Flu Season

The kitty, recently renamed Pichichi and, sometimes Grem Grem, keeps me warm when I'm sick.

 Greetings from Peru! Yesterday our British friends visited with their camera and we got some new shots of our baby kitty, which isn't such a baby anymore! She's growing like a weed, jumping and climbing and getting into trouble everywhere. But she's such a sweetheart, especially since I got sick this last week. She's spent the past few days just nuzziling my neck and sleeping with me. It was great to have some company.

The Polo family!

Our kitty's Asian look.

Me with the beautiful Brits!

We love our British friends! Sadly, they're heading out of Arequipa in exactly a month to do some travelling and then head back to the UK. I don't know what I'll do without my girlies! There's nothing like having two girls to chitchat with (in English!), go see movies, get haircuts and just relax with. I really hope we'll be able to keep in touch with them, and even visit them in London someday.

A night out with Gaby, our friend from church, and her pals.

That isn't to say that we haven't been getting to know our Peruvian friends from church.  We've beenn able to go out to some new clubs and restaurants around town.  The church was founded by an American missionary who's been living here in Arequipa for the past three or four years.  There are Peruvian pastors and musicians who lead the service, but I definitely appreciate having the American tie and being able to see another Southern face every Sunday. Lately, there have been quite a few Americans visiting our church, since they know our pastor. Some came for a free medical clinic, others came just to practice preaching and reunite with old Peruvian friends.  Its interesting, being one of the few Americans who lives here permanently and has to watch everyone else come and go. The other day, one of the new Americans visiting mentioned Panera, and I had almost forgotten how much I love their broccoli and cheese bread bowls! My mouth was watering all night. Luckily, we went to El Turco, a middle eastern restaurant that serves great, hot sandwiches, so my palette was treated.

The best news is that we get to DO get to stay in Peru another year! We had been waiting for approval for Juan's work visa for about a month, to no avail. On the computer, technically, the visa was approved, but after two weeks it still had not been signed off on by the director in Immigrations. When Juan's new boss here in Arequipa started calling last Monday to see what the hold up was, and since we still didn't have a definitive answer from Lima, we decided to take things into our own hands! We went up to Lima Monday night, and spent six hours Tuesday sitting outside the director's office in Immigrations. We got such the run around; first we were told the secretary in charge of our case was on vacation, so we would have to wait for her to come back in order to have access to the paperwork. Please. Then we were told the director was away all day in meetings and we'd have to call his advisor. The advisor never answered. We resolutely waited all day, using up the only two waiting chairs outside the office. Finally, at 3:30pm, a woman came out and told us the visa had been signed that afternoon and would be ready for pick-up the next morning. We didn't really believe her, since she refused to share her name, job title or phone number, but we had to leave regardless. 

Fortunately the next morning it was ready and we were able to return to Arequipa to celebrate!

Lima was beautiful. Unlike the last time we went up to Lima, and had to stay in Ate to save money, we treated ourselves to a night in a hostal in Miraflores. (When they say "Lima is Peru" they really mean three districts, San Borja, Miraflores, and San Isidro are Peru. They are the only three districts we've seen where progress and cleanliness are visible).  We got to walk along the cliffs overlooking the beach and saw a perfect sunset. Too bad we went without the camera.

Unfortunately, I got a bug in one of the 16 hour bus rides to and from the capital. By the time we got home, I was hacking and losing my voice. Never realized how much you miss out on when you can't talk! On Father's Day, I tried to Skype my parents and grandparents, but they could barely understand me. They thought 100 old woman was calling just to scream at them :). I've got some medicine, but it's still going pretty rough. I returned to class this morning, seeing as both French and Chinese end for the month after this week, but I had to leave a couple of times to cough up a lung.  When I went to my boss this morning, thinking I might actually stay the whole day, I realized it just wasn't going to happen. He asked if I felt animada enough to stay and work that day. It took me about two seconds, looking into his bright, energetic eyes, that I was not up to task.

So, I came back home and let the cat curl up on my neck again. Might not be able to get out of cooking today, but at least I'll be able to take all the cough syrup I want!

Work overall is still going well. Had a great time designing a wedding invitation. I realized I enjoy doing more frilly designs, much more than trying to create modern, sleek corporate ads (not my specialty).  Best part was, since I'd been through wedding planning less than a year ago, and had used the same dark purple/lilac scheme, it was almost like creating my own wedding invitations!

