My Pilgrimage to Ayabaca

Ayabaca

So I made my pilgrimage to Ayabaca.  No, i didn't go on foot, I am not that brave.  But after seeing how high up Ayabaca is set in the foothills of the Andes and the endless mountains surrounding it, I have a newfound respect for those who make the long pilgrimage on foot with children, baring crosses, or carrying fallen members of their group.  It was an amazing experience!

Edgar and I let from Piura early Saturday morning.  I knew that I was not going to enjoy the trip when I asked Edgar why someone was filming us on the bus.  He said it was in case the bus goes over the mountain and they have to identify or look for our bodies.   That definitely left an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach as I was reminded how much I love trips into the mountains on buses that sometimes look like they are held together with duct tape.  But I try to remind myself that tons of people make the trip every single day and these people know what they are doing...I hope.

About an hour or so as we began ascending into the mountains (about 3 hours into our trip), we stopped at this little town of only about 3 or 4 houses where we could use the bathroom and buy snacks.  Edgar knowing my love for tortillas pointed out a lady selling tortillas and cheese.  One of my absolute favorite things about the country.  It is something only usually found in the sierra, exactly where we were. The only other time I have had them when we were not in the sierra was in Edgar's house because his family is from the sierra and his mom makes them from time to time.   So we got our tortillas and something to drink, and watched the driver and his partner throw buckets and buckets of water into engine of the bus (always a reassuring sign).

We continued higher and higher into the mountains.  With as much fear as I have of heights it was impossible to keep the curtains closed of my bus window, the views are absolutely amazing.  So I snapped lots of pictures even though I was scared to death!   

Late afternoon we reached Ayabaca.  It is a little city that appears in the middle of nowhere set on the side of this mountain with again, spectacular views.  Our first task was to find a hotel room.  Even though the actual party celebrating Senor Cautivo was a few days before the city was still full of people.  Many of those who had made the pilgrimage were no longer there, only a few lingered.  There was more people like us, who thought they would make the trip after all the craziness.  The hotels were well aware of people like us and were charging outrageous amounts for a room.  I thought we would save money on hotels on this trip but I was very wrong. 

After we got settled we set out to see what was going on and find something to eat.  We walked over to the church, the center of the pilgrimage.  We waited in line and entered a room off to the side of the main entrance of the church.  It was filled with hundreds of purple robes adorned in gold designs and jewels.  Edgar told me they are the robes that they change the figure of Senor Cautivo just as robe of a priest is changed depending on different celebrations within the church.  He said he was there one time out of pure luck when they changed the robe.  There is a committee responsible for the figurine, so when it is time to change him the lock all the entrances of the church and bring him down into the room, he just happened to be left behind one time in the church to see it take place. 

We waited in line for stairs that entered into the church and went up and behind the figurine of Senor Cautivo that we displayed high on an altar.  The altar was covered in flower and candels and there were people in the church burning candels in observance.  When we reached the top, the case of Senor Cautivo is enclosed however one of his purple velvet cloaks hands outside the case.  The tradition is that many people carry cotton and rub the cotton along the window of the case and make wishes.  Another part of the tradition is to touch touch the cloak and make a wish.  I wasn't sure what to expect or what to do, so I watched others before me.  People were in tears many would linger for long periods of time rubbing their faces into the cloak as well.  There was a very solemn feeling in the air, almost as if I were at a funeral. 

The altar of Senor Cautivo

When I got to the cloak I touched it, made my wish, with a little hesitance.  I have always been taught that church is not a place for wishes or to ask for miracles, you pray, praying is NOT wishing, so I wished for nothing more then something I would pray for.  Edgar did the same behind me.  Then we made our way through the various people crying and hugging in the stairwell down into the church. 

The pews had been removed from the church to make room for the people who made the pilgrimage on foot to sleep.  There were not many anymore.  The really interesting and confusing thing was that the floor was absolutely covered in candle wax.  You could not see the floor at all.  Edgar said that people burn candles in observance of Senor Cautivo, some burn handles in holders, some on the floor and other let then candles burn completely out in their hands.  Afterwards, people from the town come and scrape up the way and sell it as a momentum of the celebration.  There were many people still burning candles on the floor. 

