La luna

Every night I wait for the moon to rise. It comes up late, and leaves me wondering what it´s doing while I am waiting…and every day, the moon appears different. As the moon changes, the world follows in her footsteps.

Peru is changing me, but I am not sure how exactly. I feel a bit different sometimes. I feel good. Strong. But still lost.

I wrote an incredibly long entry, and then accidentally deleted it as I was about to post it. The story of my life! The furthest back I can remember of things to share is last weekend. My trip to San Juan and Salinas. It began with a night of drinking and being merry, staying up until 4, then waking up late, in a crazy hurry, at 6, to be at our bus by 6 30. I was panicked, not knowing what to expect. I was told to prepare well. The sun will be brutal, the altitude very high, and for the love of god Amanda don’t get sick. I was mentally prepared for the apocalypse I think. Except for being late. We made it to the bus in plenty of time, because everyone was busy loading what seemed like a life time supply of everything. I was welcomed on to the bus, with nearly front row seats, by smiling seemingly familiar faces. I was accompanying Leonel, and they all know him from so many trips to San Juan. It would be a four or five our bus ride…with bleached blue curtains to block out the beating rays of the morning sun. I didn´t know the sun could be so intense, even when it was still cold.

Although the bus seemed full, more people climbed in, sat on eachothers´ belongings in the aisle, children at on laps, bags sat on childrens´ laps. The roof was piled to the sky. This is a weekly trek for the people of San Juan. They live at such a high altitude that nothing grows except for Alpacas, Llamas, Vicunas and people. How the animals and people are surviving is beyond me.

I could feel the excitement of fervor of returning home from what was probably a hectic time in the city, collecting their necessities. Everyone I have ever met always has something special they´ve bought that they know won´t last long…like a reward for shopping. This time, I spotted a cake in a woman´s lap, and people were selling sweet tamales and hard boiled eggs and potatoes in a bag for breakfast. I was far too sleep deprived to consider eating anything. So, we finally went on our way. The sun was bright, but the view was too beautiful to keep the curtains closed the whole way. I felt like a little kid peeking around someone to see what they have in their hands as a surprise. Between the curtains, and tops of heads, I could see a really beautiful land. It is an odd tint of green and yellow. As we made our way what seemed like thousands of miles, leaving behind dust and city life. The trip there was mostly filled with cat naps abruptly ended by quick jolts to the neck from the bumpy road, or smacking heads with Leonel, or some other unpredictable event. With a bus filled with the conversation of friends and family, I couldn´t help but feel safe and sound.

When we finally arrived, I realized how cold it was despite the sun, especially indoors. There is absolutely no insulation in homes but the cement it´s made from. When we arrived, the driver climbed up top of the bus and tossed down our belongings. We made our way to the hotel (believe it or not) that we would stay in. My guess is the hotel is there primarily for the workers of the salt mines nearby. We met two little brothers hanging out in the center, and we chatted with them for a while. We would meet them later, after lunch and a nap. Shortly after, we had a nice lunch of a fried egg, white rice, french fries and tea. Very typical Peruvian food! There is nothing like two pounds of starch to fill your belly.

Two boys came to our room to wake us up with the sound of the dribbling a soccer ball like a basket ball. The echo was really quite impressive.

We chatted with the boys as one sloppily ate jello, and pumped up some soccer balls. They seemed happy and content to be together and chatting, like two old men. These two boys witnessed Carlito´s accident just a week or two before. They replayed it in gruesome detail for us, including sound effects. They seemed removed from it.

I could go on for hours about how beautiful the rest of the trip was…including the salt flats and salt lake (which I had no idea existed in Peru!!!) and the second day, including a festival in Salinas. All was spectacular! I was happy as a clam.

So, after this experience, among many others in my last two months, I have decided to extent my stay another month, to return on July 14 instead of June 11. Hopefully by the end I will have some money for a snack in the airport…but we´ll see.

We have very few volunteers here now…so things are changing rapidly, and we are all trying to fill in the blank spots. I am the only person who has been here longer than two weeks that is involved in the every day projects. So, it´s a bit crazy and busy, but I feel I can thrive on this.