So after an EXTREME case of procrastination, here are the details for the rest of our trip:
Darren: We arrived in Trujillo, Peru late at night after a long bus ride from Lima. Thank goodness the lady who owns the volunteer house (Carmen) was still up waiting for us. She was sweet and showed us to our room. The next day we met everyone and got to see the place. On the first level there were two small rooms used as classrooms with about 8-10 desks in each and whiteboards on the walls. The bedrooms were upstairs. There was a shared kitchen and an area out a side door from the kitchen where Carmen’s animals were. Here’s where things got Peruvian on us in a hurry. Not only were there some cats and kittens but a huge box full of guinea pigs. Thank goodness the cats were only pets but the guinea pigs weren’t so lucky. Here in Peru, guinea pig or “cuy” is a delicacy and very often people raise their own little furry dinners right in their own homes. They make little chirpy, squeaky noises especially around feeding times which sounded like little bats at times. You may be wondering if we had the opportunity to try this said delicacy?? Yep. Three weeks later Carmen invited everyone in the house to share a lovely cuy dinner together. I thought I’d heard a little less chirping noise that morning ;) Tasted like chicken. It was actually really sweet of her and we enjoyed eating with the other volunteers and feeling like a big family.
Kim: Tia Carmen! What a sweet heart. We really came to love her. Bueno Chicos!! The volunteers were a lot of fun as well. Our crazy cool housemate Jocelyn from Scotland, our British friends from Liverpool and the American, Elizabeth. And who can forget David and his Peruvian antics. Claro!! The house was a little…well…different than what I was used to. Since arriving in South America I have come to understand the differences between 1st and 3rd world countries and have adapted quite well I would say. But even so, the first week in our “new home” posed some challenges: cold showers, cement flooring, guinea pigs, open roof on the second floor, and no hot water in the kitchen. To cook on the kitchen stove we had to flip a switch on a gas tank under the kitchen sink, then light the stove with a match. Not too bad once you got used to it but a little annoying. We stayed in one apartment on our trip that leaked gas so every time you cooked, the house became fumigated. There were two bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. The water in the upstairs one only worked until about 9 or 10pm, so after that you had to go downstairs to use the bathroom, brush your teeth, etc. Turned out to be a disaster when Darren got food poisoning and had to run downstairs to throw up. Poor guy! But amidst all these “differences” we had a great time there and truly loved our experience in the Trujillo volunteer house. Sure makes you appreciate things a little more :)
And I forgot…cuy. Not that great. Tasted just like chicken but it was such a chore to get any meat off since they are such small animals. I was lucky enough to get the back side (they cut them in half, front and back). I pointed to an odd shaped item on my plate and said to Darren, “I think that’s a kidney.” Darren: Nah. It’s just a bean. Me: Carmen didn’t make beans. Darren: Oh. Me: Yep. It’s a kidney! But hey…apparently it’s a delicacy. Darren and I saw these items listed on a local menu: salted kidneys and crunchy brains. Yum!!
Darren: Our family for a month consisted of Carmen (lady who owned the place), David (Carmen’s nephew and founder of the volunteer organization Espaanglisch), Elizabeth (volunteer coordinator from the USA), Jocelyn (17-yr old volunteer from Scotland) and David and Jessica (volunteer couple from England). We were only together for a month but it really was amazing how we all got along and really felt like a family.
During our month in Trujillo we were asked to take on two separate night classes. My class was called Gringlish and was basically a conversation class offering young adults an opportunity to practice their English. I loved the students in my class and had a fun time with them. Most of them were taking my class to be able to get better jobs or to be able to travel. Their English conversation skills were all very good and I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for class on how to help them practice. We played games like taboo and did role play’s. We had debates and they presented certain topics that I would assign out as homework projects. At the end of the month, since it was close to Halloween, I turned off the lights in the classroom and then turned on a flashlight. I held it under my chin and started a scary story and then passed the flashlight around the circle and let the next person continue the story however they wanted. It was really fun and a great way to let the students practice their English.
Kim: My class was the FairMail class which consisted of 6-7 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 21. These kids are partnered with the FairMail organization which provides cameras to underprivileged Peruvian kids. The photos they take are turned into postcards and then sold. These kids receive 50% of the profits to help with their housing and education. So Espaanglisch is partnered with FairMail in providing free English classes to these kids so they have a better chance of selling their postcards. These kids were great! I loved getting to know them and their different personalities. It really made me realize how many things I take for granted. These kids had to work so hard for everything, yet they are so happy and full of life. Amazing experience!! Click here to check out their postcards: http://www.fairmail.info/
Kim: When were weren‘t volunteering we were out seeing the local sites and ruins. One day Darren, Elizabeth and I went and visited the city of Chan Chan, capital of the Kingdom of Chimor, also known as the Chimu Empire. It represents America's largest prehispanic mud-brick settlement. It is 7.7 square miles and is dominated by the palaces of the Chimu Kings. When the Incas conquered the Chimu in 1470 AD, this empire stretched 621 miles along the Pacific coast. The total population of the city may well have been as large as 50,000 or more. It was really impressive and hard to imagine what it must have looked like in it’s day. Funny story: We had to take a combi (taxi van) to the site. They let us off by the highway and we had to walk down a long dirt road to get to the site. While walking we came to a fork in the road and we decided to go left. We kept walking and soon came upon workers making mud bricks. We thought “Oh no! We’ve gone the wrong way.” So we turned around and starting going back the way we had come. As we turned around all the workers starting waving in their direction and telling us we were going the right way. So we turned around and started back the same direction. Well…after passing the workers we started seeing tarps and ropes and such and started thinking “I really think we came the wrong way.” Just then a worker comes up and says (in Spanish): You are not supposed to be here. This is the wrong way. This is where we are renovating. Follow me and I will show you where to go. So we followed him and ended up where were supposed to be. It was funny to see 50+ workers beckoning us forward and ensuring us we were indeed on the right path. At least I was able to take a picture of them making bricks. I had never seen that before. Cool!
