The Final Post (and other things).

So we've been back in the US for a week.  I think that this post (forgive me), is going to be one part summary, one part random thoughts, and one part advice.

The Monday before we left (we left Urubamba Tuesday night, and Lima Wednesday night), we had our despedida (going away party).  It was nice to see the people we worked with (Ameriko, Jaime), and all of our host families in one place.  Since it was our last night, at dinner Chris and I gave our host mom two framed pictures of our host brother as our goodbye gift.  She kissed one of the pictures, so I think we did good.

Our final day in Urubamba, Tuesday, we finished at 711 by giving all the classes new soccer and volley pelotas, and played some games with them.  After that, we were told to stick around for a bit.  6B gave us a cute speech on how much they appreciate what we've for them, how we'll be in their hearts, and how they're giving us gifts so we can remember them.  Each of the classes gave us a gift - 6A gave us each a money holder/satchel bag (handmade!), 6B gave us one too, and 6C gave us a beautiful ceramic bowl made in Urubamba.  It was really, really touching.  Also, 6B gave us a song on the environment, and on colors too!  See below. (videos are a little large, maybe I'll youtube it).

Figure 1: Confetti

Figure 2: handmade satchel

Even though they gave us gifts, and showered us with confetti (I swear I'm still finding it in my things), you gotta wonder - did we really do that much to help them?  I would like to think that yes, Emily and I made a significant change in their lives, they'll become more responsible with the environment, and they'll be role models in that aspect.  But you know what? I sort of doubt it - Urubamba's just not really a friendly place to be environmentally friendly.   I guess with a project like this, it's hard to really measure the progress you've made.  With stoves, you can count the number of stoves you've made, and say, "wow, I did a good job by making 'X' stoves."  With education, you just gotta give them a push and hope for the best.  Yes, a goodbye party is nice, and it is nice to know that we mean a lot to them, but really (and I'm being blunt here), did they like us because we taught them environmental science and English (and they liked it?), or did they like us because we represented a time away from their normal teachers?  I know that this past paragraph was really cynical, and that we probably did make a significant change to some degree, but as community service goes, you have to question your actual impact sometimes.

That Tuesday afternoon, we said goodbye to our host family (our mom gave us hats!), and we took pictures/exchanged emails.

Left to Right: Augusto, Ana, and Andre

Onto happier things: re-entry into the states.  Here's a list of changes from Peru-life to USA-life that I've noticed.

• The US is so clean.  Modern sanitation (and the ability to flush TP down the toilet) is amazing.
• We can drink tap water. Makes life so much easier
• I miss speaking Spanish to store-owners and people in general
• The US (summer) is so green.
• Supermarkets just rock.
• The skies in Urubamba are just way bluer. No comparison to US skies.
• Dogs have leashes!
• Roads are wide and paved/Drivers are nicer
• Wifi is unbelievably fast
• Having internet 24/7 is a luxury that we don't really realize we have
• I miss mountains

Finally, for all the dukies, or travelers, planning to go to Peru in the future and have stumbled across this blog, I'll leave you with an unofficial packing list of what to bring, but you should check out the rest of this blog to know what to expect.

Bring:

• Warm clothes + layers.  Dress for maximum high of 70 F, minimum of 40 F
• Really warm clothes (if you're going hiking, prep for 20-25 degree F)
• Internal Frame Backpack if you plan on hiking
• Rain jacket/pants (just in case)
• warm hat/socks/gloves
• pack light, because you can always buy alpaca sweaters for cheap
• dSLR if you've got one - Peru's just way pretty.
• clothes to get dirty
• all toiletries (more expensive in Peru)
• quick dry towel
• for guys - ex-officios
• Medicine: Immodium, lots of pepto bismol, 2-3 rounds of Ciprofloxacin (literally a life saver), hand sanitizer, sunblock, aloe vera, band-aids, blister band-aids/moleskin/duct tape.
• Water treatment: a water filter (like MSR Miniworks EX), or treatment tablets would've been great. Parasites suck.
• A good sleeping bag.
• Headlamp
• Leatherman
• ziploc freezer bags
• 3 prong - 2 prong adaptor
• Education: scotch tape, markers, english-spanish teaching book (with pronunciations)

I'll add more if it comes to me, but that's mostly what you should bring if you go to Peru (in the cusco region at least).

