The Family Visits (out of order but it's okay)

Now where do I start? So much has happened. I feel like that is the general idea whenever I open Microsoft Word to start a new blog. First I list the things that I’ve done since last writing (which usually gets overwhelming so I pick and choose) and then I pick something to talk about. Thinking now, I haven’t written about my paper. Nor have I written about my weeklong trip to Lima to have my “mid service” medical checkups and what not with the other volunteers form my group. Note the phrase “Mid Service.” At the time of writing this, I am over halfway done with this gig. Now that we’ve started a new year (Happy New Year by the way), November doesn’t seem so far off. In fact, it seems right around the corner (which it’s not but just to say that I’m leaving THIS year instead of two years from now is something).

Alas, I will just have to resign myself to the fact that while I do try to write a lot, I will never be able to cover everything. C’est la vie. However, I will indulge a few of you and relay the shenanigans that took place over the past two weeks when the Kane family came to Peru.

On Monday, December 20^th I found myself waiting at the international arrival gate in Lima holding a sign that looking back may have been a little large, that read (in Spanish), “Welcome white people from Maryland.” It was pretty unreal to think that here I have been in Peru for well over a year with my life separated between my work and life here and my family back home, and starting that night, my two lives were going to converge. It felt pretty good seeing my family (all wearing white sneakers mind you) come through that gate. Two minutes later I realized how different my two lives are when my family began to speak to our cab driver in English. Lucky for them, Gustavo had been studying a little English to move to the states.

So Gustavo was great, Lima was beautiful; we managed to go and see the catacombs at the church of San Francisco which were creepy and I had to outright lie in order to get my claustrophobic mother down there.

“Lindsey, I won’t be seeing any heads or anything will I?

“Nope, none at all, just bone dust basically- nothing to really write home about.”

(Two minutes later we walk by a 30 feet deep pit of human skulls).

So that was fun and interesting. I love visiting this church because it has a library centuries of years old and the same original books are still in the bookcases, not protected by glass or anything. It truly looks like a scene out of Harry Potter.

The only part that was sub par was while taking in the sights of Lima in its main plaza, mom managed to get pick-pocketed and lost her camera. She never even felt it happen. At least it was something replaceable but unfortunately, some of the pictures on the camera weren’t and that put a temporary damper on things. Until we stopped at a Pisco Sour bar and then things went back to normal.

(I am writing the next part of this blog three weeks later… sorry, I took a break).

Anwyays, so yeah, Cusco.

After spending the day in Lima, we all hopped on a plane to Cusco. It was one of those plane rides where you feel like you have taken off and touched down in two different worlds. Lima is relatively warm, on the ocean, at sea level and is SUPER crowded and polluted. In contrast, getting off the plane in Cusco was like walking out into a country from Lord of the Rings. Everything was green. And beautiful. And completely unlike the Peru I am used to.

I would say that I loved taking deep breaths of fresh air but I soon realized that being at 11,000 feet with no acclimation time was going to leave me quite breathless and dizzy. I wasn’t the only one. Before I knew it we were asking the hotel staff for oxygen tanks. There was nothing like using an oxygen tank to remind me of how nature could kick my ass whenever she wanted.

However, despite our dabble with altitude sickness, we all managed to get out and tour the city of Cusco. The majority of the Peace Corps volunteers who serve here in Peru make an effort to visit and I can see why. It’s filled with such a rich history and to this day there are still remains of Incan work in the city. For example, one of the main churches Qorikancha, was originally a massive Incan sun temple until the Spaniards came. If I remember correctly, the base of the temple was made up of giant (I mean GIANT) stones fit perfectly together that were covered with panels of gold. Upon the Spaniards arrival, these panels were ripped off and accumulated into the Spanish fortune and the temple was converted into a monastery where monks still worship and live today.

