Monday-Friday

A couple people have asked "So, what is it that you guys do on a day to day basis?". Well, let me just take you on a little trip through our day!

It starts out at about 8:30am on the "bus". I have mentioned this before, but the buses here are really like 1980, run down, 10 passenger vans. If we are LUCKY, we get a seat on the bus. You can see how lucky Matt looks here. He is always carrying a backpack with all of our belongings that is usually about the size of a 9 year old Peruvian kid. He gets lots of nice looks when he attempts to jam into a seat made for someone 5 feet tall. 

Matt and I are almost always the only non-Peruvians on the bus. Most foreigners take taxis wherever they go, but we opt for the more traditional means of transportation. Plus, it's only 25 cents one way, perfect for two unemployed people on a budget!

"Baja, baja, baja!!" the bus driver shouts at us as we try to struggle our way out of the van. Every time, it never fails. I tend to think I'm a quick person but I guess never quick enough for them. Then off we go on a short walk to the office! 

Our walk ends here at this office building. The Kallarisunchis office is on the third floor, just above the pink sign. If I can be honest, I am winded every time we walk up those stairs! I still blame it on the fact that we are at 11,000 feet, but I suppose it might be more than that.

Here Matt and I spend the day with Eufemia and Luis. These are the only two paid employees that work for the organization and they both have extremely modest salaries. Clients are required to pay in person so we spend a lot of time talking with people that come in to learn more about them and their businesses. I have also had the opportunity to take prayer requests from clients and also calm down an extremely mad client who didn't want to pay her $2 late fee. I have never seen an old lady so angry but was glad that my conflict management skills from Target came into play!

After time at the office we typically will go out and meet a client or two. This client, Lida, runs a restaurant with her sister. She had a baby about two weeks ago and went back to work within a day or two as she is the primary cook (her sister has a disability, limiting her ability to do physical work). So much for maternity leave when you have mouths to feed and no support. This lady in particular has been on my heart since the day we met her as she had a big black eye. We found out that she is having trouble with her husband at home, and as much as I like to be an optimist, I think this might explain the black eye.

The lady in the pink is so sweet. Here she is with her earrings that she makes and sells on the streets. She even gave me a pair to wear!

The weekend is winding down and we will be back to work tomorrow. Things have been somewhat uneventful for us this weekend as we were a bit tired down from the week. We were very discouraged as we booked a short trip for our anniversary to the jungle, later to find out that the very "nice" lady, Pati, sold us a package through a very non-reputable company. Here is a quick review I found on LonelyPlanet for the jungle adventure we are supposed to be leaving for on Friday (pending us getting a refund):

"DO NOT TRAVEL TO MANU WITH MANU ADVENTURES (www.manuadventures.com).

We did the 4 day Cultural Zone trip with this company and had a horrible experience. White water rafting was a part of this trip and although we were told that we would be rafting in a Category 1-2 river, it was more like 5. Our raft tipped over and the guide didn't know how to flip it back over. We ended up getting caught in whirlpool for 2 hours until, luckily, some locals who happened to be walking by on the other side of the river rescued us.

Not only could the guide not right the raft, but he also did not provide us with helmets (which I now know is standard safety procedures) and did not provide us with proper safety instructions (e.g., what to do if the raft tips). I got stuck under the boat for about a minute, and felt like I was drowning. Luckily, one of the other members of our group of 4 that we were travelling with pulled me out. While we were stuck in the whirlpool for 2 hours, the guide did things that ended up putting us in more danger. For example, he took the rope that was attached to the raft and repeatedly attempted to catch it to the cliff above us. When the rope did eventually catch, we almost tipped over into the whirlpool (luckily the rope uncatched from whatever it had latched onto). Also, one of our group members almost got her neck sliced by this rope because he didn't warn us of what he was attempting to do.

My issue with Manu Adventures is that they asked us to sign a waiver that stated that we would be travelling with experienced guides - OUR GUIDE WAS NOT EXPERIENCED. I understand that accidents happen - but if our guide had been experienced, it is likely that we would not have gotten stuck in this whirlpool. We spoke to other tourists who traveled with other companies who also flipped where we did, but their guide was experienced enough to know how to flip the raft back over so as to be able to get everyone back on before the whirlpool (which our guide should have known was coming and should have warned us of this danger).

When we finally (and luckily) arrived at our lodge for the night, we spoke to another group travelling with Manu Adventures who told us that they had been told by the company that we were late arriving to the lodge because we were too scared to go rafting. Not only was this a complete lie, it also didn't make sense and was a complete failure on the part of the company to take responsibility for what happened to us.

