Hola-- (warning: this is long :) )
Back to the Peru synopsis! I labeled this post the way I did because for a month now, I have been processing this whole trip. Each time I tell someone about how it went, each time I have a small memory flashback of one event or another, I piece together a puzzle in my mind. Interpreting things like who I am, my responses to situations, what I do with my time and resources, and what I can and should be doing with my time and resources. These are some of my thoughts.
Of course you have the luxury of skimming, or even skipping my words, and just watching the slideshow at the end. Hopefully Teresa and I, and others who went, will take it beyond the "Great Trip" level and make it instead a "Life-Changing" one.
PHOTOS. I have finally gone through all the photos from Peru! I just took the little camera. Antonia, another mom who went, had her nice camera, with 2 different lenses with her. I was a little jealous--she was taking really amazing shots! BUT. I didn't want to be worrying about our expensive camera on that trip. Anyway, even with our little camera, I took over 600 photos! Ha. I whittled them down to 300, and then put 121 on the shutterfly slideshow. Link at the end.
BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. We have now seen multiple and varied sides of Peru! The big-city Lima side, with heavy traffic, crazy drivers and the cathedral at City Center. The dry and desolate desert side, where poverty-stricken families build their shantytowns. Sand dunes by the ocean. Windy roads into the lush and green mountainscapes, with waterfalls and rice paddies. Jungle-like side with thick brush, vines and green trees with flowers I have never seen before. We traveled far to reach the village of Atuen. Because of its remoteness at 11,500 feet, we drove and hiked through landscapes we never would have seen if we could have just teleported, or flown directly there.
SAND DUNES. We were in the car for 2 whole days, EACH way. It was a lot of driving. One "break" the kids got on the way up was 20 minutes at the sand dunes. We could see the ocean a little ways off. It was beautiful. Those photos are included in the slide show.
KNOWING DANIEL. Mr. Fernandez is an amazing story all by himself. We knew him before as a phenomenal teacher at Wayland Middle School. Now I know that is only half of his life. He gives back to these people--HIS people, as he is Peruvian. But it's not just a service project where he gets some of his students to donate to some school children in a poor village.
He knows these people, and he loves them. Every town we went through, people would come up to him and give him a hug. "Daniel!" they would call from across the street, and come over. They were SO happy to see him. They knew he loved them.
The shocker for me was, he remembered everybody's name. He asked about their families, he knew their trials and their joys. Throughout the whole two weeks, he acknowledged and "caught up" with dozens of people, probably more like hundreds but I did not keep count.
MUMMIES. All of these villages consist of farmland. That is how the people sustain themselves, for the most part. Often archaelogical finds are hidden in the fields or mountains of the farmers. They are discovered "by mistake." In the 80's, one of these "mistakes" happened. They were burning fields to rejuvenate the soil, and it burned next to some cliffs. Burning away the foliage revealed cliffside tombs. Inside the tombs were 200 MUMMIES! They built a museum in a nearby town to house the mummies. It takes a lot of money and time to carefully unwrap and study mummies. So far, of the 200, only 7 have been unwrapped. But they are all kept in this museum, in a refrigerated room. We got to see them, up-close and personal! Those photos are also in the slideshow.
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS. Here's a news flash: People live differently in different parts of different countries. And you don't have to pity them. They may not have our conveniences and technology. But they are educated, they love their families, they have life experiences they wouldn't trade, and they have hopes and dreams just like us. I hope the kids who went on this trip, and everybody, for that matter, took away at least that much.
The people in Atuen live at 11,500 feet. They grow their own vegetables--only underground vegetables, since it gets cold at that elevation. Many varieties of potatoes, carrots, onions, radishes. They have cows and goats and sheep and pigs and chickens.
There were no guinea pigs that I could see in Atuen, but we did stop on the way back at a lady's house who raised guinea pigs to eat. She had about 20 in a pen in her backyard, next to her pen of chickens.
They have dirt floors and brick or wood walls. Each home has an outhouse of sorts. Some have outdoor water faucets, kind of, to do cleaning and provide water for daily life. There are lakes and streams for animals to drink water.
RAIN. Atuen is beautiful and green. Mostly because it rains there! When we got there, it started to rain. It being the "dry" season, we were assured it would pass in a day or two. It did not. For the 4 days we spent in Atuen, it rained on us! Originally we were going to help them build their school. Because of all the rain, we helped very minimally. I have a few pictures of kids clearing debris from the piles of wood in the courtyard.
MUD. Lots of rain means lots of mud! Now I know why Mr. Fernandez (Daniel) had everybody buy ugly, uncomfortable rubber boots for the trip. (Luckily someone from a past trip recommended shoe cushion inserts to put into your boots. Teresa &I had SOME cushion, at least!) Hiking around in the rain for four days made a lot of mud. I included pictures of the worst mud, in the yard where we rinsed our dishes after every meal. You can see everybody's black rubber boots in the hiking photos.
GUIDES. We had five fabulous guides watching over us and cooking our meals during our trip. They were experts of the area, master campers, and great cooks! They watched all of us for signs of trouble as we hiked, and offered help even before we knew we needed help. A hiker struggling? Here, let me take your backpack. I notice you're not drinking much. Here is a refill for your water. The altitude is making it hard for you to breathe as you hike. Come ride the horse for awhile. The best part was, they were really nice people. They had families, knew Daniel really well and they look forward to this trip every summer because they love and respect him so much. You can see a photo of all the guides together in the slideshow.
ARCHAEOLOGY. Daniel took us to a few sites along the way where he has helped discover ancient ruins and found skulls and bones. One is an ongoing site where a crew works all year to uncover bones and dishes and pots.
KAYAKING. By Rainy Day 4 in Atuen, some were getting a little stir crazy. (We at least had the "good" school room to sleep in--16 sleeping pads and bags spread out all over, plus our stuff. With all that rain, I was very grateful we were not in tents) Daniel and the guides planned a kayak trip at a lake about an hour's hike away. Yes it was raining and yes the group went anyway! There are a few kayaking photos.
I was amazed at how much organizing and planning had to go into a trip like this. I was more amazed at how Mr. Fernandez keeps track of it all, but MOSTLY I was inspired at the passion he has for helping these people. This is not just a "project," like I mentioned before. He knows and loves them. And they know that.
I thought to myself, Do l have passion like that? For ANYthing? Do I have a cause so important that I would go through even one tenth of what Daniel does, to help these people?
GIVING. There is a song that says, "Because I have been given much, I too must give." We have a responsibility to do SOMEthing. You certainly don't have to leave the country to help people. There are people in your own town, your own neighborhood, maybe even your own family who need help. The trick is identifying the need and then offering help. DOing it.
Being with the school children who received our donations was a treat. Seeing the results of our work, and living for just a few days by the people who would benefit from it...that was rewarding.
I hope we all took away some sense of responsibility--the knowledge that because we can help, we should help. And it's certainly not just the receiver who benefits when we help. It allows us to focus outside of ourselves for just a short time. It gives us fresh perspective, and it makes us better people.
PHOTOS. There are 121 photos, so give yourself a few minutes to see these. (or not!) Click the link, and once you get to the site you can click "view album" near the bottom, then "play slideshow" near the top. "Options" in the top right allow you to speed up the photos or slow them down. Some of them have captions.
Here is the SLIDESHOW LINK: (or copy and paste it in a new window)
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AatGrVo2ZMWLyQ
Have a great week! Kari
It was a lovely outing. The ferry ride was even peaceful for me--I can't get enough of the ocean, and boat rides.
