And so it goes....

This past week has been very exciting.  I found a local after-school program for kids to volunteer with.  Last week I spent my afternoons and evenings at a school about a 5-minute walk from my apartment.  The program basically aims to provide learning opportunities and life lessons that aren’t generally received by the kids at home or school.  The kids I was working with here were anywhere from about 6-12 years old and it was quite an experience.  Half of my time there was spent playing games and interacting with the kids and the other half was spent teaching classes.  I was glad to have found this program, but, as it turns out, I will not be able to work there anymore because…as some of you may know, I will be coming home next week!  That’s right, the Tyler Nelson shaped hole in the U.S. will be filled shortly.  I will be leaving Cusco the 29^th and I fly into LA on the morning of the 30^th.  I am going to stay in LA for several days to visit friends and will be back in AZ sometime during the first week of May.  I have decided to come back for many reasons (hopefully good ones) and will find out what’s next for me when I return.  Furthermore, since my time here is ending and the purpose of this blog was to share some of what I’ve been doing in Peru, I see no purpose in or possibility of continuing it.  So…this will be my last post.  You can stop reading this blog unless you enjoyed it so much that you want to read back over my exciting words and experiences, in which case I would feel bad for you and kindly tell you to find something more productive to do.  Just kidding…but seriously…it’s over.  Thanks so much for reading!

MACHU PICCHU!!!

Contrary to what you might think, I did actually go to Machu Picchu and here are a few of the pictures, even though they're a few weeks late.  The ones with the fog are from when we first arrived, early in the morning.  During the early morning hike it was foggy and rainy and then in the mid morning it started clearing up.  

This was quite an experience and an amazing sight.  What was very amazing to me is that it was basically unknown for hundreds of years until the early 1900's.  It was built in the 1400's and no one knows exactly why it was abandoned.  Some people think it was because of the Spanish invasion and to prevent it from being discovered, the inhabitants left.  I also heard a theory that there was some sort of plague and the people living there were all killed.  Regardless, it's amazing that it was undiscovered for so long and you can look up all the history for yourself and enjoy these pictures along with it.  

It wouldn't be Peru without llamas I suppose so I made sure to get a picture with a few of the ones wandering around the ruins.  The picture from way up high is from the top of Waynapicchu, the mountain they only allow 400 people/day on.  It's actually a very steep hike up and it takes about an hour.  We had some decent weather up on top before it started pouring and had to make the trek down.  You never know what the weather is going to be like and we lucked out and got a few good hours in.  

Well...I finally got up some more pictures and it's just in time...I'm at a cafe picking up a wireless signal from somewhere and my computer is about to die so I hope you enjoy these few images of my Machu Picchu trip.

On the way up...

Here are a few pictures from the trail (Salkantay) on the way to Machu Picchu.  A lot of the way it rained, especially the second day, during and after the biggest climb.  The picture with the sign is from the second day.  It's at the top of the Salkantay pass...over 15,000 ft.  From there it was mostly flat but with so much rain it was like walking through a mid pit for most of the day.  The one of Alanna and me is in front of one of the many waterfalls along the trail.  This area is constantly getting rained on and, consequently, landslides are very common and you can often see the damage left by landslides all over the mountains.  The one with the APU sign is when we first arrived to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu.  I'm not sure what apu means but I know it's a Quechua word and I had to take a picture with it...obviously.

Lake Titicaca

Aside from the funny name, Lake Titicaca is actually very interesting. It sits over 12,000 ft above sea level which makes it the world´s highest navigable lake...and it´s huge (South America's largest lake)! A lot of the time you would think you're looking at an ocean because it never seems to end. Like I said, we visitied the floating islands from the Peruvian side...which is where the picture of the lady in the reed boat is from, and the Bolivian side. The picture of me from the rear is on the Bolivian side, on Isla del Sol and the island you see in the distance is the Isla de la Luna. Look up the history and facts of the lake because I don't want to explain it right now.

