This morning Fiona and James decided to make an English breakfast for us all. It was quite a treat. They made scrambled eggs, bacon, beans, fried tomatoes, cooked mushrooms, toast, and English breakfast tea.
After breakfast, Lauren and I went to the Sunday market like always. They had a bunch of stands that were selling handmade jewelry. We ended up staying at one of the stands for quite awhile looking at necklaces and bracelets. Lauren ended up getting a silver necklace with a pendant made of pyrite and quartz. I got a silver necklace with a turquoise pendant. The man had a bunch of stones laid out on the table and he said he could put any of them into a pendant. I chose one of them and he set it into a pendant really quickly. I also got a woven bracelet with a serpentina stone set into it. We walked around more and Lauren did more shopping for her family. After we stopped by the open-air market and then headed home.
The day turned out to be quite sunny, so I went up to the roof to do some laundry. After a bit, Fiona and James came up there to do their homework and keep me company. Leslie came up to do her laundry after me and in the middle of her washing it started to sprinkle. It let up after a bit, but the sun didn't come back out.
Now we're all sitting in the living room before we go to La Cabaña for dinner. We're planning to stay in tonight and watch a movie. Tino told Lauren and I that the classes are going to continue in Concepcion, so tomorrow we will get new students in the morning.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Warri Wilka and the oldest church in Huancayo
Today I rolled out of bed a bit late in order to get breakfast. Tino said that he thought it wouldn't be a good day to go for a bike ride since it looked like rain. He said it would be a better idea to go to a museum and to the oldest church in Huancayo. Mari also said we would go to eat lunch at Los Girasoles. James was too tired to go and Ylfa and Emil decided to do something else, so Lauren, Fiona, and I went with Mari and Mabel.
We took a taxi to the Warri Wilka museum. It means sacred springs. There are springs there that flow in little mini waterfalls. It looks like the water is just running from the earth. The people there built on this sacred ground and inside the ruins, there are two large trees. They are hundreds of years old and the guide told us that they are very special trees that are sacred to the people. One is male and the other is female by their shapes. She told us to hug the trees and that if we did it would bring us luck. Unfortunately the male tree had been burned and part had fallen over. The guide said that they thought someone was performing a religious ritual, burning candles in the tree and had forgotten to extinguish the candles. It is quite a shame since they are sacred trees and there aren't any others like it.
We also went into the Warri Wilka museum. There had been archaeologists who found the skeleton of a woman on the grounds. She was pretty well preserved. You could see her skin, hair, and nails. The guide said she was killed when she was around 25. From her teeth and other evidence, they think she was from a higher class. She was killed by a blow to the head and also a blow to the pelvis. There was a bird of prey tied to her and a frog skeleton was also found nearby her. They think she may have been punished for some wrongdoing. They also have excavated ceramics like water jugs and also tools they used like pointed rocks on the end of sticks and mortar and pestle. They found many small jugs and bowls that were used as offerings. They spent most of their time on agriculture. There was also the skull of a priest. The priests heads were shaped from birth so that the skull was elongated. They put boards on the front and back of the skull from birth until they were four to deform the skull in this way. It almost looked like a conehead. Only priests had this done to them. After the museum, we went into a small church next to the museum and then we took a combi to get us on our way to the first church in Huancayo.
When we first got to Chongos Bajo, we saw the Cani Cross. There were people crowded around it and all the carts and stores sell candles and flowers to offer the cross. It is supposed to have healing powers and Mari said that there is always a crowd around it, lighting candles and offering flowers. She said that a lot of people claim to have been cured by the powers of this cross.
The first church of Huancayo is in Chongos Bajo. It was built in 1540. Everyone really enjoyed this town and the area surrounding the church. There was a stone path to get up to the church. We were lucky enough to go when there was another group of women exploring the church. One of them knew a lot about the church. It was very peaceful and beautiful up there.
Mabel was picking berries from trees along the way. They were really good, tasting almost like cherries.
We looked around the church and then made our way around to an area with pretty flowers and some ruins of old structures. There was cactus and aloe everywhere along our walk and up by the church. When we walked back down to the town, Fiona, Lauren, and I wrote our names into one of the aloe plants using the sharp tip of the end of one leaf.
