are you ready to let the wild dogs out???

and more if you liked that first tidbit.

oh, yeah. these lil guys are gonna make some damn good carapulcra!!

this i think is a reality all over Peru, unfortunately. As you can see people come here to collect all sorts of recyclables, no gloves, masks, nor appropriate shoes ni clothing. this guy was really helpful in giving me all the prices for my region for recyclables.

So this is our infomercial for the tip-i-tap, a real thing that is used where there are no faucets for washing hands. Chino Mark is the creator, editor, and director of the commercial, so i gotta say "nice one!!!" also, thanks rico as strong man number 1 and for the inca tipi. karen, you were sweet, loved it and i hope y'all enjoy it out there.

santa cruz trek video

finally, here it is, hope it works out!!!

Ancash - Huaraz, Vaqueria, Cashapampa, Santa Cruz - Awesome

Gua, can’t believe it is already almost 2010. What a weird year number right? Its not almost that year, but time seems to have flown although so much has happened. That doesn’t make sense. How could that seem fast? Maybe time has passed more slowly. In 42 days, I will be one year in el Peru. It seems a bit like one year and eight months. The first year being training, with so much to do and everything completely new. Spanish for four hours, watsan for another four. Getting to know people, living in a strange place with practical strangers, working for a new organization, well, volunteering or whatever. There was a lot of stuff, getting used to customs, food, sickness, expectations, etc. Well then getting to site and going through all that new stuff again, family, living situation, expectations, support groups, lonliness, well that doesn’t quite gow away completely, anxiety. So maybe it was the first 6 months seemed like one year, and now the last five months have seemed like 8 months, making it still seem like one year and eight months.

I Went to the department of Ancash for Fiestas Patrias (Independence Day más o menos) and a town called Huaraz was the starting point of our vacation. This town was abs gorgeous! Mountains all around, white capped nevados, many reaching up over 5,700 meters (18,700.7ft). Mostly I was excited about doing the Santa Cruz Trek. It is a 50 km, 3-4 day trek starting in Vaquería and going to Cashapampa. The first day was getting there, arriving at around 1pm and hiking for about 4 hours. We set up camp after a TECHNICAL CROSSING: STREAM CROSSING, built a fire, cooked a delicious bean, rice, tomatoe sauce, tuna and spice concoction that was smothered in fresh cheese and tortillas. I was quite worried about being cold with my old Slumberjack sleepin bag because at camp eating dinner I had on five layers and was still cold, but I turned out okay. Day two, Tuesday, July 27 2009, on the trail by 10:30am and off track before lunch, bushwacking for about four hours until we found trail. Bushwacking takes up a lot of energy, we hiked uphill traversing looking for a high trail then thought the trail was down so hiked downhill traversing and finally found the trail realizing we had hiked down unnecessarily and are now at the base of the steepest part. We hit the summit of the pass, 4,750 meters above sea level (15,584ft) at around 5:30pm, a bit late to be getting to the summit, but we decended hastily and purified some water at dusk, finishing our hike with headlamps and flashlights at around 7:30pm. We cooked a spinach cream soup with peas and carrots and cheese and little pasta shells and lentils. It was also good but I liked the power bean and rice burritos the night before. We set up camp in the dark, and went to sleep, exhausted. The next day we got out of camp by 9am and hit the trail, hard, mostly descending, and this turned out to be much farther than expected, just like the previous day. We finally finished at 5pm in Cashapampa and got back to Huaraz with enough time to shower, repack, eat some zza, pie that is, and get on a much more comfortable bus than the one I came in on. Hung out in Lima for a day and a half and am now back in site, fixin for organizing some In Service Training in my caserio Dos Palmas and my town in a few days which involves sand water filters, disinfecting water systems, repairing water lines and waste management.

Check out mis fotos...

Yummy pigs head in the market of Huaraz!

MMMmmmm!!! cuy (guinea pig)

This burro has his work cut out for him

a cow chillin toward the end of the Santa Cruz trek.

awesome water color of the lagunas throughout the trek

Yay!! we made it to the trail summit, 4,750 m (15,584 ft), exhuasted and with the sun setting and no campgrounds in site we cannot celebrate for long.

this lil lake was at the beginning of the ascent

pure, natural mountain beauty

Now this is what I call a picnic with a view

More pack animals on the trail

ow now brown cow, can you spot a brown cow?

mountain beard, mountain spring spilling down the mountain side

hey there lil ryan, trek on, dude!!

strike a pose, now VOGUE

The motley crew stops for a fot-op

Gua, I love mtns!!!

This is towards the beginning, we have no idea the challenge that lies ahead

This is one of the Lagunas Llanganuco, awesome!

