No name? No problem.

Since Linnea's new in town, Jessica and I have recently been introducing her to many of our contacts in Cajabamba. During that process, I was reminded of a cultural difference that really struck me when I first arrived at site: names are much less important here.

In the States, the first piece of information included in any sort of introduction is the person's name: "Mr. Jones, this is Meghan" or "hi, I'm Meghan, nice to meet you." Once names have been established, we then move on to other details like the person's job or the connection that makes the introduction relevant. It would be a bit odd to do otherwise: "hi, I work for Peace Corps, and my name is Meghan." Not so in Peru. Here people are not really concerned about what your name is; they are more interested in your title or your job. You might remember me blogging about how I'm often called "ingeniera" or "profesora" here - this is partially because titles of respect hold more importance in Peruvian society, but also partly because people might not remember my name.

Introducing Linnea around last week, I realized that I am now guilty of the same lack of interest in names. Now that I know I can get away with just calling every single teacher at the school "Profesor," I've allowed individual names to slip by the wayside. I work with a lot of different groups of ladies, and although I try to learn all their names, I first make sure I remember what they're called (i.e., whether each of them is a "señora," a "doña," or a "profesora"). I no longer insist on asking someone's name during an introduction if they do not offer it. While I remember feeling slightly offended when I first arrived in Cajabamba and people wouldn't bother to ask my name, I now enjoy reaping the benefits of this non-expectation. I don't take it to extremes - I of course know the actual name of anyone I work with on a regular basis - but do I smile to myself every time the generic "profesor" saves me the embarrassment of admitting I'd forgotten a name.

Waterfall hike

This weekend the sitemates and I went on a morning hike down from Gabe's site of Cauday (the town that's a 25 minute drive from Cajabamba) to some nearby waterfalls and river. Here's some pics!

Walking along the irrigation canal

Eating the tupperware of jello Gabe's host mom packed for us

All four at the falls

#whyIdon'tdolaundry

Laundry drying lines = meat drying lines. Hello birthday cuys!

Photo from the day before my birthday - cuys on the laundry line

Peruvian birthday #2

My second birthday in Peru was a day full of fun. First, lunch with the fam and sitemates - obvio, we had cuy.

New 21er sitemates: Linnea's excited for her first taste of cuy, and Gabe's too cool for school 'cause he's already a cuy pro

The whole gang, minus Javi

Lunch also included a plethora of fun treats: a crocheted shawl from my host mom, hand-carved wooden buttons from my host dad, wine from Linnea and Gabe, 1-sol mini beers from my (somewhat crazy) host uncle, and a soccer ball and real Betty Crocker frosting from Jess.

After lunch, it was baking time. Javi knows how much I like to make bread in our clay oven, so we spent the afternoon preparing some delicious loaves for dinner. And since we had the oven going anyway, my host mom threw a birthday cake in there too :)

Checking the cake's status with a flashlight

The end result, largely thanks to Jess' frosting, was a beautiful cake, complete with a mini-Meghan my host mom found in god-knows-what random Peruvian store. She even had freckles!

Kely's greenhouse

A key part of Peru 19's Lima antics last week (aside from reuniting with far-away friends, celebrating the halfway point of our service, and listening to "Blurred Lines" throughout our entire two days of med checks) was Peace Corps's annual Somos Emprendedores, Somos Perú competition. Each of the volunteers chose the best project from their business plan course for youth, and those hard-working jóvenes got to accompany us to Lima to compete for start-up funding. Cajabamba's local winner was Kely, a 21 year-old who's in the process of starting her own organic greenhouse. 