After the church we went to Los Girasoles. It was quite funny because when we drove up the the front of the restaurant, there were guys banging on the car and handing Mabel several corn husks filled with the cornbread that usually comes with pachamanca. It turns out that they just wanted us to come into the restaurant. Mabel had five bread-filled corn husks in her hands.
We got some juice that tasted fermented when we went in and on our left were two whole animals roasting on a large grill. There was a band playing also, so there was a nice atmosphere. Everyone ordered pachamanca except for me. I got Chicharron Colorado. It was pork in a nice, spicy sauce with potatoes and rice. I also got chicha morada. I was glad I ordered that because everyone said that the pachamanca wasn't as good as La Playita, where we had gone last weekend. I'm not usually a fan of pork chops, but this was cooked really well and the sauce was amazing. I guess drinking anise liquor is standard, because we got a small portion of it after our meal there as well.
We went to the Mercado Libre, open-air market, that is close to the house before we headed home. I was feeling like I could fall asleep standing up by this time. But it was really an experience walking through this market. I felt like I was in a film. There were people selling all types of things. There were chickens strung up by their feet in some of the stands, and I think I even saw a pig head in one of them. There was a man with a monkey, probably trying to get money from pictures. There were people selling all kinds of fresh fruit, every potato imaginable (there are several types of potato in Peru), purple corn, clothing, shoes, weaving, DVDs and music, and so much more. Lauren and I were talking about going back tomorrow when we felt more awake. We stopped at a stand selling cherimoyas and the woman let us try them. They were so good that Fiona, Lauren, and I bought some. The woman also let us taste some of the bananas and pomegranate. As we walked along, Lauren laughed and said that a man had been staring at me while peeling potatoes and had missed the bucket when he threw a finished potato toward it. People are so fascinated with us gringas. We had some young boys yell, "Gringas!" several times at us. Fiona and I yelled back at the same time, "Peruanos!"
When we got close to home, there was a band playing in the street. Like Tino says, it seems there is always a reason for a party in Huancayo. At the house we got some water and all fell into bed for a nap. Dinner was ready shortly after we woke up from our nap, but since we had eaten so much at 3, we weren't as hungry as we usually are at dinner. Lauren and I decided to stay in because I'm still feeling sleepy and she was feeling a bit off. James and Fiona went off to a movie and Emil and Ylfa are already in bed. I think I'm going to watch the end of Harry Potter that I missed out on last night when I was teaching English to Tino's family.
Until tomorrow...
We took a taxi to the Warri Wilka museum. It means sacred springs. There are springs there that flow in little mini waterfalls. It looks like the water is just running from the earth. The people there built on this sacred ground and inside the ruins, there are two large trees. They are hundreds of years old and the guide told us that they are very special trees that are sacred to the people. One is male and the other is female by their shapes. She told us to hug the trees and that if we did it would bring us luck. Unfortunately the male tree had been burned and part had fallen over. The guide said that they thought someone was performing a religious ritual, burning candles in the tree and had forgotten to extinguish the candles. It is quite a shame since they are sacred trees and there aren't any others like it.
 |
| Me hugging the sacred male tree. You can see the ashes where part of the tree burned. |
We also went into the Warri Wilka museum. There had been archaeologists who found the skeleton of a woman on the grounds. She was pretty well preserved. You could see her skin, hair, and nails. The guide said she was killed when she was around 25. From her teeth and other evidence, they think she was from a higher class. She was killed by a blow to the head and also a blow to the pelvis. There was a bird of prey tied to her and a frog skeleton was also found nearby her. They think she may have been punished for some wrongdoing. They also have excavated ceramics like water jugs and also tools they used like pointed rocks on the end of sticks and mortar and pestle. They found many small jugs and bowls that were used as offerings. They spent most of their time on agriculture. There was also the skull of a priest. The priests heads were shaped from birth so that the skull was elongated. They put boards on the front and back of the skull from birth until they were four to deform the skull in this way. It almost looked like a conehead. Only priests had this done to them. After the museum, we went into a small church next to the museum and then we took a combi to get us on our way to the first church in Huancayo.
 |
| The cross that's said to have healing powers. |
 |
| Bienvenidos a Chongos Bajo. Welcome to Chongos Bajo. |
The first church of Huancayo is in Chongos Bajo. It was built in 1540. Everyone really enjoyed this town and the area surrounding the church. There was a stone path to get up to the church. We were lucky enough to go when there was another group of women exploring the church. One of them knew a lot about the church. It was very peaceful and beautiful up there.