Another site we visited was Huacas de la Luna y del Sol (The Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Sun). Both huacas, more than 1500 years old, constituted the center of power of the Mochica. The Huaca or Temple of the Sun functioned as an administrative and political centre. It is a staggered pyramid of approximately 141 feet high that was built by 250,000 men in only three days according to tradition. Around 70 million adobe bricks were used for its construction. The Huaca de la Luna or Temple of the Moon is located 1,640 feet away from the Huaca del Sol. This construction was built for ceremonial purposes and it is formed by six superimposed temples built during different periods of the Mochica culture. It was so cool to see all the different paintings and symbols and to imagine what it must have looked like in it’s day.
Darren: One of the best parts of Trujillo is that it’s only about 20 minutes away from a little beach town called Huanchaco. Huanchaco has one pier, 20 or more restaurants and about 100 places you can stay including hotels, apartments, hostels, etc. We loved it out there. We rented an apartment out there one weekend for really cheap and spent a few days right up the street from the beach. One other thing that Huanchaco is famous for is that it’s a great place to learn to surf. How could I pass that up, right? It was great Kim and I sat through a very informative and fun class (in Spanish) with Omar who taught us all about how to surf. He had me practice throughout the classroom part of the lesson, then I went out to the beach to practice a bit more. And finally, I got in the water and gave it a try. There was another instructor who went out in the water with me and made sure I was in position and then would tell me when to get ready. When the wave came he’d give me a push and yell out the command to stand up and go for it! The first time I fell pretty fast but the second time I rode the wave until I decided to jump off. Now, these “waves” were small, but even so, I had a really great time and for the next 45 minutes to an hour I rode the waves to my heart’s content. Can’t wait to practice more sometime. :)
Kim: Huanchaco was fun! It wasn’t necessarily the kind of beach town I am used to (Oceanside, Ca, etc) but it was fun to get out of busy Trujillo and go to sleep Huanchaco. Darren did a great job surfing. I was able to get some fun pics and videos of him. Next time I’ll have to give it a try J Other than the surf schools and tourists shops, Huanchaco had the best vegetarian restaurant, Otra Cosa. We went there as often as we could. Yum!! We went to church here one Sunday and had the chance of meeting those wonderful members. It was here that one of many miscommunications got me in trouble. Ha-ha. The relief society president looked at me and asked if I wanted to “share scriptures” (in Spanish). The lady next to me held up her scriptures as if she wanted “to share.” So I said, “si.” So after the opening hymn and opening prayer, the president gets up and says “Hermana Brown, te toca” (your turn). “My turn?” Oh…you want me to share a scripture, not share scriptures. GREAT!! So I quickly find a scripture (borrowing my neighbors Spanish scriptures) and read it aloud in front of the relief society. I then go on to explain in the best Spanish that I can muster why this is one of my favorite scriptures. Talk about being put on the spot. I don’t even speak the language, at least not well. I hope they got the general idea :) No better way to learn I guess.
Darren: The other assignment we helped with while in Trujillo was volunteering at an elementary school in one of the poorest parts of the city. The school is called “Una Sonrisa de Amor” which means a “loving smile” and they referred to it as USDA (sounding like ooss-duh) most of the time. Kim, Elizabeth, Jocelyn and I would catch a little shuttle van they call “combis” on Wednesday and Friday mornings to go out to the school and teach the children English. The school has five classes (4yr-olds, 5yr-olds, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades). We would teach each group once a week. The lessons varied a bit depending on the age group. We taught the youngest kids mostly greetings and magic words like “please, thank you, sorry“, etc. I was impressed with the older classes and how they could retain words and phrases week after week. I had an idea early in the month to introduce the kids to the “head-shoulders-knees and toes” song to help them learn parts of the body and the face. It was a hit!! The kids loved it and we had so much fun team-teaching them the words and then challenging them to sing it faster and faster with us as they got better. The older kids copied our stick figure drawings into their notebooks so they’d have the words. Many of the kids would approach us during recess even to ask us to sing the song with them again or to ask if they had the words right. Talk about a tune getting stuck in your head. :) It was well worth it and the kids were really cute and had a lot of fun singing it with us.
Kim: We loved the kids at USDA! Such beautiful, smart kids. If only we could have adopted them all.