Kely with one of her radishes

Her first greenhouse is now almost fully operational

To keep things organic, she uses homemade cuy fertilizer, no chemicals, and clean water from rain and a reservoir

Kely impressed me from day one with her quiet dedication and work ethic - she came to every single class, and turned in a business plan and presentation that far exceeded my expectations. Not only did she excel in the academic aspect of the business plan, but I personally think her idea is awesome - organic veggies that grow faster yet require less labor and water supply then regular field-grown. Kely lives in one of Cajabamba's outlying farming communities, about an hour walk outside of town, and is one of few women from that background who can say she's completed not only high school (that in itself is an uncommon accomplishment), but also technical college. As with the majority of the students we brought to Lima last week, Kely had never been further from home than the regional capital of Cajamarca.

I spent a good amount of time during the days of the competition trying to imagine this experience from the eyes of our students. For them, Lima was a whole new world, and one that was likely a bit bewildering. There are ten-lanes-wide roads jammed with cars, shiny skyscrapers that seem to touch the clouds, restaurants and stores with prices no campesino would dream of paying, and Peace Corps-funded per diem cash that I'm sure seemed quite extravagant. But wait - not only did we take these kids to Lima, but then we brought them to the whole other level that is the U.S. embassy: security guards, metal detectors, grand steel doors and marble floors, huge carpeted rooms, climate-controlled air conditioning, etc. etc. While to us volunteers, it felt like walking back into a little slice of normal America for a few hours, to our students every one of those aspects was a cause for awe and wonder.

Four of our 11 groups walked away with prize money that will fund their small businesses: a café/bakery, natural yogurt production, selling grafted wine grape vines, and a pharmacy of all-natural remedies. And although Kely didn't win, I know she will continue to try and grow her greenhouse idea anyway - and hopefully she'll let me help!

Gringa status: please confirm

Today as I was getting on the bus back to site, the teenage boy loading my pack into the trunk asked me, "¿usted es gringa?" ("are you a gringa?"). I looked at him and burst out laughing: "en serio, did you just ask me if I'm a gringa?" The bus driver (his boss) quickly told him that it's not exactly polite to just ask people if they are gringos, but I kept chuckling and assured him it was fine - I was just taken off guard because I literally had never been asked that question before. In my opinion, it is muy obvio that I'm a gringa - I've met approximately zero Peruvians with pale freckled skin and green eyes. People ask me all the time if I'm from the United States or if I speak English, but never have I been asked to confirm the basic fact of my gringa-ness. But there's a first time for everything, especially in Peace Corps.

Machu Picchu

Once we'd made it to the viewpoint, we took off our packs and watched as the sunlight crept down the mountainside to eventually light up the ruins.

Our next stop was the "postcard pic" location, where we of course took copious amounts of photos (in the perfect morning light) and tried to soak up the incredible fact that we were finally at Machu Picchu.

Then we set off to explore the city itself:

Sun temple in the foreground and terraces stacking the mountainside

Three windows temple

Main plaza, with awesome acoustics that let you hear someone talking from the center without a microphone

We'd heard the climb up Huayna Picchu (the little mountain you see in pics of MP) was steep but worth it - so true on both counts

Buildings perched on the side of Huayna Picchu's peak

View of Machu Picchu from the top

As Cusco was designed in the shape of a puma, Machu Picchu was laid out in the shape of a condor (use your imagination)

Structures incredibly intact after 500+ years

Temple of the condor with the city above it

Sporting our matching chullos (typical sierra hats) at lunch later that afternoon

And thus ends the Meghan-Dad Peruvian adventure saga - an experience neither of us will soon forget.

The Inca Trail

The next stage of the great Meghan-Dad Peruvian adventure of 2013 was the Inca Trail. The trail is a 4-day, 26-mile trek through the Andes that ends by arriving at Machu Picchu in time for sunrise on the fourth day. The classic "Inca Trail" is in fact one of many ancient Inca roads in the area, but this one is special because it was built as a celebration of the high mountains, which the Incas worshipped (the trail ranged from the low of Machu Picchu at 7,900 feet to the highest pass at over 13,800 feet). As a result, the trek offers one amazing view after another, plus a firsthand experience of the many microclimates of the Peruvian sierra and an up-close experience of all the ruins sites along the trail. It was, in a word, incredible!