As a family, we all managed to brave the cold and the threat of rain to go on a “city tour.” This tour gave us access and a super nice guide to other Incan ruins around the city. We visited and climbed around Saqsahuayman, Pukapukara, Q’enqo and Tambomachay. These words I’m sure mean nothing to you but in a nutshell we saw ruins (still perfectly intact) of Incan aqueduct systems, alpaca sacrificing temples (yummmmmm), a cool fortress that the Incans used to defend themselves and Saqsahuayman which was incredible and while originally through tot be a fortress, it was actually (surprise!) another temple. But Saqsahuayman was unbelievable though. I mean, I’ve never seen Stonehenge before, but I can’t imagine those rocks were any harder to get together than these. I mean, these massive God-knows how heavy-rocks are stacked 20 feet high! I felt so small and insignificant standing next to them. Also I would like to note that while I was exploring and climbing up these rocks, apparently a herd of 4 alpacas seemed to have taken one too many energy pills and were running around, chasing other sightseers.

This is me standinbg in front of some rocks in Saqsahuayman.

But alas, I must pay homage to the greatest ruins of all- those of Machu Picchu. Disclaimer: Machu Picchu is not super easy to get to. It is NOT in Cusco. It is a three-hour train ride plus a 30-minute bus ride (up a mountain) away. But like others I’m sure would say, it was worth it. It was incredible. We went up on Christmas morning after listening to mom worry and periodically check weather.com for rain forecasts (did I mention we went during the rainy season?). I kept asking her why she felt the need to neurotically check the weather. Was it like we weren’t going to go if it was raining? No. We were going, rain, shine, or tsunami. So we all brought our rain gear which turns out- was not needed. The task of carrying all of our water bottles and jackets though got passed down to Jenna and we all kindly named her “Sherpa.” She didn’t complain once while being at 8,000 feet and having to lug our “ish” around. Kudos to her. The weather was perfect for the 3 ½ hours we were up there- the sun came out but the mountains still gave off that mystical, somewhat-protective fog that hung around and made everything seem that much more cooler. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, you all can check them out to get an idea of what it was like but even those still won’t do it justice. I just was in awe.

To be honest, I was also in awe of the hotels we were fortunate enough to stay in during our weeklong stay. I have been used to squatting over toilets and well, squatting over dirt but Papa and Mama Kane really pulled through. My God I love Cable and hot showers.

So we were all truly thankful of how we lucked out on the mountain. On our way out of the park, the heavens opened and it rained like the dickens (I’ve never used that expression in writing before, I hope I used it correctly). Thankfully instead of focusing on the incredible stonework of the Incas, I was focusing on eating my ice cream cone. Others were not so lucky. The family we sat next to on the train ride home got stuck up there at the peak of the rain and ran for cover underneath one of the Incan guardhouses. The son said when he arrived at the house there were around thirty people and two alpacas huddled under there for shelter. As much as I tried not to, I laughed imagining a scene like that. It probably wasn’t too amusing as it was happening though...

The last day was Mom’s birthday and that was the day we took the city tour and went out for dinner. I think she had a good time.

But, with everything, all things come to an end and soon enough we found ourselves back in Lima saying goodbye to Meghan and Jenna. It wasn’t that sad though because I had a few more days to look forward to with my Mom and Dad coming up to my site to visit Tumbes!!! I know, at this point you all are probably rubbing your eyes with exhaustion from reading so much, but I assure you all, I am almost done.

My Mom and Dad came up to Tumbes so they could see where I live and the family that I live with. Although visiting Cusco was beautiful, this part was amazing. We stayed at a place on the beach and commuted the hour into my site (which was worth it so they could go swimming in 80 degree water in December). My host family was ECSTATIC to meet them. And I don’t mean just Yeni, Milton, Pol and Prixi. I mean grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins and neighbors all came over to meet them. Even some of the volunteers! My host dad even took my real dad out for a spin on his motorcycle. Talk about hilarious. We went and stuck our feet in the river, hung out at my grandma’s house (with the goat fur and testicles in a heap outside her front door- my mom LOVED that), took a walk around town, met the mayor, met some kids and my two favorite teen health promoters and just generally had an amazing time despite the language barrier. My dad played soccer with my cousins and my real mom talked to my host mom in English while my host mom responded to my real mom in Spanish. Those two minutes that I was in the bathroom must have been long ones because no one understood a thing the other one was saying.

After visiting Tumbes, we crossed the border and they caught a flight out of Guayaquil, Ecuador on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, I was stuck there for a few days without a ride back to Peru but that was okay. I was just happy I got to see my family.