the destruction) Either way, last night nothing was eaten, no poo was left behind and a large amount of the poison is missing. So yay us. Especially because I am now sleeping in the living room until the current volunteer living here leaves. Which is soon! Everyone seems to be leaving soon, I’ve been to the despididos (leaving parties) for about 10 people in the last week and a half, and we’ll be having at least one a week for the next little while, and I still have over 50 days left…

 

So I’m stuck at the store without internet again, so I suppose it’s time for an update! It’s been a really odd week, although life as usual is, well, life as usual…Last week Michelle had her wallet stolen while we were working, pretty much right in front of us. It’s really shaken our comfort level and made us more cautious, which is probably for the best, but, as much as I’ve tried not to assume things about people, it was a group of Peruvians, and mostly white tourists shop at this store. I’ve sort of taken to dismiss most Peruvians now with a “No, gracias” as they’re usually trying to sell us things. I hardly feel mean or rude about it anymore. I mean, most people are grateful to us for being here and what we’re doing, but others well…Hugely unfortunately, her passport was in her wallet, along with a load of cash. So life has been stressful for her, as she’s had to arrange to get to the Canadian embassy for 24 hours before she flies home. She also has no ID, so has to get some before she’ll even be able to fly to Lima!

 

In better news, this week has been odd because Michelle and I have moved into a house together! The first things I always say about it are that it has a fridge, a microwave, a functional oven and a living room. And, sadly as I found out before I came to work, a mouse in our kitchen …I’m at work at the moment so I can’t do anything about it, but Michelle’s out getting rat poison, and hopefully notifying our landlady (who is super great) about it. We moved because we both didn’t like our respective places very much. I lived in a homestay that is a hostel, and the couple who run it are super nice, but speak mostly Spanish, and seem really busy with their business, not to mention the other two volunteers that lived with me. Anyway, I got really sick of the food, and if I wasn’t being fed there, I ended up paying far far too much in rent, and I didn’t enjoy the fact that if I stayed out past 9:30 (which happens multiple times per week) I had to ring the bell and get someone out of bed to open the door for me. If they came at all, as others have been locked out all night, and not just us volunteers. Anyway, if I were younger and had come from living at home, knew a little more Spanish than I do, and liked being answerable to another set of parents, maybe I would’ve loved it! Either way, none of those things are me, and I’m super happy living where I do now, even if we end up spending hours on the couch watching the episodes of The Office I have on my computer and knitting. Speaking of, I’m practically done a scarf, I’m not a huge fan of how it looks, but it’s an accomplishment!

 

Anyway, I should get back to work, I’ve got some new inventory to enter and hang up in the store!

 

So I was just about very excited I had found an internet connection in our store, but it’s from the next door restaurant and really doesn’t do much! If it works at all that is…ah well, I was lucky to have it even for a couple of seconds.

This morning we went up to Patacancha for another entrega…we bought a lot of things, which is good because the store has started to look quite empty. I seem to have taken a large role in inventory, which is nice because I find it interesting. It’s only 11 days until I move in with another volunteer, which I am super psyched for. I told my house parents (in my horrible, broken Spanish) that they don’t need to cook for me anymore (as the bland boringness was starting to make me sick and lose all appetite, and as a homestay through our organization is atrociously expensive, compared to normal living costs here) But my mom still offered me lunch today when I got home. Hope she was just being polite, but I’m sure they still don’t have the right picture. They seemed very confused by me not needing to be cooked for. On an interesting note, on my way to work I was actually hungry, so I bought my first “street meat”…as in cooked on the street and I’m not quite sure what kind of meat it was! But for dinner I’ll be going out with a few volunteers to a place called Puka Rumi, it has the best food here, and not even the most expensive. s/20 can buy a full, good meal, and that’s around $8CAD. Not something I can do everyday, but sometimes you just need good food.

Tomorrow Michelle and I will be heading to Pisac, a gorgeous little town that apparently has an amazing market on Sundays. What I’m specifically looking for is craft supplies (who knew??) Michelle makes amazing jewelry, and there’re scads of places here selling beads that are actually seeds from plants around here. So I’m hoping to be able to start making some stuff I can give as gifts! I’m also going to be looking for knitting needles and some cheap yarn. We’ve got loads in the store, but I don’t think I want to spend too much on yarn while I’m still learning. So everyone, you now know what you’re getting as Christmas gifts! That is if I actually find the time to learn all of these things…

 

Saturday I’ll have been here for a month, and it seems crazy that that much time can pass so quickly! I’m not sure what’s new since my last update, but we now have a store, it finally was finished about two weeks ago, which is nice, I don’t always feel like I have to have a shower after I work. That being said, I definitely only take a shower about twice a week. Gross, I know, but my hair seems to enjoy it, and well, people here rarely shower and I think everyone smells so no one notices! But I’ve done laundry three times by hand now, and the last time I did, it decided to rain (a once a month occurrence) and luckily my housedad Flavio (awesome name, right?) took it down for me and then it proceeded to rain all night long.

