On My Own and Todos Santos

Hola todos! Whew...this past week and a half were quite eventful! Last week started off with the Lindsay getting a nasty cold that kept her in bed and out of work for about 3 days which means that I was on my own! Luckily we had made a script for our classes that week so I could use that to help me teach (aka pretty much read it word for word but by the end of the week I could improvise a little). The kids were all very sweet and patient about my lack of Spanish skills. We ended up playing a lot of chase games because it was a pretty short lesson...we also did a lot of map coloring! Que divertido!

Besides teaching on my own I also had to do the shopping which means that I had to brave the market by myself! The names of fruits and vegetables are vocabulary words that I quickly learned so the market wasn't really as scary as I thought it would be. I also perfected my "I'm skeptical about that price and think you're trying to rip me off because I'm a gringa" face. Although it may have only saved my a sol or two it gave me some much needed confidence to conquer Ayacucho alone. I even had the guts to hang out with a few of our friends without Lindsay there! Crazy! I'm being all kinds of social here that I rarely even do in the states. Needless to say my Spanish skills almost doubled last week! I wish I could say that made everything easier but, of course, the more I learn the more I realize I don't know. Ahh the joys of learning another language!

Another sweet sunset as viewed from our roof!

The end of the week settled down a little aka Lindsay got better and we were once again joined at the hip. This past weekend was Halloween and Día de los Muertos so we got Monday and Tuesday off. We imagined that we would have lots of stories to tell about all of the activities but in reality we both took it pretty easy (I ended up with a case of traveler's guts at the end of the week and had to take antibiotics).

On Sunday we met up with another gringa we met here and two girls she's doing a language exchange with. The girls ended up being really nice and Lindsay finagled an invitation to the cemetery the next day. Although we knew Monday wasn't Día de los Muertos, we weren't sure we wanted to brave the crowds on the actual holiday.

The cemetery

We met our new friend, Roxana, (that's right we have friends here) at the cemetery. Part of the road leading to the front gates was closed for all of the flower stands that had set up for the holiday. Inside the gates were huge structures full of what they call "nichos" which are the slots for the bodies. The front of the slots is painted, carved and/or inscribed like headstones in the US. There were quite a few people cleaning the nichos and putting fresh flowers in them.

A "nicho"

Waiting with flowers

The inside of the cemetery

Roxana also showed us the "crematorium" where they would burn bodies if their relatives didn't pay the "rent" on the nicho (they don't do this anymore but people still put flowers outside the building if their relative was burnt there). Even though we missed the main festivities, it was really interesting to see the cemetery. There was also a large festival/carnival nearby but we failed to find it. Oh well, maybe next year...

This family was offering a song to their loved one

The flower stands outside the cemetery

After the cemetery, Roxana invited us to her family's house for lunch. Always curious about the daily lives of Ayacuchanos we eagerly accepted. Her house is about a 20 minute bus ride away from our apartment so it was nice to see another part of the city. She lives right on the edge of a gorgeous valley called Watatas. Roxana showed us her beautiful garden complete with a fig and an avocado tree! We also walked around the valley little while we waited for lunch.

The valley!

Our new friend!!!

Here's another one just for fun!

Lunch as the traditional soup Mondongo. It is made with cow's stomach and choclo (corn with REALLY big kernels and a drier texture) and topped with yierba bueana (if it's not spearmint then it's a very close relative) Since my stomach still wasn't top notch I didn't eat much of the stomach but the broth and choclo were both really good. We ate lunch outside by the garden with Roxana's parents, her brothers and sisters and her cousins. It was a wonderful family meal and I can't wait to go back!

Turns out Roxana has an amazing garden behind her house complete with a few avocado and fruit trees! It was magical.

We thought we would make it out some on Tuesday but we had too many household chores to take care of. Our day began with washing our laundry on the roof (note to self: the sun is REALLY intense between 11am and 1pm here), checking the internet (barely worked), trying to call Aunt Jan (apparently international calling here is as spotty as the speed of the internet) and working on some stuff for FINCA. Basically a typical day for the end of a four day weekend.

We finally got some training on the program we're teaching, Aflatoun. Turns out we really like Aflatoun's philosophy! The only downside is that the training confirmed our suspicions that the script/material we were working with doesn't follow the Aflatoun model. However, we are re-inspired to work on the material the last 5 weeks of Aflatoun.

That just about sums up our last week or so. Our life is always full of fun chores that end up being more complicated/time consuming then they should be because we're in a foreign country! It's exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. We don't have much planned in the coming weeks but hanging out with new friends and continuing the trials and tribulations of daily life in Ayacucho!

Besos y abrazos de Ayacucho!