highway turned race track

This past week I took a break from Puno and travelled to Arequipa with my arqueologist friend, Amanda. We met Benito, a co-worker from Concordia Language Villages, who just arrived to Peru in order to work on my Amantani literacy project over the next few months. Since Benito was getting used to the altitude (11,000 ft. in Arequipa), we decided to take advantage his condition and spend an additional day in the white city. The plan was to travel to Puno on the 10am bus the following day, Friday. But, of course, it's Peru and things never go as planned, and so I share with you yet another story:

The bus left on schedule at 10:00 am. I assumed things would go smoothly, especially as the bus was more than half full with tourists. We got about 30 minutes outside of Arequipa, on the hot, dessert outskirts of the city, when the bus was pulled over by the highway police.

No announcement was made by the driver, so initially we just waited. Benito and I could see that there were some angry Peruvians getting out of a bus in front of us. So, after about 10 minutes another American sitting near us went down to the bus driver to see what is happening. As it turns out, they had closed the highway between Arequipa and Cuzco for the Inca Path Road Race...an annual car race throughout the country. As luck (??) would have it we'd just happened to be on the route of the race that day. We were told we'd be holding from then (11:00) until around 2pm...maybe 3pm. In Peruvian that means 4pm...maybe 5pm!!!!!!!!! That meant, instead of getting into Puno around 3pm we'd arrive, at the earliest, 9pm or 10pm!!!!

The idea of being stuck on the bus on the edge of the city of Areqiupa that long...with about 4 pieces of bread, 5 clementines, and a bottle of water didn't sound great.

I called one of Qiqe's good friends who we'd seen the day before, Giorgio, and asked him if he thought we could get our tickets refunded for the next day. He said not to worry, stay put, and he'd call me back in 5 minutes. He returned the call, telling me how he had pretended to be our tour agent (his family runs 2 hotels and a tour agency) and yelled at the bus company. The bus company claimed they had warned all their passengers about the road blockage, and therefore would not hold themselves accountable.

Of course, we were not told about the road race...or the fact that it meant the entire highway would be closed all day. Seriously...who in their right mind would say, okay, I'll buy the ticket for 10am anyways and sit on the highway until 3 or 4ish!?!??! Strikes, road blocks, etc. never are good for transportation services. Instead of taking the high road (figuratively speaking) and being straightforward with their clients, these companies sell their tickets to make money and leave their clients stranded...literally.

We were not about to sit under the hot sun, so we got off the AC-less bus, requested the driver remove our bags from the storage unit, and grabbed the first taxi we saw to take us back to the city (for a total of 8 soles). Two quite intelligent, non-Spanish speaking German tourists approached us and asked if they could tag along. So, we found a second taxi and were off to the bus terminal. Giorgio, bless his soul, was studying for a test in his pijamas and quickly got changed and grabbed a cab from his house to meet us in the terminal. While he demanded our tickets be replaced for the following day, I called the hostal we stayed at the evening before and booked 3 rooms.

Our tickets were replaced, at no charge for the following day, the hostal gave us the rooms at a nice discount, and we spent the afternoon on the Plaza de Armas sipping coffee and reading instead of baking in the sun in a hot bus. It was, by far, our favorite day in Arequipa on the trip. Moral of the story: when in Peru...know what's going on on the social front, be proactive so that you don't get burned by inconsiderate tourism players, and plan a few days extra in case you get stuck on the side of the road as a highway is converted into a race track.

Getting back to work

Okay, I know, it's been a REALLY long time since I've posted something on this page. I wish to extend my sincerest apologizes to those who have continuously read my blog. You are probably wondering what happened to me since the last post MONTHS ago...let me just help you catch up:

-June and July were INSANE! Talk about your high tourism season! The restaurant was PACKED day and night! We were short one cook, so Qiqe was busy in the kitchen and I was upstairs trying to manage the overflow of customers. 13-14 hour days did not make it easy to sit in front of a computer to blog!

-The last time I posted on my blog I was extremely excited to be a legal resident. Sad to say, I was a bit premature in my celebration. Coming back to Puno from Bolivia, I still had quite a bit of bureaucratic....I'll try to keep this p.c. for the kids....hoopla to go through. Not fun. After more trips to the bank in Puno, getting my dental record checked with tools that I am pretty sure were never sanitized between patiences, more pictures, more waiting in line I was FINALLY given the okay to go to Lima to pick up my foreigner ID.

So, in Lima it only took another 2 weeks (after an amazing trip home with Qiqe to see my family) to get the okay first from INTERPOL...and the US FBI, and migrations. I will spare you all those details....because seriously, I could write a book on this whole experience. I would probably title it "Go Illegal or Go Get Married: saving time, money, and sanity...cuz legalization in Peru just ain't worth it".

Now that I am back in Puno, things are quite different. Qiqe is in Lima starting his first semester in Cordon Bleu. I can't wait to see him and have him cook for me! He loves it but has an incredibly busy workload.

Ursula, his sister, has taken over the administration of the restaurant, which has allowed me to focus more time and energy on the quinoa project and other social endeavours in the city. I invite you all to keep up with my work on my new sister blog www.samka-puno.blogspot.com where I am managing information for the project. Until we get funding to design a website, this blog will serve to provide information on our project.

This blog will be a bit more informal....a bit more check-out-this-crazy-experience to keep you all entertained on the ridiculousness of my life here among the Aymaras.

:) I will do my best to get back on track with my story-telling!

Legal residency...FINALLY

In mid-March Qiqe's dad was pushing us to start the application process for my worker's residency visa. "You don't want to wait until the last minute to deal with a bunch of problems," he warned us. What none of us realized at the time was that the whole process would be quite a problem.

I arrived to Peru on February 27th (the plane touched down right at 12:01....happy birthday to me!) on a tourist visa, providing me 90 days of residence in the country. After 90 days, I would need to leave Peru, enter a different country, and then re-enter Peru to revalidate my 90 days on a new tourist visa. To simply live in this country, this process does not present any legal problems...

...but, of course, things are never that simple. First of all, it is a tad expensive to move between countries every 90 days. Before Evo Morales took office in Bolivia, this situation was much easier. La Paz is a mere 6 hour drive from Puno, and many foreigners take advantage of the border to renew their visa. For Americans, though, the new policy of "reciprocity" has complicated the situation. Due to the strict migration policies of the USA, countries like Bolivia, Brazil and Chile have implemented a visa process for Americans who wish to travel to their countries. They all require US citizens to pay more than $100 dollars to apply for a visa.

Bolivia went above and beyond this requirement by presenting six or seven requirements for US tourists, including demonstrating economic solvency (they request a copy of your credit card!!!) Because I knew I'd have to visit Bolivia at least once in the coming year, I did apply and receive a Bolivian visa while I was still in D.C. It was a pain, but at least it was one less issue to worry about once I was in Peru. The biggest downfall is that the visa only allows you to enter Bolivia three times a year for a period of five years with a limit of 90 days per year!

Another reason that I need a work visa in order to, well, work! The benefit of having a worker's visa allows me to receive an income and live in Peru for up to two years without having to leave the country. Plus, it resolves any concerns that observers may have of my presence in the restaurant. The last thing I would want to do is cause problems for Qiqe, his family, or their business!

