The Road Less Traveled: Peru: Paper, potatoes, pottery and pruebas: Different Stories From These Last Couple Weeks

Sarah and I have continued our relationships with various people in Anda. We (our whole community) spend most of our days at the ludoteca (a large game room at the parish) leading classes in art, theater, guitar, basketball among other activities

Other than that, many of these days have been spent going over to the ludoteca (a giant game room). I have been doing art projects like origami, watercolor, pressed-flower bookmarks, and paper lanterns with the kids. I have really appreciated this time.

I have a feeling that even during the more difficult days, the kids help put into perspective why I am here—to serve, to love, to learn.

We were working on origami one day and there was a piece of paper that had been folded so many times that it was difficult to create the whale or fish origami. I was telling a young boy to get a new piece of paper because the one he was working with was no good (“no sirve”). Without a moment to think, he responds that paper is always good, always useful (“papel siempre sirve”). It was a small but profound statement. It made me take a step back and reflect on resources…that, perhaps, from the influence of the consumerist US culture that I am so accustomed to, that I was so quick to throw out a piece of paper that still was useful. So, we compromised. He got a less folded piece of paper and I stashed the wrinkled one in the recycled paper box for future, non-origami art use.

During the visit one of my community-mate’s parents, Lili, our Peruvian friend, wanted to make a meal for them. She came to the house to and taught us to make a Peruvian dish called Lomo Saltado. It is basically rice, French fries, beef, tomatoes, and onion. Though it is a heavier meal (with a bit of grease) it is comforting to know where all of our veggies come from! Actually, Lili’s family owns a number of fields (called chakras). They grow corn, potatoes, habas (like a large lima bean) among other things. The potatoes that we cooked with that day were from her chakra! I mean, we had to scrub the dirt off of the potatoes in order to cook them…that dirt was the same dirt that we walk on every day. It´s funny to think that this is a mind-blowing concept. I mean, where else do potatoes come from? I just think that we have become so separated from the life process (planting, growing, harvesting) of food in the US. So, eating those potatoes, I felt even more connected of the valley we live in. I grew deeper in appreciation of the earth that sustains us. Hopefully, we (our community) will be able to reciprocate the life given to us and continue the cycle by going to Lili’s chakra to help harvest/pull weeds.

In early February, we took a short retreat in a town called Marcapata. When we arrived, thick fog greeted us as we stepped off the bus. We couldn’t even see to the end of the street. It remained dreary Friday and Saturday. Despite the weather’s inability to enchant us enough to want to spend time outside, it was very conducive to a retreat-like atmosphere.

We took a little trip to The Shire

The church in Marcapata

As the retreat theme was “community,” it seemed appropriate that we spend time together, as a community. We laughed quite a bit together, learned more about one another and laid some groundwork for our community expectations of the year. Plus, we visited the local hot springs, just a short twenty minute walk from where we were staying. I’d say it was successful first retreat!

"Organic" and "Inorganic"

A little out of place...

Marcapata is also known for its ceramics. We were given a little tour of the studio!

That Sunday, we woke to the sun revealing what the clouds were hiding all weekend. Marcapata is situated on a small mountain overlooking a deep, green valley. All around, even taller, more impressive mountains surround the town and valley. The grand reveal made the views even more impressive--we weren’t even expecting the fog to lift. We ended a successful retreat with a welcomed gift of the beauty of the Andes.

On the way home from Marcapata, Brian and I parted ways with Susan and Sarah to teach English in Ocongate. There we spoke with Father Antonio. This Spanish priest, who has lived Peru for decades, has the voice of a narrator. I wanted to hand him a long book and just listen to him read it all afternoon. I am sure this was also influenced by my exhaustion and desire to sleep.

We spent the week teaching English classes to a group of 50ish middle-school age kids. Brian taught the older one and I the younger ones. We not only taught them, but ate all our meals, watched jean Claude Van Dam movie, and celebrated a Valentine’s Day party all together. In experiences like these, short but so very full, I am always impressed by how quickly bonds form, how relationships build in a matter of moments. I entered the week not realizing how tied to these kids I would feel—I guess that´s what happens when so much time is shared, truly shared, together...bonds are formed, community is built.

On the last day, I gave out a short final exam. It covered all of that which we studied during the week—numbers, colors, family, animals, days, months…the basics.

In the animal section, I put photos of animals that we had reviewed in hopes that the students would write the correct name of each animal in English. The second photo was of a llama.

I thought this was the easiest one being that the written name stays the same in both languages (only the pronunciation changes). While in the exam, a boy named Juan Ivan raised his hand. He proceeded to ask me, “¿Es llama o alpaca?” I froze, looking at the photo. It could be that Juan Ivan was just trying to get the answer out of me, but to me, his question stumped me for a few short seconds. I was pretty sure I had picked a photo of a llama, but then again, I grew up surrounded by deer, elk and moose, not llamas, alpacas and vicuñas. I racked my brain thinking of the differences between the three. I KNEW it couldn’t be a vicuña which share a similar body shape as the llama and alpaca, but are much smaller. One down, two to go.

Though I am still learning on how to decipher between llama and alpaca, the one distinction I am sure of is that alpacas are a little thinner and their necks look longer. Looking back at the photo, the llama looked kind of in the middle. To me, it could have gone either way--again, showing my ignorance on the topic. Still stumped, I simply responded to Juan Ivan, “Which animal did we study in class?” This question had a more definitive answer that I was sure of—we had reviewed the word “llama” on many occasions.

This little, humbling moment agian reminds me that I am guest in the beautiful place and that I have so much to learn.