Shed a tear, Never again....

This weekend was full of activity and new things. I went to 2 apolladas yesterday. Apolladas = A fundraiser involving chicken, lots of potatoes, and beers. I went to support 2 of our loan recipients; one women held an apollada to raise money for her mom's cancer medicine and the other wants to formally register her business and needs a big chunk of change. I hope they made the money they wanted and needed - Hugo and I sure got (or at least felt) fat supporting them.

Then later in the afternoon I went to my first bullfight. Never again. Hugo and I first went to the shaky wood slab bleachers. I then suggested we move to the cement bleachers that looked more sturdy and less likely to collapse. These wood bleachers in the U.S. would most certainly be a lawsuit waiting to happen. (see pic!)

I had no idea that I would shed a tear and feel so sorry for an animal. I am not an animal person, but was ready to get out my "animal maltreatment" sign. The matadors totally ganged up on the bull and showed off their shiny, extra tight matador suits as if they ruled the animal kingdom. I had to shut off my heart and mind and not watch the killing of all 4 bulls. Some say art, tradition, thrill. I say awful, pain, ugly and ridiculous. So for those of you that have the opportunity in the future to go to a bullfight I would definitely recommend not going. If you do, bring Kleenex, just in case you have the same reaction that I did.


My Sunday was completely different. I went to help translate for a group of American doctors on a medical mission near Cajamarca. It was inspiring and heartbreaking. It is so hard for me to see and participate in something that is not sustainable. We were able to administer lots of medicine, providing relief and temporarily comfort, but what will happen next month when the same patients need continued medical care and the doctors are back in the U.S.? I know that most of the doctors also realized this during the course of the appointments as they wanted to refer out, offer follow-up and just do more. I guess sometimes we live with the satisfaction of providing some short term relief and peace to others in need. That is some help too, no?

Our blouse model

Our women have finished phase one of our almost month long sewing class - the blouse. Ismeralda, the daughter of one of the students, was kind enough to model for us. Now the women are working on their skirts. We had enough material that each women is making a skirt for herself. They will be modeling them next week - however some of the women are joking that they are making mini skirts (because the material they have isn't enough to go past their knees). You have to tune in next week to find out!

Family Planning in the countryside

Fishing game for Family Planning information

The famous banana - condom demostration

The kids were learning along with the adults - how does the pill work?

We held our last health session in the countryside this past Saturday. Our last topic was Family Planning and it was a hit. We actually held two sessions on Family Planning since there wasn't enough time in one afternoon to talk about all the methods that partners can use. Women had questions, were laughing and hopefully walked away with some more knowledge. Lots of questions about the pill and the "injection." Can you never get pregnant again after you use them? At most of our sessions it wasn't so much just adult sessions; the kiddos were there with us listening, playing games and answering questions. In Peruvian culture kids are always included. They are exposed at such a young age to real life things that most adults would never dream of in the U.S.

I hope that the new health information is truly used. I am finding more and more through my conversation with women that they have very little power or say in decisions with their partners. Often times they have to ask their partner for permission to go somewhere or do something. So I wonder how this translates to health decisions and how much power women can exercise. We didn't address this topic in our class, but with more informed women I can only hope for some type of shift in power. I also realize this doesn't happen overnight, so in the meantime we have got to support women in any and all ways possible.

Up, Curve, Up, Curve, Up....

Since I didn't get to celebrate my Peruvian independence days (off) in the end of July, Hugo and I decided to take a long weekend trip to Kuelap - an ancient pre-Inca fortress up high on top of the mountains (considered the northern Machu Picchu of Peru). We bought a tent and set out on a day long fear filled, curvy mountain bus ride. Our bus hugged the mountains as we curved up and down, one blind curve after another. Thankful there wasn't much traffic on the road big enough for only one vehicle.

Our hike up to Kuelap was much like our bus ride the day before. It curved up the mountain; We thought at each turn we would come to the end our journey. We were told 3 hours, but our hike turned into 7 hrs. This included many breaks: re-energize with leftover rice and meat dinner, coca leaf chew, bathing in the fresh water stream, etc...But, it didn't help that we didn't pack light which gave us an excuse to stop every 1/2 hour.
Symbols important to the ChaCha cultura
When made our descend down from Kuelap I had some time to journal. An excerpt...

We weaved up the mountain and had no idea that we would find ourselves on top of the world. Donkeys and kids passed us with ease on our journey up. The river below became a mere blue line. Mud houses opened our imagination to the possibility of living in pure beauty in the harsh mountain terrain. Our bags pulled at our shoulders, our feet screamed for an end, but the coca leaves opened up our lungs and the fierce wind entered our hearts.
The sweetest sight was the fortress wall. Still far away, but now within our reach. The wall stretched to cover the entire top of the mountain. I think if we were to climb any higher we would have touched heaven's door.
Our guide, a teenager probably interested mostly in soccer and girls, gave us a glimpse into an ancient world. The fortress was overgrown with jungle like trees. Dwellings, bones, walls remain. For a moment I wanted to travel back to pre-Inca times and witness and learn deep lessons that we have now forgotten. How to work together in community for the good of all. How to cherish and honor those that have passed and those that are in our midst. How to give thanks to the earth and all it provides.
I can not imagine why any community that builds a fortress in such amazing beauty would leave it to the trees. For beyond the fortress, the surrounding mountains inspire curiosity, greatness and peace. Truly the sensation that the world is yours.
I went to the top of the world. And it was beautiful.