And so the process of applying for my workers visa began...and let me give you a summary of the ridiculous steps we had to take over a period of a month and a half:

**please note here that there is no written explanation or process to actually explain HOW to do all this...and each time we did one process we normally had to wait 30 minutes to speak with someone**

-go to the Ministery of Labor and present ourselves to the director who would okay the visa...just a quick "hi" to find out how to begin

-go to Migration Office to request the form required for a foreigner to sign a contract

-go to bank, wait in line to pay 20 dollars and 27 soles to the Migration Office

-return to Migration Office with bank payment slip

-go to photocopy center to make copies of passport, bank payment slip, and form

-return to Migration Office and receive form to sign contract

-go to Ministry of Labor with form to find out what forms, paperwork is needed

-create contract, print off diploma, fill out 4-5 other additional paper work needed

-return to Ministry of Labor to be told that we need three copies of each document, signed by notary

-go to notary to have papers signed...after hunting down three different lawyers on two days because they all take lunch breaks from 12-4pm!!!!!

-return to Ministry of Labor and be told that we needed to have three separate folders for each set of papers

-get folders, go back to Ministry of Labor

-go to bank to make similar payment to Ministry of Labor

-return to Ministry of Labor with bank slip

-go to Photocopy center to make copies of bank slip and signed document by Ministry of Labor

-return to Migrations Office with signed documents by Ministry of Labor

-go to bank to make another payment (I'm still unclear why we had to pay them again)

-return to Migrations Office....here begins the wait up to 45 minutes to speak to anyone, and most of the time they aren't doing anything in the office!

-go to Photocopy center to make copies of bank slip, signed documents by Ministry of Labor

-return to Migration Office to send materials to Lima for approval.

This was done on April 14th. We were told to come the first week of May to hear when we could go to La Paz to pick up the visa.

-First week of May, no word from Lima

-Second week of May, still no word. Some of my friends recommended that I pay off the staff with some cash to make the process speed up. I refused to sink that low.

Luckily, it turned out that Qiqe's mom was friends with the director of Migrations...get this....the director of Migration's mother use to sell them contraband televisions and other electronics. Oh the irony. Anyways, Qiqe's mom and I went into the office to meet the director. Enjoy the following dialogue:

Director of Migrations "Rosa! How are you? It's been so long since I have seen you."
Rosa "It is good to see you too. Congratulations on the position..."
(additional small talk)
Director of Migrations "I didn't know that this was your case...I will make sure it goes through tomorrow"
Rosa "Please do...Laura only has a few days left here with her visa, and we really would like to get things in place as soon as possible."
Director of Migrations "Of course"
Rosa "Yes, she is working with us now. She is my son's girlfriend"
Director of Migrations "Oh that is wonderful! You know, Laura, you two could just get married and this would go much faster"
(moment in which my face turns BRIGHT red and I somehow forget to speak Spanish)

We thank the director, and leave...and wait...and wait....until I can't wait any longer, and I have to leave Peru because my tourist visa is almost up. So Enrique and I take a day off to go to Bolivia, and return the following day to renew my tourist visa.
(the pictures are from our break in La Paz....one of my favorite cities in Latin America by the way!!!)




Four days later we get the call that my visa has been approved! FINALLY. Now, I just have to return to Bolivia in the coming week, obtain my visa from the Consulate of Peru in La Paz and come back into Peru.

So, ugh, yeah...gotta love Latin American bureaucracy!

Introductions

It has been unseasonably cold the past week. Needless to say, it was a bit difficult to wake up at 5:30 am and leave the comfort of 4 wool blankets, 1 fleece, and a hot water bag. Still, I managed to get up, put on two pair of pants, two sweaters, my winter jacket, my hat, my gloves, and my sunscreen. Qiqe and I were on the bus a little after 6am and rode out to Juli to meet up with Nico and Oscar of the NGO, Centro-IRPA, the local organization behind our new project.

We jumped into Nico's truck and headed out to our first visit of the morning in the community of Anchoaqui, in the District of Huacullani, of the Province of Chucuito (a.k.a- middle of nowhere rural Puno.) Our guest was a relative of Nico, which may play a key factor in making the project work in this sector.

Over the next hour, we spoke with two locals about the production of quinoa. Currently, they produce an adequate amount of quinoa and even in a year of difficult weather, for their family's needs. They are even able to salvage a few kilos of the grain for sales on a good year. Generally, though, they produce a more bitter version of the quinoa which requires additional washing, and is not as appetizing as the white, or sweet quinoa.

For the needs of the restaurant, we explained that they would have to harvest a specific strand of white quinoa called “Sajama” because it is a larger and sweeter grain that is easier for recipes like taboule, quinoto, and other salads. The two farmers expressed a bit of concern because sweet quinoa often falls victim to hungry birds that inhabit the area. We all shared a laughed as Nico joked that the community was afraid of birds. But he did question if they used any tactics to scare the birds off like scarecrows or netting. The farmers commented that this was never done, so it gives us all hope that a different method may help protect the sweet quinoa.

We spoke a bit more about the local human, socio-economic and technical farming production realities of the community. The population lives in extreme poverty. There is no medical center in the region and only one school for 60 children who are taught by 2 teachers (3 grade levels taught per teacher).

What I found to be completely shocking was the price at which they currently sell their quinoa grain. An arrobaor about 6.5 kilos sells for about 15-18 soles (that’s about .60 cents of a sole per kilo!) In the local market in Puno, quinoa grain sells up to 8 soles a kilo. We still need to do the math with the NGO as well as consider a more adequate payment for the quinoa, as to not overwhelm the expectations of the producers at the onset of our work.

Next, we set off towards Lake Titicaca. Nico said to save time we would cross one of the hilltops, which Qiqe and I thought he was just saying as a joke…but literally….we took this crazy path and drove over a small mountain. It was like being in a ford truck commercial…and his truck is, seriously, like a rock.

After another 45 minute drive we arrived in the lakeshore community of Isani in the district of Zepita. If the project works here, it is an ideal spot to conduct agro-tourism as it is situated right between the border towns of Yunguyo and Desaguaderos.

The wind from the lake felt so cold that we hoped to convince the farmer we had come to meet to meet in the truck. He really wanted us to come speak in his house, which in this case meant in the yard of his house. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

This meeting proved to be a bit more apprehensive and uncertain. The community currently does not produce a great deal of quinoa as it holds less purchasing power in the local markets compared to beans, potatoes, and barley. Still, the farmer was open to the opportunity and will invite another five farmers to participate in the effort.

With both communities, we are set to meet with all the interested farmers and begin discussion of the project in late June. The day was long, but extremely productive, and we are all quite hopeful for its development. Next up, Nico and I have a lot of work to edit the project and start seeking out financial support for the effort!

An Education in Tourism

We woke up at 6:30 to start packing the box lunches. The tour bus picked us up at 8:00 and we were on our way to Atuncolla, a small community outside of the Sillustani Funeral Temples (about 45 minutes away from Puno.)

It seemed like a normal tourist outing, but in reality, the big yellow tour bus of All Way Travel hauled out a special group of passengers: Nina Fogelman, Director of Ancient Summer Enterprises, Inc., Mery Calderón, Director of Kuoda Tours Agency, Victor Pauca, Manager of All Ways Travel, Jeny Juño, President of the Chamber of Hotels and Owner of Kusillos Posada Hostal, her son, Gerson, Enrique, and myself.