Of course...

Once I found an internet cafe with fast enough internet to load pictures it starts freezing. I put up a few pictures from some of the trips and I have yet to post any from Machu Picchu obviously. I probably could wait out the slow connection but I don´t have the patience for it right now and I´d rather just go back to my apartment to see the start of the Masters coverage. So...you´ll have to wait to see the Machu Picchu pics!

hey look...a condor

We were lucky and able to see a few condors soaring above the canyon....they´re ginormous.

Colca Canyon

A few pictures of me, Alanna, and some landscape on our way up to Colca Canyon.

Huanchaco...

Sunset on the beach in Huanchaco.

A quick update....

Well…it’s certainly not for a lack of excitement or events that I haven’t written in so long. The reason I haven’t posted anything in weeks is simply because I haven’t had the time; I’ve been traveling nonstop and up until now, I haven’t been able to sit down and write or even collect my thoughts.

It started after I ended my volunteer program and met up with Alanna in Lima. From there, we immediately left for the northern coast to a city called Trujillo and a small beach town called Huanchaco.

We took the first of what would be many night buses to Trujillo and then hopped on a ‘micro’ for the 15-minute drive to Huanchaco. After being in Lima for two months, arriving to a small, quiet beach town was a much-welcomed break. We spent the next several days lounging around on the beach, surfing, and visiting nearby ruins. After Huanchaco, we took another night bus back to Lima to pick up our luggage that we had left with my friend Miryam.

We spend about half a day in Lima, most of which was at Miryam’s house eating and visiting with her family before the next night bus to Arequipa. Arequipa is a city south of Lima and we took this trip in part to get to Cusco. The bus ride from Lima to Cusco is notoriously dangerous so by going south first, we could come back up and avoid the mountain roads in between Lima and Cusco.

Upon arriving in Arequipa, we left the next morning for a two-day tour of the Colca Canyon. This canyon is the second deepest in the world, second only to a nearby canyon (whose name I can’t remember) that is nearly impossible to reach. This was a fun tour and one of the main attractions is watching Condors (of which we were able to see several) soar around the Canyon.

At this point, we already had our apartment in Cusco but had yet to move in. So, after Arequipa and the Colca Canyon tour, we took yet another night bus to Cusco for one short day before leaving the following day for Machu Picchu.

We set out on a Monday for Machu Picchu on a trail called Salkantay. The most popular trail is the Inka Trail, but, according to most, it’s so packed with people it’s similar to walking down a city street. So, we opted for the less crowded Salkantay. This trail was a 5-day trek, the last of which is spent at Machu Picchu. Each day was a little bit different as far as the terrain but on average, we hiked for about 7 or 8 hours/day. Our group of 12 was accompanied by two guides and other staff who provided 3 meals a day for us. Each day we hiked to a new campground where our tents were waiting along with our food.

On Thursday evening of the trek we arrived at the small town called Aguas Calientes at the base of the Machu Picchu mountain. We stayed in a hostel here before waking up at 4 the next morning to make the hike up to Machu Picchu. By arriving early at Machu Picchu you are able to receive one of the only 400 tickets they hand out a day to hike up a higher mountain (Waynapicchu) for an even more breathtaking view. Another benefit of arriving early is that you have a better chance of getting good weather, which is always unpredictable. Upon arrival, we were taken around Machu Picchu by our guide who, after giving us a tour, left us to explore the ruins on our own.

After climbing up Waynapicchu we had about 30 minutes of good weather before the rain came in and forced us to take shelter outside the park. Luckily, we already had several hours of good weather before the rain came and after trying to wait it out for hours, we decided to head back to Aguas Calientes from where we would take the train/bus rides back to Cusco.