French and Chinese are going well, too. Chinese will be taking a two month winter break after this month. Its also been about a month since I took the HSK 3 test, so I might actually be able to see the results now! Fingers crossed. I took the French DELF A2 test about two weeks ago. I don't want to be overly confident, but I think it went well. The oral exam was definitely better, since I knew what to expect this time and the professor who tested me wasn't nearly as intimidating as the one before. Too bad I had only prepared about two minutes worth of conversation... I visibly struggled to fill in the time towards the end!

That's about it here. Juan is excited to start working; he's off getting his medical exam this morning and will probably be in orientation by tomorrow. If we're lucky, working for this company, Cerro Verde, could even lead to a position in the US. We've heard the company has some US branches.

We'll keep you updated how the job works out and how big our kitty (Pelotita Blanca/Grem Grem/Pichichi, there's so many names...) grows!

Chao!

Moving on after Fulbright...

The Fulbright project is finished, and I am planning my post-Fulbright life here in Peru. It has been easier, not having to travel up to the Colca every week (especially since winter is coming in, and temperatures are dropping...) But it has been a bit of a rush trying to find new projects to start. I'm not one to stay unoccupied long ;).

I found a job working as a graphic design intern with a tiny (and I mean tiny) publicity firm. It's me, another intern, and the boss. I am very  blessed that I had to learn Corel Draw to make the signs for the Tuti museum; knowing Corel Draw is what has helped me most get this job in publicity. They use the program for just about everything, from making brochures to posters to CD covers... everything! Not too shabby. Unfortunately the pay is minimum, doesn't even quite cover rent, but I hope the experience helps me get into museum design or something related once I get back to the States. (Not that I'm homesick by now, no, not at all :P).

(I did have a dream last night, though, that my mother invited me out for a treat at the Homemade Pie Kitchen in Louisville, and it was one of the best dreams ever. Not only for the ice cream, but seeing family was nice too!)

I decided I'm not going to be an English teacher, at least not for high school students. I gave that a try for a bit, but without a book, any audiovisual tools, and a classroom full of thirty rambunctious teenagers, I've admitted my defeat. I might give it another go if I have the chance to work with college students or adults, or even elementary kids, but the teenagers... I have a whole new respect for all the Middle and High school teachers out there. They truly know how to tame the jungle.

Juan is waiting on paperwork so that he can start working as a Civil Engineer here in Arequipa, and I couldn't be prouder of him. He's really been patient, waiting for this company to get all their contracts and legal requirements in order, so I hope the job gives him experience that he wants. Plus, there's a chance he may be able to work his thesis for the Master's into his full time job. The thesis projects here in Peru tend to be really practical and usually are catered to fit the student's work stituation.

In my spare time, I'm going to dive in to studying French and Chinese. It will definitely be a challenge, but I see this as an opportunity I'll never get twice. The language schools here meet four times a week for one or two hours, and are approximately 30-40 dollars US a month. Not cheap in soles, but cheaper in dollars than anything I could find once we get back to the States. I'm hoping that with the Fulbright and my  language recs done, I'll be able to find a great Masters program that won't require me to incur any more debt!

We also have a new addition to our family. Her (original) name is Pelotita, because of her big round, white tummy, but has since become Grem Grem (Gremlin), Yoda, Snow White... the list goes on. She is the only kitten of her litter to survive, out of five or so. They were all born at the orphanage where our British friends volunteer, and the mother cat abandoned them. The majority of the kittens died without their mother for food and warmth. When we found out, only two were left. We decided to take them in, letting everyone at church and the orphanage that this would only be for a week! ... That was a month ago. One of the kittens died the first night, but our Pelotita is a survivor. She went from being a timid little newborn that cried all the time and had to be fed with a bottle, to a jumping, biting little kitten, who climbs up everything and still doesn't know how to get down! She's eating solid cat food, using the litter box, and playing with everyone and everything she finds (except, of course, other cats. She's still not too sure about them.)  Do I sound like a proud Momma, or what?

