Gringo Santas

We saw the fruits of our Pisco labor yesterday in the form of una fiesta navidad grande. When we first arrived at the party site with the decorations, the neighborhood kids could hardly contain their excitement and jumped at the chance to help set up.  Here is a photo of our decorations team:

The area was less a plaza than a dirt lot, but the stage and sound system along with the tinsel, Feliz Navidad signs, Santa posters, Christmas Lights, and bows made for a fairly festive ambiance. The party’s master of ceremonies was a very capable Peruvian clown whose only fault was giving three cheers for PSF a bit too frequently. Alongside the clown were three 14 year old girls dressed up as Santa’s slutty little helpers spreading good cheer with some age inappropriate dance moves to the 130+ 2-12 year old kids. A few of the PSF members were also dressed up as Winnie the Pooh, Barney, and other characters to help get the kids dancing.

A few days prior to the party, we purchased two LARGE piñatas and an enormous amount of sweets to fill them. We erroneously assumed there was some sort of known piñata culture/etiquette… erroneously. As it turns out, impoverished kids would sell their own parents for one Jolly Rancher. The minute that the first piñata became visible, a massive stampede rushed to the candy-filled container and began jumping to tear it down. Within seconds they were successful and the piñata crashed to the ground. After the dust had settled, we reconsidered trying the second one and distributed the rest of the candy by hand.

By the end of the party, the kids each received a cup of chocolatada (cocoa), a slice of pantone (holiday sweet bread), a toothbrush, a Christmas gift, and had danced their hearts out. It seemed that the event was a success. The two of us have a few doubts/thoughts about this. From what we gathered in the short time that we were in Pisco, the PSF group appeared to be a lot like Santa. We can’t help but think of the saying, “Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” The volunteer group has their hearts in the right place however the work they are doing is for the community as opposed to with the community. During the party, all of PSF volunteers were asked to distribute the chocolatada, the pantone, and the Christmas gifts just hammering into the kids’ heads that “gringos” have things/money to give and that if they show how needy they are, they will get something. This was not helped by the clown and her excessive cheers to PSF for “helping”. At one point during the fiesta, Kristina had some sweets in her pocket to distribute to the kids who had helped with decorations. As soon as the kids realized what she had, they began tugging on her arms and pockets sure to show their long, sad faces to emphasize their plight while begging for some candy with reasons why they needed it most. It seems to parallel what PSF is doing in the community at large - essentially awarding a lottery ticket to a few of the saddest cases. The new homes built for the families are basically handouts with little to no education, training, or community involvement. The way this is set up, the job can never be done.  At the same time, we sit here suffering from analysis paralysis while PSF puts roofs over needy family's heads.  It’s a delicate and complicated situation to which there probably isn’t an answer and we certainly don’t think we have the answers. We just couldn’t help but make these observations.

There is no question that our fiesta put smiles on some kids’ faces that night. And there is no question that building a family in need a home is a great gift. We just wonder how lasting an impact either one of those things makes and wish there was a way to continue the work without creating the “Santa” impression.

El Mercado

If ever in Pisco, Peru a visit to the Market is a must.  It is best to visit when you have lots of time to waste and have not yet eaten lunch.  This is because the market is so confusing that getting lost is inevitable and there are so many interesting foods to sample and goods on display at every corner.  At first glance, the Market appears to be completely haphazard in its organization but is actually somewhat divided into relatively distinct sections (fish, produce, spices, bloody carcasses, electronics, toys, home necessities, etc.).  For whatever, reason, one product seemed to include itself into all sections of the market: fly-gathering chicken bodies complete with feet.  Kristina's favorite vendor is a woman simply known as "Spice Lady".  Her booth is full of wet and dried spices that can be smelled from rows away.

There is also an area of the market that resembles a taxi queue.  Peruvians call these taxis "Tuktuks".  The small vehicles have three wheels, what sounds like a vespa engine, and enough room to comfortable seat two (though we frequently saw them with four or five).

From our limited experience, we have found the Market to be the sole highlight of Pisco.  However, it wasn't always this way.

