Mi primer temblor y Fujimori

Hello all! It's been a few days since I've updated, so I know you're thrilled. Jesse came to visit this past week and it went by in such a blur. It was wonderful to have him here to see where I am living and just to be together for a little bit before he goes back to Atlanta and I don't see him for 2 months! He ended up being able to stay with my family which was certainly unexpected but not unwelcome! They have an extra room in the backyard (sort of) where he was able to stay which was certainly convenient. You'll have to ask him for his take on Cusco. Everyone he talked to asked if he was going to Machu Picchu and when he told them he wasn't they were shocked because it's a Maravilla del Mundo (a wonder of the world)! I think all the Peruvians in my life were nearly as sad to see him go as I was. Since he left a lot of them have commented and said they wish they'd had more time to get to know him! Hopefully as I type this Jesse is on his way to Atlanta and will arrive safely. I miss him already!

Yesterday I experienced both my first Peruvian barbeque and my first temblor. Edson has a friend, Christian, who is in town from Switzerland and he hosted a parrillada (a Peruvian cook out on a grill, essentially) so I went over to join them. I didn't eat any of the vaca (cow) they were serving up, but I did drink quite a bit of the Cusqueña Cerveza they kept offering me. Toward the end of the party, one of Chrisitans drunken uncles came and introduced himself. He held onto my hand and looked into my eyes for an uncomfortable length of time while he recited his full name and explained every facet of his lineage... During this time, we had retreated inside away from the evening cold (it gets dark and cold at around 6) and the adults that had attended were in a back room enjoying ABBA in Spanish and I suppose reminiscing. Not so different from an American cookout, except that part of me was expecting to participate in some sort of sporting event or to hunker down on a couch and watch American football...

After trying to use Skype to talk to Jesse and failing pretty miserably (I also have Windows Live Messenger ID if anyone is interested: lcseit@gmail.com), I returned home and Maria and I watched a movie (actually, she always falls asleep, so it was really only me watching). After the movie, she switched the channel to hear about Fujimori who has been extradited from Chile and returned to Peru to face JUSTICE. It has been interesting learning about Alberto Fujimori having known almost nothing about him before. He is being accused of a great deal of corruption and has a really interesting history. As things were starting to come out about bribes he gave out and the possibility of his involvement with a number of disappeared students (similar to those in Argentina), he went to Japan for a conference and didn't come back. Then he faxed his resignation back to Peru. That didn't fly with congress, so they voted him out to publicly denounce his actions. If you want to read more about what's going on with him, here's a good BBC article that covers it pretty briefly: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7008302.stm
No matter what ends up happening to him, his influence has already created a political party of supporters (fujimoristas) and there is talk that his daughter will follow in his footsteps in the next election. Maria was talking about how saddening and embarassing it must be for his daughter to have to continue to support such a corrupt man. She is apparently married to a gringo and she's pregnant right now. Fun, fun. Latin American politics are crazy, but never dull!

As we were watching the local news coverage, there was a brief moment where everything moved from side to side. The floor, the couch, the entire world around me. It was barely anything, but it was my first experience with seismic activity. I'm not sure if it was connected to a terremoto (earthquake) or only some slight movement of the plates. Nothing close to what Jessica experienced in Mexico, but it's worth noting!

This past weekend we started our primary service project for our time here. It's located in a place called Conchacalla which is about an hour kombi ride from the ProPeru office. It's a community of about 40 families nestled high in the beautiful Andes (I've got to get pictures up soon, I know!). We worked right near the school there. There are two classrooms but we are working on building two much needed bathrooms (all the have is a whole in the ground surrounded by a small adobe buliding. The bathrooms we're constructing are also built using adobe bricks and mud. ProPeru conducts development projects in a specific manner: they hire maestros to help direct the clueless volunteers, but the community itself is also expected to participate in the project since it is being done to benefit them or their children. This concept of community building is actually borrowed from the Incas. Their community as a whole would help newlyweds construct their dwelling and in turn those newlyweds would help the next couple who got married. In this way communities helped eachother help themselves. So far at our projects there have been few community representatives. In Picol there was some kind of rumor spread that volunteers were getting paid while community members were not, so community support was lost there. In Conchacalla, the father of one student was around to help out and several mothers and a teacher from the school helped to prepare our meals.

The work was definitely hard, especially when each of us would have to cart 30 lb. adobe bricks from up the mountain down to the work site. We also worked mixing the mud to coat the adobes and we would hand everything to the maestros as we were constructing the walls. We slept on the floor of one of the classrooms, so we were all achy and grumpy the next morning while we continued to work. After the work we hiked back down the mountain to take a kombi back into town. I was pretty beat at this point, but it was wonderful to walk in the countryside and see so much livestock and campesinos. I feel really lucky to have chosen the service aspect of the program, because it really gives me the chance to interact with rural communities. The children who attend the school were around all the time and we got the opportunity to enjoy a bonfire and marshmallows with them on Friday night. One little girl in particular, Rocio, took to me and pulled me into a game with the other little kids. It was something about being in the forest and we were all holding hands and running in circles. And then one of the kids would say something and everyone would run! I didn't really know what was going on, but maybe I'll figure it out next time. The poverty and malnutrition of these kids was pretty apparent, it didn't appear that they bathe much or eat properly. One of the smallest boys has the pooched belly of a parasite and all of them had the driest skin I've ever seen. Spending time with them was extremely rewarding and I hope we will really be able to make an impact with our work there. We are also going to complete an adobe kitchen so the students can be served lunch while they are studying.

Unfortunately, school work is picking up quite a bit now that I have 3 other classes. I actually have to go to the library! And I thought everything would be papaya... ;)