This is going to be a random post of a bunch of random stuff. Ariel and I really didn't know what to expect when we first arrived in Puno. We didn't know if we would have to sleep on a dirt floor, have an outhouse, or anything like that. It was different than Urubamba by far, but all of us adjusted and had a great week!
First, the scenery. In Puno, we were out in the sticks. It was a tiny farming community with about 200 houses that isn't on the map. You wake up in the morning about 6, and walk out the door, and see snow-capped mountains with Lake Titicaca in front. (and the cow greets you). You walk a little farther, and you get to the pigs, and a little more, and there is the sheep tied for your dinner that day. Everything could have been the same 100 years ago! Mud brick houses made with mud and straw and dried, chickens and pigs in the front yard, stomping potatoes with your feet to get off the skins, throwing the grain up and letting the wind drive the chaff away, going to bed at dark (6:00) and waking up at dawn (around 6), beating your beans with a wooden stick/pole, grinding your grain with a stone...... etc.
Everything was so different than what you are used to in the states. People taking their sheep out to pasture, donkeys with burdens on their backs, children of 7 herding the cows... It was really neat to see. I definitely enjoyed every minute there. I was glad to be back in Urubamba with all of it's luxuries, but it was a great week! (It would have been interesting though to see how an average public high school girl would have survived in those "special" conditions :)
One thing that was so beautiful was the stars! They were the most beautiful stars that I have ever seen! The sky full of them when you can see the southern cross (constellation in the southern hemisphere) and the milky way. Can't take a picture of that, but it's a beautiful picture in my mind. Clermont stars won't look the same!
So Ariel and I are filtering water from this faucet at night, because that is the only time we have to do it. The water there is clean by Peruvian standards, but we didn't want to try to drink it. It was really cold so we are out there in the hat and blanket skirt whole deal. There is a sheep tied and making lots of noise. We had had some interesting food already, so we knew that it's life was short! (We had never seen it there before, and it was tied alone.) Then there is the mom-to-be pig making noise in the other direction, and of course the cow is still going at it! Ariel and I just laughed to think of all we were doing to get water. Then our Peruvian neighbors walked by and asked what we were doing? Of course they don't filter their water, so they thought it was hilarious that we had this contraption cleaning our water. The little boy wanted to watch, so Ariel started pumping even faster (because his mom wanted to go.)
Peruvians don't drink anything during their meal, but after. A few times we had tea, a few times habas punch (a slightly thicker, slightly sweet drink made from ground giant lima beans) and a few times Koolaid! They also drink EVERYTHING hot...including orange koolaid. I really enjoyed the habas punch! I was excited when that came around for dinner. :-)
For breakfast, a lot of times we would have soup. Sometimes we had the stomach, liver, intestines combo, but it was mostly potato soup. My favorite was the ones with noodles in it. Lunch was typically the biggest meal of the day. Roxana and I rarely seemed to get back to the church on time after visitation, so usually they had already started. First course was soup, and it tasted to me a lot like the soup from breakfast. Next was the segundo, second course. They grow potatoes there, so they eat potatoes. Rice isn't as common there, so we, by far, ate more potatoes. And also, there are all different kinds of potatoes. (depending after they are dried if they are put in the river or covered and later stomped with their feet to get the skins off.) So for lunch, we would have about 7 potatoes, a scoop of rice, meat (fish, sheep, chicken, etc) with a drink. The church ladies cooked for us that week, so we had a LOT of potatoes!
One day Wendy was talking to Rachel and said, Come here quick, they are going to sheer the sheep! and Rachel was like, Um, actually they are preparing that for dinner... Not quite was she was envisioning. One day we were getting ready to go somewhere, and so we took our lunch to go. They sent a pot of fish, and a blanket filled with potatoes and habas, and we went on our way. Those were rough fish. I didn't have to eat them because I didn't have an audience. I kindly gave mine to a guy and it made him excited. :-) I was ok with that! A student brought them live to the cooks that morning, but it didn't look like they did much to it before they put it into the pots. :-/ Imagine a very large head and a tail with not much in between.
