Christmas llama trek

And lots more cute llama photos coming up ...!!

The weekend just before Christmas 10 of us went on a llama trek, up in the mountains that I visited nearly 2 months ago, but last time was only a day trip and there was no time for walking. This time it was more hard-core, with a 5-hour trek on the first day - climbing from 3,500m up to 4,500m - the highest point I think I've ever reached!!

We were also incredibly lucky with the weather - the rainy season has started here now and so the weather is very unpredictable, and yes, very wet! We'd had a week of rain last week and were dreading getting drenched and wading through gloopy mud, but we were pleasantly surprised and had 2 days of glorious sunshine. The only problem is that my face is now bright pink again - permanent problem for me here!

We set off early on the Saturday morning and a couple of hours later reached a remote village where we were to start the trek. Llamas, mules, and a few villagers were waiting for us there - the mules didn't actually have to carry too much as the van was going to take stuff round to our final destination, but even so picnic lunch, first-aid kit, including oxygen (!), and a few rucksacks were loaded up and we were all set. The llamas didn't need to carry anything in the end; they were just coming along for the fun, though apparently would have carried packs if we'd got too tired higher up. And those of you at OUP who set me the challenge of riding a llama, well, I'm afraid that this is the closest I've got so far - they aren't very friendly creatures and get a bit twitchy if you try to touch them!

We took the trek very slowly, under strict instructions from Pancho, our tour guide. We had loads of breaks, including a great picnic lunch, and there was plenty of time to enjoy the views of rugged scenery, some snow in the distance, and cute llamas and alpacas! My kind of walking ...

After the picnic the climbing got tougher though, and for about 2 hours we had to take it really slowly, stopping every 100m, then nearer the top, every 50m - time for some knitting for some!A few people felt dizzy and needed to take oxygen at this stage. I coped ok, but my legs just got very tired!

At the highest point of the ridge, as well as stopping for the compulsory group photo, we also put flowers for the mountain gods on the cairn.

Then it was a steep trek down. Some people started to feel sick on the way down too - very strange how the altitude affects people differently! We eventually reached a village on the other side of the ridge - this was the village we visited last time, and where we handed out the presents.

We were expecting to see the van here, and the plan was that it would drive us to the next village where were were going to stay overnight. But when we got there there was no van! So we had to walk another 30 minutes down to the next village, which was actually quite pleasant for those of us who weren't feeling sick, but very tough for those who were! The llamas came too ...

When we got to the village, we found out that the van hadn't been able to get through to either village as there had been a landslide after heavy rain on the road further down, so the villagers had helped carry everything we needed for our overnight stay up to the village. Our 'hotel' for the night was the village nursery school - the only school in the village - for the rest of the primary and secondary, the schools are a lot further away and the kids have to walk to them. And it was the only building with a concrete floor in the village too - so although we felt we were roughing it, it was actually very luxurious compared with the stone huts!!

We had one room, a large mattress where all of were to sleep, plus a table and litle primary-school sized chairs. Pancho had brought all the food we'd need, plus a few women to help cook, and a make-shift kitchen was set up in the corner, plus a gas lamp. It was all quite cosy, though as soon as the light went, we felt the cold - we were afterall at 3,500m with no electricity! There was no running water, but at least there were toilets of sorts - 2 holes in the ground in a kind of shed - apparently a few months before previous volunteers had funded the building of these toilets for the school to use, as there had been nothing before. Once it got dark trips to the toilet became a real adventure - head torch lit up llamas eyes all over the place, which was very spooky! And the thunder and lightning just helped create the dramatic effect!

We settled in for the evening, and were fed a great meal - soup, followed by trout and potatoes - all very tasty. And lots and lots of coca tea to help us cope with the altitude. And by 8pm we were all exhausted and in 'bed' - or rather all lined up in our sleeping bags, squashed in like sardines! None of us got much sleep that night, even though we desperately needed it! Liz, Clive, and Paul - it was definitely on a par with our Picos mountain hut ...!

Next morning, Christmas Eve, but not a Santa or decoration in sight, it was light by 5.30 and most of us were up by 6.30. A lot of villagers were already up, and most of the stone huts were steaming, and looked like they were on fire! I guess there were fires in some, keeping things warm - apparently as there's no wood for fires up here, they use llama poo instead! Interesting fact of the day ...

At 7.30 and before breakfast, it was off to a llama-shearing demonstration. It was at this silly time of the day as the villager wanted to take his llamas and alpacas out to graze straight after. We found out that he'd already castrated 10 of the brown alpacas before we arrived that morning - too early in the morninfor that much detail!! The white alpaca wool is worth a lot more than the brown as you can dye it any colour, so they try to only breed white alpacas if possible. And as the only source of income up here seems to be from the meat of llamas and meat and wool of alpacas, I guess it's important to make the most of the commodities they have. Felt a bit sorry for the brown alpacas though!

Breakfast was a hearty pile of fried bananas and scrambled egg, and more coca tea of course, and then it was off back to the bigger village up the hill ... this time on horseback!! I hadn't been looking forward to this bit of the trip, but I must admit that I quite enjoyed it! No photos, I'm afraid, as there was way too much else to hold on to and concentrate on!

