Peruvian Pursuits: Orientation Part Two

EL OJO QUE LLORA

We visited a memorial called El Ojo Que Llora, The Eye That Cries, to learn about the years of terrorism here in Peru. It is a labyrinth of rocks with the names of people who died at the hand of a terrorist (mostly who belonged to the Shining Path or the Revolutionary Movement of Tupac Amaru). It was a powerful tribute to the thousands of people that died and a shock to me to be reminded of how recent this all is. The last date I noticed was in 2000 – only 13 years ago. The fear and threat of terror is very much a real and current thing. There is a fear of trust among the people. It is a subject that is never brought up in public and only talked about among trusted friends. This is a little of the culture that I will be entering into.

A view of some of the rocks.

Each of these rocks is a mountain for whom to cry.

Justice spelled in flowers.

ON THE ROAD

The road we traveled. Lima to La Oroya to Huancayo.

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The drive. I missed better pictures because my camera was under the seat :/

We got to take a short field trip into the Andes last week to visit a couple of the projects that are part of the Red. The first place we stopped was La Oroya. It was about a 5 hour car ride from Lima and we had to pass over Ticlio Pass at an altitude of nearly 16,000 feet to reach the city which itself rests at about 13,000 feet. We took some medicine to help with altitude sickness but still some people got headaches and felt dizzy. I was actually totally fine, although I could definitely tell that the air was a lot thinner when I climbed a couple flights of stairs.

La Oroya is the home to the Doe Run mining project, which is owned by U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert from New York. It is the only smelter of its kind that can process many different types of metal, and as such, is a valuable commodity for the mining industry. You can smell the smog in the air as you drive down into the town and can see the rocks and mountains that are chemically burned white from and acid rain and wind. Then you drive over the brown river that is so contaminated the kids can’t go swimming in it. Nearly all children who live there have high levels of lead poisoning. We visited a group of women called Filomenas as well as a group of kids in a program called CAMBIALO. Both are trying to raise the consciousness of their members as well as the town of La Oroya, Peru as a whole, and the rest of the world about the situation of the people of La Oroya. Filomenas seeks to empower women in this process and CAMBIALO seeks to raise a new generation of young adults that will affect great change. I will get to spend about one day a month with the kids from CAMBIALO! Right now it’s looking like that time might be spent filming some type of short movie or music video about a roof-top garden project they are working on right now.

The kids at CAMBIALO.

Although from the outside it may look like Peru is doing well economically with its average 6.5% growth for 10 years straight, the situation is much more complicated. This growth and wealth is centered in Lima, for one, and is only serving to increase the gap between the rich and the poor. The middle class is extremely hard to define here. This growth also does not show the situation of places like La Oroya and Chaquicocha.

We stayed the night in Huancayo and then headed up to see a few sites where CEDEPAS is working. We saw many different examples of how they are helping people develop more healthy and sustainable ways of living. They have built greenhouses so fresh food can be accessed all year long, compost toilets, solar heated showers, chimneys so smoke can escape out of the kitchen roof instead of being trapped inside, separated bedrooms for parents and children, rain water collecting receptacles, and pools where trout can be raised for food.

OTHER THINGS WE’VE DONE

Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Lima.

Watch traditional dances at Breezes of Titicaca.

Hike from the district of Comas to San Juan de Lurigancho.

We made it to the top finally!

YAVs with young adults from church in Comas.

Foggy view of Lima.

The mystical foothills of the Andes.

Meet with Jesús from CENCA where I will be working.

Learn about the situation of water in Peru from Conrado, the director of the Red.

Go to a national food festival called Mistura on Costa Verde and try anticuchos (cow heart served as a kabob), ronda norteña (deliciously seasoned beef, banana chips, and mashed potatoes), ceviche in a spicy passion fruit sauce, spit-fire roasted pork, picarones (delicious donuts made from sweet potato and pumpkin), cheese ice cream, arroz con leche, and a couple new flavors of pisco sours.