A taste of home.

The three "J's" - Jerram, J and John.

Over the past week Jerram, Fr. Mick’s nephew, J and John have been staying at our place in Montenegro while visiting Lima as part of their world travels. It was rather fun to once again have three young people, all in their twenties, living with us; it tended to bring back lots of memories, especially the very different hours they keep from us oldies!
Marion decided that Sunday would not be Sunday if we didn’t sit down to a lamb roast. So it was off to the local market early Saturday morning to get the leg of lamb before anyone else could get their hands on it, literally!
After watching the Spain versus Germany European Championship Cup match on Sunday afternoon we all sat down to roast lamb, gravy and vegies. The vegies only consisted of roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, beans, carrots, cauliflower and white sauce and the mandatory tomato, onion and breadcrumb pie! For anyone who knows Maz’s lamb roasts I can assure you this one was as good as it gets, all we missed was Kate P’s apple crumble!
As a sideline Mick put his TV in our house so that the visitors could watch a few programs and thanks to that I was able to watch two recent Hawthorn matches, a win against Bombers and a loss to the Bulldogs.
Lamb roasts and the Hawks, almost too much!

At the table and from the left - J, Fr. Mick, self, John and Jerram.

Our trip to Ayacucho.

In the early hours of Friday 20th June we headed into Lima to catch the 8.00 a.m. Molina bus to Ayacucho. The Molina buses are really comfortable and seem to cruise along at a fair rate, either climbing or descending. They have fifty four seats upstairs and ten below. The area below is basically business class with fully reclining seats and heaps of room. Very comfortable and hostess service consisting of a snack pack and hot maté, a herbal drink to assist with altitude problems. The only draw back is the standard of the videos they show during the trip. The locals seem to love heaps of graphic violence. Our two gems on the way back to Lima were ‘Rambo’ and ‘Mega Snake’ twice! Going to Ayacucho the videos were just as bad.
The first two hundred and thirty kilometres are down the Pan American Sur and right beside the Pacific Ocean. You turn directly inland at San Clemente and for about one and a half hours you drive along the bottom of this very steep sided valley. Then for the next five hours the road hangs off the side of the valleys as you climb to virtually five thousand metres above sea level and then descend into Ayacucho which is three thousand metres above sea level. You certainly notice the altitude as you climb over the top. The views are spectacular if you care to look! It had snowed in the time between we drove in and out of Ayacucho and that certainly added to the scenery.

Ayacucho is a really beautiful city, full of history and churches, although the latter are very difficult to visit. They all seemed to be constantly locked once Mass is over!

Ayacucho was virtually the birth place of the Shining Path. It was founded by Abimael Guzman who was a university lecturer in Ayacucho at that time. It was a Maoist guerrilla organisation operating in Peru in the 1980’s. The department of Ayacucho is one of the regions most affected by the internal armed conflict between the Shining Path and the Peruvian Armed Forces. During the two decades of the conflict, 1980 – 2000, about seventy thousand people were killed and many thousands disappeared or were displaced. We visited the Museum of Memory established by the relatives of those killed and I would suggest that the atrocities carried out during those years were comparable, if not worse, than those in Germany during World War II. And remember only twenty years ago. You may remember that earlier in the blog I wrote about the calendar we have on our wall, a calendar for truth, justice and reparation and organised by the families of those affected.

The city is famous for its weaving and you are most welcome to visit their shops and watch them at work. I have never seen truly three dimensional weaving and some of the work reminded me of those pictures where you squint or half close your eyes to see the hidden scenes. Amazing work, and quite expensive to purchase.
Our hotel was just half a block from the main plaza and was very comfortable, however, I must remember that the drink, pisco sour, although most delicious, is not at all helpful when trying to cope with the altitude! The hotel website is - http://www.hotel-santarosa.com/

