Hi everyone!
It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog! I am currently in the process of revamping the blog to my general "Travel" blog, and storing my Peru posts in a folder!!
Look out for new postings soon!!
Luv,
Lisa
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, May 19, 2006
Photo time!!
After returning to several photo shops, my SD card was still screwed. So, I lost 100+++ photos and only saved 33 of them....................
Here are some photos!! will update more when I get photos off Kerrie or Siew Jin =)
First hostel we stayed at while we were in Lima!! This was my room! Double-bunkers with 5 other gals
Beautiful mountains of Huancayo
On the first Sunday (May7th), we went on the day tour!! These are photos from the base of the 450 steps to ancient Wanka site!
View from the 256th step! Simply breathtaking, Peruvian countryside!
Our homestay sister Julie turned 27!! Her bday party was at the banquet hall/garage!
Street of Huancayo city
My español professora, Elizabeth invited us to her high school during the schoo´ anniversary celebration. The girls dressed up in traditional clothing and performed many dances! I would have brought back videos of the dances... if not for the stupid camera shop which screwed up my SD CARD!!
The boys at INABIF!! Aren´t they adorable? From left: Marlon, Me, Joel (right top) and Johnathan
That´s all for now!! Enjoy!
Here are some photos!! will update more when I get photos off Kerrie or Siew Jin =)
First hostel we stayed at while we were in Lima!! This was my room! Double-bunkers with 5 other gals
Beautiful mountains of Huancayo
On the first Sunday (May7th), we went on the day tour!! These are photos from the base of the 450 steps to ancient Wanka site!
View from the 256th step! Simply breathtaking, Peruvian countryside!
Our homestay sister Julie turned 27!! Her bday party was at the banquet hall/garage!
Street of Huancayo city
My español professora, Elizabeth invited us to her high school during the schoo´ anniversary celebration. The girls dressed up in traditional clothing and performed many dances! I would have brought back videos of the dances... if not for the stupid camera shop which screwed up my SD CARD!!
The boys at INABIF!! Aren´t they adorable? From left: Marlon, Me, Joel (right top) and Johnathan
That´s all for now!! Enjoy!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Day 17 - Sad day
Wow, I guess 2weeks is the breaking point. Homesickness has suddenly hit me last night and stayed with me for the entire day. I dnt know if its just PMS or what not, but probably because Siew jin and I have been talking about all the places and good food in Singapore. One of our groups are also leaving for Cuzco, Machu Picchu tom, which added to the sadness. Peru has been absolutely amazing so far, but its hard to be so far away from home!!! It´s weird, I didnt get homesick much back in UM and hardly called my family. But now tat its summer and I am in S. America (which is a little further from home I guess), living in a foreign country with homestays, I am amazed by how some people can devote themselves to volunteering for over 3months!
Working with the boys at INABIF has been so much fun. We did mosaic art today, drawing outlines of trees, casa (house) etc and tearing color papers into small pieces then pasting them on. The boys were distracted today because there was a dance class happening simultaneously. I bought 3friendship bracelet-like bracelets from Marlon for s./1.00 (1sol = USD0.30), and he was so happy with the 1 sol!! With that money, he can buy a bar of ice cream, candy, pastries, fruits etc. The children are so easily amused and satisfied. I feel that I´ve learnt so much on this trip, a lot more than most of my other volunteering experiene before. Living in the country so closely with the local people, working with the children everyday, learning Español and using it... Huancayo grows on you. I feel that if I did speak better Spanish, I can totally imagine myself living here. The town is laid back and chill, with ¨Peruvian lunch times¨ that lasts for 3hours (12noon-3pm). People leave work to go back home for lunch, take a nap, then get ready for work again. El centro plaza is filled with activity all day, may it be the old folks strolling in the morning, students sitting around the plaza chatting and blowing bubbles, couples nestling in the late evening.... the town is submerged in tranquility and well, life goes on with or without us here.
Everyday, I appreciate the city and its people more and more. Even though we travelled over 2000miles to Peru to volunteer, bringing with us all that money to ¨help¨those who needs it, ultimately we are just passerbys in the children´s life. We come in to play and help them with homework everyday, both growing more and more attached to each other, but at the end of the month we are still going to leave. The children will be sad for a while, but new volunteers will enter their lives and take over the empty space. These children are so used to having people come into and then leave their lives that they have learnt to live in the moment, enjoy it and not be too upset by it. On our way home from INABIF today, I wondered how Amanda and Walter felt (they are leaving tom for Cuzco). Walking across the bridge one last time, looking at the Huancayo sunset, the cows and sheeps freely roaming the grass fields, the bus honking at travelers urging them to get onboard.... all of these events for one last time.
I dunno if I will cry by Thursday next week, when I leave INABIF knowing I will never see Joel, Jimy, Luis Fernand, Marlon, Jose ever again. Knowing that I will never find out who they become, if they ever leave INABIF and got a decent job, started a family... most importantly, not knowing if my presence in their lives has changed anything. It´s going to be heart-breaking and I am going to be torn between wanting to go home/not wanting to leave Peru. I guess I should begin to live in the moment.