The bus was also hosted boxes of story books, encyclopedias, and a bookshelf. The purpose of the trip was to inaugurate a new approach to tourism, connecting tourists with locals, and both parties to education with the objective of supporting the educational potential rural youth. The tourism project is based on the curriculum that Victor and I developed during my first months here as a Fulbright. Now, it seems, our dream is becoming a reality. Victor, Mery, and Nina are very committed to supporting the development of social conscientious tourism that promote local, culturally sensitive development in the rural communities of Puno. Nina brought together a very gracious donation of books and shelves. All three are hopeful that their clients will be interested in participating in the tourism route.

During our trip, we gave books to children in a local kindergarden and elementary school. Money was also raised by Nina and her contacts to improve the sanitation services for the elementary school.

The amazing part of this whole effort is that tourists can participate both directly and indirectly.

Those that wish to visit the communities can take part in the trip through any of the three tourism agencies. They can visit the schools, meet the children and work with them as tutors to read and with other academic development needs. At the same time, they get a chance to see the BEAUTIFUL lagoon and the temple ruins of Sillustani or Lake Titicaca.

Those that do not want to visit the sights, or want to support indirectly can make donations (monetary or in the form of academic materials like books, pencils, etc.) either to Nina in the US or with Victor in Puno. If anyone would like to see the profile of the program, I would be happy to mail them a copy via my work email: samka_puno@hotmail.com

Our Little Dream...

I am happy to announce that my professional reason for being in Puno (of course many of you know my personal rational) has begun to take life. More than a year ago, Qiqe and I spoke of meshing our passions: his love of high class, highland Peruvian cuisine and mine for rural local development in indigenous society.

Question-What do you get when you unite a Peruvian Restauranteur...soon-to-be Cordon Bleu Chef with a Fulbright Scholar?

Answer- A Socially Consientious Dining Experience!

We had our first planning meeting with IRPA, the Rural Institute for Andean Progress, made up of a team of agronomist and microfinanzers who will help us develop our Fair Trade Quinua Project, Samka (which means dream in Aymara).

As some of you know, quinoa is a very impressive grain that originates from the Andes. It is high in protein, and is a great healthy substitute to rice and pastas. If you enter a Whole Foods or other organic food store you will certainly see quinoa. But look closely, and you will notice that the majority of the grain comes from Bolivia :( Our goal is to change this tendency and develop a fair trade, organic market on the Peruvian side of the border.

Our project is a bit different, though, than a typical fair trade effort. Generally, fair trade supports producers by providing them a fair price for their quinoa, incluiding a premium above the market price. This premium is used (as designated by the association of producers) for local development projects. In this case, though, the producers have a large market, normally in Europe or the US, that supports their efforts.

As we are beginning a this project, with completely inexperienced producers and a NGO that has never worked under the stringent guidelines of Fair Trade, Qiqe and I are offering a different approach supporting the growth of the Fair Trade, organic, quinoa market.

First, we will serve as a local market, to ensure income for the producers at a fair price (at or above the local market level).

Next, we will raise the price (2-3 soles) on our plates that present the quinua (as soup, taboule, qiunotto) in order to funnel the extra earnings into a fund for projects in the community. Its a little different than the general fair trade model, providing upfront premium, as we are trying to provide incentive and motivation to our producers as well as our clients in the project.

I will have more information to come, but that is the basic idea of the project. We will market our effort in our restaurant and our website. After the producers are selected (by the local NGO), Qiqe and I will meet with them in order to iniciate the work before the planting season (in late August).

End of Month

I can't believe over a month has already past! While the time has flown, it certainly has not been a piece of torta.

Last night we had our first monthly meeting with the restaurant's staff to summarize the activities, advances, problems, etc. of the restaurant. Things have become smoother as Qiqe's parents returned from Argentina, the staff and I are getting use to one another, and our projects are beginning to come to life. We still need to improve on a lot of things, but I am finding a great need to be patient with myself. Like I mentioned, I am use to working in restaurants (or more importantly, management) that have years of experience and knowledge. Now, I am the management working with my partner of a mere 2 year. Man do we have a LONG way to go!

The waitresses and I are starting to warm up to one another on a professional level. I have been friends with them for more a year now, and we really do like each other. Now, it's just a question of figuring one another out in the working environment. On the other side of the house, I love our kitchen staff! We get along so well, they are such hard workers and really do the restaurant proud. They all want to learn English, and so everytime I enter the kitchen, they ask me a new word. They all seem to get a kick out of the silliest things like "lettuce" or the American pronunciation of "hamburger". Though, the past few days, I have protested my English instruction because the chef keeps walking around with the skull of a cuy (guinea pig) in her apron, trying to convince me to use it as decoration for our dishes (we served cuy to a Portuguese group upon request, and I almost lost it...the kitchen won't let me forget about that for a while.)

Today...or tomorrow (because this is Peru, of course who knows what time it will actually be....) we are hoping to introduce our new menu! Qiqe and I have slaved over the details for a few weeks, but are quite happy with the results. Of course, we had to redo a lot of the English when the printing company prepared the final copy. I think they spelled mushrooms about 5 different ways! Additionally, the menu helps resolve cost issues. The past month has seen signs of inflation in the market prices, though the past few days costs seem to be lowering again.

Tomorrow we have our first planning meeting with the NGO...so I will have more to share after that.

OH!!!!!!!!!! And our new website is up!!!!!!!! www.mojsarestaurant.com CHECK IT OUT!!!! The English translation should be up soon.

This sure ain't Starbucks...

Two nights ago, I realized how different and difficult it is to insert oneself into a business in another country. I also noticed that my new job here is more challenging than my research as a Fulbright (seriously, it beats the fleas and bathroom...holes).


During high school I worked as a hostess/cashier in Legends Restaurant at the RAC in Rochester, MN. Ah, Friday night fish fries during Lent...I will never forget the smell of my uniform. In college, I managed to pay my coffee addiction by working at Starbucks (another smelly uniform job). Let me tell you, working for Joe Powers and the Starbucks Corp definitely instills in an employee a certain level of standards and expectations in the service work place: puntuality, hygenic standards, completing with job requirements...you know, stuff that you do or else, well, you're fired.


Our entire staff, except for one extremely punctual kitchen helper would all be fired by now if we functioned on the U.S. working clock. The norm is that people show up 15 to 20 minutes late to work and nothing is said. Qiqe gets annoyed with me that I want to open the restaurant at 8am on the dot or show up to replace one of the waitresses at 3pm. He reasons that they come late, so why should we be timely. But he also rationalizes that we can't be too demanding because the pool of potential personnel in the city. Live with what you have, and deal with the frequently irritable waitresses...because they are the best that we can get.


Now, I am not saying that Mojsa isn't a clean restaurant, but certainly its apples and oranges from the US expectations of cleaning (products, procedures, etc.) I've been slowing trying to push some changes in the way dishes are handled and left to dry. Instead of leaving a huge pile of plates, silverware and glasses on the back counter for all to see (and some to cringe like me), I tried to implement the use of a bucket to hold dirty dishes until they can be washed. "It takes up too much space" or "I like my ordering of biggest glasses to smallest, that looks clean" is the response I have received. Grrrrrrrr.

