What happened to september?

It has been a VERY eventful and busy two months since I have last updated my blog. You may (or may not) have been wondering what I’ve been up to, so here is my best attempt at an update, although one blog is not nearly enough for two months worth of Peace Corps adventures.

First, my parents came! They spent 17 days in Perú with me, including 3 days in my site of Tomas. I’m pretty sure they had a good time, and if not they at least had a few out of the ordinary adventures. For example, riding in a taxi (which we had rented for the day) and the driver picking up a few more passengers so that we wouldn’t feel lonely. How kind of him as we cruised on the mountain roads with 8 passengers in a Toyota Corolla wagon. We ate Ceviche (raw, delicious seafood), alcapa meat, some Peruvian fruits, and even McDonald’s (happy birthday dad!)

We visited Machu Picchu, which really is one of the seven wonders of the world. We saw some other Incan Archeological sites, some great waterfalls and mountains, and even did a three day stint in the jungle. In the jungle we were welcomed by tarantulas, spider monkeys, red howler monkeys, caiman (alligator family), a variety of birds and butterflies, and a the largest rodent in the world, the capybara.

After the wonderful visit from my parents, my friend Heather came to visit, which again was another incredible week. We did some work in my site of Tomas, including my English club with high school students, worked with a group of moms in the tree nursery, and did some general Peace Corps schmoozing with the local Tomasinos, who were all excited to meet her. Overall, it was a blast to have Heather here and it was great for my town to get to know another American.

Work wise things have never been busier. A high school science teacher has been away for a few weeks with appendicitis/ appendix removal surgery. I, as the most qualified member of the community and by far the most interested, have been teaching his share of the classes of (C.T.A., or Ciencias, Tecnología y Ambiente, or high school science and environment classes). It has been fun to get more time than normal with the students, although the fact that I have no written curriculum has been quite the challenge. Not to worry, because I have my St. Olaf liberal arts education to help me overcome this challenge. Thanks black and gold!

In our community tree nursery things are advancing nicely. We have over 4,000 tree saplings in plastic bags, including Pine, Eucalyptus, Queñal (an endemic Peruvian species), and Tara (another Peruvian species). Some will be ready to plant this December/January when the rains begin more frequently, and others will wait until Dec. 2010. I won’t even be here to plant those in 2010, how quickly time flies.

During the last 2 months, here are some brief events that don’t need much explanation.
1. I got 5 stitches in one toe on my left foot.
2. I’ve completed one year in Peru. As of now, less than 14 months to go (is that enough time to get my projects done?)
3. Travel continues to be dangerous, as a mini van on its way to my town fell into the river and 11 people died (including 3 from my town).
4. I became an Uncle! Elsa Jean Lee was born on October 3. Can I get a shout out to Liz and Tippy for that!
5. Last night I watched the first half of Monday Night Football here in Tomas, Vikings vs. Packers, because I talked to the municipality about changing one of our two channels on the Direct TV satellite. They gave me from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. It was amazing…

Well, that is what I remember as of right now, although I’m sure I’m missing a few things. I hope that all is going well stateside, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed this update!

Peace

Jared

Now, for your viewing enjoyment

Mom and Dad eating "Pollo a la Brasa", a Peruvian treat.

The Yauyos volunteers at a training in Lambayeque

Doing some tree nursery work with the Mother's Club

Dad and I at the Parque de la Indentidad in Huancayo

Parque de la Reserva in Lima. Great lights and fountains.

My two families combined in one picture. Great.

My parents and I exploring around an alpine lake in Yauyos. (near where I live)

Cruisin' in a jungle canoe.

Machu Picchu with the family. Christmas picture?

15,584 Feet

The last week in July is a holiday here in Peru, as the 27th and 28th are independence days. Peace Corps Volunteers are given this week as vacation, so I took advantage of this (along with a group of other volunteers) and we headed to the department of Ancash, the home of Peru’s largest and the worlds largest tropical mountain, Huascarán. I spent a few days in the capital city of Huaraz, enjoying great food and spending time with other volunteers, then I headed into Parque Nacional Huascarán for 3 days of backpacking with a 3 others.

Huaraz itself is nice, has restaurants suited catered for foreigners (I even ate Thai food!), and is surrounded by the beautiful snowcapped Cordillera Blanca. We visited a hot springs, I got to go indoor rock climbing, and spent a day preparing for our backpacking adventure.

But early on the third morning, we let the real adventure begin as we headed into one of Peru’s most famous national parks (Huascarán National Park was founded with the help of PCV’s in the 1970’s).

