The things we do to make it

The weekend started with an 'apollada' and ended with the animal market.

You all remember Lizeth from previous posts? The spunky jewelry seller who was struggling to find her market. Well she put jewelry on the backburner while she helped her husband in his combi (minivan adventure ride - see previous post). Her husband drives and she collects money. It isn't a luxurious job, but it gives her at least $5 of for sure income daily.

The combi broke down a couple weeks ago. $1,000 in repairs. An amount beyond her reach. So, Lizeth decided to do what most Peruvians do in this situation: APOLLADA! What is an apollada? When you make a bunch of fried chicken and add a heaping mountain of rice and potatoes and serve lunch plates for s/5 (less than $2) a piece. The financial gain isn't huge, but every little bit helps. So Hugo and I contributed our s/10 (more than $3) and ate lunch with Lizeth on Friday afternoon.

This morning Hugo and I ventured to the animal market outside of town to look for an alpaca. It seems my mom is paying my dowry to Hugo's mom by gifting her an alpaca. Really, it is a great gift idea for Martiza since her one solo alpaca must feel awfully lonely (except when he comes to graze on our front lawn). Many of our women come to buy and sell their animals at this market, but after nearly 2 years in Cajamarca this was my first excursion to the famous 'pecuaria' market. It was animal chaos at its best. Mostly cows, sheep, pigs, donkeys and horses - no alpacas. I could not imagine having to come to the pecuaria weekly, as our women do - the noise alone of pigs getting dragged into pick-up trucks is enough to make your ears cry. But, according to Hugo we are going to try our luck again next Monday and see if our alpaca comes to market. Next Monday I am bringing my ear plugs!