Christmas In Arequipa

One of the hardest things about doing voluntary work overseas for a prolonged period of time is that you inevitably miss a fair amount of events like birthdays, weddings and Christmas’s. This wasn’t my first Christmas away from home but it was the first year when I spent the whole period in a warm country. It’s a very strange feeling to know that back home the nights are drawing in, everyone is getting ready for Christmas and snow, yes snow, is actually falling *before* Christmas.

While everyone in the UK was enjoying (or enduring) the heaviest downfall in the last twenty years I was forced to console myself sipping cold beer on an outside roof terrace in a short sleeved t-shirt applying sun cream every few hours. Ah the things I suffer!

Christmas lights were hung around the city and on many of the houses although in the house where I was staying there were no signs of Christmas. I wasn’t sure if the family celebrated Christmas or didn’t have enough disposable income to take it too seriously. Nevertheless it left me with a bit of a conundrum as to whether I should buy presents or not.

If I didn’t buy them anything but they bought me something it could be embarrassing, however it could be equally uncomfortable if I bought them something when they had not got anything for me. I was not expecting anything, and given their income it was unlikely but I felt I should at least get them something just incase.

In the end I opted to get gifts that the whole family (including myself) could share. I bought some Christmas cookies, a bottle of wine, and a type of cake called ´Panaton´ that is very popular at Christmas in Peru. I wrapped all these up and placed them on the kitchen take late on Christmas Eve.

In the morning I was glad to see I’d made the right choice. The family hadn’t gotten me anything (and I would not have expected them too) but the gifts I had chosen hit the right level. Also the fact that I was able to share them too was a plus!

Bus's

Taking a bus in Peru is sometimes feel like being on an aeroplane moments before parachuting into enemy territory. Most of the busses are cramped, with seats squeesed in to maximize capacity. The lack of space is even more noticeable on the small microbuses where the seats seem to have been borrowed from nursery class rooms and bolted to the floor. Even on the crowded city roads the drivers do their best to get as close to Mach 3 as possible.

What makes it most like a parachute jump however is the exit. Buses never stop for longer than they need to so when you are approaching your designated drop zone you must cautiously exit your seat and try to make your way to the exit while the turbulence of the road buffets and bounces you off co-passengers as the vehicle navigates pot holes, speed bumps and small children.

Once you have signalled to the conductor he tells the driver to stop and the bus invariably breaks as near sound shattering speed as you grip onto the metal support bars in order to prevent yourself being thrown through the front wind screen. Even before the bus has come to a complete stop the conductor is already shouting "Baja! Baja! Baja!" (Down! Down! Down!) and so you leap off at the first possible opportunity, relived to feel solid ground beneath your feet.

Pachacutec, Arequipa

The journey from Lima took fifteen hours. After half watching the Italian Job in Spanish my body finally relented and allowed my consciousness to sink into a sleep for a solid five or six hours. My seat on the bus which had initially seemed relatively comfortable slowly began to rebel and conspired against me to allow no further rest past five in the morning.

By now a milky dawn was beginning to descend and allowed me to look out at the window and take stock of surrounding landscape. I had anticipated a view of mountains, but the visa that appeared out of the window was an eerie landscape, flat and desolate covered in moonlike sand and dust. It was only when I caught sight of something grey rising and shimmering on the horizon that I realised that this was no mountain plateau but that I was actually still at sea level.

The road had followed the coast as far as I could tell and passed compound like settlements that seemed to have been built on the sand. Presently the road began to rise and soon enough the pressure in my ears informed me that we were now raising in altitude.

At around nine in the morning, some fifty or so hours after setting off the bus pulled into Arequipa where I was more than relieved to find myself finally meeting Jose, the director of the organisation I was to be working with.

It would have been nice if this had marked the end of my exertions for the time being however it seemed Jose had different plans. After taking me to one of his homes and introducing me to his son, daughter and ex-wife I had barely time to take my bags to the room before Jose was taking me off in his car to show me the office.

I had visited Arequipa once before, some ten years ago, and at that time had not realised quite how large the city was. It took us about thirty minutes to drive across part of the city to where CIESCU’s main office was. Here also was Jose’s second house and family who I was able to meet. I had some lunch here and then Jose took me off again to show me some projects.

My this point I wasn’t particularly together and although I tried my best to focus on what was being said I wasn’t sure how much I followed. As the afternoon drew on we finally left the project we were visiting and went back to the office. I managed to get a brief nap here and at six had some food with Jose’s second family.

It was now getting dark and I was informed that Jose was too tired to drive me back to the place where I’d left my gear and toiletries and I was offered the spare bed adjoining the office for the night. With no other choice apparent I accented and after using the internet for a little while in a vain attempt not to go to bed too early I finally retired at about 8pm local time, closer to 1am according to my body clock. Sixty –five hours or so after I had last been able to get some proper sleep.