Posted in Peru on September 23, 2024
Thursday 19 Sep 2024
Becky and I arrived at the Lima airport at 21h30. We flew on LATAM airlines from Guayaquil, Ecuador after nine days in Quito and in the Galapagos Islands. We were taking advantage of our Developing World Connections (DWC) trip to make a bucket list visit to the Islands and did so via a nine-day cruise with the Hurtigruten Expeditions company. We also spent two days in the capital, Quito, where we visited with one of my former students from the US Air Force Academy (USAF), Carlos Pacheco. Carlos graduated from USAFA in 2014 and is now a major in the Ecuadoran Air Force flying helicopters for them. (More on our Ecuadoran adventure in another file)
Our arrival in Lima was very easy and quick. Our bags arrived quickly to the carousel and we were moved to the front of the immigration line when a very nice agent asked us if we were over 60 years old. That saved us about 15 to 20 minutes of a long line, but did cost us a little bit of ego since it was a bit sad to be picked out for looking old!
After clearing immigration and the customs line (our bags weren’t even scanned), we made our way to the reception hall and quickly found our driver, Guido, who had a sign with my name on it. Guido doesn’t speak English, so we used Google Translate for a few simple questions as we made our way to his car and then to the Casa Nuestra B&B, where we would be staying for most of the next two weeks.
The drive to Casa Nuestra, located in the Barranco District of Lima took about 30 minutes and we arrived before 23h00. Guido showed us to our room and told us that breakfast would be available at about 8h15 the next morning, made my Marie. We received similar information via WhatsApp, from the owner of Casa Neustra, Carmen, who was off-site. She also explained the wifi and a few other minor details.
Friday 20 Sep 2024
Vibrations on my cell phone woke me at about 05h30 as notes came in from Guido and Kathryn Smith. Kate was arriving from Miami at 04h30 that morning and was linking up with Guido as we had done. Because Kate was arriving so early–they made it to the Casa Nuestra shortly before 06h00–she did not yet have a room, so she relaxed and slept on the couch downstairs upon arrival.
Becky and i met Marie in the kitchen around 08h00 and had some breakfast with Charles and Val (both DWC volunteers who had arrived prior to the 19th) and two young men from Paris that were departing that morning from the Casa Neustra.
Marie spoke very little English, but was very pleasant and helpful. She prepared fruit bowls for each of us, served some plain yogurt, coffee, and scrambled eggs. She was later joined by Adirenne, who spoke very good English, and seemed to be another of the caretakers of Casa Nuestra. A few other clients of Casa Nuestra seemed to move in and out throughout the day, but we didn’t converse.
Casa Nuestra is a three-level establishment with an as yet indeterminate number of rooms. I’d call it “Bohemian” in its decor, the variety of tiled floors, decoration, and lighting. The rooms are not marked with numbers and it’s hard to determine what is a closet and what doors lead to rooms. Kate was moved to a single room with a bed and slept a little more after (apparently) one of the clients left and the room was cleaned. We made a plan to leave the B&B at about 11h00 for a walk-around the neighborhood once she rested a little more.
Charles and Val went out on their own. Charles was simply walking the streets of Barranco and Lima, while Val had a 9am pick-up for an all-day city tour.
I spoke with Adrienne about finding a local laundry that could do some clothes for us and she recommended Barranco Express a short distance away. I managed to find the laundry after a couple of false turns and dropped off a small bag of things that Becky and I needed washed from our Galapagos cruise. I was impressed with how they worked. I gave them my WhatsApp number and they instantly sent me a receipt detailing the store’s hours and my bill, stating that all would be ready by 5pm the same day. The price was 10 Peruvians Sols (/S) per kilo which worked out to just over $1 US per pound.
I came back to the room and Becky and I finished unpacking and organizing our things for the next week. She, Kate, and I left the hotel just after 11h00 and began walking to the Puente de los Suspiros (The Bridge of Sighs), south of us in the original Barranco area.
The streets were busy with cars and pedestrians. The main avenues had plenty of public transportation by bus as well as bike lanes. The walk to the bridge took about 15 to 20 minutes and along the way we scouted restaurants and other sites.
The Bridge of Sighs is clearly a popular area for student and other photos. We saw many professional photographers set up to take formal photos on demand and there were a large number of school groups (mostly high school aged) taking photos in special white outfits as well as graduation robes. There were art galleries and many painted wall mural in the area.
We walked through much of the district and then tried to find a way down to the beach area. This involved lots of steps and concrete staircases passing a view point of the beach and finally a pedestrian bridge over a major thoroughfare that skirted the beach below the cliffs that held Barranco above the water. This beach-side cliff line, reinforced with concrete was, in places, over 200 feet high. The front fo the cliffs were lined with apartment buildings and below was the aforementioned highway and then a boardwalk-style walking/biking area along the water.
It was surprisingly cool weather with plenty of fog and clouds. Temperatures were in the mid-60s Fahrenheit, with high humidity and a cool ocean breeze. The climate reminded me more of the Central or Northern California coast that what I expected for the tropics at only 12-degrees of latitude south of the Equator.
We continued down the stairs and across the bridge to the beach and then stepped into the Rustica Restaurant for a light lunch.
For lunch, we ordered local beer (Cusquena Trigo) in bottles and hat we thought would be small plates. Becky and I would share some french fries and local fish soup and Kate had fried plantains and rice. We had a nice outdoor table with a view of the water.
The soup was creamy with chunks of white fish and Becky’s plate of fries was too big for two people to finish. I didn’t finish the big bowl of soup either. Prices were reasonable and the service was good. Rustica seemed like a well-established place with lots of old pictures of past customers and a busy lunch-time clientele.
