I must say I've been surprisingly productive in my time back in site after a really nice vacation. My parents came to see me for a few weeks and treat me to my new version of luxury: hot showers. It was really awesome to be able to spend time with them and travel around a bit. We started out in my town so they could say hello to my host family, then we headed off to Cusco. We spent a few days in the city, then seeing the incan ruins in the sacred valley before heading off on the Inca Trail. From were we started it was a trek of about 55 kilometers, crossing over Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 meters. It was pretty cool to arrive at Machu Picchu by foot, even though the view th
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Back to Work!
I must say I've been surprisingly productive in my time back in site after a really nice vacation. My parents came to see me for a few weeks and treat me to my new version of luxury: hot showers. It was really awesome to be able to spend time with them and travel around a bit. We started out in my town so they could say hello to my host family, then we headed off to Cusco. We spent a few days in the city, then seeing the incan ruins in the sacred valley before heading off on the Inca Trail. From were we started it was a trek of about 55 kilometers, crossing over Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 meters. It was pretty cool to arrive at Machu Picchu by foot, even though the view th
Monday, March 23, 2009
Water Project
This is what the reservoir that my water comes from looks like. It's really disgusting. They put chlorine into the blue tank to 'clean' the water, but no traces of chlorine actually enter the water in the houses, so the system is not terribly effective. There are plants growing in the water inside, and it turns out that the accumulation of debris and residuals has caused an excess of free radicals to be present in the water, not to mention the over-the-limit level of fecal matter. Delicious.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sad Stuff
Being summertime, and having the schools closed, work has been a little slow in the last few weeks. The good news is that I’ve had more time to work in the library, and will be picking up the next set of books from Promolibro at the end of the week to supplement our collection.
We had a really scary and tragic incident in my town last week. A large attraction here are the crawdads, which are served almost year round. Right now they are in their time of reproduction, or “veda” and it’s illegal to harvest them. However, people do it anyway. Two men approached 2 15-year-old boys and offered them 100 soles if they would pick a certain amount of camarones. The kids said sure, and went to the river with the men. Once there, the men pulled out huge knives and cut the boys. One got a cut from his wrist up to his elbow, but managed to escape, ran home, then jumped on the first bus to Arequipa. His friend was not so lucky. The men cut up his arm, cut off one hand and one foot, slit his throat, then removed his kidneys, small intestine, heart and eyes. They covered him with large rocks on the low bank of the river, where he was uncovered and found 7 days later by some people working in the area, and, overcome by the stench, looked for the source. The boy who escaped came back after 3 days and has been working with the police, giving as much detail as possible about the incident. It seems to be illegal organ trafficking, and further analysis is being done on the corpse in Lima to determine better the time-span of the crime. I was in the municipality yesterday when the mother came in, trying to file the papers for her murdered son. She is so overwhelmed with all the paperwork coming from the government, police, lawyers, and hospitals, and barely seems to know what to do. This was one of my students, and it’s really hard to digest what happened to him. It’s really scary that illegal organ trafficking has been brought to this small town, as well. Parents are right: Don’t talk to strangers.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Keepin on
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
A New Year
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Integrating
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pv4OJIXeDU
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Festival Time
I’m now safely back in my site and enjoying the events of our “Cultural Week” and town anniversary. This weekend is the Shrimp, Wine and Pisco Festival with a packed schedule of dance performances and culinary delights. This morning there was a ‘marathon’ around town. There were groups for kids, teenagers, adults, senior citizens, and representatives of institutions. I ran in the last category to represent Cuerpo de Paz . . . and I won! I guess that says something about the physical fitness level of the business people in my community. It should be a fun weekend enjoying all of my small town’s finest food, drink, and entertainment.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
This past weekend I was in Arequipa for a monthly meeting with our coordinators and the other volunteers, and we had an opportunity to go to a bullfight in Characato, just outside the city. It was of the Arequipena style, with no matador, spears, whips, blood, or dead toros. The bulls came into the ring, their owners were not allowed to touch them during the fight, and if they felt the urge to battle the other bull, they turned head to head until one of them had enough, and then he ran away. Once, a bull entered the ring, saw the other bull panting and pawing the ground and said, "Forget this", turned, and ran away without a fight. He lost.

Monday, June 23, 2008
Library
For months now I've been working to coordinate a community library project with the municipality - we've finally made some progress. We've got the space painted, a window constructed, wiring put in to have light, a door constructed, we have 2 large bookshelves, a large table for students to read or do work at, a small desk for the 'librarian', a few books from prior donations, computers on their way, and I've painted a map of the world on the wall as well.
