Hello friends,
Thank you for sticking with me through this adventure. Since I last posted, I have updates...
I drafted my two new additional letters for my export application and brought them to the INC in Lima for review on Monday morning. They were approved (I was shocked), and just one more letter that I'd never heard about before now needed to be added to the pile (!). So, I madly copied down the text in the sample letter I was shown, went to the internet place, typed up that one as well, and sent off the three new letters to Moquegua as e-mail attachments. One letter is to be signed by the director of the museum, the other two by the director of the INC in Moquegua.
This morning, I got a phone call at my hotel from my friend Yamilex in Moquegua. She has the letters, they've been approved by the folks who have to approve them there, and she will scan them and send them to me today so that I can hand carry them to the INC in Lima. According to my INC contact here, this isn't absolutely necessary - the letters could just be mailed. But, hand carrying them is a nice touch and will give me a good sense of closure (such as it is without my samples). At least I'll know that the papers arrived. That's the hope anyway. I'm talking about the future here, so one never knows...do one?
In the meantime, I also changed my flight home. My original plan was to board a plane on Friday night, to arrive just before noon on Saturday. But, there is a memorial service that I really should attend on Saturday morning, and since I'm done with what I can do here, coming home early seemed like a really good idea. Now I'm getting on a plane tonight (woo hoo!) and will be home tomorrow morning, just before noon. At least that's the plan if my planes are both on time and I whiz through customs in LA without any delays.
In any case, I expect to be back home tomorrow, drinking coffee made with coffee (not Nescafe), taking showers with hot water (both the temp and water pressure are notoriously unpredictable here), flushing my toilet paper (can't be done in Peru or Bolivia), eating salads (raw veggies are really risky when travelling), seeing friends (boy, I've missed you guys!), and hugging on my man (five and a half weeks is a very long time).
Here's the cliffhanger part...
WHAT will become of Karen's samples?
WILL the request to export be approved?
WILL she find someone to bring them to the USA?
WILL she be able to turn this whole mess into an master's thesis?
WILL she graduate and get a real job someday?
WILL she make it through customs with her water samples and moldy fish bones (yep, they're looking a bit scary)?
WILL she be sitting pretty drinking a latte by this time tomorrow?
Tune in next spring for the ongoing adventures of....Karen in Peru!
Thanks again for reading. I'll see you soon.
Karen
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Quick update
Two things -
First, it's my Dad's birthday. Happy 80808 Birthday Dad!
Secondly, I went back to INC office number one this afternoon. They reveiwed everything and decided that I don't actually need the documents that nobody can find. Instead, I need new and different documents which have to be signed by the INC in Moquegua. So, tomorrow I'll draft something and send it to folks at the museum in Moquegua and see if they can do my legwork for me. If that doesn't work out, it's another 18 hour bus ride to Moquegua for me. At least tomorrow there's something I can DO for a few hours to help this project along (action beats waiting any day).
That's it. I'll keep you posted on the developments.
: )
Karen
First, it's my Dad's birthday. Happy 80808 Birthday Dad!
Secondly, I went back to INC office number one this afternoon. They reveiwed everything and decided that I don't actually need the documents that nobody can find. Instead, I need new and different documents which have to be signed by the INC in Moquegua. So, tomorrow I'll draft something and send it to folks at the museum in Moquegua and see if they can do my legwork for me. If that doesn't work out, it's another 18 hour bus ride to Moquegua for me. At least tomorrow there's something I can DO for a few hours to help this project along (action beats waiting any day).
That's it. I'll keep you posted on the developments.
: )
Karen
To be a rock and not to roll
Okay, you know things are problematic when I'm quoting Led Zeppelin. Lima has never been one of my favorite places. It's something about the combination of incessant car horns, smog, traffic, and grey skies.... The food is tasty though. I suppose there's always that. Oh, and coffee. It does exist here. There's even a Starbucks, although I haven't sunk to the point of taking a cab there yet. Maybe tomorrow.
So, I am a stubborn person. This has been pointed out to me in the past. It usually works for me - in the "sticking with things until they turn out the way I want them to" sense - but this time I think I may have 'stubborned' myself into a corner. Getting permits for export of samples in Lima is problematic - everyone says so. Somehow, I thought I'd beat the odds - or at least be able to finesse something within a couple of months (I have back-up plans, friends who've offered to courier for me, all the way through the end of October). This morning, I was told by the woman who's been helping me at the INC that the process is backed up for at least 3 to 6 months. This is a problem. I don't have a friend that I know of who can pick up the samples in Lima in January-February (or whenever they're approved). I also can't start my research until the samples make it to the states, which will put my thesis behind schedule for at least half of a school year. BOTHER. This is not what I wanted.
Of course, I could have taken an easier route. Many encouraged me to do so. But noooo, I love Peru. Yep, that's right. I really like my project idea. I really like the culture group that it's based on and the theoretical basis and the lab techniques I plan to use and the other people who have been involved with this collection in the past. I really wanted to put it all together. Sigh.
So now, I'm just trying to complete my application for export so that I can get out of here. This is not easy either. The only thing I lack at the moment is copies of the official permits to excavate at the site from the 1987, 1995, 2002, and 2005 projects. These should be easy to get, don't you think? The museum should have them on file (they're still looking). The INC should have them on file (they can't find them). What to do? Come back on tuesday, says the INC.
My flight home is a scheduled for a week from tonight. I don't know if I can change it, but for some family reasons, I'd really like to get home sooner. It would seem possible, since I'm so close to completing my application and there's apparently no reason to wait around for approval. But, then again, things here are not always what they seem.
Thanks for listening. I'll see if I can scare up some adventure in the time that remains. (But honestly, I might spend a lot of time watching the Olympics too).
Hope y'all are well. Enjoy the games.
Karen
So, I am a stubborn person. This has been pointed out to me in the past. It usually works for me - in the "sticking with things until they turn out the way I want them to" sense - but this time I think I may have 'stubborned' myself into a corner. Getting permits for export of samples in Lima is problematic - everyone says so. Somehow, I thought I'd beat the odds - or at least be able to finesse something within a couple of months (I have back-up plans, friends who've offered to courier for me, all the way through the end of October). This morning, I was told by the woman who's been helping me at the INC that the process is backed up for at least 3 to 6 months. This is a problem. I don't have a friend that I know of who can pick up the samples in Lima in January-February (or whenever they're approved). I also can't start my research until the samples make it to the states, which will put my thesis behind schedule for at least half of a school year. BOTHER. This is not what I wanted.
Of course, I could have taken an easier route. Many encouraged me to do so. But noooo, I love Peru. Yep, that's right. I really like my project idea. I really like the culture group that it's based on and the theoretical basis and the lab techniques I plan to use and the other people who have been involved with this collection in the past. I really wanted to put it all together. Sigh.
So now, I'm just trying to complete my application for export so that I can get out of here. This is not easy either. The only thing I lack at the moment is copies of the official permits to excavate at the site from the 1987, 1995, 2002, and 2005 projects. These should be easy to get, don't you think? The museum should have them on file (they're still looking). The INC should have them on file (they can't find them). What to do? Come back on tuesday, says the INC.
My flight home is a scheduled for a week from tonight. I don't know if I can change it, but for some family reasons, I'd really like to get home sooner. It would seem possible, since I'm so close to completing my application and there's apparently no reason to wait around for approval. But, then again, things here are not always what they seem.
Thanks for listening. I'll see if I can scare up some adventure in the time that remains. (But honestly, I might spend a lot of time watching the Olympics too).
Hope y'all are well. Enjoy the games.
Karen
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The birthplace of the sun, and back to winter
Hello again,
I promised you all a while ago that I'd tell you about the Isla del Sol, which was a side trip I took during my first week down here. My base point was Copacabana, Bolivia, which was a very cute little resort town with swan boats along the lake and actual coffee in multiple restaurants (you'll find that the presence of coffee will always be noticed in my blog. My head is aching for some of that good dark fix right now).
From Copacabana, it takes about an hour and a half by boat to reach the south end of Isla del Sol, and another half hour to get to the northern port of Challapampa. Inka legends said that the sun was born in this place, and the Tiwanaku before them built temples and made pilgrimages to this sacred island. I figured I had to see it for myself (and take a water sample from the sacred font at the south end of the island!).
I was dropped off at the north port, and then hiked to the ruins on the north end of the island (about 2km - no big whoop, except that the lake itself is at 3820m, or 12,500 ft, and the island springs up from there). The only way get to the south end, where most of the hostels are, is to hike down the spine of the island, another 7km - which includes at least two or three "hills" which top 13,500ft. There are no cars on the island - no horses for rent either (although this would be a fabulous business idea for someone). So, having been at altitude for 5 days, I set off towards the southern town of Yumani. About half way there, a brilliant local set up a little store that sold coca leaf tea - exactly what I was wishing for up there! I took a break and chatted with a woman from Ireland who was travelling with two guys from Brazil. We all communicated in Spanish, which was an adventure with the various accents involved.
The island itself is really eye-scorchingly beautiful (to coin a phrase used by my hubby). The spine of the island juts up steeply from the lake, with terraced fields marking the altitude and occasional sheep or alpaca or donkeys grazing nearby. The lake below is a deep, sapphire blue. Local children have set up their enterprises along the trail, selling rocks they've collected or sometimes little llamas woven out of tortora reed, or dressed up to pose for photos. I took a lot of pictures - a few of the kids, a lot of the ruins and the landscape, but curiously, fewer and fewer as the miles wore on...
When I finally made it to the town of Yumani, there was no energy left to go looking for the fountain - that would wait until the next day. Instead, I found a hostel with a lovely view of the neighboring island of the moon, and I crashed. Note to self - hiking at altitude requires acclimatization! Also a hat. A hat would have been helpful. Although I wore my sunglasses all day, my eyes were scorched by the brightness up there. It's no suprise that this place is thought to be the source of the sun. When I got to Puno, later the next day, I had to go find some eyedrops. After a week or so, my eyes were mostly back to normal. But still I find that they're a bit sensitive to bright light.
This will not be a problem where I am now. I'm in Lima, where winter has asserted itself. The sky is overcast, the weather is misty, and I don't expect to see the sun again for the next week and a half that I'm here. I'm back in my multiple layers and fuzzy hat and wool socks. Just yesterday, my cheeks were being kissed by the sun in the plaza of Moquegua. Peru is a land of contrasts.
I'm settling in here though. This time I'm staying in the Pueblo Libre district, near to the museum and the INC office. I dropped off my samples this afternoon, and got my to-do list for the additional information they'll require. Getting all of that typed up and assembled should keep me busy for tomorrow (at least).
For now, I'm one step closer to my plane ride home. As much as I love Peru, I'm feeling very ready to get back to my life in California. Just another 10 days to go here. I hope I can get my samples through in time!
Take care, my friends. Wear your hats in the sun!
I'll see you soon,
Karen
I promised you all a while ago that I'd tell you about the Isla del Sol, which was a side trip I took during my first week down here. My base point was Copacabana, Bolivia, which was a very cute little resort town with swan boats along the lake and actual coffee in multiple restaurants (you'll find that the presence of coffee will always be noticed in my blog. My head is aching for some of that good dark fix right now).
From Copacabana, it takes about an hour and a half by boat to reach the south end of Isla del Sol, and another half hour to get to the northern port of Challapampa. Inka legends said that the sun was born in this place, and the Tiwanaku before them built temples and made pilgrimages to this sacred island. I figured I had to see it for myself (and take a water sample from the sacred font at the south end of the island!).