Juan has also fallen head over heels for our new little kitty. Even though I've promised we'll get him a dog once we get back home, I think he's enjoying have a kitten for the time being. And he definitley enjoys spoiling her, just like a good Papa.

Winter is settling in here. It's still bright and sunny as ever, but there's a cold wind that blows all the time, and the nights are freezing. We went for a walk around town last night, thinking it'd be a cheap, fun outing, but we were all frozen to the bone after half an hour and came back to our house to curl up under some blankets. We'll have to look for cheap, indoor fun from now on, or keep all our play dates during the day.

Found a wonderful book in Spanish just by chance, and that has really made my day. Its called Para que no me olvides, and is about a woman who has a stroke one day which results in afasia. Basically, her brain function is not affected and she can think completely normally, but the communication centers of her brain were damaged, so now she cannot talk or write or read. She describes it as being locked inside a prison of your own body.  In between, the book descibes her life before the illness, as a well-to-do housewife in Chile, and her women friends from differnt walks of life. You get to see the class differences, how much women sacrifice, what there best and worst memories are. Really interesting, just what I was looking for. I'll be honest, I'd bought Rayuela while I was in Colombia just because I had heard what a great and inventive storyline it had. But I had difficulty following! Maybe I have to set my literary sights a bit lower in Spanish for the next few years :). Best part about finding Para que no me olvides was that it was in a clearance book sale in a tiny office, which I just happened to walk by one afternoon. All the other books were about politics and social struggles, this was the only one that really caught my eye. And, it only cost 3 soles. I was sold!

I'm considering going up to Tuti one more time next month, to see how things are being handled. When I left, after the inauguration, I had given the mayor my version of a contract, divinding management responsibilities for the locale between the municipality and the tourism committee. (It was really apparent that neither wanted to work with the other, it seems some still don't trust the new mayor.) But it remains to be seen whether they took the initiative to work together or not. I did my best to push them together; I even left my set of keys for the museum with the mayor, knowing the tourism committee had the other set. The reaction from the tourism committee wasn't great, but I felt like I was doing the right thing.

Unfortunately, when I went up for the inauguration, I brought my camera but not the memory chip. Now I have six photos from the inauguration stuck on my internal memory, and I have no way to get them out. Bugger. The inauguration, overall, went smoothly. The mayor strung a bottle of cider from the doorway, and had me break it open with a wrench, and it sprayed everywhere and people clapped. There were plenty of attendees. Not too many from out of town; no one we had invited from Autocolca or Arequipa showed up, but the townsfolk were there. Everyone came in, drank cider,  thanked me and looked around a bit.

It was really nice overall, but I was still recovering from that morning's hike up the mountain! I had arrived from Arequipa that same morning, and immediately met up the mayor and some other guests to go on a 'touristic' hike of the mountain and see some unique views. It was really beautiful. You can see the Misty, all majestically snow-topped, and a few cities down in the valley below. We even did a ritual to the Pachamama, where the mayor and his delegates burned grains and plants, and even an alpaca fetus (yes, there is a photo), on top of a rock and each person in turn blew three times over the smoke and passed the rock on. Interesting to see the ritual in person. However, about halfway through the hike, I got a bad case of saracha, altitude sickness, and had a pounding headache that would just not go away. I couldn't eat, I couldn't hike, I just sat there with my head in my hands!

Finally they took pity on me and sent me down with a security guard to go back to Tuti. It was the longest, worst hike down you can imagine. When I reached Tuti, I went straight to the posta and had the nurse, who luckily is a friend of mine, give me a pill and let me sleep a couple of hours. When I woke up, all the festivities were all ready under way!

Well, it's Saturday morning and I'm enjoying my new non-travelling weekends! I might go study a bit, get some coffee, and relaaaax with my furry kitty. Hopefully I'll have photos of the inauguration soon, as soon as I find someone with a compatible camera cord! Oh well!



Pelotita, the newest Polo family member.

 Take care!

Machu Picchu

This month has been amazing!

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.

Juan in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco



With the amazing family that took us under their wing during the trip!




Outisde a Cuzco fountain



Climbing up to the Oyollantaytambo ruins (the FREE ones!)



|Ruins in Oyollantaytambo, about 2 hours from Machu Picchu





looking over a foggy precipice...





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!

:)

Big hugs to everyone back in the States, we miss you all! We're about halfway through our Peruvian journey, and it feels good...

