Mamapache

So so so....the work with Progressio and EDUCA - the NGO that works in correspondence with Progressio. The week before I left for Cuzco, which was about three weeks ago was mind blowing. On Monday, I went to San Juan de Lurigancho to see two zones where most of the people who are involved in the community programs with Progressio and EDUCA live. Roberto, a sociologist and pastor who works with EDUCA took Ryan and I around to get a sense of what life is like. The majority of the homes are built in the hills with no infrastructure.In Juan Pablo II and also in Huascar, the zones, you don´t buy land in order to live there. You basically burn out a plot of land, which is tiny, and then the families construct a home from tin or brick or rock, bascically whatever the family can accumulate in order to build a home.I only went inside one home so I cannot exactly say for sure, but from what I saw, most of the homes have one room, which would hold a kitchen, mostly consisting of a stove and multiple mattresses for a family ranging fron four to eight to live in. The rooves are mainly made of perforated tin and the families do not get access to water until they have lived on their land for five years. After the five years, they are given a tank that is filled by a truck that comes by and pours water, that is supposedly clean, so the family can use it for washing, cleaning, and cooking.It is a very minimal life and it also seems extremely dificult since the houses are built on these hills, so to reach the houses, families walk up concrete staircases every day to bring food or other necessities. There are communal toilets, which are mainly outhouses, or some families use buckets if necessary.There are dogs, chickens, and cats that mill around everywhere and I saw only one area for recreation for kids, which consisted of two posts at the ends of a dirt field. But it seems that the children have little time for recreation as they are either in school or helping out the family.
After this first day of seeing the broken down homes, some of which barely have walls that meet and look unbearable to live in, I was to start the next day with my actual work with Progressio. I went, with a Mexican girl Lorena, who is making a documentary about San Juan de Lurigancho to interview four women who are actively participating in the programs of both EDUCA and Progressio. The four women; Andrea, Victoria, Yolanda, and Ruperta were elected by their group to be the representation for the article I would write for Progressio. I am working on two articles which will be published in the newsletter for Progressio about the progress these women have made in the programs. The four women have all been through a program of alphabetization, so they can learn to read and write in Spanish - one of which, her first language is Quechua. I conducted an interview separatedly with each woman, learning about their personal histories and the impact the programs and projects from Progressio have had on their lives. After the programs of alphabetization, the women are currently learning about their rights as women and as civilians of the state. Eventually, the goal of the project I have been mostly involved with, is to get the women to actively participate in decisions of the community and ultimately of the government. It is hard to gage from a perspective of the United States, where women know they have rights to not be beaten by their husbands, or to know they have rights to be treated at a hospital, but for these women in San Juan de Lurigancho, the small details of their lives have changed because they now understand that they are not inclined to do the dishes solely and do all the shopping for the family They are learning how their husbands can also help in the daily chores and as well, that they cannot use their wives as punching bags. This may sound harsh but the women I interviewed have had unbelievably harsh lives full of neglect and abuse and I am so happy to get their voices out to the public. So while I have finished one article thus far, I have one more to go and I plan on finishing it within the next week. Once I am done, I will probably send it out - it may help you all understand the objective of the programs from Progressio in changing the lives of these women....

