Holy Week!

Hey everybody, Sorry for the week-long, or so, delay in posting a new entry. I've been pretty busy the past little while and didn't have the time to sit down and write. But the first thing I have to tell you about a little adventure I took this past weekend.
On Sunday, Hannah and I traveled with my family to a couple of touristic sites near Huancayo.

The first place we went to, which was really interesting, was a historic convent here in the mountains called Santa Rosa de Ocopa. Unfortunately I don't remember a lot of the information that the tour guide gave us, but I can tell you a few things. The convent was opened up during the colonial days of Perú, and was influential in spreading Catholicism throughout Perú, especially in the jungle. Monks would take trips into the wilderness to meet with native peoples and evangelize, as well as "Peruvianize". In those days the borders of countries here in South America were hazy, so the monks would promote Peruvian culture to the people they met in hopes that those areas would be claimed for Perú instead of Brasil or other countries. At the convent there are a lot of interesting artifacts from those expeditions, including wild animals that the monks brought back, art from the trips, items used in the expeditions, and other artifacts. In addition to these things, and a lot of great artwork, the convent itself is a very beautiful place. There are several very nice courtyards and the cathedral itself is beautiful as well. We were fortunate enough to visit the choir loft as well, were the monk who gave us a tour let Hannah and I try out the old foot pump-powered organ.

After visiting the convent were ventured off to another interesting touristic site - Ingenio, a small village that is home to one of the largest trout hatcheries in the area. As we drove up the small road to the fish hatchery, we suddenly came upon a strip of restaurants lining both sides of the road. It was fairly difficult to pass through this area, as there were young people on both sides of our car trying to entice us to come eat the delicious fish that they were ready to prepare for us at their restaurant. Fortunately for them, we hadn't eaten lunch yet and stop at one of the first restaurants that we saw. We ate grilled trout with corn on the cob (the Peruvian version is much different than in the states, it's a different kind of corn with really big kernels) and rice. Needless to say, it was delicious, and afterwards we were all very full, and very ready to visit the fish hatchery and see where the trout that we had just eaten came from.

I had never actually visited a fish hatchery, so it was interesting to see the process. We saw everything from real small fish to some of the biggest trout I'd ever seen. Dad, you would have been drooling over these fish - they were rainbows too. Plus, this fish hatchery is nestled right in between two mountains, so the views were amazing. The weather was perfect that day too, the sky was a deep blue with those big fluffy clouds that you can't quite get anywhere else but in the mountains. After the fish hatchery, we headed back to Huancayo, but Sunday was a very relaxing day and I felt all prepared on Monday to go back to work.

This week I only had to work three days, as today and tomorrow the comedor is closed due to Holy Week. But the three days I did work were really fun, and probably the best that I've had at work so far. First off, as I travel to work each morning I feel really content in where I'm working. Once I get to the neighborhood where my job is I have to walk about five minutes or so, but usually during that walk I get at least half a dozen people who tell me good morning, some who know me, some who don't. My favorite hellos come from some of the young kids who know me from the comedor. Sometimes as I walk, not paying attention, I'll hear a little voice shout from across the road, "Hola hermano Christopher!" (Hi brother Christopher!), and that always makes for a good start to my day. It's good to know that people, especially kids, in the community recognize me and Hannah and are happy to have us there. Our work at the comedor is still going well, although it is hard to keep kids interested in our little English lessons. Nonetheless, we get a few kids to come for each lesson and have continued teaching them some basic things. What has become the most fun though is just playing with the kids - playing soccer or volleyball, swinging little three year olds in circles, or amazing kids by showing them the old I-can-pull-off-half-of-my-thumb trick. In just a week and a half I feel like I've gotten to know these kids pretty well, and hopefully in the next two weeks I'll get to know them even better.

Right now our professor Duane and his family are in Huancayo visiting me and Hannah, so today we spent some time with them. We took a short tour of a few villages surrounding Huancayo which are well known for artisan work. One had carved gourds, one textiles and the last one silver jewelry. In each town we were given a short demonstration of some of the work and then got to shop a bit and look at all of the artwork, which was really impressive. Although the tour was a little touristy, it was nice to see what some of the local artwork is like. After our trip we had a late lunch wtih Duane and his family in definitely the nicest restaurant I've been to here in Huancayo, which was a nice break. And once again, I had trout...I'm gonna take advantage to the abundance while I can.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to Cochas Chico, just outside of Huancayo (a small town I visited once before and wrote an entry about earlier), to visit a festival in honor of Holy Week. It will be fun to see what some of the local traditions are, and hopefully eat some local food, like "pachamanca," a big dish of potatoes, meat and peas that is cooked underground using hot stones. Tomorrow mornign Hannah and I are also planning on doing some hiking to a nearby touristic site called "torre torre," which means "tower tower," a cool geological site that has natural rock formations that look like, you guessed it...towers. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures there. Speaking of pictures, sorry I don't have any for this blog...it's a slow process to upload photos here at internet cafés, and sometimes I just don't want to take the time.

Well, I don't have a whole lot else to say. I hope that the rest of my Easter weekend goes well...I don't really know what plans are in store, but I've learned that sometimes it's just more fun to now know what to expect. I hope that all of you have a good holiday weekend, and I'll give you another update soon.