It´s a Wonderful Life

Hi Everyone! I promise this blog will be more upbeat than my other one!!! I made it to and from Ancash, Peru, safe, sound and sans diarrhea, though I’m not sure if I can say the same for everyone else I went with! Let me give you the low down on Ancash. It is another department (or province, whatever you want to call it) directly north or Lima. It took about 8 hours to get to the capital, Huaraz but thanks to your taxpayer’s dollars, we rode in style. For around $20, we got seats on a double- decker bus with “camas” (bed- seats). These things were so comfy and folded down SO FAR. Therefore, it was optimal for sleeping and on the way home, while we were traveling back home on Saturday night, I was able to sleep like a baby (I think the “ party drinks” we had while on the bus probably helped a little bit too).

SO yeah , back to Ancash. The first night we stayed in a hostal (my first one mind all of you) which was baller ( I am ignoring the fact that there was suspicious blood on my bedspread). I got lukewarm water for the first time and was exstatic. I actually did a full body immersion while showering. We got up the next morning and headed up the mountains to a little town called Mato, situated in the middle of the Andes. We worked there for a day, doing house visits and making piñatas with youth from around the community. That night, we (my friend Chris, Anne and I) were sitting in the town plaza when some little chicos wanted their pictures taken. This was hilarious. I took over fifteen glamour shots. No matter that I had no way of giving these kids the pictures, they were just so pumped to be able to see what they looked like on a camera screen. I put a few up on facebook if you want to check them out.

The next day was the best. We got up (after a night of sharing a twin sized top bunk named “Fleaville” and getting one to two hours of sleep at most) and traveled to another town called Musho, about another two hours away. We visisted a current volunteer names Mike and built latrines all day long. I discovered I am a natural with a pick ax and also learned three different ways to build latrines and bathrooms.

I can’t even tell you how gorgeous this place was. I felt like I was in Middle Earth and Frodo and Gandalf were about to pop their heads around the corner. I may or may not have made over 3498170 references to Middle Earth and while it was filmed in New Zealand, this part of the Andes would have done just a fine job as the backdrop. We stayed at the base of a mountain called Huascaran, which is the tallest mountain in Peru, and the second tallest in South America coming in at a little over 22,000 feet. This is also the mountain where a huge chunk of glacier came off during a massive earthquake in 1970 and flew down the mountain, annihilating the town on Yungay below and killing around 30,000 inhabitants in a matter of minutes (you can read more about that story on Wiki or Google or something, it’s truly terrifying (type in Yungay or Huaraz earthquake 1970)). But this mountain (and the ones surrounding it) were beautiful. The clouds circling the mountain finally dissipated towards the end of the day and we could see the snow line and almost to the top. It’s a big hotspot for climbers and I can see why. It made me want to live in the sierra.

So anyways, we spent the day and night there, I got my own bed and the next day we built an improved cooking stove for a family out of adobe and mud. Afterwards (this day is Halloween that I’m talking about), we took rides back down to Huaraz and got dinner and a drink or two. I went with a few people to a British-owned restaurant that served REAL BRITISH BEER and awesome fajitas. We took another bus back to Lima during the night and got home early Sunday morning. So no, I didn’t really get to celebrate Halloween but I guess I have two more to look forward to while I’m here. Not to mention, Halloween isn’t really a big thing here, it’s the next day “Dia de los Muertos” where everyone heads to the cemetery to bring gifts, food and flowers to the gravesites to their loved ones.

So that was Ancash. Beautiful, awesome, and breath-taking. If any of you all are looking to visit Peru on vacation or something, I would highly recommend checking this province out.
But for me, back to reality. On Friday (yes this Friday) I find out where I will be placed and live for the next two years. It’s a little terrifying. Then on Saturday I will peace out for a week again and travel to my specific province and site, getting to know the peeps there. The options are basically coast and sierra (the jungle is off limits which is a huge bummer). They’re like night and day. One is hot, sandy and sunny 24/7 and the other is up in the mountains where the temperatures fluctuate more than the US Stock Market. I’ll let you all know the hand I’m dealt the minute I find out.