Hectic few days! Had waited til the very end of my trip to go and see Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley with Patty... but not to be because she was very poorly. Poor thing had pharyngitis, which is very complicated when ones asthma is as bad as hers. So she stayed at home in Lima, also enjoying a last few days with her family and pets. And I raced off for a break neck speed tour around Cusco and the surrounding area.

I arrived at the airport in Lima at 4am on Monday morning, for a 5.45am flight. All was fairly stright forward and arrived in Cusco a little before 8am. my couchsurf host met me at the airport and we walked back to his house (just a block away). He runs his own travel agency, so he kindly helped me arrange the logistics of my 3 day trip to Cusco. That morning we ambled aroud town, getting the necessary tickets and paperwrk sorted out and then I spent some time browsing the tourist/artesan markets and looking at some of the architecture in central Cusco.

Then I hopped on board a bus for the first of 3 organised trips with a bilingual guide. Todays was just an afternoon one, taking in Sachsayhuaman, Qenqo, Pukapukara and Tambomachay. The Sachsayhuaman complex just outside Cusco was amazing, built of immense blocks of stone, perfectly fitted together. Cusco was set out in the shape of a puma and Sacsayhuaman was the head of this design- fascinating!

Then we set off on the tourist bus again to visit other Incan ruins in the vicinity: Qenqo ritual site, Pukapukara resting house for Incan messenger runners and Tambomachay Incn baths and fountain of youth. I raced round like a mad thing taing lots of photos, but tiredness soon caught up with me (no sleep the night before), so upon my return I ate very early and headed back to Farnk (my host´s) house. Met a couple of other couchsurfers who were there for the night, split a beer and then hit the sack. Lower bunk bed in a sleeping bag on bear boards, but cant complain too much cos it was free.

Next day the tour didnt start until 9am, so I had a chance to lie in a bit and then Frank showed me where to boardthe tour bus, same bus, guide and mostly the same group as the day before. We drove to Pisac where we spent a little time in the tourist market (my ides of hell on earth) before heading up into the ruins overlooking the town. They were fantastic, surrounded by Incan agricultural terraces and full of imprssive ruins and temples. There was quite a climb to get to and from the bus, but I managed very well, that work at altitude all those months ago finally paid off!

We jumped on the bus again, had lunch in Urubamba (I think), a big tourist style buffet where i stuffed myself full of food just because it was there and regretted for the next 2 days :-/ We then drove on to Ollantaytambo to see the lovely colonical town and the amazing Incan ruins overlooking the town. Again, there was a longish climb involved (mostly steps) but I didnt do too badly here either =)

There were some amazing myths and legends that the guide told us about and some wonderful carvings overloking he valley, aligned with various solstice/equinox events and other astronomical alignments with the temples on the site. I ran around like a crazy hting again and got some good shots in before it was time to leave. he bus tour continued without me and various others who had opted to stay in Ollantaytambo to get he train on to Aguas Calientes, to see machu Picchu the next day.

Frank arrived a little late due to a bus breakdown, so I mooched around in various cafes and internet places. We then met a friend of his for a beer in a great little bar just off the main square. We hada good laugh and then crossed town to get me to the train on time. Frank had arragned for me to be picked up in Aguas Calientes, taken to my hostal, woken in the morning and bus tickets to Machu Picchu entrance. My guide awaited me there.

Everything went smoothly, the hostal was really comfy and had a shower featuring hot water- a REAL luxury for me, altho I suspect this is the norm in Aguas Calientes (from the local thermal waters). Food was really expensive comparedt o the rest of Peru, but the restaurants do have a captive audience. Got up at ridiculous o´clock in the morning, had a basic but good breakfast and found the bus staion just around the corner from my hostal and restaurant. The guide was waiting for me at machu Picchu but he put me in a different group with another guide, so I didnt have to wait around for some other tourists to turn up.

So at 6.30am I was onsite a Machu Picchu, soaking up the ambience and awestruck by the sheer siae and scale of the ruins. Its probably coparable in size to Kuelap, but all the vegetation has been cleared here (not at Kuelap). Had an amzing 3 hour guided tour, followed by several more hours exploring on my own. Decided not to climb any of the smaller peaks which are great view points for the site, rather just explored the byways and ginnels within the site. Then I got the bus back down to Auga Calientes for a rather rushed lunch and the trip back to Ollantaytambo. This was in a nicer train with panoramic windows, so I enjoyed the views on the way back.