This is Huascaran I think, highest peak in the tropics standing at 6,768 m.

chillin like villians in Huaraz

Ok, you made it. And your prize for getting all the way through my blog is the following video.

ENJOY!

p.d. this is taking a very veryvery veryver veyr ryureve r long time, arrghhhghghgh

i guess too long, so I will put it in there next time, condensed or something, sorry.

Talk to y’all soon!
Ciao,
Fletcher

Hullo thur gangsters,

Yeah, yeah, I know, believe me! It’s been a long time since writing, well, don’t worry, I’m not gonna make this super long winded just to make up for malfeasances’ sake.
Work wise, I have been working with the health post on a project called healthy municipalities. This entails talks about hand washing, clean water, water treatment, trash management, and personal hygiene issues. Also there is a cleaning campaign that is starting a few towns down and is going along the main highway hitting several small villages in an effort to pick up trash in problem areas: canals, soccer fields, schools, etc.

I have also been “supervising” the second phase of a sewer project. I am helping with the land surveying and learning about sectioning land using a theodolite. At first I was a bit overwhelmed because the engineer at the municipality gave me a hundred some page report and told me to review it so that I can supervise the project. I felt so flustered. I tried to express to him that I don’t have any experience with this type of project. I just wanted someone to sit down with me and discuss what I would be doing, and take me to the site and give me a walk through/review. This didn’t happen; instead I rode my bike there and met the surveyor and have been helping him since. In Peru, I get the feeling that when people find out you’re an engineer, they expect you to know everything, which can be frustrating because unfortunately I don’t.

Other (non work) wise, I just went up north to Pacasmayo and ran a half marathon, 21 kilometers (13.1 miles). My goal was to do it in less than one hour 45 minutes. Well I had a great run, I got second place and my time was 1:32:56, which I was very happy with! The course was pretty tough, there were quite a few hills, some sandy, some steep pavement, but overall it was quite beautiful. The beginning we ran on the bluffs overlooking the ocean out towards the famous lighthouse. I was running this part with a husky dog that happened to be running the course with us and it reminded me of running back home with my dog Wiley. Although he got in my way a few times, it was a nice nostalgia. Then the course turned back and we ran through the boardwalk with people lining both sides cheering and up to the steepest hill of the course around kilometer 15. The rest was on the road out and back and finishing at the boardwalk under a giant Powerade arch.

Later that night we had our fourth Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament. 32 players, five soles entry. I was on top of my game and made it all the way to the final match. I lost however to a kid from Peru 9 named Ja. He was quite intense and I think his barking after each win intimidated me. I got flogged 4-0, but I still won 40 soles for second place. Yeah, second place was my spot on this day.

I had a great time the night after the marathon. It was great to see people who live on the other side of the country and we all let loose and celebrated being done with the race. We went to a dance club at the end of the night and danced despite having incredibly sore legs and a hot Dartmouth alum flirted with me, which was pretty awesome. Well, the next day I was incredibly hung over. I think it was actually a combo of being sick and hung over; I felt like dog shit and had the shits, two boos.

We went back to Trujillo that day to take an overnight bus back to Lima. I paid for a “guardaequipaje” or bag check at the bus station and came back later that night and my backpack was gone. I was quite upset, I paid to have it checked and it still got stolen. I had my iPod, my medallion from the race, a t-shirt I won for getting second, the race shirt, lots of clothes, expensive sunglasses, Chaco sandals, and various other things of value. Well, we ended up settling out of court, they paid me 200 dollars and gave me 70 dollars in bus services. I probably had over 700 dollars worth of stuff in my bag, but oh well, it’s better than getting robbed on the street and getting nothing back,eh? I ordered a new iPod on ebay, new and improved, and am having it delivered to another kid’s parents who are coming here in August, so that is exciting. My iPod was one of my most cherished items, and I’ve realized is something that gets me through the lows, so this is essential to replace!

At the end of July is Fiestas Patrias, kinda like our independence day except this is like a week long. We get free vacation days, so a bunch of us are going up to the Cordillera Blanca in the department of Ancash. We are meeting in the city of Huaraz, which is international mountain trekking headquarters. Three other Peru 12 gangsters and I are doing the four day “Santa Cruz” trek. Just to give some perspective, in this mountainous region of Peru there are more than 50 peaks of 5700m or higher. In contrast, North America has only three mountains in excess of 5700m (Pico de Orizaba in Mexico, Logan in Canada and Denali in Alaska), and Europe has none. The Cordillera Blanca also has the highest peak in the tropics anywhere in the world, Huascarán at 6768m.

So I am really excited and hopefully will be posting some awesome pics soon.

Ciao y hasta la próxima,
F-grenade

yo yo yo y'all, this is Ayacucho, en the mountains.