Working with the boys at INABIF has been so much fun. We did mosaic art today, drawing outlines of trees, casa (house) etc and tearing color papers into small pieces then pasting them on. The boys were distracted today because there was a dance class happening simultaneously. I bought 3friendship bracelet-like bracelets from Marlon for s./1.00 (1sol = USD0.30), and he was so happy with the 1 sol!! With that money, he can buy a bar of ice cream, candy, pastries, fruits etc. The children are so easily amused and satisfied. I feel that I´ve learnt so much on this trip, a lot more than most of my other volunteering experiene before. Living in the country so closely with the local people, working with the children everyday, learning Español and using it... Huancayo grows on you. I feel that if I did speak better Spanish, I can totally imagine myself living here. The town is laid back and chill, with ¨Peruvian lunch times¨ that lasts for 3hours (12noon-3pm). People leave work to go back home for lunch, take a nap, then get ready for work again. El centro plaza is filled with activity all day, may it be the old folks strolling in the morning, students sitting around the plaza chatting and blowing bubbles, couples nestling in the late evening.... the town is submerged in tranquility and well, life goes on with or without us here.
Everyday, I appreciate the city and its people more and more. Even though we travelled over 2000miles to Peru to volunteer, bringing with us all that money to ¨help¨those who needs it, ultimately we are just passerbys in the children´s life. We come in to play and help them with homework everyday, both growing more and more attached to each other, but at the end of the month we are still going to leave. The children will be sad for a while, but new volunteers will enter their lives and take over the empty space. These children are so used to having people come into and then leave their lives that they have learnt to live in the moment, enjoy it and not be too upset by it. On our way home from INABIF today, I wondered how Amanda and Walter felt (they are leaving tom for Cuzco). Walking across the bridge one last time, looking at the Huancayo sunset, the cows and sheeps freely roaming the grass fields, the bus honking at travelers urging them to get onboard.... all of these events for one last time.
I dunno if I will cry by Thursday next week, when I leave INABIF knowing I will never see Joel, Jimy, Luis Fernand, Marlon, Jose ever again. Knowing that I will never find out who they become, if they ever leave INABIF and got a decent job, started a family... most importantly, not knowing if my presence in their lives has changed anything. It´s going to be heart-breaking and I am going to be torn between wanting to go home/not wanting to leave Peru. I guess I should begin to live in the moment.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Day 12 - 14: La Merced jungle trip!
Hi all!!
since I am so extremely far behind with updating, I´ve decided to just go forward with present update and worry about Day 8-12 sometime laterz! (prob gonna do a photo diary thing to summarize those 4days).
Anyway! For the weekend we went to La Merced, a city surrounded by jungles! It was a long 5hr bus ride to get there, we left at 5pm so I didnt get a chance to work at INABIF. I was really upset in the day.. because.... STUPID KODAK SHOP SCREWED UP MY SD CARD!! I had 325++ photos in the SD card and wanted to burn them on a CD-rom before the jungle trip, so in the afternoon I went to a KODAK photo shop. But guess what?? Cuz I couldnt speak Spanish I couldnt get them to show me my photos on the spot, and when I checked my CD-rom at a internet cafe, there were only 36 photos.... I was so upset and pissed! Right now I am at a internet cafe, trying to use my friend´s camera + USB to see if there´s anwyay to save my photos...booo.... I am so upset now because the camera couldnt read my SD card at all.... my photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that was a bad start to the trip. Thankfully the weekend turned out fantastically and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!! We left Huancayo at 5pm, and it was full-moon on Fri night so we saw the most magnificent moon!! Over the skyline and mountain silhoutte, the full moon was incredibly bright and lit up the road. We could see rock formations and chance in vegetation even without the lights of our bus, since the moon was so bright!! It was amazinging beautiful and thanks to the weather, I found the SOUTHERN CROSS!!! The stars are a little apart from each other, but the cross shape is definitely identifiable. En route, we came across the old capital of Peru (gotta find the name). The streets were a lot narrower but the city was well-kept, with most of its buildings refurnished/painted. We stopped for el baño (bathroom) and I found out an interesting fact, the city plazas are always built next to a cathedral! The next city we went to was a small city, nicknamed ¨Pearl of the valley¨ because it is situated right in the middle of mountains, completed surrounded!! Finally, we arrived at La Merced and found our hostel. I stayed in a double room with Kerrie, and the biggest room had 6 rooms!! Anyhow, we headed out for dinner near the plaza and Elizabeth (my spanish teacher who has been to La Merced before) found the restaurant they wanted to bring us too. It was closing and re-opened for us!! The metal shutters were already closed, and we were led through a tiny door on the gate. We had pollo y papa fritas (fried chicken & fries) and some ppl ordered beer. Dinner was great! Elizabeth has been talking about going to a club for the entire bus ride, which was apparently ¨the most beautful club in the jungle¨, so obviously I was very interested in going!! But everyone got tired and refused to go.... in the end, I convinced Siew Jin & Amanda so 4 of us went!
Earlier on at the plaza, there had been a fiesta & fireworks. Its a celebration for a Saint, and in La Merced the celebration lasts for the entire month of May (Some city huh?)! So when we went to the club, there was very little people. The club was magnificent! It´s built like a jungle hut, 2floors high with the entire 1st floor as a dance arena. It was closed for the night due to the lack of the people, but it would have looked amazing if it was filled!! The club is called ¨Kamar de Cafe Rocka¨ and had funky Greek stone angel decors. The 2nd floor was sort of like a balcony-patio, surrounding the exterior of the 1st floor dance arena overlooking the crowd. The 2nd floor was indoor, with glass seperating the bar/sitting area to balconies. We stayed till around 2am, had fun dancing but left early because we needed to wake up by 7:30am Sat morning!!