FINISHED!



The finished exhibit! Complete with four display cases with artifacts and crafts, two mannequins, a carved rock model of the andenes, two posters in English, Spanish and Quechua, and an oral history exhibit.

 Yes, that's right! I finished mounting the exhibit! Doesn't mean that the entire project is done, but it does mean that I can finally move on from all the hands on work to other things, like promotion and school visits. YES!

But wait, it's been a few months since my last entry, so let me catch you up on what I've been doing!

First, we finally got to see some rain here in dessert Arequipa. I think it even surprised the Arequipians, they were saying it didn't rain at all last year. Well, this year made up for it! We had a few days equivalent to what a good thunderstorm would be in Kentucky, and the sewers got backed up. The street outside our house was a river, and water started to come through a crack in the wall! We spent the next five hours moving furniture and sweeping the water across our studio apartment, out the front door. Luckily, the landlord came down to help us. Besides a few wet books, we didn't lose anything, so I'm very, very happy.

The raining season also made for some interesting visits to Colca Valley. Every day it rains at about 2pm, and if you get caught in it, you're bound for a cold night unless you have some dry clothes tucked away. I usually travel light, so you can imagine I'm always trying to stay indoors in the afternoon!

One weekend I stayed a few nights in Chivay, hoping to get a meeting with an archaeologist in the valley, who unfortunately did not have time in the end. Nevertheless, I was able to do something I have been putting off for quite some time: seeing the ruins that hover just above Chivay (the capital about 1/2 hour from Tuti). Below you can see the pictures. There were a few towers that may have been chullpas (funerary towers) on the top of a hills overseeing the city. Unfortunately, people had covered many rocks with grafitti, but it was still a beautiful view. Especially with the storm clouds coming down around me.



One of the towers on the hill overlooking Chivay.



Another tower in Chivay.

I also got a chance to see my professor from the University of Louisville in Tuti! She had done her dissertation research in Callalli, about an hour northeast of Tuti. She comes back to Peru frequently to continue her research on alpaca herds and organic farming.  I was lucky that she decided to rent a car for the day and invited me to join her! I had not ventured up farther into the valley than Tuti, being nervous about the state of the roads and not wanting to get stuck an extra night up in an unknown town. It was great being able to tag along with her; I got to see a professional anthropologist in action :), and I got to feel like a tourist for a day, not just working on my own project. I took lots of pictures of Sibayo and Callalli. What surprised me the most was how open they are. Tuti is wedged between two mountains, so you are always looking up. But Sibayo and Callalli both have higher and more open areas where you can see the mountains farther away. It was a breath of fresh air. We visited a woman's tent where she dries the alpaca meat to sell. My professor laughed that now I've seen where they raise the alpaca, where they dry the meat, and the restaurants where they eat it; all that's left is to see the slaughterhouse, and I'll have a complete view of the cycle! I admitted, though, that I had cut up a skinned alpaca already, trying to help one of the regidores prepare for a feast back in December. That was as close as I feel I need to go!



Overlooking Callalli.



Natural  rock formations they call El Castillo for their resemblance to a medeival castle.

A decorated llama sits atop the fountain in Sibayo's main plaza. See the oncoming rain? We got out of town just when it started, before the dirt roads turned to mud!

A beautiful rock formation just outside Callalli. This was on the road my professor used to take on the way to her field site.

Senora Narcisa and my professor outside the museum in Tuti!