Candles burning on the floor of the church

We hung around in the church for awhile, took pictures, observed the different people and their traditions.  It was truly very interesting. Afterwards we walked the streets and checked out the vendors selling mountains of Senor Cautivo relics.  Later we found a lady selling tortillas and coffee and we ate our dinner. Edgar found a vendor who had cow heart on a stick....he was really excited.  It was difficult to be outside because it was incredibly cold, I am not used to that kind of cold.


The next morning we got up and went and checked out the city during the day light.  We found some great spots to take pictures.  We were so happy that we had visited the church the day before because now the line wrapped around the church a few times, where the night before we had only waiting minutes.  There were the normal vendors and people putting on shows.  There was a guy with a monkey and if you gave him a sole he would pull a little slip of paper out of drawer that held your future.  I did it, but I am pretty sure it wasn't my future, but the monkey was cute. 

We had decided that after how much the hotel cost and after we practically had seen all Ayabaca had to offer that only one night was sufficient so we bought our tickets to come back home.

Beautiful views

I just kept thinking about this pilgrimage, over the past week or so it has been one of the most amazing things I have seen.  But I couldn't completely wrap my mind around the very intense devotion these people have to this saint.  They also are devout Catholics and believe it is a very important pilgrimage to make as a catholic.  Which is interesting to me as well as a Catholic knowing that we do not have these particular ways of celebrating Catholicism in the United States.  One thing that has always fascinated and made my proud of my religion was the very old beliefs and traditions, however, this one was not one I had ever heard of.  The more intriguing part is that Senor Cautivo isn't even a saint that once lived or did anything spectacular.  But it dawned on me why this is so important, even though Senor Cautivo isn't a person, he is a figure and the story of how he came to be has to do with a miracle of God.  So these people make this pilgrimage not necessarily to see a figurine but because it puts them close to God.  That is the explanation for the extreme emotion, being close to Senor Cautivo is being close to a miracle they strongly believe in.  Although it was a little strange and uncomfortable to me in the moment, it was also something beautiful. 

I believe very much in my religion, but it made me feel like we weren't apart of the same religion.  These people have an incredibly amount of faith that I am not even sure I can compare to.  I have such respect for their beliefs even though I think the way the practice it might be a little different but it is something so sacred to them that made me wish I had something to compare it too.  However in the end, when the priest began his mass, it was the same as it would be if I were sitting in church back home, at the end of the day we are the same.

Us waiting for our Tortillas

The windy roads

Those who spend the night on the floor of the church

 

Senor Cautivo

I may walk away from my two years only have given my community something small, but I will definitely walk away with a mountain of incredibly experiences my community has given me!

Last week was the pilgrimage to Ayabaca.  This was something I have heard about, but finally experienced.  Let me give a little background information.  Senor Cautivo is the patron saint of Piura.  Basically his story is like this, many many years ago the people of Piura wanted to have a figure to represent them.  So they locked three men into a room to carve the figure.  The request of the men was that no one was allowed to come in for 3 days.  So the people of the town slipped the food to them through a tiny door, but there came a point that the plates were not being returned, and when they would knock no one would answer. In the end, when the people of the town became worried enough, they opened the doors, and there was this beautiful figure of Senor Cautivo and the people who created it were not there.  The believe it was an act of God.  Therefore Senor Cautivo has become the figure of Piura, and since more then 90% of peruvians are catholic it is also a catholic figure as well. 

So every year, in October, people from all over travel to Ayabaca, many on foot, to make the pilgrimage to celebrate their patron saint.  There are many routes to take, but one of the primary routes takes the people through Chipillico.  So the people of Chipillico prepared for the pilgrimage by painting and cleaning up the church and filled the plaza with tents where everyone would cook for the travelers and provide a place for them to sleep in rest. My host Mom participated in this with her "business" and took pretty much everything from the house and set up her little tent to cook.  The food is relatively inexpensive, in terms of dollars, the largest plate of food you could by was no more then 3 soles which is equal to 1 dollar. 

