Busy, busy, busy
Well, I am just not on top of the ball right now. I arrived to Peru on January 5th, left for the field on the 9th, and got back into Cusco on the 24th. Now I am currently updating this from Chile, where Keri and I are taking a mini break. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I left my camera(my small one) and my hard drive in the shuttle from the airport. Despite my best efforts in Spanish to find it, it is long gone. So pictures will have to wait another month.
Going back...the highlights of the last time in the field include 3 things...a godfather ceremony, sheep's head soup, and a trip to Sunchubamba.
John was invited to be the godfather of Daisy, so we had the ceremony at Esperanza. We first ate a big meal. They were afraid that the meat they had ordered wasnt coming, so they killed their old hen for chicken soup. That old bird was really tough, let me tell you. It was like eating tasty rubber. The other food did arrive, and we also had sheep´s meat, with some sort of spice on it. Now, that was the good stuff. I was a trouper, and ate my entire big piece, but when sheep showed up for breakfast the next day, I couldnt do it twice in a row. But it was great stuff. Keri and I made brownies in the oven the guys had built. Before Christmas, I had talked to them about cake and how much I love it, so they built a clay oven. You heat it up by building a fire inside it, until it is the desired temeperature. Then you take most of the ashes out, and stick in your pan. We used skillets, because we dont have cake pans. So we had cake and brownies for dessert...the brownies were alot better. The guys made us a lot of cake, and the last night we were there, they had perfected it.
We all went out into the big open space, and they had dressed Daisy up in a peach colored dress and pants. She was placed on a special blanket to help collect the hair, and we all gathered around it. John took the scissors, and cut the rat tail or dreadlock that they had never cut. Then we all got the privilege of cutting a lock of Daisy's hair. She was so peaceful the entire time, just sat there and took it like a champ. She never squirmed or cried, but she also didn't ever smile. After that, Martín made a very nice speech, and we all shared a bottle of champagne, or what passes for it down there. It was more like fizzy sugar water. Then we watched Shrek for Daisy, and took lots of pictures (I promise I will get them on here).
Sheep's head soup was an aftermath of the party. It was 3 days old, and smelled horrible. I had to put my head to the side to take a bite, because the smell rising up was fairly nasueating. Then I spilt it on my pants, which made it worse. I could only manage to eat the carrots and cabbage out of it, and the jawbone of the sheep sitting in my bowl was gray meat, and I could see the teeth still in the jaw. Martín told us that it wasn't supposed to smell this bad, and that he only ate it to be respectful, that at his house he would not tolerate it. I am not sure if it made me feel better or worse to know that it was moldy sheep's soup.
We rented a taxi, and the guys took us to Sunchubamba. We got to see the plaza they are building...which is rather large for a town of 800 people. It is down from the road, and right next to the river, in a valley. The houses are really spaced out, and have semi yards...mainly for the pigs to root around in. We visited Martín's house, which consisted of 3 rooms. A kitchen, the main bedroom, and a room for his 5 boys to share. You could tell he was proud of it, so I tried to think of lots of compliments. Few people in the states would consider living in a place like that, but it was decent. I would only have objections with the chickens that wander in and out. After that, I saw the inside of Lucio´s dad´s house, which was only one big room. I met his mom, who shook hands with a closed fist. I found out that when they meet new people, and they consider their hands to be dirty...they will offer you their fist to be polite. Two of her granddaughters were there helping her make a new oven. Since they were five, they helped by playing in the mud. We also saw the bridge and the schools. We were the 2nd group of tourists or so to visit the town, so we got a lot of stares. Even more when we went to Paurcartambo afterwards. Since that day was Sunday, everyone was in town. Lucio took us on a tour, and we got to see a giant oven and eat fresh bread out of it. It was the best bread I have had in Peru. We went and watched the district of Paurcartambo play another district in soccer. Once again, being the only white people around, we had to put up with lots of stares. Lucio asked me if I understood what his friends were saying to him in Quechua, which I didn't and didn't want to. I can't be offended if I don't understand. They convinced us to try chicha, but not the native kind of chewing up the corn and spitting it out. It is made from ground corn, but they use a machine. It was not too bad, i.e. I didn't throw it up. Our taxi driver disappeared, so we had to wait for him to come back. So we got stared at more. I gave a shopkeeper a hard time, because he called us gringas. It was jokingly, but tourist do understand the word gringo, and some take offense to it.