Once at the village we set to work preparing for a little Christmas party for the villagers. Pancho had organised a 'chocolatada' - a tradition here just before Christmas, which entails drinking hot chocolate and eating paneton (but instead we had jam sandwiches). And before we left Ayacucho, we had organised a collection amongst the volunteers and we'd been to the Christmas market to but small presents for the kids - about 100 in total, each for 1-3 soles (20-60p) - and I reckon this is the only kind of Christmas shopping that I want to do from now on - far more satisfying!!

The hot chocolate took a few hours to prepare, as first a vast cauldron of water had to be heated up on a fire - luckily Pancho had brought some wood as that's much more effective than llama poo! Then cholcolate is grated in, then milk, cinnamon and cloves are added at the end.

And meanwhile we had plenty to do - e.g. butter 100-ish bread rolls and make jam sandwiches, with very limited equipment!! And meanwhile various villagers rolled up - not just from the main village, but from all the small villages in the surrounding area - news obviously travels fast! Pancho tries to do this every year, so maybe they were just assuming we'd be here ...

Eventually everything was ready - hot chocolate, jam sandwiches, and presents and the villagers were all crowding round. All that was left was for John to get changed into the Santa outfit (!) that we'd hired in Ayacucho, and we were all set!

Santa went down a storm, though some of the little kids got scared and started to cry, though cheered up once they got a present! And Santa isn't too well known up here - some of the kids knew who he was, but we weren't convinced they all did - there's no sign of books or Christmas decorations up here - certainly no TV, so easy not to be very familiar with his image. Though those who've been to school probably recognised him. He was handing out presents anyway, so he was pretty popular!

Those of you who've read the earlier blog entry, you might remember that after the last visit to this village I was feeling very uncomfortable about giving out presents to villagers and swore I'd never do it again! Well, as it was specifically for Christmas and just for the kids, I weakened! It went ok this time, partly because it was just the kids, and Pancho was there to organise it, but even so there were some kids who hid their first present and came back for more and so some of the others didn't get a present and complained - even though we'd bought about 20 extra presents - it was very difficult to police! The complaints soon faded when lollipops were anded out and then the chocolate and sandwiches were served up and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the kids seemed very happy with their little toys - the only Christmas presents they got; quite a contrast to life back in the UK!

Eventually we said our goodbyes and returned to our village on horseback, this time via the cross-country route and including a bit of trotting. Again no photos, far too much else to worry about!! Back at the school, we had lunch and then packed up. As the van was way down the hill on the other side of the landslide, we then had to carry all our luggage down the hill - with some help from mules, villagers, including children!

Then the journey home - 2 hours, with a break part way to have a dip in hot springs. (And those at OUP who set me the challenge of bathing in hot springs naked, then I'm afraid I've failed on this one too - don't think it would have been allowed!!). Then 'home' in time for Christmas Eve turkey dinner! More on Christmas festivities Ayacuchan style in next blog entry ...

But this is probably it until next year, as I'm off to the coast for the weekend and will be celebrating new year in Ica. So Happy New Year to all, and all the best for a great 2007!!

Christmas visit to Los Gorriones

Los Gorriones is a privately-run children's home for 27 children with either physical or mental problems. It's run by a Gil and Chantal, a French/Belgian couple who gave up everything in France and moved to Peru to set up the home. They rely on a lot of volunteers to help them, and get funding from various sources, but it's very tough-going!

I had visited the home once early on and was very touched by Gil and Chantal's dedication. The home has a lovely feel even though they live in very poor and cramped conditions - the children are cared for as if they are their sons and daughters - in fact Gil and Chantal adopted the first child who was brought in - Karina, who was found in a gutter, battered, blind, deaf, and dumb. Karina is now about 10. Nothing can be done about her being blind, deaf, and dumb, but she's a very affectionate child, and clearly very attached to her parents. There was another little boy I met - Antonio, about 8, and he had been living in the prison with his mother and fell into a pot of boiling soup and has serious burns and psychological problems because of it - my heart went out to him too! These are the kind of children who are brought here - as Gil and Chantal say, they are often the kind of children that nobody else wants to look after.

When my parents said their church wanted to donate some money to a good cause in Ayacucho, I thought of this home, and went to visit again. I then found out that the home currently has serious funding issues, as an NGO in Belgium, where they've been getting 3/4 of their funding from up until now, is going to stop the funding soon, and there's only a slight possibility that they might get 1/4 of their funding from February instead. So when I asked Gil how I could help, he said that they could really do with some basic foodstuffs to keep them going in January, to give them time to find more funding for the future.

So Marisol and I went shopping, and spent 100 pounds on basic foodstuffs, plus a few luxuries for Christmas - and boy, 100 pounds goes a very long way in Peru!!

Marisol coorinates the shopping

We bought:

1 sack rice

1/2 sack sugar

30k 3 kinds of lentils

24 cartons milk

10k noodles

6 bags flour

2 tins cocoa

12 tubes toothpaste

1 large pack of pampers

1 large tub cooking oil

12 bars of soap

12 bars soap for clothes

1 sack oatmeal

4k popcorn

5 panetones

The result!