We arrived back in Cusco late Friday night and the stay at our apartment was short lived because we left the next Monday for Lake Titicaca. We left Monday morning for Puno, which is the largest city on the Peruvian side of the lake. From here, we took the boat ride out to the floating islands, Los Uros, with a tour. Lake Titicaca is inhabited by many people who, although now making a living from tourism, once survived on islands made of a buoyant mix of dirt and reeds.

We stayed one night in a hostel on one of these islands and took the boat ride back to Puno the following day, from where we boarded another bus to cross over the Peruvian/Bolivian border and into Copacabana. Not only did we want to make this trip, but it was somewhat of a necessity to renew our soon expiring tourist visas. From Copacabana we took another boat ride, this time for an hour and a half, to the Island of the Sun, Isla Del Sol. We explored the small ruins on the island for a while and the next day we took the boat and multiple bus rides back across the border and eventually made it to Cusco.

This is certainly a shortened version of the traveling I have been doing and there has been plenty of excitement, learning, and fun along the way that is going unmentioned. It feels good to be somewhat settled at last in Cusco but I’m certainly thankful for the traveling I’ve been doing and I doubt I’ll ever see two wonders of the world in one week again (one man-made, Machu Picchu, and one natural, Lake Titicaca).

Now that I’m in Cusco indefinitely, I’m facing the next part of the adventure, whatever it may be….

I´ll post some pictures as soon as I can...which will likely be when I have internet set up in our apartment and am not forced to wait out the slow connection at an internet cafe.

The end of the beginning...

As of last Friday I ended my volunteer experience and I can hardly believe it's over.  The last week and a half were very eventful and to say the least, I'm going to miss being with those kids everyday.  

The week before last was quite interesting.  The director of the school, Nancy, upon seeing my resume and information when I first arrived, was so thrilled that I had a Business degree and marketing experience.  For the entire two months that I was there she kept bringing up the possibility of me imparting my extensive, endless knowledge of business to the administration at the school.  I talked about this with the director of my program who, luckily, said he would join to help explain to me exactly what it was they wanted.  We put together some information to give to and discuss with the administration and it went quite well.  Our international business summit lasted for about two hours and we talked about how they wanted to use marketing to help their program.  Had my program director not been there I would have been lost.  He was able to explain the workings of the community and how the principles I understand in terms of the U.S. economy differ from those in Peru.  Although I was only able to meet once with them I hope they can find some application from the things we discussed.  

The following week (my last week) was quite eventful as well.  Last week, the kids at the school all started back to their regular schools after their summer break.  School here is quite different as far as the hours because they only attend for about 4 or 5 hours.  School days are divided into two sessions, morning and afternoon.  So...kids that go to school in the morning come in the afternoon to the program I was working with, and kids that go to school in the afternoon attend the program in the morning.  Normally I only work from the morning until 12:30 but this week I wanted to stay for a full day to see all the kids before I left.  However, I started getting sick on Sunday and it lasted all week and I am finally getting over whatever it was.  I had to stay home from work two days this week but luckily I was able to stay all day on Thursday to see all of the kids.

This ended up being quite an eventful day.  Some of the kids were upset that I was leaving and I had to explain to them that I wouldn't be coming back.  The kids and the teachers put together a little going away party.  They decorated the white board with some drawings and some of the kids put together little presentations to say thanks and give me a few small gifts.  

On Friday it was more of the same, saying bye to the kids and explaining I wasn't going to be coming back on Monday.  It was hard to leave and on my way out I said goodbye to the administration.  It was quite funny because, as I was saying goodbye, they all looked at each other like they should be giving me a present of some sort so they grabbed whatever was close by.  In the lobby they sell crafts the kids have made and one of their products was a wooden magazine rack from a carpentry class.  They pulled the magazine rack from the shelf and gave it to me.  Although I was/am very thankful, I kept wondering how I was going to travel around with a magazine rack (I don't know how but I was able to fit it into one of my backpacks and it shouldn't be too burdensome).  