During a conversation with one of the restaurant's waitresses, we talked about change and improvements. She stated that the mentality of Peruvians...especially in Puno, was to stay in the same routine and that change wasn't welcome. She felt that we (Americans) have a different mentality of moving forward, making things better, etc. Of course, this waitress has been the most hesitant and unhappy with my ideas to improve the cleanliness.

I am now understanding just how very delicate this balancing act will be. In order to make improvements (both in the restaurant and in the rural projects we do) it will require a great degree of coaxing and patience to make the small changes needed so that the routine turns into a more productive, useful routine. My biggest challenge is to see how to find a compromise with my goals for improvement and the cultural norms with the restaurant's staff.

A Chambear Full! (Time to work hard!)

I'm back in Puno!!!! My friends have all come to greet me and my boyfriend and his family have been so gracious helping me settle in. It is definitely odd being back and having people recognize me as I walk down the street. It seems like such a long time since I've been here (7 months actually), but at the same time I felt like I was able to just fit right back in where I was before...well, after the 4 days it took to adjust to the altitude.

Very little has changed in the city. There are a few new hotels, fine alpaca clothing stores, and fresh paint on some buildings. Surprisingly, though, there are no new restaurants. Tourism is pretty low. This season is considered "temporada baja", or the low season. The Candelaria Festival has just ended and Carnavales are over, so people are pretty partied out.

I have been formally introduced to the staff at the restaurant where I am working, Mojsa, as a co-manager. It a lot of work, and long days (staring at 8am, ending sometimes around 11pm). But I am loving every moment of it. My responsibilities are really dynamic and high-energy. I do everything from overseeing consumption and expenses to design work for the website, menu, marketing, to training with the staff and schmoozing with the customers.

The best news was from our initial meeting with the NGO for our social project. They are EXTREMELY interested in our project and we will have our first planning meeting at the beginning of April! I am very happy that the project is already making headway. It will be another few months until things get off the ground, but I feel very confident that we are headed in the right direction.

Oh, but the MOST exciting news for now is that the market is now selling SOY YOGURT!!!! I had a bit of a super-happy-dancing moment yesterday when I found out. It's the small things you appreciate in Peru :)

Back to Puno....PART TWO! :)

After an eight month break, I return to sharing my adventures of An American among Aymaras. This means, of course, that I am returning to Puno Peru!!! :) I returned to the U.S. in early June after spending 10 months as a fulbright scholar in Puno. I spent the rest of the summer working at Concordia Language Villages, and then returned to Washington, D.C. to continue my Master's degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution.

So...I'm pulled out a 205 page thesis and now all my grades, paperwork, etc. are finished at school, and I'm officially a MA graduate (woohoo)!! Next up, I'm returning to Lake Titicaca!!!

Of course some of you may know part of the reason why I am returning...others may not, so I'll lay out my reasons for you here:

As my family and best friends know...my choice to move back to Puno is two-fold. On the one hand, I fell in love. Of course, I am in love with the country, the cultures, the food, and the friends I have made, but also with a very amazing Peruvian guy. If you have read any of my earlier blog entries, you have surely seen his name pop up from time to time. Enrique (who I normally just call Qiqe) and I became close friends when I arrived in late 2006. Since then, our friendship has grown (blah blah and all that cutsy lovey dovey stuff)....

Let's just fastforward to a year after we met (September 2007). I went down to Lima to see Qiqe for a week while he was applying for his tourist visa at the US Embassy (come on, can you blame me....I found a $300 ticket from DC to Lima!!!!). We decided then to formalize our relationship and become boyfriend/girlfriend (not a marriage proposal, mother!!!!). After receiving his visa, Qiqe took his first trip to the US in December to spend the holidays with me and my family in Minnesota (please enjoy the pictures of a Peruvian in the winter wonderland that is Minnesota. The snowblower shot is my favorite...his first time in the snow!!

Back in Puno, I will also be returning to do some really fantastic work. I'm extremely excited to share it with you all, but for the time being, I will just give you the general explanation. My intention is to develop my work more fully and continually update efforts on this blog, as well as share fun stories just like old times.

So basically, my project is to create a socially consientious dining experience for international tourists in Puno, Peru. Qiqe and I will mesh our love for quality Peruvian cuisine, highland produce, and rural development. We will work to

develope a fair trade focused restaurant (in his already highly successful tourist restaurant, Mojsa. The project will provide a market for rural producers under specific set of agreements to ensure the premium we provide for their product will be returned in the community as social development for community needs (sanitation, education, irrigation improvements). Also, we will share our efforts and the local realities with tourists, encouraging them to understand and support the efforts to improve rural living and working conditions in a more sustainable and collaborative approach.

There's a lot of work to be done, and I will have a lot to learn. I hope you will all join me on this exciting adventure! I will be leaving for Puno in 9 days, 1 hour and 30 minutes (not that I'm counting!!!) hahaha!

¡Hasta Luego Perú!

It is almost time to return to gringolandia. Right now, I am spending my last days in Lima. Kike came with me to send me off, but only after we completed the Gaston culinary adventure. Gaston Acurio is the most famous Peruvian chef and Kike is pretty much in love with him. So, we had to check out his restaurantsssss in Lima. Yesterday we had breakfast/lunch in his sandwich shop T'anta (which means bread in Quechua). The funny thing about eating with Kike in restaurants with good food and good plate presentation is that you are NOT allowed to even touch your fork until he has taken the best picture.

In the afternoon, Kike was dead set on finding his other sandwich place. I think the difference was that the second, new restaurant served traditional Lima-style sandwiches. We never found out because no one knew where the restaurant was. After wandering around shopping and sightseeing for three+ hours, we decided to give up our search and just find a spot to relax and have a small snack. So.....I knew of a place that had good chicken wings....

Can you believe that Kike had never heard of "Hooters"?? If the boy is going to visit me in the states, I might as well have him start preparing for the culture shock, right? These are the fun moments I have with him. He loves trying new food, but in reality has not had a lot of American experience (meaning things that we all take for granted). For example, just yesterday, he had his first Starbucks latte drink (caramel macchiatto), corona beer (though he wasn't sure whether he wanted to put lime in his, and then really liked it when he tried), and medium spicy chicken wings. :)

In the evening, we went to Gaston's most famous and acclaimed restaurant, Astrid y Gastón, for dinner. Assuming that EVERYONE in Lima knows of the magic that is Gaston, Kike jumped in a cab and requested that the driver take us to the restaurant, near Parque Kennedy. The driver knew Parque Kennedy. He had no idea where the restaurant was located. So, we got out of the cab and started to look for the restaurant. We thought it wouldn't be the best idea to ask in another restaurant where Gaston's place was, so first we asked a security guard. He sent us off in one (the wrong) direction, until we asked a traffic policeman. Seeing that the traffic policeman couldn't even give us the name of the street, we were on at that moment, we decided to look for other help. The little old woman who owned the kiosk at the corner did not even know how to pronounce Gaston's name, so we continued on our way. I was a bit more surprised when we asked the attendants at a four star hotel, and by this time my feet were sore and I was certain that we had lost our reservation.

But determined (and quite hungry) Kike would not give up. Finally, we asked an older national policeman who pointed us in the right direction. The restaurant ended up being a block away from where the cab had dropped us off, but we managed to walk around 7 blocks of Parque Kennedy!