Frank had been partying all night with his friend (a guide and hostal owner) in Ollantaytambo, so I arrived and joined them in al ittle corner shop where they had been drinking with a group of friends. I was too tiredto join in and eventualy Frank and I headed back to Cusco by combi and local bus. We arrived back at 6pm, I ate in a chinese restaurant and hit the sack from sheer exhaustion. Then up at 5.45am this morning to get my flight back to Lima. Thats what I call an action packed 3 days!!!

NB. Photos are of me at Sachsayhuaman (next to giant stones), Pisac (sitting with water bottle), then 2 of me at Machu Picchu and one of the classic view of the site. Will put more on my website as and when I can. Those of you with very good eyes will see my new pìercing =)

Made a farewll trip down to Pisco, went with Patty on Sunday just within the day. Picked up all of our stuff that we had left down there (except our roll matts that had grown legs and walked and my sleeping bag stuff bag, the peril of so many volunteers living together, people forget who they have borrowed things from). We also gave our mattress away to a local family... they had also been the first family to receive Hands On rubble clearing help.

We said goodbye to the few remaining volunteers we knew (there are now over 100 volunteers with a very high turnover rate, whilst were numbers 7 and 8 to arrive back in September). We gather they are moving into more of a construction rather than rubble clearing phase, which is good to hear.

There are still many problems in the distribution of aid in Peru... very little seems to have been done by the government, but lots by international agencies such as Red Cross, Unicef, Salvation Army. Still much to be done.

Here is a picture taken from the bus on our way back to Lima, passing through Cañete I think. It shows a typical house, damaged by the earthquake, rubble cleared in the aftermath and now with a wooden structure to house the family but the tent (early days emergency accommodation) still in use as well. They are the lucky ones. The majority of people have not got this far in the recostruction phase.

I will also put in a couple of pictures of an interesting little community in the middle of the desert between Pisco and Lima. Neerr knew why it was there, clinging to existance in the middle of arid nothingness, but this time I took a picture and happened to snap some writing on the wall saying its called Nueva Cañete and its an agricultural and fishing village... Interesting!

Meanwhile Patty and I are making last minute preparations to come to the UK. Her visa came through with no problems (yaaaaaaay!!!!)... due to the myriad of paperwork and evidence that we had hoarded since we got to know each other. Cinema and restauarnt receipts, bus tickets, text messages all helped complete the picture. Now we have our air tickets for 4 December, arriving in Heathrow on 5 December.

We are going to make the trip to Cusco together for a few days next week and we are both being very good clients of our friendly local tattoo/piercing parlour (as these little luxuries are so much more expensive in UK).

So we will look forward to catching up with everyone in the weeks and months following our return, but I am sire there will still be a blog or two left (finally fulfilling my dream of visiting my beloved Cuzco and Macchu Picchu).

Ok, I am a bad bad girl! No blog in 6 weeks =( I will try to make up for that now by an extra special extended edition!

Patty and I moved down to Pisco to help a wonderful organisation called Hands on Diasster Response. I am giong to cheat a little bit and use their oe month report to outline a lot of the projects tht I have been involved in with them.

Project Pisco is just over one month old, yet Hands On Disaster Response has already established a strong presence and accomplished significant progress in our work here. In four short weeks, we’ve ramped up to an amazing variety of projects, powered by the energy and creativity of 130+ volunteers (60 currently on-site) from 21 different countries.

The former restaurant at 636 Jose Balta has been transformed into a bustling home with rebuilt walls, new bunk beds, and 4 hot-water showers! The volunteer response has demanded that we make our first expansion into the upper level, followed by a space 3 doors down, and most recently the property across the street, which includes a house as well as a large lot perfect for tool storage, tenting, and cricket!

Knock it down, scoop it up!
The primary goal of our fieldwork has been to clear a space for the former homeowners. This will allow for placement of an emergency shelter or construction of a transitional home. The work is strenuous and dirty but our volunteers realize the benefit and love it! It’s also a unique opportunity to work side-by-side with the community, hearing their stories, meeting their families, and sharing smiles and laughter. Special thanks to all the volunteers who have stepped up as part of our assessment team, refining our intake process while lining up work for our ravenous rubble crews.

A Day at the Beach

The beachfront community of San Andres was not only damaged by the earthquake but also suffered from a storm surge that devastated the beach and coastal wetlands. HODR volunteers turn out in numbers on a weekly basis to plant palm trees, replace damaged irrigation lines, re-establish a footpath, and clear debris left by the water. Appreciative residents (avian and human) are starting to return and enjoy this beautiful area.