On Sat, we had breakfast at La Merced. Kerrie & I found an awesome restuarant-cafe, and we had Tortilla de carne & Bistek (Friend egg & beef stew with rice), with AWESOME coffee!! Then we headed out to the JUNGLE HOUSE. Basically a big house/hostel in the middle of the jungle!! It is 1.5hr away from La Merced, we dropped off our backpacks and changed into our bathing suits since we were heading to waterfalls!! First, we went to Pampamichi, a traditional tribal village. We got to wear their costume + hats/accessories and I really blended in cuz of my black hair!! The chief spoke first in the dialect, followed by Espanñol. I swear they looked Asian and the local dialect sounded a lot like Japanese! We did a tribal dance thing with them and I bought 2 bracelets hehe.
After Pampamichi, we set out towards Kimo (see even the name sounds jap!). Kimo is in the midst of jungle and we needed to hike to 2 waterfalls. To get to Kimo, we needed to cross the river! Guess how that worked? We had to take a cable-car like cart dangling on top of the river, which is MANUALLY PULLED ACROSS!! its hard to describe, but basically a metal card with 2 pulleys on either side, and our guide gets in the cart to pull us over by using the pulleys! It was really cool and I cant believe our guide manually tranports ppl over to Kimo daily!! Anyhow, we arrived at the other end and walked up a hill to get to our meeting point. After 15min, I was AMAZED by wat we see. It was a resort in the midst of the jungle!! With small hut/houses with colorful hammocks hanging outside (only USD$15 per night!) and a mini lake in front of the houses, with a small island with a MONKEY on it!! It was awesome!! We dropped our bags off and started 30min hike into the jungle. It was pretty easy, but I am definitely not as fit as I was back in Gr8 when we hiked in ChiangMai, Thailand!! The waterfall was beautiful, we swam and took lotta photos. Cuz of the rain ealier in the morning, the trail to the 2nd waterfull is muddy and challenging. I didnt go but about 15of us went. It took them 2hrs to get up and down!! And some `people got injured cuz the trail was slippery =( Nothing big tho. I headed back to the resort place with Neha, where we decided to swim across the lake to greet the monkey Juan. We arrived and sat down, calling Juan over, and it actually came and curled up on my lap!!! We didnt bring a camera, other wise it would have been an AMAZING photo. Once in a life time experience to have a monkey sitting on ur lap!! But it bit me twice too, little scratch which didnt break the skin.... i was trying to hold it up because it appeared as if it was falling. Then it bit me!! So we left the island and left Juan alone.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing, tanning & chilling at the resort. I got on the hammock and it was sooooooooo niiiiiiiice. The wind blowing, warm sun, beautiful mountain, lake, palm trees... sigh. I didnt wanna leave!! But then we had to get going for the jungle house. We left at 5pm, had dinner at a restaurant near the house. Fried Yuka fruit (taste like potato)+banana+chicken+rice, i feel so healthy here with the fruits!! The restaurant owner was so happy to see a group of gringos (white ppl) that she took photos of us & we all signed the guest book! It was great. At night, we had a cool bonfire at the house!! Most ppl were exahusted and slept at 11pm, but I loved the bonfire!! First melted mashmellow! Mashmellows actually taste kinda weird grilled, but we had it sandwiched with chocolate cookies, called S´mores (cuz u always want Some´more!), apparently they are made during bonfires in the US. I stayed up till 3am watching the fire... the jungle was so serene with beetle sounds, and there were fireflies too. The moon was shining over us and the tranquility was soothing. That was a great night =)
On Sunday, Kerrie & I missed breakfst on puporse so we can sleep in! Bad choice. We shld have woken up early to get the good seats since its a long ride home on sunday. I ended up getting the worst seat at the back of the bus, with all the bag piled up and no leg room.. ouch. Anyhow, we went to Yunaki (see! Japanese-like name again!!) waterfall and it was MAGNIFICENT! Huge waterfall over 15m high, we swam and tanned for 2hrs, there was a really cool cave behind the waterfall too!! It was funny bcuz everyone was bitching abt seeing another waterfall, but when we got there, everyone LOVED it. There were millions of butterflies and it was an amazing sight!!
Ok!! gotta run for dinner!! update more latteerz!!!
since I am so extremely far behind with updating, I´ve decided to just go forward with present update and worry about Day 8-12 sometime laterz! (prob gonna do a photo diary thing to summarize those 4days).