Darren: One of the best blessings of the month was when we decided to talk with the director of USDA and see what type of materials or supplies they were in need of. We decided to send out emails and facebook requests to see if family and friends might be able to send some money to help us buy educational games, books and learning supplies for the kids. We were overwhelmed with the response and blown away by the generosity of those who did help. With the money that was donated we were able to fill up two shopping carts worth of learning supplies and games for the children. We stacked it all on our bed at the house to take pictures and it covered the bed completely. The day we took it out to the school they were having their first annual science fair. It was a perfect opportunity to present our gifts to the school all at once. All the kids lined up on the basketball court for the assembly. Kim and Jocelyn had stacked the gifts on a few tables in front. There were a lot of the kids’ parents there as well that day helping with the science fair. They asked me to come up front and take the microphone to explain where the gifts had come from. I told them how our friends and family in the USA loved them and wanted to help them learn and progress. One of the teachers had one of her students get up in front next and handed him the microphone. He read a thank you message that we got a video of that basically thanked us for the items and for supporting them and their school. It was very special to be there and be a part of it.
Kim: I am so grateful to our families and friends who made this opportunity possible. They were so kind and generous. The teachers couldn’t believe how much stuff we had and Guillermo, the director, was so appreciative. The kids kept coming up to the table to look at the items and you could see how excited they were. What a blessing it has been to volunteer at this school. :)
Darren: After the assembly they asked me to stay and be one of the science fair judges. It was so cute to see the kids in each age group present their projects. Many of the projects involved foods and natural medicines or some presented crafts. They all did a great job. The students and teachers decorated their stations with posters and pictures and the students handed out pamphlets before they began their presentations. For the ones that involved food, we even got a food sample. Only problem with being a judge was that by the end of the fair I’d been given about 20 different samples of everything from juices and yogurts to soy patties and banana bread and it all started to add up in my stomach. :) So many of the projects were edible I felt like a taste tester. It was hard to choose a winner but the grand prize and bragging rights went to one of the 3rd grade groups who presented a project on natural pesticides that you can make from household items like garlic and kerosene. They did such a great job on their presentation and each took turns explaining the benefits of their project. They even gave a demonstration with live bugs and showed how effective their spray was. The bugs were dead in seconds. :) Overall, the time we spent helping the kids at the USDA school was the highlight of my month in Trujillo.
Kim: The science fair was fun. The kids were so excited to give their presentations. It was one of the most practical science fairs I have ever been to. No exploding volcanoes or solar systems, just everyday practical resources. Everything from bug spray to perfume to shoe polish. We even brought some of the pamphlets home in case we want to make any of the recipes. :)
Darren: When our time came to leave Trujillo, we knew we wanted to go see Cuzco and Machu Picchu like every other tourist but before we did that we wanted to see some less know ruins that we had heard of located north of Trujillo. So we got on a bus headed for Chachapoyas, Peru. Our trip got off to a rough start when I got a bad case of food poisoning the night before we left. In the words of the comedian Bryan Regan, it felt like everything on my insides wanted to be on the outside. So by the next afternoon I was less than enthusiastic to get on a long distance bus that was supposed to take 14 hours but I felt good enough to give it a try. So that morning as we were heading out of the city, our bus suddenly lurched to a halt. The passengers around us were up in a flash and looking out the windows. I overheard two of them say something about how we’d hit something. Then I realized they were saying that we’d hit not something but someone!! You’ve got to be kidding me. The bus had in fact hit a pedestrian. It was terrible. We were worried for the victim and from where we were we couldn’t see anything. We heard he’d hit the front of the bus and possibly had leg and upper body injuries. We sat in the bus as the police directed traffic around the accident scene. After the ambulance had come and gone, the bus moved on to the police impound station. We sat in the bus for the next hour without any announcement or news from the crew. Finally, a second bus showed up and we switched from one to the other. As we got off the bus we noticed the buses windshield. There was a large shattered circle where the pedestrian had made contact. Yikes! Now I know I should have been concerned with the pedestrian and his well being more than mine, however, all I could think about once on board the new bus was how all the delay was going to extend the trip. So, after fighting through food poisoning the night before, we set out on what turned out to be a 16.5 hour trip. Thank goodness that Chachapoyas and the next week would be well worth the struggle to get there.
Kim: What a nightmare!! I remember Darren getting up and down a couple of times in the middle of the night but I didn’t know how sick he was until the next morning. Poor guy. I still can’t believe he decided to take a bus trip after a night like that. After my experience in Lima I could definitely sympathize.
Our trip to Chachapoyas definitely had some rough spots. As if a 14 hour bus ride wasn’t going to be hard enough, we hit a pedestrian and make it an extra 2.5 hour trip. Lucky us!! And on top of all that, our seats ended up being in the back of the bus by the bathroom and once we started on the bumpy, dirt roads, the whole bus starting smelling like urine. I thought I was going to throw up. “Just get me off this thing!!” That’s what I wanted to yell more than once. I was already hating buses by this point in the trip, especially after getting sick from their food, so this was a little piece of Hades. But Chachapoyas and the surrounding areas were amazing so it was worth it. (I’m glad I can say that). :)
Darren: The first day trip we went on was to see two separate sites with ancient ruins. The first was called “Pueblo de los Muertos” and the other was called “Karajia.” Both involved a short hike and we enjoyed the fact that we were there with only our guide, Hernando, and one other tourist named Felipe (71 year-old Frenchman who kept up with us all day hiking). We didn’t see any other tourists or hikers all day. Such a difference than other popular sites in Peru that have become so saturated with tourism. Our hikes took us through amazing canyons and hills of fields and crops. Hernando pointed out sarcophagi and mausoleums built into the cliff sides. He explained that only those people who had been high in royalty, society, military or rank would have had their remains placed in these sarcophagi as it was believed they would be able to look out across the valleys below for eternity.
