Pitumarca Mother's Day...Gringos Grandes!

Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Julie in Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Relaxed Dog in the  Pitumarca Plaza

Another Relaxed Dog in the  Pitumarca Plaza



Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Mother's Day Rose
Pitumarca Plaza

Vaso De Leche campaign (Equivalent to WIC in the U.S.)Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Pitumarca Plaza

Patio of the Chapel in Pitumarca

Chapel in Pitumarca

Primary - Chapel in Pitumarca

Primary - Chapel in Pitumarca

Priesthood - Chapel in Pitumarca

Priesthood - Chapel in Pitumarca

Priesthood - Chapel in Pitumarca

Family Group - Chapel in Pitumarca

Three Generation - Pitumarca

Lovely Campesina

Lovely Campesina 2

Having a peek at the bald gringo!

Back in Cusco

Street Artist, Cusco

Snazy Dresser - Cusco

Campesino Protestors

Some Big Books

Rich In the Stacks

Julie In the Stacks

School Girls Cusco

19th Century Book

19th Century Book

19th Century Book

Look posed???

Our Mother’s Day trip to Pitumarca left us wondering if it is actually possible for the same series of variables to repeat themselves in a two year mission… We had agreed to show up at the church at 9am for their group planning and council meeting. It required us to leave our house at 6am, given our past experience. When we arrived at the bus station, it was closed and there was no sign of an attendant. We waited with the burgeoning crowd for ten minutes before a man appeared and very matter-of-factly said, “It is Mother’s Day. There won’t be a bus until 8:30 am.” The same rule of thumb apparently applied to the other bus line next door, equally lacking in busses, attendants etc…

 

We toyed with the idea of going back to bed but then we thought, “What will it cost us to ask if a taxi would take us there?” rhetorically speaking. A taxi had pulled up in front of us and it looked like the guy had maintained the car; tread on the tires, shiny dashboard… the usual indicators. Rich asked him what he would charge to take us to Pitumarca and he told us s./90 about $32US and we agreed. He wound up being a very nice guy who is trying to put two kids through college on a taxi driver’s earnings. We got hassled at a police checkpoint but lost no real time and the drive was beautiful.

 

We pulled into Pitumarca at 8:30 in the morning, right when the first bus was to pull out of Cusco. When we climbed out of our tiny taxi, an eleven year old girl was standing by the car. She looked up at us and said, “¡Guau!  ¡Tan grandes!” (Wow! So big!) Indeed, Julie is a head and a half taller than anyone in that town. We talked with the little girl for a few minutes. She was convivial, quite adorable and thrilled to talk to real gringos.

 

We had a half hour to kill and decided to just sit in the plaza sun and watch the open market unfold. We bought a few cookies and some juice and ate breakfast next to a young woman setting up her stall and visited with the folks there. This is a very welcoming town!

 

We went on to the meeting and enjoyed our time there. One of the sisters brought us “humitas,” tamales they make from fresh corn. We took a photo of everyone who came to the meeting and will take a print of it back to them.

 

With our Easter experience on busses, we had decided to take the combi from Pitumarca right on to Sicuani. Combis have enough seats to accommodate about 19 people including the driver, (never let this be interpreted as number of seat belts, by the way). At one point, smashed into our seats, we counted 27 people on the bus. Plus full sacks of potatoes and other voluminous bags of purchases from the market. The 45 minute run to Sicuani quickly became an hour of a constantly changing passenger manifest with associated squishing and smashing. Crowds in the third world take on a completely different character than any place else and those with any kind of nervous tics about close personal contact, beware! The appropriate, personal space here amounts to how much clothing is between you and the next person …

 

In Sicuani, we found our bus home and heaved a certain sigh of relief to get on the brand new bus even with the one broken out window. Still, the trip that usually takes us two and a half hours took an hour longer with bumper to bumper traffic for the last hour, or more. We got home 12½ hours after we walked out the door. Some Mother’s Day!

 

Monday night we went with the new mission assistants to visit a young woman that we knew in Espinar when she was 11 years old. Tania Berna is married now with two small children and had become inactive over the years. She is anxious to get back to church now that she has children and the missionaries are teaching her husband. We had a fun reunion and a great evening with their sweet family. Her husband travels a lot for his work so Julie was able to relate to and encourage her because Julie has lived a similar life. It was a great way to start the week.

 

Family Search is getting ready to celebrate the taking of its One Billionth image! We have been asked to send photos of us working and the work area etc. We’ll see what happens with those photos.

 

On Monday, we walked out of our office and we had heard some chanting and loudspeaker shenanigans. When we got out there, the road in front was blocked by a bunch of campesino protestors from the mountains. We never did figure out what exactly their beef was but they had big banners and everything. We definitely got strange looks.

 

Julie has become somewhat dog shy after the nip she received last week. We have a habanero and vinegar cocktail/potion, that Rich has put together to see if we cannot educate some of the local wildlife about the risks of biting strangers. Julie now packs her squirt bottle and though the culprits who attacked her have not ventured very close since, she is ready!

 

Tourists have begun to arrive in greater numbers than before in the past week or so. Lots are Asian but quite a few are of a “European bohemian” class (self-styled). They travel with backpacks and an amazing array of implements, guitars most common among them. However, this week we have seen a unicycle and several of the Somali drums that these guys sit on street corners and play with a hat or cup out. It is all has a very Seventies look about it: lots of dreadlocks, patchouli oil and very baggy clothing, a very standard, anti-establishment quality… In its own right, it is all pretty fascinating!

 

Anyway, the rest of the week went relatively smoothly. We worked long hours every day with not many images to show for our troubles. The books this week and next are miserable, hard, difficult and frustrating! But we are slowly working our way through them looking forward to the next shelf with hardback books. Despite the frustrations during the week, we love our mission and the opportunity to serve here. We are having a wonderful time!