Anyway! For the weekend we went to La Merced, a city surrounded by jungles! It was a long 5hr bus ride to get there, we left at 5pm so I didnt get a chance to work at INABIF. I was really upset in the day.. because.... STUPID KODAK SHOP SCREWED UP MY SD CARD!! I had 325++ photos in the SD card and wanted to burn them on a CD-rom before the jungle trip, so in the afternoon I went to a KODAK photo shop. But guess what?? Cuz I couldnt speak Spanish I couldnt get them to show me my photos on the spot, and when I checked my CD-rom at a internet cafe, there were only 36 photos.... I was so upset and pissed! Right now I am at a internet cafe, trying to use my friend´s camera + USB to see if there´s anwyay to save my photos...booo.... I am so upset now because the camera couldnt read my SD card at all.... my photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that was a bad start to the trip. Thankfully the weekend turned out fantastically and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!! We left Huancayo at 5pm, and it was full-moon on Fri night so we saw the most magnificent moon!! Over the skyline and mountain silhoutte, the full moon was incredibly bright and lit up the road. We could see rock formations and chance in vegetation even without the lights of our bus, since the moon was so bright!! It was amazinging beautiful and thanks to the weather, I found the SOUTHERN CROSS!!! The stars are a little apart from each other, but the cross shape is definitely identifiable. En route, we came across the old capital of Peru (gotta find the name). The streets were a lot narrower but the city was well-kept, with most of its buildings refurnished/painted. We stopped for el baño (bathroom) and I found out an interesting fact, the city plazas are always built next to a cathedral! The next city we went to was a small city, nicknamed ¨Pearl of the valley¨ because it is situated right in the middle of mountains, completed surrounded!! Finally, we arrived at La Merced and found our hostel. I stayed in a double room with Kerrie, and the biggest room had 6 rooms!! Anyhow, we headed out for dinner near the plaza and Elizabeth (my spanish teacher who has been to La Merced before) found the restaurant they wanted to bring us too. It was closing and re-opened for us!! The metal shutters were already closed, and we were led through a tiny door on the gate. We had pollo y papa fritas (fried chicken & fries) and some ppl ordered beer. Dinner was great! Elizabeth has been talking about going to a club for the entire bus ride, which was apparently ¨the most beautful club in the jungle¨, so obviously I was very interested in going!! But everyone got tired and refused to go.... in the end, I convinced Siew Jin & Amanda so 4 of us went!
Earlier on at the plaza, there had been a fiesta & fireworks. Its a celebration for a Saint, and in La Merced the celebration lasts for the entire month of May (Some city huh?)! So when we went to the club, there was very little people. The club was magnificent! It´s built like a jungle hut, 2floors high with the entire 1st floor as a dance arena. It was closed for the night due to the lack of the people, but it would have looked amazing if it was filled!! The club is called ¨Kamar de Cafe Rocka¨ and had funky Greek stone angel decors. The 2nd floor was sort of like a balcony-patio, surrounding the exterior of the 1st floor dance arena overlooking the crowd. The 2nd floor was indoor, with glass seperating the bar/sitting area to balconies. We stayed till around 2am, had fun dancing but left early because we needed to wake up by 7:30am Sat morning!!
On Sat, we had breakfast at La Merced. Kerrie & I found an awesome restuarant-cafe, and we had Tortilla de carne & Bistek (Friend egg & beef stew with rice), with AWESOME coffee!! Then we headed out to the JUNGLE HOUSE. Basically a big house/hostel in the middle of the jungle!! It is 1.5hr away from La Merced, we dropped off our backpacks and changed into our bathing suits since we were heading to waterfalls!! First, we went to Pampamichi, a traditional tribal village. We got to wear their costume + hats/accessories and I really blended in cuz of my black hair!! The chief spoke first in the dialect, followed by Espanñol. I swear they looked Asian and the local dialect sounded a lot like Japanese! We did a tribal dance thing with them and I bought 2 bracelets hehe.
After Pampamichi, we set out towards Kimo (see even the name sounds jap!). Kimo is in the midst of jungle and we needed to hike to 2 waterfalls. To get to Kimo, we needed to cross the river! Guess how that worked? We had to take a cable-car like cart dangling on top of the river, which is MANUALLY PULLED ACROSS!! its hard to describe, but basically a metal card with 2 pulleys on either side, and our guide gets in the cart to pull us over by using the pulleys! It was really cool and I cant believe our guide manually tranports ppl over to Kimo daily!! Anyhow, we arrived at the other end and walked up a hill to get to our meeting point. After 15min, I was AMAZED by wat we see. It was a resort in the midst of the jungle!! With small hut/houses with colorful hammocks hanging outside (only USD$15 per night!) and a mini lake in front of the houses, with a small island with a MONKEY on it!! It was awesome!! We dropped our bags off and started 30min hike into the jungle. It was pretty easy, but I am definitely not as fit as I was back in Gr8 when we hiked in ChiangMai, Thailand!! The waterfall was beautiful, we swam and took lotta photos. Cuz of the rain ealier in the morning, the trail to the 2nd waterfull is muddy and challenging. I didnt go but about 15of us went. It took them 2hrs to get up and down!! And some `people got injured cuz the trail was slippery =( Nothing big tho. I headed back to the resort place with Neha, where we decided to swim across the lake to greet the monkey Juan. We arrived and sat down, calling Juan over, and it actually came and curled up on my lap!!! We didnt bring a camera, other wise it would have been an AMAZING photo. Once in a life time experience to have a monkey sitting on ur lap!! But it bit me twice too, little scratch which didnt break the skin.... i was trying to hold it up because it appeared as if it was falling. Then it bit me!! So we left the island and left Juan alone.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing, tanning & chilling at the resort. I got on the hammock and it was sooooooooo niiiiiiiice. The wind blowing, warm sun, beautiful mountain, lake, palm trees... sigh. I didnt wanna leave!! But then we had to get going for the jungle house. We left at 5pm, had dinner at a restaurant near the house. Fried Yuka fruit (taste like potato)+banana+chicken+rice, i feel so healthy here with the fruits!! The restaurant owner was so happy to see a group of gringos (white ppl) that she took photos of us & we all signed the guest book! It was great. At night, we had a cool bonfire at the house!! Most ppl were exahusted and slept at 11pm, but I loved the bonfire!! First melted mashmellow! Mashmellows actually taste kinda weird grilled, but we had it sandwiched with chocolate cookies, called S´mores (cuz u always want Some´more!), apparently they are made during bonfires in the US. I stayed up till 3am watching the fire... the jungle was so serene with beetle sounds, and there were fireflies too. The moon was shining over us and the tranquility was soothing. That was a great night =)
On Sunday, Kerrie & I missed breakfst on puporse so we can sleep in! Bad choice. We shld have woken up early to get the good seats since its a long ride home on sunday. I ended up getting the worst seat at the back of the bus, with all the bag piled up and no leg room.. ouch. Anyhow, we went to Yunaki (see! Japanese-like name again!!) waterfall and it was MAGNIFICENT! Huge waterfall over 15m high, we swam and tanned for 2hrs, there was a really cool cave behind the waterfall too!! It was funny bcuz everyone was bitching abt seeing another waterfall, but when we got there, everyone LOVED it. There were millions of butterflies and it was an amazing sight!!