Since my host Mom was cooking in the plaza I went for all the meals and helped clean tables and wash dishes and run to buy more food when needed.  I was also asked to you my americaness to help bring in travelers.  Most of the travelers came in large groups, and when they reached the city center they would pull out instruments and play their music, so they would come in dancing and singing.  Most of them wearing purple with information about where they are from.  Some of the groups also had representatives that would come in crawling not on hands and knees but more of an army crawl, they believe that they were the ones being sacrificed for their beloved Senor Cautivo.  Other groups came into town bearing large crosses made of wood (with wheels), this was to signify the struggle Jesus underwent.  It was incredible.  They would stay and rest, wash clothes, eat.  Some would stay a few hours and go back on walking.  Others would stay for the night. 

One night I was hanging out in the Plaza with  Edgar until about 11:00 watching everything. When we got up to leave we realized there were people sleeping for all parts of the plaza and the town.  It was like a giant sleepover with hundreds of people sleeping wherever they could find space.  We had to search for a little trail to get out!  However it was a surreal experience, I am used to Peruvians generally being rude to each other.  No one trusts anyone.  However, it was amazing to see all these people sleeping and the people of Chipillico with their tents for them to sleep under were kind of hanging out keeping watch in a way.  It was like everyone felt a part in th pilgrimage even the ones that couldn't go were doing their duty cooking and having a place for these people to rest.  I just really was a heart warming moment.  It made me love the people of Chipillico even more.

So this weekend Edgar and I are going up to Ayabaca to see where it all ends.  No, I won't be going on foot, but I will be going in a bus.  I am really excited so see what it is all about.

Funerals and Fiestas

What a week it has been!  I am sitting in Starbucks for the day just to escape the craziness of my town for a few hours!

On my way back to site this past Monday after a weekend of spanish class and celebrating, I got a text from my site mate BJ who was a few hours ahead of me on the trip.  He was in a taxi heading into our valley with relatives of my host family, they were in town because the sick uncle in my house had passed away the previous day.  I wasn't surprised to get the news because  the past couple weeks had been pretty rough for him.  He had been suffering from some kind of cancer for a long time.  I can't be exactly sure because he NEVER went to the doctor's, but it was pretty evident he was very sick with something.  I believe everyone knew we were in his last days because each day was getting increasingly worse.

So although the news wasn't surprising, I instantly became sick to my stomach.  I knew a little bit about the mourning process in my site, and I think for so long I had been dreading that experience that I became incredibly nervous.  I called up a friend of mine to get advice on escaping, I was really scared to go to my house.  I was almost really sure that I was going to go back and instantly turn around and leave for a few days.  However the closer and closer I got the more disappointed I became with myself.  I am not that type of person.  A dead person is not that scary to me after having worked at the hospital for so long, and I would be a huge jerk to walk away from my family.  So I decided I was going to stick it out.

So from what I do know, normally the body of the deceased lies on a table in the living room for a number of days so people can come and observe.  The part that made me nervous is that the body would be untreated, and right now it is pretty hot during the day and it just kind of grossed me out.  Also, I knew that Peruivans can be very dramatic when faced with a death and I was afraid I was going to be really uncomfortable seeing my family like that.

Well when I got to the house, the body was on our dining room table in the living room.  He was dressed in a traditional blue and white robe, very similar to what a priest wears in church, and there were flowers and candles surrounding him.  There were many people in the living room, but fortunately no one was reacting too crazy, just sitting around chatting.  But as I got closer to my room, I realized there was a ridiculous amount of people in my house, my host family has family all over the country, and they ALL came!!!!!!!  I went to find my host Mom first and she was a little teary, but really more interested in borrowing my air mattresses to accomodate all of the people.  The uncle's children were there.  I have to admit I am a little bitter towards them.  Because the uncle has been living with us for a very long time, and I have only seen his son on 2 occasions totaling a week at the most, and when he is there he does nothing.  And the daughter has been in the house for a few weeks, but she often didn't feel like doing anything for her father and would ask that no one would say her name so he wouldn't know she was there at times. That always made me mad, because my host mom waits on him night and day without ever complaining and I thought having his daughter there would give her a break a little, apparently not.