I was dropped off at the north port, and then hiked to the ruins on the north end of the island (about 2km - no big whoop, except that the lake itself is at 3820m, or 12,500 ft, and the island springs up from there). The only way get to the south end, where most of the hostels are, is to hike down the spine of the island, another 7km - which includes at least two or three "hills" which top 13,500ft. There are no cars on the island - no horses for rent either (although this would be a fabulous business idea for someone). So, having been at altitude for 5 days, I set off towards the southern town of Yumani. About half way there, a brilliant local set up a little store that sold coca leaf tea - exactly what I was wishing for up there! I took a break and chatted with a woman from Ireland who was travelling with two guys from Brazil. We all communicated in Spanish, which was an adventure with the various accents involved.
The island itself is really eye-scorchingly beautiful (to coin a phrase used by my hubby). The spine of the island juts up steeply from the lake, with terraced fields marking the altitude and occasional sheep or alpaca or donkeys grazing nearby. The lake below is a deep, sapphire blue. Local children have set up their enterprises along the trail, selling rocks they've collected or sometimes little llamas woven out of tortora reed, or dressed up to pose for photos. I took a lot of pictures - a few of the kids, a lot of the ruins and the landscape, but curiously, fewer and fewer as the miles wore on...
When I finally made it to the town of Yumani, there was no energy left to go looking for the fountain - that would wait until the next day. Instead, I found a hostel with a lovely view of the neighboring island of the moon, and I crashed. Note to self - hiking at altitude requires acclimatization! Also a hat. A hat would have been helpful. Although I wore my sunglasses all day, my eyes were scorched by the brightness up there. It's no suprise that this place is thought to be the source of the sun. When I got to Puno, later the next day, I had to go find some eyedrops. After a week or so, my eyes were mostly back to normal. But still I find that they're a bit sensitive to bright light.
This will not be a problem where I am now. I'm in Lima, where winter has asserted itself. The sky is overcast, the weather is misty, and I don't expect to see the sun again for the next week and a half that I'm here. I'm back in my multiple layers and fuzzy hat and wool socks. Just yesterday, my cheeks were being kissed by the sun in the plaza of Moquegua. Peru is a land of contrasts.
I'm settling in here though. This time I'm staying in the Pueblo Libre district, near to the museum and the INC office. I dropped off my samples this afternoon, and got my to-do list for the additional information they'll require. Getting all of that typed up and assembled should keep me busy for tomorrow (at least).
For now, I'm one step closer to my plane ride home. As much as I love Peru, I'm feeling very ready to get back to my life in California. Just another 10 days to go here. I hope I can get my samples through in time!
Take care, my friends. Wear your hats in the sun!
I'll see you soon,
Karen
Monday, August 4, 2008
Arequipa after all
Hello friends,
So, it's been a weekend. Saturday afternoon I went out pisco tasting with friends. We hired a taxi for the afternoon and visited three local bodegas. Each of these is a bit out of town, up on the hill above the city. The first was rustic, but had some very tasty products. The second wasn't officially open for tasting, but let us have a bit anyway. The star there was 'damasco' which is made my infusing pisco with apricots. The result is sweet, syrupy, apricoty deliciousness. Mmmmm. Our third stop was the best. It was actually not where we thought we were going to go, but it turned out to be wonderful. There was an outdoor patio with a view of the sunset over Moquegua, and we were treated to pitcher after pitcher of local wine and pisco along with the entire family of the owner. We chatted and joked together for hours and posed for several group pictures with the family. It was a really wonderful time.
When we got back to town, we met up with some other arch-y folks for dinner at a chicken place, where we were regaled by the local university's folklorica group. For some reason, these guys were all dressed in Rennaissance attire - complete with tights and slops and capes. Go figure. They surrounded our table for quite a while, and I somehow got pinned to waltz with one of them for a song while all of my companions tried to ignore them completely in hopes they'd go away. They played guitar-like instruments of various sizes, including lutes, tiny little ukelale sized guitars, and one which was essentally a wearable cello (my favorite).
After dinner, I check my e-mail. I had a message back from Romulo Pari, the Peruvian archaeologist who offered to sponser my exportation of samples out of Lima. Good news - he was still very willing to help out. Bad news - he had just left Lima and gone to Arequipa, where he'll stay for the duration of my trip. Sigh. So, I knew what I had to do on Sunday. It was a round trip visit to Arequipa for me.
I was out of my hotel before 7, and walked over to the archaeologist house where Bill Whitehead made me actual Pete's coffee (blessed be). He then walked with me to the museum and opened up the office so I could print my new letters for Romulo to sign. By 8:40, I was on a bus to Arequipa. Good news - I got the last seat! Bad news - the last seat is in the very back row of the bus, right next to the bathroom! Oh well, I was still rolling.
The ride to Arequipa usually takes 4 hours. We made good time though, clocking in at about 3 and 1/2. Along the way, we were treated to the second half of Rambo and all of Rambo II. I don't know what it is about Peruvians and violent American movies, but they're almost always featured on bus rides. Oh, and there aren't headphones. You get to hear the movie whether you really want to or not (dubbed in Spanish of course).
Anyway, I was in Arequipa by noon, and set out to find my old favorite restaurant and my favorite shop there. I succeeded in neither quest. Either they've moved or they've closed. Sad. But I did happen on a big parade featuring costumed and masked dancers and bands with their music taped to the backs of the players in front of them (conspicously there were no trombones - perhaps a safety issue!). I'm not sure why there was a parade. Several local villages were represented there. Also in attendence was Barney the dinosaur - my second Barney sighting this trip (again, what's up with that?).
After a lovely italian lunch (with another cup of coffee!), I tried to call Romulo with no luck. Yikes. So, I wandered a bit more, and bought a few supplies that I needed. I checked my e-mail in case he'd left a message. Nope. At 3:30, I tried his phone again, and this time got an answer. Hooray! He'd meet me in front of the cathedral on the plaza at 5. So, I returned to wandering and poking around in the shops and such.
I was surprised to hear my name called, and looked across the street to see the archaeologist Paul Goldstein and his family. They invited me up to a restaurant overlooking the plaza for a pisco sour (the foamy, lime juice and pisco, specialty drink of Peru). Fabulous. We sat in the sun, watched people wander in the plaza, saw another small parade/procession, and were regaled with monster riddles by Paul's daughter. It was lovely.
At 5, I met up with Romulo. We went to a coffee shop and chatted over cappucinos (coffee number three for the day! Wowza.) He signed my letters, and put me in a cab, and I was off to the bus station. Again, I got the last seat available on the next bus to Moquegua. Fabulous luck! This time there was no Rambo. Instead there was a movie called "Facing the Giants" which has the message that "with God, all things are possible", particularly if you're trying to win a high school football championship. It was amusing.
Today, I went to the museum, then over to the INC. The directora was there, and I am now sitting here in the internet cafe with signed authorization letters to transport my samples to Lima. Woo hoo! I also have my samples with me - a box of 55 assorted mummy bits in a tupperware container which I bought in the market here. The container is made by the Rey (King) company, who's motto is "God is Love". I wonder what the other folks in this internet place would think if they knew what's in my "God is Love" box...
So tonight, I'll be on the night bus to Lima. It leaves at 5:30pm and arrives sometime in the late morning tomorrow. I have a cushy "bus-cama" seat, which is a lot like a first-class plane seat. This should make the trip very comfy. I wonder what movie they'll show.
I'll write you all from Lima!
Karen
p.s. It's my first wedding anniversary today and here I am in Peru. My husband thinks this is very funny. Happy anniversary Steve! Thank you for being so supportive of your crazy wife and all her mummy-business.
So, it's been a weekend. Saturday afternoon I went out pisco tasting with friends. We hired a taxi for the afternoon and visited three local bodegas. Each of these is a bit out of town, up on the hill above the city. The first was rustic, but had some very tasty products. The second wasn't officially open for tasting, but let us have a bit anyway. The star there was 'damasco' which is made my infusing pisco with apricots. The result is sweet, syrupy, apricoty deliciousness. Mmmmm. Our third stop was the best. It was actually not where we thought we were going to go, but it turned out to be wonderful. There was an outdoor patio with a view of the sunset over Moquegua, and we were treated to pitcher after pitcher of local wine and pisco along with the entire family of the owner. We chatted and joked together for hours and posed for several group pictures with the family. It was a really wonderful time.
When we got back to town, we met up with some other arch-y folks for dinner at a chicken place, where we were regaled by the local university's folklorica group. For some reason, these guys were all dressed in Rennaissance attire - complete with tights and slops and capes. Go figure. They surrounded our table for quite a while, and I somehow got pinned to waltz with one of them for a song while all of my companions tried to ignore them completely in hopes they'd go away. They played guitar-like instruments of various sizes, including lutes, tiny little ukelale sized guitars, and one which was essentally a wearable cello (my favorite).
After dinner, I check my e-mail. I had a message back from Romulo Pari, the Peruvian archaeologist who offered to sponser my exportation of samples out of Lima. Good news - he was still very willing to help out. Bad news - he had just left Lima and gone to Arequipa, where he'll stay for the duration of my trip. Sigh. So, I knew what I had to do on Sunday. It was a round trip visit to Arequipa for me.
I was out of my hotel before 7, and walked over to the archaeologist house where Bill Whitehead made me actual Pete's coffee (blessed be). He then walked with me to the museum and opened up the office so I could print my new letters for Romulo to sign. By 8:40, I was on a bus to Arequipa. Good news - I got the last seat! Bad news - the last seat is in the very back row of the bus, right next to the bathroom! Oh well, I was still rolling.
The ride to Arequipa usually takes 4 hours. We made good time though, clocking in at about 3 and 1/2. Along the way, we were treated to the second half of Rambo and all of Rambo II. I don't know what it is about Peruvians and violent American movies, but they're almost always featured on bus rides. Oh, and there aren't headphones. You get to hear the movie whether you really want to or not (dubbed in Spanish of course).
Anyway, I was in Arequipa by noon, and set out to find my old favorite restaurant and my favorite shop there. I succeeded in neither quest. Either they've moved or they've closed. Sad. But I did happen on a big parade featuring costumed and masked dancers and bands with their music taped to the backs of the players in front of them (conspicously there were no trombones - perhaps a safety issue!). I'm not sure why there was a parade. Several local villages were represented there. Also in attendence was Barney the dinosaur - my second Barney sighting this trip (again, what's up with that?).
After a lovely italian lunch (with another cup of coffee!), I tried to call Romulo with no luck. Yikes. So, I wandered a bit more, and bought a few supplies that I needed. I checked my e-mail in case he'd left a message. Nope. At 3:30, I tried his phone again, and this time got an answer. Hooray! He'd meet me in front of the cathedral on the plaza at 5. So, I returned to wandering and poking around in the shops and such.
I was surprised to hear my name called, and looked across the street to see the archaeologist Paul Goldstein and his family. They invited me up to a restaurant overlooking the plaza for a pisco sour (the foamy, lime juice and pisco, specialty drink of Peru). Fabulous. We sat in the sun, watched people wander in the plaza, saw another small parade/procession, and were regaled with monster riddles by Paul's daughter. It was lovely.