#Thanksforreading #blogtastic 

Respect and Reward

So this idea's been rattling in my head for a while (to all the teachers reading my blog, this goes out to you).

Respect in the classroom.

Now that we're coming to the end of our time in Peru, I feel like I can talk on the difficulties of teaching in Peru, and teaching in general.  In Peru, the children love: being competitive, and hitting each other.  With being competitive (in activities), we've just told them to calm down, and tried to be just.  With hitting each other, we tell them sternly to not do it, and tell their teacher if things get worse than a little hit.  From what I can tell, that's the only difference from American children. (oh, and they really love copying things from the board for some reason).  Now on teaching, sixth graders are sixth graders.  They're loud, don't want to pay attention sometimes, and can be difficult to teach sometimes.

Onto respect.  I feel like despite us spending so much time with them, we have yet to gain their full respect as teachers.  That feeling, my friends, is not a good one.  For example, we can't get the class to a full silence without the teacher there (attempts elicit laughter/mockery).  Maybe it's because we're too nice, or we're just too gringo for them to take us seriously.  While I feel like we succeeded in teaching them the material we wanted them to learn, which is great (some of them spontaneously broke out in "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" Tuesday!!), I still kinda regret not fully gaining their respect like their teachers have.  Again, maybe it is because we don't yell enough (Peruvian teachers yell a lot), or because we can't really do much to punish them.  (the Spanish component might have something to do with it as well)  Either way, for all student teachers I've ever had, for all teachers that have had a difficult class/student, I completely understand, and am sorry.

The beautiful part of this, however, is that we can see how far they've progressed.  I think some of you know how good it feels to see when a lesson has gotten through. That's where reward comes in, and makes my qualms about respect irrelevant!  See, the best part about teaching (and volunteering), is getting something back in return for all the sweat and tears you put in.  I think in the end, that's what I'm going to let define my time here.  Because honestly, seeing my kids sing in English was pretty awesome.


#totheteachers #6daystillthestates #notsickanymore #whenisitgoingtostopraining

Inti Raymi pictures are up!

https://picasaweb.google.com/chou.davidw/PeruPt2

So last Friday was the Inti Raymi Festival in Cusco, one of the largest tourist festivals of the year. (In Quechua, Inti = Sun, Raymi = Festival/Party).  The cool part of the festival is that they celebrate both the Incan sun god, and the Winter Solstice.  I'm not sure I understood everything that went on, but there was an Incan, and he basically made a grand entrance and spent some time making speeches...I think.  It was all really cool to see (since we were at the Incan ruins of Saqsaywaman), and it was really, really well done.  I suggest checking out pictures at the link above to see what I mean.

The Incan

#picturesarecool #sowasintiraymi #sickagain

Update: sickness is only an intestinal infection. Not giardia!  Cipro for 3 days and I'll be good to go.

#Yaynotgiardia

The Emperor's New Groove

So a group of 6 Dukies went on a 5-day hike to Machu Picchu this past Friday through Tuesday. We went on the Salkantay hike, which is a popular alternative to the Inca Trail, since it's easier (but longer). Over the course of 4 days (from our starting point, Mollepata, to the town next to Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes), we hiked around 48 miles, which is a lot. The trip turned out to be more luxurious than I had in mind - we had a cook, a porter, and we even got to stay in a hostal our fourth night. The cook and the porter took care of everything campsite-related, and so all we had to do was hike, eat, and sleep! After a long day of hiking, it is pretty nice to not have to set up tents or cook food. We hiked with 5 other people in our group (and our guide as well), and they were from England, California, Lima, and Japan - a pretty fun group. I'm in the process of uploading some 300 pictures from the trip, but I'll break it down in terms of what we did day by day.

