Easter Vacation

April 8th, 2007 Ica, Peru

Catch Me if You Can

Anticipating long lines for the buses back to Lima we decided to buy our bus tickets early for Sunday morning. The buses leave every six minutes and ours was to leave at 10:54 am. Our service at breakfast was a little slow and some were a little late leaving the hostel. Two of our party had boarded the bus while about six were waiting in the lobby and another four were still arriving. All of sudden, we heard the call for the 11:00 am bus and were wondering what happened to the 10:54 call. We got a call from one of our friends on the bus that they were pulling out and we saw it through the window in front of us. We all jetted out the terminal and started chasing the bus. Our friends were pleading with the driver but he refused to stop although he had a bus only at 30% occupancy. Finally, we see the bus pull over. The other 10 of us continue to sprint 3 blocks towards the bus with full baggage and all. It was quite the sight but 5 hours we arrived in Lima.

April 7th, 2007 Pisco and Paracas, Peru

The Poor Man’s Galapagos Islands

Today we headed to Pisco where the famous liquor is made. It pretty much tastes like tequila. We then headed to the coast to Paracas. Here we took a boat tour around the islands “Islas Ballestas”. We saw a hieroglyphic etched in the mountain spanning 60 feet. The main attraction was the thousands of birds who have deposited guano on these islands for centuries, which were once used to extract fertilizer for years. There were also seals, sea lions and even penguins. It interesting but I am hoping the rich man’s Galapagos Islands live up to the expectations a bit more.

We also visited some other cool sites along the coast with picturesque scenes. We then returned to Huacachina to go dune bugging.

Dune bugs and Sand boarding

We made it back in time to take the last trip in the dune bugs. We climbed the several sand dunes with these and the point is to drive crazy as if you were spinning doughnuts in a snowy parking lot. After an hour of this, the drivers would drop us off at the top of the dune and let us sand board down where they would pick us up. It was good times.

April 6th, 2007 Huacachina, Peru

Sand boarding in an Oasis

Huacachina is an oasis outside of the departmental capital of Ica. It is surrounded by enormous sand dunes which seem to span forever. We climbed to the top of the highest sand dune and watched the sunset. It must have taken us an hour to climb to the top. From here we could see the laguna and the oasis on which this little tourist town is built. We then proceeded to glide down the mountains just like we would on snow. Well, some of us glided, others tumbled. It was exhilarating, except for I still have sand in my ears from a bad wipe out.

Which bus to take

April 5th, 2007 Lima, Peru

A Lesson In Opportunity Cost and Sunk Cost

We arrived in Lima in the morning and headed to the next terminal that would take us south to the department of Ica where we would be spending Easter weekend vacation. When we arrived at the terminal, we found the line to buy tickets wrapped around 2 blocks. We waited an hour and a half to buy to tickets and found out there was still an hour wait to get on a bus. We made a quick phone call to some friends who just arrived in Lima and had them check out the other terminal that goes to Ica. They called back and told us they just bought tickets (no line) and could board the bus in the next half hour.

But we were only ten minutes from getting our tickets. There were six of us. Two environmental volunteers and three business volunteers. We started hashing it out and the three business volunteers decided the costs incurred so far were sunk. We headed to the other terminal. When we arrived we learned this terminal was also charging $5 less. The environmental volunteers stayed with the other line. They paid $5 more to arrive at the hotel an hour after us. They also never took Economics 101.

Don´t You Even Try to Rob Me

April 4th, 2007 Chiclayo, Peru

Nice Try Buddy

I headed down to Chiclayo (the regional city know as the capital of Amistad which means Friendship) to meet with a NGO about providing technical assistance to the duck raising project. Later I dropped off my suitcase at the bus station, which I would take to Lima later that night. I was walking on the street with my backpack when suddenly I felt it opened. I swung it off one shoulder to find that the little pocket had been opened.

Now that I was more vulnerable, the guy next to me attempted to jerk it off the remaining shoulder. I jerked it back with my left arm while simultaneously punching him in the arm with my right hand. I proceeded to close the zipper and dashed off. I still didn’t know if he had stolen something from the little pocked so I began chasing him. The first thing I yelled was, “Stop that man.” Then I realized no one speaks English. I continued to chase him for 3 blocks and heard things like help that gentleman.

Eventually after 3 blocks I realized I would never catch him with this 20 pound bag and Sketchers on. At one point, I began to hand my bag to an old woman but decided to trust no one. So I stopped and took off my bag to examine what was missing. Just as I decided nothing was missing, a woman came around the corner and was motioning me to come fast. I turned the corner to find the police with the perpetrator on the ground. They asked me to identify him and started to put me in the back of the truck with him until I made a face of utter confusion and they placed me in the front of the truck.

“What happened?”

“Well, I was walking when this friend, no, this asshole tried…….”

“You hear that. That’s right. You are an asshole.” The police begin to beat him in the stomach.

“Where you from?”

“I am from the States but I work in Piura”

“And you are here in Chiclayo visiting friends?”

“Yeah. My friends tell me supposedly this is the Capital of Amistad.”

“You´re right. This is the Capital of Amistad. You have no respect.” As they once again begin to punch him in the side and the stomach and rough around with his hair and neck.

Finally, we get to the police station and they ask me to fill out a denunciation. I have a bus at 8pm and its 6pm. For the next hour and a half I sit around and fill out a couple of denunciations. I felt like I was getting punished because it meant I was going to have to skip dinner and a much needed stiff drink. Finally, they tell me I can go and bring the perpetrator out of the closet and sit him down. They ask me if there is anything I would like to say or perhaps if I would like to hit him. This scrawny little 18 year old begins to beg for mercy. I meant to reply, “I’ll let God have his vengeance.” But lost in translation was “I’ll let God have his revenge.”

I just hope next time I am wearing my sneakers and my bag weighs 2 pounds because I’ll beat the crap out of some little scrawny 18 year old kid if he even tries to steal a piece of gum out of my bag.

Computer Class Graduation and the Epidemic

April 3rd, 2007 La Encantada, Peru

Computer Class Graduation

My computer students completed the basic computer class this week and I thought it might be fun to have a little party to celebrate. I bought some soda and the students made popcorn, and Jell-O and I helped my host sister make a cake. From scratch. It was a little dense.

I was a little disappointed though because one third of the class didn’t show up. They send a message or anything. I thought for sure they would show up for a party. I just don’t understand why the teenagers are so unreliable here. I mean teenagers are pretty unreliable, who I am kidding. But they normally show up for parties.

March 28th thru April 1st, 2007 La Encantada, Peru

Being Sick is no Fun

These past few days, I got pretty sick. I mean lets not lie, us volunteers are slightly sick all the time. But some kind of bug was going around my zone and a lot of people got really sick. My counterpart’s sister had to go to the hospital. Fortunately, I only had a fever and lost 9 pounds in a span of 3 days. But I am better now. Just feeling a little weak.