Half-a-hundred Blogs! Though Not Quite Half Way Done...

Sicuani Bus Terminal

Jam-packed Bus

Pitumarca Sights

Pitumarca Sights

Pitumarca Sights

Pitumarca Sights

Pitumarca Sights

Pitumarca Sights

Pitumarca Sights Cattle Truck/ Campesino bus



Pitumarca Sights Cattle Truck/ Campesino bus

Pitumarca Sights Cathedral

Pitumarca Sights

Combi to Sicuani

Grandma drinking chicha

Grandma drinking chicha

Bus to Sicuani

Ice Cream Seller

Bus to Sicuani

Autumn fields

Autumn fields

Autumn fields

Autumn fields

Prepping for Inti Raymi

Back in Cusco

Tamale vendor with her little one

Pineapples again! Yea!

Goose Steppers

Goose Steppers

Big school getting a new roof

Big school getting a new roof Day 2

 

Dogs in the chilly morning

Tourists

Marching students

 

Social Security Protest

Social Security Protest

 

 

Neighborhood Cat

Campesino Sculptors

Campesino Sculptors

Campesino Sculptors

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Asphalting road cracks

 

Faded Glory

 

Little guys building a fort in full Saturday Afternoon foot-traffic

 

El maestro

 

Guinea Pigs for sale

 

 

A 2pound guinea pig, yummy!!!
 



We recently heard through the grapevine that some of our mission descriptions sound a bit too fun. The truth is that we love this experience and it is pretty fun. There are some very definite challenges that keep us on our toes and we don’t exactly lollygag though, that has never been our idea of fun anyway!

This Sunday was our turn to go to Pitumarca. This is about a 10 – 12 hour Sunday trip under normal circumstances. First off, we had one of those nights where sleep eludes you and then we had to get on the road at 7 am. This we managed, a bit draggy. When we got to the Rápido bus line, we discovered that there were no busses in either of the two places and that none would be available until 8 or 8:30 am. The trip to Pitumarca takes us 2 ½ hours under normal circumstances with delays while waiting for random transport from Checacupe to Pitumarca.

We had heard that the slow busses took off from a “Terminal” up the street. We caught another taxi up there and stood in line for twenty minutes in a crowd that would have terrified the 13th Century Viennese, I think, to buy one of these slow-bus tickets. We got two of the last, putting us in the very back of the bus. Now, the bus has actual seating for 28 including the driver. However, on our way out of town, we stopped while the “Conductor,” hollered Sicuani out the door trying to drum up business. In the course of the twenty minutes it takes to get out of town, we added another twenty aisle-standers to the bulging “passenger manifest.” We did stop in every town on the way and some got on and some got off but it became a blur.

At last we heard the “Conductor” call out, “Checacupe, begin to move forward.” Twenty-plus people still clogged the bus aisle and only two filled the seats we had vacated. We sidled our way forward and while some moved aside, most just knotted and clumped into the front of the bus so we just had to form into a virtual cattle catcher with our backpack and forge through the clot of humanity. One of this mass, looked at us and said, “Oh, are you trying to get off?” It just felt like a Simpsons’ episode.

We did manage to wade on through and don’t think we smooshed anybody’s toes. We found ourselves in the company of a fifty-year old-ish woman who was struggling to get her baby/grandbaby on her back and begged us to help her hike the little tyke up there. Then she said she was going to Pitumarca and we walked into the Checacupe square with her. We got offered a ride in a cattle truck that we declined but the grandma gladly abandoned us for the ride. Finally, the regular microbus came around the corner. No seats, of course but we found room to stand and hold on for dear life. It is only fifteen minutes.

Once in Pitumarca, we got the usual gawks and stares but the people there are really quite cordial and friendly. They say hello how are you to us along with the gape jawed wonder at the bald, oversized gringo. At church, we sat on the back row and when Rich took off his hat, the little boys, hiding out back there, turned around and just stared for the rest of testimony meeting.