Kate and Becky took an Uber back to the hotel and I decided to walk. Starting from the Rustica, I’d intended to take photos on the return but realized that my camera battery was dead, so I just used my cell phone.
The walk went quickly and I was back just a few minutes after they arrived. The auto route up and over the cliff required many u-turns and took longer than they expected.
We relaxed for much of the rest of the afternoon, visiting the rooftop terrace at Casa Nuestra. Becky and I went out later for a cup of coffee and another walk-around. We visited a supermarket that seemed to have everything we could want and then settled into the Cafe Julieta for a Mochichinna and an Americano. We paid a total of /S 17 or about $5 USD.
Back at the hotel, we all rejoined for dinner, departing at about 6pm on foot. On our way to the bridge earlier in the day, we found the Ayahuasca bar and restaurant and had spoken to a guy out front It seemed nice and had a good menu, so that’s where we went.
Charles and Val joined us and recounted their day in town. Charles had walked many miles long the cliff line of the city, northbound through Miraflores towards the Park of Love. Always the explorer, Charles is comfortable anywhere in the world.
The drinks (pisco sours) were good and the portion sizes of the appetizer dishes were more like main courses. I had the ceviche while Kate ordered a “Causa” which is a three-layered serving of potatoes, fish, and vegetables very common to Peru.
Service was good and we were very happy with the meal. We walked back without any issues. Back at the B&B, we all went to our rooms and I monitored the arrival of Linda from New York.
Saturday 21 Sep 2024
Breakfast was again a bowl of fresh fruit with granola and yogurt, excellent coffee, rolls with jam, and fresh scrambled eggs.
I went for a walk with Linda to show her the Bridge of Sighs and local area. Again, many families and school groups were there taking photos and enjoying the park.
Louis hd rrived early in the morning and was sleeping through the morning downstairs.
We made plans to go downtown for a walking tour of the central part of Lima scheduled for 2pm with Guruwalks.com.
We booked an Uber to take us downtown and managed to find an XL that would take all five of us.
The traffic was terrible going downtown and it took nearly 45 minutes.
We arrived at the Guruwalks meeting point near the Plaza San Martin and the Hotel Bolivar and then walked along the pedestrian zone area.
The area was quite crowded and there were many street performers and buskers, vendors, carts, and traditional shops. We checked for a lunch place and found the “R18 Restaurant.”
Food and service was good and friendly, but slow. We hurried out just in time to meet Juan, our guide, in front of the Hotel Bolivar just after 2pm.
Juan was quite young and seemed inexperienced as a guide. He was very pleasant and sincere and had a three-ring binder of photos and maps that he used to explain some aspects of the city.
The tour lasted almost three hours and covered quite a bit of ground. We walked by the main government square that had the presidential palace and legislative buildings. The square was closed to visitors due to recent protests and was ringed with police. There was no real tension, but the police were quite serious.
By now Sun had burned through the fog and the weather was warmer and more pleasant. Crowds thinned as we walked towards the city’s river and we could see homes up on the eastern hillsides.
Juan took us to a couple of major churches as well as the postal and telegraph building–now a cooking school–as well as the original train station that was now a cultural museum.
We concluded the tour by thanking Juan, tipping him generously, and finding another Uber XL that would take us from in front of the Ministry of Finance building back to Barranco.
Traffic was much lighter on the return and we were back by about 5:30. I sent out a WhatsApp message proposing that we meet at 6:30pm for dinner. Becky recommended a local Japanese ramen and Yakitori restaurant we had seen along the main street. Seven of us met in the lobby for dinner. Louis was meeting a friend and Karen was still inbound and would arrive near midnight.
The Japanese restaurant was excellent and service was good. We were given a near private seating area and enjoyed Japanese beer with a variety of dishes. It did take a little work to get.
Monday 23 Sep 2024
Our alarm went off at 6am and we were ready for breakfast shortly.after 6:20. Marie and Mercie were well ahead of schedule prepping breakfast and several of us were eating before 6:30. The team was primed and ready to go earl and our transportation–a 15 passenger van piloted by Abran was waiting for us at the curb. The team was ready to go by 7:25.and we were in our way.
The ride was difficult. The van had a manual transmission and Abran was constantly pushing and releasing the gas pedal, whiplashing us forward and backwards. Val began to feel carsick almost right away. I’m sure others did, too.
We put Vl in the front seat and gave her some Pepto-Bismol and she recovered quickly.
The ride to the school was circuitous and generally indecipherable. We had no real idea about directions as it was foggy and we could see no landmarks. The ride took nearly and hour.
The neighborhoods outside of Barranco became increasingly impoverished s we moved into the foothills. We began to see trash piled onto road medians with stray dogs picking through the refuse. Sidewalks disappeared or appeared broken. We saw fewer nice cars and more tuk-tuks.
Near the base of a large hill, we stopped where I could buy some large bottles of water for the next several days. Four 10-liter bottles cost about $6 US. We loaded them into the van and then waited for Elvira and Karen to join us.
Once Karen and Elvira were in the van, we headed uphill into very poor housing. We saw even more stray dogs and trash.
We arrived at the San Jose Obrero School just before 9am after driving up a steep dirt road and entering through a tall, steel double gate during which the van struck some large rocks with its right front bumper. After some maneuvering, Abran managed to drive the van through the gate without any additional impacts and then parked it in the schoolyard just in front of the school.
It was very foggy and misting lightly with temperatures probably around 60F (15C). We were greeted by two IFEJANT volunteers, Katia and Vanessa, who began to tell us about the school and IFEJANT’s efforts to improve it over the years.
It was immediately obvious to us that major work was being done at the school. A large part of the hillside above the school had been excavated and leveled by large machinery. There were piles of big boulders and the rocky hillside was exposed. They told us that the leveling had begun after which several pre-fabricated classrooms would be brought in to replace some of the older classrooms.