San Andres School (that’s Peru not Philippines)

Many of the schools in the region have been destroyed or damaged by the earthquake. We are currently in the demolition phase of a project at the Abraham Valdelomar School in San Andres. Within a few weeks, we hope to begin construction on preliminary classroom space.

Mt. Clothing (Sorting at Paracas Port)

Working in conjunction with INDECI, the Peruvian national civil defense, our volunteers have been sorting donations stockpiled (actually a mountain of clothes!) at the nearby port in Paracas. It is our goal to install a system of not only organizing the supplies but also helping to facilitate the distribution.

Twister, Anyone?

Our volunteers have also been visiting the local albergue (shelter) and providing “safe space” play activities for children. After we began our own grassroots program at the albergue down the street, we teamed up with UNICEF to help staff their ludotecas at 5 different camps in Pisco. Now volunteers assist the expert staff of the ludotecas as they observe and support the children in their continuing recovery from this event. While it’s a big change of pace from rubble, it’s no simple task – volunteers report being physically tired, emotionally touched, and completely charmed by the children.

UNICEF also has a weekend “2 for 1” program, in which the games and activities involve parents and their children. Our volunteers have been on hand, reaching out to both adults and kids in their healing process.

Back(pack) to School

As the children of Pisco slowly resume classes, many families are scrambling to replace school supplies lost in the disaster. UNICEF mobilized 12,000 backpacks and sets of supplies for different age groups of children, but faced the daunting task of assembling the disparate items into a ready-to-distribute pack. In true Hands On spirit, our volunteers offloaded a semi-truck (lorry) of materials and blasted through 6000 backpacks in four days. A second delivery of 6000 backpacks and supplies will arrive at the end of this week, and we’ll be there to help sort, stuff, and distribute.

HODR Elves

It’s nowhere near Christmas, but the HODR house garden has been transformed into a colourful toy-painting workshop! As part of their variety of programs, UNICEF asked HODR to paint and decorate hundreds of simple wooden block toys. Volunteers demonstrated amazing creativity in the rainbow of trucks, boats, helicopters, and menagerie of animals that have taken over our tables, basking and drying in the sun.

Terre des Hommes

NGO Terre Des Hommes has been doing water/sanitation and food distribution work in the region, and HODR volunteers have been helping. We started the collaboration by assisting the Terre des Hommes technical team break down, transport, and set up a water system at a San Clemente albergue, and also helped to install a latrine at the shelter. Following the success of this project, Terre des Hommes invited us to help them break down and sort food packets for individual families into bulk packages for the ollas communes, or communal kitchens, still feeding large populations in Pisco. The HODR team pounded through tons of food while playing with and entertaining the children at the school where the sorting took place.

Street Teams, Peruvian Style (Pisco Medical Support)

HODR always encourages our volunteers to seek out and develop their own program ideas. A few volunteers with medical backgrounds sought out the devastated San Juan de Dios hospital of Pisco and looked for ways they could help. Our volunteers assisted with checkups at the hospital, and also travelled to local shelters with vaccination and health education teams.

Water of Life (Cañete Irrigation Canal Project)

Last week, a group of 10 HODR volunteers completed a satellite Hands On project in Ramadilla-Con Con, a tiny rural village in the neighbouring province of Cañete. Alongside the local men and women, the team rebuilt a 200m section of irrigation canal. (Read the full report here.) This project is a beautiful collaboration between HODR, Peruvian NGO YCPA, and the municipality of Cañete.

This week, 12 HODR volunteers travelled to Con Con to begin work on the second 300m stretch of canal. Their work is critically important to these families who earn their sole income off of the crops they grow.

Sharing the Love

The victims (our neighbors) have shown an outpouring of love for our hardworking volunteers. It is common for crews of volunteers to not return to our base for lunch, because they are dining on ceviche at the insistence of the family whose home they have been working on! The offers have included not only food but laundry service, accommodations, dinners, and party invitations.

So that is the list of projects that the organisation was involcçved in over the first month. Several new projects have come up since then, mostly involving new modular housing for the residents of Pisco. So volunteers have been helping the Salvation Army, Red Cross, Un Techo Para Mi Pais and another local NGO to put up various different types of houses. Un Techo Para Mi Pais had catagorically told us we were too old and not enough of us poke spanish and that they didnt want us, so it was satisfying to say the least when they came to us to ask for our help and support.