This past week the Nobel Prize winning author and Arequipa native, Mario Vargas Llosa, visited Arequipa. It was one of those surprise events (to me) that just happens and I was fortunate enough to take advantage of! I was walking through the plaza and noticed crowds of people standing around in front of the municipality . Coincidentally, I ran into a tour guide who I had met up in Tuti, and during our chat, he explained that the author would be walking through the plaza in about half an hour! I ran home and got Juan, but by the time we got back, the whole parade had already passed. So we started searching through the nearby streets, finally coming across a crowd in front of the Municipal Theatre. There were plenty of police around so we knew it had to be the right place! There were dozens of Peruvians with tickets to enter, people who worked at different Arequipa institutions who had been formally invited. We stuck near them tyring to see if we could get in the front door. No good. Suddenly, a security guard announces, "Those that want to enter, follow me!" We went around the corner to the back entrance, but even then, they wouldn't open the doors to us. The people with tickets were particuarly frustrated, having to run around from here to there just to try to get in. After five minutes, the same security guard announces that it seems the back entrance is closed too, and it'd be better for everyone to go back to the front.
As the crowd started to leave, I grabbed Juan and said,  "What if it's a game? What if they're sending everyone away right now just so they can open the back door???" Sure enough, as soon as the line dissipated, a second back entrance, which looked like any tiny, inconspicuous metal door opened, and those that hung around started to squat down and go in. We laughed and went in with them! Turns out, that entrance led up to the third floor. As you can see from the pictures, we didn't have a great view, but I'm still proud to say I attended part of Mario Vargas Llosa's ceremony! Even better, we got to sneak in!

Juan on the banister in the Municipal Theatre.



Me, with the ceremony for Mario Vargas Llosa in the background.




Mario Vargas Llosa is in the middle.


Finally, as I've already mentioned, I got to finish the exhibit in Tuti. Phew! I had a rough time trying to get the printer to print out my posters. First I was told to make the design in Corel Draw, then I had to save it in an older version of Corel Draw, then when they opened the older version, all the text alignment was off and I had to sit there in their office and fix each one! But at least they were printed. I also wasn't able to find foam board of the thickness I wanted, to be able to tape the posters to and slide the inside the wooden frames. (That's what I get for assuming, again, that'd I'd be able to find the same kinds of materials here as I would in the US). Luckily, with enough rubber cement and tape, I got the posters to stay on the fronts and backs of the frames, which worked out just as well.

The oral history exhibit, with a list of the tracks and photos of each narrator.

One of the informative panels, discussing the history of the Collagua and Cabana tribes in the region. Spanish and Quechua in front, with English on the back. The frames move because they are attached to hinges.

View of the right side of the museum, with the female mannequin wearing her polleras, and two display cases with ceramic artifacts and woven crafts in the back.

Close up of some of the ceramic keros, identified as coming from the Chuquibamba and Churrajon cultures. 

View of the other texts, discussing the history of the Inka domination of the region.

The credit panel, thanking all the institutions who have helped the mounting of this exhibition, including Fulbright and my alma mater, UofL!

Monday morning the kids from the elementary school came over to see the place. They were excited to see new things, especially the 4th graders. The funniest thing was seeing how excited they were not by the artifacts, but by the huge mannequins! The boys took pictures of themselves next to the 6 1/2 foot male, and the girls kept jumping to try and tap the female mannequin's hat brim! It was great. Even though it wasn't as 'structured' a visit as you might expect, I was ecstatic when I overheard some 5th graders standing around the carved rock model of irrigation canals talking about a legend of how 'the waters on Pumunuta mountain had dried up'.  That is exactly what I had been dreaming of, that a casual encounter with an artifact would spark some memories or interest in histories that the kids had heard about before. Score!

Members of the Heritage committee visited the museum after our meeting Sunday night.

Students from the local elementary school, looking at the carved rock that represents the  terraced fields on the mountainsides.

Fourth and fifth graders visited the museum Monday morning...

And were impressed by how tall the mannequins were!



Even their teachers came in to look around.


I also got a meeting with the local Heritage committee, headed by Senora Narcissa. I've been preoccupied trying to figure out who exactly is going to take responsibility for maintaining the museum when I leave. I met with the mayor, and he had mentioned leaving everything to the tourism councilman. Later, however, the same mayor mentioned I could leave the key with the municipality live-in security, a woman who is always there. So I quickly got the impression that this wansn't going to be an organized 'handing over of the key' but rather a jumbled 'just drop it off with someone and we'll figure it out.' Eek. Also, from talks with Narcissa, I got the feeling she and the Heritage committee were worried that the new mayor might someday ransack the space, or try to take credit for its foundation. Since the Heritage committe seemed more interested than the municipality in taking over the museum, I gladly met with the Heritage committee and we talked about our plans. Seems they could organize themselves into month-long rotations, with each person responsible during their months for the opening and closing of the museum, cleaning and passing out info, etc. Nice idea, even though it was only a brainstorming session.