Kim: This was a fun trip. Seeing the sarcophagi high up on the sides of the cliffs was crazy. I still can’t imagine how they got them up there. On the trek down to Pueblo de los Muertos, we were able to see the famous Gocta waterfall in the distance. It is supposedly the 3rd highest in the world. Apparently the local people have known about it for thousands of years but when a German man came into the area and started asking questions about it, no one would take him out to it. They believed that there was a mermaid that protected the waterfall and if they went out there, she would enchant them and they would never come back. Interesting legend. So once the man found someone to take him out there, he measured the waterfall and it ended up being the 3rd highest. Pretty cool!
The sarcophagi were really cool looking. They have stone faces that sit on a cone-shaped body. The cone is what houses the mummies. They were built under cliffs for protection from wind and rain. Some of them were perfectly preserved. I couldn’t believe they were in such good shape after thousands of years. The Karajia sarcophagi were different in that they were lighter in color than the ones at Pueblos de los Muertos. Different designs were painted in purple across their chests and their faces. There were originally 7 of them but one fell off the cliff. There was one sarcophagus that was all by itself on the opposing mountainside. Our guide Hernando told us a story of a battle between the Chachapoyas and the Incas. The Chachapoyan military poisoned the Incas water and killed an Incan military leader and his army. The brother of the Incan captain came to avenge his brother and wanted to kill the man who killed his brother. The towns people told him that the Chachapoyan leader had died and was placed in a sarcophagus up in the hill. So this brother climbed up the cliff face, took the bones from the sarcophagus and buried them in order to dishonor him. He would not allow this murderer to have a place on the cliff, overlooking the valley for all eternity.
Another site that we had the chance to see in this area was the Kuelap Fortress and the Leymebamba Museum. We joined a tour group out of Chachapoyas which consisted of other tourists from Switzerland, France, Germany, Peru and Columbia. Our guide was very knowledgeable and spoke three languages (English, Spanish and French). The fortress was very impressive. It is situated on ridge overlooking the Utcubamba Valley and has been dated back to the 6th century AD. Archeologist have found many mummies and artifacts and are still continuing to excavate the area. In fact there were archeologist involved in a dig the day we got there.
The way Kuelap was built was ingenious. The opening to the fortress is narrow and has multiple levels which are very steep. They had to use ladders to climb from one level to the next. This was very beneficial when an opposing army came to attack. Just pull up the ladders and they would have a hard time getting to the top. And since the top was open, the residents of the fortress could throw rocks, sticks, etc down on top of the invaders to slow their progress. The Chachapoyan people worshiped animals such as the serpent, condor, etc so around the bottom of their round huts there are carvings that indicate which tribe they belong to. There was no birthright order for a leader, the people voted for the most qualified person. There were two holes in each hut, one for the storage of grain and one for mummies. They believed that their deceased ancestors would be able to protect and bless them, so they buried them inside their homes. Now I love my family, but I’m not sure how I would feel about that.
The Leymebamba Museum was pretty lame, except for the room that was filled with mummies. I don’t know how many were in there but it was a little spooky. They were all found in cone-shaped sarcophagi so they were all hunched over in the fetal position. The expressions on some of their faces could give someone nightmares for a month.
We stayed the night at La Casona in Leymebamba. The next morning we were able to see from our bedroom window clouds sitting on top of the mountains. So pretty. Fitting since they called the Chachapoyans the “people of the clouds.” After breakfast we rode another Movil Tours bus from Leymebamba to Cajamarca. 6-8 hours on a miniature bus on a dirt road. What a long trip! Some of the areas along the way were pretty (Encanada with it‘s green valley and streams) but most of it was just dry and dirty. So needless to say, we were excited when we finally arrived in Cajamarca and were able to take a shower (I had dirt all over me from the dirt coming through the windows). We ate some yummy food at a restaurant called Salas. It was here that we came across the menu with crunchy brains and salted kidneys. We walked around the plaza after dinner and took some pictures of the local churches. We’d like to come back someday and spend more time.
The next morning we took a bus to Trujillo, picked up our suitcases at the volunteer house and then went to Huanchaco to stay the night at Bracamonte Hotel. The next day was Sunday so we went to the same ward as before. It was testimony meeting and Darren and I decided to get up and bear our testimonies. I said as much as I could in Spanish and the rest Darren translated for me. That night we ate at Otra Cosa one more time. I said we loved this place. :)
The next morning we took a Cruz del Sur bus to Lima, Peru and stayed the night at the same B&B, 3B Barranco. Since I wasn’t sick this time we were able to get out and see some sites. We went to the local craft and artesenia and had a look. We ate dinner at a yummy Mexican food restaurant Si Senor. Yum!! Man how we missed Mexican food. The next morning we went to Lima Central and took pictures of the plaza and surrounding buildings. Later that night I emailed my family about “our surprise gift idea” (more to come on that later).
