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I walk by this everyday and am always impacted by what a poignant analogy this is for Latin America. I also think about the artist and wonder if he/she actually realizes how cleaver it is.... and the world will never know. That’s why I love Graffiti.

“STRIKE”.... which I think is "huelga" en Espanol

Well, we had a transportation strike today and I never realized how much I have come to lean on the taxi service until I was walking hours at a time to do my daily activities! I feel exhausted from all the walking but definitely this experience deserves a little bit space on my blog for a review. The strike was over gas prices, and to my understanding ALL the transportation people were protesting against the taxes the government is putting on the already extremely high prices. In reality I often wonder how taxi drivers make a living because I can go pretty much across town for about 4 soles, which is less then 2 USD! And I can go any were in all of Arequipa in a Kombi which is 60 centemos, which is pennies!

Anyways I was actually working in a medical clinic today and we risked going out on the roads to run clinic. Despite the fact that we left the compound at 7 am, trying to miss the early morning protests and road blocks, we still hit a few. People had put many big stones in the road, which was our first mild obstacle. It was really surreal because the roads were completely empty of cars. To be honest it really felt like one of those scenes out of a zombie movie, because we were passing herds of people walking peacefully to work, and then all the sudden you come upon a road block of raging protesters smashing glass bottles and throwing rocks at your vehicle. Brian, my boss was brave enough to exit the bus and explain to the protesters that we were a NGO on our way to run a medical clinic and they thankfully let us pass, but there was a second there that I was definitely wisked away in the thrill of what we were going to do next.

The second major thing that happened is a Taxi driver came with his family in his car to our Clinic and there was a huge riot just outside our gates. His wife was actually really sick but the people wouldn’t let her out of the car. When the driver finally got out to help her there was a huge fight and honestly I can’t even tell you exactly what happened next because the swarm of people on this guy drowned my view. We ended up having to go out and retrieve this woman and her daughter and the protesters were so riled up banging there pots and pans and screaming that I don’t even think they realized that what they were protesting against.

In general protesting ranged from barricading road, burning tires in the streets, throwing rocks at any vehicle on the road, clanging pots and pans, waving banners (Oh… I saw one guy marching with a white board over his shoulder), breaking bottles in the street; which really is senseless because they protest in their own neighborhoods.

Anyways that is it for now… I have been walking everywhere and I am exhausted. A things look right now they will still be striking, tomorrow so I need to get rested up for another day of walking!!

feeling a little wordless.

The week has come to an end, and as usual Fridays classes were less productive then I hoped. I think it’s a childhood habit I have, my brain turns off on Fridays even when I don’t want it to! The next couple weeks will be busy ones as we have a project starting in Arequipa for the next two weeks. I’ll only be helping in the mornings, as I’m not ready to separate myself from my Spanish. Considering that I only have like a month left of studies before I’m off to Ecuador, I still need all the help I can get. I’m not really feeling the urge to write anything at all, so here are a few of my favorite pictures from Huancabalica (which is in the Sierra):

...where to start?

So, its not very exciting but this is my daily schedule: I wake up, eat, have some quiet time, do my Spanish homework (usually takes about 2 hours) and go to my classes at 12- 4. Its lots of Spanish but I know it’s helping. It is hard at moments to realize that learning Spanish is my whole life right now. However, I understand why it has to be when I get into a taxi or talk to friends on the street and I can only have a superficial conversation with them and lots of the time I’m nodding my head and making some kind of affirmative noise to say: “I’m listening” which I am, but really I’m not understanding completely.

After my Spanish classes I come back home, try to get some work done and then I try to do some kind of activity in the evenings. Lately this has been a lot easier then in the beginning. I am so thankful I have met some really cool people as of lately and they have been encouraging me in ways that I didn’t fully realize I was lacking before. Making friends is one thing that has been really quite challenging. Really it is such a different culture here, especially when it comes to people of my age demographic. In Canada the 20 something are living the high life, starting their first jobs (trying to recover from the debts of university) but for the most part actually having a moment to learn about who they are, apart from their family unit. Here in Peru, people my age don’t have that opportunity, and it quite obviously breeds a different type of mindset. Young people here stay in their parent’s house until they get married, and most often after they are married as well.

I’m still trying to come to my own personal conclusions about what I really think about this; it definitely has its pro’s and con’s, and a lot of times it depends on the mentality of the parents. Some are really protective and dominating, and others are happy to lead separate lives from their children, letting them develop more in their independence. Either way its been really interesting to observe the difference. Quite honestly, after living with a Peruvian family, I actually really miss my way of life in Canada, but that is probably because I was very much established in my independence there.



If this picture shows up as I think it should.... this is the view of "Misti" from my house. (its pretty hard to navigate my blog spot as it is all conveniently in spanish!!)

....because some people want to know

So, where do I begin? I can't imagine writing things for the whole world to know! Scary! How can you write something personal enough that it can appeal to your closest friend yet be abstract enough, as to not give your enemies some kind of ammunition? And so is the question I ask myself in starting a "personal blog." This honesty is something that I just can’t seem to do correctly; write publicly about my life. I begin, and then I fizzle out, I guess I just don’t find myself interesting enough. However, I’m starting to realize that its next to impossible to send personal emails to everyone, and apart from sending out mass emails that always seem so impersonal to me, THIS, right here is my next best option. So my apologies to those that have been waiting for this moment, the one where I break down and start “reporting” it has been a long time coming, but… duh duh dua duuaahhh. Its here. I’ll try my best to keep upish to date as I can.