Having discovered on the internet that in Ayacucho the restaurant La Casona is famous for its Puca Picante, a meal consisting of small potatoes, pork pieces, cooked in peanut and beetroot salsa and served with the mandatory pile of rice! I was determined to sample it – and was not disappointed. There is also another very good eating place, Las Flores, where you can eat trucha (trout), chicharrón (pork) or cuy (guinea pig). Just my luck the trout was not on the menu – then it had to be pork – I left the cuy to Marion! She assured all that it was the best she has ever had, and she has eaten it a number of times before. A very picky meal, lots of small bones and not too much meat! My problem - I can still see them running around in the pen below the kitchen prior to execution!
We spent a full day with Sr. Anne Carbon and an Irish Lay Missionary, Angela Keane, at the rehabilitation centre for psychiatric patients as well as physically and mentally handicapped children. Anne has established this facility in order to cater for a large number of patients and she and her staff do wonderful work. It is totally funded by overseas benefactors; the local authorities give nothing towards its operation. We have promised that later in the year we want to return to visit them once again.

A most enjoyable few days made better by bright, sunny weather – nothing like what we drove into when you hit the coastal plain, cold, misty drizzle. In fact they had quite heavy rain in Montenegro while we were away, something the locals are not used to. One big positive, it keeps the dust down!

The pueblo of Vinchos.

On the Saturday morning we took the morning collectivo from one of the many local ‘bus depots’ to Vinchos, about one and a half hours from Ayacucho depending on the number of pick-ups and drop offs. The Columban Sisters have a house in the main square of this little pueblo which is situated in a rather idyllic river valley. Their house is on the left of the three green arches.

We stayed that night with Sr. Anne Carbon in their house. We were upstairs on the left.

On the Saturday afternoon Vinchos played a team from Ayacucho on the Vinchos ‘home ground’ but only after the cattle and pigs were moved on. What they left behind did not seem to worry the players too much. The crowd ambled down to witness the game and the score line of one all at the end seemed to please both sides.

We spent the next few hours wandering the small streets and laneways talking to the locals. It was something special – added to the ever growing list of ‘something special’.

The night was freezing and four heavy alpaca blankets combined with socks did the trick.However, it was still up at six to the sound of the ancient church bell for a very early lay led liturgy and Communion.

They see a priest in Vinchos only two or three times a year.

On both the way out and back we noticed the very innovative way they thresh their wheat. Spread it neatly on the road and let the traffic do the rest. At the end of the day they gather up the stalks and then sweep up the grain in between the passing cars, buses and trucks.

We said our goodbyes and left with great memories of Vinchos and the work of the Columban Sisters.

The opening of the Valle Sagrado sala.

Thanks to the kind invitation from the two Sisters, Jacinta and Marie, yesterday Marion and I attended the Parish Mass in the capilla at Valle Sagrado and the opening of the new sala, or classroom. Father Kevin McDonagh blessed the new room.





Marion was offered the honour of cutting the red ribbon, she has now officially become the Madrina of the Sala – the Godmother of the Classroom
The new Madrina even arrived with scones, jam and cream for the locals to share at the gathering afterwards.

The children of the Valle Sagrado sala

These are just some of the children who will now be attending the brand new sala in Valle Sagrado. This is similar to our Australian pre-school year. The two Sisters, Jacinta and Marie, have set up a wonderful facility incorporating a wide range of educational activities.

Homeless and lonely.

Another reality shock to simply add to the long list we have already experienced. Right opposite our front door there is a vacant block of land which seems to have the ability to gather all forms of rubbish. Sometimes people fossick through the mess in order to find something which may bring them a little money – plastic bottles, cardboard, glass, drink cans and any other forms of metal.
The other day we realised to our horror that an old man lives on this block and has made his bed behind the pile of stones in the back corner as shown in the photo. He has no access to either clean water or a toilet; he has very little privacy if any at all. He shuffles off each day to get something to eat or drink and then returns at night. You also have to realise that it has become very cold at night and over the last few days intermittent drizzle has been falling. So the whole area is now quite damp.
So you may ask what do you do? Do you offer food, money, clothing or blankets? One thing is certain when it is right on your front doorstep it is impossible to do nothing.

