That One Time In Peru

Today we went to thermal hot springs a little over an hour away from Sacsamarca. The water was warm and so relaxing. We took the black mud from the bottom and gave ourselves mud masks. We drank Cusqueña beer and then had lunch of llama, choclo, and potatoes. Needless to say I didn't eat the llama. None of the foreigners liked it, so it's safe to assume I wasn't missing out. Plus the decor of his still bloody drying skin and fur really didn't add to the ambiance. We climbed to the top of the old volcano that sat next to the springs. On the bus ride back we snuggled with the baby lamb that accompanied us on the trip, since it's mother had died and needed to stay with his owner who had come along with us.   Our skin is dry and covered in dust and dirt. We're headed to play soccer in 30 minutes. I'm tired, but so happy. We found a way to connect the bus drivers Bluetooth to my phone and listened to music on the bus which reminded me of ...

How is June almost over? This has been one of the craziest months of my entire life.   So much has been happening and surely I haven't documented it all. I'm thinking back on all I've done this past month and shocked as to how I possibly fit it all in. For example I saw the catacombs in Lima, did I mention that before? Today is Thursday and by Saturday we should be able to get Internet, I hate to admit it but I can't wait.   Today we have a lesson in the morning and are going to visit a nearby town in the afternoon, I think Colcabamba, but not sure, somehow these town names blend into one another in my memory.   It's fascinating how violence and memory and justice and healing work here. Or work anywhere I suppose. I try to think of it as learning, but part of it being so beyond deplorable makes it something I never want to understand.   The struggle really seems to be with state institutions in "internal armed conflict" since they...

This morning we woke up to the announcements in Sacsamarca at 4:30 am. Music blaring and a man talking about who knows what.   This bed has crinkly plastic wrap over the mattress that is beyond irritating. My "sheet" doesn't quite fit my mattress either. But it was warm, so warm I was actually hot last night.   This room is so tiny I have no space to go through my bag and find the clothes I need for the day. And even though I fell asleep pretty early I'm wildly exhausted. Don't want to get up and out of bed, kind of exhausted.   Today we had "class" or really discussions and then walked around town a bit. We somehow ended up at a small party and invited to eat, drink, and dance. We listened to Pum-pín and Huayno music. We went to dinner, stopped by some shops for snacks and watched a movie in Spanish someone bought at a corner store in Hualla. It's been a long day and I must sleep.   Feeling guilty I'm not writing mo...

Today we left Hualla, it was bitter sweet. Hualla felt like home just within one week.   We got in the car to head up mountainsides and twist up bumpy dirt roads where the air is too thin to take a sufficient deep breath.   We stopped in a town on the way to being school supplies to the small local school. Seven children attend school there. Their ages range from four to eleven. They come from just three families. The oldest girl had two younger brothers, then there were two sets of brother/sister siblings. They spoke Quechua and learned in Quechua and it was beautiful. (I think the town was called something resembling Chamayo, but not sure). We stopped for lunch in another small town Putaccasa the choice for meals was alpaca or trout.   We hiked a bit to see a canyon and then to see an excavated mass grave near a river bed. Peru is beautiful, and healing. It is important to remember both. We made our way to Sacsamarca which is beautiful so far,...

Today we bought fries from a stand at the town festival. It probably isn't anything like you're imagining it, the stand or the fries. But we were quite pleased. We went to a corn planting competition out at one of the old military bases, so odd, but still. We hung out with our favorite 10 and unders from Hualla, all the love from the little girls and the hand holding and hair touching makes the solitude of being abroad that much easier.   Today was a whirlwind that included catholic mass and a procession to the local cemetery. At one point during the procession an old woman approached me from behind pinching my nose, she then walked around to the other side of me to pinch it yet again, longer and harder, and then spread her hand wide and felt down my entire face ending on my arm nearest her. It sounds ridiculous but things like that truly make me feel honored, honored to be welcomed especially in the context of a place that has every right to fear foreigners. Sur...

Time is flying in Hualla. This whole trip is flying by. I'll be sad when it's over because I've been so excited for this for so long.   I've learned a lot I think.   Tonight we danced with the locals with stalks of corn in our hands and held hands with women singing in Quechua. I ran into a little girl who remembered my name and said Brianna where are you going? Hualla is so welcoming. The people are so kind. I could go on forever.   25/06/17

So beyond over this stomach ailment. Every time I eat I feel sick. Really grateful for modern medicine though I must say. Today is Saturday and the town is out and about. Earlier from the roof I saw a man with a green parrot-type-bird on his shoulder just walking down the road.   The donkeys and mules everywhere make me happy. The greenery and the fresh local life makes me happy even though it's clearly making me sick as well.   My lips are chapped. ... today I lost my phone. It was awful. I found my phone shoved in the side of the bus seat. It was a glorious moment.   Sometimes I feel trapped in silence in a Spanish speaking world. I have so much to say and I feel so much and want to express it all and yet my Spanish conversations typically consist of "sí" and "gracias"... like when the bus driver had to drop what he was doing to come open the bus doors for me, or when another worker on the trip had to stay back with me to help me ...