South Horizon of Honkopampa

most of the pics below are of the mountains to the north of where i stood in Honkopampa, this is a pic of my view to the south/southwest. I was pretty much surrounded by huge mountains and valleys.

Rain moving in over Honkopampa

Cactus and Snow

We took a combi from Huaraz to Cuaraz to visit another volunteer’s site, and while we were bouncing back and forth between the two cities for a couple days I kept telling my fellow volunteers that I wanted to get at least one shot of a cactus with a snow peak mountain in the background. I felt that at least this pic could somewhat visually describe the ecological diversity of Peru. I do not know how many places on earth have snow covered mountain peaks and cacti within a few miles of each other but I think it is safe for me to guess not many. I finally got my shot in Honkopampa, laying admidst stone rubble of old ruins and what looked to be some type of rabbit droppings which was unavoidable since they covered the ground everywhere. Honkopampa is somewhat of a secluded tourist site, complete with ruins and a spectacular view surrounding you at all angles. One half of your view sits on the other side of an enormous valley, which appears to be an infinite horizon of hills pressing against blue sky and clouds, the other half of your view is filled with 6 to 7 snow covered mountain peaks and one snow covered mountain ridge whose height stretches into the clouds and length reaches farther then your eyes can see. We climbed atop of a hill above the ruins, and we were able to see a valley that dipped between us and the mountain ridge. I couldn’t pick one thing to look at, I just gazed trying to absorb everything in my sight. I wish I could have spent at least one day atop that hill from sunrise to sunset, and then I could say that I spent the day watching the earth breath and move. The wind currents are the opposite from back home, with the clouds moving from east to west. Everything was warm and clear at first and then around mid afternoon rain clouds started to brush across the top of the mountains. It was satisfying to see the different contrasts of weather, and how the mountains can catch the rain clouds before they get to you. This is one of the most rural sites you will find in Peru, with the locales being sparsely spread out across the hill sides.

Triplet Peaks in Honkopampa

Honkopampa

I have plenty to write about in regards to my 5 day trip in Chiquian, and my visits to Huaraz, Cuaraz, and Honkopampa. I’m running short on time tonite but I figured I’d try to do the hard part of choosing a few of the pics out the hundred photos I took and get them on the net so they can do some of the talking for themselves. I have been extremely anxious to share them with everyone and have spent 3 hours today converting them onto my laptop. I promise to give all you some thorough details about the adventure, but it is my first day back and I need to get prepared for the week. I hope these little computer sized pics can possibly give you a mere glimpse into the vast beauty that surrounded me. Walking away from it, and trying to put my camera down was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

Honkopampa

Chiquian in the forefront

Sunset in Chiquian

Beekeeping

We’ve been taking classes of agriculture every Saturday. We go to the local agriculture institute and are taught by the professors and students there from 8 am until about 1 pm. The first few times we covered different types of soil, basic details of some of the common vegetables and fruits found in farming sites across Peru, how to recycle some of the unneeded organics into compost piles, and pretty much a general overview of the dynamics that the Peruvian ecological system has to offer. Our last trip we got an introduction to cuye raising (overgrown guinea pigs known as a good source of protein) and to beekeeping, which is the number one business ran by Peace Corps volunteers in Peru. One of the professors gave us an up close demonstration of how to remove parts of the bee box and we were able to enjoy the taste of honey directly from the hive. Peru has a lot to offer in terms of beekeeping due to the weather and fauna here. China is actually the biggest exporter of honey, and sells it at an extremely low price, but Peru can still compete within the country due to the logistics of getting honey to some of the rural areas here. The US has lost about 60% of its bee population, and the number one reason that scientists have come up with is that cell phone signals are throwing off the bees communication signals.