They explained that they only had intermittent running water and drainage at the school making things quite difficult. The toilets needed buckets of water to flush and those weren’t always available.
We walked through the school towards the principal’s office to greet her and saw the current classrooms that served the kids ages three through ten. The classrooms were very bright, well-lit, and colorful and contrasted greatly with what seemed like deep poverty in the area as well as the dusty, dirty exterior of the buildings. The teachers seemed very professional and the kids looked quite engaged. The floors were solid concrete and the walls in the rooms were painted as well as decorated with many educational posters and teaching aids. The kids were in yellow school uniforms with green trim.
The principal greeted us in her office and presented us with a box of fresh fruit from where she lived. We thanked her for the fruit (a type that I hadn’t seen before) and she explained the recent work at the school and her appreciation for the support of IFEJANT and DWC.
Most of the leveling and earthworks had been done during the recent winter break for the kids, but some more had been done in the last two weeks during which time the kids did most of the schooling remotely for safety reasons. We asked how many of the students had computers and connectivity and the principal said that the lessons were taught using cell phones and WhatsApp. Most of the teachers had recorded videos of lessons and posted them there for the students. They’d used their cell phones (which everyone had) to ask and answer questions between the students and teachers during the remote-learning time.
Katia and Vanessa, along with the principal, then told us about plans to build the additional classroom space as well as the training center for baking. The students had ad a kiosk where they sold snacks and crafts to raise money for school activities and we would be working on helping complete the baking center that would also support the kiosk sales. At some point, we would even help staff the kiosk and help the kids sell things during our two weeks there.
We were told that there were student and community organizations that used the upper classroom areas where we would be working for meetings and educational sessions. These sessions focused on topics like conflict resolution, domestic violence and sexual abuse education and intervention, and public and mental health topics. Local high schoolers participated in the sessions and helped run many of them.
High school aged students in the neighborhood had banded together to help form a transportation cooperative to help them get to the nearest high school, too. They did this because of issues they faced with the private bus service that was supposed to take them to schools. Katia explained that the private bus companies didn’t always want to take high school students to school because their fares were lower. Students had to band together to share transportation if the buses wouldn’t take them.
We asked several questions including what certifications and degrees the teachers at the school possessed. The principal told us that all of the teachers had Bachelor’s degrees and that several had Master’s degrees in teaching, especially if they worked at the local high school as a teacher.
From here, we moved uphill to the our work area. We climbed concrete steps that had been set in place by previous volunteer groups and from there could see the homes built on the dry hillsides on both sides of the valley. Even though we were technically still in Lima, it seemed like a world away from the relative affluence of the Barranco neighborhood and even further from the highrise luxury apartments along the coastal cliffs of Miraflores.
We could also see the extent of the earth moving that had been done as we climbed to our worksite. The new two levels or rock terraces were cut directly from the rocky hillside. We all wondered about the stability of the neighborhood in heavy rains or (even worse) earthquakes, perched as the homes were atop what looked like rock retaining terraces and walls that were dry set without concrete to hold them together. Across the valley on the other side, concrete staircases climbed the hills reminding us of the Manitou Incline in Colorado Springs. The idea of descending and climbing these stairs every days (hundreds of steps) to do simple tasks like going to school, fetching water or groceries, or going to work amazed us.
We next dropped our bags in the community room at the top of the school area and learned more of the programs and meetings supported by the center. We went next door to the newly poured concrete room where we would be working. There, we met our foreman, Miguel, who would direct our work for most of the next two weeks.
The interior of the room was all concrete, while the exterior was red brick. The walls, pillars, doorways, ceiling, floor, and some shelving were all poured concrete that had been set in forms. I was impressed with the quality of the work. There were also electrical conduit and plug boxes set into the concrete. We would need to chisel out excess concrete from these and snake lines between them for the electrical connections.
Our primary tasks, though, after clearing out furniture and equipment stored in the room, was to sand the rough walls, smooth out imperfections in the poured concrete (especially on shelves), clean the area, and prep for priming, plastering, and ultimately painting the walls of the to-be pastry cooking and training area.
After hauling out the tables and chairs stored in the room, we began sanding and smoothing using sheets of black 3M 221+ sandpaper that was very durable. We attached sheets to a small play wood sheet on a pole to sand the ceiling–a task that Adam focused on. The rest of us rubbed the walls with sandpaper while Lewis cut excess electrical conduit in the boxes after Linda and Charles chiseled out concrete to clear the boxes.
The work was dirty, dusty, and tough. There was a lot of excess trash in the room including pigeon feathers, rodent feces, and other dirt. We pulled out our masks and I asked Elvira if we could buy additional safety glasses to help keep dust out of our eyes.
The work went well and the temperature rose as the fog burned off in the valley. We took frequent breaks for water and worked together well. The bathrooms, located down the hill, we’re not easily accessible nor we’re they functioning. The toilets didn’t have seats and not only didn’t they flush, but we didn’t have access to buckets of waternto make them flush.bthebteam handled the unpleasantness well, though.
We broke for lunch at 12:30 and went to a building that was a combination of two classrooms, a kitchen, and an eating area. We were first served potatoes in a creamy sauce and then a huge plate of fries, spices rice long with a chicken thigh. Dessert was a bowl of diced mango. We had a sugary, purple drink made from boiled purple corn. Only a few of us were able to finish the lunch. We were introduced to the two ladies responsible for the lunch and thanked them for the delicious food.
After lunch, we returned to the work site and first went to the adjoining communal room where we signed up for other activities we would participate in during the week on a board prepped by the staff. We could help with the kiosk, participate in the kids’ Or classes, ride buses with them and the high school kids, and also help with morning breakfast sessions all starting the next day.