We went in to Manu Adventures head office in Cusco to explain to them that our issue with what happened is that we signed a waiver assuming risks of this kind of travel because we were told (as indicated on the waiver) that we would be assuming these risks with an experienced guide - but Manu Adventures failed to provide us with an experienced guide. It was not until we made it clear to the Manu Adventures staff we spoke to that we were not looking for any sort of monetary compensation (e.g., a full or partial refund) that they actually started to listen. They said that they would not be hiring this guide for any more trips - his name was Edwin. I'm not sure if he is still working for them or not.

I strongly urge you not to travel with this company because you may not be as lucky as we were. If the story of our experience is not enough to dissuade you from travelling with Many Adventures, you should also know that we were also told by two Manu staff members that they themselves believed that Manu hired less experienced guides because these guides are cheaper than those who actually have required certifications and credentials. They asked us to keep these comments anonymous so I will not reveal their names."


The culture here is sad, and we were discouraged by another act of compromised integrity. But hey, that's why we are here. To try to be a light in the darkness.


A&M

The Lottery

On Saturday it struck me. I won the lottery! Not the megamillions or the one where the old guy comes and surprises you on your doorstop with a big check and balloons...I won the birth lottery! This last weekend Matt and I (and our co-worker, a Peruvian, Luis) had the opportunity to do a client visit in the "campo" or countryside, of Peru. After an hour and a half taxi ride with 7 people in an old 5 passenger station wagon, we arrived in the small town of Limatambo. Here we were greeted on the side of the road by Mariline, a teacher at a Christian orphanage by day, and farmer and provider by night.

All I knew about Mariline was that she raised some sort of farm animals...well, that is true to a certain stretch of the imagination. To be a little bit more accurate (hold your breath PETA activists),  she raises cock-fighting roosters! I think I may have shot this photo above right as she was telling us this. Can you tell by the bewilderment on Matt's face?! I think he may have been mid sentence "wait, so those things in the cages are used for what?!" This is a national sport/tradition here in Peru despite it seeming quite Michael Vick-ish.

She explained that she and her husband raise this rare breed of rooster and they make a trip to Lima once a year to sell them for the annual fights. You have to find a way to make a living around here! She also explained that her husband, who is currently in need of a major surgery, sometimes walks up to 8 hours a day in order to sell or purchase other farm animals. This has really taken a toll on him and their family. 

Mariline shares her very humble home with her husband, two children, mother, and grandmother. Her mother, who I would estimate to be about 75 years old, was busy knitting while sitting on a sack of potatoes. I figured she spent most of her day doing this until she abruptly got up to begin some of her daily chores.

Wood chopping time with a very lethal looking machete! She was kickin' it going all over their small farm cutting wood, digging a trench to plant things...I think the only thing she didn't tackle while we were there was collecting honey from their bee hives. 

 Shortly after arriving I noticed a small, frail lady sitting with her cane under a bush. I went over to greet her and she quietly spoke a few mumbled words in Spanish. Mariline informed me that this was her grandmother, who is 99 years old! I was amazed. I must say I couldn't help but look and her and wonder what was going through her head. She barely moved for the 2 hours we spent there. It was almost as though she was sitting there, patiently awaiting her time to move on to another world.

Mariline invited us to stay for lunch. If I can be candid for a moment, I was quite frightened! The food in Peru has not been a friend of mine from many different perspectives, and I had a feeling the raw venison leg (which you can see in the bottom right corner of the photo) was not going to be much different. Either way, I knew I had to be kind and respectful to the fact that this very poor woman was offering me some of her best food. We watched her cut the meat off the leg and cook it in her outdoor "kitchen". My stomach churned, and we ate!

Mariline was proud to invite us inside her 2-room home. This is a picture of their living room/dining room. The clutter and insects inside overwhelmed me. I had never seen anything like this.

And last, here is one of her sons, showing me the bedroom in which the 4 of them sleep. It was two twin beds covered in musty clothing. I was happy to find out that the loan we have provided Mariline with has helped her sustain her business enough to send her kids to school. Mariline does not have access to a "normal" bank, thus making her loan from Kallarisunchis vital in her farming and animal business. She is the kind of client we and Kallarisunchis are striving to help.

And this was the moment it came over me...I won the birth lottery! Being born the the United States is such a privilege! We have access to SO much more than many of the people around the world. My prayer is that I would remember this lesson even after my time in Peru, and that it would change the way I view life.

A&M

Machu Picchu

Last weekend we were so excited to be able to visit one of the 7 wonders of the world, Machu Picchu! Living in Cusco makes visiting this amazing place an absolute must, so off we went! It started with an hour long taxi ride through the winding countryside of Peru to a town called Ollantaytambo. From here, we caught the Peru Rail train for a 2 hour ride through the mountains and valleys of lush Peru.

