Going out with a BANG

Our trip to Puno was possibly the best way to end our six weeks in Perú. On the way there we made a few stops in small towns to see a site or two, but the REAL site to see was Lake Titicaca once we got there. We took a boat for 3.5 hours on the crystal clear lake to the island of Amantani, a place that cannot be described in words. To start, the island is made up of 10 communities, all of which function on a system of reciprocity (called ayllu or ayni in Quechua). In other words, the people on this island go about their daily lives WITHOUT the use of money and everything is done by the exchanging of favors. Electricity is minimal, however the home we stayed in was rather nice and the four of us had a BLAST sharing a room together for the night.

 That night we (meaning all the gringos on the island) dressed up in our host parents' clothing and had a festive celebration with dancing and lots of pictures. This was one of the most fun things I think I've done since my arrival in Perú. You'd be surprised at how warm their clothes are - and how the skirt made me have a DONK like JLO. Jaja.

Aside from that, we went on a strenuous hike with a view that was more than rewarding at the top. We could even see the snowcapped mountains of Bolivia from the island. Cool, right?

On our way back to Puno from Amantani, we stopped at Uros, a group of islands that are made of NOTHING more than reeds. The fact that people live on these islands and have to reconstruct them every 25 years is inconceivable to me, but pretty neat, too.

We spent the majority of our last day in Cusco doing some shopping and soaking up what we could of the city. Though I'm extremely ready to come home, I can still say that I'll miss Perú, my host family in particular. Our goodbye was a little sad, and I can only hope that I'll somehow see them again someday or at least stay in touch. It's weird to think I may never come back here...

Anyway, this summer has been absolutely incredible and one that I will never forget. The word "travel" has taken on a whole other meaning now that my perspective on the world has changed drastically. That alone makes this kind of experience rewarding.

Learn a lot. Live a lot. See a lot. That pretty much sums it up.

Winding Down!

Happy 23rd Anniversary to my awesome parents! Love you both, mucho.

My group gave our (almost) final presentation on Wednesday about the presidency of Alberto Fujimori, which then progressed into a debate about the very controversial politician. Later that night we went out to a bar/restaurant and just hung out for several hours while we watched a soccer game on TV. Doctora (thankfully) gave us class off on Thursday and Friday to start our final research projects.  My group and I went to the Cusco library on Thursday and searched through its newspaper archives on the presidential campaigns of Ollanta Humala (president-to-be) from 2006 and 2011. We stayed there for about three hours and then went around the center of the city taking pictures of political grafitti and doing a little shopping on the way.

Friday we went on an adventure searching for people to interview for our project. Between the policeman, taxi driver, and a lawyer from the regional government office, we got some pretty good information about the campaigns.  We took a detour for a few hours to a HUGE artisan market where we all found some nice gifts for friends and family. I’ve been searching everywhere for souvenir spoons, but they’re all SUPER expensive because they’re made of pure silver ($30+ per spoon, which I don’t have). I’m determined to find some cheaper ones though before I leave. Gotta keep my collection growing to carry on Mema’s tradition. :) That night a few of us went to hear a Cuban tribute band while a few others went dancing.

Today wasn’t super exciting – just met with my group again to organize all of our information and start writing our final report (which is getting pretty lengthy…). Surprisingly, however, we had a good time hanging out together despite the fact that we were pounding out facts and essays.  After being super productive, Casey and I decided it was THE night to make “American” food for our host family. What could be more American than FUDGE BROWNIES?!  Our younger sisters were really excited for us to make them something, so we really wanted to give them something good. The only problem was that we found out their oven doesn’t work AFTER we bought the ingredients… so we had to go use a public oven several blocks away to HALF cook them. We brought them back to the house and decided to “nuke” them, which wasn’t the best idea because they turned into bricks. Despite the fact that we needed a hammer to cut them, we had a blast cracking up with our family over our FAIL. I definitely won’t forget tonight for a long time, jaja.

Anyway, this could be my last post before I’m home in NINE days! We’re presenting our final “committee” research projects on Monday and then leaving for Puno on Tuesday morning. We’ll be staying with a family one night that speaks NO Spanish, only Quechua, so that should be interesting. In addition, the fact that having a FLOOR in these houses will be a “luxury” will also be interesting, along with no hot water. Nevertheless, I’m excited to REALLY be out of my comfort zone for once. We’ll be back on Friday, have all day Saturday to do whatever (ahem, shopping), then to the airport on Sunday! I can’t believe how fast this trip has gone by, but I’m excited to finally get home and relax for the rest of my summer.  ¡Hasta pronto! 