 |
| The church in Chongos Bajo. |
 |
| The altar inside the church. |
Mabel was picking berries from trees along the way. They were really good, tasting almost like cherries.
 |
| Mari eating some of the berries Mabel picked. Mabel is in the background eating more berries. |
We looked around the church and then made our way around to an area with pretty flowers and some ruins of old structures. There was cactus and aloe everywhere along our walk and up by the church. When we walked back down to the town, Fiona, Lauren, and I wrote our names into one of the aloe plants using the sharp tip of the end of one leaf.
 |
| Our names carved into the aloe leaf. |
After the church we went to Los Girasoles. It was quite funny because when we drove up the the front of the restaurant, there were guys banging on the car and handing Mabel several corn husks filled with the cornbread that usually comes with pachamanca. It turns out that they just wanted us to come into the restaurant. Mabel had five bread-filled corn husks in her hands.
 |
| Los Girasoles (The Sunflowers) restaurant. |
We got some juice that tasted fermented when we went in and on our left were two whole animals roasting on a large grill. There was a band playing also, so there was a nice atmosphere. Everyone ordered pachamanca except for me. I got Chicharron Colorado. It was pork in a nice, spicy sauce with potatoes and rice. I also got chicha morada. I was glad I ordered that because everyone said that the pachamanca wasn't as good as La Playita, where we had gone last weekend. I'm not usually a fan of pork chops, but this was cooked really well and the sauce was amazing. I guess drinking anise liquor is standard, because we got a small portion of it after our meal there as well.
 |
| Chiccharon Colorado...yum! |
We went to the Mercado Libre, open-air market, that is close to the house before we headed home. I was feeling like I could fall asleep standing up by this time. But it was really an experience walking through this market. I felt like I was in a film. There were people selling all types of things. There were chickens strung up by their feet in some of the stands, and I think I even saw a pig head in one of them. There was a man with a monkey, probably trying to get money from pictures. There were people selling all kinds of fresh fruit, every potato imaginable (there are several types of potato in Peru), purple corn, clothing, shoes, weaving, DVDs and music, and so much more. Lauren and I were talking about going back tomorrow when we felt more awake. We stopped at a stand selling cherimoyas and the woman let us try them. They were so good that Fiona, Lauren, and I bought some. The woman also let us taste some of the bananas and pomegranate. As we walked along, Lauren laughed and said that a man had been staring at me while peeling potatoes and had missed the bucket when he threw a finished potato toward it. People are so fascinated with us gringas. We had some young boys yell, "Gringas!" several times at us. Fiona and I yelled back at the same time, "Peruanos!"
When we got close to home, there was a band playing in the street. Like Tino says, it seems there is always a reason for a party in Huancayo. At the house we got some water and all fell into bed for a nap. Dinner was ready shortly after we woke up from our nap, but since we had eaten so much at 3, we weren't as hungry as we usually are at dinner. Lauren and I decided to stay in because I'm still feeling sleepy and she was feeling a bit off. James and Fiona went off to a movie and Emil and Ylfa are already in bed. I think I'm going to watch the end of Harry Potter that I missed out on last night when I was teaching English to Tino's family.
Until tomorrow...
I'm back!
This week I got off track as far as this blog, trying to get myself back to 100%. I stayed at home on Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday I was feeling well enough to go teach my morning classes. I was getting cabin fever and was missing my kids. I didn't want to miss too much of this week, since it was our last week at Concepcion.
Wednesday after lunch, I was so exhausted that I took a long nap. I had my last Spanish class before dinner and Ylfa and I also had our weaving class. After dinner, James, Emil, and Ylfa went to La Rustica for drinks and Fiona, Lauren, and I stayed at home and watched the movie Mammoth.
On Thursday, my younger class was so enthralled with writing out numbers in English that we ended up doing it for the whole class. Paola, the only girl who had come to class on Friday kept asking for more numbers, so she had me write homework up until 90,000. The others followed suit and kept asking for more numbers for homework. I couldn't believe I was turning down requests for more homework.