Our group of 16 hikers ready to start the trail

Starting point: Urubamba river valley (8,500 feet), beautiful glaciers already in the background

Looking down on the Inca site of Llactapata (shaped like a flower)

Camp the first night - our tent

Breakfast in the dining tent

The second day was a lot of climbing, but we had llama friends accompany us from time to time

Super steep ascents up to the first (and highest) pass of the trail

But the views at the top were worth it! (this was one direction)

The whole gang at the top (this was the view in the other direction)

Day 3 began with a visit to the ruins of Runkurakay, a meeting point along the road for Inca messengers

Even from afar you can see how the climate changes: glacier, dry above the treeline, high jungle, cloud forest

Ruins of Sayacmarca, perched on a mountainside

Llama friends grazing at Phuyupatamarca, with the tip of Machu Picchu mountain peaking out in the distance (the lowest peak in the center of the photo)

Afternoon of day 3: "gringo-killer" stairs - steep and long descent

Agricultural terraces at Wiñaywayna

Morning of day 4: up at 3:30am to get our first glimpse of Machu Picchu before sunrise

Cusco

After our time in Cajamarca and at site, Dad and I headed south to the mecca of all Peruvian tourist destinations: Cusco. We spent a wonderful few days there on either side of our Inca Trail/Machu Picchu excursion, exploring some of the many sites and walking the narrow cobbled streets. 

Plaza de armas

My impressions of Cusco can be summed up into a few key observations:

1. There is SO much to see and do! I think a solid two weeks would give you time to fully experience Cusco and the nearby Sacred Valley, but two-ish days didn't quite cover it. The city (and surrounding region) has Incan ruins galore, churches on every other corner, and museums and tours to better highlight the history. It's hard not to be overwhelmed, but it was great to have no lack of places to visit.
2. The city is, at every turn, a visible remnant of the Incas, the Spanish colonizers, and often both intermixed. Cobblestone streets, colonial-era wood-carved balconies, perfectly constructed stone walls, Inca temples converted into Jesuit monasteries - all of Cusco is a living history, and it's fascinating to uncover. 
3. Such. delicious. food. While this probably needs no explanation, I'm still having dreams about all the amazing meals I ate in Cusco's restaurants. Real pancakes with maple syrup; spinach and goat cheese ravioli; seafood risotto; grilled vegetables with sea salt; quality wine and beer... the list goes on. It was a little slice of foodie heaven, right here in Peru. Plus we tried alpaca steak - check that off the Peruvian foods list!
4. Tourists galore! And infrastructure that does pretty well at hosting them - impressive proof of where Peru's development could lead, if the rest of the country can catch up to Cusco's level. It was interesting to compare the small towns around Cusco to Cajabamba (the general scenery is the same), but to see clear benefits that tourism dollars have brought to the former (e.g., grass soccer fields). The sheer amount of tourists made some sites feel like Disneyland at times (queues, crowds, and amusing outfits), but mostly I just enjoyed watching the foreigners react to aspects of Peru that have grown to seem normal to me.

And now for some pictures from our Cusco days:

Narrow cobblestone streets

Cusco was laid out in the shape of a puma; the nearby ruins of Saqsaywaman form the teeth

Up close and personal at a llama/alpaca/vicuña farm

Incan farming terraces at Pisac, with the ruins of the town/fortress above

Impeccable stonework and the signature Incan trapezoid style at Ollantaytambo

Chinchero: another Incan wall of trapezoids, with the bell tower the Spaniards built on top

The temple of Qoricancha, later converted to a Jesuit monastery - you can see where the Spaniards tried to insert an arch

Wool spinning-dying-weaving demonstration

All natural colors

Traditional style of weaving

Yummm organic roasted veggie sandwich with amber ale

Dad trying pisco sour (the national drink)