Sunday June 26th and I go to the upper barios

The morning was spent doing chores around the house, and somehow the monotony of the tasks made me feel like a real part of the family. I thought that doing laundry by hand would be awful, but it turns out to be fun. It's a great chance to talk and laugh with the others, and there isn't a better view than from our rooftop.

Then we made a salad for lunch, and I tried to help but failed miserably. It turns out you can't eat the peels of vegetables here because they could make you sick, but I only discovered this after I'd sliced and diced a whole cucumber and it took some time to fix the mistake.

                                                        Alison excited about a lettuce.

          After lunch Katia and Uziel were going to volunteer with an organization that brings together art instructors with kids who live high up in the upper barrios, where poverty is most desperate and give them free arts classes.
         Uziel is a theater teacher and is teaching his group of kids a play called street kids which sounds depressing, but is actually about the hopes, dreams and imagination of the kids and is really good.
         It's hard to make progress though because each time different kids keep showing up, and when Uziel tries to teach them they are very shy and never volunteer. It must be hard to have the self confidence needed to want to be an actor when so much else in your life is hard. These kids have to worry about the basics, shelter, food and water, and so art and acting is outside the norm for them, and for most of them this is their first experience acting.  can see why Uziel and the organization do the class, it teaches the kids how to express themselves in a new way and broadens their horizons on what they can do and achieve. At the end of the July there will be a competition with all the other plays from different neighborhoods, including the one that Katia and Alison are rehearsing.

                                                   It's an alpaca!!!! I saw an alpaca!

                                             The community center where we worked.

Uziel teaching the kids. There was also one kid, Antonio, who he was teaching to use stilts (you can see him in the background). Apparently when Uziel was a teen he used to make money in the summers by performing on stilts, who would have guessed!

                              The barrio after dark. Uziel told me it's a different reality here.

              The only way to get to these remote neighborhoods is to ride the rickety buses. This is absolutely the worst, and I have discovered I hate them. There are so many people on each bus that you can barely move, and I usually find myself barely holding on to anything to keep me stable as the bus speeds down the busy roads, careening around corners and not slowing down for bumps. Through all of this, I can't actually see what's happening because I'm to tall to see out the windows, and usually there's a layer of people around me anyway, so I can't prepare myself for any of the ways in which I'm thrown about and it's all I can do not to go flying into surrounding people.

             After work me and Uziel took the bus and then walked back to the restaurant. Uziel had to stop outside of every single restaurant because the one hundredth COPA America final (soccer) was on and it was Argentina vs. Chile. The streets were silent and everyone was packed into the restaurants watching excitedly.
        Along with the game there was a fancy dinner at Mono Sazon for all the people that had worked on the fair, the one that Katia & Uziel (or as I have now dubbed them KUte) had performed their play in. The dinner not surprisingly consisted of chicken, potatoes, and rice, which seem to be about the only thing people eat here. There must be a small chicken genocide by this point just for my meals. Everyone gave speeches about how much they enjoyed the fair and thanked different people which I thought was so nice, and exemplified the friendly, community culture in Peru, something we could work towards in the U.S.
         In the COPA America final, not one but two players injured themselves on the same gol post, and then it went to penalty shootouts after a 0-0 draw and star player Messi missed making Chile the winners. I cannot describe the reaction to Messi missing in the restaurant it was so crazy.

Saturday June 25th

We didn't wake up until about 10 this morning and after a light breakfast where Uziel and I had a passionate discussion about whether New Zealand or Peru was a better country, we went out to a BBQ hosted by one of Uziel's friends, Carlos (who we had met at the rock concert). However, we discovered that the BBQ was not at 11 as planned, because the meat had not arrived. Instead it would be at 4 which meant we could not go because Joyce's flight was at 5, and Katia and Uziel could not go as they had to work.

The Mirador (white building), high above Ayacucho

Why are all the posters here of white people?