We ended up teaching adjectives in the older class. The general energy was low. Lauren and I were tired and the class seemed tired as well. We decided to talk about Valentine's Day in the last half hour of class. It was funny when I put up boyfriend and girlfriend on the board because one of the girls made a very sour face. The boys were telling us that they weren't going to be in class on Friday because of the closing ceremonies and they told us they would see us next year. I thought that was very sweet and funny.
After lunch, Lauren and I hurried over to the supermarket to buy notebooks for Tino, Mari, Mabel (another young woman who has been helping out at the house), and Pilar (Tino and Mari's oldest child). We were going to start teaching them all English, but it ended up being mostly me teaching. We also got some lollipops for the kids to give to them for Valentine's Day and also for the last day of class. I spent most of the afternoon trying to get the wireless to work on Tino's laptop. Actually, it was getting Internet Explorer to work on his laptop because the wireless said it was working fine. I'm thinking it has something to do with Windows Vista. I was so frustrated by the time everyone got back from the mountain school and they pulled me away to start watching Harry Potter. After dinner I taught the English class. Tino and Mari's youngest, Angela, also sat in on the class. I think she didn't want to be left out. It was a fun class to teach since they are all very interested, but my mind was racing with English grammar after the class and I had a hard time sleeping. It wasn't fun to have verb tenses crowding my head in my dreams.
On Friday, Lauren and I had our last day of class at Concepcion. For the first bit of class, only Jhon was there. He showed me his homework and we went over each number, saying them aloud. We started making Valentine's cards and then Marycruz looked into the classroom with one of her friends from Lauren's class. She had thought, along with most of the class, that there wasn't any class on the closing day. I told her that there was and we were making Valentine's cards. She and her friend stayed to make Valentine's Day cards because her friend wanted to do that more than what Lauren was doing in her class. I figured since it was the last day, it didn't matter what class she was in. We had a lot of fun writing cards with markers and putting stickers on them. They made two each. Jhon made them for his cousin and his friend, Camila. The other two girls made them for their moms and grandmothers. I'm going to miss my classes there!
None of the older kids showed up, so Lauren and I ended up walking around Concepcion a bit. We went into the blue church that is cattycorner to the school we teach at. We also looked at some bronze war statues around the corner from the church. There was a band playing around the corner from that and so we peeked around the building and there was a funeral procession. I thought it was nice that they were playing such happy music to celebrate the person's life rather than the usual gloomy setting at a funeral in the United States. We looked into some of the stores and I ended up buying two pastries: one was called pañuelo because it was triangular like a handkerchief, and the other was called mil hojas, since it had a lot of fine layers of dough. Both of them had caramel on them. They were delicious when I ate them later.
When we went to look for a taxi, our morning taxi driver Tito was in the taxi line and he waved at us. We decided to wait a bit and take his taxi back to Huancayo. While we were waiting for the cab to fill up, he showed us a book of pictures from excursions he has gone on around Huancayo. It turns out he is a tour guide and he's friends with Tino because he takes volunteers on excursions that Tino's health conditions don't permit him to go on anymore.
After lunch we watched more of the Harry Potter movie. I ended up taking a quick nap and then working on website ideas while the others were at the mountain school. We had dinner when they got back and then I taught another session of English for Tino, Mabel, Mari, Pilar, and Angela. After I was done with that, we ended up going out to karaoke. There were a lot more people there this time. I sang Como La Flor by myself, then Fiona, James and I sang Summer Lovin' from Grease, and then Fiona and I sang Madonna's La Isla Bonita. The crowd really liked our performance of Summer Lovin'. I'm sure it's a novelty to have English-speaking people singing show tunes. The waiter was talking to me while I was waiting for the bathroom right before we left. He asked where we were from and I told him. I also told him we were volunteers teaching English. He said he wanted to learn English.
Emil, Ylfa, and Lauren went home, but Mabel took James, Fiona, and I to a discoteca called La Noche. Fiona predicted that James would be the tallest person in the club and James guessed that there would be six people in the club. When we went in, they were both right. We ended up dancing anyway and there was a couple who started talking to us. The girl was very drunk and the man, who was much older, said that he was from Huntington Beach. He said it with a pretty thick accent though. The girl took a liking to James and left her man for a bit to rub up against James. Mabel and I were laughing because he looked pretty uncomfortable. After awhile, three guys came into the club and Fiona said, "They've just doubled the number of people in here." One of the guys asked me to dance. It was really fun dancing cumbia, reggaeton, and other dances I hadn't danced before with this guy. His name was Paul. We all had a lot of fun dancing. It was pouring rain when we went back outside to get the taxi Mabel had called. We didn't end up getting to sleep until after 3.