Yesterday was Sunday (which means today is Monday) and it was my last day in the house.  I left last night after dinner and am now staying in a hostel in Miraflores.  I have a few days of down time until Thursday when I will meet up with Alanna who will be flying into Lima from Cusco.  From there things will pick up quite a bit as we will be traveling for about a month or so.  The plan, as of now, is to leave for the northern part of Peru on Saturday.  We will spend about a week in several cities and beach towns like Trujillo, Huanchaco, Chiclayo, etc. although we're not quite sure yet where we are going.  After this we will make our way back to Cusco and get our Macchu Picchu on.  Then, we will go southeast to Puno and Lake Titicaca.  Once in Puno, we will take a short trip to Bolivia to renew our soon-expiring tourist visas.  After all of this we will finally end up back in Cusco where we will be looking for work.  

That is the tentative plan and it feels like it is finally underway.  The first two months have gone by faster than I expected and I am now on to the next stage of my trek.  My time here so far has been very structured and this next phase is very unknown and should be very exciting.  I'm sure it will go by faster than I expect and I'm looking forward to doing more traveling.  

On another exciting note, we now have an apartment in Cusco!!  I haven't been there yet so I don't know what it looks like or exactly where it is but it's a 3 bedroom place not too far from the center of town.  It was mostly furnished until last friday when I received my magazine rack which now makes it completely furnished.  So....now that you have a place to stay in Peru, start planning your trip!!  

Again, I can hardly believe how fast my time has already gone and it will start speeding up as I start the next part of my journey....

Don't let them fool you....

These two are probably the most troublesome kids in the whole school.  It's not that they're bad kids, they just do their own thing and controlling them is near impossible.  Using the many skills that I have crafted over years of big brothership I have befriended these crazies and earned their respect.  The one in front is Italo and the one in the back is Armondo.  They're a lot of fun and most of the teachers have given up on trying to contain them in the classroom.  The other day Italo told me he was coming back with me to my country so when I come back I wouldn't be surprised if he magically appears in one of my bags.  

Group photo

Me and most of the kids from the school on one of my last days.  We tried to organize a group shot after a little goodbye party they had for me and this is what we ended up with.  The teacher on the right was one that I worked with a lot but Tito, the one I worked with the most isn't in this picture.  The teacher on the left only comes in the afternoons so I saw her every now and then but mostly worked with the other ones.  

A few of the kids playing wall ball.  My roommate and I taught them how to play last week and after a few games they picked it up and now it's all they want to do.  

nap time

I don't know this kids name because he's not in my class but just about every time I go into his room I expect to find him asleep like this on the table.

Reading

This girl's name is Xiamara...and she is reading.  Some days they have reading classes for the kids and bring in a bunch of books to choose from.  As you can see, she chose to read Pollito, a Peruvian classic haha.  I always like these days because reading kids books is great practice for my spanish and I'm usually the last one reading in the class.  The kids can pay attention for about one book and then they're off doing something else but if I'm in there reading with them they're able to pay better attention so I try to stay as long as possible.  I think Xiamara is 8.  It's sad because you can tell she has a lot of problems outside of the school and for some reason a lot of the kids don't like her. All I can do is be her friend for a few hours a day and try to give her some of the attention she needs. 

This is a girl from another class.  She's about two and a half.  I go over to her class every now and then to play with some of the younger kids and it's always fun.  A lot of them don't get the attention they need, at any age, so some of em really cling to you, like this girl.  She's always excited and dancing around no matter what.  

Abuelitos

These are a few of the 'abuelitos' that come to the school I'm at every day.  There are probably about 10 seniors who come to the program and are provided with food and a place to be during the day.  Many of the seniors like this are out of place in Lima because they came down from the highlands to escape the terrorism that was going on years ago and have never really become a part of society here.  The guy's name is Samuel and I can't remember the ladies name but they're all nice and fun to talk to.  Samuel keeps pictures of every volunteer that comes through there in a photo album so we printed out some photos for him to put in his album.  The school provides some of the land inside to garden in and they grow some food and raise animals like chickens and rabbits for food.  