Next morning we flew to…..CUZCO!!!! Machu Picchu here we come!!!!! :)
Darren: We arrived in Trujillo, Peru late at night after a long bus ride from Lima. Thank goodness the lady who owns the volunteer house (Carmen) was still up waiting for us. She was sweet and showed us to our room. The next day we met everyone and got to see the place. On the first level there were two small rooms used as classrooms with about 8-10 desks in each and whiteboards on the walls. The bedrooms were upstairs. There was a shared kitchen and an area out a side door from the kitchen where Carmen’s animals were. Here’s where things got Peruvian on us in a hurry. Not only were there some cats and kittens but a huge box full of guinea pigs. Thank goodness the cats were only pets but the guinea pigs weren’t so lucky. Here in Peru, guinea pig or “cuy” is a delicacy and very often people raise their own little furry dinners right in their own homes. They make little chirpy, squeaky noises especially around feeding times which sounded like little bats at times. You may be wondering if we had the opportunity to try this said delicacy?? Yep. Three weeks later Carmen invited everyone in the house to share a lovely cuy dinner together. I thought I’d heard a little less chirping noise that morning ;) Tasted like chicken. It was actually really sweet of her and we enjoyed eating with the other volunteers and feeling like a big family.
Kim: Tia Carmen! What a sweet heart. We really came to love her. Bueno Chicos!! The volunteers were a lot of fun as well. Our crazy cool housemate Jocelyn from Scotland, our British friends from Liverpool and the American, Elizabeth. And who can forget David and his Peruvian antics. Claro!! The house was a little…well…different than what I was used to. Since arriving in South America I have come to understand the differences between 1st and 3rd world countries and have adapted quite well I would say. But even so, the first week in our “new home” posed some challenges: cold showers, cement flooring, guinea pigs, open roof on the second floor, and no hot water in the kitchen. To cook on the kitchen stove we had to flip a switch on a gas tank under the kitchen sink, then light the stove with a match. Not too bad once you got used to it but a little annoying. We stayed in one apartment on our trip that leaked gas so every time you cooked, the house became fumigated. There were two bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. The water in the upstairs one only worked until about 9 or 10pm, so after that you had to go downstairs to use the bathroom, brush your teeth, etc. Turned out to be a disaster when Darren got food poisoning and had to run downstairs to throw up. Poor guy! But amidst all these “differences” we had a great time there and truly loved our experience in the Trujillo volunteer house. Sure makes you appreciate things a little more :)
And I forgot…cuy. Not that great. Tasted just like chicken but it was such a chore to get any meat off since they are such small animals. I was lucky enough to get the back side (they cut them in half, front and back). I pointed to an odd shaped item on my plate and said to Darren, “I think that’s a kidney.” Darren: Nah. It’s just a bean. Me: Carmen didn’t make beans. Darren: Oh. Me: Yep. It’s a kidney! But hey…apparently it’s a delicacy. Darren and I saw these items listed on a local menu: salted kidneys and crunchy brains. Yum!!
Darren: Our family for a month consisted of Carmen (lady who owned the place), David (Carmen’s nephew and founder of the volunteer organization Espaanglisch), Elizabeth (volunteer coordinator from the USA), Jocelyn (17-yr old volunteer from Scotland) and David and Jessica (volunteer couple from England). We were only together for a month but it really was amazing how we all got along and really felt like a family.
During our month in Trujillo we were asked to take on two separate night classes. My class was called Gringlish and was basically a conversation class offering young adults an opportunity to practice their English. I loved the students in my class and had a fun time with them. Most of them were taking my class to be able to get better jobs or to be able to travel. Their English conversation skills were all very good and I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for class on how to help them practice. We played games like taboo and did role play’s. We had debates and they presented certain topics that I would assign out as homework projects. At the end of the month, since it was close to Halloween, I turned off the lights in the classroom and then turned on a flashlight. I held it under my chin and started a scary story and then passed the flashlight around the circle and let the next person continue the story however they wanted. It was really fun and a great way to let the students practice their English.
Kim: My class was the FairMail class which consisted of 6-7 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 21. These kids are partnered with the FairMail organization which provides cameras to underprivileged Peruvian kids. The photos they take are turned into postcards and then sold. These kids receive 50% of the profits to help with their housing and education. So Espaanglisch is partnered with FairMail in providing free English classes to these kids so they have a better chance of selling their postcards. These kids were great! I loved getting to know them and their different personalities. It really made me realize how many things I take for granted. These kids had to work so hard for everything, yet they are so happy and full of life. Amazing experience!! Click here to check out their postcards: http://www.fairmail.info/
Kim: When were weren‘t volunteering we were out seeing the local sites and ruins. One day Darren, Elizabeth and I went and visited the city of Chan Chan, capital of the Kingdom of Chimor, also known as the Chimu Empire. It represents America's largest prehispanic mud-brick settlement. It is 7.7 square miles and is dominated by the palaces of the Chimu Kings. When the Incas conquered the Chimu in 1470 AD, this empire stretched 621 miles along the Pacific coast. The total population of the city may well have been as large as 50,000 or more. It was really impressive and hard to imagine what it must have looked like in it’s day. Funny story: We had to take a combi (taxi van) to the site. They let us off by the highway and we had to walk down a long dirt road to get to the site. While walking we came to a fork in the road and we decided to go left. We kept walking and soon came upon workers making mud bricks. We thought “Oh no! We’ve gone the wrong way.” So we turned around and starting going back the way we had come. As we turned around all the workers starting waving in their direction and telling us we were going the right way. So we turned around and started back the same direction. Well…after passing the workers we started seeing tarps and ropes and such and started thinking “I really think we came the wrong way.” Just then a worker comes up and says (in Spanish): You are not supposed to be here. This is the wrong way. This is where we are renovating. Follow me and I will show you where to go. So we followed him and ended up where were supposed to be. It was funny to see 50+ workers beckoning us forward and ensuring us we were indeed on the right path. At least I was able to take a picture of them making bricks. I had never seen that before. Cool!