Wednesday after lunch, I was so exhausted that I took a long nap. I had my last Spanish class before dinner and Ylfa and I also had our weaving class. After dinner, James, Emil, and Ylfa went to La Rustica for drinks and Fiona, Lauren, and I stayed at home and watched the movie Mammoth.
 |
| What I have so far for my weaving. |
On Thursday, my younger class was so enthralled with writing out numbers in English that we ended up doing it for the whole class. Paola, the only girl who had come to class on Friday kept asking for more numbers, so she had me write homework up until 90,000. The others followed suit and kept asking for more numbers for homework. I couldn't believe I was turning down requests for more homework.
We ended up teaching adjectives in the older class. The general energy was low. Lauren and I were tired and the class seemed tired as well. We decided to talk about Valentine's Day in the last half hour of class. It was funny when I put up boyfriend and girlfriend on the board because one of the girls made a very sour face. The boys were telling us that they weren't going to be in class on Friday because of the closing ceremonies and they told us they would see us next year. I thought that was very sweet and funny.
After lunch, Lauren and I hurried over to the supermarket to buy notebooks for Tino, Mari, Mabel (another young woman who has been helping out at the house), and Pilar (Tino and Mari's oldest child). We were going to start teaching them all English, but it ended up being mostly me teaching. We also got some lollipops for the kids to give to them for Valentine's Day and also for the last day of class. I spent most of the afternoon trying to get the wireless to work on Tino's laptop. Actually, it was getting Internet Explorer to work on his laptop because the wireless said it was working fine. I'm thinking it has something to do with Windows Vista. I was so frustrated by the time everyone got back from the mountain school and they pulled me away to start watching Harry Potter. After dinner I taught the English class. Tino and Mari's youngest, Angela, also sat in on the class. I think she didn't want to be left out. It was a fun class to teach since they are all very interested, but my mind was racing with English grammar after the class and I had a hard time sleeping. It wasn't fun to have verb tenses crowding my head in my dreams.
On Friday, Lauren and I had our last day of class at Concepcion. For the first bit of class, only Jhon was there. He showed me his homework and we went over each number, saying them aloud. We started making Valentine's cards and then Marycruz looked into the classroom with one of her friends from Lauren's class. She had thought, along with most of the class, that there wasn't any class on the closing day. I told her that there was and we were making Valentine's cards. She and her friend stayed to make Valentine's Day cards because her friend wanted to do that more than what Lauren was doing in her class. I figured since it was the last day, it didn't matter what class she was in. We had a lot of fun writing cards with markers and putting stickers on them. They made two each. Jhon made them for his cousin and his friend, Camila. The other two girls made them for their moms and grandmothers. I'm going to miss my classes there!
None of the older kids showed up, so Lauren and I ended up walking around Concepcion a bit. We went into the blue church that is cattycorner to the school we teach at. We also looked at some bronze war statues around the corner from the church. There was a band playing around the corner from that and so we peeked around the building and there was a funeral procession. I thought it was nice that they were playing such happy music to celebrate the person's life rather than the usual gloomy setting at a funeral in the United States. We looked into some of the stores and I ended up buying two pastries: one was called pañuelo because it was triangular like a handkerchief, and the other was called mil hojas, since it had a lot of fine layers of dough. Both of them had caramel on them. They were delicious when I ate them later.
 |
| The blue church near the school in Concepcion. |
After lunch we watched more of the Harry Potter movie. I ended up taking a quick nap and then working on website ideas while the others were at the mountain school. We had dinner when they got back and then I taught another session of English for Tino, Mabel, Mari, Pilar, and Angela. After I was done with that, we ended up going out to karaoke. There were a lot more people there this time. I sang Como La Flor by myself, then Fiona, James and I sang Summer Lovin' from Grease, and then Fiona and I sang Madonna's La Isla Bonita. The crowd really liked our performance of Summer Lovin'. I'm sure it's a novelty to have English-speaking people singing show tunes. The waiter was talking to me while I was waiting for the bathroom right before we left. He asked where we were from and I told him. I also told him we were volunteers teaching English. He said he wanted to learn English.