Barbosa

This kid's name is Guido, I think he's 9 years old but I call him Barbosa.  He's the only one that can somewhat play and understand basketball, so, since he's South American, I named him Barbosa.  Speaking of which, I'm glad to see the Suns fired Porter and turned it over to Gentry. 

Tortuga

This is a picture of a lot of the kids I work with every day.  For some reason, there was a turtle at school the other day and they got a kick out of playing with it.  They mostly argued and fought about who got to touch and try to stand on it but it provided some entertainment for a while.

This house, the blue and red one, is where I rest my head at night, and other random times throughout the day as well.  It's in a good part of town and you can see the bedrooms along the top.  It can hold up to forty people and right now there are about 30.  Last week a group of about 15 'insight volunteers' came, which is a one week program.  So, they came last week and will start leaving tomorrow.

1 month down....

I have just finished my fourth week here and it's hard to believe I've already been here this long.  It's gone so fast and there's still so much I'm going to do but I guess that's to be expected.  Everything has been 'normal' as far as the work everyday and I still come home exhausted and ready for a nap.  The weekends are very relaxing which is a nice break and most people either go shopping or run errands around the city.  I've gotten to know a few Peruvians here so I've been able to go out with them on the weekends and usually during the week as well.

I've also started teaching english once a week to the staff at a place called La Casa de Panchita.  It's basically a center for domestic workers who aren't given much freedom.  Many families from up in the highlands will often send their young girls to live with families in Lima with the promise of them being provided an education and new life, etc.  But, most of the time they are just mistreated and forced to work as maids for people here and they don't have lives outside of their work.  So, La Casa de Panchita provides a place for them to come, if they can get time off, just to interact with other people in similar situations and many times they just show up and sleep.  They also provide varieties of classes and activities for them to participate in.  Anyways...there are about 13 staff members that wanted to take english classes so three of the volunteers, myself included, offered to teach them once a week.  We divided up into basic and intermediate classes and the two other volunteers are teaching the beginners and I'm teaching the intermediates.  

Thats about all I can come up with for now and I'll post more later when I get a chance.  

Here are some pictures of a Peruvian hairless dog.  I think they're exclusive to Peru but I don't really care because they're ugly either way.

Me and Mario, one of the drivers for our program.  He takes us to our placements every day.  He's always fun to be around and he has a good time with everyone.   

This is the part of our group that went to help clean up the house.  We moved all the garbage out onto the street, some of which you can see at the bottom right, and within fifteen minutes someone came by to buy it.  It was interesting because other than some recyclable cans and bottles (which they do sell for money) I thought it was all useless, but apparently not

Workin

This is a picture of me, obviously, working at the house of an 'abuelito' named Nicklaus.  One of the sites that many of the volunteers work at is, more or less, a recreation center for senior citizens.  They provide food and activities for many people who would otherwise not have much to do.  Many of the older people in this area, Villa El Salvador, unwillingly moved down from the highlands during the 80's and 90's during the time of war and never quite fit in.  Many of them speak Quechua, which is a completely different language than spanish and they were never able to adapt or fit into their new environment.  The guy in the red shirt is the director of the senior citizen program and the other one is Nicklaus.  

Often times they will have extra projects or things for us to do outside of our normal jobs and this was one of those projects.  We basically just go to houses like this and help clean up decades worth of garbage and debris.  

A view of the coast in a part of Lima called Miraflores, a more touristy area.  Foggy day.

Doo doo doo...lookin out my back door....

This is one of the other volunteers, Tim and some of the kids.  A lot of the time they just want to hang on you and get as much attention as they can.

This is at the school, INABIF.  One of the kids, Elmer, playing on 'swingset.'  Behind him you can see the basketball court where we play a lot of the time.  The classrooms and other buildings are behind me here but I don't have any pictures of those yet!

