Thursday, June 11, 2009
Day 9
Today was a bit of an off day. Origionally we were supposed to be doing a horseback tour of some Inka ruins, but right now the indiginous people of Peru are on strike, concerning some policital issuse of ownership of land in the Amazon. So all of Cusco was on strike today. Also today was Corpus Christi. A catholic festival held in Peru to celebrate christ. It was incredible! Me and 3 of the other volunteers headed into ciudad centro for the celebration! There were thousands of people! and the streets were packed to the gills with locals and tourist alike. I tooks some pictures and I'll try and upload them soon. After the festival we had some lunch in a nice place on a side street just off the main square. I hailed my first cab today and got us home all by myself haha... I was very proud. Around 3pm we went back up to polemarcus -spelling- and got some supplies and tools and headed off on a 20 minute hike through the mountains to a small village called Quiawata. When we got there we started to build a chimney for a woman and her children. They were very kind, and the kids were extatic to see us! The family lives in a single room home made of mudbrick, in the corner is a adobe styled stove and an open fire. For their entire lives they have been inhaling the smoke of their cooking fires, and on the colder nights they light a fire to keep warm. Because of this the family is in very poor health. We haven't finished the chimney yet but we got a good start, around 6 we had to leave because the sun sets very early in the mountains and we wouldn't be able to find our way back. When we got home we had dinner and the day is pretty much finished.
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BBC report June 11, 2009: Although Peru has one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America, half the population lives on $1.25 a day. The communist-led General Workers' Union of Peru estimated that some 300,000 people would take part in the protests, but early reports estimate a smaller turnout. Some 93,000 police were deployed across Peru to deal with any unrest. Police used tear-gas to disperse protesters who tried to block roads with tyres and logs in Lima. Peru's government said army and riot police units had been enlisted because of fears that the demonstrations might be infiltrated by guerrillas from the outlawed Marxist rebel army, the Shining Path.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you are building chimney's and calling cabs. Keep your hat on and your head humble.
In Cusco...Tempers flair for the local people of Cusco. Villagers from several communities in the Peruvian Amazon region are angry. They are holding a 24-hour strike over laws that are expected to sanction the privatization of the national water works. Many are farmers, and feel the laws will impoverish them and their land. They are demanding the new legislation regarding water and forest resources be repealed.
ReplyDeleteTang Dynasty TV reporting...
I'm on a roll...Figaro, a gardener for the past 30 years, said he had prepared his lands for planting in keeping with the tradition that crops planted on Corpus Christi thrive well and yields bountifully. Most Christians believe the earth has special blessings on Corpus Christi which will allow crops of any kind to grow and produce bountiful results. In the Latin translation, Corpus is body and Christi is Christ.
ReplyDeleteTrinidad news...