After signing up, we returned to work a continues sanding, chiseling and cleaning. Miguel showed us the bags.of plaster mix we would use as well as five-gallon buckets of primer that we’d use first. Lewis, Charles, and Adam were working with Miguel to snake lines between the electrical boxes and through the conduit in the poured walls–a task that proved very challenging because of some wet concrete that had apparently seeped into the conduit lines, clogging them. Ultimately, there were successful, but in the meantime they discovered some residual water in the conduits that needed to be extracted using some cotton cloth that they ran back and forth through the lines.
The rest of us were cleaning up the room of dust having completed the sanding and smoothing. As it was late in the day, approaching 3:30pm, Miguel decided that we would not begin priming until Tuesday, so we moved all of the tools and materials to a storage area with plans to begin in the morning.
We packed up and left just before 4pm, beginning the nearlyn50 minute ride through traffic back to Barranco.
We arrived before 5pm and several of us took dirty clothes to the laundry..Kate picked up her glasses and we all showered and cleaned up prior to meeting on a rooftop terrace for a beer or just to relax.
At 6:30pm, we all left for dinner and, after checking a few other places, returned to La73 where we’d eaten the night before.
This time, we ate inside. The meal was good and went reasonably well despite some service hiccups and translation difficulty that were both solved by Lewis. We called it a night without dessert and then stopped by a convenience store on the way back to the B&B for some snacks. I think all of us were in our rooms by 8:30pm.
Tuesday 24 Sep 2024
For breakfast this morning we had fresh guacamole instead of fruit salad. Bananas were also on the table and Marie and Mercie fries scrambled eggs for all of us.
Everyone seemed to be in good health without any complaints or serious worries. I spent as much time as possible writing this blog and then shuffled to the door with my backpack and a water jug to meet Abran as well as Elvira and Karen who would be traveling with us.
We left in the van on time at 0740 and began our journey back to San Jose Obrero under cloudy skies and more light mist.
At the worksite, we finished sanding the walls about 30 minutes into the day. Charles, Karen and I went to one of the physical education classes with kids that looked about second grade. We were impressed by the teacher’s innovative ideas. When we arrived, some of the kids were dancing the “Baby Shark” and then John Denver’s “Country Roads.”
When we arrived for class, he first brought out jump ropes and we all jumped rope singly. Next, he brought out a bunch balls made out of wadded up tape and we played a game where pairs of kids played rock-paper-scissors and then the loser had to pick up the ball, chase the winner, and hit them with the (very light) ball. The kids played this (a long with us) for about 10 minutes and then the teacher strung a line of thick twine across the playground. After this, the kids threw their balls back and forth over the nets playing catch.
Next, he brought our soccer and volleyball and everyone played catch over the net with those. We counted and we threw and caught and had a lot of fun.
While we were doing this, the teacher used duct tape to mark two soccer goals on the building wall. Then, he lined up the kids into one line each for boys and girls and they practices throwing the tape balls at the goal with kids taking turns a goalies. Then, the soccer balls came out and the kids kicked at the goal.
Finally, we made circles or paired up and threw the balls back and forth. In 30 minutes all of these kids (and we) got a great workout and practiced lots of skills. I was very impressed with the teacher and the kids.
Meanwhile, up the hill, Val and Linda were helping move rocks and dirt from a pile on one of the newly leveled areas. They thought they were going to work at the kiosk, but we’re diverted to rock work.
Karen and I relieved them and then we sent for Adam to help as well. It took us about an hour, a long with the help of four locals, but we leveled the rest of the pile.
Back at the main worksite, priming had begun. We used five rollers and made quick work of the first coat. Miguel told us that we would do the second coat after lunch. Becky, Linda, and Val worked the kiosk for awhile and helped the kids sell snacks. Apparently, focaccia bread sandwiches were a big deal as well as candy and drinks.
We went to lunch just after noon and enjoyed some potato salad with onions and tuna included. We also had white rice and a vegetable, quinoa, and chicken stew that we spooned over the rice. Our meal was served family style to reduce waste and that worked well. We also had mango juice and, for dessert, the ladies sliced up the bread fruit given to us the day before by the principal, which was really delicious!
After lunch, it was the end of the school day for the kids and Karen, Adam, and I were led to the school bus for our ride with the kids, accompanied by Katia and Karen.
We pulled into the white Japanese-made bus amid a crush of kids. Most of the kids just stood. Two or three were in a front passenger seat and others climbed into the center console next to the driver. Some even helped him steer the bus. It looked like total chaos.
The kids sked us our names and tried to reach us some Spanish. I took videos and photos as we started up the dirt hills at a steep grade. The kids were having a ball and we were incredulous at the scene as the bus navigated hair-pin turns, passed water trucks and front loaders, kids sang, dogs chased the bus, and it looked like at any moment we could plummet to and firey death down the hillside.
We had three bus stops with about equal amounts of kids getting off at each stop. At one stop, a dog tried to join us on the bus.
The kids ran from the bus to their hillside shacks as they bid us “adios.” Finally, we stopped at a dirt intersection that seemed like a main bus and taxi hub. We left the school bus and walked around the area until a small commercial bus picked us up and returned us down the same harrowing route to the San Jose Obrero school. The ride was the highlight of the trip in Peru so far!
Back at worksite, the second coat of primer was just being finished and Miguel was applying plaster patches to small holes in the wall. Kate and Charles were continuing to run lines between outlets and boxes in the room. Miguel said that we would begin plastering tomorrow and that, in the interim, we would begin work on the second floor of the classroom.