I’m now in my second week of Spanish lessons, and it’s going okay…it’s been a lot of review of what I’ve learned before, and a lot of strict theory stuff, so I can say small topical sentences, but not a whole else useful. When I need to talk to my houseparents, I can get out a few words that probably make sense, but really only get a small idea across. I don’t spend as much time speaking Spanish as I thought I would. But I can usually understand what I read in Spanish and I can understand a lot of conversations that go on around me.

This weekend Michelle and I are going to Cusco for the weekend, and I’m suuuuper psyched. We’ll be staying in a hostel that has wifi in your room, so you can probably imagine the craziness that we’ll be getting up to. I’m really looking forward to more McDonald’s (who would have thought) and maybe some reaaaaal coffee for once. Not to mention the shopping! Well, actually there’s not much I want to get. Probably more bandaids! I’ve had fleas for the last week or so, yeah, gross, I know, but everyone does, or so I tell myself. They’re gone now, but I do need to recover, oh and hydrocortisone if I find it! But health wise it seems like I’m finally sick of some kind. So far my stomach just hurts from time to time and I don’t have much of an appetite, which is fine, we’ve been overfed. But it sends Rosa (my housemom) into a huge worry. So far I’ve had two cups of tea made from a herb she has in the garden (muña? I think?) I feel okay, I think I’m just tired of the food, and the mealtimes. The food is good, but…really bland with far too many starches (half of a huge plate always being white rice) and there’s far, far, far too much of everything. I don’t really have an appetite, and I think you can understand why. But I know the symptoms if I have a parasite, and I think I’m alright so far…I even have an antibiotic just in case it is in fact what I have!

 

first week

Well I’ve been here over a week now, probably time for an update! So far, no two days have been the same. I get up any time from 7:00 to 9:30, depending on if I’ve got early work shifts or if I’m just going to the next town to shop. Work shifts consist either of sitting outside our store that is almost finished, hopefully will be in it early next week! It gets quite dusty and when the sun shines, which is always, quite hot. For three hours, we sit out there and try to sell our textiles. They’re quite expensive compared to others in town, so we don’t see too much traffic…not having an actual store doesn’t help either! Our textiles are pricier because we buy directly from the weavers, who use only natural fibers and dyes, and we give them a fair price. The markup on our products is used for emergency healthcare, and our projects, such as education and new facilities for the weavers. Mostly I read or study Spanish sitting out in the sun. The other work shift we do is keep office hours, since we can’t keep much stock with us on the street, we have a lot stored at our office, so it’s important to always have people there. I’ve also been working on editing the website, and although I used to be able to do much of that kind of stuff, having a google site is kind of restricting, but it serves it’s purpose. Yesterday I inventoried the new textiles we bought from the women the last time we went up to Patacancha and had an entrega. This week when our group goes back up, they will get cash for what we bought. I won’t be going this week; instead I’ll be trekking to some of the ruins near Ollanta with one of the volunteers. Also this weekend is the winter solstice! So early early early Sunday morning, we’ll be trekking up to some point to watch the sun rise and see the sunrise hit three points of a triangle. Yeah, clearly I’m not sure exactly what’s happening, but the sun was a big deal to the Incas, so I’m pretty psyched to see this. Another new project I may be helping with is getting beeswax from a local honey lady to make natural cosmetics.

In my free time, I read, study Spanish (not going so well so far, but I haven’t started lessons yet!), hang out at the office, hang out at home, go for walks and use the internet café, which, so far, not so interesting, so I may take a huge break from the internet, I can call people if I need to talk! Speaking of, it’s incredible to not have a cell phone. I know I wouldn’t get clear reception, or use it all that much if I had it, but still! Or a watch, I kind of like never knowing what the time is. That being said, I can always sort of tell what time of day it is by the sun, since it sets so early (around 5:30, hopefully later after this weekend!) Also, if there’s a day off, probably a Wednesday, volunteers usually head into Urubamba, because Wednesday is their big market day! It’s the closest bigger town, and a lot less touristy, in my opinion. Michelle, another volunteer, and I, went this last Wednesday, did a bit of shopping, and had very disappointing cheeseburgers. Tonight though, is happy hour for volunteers at a restaurant owned by one of the directors of Awamaki. So I’m looking forward to another amazing pizza!

As far as plans go, I’m looking at doing Machu Picchu in a few weeks (not the Inca Trail, of course, have to plan that one three months in advance), the Peruvian director is trying to take us on a tour of the ruins that tourists usually have to pay a lot for, and a few of us may be taking a hot air balloon ride over the whole Sacred Valley! I still haven’t decided what to do with my last few weeks before I get home, as I have about two weeks between not working here and my flight home…but I may just take more time to explore this gorgeous country!

 

the view from the shop

 

patacancha

my first guniea pig!

 

Ollantaytambo

I’ve been here about 24 hours now, I’ve had my breakfast, so I finally have a minute to do this. I’m not connected to the internet at the moment, I’m going to have to save this to my new USB and go to the internet café later. It’s only 2 soles (around…65 cents?) per hour for Awamaki volunteers. There is a connection in our office, which I’ll eventually be using to do some of my work here, but it uses the mobile network, and is likely slow, so that means maybe no pictures for a while kids! I may save up two weeks of pictures and go into urubamba for the day to get them all up. I may also decide to use Picasa instead of facebook. Who knows!!