At 5, I met up with Romulo. We went to a coffee shop and chatted over cappucinos (coffee number three for the day! Wowza.) He signed my letters, and put me in a cab, and I was off to the bus station. Again, I got the last seat available on the next bus to Moquegua. Fabulous luck! This time there was no Rambo. Instead there was a movie called "Facing the Giants" which has the message that "with God, all things are possible", particularly if you're trying to win a high school football championship. It was amusing.
Today, I went to the museum, then over to the INC. The directora was there, and I am now sitting here in the internet cafe with signed authorization letters to transport my samples to Lima. Woo hoo! I also have my samples with me - a box of 55 assorted mummy bits in a tupperware container which I bought in the market here. The container is made by the Rey (King) company, who's motto is "God is Love". I wonder what the other folks in this internet place would think if they knew what's in my "God is Love" box...
So tonight, I'll be on the night bus to Lima. It leaves at 5:30pm and arrives sometime in the late morning tomorrow. I have a cushy "bus-cama" seat, which is a lot like a first-class plane seat. This should make the trip very comfy. I wonder what movie they'll show.
I'll write you all from Lima!
Karen
p.s. It's my first wedding anniversary today and here I am in Peru. My husband thinks this is very funny. Happy anniversary Steve! Thank you for being so supportive of your crazy wife and all her mummy-business.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Roll with it baby
I've done a lot of travelling, not only here in Peru, but also in Europe and Asia. One lesson presents itself again and again. A traveller has to be flexible - things change and there's not much to be done but roll with it.
So I am learning again. Today I got all of my samples approved at the National Institute of Culture (INC). The list was checked and checked again. Everything looks good. All I need is the signature of the director of the INC in Moquegua. As it turns out though, she's sick today. She called in and couldn't make it to the office. They hope she'll be in on Monday. What to do? Roll with it.
I had planned on spending the weekend in Arequipa (a really lovely city with actual coffee and a Morrocan restaurant and a supermarket). This is not to be. I was also planning to be in Lima by Monday. Likewise changed. This is okay. I'm going to stay a bit longer in my sweet little hotel with the garden. I'm going to get to play with some Chiribaya textiles tomorrow...I mentioned that I have a little training in textiles and now the women in the museum want me to teach them something - I hope I can remember a few things! It's been a while since I tapped that knowledge, and I've never tried to explain it in Spanish.
Also, I'm planning to go out on the 'Ruta del Pisco' tomorrow afternoon with friends. Pisco is essentially a brandy made from grapes, and is the national drink of Peru (I'm not sure if that's official, but there's no doubt about it). I'm in the heart of Pisco country. A little tasting seems like a brilliant idea for a Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday, I've been invited to accompany my friend Niki to her archaeological site, which should be great fun too.
So, I have a down weekend, where I'll do a whole lot less eating in fancy restaurants and shopping in sweet little stores, but I have a good line-up ahead. Hopefully the diretor of the INC will be feeling better by Monday, or more rolling will be required!
So I am learning again. Today I got all of my samples approved at the National Institute of Culture (INC). The list was checked and checked again. Everything looks good. All I need is the signature of the director of the INC in Moquegua. As it turns out though, she's sick today. She called in and couldn't make it to the office. They hope she'll be in on Monday. What to do? Roll with it.
I had planned on spending the weekend in Arequipa (a really lovely city with actual coffee and a Morrocan restaurant and a supermarket). This is not to be. I was also planning to be in Lima by Monday. Likewise changed. This is okay. I'm going to stay a bit longer in my sweet little hotel with the garden. I'm going to get to play with some Chiribaya textiles tomorrow...I mentioned that I have a little training in textiles and now the women in the museum want me to teach them something - I hope I can remember a few things! It's been a while since I tapped that knowledge, and I've never tried to explain it in Spanish.
Also, I'm planning to go out on the 'Ruta del Pisco' tomorrow afternoon with friends. Pisco is essentially a brandy made from grapes, and is the national drink of Peru (I'm not sure if that's official, but there's no doubt about it). I'm in the heart of Pisco country. A little tasting seems like a brilliant idea for a Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday, I've been invited to accompany my friend Niki to her archaeological site, which should be great fun too.
So, I have a down weekend, where I'll do a whole lot less eating in fancy restaurants and shopping in sweet little stores, but I have a good line-up ahead. Hopefully the diretor of the INC will be feeling better by Monday, or more rolling will be required!
There was a bit of rolling required last Wednesday too, when I took my little trip down to the coastal town of Ilo. I went to pick up some more water samples from the river (the same one that flows through Moquegua) and also to visit the Centro Mallqui Museum in Algarrobal - just outside of Ilo.
I was out of my hotel by 8 and in a collectivo by 8:10, heading for Ilo. They dropped me at the plaza (every town in Peru has a central plaza, and they are always a good place to start when you're not sure where you're going). I wanted to get to the mouth of the river, but not knowing where that was, I wandered for a few blocks, found a travel agent, and asked for help. She was terrific and let me know that what I really wanted was a cab. So, I went back to the plaza to find one, but first found a breakfast place with a COFFEE MACHINE. You in the States probably have no idea how thrilling this is, but somehow Nestle has convinced the entire country of Peru that NesCafe is the best of all possible ways to drink coffee, and in Moquegua that's all there is.
After breakfast, I found a cab, drove along the Pacific Coast (yipee!) and then to the river, where the driver waited while I sampled. Then he took me on up to the museum.
Centro Mallqui is the bioarchaeological institute in Peru, run by Dra. Sonia Guillen. They have two museums. The other one is in Leymebamba, where I was last summer. I was excited to see the facilities in Ilo. I wrote to Sonia before my visit, and she graciously arranged for a private tour for me with Rosa Choque, a wonderful woman who works and lives at the museum. Rosa gave me a behind-the-scenes look at the collections, including many fabulous mummies, amazing textiles, tons of ceramics, faunal collections, lithics, and a whole shelving area for corprolitos (old poop for the non-archaeologists in the crowd). The facilities are truly impressive. The museum is lovely too, and is well worth the visit. The Chiribaya culture lived on the south coast from about 1000ad until about 1400ad (those are approximate dates pulled from memory, but they're close). Preservation in the coastal desert is absolutely amazing - everything mummifies - people, llamas, dogs, guinea pigs, it's bioarch heaven.
After my tour, I asked about taking some samples for a little side project I'm working on. I had written the week before about this, and had a letter of permission from the archaeologist in charge of that particular collection, but it was not to be. There is a protocol to arranging for access to collections, which involves advance notice, arrangements between the head archaeologist and the curator of the museum, and compensation for the time and trouble of the staff. This is not something that can be done at the last minute. Or by students, for that matter. So, there was nothing to do but roll with it. I collected another water sample from the river, had some lunch, oogled the replica textiles that Rosa had created, and set out for 'home'.
Well, setting out is one of those relative things. I left the museum, crossed the street, and waited there for a car, bus, collectivo, mule, anything heading back down to Ilo. Forty-five minutes later, I was still standing there. When a busload of health workers finished touring the museum, I asked a fellow if perhaps they had space for one more. He said no. They were full. Okay fine. Then another doctor said 'Come on, we can fit one more' and I jumped at the opportunity. So, I rode back to Ilo in a bus crammed full of health care workers. The driver was great, and let me stay on the bus after they were dropped off so that he could take me right to the corner where collectivos left for Moquegua. I hopped out, thanked him profusely, grabbed a collectivo back to town, and headed back to the museum lab, where I worked until midnight to get everything ready to present on Thursday so I'd have clearance to take my samples out of town by Friday. Back to story #1...
But no worries. I'm rolling.
:)
Karen
p.s. And very importantly, yesterday was my niece Nicole's 8th birthday! Happy Birthday Nicole!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The good, the good, the bad, the good, and the ugly
Hello again friends,
I've had myself a day. Technically, I suppose, my day started in the wee hours while I was still at the 28th of July party hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) archaeology team. (July 28th is a big national holiday here - sort of a Peruvian 4th of July). They booked a local restaurant pub, hired a DJ, and we partied like archaeologists until the wee hours. I left at 2:30am feeling like an old biddy, as the party was still going strong. Lots of other arch-y folks who work in Southern Peru came too - it was the 25th annual 'Verticality Fiesta' after all. It was a really good time. (Good number 1).
So, the night was short and then I went to the lab to finish up my work there. I am essentially done (this is Good number 2). My sample is not as large as I hoped though, and I had some worries about whether it was big enough for a thesis. This is a question I had posed a few days back to my advisor.
When I checked my e-mail, I got my answer. Essentially, he said that with a sample that small, I'd have to find a new research question. I interpreted this as a red light - essentially telling me that, while this idea might have been good, it was also quixotic and at best might be a paper to write for a journal - not a thesis. So, I spent the next three hours in a state of disillusionment and depression (this would be 'The Bad').
I waited until after lunchtime in the States, and gave my advisor a call to talk it all over. As it turns out, my interpretation of his e-mail was a bit melodramatic and not at all accurate. Yes, the research question may need to be slighty tweeked from the last version that I presented to him, but the general plan is fine. I am cleared to go forward with my thesis using my samples from here, whatever size the final group turns out to be. WOO HOO! (This would be good number 3).
I buzzed around town, taking care of errands. Then after a brief stop at my hotel, I decided that tonight I would eat at the nice place down the road, where entrees cost up to $10! (This is very expensive by Peruvian standards.) I ordered one of my favorite things here, 'corvina a lo macho', which is sea bass covered in a fabulous tomato based sauce full of shellfish and octopus. The waiter checked to be sure they had shellfish - they did! But then he came back and told me that they were out of the fish. Bummer. He suggested 'camarones' (shrimp). Okay fine, I ordered the camerones sudado. I'd never had this dish before, but a sudado with fish is poached in a yummy broth with onion and herbs and served with rice - tasty stuff.
Okay, now we get to The Ugly. What arrives at my table is a bowl of broth, piled high with whole, steamed crawdads (minus the heads but otherwise entirely intact), and an extra bowl at the side for the dismembered bits that don't get eaten. This is not what I expected. For the second time in my life, I am sitting in a restaurant completely mystified as to how to go about eating the food in front of me. These critters are fairly large - 5 to 6 inches long, all curled up with legs and thorax and all. I tug at the legs. They don't come off. I sit staring at my plate. Finally, the waitress notices my distress and I try to explain that I didn't expect them to be whole. She thinks that I think she gave me something I didn't order. I assure her that I know I ordered this, I just don't know how to eat it. So, a little kid from a nearby table comes over and starts attacking one of my camarones with his fingers to show me how to peel it. His mother then comes over, removes the camaron to the scrap plate and tears it apart with her fingers. Okay, I get it. Then the waitress comes over to assist in the camaron-training session and dismembers the entire thing with a knife and fork. This is not quick or easy. It takes a good five minutes. At the end of the demo, she admits that it's easiest with fingers. So there I am, in my swanky restaurant, reduced to tearing apart critters with legs and squishy stuff that comes out of their thorax (I belive I know what this is, but I choose to not think about it).
For those who may not know, I'm a pseudo-vegetarian. Meaning that I eat seafood, but no other meats. I have trouble with food that looks like living critters. Tearing apart gushy crawdads in a fancy restaurant is not appetizing for me. But I also don't want critters who died to be on my plate to go to waste. So, I dutifully tore each and every crawdad in half, peeled the tail, and ate them. They were pretty tasty - just darn ugly. When I made it through the pile, the waitress came back to offer another lesson on how to further mutilate the remains to find more tasty bits inside. I declined. Sorry camerones - I just couldn't do it.