Emil, Ylfa, and Lauren went home, but Mabel took James, Fiona, and I to a discoteca called La Noche. Fiona predicted that James would be the tallest person in the club and James guessed that there would be six people in the club. When we went in, they were both right. We ended up dancing anyway and there was a couple who started talking to us. The girl was very drunk and the man, who was much older, said that he was from Huntington Beach. He said it with a pretty thick accent though. The girl took a liking to James and left her man for a bit to rub up against James. Mabel and I were laughing because he looked pretty uncomfortable. After awhile, three guys came into the club and Fiona said, "They've just doubled the number of people in here." One of the guys asked me to dance. It was really fun dancing cumbia, reggaeton, and other dances I hadn't danced before with this guy. His name was Paul. We all had a lot of fun dancing. It was pouring rain when we went back outside to get the taxi Mabel had called. We didn't end up getting to sleep until after 3.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Enferma (Sick)
Yesterday my stomach decided not to cooperate with me, so this is my second day staying home from the school at Concepcion. I miss my kids! I'm hoping all will be well with me by tomorrow. Send those healthy vibes my way!!!
Yesterday afternoon, James and Fiona joined us. They are both from England. I love that all the volunteers are coming from all over the world. They seem like really nice people and now finally I'm not the oldest. They are both the same age as me. This morning they went to help Lauren out at the school in Concepcion. But only for one day because I am willing myself to be all better by tomorrow.
Now off to get some more rest...
Yesterday afternoon, James and Fiona joined us. They are both from England. I love that all the volunteers are coming from all over the world. They seem like really nice people and now finally I'm not the oldest. They are both the same age as me. This morning they went to help Lauren out at the school in Concepcion. But only for one day because I am willing myself to be all better by tomorrow.
Now off to get some more rest...
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Domingo...Lazy Sunday
This morning after breakfast, we walked down to Plaza Constitucion even though it was raining. Lauren has been craving a good cup of coffee and Tino told us that the best cup of coffee is at the Coqui Cafe. She and Emil got coffee, I got lucuma fruit ice cream, and Ylfa got chocolate cake and melon juice. It was pretty good. What was funny was that I was looking at a magazine that had been on the table and then realized that it was from 2005. Talk about flashback.
After that we all went to the Sunday market, but Lauren and I broke off from Ylfa and Emil after a bit. We went up and down the market like we have the past two weekends. By the time we left, the sun was coming out and the rain was clearing up.
The rest of the afternoon, I started writing my postcards and washed some of my clothes up on the roof since there was finally some sun.
Lauren and I went back to La Rustica while Emil and Ylfa went to a pizza place. We went down to the basement where they have karaoke. We were the only ones down there for awhile and then a bunch of people came down. It was different than how karaoke works at home. They did have songbooks and sign up cards that the waiter brought to our table when I asked, but you write down your table and the song you want to sing on the card. Pretty much all of the songs were in Spanish. I guess I was expecting to see more songs in English. The waiter came and picked it up my song card, and then awhile later he brought the microphones to the table. I sang Tu, Solo Tu. Lauren said she wasn't embarrassed to come to karaoke with me since I can sing. We got the same amazing salad as the last time with some meat. Both of our meals cost 20 soles together, which is a little more than 6 dollars. So cheap and good!
 |
| This is a picture from last Sunday, but it's the same yummy salad! |
Now we're at home, watching a movie and getting ready to do it all over again. Lauren reminded me that tomorrow is our 3-week mark from when we came to Peru.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Chupaca, Arwaturo, and San Jironomo
This morning after breakfast we went with Mari on a combi to Chupaca. There was a circle of people around five brightly dressed dancers in the plaza. It looked like they were a family, a grandmother, mom, dad, daughter and son. They were really good. Mari said not to take pictures though because they would charge us. We walked over to the church and there was a wedding party waiting outside. Mari led us inside and there was another wedding finishing up. The bride and groom were coming back down the aisle and we watched as everyone outside threw rice at them. We took some pictures and then left since the next wedding was going to start. There was a band playing outside of the church too.