Random, but I thought it was cool. :)

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I thought it was funny, jaja.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

A change of perspective...

The other day we went to the Cathedral of Cusco that's in the center of the city. I'm sad to say that I left feeling very uncomfortable and turned off. To start, tourists have to pay to enter, and once inside all you see is GOLD. The amount of gold in this place is ridiculous, to the point of being very gaudy and extremely idolatrous. Though I'm not Catholic, it's very apparent that Catholicism here is extremely different than it is at home in that there is a HEAVY emphasis on idols (physical figures of saints and various deviations of the Virgen Mary). Needless to say, the visit to the cathedral was very eye-opening and really made me grateful for my church back home.

In class on Friday we had a debate, which was very heated and therefore extremely fun and interesting. Debates in Spanish are usually pretty intimidating, but once we start everyone gets really into it. A few days before we had to give 1+ hour presentations in groups, which was definitely a challenge but very enlightening. You can definitely learn a lot of Spanish when put in these academic situations!

Yesterday we went to Pisac again to see the parade and celebrations of La Virgen del Carmen, a different variant of the Virgen Mary. Apparently this saint receives as much emphasis (if not more) than Christ, which is disheartening. I'm learning a lot about my own faith from seeing how things are here. A lot of the reason for the stark differences between here and the States is a result of the syncretism of ancient Incan beliefs with those that were taught by the Spanish in the 16th century during the conquest. One big possibility for the emphasis on saint figures is the fact that the Incas worshiped huacas, or anything that they saw as sacred (mountains, people, pretty views, waterfalls, etc.). It's likely that these huacas were replaced by physical figures of saints by the Spanish to convert them to Christianity.

Aside from experiencing these differences, we also got to walk around the TINY town for a while and do some extensive shopping. I finally feel like I got some nice gifts for my family, and I'm very excited about that. :)

I leave 2 weeks from today! How crazy is that? It's strange that it feels like time has trickled and flown by at the same time. I like it here, but I'm also super excited to be home again. Dualidad? Sí.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through ME." - John 14:6

Machu Picchu y más

(More pictures on facebook)

Saturday - FREE DAY! I relaxed by myself for a while in the morning until lunch, then decided to get out for a bit. I stopped by Totta (a yummy cake place 5 feet from my house... dangerous) and picked up two slices on my way to Mitch's house. We ate our cake in the park on swings like little kids, then decided to go exploring. We walked around for about an hour, then decided to take a taxi to Mercado Molino. Though this place was a little sketch, its awesomeness was worth it. We bought 4 (NEW!) movies for about $4, which was really exciting. I thought about Sketchy and how many movies she could buy here... jaja. Gold mine. :)

Sunday - MACHU PICCHU (which means "Old Mountain" in Quechua). Prior to this trip, one of my goals was to visit all 50 states before I die. On top of that, I've decided I'd also like to visit all 7 wonders of the world (there are several lists, but I'm referring to the one with the pyramids, the Great Wall, etc.). I'm proud to say I can now cross one off the list! Despite the fact it was a super tourist trap because of the 100th anniversary of the "scientific" discovery, the scenery was unlike anything I've ever seen. The Incas built this city around 1300A.D. and it was discovered (by white people) in 1911. A man named Hiram Bingham from Yale found this motherload of ancient history and brought back thousands of artifacts to the States. They were just returned to Peru this year...

Today - Parque de la Papa (The Potato Park). Sound exciting? I'm sure it doesn't. The part about actual potato farming wasn't the most interesting thing I've ever heard, but having ALPACA for lunch was definitely interesting... I've discovered that I'm not gastronomically adventurous when it comes to meat, though the alpaca wasn't too bad. After that, however, we went on an EXTREME hike. I'm sorry to keep mentioning the altitude, but this was 15,000 feet above sea level! That's almost 3 miles, which puts Denver, "the mile high city," to shame. Needless to say, I was extremely winded after 4 hours with minimal oxygen. But the exercise was nice for once!