The entry to the second floor was above and behind the first. There was no direct passage between the two rooms. The entry door to the top floor was locked and above a boulder field with no clear steps up. Miguel moved a couple of boulders and set a ladder up to the door for our access.
When we entered the top floor room, we saw all of the scaffolding, supports, and formed used for the concrete and brickwork to construct the building. We moved all of the material to the center of the room and began sanding. Linda worked on freeing thew electrical boxes of excess concrete and everyone else starting sanding.
Quitting time was set for 3:30 pm and by then we were largely done with the wall sanding. Additionally, our sandpaper was just about shot from overuse, so stopping at 3:30 made sense. Miguel told us that we would be plastering the ground level on Wednesday and sealing the second floor, too.
After cleaning the area and storing our tools, we met in the community room with Katia and Karen a discussed the day and plans for upcoming days.
They asked us about lunch and we gave positive reviews to both the food and the family-style service we had today. We talked through upcoming home visits as well as bus riding in the morning and other upcoming events like kiosk work, breakfasts with the kids, and a cemetery visit. We told Katia that we appreciated all of the opportunities they were presenting us to interact with the kids, school staff, and community.
We began moving to the van just after 3:45 and gave Katia and Karen a ride. We dropped Katia at an intersection about halfway back to the hotel, but Karen traveled with us all of the way back.
We arrived at the B&B again just before 5pm and went inside to shower, clean-up, take care of laundry, and relax. After walking to the laundry for drop-off and pick-up, several of us met on the rooftop terrace for happy hour. Linda bought a six-pack of Cusquena beer as well as some corn nuts and a gin-and-tonic for Karen.
We talked, as we had several times over the previous days, about the cool weather. We had on down jackets, long-sleeves, and even gloves. Temperatures were again in the upper-50s F or low-60s (15-18C), it was foggy and a light breeze made it feel even cooler. The weather was by far the biggest surprise of the trip. It made for good working conditions as we were rarely sweating, but it made the mornings and evenings a bit less comfortable.
One of the other negatives we’d experienced was the toilet situation at the school. I didn’t see a toilet with an intact seat. There didn’t seem to be any running water to recharge the toilet bowls and the cistern holding water to supply the schools was either empty or the gravity-fed system wasn’t working. This made the toileting situation pretty rough for all of us. We joked about buying a half-dozen toilet seats and installing them at the school, but realized that they’d probably be broken in short order.
We decided to meet at 6:30pm as usual and walk to the Cafe Arepa on the main street in Barranco. It had been well-reviewed, but looked small, so we wanted to check it out. When we arrived the owner immediately picked us out as tourists and set up three small tables into a seating area for eight nad explained the menu to us.
He was originally from Venezuela and had come to Peru to import their corn flour used in the Arepas and Empanadas used there. Almost all of their food was gluten-free which appealed to KAren. He was very enthusiastic and informative and we knew we’d found a great place to eat. The food was also quite cheap as we had one of the cheapest meals of the trip. We spent less then $10 US each for Arepas (described to us as the Venezuelan “big Mac”) and soft drinks. The arepas were sandwiches made of relatively thick corn tortillas (the “arepa”) that were soft and light, with meat, avocado, cheese, and fried plantains between the tortillas. They were served with sauces that were like a mayonnaise or aioli. We had choices of chicken, shredded beef, steak, and other fillings and could mix and match fillings to make our own custom arepas.
We all enjoyed the food (and the cheap beer) and knew that we would be back.
We returned to the hotel by 8:15pm, walking through the damp night air. We talked about the upcoming day and the activities that were planned for us (PE, more bus rides, home visits, etc) and our departure for Cusco on Thursday afternoon and our Machu Picchu visit that would follow.
Wednesday 25 Sep 2024
We had fruit salad again for breakfast along with the scrambled eggs that were so good and fresh. The weather outside was the same–foggy with some mist. I ate early and did some more writing and photo album arranging and sharing.
The team was loaded in the van on time and Karen arrived just before 7:30. We were missing Abran, our driver, however. Karen reached him by phone–he had walked to a local shop to buy an extra quart of motor oil for the van. We were on our way to the school by 7:40.
Once again, it was cool and foggy. When we arrived, Adam and Val went directly to the PE class that was underway in the yard. Adam taught the kids to do push-ups during one break in the action and Val made a video of it. The kids again danced to “Baby Shark” and played with the tape balls made by the teacher.
On the way into the work area, Kate took a spill on the slippery steps up while I was helping her. Her cane smacked me in the temple and caused a small scrape, but we were both otherwise unscathed. She took a tuk-tuk up the hill to the site and we walked up the stairs.
Once we got there, Karen and I began sanding the walls and ceiling which went better since we had new sheets of sandpaper. The rest of the group worked on another coat of primer on the first floor. Then, we asked Miguel about clearing more of the material out of the second floor room. He agreed to get most of the forms out of the room, but left behind the floor support beams (really cut logs). We set up a bucket line to pass the wood down from the door and out to the side of the dirt road. Miguel wanted us to help him move the wood to his house, but we declined saying that we needed a truck to move that material. Louis explained that it would take us hours to do that since his house was a pretty good hike up a hill and a set of stairs.
Miguel finally agreed to that plan even though he carried a couple of beams up the hill himself. Karen and the rest of us went back to move sanding and eventually finished with the edge work, chipping, and sanding. We then worked at sweeping and cleaning the floors in preparation for priming the walls. We still had the supports in the middle, but things were clearing out better. Charles was leading the work on clearing out the electrical panels and running the fish tapes through the conduits and clearing the piping for electrical wiring. Adam helped with that, too.
