UGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...............
Hey, guys, this sucks right now.
PDM was great, IST was meh, and Ayacucho during Semana Santa was awesome. Now I'm back in site, trying really hard not to pass out because I'm so freakin tired...
Too late, as soon as I typed that, I went to sleep for 3 hours. Thank god my socia called right before then to inform me that we'll be resuming classes tomorrow instead of today, and that my other meetings were rescheduled.
Going from site to vacation is super easy- you stop worrying about your schedule, your meetings, your responsibilities and you only think about what you plan on eating next or how to get to the next activity that maybe, sure why not, you want to do.
Going from vacation to site feels like a punch in the face- you have to somehow immediately stop relaxing, there are loads and loads of laundry that you don't know when you'll have time to wash, you're exhausted and all you want to do is sleep for 24hrs, and you don't have a choice as to whether or not you feel like doing something- it's your project, your responsibility, your obligation... and it's all something you choose to do so you know you shouldn't complain...
but you do it anyway.
Naw, I'll stop complaining now but here's some more about what I did during the Semana Santa!
Ayacucho is kind of this crazy place when it comes to religion. According to most tourist info (e.g. Lonely Planet), there are 33 churches located in the capital city of Huamanga. According to the taxi man I made friends with on our way to a sketchtastic market in the hopes of recovering a stolen camera, there are actually 35 (two smaller, hidden ones that recently appeared). So what with all the churches in a town that holds a population of roughly 190,000 people, you imagine it's going to get kind of crazy during the days that Jesus was crucified and then brought back for the day.
You'd be right.
Although I spent roughly 4 days in Ayacucho, it just felt like longer because of how little sleep I got from all the amazing activities. There was the jalatoro, aka running of the bulls that turned out to be a series of 6 bulls, one bull at a time being lassoed and pulled through a street to the plaza del armas. This was fairly tame, mostly involving boys/men chasing the poor things and pulling at its tail, and the rope used to lasso the bull did much more damage than anything. The very first bull to come out of the fence was kind of crazy. It was being dragged along by some men on horses but it definitely fought back. Rather than following, it ended up pulling the man off his horse and chasing a whole crowd of people who were on a bridge- slamming into one man on the bridge while its rope clotheslined another man farther out who was probably drunk to begin with, but he flipped over the rope and landed solidly on his head/neck. Thankfully, there were people designated for this day to act as medics and the ambulance was soon on the scene to whisk this man away. The second bull ended up jumping the bridge and landing into the river, which turned out to be mostly rocks and a small trickle of water. That one just chilled out for a while.
A bunch of friends and I ran after the last bull to the main plaza del armas, where we met with some more volunteers and did what everyone else seemed to be doing at that moment- in a large, crowded plaza of people donned in red, with bulls and horses charging through every half hour or so, we built a human period.
It made sense at the time. Kind of.
We later saw a procession that involved a giant shiny coffin holding Jesus and a lot of flowers, being carried by a bunch of men, followed by a giant shiny Mary also being carried by a bunch of men.
And then we stayed up all night at some point (not me, I slept for about 2-3 hours) to celebrate Pascua (Easter) and that was when I giant lighted pyramid emerged from the church and as it did so, Jesus emerged from the top and the pyramid was carried around the plaza as well.
It was insanity, and I was exhausted from it all.
However, I didn't really do too much in the end and this vacation was really super chill (unlike Carnaval madness). It was really nice getting a lot of girl time, more or less, and I had a blast just... being. After Ayacucho, we took a terrible bus line called Huamanaga Tours to get back to Lima. Never take this bus line. It's a lot of money for very very very little comfort. It was more or less marked up 300% because it was Semana Santa, the bus reeked of piss and it was so hot, I felt like my body was just made of sweat and oil and it was all oozing through my skin.
Yea, it was gross.
Thankfully, I made it to the Peace Corps office and managed to track down the higher ups to ask for another vacation day so that I could relax in Lima and shake off that horrendous bus trip before boarding another one. The second one we took was Ittsa which is a FANTASTIC bus line, cool and clean smelling with calm voices through the intercom and complementary small dinner and breakfast. I passed out on this bus and woke up in Trujillo.
So my trip was amazing, and today I woke up to a meeting with my socia (the one I took to PDM with me- she's so pumped about our work and I'm just so happy she wants to get this project going!), a quick run to the municipality to see if my funds are in yet (nope), and a run into the CEM to see if my other socio was around so that we could discuss our current project (he wasn't).
AND THEN I got a phone call from a volunteer with good and bad news.
Good news: I have an amazing package waiting for me at the Serpost.
Bad news: They aren't willing to hold it for any longer and will be shipping it back today if I don't come pick it up.
WHAT?! I have been expecting this package from a super awesome person back home for quite some time, and the last time I checked (week before PDM/IST), they didn't have it. Apparently Serpost is only willing to hold on to a package for up to 15 days, but were kind enough to hold onto mine for 2 days longer. Why? Because they weren't open during Semana Santa, and had a strike during which time they weren't working.
So... they held on to my package for 15 days, but I technically wouldn't have been able to withdraw it for nearly half of those days. WTF.
But this is Peru, and I accept that insanity and nonsensical crap is at time an acceptable excuse. I grab a bus ticket and head to Trujillo to get my package. I show up at Serpost at 1:04pm- they're closed at 1pm. Clearly, I am too late to pick up this package now and must wait until they return at 4pm.
DSFO*^#$(*y#$c&$%*#&t(*#^e$%$*&dfure%@#t(#$c V75j(*^&^&^(*&^#y$nc is all I can think.
Still, I make a few phone calls, get some work done, calm my nerves down at the Starbucks, and return to find my package is waiting for me!
And am I glad that I waited for it! CARE PACKAGES ARE WORTH ANY AND ALL PAIN. On top of that, I got 2 other letters in the mail! SCORE.
AAAHHHhhhhhhhhh... so today was on the mild side of stressful but mostly alright and now ending on awesome. I'm supposed to be on a diet now, training for the half marathon (13.1!) in 2 months time, but I'm going to go ahead and say girl scout cookies and care package candy doesn't count.
It's true.
Well, that's all for now my lovely readers! This post was kind of epic long, but hey- a lot happened, ya know? Keep me updated on yourselves! Send me letters and things!
Love you lots and lots, and until next time-
Peace and Love.
No comments:
Post a Comment