Unicef also has a project to provide temporary classrooms to all the local schools (Cañete, Ica and Pisco) but the design was not great and they were having problems with work crews too. So we first sent various technical experts to advise on a variation to the design, then sent volunteers groups out for a week at a time to do the building.

In the early days I spent a lot of time working on the rubble clearing projects which I found very enjoyable but had to wean myself off that as my health began to suffer. I then did a lot of work on the clothes sorting project with Idesi before their corruption put an end to that. Then there was a lot of work o nthe hospital video, mentioned in my last blog entry. Since then Patty and I have worked on the Terre de homme food sorting project, unicef kids backpacks filling and distribution, toy painting nad various other translation and logistical support roles... Someone has to go to the market and order all of the the plumbing equipment so that the Youth Hostal across the road can be plumbed in and the water delivered to bathe the incoming volunteers.

Patty hs been spending more and more time in Lim in recognition of the fact that we will relatively soon be returning to the UK. So she has been trying to make the most of time with her little brother and sister and family pets, all of whm she will miss terribly when we go. So she has been based more and more up i nLima whilst I have been commuting between Pisco and lima, generally spending weekdays down there and weekends in Lima. However my health has been a continuing worry, so I have also been returning to Lima for frequent Drs appointments. I have had most tests that you can imagine, including an ultrasound and endoscopy but nothing definitive has shown up. I have no stomach parasites and have taken almost every medicine known to mankind... but my weight continues not to budge. So I am stuck at 60kg, desperately trying to be a little more but my body is just not cooperating (by not absorbing nutrients). More tests are scheduled, some of which are quite scary. Fingers crossed.

In the last few weeks there have been some developments on our homecoming date. We had been planning on January but it would appear that Patty is being followed by a gang who have decided to try to snatch her (we assume for ransom). She has twice escaped but has noticed that she is still being followed. The police are useless nd have basically taken no notice of us. So we have changed our timetables as much as possible, carry whistles where ever go, try not to walk alone and have decided to travel to the UK as soon as possible. The first flight we can get is 2 December. So we are going to get Pattys visa sorted out on Monday morning and hope to arrive at Gatwick on 3 December... erm, so we will see you all sooner than we thought!

Have been back up in lima for a few days, not really r&r, as had to get a new visa and have multiple trips to the drs. Weight loss has continued, so they are looking for more tricky parasites that hide away. In the meantime I have been banned from eating fresh fruit, veg and fried foods, fatty foods, spicy foods, dairy, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, cereals... laving me with so little to eat that I have been forced to go back to eating meat and fish so as not to starve. hope they figure this out soon. i hate eating meat and fish, makes me feel sick, after over 20 years of vegetarianism/veganism.
spent the last few weeks getting several projects up and running in pisco... helping produce a video of the needs of the local hospital and sorting through clothes that the Defensa Civil had stored in a warehouse, hoping to get them distributed. the video came together well (see here) but had less success with the clothes. The Defensa Civil were happy to let us sort tonnes of clothes but as soon as we offered to help distribute it they clammed up and told us there was none left and stopped answering our calls. I suspect they are going to sell it all and dont want meddling foreigners getting in the way of their lucrative little deal.
Here is a link to the first video that Hands on Disaster Relief made of our work in Pisco so far.
Work is hard but living conditions are better now (bunk beds with matresses and sheets from the local market rather than roll mats and sleeping bags on the floor. We also have hot showers which are a recent but very welcome addition).
Have some great photos to add but left them in Pisco so will have to upload them in the next few days or weeks.
Patty and I have been looking at the logistics of coming back to the Uk and it looks like we will be headed back at the end of January with 5 cats in tow... headed for the local quarantine centre.
Thats all for now folks,
Sophie