The crew was Fletcher, Frieda, Lil’ Ryan, and myself. We had all we needed for food, we rented a tent and a stove, and one of us even got some sweet hiking poles (the oldest and wisest member of the group, Fletcher. Although the poles actually take a lot of strain off your knees). Ready for anything, we headed for the famous (although overly crowded) Santa Cruz Trek. Unlike most tourists, we didn’t rent donkeys, cooks or guides to help us at the high altitude, but we just took everything on our backs and headed out.

The first day was an easy 13 Km or so, which was gradually up hill. We camped next to a glacial stream within a Queñal forest (an Andean tree, which is endangered). W woke up with frost on the tents, but all was well. After a granola breakfast and some coffee (or hot water, depending on preference), we were off to a tougher day than any of us had imagined.

The second morning began with a fairly technical, if not intimidating stream crossing on a wet log. It took about 30 minutes to get everyone and all the gear across safely, but we weren’t worried about time (although we should have been). We were hiking at a good pace, and soon we were above 4,000 meters above sea level (13,000 feet). The trail was easy to follow, but soon the altitude began to affect some of us.

We were still making good time, but sometime around before lunch we lost the trail. We knew were we needed to go, but the off trail hiking, over wet, swampy ground, was tiring. We eventually got back on the trail, but by this time it was late afternoon, and we still had a good distance to get to Punta Union, the highest point on the trek at 4,750 meters above sea level (15,584 ft).

With some iron will and some rest stops, we made it up to the point at 5:20 p.m. The sun was still up, but not for long, and we had a long way to go before we would be at a feasible camping spot. We took a little break at the point to take a video and some photos, and we started the descent. The urgency of the situation was starting to kick in, because that altitude gets pretty cold without sun. We were making good time descending, but a little night hiking was certainly in order.

At about 7:15, 45 minutes into the night, we reached a camping spot. We set up the tents, started making dinner, and tried to rehydrate to get rid of the headaches we all had by this point. Altitude, exhaustion, and thirst were all compounding to make us feel pretty miserable. It was still incredible though, as all around us were glaciers and we could occasionally hear avalanches (although we were out of their range). We finished up dinner, and went straight to sleep.

We rose early on the third and final day of the trip to get back to Huaraz to catch our buses that night. We had no idea how much trail we still had in front of us, but we knew it was all downhill, a welcomed change from the day before. The Santa Cruz Trek is 50 Km, and during the first two days, due to our off trail side trip, we still have about 25 Km to go. We were making good time, until the final descent began to wear on our knees and feet under the weight of our packs. The last few kilometers took more time than expected, and we finished the trek around 5:00. It was good to be done, and head back to civilization.

Despite the difficulty of the trek (which many people do in 4 days instead of 3), it was worth it to see some incredible mountains, lakes, streams, and spend time in nature with some good friends. As my former boss told me while rafting on a snowy Montana spring day, “if it was easy, everyone would do it”. This is exactly how I felt upon completion, that I had accomplished something and I had a great time while doing it.

The plaza in Huaraz, with the Cordillera Blanca in the background.

Who wouldn't be this excited about trail mix?

Frost on the tents!

Hiking up to Punta Union

Me with the mountain Huascarán in the background.

15,584 feet above sea level

The whole group made it! Notice the trekking poles?

The view from our second campsite

Making the long trek downhill the last day

Emerald Lakes. It is better in real life.

Nothing in more American than the 4^th of July. It’s a fun, festive, and of course, free time for Americans all over the world. In Perú, though, the 4^th doesn’t mean much in my small town of Tomas, Yauyos. Therefore, I took advantage of this weekend to see a new part of the Reserva Paisajística Nor Yauyos Cochas, and visited the town of Vilca. Although Vilca isn’t any more patriotic than Tomas, but it is one of the most incredibly gorgeous places I’ve seen up close and personal.

Sarah and I (my fellow PC friend who also stayed in Yauyos for the 4^th) went on a 3 day/2 night backpacking adventure to visit Vilca, a lake called Papacocha, and a forest of queñuales (a native Andean tree). What we found were breathtaking views and up close experiences with birds, waterfalls, trees, and even a local dog.

I don’t have much to write about Vilca, because the pictures and videos speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Trying to look tough on the road between Huancaya and Vilca

Dead, down and dry! Firewood in Vilca.

Sarah at a pool in Vilca

Some Quenales and the dry waterfalls in the background.

Some beautiful mossy waterfalls in Vilca

Who's excited to play in the waterfalls? This guy!

Looking pensive above the lake and quenal forest.

