Day 28

Today was my final day in Ccorao. I arrived to watch the students at the Artesan Workshop march in the independence day parade and wasn't planning on participating, but when I got there, everyone was all in a fit about how excited they were to have me lead the procession. WHAT?!

Yeah, so I arrived and Victoria says, "We want you to hold the sign for us!" I didn't think it would be a big deal, but then they pulled out this crazy outfit that they wanted me to wear. It's a native Quechuan outfit. I'm not kidding. There was a red vest with blue lining and neon colored piping. And two skirts and these black sandals that all the women wear. Can you believe my luck?! I also got to wear a hat that looked like a cookie tin, but made out of fabric.

So they dress me up and braid my hair and everyone else is wearing gray and blue suits and looking quite smart...and I look like one of Santa's happy little elves! It gets better.

So everyone has been practicing marching all week. Obviously I haven't because I didn't think I would need to. So they run me through a crash course on marching. And when I say "marching" I really mean goose-stepping. Yeah. So two hours and one picture with two alpaca later, I find myself literally goose-stepping by myself 20 feet in front of the students down a field. It was one of the more surreal moments I've had here. They even said my name over the loudspeaker. Weirdest day ever.

Besides all that, I took pictures with all the students, staff, and women I work with.

And as I sat on the bus riding away, I felt so sad I thought I would cry.

Day 27

This morning I had interviews with women at Aldea Infantil at 7:30am before work. Unfortunately I set my clock wrong and instead arrived at 6:30am completely confused as to why there weren't any people there. I ended up waiting for an hour but it was totally worth it! The women that I interviewed had so much to share about the abuses against kids in Peru, specifically in Cusco. I actually ran out of tape and battery because they kept divulging more and more info. I've planned some follow-up interviews for the next couple of days. I talked to the director and she told me the saddest stories about two sisters (4 and 6) who witnessed their mother killed by their father. I think he's in jail now.

Anyway, I ended up going to work in Ccorao starving so the women offered to make me some eggs and potatoes. We all ate together and it was really nice, except one potato I peeled had a dead maggot in it. I "accidentally" dropped it on the floor so I wouldn't have to eat it. :)

I held my final English class (which had the highest attendance yet!) We learned a very basic English conversation and key phrases in English. I think this was my favorite class because I actually could ask them questions in English and they could respond correctly instead of just repeating what I was saying. Their pronounciation is so much better too. I think it really helped to drill the alphabet a million times. I recorded my voice saying all the sentences and phrases that I've taught and left it at the workshop so that they can practice after I'm gone. What a weird thought...after I'm gone.

I had my "Exit Interview" with Lindsey today. I can't believe that I'm leaving in just four days. This month completely flew by and I just felt like I was getting started. People keep asking me when I'm going to come back and the reality is I just don't know. In a way, it's a little more sad than when I left Beijing because I know I'll be going back to China. I guess all good things have to come to an end at some point. I just wish I had one more week...

Day 26

Today I ran around trying to set up a plethora of interviews. I suddenly realized that I'm going home in a week and need to talk to a million people. And by a million, I mean 4.

I did manage to get introduced to Roseo, the art teacher at Aldea Infantil (a orphanage/school in Cusco). Some of my friends volunteer there and have been telling me horror stories about what the kids have been through. I won't go into details until I know more, but apparently there are a good number of kids who are there because they've been taken away from their parents.

I went to the orphanage today and also met Mary and Rhina (I'm not sure if that's how you spell her name). Anyway, Mary is the psychologist there and Rhina is a social worker. They both work with therapy for the kids. I'm supposed to go in tomorrow morning to interview them. From just our conversation today, they both seem extremely knowledgeable about the condition of children in Cusco, as well as women. More on this later...

Day 25

Today I went out to Urubamba to talk to Lily (the director at Kanchay Wasi). I also talked to Holly, who works closely with Lily and is working on projects to improve parasitic infections, education of alcoholism, and nutrition for children. Urubamba is pretty rural and apparently alcoholism is widespread. Despite the fact that ProPeru has tried to hold classes about alcoholism, a lot of them men are in denial about their drinking habits and are resentful that women teach the classes. There is a strong sense of machismo that is entirely too deeply rooted in the culture.

Lily and Holly both referred to Kanchay Wasi as more of a support network for the women and children who attend. Women go on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Children go on Tuesday and Thursday. The volunteers said that everyone seems really happy when they're there so it seems more like a refuge for them. A safe place to get away from whatever realities they may face at home. Kanchay Wasi just set up a room so that women can stay there if they decide to leave their husbands. They also get counseling and legal support if they choose to file for divorce (which is very uncommon and only happens in the most extreme cases). Kanchay Wasi provides different artesan crafts for the women to work on. Afterwards, the crafts are sold. Lily said that the objective is to increase the value of women in the household and give them a little more power by providing an economic aspect.

Alcohol abuse was cited as a major reason for domestic violence, but that is also highly ingrained in the culture. In fact some people are paid in alcohol for the work that they do in the fields.