The priming went well and we got a coat done before our break for lunch. The skies didn’t clear at all, though, and it was probably our coolest day of the week. As we were sitting at lunch enjoying some chicken, potato puree, rice, and vegetables, we realized that Charles was with us. I went to look for him and found him back at the worksite–he’d “lost track of time” with his conduit work and missed the lunch call. He happily joined us and lunch continued. For dessert we had fresh passion fruit, called granadillo in Peru.
In the afternoon, the upstairs crew worked on priming the walls again and completing the conduit work. Adam and I worked with Miguel on the first floor prepping the very large tiles for installation onto the concrete counter tops. The tiles were 1.20 meters long and a half-meter wide. He wanted us to bevel the outside edges at a 45-degree angle so that they would meet and mesh well with the front-piece tiles. It was a tedious and long process. Adam and I asked why we weren’t just abutting the tiles at a 90-degree angle, but he said that this was what the school wanted. We spent the rest of the afternoon using angle grinders to carefully hand bevel the six large tiles. When we were done, we stacked the tiles on the countertops and cleaned the area for the next day.
Some in the group were meeting in the community hall with the teachers and a group of 7-to-10 year-old-girls that were meeting to discuss local societal issues, violence, bullying and other issues.
We left a little early, just after 3:30pm with Katia and Karen joining us in the van. When we returned to the B&B we did our usual laundry run and most pre-packed for the next day’s departure to Cuzco and our Machu Picchu trip. Our flight would be departing at 6:45 pm and we would be leaving the hotel at 3pm. There was some concern about labor unrest the next day with bus drivers causing disruptions. We’d received alerts that they were proposing a strike in protest of some recent gang violence along bus routes that had resulted in two deaths. Karen assured us that we would all be okay and that our routes would not be affected. Still, we were glad to have plenty of time built into our schedule.
Some of us met on the terrace for happy hour drinks. Val and Linda went to local salons for some hair care. Six of us departed the hotel just after 6:30pm for dinner and we picked up Val along the way. Charles and Linda did light dinners on their own.
We walked to the Nuestra Bistro and went upstairs to their wine room for an excellent meal. We had a variety of ceviches for our “entradas” and then some excellent beef, potato, ravioli, and risotto dishes for our main courses. They had a great gluten-free menu and plenty of Peruvian wines. We had a bottle each of the local pinto noir and malbec and enjoyed them greatly. The head chef came out and explained the plates to us and was very proud of his work. The meals were excellent and very reasonably priced. We made a note that we would spend our final group dinner there the following Thursday night and Louis helped us make a reservation for the same room.
On the way back, we stopped for ice cream at the shop called “Grazie,” but were back to the B&B before 9pm. I received some WhatsApp messages from the Evolution Treks guide, Marco, who asked about our flights I was a bit miffed that this wasn’t all worked out and clear to him. We arranged to have a call the next day at 11am, but he also confirmed that the airport pickup in Cuzco was set with Evolution Treks and apologized for the confusion. He said that the trekking team would be departing from the Spirit of the River Lodge in the Sacred Valley at 7am on Friday morning. It was at that time that we would meet him and out porters for the trek. I went to bed not entirely convinced that everything would go smoothly over the next couple of days, but hoped that the excellent reviews for Evolution would be true…
Thursday 26 Sep 2024
A group of five of us got up early and left at 6:30am to a breakfast event at the school with parents. Breakfast was ready early for them, as usual, and Becky, Linda, Louis, Adam, and Kate departed on time. Val, Charles, Karen, and I left at 7:30 in the normal van. The plan was to have lunch at the school at noon, depart at 12:30 and be back to the B&B around 1:30pm to clean-up for our flight, pick-up laundry, and store our bags in Room 3.
Just before we left, Becky texted to let us know that school was canceled for the day due to the bus strikes/protest. They still met with the parents, though.
The rest of us left at 7:30 with Fabio, an additional interpreter, and Elvira. The drive to the school went quicker than normal due to less traffic. There were long lines at Metro and bus stops and the few buses we did see were packed with people.
We arrived at 8:15am but the van couldn’t go in the gate because the key to lock was in the principal’s office. We walked up to the work site outside the gate and got the keys from Elvira to open the classrooms, gates, and storage areas to prep for work.
Miguel arrived shortly thereafter and said that the main team should sand the primed walls upstairs and then apply another coat of primer. After that, they would mix and strain white paint for the lower room’s walls and apply coats of paint to the walls on the side of the room opposite the concrete shelves.
Adam and I worked with Miguel applying the large tiles to the countertops. We placed the first full one and Miguel went to great lengths to make sure it was level in all directions. He used a LOT of mastic and mixed it thinner than I would normally use.
After the first full pieces were set, we started cutting corner pieces with the angle grinder. One corner also needed a notch for a pillar which proved very difficult. It was finally set, but when Miguel tried to lift it from the mastic to add more for leveling, he crack it almost perfectly straight. The crack was so straight that it looked like two square tiles, so we just set them.
The rest of the team continued painting work. The walls just soaked up the paint and it was clear that we would need multiple coats despite the priming.
Near the end of the morning, we went to the community room and everyone signed up for the next week’s activities. Miguel asked if Adam and I would be back to work with him tiling on Tuesday and we assured him that we would. I asked Karen to pass along how much we enjoyed working with him and that we were looking forward to more tiling.
About this time, Marco, our Machu Picchu Trek guide from Evolution Treks called to explain the program. He emailed me a map of the route and began to explain the whole program. I called Karen and Adam so that they could listen and ask any questions.
Marco was very enthusiastic and positive about the trip. He assured us that we would be picked up at the airport and transported to the Spirit of the River Lodge. The next morning, we would have breakfast ready at 6:00am and leave at 7 to meet the team at Kilometer Marker 82 to begin our trek.
He outlined how each of the days would go, describing the distances, climbs, conditions, timing for wake-ups, hike starts, breaks, lunches, siestas, and campground arrivals.
