I Wish My Brain Was Hardwired to a Computer....

so, I wouldn´t have to try to remember all the cool things I think of to tell people later. Well, I guess it was hard wired some of the time. I do have a bit of a sensor attached to my mouth.

But yeah, I got back from Huancavelica (HVCA) this morning at about 6:30 am. I went with the director of Red Uniendo Manos Peru(RUMP), Conrado--who incidentally was the first Peruvian I met and our conversation went some thing like this(I´ll put it into english) "Hello", "Hello". "something in spanish", "i didn´t quite catch that", "something else in spanish", "yeah, still didn´t catch that"------but anyway, in Hvca, we showed a few groups of people a video on water rights and issues between Ica and Hvca provences. It was pretty cool that by that second showing I sort of figured part of it out. We also set up a time to show it in Oct at the University (I get to go back!!)

I really liked it there a lot. It reminded me much more of home, or anywhere I have ever lived, more than Lima does. It is a country town in the hills. Filled with very short Peruvians. Check out the pics!!

It was really challenging for me as well, since my interpretor was Conrado. If you don´t find this funny yet, check out our first conversation one more time. And outside of me crying in the street the first night(due to exhaustion and chill) trying to explain what was wrong (I think I might have said I was very very married. cansada=tired, casada=married), my spanish improved immensely and I get to go back to Hvca. I am also hoping I can get some of the materials they have on the water issues into English. I have been researching like mad and can´t find anything to help me understand what is going on. I also met an artisan group in Yaoli, a really small village 20km or so from Hvca. They had pigs and small hens. It was great!

But two things that I want to leave you with for the weekend.

1. When I first got to Lima a few weeks ago, I kind of felt like I was in a fishbowl. People watched the group of us and every once in a while I heard the word gringos. Then, I went to Hvca, and I knew I was in a fishbowl. Kids would trip over themselves staring at me in the streets, I think I might have even heard the word giant. But not until Conrado, Angelica and I went to an all-boy´s catholic school to see about space for the upcoming congress de jovenes, and every single boy had his face pressed up against the glass or peering around doorways, or outright following us, did I really feel like a fish.

2. One thing about Lima´s transportation system is that everybody honks the car horn. Someone is standing on a street corner, you honk. You are passing someone, you honk. You are approaching an intersection, you honk. You are running a red light, you honk. Always, always, always. I didn´t think I would ever get used to the honking. That is, until I went to Hvca. On our trip to Yaoli, our taxi driver honked at every corner, at every person, animal and shrubbery. On the way back, our bus driver didn´t. He didn´t honk once and I was so far beyond scared that I am now thankful for every honk I hear.

all for me, for now.
katie