Friday Afternoon and Saturday

Friday after we finished lunch, Lauren walked with me to mail a package home and some postcards.  When we got to the post office there were about three people in line in front of us an only one woman working.  They had posts up with ropes between to indicate where we were supposed to form a line.  I set my package down on the middle pole on one side and then tried to get something from my purse.  The pole fell over and it took down the other two poles since they were connected by the ropes.  It made a lot of noise when they fell and everyone looked at us.  Not like we needed any more attention brought to us since we were the only white people in there.  The security guard was nice though.  He came over and helped me pick up the poles and the package.  He put the package up on the ledge by the woman who was attending to customers.   When we finally got to the attendant, she was frustrated with me first of all because I had already sealed the package.  Then she told me that I needed to have a copy of my passport.  I didn’t realize it was going to be such a big ordeal.  I was really glad that I spoke Spanish because otherwise I think the woman might have yelled at me.  She told me to go make the copy around the corner and come back.  I told Lauren to stay with my package while I ran to find a place to copy my passport.  The woman at the copy shop made three copies of my passport.  I was trying to figure out what she was doing.  She told me the first two weren’t dark enough.  I asked her for them though because I had no idea what she was going to do with two copies of my passport.  When I got back to the post office, the woman was helping another man.  I really hadn’t thought we’d be spending hours at the post office.  When I got my turn though, I felt bad but not too bad that the woman was taking her merry old time with me.  I had to fill out two pieces of paperwork and she scolded me for filling in a few of the boxes wrong.  I figured getting two boxes wrong out of a bunch was pretty good for having to figure out everything in Spanish.  Then I had to put my fingerprint of my right index finger on both documents, and one of the documents had several copies, all of which needed my fingerprint.  I paid for that package and then I told her I had seventeen postcards and three cards.  Even though I told her how many postcards I had, she went through and counted them all.  Then when she was getting the stamps, she started to count them again.  Before she got very far, she asked me, “Te dije diecisiete?”  (“Did I tell you seventeen?”)  I was glad she said that because I was afraid the people behind me might have had a heart attack if she counted them all over again.  She got out the stamps and started to rip them apart one by one.  Then she put the stamps in a wet sponge and stuck them on each one.  I felt like it was going in slow motion.  After she was done with all of them, she had to stamp over each stamp.  After all that, she finally had me pay and then I took all of them over to the international drop box.  By that time, Lauren had left because it was taking such a long time, so I started walking to Plaza Vea by myself.

In Plaza Vea I tried a jacket on that I had tried on a few weeks ago.  The woman remembered me, which might be kind of impressive, but I’m sure I’m one of the only gringas that has gone in there to try on a jacket.  I still wasn’t totally sold on the jacket and she kept on asking me what I didn’t like about it.  She said that it looked really good on me.  I left that jacket there and ended up buy a jacket at the store across the way.

Back at home, Emil had stayed home sick.  I was going to start work on the website when the new volunteer came.  His name is Dwan and he’s from Ireland.  Tino, Mari, Emil, and I sat around the dinner table with him.  He was pretty quiet though.  I figured it was because Tino and Mari were mostly speaking in Spanish.  I was speaking mostly in Spanish with them, and when I spoke with Dwan he told me he thought I was Spanish because I hadn’t been speaking in English.

After some conversation, Tino took me to start my weaving again.  The others came back and I stopped my weaving to go to Plaza Vea with Lauren to get some food for our Saturday hike.  By the time we got back it was time to eat dinner.  By that time my stomach was feeling really bad.  I lay down before I had to teach class after dinner, but I felt really bad while I was teaching class.  Mari told me that I could end class early and she would make me some tea with Inca muña, an herb that helps a lot with stomach problems.  I drank quite a few cups of that and sat and talked with Mari.  I had been wanting to go sing karaoke with James, Fiona, and Mabel, but I felt so bad that I ended up staying in and going to sleep early.

I felt a lot better in the morning, but I still drank two cups of Inca muña just in case.  Mari thought that it had been something that had been cooked in the house since both Emil and I had had stomach troubles after lunch.  I was just glad that it passed quickly and I was able to go on the hike with the group.

After breakfast, we all prepared our lunches and snacks for the hike.  Lauren and I had bought trail mix, juice, and stuff to make sandwiches.  Once everyone was ready, we set out to hike up the mountain that we can see from the window in our house that says, “CHRISTO VIENE PRONTO.  PREPARATE.” (“Christ is coming soon.  Prepare yourself.”)  We walked up the front of the mountain, across a ridge and up to one of the highest peaks.  It took us about four hours to get to the peak.  

James drew arrows on a picture from out our window of where we went up and came down.

Lauren and Fiona got up there first, then Mabel and I reached the top and lastly James.  Ylfa and Emil had turned around before we had started up to the higher peak.  Dwan didn’t come with us because he was still adjusting to the altitude and didn’t feel up to it.  Nearing the top, it got increasingly harder to continue walking without getting really winded.  I knew I was really close to where Lauren and Fiona were, but I still couldn’t take more than a few steps at a time without resting in between.  My heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest.  Our house is at an altitude of about 3,200 meters.  When we reached the top of the peak, James used his phone to calculate that the altitude of the peak we were on was 4,200 meters in altitude.  We sat up at the top for awhile, eating our lunches and taking pictures.  

Me, Lauren, Fiona, Mabel, and James at 13,800 feet.

Me at the top (13,800 ft.) after a bit of a rest.

It was much easier walking down, but my knees felt like they might give out and my legs were starting to feel like jelly.  We stopped in a little shop when we got back to the house.  James, Fiona, and Mabel got Cokes and I got an Inca Cola.

Me and my Inca Kola after we got back to lower altitude.

The highlights of the hike were: 1. We saw a herd of alpacas high up on the mountain;

This alpaca was particularly interested in us and kept coming closer.

 2. We saw ruins of Huancan houses;

Me inside one of the Huancan houses.

3. We saw a naked man sitting in meditation high up on the mountain, although technically by the time Mabel, James, and I passed by him, he had put his shorts back on after seeing Lauren and Fiona; 4. Getting to the top of the peak and taking silly group pictures; 

For some reason we all thought it would be funny if we were carrying James.

Pensive poses at the top.

5. Ylfa and Emil pointed out after we got back that we had walked right through the “CHRISTO VIENE PRONTO” sign, although the rest of us didn’t realize it.

When we got back to the house, the new restaurant across the street was in full swing.  Now it’s 8:00 at night, raining, and the music is still going strong.  Earlier we had been looking out the window at the people who were going in.  Some people looked up at us and waved.  

In a bit, James, Fiona, Mabel and I are going to go out to a discoteca, which should be a lot of fun.  I’m glad I’m feeling well enough to go out with them tonight.  They said we’ll have to go out to sing karaoke again tomorrow night since they had added a bunch of new songs to their songbook when they went on Friday.  I’m excited to go again even though I’m sure the crowd won’t be as good as on Friday night.