Machu-Pichu, Videos, Cakes...
It’s a bit strange to already be receiving emails about my close of service conference, but I guess it’s only three months away. In training all of the “senior volunteers” said that the second year really flies by, and I remember thinking how far off that seemed. I technically have just over 6 months until I head back to the states, but it does feel like the home stretch now that we’re all having to seriously think about our future plans. Between future planning and a few trips here and there I’m trying to stay focused on my work here in Tunal. The last few months have been rather difficult simply because I’ve been gone for at least a week each month.
In December I met mom and dad in Lima from where we left for Cusco and on to Machu Pichu. We had a fantastic time. Here in Peru the big Christmas celebration is the night of 24th. A good friend of mine, a dentist intern who I met in Tunal, invited us to celebrate with his family. The previous year I was in Tunal so for me it was neat to experience the same tradition in an upper-middle class household. Generally the dinner begins at 12am (technically the 25, I know) and goes until everyone tires out. The next morning mom dad and I had our own mini celebration in the hotel. We even had a mini Christmas tree that they brought over to give it the Christmas feel!
Cusco was the next stop on the trip. Obviously I just couldn’t live in Peru for 2 years and never visit the famous Machu Pichu, so we flew to Cusco from where we took a 4 hr train ride to the ruins. From the bus station you have to take a bus up to the peek of the mountain. Mom wasn’t a huge fan of the rollercoaster-like driving style as we nearly met the other busses head-on at the hairpin turns ;). The rainy season is from December to around March or April, so I was a bit afraid that we’d get rained out, however we were very fortunate and had a beautiful sunny morning tour of the old Incan town. As we sat down for lunch it began to pour… nice timing. Machu Pichu really is as beautiful as it is said to be. It has one of the most beautiful views I think I’ve ever seen.
We had such a great time sightseeing, dining out a spending quality time together after not seeing each other for seven months. It was especially nice to be able to spend Christmas with family after spending it alone the previous year.
As far as work goes, I’ve been able to keep myself busy, continuing with the same projects:
The baker boys have celebrated their 100th cake, now having sold over 2,000 slices! Two of the boys who specialize in selling the slices throughout the town have gone to Piura and Lima for the rainy season leaving the two boys who actually bake the cakes and one who sells. The seller is the youngest of the group, 11 year old, and is a bit shy, so he refuses to sell anywhere but in the municipality and the health center J. Thanks to some very thoughtful Christmas presents the boys have recently began making cupcakes instead of cutting slices from a cake. It’s a lot easier for them and they actually make a sol (about 30 cents) more per batter. Two days ago I introduced them to sugar cookies which they love. They made two batches which they quickly sold to people who even came to my room to taste the novelty. In the next couple months the goal is for the boys to learn and practice cake decorating as they are now receiving a good number of birthday cake orders. I also plan to teach them to keep basic accounting on excel as well as work with them on business planning and market research. They seem to really be enjoying the idea of having their own business.
I continue to work with the weaving group; however we have encountered a number of obstacles. After the NGO who was going to give workshops decided not to help I had to rewrite the project proposal to get financing from the municipality. We had to wait until Jan 1 to request the money and just recently we receive the positive results. Returning after my Cusco vacation, I was ready to get to work. I had found a new teacher willing to come to Tunal and give classes. About an hour after arriving the president of the association came to my house to inform me that she was leaving for Lima. She had recently finished her contract as a preschool teacher and had been offered a job as a nanny in Lima. Not only did she leave, but also the secretary left for Piura to study. That was a blow. I though for a time that that was going to be the end of the project, however I met with the remaining members and they assured me that they wanted to continue. We have since met a couple times to coordinate for the workshops which will hopefully begin at the end of this month.
The last two weeks of January I visited three other volunteer to continue the filming of the Small Business video project. My good friend Steve joined me for the filming. We now have 9 hours of footage which must be cut down to an hour. The idea of the video is to examine the 3 goals of the small business program of Peace Corps Peru featuring volunteers’ projects to give real life examples. We’ve got about 2 months to do the editing which means a lot of time in front of the computer.
At the end of the filming trip we met up with 40 some other volunteers in a city called Cajamarca. Cajamarca is known for its dairy products like cheese, yogurt and a caramel-like sweet called manjarblanco. The city is also well known for its annual Carnaval fiesta festival (similar to that of Rio de Janeiro). It includes a lot of dancing, parades and most notably water balloon battles!! It’s quite a crazy idea that an entire city would join in-from little kids to grandparents- but that’s how it is. It just so happens that I was there for the big Saturday. That specific day they have what must be the biggest water battle in the world...although it’s not just water. Everyone buys bags of paint, shoe polish, or basically anything that makes a mess, and they runs around in the streets making sure that everyone is well painted by the end of the day! Let me tell you, it was one of the most fun days I’ve had in a while!! By about 11am I was completely covered in paint. We had a third story room in the hotel with a nice big balcony from which we through hundreds of balloons.