Our longest, toughest day would be the second when we covered 16 kilometers, climbed over Dead Woman Pass and climbed to over 4200 meters–ascending over 900 meters in the day.
We also learned that we would be getting up at 3am on Monday for sunrise at Machu Picchu. The tour of the actual ruins would be about 90 minutes and we’d have to check any backpacks over 20 liters before the tour.
I assured him that our team was very fit and ready for the challenge. When he outlined the final day, I again had to remind him that our flight left Cusco at 5:40pm. He thought it was later–something that I had shared with Evolution Treks MULTIPLE times in the previous weeks and months.
The new plan has us to the train from Aqua Calientes by 10:55am and back in Cusco by 3pm.
We then met for lunch and had beef in a delicious dark gravy sauce as well as rice, beans, and a creamy spinach soup. We had plenty of food and most decided to eat a bigger than usual lunch since it wasn’t clear when and where we’d get dinner.
The conversation at lunch was fascinating as Linda asked, based on the parent meeting in the morning, what was happening with birth rates in the country, what opportunities for employment moms had, and what trends they saw.
Katia explained (through) Karen that birth rates were falling in general but that many of the mothers were quite young. She said that two of the women they’d met that morning were only 20.
I did a little research and found that the Peruvian birth rate had dropped from over five per woman in 1970 to a current level of 2.19–near the zero growth level.
Katia then described past history in Peru of forced (or coerced) sterilizations on women. The program had focused on the poor, illiterate, and non-Spanish speaking populations and had caused widespread distrust of public health institutions. She said that the issue was still being litigated in the courts.
We left shortly before 12:45pm and made it back to the B&B by 1:40, again profiting from slightly reduced traffic. The traffic is ALWAYS bad in Lima. Sometimes, though, it’s “less bad.”
When we arrived at the B&B, several of us hurried to the Barranco Express lavanderia for our last batch of clean clothes prior to our treks.
We moved our extra bags into Room 3 and made sure we had all we needed for the trip. Marco told me that we would need mosquito repellent for our final (third) night in the Andes, so Becky and I shared some of our Ben’s DEET wipes with others.
Tuesday 1 Oct 2024
We started late two begin our second week because of our late arrival back from our four days in Cusco, The Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. We weren’t in bed before 10pm because of a flight delay.
I got up early for coffee and computer work to catch up with things. Louis and Karen joined me before 7am and we all were happy to be back enjoying Marie’s breakfasts.
I spoke with Louis about his weekend. He enjoyed relaxing and exploring Barranco and had a couple of new restaurant recommendations.
The team was ready as usual for an one-time departure at 8am. We didn’t notice any additional traffic on the way in and it seemed that we were successful in avoiding any labor or political unrest that we’d read was plaguing some of central Lima and making the news.
The weather had not changed in Lima–it was overcast and cool with temperatures in the mid-60s Fahrenheit (high teens C). We arrived at about 9am and Linda, Kate, and Charles watched and participated in PE class today. Kate said they played a “mean game of ‘head and shoulders, knees and toes.”
After getting things unlocked, we saw that, over the weekend and then says we were gone, Miguel had done quite a bit of tiling, finishing most of the countertops and doing the shelves. They had also graded the area behind the building and removed lots of rock. One of our tasks over the next days would be to level that area further.
Miguel asked us to now move the bricks and door that we’re blocking the backdoor to the lower level room and most of the rest of the team started their day by sticking bricks in a neat pile beside the building in a plank. Louis led that task.
Miguel asked Adam and I to join him to continue the tiling on the lower level. We started by using a chisel and hammer to put chips in the smooth wall on which tile would be placed.
We spent the rest of the morning mixing mastic (cement to hold the tiles to the wall), placing wall tiles, and helping Miguel who did quality control.
Miguel made sure the early tiles were perfectly placed in every way, establishing high standards and a good basis for the remaining work. He did most of the tile cutting, too.
Adam and I would later work on the shelf tiles, too, and continued this work through the whole day, only breaking for lunch.
The rest of the team was painting on the second level and in doorways as well as running more fish tape for electrical lines, this time to the ceiling lighting boxes. This has become Charles’s specialty, and Kate worked with him on that as she had several times in the past.
Lunch was a stir fry of beef and vegetables served with rice. We also had Peruvian corn-on-the-cob with it’s huge kernels and a fruit juice made from another new fruit to us, maracaya. It was tart, sweet and very good. We also had tea and fresh bananas. They brought a thin fried steak and some fries for Karen.
After lunch, Becky, Linda, and Val got to enjoy the school bus ride. The followed the same route we had the week before and were just as amazed by every aspect: the roads, kids, poverty, crowding, neighborhoods, etc.
In the afternoon, most went back to their morning work, while Becky, Linda, Becky, and Kate went on a tour of the local cemetery in Villa Maria del Triunfo Cemeterio Nueva Esperanza. It is the second largest cemetery in the world behind Wadi-us-Salaam in Najaf, Iraq.They were accompanied by an 11-year-old student, Katia, and our interpreter, Karen.
They learned that is cover over 60 hectares and has more than a million times and graves. It is visited by as many people each year as Machu Picchu (two million).
We finished work at about 3:30 when Adam and I ran out of tile mastic and the others had a natural stopping point for their painting. We left just before 4pm and arrived shortly before 5pm with the number one goal of most to drop laundry from our long weekend. We definitely planned to hit the roof terrace for happy hour once laundry and clean-up was complete.
We were humble and apologetic when dropping our laundry, gross as it was from our trekking. Becky and I had five kilos. I picked up what we left before the Machu trip and realized that I’d made some miscalculations and was short a couple of critical items, now all at the laundry or dirty from the day. I wore shorts to dinner and my sweater pullover.
