Off The Plateau; Rich and Julie’s Peruvian Chronicles Part Two: February 2014

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Nothing Says Carnaval Like A Stack Of Sheep's Heads

We had a peaceful week with some difficult books to image but we managed. Monday night we had a fun family home evening with the Agüeros downstairs. Sister Agüero made Columbian empanadas that were delicious and we took chocolate “mint” brownies. The brownies were yummy but it is impossible to find real mint extract or any extract for that matter. There is a “mint flavored” liquid that has green food coloring in it and after using nearly ½ bottle in the frosting there was a very faint hint of mint but it was green! They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery yet despite our longing for the desired effect and best efforts at divination and experimentation, they were nothing like the brownies that Kim makes in Edgewood, boo hoo!

We have a friend named Raquel that comes to model for Rich here at home. He has been working on portraits of her and we have had a fun time getting better acquainted. Julie made banana bread the other day which Raquel loves. This loaf had chopped pecans in it and Raquel didn’t know what kind of nut that is. Rich got one from the kitchen and showed it to her then invited her to eat it. She was bewildered when he gave her the half pecan to eat and said, “Oh, I can’t eat that! I couldn’t eat a whole nut, they are too strong for me!” We had a good chuckle over that as we thought about all the whole nuts we have eaten in our lives.

Our favorite chef in Peru, Gaston Acurio opened up another restaurant here. It’s a sandwich, burger and fries kind of place. Their hamburgers are all veal and the ones we had were delicious. We’re glad to know there is good place to get a burger now and then. We also have a good place to get salads that are safe. We can buy lettuce in the market but it doesn’t last more than a day and it’s not great. Who knew that we would get cravings for lettuce? Of course we have cravings for black licorice, Mexican food, Vietnamese food, Thai food, Kim’s brownies…but lettuce?

Saturday night we attended the adult session of the Cusco Stake Conference. It was a great meeting and we loved being there with the members. We were sitting near the front and had to chuckle when a stray dog wandered in and somehow made it up to the stand and to the back row of the choir before anyone tried to get him out. This church is big and modern, sits on a busy street and the chapel is upstairs in the building. That was one persistent pooch!

We spent Sunday in Izcuchaca and had a nice time there. There was a barbecue on the corner next to the church with salsa music blaring the whole time. It was a fund raiser for the family that lives in the home. Apparently the gas tank exploded and burned everything except for the physical adobe structure. Fortunately the family is OK, but it is heartbreaking to see because they had next to nothing already and then lost it all. Life certainly can be tough at times.

Artsy beggar photo

Little salesgirl

Artsy beggar photo

Empanadas for breakfast

Not Mary Poppins

Checking on her stuff

Waiting on a ledge

Beggar

Neighborhood Boxer

Getting breakfast

Joy on a trike

Julie in Gaston's burger joint

Rich in Gaston's burger joint

Sauces in in Gaston's burger joint

Ladies laughing at Rich

All business

Nuts for sale, go figure

Sawing a sheep's head

Nothing says festive like a stack of sheep's heads

Or maybe nothing says festive like a stack of cow's hooves

Or maybe nothing says festive like a cow's head

Just because Karisa likes funnily named Peruvian treats

Monday, February 17, 2014

What? Seven Hours to Get to Church... A New Definition for The Middle of Nowhere

Rich had his birthday on Monday of this week and we went out for cuy (guinea pig), his choice, not Julie’s. We spent time talking with our kids and generally spent a quiet day together. On Friday we also went out to lunch in a nice restaurant for Valentine’s Day. We took a cab but found our way blocked by a huge march of folks in traditional dance costumes. It celebrates a Catholic virgin designated Del Rosario. We did not know about it going in and had quite the challenge negotiating the whole thing. We enjoyed the fantastic display of dance costumes that we saw however.

We finished up our “easy” books and began a heap of much more difficult books to photograph. We still managed over 4000 pages this week.

On Saturday, we had promised to go to Espinar and attend the Sunday meetings with the members in the small family group at Tarucuyo. We took off at 1pm on Saturday and took the busses to Sicuani and then on up to Espinar. We made it in good order and with a minimum of interruption.

Our trip from Sicuani to Espinar was flavored with a soapbox type preacher called an evangelical minister. It was an interesting hellfire and damnation sort of address. He harangued for a good hour of the hour and a half trip. It was a much less tolerant approach to the gospel than we take from the scriptures. We never quite know what to expect on the bus rides.

On Sunday, we had an invitation to a friends’ house for breakfast. This was essentially a lamb soup with potatoes and chuño (freeze-dried potatoes). It is the traditional fare in this part of Peru and is quite flavorful. It was really sweet of them to open their home to us. We had to eat and run since we had the missionaries picking us up to go to our meetings.

The elders came for us and took us up to a part of the town called Siete Esquinas (seven corners) where collective buses pick up their passengers to take them out to various places. From one of the corners a bus, meant to hold a dozen or so people fills up. Of course, it does not stop with twelve. By the time we left we had a new appreciation for how sardines might actually feel. We counted nineteen people on the bus.

The bus made its way out of town along a mix of paved and dirt/ rocky roads. The ride was bumpy, dusty and hot. It took fifty minutes to get there.

We arrived and found the members waiting for us. They seemed genuinely happy that we had come. We were asked to give talks and Julie helped teach the primary, (children from 3 – 11). It truly took us back to our first experiences with the church here in Peru. We began in just such a group of people that we came to love and hold dear. The circumstances in that group were somewhat less primitive than Tarucuyo.

In Tarucuyo we met in the same adobe house and grounds around it that we met in before out there. The services are basic but the feeling is so warm that we truly felt at home with a group of people we hardly know.

After we spoke, the president of the group got up to speak. He explained that some of the members did not speak Spanish and so he recapped our talks in Quechua. We had really wonderful day.

On our way back through town, we had committed to visit Marco Matos and his wife Luz Marina Carrazco and, of course Marco’s mom. That put us leaving town along about 4:30pm. We wound up on a slower bus from Sicuani to Cusco and it took us to the regular bus terminal. We just walked home from there and got in about 10:00 pm. It made for a long but wonderful weekend!