I feel like i should be blogging lots but have no time. I went down to Pisco with Patty to build modular wooden emergency housing for small villages outside Pisco with Un Techo Para Mi Pais. It was an interesting and unique experience and I really enjoyed helping. It was also very humbling to see people who have faced so much adversity welcome us into their lives. Returned to Lima for a few days and am now back in Pisco helping oput another organisation, am planning to be here for two weeks on and then a few days off in Lima, followed by two weeks on, and repeat until December or january.We are clearing rubble from houses that were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. Adobe bricks and sugar cane/musd walls are easier to clear than concrete/sea shell mixes. Work is all by hand with tools (pick axe, shovel, crow bar, wheelbarrow) no machinery. We shift tons of debris out of the house onto the side of the road for the authorities to pick up later. When peoples homes a free of debris, they are then entitled to some emergency accommodation from the govertnment. The weather during the day is very hot. We are in the desert. Its cold at night. There is lots of dust. I have several small annoying injuries. its impossible to keep clean. 25 of us are living in what used to be a restaurant. We sleep on the floor. I bought a matress for five pounds today and am looking forward to sleeping on it. There are no showers. We heat water in a bucket and take bucket showers inthe bathroom after work. We sleep on the floor. Two women cook lunch and dinner for us. The people are amazingly warm and generous and pleased as punch to have our help. The are some tremendously sad stories. Planning more projects iincluding helping mend fishing boats (60 percent of fleet destroyed in tidal surge after earthquake), mending irrigation canals in the countryside, rebuilding a school, sorting through tonnes of donated clothes, providing water to refugee camps, providing games and activities for children in the local refugee camp, cleaning the local beach. I have spent 3 hours this evening at the local military base translating for our group leaders and the general in charge of the local defensa civil activities. I am very tired. Patty went back to Lima briefly a few days ago, she will back back tomorrow or Monday. I will write more and post some pictures when I have time.

As I said: TENTS!!!!!!!!! But its very hard to know what to do cos so much of the aid here is not getting though. "French agency Medecins San Frontieres said it was as if the earthquake had struck just a day before." (30/08/07, 2 weeks after the quake).

International organisations are getting some aid through, but many vehicles with aid collected from all over Peru turn back at the military checkpoints around Pisco and Ica, as the military wont let the drivers through (they have to give up their vans into the militarys hands, to be driven "safely" into the affected areas. The drivers have to wait for the military to return their vehicles to them at a later date/time). Many dont trust that this will happen.

So they pretend to have offloaded the stuff but really return to Lima with a full load of aid (food, clothes, tents, donations from churches and hospitals and supermarkets and the public) and off load the stuff for personal profit (to their own houses, and those of family and friends).

The president is saying reconstruction of houses for those affected will take 5-6 months. So I am now a lot happier about going to help out building for Un Techo Para Mi Pais (A Roof for my country). Not ideal but better to help a few people than none at all.

Interational organisations need to send tents and basic supplies now! And the government needs to investigate and stop the corruption in Peruvian aid deliveries too. Its farsical. And its not just robbery, its mass murder.

I ranted, then I got more info, then i reflected for a while on the situation. Patty got back form Pisco yesterday, having spent what she felt were a very productive few days bulding houses. Her sub-group finished two in that time, i gather about 100 in all were completed.
Aid is still desperately needed in the worst affected areas, but is very slow to get through. There is grand scale misappropriation and the military are not letting aid (either organisations or relatives) through to some of the most affected areas, citing lawlessness and danger. Might it be that people are straving?...
Anyway, in these circumstances, the only way to help is to go and do something with ones own hands. So, in that light, I am hoping to accompany Patty today on a return trip to Pisco with the same organisation. They still officially dont want me because i fall outside their age group of 20-25 year old volunteers. But due to a shortage of volunteers last time they took whoever was available, so I hoping that if I turn up with Patty and all the necessities that they will let me go along with them.
If not, I am going to travel for a few days, possible Cuzco and Macchu Picchu.

Poor Patty is working 12 hour days without enough food and water, held prisoner in the south of the country by this petty minded student organisation that wont let the volunteers return home until the requisite number of houses have been built, even if food and water run out, even if volunteers will loose their jobs if they dont return when expected.

Meanwhile, people affected by the disaster are still dieing from exposure. The phrase "fiddling while Rome burns" springs to mind. It only takes an hour to train volunteers to build the houses, so why not train locals to build their own houses and take a smaller group of experienced volunteers to oversee this process? Because the students want to feel like they are helping. How egocentric can one organisation possible be?!

Furthermore, each house costs more than GBP325.00 and is for one family. Tents cost GBP15.00 for one family. They want to build 100 houses this week. Thats GBP32,500.00 which would buy 2166 families a tent. Priorities must be looked at here.

Meanwhile, "Un Techo Para Mi Pais" can go whistle and I am going to dontate money to Red Cross/Red Crescent for emergency aid and tents. Cos people matter, not students consciences.