 |
| Wedding in Chupaca. |
 |
| At the bottom of the steps in Arwaturo. |
We walked over to the line of taxis to go to Arwaturo. We drove up into the mountains and they dropped us off near a long stone staircase. It was a really pretty place in the fields. There was a big lake nearby and mountains in the distance. We walked up the staircase with flowers, corn fields and sheep on either side. At the top of the staircase were archeagogical ruins. They used to be stone houses of the Huancas. We walked around, took pictures, and talked with the man who watched over the place, Don Hilario. He told us that a little further on there were Incan ruins. I asked him if I could take a picture with him and he said I should be careful because my boyfriend would ask who he was. He was a charming old man. Mari had me write something in Don Hilario’s guest book.
 |
| On the way up the steps in Arwaturo. |
 |
| Huancan ruins in Arwaturo. |
We walked back down the steps and then Mari led us over to the nearby lake. We saw some alpacas, geese, and burros along the way. We saw another bride and groom getting their pictures taken. The lake we went to has a lot of myths about it. One of them has to do with mermaids. They say that at night you can see them in the water. You could go on a boat ride in the water in boats that look like swans or had umbrellas on the top. We didn’t go for a ride since it looked like there was a storm coming in. Ylfa and Emil took pictures with an alpaca, putting on a little brightly colored poncho and a brightly colored hat. They looked hysterical. After that we took a taxi back to Chupaca.
 |
| Boats on the lake near Arwaturo. |
In Chupaca, there were women from Cusco selling artesenia. We got some sweaters and then caught a combi back to Huancayo. We took another combi from there to San Jironomo to get pachamanca. There was so much food on our plates for so little money. Lauren and I got sheep, Mari got chicken, and Emil and Ylfa shared a plate with both sheep and chicken. They also had two potatoes, one sweet potato, big green beans, and this bread type thing that is cooked in corn husks like tomales. There were stray dogs hovering around us trying to get us to give them some scraps. We gave them some out on the road after we finished. The owner of the restaurant gave us some anise liquor after dinner. It was actually pretty good.
 |
| Me and my pachamanca in San Jironomo. |
After lunch, Ylfa and Emil went back to Huancayo and Lauren, Mari, and I went to San Jeronimo to look at silver. I found some things, but my card wasn’t working with their machine. I thought I would have to come back, but the woman said she would come with us to Huancayo so I could get money. I couldn’t believe that she had let me take the jewelry and just followed us to Huancayo...so trusting. After I paid her, we walked around the mall and looked into a few stores. Mari left us after awhile and then Lauren and I were about to walk home. We looked out the doors and it was pouring rain. We decided to wait a few minutes to see if it would die down a bit. We got some chocolate cake at a vendor that we always look at when we pass by. It really hit the spot. The rain hadn’t died down, but we braved the streets anyway. It was a little bit scary because the roads were flooding and the lightning was making the streetlights flicker. A few streets, Lauren and I ran across arm in arm. We were soaking wet by the time we got back to the house. I felt so muddy, sweaty, and wet from the rains that I immediately jumped into the shower.
Emil and Ylfa decided to eat dinner at the mall, so it was just Lauren and I for dinner. We didn’t eat as much as we usually do because the pachamanca had been so filling. Now we’re just watching Scott Pilgim vs. the World, sipping hot water, and writing in our journals. And it all starts again tomorrow...
Friday, February 4, 2011
Viernes, finalmente! Friday, Finally!
We're all wiped out after a full week of teaching. Ylfa is knocked out and it's only 9. We're trying to get the energy to go out. I want to sing karaoke and the others want to get a drink.
Right now it's carnival time here. There are kids on the streets during the day throwing water balloons and we saw some people throwing buckets of water from the top of the house down the street from us. I think that's why we had so few students our younger classes this morning. I was thinking that no one was going to come to my class because I was sitting by myself in the classroom until 9:30 before Paola came. She was the only one there, so she got a private lesson with me. She wanted to work on numbers, so I was writing the numbers and she was writing out how you say it. She was doing really well and she was asking for me to give her more numbers to write out for homework. I was impressed! After we finished with the numbers, we started reading "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." I love rereading all the Dr. Seuss books.
I was looking forward to my older class because I had brought my computer and borrowed Ylfa and Emil's speakers to play a song for them. Herson had said his favorite song was The Reason by Hoobastank, so I took out some lyrics in the song and we handed them out so that they could try to fill in the missing words. We went over half of the lyrics before the end of class and then some of the girls saw my picture of Jackson on my desktop from when he was two. Then they started asking about some of the other pictures on my desktop. Then everyone came over to see. And then they wanted to see more pictures, so I showed them a picture of my family and of Blenda and me. I also showed them some videos I took of Jackson saying words in Italian. They thought he was really entertaining. I thought it was funny that not only the girls were interested, but all the boys came over to look also. They were commenting about how everything was English on my computer.