The real success of that meeting was deciding that we should all meet later with the mayor on April 20th to officially write an act/contract leaving the museum in the Heritage committee's hands. I hope it works out!
Then we will celebrate the inauguration of the museum on April 25th, which is Tourism Day during their week long Agricultural Festival.  There should be plenty of attendence from the community and from the town officials that week: the festival leads up to the town's anniversary on May 2-3. I know the patrons of this year's festival, so I've already promised to come in that week and celebrate. Senora Florencia, who owns the hostel where I stay, even said she'll look for some polleras to have me wear that weekend, so I can dance in the plaza with her! I was wary of dancing back in December's festival, but since May will be my last month in Tuti, I might make an exception. Look for photos!

Speaking of May and beyond, I have to start thinking about looking for my first post-Fulbright job. Hmmmm. We've already been to the immigration office. I first have to find a company that wants to hire me for a year (the minimum to get a work visa). That in itself involves updating my resume in Spanish, dropping it off to several schools, getting interviews, and a job offer. Then I have to go back to immigration, and get a legal document giving me permssion to sign the contract, which takes 2-3 days. Then, I have to sign the contract, and work along with my employer to get all the right paperwork signed in the Ministry of Employment. Once that paperwork is done, its another 2 months of processing in Lima before I have my work visa and can start.

Yikes!

My husband is going through the same thing. Please send your thoughts and prayers that we're able to get through this process quickly. If we don't have work by June, we're going to have to cut Juan's masters in half and come back, which would be a real shame.

I think that about covers most of what we've been up to. We found a new group of friends through our other friends, the Brits, which has been nice. More people to go out with, drink coffee with, gossip with haha! Can't say I don't miss home at all, but it makes it a lot easier now that we're building a little family of friends here.

See you soon!

New Year, New Start

Waves crashing on at Arica beach, Chile.

Cheesy title, I´ll admit. But I feel like the ´newness´of the new year applies this time.

We celebrated the new year in the Plaza de Armas. Everyone was lighting off fireworks when and where they could. A little dangerous. I did see a couple of women duck last minute as firecrackers were launched in their direction, but I didn´t see any blood or lost fingers, thank goodness. It was really amazing to be with my husband, surrounded by that many people all lighting off fireworks and having a good time.  I only wished they´d had an official countdown, like we do in Times Square. Me and my husband kept watching the clock, wondering ´´Is it midnight now?How about  now??´´ until we realized that it´d probably been midnight awhile back, but that wasn´t really the point, at least not here!

Juan overlooking the beach at Arica in Chile

There was a switch of mayors in Tuti, and the new mayor, although busy getting all his paperwork in order and settling in, was extremely helpful.  For example, I´ve been trying to fix the broken glasses in the display cases I´d brought to Tuti over a month ago. First, I asked the old mayor to help out by taking glass from Arequipa to the Colca for me in his private car. As you can imagine, there was not a lot of care taken with the glass; the large piece broke in three places. It broke with him just as it had when we originally broke the glass cases bringing them up in the back of a truck. Even worse, there was no phone call to let me know what had happened. On my next visit to Tuti, I had to go around on my own personal seek-and-find, asking about the glass, and my search didn´t end very happily.

Deep breaths...

But that is now the past. I have glass now in the museum, and the new mayor suggested one of his councilmen  to help me replace the glasses and glue them in place with silicon.Perfect!  (Actually, the councilman offered once he heard of my situation, which was even better! Way to be proactive!) If all goes well, this next weekend should end the long glass fiasco for good.

Clean beach and palm trees make Arica´s beach the best!

Meanwhile, things have been fairly calm here. I´ve been learning a bit about Corel Draw so that I can perfect the design of the museum panels. I have to admit, I was impressed at how even simple designs require a perfect set of intricate steps. As always, it´s so simple to do if you already know, and so frustrating if you don´t! One of the former councilmen, who also used to work as a tour guide and is really in-the-know about Tuti´s cultural past, passed on some photos he and others have taken from different archaeological sites in the region. (I had originally thought about using my own, but because we´re in the rainy season now, the lighting isn´t the best... as you can probably see even in the photos from Naupallakta...). So, in the end, having these pictures is the best option, and I spent last night playing around with neat dissolve and transparency techniques, and text wrapping. My computer held out for the first hour or so before it started sputtering... I guess we don´t have enough power to run a design program for that long!