Bee Boxes

Peru and the Training Center

Right now it is winter here, but it feels like summer during the day, and probably gets down to the high 50s at night. Peru, South Africa, Southern parts of China, and the islands around Indonesia and New Guinea have the most varieties of plant species in the world. The high amount of sun, with the tropical rains these places experience, especially Peru, where in one region alone, Ancash, has nine mountain peaks bigger than any mountain in the continental US, only one peak in Canada, and one in Alaska compete. In Ancash, they will have about 100 inches of rain a year, you couple that with being closer to the sun and more time in the sun then most other places of the world, it is a biological extravaganza. Peru has the coast, the sierra, and an unparalleled mountain range. The culture is rich here, but I’ve been to Jockey Plaza, a top of the line mall that has the feel, and prices of any upscale mall in the states, and then traveled a few minutes away from there and seen poverty, dirt covered babies, a naked woman walking down the street with just her purse, and crumbling buildings.
I compare the economical problems here with those of South Africa, where there are plentiful natural resources and yet the people of these countries are being exploited. What used to be Great Britain exploiting India and Africa for their resources has been replaced by corporations enabled by globalization. How is it possible for such a resource rich place like Peru to have extreme poverty in certain areas? The farmers can’t compete with companies like Dole who buy out chunks of land, undersell the competition, and have direct links to the market eliminating their need for a middle man. Peru is also a large producer of textiles, and yet cannot compete with the cheap synthetics of China where things are produced at such low quality, high quantities, and done so with no environmental regulation, that it impossible for any country to compete unless they do so with no ethical responsibility. Is there any hope? I believe so, one thing that can be done is the implementation of ICT in Peru, Information Communication Technology. As part of my job here, I could make a difference if I could help the artisans, farmers, beekeepers, and any other small business with international potential connect directly to the market. This would raise their potential earning per unit, and eliminate them being exploited by a middle man company who uses the leverage of having direct connections to the market. Peru in terms of ICT is first world right now, only about 10% of the people have internet access. The owners of these quality businesses here do not know how to use computers, let alone the internet, to their advantage. There is no guarantee that helping implement ICT is what I’m going to be doing, but this is one of the potential developmental projects that I might be doing to help the people of Peru.
The training center I take my classes in looks like a vacation getaway, complete with pool, and the biggest species of palm trees I have seen. We have secured entry, and barbwire on the walls. We all feel spoiled by our training site. It is here I spend most of my time, in a mix of Spanish, business, health, personal security, politics, and culture classes. We got a cat, and newfound stray puppy which I’m not sure is going to stay there after training is over, it might go with one of the married couple/volunteers. Half of the volunteers are Micro Business, and the other half is Youth Development. We are split up into 7, or 8 separate levels of Spanish classes taught by all native Peruvians. I have about 15 hours a week of Spanish with only 3 other people in my group, and is by far the best teaching of Spanish I have ever experienced. I have about 3 to 5 projects of business or community projects going at a time. Even though it seems like a lot, I feel lucky to have learning new things as my job. I have no complaints whatsoever. Here are some pics of the training site now, and the one we temporarily lived in for 2 nights and 3 days before we got sent to our host families.

Conference room

The highly used conference room complete with almost all of the Peru 9 volunteers

3 of my favorite people

From left: Sunni, one of the Peace Corps doctors and Medical Staff and always a sight for sore eyes, Drew one of my neighbors in Tres de Octubre, and Javier, one of the first volunteers I connected with and who is constantly harrassed by other volunteers due to him having a leg up on us in Spanish because of his growing up in a Mexican household