Ok!! gotta run for dinner!! update more latteerz!!!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Day 6- Archeological Day tour & Taj Mahal
Mayo seis 05-06-06
Today was an exciting day! We went on a full-day, 7hr acheological tour with ¨Peruvian tour¨and visited all kinda of archeological sites, lakes etc. On our way there, we visited a feria (animal trade market), ancient Wanka site (they arrived before the Andes of Machu Picchu!), Lake Ñanhuinpugnio, Ancient Spanish cross, city of Chupaca, and finally pArque Identica Wanka!
Our friendly tour guide, Julian narrated the history of each site throughout the tour. All the Peruvians we have met so far are truly warm and welcoming, and it was fantastic to have Julian as our guide! We met up at el Centro, the center Plaza of Constitucion and 8 of us (my WST site group) & 3 other tourists from Lima fitted ourselves in a mid-size school bus kinda van. On our way to the feria, we passed by a troupe of traditional dancers/band so we stopped and took some pictures!! The dancer had colorful clothing and a scary-looking mask, apparently the dnace is a Pagan tradition for the festival (cant rem the name...), which takes place in May.
We arrived at the feria and tit was like nothing I´ve ever seen before! It is a animal/livestock market, whee people traded and sold horses, torros (cows), obehas (sheeps), servados (pigs) etc. The market is about 6blocks long with al kinda of ropes, food, clothing, fruits etc. In the middle of it, a man had a HARP and was playing for the crowd! This is definitely new from the typical guitar street performance ;) They slaughter animals foor ´fresca´meat (fresh) though, so we saw a dead pig laying in a cart and a pile of wool...
We then headed to the mountains, where we visited an ancient site of te Wankas. We ´hiked´450 steps of stairs up to the top of the hill-mountain, and its TOTALLY worth it. The view was breath-taking with stretch of farm fileds, mountains, and rolling white clouds! Julian showed us the stone tools Wanka used for cutting meat/grinding fruits & herbs, and explained how Wankas designed their stone houses so that in the winter, some storage room serve as natural refrigerators! We had a great view of Lake Ñanhuinpugnio too, which is a natural lake (but surprising square-shaped) and we paid 2soles (around 60c USD) for a boat ride + horse ride around the lake. After the lake, we ride in the bus for around 1hr to a iglesia (church site). The Spaniards brought Catholic religion with them and forced Peruvians to accept their religion, whereas before, Peruvians worshipped the nature, spirits, mountain, moon etc. So we saw the OLDEST cross/Crusifix statue in Peru, with carvings of the Spanish king on it. Interesting fact: the locals resisted Catholic beliefs, thus build this church FACING a far-away snowcapped mountain which they used to worship. Thus they ¨pray¨ to their gods, while pretending to go along with Catholic religion.
By 2-3pm, we went to the city of Chupaca where we had a traditional mean of the¨¨Pachamancha¨. The meal consists of beans, potatoes, lamb/pork/chicken of ur choice and Peruvian dish ¨ümise¨, which is mashed up corn + flour, baked in the husk (leave on the outside of corn) to create corn-bread like desser. The mean was amazing... I chose lamb and it was grilled to perfection... yummy.... =P At the end, we visited a park built entirely by diff color/size/shape stones! The park is dedicated to Wanka traditions, thus had many statues of well-known figures. It was beautiful and every stone was hand-picked by group of architects, the park took 4years to built!!
The tour was over by 6pm, and our group split off to go shopping. Neha & I went to the Casa de Artesan, which is a artesan market filled with crafts, hand-made jewelleries, tapestries and PERUVIAN UGGS! The most popular material in Peru is Apaca, which is llama fur. So they had slippers with suede exterior and apaca interior, I am looking fwd to buying a pair =)
in the night, Juan and Patty (directors of Mosoq Ayllu, the organization we are volunteering with) brought us out to the ¨best club¨in Huancayo: Taj Mahal. We walked in the club and felt as if we entered a set-up for some 80s movie, it is the ¨best club¨= rich, wealthy middle age customers. Definitely older group than we expected... but it was cool because they played all Salsa music, so people actually DANCED SALSA formally and boy, even the guys are super-good at it!! Whereas in Ann Arbor clubs are opened till 2am, in Peru clubs are opened till 6am! We left at 3am+ and Juan drove us back home safely =) Clubbing in S. America is definitely different!!