Another site we visited was Huacas de la Luna y del Sol (The Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Sun). Both huacas, more than 1500 years old, constituted the center of power of the Mochica. The Huaca or Temple of the Sun functioned as an administrative and political centre. It is a staggered pyramid of approximately 141 feet high that was built by 250,000 men in only three days according to tradition. Around 70 million adobe bricks were used for its construction. The Huaca de la Luna or Temple of the Moon is located 1,640 feet away from the Huaca del Sol. This construction was built for ceremonial purposes and it is formed by six superimposed temples built during different periods of the Mochica culture. It was so cool to see all the different paintings and symbols and to imagine what it must have looked like in it’s day.
Darren: One of the best parts of Trujillo is that it’s only about 20 minutes away from a little beach town called Huanchaco. Huanchaco has one pier, 20 or more restaurants and about 100 places you can stay including hotels, apartments, hostels, etc. We loved it out there. We rented an apartment out there one weekend for really cheap and spent a few days right up the street from the beach. One other thing that Huanchaco is famous for is that it’s a great place to learn to surf. How could I pass that up, right? It was great Kim and I sat through a very informative and fun class (in Spanish) with Omar who taught us all about how to surf. He had me practice throughout the classroom part of the lesson, then I went out to the beach to practice a bit more. And finally, I got in the water and gave it a try. There was another instructor who went out in the water with me and made sure I was in position and then would tell me when to get ready. When the wave came he’d give me a push and yell out the command to stand up and go for it! The first time I fell pretty fast but the second time I rode the wave until I decided to jump off. Now, these “waves” were small, but even so, I had a really great time and for the next 45 minutes to an hour I rode the waves to my heart’s content. Can’t wait to practice more sometime. :)
Kim: Huanchaco was fun! It wasn’t necessarily the kind of beach town I am used to (Oceanside, Ca, etc) but it was fun to get out of busy Trujillo and go to sleep Huanchaco. Darren did a great job surfing. I was able to get some fun pics and videos of him. Next time I’ll have to give it a try J Other than the surf schools and tourists shops, Huanchaco had the best vegetarian restaurant, Otra Cosa. We went there as often as we could. Yum!! We went to church here one Sunday and had the chance of meeting those wonderful members. It was here that one of many miscommunications got me in trouble. Ha-ha. The relief society president looked at me and asked if I wanted to “share scriptures” (in Spanish). The lady next to me held up her scriptures as if she wanted “to share.” So I said, “si.” So after the opening hymn and opening prayer, the president gets up and says “Hermana Brown, te toca” (your turn). “My turn?” Oh…you want me to share a scripture, not share scriptures. GREAT!! So I quickly find a scripture (borrowing my neighbors Spanish scriptures) and read it aloud in front of the relief society. I then go on to explain in the best Spanish that I can muster why this is one of my favorite scriptures. Talk about being put on the spot. I don’t even speak the language, at least not well. I hope they got the general idea :) No better way to learn I guess.
Darren: The other assignment we helped with while in Trujillo was volunteering at an elementary school in one of the poorest parts of the city. The school is called “Una Sonrisa de Amor” which means a “loving smile” and they referred to it as USDA (sounding like ooss-duh) most of the time. Kim, Elizabeth, Jocelyn and I would catch a little shuttle van they call “combis” on Wednesday and Friday mornings to go out to the school and teach the children English. The school has five classes (4yr-olds, 5yr-olds, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades). We would teach each group once a week. The lessons varied a bit depending on the age group. We taught the youngest kids mostly greetings and magic words like “please, thank you, sorry“, etc. I was impressed with the older classes and how they could retain words and phrases week after week. I had an idea early in the month to introduce the kids to the “head-shoulders-knees and toes” song to help them learn parts of the body and the face. It was a hit!! The kids loved it and we had so much fun team-teaching them the words and then challenging them to sing it faster and faster with us as they got better. The older kids copied our stick figure drawings into their notebooks so they’d have the words. Many of the kids would approach us during recess even to ask us to sing the song with them again or to ask if they had the words right. Talk about a tune getting stuck in your head. :) It was well worth it and the kids were really cute and had a lot of fun singing it with us.
Kim: We loved the kids at USDA! Such beautiful, smart kids. If only we could have adopted them all.
