Strike Day Adventure

Today started out like any other day in Puno so far. I stayed in my warm bed for as long as possible (until about 7:30), then forced myself to brave the shower for the 1st time in 3 days. Just to describe the experience, there is a small hot water heater about the size of a 2L coke bottle that you switch on. The hot water comes out scorching and immediately begins its 10-second descent to ice cold. The trick is to get wet, turn off the water to re-heat, soap up, turn the water back on, race for 10 more seconds to rinse off, and repeat the process a few more times until satisfactorily clean. It certainly is a great way to conserve water, but it is simply no fun at all, especially since the apartment is freezing to begin with.

Our big adventure for the day started after lunch when we accompanied Victor on a visit to one of his education projects outside Puno. Because Puno is in the middle of a 3-day transportation strike, this simple trip was more complicated than it would at first seem. We had to get an All Ways employee to drive (nicknamed "Very Good" after his favorite expression, haha) and take backroads out of Puno. We only passed a few private cars along the way, and although it wasn't dangerous, kids had lined rocks across the road in places, and there was evidence of broken bottles, and many examples of grafitti, both for and against the strike (el paro or la huelga). We finally had to stop at a fork in the road by a group of stationed police officers because the road was blocked by ahead. After much debate, our driver dropped us off on the side of the road in the middle of completely flat farmland. We would walk from there!

There were 2 World Challenge volunteers from Britain with us, and Madeline and I shouldered two of their heavy bags each. We set out across the dry fields, and with the direction of a local woman ,we came to a small creek crossing. At this point, the fun really began. See, to cross the stream (or shallow body of water completely overgrown by algae) there was a raft made of sticks and old soda bottles, a fading rope attached to clumps of grass on the banks, and 3 little children, the oldest of which was no more than 7. This boy would pull himself and the raft across via the rope, and it took at least 6 trips to shepherd all 5 of us and our bags across on the rickety raft. Victor directed the entire operation, of course.

We paid the boy and the woman and continued to search for the elusive green school house, arrivng 30 minutes later with the help of two boys on their bikes. And we were greeted with one of the most enthusiastic welcomes I have ever experienced! We were almost knocked over by waving, hugs, kisses, and friendly handshakes from the students.

The 2 British women were reunited with their group - about 20 high schoolers and 2 teachers who were on a sightseeing/volunteerism tour of Peru. The school has been here for 3 years, and Victor has sent various volunteer groups to help it out. It still has some unfinished rooms, and this current British group was doing painting. The school has a very interesting schedule - the kids come from remote areas, live at the school for a few weeks at a time, and then stay at home for a few weeks. They have class for much of the day and are also responsible for various chores. There was also a large set of bikes leaning up against their dormitory - maybe they use these to travel between school and home. There were 3 teachers and 1 principal, although I received the impression that they weren't the most dedicated of employees.

We spent over an hour touring the school, talking to the volunteers, and working out issues they and the school employees were having. Sounds like a pretty exciting day, right? Well, the adventure was not over there! We still had to get back to Puno, and our chosen method of transport ended up including a 6km bike ride to catch the All Ways car. Victor rode on a motorcycle with one of the school employees, but Madeline and I followed two boys via bike. The bike I rode was rickety, too short, and had no gears or brakes! Luckily, although our path was very rocky and we had to wait for some cattle to pass at one point, it was very flat the whole way. We eventually arrived in a small town and caught our ride back to Puno. I had been doubtful at points that our incredible adventure would end so smoothly!

The last bit of excitement for the day was finding a vegetarian restaurant in Puno! It was a great change of pace, but I wouldn't recommend ordering tofu in Peru, at least if you prefer your tofu to be cooked!