Finalmente: Pics from Semana Santa!

Ok. So here are some fotos (in reverse order) from the Santa Cruz trek that Christie, Oso and I embarked on the first four days of abril. :) Enjoy.

I feel this is good one to show what Oso did most of the time: bark at cows and donkeys and people. :)

I always get stuck in the mud with Baja. Oh. By the way Patagonia. I need more shoes!

We made it to the top. Doesn't matter that it took us 3 hours from camp and it only took the Peruvian boy 1 hora.. nope. Doesn't matter at all.

Almost to the top. The valley behind us is what we went in to get to this point. Shumaq, no?

Crossroads.

Peacecordians at work.

So this in reverse order.. but.. anyways.
Successful fording of river!

Oregon Trail anyone?

Actually thinking about fording the river instead of having to bushwhack our way to the trail.

"haha. We should ford the river."

Jatuncocha (in Quechua that means... Big Lake.)

This is Ichikcocha (which means? Yup. Little Lake.)

Just one of the many stunning views Anca$h has to offer.

Campsite Number 1. Getting lista for the dia.

First day. Good spirits, all of the stuff on the back.. actually that make us feel pretty good about ourselves considering every other person on this 4 day, 3 night trail hired donkeys and men to carry their gear. Peacecordians do it right. :)

It was divertido and I can't wait to explore mas!

Abrazos,

Em

Semana Santa

Hola a todos!

So, as I mentioned last blog, I went on a four day backpacking trip on the Santa Cruz trek with Baja... and it was amazing! As expected... even though it did not include making and eating pita....( I saw the pics.. the pita this year looked delicious). Anywho. We saw so many glaciers and mountains that it's impossible to know all their names, got to sleep in a tent, ate good camping food, walked uphill and downhill with Oso (Christie's perro), met some new amigos from Lima, hiked in the rain (only one day), saw lots of cows, donkeys and horses in the meadow, climbed up to 4,760 meters on Punto Union, got passed up by a 18 year old peruvian boy while going uphill on our third day (it took us 3 hours to get to the top.. it took him 1.. yeah! Seriously. He was a mountain goat!), practiced Quechua with the "donkey" man, and generally just enjoyed the splendor that is Ancash! Very shumaq (bonita.. beautiful). It was a good way to pass Semana Santa for sure.

Now it's back to site for more workness until ... (I'm not counting anything, but) 41 days with my padre and hermano get here!! (And Lowie tambien!!) I can't wait!

Hasta la proxima!

abrazos,

Em

Happy Easter!

Hey y'all! Just a little nota to say Happy Pascuas and Easter Egg hunting and pita/lamb eating... I will miss being there. In the meantime.. I'm backpacking for four days on my vacation. Santa Cruz trail to be exact. Should be fun.. and a different way to celebrate Easter. :)

Hasta pronto!

I will post pics.

Abrazos,

Em

Riverside: The original Peace Corps

Hola a todos! So it's time for a blog with words instead of just pictures... the lazy way to do it, and as I have been doing it for most of March :).

First of all, Happy 20th Birthday to mi hermano James! :) I remember I turned 20 in Spain and really felt like it was a big deal. I don't know. Something about finally changing that 1 to a 2 or something. But anyways, I hope you had a good one and you probably went to Disneyland again or something because that's what you guys do now that I'm gone. hehe.

Things are starting to roll now on the work front even though some vacation time is coming up pretty soon. Today I'll have my second (and hopefully a lot more productive) Medio Ambiente (Environmental) Club meeting with the kids from the primary school. I'll be learning to compost and do fun stuff right along with them... hopefully I'll teach them how to start little projects on their own and to work as a team as well as how to take care of Mother Nature.

In the realm of normal Shilla life I have been routinely sweeping (yay! too much dust) and cleaning every morning right along side my host familia and it recently dawned on me. The best thing, or what most prepared me in my life before becoming a Peace Cordian, was all the time spent in my grandparents' house in Riverside. :) De verdad though. Really really. Because now I'm living in an adobe house (like theirs), with lots of chickens, homeless dogs, allapa (Quechua for a lot of) dirt, no showers (although I guess that was my fault for never wanting to take a shower at grandma's.. I mean.. I would just get dirty again, what was the point?), eating delicious red grapes with seeds in the middle, cactus... the list just goes on. And Riverside was the best training. Ever. The end. :) I don't feel like I had to acostombrar so much because I was already used to it!

Speaking of Riverside, I'm getting a little sad about the fact that I will be missing Easter this year. :( Aye. No pita. I'm afraid it just wouldn't come out the same. Maybe next year I will intentar to make it if this year turns out to be really depressing. Maybe I'll just throw my very own Easter Egg hunt or something. Or dye some runtu (Quechua for eggs) at the very least. Luckily Lisa (Peru 13 peacecordian... all the way from Chota area, Cajamarca!!!!) is coming to go climbing with us here... it'll be fun and hopefully take my mind off the delicious lamb roasting slowly over an open flame somewhere far away... well. Maybe in Shilla instead of lamb it would be chancho (pig).. not too diferente, eh? I'll update about the traditions of Pascuas (Easter) here... if there are any!

Ok. Hasta la proxima! Abrazos!

Em

Escalaring Pics

You show that rock, Baja!

Raul... helping me get down the rock wall...

See the girl in the blue and white on the top? That's me!

They know what they're doing!

Viviana, "Burro", me and Raul. :)

Some pics to go with March Madness

climbing.....

baby chanchos

It's corn dryin' season!

My lil' awesome sobrina showin off some mad skills.

What's up, March?

Hola a todos!

Marzo is here... wait? what? Marzo is half-way through? Alright. :)

March for Peru means school starts again! But here, as I found out as a youth volunteer, there is no such thing as a first day of school... or a first day as we know it. With the nervous jitters and the new crayons in the box and the first day of school activities... finding your nametag on your desk, playing get to know you games. Nope. Here the students come to school, not knowing what's up.. there's no horario (schedule) planned yet and the teachers are just getting their stuff together and the kids then usually just stand around outside or go home.. or not show up until the following week when things are a little more organized. So I have spent my first weeks of March not teaching yet.. instead planning, and hopefully things will start to get underway in April! If I'm lucky. :)

So. I'm planning a recycling program... actually, recently I spent a dia at the dump with one of the elementary school teacher and three kids to go see where the people of the city of Carhuaz (down the hill from Shilla) put their trash. They actually have a recycling and compost system and that is our goal for Shilla in the next couple of years. In conjunction with this we are planning to make a Medio Ambiente Club (Environmental club) at the primary school and then we can teach them fun things like compost and recycling art projects, etc. :) It should be fun. I think we'll be having a contest in May: make a person out of recycled things! Most creative gets a prize.

Umm.. let's see.. also I will hope to start the library and book project soon.. first step: find the Rotary Club in Huaraz. And, apart from that some autoestima classes here... some vocational orientation classes there... and we'll see what unfolds! More bracelet teaching probably... (kids seem to love that!)

In other noticias: My pig had little chanchitos! I went on a hike by myself this week without meaning to and found another volunteer's site :), I'm learning how to rock climb and boulder, and my Quechua is comin' along. Allim, no?

Abrazos Fuertisimos!

Em