I really wanted to interview the women there, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. What could be more painful than forcing women to talk about something like being abused? I got a pretty good picture from Lily about their backgrounds. Once again, I find myself wishing that all my research was actually disproving what I thought and knew before arriving. So many people have told me that the problems with abuse have always existed and major education reform needs to take place before any real change can happen. Holly also said that it needs to be a campaign spearheaded by the government and that NGO's can't do it alone. I don't know how effective the Peruvian government is, but this actually doesn't seem to be a priority. And that's hard too because Peru is a developing country and obviously has a ton of economic factors to worry about. Whenever I ask what the solution is, very few people seem to be able to offer any...

Day 22-24

I spent the weekend at Lake Titicaca and Copacabana, Bolivia. It was really nice to leave Cusco and see some more of Peru. One of the girls I work with in Ccorao is actually from Puno (which is the city next to Lake Titicaca). Her family doesn't support her at all so she's learning how to weave in the Caritas school.

Lake Titicaca (which means "Grey Puma" or "Great Puma" I couldn't really understand the man's accent even though he spoke excellent English) was extremely interesting. In the bay, there are the Uros which are floating islands made out of the roots of reeds. The float like corks and seven families work together to build them. It takes about 6 months and then an additional 6 months to build the little huts on top. They survive through fishing and weaving beautiful handicrafts. It's really remarkable. The islands are also anchored down so that they don't float away or run into other islands. There are about 40 of them and they originally started when the indigenous groups were under attack by the Incans. The tribes fled literally onto the Lake and stayed safe that way. Walking on the islands is a little bit like walking on a cushy mattress. It was a really surreal experience.

The island of Taquile is about 2.5 hours out by boat and retains strict cultural customs to not lie, cheat, or steal. It's supposedly extremely safe and the people there speak Quechua. It's a really unique community where the men all knit and wear hats that denote whether they are single or married. The women wear black shawls (even the little girls) and all whisper when they talk. We're not sure why. They also have some interesting customs like co-habituation 4 years before marriage to see if it will be a good marriage. Also, the youngest child in a family (boy or girl) is responsible for taking care of the parents. When the parents die, all their land is divided equally among the kids, except the youngest child gets the house. They also greet each other by putting coca leaves in each other's bags or shawls. It's really rude not to receive the leaves in that way.

Copacabana was just really relaxing. There's an even better exchange rate in Bolivia so we tried to do as many touristy things as possible to get rid of the money we had exchanged. We took a trip to the Island of the Sun, where there were some interesting ruins, but the whole thing seemed a little more touristy. It was very beautiful though and there was a good view of Bolivia, Peru, and some snow-capped mountains in the distance in addition to the Lake. I really enjoyed sitting on top of the boats as we sailed around. Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable lake at 3810 meters above sea level and a lovely color. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Day 21

Today I was supposed to help translate again for the Belgium dentists but when I went to their hostel, they weren't there. It was really weird and I didn't know what to do because it was too late to go to Ccorao so instead I prepared more stuff for my alternative project investigating domestic abuse. I almost forgot that I had an alternative project because I've been running around like crazy doing stuff for my internship. I'm planning to go to Urubamba (about 1.5 hours away) which is where ProPeru has the shelter for women and children. I've planned a meeting to talk to the director and will go next week.

I'm also going to talk to the director of an orphanage here in Cusco. My friend Michele volunteers there and says that a lot of the children aren't really orphans, but have been taken away from their parents. I haven't set up a meeting yet, but I will try to do that next week as well...

Day 20

What a fun morning! I finally got to interview Maria who is SO shy, but we talked about all sorts of Peruvian problems and the condition of women in the country. It was simultaneously enlightening and sad because most of what I thought prior to coming is true. A small part of me always hopes that I'm wrong about bad news.

I spent a lot of time in the ceramics workshop practicing "conversation English" with Maria, Victoria, and Mercedes. Then I had my big English class with everyone. I bought a whiteboard last week and it was so helpful for class today. I could write up a bunch of phonetic pronounciations. It was also a nice class because I feel like the women are becoming more familiar with English so it's not as difficult. Their pronounciation was really good today.

We also went over the alphabet and then I taught them how to play Hangman to make them practice saying letters in the English pronounciation. The hardest letters are "H" which doesn't have a sound in Spanish and "J" which sounds like an "H". It was a fun time and it seemed to be pretty affective.

I've really grown to like these women and respect them. It's hard to believe that I'll only have one more class with them. They're so sweet and have so many hopes and dreams, some of which are just impossible. Despite how great it felt today to work with them, I always wish that I could do more.

Day 19

Today I finally made it out to Matinga! After two weeks of failed attempts, I finally got myself in the back of a car and got out to the countryside. And when I say "the back of a car" I mean that literally. Like I was sitting in the trunk...with a dog. It was a really cute puppy and we became fast friends although I was still slightly paranoid about the possible fleas/rabies combination. I was actually more impressed that they fit 8 people in a normal sized car.