We arrived in Aguascalientes on Saturday afternoon and had the evening to explore the town and sit near the raging river that flows through the town. In January of 2010 there was HUGE flooding here and thousands of people were stranded here and some were even swept away. Glad we had great weather and no rain! May-July is known to be the best time to visit this area.

5:30am on Sunday morning came quick and we caught one of the first busses to Machu Picchu (to be honest, our hostel was just nasty, so the less time we had to spend there the better!) To our surprise, there were quite a few people seemingly as crazy as us (maybe they were at our hostel too?) who wanted to be one of the first to reach the site. I must say, it was well worth it! 

 
I had seen pictures of Machu Picchu, but assumed many of them had been enhanced or photo shopped in some way because they always looked like they came straight out of a National Geographic magazine. To my delight, the real thing was 100 times better than any photo! It was truly AMAZING, probably the most beautiful and interesting place we have ever been!

Can you tell the weather was gorgeous? Blue skies all afternoon (and we were there for 10 hours!)

It was great to spend the day exploring the site, doing a bit of trekking to the nearby sun gate, and just relaxing with a great view. I was pretty impressed by the Inca people and their creativity to build this lost city! 

I hope you can enjoy the beauty and wonder of this place some day!

A & M

A picture says it all

Here are a few things I saw this week that have opened my eyes.

Try to imagine a day in the life...

You work here:

Instead of coffee with your friends at Starbucks, you meet here:

Rice and potatoes with your family is served here:

After hand washing your clothes, you hang them to dry here:

And to end on a lighter note, at the end of the day you hang your hat here:

A different life, right?

A Life Lesson from a Fruit Stand

I had seen and heard about people that live on less than $2 a day. I didn't think that was possible...last week we met Marina, a fruit vender that works in a small, local, poverty stricken market. She wakes up typically around 5am to purchase her bruised fruit from the trucks that arrive from the jungle, and then spends the next 13 hours organizing and preparing to sell fruit to the locals. 

Marina was shy, as many local Peruvians tend to be around gringos, but was able to share a little bit of her story with us. She has several children that she cares for but never mentioned anything about a husband. From what we know, husbands in Peru (especially from the countryside or "campo"), are not part of the solution to poverty or well being in Peru. Often times they are not present, and tend to struggle with alcohol and being a supporter in the home. We have heard stories of abuse from other clients, and our hearts ache. There are even families that are so poor that they encourage their children to tell agencies they are orphans since they can't support them financially. It doesn't seem real.

We observed Marina and asked her how her loan has helped her business and why more we can do to help her support her family. We offered to pray for her, and her only request revolved around the success of her fruit stand. She wants to do more, but for the past 8 years, her fruit business has been all that she could manage.

Our hope and prayer is that we could somehow help Kallarisunchis help people like Marina. People that very well could live on less than $2 on day.


The poverty in Peru is overwhelming to me. I think if I had been here as a tourist, for just a day or two, I wouldn't notice it as much. Walking around the streets and going where the locals go every day, you can't ignore it. I know we can't move mountains overnight, but every step we take, big or small, helps us get one step closer to the bigger goal. 

That cute baby lamb...

Baby lambs, alpacas, guinea pig ( this one on a local menu!), and sadly, hundreds of homeless dogs.  I must admit, for the last 6 months or so I had really been hoping for a micro pot bellied pig as a pet. Those dreams did not come true, however, my new love for baby lambs or "corditas" almost made me forget the little pork chops. The local women and kids will walk around with baby lambs swaddled in bright colored blankets. 

Needless to say, I couldn't/can't resist! After meeting my first cordita on day 1 of being in Cusco, I knew I needed some play time. So I found a couple of ladies, and asked if I could basically rent or borrow their lamb for an hour. They decided they would meet me near a church that we live by at 3pm on Sunday afternoon. So I showed up, and so did they (which is a miracle in and of itself!)

And I wish I could just say "and we lived happily every after" but there was a bit of shady-ness that took place. So I offered to pay the lady 15 soles to play with the lamb for an hour (which is about $6). This is a VERY fair and generous offer considering the people here live on SO little. So she accepted the offer, and I handed over the 15 soles. Well, about 20 seconds after that, she said I could only have the lamb for 30 minutes. And I said, ok, then can I have 5 soles back since that is cutting the time in half. She said "Amiga, no..." with a very endearing and manipulative tone of voice. And I just wasn't in the mood to negotiate or try to explain how unethical that is to do to someone...so I took the lamb for 30 minutes. Well, kind of.