Darren: One of the best blessings of the month was when we decided to talk with the director of USDA and see what type of materials or supplies they were in need of. We decided to send out emails and facebook requests to see if family and friends might be able to send some money to help us buy educational games, books and learning supplies for the kids. We were overwhelmed with the response and blown away by the generosity of those who did help. With the money that was donated we were able to fill up two shopping carts worth of learning supplies and games for the children. We stacked it all on our bed at the house to take pictures and it covered the bed completely. The day we took it out to the school they were having their first annual science fair. It was a perfect opportunity to present our gifts to the school all at once. All the kids lined up on the basketball court for the assembly. Kim and Jocelyn had stacked the gifts on a few tables in front. There were a lot of the kids’ parents there as well that day helping with the science fair. They asked me to come up front and take the microphone to explain where the gifts had come from. I told them how our friends and family in the USA loved them and wanted to help them learn and progress. One of the teachers had one of her students get up in front next and handed him the microphone. He read a thank you message that we got a video of that basically thanked us for the items and for supporting them and their school. It was very special to be there and be a part of it.
Kim: I am so grateful to our families and friends who made this opportunity possible. They were so kind and generous. The teachers couldn’t believe how much stuff we had and Guillermo, the director, was so appreciative. The kids kept coming up to the table to look at the items and you could see how excited they were. What a blessing it has been to volunteer at this school. :)
Darren: After the assembly they asked me to stay and be one of the science fair judges. It was so cute to see the kids in each age group present their projects. Many of the projects involved foods and natural medicines or some presented crafts. They all did a great job. The students and teachers decorated their stations with posters and pictures and the students handed out pamphlets before they began their presentations. For the ones that involved food, we even got a food sample. Only problem with being a judge was that by the end of the fair I’d been given about 20 different samples of everything from juices and yogurts to soy patties and banana bread and it all started to add up in my stomach. :) So many of the projects were edible I felt like a taste tester. It was hard to choose a winner but the grand prize and bragging rights went to one of the 3rd grade groups who presented a project on natural pesticides that you can make from household items like garlic and kerosene. They did such a great job on their presentation and each took turns explaining the benefits of their project. They even gave a demonstration with live bugs and showed how effective their spray was. The bugs were dead in seconds. :) Overall, the time we spent helping the kids at the USDA school was the highlight of my month in Trujillo.
Kim: The science fair was fun. The kids were so excited to give their presentations. It was one of the most practical science fairs I have ever been to. No exploding volcanoes or solar systems, just everyday practical resources. Everything from bug spray to perfume to shoe polish. We even brought some of the pamphlets home in case we want to make any of the recipes. :)
Darren: When our time came to leave Trujillo, we knew we wanted to go see Cuzco and Machu Picchu like every other tourist but before we did that we wanted to see some less know ruins that we had heard of located north of Trujillo. So we got on a bus headed for Chachapoyas, Peru. Our trip got off to a rough start when I got a bad case of food poisoning the night before we left. In the words of the comedian Bryan Regan, it felt like everything on my insides wanted to be on the outside. So by the next afternoon I was less than enthusiastic to get on a long distance bus that was supposed to take 14 hours but I felt good enough to give it a try. So that morning as we were heading out of the city, our bus suddenly lurched to a halt. The passengers around us were up in a flash and looking out the windows. I overheard two of them say something about how we’d hit something. Then I realized they were saying that we’d hit not something but someone!! You’ve got to be kidding me. The bus had in fact hit a pedestrian. It was terrible. We were worried for the victim and from where we were we couldn’t see anything. We heard he’d hit the front of the bus and possibly had leg and upper body injuries. We sat in the bus as the police directed traffic around the accident scene. After the ambulance had come and gone, the bus moved on to the police impound station. We sat in the bus for the next hour without any announcement or news from the crew. Finally, a second bus showed up and we switched from one to the other. As we got off the bus we noticed the buses windshield. There was a large shattered circle where the pedestrian had made contact. Yikes! Now I know I should have been concerned with the pedestrian and his well being more than mine, however, all I could think about once on board the new bus was how all the delay was going to extend the trip. So, after fighting through food poisoning the night before, we set out on what turned out to be a 16.5 hour trip. Thank goodness that Chachapoyas and the next week would be well worth the struggle to get there.
Kim: What a nightmare!! I remember Darren getting up and down a couple of times in the middle of the night but I didn’t know how sick he was until the next morning. Poor guy. I still can’t believe he decided to take a bus trip after a night like that. After my experience in Lima I could definitely sympathize.
Our trip to Chachapoyas definitely had some rough spots. As if a 14 hour bus ride wasn’t going to be hard enough, we hit a pedestrian and make it an extra 2.5 hour trip. Lucky us!! And on top of all that, our seats ended up being in the back of the bus by the bathroom and once we started on the bumpy, dirt roads, the whole bus starting smelling like urine. I thought I was going to throw up. “Just get me off this thing!!” That’s what I wanted to yell more than once. I was already hating buses by this point in the trip, especially after getting sick from their food, so this was a little piece of Hades. But Chachapoyas and the surrounding areas were amazing so it was worth it. (I’m glad I can say that). :)
Darren: The first day trip we went on was to see two separate sites with ancient ruins. The first was called “Pueblo de los Muertos” and the other was called “Karajia.” Both involved a short hike and we enjoyed the fact that we were there with only our guide, Hernando, and one other tourist named Felipe (71 year-old Frenchman who kept up with us all day hiking). We didn’t see any other tourists or hikers all day. Such a difference than other popular sites in Peru that have become so saturated with tourism. Our hikes took us through amazing canyons and hills of fields and crops. Hernando pointed out sarcophagi and mausoleums built into the cliff sides. He explained that only those people who had been high in royalty, society, military or rank would have had their remains placed in these sarcophagi as it was believed they would be able to look out across the valleys below for eternity.