Dinner was fantastic! I was afraid for a while that I wouldn't be permitted to eat my meal with all the pictures he was taking. Finally I was given the okay to taste my sword fish with a traditional tacu-tacu (bean mix). Unfortunately Gaston was not in town yesterday, so Kike was not able to meet his hero. The waitor, though, was very generous and gave Kike a free copy of last year's menu. He looked like he had died and gone to heaven when he held it in his hands.

Today, after I meet with the Cultural Attaché of the US Embassy, we are supposedly headed to Gaston's cevichería restaurant. I am not a big fan of uncooked fish, but we'll see how it goes!

Tonight I leave for Washington, D.C. and will be back in Minnesota on Sunday. I can't believe my time here has come to an end. I already miss Puno so much, and everyone there. Saying goodbye to Lima won't be very hard, but leaving all the memories of my time in this country will be tough.

Favorite Fulbright Memories

My time as a Fulbright scholar in Puno is coming to an end. Today I sent in my final report to the Fulbright Commission (because if you don't they hold your final month's stipend eeeek!!!) Last Thursday, I conducted my final focus group. No more flea bites, no more 3lbs. plates of potato and rice for lunch, no more showerless weeks, and no more squatting exercises when I go to the bathroom. Can you believe I am actually really going to miss it!

While my parents aren't too pumped to hear this, I am happy to announce that my time in Puno is not coming to an end. I simply am taking a break from the region to finish my thesis for my Master's degree and prepare for a whole new set of adventures. I will have more updates (and of course blog entries) to share about the future plans. For now, though, I would like to share a short photographic trip down memory lane of some of the funky/fun/crazy/amazing things that I have encountered in the past 10 months in Puno, Peru.

Enjoy...

IN PUNO CITY

My dear friends of Mojsa Restaurant, who have fed me over the past 10 months. Mojsa, in Aymara, means "sweet" or "delicious".

The restaurant is owned by the Nuñez family, and Kike the manager. Mojsa definitely has the best view in town. It is the only tourism restaurant in the Plaza de Armas, looking over the Cathedral and the almost daily craziness of parades and protests.

I absolutely LOVE this picture. Ursula and I went to pick up my wig for the Candelaria dance festival, and the store was busy getting an order prepared for a dance group. The little girl was the daughter of the store owner. I don't know what is heavier...the baby or the masks.

The gringas! We are few, but proud. Sarah and Carly work with the Foundation for Sustainable Development, based out of San Fransisco. Sarah has been doing really cool research on the conflicts between the National Reserve and the Uros Floating Islands. Carly, a.k.a. "Mom" is the intern coordinator for the Americans who come to Puno to work in various NGOs. She takes care of all of us. These two are the bomb.

My boys...Gerson, my house brother (left) and Kike (center). Puno simply would not be the same if I had not had the two of them. Like our costumes? This was Halloween night in Puno. I was a torero and the boys were "kusillos", the typical clowns of Puno. They ran around all night acting like crazy people...running in front of taxis, bothering people walking down the street, swirling around light poles. Since they were with me and all of them had masks on, everyone thought they were foreigners! hahaha.

No, I did not buy a llama while I was here. This is an alpaca in one of the small towns, Chucuito, where I initially took introductory Aymara language classes. Alpacas are more gentle than llamas, and less likely to spit. Their wool is so smooth and soft!

My cholito! I bought some beautiful costumes for my Spanish camp, but they were a bit confusing with all the accessories, so we had a fashion show so that I could keep track of which costume was which. Kike got tricked into playing model for the day, but I think he kind of liked it! :)

The picture I think everyone has been waiting to see: my dance costume for the Candelaria festival! I dressed up like a "diablada", devil. The head piece was sooooo heavy and uncomfortable, but luckily my boots did not hurt my feet. At least my costume wasn't as hot as that of the ukuku bear next to me.

IN THE FIELD

This is my favorite picture of them all! I took this shot during one of my focus groups. The children here are so adorable!

Lunch is served. A typical meal of potatoes and fish in the lake side community. While I tried to avoid eye contact with my meal and peel off the scales, my companions ate everything but the skeleton....yuck.

A focus group with Nico Zapana in Kelluyo, Chucuito. This was the day that it was raining and windy and I had a really hard time picking up the voices of the focus group on my recorder. The entire focus group was conducted in Aymara, and I was TOTALLY out of the loop on what was being said!

Tales of Rural Travels

WOW. I just had a crazy week of field work. From Sunday to Wednesday I traveled from one end of the lake to the other to do research in the district of Kelluyo and Moho. Overall, I finished the focus groups, interviews, and discussions I had hoped to accomplish. Luckily, I was only faced with one scary meal of beans and potatoes (I am going to guess 2-3 lbs on my plate). Found the trick to not eating the whole plate: ask for a plastic bag to take the food with you and no one is offended!



Only one community proved to hold me back. When it rains in rural Puno, not many peasants like to attend meetings. So, I will have to return for a final hurrah next Wednesday to Friday...and hopefully not have any more flea bites (seriously, those buggers really, really itch!!!!!)

Okay, so here's my story of the joys of traveling in Puno. This, I think, is my favority road trip story ever!

First of all, God bless the Church. When you work for Jesus, you definitely can get around with greater ease in rural Peru. Traveling to Kelluyo with Nico (who is the director of a development institute in the prelature of Juli) has been very relaxing. We always ride in his fancy truck out to the community. It is definitely a nice change from the smelly, stuffed combis and buses.

After the luxury travels of Kelluyo, I faced the real world as I headed to Moho: 1hr. combi to Juliaca, 3 hr. bumpy bus to Moho. In December, I had faced adversity in my return from a community in Moho and had to hitch hike on a motorcycle for a small portion of the trip. I think that Wednesday's adventure takes the cake.....

Cesar (my companion from the NGO, Jatha Muhu) and I were a bit concerned about our time crunch when we left at 8am to visit community 3 of our work. We had to accomplish 3 activities before 2:30--1) interview the mayor, 2) visit the local high school, and 3) conduct a focus group with 7 to 10 community members.

8:40- we got off the bus at the bridge point and were prepared to walk some 40 minutes to arrive at community 3. Luckily, a combi was heading to the community and offered us a ride for a bargain 1 sole!! We saved time and the exhaustion of carrying our packs. At the time, I was really happy about our stroke of luck. I think I felt relief too quickly...

9:00- we arrive at the municipality...the closed municipality. Curious as to where the mayor was, seeing that we had called in advance to schedule the appointment, we asked a local. "Oh, señorita, the community is just up there," one of the locals told me. "Just up there" translates to "they have climbed to the highest point of the hillside". So, Cesar and I dropped our bags in storage, and up we hiked. It was like climbing a mini Machupicchu...I was glad I had opted to eat the breakfast of potatoes and rice.


From the top of the hill, we could see the entire main sector of the community overlooking the lake. It really is one of the most beautiful areas of Lake Titicaca in Peru.

The Mayor and the population were surprised to see that we had come up the hill. "Why did you not wait for us down at the bottom?" his assistant asked us. "We were about to head down to meet you." Ugh.

So I have the interview with the Mayor, who is about 140 years old and can't really hear. The recording is quite funny because I am almost yelling to make sure he hears me.