Roofing Peruvian style.

First thing yesterday a huge old truck laboured up our road and off loaded a massive cement mixer, crane and buckets, wooden beams to hold the crane in place, water tanks, wheel barrows and other odds and ends. The pouring of the concrete roof on the house next door was about to begin, however, not before Marion supplied coffee and biscuits and there was a photo shot or two.




This was another amazing performance as they poured the concrete roof. Electrical power was taken from houses either side, one source for the crane and the other for the mixer. They simply poke two bared wires into the various meter boxes and plug the connection with matches in order to hold them in place! There is absolutely no sign of any O.H.&S. practices apart from the one blue safety hat. The man who wore that had the job of standing below the crane and catching the cement buckets as they were lowered to fill. By the way you may notice how close the buckets were to the power lines as they went up and down. The cement mixer had to be attacked every now and then with a sledge hammer when it over heated and jammed! A local water truck was commandered because the local pressure was too low to keep up the supply. Take a good look at the scaffold, all gum tree trunks. There was much yelling and spraying of wet cement in all directions, even all over our front porch area. Nobody seemed to worry too much, they just had a job to do.

The local tradition is to hang a cross, some flowers and a bottle of champagne or wine from the roof. This is to bring a blessing on their work and also to ensure the safety of their roof! The final act is to pelt the bottle with stones until someone is lucky enough to break the bottle with a direct hit. Sadly Marion failed to score a hit strong enough to break the bottle although she did have many attempts.

When it was all over the owners supplied the 'afters' - chicken, chips and beer. This was enjoyed by all even though the rain had begun to fall. Nothing dampens the spirits after a hard days work. We had to leave early because of our English class, however, they were still there, in the rain, when we came home at 9.30!

The knife sharpener.

For a couple of weeks we have noticed a knife sharpener working in our small mercardo in and around the meat and chicken stalls and every time we see him we remind ourselves that we should get our old knives brought back to life. His name is Alejandro and his sharpener is made up of an old steel wheel, bicycle bits and driven by pedal power. I can assure you that the black lead you can see is not used to plug into a nearby power point!
This morning Marion approached him and told him that she will bring our knives down for him to work on. Lo and behold he followed Marion up the hill for a 'home visit'! For S/-4 he sharpened the four knives to an extremely dangerous edge.
I asked him if I could take a photo and he obliged as long as he could get a copy of the shot! Thank heavens for instant downloading and a coloured printer. You should have seen his face when we presented him with the print. I nearly charged him S/-4 for the copy, that may have removed the smile!

Waltzing Matilda

All of a sudden 'Waltzing Matilda' has become the theme song of the class. They love singing the chorus and even burst into applause when they have finished singing. Maybe we may have to teach more Aussie songs although some of the lyrics are rather difficult to explain, hence the picture to help with the translation.

Our second round of English classes.

We have begun our next round of English lessons and have just completed the second week. After the three information and registration sessions we had thirty-six on our books! Since then we have gathered another eight names, they just keep coming along. After last night we won two more, both friends of girls who are already attending. One piece of good fortune is that all of the original names have not appeared, not sure if it is the parish fee of S/-10.00 or is it because they were overcome with the initial presentation of how we go about the classes? Lots and lots of involvement on their part.
For the first week we averaged twenty-seven students. We have very few adults, the class mainly consists of young girls from the secondary schools. We have even moved to a bigger room in order to cater for the numbers.
Our ten stalwarts from the first round of lessons are faithfully coming to our house every Monday evening for guided conversation, coffee and sometimes a light meal. Marion and I strongly believe that the latter is the greatest attraction of the three! We have learnt not to mention the week before that we may have a meal but rather surprise them. You must remember that most of the group have been working all day and have not yet eaten an evening meal. They are on their buses for work by 6.00-6.30 a.m. and come straight to our place on the way home. The more relaxed atmosphere has really boosted their confidence and they are becoming more and more prepared to speak up. Pilar announced that at first she ‘feared to speak English’ however she now has very few concerns in ‘having a go’.