Kim: This was a fun trip. Seeing the sarcophagi high up on the sides of the cliffs was crazy. I still can’t imagine how they got them up there. On the trek down to Pueblo de los Muertos, we were able to see the famous Gocta waterfall in the distance. It is supposedly the 3rd highest in the world. Apparently the local people have known about it for thousands of years but when a German man came into the area and started asking questions about it, no one would take him out to it. They believed that there was a mermaid that protected the waterfall and if they went out there, she would enchant them and they would never come back. Interesting legend. So once the man found someone to take him out there, he measured the waterfall and it ended up being the 3rd highest. Pretty cool!
The sarcophagi were really cool looking. They have stone faces that sit on a cone-shaped body. The cone is what houses the mummies. They were built under cliffs for protection from wind and rain. Some of them were perfectly preserved. I couldn’t believe they were in such good shape after thousands of years. The Karajia sarcophagi were different in that they were lighter in color than the ones at Pueblos de los Muertos. Different designs were painted in purple across their chests and their faces. There were originally 7 of them but one fell off the cliff. There was one sarcophagus that was all by itself on the opposing mountainside. Our guide Hernando told us a story of a battle between the Chachapoyas and the Incas. The Chachapoyan military poisoned the Incas water and killed an Incan military leader and his army. The brother of the Incan captain came to avenge his brother and wanted to kill the man who killed his brother. The towns people told him that the Chachapoyan leader had died and was placed in a sarcophagus up in the hill. So this brother climbed up the cliff face, took the bones from the sarcophagus and buried them in order to dishonor him. He would not allow this murderer to have a place on the cliff, overlooking the valley for all eternity.
Another site that we had the chance to see in this area was the Kuelap Fortress and the Leymebamba Museum. We joined a tour group out of Chachapoyas which consisted of other tourists from Switzerland, France, Germany, Peru and Columbia. Our guide was very knowledgeable and spoke three languages (English, Spanish and French). The fortress was very impressive. It is situated on ridge overlooking the Utcubamba Valley and has been dated back to the 6th century AD. Archeologist have found many mummies and artifacts and are still continuing to excavate the area. In fact there were archeologist involved in a dig the day we got there.
The way Kuelap was built was ingenious. The opening to the fortress is narrow and has multiple levels which are very steep. They had to use ladders to climb from one level to the next. This was very beneficial when an opposing army came to attack. Just pull up the ladders and they would have a hard time getting to the top. And since the top was open, the residents of the fortress could throw rocks, sticks, etc down on top of the invaders to slow their progress. The Chachapoyan people worshiped animals such as the serpent, condor, etc so around the bottom of their round huts there are carvings that indicate which tribe they belong to. There was no birthright order for a leader, the people voted for the most qualified person. There were two holes in each hut, one for the storage of grain and one for mummies. They believed that their deceased ancestors would be able to protect and bless them, so they buried them inside their homes. Now I love my family, but I’m not sure how I would feel about that.
The Leymebamba Museum was pretty lame, except for the room that was filled with mummies. I don’t know how many were in there but it was a little spooky. They were all found in cone-shaped sarcophagi so they were all hunched over in the fetal position. The expressions on some of their faces could give someone nightmares for a month.
We stayed the night at La Casona in Leymebamba. The next morning we were able to see from our bedroom window clouds sitting on top of the mountains. So pretty. Fitting since they called the Chachapoyans the “people of the clouds.” After breakfast we rode another Movil Tours bus from Leymebamba to Cajamarca. 6-8 hours on a miniature bus on a dirt road. What a long trip! Some of the areas along the way were pretty (Encanada with it‘s green valley and streams) but most of it was just dry and dirty. So needless to say, we were excited when we finally arrived in Cajamarca and were able to take a shower (I had dirt all over me from the dirt coming through the windows). We ate some yummy food at a restaurant called Salas. It was here that we came across the menu with crunchy brains and salted kidneys. We walked around the plaza after dinner and took some pictures of the local churches. We’d like to come back someday and spend more time.
The next morning we took a bus to Trujillo, picked up our suitcases at the volunteer house and then went to Huanchaco to stay the night at Bracamonte Hotel. The next day was Sunday so we went to the same ward as before. It was testimony meeting and Darren and I decided to get up and bear our testimonies. I said as much as I could in Spanish and the rest Darren translated for me. That night we ate at Otra Cosa one more time. I said we loved this place. :)
The next morning we took a Cruz del Sur bus to Lima, Peru and stayed the night at the same B&B, 3B Barranco. Since I wasn’t sick this time we were able to get out and see some sites. We went to the local craft and artesenia and had a look. We ate dinner at a yummy Mexican food restaurant Si Senor. Yum!! Man how we missed Mexican food. The next morning we went to Lima Central and took pictures of the plaza and surrounding buildings. Later that night I emailed my family about “our surprise gift idea” (more to come on that later).
Next morning we flew to…..CUZCO!!!! Machu Picchu here we come!!!!! :)