So, all in all, it's been a good day - with a few ups and downs. Tomorrow I have an adventure, heading down to the coast to see a museum, collect some water samples, and work on a side project with museum collections there if they'll let me. It should be fun. I'll tell you all about it on Thursday.
Until then, I hope you're all well and having fun this summer.
Karen
I've had myself a day. Technically, I suppose, my day started in the wee hours while I was still at the 28th of July party hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) archaeology team. (July 28th is a big national holiday here - sort of a Peruvian 4th of July). They booked a local restaurant pub, hired a DJ, and we partied like archaeologists until the wee hours. I left at 2:30am feeling like an old biddy, as the party was still going strong. Lots of other arch-y folks who work in Southern Peru came too - it was the 25th annual 'Verticality Fiesta' after all. It was a really good time. (Good number 1).
So, the night was short and then I went to the lab to finish up my work there. I am essentially done (this is Good number 2). My sample is not as large as I hoped though, and I had some worries about whether it was big enough for a thesis. This is a question I had posed a few days back to my advisor.
When I checked my e-mail, I got my answer. Essentially, he said that with a sample that small, I'd have to find a new research question. I interpreted this as a red light - essentially telling me that, while this idea might have been good, it was also quixotic and at best might be a paper to write for a journal - not a thesis. So, I spent the next three hours in a state of disillusionment and depression (this would be 'The Bad').
I waited until after lunchtime in the States, and gave my advisor a call to talk it all over. As it turns out, my interpretation of his e-mail was a bit melodramatic and not at all accurate. Yes, the research question may need to be slighty tweeked from the last version that I presented to him, but the general plan is fine. I am cleared to go forward with my thesis using my samples from here, whatever size the final group turns out to be. WOO HOO! (This would be good number 3).
I buzzed around town, taking care of errands. Then after a brief stop at my hotel, I decided that tonight I would eat at the nice place down the road, where entrees cost up to $10! (This is very expensive by Peruvian standards.) I ordered one of my favorite things here, 'corvina a lo macho', which is sea bass covered in a fabulous tomato based sauce full of shellfish and octopus. The waiter checked to be sure they had shellfish - they did! But then he came back and told me that they were out of the fish. Bummer. He suggested 'camarones' (shrimp). Okay fine, I ordered the camerones sudado. I'd never had this dish before, but a sudado with fish is poached in a yummy broth with onion and herbs and served with rice - tasty stuff.
Okay, now we get to The Ugly. What arrives at my table is a bowl of broth, piled high with whole, steamed crawdads (minus the heads but otherwise entirely intact), and an extra bowl at the side for the dismembered bits that don't get eaten. This is not what I expected. For the second time in my life, I am sitting in a restaurant completely mystified as to how to go about eating the food in front of me. These critters are fairly large - 5 to 6 inches long, all curled up with legs and thorax and all. I tug at the legs. They don't come off. I sit staring at my plate. Finally, the waitress notices my distress and I try to explain that I didn't expect them to be whole. She thinks that I think she gave me something I didn't order. I assure her that I know I ordered this, I just don't know how to eat it. So, a little kid from a nearby table comes over and starts attacking one of my camarones with his fingers to show me how to peel it. His mother then comes over, removes the camaron to the scrap plate and tears it apart with her fingers. Okay, I get it. Then the waitress comes over to assist in the camaron-training session and dismembers the entire thing with a knife and fork. This is not quick or easy. It takes a good five minutes. At the end of the demo, she admits that it's easiest with fingers. So there I am, in my swanky restaurant, reduced to tearing apart critters with legs and squishy stuff that comes out of their thorax (I belive I know what this is, but I choose to not think about it).
For those who may not know, I'm a pseudo-vegetarian. Meaning that I eat seafood, but no other meats. I have trouble with food that looks like living critters. Tearing apart gushy crawdads in a fancy restaurant is not appetizing for me. But I also don't want critters who died to be on my plate to go to waste. So, I dutifully tore each and every crawdad in half, peeled the tail, and ate them. They were pretty tasty - just darn ugly. When I made it through the pile, the waitress came back to offer another lesson on how to further mutilate the remains to find more tasty bits inside. I declined. Sorry camerones - I just couldn't do it.
So, all in all, it's been a good day - with a few ups and downs. Tomorrow I have an adventure, heading down to the coast to see a museum, collect some water samples, and work on a side project with museum collections there if they'll let me. It should be fun. I'll tell you all about it on Thursday.
Until then, I hope you're all well and having fun this summer.
Karen
Thursday, July 24, 2008
A day in the life
Hello friends,
I'm not sure that I can say that any day here is what I'd call 'normal' in my usual life, but I thought I'd tell you about a 'normal' day for me here in Moquegua.
I generally sleep until 7:30 or so, then shower and get ready to head out by about 8 or so. I have a good breakfast at my favorite place (I told you about the avocado and cheese and bread breakfast, right? It's lovely. I alternate between that and scrambled eggs with bread. Both meals come with coffee (Nescafe) and freshly pressed papaya juice, and the egg meal has yogurt too.) From there, I head to the museum lab by about 9am, and work there until 1ish, when I break for lunch.
The museum has collections on three levels, and in various rooms. It's a bit of a challenge to figure out where to look for which box. Space is at a premium, so many of the isles between shelving units don't have enough space for my shoulders if I stand perpendicular to the shelves. That makes pulling boxes in and out an interesting logistical problem. There's no Container Store here, so when it was discovered that whisky boxes could be purchased in Tacna in bulk, the shelves were designed to their proportions, and to walk the collections would make you think that there was a whole LOT of drinking going on by those archaeologists (even archaeologists can't drink THAT much). The shelves are high too, so there's a trick to finding a chair that actually fits between the shelves so that I can climb up and down. Once I find my boxes, I have a table to spread everything out on to examine it. It's not a huge table - only about a card-table sized space in the middle of a long stretch of other tables. The small size makes it interesting when I'm trying to lay out a full sized skeleton, but it works pretty well for mummy bundles - they are generally seated with their knees drawn up tight, so they don't take a lot of room. The other tables are occupied by other folks doing research, and we usually have a good soundtrack of contraband CDs going - Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, and Cold Play get a lot of air time.
Lunch varies day to day. It's the big meal of the day here, so assuming I'm in the lab all day, I'll often go to a restaurant and have a big plate of chicharones (mixed fried seafood) or chaufa (Peruvian Chinese food) or something. Whatever you order here comes with fried potatoes and white rice. These folks have never heard of the Atkins diet.
After lunch, it's back to the lab, where I generally work until 8pm or so. Then I find some dinner, maybe stop at the internet place and the phone place, and head back to my hotel.
About internet places and phone places...it seems that almost nobody does these things from home. Internet places are everywhere - each featuring several little cubbies with computers. They charge for time, but the rates are cheap. I'm currently paying about 35 cents per hour. Not bad. Phone places are similar - they build several little phone booths inside a storefront and you go there to make any sort of long distance call. The nicer ones have a wooden bench to sit on and a little desktop with the phone on it and a little box on the wall which tells you how long you've been talking and what it will cost you.
My new hotel is much better for me than the old one. It has a garden and I wake up to actual sunlight coming through the high windows. There were more angles involved in building the room than the carpenters could manage - some of the window frames follow the slant of the roof rather than the plane of the floor - but everything seems to open and close properly and it's cozy enough to call home for another week or so.
I'm excited today because I sent my clothes out to be washed. Hopefully I'll come home to actual clean clothes! After a few weeks of working with dusty boxes full of things that came out of the dirt (and still carry a good bit of dirt with them) and also traipsing around at some local archaeological sites (I owe you stories), everything I have was filthy. But (hopefully) it will all be clean now. Yippee!
On that happy note, I'll say good night.
Good night!
Karen
I'm not sure that I can say that any day here is what I'd call 'normal' in my usual life, but I thought I'd tell you about a 'normal' day for me here in Moquegua.
I generally sleep until 7:30 or so, then shower and get ready to head out by about 8 or so. I have a good breakfast at my favorite place (I told you about the avocado and cheese and bread breakfast, right? It's lovely. I alternate between that and scrambled eggs with bread. Both meals come with coffee (Nescafe) and freshly pressed papaya juice, and the egg meal has yogurt too.) From there, I head to the museum lab by about 9am, and work there until 1ish, when I break for lunch.
The museum has collections on three levels, and in various rooms. It's a bit of a challenge to figure out where to look for which box. Space is at a premium, so many of the isles between shelving units don't have enough space for my shoulders if I stand perpendicular to the shelves. That makes pulling boxes in and out an interesting logistical problem. There's no Container Store here, so when it was discovered that whisky boxes could be purchased in Tacna in bulk, the shelves were designed to their proportions, and to walk the collections would make you think that there was a whole LOT of drinking going on by those archaeologists (even archaeologists can't drink THAT much). The shelves are high too, so there's a trick to finding a chair that actually fits between the shelves so that I can climb up and down. Once I find my boxes, I have a table to spread everything out on to examine it. It's not a huge table - only about a card-table sized space in the middle of a long stretch of other tables. The small size makes it interesting when I'm trying to lay out a full sized skeleton, but it works pretty well for mummy bundles - they are generally seated with their knees drawn up tight, so they don't take a lot of room. The other tables are occupied by other folks doing research, and we usually have a good soundtrack of contraband CDs going - Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, and Cold Play get a lot of air time.
Lunch varies day to day. It's the big meal of the day here, so assuming I'm in the lab all day, I'll often go to a restaurant and have a big plate of chicharones (mixed fried seafood) or chaufa (Peruvian Chinese food) or something. Whatever you order here comes with fried potatoes and white rice. These folks have never heard of the Atkins diet.
After lunch, it's back to the lab, where I generally work until 8pm or so. Then I find some dinner, maybe stop at the internet place and the phone place, and head back to my hotel.
About internet places and phone places...it seems that almost nobody does these things from home. Internet places are everywhere - each featuring several little cubbies with computers. They charge for time, but the rates are cheap. I'm currently paying about 35 cents per hour. Not bad. Phone places are similar - they build several little phone booths inside a storefront and you go there to make any sort of long distance call. The nicer ones have a wooden bench to sit on and a little desktop with the phone on it and a little box on the wall which tells you how long you've been talking and what it will cost you.
My new hotel is much better for me than the old one. It has a garden and I wake up to actual sunlight coming through the high windows. There were more angles involved in building the room than the carpenters could manage - some of the window frames follow the slant of the roof rather than the plane of the floor - but everything seems to open and close properly and it's cozy enough to call home for another week or so.
I'm excited today because I sent my clothes out to be washed. Hopefully I'll come home to actual clean clothes! After a few weeks of working with dusty boxes full of things that came out of the dirt (and still carry a good bit of dirt with them) and also traipsing around at some local archaeological sites (I owe you stories), everything I have was filthy. But (hopefully) it will all be clean now. Yippee!
On that happy note, I'll say good night.
Good night!
Karen
Monday, July 21, 2008
Boldly going where local folks go all the time...
So, I have an adventurous tale for you. It features me, the intreped seeker-of-water-slash-bioarchaeologist. Yesterday being Sunday, I decided to use my time by going south in search of undisturbed water systems. I couldn't find a decent map of the area (Lonely Planet has never heard of these places, and the museum has detailed maps for Moquegua but not the valleys south). I spent a dizzying time on Google Earth, and then received advice from Bruce and Yumilex and Marcos at the museum. They decided my best bet was to get water at the Sama bridge, then backtrack to the town of Locumba, and perhaps proceed to Tacna and then the mouth of the Sama river from there. This involved hitting three different rivers at various points. I had a hand drawn map in ball point pen in hand and was feeling good, so I headed down to the bus depot.