So my fist week of working at the school is now over and although I am getting more and more comfortable everyday, there is still a lot to get used to.  My roommate, Scott, and I are going to have to start planning activities for the kids.  We talked to the principal last week and she said she wants us to teach English, sports, computers, and small business/marketing.  I'm not exactly sure how she wants us to go about teaching marketing or business to extremely poor kids but we'll try to come up with something.  The easiest thing to teach them will probably be english.  Many of the kids seem eager to learn the basics of English already so getting their attention for a few hours a week shouldn't be very hard.  We started teaching them basketball last week and they seemed to enjoy running around but they don't have a concept of many basic basketball principles so we'll keep trying.   The principal told us they have about 5 computers, only 2 or 3 that actually work though, and I think she wants us to teach them typing and other basic computer skills (although I'm not sure when the next time they'll be giving a PowerPoint presentation will be).  

I've been getting to know the city quite a bit more as well.  Last week some friends and I went to downtown Lima where they have a light/water/laser park.  It was basically an amusement park with huge, colored fountains, water tunnels, and displays that culminated in a laser/music/picture extravaganza.  I took a few pictures and hopefully I can get them on here.  There were quite a few locals and if I didn't look so Peruvian, I probably would have stood out.  After that we walked around the downtown area for a while before heading back to the house.  You have to take taxis everywhere so I'm having to get used to not having any sort of public transportation.  The former president, Fujimori (yes, the Peruvians have come so far as to elect a Japanese president, as is the global trend of electing minority officials), completely cut out (among other programs) public transportation and allowed the sale of used foreign cars in Peru.  I'm not sure if he imported them or if they were bought privately but Peru was basically flooded with old Asian cars that are now taxis.  I haven't had a chance yet to read up on the history of Fujimori but he is now on trial in Peru for numerous allegations (I heard he sent in his resignation from the presidency by fax while out of the country so I'm assuming he's not well-liked.)

This weekend I did quite a bit of exploring around the city, which was very good.  Friday night we went out for a night on the town in an area called Barranco.  It's basically an area filled with bars and 'discotecs.'  Saturday we walked around another area called Miraflores, which is very nice and a more upscale, touristy area.  I went back over there on Saturday night to hang out with a group of students that were here from Connecticut because it was their last night in the program.  Today is Sunday and I can't wait for the Cardinals game to start!!  I'm actually at a Starbucks because it has free wireless.  There's one other cafe I found with wireless but Starbucks is closer.  Well that's all for now folks....go CARDS!!  Sorry for not posting pictures but I'll get them up in the next week because I'm running out of time at the moment.

Al principio....

Today was my first full day in Lima and after a lot of traveling it was nice to see what my life will look like over the next few months. The flights yesterday all went very well even though I wasn´t able to sleep very much. Total flight time was about 16 hours so it was nice to get picked up at the airport and back to the volunteer house to relax. Actually, I wasn´t able to relax or settle in at all because upon my arrival, I had to go with some of the other volunteers to a bar and watch the Steelers v. Chargers game. I really didn´t care about that game I just wanted to see the Cardinals score!!! I am now looking forward to seeing the Cardinals to continue their dominance (save for the last half of the season) and win the nfc and super bowl!!

Anyways, the house I am staying at is very nice. It´s a house that can facilitate about 40 people and right now there are 23 volunteers. Rooms are basically dorm-style (bunkbeds, shared bathrooms, etc.) and I have one roommate, Scott, from Tampa, Florida. The house is located in a part of town called Surco which, so far, seems very nice and it´ll be nice to get more comfortable with the area as time goes on. I am working in an area called Villa El Salvador which is a very poor area and has historically been poverty stricken as well. I´ll write more about the area and program I will be working in after I have actually done some work there.

I am hoping to find a cafe or bar with wireless internet soon so it will be easier to post some pictures.