Fiestas Patrias to August Pachamama and Finally, To Work!

Rich spoke in church on Sunday and was soon joined by a very blond “gringa” who also spoke. She introduced herself as Nicole from Rexburg, ID.  The meeting began so there wasn’t much opportunity to find out more.  After Sacrament meeting we learned that Nicole, her sister April and their cousin Eric are Kevin's cousins. Kevin is married to Rich’s niece!  So in a roundabout way we’re related! They have been here for six weeks or so working in some orphanages in Peru. They have about a week left before they head home. We had them over for dinner on Monday and had a great time. They were so happy to eat something besides rice and had a hard time leaving the space heater! It’s truly amazing to come all the way to Peru and meet extended family!

Thursday we had another good work day and were able to get more books finished. We had a member of the church who is an electrician come to check out the plug problem in our work office. Hooray! Maybe we’ll get something done.  Our new “nieces and nephew” took us to a pizza place for dinner. It was actually good! Pizza has really improved in Peru, when we lived here before it was AWFUL! Undercooked with hotdogs, catsup, no spices, you get the idea. We had a fun time and we didn’t need to cook.

The Pizzeria With April, Eric, Nicole on the left, and a couple of their friends.

Confetti Payment to The Earth

On our way to work, August 1st, we noticed yellow confetti littering the sidewalks. Then we met a woman scattering it around her yard (yellow things are a symbol of good luck here). She explained that this was a traditional citified “payment to the earth”/Pachamama. They do it during the first days of August. In the highlands around here, the indigenous people offer the Pachamama with the ritual slaughter of an allpaca, llama, or a sheep. They return the blood, heart and other gifts to the earth as part of the fertility rites of these people.

 

Once in Rich’s time working here, a lightning strike killed a young man just where the company was about to drill. Expecting superstition to impede their plans, the company decided to ask what the community thought about the accidental death. The community president said in matter of fact way, “Why, you are going to be very successful!” When the company leaders looked puzzled, he continued, “There is no better payment to the earth than a human life!” It was one of those, “Not In Kansas Anymore Toto,” moments!
 

Monday and Tuesday were holidays so we were unable to work. On Monday we relaxed, watched some movies, did some running around and had a nice day. On Tuesday we went for a ride with Brother Agüero and his family. We drove up out of Cusco and down into the Sacred Valley. It was beautiful and fun to get out of the city. We stopped at an animal rescue facility where they rehabilitate rare animals that have been seized from the horrible black market trade. It was wonderful to see these beautiful animals being cared for. They have all been mistreated in terrible ways. We watched a Quechua woman weaving with alpaca yarn colored with all natural pigments. Her work is truly incredible and all the sales there benefit the animals so I now have a beautiful hand woven table runner!  We had a great lunch of pollo a la brasa in Urubamba and then made our way home out the other end of the valley.  We had a lovely day.




Weaver Using Belt Loom

Traditionally Dressed Elderly Carver



Condors -  Animal Rescue Zoo

Wednesday was our first complete day of work. We had no problems with electricity and were able to work about 10 hours.  The archives we are working on run from about 1908 to 1997 when Peru abandoned hand written documentation.  The documents are in pretty bad shape since anyone who needs to look at a birth, marriage or death certificate gets the whole book handed to them and they thumb through the book looking for their information, each one licking his/her thumb to turn a page!  They have definitely been abused.  It’s a very particular, exacting process to take the pictures but we have completed 11 books so far and we’re hoping and praying that when the auditors see them in SLC that everything is in focus! We came home pretty exhausted and cold!

The best news that came to us was that our new granddaughter, Vivian Dorothy Hasler arrived just after midnight on July 31st! Mother and baby are doing well, and we’re trying to not feel too sorry for ourselves that we won’t be able to hold her for some time. We are thrilled for our son William and his little family!

Friday we worked until 11:30am, took a taxi to pick up the new curtains Julie ordered on Wednesday and hung them so now we have some privacy and possibly a little more warmth! They look great. Julie stayed home and did some housekeeping, bookkeeping things that needed to be done.  Another long day but we accomplished a lot. 

We are working on a monster of a book; it has 900 pages, is tightly bound and is really hard to deal with. It’s about 24inches x 20 inches and weighs a ton! Rich returned to take some more images of the “monster book” and to wait for the electrician to show up. If all goes well, we won’t have to run an extension cord out into the hall and we’ll have heat.

 

Extension Cord From the Hallway

An OSHA Nightmare

Unorganized Files



Our Workspace

Peruvian Labeling Fail #1:
 Ritz rip off crackers – Kraps (Pronounced Craps, it just paints the cracker in a subtly different light than Ritz…



Peruvian Labeling Fail #2:
At first blush this appears to be a n’er do well Veterinarian until one realizes that the Z in Spanish is pronounced like an S in English, hence this is really a vet that has implemented the legendary dog’s name.



Peruvian ingenuity, and one of many options for a station wagon...
 

Dog inspecting the military band.