July 15, 2011
July Full Moon in Pisac
It has been just over a month since our arrival here in Pisac. Today is the full moon of July. Pisac is a great place for viewing the moon and starts, and this is a beautiful metaphor in that we all feel we are entering the fullness of our experience here in every way. It is due time that we update this blog.
What’s going on Steve and the construction project? Steve breaks his silence here with construction tales. Think broken rock, clay soil, water, tough cut grass, tree poles, much sweat and you have half of a house on a hill. I’ve learned tons about managing local labor, ordering materials, arranging deliveries, construction techniques, bureaucratic BS, etc. It is helpful to recall that the land we bought is called ‘Ccatachacra’ or ‘sloped field’ in Quechua. It is situated just above the sweeping Incan terraces called Pata Pata that flow to the East under the main hilltop ruins from the town of Pisac. At the edge of town some genius built a church over part of the road where it travels along the top of an ancient terrace so cars can’t pass. This area has been ignored for a couple hundred years, but this year the Feds/Ministerio de Cultura turned their eye on the Incan infrastructure and started a 3 year project to clean up and fix the multi-layered terraces that join the flat valley and the base of the mountains. The narrow road that comes 50 meters below our land accepts walkers, livestock, dogs and 3-wheeled moto-cargas vehicles that can carry 1000 pounds of whatever. The last 100 meters to the house site is uphill and anything coming in is carried in. We are rushing materials to the land before they close the road to excavate and bridge an Incan canal. There is talk of planting 1000 fruit trees along the road with pedestrian parks and calling it the ruta de frutas, terminating at the farm 50 meters below us. Whatever the future brings, the present has brought the eye of the Feds to our project and a request for detailed documentation of what we are up to ‘in their archeological park domain’. We’ve been getting good at writing formal solicitudes (new members of the fruit growers’ organization; electricity petition) and expect a long wait for ‘permission’ to proceed with our project. They called our project “new construction”, when it is actually a remodel of the existing house, and the locals are telling us that this allows us to proceed as usual. Given the number of existing houses in the area that are larger than ours things should proceed in our favor. Think positive building thoughts.
Proceeding as usual actually means hauling heavy stuff uphill. This requires managing local labor, which means chicha (fermented corn drink), coca leaves, and potatoes for earth oven lunch on the land. Heavy labor equals 1 gallon of chicha and 1 kilogram of potatoes per worker per day. This week I’ve had a crew of 8 hauling 50 heavy poles up from the flat pampa where the truck dumped them. The crew boss supposedly had a source of dry poles, but… we are carrying 500 pound fresh (wet) poles. I’ve learned how to source trees UPHILL from the forest above us. Lots easier to rope a pole and drag it downhill…. Of note - these are eucalyptus trees and poles we use- a serious weed here-that re-sprout and grow more poles in 10 years. Last week we hauled up 3000 clay roof tiles. The week before, we hauled sand for concrete bracing and floors. The crew brings in paja, the local perennial grass that is mixed with soil and water to make adobe and the mortar for foundations and walls. Fortunately we have lots of rock on the land; other neighbors have hauled in tons to work with. The foundation work involved digging down by hand, excavating all sorts of rock and soil, and smashing apart rocks larger than 2 feet in diameter. This rock and others from the site were pieced together, lifting seriously heavy rocks by hand and putting it all together with a few tools. Doing all this without electricity, power tools, and standardized materials has been quite a change from USA standard construction.
The foundation and first floor walls are in, with the large beams framing opening for a wall of windows overlooking the valley and Incan sites. Cutting the beams (read tree trunks) and hoisting them into place was memorable. I had a couple guys with a huge chainsaw (44 inch bar) come and slice up some eucalyptus trees that had been down for months. Whatever the work here, it seems illegal to use eye and ear protection. They snapped chalk lines down the edge of the trunks and squinted through hours of sawdust, turning trunks into huge beams and square braces for above windows and doors. With brute human will we lifted four 20-foot trunks into place. A block and tackle appeared for the heaviest trunk, thankfully. We’re now preparing poles for the second story floor and roof beams, slicing one side flat with hand tools and allowing them to dry some. These guys have great skill and more endurance than one could believe. They work 6 days a week for less than may be fair, and I pay 20% more than the going rate. This comes at the cost of me having to take care of all the details, run to the hardware store, find matches to light the lunch fire, etc. The next project here will be a lot easier and I’ll find a more proactive, responsible crew boss that could run a petty cash fund to take care of the petty crap.
