Day 11: May 9 (Derek)

Markets and schools

All in all, things are fine now and Cristina is feeling much better. We even went out today. First we went to the market to get breakfast, as we were all famished, Cristina especially, after not eating anything at all yesterday.

The market is one of my favourite things about Cusco - there are more kinds of food to buy here than I'll ever know the names for, and walking through the stalls is to be constantly assaulted with mountains of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, potatoes, cheeses, breads, animal parts, and rows and rows of stalls serving hot, delicious, simple meals, all of them insanely cheap. While the Peruvian notion of cleanliness and hygeine is different from what we are used to, everything we have bought here is delicious. For breakfast, we bought whole wheat bread, cheese, fresh avocados, bananas, and mandarins, and a bowl of noodle soup for Cristina, which you can get 'to go' in a plastic bag. Cost for everything: 10 soles, or just over 3 dollars.

Then, just for contrast, we went to buy our massively overpriced train tickets for Machu Picchu. You can only get there by train, and unfortunately there is only one company selling the tickets, so the prices are inflated to the point where ordinary Peruvians who want to visit Machu Picchu have to walk 8 hours along the tracks to get there. All this is sustained by the fact that vast hordes of dumb tourists like us who believe the hype are willing to pay for them. (We'll report back in a couple of days on whether it was worth it).

After that, we visited the Inca Museum, where we saw all kinds of Inca relics, including various mummies, each of them tied up into a bundle. Some may have been sacrificial victims, but the Incas also made their kings and nobles into mummies, and brought them out each year for a special ceremony where they were 'served' food, which was then ritually burnt. I don`t know which kind of mummies these were, but Cristina ilicitly snapped a picture when no one was looking (no flash, though), so when we eventually are able to post pics, we can show them.

Then it was back to the market for more soup, which we all shared, and a plate of breaded and fried trout, potatoes, rice, and cabbage salad. Two huge bowls of soup and a plate of food cost four and a half soles, or about a dollar fifty - I wanted to give the woman who cooked our food some of the money I spent on the train ticket, to even things out. We spent some time talking with her and her daughter, and she kindly reminded us to watch out for our bags and camera when walking around. (We have been pretty careful so far and have a pretty good system going, knock on wood). Cristina and the kids also talked a bit with some other customers, a woman and her tiny baby. The woman and her husband were teenagers, and reminded us that parenthood starts early for many Peruvians in poor areas.

We were also approached by two young Canadian guys named Adam and Mike, who asked if they could interview us for their university research project on sustainable tourism. It was nice to speak English for a bit with someone who spoke it as a native language, for a change. We had lots to say, since we have tried wherever possible to support organizations that are doing sustainable tourism, where ordinary Peruvians actually benefit from tourist dollars instead of only seeing a small fraction of that money. (Some of these organizations involve activities that we'll be doing later in our trip.) It was also nice to see their interest in this type of issue. They have a blog on their project, which I took down but can't seem to find at the moment - I'll put a link to it on our blog later on.

The best part of the day was the end. Two days ago, we ate at a really cool restaurant called Aldea Yanapay, which looks like the inside of a daycare, with stuffed animals and mobiles all over the place - very family friendly, with great food. We chose this place because our guidebook said that their proceeds support projects that work with children from poor families in Cusco. They also have a hostel which is run the same way (we didn't stay there though, since they don't really have family rooms available). While we were there, our server told us we were welcome to visit one of their main projects, an after-school program, and gave us a brochure with directions. So, after our late afternoon lunch and interview, we headed uphill through some very narrow and dirty streets, with sidewalks barely big enough to walk on (not much more than a foot wide), and cars and buses barelling past, to find this place.