I wasn't actually looking for a bus. I was looking for a car. There are two kinds of colectivos here. I told you about the mini-bus sort of colectivo. The other kind is essentially a personal car which drives back and forth between places, carrying passengers. This is fairly informal, but there's a set price that all drivers charge to go to Tacna - 20 soles (about $7).
I told my driver I was only going to the Sama bridge. As it turned out, I got out at the Camiara Bridge, which is the river that flows through Locumba. Somehow this made more sense to me. I got my sample, climbed up the bank, and found another colectivo (of the minibus variety) which took me to the sweet little town of Locumba. Along the way we had a slight delay when we ran out of gas, and the driver grabbed a 1.5L pop bottle full of gasoline out of the back and poured it into the tank. That took us the rest of the way up the hill. Hooray.
Locumba has a few paved roads, a very pretty church next to the town plaza, and an enormous and professional looking soccer stadium (priorities, doncha know). A walkway led down from town to the stadium, and several of the townspeople gathered at the top with their chairs and their snacks to watch over the stadium walls. I walked on down the path and over to the river and took my sample, feeling mighty good to be outdoors and near a river.
When I got back up the hill, there was another collectivo in the plaza, on its way to Tacna. This was working out perfectly!!! I hopped in, and after a brief stop at the local police academy (where we were picking up visitors after family day), we headed off to Tacna. Along the way, we passed the Sama Bridge, where the river was very very low. This was a potential problem. The mouth of the Sama River was my goal for the evening, and it was likely to be much lower there. But, I was smooshed into the back of a colectivo, and had a vision of my goal, and I kept on riding to Tacna.
From there, I found a local bus going to Boca del Rio (the mouth of the river) which is also a popular seaside resort town, according to my Lonely Planet. I had fabulous visions of a seafood dinner and an evening walk on the beach to the mouth of the river for my sample gathering.
Yeah. Well. It didn't really work out that way.
We got to Boca del Rio about 7pm, and it was full on dark, and totally shut down. There was nothing resort looking about the place. About now I asked about when the bus was returning to Tacna and found out that it wasn't going back until the next day. Okay, well somehow I still thought that the cute and resorty part of town must be just ahead and I'd stay on the bus until we got there. Yeah. So the bus stops at the town just north of Boca del Rio, called Vila Vila. There are no hotels of any sort in Vila Vila. There is one restaurant. It sells sandwiches. The sandwiches are french fries and sliced hotdogs on hamburger buns. That's the menu. So, not being a meat eater, I had a french fry sandwich while trying to figure out what to do. (It was actually not bad.) My bus driver had helped me out with a few choices. I could sleep on the bus. I could sleep in his living room (this actually seemed to be a very innocent and helpful offer). Or, I could wait on this random street corner he showed me where a guy with a car came by every night at 8:20 to take people to Boca del Rio. I decided on the third option.
But, while waiting there, I bought myself a bottle of water. The man there told me that a bus going to Tacna ran by town on the main road at 8pm, and would stop for passengers if I got there in time. So much for the guy with the car. I booked it back uphill to the road, caught the bus, made it to Tacna, found a car to Moquegua, and was back in town by 11:15pm. Whew! What a night!
The whole thing was a bit silly as far as the water fetching project (other than the first two stops, I got no samples and probably they wouldn't have been worthwhile anyway given the low river level). But it was an adventure, and it all came out well. Everyone I asked for directions or help was truly nice to me. I really have never felt threatened in Peru. It's a great country.
Livin' the traveller's life,
Karen
I wasn't actually looking for a bus. I was looking for a car. There are two kinds of colectivos here. I told you about the mini-bus sort of colectivo. The other kind is essentially a personal car which drives back and forth between places, carrying passengers. This is fairly informal, but there's a set price that all drivers charge to go to Tacna - 20 soles (about $7).
I told my driver I was only going to the Sama bridge. As it turned out, I got out at the Camiara Bridge, which is the river that flows through Locumba. Somehow this made more sense to me. I got my sample, climbed up the bank, and found another colectivo (of the minibus variety) which took me to the sweet little town of Locumba. Along the way we had a slight delay when we ran out of gas, and the driver grabbed a 1.5L pop bottle full of gasoline out of the back and poured it into the tank. That took us the rest of the way up the hill. Hooray.
Locumba has a few paved roads, a very pretty church next to the town plaza, and an enormous and professional looking soccer stadium (priorities, doncha know). A walkway led down from town to the stadium, and several of the townspeople gathered at the top with their chairs and their snacks to watch over the stadium walls. I walked on down the path and over to the river and took my sample, feeling mighty good to be outdoors and near a river.
When I got back up the hill, there was another collectivo in the plaza, on its way to Tacna. This was working out perfectly!!! I hopped in, and after a brief stop at the local police academy (where we were picking up visitors after family day), we headed off to Tacna. Along the way, we passed the Sama Bridge, where the river was very very low. This was a potential problem. The mouth of the Sama River was my goal for the evening, and it was likely to be much lower there. But, I was smooshed into the back of a colectivo, and had a vision of my goal, and I kept on riding to Tacna.
From there, I found a local bus going to Boca del Rio (the mouth of the river) which is also a popular seaside resort town, according to my Lonely Planet. I had fabulous visions of a seafood dinner and an evening walk on the beach to the mouth of the river for my sample gathering.
Yeah. Well. It didn't really work out that way.
We got to Boca del Rio about 7pm, and it was full on dark, and totally shut down. There was nothing resort looking about the place. About now I asked about when the bus was returning to Tacna and found out that it wasn't going back until the next day. Okay, well somehow I still thought that the cute and resorty part of town must be just ahead and I'd stay on the bus until we got there. Yeah. So the bus stops at the town just north of Boca del Rio, called Vila Vila. There are no hotels of any sort in Vila Vila. There is one restaurant. It sells sandwiches. The sandwiches are french fries and sliced hotdogs on hamburger buns. That's the menu. So, not being a meat eater, I had a french fry sandwich while trying to figure out what to do. (It was actually not bad.) My bus driver had helped me out with a few choices. I could sleep on the bus. I could sleep in his living room (this actually seemed to be a very innocent and helpful offer). Or, I could wait on this random street corner he showed me where a guy with a car came by every night at 8:20 to take people to Boca del Rio. I decided on the third option.
But, while waiting there, I bought myself a bottle of water. The man there told me that a bus going to Tacna ran by town on the main road at 8pm, and would stop for passengers if I got there in time. So much for the guy with the car. I booked it back uphill to the road, caught the bus, made it to Tacna, found a car to Moquegua, and was back in town by 11:15pm. Whew! What a night!
The whole thing was a bit silly as far as the water fetching project (other than the first two stops, I got no samples and probably they wouldn't have been worthwhile anyway given the low river level). But it was an adventure, and it all came out well. Everyone I asked for directions or help was truly nice to me. I really have never felt threatened in Peru. It's a great country.
Livin' the traveller's life,
Karen
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Can you ever have too many mummies?
So, this has been my problem of late. For my project, I need good preservation - hair has to have survived for 1000-1200 years. This actually isn't a problem here. Moquegua is at the northern end of the Atacama Desert, the driest desert on earth, which is great for drying things out. The problem I'm facing is that preservation is too good. Which is to say, when I look for individuals with hair to sample, I'm finding that the rest of them preserved too - they're full-on mummies, skin and all. So, this presents a little problem for me. It's one thing to say that I want a little sample of bone from a disarticulated skeleton (usually a rib end). But to saw through intact skin with a dremel and hack out a bone just seems wrong somehow. (Yes, I have very weird ethical dilemmas).
But, thankfully, I have a solution. I got approval today to forego bone when it's just too destructive. I can do it all with hair. Ain't that grand?!? So, this helps me out a lot with getting a sample size that's adequately big and also representative of all the people in the population (somehow, up to now, I'm just getting women and kids).
By the way, if all of this casual talk about the deceased is bothersome to you, I do apologize. Spending a lot of time with bioarchaeologists can radically change your perspective. And, you might as well face it if you're reading my blog....I really like bones.
So, it's back to the lab for me on Monday. But first, there's more water to be gathered. Today I took a taxi up the Moquegua Valley to a lovely spot on the river and took a sample there. Tomorrow, I head south and try to find a good sample in that direction. This will involve taking a colectivo (see previous blog for words on those), then getting dropped off at a crossroads, flagging another ride of some sort, finding the river, making sure that I'm upriver from the copper plant, and then doing all of that in reverse to get back to Moquegua. No worries! (Mom, if you're reading this don't worry - people are truly very nice here and I've done this sort of crazy thing before).
Life in Moquegua is going very well. I'm spending lots of time in the lab, and seeking out good places to eat. I'm fond of the "Moquegua Breakfast". It's a large bread roll shaped like a starfish, served with a whole avocado, cut in half, and a slab of local cheese (queso andino - it's soft and white and a little bit sour and very yummy). This comes with the "special juice" which is something like an orange julius, and a fabulous cup of NesCafe (yes I said fabulous...I'm trying to convince myself since it's the only coffee to be had here). In any case, the bread and avocado and cheese combo is a delicious, if unusual for me, way to start the day. Oh, and tomorrow morning, I'm moving to a new hostal with a lovely garden courtyard - much better than the tiny, loud, windowless room (which still smells a bit of fish) that I have now in a hostal on a busy street. It will cost me an extra 4 soles per night (about $1.35). I think it's worth it!
I hope that all is well with all of you at home. I'm getting things done here. It feels good to be productive. And I'm coming home four weeks from today! Woo hoo.
Karen
But, thankfully, I have a solution. I got approval today to forego bone when it's just too destructive. I can do it all with hair. Ain't that grand?!? So, this helps me out a lot with getting a sample size that's adequately big and also representative of all the people in the population (somehow, up to now, I'm just getting women and kids).
By the way, if all of this casual talk about the deceased is bothersome to you, I do apologize. Spending a lot of time with bioarchaeologists can radically change your perspective. And, you might as well face it if you're reading my blog....I really like bones.
So, it's back to the lab for me on Monday. But first, there's more water to be gathered. Today I took a taxi up the Moquegua Valley to a lovely spot on the river and took a sample there. Tomorrow, I head south and try to find a good sample in that direction. This will involve taking a colectivo (see previous blog for words on those), then getting dropped off at a crossroads, flagging another ride of some sort, finding the river, making sure that I'm upriver from the copper plant, and then doing all of that in reverse to get back to Moquegua. No worries! (Mom, if you're reading this don't worry - people are truly very nice here and I've done this sort of crazy thing before).
Life in Moquegua is going very well. I'm spending lots of time in the lab, and seeking out good places to eat. I'm fond of the "Moquegua Breakfast". It's a large bread roll shaped like a starfish, served with a whole avocado, cut in half, and a slab of local cheese (queso andino - it's soft and white and a little bit sour and very yummy). This comes with the "special juice" which is something like an orange julius, and a fabulous cup of NesCafe (yes I said fabulous...I'm trying to convince myself since it's the only coffee to be had here). In any case, the bread and avocado and cheese combo is a delicious, if unusual for me, way to start the day. Oh, and tomorrow morning, I'm moving to a new hostal with a lovely garden courtyard - much better than the tiny, loud, windowless room (which still smells a bit of fish) that I have now in a hostal on a busy street. It will cost me an extra 4 soles per night (about $1.35). I think it's worth it!
