A Trip to Chalaco
Dear Constant Readers,
The rain has started. Which means I don't know how often I'll be able to write until April or so. The roads have been washed out because they are all dirt and landslides are frequent. Because of fear of losing my computer in a river crossing, I didn't bring it to Piura and am in a computer cafe where the machines are slow and unreliable.
I don't really remember what all I was going to say, so I'll keep this fairly short (and also to keep my sanity from working with this unreliable machine.
I had to take my nurse up Chalaco on a Sunday afternoon. Not really a problem under normal circumstances, but it was raining the whole way, it was through the mountains, it was late in the day to go, and as the nurse can't walk as fast as I the 3.5-4 hour trip turned into a 6 or so hour one. It was dark when we arrived, and neither of us had a scrap of dry clothing on. But at least we got the vaccines delievered. After two hours of rest (not sleep, though) in some dry clothes that the nurse's tec had for me at his house in Chalaco her and I left on a bus down to Morropon at 3.00 AM. On the bus I got maybe an hour of sleep or so, but it wasn't easy as the bus constantly rocked and seemed to want to tip over on the 5 hour drive.
From Piura we drove to a river that was so high cars couldn't pass it like normal, but you cold on foot. So on foot it was with porters to carry our luggage (we had anticipated an overnight trip, and I thought my backback was waterproof. But it really wasn't.) After waiting for a couple of hours we managed to catch a car that was headed in the direction of home. However, while we had been away the rain had washed out much of the road and meant we had to walk another 2 hours or so to make it back to Rinconada.
Afterwards, I had to walk the hour up to Patrick's site to figure out how we could make it down to Piura the next day for our regional meeting. He ended up staying at my place for the night and we left at 2.30 AM for a 3.5 hour walk down to Nueva Esperanza where we found a car that could take us the rest of the way to Morropon, even though we had to wait a few hours for the driver to wake up and go. The river was low enough to cross in a car, although I wouldn't have tried it.
We caught the bus to Piura and arrived at 10.00 AM I think.
The adventure was draining, and as far as work is concerned it was the hardest day of my life. It was one of those times that makes a Volunteer want to go home and curse Peru or wherever they are. I view this trip as a sort of marriage, where you agree to stick with it through hell or highwater, which is fairly literal in my case. One of these days would have been an argument. A big one with flying remote controls.
But I felt like I had a badge of honor when I made it too the meeting. Very very unwashed hair, dirty and sweaty, muddy legs and blisters all over my feet...One of my friends told me I had the Peace Corps look down. She said I had a very distant look in my eyes.
But I'm glad I did it. I didn't enjoy the rain or getting lost in the dark, but it is all part of the job.
I wish I had time to write more, but that will have to do for now. Hopefully when the electricity comes back on in my site (something somewhere exploded and knocked out power in a couple of towns last week) I'll be able to prepare a more complete entry.
Hope all is well!
Tristan
The rain has started. Which means I don't know how often I'll be able to write until April or so. The roads have been washed out because they are all dirt and landslides are frequent. Because of fear of losing my computer in a river crossing, I didn't bring it to Piura and am in a computer cafe where the machines are slow and unreliable.
I don't really remember what all I was going to say, so I'll keep this fairly short (and also to keep my sanity from working with this unreliable machine.
I had to take my nurse up Chalaco on a Sunday afternoon. Not really a problem under normal circumstances, but it was raining the whole way, it was through the mountains, it was late in the day to go, and as the nurse can't walk as fast as I the 3.5-4 hour trip turned into a 6 or so hour one. It was dark when we arrived, and neither of us had a scrap of dry clothing on. But at least we got the vaccines delievered. After two hours of rest (not sleep, though) in some dry clothes that the nurse's tec had for me at his house in Chalaco her and I left on a bus down to Morropon at 3.00 AM. On the bus I got maybe an hour of sleep or so, but it wasn't easy as the bus constantly rocked and seemed to want to tip over on the 5 hour drive.
From Piura we drove to a river that was so high cars couldn't pass it like normal, but you cold on foot. So on foot it was with porters to carry our luggage (we had anticipated an overnight trip, and I thought my backback was waterproof. But it really wasn't.) After waiting for a couple of hours we managed to catch a car that was headed in the direction of home. However, while we had been away the rain had washed out much of the road and meant we had to walk another 2 hours or so to make it back to Rinconada.
Afterwards, I had to walk the hour up to Patrick's site to figure out how we could make it down to Piura the next day for our regional meeting. He ended up staying at my place for the night and we left at 2.30 AM for a 3.5 hour walk down to Nueva Esperanza where we found a car that could take us the rest of the way to Morropon, even though we had to wait a few hours for the driver to wake up and go. The river was low enough to cross in a car, although I wouldn't have tried it.
We caught the bus to Piura and arrived at 10.00 AM I think.
The adventure was draining, and as far as work is concerned it was the hardest day of my life. It was one of those times that makes a Volunteer want to go home and curse Peru or wherever they are. I view this trip as a sort of marriage, where you agree to stick with it through hell or highwater, which is fairly literal in my case. One of these days would have been an argument. A big one with flying remote controls.
But I felt like I had a badge of honor when I made it too the meeting. Very very unwashed hair, dirty and sweaty, muddy legs and blisters all over my feet...One of my friends told me I had the Peace Corps look down. She said I had a very distant look in my eyes.
But I'm glad I did it. I didn't enjoy the rain or getting lost in the dark, but it is all part of the job.
I wish I had time to write more, but that will have to do for now. Hopefully when the electricity comes back on in my site (something somewhere exploded and knocked out power in a couple of towns last week) I'll be able to prepare a more complete entry.
Hope all is well!
Tristan
posted by Tristan | 12:29 PM
1 Comments:
That is an amazing story. It makes our long runs seem like a job in the park (a nice one at that)!
6 hour hike in the mountains and the rain!?! Wow.
In a sense, I'm very impressed yet not. To hike through the mountains in the rain while carrying a whole bunch of stuff is wonderful, but I wouldn't expect anything less amazing from the one and only Tristas!
Keep chugging along. These adventures will shape you into a very compassionate and wise man.
Great work! Keep going!
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