Voluntariado

I'm volunteering at Deporte y Vida in the Oasis neighborhood of Villa El Salvador. Today I got to spend a little over an hour in the 4 year old room helping them do puzzles, singing with them, painting their right hand red to help them learn the difference between right and left, helping them learn to trace arrows, and watching them practice a dance.

Afterwards, I went to the elementary age room which has children from ages 6-13 I believe. There I helped with math and English lessons. I need to ask more questions to find out more about the methodology that is being used to teach them English, because from my impressions, things ought to be done differently. However; that may not be possible, as I'm not sure any of the teachers actually speak English.

Classes were terminated a little early with everyone frantically evacuating their rooms as a man from the national health department abruptly arrived with masked gear, rubber protective gloves, and oxygen mask and a tank on his back. He began spraying the area with poison in an attempt to kill the ants and other bugs there, that have been deemed to be in excess. Afterwards he told the teachers that their classrooms must remain sealed for 8 hours.

It could not have been healthy for all of us to be standing nearby or running out of his way, while he was wearing all that clothing and we were breathing the fumes. I asked the teachers if this was a regular occurrance. They said that it is not, but rather happens about two times a year.

I have a lot to learn but look forward to going back!

Retiro

This weekend I went on a retreat with a youth group to Chaclacayo. It turned out to be way different that I had expected. There were many people from the church there. I'd expected to be going on a weekend excursion with the youth group of 30 or so people, not staying in a fancy place, and spending time doing activities together.

As it turned out, we went to a religious retreat place where we stayed in really nice rooms lined with bunk beds. I actually felt like I was at a camp or something. Enormous masses of food were prepared and we all did a simple craft of painting a plastic cup. That seemed to be a somewhat unsafe idea that night when we lit candles in them... paint + candle + plastic cup+ fire...for a procession. We also went swimming and went for a walk. That evening there was a bonfire with singing and dancing and jumping around it. Definitely unique.

There were a lot of worship services. I really liked the music, but discovered more and more as the weekend went on that I definitely have some disagreements with what they were professing.

On Sunday, several people chose to be baptized in the pool there. This was performed in a way I have never witnessed before. All in all, I learned quite a bit and it a one of a kind cultural experience, but something I would not partake in again.

Lima's center

This weekend, I went to the Plaza of Armas with some other exchange students including Annie. It was a lot of fun. We took a tour of the Cathedral of Lima including the catacombs and library. I really like this part of the city and would love to just spend a day sitting in the Plaza and observing all it's activity.

The catacombs were interesting in that there were 3 levels, but contrary to expectations, there were not holes where the bodies had been placed simple rooms and coridors that we could see. This is because years ago, anthropologists ran tests on the bodies that they found and took them apart. They have since been rearranged. Most of them are simply sorted by body part but there were also two wells with fifteen foot diameters of skulls. Very interesting. I came to understand Edgar Allen Poe's Cask of Amontillado a bit better.

Fortunately Annie was pretty sure we were supposed to see the library on the tour so asked about it. They said they'd started us half-way through the tour, so allowed us in to see the library. We decided we should miss half of tours all the time, becasue we were able to spend more time in there and explore a little. It was fun.

It was a very enjoyable day and I got to eat a lot of icecream :) In the morning at the Plaza and in the evening in Miraflores.

Soccer Game

Last night I went to a soccer game: La U (Perú) vs. Bolivia. I took a taxi with 5 other people and it took us 2 hours to get to the stadium. Had I given it much thought beforehand, I probably would have been a little bit more prepared and expected a similar atmosphere, but I didn't so was caught off guard when we arrived.

We ended up getting out of the taxi and going by foot from several blocks away because it was quicker than riding through the heavy traffic. We had to pass through an insane number of people trying to sell us things. When we got to the gates, our tickets were examined to determine whether or not they were "counterfit". Then we went through the rotating doors/gates and were frisked by police officers. They then proceeded to examine the books that we had with us from the university because you can't take anything that can be thrown in with you...meaning no waterbottles (even if empty) and no hair clips. They even took most people's belts, I was fortunate enough to keep mine.