I'll admit that I wasn't totally in love with Peru when I first got here, but like Mexico, it's definitely started to grow on me. I guess you could say I'm definitely starting to feel "cultured." :)

"Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light, yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night? None can fathom..."  - Indescribable, Chris Tomlin

Twinkle, Twinkle

Hola, mi loyal peeps! Two nights ago we went to the Cusco Planetarium. If you're thinking we had a quasi-Fernbank experience, I must assure you that it was far better. We met in front of the cathedral at 6:45 (since it gets dark here at ripe 6:00pm...) and hopped on a bus that took us to the top of the mountains. After a lengthy explanation of incan astrology, we finally got to take a look at the sky through some crazy telescopes. It was extremely cold, even with my alpaca sweater, so they gave us blankets to wrap up in along with hot tea that's typically drunk at high altitudes. (Keep in mind, we're at approximately 12,000 feet above seal level.) In addition to the many SHOOTING STARS that we saw, we got to see constellations that can't be seen from the United States. Pretty cool stuff, right? My favorite part was being able to see the craters on the moon and the rings around Saturn, along with its two moons. I've never been one to take much interest in astronomy, but the Atlanta sky just can't compare to the one here.

The moon literally looked like this, though I obviously didn't take this picture.

Yesterday was a surprise free day because it was the 100th Anniversary of the scientific discovery of Machu Picchu!! We walked around a bit while two students gave presentations, and then went to a fantastic bakery (where I shared 2 pieces of cake...) before heading to the school to discuss our excursion to Machu Picchu. We're going on Sunday, and I can't wait!! I might have an entire album dedicated to this maravilla. :)

Long Time No Blog

Sorry it’s been so long (and that this post is so long…)! Today is our first free day since we’ve been here, so I’ve been going, going, going constantly.  If we’re not sitting in a FREEZING cold classroom or making video documentaries, we’re spending the whole day on a bus visiting Incan ruins or walking through the center of the city doing interviews and taking pictures. It’s all been a blast so far, but it’s definitely taking a lot of my energy. I’m also BEYOND excited that my 36-hour stomach virus is now gone!

The sites here really are quite astounding. Though Cusco is definitely less developed than Mexico City, it’s very interesting to see a different part of Latin America. The contrast of vast open fields against skyscraping mountain chains (some snowcapped!) never fails to leave me speechless. In some ways, the mountains and climate here remind of Alaska. On the other hand, clay-shingled rooftops and cobblestone streets are not exactly Alaskan. We recently found out that there’s not a single movie theater in Cusco, so I guess Harry Potter 7, Part 2 will have to wait…

Our visits to all of the ruins have so far been my favorite part of this trip. Though hiking at 11,200 feet above sea level is more than exhausting, the sites are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The Incans definitely put some of Georgia Tech’s engineering to shame. Yesterday we went to Urubamba, Moray, and Chinchero.

Urubamba – Ceramics. This guy said it can take up to 45 days to make a simple coffee mug! Granted, he makes the clay himself from sand and water, handcrafts the shape without any machinery, and paints with all-natural plant pigments.

Moray – Agriculture. The Incans used to plant their crops at the bottom of these circular terraces, then gradually move them up the levels until they could eventually survive at the highest altitude. (Side note: In Peru, there are over 3,800 varieties of potatoes, one of which is called moraylla. This potato is only eaten during the winter because it’s intentionally dried out and frozen at high altitudes, creating a freezer-burned flavor that Peruvians particularly like. I haven’t gotten to that point yet…)

Chinchero – Textiles. We learned the entire process that still continues today. The process goes as follows: shear the alpaca, clean the wool with soap made from a cousin of the yucca plant, spin the wool into yarn/thread, dye the yarn in a mixture of lime juice, salt, and plant extract, WEAVE. Some of these textiles take up to 100 days per piece to complete. That’s pretty eye-opening when you’re used to assuming that clothes come in a package off a conveyor belt. This really is a different world.  The one thing I couldn’t get past was the fact that these women were sitting outside in freezing temperatures wearing skirts and no shoes. We were all pretty sure our toes were becoming frost-bitten, so most of us bought a pair of alpaca slippers. My best investment so far.

 The name I chose for this blog is definitely starting to ring true. I’m without a doubt learning the importance of Embracing Uncertainty. Everything about this trip is somewhat of a surprise and a learning experience on many levels. Life without hot showers, central heating, and internet is definitely making me appreciate everything I have at home so much more. My eyes have been opened to the fact that living in the United States is almost like living in a bubble, blind to the way other people around the world live every day.

Mom, Dad, Steve: I miss you all so much. All my love.

 “Into marvelous light I’m running, out of darkness, out of shame. By the cross You are the truth, You are the light, You are the way.”