We went to the restaurant for lunch and were treated to a real delicacy, a river fish that comes with the head and all on your plate! Katia grossed us out by eating the eyes! Alison tried to eat one but spat it out on the floor - yikes!

We ate a whole fish, Katia ate the eyes!

Last meal as a family

Joyce had to go and pack but Katia and Uziel were off to work so had to say goodbye! Joyce started to cry, and everyone started to cry and it was awful. Even though we've only known each other for three weeks we've barely spent three hours apart and we've all come to rely on each other so much.

Bye Joyce

As a final act Joyce threw her old white Vans over a telephone wire. Seriously, that  is actually really hard to do! We spent about 15 minutes trying and failing.

We got to the airport about an hour and half early which was way too long for the one counter airport. After five minutes she had checked in and all that was left was to had to pass by the one security worker to the one waiting lounge. Instead we went upstairs to the one coffee shop. Joyce got a cookie, Alison tea, and I got a coffee.

We managed not to cry until we were standing at the security gate but then Alison began to cry, and then Joyce, and then even I was crying. Just as Joyce went past the security worker, her Spanish teacher showed up, flushed from rushing. They could only wave goodbye through the window - will they ever see each other again?

Us and Ana-Luisa, Joyce's tutor

We went upstairs and watched Joyce board the plane. The music in the airport was literally the saddest music ever which was awful! What are we going to do without Joyce? We also talked to the Spanish teacher who will miss Joyce too. She told us she sometimes volunteers to visit remote villages to bring supplies to them, and some of them speak only Quetua - so cool!

We headed back on the bus with heavy hearts and recognition of the growing distance between us and Joyce. Now we can't stop noticing, and dreading, how close Alison and I are to leaving ourselves.

Friday June 24

Today I woke up pretty late and by the time I had eaten breakfast and gotten ready it was basically time to go but I decided to take a quick shower too. To make it even faster I didn't bother boiling any water and braved the antarctic waters. The worst part was getting in but after that it wasn't terrible. The bathroom is also not at all private but Uziel did make a shower curtain yesterday which makes me feel a little better.

Took out the braids from yesterday ah!

Sausage or solidified cough syrup? They're the same color...

We went to INABIF, arriving late as always. Today some girls showed us a game they had come up with using a large piece of rope. It's basically like Chinese jump rope except that instead of only having the rope around your feet you slowly move it up to your knees, waist, shoulders, neck, head, and then hold it above your head. At first you have to jump in and out of the ropes, then swing your legs up to catch them rhythmically, then use your mouth to weave over and under them, and then use your arms to go in and out clapping. It's amazing how inventive kids are, they really don't need fancy toys they can have fun with just about anything! There was also a seminar on drugs which is apparently a problem here.

We play some ridiculously hard jumping string game - it's amazing what kids can come up with with just some string

Last night Alison and I helped Uziel make colorful flags on a string for an event today. It had been hard work as there were ten giant sheets of plastic that we had to fold, cut, and staple onto strings. We did so many that my arm is actually sore from stapling. It was fun though as we got to sit and talk while doing it.

Putting up our handmade banderas

Today after INABIF we walked two doors down to the Ministry of Culture where we helped string the banners in preparation for an arts fair Uziel would be taking part in. Stringing them up I was reminded of how tall I am here as I could reach a lot of the places the others couldn't. It's weird being this tall, I feel like people are a little intimidated by me - especially the guys - and I feel a little awkward and strange as well. It's going to be weird to go back to America and be normal-sized again too though!

Uziel showed up and we all went to lunch together. He showed us where he grew up in Lima and I ate much I thought I would die of a stomach explosion but felt I couldn't be rude and not eat the food again!

We were late to INABIF of course. I helped one kid with his math homework but he was a really difficult kid to teach, not willing to think through the problem and just waiting for you to do it for him.