The tiny little town of Vilca...look at that river.

Cooking by the fire.

The evening colors, camping in a pasture on the side of a mountain.

Lake Papacocha and the beginning of the quenal forest.

A little video taken at the waterfalls of Vilca.

Let's get ready for Christmas!

You might be wondering why we’re getting ready for Christmas in Tomas, because it is only July. No, it isn’t because we’re in the Southern hemisphere and everything is the opposite time of the year. Actually, when your Christmas party is a 4 day event with free food for 2000 people, it takes a lot of prep work. So here, on July 1st, we began to collect fire wood to cook at the big event.

This event, called the “Saca Leña”, which means “firewood take”, is an old tradition here in Tomas. The tradition has changes a lot of the years, basically due to accessibility to a chainsaw, but it is still a big family event. It used to be that the entire family would spend an entire day walking the mountains collecting firewood, hence the name, but now it has changed to cutting down one or two big trees and splitting and collecting the wood. My “great uncle” is one of the sponsors of the Christmas party this year, so all of my family was helping with the task of bringing and preparing all the firewood.

We started the day with a “mote” breakfast. Basically, it is a soup that has alpaca and corn, and is pretty tasty. Then, we all headed to my family’s garage/house to split a giant Eucalyptus tree that had been cut down the day before. We started working with axes, stakes and sledgehammers, and pry bars to split the massive tree. There were a lot of people working in a very small area, but amazingly nobody lost any fingers or toes. After some time working, we took a break where they started to pass around the beer, caña (gross, hard liquor), and coca leaves. I don’t particularly like the idea of getting a little buzzed while working with tools that could easily take a finger, hand, or eye, but nobody really seemed to notice that mixing these things was a bad idea. After the break we continued as before, although I was working a little more precaution.

The day ended with the splitting of a second tree, although much smaller than the first, and after a quick lunch I went to my regular Wednesday afternoon soccer game. This week was also special though…we got jerseys!

I play in a league that has 4 teams, the Municipality, Tomas Youth, the High School team, and my team, the Teachers. The teachers decided that uniforms are a good idea, since all the other teams have them. A teacher organized the whole thing and for 22 soles (about $7.33) we got a jersey, shorts, and socks. They even have our names on the chest. Everyone used their last name, except me, because having “Jared” on my shirt helps with the pronunciation of my name more the “Brandell”.

The other interesting thing that happened before the game was we had a special presentation by the Priest. We have a Priest in Tomas 4 days a week, and he teaches Religion classes as well as leading the Catholic Mass. So before we donned our new jerseys, the Priest blessed them and sprinkled them with water. It is certainly the first blessed item that I have. I can’t say it did nothing though, because we did win for the first time in 4 weeks…

Life is continuing to go well. I’ve got a camping trip planned for the 4th of July, although it won’t be anything like a weekend at the lake. My work is keeping me busy and as a community we are advancing with a few environmental projects, such as our Tree Nursery. I’m enjoying my time in Tomas, and the days go by so fast! My next 17 months will certainly fly by!

And now some random pictures of my life...

My good friend Luis in our Magisterio (teachers) soccer jerseys.

Some of the teachers and the mayor, after the uniforms were blessed.

Choppin' some wood.

On Father's day, the dads all received jackets from the municipality.

Taking a break from chopping wood, why not chew some coca leaves? (I didn't)

My host dad (left), and some other community members watching the father's day performances by the students.

I've been traveling...

Time has been flying by here in Perú. I’ve been busy with my work, traveling to meetings, and project development training sessions with some members of my community. Everything has been going very well, although the traveling is tiring (often 8 to 12 hours on a bus at a time). Now I’m back in Tomas for at least 2 weeks before I head to the coast for another meeting, and I’m excited to take advantage of this time in my community to really get moving on my projects.
A lot has happened in the last 3 weeks, but here are some of the highlights. Some of them are quite interesting, others not so much. But nonetheless, I hope you enjoy!

Last regional meeting on the coast:
Each month I head down from the mountains to the coast to attend a regional meeting with all the voluteers in the area. These are important to not only cover important business, but also to get refreshed by spending some time with other volunteers. But our May meeting brought a few little surprises.
The first, is that the coast (winter in the Southern Hemisphere), which was once a hot desert, is now a cloudy, dreary, cool place. It kind of takes the fun out of going. The other surprise, is that the only bus company that travels from the coast to my region of Yauyos changed it schedule, and no longer goes to Yauyos on Mondays. While trying to buy tickets and being confused about the new schedule change, I pointed out to the desk attendant that the schedule on the wall clearly says Mondays it goes to Yauyos…apparently there is no such thing as a false advertising law in Perú.