I hope that all is well with all of you at home. I'm getting things done here. It feels good to be productive. And I'm coming home four weeks from today! Woo hoo.
Karen
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Getting down to business
So, now that I'm in Moquegua, it's time to get down to business and collect my bone and hair samples. I spent today at the museum here, Museo Contisuyo, which is a truly impressive place. Here's their website http://bruceowen.com/contisuyo/MuseoE.html. Check it out!
The museum collections are all from groups who lived in this immediate area, from 10,000 BC to the 16th century. Things are well labeled, in both Spanish and English, and the walls are decorated with large conte-crayon original drawings of people from the various eras living their lives (created by Raul, the friendly guy at the front desk). It's a lovely combination of very professional and very homey and approachable.
I was greeted by Patty Palacios, the archaeologist I've corresponded with at the museum, and she was fabulously helpful, as was the director of the museum, Antonio Oquiche Hernani, who saw me reaching for a dictionary one too many times while drafting my petition for access to the collections and wrote it for me instead. What a guy! He said it would be quicker that way. I sucked up my humble pie and was grateful. The letter worked like a charm, and by 10:30, I had access to the collections.
The collections are amazing! The llama mummies are here! (I wrote a paper on camelid domestication a year ago or so, and the llama mummies were the stars). There are many, many human mummies as well, and boxes of bones, ceramics, lithics, all kinds of things. (By the way, mummies here are not all wrapped up in bandages. They are naturally dessicated and seated in a tight crouch and wrapped in textiles - except the llamas - no textiles for them).
Patty put together a list of boxes I'd likely be interested in (again, fabulously helpful), and I'm on my way through, sorting bones and hair and sometimes even working with mummies (yikes!). It's going to be really interesting and productive (and challenging too). There are several other students and archaeologists here. It's a very supportive and stimulating atmosphere.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, cleaning fish in a hotel sink is an icky thing to do. But I did it, and it's done, and now I have some darn good looking fish-bone samples to bring home. And my bathroom smells a little bit fishy, but they were darn fresh, so it's not too bad, and the rest of the fish left with the trash today.
Speaking of fish, I found a fish place for lunch today and dined on tasty 'chicharones' which is Peruvian for batter-fried anything (chicken, fish, octopus, whatever). Of course, I had the octopus (who wouldn't?). Well actually, I had mixed seafood, including octopus, and watched a Spanish dubbed version of 'The Mummy' with Brendan Fraser while eating chicarones with ají chili sauce and drinking a Peruvian Coca-cola (made with real sugar - yum). I loved the irony of watching 'real archaeology' across the street from the museum.
Oh, Bruce Owen, my thesis advisor for all things Andean, arrived today too, so that's a relief. I don't expect that he'll be working closely with me, as he has his own projects here, but he's around and it's nice to have someone to ask questions of now and then.
So, things are going well. And it's possible that this blog will get a bit boring. I hope not. I still owe you a back story about my time on the Isla del Sol (the Island of the Sun). It's a good story, but I'm saving it for a slow spell.
Hope you all are well at home. Thanks to those of you who've commented or sent e-mails about this blog. I'm glad that you're enjoying reading it, and that it maybe makes the world a little smaller.
Con cariño,
Karen
The museum collections are all from groups who lived in this immediate area, from 10,000 BC to the 16th century. Things are well labeled, in both Spanish and English, and the walls are decorated with large conte-crayon original drawings of people from the various eras living their lives (created by Raul, the friendly guy at the front desk). It's a lovely combination of very professional and very homey and approachable.
I was greeted by Patty Palacios, the archaeologist I've corresponded with at the museum, and she was fabulously helpful, as was the director of the museum, Antonio Oquiche Hernani, who saw me reaching for a dictionary one too many times while drafting my petition for access to the collections and wrote it for me instead. What a guy! He said it would be quicker that way. I sucked up my humble pie and was grateful. The letter worked like a charm, and by 10:30, I had access to the collections.
The collections are amazing! The llama mummies are here! (I wrote a paper on camelid domestication a year ago or so, and the llama mummies were the stars). There are many, many human mummies as well, and boxes of bones, ceramics, lithics, all kinds of things. (By the way, mummies here are not all wrapped up in bandages. They are naturally dessicated and seated in a tight crouch and wrapped in textiles - except the llamas - no textiles for them).
Patty put together a list of boxes I'd likely be interested in (again, fabulously helpful), and I'm on my way through, sorting bones and hair and sometimes even working with mummies (yikes!). It's going to be really interesting and productive (and challenging too). There are several other students and archaeologists here. It's a very supportive and stimulating atmosphere.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, cleaning fish in a hotel sink is an icky thing to do. But I did it, and it's done, and now I have some darn good looking fish-bone samples to bring home. And my bathroom smells a little bit fishy, but they were darn fresh, so it's not too bad, and the rest of the fish left with the trash today.
Speaking of fish, I found a fish place for lunch today and dined on tasty 'chicharones' which is Peruvian for batter-fried anything (chicken, fish, octopus, whatever). Of course, I had the octopus (who wouldn't?). Well actually, I had mixed seafood, including octopus, and watched a Spanish dubbed version of 'The Mummy' with Brendan Fraser while eating chicarones with ají chili sauce and drinking a Peruvian Coca-cola (made with real sugar - yum). I loved the irony of watching 'real archaeology' across the street from the museum.
Oh, Bruce Owen, my thesis advisor for all things Andean, arrived today too, so that's a relief. I don't expect that he'll be working closely with me, as he has his own projects here, but he's around and it's nice to have someone to ask questions of now and then.
So, things are going well. And it's possible that this blog will get a bit boring. I hope not. I still owe you a back story about my time on the Isla del Sol (the Island of the Sun). It's a good story, but I'm saving it for a slow spell.
Hope you all are well at home. Thanks to those of you who've commented or sent e-mails about this blog. I'm glad that you're enjoying reading it, and that it maybe makes the world a little smaller.
Con cariño,
Karen
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Begging for fish bones
High on the list of things I never envisioned myself doing is going door to door to restaurants, begging for fish bones. Yet, this is how I spent most of my afternoon and evening yesterday. But first, let me catch you up a bit.
Yesterday was a good day for me in Puno. I went for a walk by the harbor and along the promenade there, and took a water sample at the far end of the boardwalk. I had lunch at Govinda's (a Hare Krishna chain of vegetarian restaurants in Peru - this amuses the heck out of me, and the food is cheap and a no-brainer for me to eat). Then I toured a local museum full of mostly unprovenienced archaeological artifacts from all around Peru. And finally, after all of that, I met up with my friends Abby and Craig, who are working on an archaeology project nearby. We had a good time catching up (although Craig's been hit with some nasty bug - feel better Craig!), and then they took off and I went off to get another water sample, at a cleaner site north of the city.
But I digress. I was talking about begging for fish bones.
Once I was done with all of the above, I realized that if I am to prove that Tiwanaku colonists ate fish from Lake Titicaca, I am going to have to have samples of fish bones for comparison. So, I began my search.
The problem is, everyone is crazy for trout and trout is an introduced species (not helpful for my research). The other fish that all the restaurants claim to serve is pejerrey (kingfish). However, it seemed that nobody actually had kingfish. Also, most everyone had already cleaned their fish and disposed of the bones by 5:00. Surprisingly, nobody looked at me as though I was stark, raving mad. I talked to probably 20 restaurants and scored one trout skeleton. I went to the market, but all they had was trout.
I eventually gave up and stopped for dinner, but the place that I chose just didn't have anything that appealed so I left.
I decided instead to go back to the place where I'd met Abby and Craig earlier, which turned out to be a brilliant stroke of luck. The waitress was a fabulous woman from Minnesota who not only served me a wonderful meal, but also listened to my crazy last bid for fish bones politely and set out to help. She said that restaurant didn't have any, but she'd talk to the folks in the kitchen, because they likely had connections with other restaurants and perhaps they'd know who could help me. So, she took off and I ate wonderful food, and then she returned and said that there was a man named Señor Miguel who owned a cevicheria (fish restaurant) who would meet me at 8am the next morning and give me what I needed. Eureka! It was a miracle.
So, this was my morning... My bus for Moquegua was scheduled to leave at 9:30am. Keep this in mind....
6:30 - I got up, packed, and had breakfast at the hotel.
7:50 - I arrived at the cevicheria (it was just two blocks from my hotel).
8:00 - To be polite, I waited until 8:00 to knock. No answer. The outer door was open, and there was a courtyard inside, so I went in and knocked on the interior door. No answer.
8:05 - I asked the girl at the store next door about Señor Miguel, she said he should be there.
8:10 - A young woman comes down the street and enters the door I've been knocking on. I tell her my situation, and she says that Señor Miguel probably won't arrive until 9, but then she says he may be sooner - I should wait.
8:30 - I knock again to get her attention, she says I should wait.
8:40 - Señor Miguel arrives! He tells me that I don't want the type of fish I think I want. He turns out to be a brilliant source of information about local fish, and tells me we have to go to the market to get the right species to represent native lake fish in Titicaca. We hop in a cab.
8:45 - Señor Miguel whisks me through the market, pointing out exactly what I should use for my samples and helping me with everything.
9:00 - We arrive back at the cevicheria. Señor Miguel says there's no time to clean the fish (by the way, these fish are so fresh some are still alive and wiggling in my bags).
9:10 - I'm checked out of my hotel. The fish (still wiggling) are double zip-locked in my luggage, and I hop in a cab for the bus station.
9:20 - I arrive at the bus station.
9:25 - I've purchased my departure tax stamp and arrive with my luggage in the waiting area for my bus with 5 minutes to spare.
The bus isn't there. The bus is late. The bus arrives at 10:00am.
10:10 - I'm on my way to Moquegua!
T'was a crazy day! I love this story because it is so quitessentially Peru. People will go out of their way to help you, for no reason other than to be helpful. But time is kind of a fluid thing. Nothing happens early. You can see why I fit in here so well....
Hope all is well at home!
Karen
p.s. I have to go back to my room and clean some fish now. Another thing I don't generally picture myself doing. Ah the glamour of bioarchaeology!
Yesterday was a good day for me in Puno. I went for a walk by the harbor and along the promenade there, and took a water sample at the far end of the boardwalk. I had lunch at Govinda's (a Hare Krishna chain of vegetarian restaurants in Peru - this amuses the heck out of me, and the food is cheap and a no-brainer for me to eat). Then I toured a local museum full of mostly unprovenienced archaeological artifacts from all around Peru. And finally, after all of that, I met up with my friends Abby and Craig, who are working on an archaeology project nearby. We had a good time catching up (although Craig's been hit with some nasty bug - feel better Craig!), and then they took off and I went off to get another water sample, at a cleaner site north of the city.
But I digress. I was talking about begging for fish bones.
Once I was done with all of the above, I realized that if I am to prove that Tiwanaku colonists ate fish from Lake Titicaca, I am going to have to have samples of fish bones for comparison. So, I began my search.
The problem is, everyone is crazy for trout and trout is an introduced species (not helpful for my research). The other fish that all the restaurants claim to serve is pejerrey (kingfish). However, it seemed that nobody actually had kingfish. Also, most everyone had already cleaned their fish and disposed of the bones by 5:00. Surprisingly, nobody looked at me as though I was stark, raving mad. I talked to probably 20 restaurants and scored one trout skeleton. I went to the market, but all they had was trout.