We left INABIF late and went to the Ministry of Culture where the fair was about to begin. It was in a long, narrow plaza and there was a tent for food and plastic chairs in a circle around an area designated as the stage, with a big white screen behind it. There was also a botanic cactus garden behind the tent that Alison and I had checked out at lunch. There are lots of different kinds of cactus - who knew?!

Alison gets dwarfed by a cactus

And another one

So many types

While we were exploring the garden two kids from INABIF squeezed through the thin fence and Melany fell into a cactus! We spent a long time trying to get the spikes out of her jacket with marginal success. They also showed us how to pick the fruit of one cactus, which was incredibly sour, and also how you could throw the seeds of another cactus, that looked more like a tree, up into it's tangle of branches and watch as it bounced around, like the game at our local mini-golf where you put a ball in at the top and it bounces down off an array of pegs until maybe it goes into a hole at the bottom, but usually not.

Some kids from INABIF climbed through the fence and showed us around

They showed us how to eat the purple things

Cactus without spines

Melany fell into a cactus! Yikes!

You can throw the seeds of this cactus into its branches and they'll rattle around and pop out somewhere random!

At the fair, Jose, from two weeks ago on the motorcycle, came up to us. Seriously, he's been trying to find us for two weeks! He even went to our other house but apparently Rudy yelled at him - yikes! Jose said he wanted to practice his English, and that he grew up in Lima. He told us he is 18, though he hadn't wanted to tell us how young he was at first as he thought we were much older. Everyone here thinks we are older because of our height. Then he told us he was born in 1996 and we told him he couldn't be 18 then! He looked confused then realised he was 19 but hadn't celebrated his last birthday. Seriously, how can you not know how old you are? Especially if you're only 19!

The fair

The show began with a puppet show act which Alison and I thought was Katia and Uziel's act until we saw them walk in - whoops! In fact, their act turned out to be more like a play with only three people. It was a version of Little Red Riding Hood and was really good even though the only props were a chair, a basket, and a sock! At the end of the show were some short films like an animated short about the Bolivian water crisis.

The performance - Katia and another girl

After the festival we went to meet up with Joyce and her Spanish teacher for a farewell dinner - her flight out is tomorrow! We went to a restaurant called El Nino which does barbequed meat. It was good but a lot of meat for me. The Spanish teacher and her boyfriend were the total opposite of Katia and Uziel - tall and skinny they both got fruit salads and talked quietly, while Katia and Uziel (both short and stocky) got chicken and fries and spent most of the time laughing and joking.

After dinner the two couple and us three musketeers went to find a discoteca. The first place we tried was completely deserted, it was only 10pm and here the party doesn't start until 1. The second place, which you supposedly had to pay to get in but they let us in free based on our superstar gringo status, was also kind of slow so we forked out three soles to get into HOT, the discoteca we had scouted out with Nicole weeks earlier. The girls didn't pay to get in - sweet! I really enjoy the Latin music and the dancing and we ended up dancing with two of Uziel's friends - my guy was shorter than me!

Thursday June 23

Alison and I decided to go to INABIF this morning as well as this afternoon. I am definitely on the mend and had a full breakfast of bread, cheese, and yoghurt. We talked to Uziel a little about politics - he does not like monopolies, and apparently Peru fought on the right side in WWII! I find my Spanish is great for the day-to-day stuff but if I start needing a deeper level of meaning and comprehension I'm really shaky! I was trying to explain New Zealand's role in WWII and it's relationship to the Queen - both tricky topics.

The kids love Alison

There are far less children at INABIF in the morning and we spent a lot of time playing with Roberto and I even tried to get him to read a little bit. He seemed to kind of get it which was encouraging but his attention span is non-existent. Studying and learning are skills you have to work hard to acquire and without proper support and education society dooms kids like Roberto to never getting the level of proficiency required for an adequate job. Instead he is destined to not dream, and take some low level job. It's heartbreaking to think it might already be too late for him, once kids become accustomed to the freedom and easy lifestyle of the streets compared to school it's hard to convince them that they should give it all up for some dream. I feel that education must be what fuels ambition and dreams.