We have heard rumors from other volunteers that Pisco was once a town for tourists.  The small village contained ancient adobe structures/buildings, and more importantly, a thriving stretch of beachfront where Peruvian and other tourists would vacation.  After the earthquake struck in 2007, most of the adobe buildings had been destroyed along with the local people's adobe homes.  These people fled from the oceanfront to inland areas leaving the beach for shantytowns.  They are still there.  The beachfront seems to be feared by the people of Pisco and therefore remains uninhabited.  Consequently, the tourists have ceased vacationing in Pisco and have migrated to the surrounding towns.

Although Pisco is no longer a disaster area, the recovery process is slow with few signs of economic potential or viability.  The Market may not be the answer to Pisco's woes, but it is a relative bright spot in a fairly bleak landscape.

Santa's Workshop

Our day began a bit earlier today since we were on the breakfast team with Carlos and Jasper.  As for the menu, we had decided upon a fruit salad, Spanish style eggs (eggs, potatoes, bell peppers and onions), bacon, breakfast rolls and, oh yeah porridge (as an afterthought, we over-estimated the amount of water and ended up with oat soup... whoops).  Just to give an idea of what it's like to cook in the kitchen, here is a photo of Jasper cracking eggs into the bucket while Carlos mixes them with a power drill modified with an egg beater bit:

For our daily project, we decided to volunteer for the Christmas party setup crew.  Pisco Sin Fronteras is putting on a Christmas party on Saturday for the community and so far we have 130 children on our RSVP list.  Our job today entailed shopping at the market for one Christmas gift for each child.  We had a budget of about 10 soles ($3.50) per child and after getting everyone a gift, we came in under budget!  Here is a photo of our crew wrapping all of the presents we had purchased:

An interesting rumination: The wrapping paper in Pisco comes in rolls similar to those in the US, however, Peruvian rolls only contain two sheets of about 3.5'x2' (not nearly as much as we are used to).  We theorized that this is because the average Peruvian family doesn't wrap very many Christmas presents.

On another note, we still have no hot water, there are still lots of mosquitoes, the air is still highly polluted, and it's still incredibly dirty everywhere.  Not to mention, on our way to dinner, we passed a teenage boy walking down the street with a rifle slung over his shoulder as if it were as common as a duffle bag.  We feel our time here is nearing its end and our planning our escape for Sunday night or Monday morning.

Pisco Sours

Yesterday, after finding the correct bus station, we purchased two tickets to Pisco on the Flores double-decker bus.   Our tickets cost us 17 soles ($6) each which is quite a bit cheaper than some of the other buses.   However, since we were only going about 3.5 hours south, we decided to go with cheap as opposed to extra comfort.  It turns out that it was still pretty comfortable.  We definitely recommend asking for the first row seats in the upper deck.  They have a bit more legroom than the other seats, and a much better view of the journey.  Here are a few pictures from the drive:

During our journey, we noticed that the buses in Peru are a bit unpredictable.  Our bus stopped at all of the scheduled bus stops along the way, sometimes just roadside.  Additionally, it occasionally stopped when someone flagged it down and other times, didn’t stop for someone attempting to flag it down.  There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason.  In between the random stops, our bus driver would ride the back bumper of the next car before recklessly overtaking with no regard for oncoming traffic or our safety.  Eventually we arrived in Pisco unharmed and easily found the Pisco Sin Fronteras volunteer house where they fed us a nice hot meal and helped us to find a hostel down the street.

Our day starts at 7:30 in the Pisco lot where breakfast is cooked and served by volunteers.  The group meeting begins an hour later and it is here that the everyone picks their jobs for the day.  Seniority definitely rules, which is a bummer for two newbies.  Today, Todd managed to get put on a crew working on "Erica's house".  His job entailed building a frame of a house and tacking tarp over and around it to make a two bedroom dwelling with a kitchen area for the 5-person family.  Kristina was assigned to dinner duty which consisted of visiting the extremely hectic market for supplies and spending the rest of the day chopping and cooking for 50 people.  Here is a photo from the market:

Pisco Sin Fronteras may be Pisco Sin Kristina and Todd soon.  We finally had our first warm shower in four days (we had to use the owner's personal shower).  That fact combined with bugs, dirt, separate beds, and "manana" attitude has led us to entertain the idea of other options for our future.