One of the women there, Hermenegilda gave us a flour sack full of small boiled potatoes for our trip home. Though, that may sound resolutely uninteresting, they were to die for and we ate them with relish. She also brought us a 15+ lb bag of small native potatoes to cook at home. Needless to say we are flush with potatoes for the time being.

We took the combi to Sicuani for the security that we would find a way home there. When we got on the combi, we had a few minutes to sit and look and Julie wanted a coke. Rich got out and tracked one down and we ate boiled potatoes and drank the coke. Since there are no trash cans on these busses, we chose to hang on to the bottle until we could find one. Nearing Sicuani, one of the grandmas on the bus pointed at the now smashed and twisted plastic bottle. “Regálamela,” (Give that to me…) she said with a smile. We are a little bit ashamed at times at how utterly wasteful we are. Hermenegilda made sure we knew that she wanted her flour sack back on our next visit and the tattered, woven nylon bag with the potatoes in it… that one was obvious to her. We got home 11 ½ hours later feeling pretty well wrung out.

On Monday we learned that the archives are sending dozens of books to the archives in Lima. We put aside the shelf we were working on to get these other books imaged before they leave. The books in question have been in stacks on a table for weeks and we have tried to find out for weeks, what is going on with them. Now we know, but who knows when they will really leave and of course, who knows when/if they will come back. We just want to get them done while we have our hands on them. At least these books have been easier and a nice break from the nasty ones that have kept us busy for two weeks.

The stone sculptors from last week were replaced by wood sculptors this week. As with the lovely sculpture of the woman done in stone, this week we have a favorite. A young man has hacked away all of the parts of a tree trunk that don’t look like the front end of a horse and his work has kept us going back in anticipation of each new chip. They use saws, wood chisels, rasps and sand paper to get a host of different effects. Some are young, trained in the academy of fine arts while others are homespun campesino sculptors who learned their art carving masks for tourists. Each carving has its own unique charm.

Our career as dog dealers was short lived. Our friend who wanted Nemesio’s dogs decided against them because they are just too big and would likely be chicken killers. We are not sure what size has to do with the tendency but in the end, our friend is probably right.

While walking on Friday we came into a vocal protest about the failure of the social welfare system called Social Security in Peru. A sizeable group of folks had gathered in front of the main cathedral and were holding a demonstration about the failure to provide social security and in particular health care, the Peruvian version of Obamacare. A bit later, we ran into the maintenance man for the building where we work, Julio.

When we first got here, Julio had a broken arm that had been operated on in the local social security hospital. The doctors there generally leave something to be desired and they get paid very little to do their work and there is little incentive to do a good job, develop new skills etc. Indeed, until recently, they were striking for better pay.

Anyway, Julio’s surgeries had not healed and he was on a waiting list. Finally, about two months ago, he got in and they finally pinned his arm so that the bone has now knitted. Over two years have passed since he broke it. Rich asked him how it is going and he said, “Well, the bone has knitted. I am still wearing a sling since I am number 91 in the list to receive physical therapy for the broken bone…”

A friend of mine from the US asked about the cheap healthcare in Peru and yes it does exist but you get what you pay for. One can go to a state dentist and he will pull a tooth but then, so will a mechanic. Babies get born, but a lot of them don’t make it. People go blind and die from things like diabetes and simple infections. It’s a rough life here.

During the month of June the whole city celebrates “Festival de Cusco.” All of the schools are marching and dancing in different plazas, there are dance troupes coming from all over to perform and all of this activity leads up to the huge celebration at Sacsayhuaman called “Inti Raymi.” (Sun Festival). We don’t think there has been a full week of school since Easter. The students are always practicing their marching or goose stepping in front of a platform of officials, and every available big space has groups of kids practicing dances. There is certainly an excitement in the air!

We can’t believe we are coming up on our year mark in July! We love the work, the people and the culture. Serving a mission as a couple is the best of all worlds. We are so happy and feel so incredibly blessed; truly this has been an incredible year.