Training sessions with the Park Guards of the Reserva Paisajística Nor Yauyos Cochas:
So I work with park guards of the Landscape Reserve within which I live. At the end of each month there are 2 days of training for the Park Guards, and this month I was asked to give a session on Env. Ed. The park guards are all from within the Reserva, so even though they are park guards their env. ed is about the same as every other person who lives here…which isn’t much. I decided to give a talk on Global Climate Change, because that term gets used a lot, in a lot of interesting situations.
The talk was going well, with about half the guards sleeping and the other half listening intently and asking questions. After I finished talked and asked for a few more questions, things got a little interesting.
Questions where being asked about every environmental subject I could think of. From pollution spreading from a mining town 6 hours away, about effects climate change has on our water, and my favorite, when I was asked about acid rain but my spanish failed me and I thought the question was about Asian rains. (“Asia” and “ácida” are very similar in pronunciation). I had a good laugh about it later, although for some reason the Peruvians didn’t think it was that funny. Maybe they just expect me to make language mistakes?

And the big shebang, traveling to the city of Chiclayo for Project Development training with a group of park guards and all the other Environmental Volunteers:
This training, called PDM, is a Peace Corps run training session, and it’s a chance to develop projects with people you work with. Chiclayo, though, is about a 24 hour journey from Tomas, so the 4 day training was really an 8 day trip. The training was fine, although working with 3 park guards to write a project proposal is quite a difficult task. Until now I’ve taken for granted all the group work I did as a student in the U.S., but I realized that if you’ve never worked with a group on a project, things move frustratingly slow. In the end, we developed a good project to manage the garbage at every Guard Post in the Reserva. So I hope we can actually implement it.
Our last day of training we went with the park guards to National Protected Forest, Bosque Nacional Pomac. This is an incredible place. It is a dry forest of algarroba trees, which are similar to Mesquite trees in the Southwest U.S. The area looks like a desert, but it is covered in green trees. The trees survive with a 25 meter tap root (that’s really deep) and they grow during the rains that come every 10 years with El Niño. There are also pyramids from an ancient society, the Sican, which ended about 700 years ago. It was neat, to say the least.

That is quite the lengthy blog update, so thanks to those who read the whole thing! Now something for your viewing pleasure.

The group of park guards with PC volunteers with a giant Algorroba tree in the background.

The dry forest, with a pyramid in the background.

This is what i look like now...incase you forget during the last 9 months.

A traditional Sicán dress, along with all the park guards and PC volunteers.

A completely random picture, of a night i made BBQ beef and mashed potatoes with my friend and co-worker, Cate.

Construction complete of a micro landfill with the 9th graders.

Just getting landfill construction underway.

Census Time…and call me coach!

Recently I was asked to help with a biodiversity census within the Reserva Paisajística Nor Yauyos Cochas (the landscape reserve I live in). A team of biologists came from Lima to count plants, insects, and identify new species within the Reserva. This census involved traveling to the upper regions of a few districts, and focused on Queñal forests, an endangered Andean tree.

My job throughout most of this was to count plants of a certain species within a certain quadrant, and to help the Limeños carry their stuff up and down the mountains. It was a little funny and ironic that the foreigner was the one carrying the equipment, and the Peruvians were the ones having problems with the altitude, but I guess that’s what happens after five and a half months of acclimation in the mountains. The counting plants isn’t too fun, but it was fun to look for different species of plants and to see many new parts of the Reserve within which I live. Also I tasted and learned about many medicinal plants, and I even hiked to about 5,000 meters above sea level. Overall, a fun experience that took me to many places no gringo has gone before!

In other Yauyos news, one of my new activities is helping to coach the high school soccer team. In July there is a tournament in which every high school of the area participates to take home a trophy, and especially bragging rights. It may seem funny that a gringo is the one coaching soccer in a Latin country, but it turns out there are a lot of basic skills that I can help with as the “Técnico Americano”.

My main role as coach is to improve the fitness aspect of the team. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday we are up and running at 5:30 a.m (a time I did NOT choose). It is still dark at this hour, but the boys get up and running almost right on time. We run for about 45 minutes and then my “expertise” comes into play. We stretch. Stretching is something that many Tomasinos are unaware of. We are learning the importance and correct techniques, as a team, and the kids enjoy it. Then we do push-ups and sit-ups. It is hilarious to listen to the boys yell and complain about the workout, although afterward they tell me how fun it was. I hope that our fitness and strength training will give Tomas the edge in the July tourney, because it would be fun to take home the championship.