Inside the stadium the crowd was crazy! There were police officer with shields and their other armor stationed every 5 feet in all the walkways/aisles! The fans were screaming, chanting, and jumping. People were lighting off fireworks from in the stands while others were waving enoromous flags. During the game people threw rolls of reciept paper over the fences onto the field. It was definitely an experience.

The game ended in a 0:0 tie. It took us an hour and a half to get home, which was way nearer that the university, because of the traffic. My understanding now is that since this was a game for the Latin American Cup or some such championship tournament, neither team will probably advance to the next round, because they did not score anything.

Ica and it's surroundings

During our break from classes for Semana Santa (Holy Week), 5 friends and I took a trip south of Lima to Ica. We had a great time and it was very relaxing. The weather was much warmer than in Lima, which surprised me since we were moving farther away from the equator, my only idea as to the reason for that is that Ica is not situated quite on the coast as Lima is. Due to the heat, we tended to lack the desire and ambition to do a lot during the afternoons. We stayed at a hostel in Ica, which was a good place to keep our bags but we had quite a few inconveniences and continually had to ask the señora for things. It may not have been a problem had we not gotten off to a bad start with her, but just after we arrived, since there were 6 of us for the 4 person room (since originally only 4 of us had planned on going), she demanded that we pay extra. We were in agreement to pay for the extra people but not at the prices she wanted. She wanted us to pay triple the prices for all 6 people since it was a holiday weekend, but we felt like that was unneccessary especially because we had reserved it and had a contract at a lower price. From there we had to request our breakfast multiple times, to ask for sheets for the beds when we got back to our room and all of our sheets and pillows were gone, and ask for buckets of cold water to shower with since we had no running water in our 4th floor bathroom.

One day we went to Nazca to see the symbols on the desert floor and also the geometric lines. I was surprised when we actually walked up to them to discover that they are not trenches, meerly formed by clearing desert rocks from certain areas to leave patches of ground without rock to make the designs. Although the Nazca lines date back thousands of years, they are not buried because the desert dust is too fine to settle there and cover them. Wandering the desert looking at Inca, Nazca, and Huari ruins was enough to convince each of us that living in the barren desert is not something we would ever like to do. The heat, aridness, and sand/dust were not particularly present. Walking around there gave Jesus's washing of his disciples' feet an entirely new meaning.

That day we also got to go to the home of a man who uses the same techniques of the Nazca to make exact replicas of their pottery by hand. (National Geographic actually did a story on him last year.) Learning about the process of using only natural colors from minerals for paint which will not fade was interesting, but I was especially intrigued to learn that the bristles of his paintbrushes (as those formerly used by the Nazca) which made wonderful smooth and straight lines, are made from the hairs of a child's first hair cut.

We also saw the aqueducts created by the Nasca. They are in the shape of circles spiraling downward. It was dizzying going down towards the bottom to where the water was. Nearby was a cactus farm. Strangely, later that day 4 of us commented how coincidentally, being Good Friday, none of us could stop thinking about Christs crown of thorns as we walked past all the cacti.

Another day we went to Huacachina, a desert oasis. There we went dune buggying and and boarding on the surrounding dunes. I was terrified. I'm glad that I did go down the dunes since I had the opportunity, but it is not something that I feel the desire to ever do again. In the evening we found a quiet place to star gaze and also went and got enormous dishes of icecream for supper.

We also visited Paracas and the Islas Ballestas, also known as the "Poor Man's Galapagos Islands" although I'm sure many islands off of the coast of western South America would like to claim that title. The boat ride to the islands was very enjoyable. We got to see a variety of animals that I had never seen before in the wild including sea lions, penguins, Peruvian Boobies, and a variety of other unique birds. The islands are important to Peru because they are extremely rich in guano.

In Ica we visited a museum of several ancient Peruvian cultures including the Wari, Chimú, Nazca, and Inca. There were many artifacts and mummies. Before departing for the city, we bought supplies and had a picnic, which was something that we all really enjoyed. Now, we're back to classes again.