Day 1: (20 km hiked, 1000 m elevation gain to 3800 m above sea level)

So we stayed overnight in Cusco on Thursday night, and were picked up bright and early at 5 am by van. We drive for 3 hours, and arrive at Mollepata, our starting town. After a quick breakfast, we start hiking. The climate here was a mountainous one, which was a cool sight to see. The trail was a dirt jeep trail, and there were steep shortcuts through it that we took. After about 7 hours of hiking, we arrived at Soraypampa, our stop for the day. It was near the base of a glacier, but our tents were inside of a shed, so we didn't get extremely cold during the night. 

classic.

Day 2: (25 km hiked, 800 m up to 4600 m, 1800 m down to 2850 m)

We get woken up at 5 am by our cook with steaming hot cups of mate de coca, which is the perfect thing at that hour of the day. After breakfast, we start hiking to the glacier pass, where we can see the Salkantay glacier. The glacier is massive - much more impressive than Chicon. On the way up to the pass was a really steep trail, so reaching the pass at 4600 m was a joyful moment - until we felt the cold. The winds at the pass were freezing (with us being next to a glacier and all), so we quickly started descending. The coolest part of this hike was seeing the micro-climates along the way. Once we descended into the valley, we started seeing a tropical climate (accompanied by rain). It was really bizarre, but really cool. After 8 hours of hiking, we collapsed at Challway, where we spent the night. 

Salkantay in the clouds

Day 3: (16 km hiked, 650 m down to 2200 m)

We again get woken up with coca tea at 5:30 in the morning, and start our hike shortly after breakfast. Still in the tropical-climate, we hiked along a river for most of the day. We found a house along the way that sold passion-fruit straight from the trees along the trail (delicious!), and we saw some avocados and bananas growing right alongside the trail. After a super-easy 4 hour hike, we got to Sahuayaco (2200m), ate lunch, then were bused down to the town of Santa Teresa (1650m), where we stayed the night. From Santa Teresa, we walked about 40 minutes to natural hot springs, where we were able to soak our aching muscles (yay!). 

Suddenly, forest.

Day 4: (16 km hiked, 400 m up to 2050 m)

We had a later start (6:30 am), and hike for 2 hours to Hidro Electrica, where we take a break. Along the way, we saw a pretty snazzy waterfall, and still hiked along the river from earlier (River Salkantay). From Hidro Electrica, we hiked 2 hours along a train track to the town of Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain that Machu Picchu's on. The town is entirely built on tourism, and it was really confusing to have people try to talk to us in English (we can understand your Spanish better!). We had a hostal, and stayed there for the night (hot showers!!). 

When did waterfalls start making milk?

Day 5: (? km hiked, 400+ m climbed)

So we woke up at 7:30 am, and start hiking up the mountain to Machu Picchu at 8:40. The trail up is a series of 1786 steps (more or less), and takes about 1 exhausting hour. We enter Machu Picchu, and get a guided tour of the city, which is pretty cool to hear about. (side note: I saw a group of Whitefish Bay kids at Machu Picchu!) After 2 hours, we get turned loose, and a group of us (5 dukies and the british kid) decide to hike the Machu Picchu mountain. After another exhausting, sweat-dripping (it was really humid) 50 minutes up a trail of steps, we reach the top. From our view, we were higher up than Waynapicchu mountain, and we could see just about everything - Machu Picchu, Waynapicchu, Hidro Electrica, and Aguas Calientes. The view from the top was spectacular, and being on level with the clouds makes you want to be able to just jump off and fly. After all of that, we came back down to Aguas Calientes, and hitched a train to Ollantaytambo, then a bus back to Urubamba. 

The view from Machu Picchu Mountain

I'd like to start making postcards now.

Edit: new photos can be found here.