Along the ridge high above runs Ugarte´s wall, marking where Ugarta fleed from the Chileans holding the banner of Peru, before throwing himself into the oeean (or so legend says). Arica used to belong to Peru, but they lost it to Chile once again.

I´m also waiting to see how my frame design turns out at the carpinter´s. The plans I gave to the carpinter were the first I´ve ever made with AutoCad (which was a whole other learning experience!). I think they turned out fairly well. Definitely more intelligible than my scribbles on grid paper would have been! Ironically, when I returned to the same carpinters in Chivay that had originally requested a detailed design of the frames I wanted, I was told that all the wood they had at that moment was wet, due to the rain, so I would have to look somewhere else. I went down the road and spoke with a nice older gentleman who took the time to actually go through the plans with me and make sure he understood (fingers crossed).  As frustrating as going over the same measurements over and over can be, I´m thankful he was patient enough to ask questions and not just accept a plan he didn´t understand, then choose not to make the frames once I´d left!

Plan for the frames I´m having made. There will be two frames mounted together on hinges that can move independently.

I´ll go ahead and post the image of the plan, and we´ll see in the next week or two how close the actual frames resemble the plan! I haven´t printed the panels yet, just in case the frame measurements come out a little bit skewed...

All the kiddos here are in summer vacation til about mid-March, which will give me time to, hopefully, finish all the panels and othe rparts of the exposition just in time for classes to begin again. As soon as class is back in session and the principals are back in Tuti (they all live in Arequipa when schools out), I´ll be able to start on the final phase of the project: promotion and an educational program.  My good friend and Peace Corps volunteer in Tuti has worked with the primary school director before and says she is really enthusiastic about extracurricular projects and activities for the kids, she had no doubt that incorporating the museum would be any problem. Good news! I´ve met the director before too, and she is a perfect mix of strictness and leadership with openness and kindness. We´re lucky to have her!

Beach at Tacna, in southern Peru. Notice the desert mountains in the background.

During the summer months here, everyone in Arequipa goes to the beach. I was silly enough to miss out on the trip my husband and our friends took to Mollendo (I will never make that mistake again!), even though it was worth it to meet Tuti´s new mayor. We did however get to swim in Tacna in southern Peru, on our trip down to Chile to cross the border. The water there, and from what I hear everywhere else, is pretty cold. Me and a friend of ours braved the waves - I couldn´t imagine going back home saying I hadn´t taken the plunge!- and to be honest, despite losing feeling in your extremities, the cold water can be pretty refreshing. I wouldn´t suggest long dips though...

Scenes of the beach at Arica, Chile.

The majority play on the beach, bring picnics and play soccer. Its really interesting to see such stark, desert mountains in the backround and a big, blue ocean before you. What a contrast. Worth a visit.

People swimming and splashing at Tacna´s beach, Peru.

I also have to mention that they have opened Parque Lambramani here in Arequipa. I know that this blog tends to be about working in the rural Colca Valley, but I can´t help but mention how nice it is to have a totally Americanized shopping and dining experience, even if just once in awhile. They have a Chilis, with the best chips and cheese salsa ever, and a CineMark movies, where I got my first buttery popcorn in ages. Again, I don´t want to offend the arequipeños, I have tried my share of lomo saltado, chupe de camarones, plenty of sandwiches of jamonada, and homemade chicha. But I´m still aware of my culture, and love to revisit it sometimes :)

Also, there has been a wonderful climate change the past two weeks: RAIN! That´s right! It might night be the heavy thunderstorms us Kentuckians are used to in spring, but it is so great to see big, billowy clouds and puddles in the street! For once, my nose isn´t burned to a crisp.  We do have hours of warm sun in the morning, but by about 1-2 pm the rain comes rolling in. Great! We actually heard it from within our apartment one morning, and I was so tempted to spend the whole day in bed!  I hope this lasts for awhile, I feel a little bit more at home now. Even better, the climate in Tuti and Arequipa is about the same now, except for the freezing cold Tuti nights.

Juan an our friends looks for little sea creaturs between the rocks.

Summer sun, something´s begun...

Para la historia...

Well, that´s about all for the moment. As soon as there is anymore news, I´ll let you know!