Si finito! Buenas Noches!
Today was an exciting day! We went on a full-day, 7hr acheological tour with ¨Peruvian tour¨and visited all kinda of archeological sites, lakes etc. On our way there, we visited a feria (animal trade market), ancient Wanka site (they arrived before the Andes of Machu Picchu!), Lake Ñanhuinpugnio, Ancient Spanish cross, city of Chupaca, and finally pArque Identica Wanka!
Our friendly tour guide, Julian narrated the history of each site throughout the tour. All the Peruvians we have met so far are truly warm and welcoming, and it was fantastic to have Julian as our guide! We met up at el Centro, the center Plaza of Constitucion and 8 of us (my WST site group) & 3 other tourists from Lima fitted ourselves in a mid-size school bus kinda van. On our way to the feria, we passed by a troupe of traditional dancers/band so we stopped and took some pictures!! The dancer had colorful clothing and a scary-looking mask, apparently the dnace is a Pagan tradition for the festival (cant rem the name...), which takes place in May.
We arrived at the feria and tit was like nothing I´ve ever seen before! It is a animal/livestock market, whee people traded and sold horses, torros (cows), obehas (sheeps), servados (pigs) etc. The market is about 6blocks long with al kinda of ropes, food, clothing, fruits etc. In the middle of it, a man had a HARP and was playing for the crowd! This is definitely new from the typical guitar street performance ;) They slaughter animals foor ´fresca´meat (fresh) though, so we saw a dead pig laying in a cart and a pile of wool...
We then headed to the mountains, where we visited an ancient site of te Wankas. We ´hiked´450 steps of stairs up to the top of the hill-mountain, and its TOTALLY worth it. The view was breath-taking with stretch of farm fileds, mountains, and rolling white clouds! Julian showed us the stone tools Wanka used for cutting meat/grinding fruits & herbs, and explained how Wankas designed their stone houses so that in the winter, some storage room serve as natural refrigerators! We had a great view of Lake Ñanhuinpugnio too, which is a natural lake (but surprising square-shaped) and we paid 2soles (around 60c USD) for a boat ride + horse ride around the lake. After the lake, we ride in the bus for around 1hr to a iglesia (church site). The Spaniards brought Catholic religion with them and forced Peruvians to accept their religion, whereas before, Peruvians worshipped the nature, spirits, mountain, moon etc. So we saw the OLDEST cross/Crusifix statue in Peru, with carvings of the Spanish king on it. Interesting fact: the locals resisted Catholic beliefs, thus build this church FACING a far-away snowcapped mountain which they used to worship. Thus they ¨pray¨ to their gods, while pretending to go along with Catholic religion.
By 2-3pm, we went to the city of Chupaca where we had a traditional mean of the¨¨Pachamancha¨. The meal consists of beans, potatoes, lamb/pork/chicken of ur choice and Peruvian dish ¨ümise¨, which is mashed up corn + flour, baked in the husk (leave on the outside of corn) to create corn-bread like desser. The mean was amazing... I chose lamb and it was grilled to perfection... yummy.... =P At the end, we visited a park built entirely by diff color/size/shape stones! The park is dedicated to Wanka traditions, thus had many statues of well-known figures. It was beautiful and every stone was hand-picked by group of architects, the park took 4years to built!!
The tour was over by 6pm, and our group split off to go shopping. Neha & I went to the Casa de Artesan, which is a artesan market filled with crafts, hand-made jewelleries, tapestries and PERUVIAN UGGS! The most popular material in Peru is Apaca, which is llama fur. So they had slippers with suede exterior and apaca interior, I am looking fwd to buying a pair =)
in the night, Juan and Patty (directors of Mosoq Ayllu, the organization we are volunteering with) brought us out to the ¨best club¨in Huancayo: Taj Mahal. We walked in the club and felt as if we entered a set-up for some 80s movie, it is the ¨best club¨= rich, wealthy middle age customers. Definitely older group than we expected... but it was cool because they played all Salsa music, so people actually DANCED SALSA formally and boy, even the guys are super-good at it!! Whereas in Ann Arbor clubs are opened till 2am, in Peru clubs are opened till 6am! We left at 3am+ and Juan drove us back home safely =) Clubbing in S. America is definitely different!!
Si finito! Buenas Noches!
Day 5 - INABIF orphanage & Hindu movie!
Mayo cinqo 05-05-06
Hehe as you can all see, I am very behind on blogging /diary writing in general! So I shall take my time and update this asap.. hehe
I had my first spanish lesson today with Elizabeth, and it was great! I learnt los numeros, alfabetos and Singular-plural pronouns. Elizabeth is Peruvian and a local high school teacher who teaches English in her school. She is really friendly and pretty, you will understand when u see the photo ;) The lesson flew by and I was really excited to practice my newly learnt Spanish!! Knowing the different numbers definitely help with shopping and asking for time, I felt really confident to strut down the street after the lesson! In Peru, there arent HOT showers and only LUKEWARM showers (due to the high altitude), so I had my first WARM shower today at Donna´s house. Everything was perfect beside the fact that water trickled down and te bathroom air was FREEZING!