#wemissedurubamba #youshoulddothis #machupicchuisprettyamazing

G(astronomical) Tour of Cusco!

So our Spanish teacher, Reyner, took us out on a food tour of Cusco instead of Spanish lessons (win!). We first went to a Cebicheria, and we ordered a giant 50 sole platter (for three people) that had ceviche (best I've ever had), Paella, seafood curry-like thing (with mussels), and fried fish/squid.

Spectacular

So after that (my stomach was stuffed to the brim), we walked for a ways until we reached a pasteleria. It looked pretty amazing all around, and it was one of the nicest places I've been in Peru so far. All of us ordered our own cakes (6 soles per slice), and I settled on a traditional Tres Leches cake. Needless to say, it was mouth-wateringly delicious!

Tres Leches

We then went on over to a cafe, where "the best coffee in Peru" was made, according to our teacher. I ordered a black coffee, for tasting, and an espresso, since my food coma was coming on strong. I'm going to have to rate the coffee as good, but not great (best coffee still gets awarded to Blue Bottle drip coffee in San Fran), but the espresso was one of the best I've had. Definitely the best coffee I've had in a while (Peruvians seem to enjoy instant coffee a lot…blech). Para continuar, we went on to a chocolate shop, which specialized in delicious coca chocolate. Nom nom. Finally, we went to get dinner at a place that specialized in cow hearts and intestines grilled on a stick. Upon our teacher's recommendation, I ordered the corazones. Putting aside the fact that they're hearts, they taste pretty good! It's similar to a really savory beef, and meat-lovers would appreciate it, I think. That ended our food tour, and we all went back to Urubamba to nurse our aching stomachs.

Hearts on the right, papas on the left

#somuchfood #goingbackforceviche #cuscoisprettysweet

¡Nos Vemos!

So forgive the lack of posts in the near future - I'm going on the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu for the next five days!  I leave for Cusco tonight, and leave Cusco early tomorrow morning to start the hike.  I'll be getting back Tuesday night I think.  I owe you, my faithful readers, a post on the awesome food tour I took in Cusco yesterday.  Hold me to it.

Back in 5 days.


#excited #ilovehiking #onekiloofanimalcrackers

Hitting the Pavement in Peru

So for those who don't know me, I like running. To make matters more interesting, I like running in these:

Vibram FiveFingers: Bikila

So after 4+ weeks in Peru, I've finally gotten back to running on a semi-normal basis.  Here are some of my observations on running in Peru:

• people don't run a lot around here (unless in sports), so I get a look for that
• Being Taiwanese, I get a look for that
• Wearing somewhat short shorts, I get a look for that
• Running in Vibrams, I get a look for that
• Add up all of the above, and I'm basically a spectacle in the streets

• The air's pretty nice to breathe (once you get used to the altitude - which sucked at the beginning)
• Lots of rocky roads and dirt roads in some areas
• Hills. Everywhere.
• Dogs can try and chase you sometimes (really, really scary when it's a pack), so you try to carry a small rock in your hand and throw it near them if they start chasing you
• The sun makes running around noon almost unbearable (thanks to us being 10000 ft closer to it)

Now, I've started doing something a little more...exerting (read: crazy).  There's a road out of Urubamba that runs to Cuzco, and with Urubamba being in a valley, the road goes up and out of the valley.  Me, being the genius that I am, decided to try and run out of the valley on this road (3 times so far).  It's basically uphill for all of it, some gradual, some decently steep, and if I'm lucky, flat ground.  The farthest I've gone on it was 3 miles up (today!), and yeah, it's pretty high (I didn't even get out of the valley).  Besides getting to be really good at running uphill, the best part about this route is seeing the reaction of the people driving on it.  I get honked at, I see faces which can only mean "what is this chino doing all the way up on this road???", I see bewilderment and smiles, and an occasional shout out ("amigo!" "Chino!").  Hopefully this running (read: craziness) translates well when I get back home.

#theviewisworthit #crazygringo #imadesomanypeoplesdays