11:00- We tour the high school in the community. The professors at the school were very excited to show me around...maybe a bit too excited, and I was nervously checking my watch. Cesar was going to hold the focus group in Aymara once the locals finished their communal work on the hillside. One of the locals came to inform us that the population was ready, but the director of the school insisted on showing me a few more things. So, Cesar left to begin the focus group and I stayed at the school a while longer.

1:00- The high school director accompanied me back to the municipality, and, to my surprise, Cesar was not there. We were told that everyone was having lunch, at which point I became extremely worried. The focus group would last about an hour, sometimes more, and we had to be at the bus stop (which would take 40 minutes to walk) by 2:30. In rural Puno, meetings do not begin until everyone's plate is clean.

Cesar gave me an equally concerned look. He informed me that he had tried to gather 10 community members, but everyone wanted to hear me talk. Another rural Puno reality is that rumors and speculations run fast. The population thought that I was coming to announce a huge donation for an irrigation or hamster production project. As I gulped down my soup as quickly as possible, we came up with our strategy. When I was served my 3 lbs. plate of rice and beans, I asked for a bag to take it home with me, thereby speeding up the process.

After being introduced in Aymara by the high school director, I began to talk to the 75+ community members present. In reality, I didn't have much to say, but I went on about my work, my travels....really anything to waste time. In the meantime, Cesar had plucked 10 residents out of the crowd, and no one noticed that they had gone to the municipality to do the focus group. After about 40 minutes of talking and listening to the multitude of funding requests by the community, I made my exit (of course everyone wanted the gringa picture...and my email...and for me to hold their child....)

2:15- I rushed to the municipality to find that the focus group was going rather well. Unfortunately, while Cesar was trying to get through the questions quicker than ususal, the participants were bantering in their answers. As much as I love this in my focus groups, it was making me really anxious. Finally, they finished the focus group and we grabbed our gear and headed for the road. Luckily, one of the teachers at the school offered to give us a ride to the bridge and we arrive at 2:30 on the dot!

3:00-We waited, and waited, and waited. The bus still had not come, which was a bit odd. Finally, down the road, we could see a bus heading our way. Cesar noted that it looked quite old and thought that it was probably a contraband bus. He was right. The contrabandist often buy old, used buses to transport their goods from the Bolivian border to the city of Juliaca. This rackety old bus was in pretty aweful shape. It leaned heavily to the right and had fumes coming out of the engine. The driver stopped at the bridge to throw water on the engine, and we begged him for a ride. At first, he was apprehensive, but we talked our way on.

Yup, I rode on a contraband bus, atop bags of Brazilian flour and who knows what else down an extremely bumpy, unpaved road. I couldn't stop smiling, thinking how ridiculous my travels in Moho have been to date. We got less than half way down the highway to the town of Huancané when the driver and his wife started exchanging worried looks. A fellow contraband truck approached us, and the drivers had an exchange of words...

"Are they coming?"

"Yep, its them, with the fiscal"

"THE FISCAL! THE FISCAL!" our driver started to scream, as he quickly attempted to put the bus in reverse. Panicked about the oncoming police operative, his wife threw open the door and kicked the five hitchhikers, Cesar, and me out of the bus. The other truck also stopped, opened its rear doors, and out jumped some 25 contrabandists!!! They all rolled up their sleeves, ready to take on the oncoming police cars. I assume some of them were armed, but we decided not to stick around and watch.

Unfortunately, abandoned in the middle of the countryside, Cesar and I were more worried about the oncoming storm clouds over the lake. We walked down the dirt road with four other hitchhikers and a man who had recently bought a donkey and was returning home (he had a 5 hour walk thanks to the donkey!!) We certainly lucked out because the storm was not too strong. Once we reached a major fork in the road, in order to stay dry from the cold rain and heavy wind, we hide underneath the bed of a resting truck. Unfortunately, the truck driver did not want to wait out the storm, and we were left without shelter.

Cesar and I were left with three choices. One- wait and hope that a bus or combi would show up to take us to Juliaca or at least Huancané. Two- walk to Huancané (at least 2.5 hours from where we were). Three- Walk in the opposite direction to a district capital where we would probably find a bus or taxi to take us to Huancané. Of the 7 stranded hitchhikers, 3 opted to stay, and the other 4 of us started walking towards the district capital. Ten minutes into our walk, we turned around to watch our three companions be picked up by a bus and whisked away to Juliaca....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After walking in the rain for 25 minutes, we arrived to the district capital. A few combis were present, but no one wanted to leave at that time. Cold, tired, and anxious to get home (it was already 5pm and would be another 2 hours to get back to Puno), I told Cesar that I wanted to contract a taxi. He thought I was crazy to pay 20 soles (a little less than $7), but later thanked me for making the decision. We hired a 75 toyota to drive us on the bumpy road for an hour to Huancané. Cesar and I enjoyed some powerbars that I wisely saved for the trip....THANK YOU WIGGINS!!!!!!!!!!

From Huancané, we took a combi to Juliaca, arriving around 6:40, and from Juliaca another combi to Puno. At 8:00pm I arrived to my house, took a lukewarm shower (washing off two more fleas from my body), and headed over to Kike's restaurant for a glass of wine and something to eat that was not rice, potatoes, or bread.

The work in the country side is tiring. I have definitely been sick way to many times while I am out there. The fleas like me way too much. But I feel so sad to think that I only have one more outing left to the countryside! I know from the sounds of it is seems crazy, but I really, really am going to miss Puno!

Fulbright Scholar of the Andes Unite!

*Investigating the impact of the introduction of a foreign fly on the survival of a native bird species in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.

*Teaching conflict resolution skills to schools with hyper-active youth in Bogota, Colombia

*Improving the engineering techniques of rural brick-layers in Cuzco, Peru.

*Understanding the political-economy during the regime of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

These are only a few of the amazing projects that are currently being studies by the Fulbright Scholars of the Andean region. Last week, I attended a conference for the researchers of Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, hosted by the Colombian Fulbright Commission in the beautiful city of Cartagena.

A total of 41 Americans are present in the Andean region. Ten (seen in the picture on the right) are working on a variety of themes in the nation of Peru. From my project of conflict resolution and development in rural marginalized communities of Puno, to improving the transportation infrastructure of Lima's historic center, to researching the history of Chinese immigration of the 18th and 19th century, we Peruvian Fulbrights have done an excellent job of covering a wide field of academic interest in Peru.

For me, it was an excellent break from the cold weather in Puno. I actually had the opportunity to wear a skirt and sandals!! Plus, it was very nice to meet fellow researchers and exchange experiences. I was happy to hear about the similar frustrations of those working in the rural communities. The conference also gave each scholar the opportunity to present their work and get feedback from others.

Our visit to the historic, Caribbean fortress city was jam packed with presentations, speeches, visits to historic sites, and even an opportunity to listen to the President of Colombia speak to the local university! Unfortunately, because we were so busy, we did not have a lot of time to lay on the beach (also quite notable in the picture above....no tans or burns on anyone!)

The picture on the left shows the amazing dance group from the local university that put on a farewell show for us. The funny part of the story was that this was taken in the girl's bathroom. I had gone in and the group continued gossiping among themselves. When I went to wash my hands, one commented "good thing she doesn't speak Spanish". Let's just say they were a bit embarrassed once I let them know that I understood Spanish perfectly...though I made no comments on the juicy gossip they were sharing. hehehe.