Front yard of training site

Sunrise

My first morning in Peru

Flower at current training center

At the first site

guards, and horses on the left

First site

Our rooms on the left and right, our first training site

Lima

We went to Lima the weekend of June 23rd for a cultural experience. We got split into two groups, my group going to Miraflores. Miraflores is very close to the center of Lima and has the feel of any real touristy big city you’ve been to, complete with big buildings, fancy restaurants, and a lot of taxis. Our professor gave us assignments while we were there, such as find a particular market and report back with directions in Spanish, and find how much it costs to take a taxi to X and how long does it take. Before and during our trip we were given several speeches about safety and how usually the first incident of a volunteer getting robbed takes place in Lima. The girls stayed close to the guys, and all the guys probably went a little overboard with the “I’ll watch your back, you watch mine” mentality but I do know that nobody got robbed during our trip. I definitely held off taking a lot of pictures to show anybody interested the nice brand new expensive camera that I had. We ended up meeting with the other group in the center of Lima, at the park in front of the President’s building and the Municipal. This place definitely had a safer feel to it, unlike the Chinatown district, thus the accompanying photos to this entry (the building with the Peruvian flag over it is the President’s building). The town I live in and the adjacent cities have a second world feel to them. The center of Lima is first world, but on the outskirts of Lima, which we passed through on our way in and out of town, was undoubtedly third world. Trash everywhere, buildings falling apart, and people getting on the bus at every stop singing, playing a wooden flute, or handing out candy for money. On our way out two other volunteers and I took the bus back and we happen to go through a red zone (areas that are off limits to volunteers due to high crime/risk) by accident. While we were on the bus we saw a group of teenage kids run in front of the bus, the one in back carrying a snatched purse. Our bus turned down the same street they ran onto and I caught a glimpse of them cutting down an alley way and the one with the purse tossing it in into a cubby hole.
The traffic was insane on the way home through this area. There is no such thing as traffic laws, every car/bus for themselves. Lines are not obeyed, people might as well have their hands glued to the horn. I would never drive here no matter how good of driver I think I am, I have never seen vehicles packed so tight together like this and I have been too the New York City many times and it looks like a carousel ride in comparison to this. The bus drivers slam on the brakes, and the accelerator, and every half minute you think you are going to get into an accident or hit a pedestrian. In Chaclacayo it isn’t as extreme, but still the bus drivers have a lead foot and cars pass each other in the oncoming lanes. The Combi, which is a mini bus, doesn’t wait for you to be completely on before it starts moving again with the door being wide open. The bus system is privatized, so ever bus is competing to get as many people as possible on the bus at a time. I suspect they have a quota to meet, and that at times the driver and employee working the door cut a deal with each other to take a little money off the top since there is no way for the company to know how many people were actually on the Combi. A number of us volunteers, including me, have been lied to a couple times about the rate to take the Combi by the employee working the door, and of course since I refused to pay more they passed up my stop. I managed to resist the urge to chuck the employee off the Combi in the name of Cuerpa de Paz (Body of Peace aka Peace Corps).

Peace Corps in Plaza de Armas

Municipalidad in Plaza de Armas in Lima

Miami Airport

We had two days of training in Philadelphia. A lot of it involved discussing all of our individual concerns and questions about the Peace Corps experience. If there was one phrase to sum it all up, it would be, “it depends”. All of us are going to have our own individual experience, so what is going to happen just depends on what happens. The main thing I think we all got out of our two days in Philadelphia was that all of us have been going through the same stresses and concerns for the last few months and it was nice for all of us to feel that we are not alone in what we are feeling and to have people to discuss these feelings with. We are a fairly diverse group, a mix of personalities, I was actually the only volunteer to have a room to themselves in Philadelphia which I had no complaint about being able to spread my stuff out all over the place. That’s the American way, if there is space try to use it all up! Although I’m writing this almost a month after my Philadelphia experience, I remember that we all meshed pretty well, and now a month later, we all are still getting along. It’s different for me to be around the same group of people 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. I know I can only usually take about 2 days in a row hanging out with my friends back home, so when I start getting a little agitated here, I do my best not to correlate it to the individuals here and remind myself that it is me that needs to make the adjustment. The photo with this entry was taken in Miami Airport, during our layover on our way to Lima. I was one of the few volunteers who was not exhausted from the lack of sleep during our time in Philly and traveling. I remember being WIDE awake the whole time. I was on an adrenaline rush the whole time which continued to be anticlimactic because we spent hours on buses, planes, and in airports, and eventually I just wanted to get there.

