May Adventures [Better late than never, right?]

So. It's been a while... and a lot has happened. So I'm going to start catching you all up slowly but surely starting with MAY. Yup that was three months ago but I think you'll enjoy these photos from my  in-service training (IST) with WASH 20 in Chachapoyas, Amazonas. Beforehand, we met up in Chiclayo, Lambayeque each with a work counterpart to teach them more about Peace Corps and working with Peace Corps Volunteers. From there we took an overnight bus to Chachapoyas to visit the sites of our sierra friends and help them with their projects. We got off the bus around 6 am, hopped on a combi to Olga's site Lamud, a cute sierra town, and were put to work on fixing up a rural water system.

Reservoir Times
Our attitude: The quicker we get to work, the quicker we can finish up and move onto nap time
My group worked on adding a cleanout line to an existing line that was feeding a house down the hill
Check out that handy work!
Proud of our work but mostly ready to be done.
[Dan, our PCVL, Eddie, me and Shanawaz]
The next day we split up into two groups to help Olga and Ian (who live in neighboring sites within the same district) start the construction phase of their latrine pilot project. They are setting up an eco-baño in each of their sites, in central locations, as a tool to educate their communities on its use and benefits and hopefully get enough support to expand the project, possibly on a household level, later on. 

The idea is that you use one side of the latrine until the chamber is full. Then you switch  to the other side, allowing the filled side to... settle or something so you can clean it out and dispose of the waste and use it when it's time to switch back.
The chambers
Someone got creative and changed what was left of Ian Toohey's name to "Ian Poo", fitting enough for a bathroom.
Work turned to a lesson on marinera with our PCVL
And some people fell asleep in the storage room
It was a long day...
Because getting out to Amazonas was such a long trek and we didn't know if we'd get the chance to go back anytime soon, a handful of us decided to stick around and explore once training was finished. Our first stop was a tour through Kuelep, a fortress of the Chachapoya people which is considered the Machu Picchu of the north. It was pretty impressive.

Kuelep
Kuelep ROCKS!
Our knowledgeable and kick ass tour guide


Llamas or Alpacas? I'll never be able to tell.
We waited about 10 minutes for the man in front of us to finish taking his pictures and get his head out of our  shots.

WASH 20
We traveled back to Lamud that night so we could spend the next day exploring Quiocta, a crazy cave located nearby. Being coastal kids, we were not prepared for the insane amounts of mud on the hike up to the cave and, of course, within the cave itself. Luckily, we had the advice of our local friends and they helped us rent some knee-high rain boots, cooked us a hearty breakfast and even equipped us with a hand-drawn map.

So much green! Such a change from our desert coast.

Quiocta
Cave drippings

"The Thing"
Our last day in Chachapoyas ended up being one of my favorites. We had plans to visit Gocta, an apparently super impressive waterfall, but after over a week of traveling, trainings, cold nights and hikes, I was ready for a day of relaxation. But since we couldn't waste the day away in the hostel or a local café we settled on a mini-adventure instead. We hiked our way up to the mirador (look-out point) in Huancas and the view was gorgeous! I've never been to the Grand Canyon but I imagine it would look something like this without the green.

El Mirador de Huancas

Eyes closes as usual

Alex, Kristen and Read enjoying the view

That night we hopped on our overnight bus, expecting to be home early the next morning. Unfortunately, we hit a landslide less than an hour outside of Chachapoyas and were forced to wait in a line of traffic until it was cleared up. Some passengers couldn't wait and hopped off the bus to find their own transportation. People got impatient and yelled for the bus to get moving but as we waited, with the lights on and a movie going, the bus's battery died and we were forced to wait even longer. Once the maintenance guy from the bus company arrived around 2 or 3 in the morning, he gave us a jump and we were on our way once again. We thought we were in the clear and fell back asleep only to wake up around 6 am and find ourselves, once again, stuck on the side of the road. It turned out there was a problem with the ignition and we were going to wait for a new bus to arrive and take us the rest of the way. At this point it was already past the time I had expected to be back in site and we were only about an hour and a half away from where we started. It was a rough day to say the least...

We were passed the point of delirium 

The second bus couldn't come soon enough

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately but I'll be catching you up as soon as I can! Here's what you can look forward to in the upcoming posts: my first cocina, saying goodbye (again and again), the Great Perez Peruvian Adventure, and much much more :D

Hasta la próxima vez!

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