Friends, Strikes, and Guinea Pigs

We are stuck in the city of Huaraz, as the people of Peru are on a national strike. There is no transportation into or out of any of the cities in the entire country, and we were lucky to get here the day the strike began. What we have gathered from talking to locals, and from seeing the marching in the streets, is that the strike is fueled from anger for the current government and especially the increase in food prices. It is mostly the campesinos (country folk) that are angry. We tried to explain to some people that food prices around the world are increasing, it is not just Peru. But I dont think the people living in the campo understand that, they just know it costs 30% more today to get the food they need to feed their families. The chanting and flag flying is communist in nature, with flags of Che Guevara leading the pack. But there are also signs of opposition, people who don't want to stop life for a national strike. We fall into this catagory, as we would rather have taken a bus into the mountains two days ago. But we are here, and many shops that are pretending to be shut are actually open. We could buy our food, go to restaurants, and spend a day in an internet cafe- we just can't leave. It isn't chaotic or violent at all, actually more calm and quiet with very little traffic.

Boats in Huanchaco

Over the last two weeks, we have had some fun adventures. After Lima, we spent a few days in Huanchaco, a small fishing and surfing village on the NW coast of Peru. It was a nice change of pace after a few days in Lima. We strolled the boardwalks, watched surfers, and ate tons of seafood, inculding their specialty, ceviche. The town is known for making these special boats out of reeds that they have passed down through the generations. During our time there we also went to some ruins called Chan Chan, which was a labyrinth of rooms with interesting animal carvings on the walls.

Chan Chan

Next we headed towards Cajamarca, but before we got there we had one of those nightmare travel days. We got to a bus company to take a morning bus, and found out that they were sold out until 1:30. As we discussed this option, they sold out of those tickets as well and told us the next bus was at 10:30 pm. After driving around town looking for an earlier bus (every place was sold out), we finally found one for mid-day with a company we have never heard of. There was a reason for that- the bus was hot, stinky, and slow. We were in the front seat and got baked by the sun, and we both started feeling ill. There is nothing worse than being on a winding, bumpy road, in a humid, stale bus (without a toilet), when you are feeling sick. We didn't eat a thing that day, and finally got to Cajamarca at 9:30 pm and crashed in a gross hostel for the night.

Skyler and Kelly at "Las Ventanas" (Windows) near Cajamarca

The next day we felt better and found a nice (but noisy) hotel right on the main square. We met with a school we were working with and then met up with Kelly and Skyler (See their posting below). The reason why they came to Peru is so that Kelly could see how Drew and I have been doing the Global Library Project, but really we just wanted to spend time together. It was a good mix of working with schools, seeing sites, and just having long conversations over a bottle (or two) of wine. Kelly is one of those amazing people who makes you feel excited about work and after talking with her, the dreams for the project seem like they will become reality in the future. She is always happy- smiling and laughing, and has an infinite amount of energy and excitement for life. Skyler added to the energy, and satisfied my need to be with kids (at least for the time being). She has the sweetest laugh, and when she is excited about something her whole face lights up. She also has a sneaky side, that was easy to read as well. We nick-named her "SneakyT". She was such a trooper through hikes, long days at the schools, and hours of "grown-up" talk. The two of them covered our experinces together in Cajamarca in their blog post below, so I will just add a few pictures and comments below.

The city of Cajamarca is beautiful...

Plaza de Armas (main square) in Cajamarca

San Francisco Church, Cajamarca

The City of Cajamarca from above

The classrooms we worked with writing ebooks were great. It was difficult to teach in spanish but it was a good challenge for me. Like every other time we wrote ebooks with schools, we learned so much from the students about their lives and their community. At Davy college, the students came from affluent homes, and the school gave a good education. The classrooms were uber prepared, one teacher rewrote my questions to fit with her curriculum and the other had his students bring in photos on thumb drives. It was a bit different than our other experiences in Nepal and Thailand but they have the infrastructure to actually start a partnership between their school and Colorado schools. The other school, Joyas Para Christo was a more typical Latin American school, a bit chaotic and crazy, but wonderful. The books will turn out great, and we will post them when they are finished.

2nd grade and 6th grade, respectively at Davy College

4th grade at Joyas Para Christo

We had some time to see some sites around town, including "Las Ventañas" or windows. They are actually tombs of noble people

Cumbemayo is a rock forest where Kelly, Skyler and I hiked. There are 3,000 year old petroglyphs and canals.

A family we met during our hike at Cumbemayo

A hill above Cajamarca, called Santa Apolonia

And finally, our last meal together Cuy! (guinea pig)

Tomorrow Drew and I head into the mountains of the Cordillera Blanca, for our last hurrah! We will do a 4-day trek and then attempt to climb a big peak at almost 19,000 feet. It will be a good time, surrounded by nature, to reflect on the past year and all our adventures. We are counting down the days until we reach US soil, 11 days away!

Erin

P.S. Guinea Pig is gross!