Impressions of Peru

June 11, 2008
Greetings, all. Having spent three months here in Peru in 2005, I’ve quit my real job (career redirection) and am here again on Natalie’s good graces and patience with my need to run away and join the circus, in this case the Peruvian version. I was here for the months of January, February and March, home for two months while we reconnected and traveled a bit within the U.S., and now back in Peru for five weeks. My work here continues to be patchwork, but it feels a bit more directed that it did just a few months ago. Still a work in progress. I’m planning another stretch from mid-September through Nov. 1. During 2005, I wrote some of my impressions and through I directed them only to Natalie earlier this year, some of you have asked me to write again. This is the time when you may wish to hit the "delete" button, as my epistle is required reading only for blood relatives.

My first few days back in Arequipa was a settling in time and preparation for another Medical Ministry International work project a few hours away, primarily in the mountain communities of Huanca and Lluta, places that both Natalie and I worked in late 2006. Each seems to have more burros per capita than any place I’ve ever been.

I’m always fascinated by the juxtaposition of wealth and abject poverty in this country and last Saturday was another example. Arequipa had rolled out the red carpet for APEC, the Asian Pacific Economic Conference, which included ministers of trade plus entourage from 21 countries around the Pacific rim, including the U.S., Japan, China, etc. Sidewalks downtown were clogged with police and airport security was greater than ever. While playing tour guide for the group of newly arrived volunteers, we stumbled upon preparations for the final conference dinner in the lovely courtyard of an old convent right off the main plaza. It was gorgeous with big candles around the ornate balconies and a stage with the band setting up. There were several dozen round white linen covered tables and place settings with three stemmed glasses each, while next door beggars sat at their usual positions outside the church. Later than night, the block was cordoned off by soldiers with shields and automatic weapons and at least 20 blocks of the central city were closed to traffic. And I thought that no one knew I was back….

The next morning we left for Huanca and spent most of the week there, working at the clinic as well as a couple of pueblitos nearly. On Friday we went on to Lluta, the small hometown of my friend Tania’s maternal family. Her 89-year-old grandfather greeted us and we dined at his home. Papa Felix is a really cool old guy, and though he can no longer get into his fields, he’s doing well and prefer Lluta to life in one of his children’s homes in the city. He and his wife raised 10 children in Lluta, sent at least half of them to the university, and his grandchildren have ranged from England to China to Italy. Not bad work.

Yesterday, I left the project in the early afternoon to return to Arequipa by local bus, which I was pleased to share with a live chicken. Yes, that kind of bus. It’s an almost six-hour trip (about the same as Miami-Lima by air), mostly on a single lane bumpy dirt/rock road carved into the mountainside and the views are spectacular all along the way. As there was rarely a straight stretch of road, reading was out of the question and I could only sit back, inhale the dust, and enjoy the trip. Max speed was about 15 mph for the three hours from Lluta to Huanca, which seemed quite sufficient as we plied the switchbacks and contemplated the concept of "bus plunge." It’s high desert country, around 9,000 to 12,000 feet, basically cacti and rocks, but with hundreds of small steep rock-terraced fields, multiple shades of irrigated green. I have no idea how people get to some of them. The water is the lifeline created long ago by a complex system of small irrigation canals built across wheat, maize, barley, potatoes and alfalfa. Water becomes alfalfa, which becomes dairy cattle, which becomes milk, then cheese, and every Friday the truck takes the cheese to the markets in Arequipa to convert it into cash. Mt. Ampato is a huge hulk of a 20,000 foot mountain capped by a glacier, and that’s the water source that feeds kids in Lluta. Watch out for global warming.

The bus seated about 30 and though only 10 of us left Lluta, we made multiple stops along the way as people flagged us down and finished the trip with standing room only. Most of my co-riders wore very broad brimmed straw hats, typical of the region. I considered a purchase, but I already have enough of a weird gringo appearance.

The only birds were small desert doves and an occasional vulture, but just below Taya, as we passed some eucalyptus trees before entering a canyon full of switchbacks, and flushed out a flock of iridescent green parrots. The loros were gorgeous.

At one point along the way between Huanca and Arequipa, I could see Mt. Ampato one way and snow-capped Mt. Chachani the other. By then it was late afternoon and above Arequipa it’s possible to see a whole series of mountain ridges in the distance. It’s probably a combination of dust and pollution, but as the sunlight becomes more horizontal, the darker ridge silhouettes and sky glow a wonderful pinkish orange and slowly change to purple. Just as the light goes out on them, one can still catch the last rays on the snow on top of Chachani. It a lovely late afternoon matinee.

This week is mostly preparation for a large volunteer project in Arequipa, then two weeks of the project before I head north at the end of June. Let me know if you’d like to come down sometime.