We ate lunch at the restaurant with Joyce and I feel that we haven't been finishing the food there very often and that it was important to do so this time. I stuffed myself to the point of throwing up but still could not get the last few bites down. Seriously, how do people here eat this much??

Back at INABIF (by mototaxi since we could barely move after eating so much) and lots of girls were braiding hair this afternoon. Alison and I joined them, the kids really like braiding Alison's blonde hair! I learned how to do one style where you braid the hair normally but then slide two strands up over the third until they're scrunched at the top. Pretty cool!

Today's hairstyle thanks to the INABIF salon

Max asked me to bring him something from the US when I come back and I tried to pretend I didn't have my phone as it was already low on battery from the morning, but Max saw right through that, pointing at my pocket and saying "Yes you do". So I had to give it to him - that kid is so smart! Also kids are soooo fascinated by our phones here, all day long it's "Presto me tu cellular!" Mostly they use snapchat which has fun filters like dog ears or devil eyes that you can put on yourself. Another popular feature is face swap.

After work Alison and I walked back to the restaurant to meet Katia. Katia suggested we go to the big white cross and arches that overlook the city. We walked quite a way, then took a mototaxi the rest of the way. The arches were amazing and as the sun set Alison and I took some amazing pictures in the arches. We all admired the sheer size of Ayacucho and tried to pick out our tiny house from the thousands of little dots.

Sidewalks?

View from the Mirador

The Mirador

While we were up there another guy started talking to us in English! People LOVE talking to us even if they only know the most basic English. His name is Luis and he a college student from Lima studying tourism. For this he had lived many months in the US, in Boston, California, and had also travelled around to Las Vegas and other cities. Not a bad degree to take when your homework is to travel around and be a tourist! We also laughed a lot about how hard it is to learn a language. He can't say beach without it sounding like bitch and we can't say perro or carro right. We also laughed about how everyone wants us to translate the most random objects into the other language.

Ayacucho

Uziel arrived and we walked around a little more before heading back. We couldn't find a bus so started walking but it was a cold night, and then the bus passed us without stopping! We all ran after it down the steep street and caught it at the next corner. We all crammed into the already overstuffed bus and headed home. The sun sets at about 5:30 so it was already dark as it was after 7pm.

At the plaza another party was going on, again for a school. All the students were out in the street and dancing and there were fireworks as well as a person running around with a bull-shaped firework framework on his head, chasing after people with exploding fireworks!

Three against one and we still lost!

Alison and I ran to check it out and it was awesome, but when we came back Katia and Uziel were gone! It was like when you are little and you lose your parents! Alison and I waited for a while in the place we last saw them, then headed back to the restaurant - our next planned meeting spot. They weren't there either! So we sat on the stoop for some minutes feeling very alone and sad before we walked to the corner and saw them walking up! We hugged and went back to the restaurant which Uziel unlocked so we saw the whole family. We didn't stay long though as we still had our dinner to cook and we had learned how long that took with two burners!

This time we had the routine down and even added breadcrumbs to the patties (well, crushed saltines which aren't quite the same....) which we had forgotten last time. The meal was good and everyone enjoyed it.

Wednesday June 22

My stomach situation did not get better and in the middle of the night I had to go to the bathroom. However, our room is detached from the main house which is locked, so I would have to wake Katia and Uziel up to let me in. I got up but I found the two guard dogs sleeping right outside our room and they went crazy when I opened the door! Seriously those dogs are terrifying! I dithered for a long time in the hallway and then dashed to the next room down the hall. There, I climbed out the window, landed on a bench and ninja-hopped my way along, over things on the bench until I reached the door. As I re-traced my route I hoped I did not have to do that again!

I did not sleep much and by the morning was exhausted and overwhelmed by everything. I washed out my clothes and took them to the roof to dry but then sat there for about an hour feeling sad and alone, and summoning the energy to go back downstairs.