More on Chile later...
Going back...the highlights of the last time in the field include 3 things...a godfather ceremony, sheep's head soup, and a trip to Sunchubamba.
John was invited to be the godfather of Daisy, so we had the ceremony at Esperanza. We first ate a big meal. They were afraid that the meat they had ordered wasnt coming, so they killed their old hen for chicken soup. That old bird was really tough, let me tell you. It was like eating tasty rubber. The other food did arrive, and we also had sheep´s meat, with some sort of spice on it. Now, that was the good stuff. I was a trouper, and ate my entire big piece, but when sheep showed up for breakfast the next day, I couldnt do it twice in a row. But it was great stuff. Keri and I made brownies in the oven the guys had built. Before Christmas, I had talked to them about cake and how much I love it, so they built a clay oven. You heat it up by building a fire inside it, until it is the desired temeperature. Then you take most of the ashes out, and stick in your pan. We used skillets, because we dont have cake pans. So we had cake and brownies for dessert...the brownies were alot better. The guys made us a lot of cake, and the last night we were there, they had perfected it.
We all went out into the big open space, and they had dressed Daisy up in a peach colored dress and pants. She was placed on a special blanket to help collect the hair, and we all gathered around it. John took the scissors, and cut the rat tail or dreadlock that they had never cut. Then we all got the privilege of cutting a lock of Daisy's hair. She was so peaceful the entire time, just sat there and took it like a champ. She never squirmed or cried, but she also didn't ever smile. After that, Martín made a very nice speech, and we all shared a bottle of champagne, or what passes for it down there. It was more like fizzy sugar water. Then we watched Shrek for Daisy, and took lots of pictures (I promise I will get them on here).
Sheep's head soup was an aftermath of the party. It was 3 days old, and smelled horrible. I had to put my head to the side to take a bite, because the smell rising up was fairly nasueating. Then I spilt it on my pants, which made it worse. I could only manage to eat the carrots and cabbage out of it, and the jawbone of the sheep sitting in my bowl was gray meat, and I could see the teeth still in the jaw. Martín told us that it wasn't supposed to smell this bad, and that he only ate it to be respectful, that at his house he would not tolerate it. I am not sure if it made me feel better or worse to know that it was moldy sheep's soup.
We rented a taxi, and the guys took us to Sunchubamba. We got to see the plaza they are building...which is rather large for a town of 800 people. It is down from the road, and right next to the river, in a valley. The houses are really spaced out, and have semi yards...mainly for the pigs to root around in. We visited Martín's house, which consisted of 3 rooms. A kitchen, the main bedroom, and a room for his 5 boys to share. You could tell he was proud of it, so I tried to think of lots of compliments. Few people in the states would consider living in a place like that, but it was decent. I would only have objections with the chickens that wander in and out. After that, I saw the inside of Lucio´s dad´s house, which was only one big room. I met his mom, who shook hands with a closed fist. I found out that when they meet new people, and they consider their hands to be dirty...they will offer you their fist to be polite. Two of her granddaughters were there helping her make a new oven. Since they were five, they helped by playing in the mud. We also saw the bridge and the schools. We were the 2nd group of tourists or so to visit the town, so we got a lot of stares. Even more when we went to Paurcartambo afterwards. Since that day was Sunday, everyone was in town. Lucio took us on a tour, and we got to see a giant oven and eat fresh bread out of it. It was the best bread I have had in Peru. We went and watched the district of Paurcartambo play another district in soccer. Once again, being the only white people around, we had to put up with lots of stares. Lucio asked me if I understood what his friends were saying to him in Quechua, which I didn't and didn't want to. I can't be offended if I don't understand. They convinced us to try chicha, but not the native kind of chewing up the corn and spitting it out. It is made from ground corn, but they use a machine. It was not too bad, i.e. I didn't throw it up. Our taxi driver disappeared, so we had to wait for him to come back. So we got stared at more. I gave a shopkeeper a hard time, because he called us gringas. It was jokingly, but tourist do understand the word gringo, and some take offense to it.
More on Chile later...
posted by Becca at 5:17 AM
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