Huánuco

Friday night I left my home in San Martín and travelled to the home of my site coordinator Debbie Horne and her husband Harry. There I met with Alex, my fellow YAV who lives in Comas, and together the four of us had dinner before taking a bus to Huánuco for a weekend retreat. The bus (actually referred to a bus cama, which means the chairs recline almost into a bed) made the eight hour journey by night and I was fortunately able to sleep most of the way their. In the morning we arrived and were greeted by Lynn and her host father at the bus station. The other YAVs were already there and it was so great to be together again. We left the bus station and headed for La Granja (literally the farm) where Lynn works once every month with victims of sexual abuse. The change of scenery was incredible. There were mountains surrounding us on all sides and a hot sun shining down. There was also a lot of vegetation and farm country that created a very peaceful atmosphere. La Granja itself was wonderful. There were dairy cows, chickens, guinea pigs (they raise those to eat here), rabbits, a large garden, and green pastures. The highlight of the weekend may have been the dairy. We ate fresh cheese and yogurt and we drank fresh milk every morning for breakfast. It was the first time I had drank milk in about seven weeks! Needless to say I was in love with La Granja! During the retreat the six of us Peru YAVs along with Debbie and Harry, all spent time together sharing our thoughts and feelings about the time we´ve already spent here. I think talking about our issues was theraputic and helped us to understand one another really well. Unfortunately it also caused me to feel a bit homesick while we were there. I realized that time passes more quickly for me while I am in Lima.

During one day of our retreat we spent the afternoon with three girls and their babies who are living at La Granja. We took a walk to a small body of water that surrounded a little island and there under some trees we sang songs together and took turns holding/photographing the babies. I think the girls really loved this because they don´t have photos (or not many) of their babies. I was surprised by how open and willing they were to let us hold and play with their kids but it was great to see them enjoying themselves and getting to show us around the place. In the evening we showed them how to play spoons which was really fun because they were very competetive and got really into it.

On Monday we headed to Tingo Maria, a town located on the edge of the Selva (jungle). There we spent the day hiking up a large series of waterfalls, some of which we climbed straight up with rope and a harness as water cascaded down over us. It felt so good to swim right under the falls, especially since I hadn´t showered in days.