I could not eat any breakfast but Alison and I played a couple of games of chess against Uziel. We lost the first game but won the second! Although Uziel was going easy on us and even sacrificed his queen to make it more interesting!

Alison and I had decided not to go to the school this morning, but were hoping to pick up a morning shift at INABIF which started at 10am. By 9 I was starting to feel better and at 9:30 I even tried to eat a piece of bread with caramel spread - but that really upset my stomach.

I decided I would still go but as we began the long walk up the hill to the Plaza my condition took a steep dive and I could barely make it to the pharmacy where I bought a bottle of electrolyte drink you are supposed to drink over 24 hours to soothe your stomach.

While we were walking, a guy came up and started asking us questions in English! We (mostly Alison) chatted for a while and he told us he is an English major. He seemed OK but I was not feeling chatty. At the end he asked for our numbers and we flat-out refused. We don't have numbers and we don't know where we live!

At home I slept for two or three hours before waking up in time for lunch. Mama Dorris had prepared a special chicken and noodle soup for us poor sicklings. I managed to eat mine but Alison did not. She does not have the same symptoms as I do, but has waves of nausea.

A chicken foot! Joyce says white people dont eat anything but what's there to eat? It wasn't that bad (tastes like chicken!) but later we found out we WERENT supposed to eat it! Ah!

After lunch Alison went home and Joyce and I went to INABIF. I taught English to one of the kids and played with others. Someone called Roberto and ugly monkey and I was gobsmacked - how can such an innocent young child be so cruel? Roberto's hands are getting better as he has been putting vaseline on them at night, which is awesome.

For dinner Uziel made a gingery, starchy, citrus sludge which is usually a dessert but tonight was main course for us of poor health. It was pretty good!

After dinner we played poker for my starbursts. I did not do well and lost all my cash twice, while Joyce won so much she started to eat her money, but it was Alison who pulled out a surprise win at the end. When the candy started to be eaten I made the wrappers into cranes. It was really fun, but we missed Katia who was working and couldn't play - her job is very stressful!

Tuesday June 21

My least favorite fruit here is papaya. I don't know why, but to me it smells and tastes like vomit. We had fresh papaya juice for breakfast this morning, which is only slightly better than eating it straight. Then as usual we had to rush to work. We were super-late getting out the door and then couldn't find a mototaxi for a good 5-10 minutes.

Yesterday on our way in we saw Jacky and realised we had completely forgotten we were going to have dinner with her on Sunday. There is just too much going on! We hadn't talked about it since Monday but she had still prepared a meal. I felt so guilty! Luckily we could re-schedule to this Friday.

Today I taught a class of second graders adjectives about appearance, things like curly hair and glasses, but it turned out to be more a test of my Spanish vocabulary than an English lesson for them! In the next class Alison was also there. The class were split into groups and my group were so on top of the task and finished early, They used their new-found extra time to braid my hair. Alison's group on the other hand spent their time passing horrible notes to each other and not doing their work. How can kids be so different?

It reads "Available" in Spanish

At lunch Joyce recounted the story of a gall bladder surgery she had got to see. Seriously, she's not grossed out by anything!

After lunch we walked to INABIF where we had a pretty average day. Max showed me how to draw a bunch of guns and lots of kids wanted to know how to say zombies and dragons in English. I also had to try to teach a lesson on common English phrases like "Good morning" but unlike the kids at Gunter Grass these kids can be quite a handful and I just couldn't get control.

After work at INABIF Alison and I walked back to the restaurant where Katia was working, and chatted to Jonathan who also works there even though his parents cover his university fees. He wants to be an engineer. Katia joked he would have to marry either me or Alison so we would stay! People here are obsessed with love, significant other, and relatioships in general. On one hand it is a good thing as there is a real sense of community, but on the other hand it's hard to be independent, especially if you are a woman.

