Puma city

So, it´s been a while since I arrived in Peru, and much has happened. Cusco, the ruin-strewn capital of the short-lived, but impressive, Incan empire has been an unforgettable cultural experience. I must say it can be as obnoxious as it is beautiful - let´s just say aggressive street vendors are a dime a dozen - and many a friendly conversation can suddenly turn into to an offer for a trek to Machu Pichu. I´ve never been offered so many massages from women on the street in my life. Anyway, the city is fascinating historically and is full of immaculate Incan masonry topped by imposing catholic structures - the conquistadors left the solid foundations for their ornate cathedrals. This city has been bustling since the 1500s and is quite connected to its cultural roots. For instance, last weekend all of the surrounding towns performed their dances in elaborate costumes during the International Worker´s Day parade on the main plaza. It was a true spectacle (pictures to come)...Men covered in dried llama calf corpses wearing bank robber masks with stitched in mustaches and vividly colored woven shirts, skipped exuberantly through the streets as tiny bells jingled on their collars. The fire crackers have continued ever since then, as this parade was preceded and followed by two other parades for other holidays. They´ll parade for anything down here, I swear! Anyway, I´ve also been to the ruins in the surrounding valley since arriving, which were absolutely captivating and beautiful. I´m not one to talk energy too much, but there is some true power in those sacred structures. Man, totally unforgettable. I´ve had countless interesting interactions with the people here - I find it to be a proud and friendly culture that I´ve warmed up to after the traumatic introduction (Borderline article). As for my ¨purpose,¨ well that´s another story...

I came here with a vague idea of what kind of volunteer work I would be doing - hoping that something might materialize which would be fulfilling and interesting. Well, thanks to my buddy Vaughn´s connection to Threads of Peru (threadsofperu.com), I have found just that. This organization has been working on a ¨weaving revitalization¨ project in the remote towns of the Sacred Valley, in an attempt to reconnect the people with their traditional weaving methods. By providing workshops from expert traditional weavers and dyers of this area for these communities, they are not only helping to reinvigorate a forgotten tradition, but also enabling the women of the villages to earn an income by marketing their beautiful textiles. The hope is that such income will translate to healthier children, as has been observed in other cultures where women begin to control monetary resources. They have also become active in other community development projects like health, nutrition, and now, where I come in, water systems. Though my original proposal was to conduct a cultural study on the villages to aid in further development efforts, the organizers thought 2 weeks would probably be too little to achieve such a lofty goal, so they asked me if I would conduct a preliminary assessment of the water system in the towns for use by two long-term volunteers in August. OK, so I´m no water engineer, but I do know how to research, and I want to be useful, so I agreed to the proposition. It offers me an opportunity to learn about the management of this precious resource (which is becoming ever more precious everyday), and gives me some assurance that my work will be part of a long-term project addressing this issue - as opposed to it being quickly forgotten after my departure. In lieu of all this, I´ve spent the last week studying Quechua, a wildly difficult language spoken in these villages, and researching water issues in the Andes. The towns are super remote - 4 hours by foot from the closest working road - and are apparently not terribly comfortable (4 days is the record length for a volunteer stay due to this), as they are somewhere around 4500 meters and are constantly full of smoke from cooking fires. Thus, I anticipate adventure. I´ve also been staying with a family in Cuzco since last Monday. They have been quite gracious and fun while offering me window into the life of middle-class ¨Cuzqeños.¨ I will spend a week in the villages starting May 12, then present my findings and head to the jungle, where I hope to volunteer with wildlife research. It has been a wonderful trip thus far and I look forward to the weeks to come. Tupananchiskama.