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 goin
g 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 17th! 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
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