So, I worked in INABIF, an al-boys orphanage in the afternoon. We arrived around 2:20pm and it was suppose to be their Sportss day. Yet the kids were sitting around while older boys played futbal (soccer), the younger kids watched Hindu movices! It is funny because the children knows EVERY WORD and DANCE along to the entire movie! We had lots of fun, and I had two kids stuck on me: Luis Fernando & Joel. They are the cutest kid ever!! And so friendly, warm, and just cute in general. It was heartbreaking at the end of the day because they wouldnt let me go, and kept asking me to stay... when I said I will be back on Monday, they seem unconvinced =( It´s sad to know that they are so used to volunteers leaving them...
Hehe as you can all see, I am very behind on blogging /diary writing in general! So I shall take my time and update this asap.. hehe
I had my first spanish lesson today with Elizabeth, and it was great! I learnt los numeros, alfabetos and Singular-plural pronouns. Elizabeth is Peruvian and a local high school teacher who teaches English in her school. She is really friendly and pretty, you will understand when u see the photo ;) The lesson flew by and I was really excited to practice my newly learnt Spanish!! Knowing the different numbers definitely help with shopping and asking for time, I felt really confident to strut down the street after the lesson! In Peru, there arent HOT showers and only LUKEWARM showers (due to the high altitude), so I had my first WARM shower today at Donna´s house. Everything was perfect beside the fact that water trickled down and te bathroom air was FREEZING!
So, I worked in INABIF, an al-boys orphanage in the afternoon. We arrived around 2:20pm and it was suppose to be their Sportss day. Yet the kids were sitting around while older boys played futbal (soccer), the younger kids watched Hindu movices! It is funny because the children knows EVERY WORD and DANCE along to the entire movie! We had lots of fun, and I had two kids stuck on me: Luis Fernando & Joel. They are the cutest kid ever!! And so friendly, warm, and just cute in general. It was heartbreaking at the end of the day because they wouldnt let me go, and kept asking me to stay... when I said I will be back on Monday, they seem unconvinced =( It´s sad to know that they are so used to volunteers leaving them...
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Day 4 -First day of work!
Mayo cuarto 05-04-06
Today was the first day we beging working at the orphanages. We are assigned by specialty and preference, and I was assigned to INABIF in the afternoon- an all boy orphanage with children age 3-18+. I decided to take beginner Spanish lessons in the end, because I feel so powerless and unable to communicate without knowing ANY spanish!! I wont be working in the morning and my lesson is at 8-10am!! A lot earlier than what I had back in UMich.... sigh. It is really cool to see everyone freely conversing in español , translating for those who cannot understand a word, and to talk to the locals in general. Even after taking French for 4years back in high school, I Dnt think I´d ever be able to talk fluently even if I had gone to France/meet a French person!! I guess that´s what´s different abt American and British education system...
Well, today was cool but not half as exciting as everyone else´s day. In the morning after everyone splitted to their respective orphanages, Patrick Ali & me went to el centro, which is a huge plaza in the center of Huancayo city. We went to a tourist office looking for potential weekend excursions, but nothing fitted. However, there are 2 places everyone are interested to go. ¨Torre Torre¨which is a mountain/canyon attaction, and ¨La Merced¨which is a joungle. Kate, one of the independent volunteers who´s been in Huancayo for 2months recommended La Merced and said they had ¨butterflies as big as birds!¨ It should be really exciting to go on these excursions =)
After the tourist office, we decided to walk around the city and get awway from el centro, since it caters to tourist and we wanted to look around more!! Huancayo is like Bangkok in many ways, narrow streets with cheap food and yummy fruits, amigable (friendly) people who are warm and welcoming. Except tat the city is on 3200m and surrounded by mountains!! As you look at the end of the street, you will see mouintains surrounding the city! Truly amazing with clear blue sky, cotton-candy like white clouds and fresh air!! The food are great, Peruvian diet consists of mainly maize (corn), pollo (chicken), beef y fresh fruits! We´d go over to Donna (the volunteer prog director´s mom´s house) to have meals and they are SUPERB, she used to own a restaurant for several years!!
While we are leaving el centro, we witness at huge protest which lasted 6-8 blocks long, where high school girls held up posters protesting. We asked a local and apparently, there is a criminal who raped teenage girls and is currently in jail. But his crime is so horrendous that the protesters wanted him KILLED. It was surprising for me to see students so avidly involved in social injustice movements. According to Elizabeth (another girl on the trip), a 10yrs old niño (boy) at INABIF naturally spoke of ex-president Fujimari as ¨the man who stole $ from ou¨r country¨. There is also a retarded child, Brian at INABIF. Instead of shying away from Brian, all the other niños takes care of Brian, calming him down plus bringing toys & food, calling him their ¨little brother¨even tho he is older. We shld learn from these children...