I eventually gave up and stopped for dinner, but the place that I chose just didn't have anything that appealed so I left.
I decided instead to go back to the place where I'd met Abby and Craig earlier, which turned out to be a brilliant stroke of luck. The waitress was a fabulous woman from Minnesota who not only served me a wonderful meal, but also listened to my crazy last bid for fish bones politely and set out to help. She said that restaurant didn't have any, but she'd talk to the folks in the kitchen, because they likely had connections with other restaurants and perhaps they'd know who could help me. So, she took off and I ate wonderful food, and then she returned and said that there was a man named Señor Miguel who owned a cevicheria (fish restaurant) who would meet me at 8am the next morning and give me what I needed. Eureka! It was a miracle.
So, this was my morning... My bus for Moquegua was scheduled to leave at 9:30am. Keep this in mind....
6:30 - I got up, packed, and had breakfast at the hotel.
7:50 - I arrived at the cevicheria (it was just two blocks from my hotel).
8:00 - To be polite, I waited until 8:00 to knock. No answer. The outer door was open, and there was a courtyard inside, so I went in and knocked on the interior door. No answer.
8:05 - I asked the girl at the store next door about Señor Miguel, she said he should be there.
8:10 - A young woman comes down the street and enters the door I've been knocking on. I tell her my situation, and she says that Señor Miguel probably won't arrive until 9, but then she says he may be sooner - I should wait.
8:30 - I knock again to get her attention, she says I should wait.
8:40 - Señor Miguel arrives! He tells me that I don't want the type of fish I think I want. He turns out to be a brilliant source of information about local fish, and tells me we have to go to the market to get the right species to represent native lake fish in Titicaca. We hop in a cab.
8:45 - Señor Miguel whisks me through the market, pointing out exactly what I should use for my samples and helping me with everything.
9:00 - We arrive back at the cevicheria. Señor Miguel says there's no time to clean the fish (by the way, these fish are so fresh some are still alive and wiggling in my bags).
9:10 - I'm checked out of my hotel. The fish (still wiggling) are double zip-locked in my luggage, and I hop in a cab for the bus station.
9:20 - I arrive at the bus station.
9:25 - I've purchased my departure tax stamp and arrive with my luggage in the waiting area for my bus with 5 minutes to spare.
The bus isn't there. The bus is late. The bus arrives at 10:00am.
10:10 - I'm on my way to Moquegua!
T'was a crazy day! I love this story because it is so quitessentially Peru. People will go out of their way to help you, for no reason other than to be helpful. But time is kind of a fluid thing. Nothing happens early. You can see why I fit in here so well....
Hope all is well at home!
Karen
p.s. I have to go back to my room and clean some fish now. Another thing I don't generally picture myself doing. Ah the glamour of bioarchaeology!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Hello from Copacabana
And no, I haven't seen Barry Manilow (or Lola for that matter). Copacabana is a sweet little town on the Bolivian shore of Lake Titicaca. It's a spiritual center and a vacation mecca for Bolivians (and backpacking gringos too). I have a place right on the lake with a lovely view and a private bathroom for about $14. Sweet! I just arrived in town at 3pm today, and tomorrow I'll leave at 8am to go to the Isla del Sol (island of the sun). I don't expect to have much connectivity with the world while I'm there, and Sunday will be in transit, so it may be Monday before I blog again - just warning y'all so nobody goes worrying or anything...
Yesterday was quite a day. I woke up suffering a bit with altitude (just the headache, but bletch, who needs it?). It was 11am before I really got on the road, which made the rest of the day a bit comical. I took a cab to meet a collectivo, which took me to the site of Tiwanaku.
A side note about collectivos. Collectivos are Toyota vans, the size of a VW Bus, which are miracles of engineering and sheer will. They usually hold about 5 bench seats, in addition to the front row (no they're not longer than your standard bus). At 5'4", I max out the femur length that can fit between one seat and another. Yesterday our collectivo had 22 people in it on the way to Tiwanaku. On the return trip, we only had 11, much to the consternation of the driver, who honked his horn all the way down the highway hoping for a field worker who wanted a ride. When he actually found one, we drove off the highway, across a culvert, and through a field to meet the passenger. All this for about $1.50 per person! The ride is about 2 hours long, give or take, allowing for lots of stops to gather more and more passengers.
Okay, back to Tiwanaku. By the time I arrived, I had about 4 hours to see and photograph anything of interest at the site (which is actually two sites about a km apart) and the museum, and to find the sacred spring which is another .5 km from one of the sites and unmarked, so that I could take a water sample. The amazing thing is, I got it all done, well pretty much, there was a bit of prioritizing...
To find the spring, I asked the site guard for directions. He pointed me across a field and said "see where there are five cows over there and the fourth is black? It's just past that." Fabulous. So, using those directions and my compass and John Janusek's wonderful book about the Tiwanaku which describes the spring, I set out and actually found it. If it weren't for the photo in the Janusek book, I'd have never recognized it. It's not marked and the water is very low and mucky. I took my sample anyway...it wasn't ideal, but how could I exclude the sacred spring at the cultural center????
After this, I zipped over to the museum, did a quick run through. Asked the guard if the sign saying no photos REALLY meant no photos, and he said I could take a few if nobody saw me and I bought him a coke. FABULOUS! So, we made a deal, and I bought him a very large Coca-cola. Hopefully the photos will come out well! There were some awesome cranial modifications.
I zipped through the site, took lots of pictures, and got back to the bus stop about 1 minute before the last bus of the day came through to take me back to La Paz. Whew! It would have made some people I know a little crazy - you know I like to cut it close!
Back in La Paz, I got news that a wild fire is very near my house near Chico, CA. There are evacuations going on. Very scary, and hard to be far away with that sort of thing going on. My very wonderful husband reminded me that I'm safe and he's safe, and the house is just full of things - not what really matters. So, not to worry. As of this morning, it looks like the fire is holding off and the threat is not imminent at least.
But then, later in the evening, true calamity befell me. What's worse for a traveller than hearing that their house may burn down......losing their Lonely Planet guide! Yes, my Lonely Planet Bolivia has gone missing, and I was very distraught. I mean, it has all the information, the maps, my reservations, the location of the sacred spring on the Isla del Sol! Disaster! I looked everywhere, had the hotel call the restaurant I ate at the night before, no luck. But, there's a rainbow at the end of my story. This morning, while checking out, I spotted some other travellers with a LP in English and asked if I could borrow it, just for a minute. They said, we're on our way to Chile, you can have it. HURRAY! Balance is restored to my universe.
And that's probably all I should say for now. Sorry to be so longwinded. Blame the beer I drank while watching the sunset over Lake Titicaca (it just seemed to be the right thing to do).
: )
Karen
Yesterday was quite a day. I woke up suffering a bit with altitude (just the headache, but bletch, who needs it?). It was 11am before I really got on the road, which made the rest of the day a bit comical. I took a cab to meet a collectivo, which took me to the site of Tiwanaku.
A side note about collectivos. Collectivos are Toyota vans, the size of a VW Bus, which are miracles of engineering and sheer will. They usually hold about 5 bench seats, in addition to the front row (no they're not longer than your standard bus). At 5'4", I max out the femur length that can fit between one seat and another. Yesterday our collectivo had 22 people in it on the way to Tiwanaku. On the return trip, we only had 11, much to the consternation of the driver, who honked his horn all the way down the highway hoping for a field worker who wanted a ride. When he actually found one, we drove off the highway, across a culvert, and through a field to meet the passenger. All this for about $1.50 per person! The ride is about 2 hours long, give or take, allowing for lots of stops to gather more and more passengers.
Okay, back to Tiwanaku. By the time I arrived, I had about 4 hours to see and photograph anything of interest at the site (which is actually two sites about a km apart) and the museum, and to find the sacred spring which is another .5 km from one of the sites and unmarked, so that I could take a water sample. The amazing thing is, I got it all done, well pretty much, there was a bit of prioritizing...
To find the spring, I asked the site guard for directions. He pointed me across a field and said "see where there are five cows over there and the fourth is black? It's just past that." Fabulous. So, using those directions and my compass and John Janusek's wonderful book about the Tiwanaku which describes the spring, I set out and actually found it. If it weren't for the photo in the Janusek book, I'd have never recognized it. It's not marked and the water is very low and mucky. I took my sample anyway...it wasn't ideal, but how could I exclude the sacred spring at the cultural center????
After this, I zipped over to the museum, did a quick run through. Asked the guard if the sign saying no photos REALLY meant no photos, and he said I could take a few if nobody saw me and I bought him a coke. FABULOUS! So, we made a deal, and I bought him a very large Coca-cola. Hopefully the photos will come out well! There were some awesome cranial modifications.
I zipped through the site, took lots of pictures, and got back to the bus stop about 1 minute before the last bus of the day came through to take me back to La Paz. Whew! It would have made some people I know a little crazy - you know I like to cut it close!
Back in La Paz, I got news that a wild fire is very near my house near Chico, CA. There are evacuations going on. Very scary, and hard to be far away with that sort of thing going on. My very wonderful husband reminded me that I'm safe and he's safe, and the house is just full of things - not what really matters. So, not to worry. As of this morning, it looks like the fire is holding off and the threat is not imminent at least.
But then, later in the evening, true calamity befell me. What's worse for a traveller than hearing that their house may burn down......losing their Lonely Planet guide! Yes, my Lonely Planet Bolivia has gone missing, and I was very distraught. I mean, it has all the information, the maps, my reservations, the location of the sacred spring on the Isla del Sol! Disaster! I looked everywhere, had the hotel call the restaurant I ate at the night before, no luck. But, there's a rainbow at the end of my story. This morning, while checking out, I spotted some other travellers with a LP in English and asked if I could borrow it, just for a minute. They said, we're on our way to Chile, you can have it. HURRAY! Balance is restored to my universe.
And that's probably all I should say for now. Sorry to be so longwinded. Blame the beer I drank while watching the sunset over Lake Titicaca (it just seemed to be the right thing to do).
: )
Karen
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Adventures in La Paz
Hello friends,
I had a good day yesterday, visiting the archaeological museum, the impressive church of San Francisco, and the museum of coca (why not?). I also made my hotel arrangements for the next few stops, so that's a relief. Today I'm running off to Tiwanaku.
The internet here has been iffy, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to post again tomorrow, but if not, know that I'm fine and off having adventures.
It's my niece Megan's birthday today. Happy Birthday Megan!
Karen
I had a good day yesterday, visiting the archaeological museum, the impressive church of San Francisco, and the museum of coca (why not?). I also made my hotel arrangements for the next few stops, so that's a relief. Today I'm running off to Tiwanaku.
The internet here has been iffy, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to post again tomorrow, but if not, know that I'm fine and off having adventures.
It's my niece Megan's birthday today. Happy Birthday Megan!
Karen
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wednesday Part 2: What I am doing here
Okay, now that I've explained all of that, here's what I'm actually up to. I'm in La Paz right now, where my main goals are to get my bearings, learn more about Tiwanaku history, and visit the actual site of Tiwanaku (where I'll collect a water sample).