Life continues to move quickly (and sometimes productively) here in Tomas. I’ve been in Perú more than 8 months now, and I don’t know where the time is going…

And now, a few pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Flowers of a Colle tree, an endangered species that is native to this part of the Andes.

My Park Guard friend Marisol. Being a Park Guard is a full time job, so you take advantage and sleep anytime you can, including in the back of a VERY bumpy pickup ride.

Measuring Colle trees. These trees are endangered and are tough to grow. These giants must be 200 years old (seriously, these are old)

The gelatin like substance of the Potaka plant. It is medicinal, and supposedly helps the liver. Not much flavor, so I recommend that next time you're eating Potaka you add sugar.

A grove of Potaka, with the biologists. As is custom, everyone is sporting their vests.

In a Queñual Forest, with a biologist and two park guards. Notice that I also have a vest. It is from SERNANP, or the Servicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas (park service). Both practical, and sporty. Certainly a trend i'll try and bring back to the States.

Off to the Races...

Upon entering Tomas from the East, there is a large arch that is made up of two large boots and topped with a horse being ridden by a jockey. When first arriving I wondered why the quaint little town of Tomas had such items on their welcome arch, but soon it all became clear to me. So, without further adieu I would like to welcome you all to the festival that is Tomas, the Carrera de Caballos, or Horse Races.

Every year the first weekend of May is a celebration in Tomas. This festival involves a Futblito (6 on 6 soccer on a basketball court sized cement field) tournament, a full field soccer tournament, a volleyball tournament, and on Sunday culminates with horse races. I had heard of these tournaments months ago when asking why there was a horse on our welcome arch, but finally the time came to experience it for myself.

Friday morning, May 1^st started a little different than most days. There were no classes because all the teachers had gone to Huancayo (a big city about 3 ½ hours away) the day before to collect their monthly paychecks (as is custom for the last day of any month). Usually when the there are no classes the people head out to their animals, but this Friday was different. Tomas was full of hustle and bustle, including the arrivals of many Tomasinos from Lima and Huancayo. Despite the arrivals of everyone, the tourneys didn’t start until the usual Peruvian hour, which is a few hours after the scheduled time. Oh yeah, and we had to wait for the Cock Fight tournament before we could play soccer. (Don’t worry, they stop the fights if they get too out of hand, so roosters don’t get too beat up. Although I still found it pretty distasteful)

I played with the Magisterio, or the teachers of Tomas. I usually end up on their team because I work with them a lot and they’re some of my best friends. Unfortunately, we don’t win, as is our usual, but it was fun nonetheless.

Saturday morning saw the arrival of Brad, Sarah and Cate, the 3 other volunteers I’m clustered with in the Yauyos region (and the only volunteers within 8 hours). We ate some Pachamanca (alpaca meat cooked on hot rocks, all buried underground), then in the afternoon came the big event of the day, the soccer tournament.

As a member of the Community of Tomas, it was only right that I play for one of the two teams my town had. I ended up playing with Oriente Andino, a team whose player base is a large family with many brothers and a few cousins from Tomas. I got to play forward, and when I score the first goal of the game (off of a crossed ball that I just had to put in the net) the crowd went wild. Being the only gringo that lives in Tomas and still the newest member of the community, the crowd thinks it is a pretty big deal that I play soccer. It was quite the moment. We ended up getting second in the tournament, although it would have been nice to win and get that Bull that was the first place prize.

Sunday, though, was the main event. After a breakfast of pancakes (which turned out great, even though it was our first time making pancakes in Peru), we (me and the other volunteers) made the 20 minute trek to the small pasture of Siria. We arrived and the band was already playing (the same music as the previous 2 days), and we waited for the races to begin. The races are about a quarter mile, and they run 2 horses at a time. It is kind of scary to watch, because most riders are young kids without any kind of safety equipment, and these horses are going fast. We watched the races with a group of health post workers (our good friends), and, of course, ate more Alpaca meat Pachamanca.

It was a fun weekend that helped me to really understand why we have a horse on top of our welcome arch…I’m still a little unsure about the boots, but I’ve got 18 ½ months to figure that out.

The Archway entering Tomas. Nice boots, nice horse.

The Band. All your favorite Huayno Classics! That's my good friend Luis giving the thumbs up at bass drum.

Myself, Sarah, former Tomas Doctor Brigette, Cate, and Brad with a little pre-race fun.

Sarah, herself a horseback rider, taking one of my neighbor's horses for a little trot. Fortunately, she didn't race (because that is scary!)