We had also been round asking various people to donate old clothes, toys, etc., which we split up between this home and the soup kitchen, so we also had a sack of toys, plus a sack of clothes, and an old stove to donate!

This Thursday we made a surprise visit to Los Gorriones with all our donations, and they were incredibly grateful! Unfortunately a lot of the children were at school, and also, it was raining, so I haven't been able to take many photos of the home 'in action', but if I go back before I leave, I'll add some more. Here are a few anyway ...

Packed and ready to go!

The home (half-way down on right) and neighbourhood

The box of panetones for Christmas

Happy customers!

The home's nativity scene

And a BIG THANK YOU to my parents and all the members of Callington Methodist Church who made this happen - it's very much appreciated!!

And as this will probably be my last blog before Christmas, a very Happy Christmas to all of you! Many thanks for all your blog comments and e-mails - it's been lovely to hear from you, as although I'm having a great time here, I know it's a very, very long way away from home, and it's good to know you are out there!

Christmas visit to the prison

I visited the prison for the first time today, along with Marisol, to take in some Christmas presents for the 10 children under the age of 4 who live there with their mothers.
CCS volunteers visit the prison most Fridays and take the children out into the real world for a few hours. And apparently it's a bit of a tradition to take presents in at Christmas time ...

I've never been in a high-security prison before (!) so it was a bit of an experience. Luckily for the blog, I was allowed to take my camera in, just for this special occasion. We had to walk through the mens' area before getting to the women's and past where they work, making wool and cotton for the mantas, which they weave elsewhere. And then we were taken through to the women's area and into the Wawa Wasi (about 20 times the size of mine, funded by UNICEF, and painted by CCS volunteers and inmates). The children and mothers gathered and were very happy to receive the presents, paneton, and coca cola! Probably the only luxuries they'll get this Christmas ...

Mary Bell, an ex-volunteer and her husband Mike, donated the money for the presents. So thank you Mary and Mike, and I hope you get to see these photos sometime soon!

Waiting in suspense ...

Marisol, being Mama Noel!

The first one was for Beckham

Luis and Nick get stuck in

Solange poses on the slide

He may not look it, but Luis was very happy with his lorry!

This mother was leaving today, but was really scared as she has no money, doesn't know how she'll get home (several hours' drive away), and has 7 other children at home waiting for her. They are looking after themselves - the oldest is 11. Her husband left her when she was 3 months pregnant with her youngest child, pictured here. All a bit sobering ...

Yanamilla Primary School update 3

Last Friday was the grand end-of-year party and prize-giving ceremony for the Clean Classroom competition at Yanamilla Primary School. And very grand it was too ... eventually ...

A lot of coordination was required, and what with a totally incompetent school Head getting in the way, having to deal with problems in Spanish, and all in incredibly hot sun, this was a challenge that I could have done without, and I have no plans to repeat this one!

Several trips round town in the van at some unearthly hour to pick up various stuff, call in on the local newspaper to see if they could come, then back to the house to pick up party snacks, CD player, prizes, and other volunteers who had bravely offered to help ... and then off to the school. We had to go via the centre of to to pick up a 'show' that a water company had donated - this comprised a clown, a santa, and 4 other dancers, and a lot of luggage! The week before we had been round to visit various companies, leaving them letters and talking to them if we could, to ask if they could help the school. We didn't get a huge response but the water company offered to pay for a show and to supply fizzy drinks. We'd also been to various large shops and had managed to collect quite a nice amount of party snacks.

We had managed to raise enough money to buy a lockable cupboard for the winning classroom, and so this also had to be delivered to the school - there were a few hitches, and a couple of attempts, but eventually it got there too. About an hour late, but we were running even later ...

All the kids were already very excited when we got to the school. We asked them to bring out their chairs to form a semi-circle around where the show would be and tried to keep them entertained while various things were being organised, e.g the water company tried to erect a kind of stage with publicity banner, but it kept falling over so took ages. We also displayed our prizes at the front, and kept the kids in suspense re the winners! And at this point we also discovered that there was no electricity in the school that day! It's only in one classrom anyway, and apparently some of the cable had been stolen and so it was no longer working. A fairly major problem as the show was all about singing and dancing, and we weren't going to manage much of a party atmosphere without music! Apparently the Head had been told about this the day before and was supposed to have sorted it out, but hadn't for some unknown reason ... very frustrating man!! Evenetually the water company came to the rescue and went to get an extension lead and we used power for a neighbouring house!

About 2 hours late, the show started. The kids absolutely loved it - probably the first time they'd had anything like this in the school! Quite a few other kids and parents also turned up - it was quite an attraction! And at the end we gave out the prizes for the Clean Classrooms and then handed out fizzy drinks and party snacks. At this point the kids went completely wild, but hey, it was a party!

As I'm way behind with blogging and trying hard to get up-to-date before Christmas, I reckon these photos can now speak for themselves ... it was a great, memorable day, even though a tad fraught, and way too hot!!