Several met on the roof for wine and beer, kicked off by Louis with a bottle of red shared with Karen. The rest of us drank Cusqueño Trigo wheat beer and we agreed to leave for the Arepa Café at 6:30.
Kate decided to stay in and asked us to bring her back and Arepa. We met Val on the way. She’d dropped by a local salon for some hair care.
The owner wasn’t at the café and we were the only customers. We ordered drinks (piña coladas, mojito, margarita, beer), some tequeños, and an empanada for appetizers to share and then each got their own Arepa. Most had the beef steak Arepa (llanera) with added fried plantains. We again enjoyed the food immensely.
During dinner we made a reservation for the next evening back to Ayahuasca at 7pm with plans to hit an ATM on the way.
We returned to the hotel and delivered Kate’s Arepa. Becky said she wasn’t feeling well–a but nauseous. I went to the family room to work on receipts and other trip work like confirming Friday and Saturday departures and transportation with Carmen.
Wednesday 2 Oct 24
Becky had a rough night, vomiting frequently and unable to keep even water down. She had no fever, but felt miserable. I left the room at 5:30am to work on photos and not disturb her, checking back frequently.
Marie and another woman I had not seen before arrived shortly after 6am to prepare breakfast.
Everyone else seemed generally healthy. Breakfast was the usual supplemented by a very nice pound cake. I alternated between photo work, departure prep, and making sure Becky had what she needed. Louis helped me explain Marie that Becky would be staying behind and that she requested that a breakfast fruit bowl and some yogurt be kept in the fridge for her.
As we were departing, Linda reported some gastrointestinal issues, so we got her some medicine and recommended that she start her three-pill “Z-pack” azithromycin regimen just to be safe before departure from Peru Friday night.
We left at 7:37 and experienced higher than normal traffic, but no protests. I asked everyone to be extra prudent about washing our hands and staying clean to avoid additional sickness.
I apologized to Karen about some of us missing the cemetery visit the day before after committing to go. She was gracious in accepting the apology and said it was no big deal. They were happy with the work we had done instead. She said that we would have an opportunity to go again if we wanted to do so because it was so close.
We arrived before 8:45 and went straight to work. Most were upstairs painting, while Adam and I worked on tiling with Miguel all day. Fabio, our second translator was a great help. We completed quite a bit and moved quickly. By now, Miguel trusted us to cut and set almost everything with being checked. We asked him questions before doing next or next steps, but that was all.
Just before lunch, Val, Kate, Charles, Linda, and Translator Karen went to a “Community Pot” meeting where members of the community worked on neighborhood welfare issues including micro financing projects, assistance for poor, and meal and transportation programs. They were impressed with how well resources were pooled, managed, and distributed by the council for maximum m effect.
I checked with Becky and she was doing better. Her vomiting has stopped, though she didn’t feel very well still.
We met for lunch and enjoyed a free, creamed vegetable soup as well as a “Russian” red beet salad, thin fried pork steaks, rice, juice, tea, and breadfruit.
The team was still tied from the weekend and the relaxing moments after we ate were appreciated.
After lunch, Kate, Karen, Linda, and Val went with Jessica and Translator Karen. They visited a local mother in a very poor house. Behind the house was a communal garden. Val commented on the beautiful flowers in the area, too. There was some confusion about the home’s ownership (the mother’s oldest son) and from whom or what organization the property was purchased. Kate said that the daughter went to San Jose Obrero School and took advantage of free breakfast and school transportation programs sponsored in part by DWC. Without these programs, she would be unable to regularly attend school because of the distance and the free lunches made a huge difference in her health and the family’s finances. The father traveled 90 minutes each way to work.
Louis and Charles, helped by the others, finished the second coat of paint on the upper level, but Karen thought that the very absorbent walls might suck up enough paint to require.five or six coats. The paint was very cheap, powdered stuff that required mixing and straining as I mentioned earlier. The whole group did great work almost completely free of supervision my Miguel or anyone else.
Adam and I were the last to the but at 3:45 as we reached a stoping point with our tiling. We could’ve done a few more large tiles with the remaining mastic, but left that for Miguel as we put away the electrical equipment on the way out.
The drive back was slow in (again) heavy traffic. It has been sunny all day at the work site and, unlike past days, seemed to remain so in the afternoon as we drove back to Barranco. It was maybe our nicest weather in Lima for the entire trip. Charles and Translator Karen had a lively conversation in the back of the van. Karen is just a huge asset and has really done so much to make the trip successful.
Dinner plans included a reservation for the whole group at Ayahuasca at 7pm and most of us had plans to pick up laundry and maybe get some cash before dinner. It was hard to believe we only had two days left, but we’re proud of what we had a complicated so far.
All of us except for Becky and Kate met on the rooftop for drinks and relaxing. We polished off two-and-a-half bottles of wine prior to departing for dinner at 6:45.
We arrived at Ayahuasca and were seated upstairs, indoors, at a large couch, some throne-like chairs and small cushioned stools. We ordered pisco sours and a bottle of wine, the latter shared by Linda, Val, and me. The food was excellent. Four of us ordered their mixed seafood grill (including me) that included grilled octopus, shrimp, fish, squid and excellent grilled small Incan potato halves. Linda had a crab causa, Louis had beef in an excellent gravy with a polenta/potato-like cream. Kate had shrimp and Val enjoyed another large grilled plate. The conversation was lively, enabled by very slow service.
We left shortly after 9pm, going back in three different groups. Adam, Val, and I stopped by the supermarket to get some drinks for Becky who was still recovering in her room. I was finally in bed around 10pm and, after sending out a few messages for the next day, went to sleep.
Posted in Peru on September 23, 2024