I started to feel pretty bad but had to do my course selection for UBC so went with Alison to the Plaza for wifi. I searched all the possible electives and settled on micoeconomics. I had to go inside the restaurant to call my mum to let her know. She was a little frustrated I had not got back to her sooner which I feel guilty about - so much is happening here I am always behind or forgetting something! Everyone is doing well in Colorado but it is over 100F!

We went home and ate spaghetti while watching the USA -vs- Argentina game on TV. We all had faith in USA except Katia and Uziel. Alison even joked she'd bet her house on a USA win. USA lost 4-0, it was embarrassing. The world's best soccer player right now, Lionel Messi, scored a killer penalty and another Argentinian broke his arm when he flew into a barrier and flipped upside-down while trying to head a ball. Yikes!

I was feeling worse and Katia and Uziel suspected the papaya juice I had had for breakfast. Darn that papaya!!! Hope I feel better tomorrow.

Helping make flags for an event Uziel has

View from our room - the car wash!

Monday June 20

It was sooooo hard to get up this morning!! I was with Katia and Alison the whole day, first in a class with another teacher who got the kids to discuss nationality. Everyone was surprised to learn I have four nationalities, and we did a lot of comparing cultures - I talked about the American school system and Thanksgiving.

Next we went with Katia to the kindergarten for some English lessons. The kids were learning body parts so we tried to teach the song "Heads-shoulders-knees and toes" but the kids didn't quite have the attention span needed to learn it. We taught three classes and by the third one I barely had the energy left to bend over and touch my toes. Something about the extremely high level of energy the young kids have drains your own energy! We taught mainly 5 year olds, but there were also 3 and 4 year old kids in the classes.

The view from the kindergarten

The kindergarten

At lunch with Uziel we showed him some photos of Boulder and he showed us where he grew up. It was so cool to kind-of--see where he grew up. We have all decided we are definitely going to return next year and see the great Amazon rivers. I really hope that actually happens!

Lunch with Katia, Alison, Joyce, and me

In the afternoon we went to INABIF and it was a pretty heart-wrenching day. One of the kids I've grown closest to, Roberto (Max's cousin), came in with hands so dry they had cracked open into huge sores that were an inch wide and spewing blood and pus. We were all horrified and couldn't imagine how painful it must be. We talked to one of the coordinators who said that although Max lives with his single mother, Roberto lives in an orphanage and doesn't go to school. He can't read or write even though he's eight years old! It's just unbelievable that he might never learn to read or write. What a hard start in life. Not only that but the other kids here pick on him and I can't imagine he gets much love at the orphanage either so he must just go unloved. How is that possible when he's the greatest kid ever??

Roberto's hand

Later I learned that there is a school he could go to but it has strict rules and for many street kids it's hard to give up their freedom so they don't go, or don't stay. His smile is heartbreaking, so loving and trusting, and he says we are his family which is too much for me to process.

When we got home we were all kind of in a state of shock. Uziel said there are a lot of kids like that, who grow up on the street without education and only other street kids to rely on. It used to be a lot worse with hundreds of gangs controlling the streets and more drugs and violence. Things are changing now but Peru does not have enough money to support it's growing population and everyone has to work harder for less money.

Uziel is actually up for a prize, awarded to people who are working to changer Peru for the better and support its economy. Uziel is a theatre producer and a teacher at a local school but he also volunteers a lot with outreach theatre programs. How cool is that!

We had a delicious dinner of rice with carrots, peas, and sausage, and afterwards Uziel told us a harrowing story of when he was 19 and went up to the roof of his family's house to fix a leaking spigot. The wall he was leaning on collapsed and he fell two stories, went through a skylight, and fell another story before landing on the ground. He was miraculously perfectly fine until a brick from the wall landed on his hand! What a crazy story! He was also caught in a landslide while mountain climbing and just saved himself. He has more lives than a cat!

Our house is the door just to the left of the black car, our room is just to the right

Front door to our house/car wash we've been joking Alison could wear a bikini and be like the blond on the poster