Airplane over Chicago

Mis Profesores

One of the hard things to do is to try to balance my time between Spanish homework, business homework, developing community contacts, and spending time practicing my Spanish with the family. So I found the best way two kill two birds with one stone is to sit down at the kitchen table and to do my Spanish homework with the kids. They love to help and definately supply the energy to keep me going, and some other volunteers have grown envious of the home environment I have and have requested for me to let them know when I'm doing my Spanish homework so they can be assisted by mis profesores also.
This photo was taken on my first day. I had been sitting at the table for hours getting to know my family and trying to decipher what 3 voices at a time were saying to me. One of the kids had rushed in and let me know that mis amigos were outside. I was definately surprised at how elated I felt to see them when I stepped outside, I definately wanted to share with somebody what it was like to be culturally, and linguistically bombarded for hours straight.
From Left: cousins Yamelet and Danitza, volunteer Elijah, cousins Ronaldo & Marcio, Gabriel, volunteer John, and the always charismatic Cesar in front of course

Cumpleanos de Charlie aka Papito

From left: One good lookin dude, Gabriel, Marcio, Cesar (slowly sneaking off Charlie's cap), Sandi (w/baby, Susana's brother) Charlie, Joanna (w/baby, Susana's sister), Adrian, Elena (Susana's sister), cousin Danitza, Susana, some girl i don't know, and Mario

Family

Gabriel, cousin Marcio, y Susana in the kitchen

The Brothers

I live with Susana, who is 37, her father Charlie aka Papito, and her 3 sons Cesar, Gabriel, and Mario, ages 11, 12, and 6 respectively (left to right in photo). The husband Cesar works in Lima and visits every other weekend. It is a very common thing here in Peru for the fathers to work in another city or country due to the potential earnings in other areas. Susana is the ama de casa (housewife), she spends her morning yelling at the boys to get out of bed, ironing their clothes, making breakfast (which is always light; bread with butter, cheese, or patea), trying to get them out the door on time, cleaning dishes and the house, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and constantly doing something throughout the day because really her work is never done. Not having her husband around to reinforce her words to her sons definitely has to be a difficult thing. They get away with as much as they can and have perfected selective hearing. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the boys, their energy is great, they are bright and full of life, I just try to do my best now to lay down some rules and to get on them about doing their homework and listening to their mom since I have established relationships with them. Sometimes I will track them down upstairs (where the mother and sons stay while I sleep downstairs) and will escort them to the kitchen when they are pretending not to hear their mother yelling for them. I’m not trying to be their dad, but I definitely see the need for another adult male figure in the house to keep them on track and reminding them of what’s important. I am very happy with my living situation. From the first day on I have felt extremely comfortable with my family here. I feel like my personality compliments theirs as well and we are very open with each other about everything. Well except for religion, of which I was asked if I believed in Dios in the first conversation I had with Susana. 95% of the population here is Catholic, so one’s religious beliefs will be closely scrutinized. I responded with a yes, as to not freak them out, and explained that my beliefs are a little different then theirs but that I did not wish to discuss such a touchy subject as religion since I felt that I did not have an extensive enough vocabulary to correctly convey my beliefs. This seemed like a sufficient answer, and afterwards I went outside and breathed a sigh of relief for my proper response when I noticed that we live next door to a church.

Mountain Top Group Photo

I apologize to all of you who have been checking in on my page waiting for me to post. I have been ridiculously busy! I spend at least 12 hours a day studying, working on projects, and practicing my Spanish. Today is the first day I have had the time to connect my laptop to the network connection at the neighborhood internet cabina. I just finished figuring out how to get my pics onto the net. I have to run now before my temporary mom starts looking for me to eat lunch. I will try to type some more before the end of the night, on top of the healthy portion of homework I got. I want you all to know that everything is great, the family I live with is awesome and I think I was extremely fortunate and we are a perfect fit for my 3 months in Chaclacayo. I will give you all some more details hopefully soon and just know that the only reason I haven't been writing is because all my "free" time is spent working, studying, and making business/community contacts. Take care!

Mountain climb

Tres de Octubre is part of the city Chaclacayo. To the north, where the photo is looking, is Chosica. From the north to the south towards Lima, a number of cities sit between these two mountain ranges. Throughout my day the mountains are to my east and west and there is a haze covering them which is a combination of the cool air coming from the ocean and probably a little mix of pollution.

On Father's Day we climbed a mountain that overlooked the community I live in, Tres de Octubre. The cement soccer field sits in the middle of the community. The yellow house below it, is about three houses to the left of the house I live in. The church is my next-door neighbor. The houses in the picture are pretty much what makes up the general community.