So this isn't a vacation....

Free Day in the Capital

We caught a bus back the 4.5 hours back to the Capital where we grabbed more seafood for lunch and dined on ice cream. We did a little exploring of the city and found a really good supermarket with a lot of American stuff although I was a little disappointed. Although they had Dr. Pepper and Kraft Ranch dressing, they were both of the diet variety. I am told normally they carry the regular though. Hopefully that is the case while I am there. Tomorrow, we each individually go to our sites for 3 days and see what life is going to be like for the next 2 years.

August 12^th, 2006 Fique, Peru

Petrogliphics and Bamboo Construction

This might have been my favorite day of the Field Based Training. We took a taxi 15 minutes to a volunteer named Nick’s site. We hiked through the forest for half an hour before arriving at some huge boulders. Petrogliphics had been carved into the stones by pre-Incan civilizations. Due to the recent pollution the acid rain was beginning to erode these precious historical boulders and thus we assisted some locals in constructing a structure to redirect water runoff. We had to cut down 8 meter long bamboo trees and then strip the branches. After hauling these through creeks and navigating between the foliage we had our infrastructure. We set them in holes we dug and then bound them together with chicken wire and nails. It was a long process but quite rewarding after we finished constructing our structure.

We rode back to Canchaque and made dinner at Ryan’s house. It was nice to have something other than rice and chicken. We kicked back and played cards. We play a lot of cards here, mostly Spades. I am not complaining.

August 11^th, 2006 Canchaque, Peru

Pig Farm and Coffee Picking

We headed to the pig farm that Kevin helped start during his service. The pig technician gave us some history on the pigs and technical knowledge on the raising of pigs, which are absolutely disgusting animals. After making some pig feed we picked coffee beans in some the farmers fields and received a presentation on the coffee production process. I learned quite a bit actually. After a hard afternoon’s work we participated in the production of ropompe. This consists of separating egg whites and their yolks. After smashing the yolks and beating the whites into a foam you combine the raw eggs with canozo, a liquor made from sugar cane with a 80% alcohol content. The initial sip is somewhat like a thick milk shake but the fourth or fifth sip of raw egg really wears on you. The natives love it though.

We then hike an hour through the mountains to a soccer field where Ryan, a current volunteer in Canchaque, was hosting practice. It was quite beautiful because the field was nestled in a valley in the midst of mountains. After scrimmaging the Peruvians who kicked our butts we had to hike the hour back in the fairly dark.