Little did I realize, a baby lamb tends to attract A LOT of different types of people to you...especially kids! The lady was trying to shoo the kids away from me as I was playing with it, but personally I thought that was a bit messed up. So I corrected her and said that I could "compartir" or share with the kids. So that afternoon, the baby lamb and I made a lot of new friends. The local kids are sweet and it is fun talking to them and hearing their stories. Here is a picture of us feeding the lamb grass (which we later found out is only supposed to be drinking milk...but gee, he loved the grass like a fat kid loves cake!)

And here is Matt with one of his many wild Alpaca friends! Unfortunately this isn't the one that tried to spit on him, which is another story. Don't worry, I got it on tape! He isn't ready for me to post just quite yet. With him being an only child and only growing up with turtles as pets, I think he was a bit scarred by the Alpaca situation. We did get alpaca sweaters after this whole debacle, maybe it was a way for Matt to cope?

Enough on animals for now. We have now been in Peru for officially one week, and it feels like it has been about 1 month (but in a good way from every perspective except food)! This week we are presenting some ideas for projects to our boss to see what he and the micro finance board want us to focus on during our time here. We are confident that my main project will revolve around going out into the streets to meet the clients (poor entrepreneurs) and learn more about their businesses. I will also be taking prayers requests from the locals and try to bring in more of a spiritual connection with them and the organization.

There have been one or two of you who have offered to make us a little "care package" and I can't tell you how sweet and meaningful that is for us! Truly, right now our biggest things we "need" are peanut butter, jelly (well, only if that is coming from Mrs. Hessen's kitchen!), CLIF or Luna bars (things with protein in them, so they could potentially be a meal replacement), granola, or anything of that sort. The food thing is still something we are working on...I got a bit sick from some of the food so I am unfortunately very picky about what/where I eat. The complicated thing is also that we don't have a stove, refrigerator or easily accessible clean water, so we are working around those little obstacles! 

If you wish to send us something here is the address:

Care of Roland Brown

Apartado 34

Cusco, Peru

It is best to write "regalo" or "gift" on the box so it isn't as likely to be intercepted by customs. If a secondary address is required, you can use this:

Wakapunku (care of Alyssa Thelen)

Calle Choquechaca No.133

Cusco, Peru

Much love to all of you!

A & M

The Poor and the Tourist

These little old ladies walking on the street with heaps of weight on their backs make me stop and think every time. Why do we as Americans often feel entitled to a luxurious retirement? If I can be honest, I picture myself somewhere like San Diego...with a sail boat and a home with a view of the ocean. I can tell you that I don't expect to be working on the streets of Peru, trying to make every dime I can just to survive. Why was I chosen to live an "easy" life in the US when others are born into a life of poverty?

I mentioned in my last post that Cusco is a city of two polar classes (well maybe 3, if you include the hippie population...). One consists of the rich, who were able to afford a flight here, getting ripped off by a taxi driver to reach their expensive hotel, a trek to Machu Picchu, and a few Pisco Sours. Your average Joe can't typically afford that. As for the other class, they are the working people of Peru, many of whom run a small business to make ends meat for their family. From what I have seen, they live in very humble homes, some of which are extremely run down. 

Something about the Peruvian culture that has surprised me is their standard of basic ethics. As a gringo, you constantly have to count on being ripped off by EVERYONE. When someone offers to sell you something, when you ride a taxi, when you count your change at the grocery store. You count on being ripped off, which is a sad thing. I like to trust people, so that is hard for me. I will have to tell you about my baby lamb "rental" sometime soon...

One of my personal goals when volunteering and speaking with some of these poor entrepreneurs over the next couple months is to talk with them about treating their neighbor (or customer) as though they would want to be treated. How would they feel if someone was constantly trying to slip an incorrect price by them or not give them the correct change at a restaurant? Probably not great...In the process I'm sure I will learn more about myself and how I can be a better friend and neighbor to others.

I continue to pray that God gives us a clear vision as to what our goals and objectives are for the time we have here in Cusco. We have a good idea, but want to continue to keep our hearts and minds open. This Saturday we had the opportunity to help run a kids club for the local Peruvian kids. Here they sang songs, were read a Bible story, and then spent time making crafts in a safe environment. There were about 35 kids to 3 adults, so it was a crazy time!

Another blessing is that we think we found an apartment today! Will will return tomorrow to finalize things (which is basically handing over the months rent, very different from the US!) as it seems to be a safe and central spot for us to live and right next to the bus stop that we will take to the office daily. Unfortunately, this seems to be the popular season for tourists to visit Cusco, so prices for things seem to be a bit higher. We are very thankful for those of you who have committed to praying to us and giving financially, but want you to know that there is still opportunity to give. The amount we have raised will nearly cover our plane tickets and for that we are thankful.

Here is the link to our First Giving site if you feel led to give financially:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/thelen/barnabas-accounts

Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any thoughts :) No sense in blogging to myself (which I fear I might be doing sometimes!)

A&M