Hmmm...

Experiencing the third world side of Peru...

So let me get the selfish complaining over with first... there is currently no running water in my apartment complex or block and hasn't been since yesterday morning. My shower is broken, so even if I had running water I couldn't take anything but a freezing cold shower (which sounds fine right about now). And, the old computer that Luis's family so generously donated to my empty apartment cause has stopped playing DVDs. Now, I know I'm lucky to even have a computer to use, and that it's not the end of the world, BUT... without a TV etc. movies were such a nice treat! BOOOO!

Now on to the real issues, and not my petty, spoiled, accostumed-to-regular-electrcity-and-water, side of things...

I had yet another great weekend! Went to visit Yura, a near by village (aboout an hour and half combi ride) with natural hot spring pools linked by a nice walkway through trees, flowers and a small stream, had a picnic after trekking to the small village and back, and saw first hand people living in horribly poverty striken conditions. According to Lonely Planet, "Over half of Peruvians live below the povety line, and unemployment is so out of control it can't be measured." I had read several articles about people who live and work in areas where the trash is dumped... going through the waste to find valuable items to sell and make a living. This was the first I'd seen with my own eyes of this "job" and corresponding living conditions. It was horrible. I'm left with many of the same questions I had in India... "how is life in the city SO different than life in the villages?" and "what can possibly be done to change these living conditions?"

There we were enjoying our American style picnic with ham, cheese, tomato, and lettuce sandwiches, potato chips, and fruit... and I couldn't get the images out of my head of families living in nothing more than a wall or two draped with a piece of fabric. I had thought the living conditions for the fieldworkers out by the farm in Vitor were minimal and pretty bad, then to see the people who live in trash, work in trash, and raise children to work in trash... pretty tough stuff... along the lines of slumdog millionaire. Luis and I talked of taking some food out that way around Christmas time to distribute... seems like such a small drop in a huge pond of poverty, but I guess it would be something.

The little village town was all but disserted. It was obvious that it was once a thriving little town due to the village square, beautiful church etc. but everything was in disrepair and in the one main street there was almost no one to be found!

Yesterday was another wonderful experience... got to visit the best outdoor food market I've ever been to... HUGE and complete with shopping carts! It was quite the mental condundrum to see someone using a shopping cart (like they were in walmart) bartering for onions out of the back of someone's pickup truck! Among the gigantic piles of fruits I found delious SEEDLESS grapes, for less than a dollar a kilo!

Then it was off to go horseback riding through the outskirt towns and countryside of Arequipa! Up huge hills of cobbled streets, and through streams and terraced farming territory. It really was a beautiful experience and my horse was super well behaved and it was a pure joy! Once again it was quite the contrast seeeing the way people were living beyond what the eye can see from the road. There was even a shepard living in nothing more than a make-shift tent made with sticks and some very worn fabric, in the middle of a field! It was somewhat of a special treat to see a man plowing the terraces the old fashioned way - two bulls pulling a plow and a farmer with his "whip" directing them.

It's too bad Aracely couldn't come with us, cause I think she would have enjoyed the stop to see that biggest bull I've ever seen! His name is Pascual and he's something of a spectacle around here... he used to be a fighting bull, but now he just eats and lets crazy people hop on for a photo now and then! He´s absolutely monsterous... something like riding an elephant!

Oh, and made my way, thanks to the help of Luis's mom, and accompanied by Luis, to a more modern Catholic church yesterday. It was still a little tough, but much more palatable in my opinion than my other religious experiences here! And it was FULL, a 6pm mass, completely packed. We found ourselves standing in the back with about 50 other faithful catholics that hadn't been early enough to get a seat! There had to have been at least 400 people there! Impressive since each church has like 4 masses a Sunday!

Anyway, this is a pretty disjointed posting, but all to say that it was another packed but super fun weekend!

Hope all is well!

Chao for now, Kate