Hugo with our 14 yr. old guide leaving the Kuelap fortress

Our long weekend turned into a longer weekend because of difficulties in transportation - which included, but was not limited to, a blocked bridge due to protest of yet another unjust action by powerful governments which I am too uninformed about to comment on. The blocked bridge detoured us and put us on a canoe to cross into what felt like jungle, yet coffee, territory in order to get on more mototaxi's and buses. I am now happily "home" with no travel plans in the near future.

Sewing away

Purses!

The beginning s of a blouse....Upon the ladies request we have embraced and created sewing classes. From what I was hearing from women, I thought they all knew how to sew. I was wrong. Last month we had a sewing purses class, this month we are "making our own clothes." In our purses classes everyone finished their purse and left the class with a smile of satisfaction. This clothes making class got the women a little more frustrated. They were measuring, making lines, cuts, things that were way more advanced than our purses. The month long class of clothes making will prove a test of math and patience for some of our women.

An another unrelated note our Artesian Fair ended. The women that participated were so content with the outcome and asking me, "when is the next Fair?" We'll see. I am on Fair recovery mode right now. It was a lot of work and to put together another Fair we need to be a little bit better organized. The outcome was between 10 women we sold 462 soles worth of earrings, ponchos and purses. That translates to about $165. This doesn't include the food that was sold, so I would round it up to more than 500 soles - almost $200. The women say it was worth it!

5am

I am so proud of my Minnesota visitors. We went out in very true Peruvian style last night. My brother Pete with his girlfriend Jenny and her sister Kacy rallied and partied until 5am (p.s. that is Pete's arm in the background). We lived the true Peruvian nightlife - the crew went out to a peña - a live box and guitar music show first. We went out with Hugo and his mom and another random friend and cousin. It's funny how your group grows when you meet people you know as the night progresses. Right around 1am we headed to the disco and got our groove on. We left our footprints on the dance floor and then headed out for the typical Cajamarcan chicken soup at around 4am. All Peruvians claim that chicken soup will guarantee a hangover-free morning. We were all served these ridiculous large bowls of soup with chicken leg and I was so proud, once again of my visitors. They ate everything, even the parts that they didn't know what they were.
The dancing and disco night life let us forget for a moment about the things that haven't turned out so well on this trip. Pete got some serious altitude sickness and was out of commission for a day. The girls never got their luggage and we spent a good part of everyday trying to communicate with a live body that might be able to help them locate it. That was a joke. Lan airlines wins the prize for the worse customer service ever. They gave us wrong numbers, wrong email directions, no supervisors were ever around and nobody would even pick up the phone sometimes. We were faced with no other option than to drink piscos (the famous peruvian brandy) everyday to take away the frustration and pain of awful, poor, no-good customer service. Send good luggage wishes this way in hopes of a happy reuniting tomorrow at the airport of luggage with owners.

Peru-Ecuador-Peru

Over the bridge and through the woods....

A successful border crossing! For those of you that are looking to leave Peru and enter Ecuador in the near future I would highly recommend using the Tina/Macara border crossing, as opposed to the PanAmerican crossing. The guards are nicer, there is barely any traffic, less chaos and chance of losing things and it is kinda pretty. This crossing my camera survived the trip and I was surprised to be greeted by the sleeping, small village of Macara on the Ecuador side - surrounding by mountains and pools of rice. It was beautiful, for a night.

I met a lovely women in Macara and stayed the next morning to check out her work with women's groups. She works with women in Domestic Abuse situations and informs women's of their rights and gives them a safe place to stay - a shelter of sorts. They received funding from Italy to build a nice, small office/sleeping space - but are currently looking for more funds in order to keep their operations running. Anyone out there interested in helping out a spunky women grow her shelter in a small village in Ecuador?

I left Ecuador after my morning with Luz (light) feeling that meetings like these don't happen by chance. I truely hope in the future to help her find support....for now I have women waiting for me in Cajamarca. So I jumped in the back of a pick-up and headed south to the Peru border. We flew by rice fields, I crossed the international border and then jumped in a car with a bunch of random people to take me to the next biggest town in Peru. All very normal things to do in these parts. In fact, it reminded me of my brief life in Santo Domingo, DR. Nobody says a word; You get a car with unknown faces with your only commonality is to get to the same place. The difference between the Dominican Republic and Peru is that in the DR you can't escape the blaring bachata music that accompanies you on your travels.

Secrets of healing and luck in native plants

There was no bus ticket to Cajamarca when I arrived in Piura (they only leave at 10pm at night from Chiclayo, a close-by town) - so I was forced to take advantage of my extra day and sightsee a little. I checked out an artesian town that "sews" silver threads in earrings, went to the famous witchcraft market in Chiclayo and bought myself some "cleanse the negative energy" mix to bathe in, and visited a pre-Inca cultural museum filled with ancient gold goat heads and other gems. I arrived safely back to Cajamarca on my night bus...with a neck kink, but that won't stop me from diving into my monthly reports and waxing floors - prep for my visitors this week!

Run for the Border

Making another Ecuador border run. I hate that Peruvian immigration laws for foreigners just changed last month and I never got the memo. Not planning on a stolen camera this time or laying on the beach or sightseeing - a quick run for the border and back. A little mental break from work and some quality time to catch up on U.S. news and This American Life with my ipod on the numerous bumpy buses that await me. Be back with you in a couple of days.....gotta run....