Trip to the Countryside

On Saturday, Paulina invited me to go to Zurite with her the following day. I think her exact words were, "tomorrow I'm going to Zurite and you should come. There's a really nice archeological Incan site nearby that we can go to. Otherwise, you'll be all alone here at the clinic." (Zurite is an Andean province about 2hrs outside of Cuzco where the Belen Parish which runs the clinic is also supporting some sort of collective farm. What the Parish wants to support a collective farm, I haven't quite figured out yet. I can't tell who it's going to benefit. It is being run by Ines and Eduardo, a Dutch-Peruvian couple around 65-70 yrs old.) I had been wanting to see a religious parade in town on Sunday, but I also like getting out of Cuzco and have heard that Zurite is quite beautiful, so I figured I might as well go.

Sunday morning Ines and Eduardo came knocking on my door at 6:45AM saying they were ready to leave. I was actually awake and about to leave for a run (you can only run here prior to 7am, after that the pollution and traffic are too prohibitive.) I had no idea we were leaving so early. I scrapped the run, changed clothes, and went to eat breakfast. Only to find that my cereal box wasn't on the shelf in the kitchen where I'd left it. I looked around, only to discover it, empty, sitting next to the trash can. Rita (our cook/odds and ends helper at the clinic) rushed in to assure me that she had nothing to do with its disappearance, and that she was afraid I would blame her. I was pretty pissed. I ate my other cereal, and then took the box to my room for protection. Then I got into Ines and Eduardo's European 1980 Land Rover for the trip. Fortunately I had brought a good book, because we then proceeded to drive around Cuzco for the next 1.5 hrs waiting for various "volunteers." At this point, Ines starts telling me about all the work that they have to do in Zurite: weeding the fields (there is no task I hate more than weeding), sewing curtains, sweeping floors, washing windows and walls of the dormitories, picking up trash from the courtyard...the list goes on. I start trying to think of an excuse to get out of the car and stay in Cuzco, but it seems too late now.

We finally hit the road, where the journey is made even more exciting by the fact that the back seat is the least comfortable seat I have ever sat in, with zero leg-room and a super-straight backed seat. Oh, and the presence of four 14-year-old volunteers from the church in the back, playing Britney Spears on their cell phone. Actually, they only have 1 Britney Spears song (Hit me Baby One More Time), which they keep replaying every other song. Other than this, the views out the window of the mountains were actually really beautiful.

Once in Zurite, I at least got to pick my only place to volunteer. I decided on the fly-infested kitchen, since I figured it would at least be fun to learn to make some Peruvian food. The Peruvian woman I helped in the kitchen was really nice, and we chatted and worked on making lunch for everyone. She has an adorable 4 1/2 year-old daughter who she wants me to teach English to, which I think I'll do if the schedule works out. After lunch it started pouring rain, so I sat in the kitchen hanging out with Eduardo, who is quite talkative. Our talk was punctuated by Ines coming to yell at us and remind us that we were supposed to be there to work as volunteers and that the gas was expensive and so on and so on, which just made Eduardo laugh and keep telling his stories about working in the Peruvian jungle with anthropologists studying a jungle tribe, and his son's quest to become a Shaman, which mostly involved him drinking some hallucinogenic jungle plant. Finally, at 6pm, after being made to walk down the hill in the mud to save Ines' tires, I was gracefully returned to Cuzco.

Since it was late, Eduardo and Ines stayed the night here again. I saw Eduardo this morning leaving the front door of the clinic, and told him I was going out for my delayed run. When I returned, Eduardo had closed the bolts on the inside of the front door. Now why on earth would you close the bolts to the door when you know that I'm outside and returning soon?? And why would you close them at 7am anyway? I think the thieves are packed up for the night. After I got back inside and showered, I went to eat breakfast. Where I found my entire carton of milk gone. Those MFs. In thanks for my volunteerism, I got my cereal and my milk stolen. Unbelievable.