Anyway, the real stories! Getting here was a real adventure…staying overnight in Jorge Chavez was not one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, but at least I had internet? Getting off the plane in Cusco was a bit of a shock, I guess. I didn’t see any of Lima, as it was dark outside by the time we were flying over pretty much all of South America, (it gets dark at about 5:30-6) so I didn’t know what to expect. It looked a lot like Matamoros, the Mexican city I had been to about 4 years ago. I know that’s not much of a description, for most people! Arriving in Lima, I didn’t have to speak to passport control; I was just given 90 days! I may have to pay for extra later (a dollar a day I think?), but I haven’t yet decided what to do after 90 days with the project either…There were about 150 people on my flight, and Cusco has one baggage claim, and it’s tiny, not to mention you can see outside. Immediately I noticed the cold, I think it was three degrees. The airport in Lima had been quite humid and warm. From there I grabbed a taxi to help me find Pavitos and Grau, where I would find taxis to Ollanta. I almost wished I had taken some pictures on the drive, but my taxi driver would’ve thought I was nuts, and I was almost 30 hours on no sleep. From that taxi, I took a shared taxi from Cusco to Ollanta and the ride was scenic, but once again…couldn’t care too much.

I arrived in the plaza of Ollantaytambo at about 8:30, and I knew which road the Awamaki office was up, they just don’t label them! I didn’t see any of the bright-green vested phone ladies (they’re like phone booths, except they’re women and you just use their mobiles for local calls for a fee of some kind, or with a phone card). So I decided to put my Spanish to use….err well, not really. I walked up to a man, (there were plenty of people walking around, especially tourists, as many tours depart from there) and said, “Donde esta Chaupi Calle?” and then pointed to my notebook where I had written the directions. He motioned towards a corner of the square where two buildings opened to a narrow street. I thanked him and struggled with my luggage across the rest of the square up the calle (sorry mom, the tiny wheels and bottom trim didn’t fair too well with large cobbles in the street!) up to the courtyard where the Awamaki offices were, and I only had to ask for directions one more time! I passed through a narrow doorway, passed a small tiende, and through another doorway, where I asked a woman where the office was. Someone in the office heard me and helped me get my luggage up the stairs. The director wasn’t in, so we all sat around and chatted for a while. I was so tired I didn’t mind sitting for a while.

Eventually I was taken around a bit, and shown where I would stay. Oh yeah! I got into a homestay! Well technically it’s a hostel, but we still get our meals cooked for us, and we have warm-ish showers! (I was happy to hear last night that beans are rare, and never ever refried and I don’t really think tortillas are very Peruvian, so I’m safe!!) There’s another volunteer here at this hostel, she’s a nurse from New Jersey and she commutes everyday to work in rural areas.  Our house parents are really great; I’ve been overfed at every meal so far! I’ll have to take a few pics of meals I’ll be served, and maybe first learn the phrase for “my family wants to know, they worry”. As I can understand most of what they´re saying, my housemom Rosa is convinced I´ll be able to speak Spanish within a week…if only!

We had a textiles volunteers meeting last night, it gave me a much better idea of what’s going to happen and what they do. I’ll be taking three or four shifts at the textiles shop per week, and we’ve decided to keep the office open as well, so a few shifts there. I’ll also be proofreading the website, as well as doing some research to see what’s being said about this place and organization, yay for experience in virtual social networking! Saturday morning, we’re going on a site visit to Patacancha, where a few of the weavers live and work. A long term volunteer here, Paula, assists with the purchasing and negotiations, and since I´m staying so long, I will be taking over for her. There are a few volunteers up there at the moment, and that’s where there’s no electricity or running water, so a few end up changing their minds and coming back down here. Awamaki is also in the midst of renovations to their store, so as soon as that is up and running, I will help with setting up a proper inventory/storage/accounting type system.  I haven’t had any sickness to speak of really, even though I keep forgetting my probiotics, and I’ve slept great.

When I’m done this, I’m going to do some unpacking, as living out of suitcases for three months might be unpleasant! At 11:00, I’m going to meet another textiles volunteer (a Nova Scotian, here on the Canadian government’s money, jealous!) after her Spanish lesson and she’s going to show me around. And I’m going to look into Spanish lessons for myself as well! Hopefully I’ll be able to get pictures up within a week.

 

Lima

In Lima, between flights again, how weird is it to be so far from home yet be in the same time zone? Strange. I’m being faced with how bad my Spanish conversational skills are as I encountered three little girls on the plane here with almost better English than my Spanish. We at least established each others’ names and ages! But being at an airport, most people speak English so I’ve gotten by so far. In a few hours, I’ll check in for a flight that takes me to Cusco, where I’m sure far fewer people speak Spanish, and I won’t be in the mood to think about my phrases either, so it should be interesting. I really was psyched on flying this morning, so I took a few photos that look like this!

Because I decided that clouds are fricking awesome. Anyway, I can hardly think straight anymore, it’s been a long day. I should be in Ollantaytambo within half a day!