In the land of swimming cows

I must apologize for having taken a bit of a break from sharing my stories on my blog. Things have been a bit crazy as my semester comes to an end. I have finished my internship with IDEA and sent in my thesis proposal for my professor at American University. I am headed off to La Paz on Thursday for a day trip and then I will be in Lima for the entire following week...having the Turkey Dinner with my fellow Fulbrights and the Ambassador of the US.

After next week, I will begin my interviews and field research at full force! I will be doing a LOT of traveling through the month of January, so please be patient with my entries. They will be spontaneous, but very interesting!

Of course, I need to share with you my weekend visit to the island of Anapia. This took place a few weeks ago, and I have taken forever to finish the entry....but here goes:

Last Thursday I traveled to the border of Peru and Bolivia to spend the weekend on the island of Anapia. Having worked on the child literacy program in conjunction with the director of a local island NGO, I took up his invitation to visit his home.

After a trip that included 2 hours, in a bumpy combi , 3 hours waiting in the market of the town of Yunguyo (and getting pretty unfriendly stares from the women of the city), another half hour bumpy ride and a sloooooow 2 hour boat trip on the village communal boat (with a bag of something that smelled REALLY nasty right in front of me), I arrived to Anapia. To my surprise, my contact, Jose was not waiting for me on the dock. A young girl from the community took me to his house, but it was empty. Turns out, he was still in his chacra (farming field) planting potatoes. The town was empty as everyone was working on the fields. As the sun was setting, I wasn't sure what to do or where to go.

Luckily, the children in the community were very friendly, and one invited me to wait in his home until Jose returned. As it turned out, I was suppose to be greeted by my weekend hostess, Maritza...she had just turned up a bit too late to the dock. Her home was GORGEOUS! The guest room was even more comfortable than my home in Puno. To my suprise, unlike the island of Amantani, there was electricity, running water, toilets, and even a hot shower!

I was truly blown away by the organization, cleanliness, and calm of the community. They have not been overwhelmed by the tourism experience, but instead have prepared and adapted to the presence of small groups of visitors. I was invited to create my own schedule for the weekend...basically I could do whatever I wanted!

So....on Friday, I went with my host, Hidilago, to attend his third grade class at the local school. We had discussed over dinner the previous night the work I had done in Amantani as well as at Concordia. To my surprise, I was invited to teach the class! It was really fun! We did math, reading, and spelling activities. The kids taught me some songs and I shared games and songs from camp with them. They were full of very intruiging questions like, "Why do you write with your left hand?" and "Why does the snow fall in Minnesota?" If anyone has those answers...please let me know because I did my darnest trying to figure out how to explain them!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Saturday, Maritza and I walked to the other side of the island, jumped in one of her friend's row boats, and went to the neighboring island, Yuspiqui. While the community lives in Anapia, they maintain their farming fields in Yuspiqui. I had arrived just in time for the potato planting season. We arrived at Jose's chacra where his wife, son, and daughter were working the land. Maritza and I joined them, breaking the soil and prepping the seeds.

Anapians don't use any chemicals to prep their seeds. They go the natural route....using NATURAL fertilzer. In a bucket, Jose's wife had a lovely mix of vicuña (a wild cousin of the llama) poo and pee. They cover the potatoes with the vicuña salsa (hahaha) and let it sit out in the sun.

After prepping the potatos we had lunch (I swear I doused my hands in that sanitizer lotion). Lunch was a blanket full of boiled potatoes, chuño, and fried eggs. Maritza, worried about my Westerness, had brought everything except the kitchen sink....silverware, plates, the salt shaker, and even the tea cups and saucers. In the end, though, we ate just like Jose's family...picking at the potatoes with our hands. Lunch was finished off with a cup of tea and chewing some coca leaves. Jose taught me how to bless the potatoes "so that they will grow bigger than my head" and thank the Pachamama (Mother Earth) for her help in their fields.

With the help of two oxen, we finished planting the potatoes in the fields. I was in charge of dropping the potato seeds into the open earth. They instructed me to place each potato a foot-length apart. In reality, I had to place them about a half a foot-length apart...my feet are a bit longer than that of the women in the island.

Once we had finished dropping the poo covered potatoes into the ground, Maritza and I took off in search of a ride home to Anapia. We finally found one boat that was about to depart. They asked us to meet them about a half mile down the island where their cows were waiting for them. Cows waiting? Alright....I hope you are ready for this:

One of the boat's passangers helped us onto the boat and then began pushing the cows towards the water. That's right, cow's swim. The two hephers were great swimmers, nor did they seem too happy. Their bellies floated about the rest of their bulk and their eyes scanned wildly. I felt really bad for them, and to be honest was a bit worried they would tip the boat! Still, they made the 20 minute swim to Anapia. So now I think I know the true way to make ice cream (yuck, yuck!)