Yesterday I did the first part. I bought phone cards and bottle water, explored the local streets, and did some research in a lovely little coffeehouse (yes, I said coffee! It seems that Bolivians actually make real brewed coffee, which is a rarity in Peru). I also visited a wonderful museum, the Museo de Etnografia y Historia. They had an amazing textile collection, spanning 3000 years. There was also a lovely display of ceremonial masks from the 20th century - elaborate and amazing and very nicely presented. One hall held a collection of feather crafts, most of which were extraordinary headpieces - some more than 4 feet tall and 8 feet wide! The last room had a collection of ceramics, again spanning about 3000 years. Lovely!
Today I'm going to the archeological museum here and making my travel arrangements for the next few stops.
Life is good.
Karen
Yesterday I did the first part. I bought phone cards and bottle water, explored the local streets, and did some research in a lovely little coffeehouse (yes, I said coffee! It seems that Bolivians actually make real brewed coffee, which is a rarity in Peru). I also visited a wonderful museum, the Museo de Etnografia y Historia. They had an amazing textile collection, spanning 3000 years. There was also a lovely display of ceremonial masks from the 20th century - elaborate and amazing and very nicely presented. One hall held a collection of feather crafts, most of which were extraordinary headpieces - some more than 4 feet tall and 8 feet wide! The last room had a collection of ceramics, again spanning about 3000 years. Lovely!
Today I'm going to the archeological museum here and making my travel arrangements for the next few stops.
Life is good.
Karen
Wednesday Part 1: What am I doing here?
It seems like a good time to explain myself. Many of you have heard this before, but I need to practice saying it and getting all the pieces in the right order. I'm trying to figure out how to be concise, but that doesn't seem to be working. If you have any suggestions, I'd be grateful!
I'm here in Bolivia (and Peru next ) doing research for my Masters Thesis for a degree in Anthropology with a specialization in Bioarchaeology. I have a passion for Andean archaeology and that's how it all ties together. I am studying the economic system of a pre-Inkan group, who lived in what is now northwestern Bolivia and southern Peru, called the Tiwanaku. This culture centered around the city or ceremonial center of Tiwanaku (also spelled Tiahuanaco) and rose to power around 600AD. By 800AD they were expanding, and colonists settled in regions with different ecosystems to capitalize on the resources available there. One such region was the Moquegua Valley in southern Peru.
My goal is to study the travel patterns of individual colonists in Moquegua. To do this I'm going to use chemistry. Humans are constantly rebuilding our bodies, and all this new tissue is made up of what we eat and what we drink. As hair grows, the oxygen contained within it is largely derived from drinking water. The water of any location will have a chemical signature, based on the distance from the coast and other conditions. So, hair provides a record of where people have been (based on the ratios of stable oxygen isotopes). This record isn't exactly precise to location, but should give a general idea of distance from the coast, which is helpful considering that the valley where these folks lived changes altitude by thousands of feet between the coast and the Andes. This technique is being used now forensically, to help determine where unidentified murder victims might be from. I was inspired by that idea and decided to apply it to archaeology.
The other thing I'm doing is looking at bone chemistry to see what people have been eating. By looking at the ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes, I will be able to tell if individuals have been eating marine foods (only available on the coast), or corn (only available around Moquegua and environments of similar altitude), and hopefully lake fish (from around Lake Titicaca). Once I know this, I can combine the record of where people have been with what they've been eating to talk about their economic system.
My project here will involve the collection of water samples, to determine the chemical, oxygen isotope, signature of locations where the Moquegua colonists might have traveled. Then I'll gather samples of hair and bone from individuals who have been recovered from archaeological sites around Moquegua (that part just involves working with collections in a museum). Once I get all this gathered up, I'll go to Lima to arrange for permits to bring it all back to our labs at Chico for analysis and write it all into a thesis by next spring.
See, I told you I don't know how to say this briefly! Let me know if you have any suggestions for shortening it up or any questions about my work.
Karen
I'm here in Bolivia (and Peru next ) doing research for my Masters Thesis for a degree in Anthropology with a specialization in Bioarchaeology. I have a passion for Andean archaeology and that's how it all ties together. I am studying the economic system of a pre-Inkan group, who lived in what is now northwestern Bolivia and southern Peru, called the Tiwanaku. This culture centered around the city or ceremonial center of Tiwanaku (also spelled Tiahuanaco) and rose to power around 600AD. By 800AD they were expanding, and colonists settled in regions with different ecosystems to capitalize on the resources available there. One such region was the Moquegua Valley in southern Peru.
My goal is to study the travel patterns of individual colonists in Moquegua. To do this I'm going to use chemistry. Humans are constantly rebuilding our bodies, and all this new tissue is made up of what we eat and what we drink. As hair grows, the oxygen contained within it is largely derived from drinking water. The water of any location will have a chemical signature, based on the distance from the coast and other conditions. So, hair provides a record of where people have been (based on the ratios of stable oxygen isotopes). This record isn't exactly precise to location, but should give a general idea of distance from the coast, which is helpful considering that the valley where these folks lived changes altitude by thousands of feet between the coast and the Andes. This technique is being used now forensically, to help determine where unidentified murder victims might be from. I was inspired by that idea and decided to apply it to archaeology.
The other thing I'm doing is looking at bone chemistry to see what people have been eating. By looking at the ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes, I will be able to tell if individuals have been eating marine foods (only available on the coast), or corn (only available around Moquegua and environments of similar altitude), and hopefully lake fish (from around Lake Titicaca). Once I know this, I can combine the record of where people have been with what they've been eating to talk about their economic system.
My project here will involve the collection of water samples, to determine the chemical, oxygen isotope, signature of locations where the Moquegua colonists might have traveled. Then I'll gather samples of hair and bone from individuals who have been recovered from archaeological sites around Moquegua (that part just involves working with collections in a museum). Once I get all this gathered up, I'll go to Lima to arrange for permits to bring it all back to our labs at Chico for analysis and write it all into a thesis by next spring.
See, I told you I don't know how to say this briefly! Let me know if you have any suggestions for shortening it up or any questions about my work.
Karen
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
¡He llegado! (I've arrived)
Yes, I've arrived in La Paz. I almost forgot how much I love it down here. It's like there's another me that is just waiting to burst out and navigate cobblestone streets while speaking Spanish.
My trip went very smoothly. The flight across the US was lovely - right on time and I had a window view. The Sierras were snowcapped and gorgeous, the badlands (or somewhere around Utah or New Mexico) were decorated with incised canyons which sprawled together in shapes that looked like coral, the everglades were an otherworldly abstract of plant colors and water. I also got a lot of reading done about the Tiwanaku (you'll be hearing a lot more about them).
The flight from Miami to La Paz was full and I gave my window seat up so a very young Menninite couple with a baby could sit together. I wondered what they were planning to do in Bolivia - travel I guess. Anyway, that left me with a center seat across the isle with a very cozy fit between two long-legged men. I will definitely need a nap today.
I arrived in La Paz an hour or two late, but no worries. The flight was supposed to arrive at 5:30am, so another hour or two was helpful. I got my Bolivian visa ($135!!!) and made it through customs just fine. A taxi was waiting and brought me right to my hotel for 50 Bolivianos (about $7). Good deal! Even more exciting, my room was ready when I arrived, so I'm all checked in and unpacked already.
I had toasted quinoa cereal with bananas and yogurt for breakfast, along with a glass of fresh squeezed juice (the only kind here) and a cup of coca leaf tea. The coca is a must here for dealing with the altitude.
Yes, have I mentioned that the La Paz airport is at 13,400 feet above sea level? The city is at 12,000 feet or so. The air is THIN. I have to keep taking deep breaths. Coca tea helps with the adjustment to altitude, and it's tasty too (and no, it's not like drinking cocaine...much much milder, with a nice herby flavor).
It's great to be back!
Karen
My trip went very smoothly. The flight across the US was lovely - right on time and I had a window view. The Sierras were snowcapped and gorgeous, the badlands (or somewhere around Utah or New Mexico) were decorated with incised canyons which sprawled together in shapes that looked like coral, the everglades were an otherworldly abstract of plant colors and water. I also got a lot of reading done about the Tiwanaku (you'll be hearing a lot more about them).
The flight from Miami to La Paz was full and I gave my window seat up so a very young Menninite couple with a baby could sit together. I wondered what they were planning to do in Bolivia - travel I guess. Anyway, that left me with a center seat across the isle with a very cozy fit between two long-legged men. I will definitely need a nap today.
I arrived in La Paz an hour or two late, but no worries. The flight was supposed to arrive at 5:30am, so another hour or two was helpful. I got my Bolivian visa ($135!!!) and made it through customs just fine. A taxi was waiting and brought me right to my hotel for 50 Bolivianos (about $7). Good deal! Even more exciting, my room was ready when I arrived, so I'm all checked in and unpacked already.
I had toasted quinoa cereal with bananas and yogurt for breakfast, along with a glass of fresh squeezed juice (the only kind here) and a cup of coca leaf tea. The coca is a must here for dealing with the altitude.
Yes, have I mentioned that the La Paz airport is at 13,400 feet above sea level? The city is at 12,000 feet or so. The air is THIN. I have to keep taking deep breaths. Coca tea helps with the adjustment to altitude, and it's tasty too (and no, it's not like drinking cocaine...much much milder, with a nice herby flavor).
It's great to be back!
Karen
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Here I go again!
Hello friends, and welcome back to my travel blog.
If you're new to my blog, you can find previous trips under http://kareninperu.blogspot.com. I can't seem to transfer the old blog to my new gmail address, so I added a "2", and this should work just fine.
It's hard for me to even wrap my head around my plans for the summer, but they're coming at me fast and furious. I'll be leaving tomorrow (Monday July 7th) for La Paz, Bolivia to begin my thesis research. I'll be exploring important sites of the Tiwanaku polity, a pre-Inka culture who lived in the area around Lake Titicaca during the first milleneum AD. After just a few days in Bolivia, I'll head over to Peru, and the rest of my time will be spent there, gathering the bulk of my research samples for stable isotope analysis and working on getting permits to bring them home.
It's freezing in La Paz right now - high temperatures have been in the mid-40s (F) with lows in the mid 20s every night. One thing that I've found is that you can get some great deals on winter wear in California this time of year! Today's my big packing day. I just hope I remember everything!
I'll keep you all posted about my adventures as I travel. This time, I'll mostly be in or around cities, so hopefully the posting will be fairly constant.
I hope you are all having a great summer! I'll miss you while I'm away, but I'll be back in mid-August!
Wish me luck (please).
Karen
If you're new to my blog, you can find previous trips under http://kareninperu.blogspot.com. I can't seem to transfer the old blog to my new gmail address, so I added a "2", and this should work just fine.
It's hard for me to even wrap my head around my plans for the summer, but they're coming at me fast and furious. I'll be leaving tomorrow (Monday July 7th) for La Paz, Bolivia to begin my thesis research. I'll be exploring important sites of the Tiwanaku polity, a pre-Inka culture who lived in the area around Lake Titicaca during the first milleneum AD. After just a few days in Bolivia, I'll head over to Peru, and the rest of my time will be spent there, gathering the bulk of my research samples for stable isotope analysis and working on getting permits to bring them home.
It's freezing in La Paz right now - high temperatures have been in the mid-40s (F) with lows in the mid 20s every night. One thing that I've found is that you can get some great deals on winter wear in California this time of year! Today's my big packing day. I just hope I remember everything!
I'll keep you all posted about my adventures as I travel. This time, I'll mostly be in or around cities, so hopefully the posting will be fairly constant.
I hope you are all having a great summer! I'll miss you while I'm away, but I'll be back in mid-August!
Wish me luck (please).
Karen
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