techado, corte de pelos y fiestas

August 28, 2011

Peru Blog

Wow! The time is flying! In 9 days, we leave Peru and head back to the States. I have been so busy that I it is taking me until now to sit down and update this blog.

What has been going on? Well, we had our roofing party, the techado two weeks ago. It was a big affair! Probably 75 people came including the workers, their families, and our friends. Both Steve and I had bad colds and I twisted my ankle the day before the party, so I actually borrowed a pair of crutches for the party! All in all, it was fun, and I was glad when it was over because it was stressful to meet all of the varying needs of our guests who came and the workers in terms of providing and preparing food and drink, etc. The workers ceremoniously placed a pair of ceramic llamas and the Andean chakana on the roof to inaugurate the space and to honor the tradition of the area. We invited our friends and neighbors, Cesar and Rosa to be the padrinos, or guardians of the house, and they ceremoniously broke a ceramic jug full of chichi to bless the house. Afterwards, everyone ate lots of food, and then danced in the house to bring harmony and joy into the space.

It seems that since that time, there have been non-stop parties, social gatherings and on-going construction progress. We have attended two corte de pelo, hair-cutting rituals, an Andean ritual that is often combined with the Christian tradition of baptism for families who practice Catholicism. In the corte de pelo ritual, the young child (usually about 4 years old) who hasn’t ever had his/hair cut has the hair ceremoniously cut (often just the ends) by family members and friends. With each snippet of hair, the family member or friend offers a gift to support the child’s future. In the past, the gift would have been an animal, a sheep or cow, or some sort of material gift. Nowadays, the gift is money. We were invited to be the padrinos at the corte de pelo of Ana Cecilia, the daughter of Rodrigo, one of our workers of the house project. This was the same family who invited us to be the padrinos for Ana Cecilia’s baptism. Since we are not Catholic, they instead asked us to be the padrinos for the corte de pelo, which we were happy to do.

River turned 10 on August 17^th! He celebrated at his school with his classmates and then we had a party at our chakra on the weekend in which friends came out to roast hot dogs and eat strawberry shortcake. The kids ran wild and build forts with the left over building materials and brush. It was a success! Sage is here reminding me that they also played chapa chapa and encantados, Andean versions of freeze tag. River and Sage have had a lot of fun with their karate classes and look forward to taking more karate classes in Olympia this Fall. Recently, they had a fun sleep-over with their friend Chanin. There have been more birthday parties besides River’s. I realize that I have been to more parties in our 3 months here in Peru than I ever go to in Olympia in a year! Lots of fun, and lots of community down here.

Steve has been super busy with finishing up the house. The roof is up, and it looks great. The house has been wired, and the rough plumbing is going in. The ceilings have been plastered and now the house inside and out is being stuccoed (barro). We hope to get the cement floors in downstairs and the upstairs wood floor in this week… (keep your fingers crossed!). Steve’s plan is to come back down for a few weeks in late October, and get the floors tiled, and the bathroom and kitchens done. Whew! It has been a lot of work! The goal is the have the house habitable so that we can return and live in it next Spring.

These past three weeks, in addition to caring for the kids’ and family’s needs and teaching my two yoga classes, I have been getting the paperwork done for the Ministerio de Cultura and helping Kusi Kawsay School get out some grant proposals for more funding. Finally, it seems we have our “ducks in a row”, so to speak with the requirements for the Ministerio de Cultura, with regards to our property. The previous property owners have signed a declaration about the property verifying that our construction project is a “remodel” and not a “new construction.” This means we will not be required to have an archaeologist survey the site, which would have been a huge hassle and cost a lot of money. We have an architect signing off on Steve’s building plans, and later this week, I will take a folder full of documents to Cusco and present them to the Ministerio, and hopefully then be done with all of this red tape!

The world of grant writing for non-profits has piqued my interest. As I am new to this, it has been fascinating to go through the process of finding foundations and assisting with the grant proposal writing for securing funds for Kusi Kawsay. Realizing that the school project and any other projects that we end up supporting and being involved with down here depend out outside funding, I am keen on becoming more familiar and adept with the grant writing process as well as fund-raising, and I intend to do more research and study into these areas when we return to Olympia. Again, here is my invitation to al lof you to support this wonderful school. There are about 12 days left for the on-line raffle and you can buy a ticket online for $50 to support the school with the prize being a 10 day trip for two to Peru. More info on their website: http://www.kusikawsay.org/raffle.html

My yoga classes with the Wiñay Taki women have been so lovely! I feel honored to have the opportunity to share sacred space with these women, and I look forward to continuing these classes when we return next year!

