El Asesino

Proud Parents

I arrived home on Tuesdayafter a long day at the clinic. We´ve been organizing eyeglasses for the past 2 and a half weeks. We can see the light, but it´s still pretty far off. We had done the usual routine-stopped at the internet, cruised around the town square-before returning just after dark to sit down for dinner. I sat down, joked quickly with Ben, and dug into my soup. However, Ben quickly informed me of the most recent development in the world of our pet ducks, Condor and Puma. Apparently Ben came home to find Condor, the smaller of the two, floating in the make-shift pond in their playpen.

We immediately felt like horrible fathers. How could this have happened? We built them a fenced in yard with a swimming pool and a house, and fed them everyday. Is it possible for a duck to drown? Were the chickens in the yard part of some chicken-mafia with a hatred for ducks? Or was it a cat, dog, or other random animal roaming the streets of Calca?

I went out the next morning to see the deceased and pay my respects, and to investigate the crime scene. Condor had some blood under his beak and on the right side of his neck. It was in the same place that we had witnessed Puma biting him the first weekend we brought them home. Puma has always been bigger than Condor. The blood and the previous bite marks lead me to believe that Condor was murdered by Puma.

The Victim

We were disappointed, especially because we were excited to give the grown ducks to our host Rocío´s mother for her birthday at the end of February. It´s going to be a feast-chickens, cuy, and hopefully one duck, whose name is now El Asesino.

La inauguración

Amelia, Katy, and I made a special trip to Pisac today to watch the inaugration of President Obama. Not as much of a big deal down here. But people are excited. Being in Perú, it´s obvious how much of an impact America has on the rest of the world. The culture, the currency, the fact that every gringo is from America, despite their real country of origin. It was a special day, and I feel lucky to be able to be a part of something bigger than myself as I work at the clinic.

Speaking of the clinic and life in Perú, I posted some pictures from the recent optometry campaign, the paro and the 12km walk home that day, and a hike up to some ruins above the town of Lamay called Huchuy Qosquo. Enjoy!

Photos HERE!

El Paro

It´s been a few days since I´ve checked my email, and therefore since I´ve been able to write on my blog. I´m in Cusco right now. My volunteer friends and I came here last night to go dancing at a real discoteck with some other gringos who came down to work at the clinic for an optometry campaign last week. Ben and I are staying a little extra longer for some NFL football today. I´m ready for some football.

Last week was crazy. Always with campaigns, the clinic is extra busy. I gave about 400 visual acuity tests over a 4 day period. We fitted over 800 people for glasses while an opthomologist did about 20 cataract surgeries, some of which I got to watch and help out. But the big news of the week is that of the two Paros that took place. Paro is a strike. They happen for various reasons, whenever people decide that there is something wrong and they want to protest. It involves a slight threat of violence, but mostly it´s just men attempting to display testosterone and prove their cahones are large. They block the roads with rocks, trees, logs, broken glass, tires-really anything they can find to throw in the street-so that no cars can pass. They then sit on the side of the road declaring this, and get angry when cars try to go by. Of course, we had to get to the clinic to see patients that had scheduled eye exams and/or surgeries. So we hopped in the back of Guido´s pick-up truck and made our way over rocks and around giant boulders to get to the clinic. Fortunately Guido-the owner of the clinic-is well known and respected, and we were allowed to pass with minimal harrassment. But the paro went on.

Tuesday´s Paro was a dispute over the ownership of a town. Calca bid good riddance to this town in the 1970´s, but now wants to reclaim ownership after natural gas was discovered underneath the village. How convenient. Thursday brought a national Paro, with a dispute over water rights. The government wants to privatize ownership of water in order to sell it to the people who currenly use it for free (river water for irrigation). Thursday´s Paro made Tuesday´s look like child´s play. Roads to Cusco were totally cut off, while people dislodged parts of the train track that leads to Machu Picchu (the train is the only way to and from Machu Picchu). On the road between Calca and Coya, men disloged a boulder from the mountainside above which measured about 15x5x6 feet and easily weighs over 5 tons! (Oh, and it´s still there, and probably put a huge hole in the road). After work on Thursday, we walked the 12km back to Calca because we couldn´t get a ride. Our optometry team was stuck in Coya, missed thier flights, and almost forfeitted their excursion to the jungle town of Iquitos. They eventually made it, but not without the threats of lawsuits against the airlines from Guido. And what about the outcome? Does the government listen? Probably not. The people really just shoot themselves in the foot by losing a day of tourist money as well as sending the message that it´s difficult to travel in Perú. Terrible.

I have a couple of picures, which I will upload later-I left the cord in Calca. Cheers!