What are River and Sage up to? The kids are on school break for a few weeks, which is giving them extra time for playdates and fun. Today they are out at the chakra with Steve and two of their friends. They are making huatia, potatoes roasted in an earthen oven and roasting hotdogs and making forts. They are both very comfortable and conversant in Spanish. They crack jokes and have a blast with their amigos. Last week, they began taking karate classes twice a week at the cultural center in the town of Taray just across the bridge and down the river from Pisaq. Two of the founders of the school have created the cultural center which includes a dojo where they hold karate classes for the youth in the area. It takes about 20 minutes to walk there, but we usually take a mototaxi on the dirt road separating the two towns. A mototaxi is a three wheeled motorcycle with an enclosed passenger area which can fit one adult (me) and four kids smashed together. Very bumpy, but fun! A bunch of the kids from Kusi Kawsay School take karate, so it’s a great social opportunity as well as great exercise plus disciplina y respeto. The Sensei comes from Cuzco (45 minutes away) to give the class. River and Sage are totally into it and are in awe of the bigger kids with black belts.
What about Annie? I have been getting the formal paperwork together for our building project, working on getting us electricity and supporting Steve and the building project which means ordering and arranging lunch for the workers on certain days, etc, and taking care of the kids’ needs. The cultural center has a second round building in which I have begun to offer yoga classes at the same time as the karate classes for some of the women whose kids are taking karate. I have also been offering classes out of our house on school mornings. I teach the classes in Spanish which has been a super fun challenge! The classes are being well received and I am enjoying the opportunity to serve the community in this way. In addition to offering yoga, I have begun to do some volunteer work for the school including translations, promotional work and funding searches. We are actively searching for funding/granting sources to help fund the on-going school needs including salaries as well as upcoming construction costs. Any leads on granting sources would be welcome. You can check out the new Kusi Kawsay Facebook page here.
Life in Pisac: Life in Pisac is great and full. We’ve been to three birthday parties and there are more to come, including River’s next month. So, we’re getting our share of dancing and eating. Speaking of eating, we had an interesting encounter last Sunday. One of the workers out at the chakra (property) had approached Steve with an interest in working as a caretaker for us once the house project is done. Rodrigo is a nice guy and a good worker and so Steve said he could come to the house with his family and we’d discuss the matter. So, last Sunday he showed up with his wife and two young children. They politely sat on our couch and we began small talk when Rodrigo slipped into the conversation that his two children have not been baptized. I said, “oh,” and didn’t think much of this, considering the fact that my kids aren’t baptized either, and we’re not Catholic. A few minutes later, his wife said she had to go do something and would be right back. She left the house and came back ten minutes later with a bucket of freshly roasted cuy (guinea pigs) and potatoes. They proceeded to serve us the cuy, an Andean delicacy, and potatoes and politely inquired whether we would consider being the godparents, padrinos, of their children. We were quite taken aback and didn’t really know what to say, since we didn’t really know what their request requires. We have since learned more about this responsibility and we have learned that this sort of scenario is not uncommon, a display of generosity - someone shows up on your doorstep with roasted cuy - and you can expect they will be asking something of you. We have yet to settle this matter. We are prepared to offer Rodrigo work, but since we are not Catholic, nor do we know Rodrigo and his family well, we are reluctant to take on the godparent responsibility for an acquaintance. Nonetheless, we are learning what it means to be gringos in this society. From the Peruvian perspective, we look to be well endowed, and it is very probable that this won’t be the first time we are asked to assume this kind of role.
Tonight is the beginning of the three day Pisac Festivities. The best part is the day of concursos, or dances in which folkloric dance groups compete in an all day event. There is music and parties all over town until late at night.
Next week, we plan to take a break from our Pisac construction scene and travel to the lower lands, to Quillabamba, the coffee growing area on the way to the Amazon Basin. We plan to visit waterfalls, go swimming, enjoy tropical fruit and relax for a few days. After that, it’s back to the grind. Hopefully, we’ll have the green light from the Ministerio de Cultura to continue our building, though, I think we’ll likely continue regardless… Steve has made several research contacts and will begin to pursue them in hopes to set up some future research.
So, we are moving into the fullness of our season here. We are optimistic about finishing up our construction project so that we have a house to return to next year. Keep your fingers crossed and send us your positive vibes for happy construction! More importantly, we are getting more established in the community here and enjoying our social relations with others, and exploring more and more ways to utilize our skills and talents and serve in this area.