In my first blog of this second trip down here, I was asking myself, “what is it exactly we are doing down here?” as I was filled with some hesitation and doubt with regards to what we hoped to accomplish down here and how we could maintain lives in two worlds. However, in this short time, my commitment to this area has grown and grown as well as my belief in the possibility and the necessity for our family to be a bridge between Peru and the U.S. with interesting and healthy involvements in both places. Now, three months later, I can say that we have truly grown strong and healthy roots in this community. The task of building a home down here was completely overwhelming to me when we arrived in June. And yet, the project is nearly complete, and we couldn’t be happier! We love the property, and while it is and will continue to involve lots of work and toil, we are happy to be digging our roots into this area. As for our community here, they have become so dear to us: River and Sage’s many friends from school, our friendships with our neighbors and workers, and our lovely friendships with the extended Wiñay Taki family and Kusi Kawsay school community, we are very grateful for their support and friendship and look forward to on-going relationships with them. So, “what are we doing?” We are living and growing and evolving, and we feel very blessed to be alive and to be able to be living these magnificent lives!

Hopefully, some of you will be intrigued and come on down to visit! Our new home in Peru awaits you!

For now, be content to view our photos. I just put up some new ones on FB today, and will be adding more albums. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2379564885712.2140219.1148358209

Saludos!

Annie

Ayni, Pago a la Tierra, A trip to the Lowlands, Construction Updates, pigs heads and other fun stuff!

August 1, 2011

Pago a la Tierra: Today, August 1, and throughout this month, in the Andean tradition is the traditional day to honor and make a “payment” to the earth. The winter/dry season will soon give way to the rains of September, and according to the Andean Cosmovision, the earth must be nourished and fed so that she can, in turn, give back to the inhabitants of the earth in the form of the new crops which will be planted this month. Throughout this area, people today have sprinkled yellow confetti on the ground around their homes, business and chakras (fields), to bless the earth as well as purifying the spaces with incense, offering coca leaves and more. This is related to the Andean value called ayni which means reciprocity or mutual help, the principle value of keeping the balance in the univers

Trip to Quillabamba:

It’s been two weeks since I have updated this blog, and it’s been a busy two weeks. The last time I posted we were preparing to go to the lower lands, down river to Quillabamba, gateway to the Amazon. We ended up spending about 5 days in this zone. Our Chilean friend Veronica came with us. The drive from here to Quillabamba was a breathtaking 5 hour journey that took us down river through the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo and then the round wound up and up and up to the stunning Abra Malaga Pass at 4350 meters where it is freezing cold with snow and treeless. From the pass, we plunged down on the wetter side of the mountains through cloud forest toward the Amazon Basin to Quillabamba at 1000 meters. Below Quillabamba is the “real” jungle, which we plan to explore on a later trip, maybe next year. Nonetheless, the Quillabamba region is lovely and a great get-away. It is known for its year round warm and tropical climate. Bananas, coffee, citrus, cacao, tea and coca are all grown in great quantities in this area.

We spent three nights in Quillabamba enjoying the lovely tropical weather, fresh juices, and ice cream. The city has several lovely plazas and a great parque infantil with 3 swimming pools, and an awesome playground. River and Sage were happy campers. Whenever we are with Veronica, we seem to be attracted to local fairs. Sure enough, we ended up at the Quillabamba regional fair where we enjoyed sampling tropical fruits and juices, chocolate and lowland cuisine. The Shapibo (one of the many indigenous groups from the Amazon) were selling their stunning textiles and jewelry, and we all bought some beautiful embroidered textiles. There are several impressive waterfalls in the area, and one of the days, we hiked to the Yanay-Mandor waterfalls, which took us uphill past many chakras where bananas, citrus, coffee and coca leaves were being cultivated. The actual waterfall was incredibly stunning (I’m posting the link to the photos below).

After Quillabamba, we decided to backtrack up river a bit and take head up the steep river canyon to Santa Teresa where we could soak in hot springs. Santa Teresa is the destination known to be the back route to Machu Picchu. The road to get there is pretty hair-raising, but the hot springs are worth it. The floods of 2010 washed away the hot spring complex, but the community has rebuilt the pools, and they were great.

Construction Updates:

Since returning to Pisac, we have been non-stop busy. We successfully arranged to get the electrical posts and cables installed on our property on Saturday. It was a bit of a drama to get to this point, however. As I have said before, the learning curve for building around here has been steep. We arranged to have the technician bring the pole and Steve took responsibility for buying the cable. This ended up being a huge hassle, as Steve didn’t find the cable he needed in Cuzco, and was directed by our friend Javier to a guy who could get the cable. Steve paid our friend Javier the money for the cable as Javier was the middle man. The actual guy who was supposed to buy the cable went drinking with his friends and spent a bunch of the money. So, Saturday morning, Javier ended up our front door with the guy who had taken our money and his wife. His wife and Javier chewed him out mercilessly and the man had to go begging his relatives for the rest of the money he owed us. In the end, we got the money back and the technician arranged for the cable. We hope to actually have electricity in a week or so!

In the meantime, the house is going up fast! The lower story roof beams are in place and the second story is being built. We have just over five weeks left. The roof and mudding (stucco) as well as the second story wood floor should get finished. We are less sure that the kitchen and bathroom will be installed. But, we’ll see how far we get. It’s looking pretty great, and it’s exciting to think that next year when we come down, we can actually live there!

