I´m not in Kansas anymore

2008-12-06, Ayacucho, Peru

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I got to Ayacucho this morning around 8.30a. It was a little over an hour after it was scheduled to arrive, but it didn´t bother me one bit because I was sleeping the whole 10 hr ride.

I´m def not in Kansas anymore, but it´s all good. We are staying in a volunteer house. To the contrary of what I was told before, we do have cots. They aren´t by anyone´s standards comfortable, but it´s better than sleeping on the floor as I was told. We have bottled water delivered. The faucet water is good to cook with, brush teeth with, etc., but not to drink. I wish I had bought some acidophalus with me, didn´t think about it until now. I may be able to pick it up here if I can figure out what it´s called. Acidphalus is an over the counter med, but it´s funny how many prescription drugs you can buy in some places here without a prescription. The water is absolutely freezing and I don´t know how I am going to shower in it everyday! It´s a very simple house with no bells or whistles. The street is a dirt road. The town is small. It has a nice town center with access to anything I can think of that I would need whie I was down here. There aren´t any big grocery stores. Everything in our area is bought at the market, lots of exotic fruits and vegetables I´ve never seen.

Today was just our first day to view the city a little, get oriented and rest for tomorrow. To my surprise we are only a group of four. That sucks because that limits our resources a lot. We are supposed to live off of $40 soles a day for food. Obviously we can add our own money, but the program fee was supposed to take care of food. That amount is fine for 1 or 2 people and maybe even 3 if we cook in the house all the time, but for 4 people that´s stretching it. We are going to working at an orphange about 3 blocks away. It´s an all boys home. We have a meeting tomorrow morning to decide what types of projects we will be doing. I will let you know more about it when I find out.

I am very annoyed because just as I expected, none of our program fee that was paid to cadip is going towards the program. They made it seem like this is an extra fee because it costs more to live here and we have to buy supplies for our work and make a donation to the organization, etc. The extra fee is taking care of all that stuff and the amount we paid to cadip never reaches Peru. It is almost as hceap, if not just as cheap to live here as it was in Argentina and so our money should go further. We do have to pay a fee to the organization we are volunteering for. I don´t know details, but most of our materials are left over from previous volunteer groups and so we don´t have to purchase a whoile lot new. Cadip is a Canada-based organization (like so many organizationd in the states) that simply has an office with few employees and accepts money from students and other volunteers alike to set them up with a program in another country. I´m sure they do little recruiting, i found there organization on the internet and went to them. The probably have little overhead cost and are getting rich at the expense of people who want to give their time and money to help someone less fortunate than them. Cadip has nothing to do with the organization here and only refers people and collects this fee. The fee I paid to Cadip is actually slightly larger than the fee that we paid to the organization here (that we are expected to live off of). I´m highly disapointed in Cadip. I basically paid them to outsource my volunteering. I wish organizations like this didn´t exist!

This internet cafe is within walking distance and so I will come by from time to time to write, but I didn´t bring my laptop and so unless I figure out a way, there will be no more pics until I get back.

It´s def in the middle of nowhere, but not the jungle thank God. Only one volunteer has gotten typhoid - no mom, she didn´t die... and yes I have the typohoid vaccine. They think it´s because she ate food from the streets against the advice of the hosts. Common sense if they are offering you rice and chicken and empanadas and all sorts of other cooked foods out of a basket walking up and down the streets for hours with no stove or refrigerator in site, you might want to think twice about eating it. There are no reported cases of yellow fever here in Ayacucho, but there are cases in the jungle, I have that vaccine as well. There is def reason to take precaution with what I eat, where I go, and what I do with my valuables, but I don´t think there´s anything to worry about general health or safety.

This cafe does not have skype and the only house phone is a cell phone. I can receive calls for free on this number 005-166-992-9424 but it´s too expensive to call out even with a phonecard. I know there are public phones and so I will try to check-in from time to time, but don´t expect frequent calls.

Love you guys lots and will be in touch when I can!