Moving onwards, we marched down the streets for around 25min, taking in the beautiful view, strolling with no worries. It was my first free time for relaxation since I am a site leader, and we had meeting continuously for.. FORVER. We came across a shop where a man sculpted religious decorations out of stone and paints them in elaborate colors. We shook hand with the artist and I spoke my first Spanish phrase: ¿Ün foto, por favor? I was really excited that he understood me! The weather was beuatiful and mountains beyond every street... I am at a wloss for words evertime I see the rolling white clouds and snapped several fotos! I think I am ¨trigger-happy¨abt my camera, gotta head to Kodak shop soon to burn photos into a CD-ROM!
In the afternoon, our group met up in el centro again (all 24 of us! quite a sight in a city where everyone was short & had dark skin hehe) We had an aamzing meal at a small local resturant, with soup broth & rice, grilled pollo y papa fritas (chicken & fries!). Muchos delicieausa! I headed to INABIF afterwards and began
my first day of work. We had to go through administration tho.. so we didnt do much at all! At night, we went back to Donna´s house for yummy dinner! We had local delicacy ¨the jumping beef¨with rice and fries, and a cold dish of potatoes with creamy yellow sauce, made out of cheese, olive oil, milk and spices. It´s a Huancayo only dish! We had herbal tea which taste exactly like a Taiwanese herbal tea, so that was cool!!
Well, that´s my very long entry for the first noche (night)!! I will try to limit it from now on haha.
Buenas Noches!
Today was the first day we beging working at the orphanages. We are assigned by specialty and preference, and I was assigned to INABIF in the afternoon- an all boy orphanage with children age 3-18+. I decided to take beginner Spanish lessons in the end, because I feel so powerless and unable to communicate without knowing ANY spanish!! I wont be working in the morning and my lesson is at 8-10am!! A lot earlier than what I had back in UMich.... sigh. It is really cool to see everyone freely conversing in español , translating for those who cannot understand a word, and to talk to the locals in general. Even after taking French for 4years back in high school, I Dnt think I´d ever be able to talk fluently even if I had gone to France/meet a French person!! I guess that´s what´s different abt American and British education system...
Well, today was cool but not half as exciting as everyone else´s day. In the morning after everyone splitted to their respective orphanages, Patrick Ali & me went to el centro, which is a huge plaza in the center of Huancayo city. We went to a tourist office looking for potential weekend excursions, but nothing fitted. However, there are 2 places everyone are interested to go. ¨Torre Torre¨which is a mountain/canyon attaction, and ¨La Merced¨which is a joungle. Kate, one of the independent volunteers who´s been in Huancayo for 2months recommended La Merced and said they had ¨butterflies as big as birds!¨ It should be really exciting to go on these excursions =)
After the tourist office, we decided to walk around the city and get awway from el centro, since it caters to tourist and we wanted to look around more!! Huancayo is like Bangkok in many ways, narrow streets with cheap food and yummy fruits, amigable (friendly) people who are warm and welcoming. Except tat the city is on 3200m and surrounded by mountains!! As you look at the end of the street, you will see mouintains surrounding the city! Truly amazing with clear blue sky, cotton-candy like white clouds and fresh air!! The food are great, Peruvian diet consists of mainly maize (corn), pollo (chicken), beef y fresh fruits! We´d go over to Donna (the volunteer prog director´s mom´s house) to have meals and they are SUPERB, she used to own a restaurant for several years!!
While we are leaving el centro, we witness at huge protest which lasted 6-8 blocks long, where high school girls held up posters protesting. We asked a local and apparently, there is a criminal who raped teenage girls and is currently in jail. But his crime is so horrendous that the protesters wanted him KILLED. It was surprising for me to see students so avidly involved in social injustice movements. According to Elizabeth (another girl on the trip), a 10yrs old niño (boy) at INABIF naturally spoke of ex-president Fujimari as ¨the man who stole $ from ou¨r country¨. There is also a retarded child, Brian at INABIF. Instead of shying away from Brian, all the other niños takes care of Brian, calming him down plus bringing toys & food, calling him their ¨little brother¨even tho he is older. We shld learn from these children...
Moving onwards, we marched down the streets for around 25min, taking in the beautiful view, strolling with no worries. It was my first free time for relaxation since I am a site leader, and we had meeting continuously for.. FORVER. We came across a shop where a man sculpted religious decorations out of stone and paints them in elaborate colors. We shook hand with the artist and I spoke my first Spanish phrase: ¿Ün foto, por favor? I was really excited that he understood me! The weather was beuatiful and mountains beyond every street... I am at a wloss for words evertime I see the rolling white clouds and snapped several fotos! I think I am ¨trigger-happy¨abt my camera, gotta head to Kodak shop soon to burn photos into a CD-ROM!
In the afternoon, our group met up in el centro again (all 24 of us! quite a sight in a city where everyone was short & had dark skin hehe) We had an aamzing meal at a small local resturant, with soup broth & rice, grilled pollo y papa fritas (chicken & fries!). Muchos delicieausa! I headed to INABIF afterwards and began
my first day of work. We had to go through administration tho.. so we didnt do much at all! At night, we went back to Donna´s house for yummy dinner! We had local delicacy ¨the jumping beef¨with rice and fries, and a cold dish of potatoes with creamy yellow sauce, made out of cheese, olive oil, milk and spices. It´s a Huancayo only dish! We had herbal tea which taste exactly like a Taiwanese herbal tea, so that was cool!!
Well, that´s my very long entry for the first noche (night)!! I will try to limit it from now on haha.
Buenas Noches!
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