An interesting complaint that came from the majority of my fellow researchers was the lack of social connections. Many said they felt a disconnect to the community in terms of making friends (especially with their peers in the nations they worked.) I surprised them when I told them how many friends I had in Puno and how wonderful my social circuit was...especially in such a small city. Truly, as a researcher in a foreign country, the sense of being homesick or feeling lonely is hard to avoid. I don't know how I would have survived the past 9 months without my "mancha" (group) of friends in Puno city.

Now, still pasty white, and back in my winter jacket and shoes, I am in Puno for my last month of research. So, of course, there will be an abundance of stories to share in the next weeks.......

Sorry...I don't work for the CIA

Before I left for Puno, Peru, my professors at American University advised me on maintaining the confidentiality of my study's participants. They commented of the possibility of members of the Peruvian government and perhaps the U.S. Embassy taking interest in what I was doing and/or in the populations involved in my research. I listened intently and have taken the necessary steps to cover the identity of my participants and their communities, but I definitely did not think I would have any exciting run-ins with high officials. Then again, come on, if you know anything about my adventures to date, you wouldn't put it past me to have something like that happen, right?

well ...

In November, I traveled to Lima for a Fulbright Conference and a fantastic Thanksgiving turkey dinner with members of the U.S. Embassy and the Fulbright Commission. During my visit, I also took advantage building contacts in different NGOs and institutions. One of my main concerns at the time was finding out more about the conditions of contraband and how it is impacting the communities where I am working.

As I have mentioned before, is that the contraband, or informal market are a simple reality of life in much of Latin America, and most prominently in the more impoverished regions. My communities are highly involved in the contraband activity. Of course, they depend on the majority of their purchases from the contraband because they see it as the only viable, economic option available. If you were to ask them whether they felt right about purchasing illegal products, they would either change the wording to the more "economic choice" or claim that without the dried foods (mainly rice and pasta) that come from Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia they would die of hunger. Most national products are either too expensive or too difficult to receive in the marginalized peasant communities.

Now, the two districts where I am working share borders with the nation of Bolivia. The majority of the population is highly involved in the transportation of the products from the border to Puno, Juliaca, and even as far as other departments like Tacna, Arequipa, and Lima! Trucks upons trucks of contraband are shipped across these regions daily (mainly after dusk) and are taken to markets throughout the country. You can get almost anything you can think of at these markets. Just ask my brother, Matt, or Father Reker! When they visited me in Cuzco/Puno, I made sure that they saw what was available to the population. From Ipods to Corn Flakes, leather jackets to microwaves, you name it and it can be purchased in the contraband.

Somethings are not even available outside the contraband markets because of the high quantity of supply available below market price. For example, there are no movie theaters in Puno, Peru. Why? Simply because you can get any movie the day it comes out in theaters on pirated DVDs for less than $1. If I want a movie, I can't buy or even rent legally. In Puno, I must go to the contraband to get pirated DVDs.

So, my intention in November had been to find out more firm, quantitative data on the contraband industry in Puno. Unfortunately, I have found that there really lacks data on the contraband activity. The only national entity with relative base of knowledge and interest in this arena is that of the SUNAT-the national customs office.

Miracle of all miracles, working my contacts in the Catholic University in Lima as well as with NGOs in Puno and Lima, I ended up getting the email address of the top legal adviser to the customs office in Peru! Even better news was that he said he would be in Puno in a few weeks and would be happy to meet with me!!! Okay, well at the time I thought it was great news....

So, we arranged to meet in Mojsa, Enrique's restaurant, for lunch. As we began to chat, I sat anxiously, with notebook and pen in hand, awaiting to learn all about the custom's take on contraband. What did I end up learning_ Well, that the he was a 40-something divorcee, with two children and VERY single. He went on talking about his personal life through most of the meal. He offered to help me out anyway possible if I were in Lima anytime soon. At the end of the meal he even had the nerve to ask me about my social status:

Dr. Gross-me-out: "So, are you single?" (In Spanish this refers to your status as either single or married)
Me: "Um, yes"
Dr.: "And do you have a boyfriend?"
Me: "Yes." (Total lie, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do)
Dr.: "Oh [disappointed sigh], and is he Peruvian or back in America?"
Me: "Oh, no he's Peruvian, here in Puno"
Dr.: "Oh, well like I was saying, call me whenever you want if you need anything blah, blah, blah"

Ick. Well, the little useful information that he did provide me did not do very much for what I was looking for. But, I found it very interesting that he had been the fiscal of Puno, and had been responsible for the capture of the head of the culebra - the top contraband directive. Trying to sound like a cocky Jack Ryan, he tried to make himself out as some national superhero who could not continue fighting evil because his life were in danger in the region of Moho. I rolled my eyes thinking that his ego was the biggest character flaw.

It was very evident (a note that I kept in the back of my head) that he had interest in my work in the region of Moho. I was not surprised, therefore, when he contacted me a week ago. He was in Puno and wanted to chat with me. Knowing that his insight would be of assistance to me (especially now that I lost my contact in Lima when the CND was closed), I wanted to make my meeting with him short and concise. And more than anything, I wanted to put an end to the flirtation and any icky, gross hopes that he had for a gringa girlfriend (ewww, ick, gross, yuck.)

So........................

We planned to meet again in Mojsa, but this time I had a strategy prepared for the encounter. Immediately (I mean the guy didn't even try to small talk me) he asks how the social situation is in Moho. "What do you mean?" I ask innocently. He extends his question to ask how are the living conditions, what is the attitude of the population, and then BAM....what's the condition of contraband. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. He wants me to be his informant.

I made it clear in my response, that I was not going to rat out any contrabandists or even tell him where I had been and with whom I had been working. He tried to get me to reveal more, returning to his super duper hero role, stating that the customs office was planning to run a full-out operative against the contrabandists in Moho.

Very firmly, I took this opportunity to voice my opinion. I warned him that they should not be surprise to receive a harsh reaciton from the community, even those who are not involved in the contraband trade. He shot back at me that the contrabandists were obviously seen as heros in this area.

"No," I commented, "I don't think they are seen that way. In these regions of Puno, the state is not present and most of the population only looks at contraband as the little left for them. The infrastructure is so horrible that there is no true option for economic development beyond auto-consumption of farming production. If the state were more pro-active in assisting the infrastructural needs, or even basic needs like potable water, sewage, and electricity, the population of Moho may not react as harshly to the intentions of customs."

Now, enter Enrique...hahaha, strategy part 2 to make sure things are clear as crystal with Dr. Gross-me-out. As we are chatting, Enrique comes up from the kitchen and greets me as "his love" and gives me a big kiss on the lips. According to the waitresses who were watching our melo-drama unfold, the Doc didn't look too happy.

"Ah, let me present my boyfriend..." I began to say.
"Samuel, nice to meet you." And with a firm handshake so came to an effective end the flirtations. I think the mix of his dissapointment in neither gaining my insight nor winning my heart provoked him to urgently have to leave. We said goodbye, because as he said, we probably would not see each other again before I leave for the United States. He promised ot send me more information the following week, but I don't plan to hear from him again.

My friends, who work in Mojsa, overheard the conversation, and actually applauded me after he left. There is a lot of hatred towards the very corrupt and considerably ineffective customs system. I myself, and my family, are victims of it...how much extra did we pay for having two used shirts shipped in the mail? They commented that he was obnoxious and totally out of touch with the reality which the population in Puno faces.