In December I met mom and dad in Lima from where we left for Cusco and on to Machu Pichu. We had a fantastic time. Here in Peru the big Christmas celebration is the night of 24th. A good friend of mine, a dentist intern who I met in Tunal, invited us to celebrate with his family. The previous year I was in Tunal so for me it was neat to experience the same tradition in an upper-middle class household. Generally the dinner begins at 12am (technically the 25, I know) and goes until everyone tires out. The next morning mom dad and I had our own mini celebration in the hotel. We even had a mini Christmas tree that they brought over to give it the Christmas feel!
Cusco was the next stop on the trip. Obviously I just couldn’t live in Peru for 2 years and never visit the famous Machu Pichu, so we flew to Cusco from where we took a 4 hr train ride to the ruins. From the bus station you have to take a bus up to the peek of the mountain. Mom wasn’t a huge fan of the rollercoaster-like driving style as we nearly met the other busses head-on at the hairpin turns ;). The rainy season is from December to around March or April, so I was a bit afraid that we’d get rained out, however we were very fortunate and had a beautiful sunny morning tour of the old Incan town. As we sat down for lunch it began to pour… nice timing. Machu Pichu really is as beautiful as it is said to be. It has one of the most beautiful views I think I’ve ever seen.
We had such a great time sightseeing, dining out a spending quality time together after not seeing each other for seven months. It was especially nice to be able to spend Christmas with family after spending it alone the previous year.
As far as work goes, I’ve been able to keep myself busy, continuing with the same projects:
The baker boys have celebrated their 100th cake, now having sold over 2,000 slices! Two of the boys who specialize in selling the slices throughout the town have gone to Piura and Lima for the rainy season leaving the two boys who actually bake the cakes and one who sells. The seller is the youngest of the group, 11 year old, and is a bit shy, so he refuses to sell anywhere but in the municipality and the health center J. Thanks to some very thoughtful Christmas presents the boys have recently began making cupcakes instead of cutting slices from a cake. It’s a lot easier for them and they actually make a sol (about 30 cents) more per batter. Two days ago I introduced them to sugar cookies which they love. They made two batches which they quickly sold to people who even came to my room to taste the novelty. In the next couple months the goal is for the boys to learn and practice cake decorating as they are now receiving a good number of birthday cake orders. I also plan to teach them to keep basic accounting on excel as well as work with them on business planning and market research. They seem to really be enjoying the idea of having their own business.
I continue to work with the weaving group; however we have encountered a number of obstacles. After the NGO who was going to give workshops decided not to help I had to rewrite the project proposal to get financing from the municipality. We had to wait until Jan 1 to request the money and just recently we receive the positive results. Returning after my Cusco vacation, I was ready to get to work. I had found a new teacher willing to come to Tunal and give classes. About an hour after arriving the president of the association came to my house to inform me that she was leaving for Lima. She had recently finished her contract as a preschool teacher and had been offered a job as a nanny in Lima. Not only did she leave, but also the secretary left for Piura to study. That was a blow. I though for a time that that was going to be the end of the project, however I met with the remaining members and they assured me that they wanted to continue. We have since met a couple times to coordinate for the workshops which will hopefully begin at the end of this month.
The last two weeks of January I visited three other volunteer to continue the filming of the Small Business video project. My good friend Steve joined me for the filming. We now have 9 hours of footage which must be cut down to an hour. The idea of the video is to examine the 3 goals of the small business program of Peace Corps Peru featuring volunteers’ projects to give real life examples. We’ve got about 2 months to do the editing which means a lot of time in front of the computer.
At the end of the filming trip we met up with 40 some other volunteers in a city called Cajamarca. Cajamarca is known for its dairy products like cheese, yogurt and a caramel-like sweet called manjarblanco. The city is also well known for its annual Carnaval fiesta festival (similar to that of Rio de Janeiro). It includes a lot of dancing, parades and most notably water balloon battles!! It’s quite a crazy idea that an entire city would join in-from little kids to grandparents- but that’s how it is. It just so happens that I was there for the big Saturday. That specific day they have what must be the biggest water battle in the world...although it’s not just water. Everyone buys bags of paint, shoe polish, or basically anything that makes a mess, and they runs around in the streets making sure that everyone is well painted by the end of the day! Let me tell you, it was one of the most fun days I’ve had in a while!! By about 11am I was completely covered in paint. We had a third story room in the hotel with a nice big balcony from which we through hundreds of balloons.
posted by Ryan Nelson | 4:18 PM
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