Lauren and I were happy that we didn't have to stop anywhere after school and lunch was ready by the time we got home. I finished my Spanish homework and then started to work on buttons for the website and also figuring out a good name for Tino's online art store. Leslie came down to get me for my Spanish lesson while I was finishing up. She told me some funny stories about some of the crazy people she's seen in Huancayo. She said this one man steals people's ice cream cones. She said she was walking along the street with her ice cream cone and the next minute it was gone. She said she's seen other people get their ice creams snatched too. So crazy. When we were done with my lesson, Ylfa and Emil were out on the roof getting some sun and eating snacks. I stood out there with them for a bit and that's when we saw the person throwing buckets of water from the window on the top floor of a house down the street.
When I went downstairs Tino asked if I wanted to start weaving and Lauren wanted to go for a walk. I decided to go for the walk and I went into the room to start my weaving lesson when we got back. Mari and I just got one spindle wound with white alpaca wool when they called us for dinner. Tino showed my how to weave after we finished dinner. I got some finished and then there was a little bit of a problem so Tino told me to stop for tonight.
And so now Lauren, Emil and I are sitting on the couches in the living room watching the Hurt Locker because we ran out of steam to go out. Oh well, maybe tomorrow night. Tomorrow during the day, Mari is taking Lauren and I to another town an hour or so away. It should be fun! No rest for the wary... :)
Right now it's carnival time here. There are kids on the streets during the day throwing water balloons and we saw some people throwing buckets of water from the top of the house down the street from us. I think that's why we had so few students our younger classes this morning. I was thinking that no one was going to come to my class because I was sitting by myself in the classroom until 9:30 before Paola came. She was the only one there, so she got a private lesson with me. She wanted to work on numbers, so I was writing the numbers and she was writing out how you say it. She was doing really well and she was asking for me to give her more numbers to write out for homework. I was impressed! After we finished with the numbers, we started reading "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." I love rereading all the Dr. Seuss books.
I was looking forward to my older class because I had brought my computer and borrowed Ylfa and Emil's speakers to play a song for them. Herson had said his favorite song was The Reason by Hoobastank, so I took out some lyrics in the song and we handed them out so that they could try to fill in the missing words. We went over half of the lyrics before the end of class and then some of the girls saw my picture of Jackson on my desktop from when he was two. Then they started asking about some of the other pictures on my desktop. Then everyone came over to see. And then they wanted to see more pictures, so I showed them a picture of my family and of Blenda and me. I also showed them some videos I took of Jackson saying words in Italian. They thought he was really entertaining. I thought it was funny that not only the girls were interested, but all the boys came over to look also. They were commenting about how everything was English on my computer.
Lauren and I were happy that we didn't have to stop anywhere after school and lunch was ready by the time we got home. I finished my Spanish homework and then started to work on buttons for the website and also figuring out a good name for Tino's online art store. Leslie came down to get me for my Spanish lesson while I was finishing up. She told me some funny stories about some of the crazy people she's seen in Huancayo. She said this one man steals people's ice cream cones. She said she was walking along the street with her ice cream cone and the next minute it was gone. She said she's seen other people get their ice creams snatched too. So crazy. When we were done with my lesson, Ylfa and Emil were out on the roof getting some sun and eating snacks. I stood out there with them for a bit and that's when we saw the person throwing buckets of water from the window on the top floor of a house down the street.
When I went downstairs Tino asked if I wanted to start weaving and Lauren wanted to go for a walk. I decided to go for the walk and I went into the room to start my weaving lesson when we got back. Mari and I just got one spindle wound with white alpaca wool when they called us for dinner. Tino showed my how to weave after we finished dinner. I got some finished and then there was a little bit of a problem so Tino told me to stop for tonight.
And so now Lauren, Emil and I are sitting on the couches in the living room watching the Hurt Locker because we ran out of steam to go out. Oh well, maybe tomorrow night. Tomorrow during the day, Mari is taking Lauren and I to another town an hour or so away. It should be fun! No rest for the wary... :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)