La dirreción

I have a new address if anyone wants to send me anything. I think it takes about 2 weeks to get here. I will be here for about 6 more. So, doing the math, don´t mail it after about Valentine´s day. Here ya go:

Rocío Roman
o/ Robert Laing
Serpost Calca
Cusco, Perú

Hope to hear from ya!
R

Las mascotas nuevas!

I finally succumbed to some sickness this weekend, and I was almost unable to leave my bed on Saturday. My new roommate Ben urged me to get out of the house on Sunday, and go walk around the market here in Calca. I did, despite intense sweating and fatigue. We saw lots of crazy things for sale, including small eggs with lots of black spots, which I have no clue from which animal they came. Soon, Ben and I encountered an area on the street where people were selling chickens, ducks and other birds. Ben looked at me, mentioned how cool the birds looked, and before I knew it, we had two baby yellow ducks in a cardboard box-our new pets! And only S./10 (about $3)!!

Condor and Puma

Having never owned a duck, we didn´t really know what to feed one. I remembered that my grandfather had coarsely ground corn that he fed the ducks on Burt Lake when we were kids. As Ben and I turned the corner, we immediately saw some, and bought a bag. Next, we plotted to buy a big box to let them sleep comfortably at night, but we couldn´t find one. So we bought a big plastic tub. After lining it with newspaper, we fed them some corn and gave them some water-they were real thirsty.

Thinking long and hard, Ben and I came up with names for our new pals. Ben named his Condor, and I Puma. These are two of the three sacred animals of the Inca, the other being the serpent. The Incas believed in sets of three: past, present, future for example. So, Condor and Puma are still a little afraid of the hand of man. But we hope that they become our friends as they grow up to be big ducks. Ciao!

Ua Vida Differente

This computer sucks, but I want to quickly tell about my day. I awoke early and left the house with the other two volunteers with whom I´m living, and we went to meet Eddie to ride up to a rural village above Calca. Eddie is in charge of Desea, a project to bring water filters to each family in the rural areas around the Sacred Valley. Today, we went up to help rebuild a roof. Ameila (clinic volunteer from New Zealand) and I skipped out on the clinic to help out, and Ben joined us (Desea volunteer from Boston). We were late, but Eddie was excited. We arrived in this village after a 1/2 hour taxi ride, met the mayor, Gregorio, who led us as we hiked above the village to the house. The process of rebuilding the roof involved separating the straw, essentially to cross-hatch it, then regathering it into bunches, and hauling it onto the roof where another person tied it down. With 6+ people, it still took all day. Eddie invited us into the house to see what it was like to live in a rural Peruvian village. The house was about 10x20 feet, with an area for a fire, two beds, and a table. There were about 10 cuy (guinea pigs) in one corner, which are "raised" to eat (muy rico!). On the other end of the room were two beds, that probably slept 6 people. It was rustic by our standards, to say the least (I will definitely post pics soon to help the descriptive process).

Meanwhile, the women of the family prepared us lunch. We walked down to another house of equal size, sat around on the bed, some stools, and the floor, while the women handed us gringos plates of food. There are over 2000 types of papas (potatoes) in Perú, some of which are muy rico, while others are like eating cardboard. On the plates were cardboard-flavored dried papas, a relatively normally-cooked papa, and two truchas (trout) from the local fishery. Whole truchas: head, fins, tail, everything but the innards. I feel very cliché, being a gringo invited to enjoy a traditional meal that is way off the radar for Americans. It was muy rico (except the cardboard papas), and I ate most of it. Afterwards, we thanked the Mamita for lunch, and returned to finish our work.

For Ameila and I, who will be working in the clinic treating patients from rural villages like this, it was a great way to see how these people live, what they go through everyday, what conditions they experience that lead to their health problems. I refrain from judging that, because they´re poor, because they live in dirt-floor houses with straw roofs, because they provide for themselves, somehow they are less happy or satisified with life than others with money who can afford "things". However, despite what many think, happiness is not defined by money or things. These people seem relatively happy. I´m here to be concerned with their health, which does face threats in the water, food supply, and environment. Health problems can limit happiness, productivity, lives. And they are treatable.


Check the photos HERE.
Check out the clinic: Kausay Wasi

Fotos

Before Holly and I left Arequipa, I went to a museum/farm/clothing store/convention center called Mundo Alpaca. Check out the photos HERE.

Holly and I went to Arica, Chile for New Years, and had a crazy time. Long story, which I could probably post later. But in lieu of a story, I'm gonna post a link to some photos from the little town of Putre and Parque Nacional Lauca. Check them out HERE.

I'm off to Cusco tonight, while Holly is headed south.

Enjoy!