But of course the 2 children played the biggest victim cards, walking around moping very dramatically, while my poor host mom held herself together and continued to run circles around everyone trying to make sure everything was just right.

Fortunately I got home the evening of the second night, so when I woke up the next morning the body had been chemically treated and put away in the casket. Around noon many people came to the house from all over for the first mass.  My host Mom asked me to take pictures.  Afterwards the casket was carried through the town to the church for a second mass and everyone follows along in the procession.  After a short mass in the church, we paraded back through the town where the school band had joined us and made our way to the cementary.  From the day the uncle died my host Dad had been there trying to prepare a cement tomb, so we worked our  way there.  There was another short mass, and different people said words.  The most touching part was a teacher from the school had come, and remember a time when he was at my host sister's cantina drinking and playing his guitar and the uncle went outside to listen and sang along.  I remember that day when he was out there, and I remembered the song because it was a song he sang everyday many many times, ALWAYS, so it was really sweet.

There was a little window in the casket over his face, so the window was opened and many people came up to pay their final respects and the casket was placed into the tomb and was sealed off and we all went home.  Part of the tradition is that the family prepares meals for the days that the body is in observance and the day of the funeral for all.  So a make-shift kitchen had been set up in our back yard and the neighbors helped my host mom cook in gigantic pots over fire for everyone.  After the funeral the entire town was invited for lunch and I feel like practically the entire town showed up.  I was helping serve food and it felt like it was never ending.

One convienient part of the entire funeral was that the uncle died the sunday before the anniversay of chipillico was taking place.  So all the people who had come to town for the funeral also decided to stay for the party.  And more continued to show up throughout the week.  I believe there were close to 20 people alone staying in my house and then more family spread out between my 2 host sister's houses and one more of our close neighbors.

The town was completely transformed into a huge market, where people came from neighboring cities to sell clothes and stuff.  There were toys for the kids to play on and games.  There were lots of food vendors.  It was just packed full of stuff and people!    I took the kids a few nights and played lots of games.  The loved it!  I also got some really really good grilled chicken which always makes me really excited.

It wasn't really a week of much work because everyone was pretty invested in the party.  Yesterday the last day of the party there was a parade where they had a figure of the patron saint of Piura they paraded through the town. And a huge dance that went on all night long!  I have had little sleep this week, not because I was partying but I could hear everyone else partying.  And when you live in a house made of mud and there are 20 people sleeping there, there isn't much quiet time.

So that has been my week, and why I believed I deserved to escape to some Starbucks today.

One year.....

All I could think about on Friday was how one year on that same date I woke up early in a Holiday Inn in Georgetown to meet my Dad in the lobby with another suitcase for me to take with me later that day to Peru,  in tears.  Not just a few tears a lot of tears.  I hugged my Dad and didn't want him to let go or leave.  It was in those moments that I realized how big the decision I had made to join the peace corps was.  I was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of leaving my family and friends behind and virtually my whole life to spend two years away from them in Peru. 

I don't look back on that day and think how crazy I was for being so upset, I look back on it thinking how much one year in Peru has changed me.  It has made me braver and stronger.  I went from the girl who lived in Maryland her whole life, and the most exotic place she had been was a family vacation in a beautiful resort in Mexico for a week, to the girl who lives in a rural town in northern Peru, where everyone speaks a different language.  Wow!  What a change a year can make! 