Other than the work, which I have been heavily involved in - I spent a week working and going to San Juan de Lurigancho which is about two hours away from Miraflores in Lima. So other than that I went on a trip to Cuzco so I could spend some time there and eventually get to Machu Picchu. Cuzco is an amazing quaint colonial city that is surrounded by multiple Inca ruins, my favorite being Sasqewayman (my spelling is off, but it is a Quechuan word, most of the tourists remember it as 'sexy woman'). I went with two Isrealis, Yael and Gal on horseback to see some ruins around Cuzco, el templo de la luna, la zona X and of course Sasqewayman.It was beautiful and awe inspiring considering how we have no idea how they built these monstrous temples and landscapes.
Flor had a friend who also works for Progessio in Cuzco and I stayed at her place while I was there. And eventually I headed to Machu Picchu. Its strange because everyone thinks that Cuzco is the starting point to get to Machu Picchu, where in fact Aguas Calientes is really the starting point to get to Machu Picchu. I went with four Israelis I had met the night before and on the way we picked up a girl from Spain, Sole, who I actually spent most of the time with. So this is the trekk we took to get there: we left from Cuzco in a bus early in the morning on Friday because the bus supposedy takes four hours to get to Santa Maria. Unfortunately, we got a flat tire on the way and we didn´t end up getting in to Santa Maria until about 2 in the afternoon. And we were told that from Santa Maria we had to get in a van to get to Santa Theresa, or rather Hidroelectrico, where the railroad tracks were. This route was supposed to be about an hour and a half, but when we were at Santa Maria, we discovered that the bridge which is the main route was blocked off and we had to take a round about way through the mountains in order to get to Hidroelectrico. So this took about three hours and by the time we got to the railroad tracks it was 5. The idea is that this is the cheapest way to get to Aguas Calientes, which is the bottom of the hill to get to Machu Picchu. So from Hidroelectricoo it is supposed to be an hour and a half walk along the railroad tracks to get to Aguas Calientes. Unfortunately, though since we got there so late, we had to do most of the walk at night and it was unbelievably dark, so it took us three hours to get to Aguas Calientes. But eventually we made it....
Once we arrives we got a cheap hostel in the center of town and I bought my entrance into Machu Picchu for the following day. One of the Isrealis had gotten sick since he had not given himself enough time to acclamate to the altitude, so they were going to stay another day in Aguas Calientes before climbing Machu Picchu. So Sole and I woke the next morning at 4:30 to get some breakfast and snacks to bring with us before we hiked up to Machu Picchu- we didnt want to take the bus up like most people do. So we hiked up, which took us about an hour and twenty minutes, which is awesome, since it was just straight concrete stairs the whole way up... But we made it to the top, legs shaking and all, and we entered into Machu Picchu. Once we were in the glorious Machu Picchu, we raced over to go to Waynapicchu, which is the tall mountain where most of the vista points are to see the entire Machu Picchu. (we had to race over there because they only let in four hundred people a day to Waynapicchu and we wanted to make sure we could get in). So after about an hour and half we reached the tallest point of Waynapicchu to see all of Machu Picchu, which of course is indescribable. We hid and ate some of the snacks we brought with us, to give us some energy to get down, they dont let you bring in food or anything... and then we headed down. By the time we got to the bottom to explore Machu Picchu, my legs were shaking and my body was definitely giving out, so we sat on the grass of the ruins and relaxed a little. Sole went on to explore a little more and climbed up to see some other vista points and lamas, but I just walked around the lower area and waited for her to get back. Eventually we were both exhausted and called it a day at around 1:30. She, being the trooper she is, walked back down the way we came up, but I was pretty sure my knees wouldnt last the descent, so I hopped on the bus and got the bottom in about twenty minutes.
We were extremely lucky because it was a beautiful day the whole time we were there and we got there early enough so there wasn´t an insane amount of tourists. Actually as we were leaving, it was starting to fill up and by the time I got to the time, it started to torrentially rain, so Im pretty happy I took the bus down.

Later in the day I hopped on a train, which is way too expensive to be worth is- plus it is owned by a Spanish and English company who is giving no money to the Peruvians, so if you ever decide to do the Machu Picchu trekk, please try not to endorse these companies. As well, the bus the goes from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu is also not owned by Peruvians, so I didn´t want to endorse it either, but I was dead by the time we were finished. The companies give a small portion of money to the government, but with all the corruption, the Peruvians never see a cent of this money, nor are they helping to conserve Machu Picchu.

Otherwise, after the trip I headed back to Cuzco, to buy a couple things in the artesano markets and after a day of rest, since I had a bit of a cold I headed back to Lima, so I could finish up all my work here and see an REM concert on Friday and an electronic concert on Saturday....

Hope all is well with everyone. Some of which I will see soon, since I am taking a bit of a vacation from my vacation and so on the 18th of this month until the 30th, I will be in the states. First New York, to visit fam there, and then off to LA to celebrate thanksgiving with my real fam. Call me during that time to check in, because I will have my old cell phone back. Miss you all and I will see most of you soon!!!

Besitos.