Immediately after finishing the musuem, I rushed off to Bogota, Colombia, for the final dinner with my fellow Fulbrighters. It was incredible to meet so many other students working on projects so distinct but so in depth. My project deals with a lot of different disciplines (design, community development, history), so I had to choose only one. I decided to be paired with the socioeconomic development group, only because a good deal of my investigation has been talking with the town, some NGOs in the Valley, and tourist agencies to see how all view and participate in the development of the tourist route. It was interesting to hear the other grantees takes on the good and bad of NGOs, how they can provide attention and may be more likely to get up close to the rural populations, but how there is also a great risk of creating a dependancy among the community on outside help that leaves a big vacuum once the NGO fulfills its one or two years of service in the region.
Once I got back from Colombia, I've been focusing on getting my plans for the inauguration of the museum together, and job hunting. As for the inauguration, it had originally planned for the 25th of April, a Monday, and I was worried it might conflict with some interviews that I am setting up. Luckily, though, I arrived in Tuti last week and the mayor told me the date had been changed to Saturday, April 30th. Perfect! A weekend, and it wouldn't conflict with Easter! Even better, the municipality had already printed out hundreds of brochures and flyers for the Agropecuario Festival, showing the exact date and time of the inauguration of the museum. It's set in stone! Now it can't be changed!
I took some brochures with me and e-mailed them to all my contacts. I only received on reply so far, a negative, but I'm hoping that some will attend without RSVPing. I did have one good response, though; I had e-mailed a brochure to one of the radio stations in Chivay, hoping that they would announce the festival and the museum opening on air in the weeks leading up to the inauguration. The day after I gave the radio station a call, and I was told that they had received the e-mail and would begin to announce the event the following day. Yes!
I also took a brochure by the Autocolca office, which is in charge of all tourism in the Colca Valley, and by chance I was able to sit down withe the director for a minute. He even wrote down the date and time of the inauguration in his agenda right there in front of me, and told me that he and some people from his office might be able to come. Even better, he said, it might be a chance for them to relax a bit. I'm taking that as a promising sign, and hope to see a few of them on Saturday.
Semana Santa means that everyone has a long weekend, Thursday-Sunday (except for a few companies that make their employees come in on Saturday! What a shame!) Seeing that everything was closed, and that soon me and my husband will both be working those kinds of jobs that require Monday-Saturday hours, we jumped on a bus and went to Cuzco! We've been herre about 8 months now and we'd still never been to Cuzco or to Machu Picchu, and it was beginning to be a bit embarrassing. So, finally, I can happily say that that adventure is crossed of the list! And, I'll admit, the amount of problems we had with the tourist industry has made me very wary of planning any more travels here in Peru.
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| Juan in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco |
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| With the amazing family that took us under their wing during the trip! |
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| Outisde a Cuzco fountain |
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| Climbing up to the Oyollantaytambo ruins (the FREE ones!) |
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| |Ruins in Oyollantaytambo, about 2 hours from Machu Picchu |
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| looking over a foggy precipice... |
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| Peruvian support system. A couple of rocks under a big ladder? |
First off, the tourist industry is made to separate local Peruvians from foreigners in every way, and to charge the foreigners outrageous prices up to 9 times what the Peruvian national would pay. For example, between Oyollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes (the only route to enter Machu Picchu), you have to take a train. There is one company that monopolizes this service. They only allow foreigners to take a tourist train which charges $35.00 per person, per way. Local Peruvians have a different train, which leaves at a different time, and they are charged 10 nuevos soles (about $3). Peruvians who have the money can upgrade to better service, but tourists who don't have the $70 round trip cannot down grade. For us, it was difficult because we had made friends with a Peruvian family on the ride up from Cuzco to Oyollantaytambo (we became practically family on this trip!) but we weren't allowed to ride with them on the train. Our train left two hours earlier than theirs, so when we arrivved in Aguas Calientes, we had to find a place to wait for our friends, who arrived two hours later. Even worse, the tourists arrived in an official train station, with a kiosk selling expensive foods, etc. The Peruvian trains arrive at a train stop on the side of the road, marked only by a few benches. Nice.
Good news is, the family we met were an absolute God-send. They helped us find our way, helped us argue (although with no result) to get on the cheaper train, they showed us a hotel where to stay (which was free because the knew the owner), AND, because the wife is daughter of a former director of Machu Picchu, they pulled a few strings so we could all ride up to Machu Picchu in one of the official worker's vans for free. Although we did purchase our entry tickets, we got to bypass the humongous line outside the gate, and got in about two minutes after our arrival. It was marvelous!!!! The best part, of course, was being able to walk around Machu Picchu and see the labyrinth of ruins. The whole complex is on top of the amazingly inclined mountain, which is surrounded by many more. In the morning, we looked down off Machu Picchu to the fog covered mountains surrounding it, and by mid day, the clouds started to dissipate, and we could see the beautiful green jungle all around. It was worth all the hassle to get there. The view was absolutely stunning.
Even more, we learned that the city had been left half-built. Construction began in about 1470 and the Inka Pachucatec, the great reformer and builder, had about 30 years of construction under his belt when the Spanish invasion started. Amazing that they built so much in such a short time, and a sad reminder of how much the Spanish invasion affected local development.
And, of course, we got the classic shot of the city with the mountainn of Wynapicchu behind it. Pefect post card. And a great start to a family album! I realized Juan and I are going to be celebrating our one year anniversary and we still don't have a family album started! I can't wait until we have kids, I defintely want them to be able to see how Mommy and Daddy were before they arrived |(maybe cuter and a bit younger, haha). So, that's another project I have to get under way...
Meanwhile, I have a couple of promising offers, one working as an intern for a graphic design office, and another teaching English to primary and high school kids. I definitely would love working in graphic design. That's experience I could use directly when applying for a museum or exhibition design job. As for teaching English, I'm not positive teaching is my forte, but it's a subject I know in and out, so I ought not feel totally lost... I'm going to try and "be strong and of good courage". We've been hearing a lot about having strenght and determination in church, and even saw a good film "Facing the Giants" last night. I think the message I'm supposed to be getting is to have faith and God and just do my best, leave the results up to him. It's not terribly easy, fear and running away are a lot easier. But I'll just keep going along, one step at a time. Pray for us!
Juan has definitely been blessed. The company he has been trying to work with for a few months to get a work visa finally notified him that they are sending him a contract to sign this week. It may take another month or two for the paperwork to go through, but once he signs the contract, he's an employed man! Its for six months, but if everything turns out right, should be no problem in getting another 6. What a miracle! I really feel like we've been blessed, we got the news for Juan's job the same exact day I found out about my offers for my jobs. Incredible!
Another little good news: we got kittens! OK, we can't technically keep them in this small apartment. But the new borns are from the orphanage where our friends work, and our friends have gone on vacation, so we're going to watch the kittens for a few days until the come back. Unfortunately, the kittens will eventually have to live on their own and search for food, no one at the orphanage is going to take responsability for them after the British volunteers leave. Nevertheless, we can give the little kittens a fighting chance by helping them survive the next few weeks! They are so adorable: one is completely white and timid, and the other is white with grey, and is a bit more adventurous. It's so cute how they are so little but already have their little personallities formed. I hold them against my chest and they just drift off to sleep... ;) The people at church said we definitely need kids, Juan and I were so comforting to these baby kitties. I said, sure... just not quite yet!
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Big hugs to everyone back in the States, we miss you all! We're about halfway through our Peruvian journey, and it feels good...