The only thing to get in our way is the Ministerio de Cultura and their confusing and elusive requests. An employee from this agency told us this week that we are “at fault” for not having had an archaeologist chart the property before building as our property lies above the Incan terraces which are currently being cleaned up and restored. This isn’t what we were told last year when we bought the property and it seems most of our neighbors haven’t done this either. So we are all in the same boat, so to speak, and we’ll have power in numbers we hope. Advice from others has been to relax, to go and ahead and build, but to also expect hassle and red tape, that this red tape could take years to resolve, so in the meantime, build your house and live in it, and that this is simply the way it is with Peruvian government agencies. So, we’ll see what happens next.

Ayni:

Ayni, reciprocity in Quechua is the balance of give and take that is expected and understood to be the means in which energy, resources and wealth are circulated in a community. Attending and hosting parties is one way in which this plays out.

In about two weeks, the roof will be finished and as according to Andean custom, we will host a big roofing party where the last room tiles will be ceremoniously placed. We will provide food and drink (and hopefully music!) for all of the workers and our friends to honor the work and the workers, as well as the land, and to ask for blessings on the house. This will be a big and fun affair and I expect to have to do some major planning for it in the next week.

This is definitely the birthday party season of the folks we know, especially those of the Kusi Kawsay school community and Wiñay Taku Ayllu. (I have posted some of the party pictures in the FB photo album link below.) Yesterday’s party was for Miska, a school mate of River and Sage’s and daughter of one of the teachers at the school. It was a lovely gathering. I adore the parties here as they are always multigenerational affairs: from little kids up to the teenagers up to grandparents. Everyone dances in a big circle. The music varies from the traditional Andean music to cumbia to Bollywood. River and Sage’s dance moves are getting pretty good! Next month is River’s birthday

Saturday was the last of the three parties which was an annual lunch/family reunion hosted by the family members of property adjacent to ours, called Juqui Huerta. We were invited to this event last year as well. The four sisters and their familes who own Juqui Huerta have been truly kind, generous and helpful to us in many ways both last year and this year. We feel honored to have them as friends and neighbors. It is a generous and lovely gathering where the traditional meal consists of chairo, a traditional Andean soup, lechon, roasted pig, and tamales. Each year a different family member assumes the cargo, or responsibility, for hosting the party, and at the end of the party, he who takes the pig’s head assumes the cargo for the following year. This party ended with Sage gleefully taking the pig’s head (he does love bacon!) so our family is in charge of the party next year. Steve and I kind of exchanged looks of bewilderment, but in the end, we are happy to take on the responsibility as it is another means of sealing our friendship and network of mutual support with these lovely people. So, if you are up for a Peruvian adventure next year, the party is on us (and I’ll surely include more vegetarian items as well)!

Kids and other Fun Stuff:

River and Sage started school again today. The mid year break is over. There is some grumbling about homework, but all in all the school experience and the community we have formed around the school are a key feature of why Pisac has become so special to us.

The kids are better in Spanish everyday, and I had to laugh on Saturday when Steve was talking on the phone to our electrical technician and River over-hearing the conversation, commented, “Papa really needs to work on his Spanish verb tenses,” and proceeded to give Steve a lesson the subjunctive tense!

River and Sage requested that we buy the 10 day tourist pass to visit the amazing ruin sites of the Sacred Valley which we visited last year, so we are doing some more ruin hopping this week. On Friday, we visited the Pisac ruins and on Sunday, we visited the Chincheros ruins and did a 8 km hike from the town of Chincheros to the valley town of Urquillos.

Here is the link to our latest pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2305537555075.2136702.1148358209&l=3cd40731c3&type=1

In the spirit of ayni, I am continuing to promote Kusi Kawsay, the wonderful indigenous school that River and Sage attend and for which I am doing some volunteer work. Education is a not a “given” in Peru. Many children live in rural areas without access to education. And, an independent school like Kusi Kawsay, which offers an alternative curriculum rooted in the indigenous traditions of this area is rare indeed. Kusi Kawsay needs financial support. If you have the means to donate, please consider doing so. We have a new Facebook Page that we are wishing to promote. Please visit the page and click “like” so that our page will be more widely circulated. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kusi-Kawsay/208957755818431

As well, there is a fabulous RAFFLE in support of Kusi Kawsay. The prize is a 10 day trip for two to Perú! Raffle tickets cost $50 and can be split by two people. The link to the FB event is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195751070480799

To learn more about the organization and the raffle, visit the website here:

http://www.kusikawsay.org/

And, finally in the spirit of ayni once again, I would also like to showcase our Canadian friends, Sandy and Sandra’s grassroots project: DESEA, supporting water treatment with biosand filters, healthcare education, sanitation and women’s empowerment in the highland communities of this area. A really fabulous and much needed project! I hope to do some volunteer work with them as well while we are here. Sandy and Sandra have kids at Kusi Kawsay and they have become great friends. The website for their amazing project is here:

http://www.deseaperu.org/

That’s all for now, folks! More updates soon!

Hasta luego!

Annie