Transportation

Blog 2

This week has been a crazy one. Monday I taught in the Primary School, where we had a parade celebrating the gift of a couple new computers and some desks and chairs. The students marched in classes, the style being the goosestep we last saw in Hitler’s Germany and still used by many South American countries. There is little consciousness concerning World War II, South America being just about the only area largely unaffected by the war, particularly its Pacific coast. So, this is most likely a vestige of the time when German military advisers were the primary resource of military knowledge in the continent, although Argentina was the country with the strongest ties, even being the center of a conspiracy theory involving an escaped, living Hitler. Also, an interesting note on the high school- the students are made to pay for the paper their tests are printed on, which strikes me as a similar practice to making the executed’s family pay for the bullet. When I told my class not to worry about it they insisted, which I guess puts money back in my pocket…
Anyway, after Primary, I was to do the first installment of my radio show and computer class, but I got a series of no-shows for those. I did have success Wednesday with my teachers’ English class as well as teaching at the high school and pre-school Wednesday-Thursday. I also started up a basketball club to give me a sport I have a chance of competing in (instead of soccer). In my free time I put the finishing touches on my first book of poetry, as requested by a few fellow volunteers, and wandered over to the health post to see what I could help out with. Thus ended a pretty busy week. If you want a Word copy of the book, shoot me an email, which if you don’t have it is: henryjfromage@hotmail.com.
Topically, I thought I’d tackle transportation this time. The primary form of transportation is on foot because all of the others are so infrequent. I walk most places, which usually isn’t too bad, although it is an hour-plus hike to the next town which gets long. Also, walking to the chacras, or fields, can take up to two hours. Another option is by horse, which I haven’t taken advantage of yet.
Speaking of engine-run transportation, the primary is the combi, which is a slightly larger passenger van that goes back and forth to the nearest big city, Chivay, three times a day and is packed beyond belief, and then goes and picks up more people in each successive town. For anyone significantly over five foot, it is pretty rough, but when you have no other options… Also you have the big Greyhound-type bus that leaves for the capital city of Arequipa every morning at 3 a.m. This is fairly comfortable, although to take it at night back to Madrigal might mean you’re standing for a significant portion of the trip. There are taxis as well, but the cost is prohibitive to return from Chivay. Also, the municipality has a huge, construction-type truck, called a bolquete, that they use to ferry materials and people around the town’s jurisdiction and occasionally elsewhere. If you can catch it when it’s leaving there’s generally space in the cab or up top. Lastly, in Chivay are the mototaxis, like we had in Lima, that are basically low-powered motorcycles with passenger cabs attached to the back. There isn’t a whole lot of point taking them as Chivay is pretty walkable. That’s more or less the slate of transportation available, little of it comfortable but with the distances in question, all of it essential.

Lastly, here’s another batch of long-promised photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/zijerem/Peru3#