I think everyday how welcomed I was into the country, and more importantly into Chipillico.  I love my country, but it is very rare that anyone in the United States would let someone live with them for 2 years or walk into their place of work and try and find ways to help the community.  The people in Chipillico have done this for me.  Along the way they have taught me an amazing amount of things, and  as much as I have patience with the cultural differences I am not used to, they have an amazing amount of patience with me stumbling through the language at times and trying to make changes to their way of living (just trying to help out).   I am also in shock sometimes as to how used to things I have never experienced before in my life.

Above all, one of the most important things that has happened to me is not a thing it's more of people.  I know that I owe a large portion of getting through this experience to the friends that I have made.  Brittany, Aman and BJ are my sanity sometimes.  As much as my family is 100% supportive emotionally and with stuff, my friends here are the ones that "get it", when a peruvian says or does something crazy it's so easy to talk to them and know they will understand, or a meeting or a presentation goes bad, odds are they experienced the same thing in the same week.   Then, when we have the opportunity to get together and be crazy and vent and just have fun it is always more worth it.  And of course having Edgar has changed my experience for the better, I do not know what I do without him as well. 

I think the most important part of finishing up the first year and starting to feel more accomplished.  It has been a year full of trainings and now it is starting to feel like I am completely on my own and making moves to really dive into my own projects.  So it feels good, I am a true volunteer at this point and as difficult as it at times to get things accomplished it is still happening and it makes me really happy.

So here goes year number 2, I can't wait to see what happens, and I look forward to what I will have to write about in these next months!

Almost a year....

Here I am a few days away from marking my year in Peru and still I have those moments where I am in awe of my life here.  It still seems surreal, but incredible.  This past weekend I was with Edgar, he had taken me site seeing a little bit in Peru.  We ended up in this one town where there was a parade and it the music, colors, costumes, smells and everything was amazing.  It was like watching a movie, except I was a part of it.  As we made our way home the sun was setting over the rice fields and I just kept thinking about a year or two ago when I read "Eat, Pray, Love" and was just so envious of an adventure like that.  Here I am living mine, and I have done it for almost a year, and I still have a year left.  Only so much more to look forward too.

After the home invasion a few weeks ago, things have calmed down, but it has been int he back of everyone's heads.  The rumors have also been flying so I am not sure what to believe.  However, September is a busy month with the anniversary of the valley including the schools.  This has got everyone excited and I can definitely feel that something huge it coming.

Me and my host nephew Paul waiting for the contest to begin.

The elementary and preschool queens!

The other day I had the honor of serving as a judge in the "Miss Chipillico" contest.  That was interesting!  There were girls from preschool, elementary and high school in the pageant.  There would be a winner from each part.  I served as a judge alongside the doctor, Miss Las Lomas, and an engineer from Las Lomas as well.  The girls came out in their "sports wear", cutural costumes, and evening attire.  They also had to each answer a question.  I must admit, I was blown away.  These kids acted like they were born to walk the runway.  Even down to the little girls.  They costumes were amazing, and everyone had great answers to their questions.  It was a hard contest to judge.  However, some of the girls made it easy for me to deduct points.  Even though I know skimpy outfits are apart of their culture, I don't agree with little girls looking sexy, so there were minus points on that.  As well as for one girl her came out licking her finger and "dropping it like it's hot", I think she thought it was a music video set.  But I believe the teachers were trying to keep it classy!!!  In the end I was happy with who we choose at winners and very impressed with how much work each girl, as well as the teachers had put into the contest.  However, in true peruvian fashion, they managed to keep an invent that was scheduled to begin at 4:30 going well into the night.  I was asked to present the high school Miss Chipillico, however, at around11pm when the band was playing and everyone was drinking  and no final crowning anywhere in site, I had to quietly sneak out. 

In true fashion of peruvians loving to celebrate everything, we also had a little presentation for the elderly the other day in the health post.  Since I have lots of experience working with this population I took the lead.  It was really fun actually, they were really intersted, more so because 2 of them were going to win a can of ensure at the end of the presentation.  However, this has inspired me to do work with this population, not one of my goals as a volunteer, but I am going to make it a secondary project.  I think it could be really fun, I am thinking about starting a mini exercise class like there used to be when I worked at healthsouth.  I think they would love it!