Punishment in a community of extreme poverty

After conversations with my mother, I realize that a younger audience sometimes reads my blog. I ask you to please self-sensor because of some graphic content. I still plan to post because I truly feel it is important to share the realities of the culture in which I am working: the beautiful, the comical, and the painful. We all must consider how others interact in order to move towards developing cultures of non-violent conflict resolution. I hope that after reading this entry, you do no think less of the Aymara culture, but instead understand that as societies evolve and change, each will have struggles to overcome. I am grateful for having witnessed this event today and it only furthers my determination for my next steps in the years to come....

"The darkenss is a bit frightening, don't you think?" asked my host, Raul, in the high community (above 14,000 ft) in the province of Moho.

"Very much so," I replied. My solemn response, was less in reference to Raul's accounts of the dangerous night creatures, than to the screams of the children that echoed in the black sky.

Raul's neighbor was extremely upset upon seeing that her children (ages 11, 6, and 2) were unattentive to the family's three pigs and allowed them to graze too close to the house. As a result, the pigs enjoyed a feast of potatoes.

I would like to side-note here that potatoes and I will not be seeing much of each other upon my return to the US. In the past 6 months I have consumed more potatoes than in my whole 24 years of existence. Today alone, I had a breakfast of potato and grain soup, and a lunch of potato soup with a main dish of potatoes and rice. Dinner, I opted for a powerbar...THANKS Matt!)

As a result of the potato loss, Raul's neighbor chased the pigs away hysterically with a handfull of rocks. And next came the punishment for the children "being lazy and disrespectful". While I was not an eye witness to the actions, the screams of pain from the children were enough to make my stomach turn. I asked Raul what the punishment involved. Whipping, he told me, was the typical way of handling their children. When I asked where they were whipped he did not respond. Seeing as everyone here wears multiple layers of sweaters and pants, I would certainly not see the marks on their bodies. My hope was also that the clothing somewhat buffered the pain.

The screams continued for roughly a minute. as we were sitting outisde the house, I took notice that during the course of events, Raul's two children (ages 10 and 12) distanced themselves physically from their parents. They moved to the opposite side of the stree, their faces drawn cold of emotion.

After a few moments, I broke my own silence. In general, I am not an advocate of cultural comparison. I frown greatly upon the "well, in my country we do it this way" statements. I find them to be culturally imperialistic and ethnocentric. Moreover, I believe in the need for cultural adaptation to different values, relationships, and means of communication.

"In my country, it is illegal to raise a hand to your child," I quietly commented. "It is considered child abuse."

"Oh. And so how do parents punish their children?" Raul asked.

"Typically, they will take away privledges like watching TV or using the computer."

"Ah, well we don't have TVs here," Raul responded. Of course they aren't TVs, they do not even have electricity or running water. And the bathroom situation...I will spare you all those details.

Trying not to be left without a more productive alternative, I said "sometimes kids are not allowed to go out and play with their friends, or are given more chores as responsibilities."

"Ah, that must work," Raul commented.

"Yes, it is extremely effective," I replied.

The cries from next door faded as other screams grew down the street. Another child receiving another whipping. "It's getting dark, would you like a candle for your room?" Raul inquired.

"No thank you, I brought one with me." I headed to my room, accompanied by his two children so that I could give them a gift of chocolate nutritional mix for their morning milk and said goodnight. As prepared for bed, I was hapyp to hear Raul and his children giggling in the room below as they played games.

What a month

February is almost over....phew! It has been a crazy whirlwind of events, travels, and fun! Let me just give a quick overview of what has been happening in the last month.

My work in Kelluyo has been a bit frustrating, but I was able to accomplish another focus group meeting. While the participants were not united at the time I arrived, they quickly gathered...just as quickly as the approaching storm. Unfortunately we were not in a community with a gathering locale, and therefore had to have the meeting outside. I was concerned about the sound of the wind in my tape recorder not to mention the rain. It was a pretty comical sight as we all huddled under the small roof overhang and I held a plastic bag strategically over my notebook and tape recorder. And of course, the good news/bad news of the meeting. Good...no, GREAT news: all present were highly active, making lots of comments and getting very involved in the whole discussion. Bad news: the entire hour focus group was conducted in Aymara...so now I am seeking someone to transcribe the Aymara, to translate it to Spanish so that I can than translate it to English. It's definitely a price to pay, but I don't mind because of how well the meeting went.

After packing my bags from Juli (though I will most likely be returning within the next few weeks for attempt number 3), I got back to Puno just in time for the Candelaria festival. One word: INSANE. Now, I truly have an appreciation for why Puno is considered the folklore capital of Latin America. The music was contagious, the costumes were beautiful, the dancing was breathtaking...I loved it.

And yes, I too took part in the festival, dancing in the Mañazo neighborhood "Sicuris" group. What I did not realize until a few days before the event was that I had submitted myself into the craziest, most liberal group in the city. Of the 70 groups that danced (some with up to 200 dancers and 50 band members) Sicuris Mañazo is the oldest, most traditional group. The first day I attended a dance practice I had to be careful where I was stepping in the group's locale. Turns out earlier that day they had sacrificed a bull to offer a payment to the Pachamama, Mother Earth diety, and there were still blood stains on the floor.

The practice was not really productive as most of the musicians had already drank the day away, but I learned the basic steps. Basically step 1 is do whatever you want. With so many years under their belt, I guess they don't really care much about uniformity. While the other groups organized and performed highly choreographed dances, my group kind of formed a circle in the arena. It rocked.

My costume.... um, it was interesting. I do have pictures, but I will share them at a later date. Basically this was my outfit: A large cape and ornate chest board thingy, a very uncomfortable helmet with a ridiculously red wig, some very interesting boots (think Pretty Woman before she meets Richard Gere), and a piece of fabric that was supposedly considered a skirt. I rented the outfit, but the boots are all mine!

Oh, and as it turns out, being a foreigner in the Candelaria makes you VERY popular. EVERYONE wanted a photo with the gringa. I was interviewed by a Lima TV station and 5 radio stations. If you want to check out some of the dancing from the festival check out my friend's postings on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWkeEcy84_A

After dancing about 15 blocks, my group decided to take a drinking break, and I found it a good time to break from the pack. I quickly returned to my gringa clothes, and jumped on a bus for 8 hours overnight to Cuzco. Arriving dazed and confused at 4am, I waited for the 7:15 LAN flight to arrive from Lima, bringing Matt Wiggins to the land of Peru!

Poor kid, shows up after traveling 15 hours more or less and I throw him back on a bus for another 8 hours to arrive in Puno at 3pm to see the Candelaria. We spent the week hanging out with my friends, visiting the island communities in Lake Titicaca, throwing a very successful gringo party, and then heading back on a train to Cuzco.

We smashed three tours into one day with the help of my friend Carlos, traveling throughout the Sacred Valley. Once we arrived to Machupicchu we climbed one mountain (Putucusi) in two hours and then Waynapicchu the next morning in a record 25 minutes! After 10 crazy fun days, Matt was back on a plane to gringolandia, and I have returned to Puno.

PHEW......................................................so, it's February 23rd. The crazy times are sure to continue :)