A quick daily-life update before we get started - I am healthy again after my 2 day stomach infection as well as a nasty cold that managed to knock me and a few of my friends flat for a couple days. Ironically, this beautiful town seems set on systematically destroying the health of everyone on this program. There has not been a single day when someone hasn't gone to the clinic or been stuck home in bed. Still, we haven't let it get us down, and have continued with our work and excursions as best we can! As I've mentioned, I am positively enamored of these mountains, and our trips to the towns of Quinua and Huanta have just confirmed that even more! I can't believe this is my last day here; there's so much I still want to explore and learn, and so little time. I just have to come back on my own next summer!
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| Quinua... |
I haven't had a chance to write here for a while, because I'm still recovering from all the final papers and tests I had this week. On Tuesday I wrote an 8 page research paper as the culmination of my 3 week course (hmm...), but luckily my topic was interesting enough to keep me awake and invested into the wee hours of the morning. I'll talk more about the essay topic in my next entry... it's perfect material for Meg Shares an Actual Cuento #2! Or at least, it will be. Once I get some sleep to make up for what I missed on Tuesday night.
So, anyway. Here are 5 things you may or may not have already known about Ayacucho, Peru!
1) There are Two Ayacuchos
The country of Peru is divided into "departments" that are basically like our states. Ayacucho is one of these departments (said to look like a dog), and contains 11 provinces, each of which has a capital city. Ayacucho the department also has a capital city, which is named... Ayacucho. Only everyone calls it Huamanga. Confusing. The reason for this double-name is as follows: On the 9th of December, 1824, Peruvian troops defeated their Spanish colonizers on the Pampa (aka Big Flat Place) of Ayacucho. This was a Very Big Deal, because at that time, the Viceroyalty of Peru actually consisted of pretty much the entire South American continent. So when the little baby Peruvian army defeated the big scary Spaniards, everyone was so excited that they decided to rename the colonial town of Huamanga (based on two Quechua words meaning "dried llama meat vendor") after the famous battle. However, the people living there decided that they like dried llama meat, so to this very day, the town's citizens call themselves huamanguinas instead of ayacuchanos.
2) God lives in the hills
Huamanga is known as the City of Churches... there are 33 within this small city, practically one on every street corner. But the religious beliefs in Ayacucho aren't as orthodox as one might expect. In Peru, particularly within the Andes region, a phenomenon known as Syncretismo permeates the population's belief system, blending Christian traditions with ancient Andean rituals that have been part of the culture for centuries. Sometimes, syncretismo takes a rather amusing form, such as this painting which is similar to one in a church near my house (they're eating cuy, the traditional Peruvian guinea pig dish). Last Saturday, we hiked up Watuscalla, the most sacred hill (read: mountain) in this part of the Andes. For hundreds of years, farmers have climbed to the cross at the top of the hill to pray and bring offerings to the God of the hill, so that he will bless them with a good harvest. Our guide helped us perform a small ritual, which involved bringing the God some of his favorite things: coca leaves, alcohol, cigarettes, and chocolate. I'm not sure how the Hill God's Christian roommate feels about these offerings, but we were certainly amused! As part of the ritual, we all had to chew the dried coca leaves while thinking a prayer or good wish for our family... they taste like tea.
3) The university is older than your country
Ayacucho is home to La Universidad Nacional de San Cristobal de Huamanga, which is the second oldest university in South America. Founded by the Spaniards in a year that I don't currently remember, but which I will find on the interwebz soon, and has been serving students ever since, with one significant break in the 1980s to 1990s. During those decades, UNSCH ( as it is lovingly/difficult-to-pronounce-ingly called) was shut down by the Peruvian government, as it had been turned into a recruitment and indoctrination center for the maoist terrorist group, Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. The movement's leader, Abimael Guzmán, was a professor at the university, and in the late 70's began spreading his revolutionary doctrine to the other teachers and students, eventually leading them to begin a 20 year armed conflict that many Peruvians are still recovering from today. My next post will focus on this time period, and the interviews I've done with my homestay family.
4) The mountains are high
As you may recall from my last post, Huamanga is located at around 9,058 feet above sea level. This causes all sorts of strange things to happen. For example:
- When you first arrive, it takes a few days to acclimitize. There's less oxygen in the air here, so your lungs and heart have to work harder. For me, the only effects have been feeling more tired than usual after walking around all day. Solution: drink Mate de Coca, tea made with coca leavee. It's a lifesaver.
- Water boils at a lower temperature here. I think that's weird.
- Digestion is also slower in the mountains. For dinner, all I have is a piece of chapla, the incredibly delicious and addicting pita-like bread that's common here, with jam or a little avocado, and I'm full for the night.
- CONSTANT. NOSEBLEEDS.
5) The street children have somewhere safe to go
I wanted to make sure I got something in about Casa Hogar Los Cachorros, the shelter where I've been working these 3 weeks. This Dutch foundation is unique in that it offers classes and activities for children living on the street, as well as in the programming it provides for the children who choose to come sleep or live in their house. I love that concept, because making positive connections with the children that early helps them realize that there are options other than the life full of danger and drugs that many of them live. Working at the house has definitely been one of the hardest things I've ever done- some of the boys are very volitile and moody and everything we do has to be very flexible, because if they're in a bad mood it simply won't happen. As such, I've watched a lot of tv with them - and have now seen more TNT movies in Spanish than in English - sat quietly as they (mostly) did their homework, and learned to play marbles, taps and "fútbol de saltarín" (trampoline soccer), in addition teaching them the theatre games I prepared. However, it's become clear to me that the important thing here isn't what you do at Los Cachorros - it's just about being there, showing the boys that someone is invested in and happy to be with them. Most of them come from families who either can't afford to take care of them or don't provide them with a safe home, so Los Cachorros is an extremely important source of love and support, as well as a roof and warm bed. Nonetheless, it's difficult for them to adjust to normal life after all the liberty they have in the street, and during my time here I've had to see 3 children escape, including one who'd been at the house for over 2 and a half years. There's unfortunately not much the professors and I can do about this, other than ask around to figure out where they are and hope that they'll come back. Yesterday Noé, an 11 year old who arrived the same day I did and who I got very close with, returned after running away last week. I'm giving him a Northwestern baseball cap today as a goodbye present, and making him and the other boys pinky-promise me (yes, that's a thing in Peru too) that they'll stay safe so I can find them when I come back to Ayacucho. My friend Kerry and I bought them a new soccer ball as well, so that should keep them busy for a while :)
There you are - you are officially 5 times more knowledgable about Ayacucho! Check back within the next day or two - before I go to Cusco on Sunday (woohoo!!) I'm going to get up my Cuento #2, which will update you on what I've learned in my political science class here. Now I'm off to spend my last day in this wonderful city - chao!
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