Full house for the chat.

Home Invasion

In Chipillico news for the week, there was a home invasion
the other day.  Apparently 5 guys came in a car yesterday to a house of a
lady who lives on my street looking for money.  They were watching at
the bank and saw she withdrew a large loan over the weekend, 86,000 soles which is roughly 31,000 dollars.  For a peruvian in my site, this is an incredibly amount of money. .  So they
came to steal it.  They pinned her to the ground and tore her house
apart.  In the meantime neighbors realized what was happening and came
running with rocks.  But the guys had guns and they escaped.  2 in a
car, and 2 with the money took off running for the hills.  The word
had spread quick so by the time the car reached another town on the
way out of the valley, the people had set up a rock barricade and were
throwing rocks at the two remaining robbers.  Once the police got to
them they were covered in blood from everyone throwing rocks at them.
Unfortunately the money was not recovered but they got a few guys out
of the group.  I swear I really wonder where I am sometimes, it´s like
living in a movie.  The entire town has been really freaked out.  My family and I were joking how if someone came to our house we would just hand over the keys and welcome them to anything that we have.  I don't even have anything that valuable so I don't think we will have anyone coming after us.

My 27th Birthday.

I decided to spend my birthday in site, even though I was coming back from a training and there were lots of volunteers in the city who were going out celebrating.  My host family and boyfriend were making a bigger deal out of my birthday then I was.  Edgar had a countdown.  So I felt like since it wasn’t a big deal to me, but it was to them, I would spend my time with them.

The morning of my birthday I got lots of hugs and birthday wishes.  They kept asking me what animal I wanted them to kill for my special birthday lunch.  I asked them to just pretend it was a normal day and I did not want anything special.  But, my host mom had already killed one of her hens that morning for me.  She said it even had eggs in side so it was like a special hen, my breakfast and lunch all in one.  How disgusting right?!?! 

I got tons of text message from Edgar all day, even though he was right down the street.  He looks at each holiday or birthday or whatever we spend together as a really big deal.  So I thought it was sweet and had plans with him later that night. 

I treated the day like normal, went and did my laundry and normal chores.  It was really funny, they wanted to know the exact time I was born.  So when that time came around, I was outside hanging my laundry and my host sister and host mom coming running out and were really disappointed I was doing laundry at the exact time I was born.

Later, I went and talked to my Dad for awhile on the phone. It was around lunch time.  I felt really bad because when I got back to the house, I found out that everyone had been there waiting for me to celebrate my birthday lunch, but I took to long that they all went ahead and ate without me.  So I ate my HUGE cold plate alone.  She made me noodles, with chicken, potatoes with a sauce I love, and this beet, carrot, salad I like too.  So I ate the chicken, potatoes, and beet salad, but they were really upset with me when I didn’t eat all the noodles.  They always do this to me, I always eat the more nutritious stuff on my plate and leave behind the noodles or rice and they tell me I don’t eat enough.  When you have rice with every meal it comes to the point where enough is enough and I reached that point months ago. 

Later that night, I got all prettied up and went to the police station to hang out with Edgar.  I had to lie to my family and say we were going to another party, that we weren’t, in order to get a little more time to hang out with him.  Usually I try and be respectful and come back to the house between 10 and 10:30 because our front door locks from the inside and I feel guilty waking them up to get in the house.  But it was my birthday and the weekend, so they didn’t care about me coming in late.  So I went to see what Edgar had planned.  He was so excited, he had gone and bought us dinner from someone who was cooking on the street.  The chicken when they cook out like that is so good, so I was really excited.  So we had our little dinner just the two of us.  He gave me a gift and a sweet card.  One of the kids of one of my health promoters came by with a gift too, it was a cute jewelry box. 

Overall, it was a very simple and quiet birthday.  But I really enjoyed it.  The only thing that could have made it better would have been a smith island or cheesecake.  But I will just have to wait until my 29th birthday when I am home to get that.