When we got there, we found an amazing little place tucked away, as most Peruvian houses are, in a series of courtyards stretching out behind the door that opens onto the street. The program was founded by the Yanapay family, and enlists the help of student volunteers, some of whom stay for a week or two, others who are there for several months. The program coordinator is Yuri Yanapay, a wonderful young man with a beautiful smile and a pile of dreadlocks under his toque. There are about 80 kids who frequent the program, though only about 30 seem to be there at any one time. The program runs from 3 to 7 on weekdays, and is free for families whose parents work in the evenings, or for kids whose families can't or don't care well for them at home. Part of the time, the kids get to play games with the volunteers and the other kids, and part of the time they do programs where each week they learn about a particular subject, and then at the end of the week, perform short theatrical pieces to show what they have learned, and present their learning to the other groups. The kids are divided into various groups, and each group will work on its own project throughout the week and create its own performance.

When we got there, Yuri asked a Belgian volunteer named Sanne to show us around, and she introduced us to some of the kids. Maia hit it off with a little girl about her age named Lady (modern Peruvian names can be interesting sometimes), and spent some time playing games with some of the other kids. Solanne was a bit shy at first, but opened up when Cristina got out her camera, and a throng of girls gathered around and wanted to have pictures taken with her. Then when Maia and I came back, they wanted to take pictures of us, which Cristina kindly let them do, watching them bit nervously as they each took a photo with her rather expensive camera. (They took really nice pictures though! We'll try to post them when we get a chance.) They kept asking us to speak in English and French with Maia and Solanne, which they found hilarious, and had no end of questions for us. I think Maia and Solanne were a little overwhelmed, given they don´t speak much Spanish, but they had a really good time meeting the other kids, and Maia even tried out some Spanish phrases she's been practicing.

Next, Yuri called everyone for a sort of circle time where all the kids get together, and there is time to talk about new developments (e.g. new volunteers joining the group, birthdays, etc), discuss the week's subjects and learnings, and talk about current events. Today, Yuri started off by introducing eight new volunteers, four of whom were from Canada (making eight new Canadians, including us - yay Canada!). He spent a lot of time having the kids ask the volunteers questions about themselves and their countries, and getting the kids to share what they knew about those countries. (They were pretty good! I guess they get a lot of international volunteers there, which helps broaden their horizons.) Next, he introduced the topic of the week. The theme for the next few months is religion, so last week they talked about Catholicism, and learned about the sacraments. This week, they are learning about the parables of Jesus, so each group will do a presentation on a different parable. Then, they will be learning about other religions, including Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and the Inca religion. A lot of really great learning for an after school program - we were really impressed. Finally, Yuri closed the circle by talking about the news of the past week, including the death of Osama bin Laden, and used this as an opportunity to talk with the kids about two lessons. The first was the importance of not judging others - i.e. that just because there are people who do bad things in Peru, it is not fair to blame all Peruvians, and similarly, just because there are people who do bad things in America, it is not right to hate Americans or to attack innocent Americans as bin Laden did. And second, he talked about the importance of not using violence to respond to problems - a veiled criticism both of al Qaeda and of the US, which was interesting - it seemed that anti-American sentiment is probably an issue in some quarters in Peru. So he talked about how the rule in Aldea Yanapay is that kids are never allowed to play violent games, pretend to use weapons, or do things that hurt one another, because they need to learn other ways to deal with problems. They talked about the various problems people face in Peru, and how those lessons are relevant.

I thought it was some very grown-up discussions for a group of kids aged from 4 to 12, but what surprised me was the way Yuri held their attention, and engaged them in a conversation about all these topics. You can really tell these kids are loved, and that they love being there.

After the circle time, we thought it best to leave, as it was getting dark, so we thanked Yuri and Sanne, and promised to tell everyone we knew about their work. So, here is a link to their webpage, which includes a photo gallery on the school. We´ll post pictures of our own as well.

Tomorrow, we are off to Aguas Calientes, which is the town next to Machu Picchu, and then the next day, to Machu Picchu itself, to see if the ruins live up to their reputation as one of the new 'seven wonders of the world'.