After meals, you would go wash your dishes. First rinse, then rub on some soap, then rinse it again with some water that didn't look so clean... A lot of times, I would go and try to wash other people's dishes, but they have this thought in their mind that since I'm an American, I shouldn't wash their dishes. Most times, I'd try to get to the dishes and bucket before them so I could wash theirs too. Also, there was one bed in our room, so Rachel said that the girls would try to make us take the bed, but we didn't want to squish, so we really wanted them to have it. They just think that since I'm an American I should have it.
We all stayed in one room that week (5-6 people) and there wasn't a bathroom/showers. We went 9 days without a shower, and I went 6 days without washing my hair. It was getting rough! I was wearing a hat 24/7 and put my hair in braids but it still was bad. Ariel got some coke bottles and filled them with water and then let them heat up from the sun while we were on visitation that morning and then use a bucket. I found that very difficult to try to get your hair washed while sticking it upside down in a bucket. I used the faucet. They used that to get water, and it had water pressure...even if it was very very very cold! I did the best I could, and it felt amazing afterwards. (should have done it earlier!) :-)
Ok... It was cold. I tell some people that it was cold and they look so confused... Southern Hemisphere... In Urubamba I would be cold in the morning and might wear a sweater or jacket, but a short sleeve or long sleeve would be perfect in the afternoon. In Puno where I was for a week, we were 12 hours south. (which is 12 hours colder) I would wear an undershirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater, and sweatshirt during the DAY. At night we would add another jacket, scarf, hat, and blanket skirt. Those things were great! We could put those on and be perfectly normal, but much cozier!
Every afternoon after kids club we would help the church ladies peel potatoes. Every night. Ok, I don't peel potatoes by hand in the states. We eat our peels! So I was an untalented american when it came to peeling potatoes with a knife. Juan and Raul were beating me. Thankfully Rachel thought to bring a potato peeler. Towards the end of the week, I could peel a potato in one strip of peel. I improved! It was neat to hear the people talk as they peeled. Everyone there speaks Amari, and the younger ones also speak Spanish. One lady from church could speak Quechua on top of that! The students were comparing words from Quechua and Amari and Engligh and Spanish, and it was very interesting! They asked how many languages people in the US spoke. Um... 1 unless you have relatives that speak another language... It also was nice to peel potatoes in the kitchen because it was by far the warmest place anywhere. It was great! It was really great if you could eat dinner in there! You just have to be careful where you sit. There are these sacks and blankets along the walls, but you don't know what is under the blankets. (one time I didn't look and almost sat on the sheep for the next day. That gave me a start)
I talked with 2 girls named Cynthia and Ana the first Sunday I was there. Cynthia saw me playing the piano, and asked if I could teach her one evening. So it ended out that they got together with me Thursday evening. Ok, so try teaching someone how to play the piano that has never played that has no concept of music, in one hour that speaks another language. Yeah, difficult. It turned out to be more like memorization of what note after what note of "He Leadeth Me", but I think they enjoyed it! I copied some music in Urubamba and sent it back with a card for her to use. Hope she enjoys!
Sorry it isn't quite as deatiled... I was almost done, and it deleted 45 mins of work. Oh, well. More to come!
"...fields white and ready for harvest."
I walked out my door and this is what I saw. Snow capped mountains and Lake Titicaca with farms all around...
Walking back from inviting kids at the school!
Lake Titicaca in the background with Bolivian snowcapped mountains, fields, not many trees, mud brick houses.
Up for the sunrise.
It was beautiful. Those shocks of wheat were all over drying. Same with the stacks of drying habas.
pretty neat!
isn't it cute?
Hair washing efforts... she chose the bucket
and I stuck my head under 33 deg water... wasn't frozen, but it was pretty close!
Piano lessons... Cynthia, me, and Anna
Raul... anyone hungry
Not much meat on that fish.
It was cold!!! Those blankets that can pass as skirts were wonderful things!
peeling potatoes with the ladies from church
Before church Wednesday
SO very typical! You can see the ladies in their traditional Puno hats, dinner hanging on the wall, wrapped in their blankets/sacks were potatoes. You would get your bowl and go down the line and they would fill FILL your bowl.
Wendy's visual class with Anna teaching her lesson
waiting for church to start... me, Ariel, Elena, and Roxana.
baby piglets
No comments:
Post a Comment