"Stitch & Bitch" in Lima

"Stitch and bitch" is a phrase women often use to describe their weekly sewing groups. They get together to sew or knit, as well as "bitch" about their jobs, husbands and other frustrations. 

Well the idea is not uncommon in Peru either. This PBS Newshour article (thanks Aunt Marsha) talks about a knitting circle in Lima called "Mujeres Unidas." They stitch great hats and other pieces out of alpaca yarn.

And they bitch as well. But their complaints, that of a poor district of Lima, are a bit different than those of the quilting group in my hometown. They vent frustrations about not having water in their homes, and instead having to wait in line at 4 a.m. to get enough for their basic needs. 

Beyond sharing friendships and knitting needles, the group generates an annual profit of $600 for each individual. Their hand-knitted hats are sold internationally, and make another important source of income for many of the group's participants. 

Read more about this cool group and its interesting story here.

8.8: Peruvians in Chile

An estimated 80,000-100,000 Peruvians live and work in Chile--the largest immigrant group in the country.  Because Chile has one of the most prosperous and stable economies in Latin America, Peruvians seek opportunities there, often cleaning houses or streets. 

You can see, then, why the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that shook central Chile last week had a very real and personal aftershock in Peru. 

President Alan Garcia went to Chile this week, in part to bring humanitarian aid, but also in part to help the more than one thousand Peruvians left homeless. Because they didn't have family nearby to take them in, Peruvians are many of those living on the streets after the earthquake (see 30-second TV Chile clip).

Around 160 people without homes were brought back to Lima within the past few days, reunited with their families. 

But some did not come out alive. One 25-year-old Peruvian mother and her daughter were lost in the quake.

Post-Colca Note

I thought my goodbye was the condors, but it turns out, Colca had left a little surprise in my digestive system. 

As could be predicted, I spent the next 12 hours praying to the porcelain god. That brings my total tally spent upchucking in Peru to three days. 

But don't worry, it was worth it.

Day 3: The Ascent, the Rainbow, the Condors

At four a.m. I stuffed down a Twix bar and started the four-hour vertical ascent out of the canyon. The word "ascent" sounds too gentle to really capture the pure horror I had those first few steps. "This was a mistake! I'm not qualified for extreme tourism!" I thought.

But it turned out that all those hours of basketball had paid off, and I made it up the to the top of the canyon without having a debilitating leg cramp or passing out. Ha! Here I am about halfway up, looking about as exhausted and sweaty as I felt. 

It was almost in that exact moment that my mom, comfortable and dry on her mule, passed by. Great timing!

She and a few other hikers from our group had elected for transportation up the hill. They got to leave an hour later and arrive up top an hour earlier. I truly regret not being faster with the camera and getting a photo of mom on her mule. Next time?

But just as our spirits were getting low, the sun's rays peaked out over the volcanoes and caught the rain clouds, forming an awe-inspiring rainbow that stretched across the canyon. Most of us stopped to absorb it. Within 10 minutes, it was gone. 

I'm not sure the picture I took does it justice:

Here is the view from the top of the canyon:

After a quick breakfast in the town of Cabanaconde, we drove on down to the "Cruz del Condor," a popular spot to catch a glimpse of the giant and majestic condors that live in the canyon. 

The condors left us with a memorable goodbye before we took the bus back to Chivay for lunch, and then to Arequipa.  

Day 2: The Villages

We woke up on the second day to this view of Colca canyon. See that tiny trail clinging desperately to the canyon wall and hugging the rocky outcroppings? That's the one we hiked down by moonlight the night before. 

These were our bungalows that we shared with four other women on our tour. But we only spent a short nine hours at this small resort before moving along the canyon floor. 

We walked for six hours, absorbing the impressive scenery and stopping to learn about the regional flora, including these delicious cactus fruits called "tunas." Yum!

The group was in no hurry to get to the next resort. We stopped often to rest, and even more often to let pack mules and their owners pass. 

Our 23-year-old tour guide Ruth didn't even sweat, that I saw, as we made one big vertical climb for the day. She does this hike as much as every day during the high tourism season (May-September). Here she is showing us some crazy bugs that live on the cactus and, when squashed, make a brilliant dye used in cosmetics. 

The highlight of day 2 were the four or five villages along the route. With no motorized access, the few hundred people in these towns climb in and out on foot to get basic supplies.

One of the towns names caught our attention. While I don't remember the word, it meant "sickness" in Quechua (Peru's principal, and widely spoken, indigenous language). Why? A few decades ago, malaria was brought into the town and infected many of its inhabitants. 

And their lifestyle is still centered around subsistence agriculture, as this entrepreneurial woman showed us in her quaint, yet fantastic museum. In this photo, she's demonstrating weaving. 

These containers are made from bull testicles and used to carry money and other necessities. 

Electricity just arrived to these villages less than 10 years ago, and yet some houses still had satellite TV, like this one.

Before dropping into another section of the canyon floor to rest and relax at the "Oasis," our appropriately-named resort, we caught this beautiful view of the valley looking south. I'll leave you with that for today.