Once we arrived in Matinga, we immediately went to teach the 3rd and 4th graders ceramics. The kids are in two small rooms with a big table in the middle. The first class little clay tablets that are supposed to be hung on the wall. While Victoria explained to one class, I taught the other group "Happy Birthday" and the Alphabet Song. Then we practiced spelling our names, which proved far more difficult than I thought.

Honestly, it was a really awkward environment where the kids just laughed whenever I spoke Spanish and didn't really want to keep practicing phrases like "Hello" and "How are you?" Then I didn't eat lunch with the other teachers because I had brought my own food and just sat outside on this bench by myself watching the kids play. All they had to eat were these government-issued crackers and a cup of broth. Oh, and I think I saw a kid pee on another kid. It was about 20m away so I can't be positive but I'm pretty sure.

Anyway, I was feeling like the left-out kid at elementary school recess until some girls came and sat next to me and stared at my face for like 10 minutes. I really enjoy all the different levels of awkwardness I'm experiencing.

The second class was much better and much more enthusiastic about learning English. They were also making these little doll figurines out of clay to sell in some market. I'm not sure where, but they were pretty cute. The kids were really cute too. They kept shouting out the few words they did know in English...which consisted of "HELLO! HI!" We managed to learn a little more, but not much.

I think it's really interesting that these kids (10-12 years) have a class that teaches a life skill and that their products are already being sold, another huge difference between primary education here and in the states. It's too bad that I'm not here for very long. One of the problems of this internship has definitely been getting to a place where people feel comfortable around me. I guess one of the challenges of being in a new place is not having enough exposure and not being able to set up something sustainable in such a small amount of time. Still, I'm making a little progress and happy with what I'm doing.

Day 18

I'm tired. I'm so tired that I want to lay down on the dirty concrete and take a nap. Today I went to Ccorao planning to teach some English classes. Instead I ended up translating for some Belgium dentists who are only here for a week. I watched a whole bunch of teeth get pulled out, and even more small parts of teeth get removed (like remnants that were left over from previous removals or from the tops falling out). There were three dentists and a million people to attend to. It reminded me how lucky I am to have health and dental care in the states. Not only that, but it's so nice that we have fluoride in our water. Otherwise we would be getting rotten teeth pulled at the age of 25 too. I saw so much blood today, it was ridiculous.

My project counterpart has offered to lend me out this week as a translator for the dental team. You know that there are serious problems when I'M translating. Still, it was pretty fun to feel useful and practice my language skills. My favorite patient was an 8-year-old girl who had to have two teeth removed. She was SO patient and didn't cry at all. She had anesthetic, but a lot of the kids still cried. Maybe they were scared of all the blood pouring out of their mouths. I felt like my first aid training really came in handy although I didn't do anything except wear latex gloves and hold gauze under their mouths. Also, teeth make a really scary cracking sound when they're pulled out. I would be terrified if I were awake and heard that. When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I was definitely asleep.

I'm not going to be with the dentists all week but I think I will be with them two more days. I feel bad for them because the sun is so intense here and they're standing all day behind a school on a grassy knoll. Hopefully they'll wear more sunscreen tomorrow. It's a little known fact that t-shirts are only SPF 15 so you're at risk to burn through your clothes if you're not careful. Don't worry, I told them.

Oh, another interesting thing I saw was the machismo of the men. Women and children would be standing in line for a really long time and then the men would come and just cut in front of them. I wanted to tell them to wait their turn, but I doubt other women would step up for care before them anyway. Too bad.

Day 16 & 17

Started off the weekend with a nice hike through the mountains surrounding Cuzco. Almost everyone else went to Machu Picchu this weekend, so it was just me with one other girl and some staff members. So these mountains are NOTHING like the ones in Seattle. Those are all temperate forests and big trees. Usually we just hike up one big mountain in a day. The mountains surrounding the Sacred Valley are smaller and we went up and down into ravines. Of course, there was the occasional random set of ruins in the path. I'm really enjoying how many ruins I'm seeing, but I wish I understood more of the culture that they point to. I feel like I know nothing about the Incan civilization. All I know is that they were genius at architecture. We also got some incredible views of Cuzco (which is the definition of "urban sprawl"). The city extends much further into the mountains than I thought, it's a little mind-boggling.

I'm a little sad because a couple of the good friends I've made are leaving tomorrow. They were here primarily for the month of June and now they are going back to the States. I really enjoy how traveling brings people together so quickly and so intensely. We are having a farewell dinner tonight for them.

I also spent a lot of this weekend with my friend Flore (I met her in France through my friend Marie, who I met in Beijing). She brought me back my nalgene bottle, which I absent-mindedly left in Paris. It was so good to see her again and to meet her mom. She's been traveling through Peru the last two weeks and been having an incredible time. She's really quite funny so I wasn't bored at all, even though most of my friends were away. Now, I need to go book my trip to Lake Titicaca. Time is flying by so quickly here! I know that's cliche, but it's true. I barely know how I'm going to finish all the interviews I need, but I'm off to a good start and that's encouraging. I'm also recovering from my cold and regaining some energy. Good news and good times all around at the "half-way" point of my stay. :)