More about life in Chachapoyas and returning to Cusco

One day while Hildegaard was traveling again, I switched on the hot water and not only did all the lights flicker, but all the power went out! I learned from my last experience with being locked out, to get her cell phone number for emergencies. I dialed her number but the call would not go through; she was apparently out of range. So, I was left on my own again, not knowing when she would return…maybe a few hours, a day or two? I had my flashlight for when it got dark and could boil water on the stove to make hot water and take a “spit bath” for the time being. Things were not THAT bad…

A few days later, Hildegaard and her mother are back and the same “electrician” supposedly has repaired the on/off switch so the power will not go out again. Things are good for awhile and then one day I turn the switch on and POW! No power again! And of course, Hildegaard is away again and I cannot get through on her phone, AGAIN! Hildegaard’s mother and father show up a few days later and they find out right away there is no power again. This time though, it is not the dangerous wiring, but something within the whole building and it would have to be totally rewired. Little did I know, that the process would take almost 2 weeks! So for 2 weeks, I had to use flashlights and candles after the sun went down and had to take spit baths! This was camping now…!

Night life in Chacha 

At Taberna, a local bar. Secy of school(left), teachers, and Gregory(right)

Fidel, owner of ILC(black shirt) dancing at La Reina disco

Gregory and me early in the evening...

Teaching at ILC was a unique experience but one that I would not like to repeat. The very first day the teachers were asked to meet at the school to be given their teaching books and their class schedules. We were soon told that the printer was malfunctioning and that we needed to wait a bit. Well the “bit” turned out to be about 3 hours. This was not a good way to start! I was to have 3 classes/day and a private English student. My first  class was a group of 12 teenagers aged 13. This was going to be a challenge, I knew so I had to prepare very well! They turned out to be my favorite group; it was a lot of fun and really kept me on my toes! And I came to find out that it was actually easier to teach a larger group than just 2 or 3 students because I could get them to work in pairs and do activities.

The facility was the ground floor and the 2^nd floor of a home and the owners lived on the 3^rd floor. The plumbing was horrible as were the acoustics. Walls had been put up to make separate classrooms and they were paper thin so it was very noisy. The equipment like CD players were sometimes in the rooms and sometimes not so you never knew what to expect. Additionally, the desk/chair combos were for children and really not suited for adults to sit in. There were no tables with chairs which is usually the set up for ESL classrooms. The teaching books were so old, many were falling apart and the student books were in short supply so many students had only photo copies of books. 

 We received our “stipend” at the end of the month for the teaching we had done that month so at the end of August, we were paid. 3 of us teachers were leaving at the end of September and when time came to be paid, we were given checks that were 2 weeks post dated. Fidel told us that he was short of funds and was getting money from the government in a few weeks. There was really nothing we could do but hope that the check would be good later. The day I was supposed to cash the check, Fidel called me to say he still did not have the money and to please wait a little longer. I went to the bank on 3 separate occasions and each time the check was still NSF! To date, we have still not been paid for the month of September. Our TEFL instructor had mentioned that the schools in Peru were famous for not paying their teachers, but I didn’t think it would happen to me at my 1^st job! I believe Fidel used the money for start up costs at a bar he was opening. I do not have much respect for him for the way he ran the school, etc.

We left the same way that we came to Chachapoyas: by bus. But this time, I decided to take the 24 hour bus to Lima since Lora and Charlie were also going so I would have company. Just as Fidel and Gregory had met me on my arrival, they also were there to see us off. Gregory jokes about it and says that they want to make sure that their teachers are actually leaving...!?
The bus left early in the morning and about 1/2 hour into the trip, we stopped for breakfast which was a surprise to me! A nice surprise since we were hungry! It turned out to be a very pleasant ride and a great way to travel by seeing all the little towns and villages along the road. We arrived in Lima early the next morning and I stayed in Miraflores(nice, clean, safe area near the beach) for a few nights and just enjoyed a big, clean bathroom with hot water, a bathtub,  a shower, and a hairdryer! And a TV! I had not seen a TV the entire time in Chachapoyas...
I met Charlie and Lora at a restaurant that evening for pisco sours and dinner and the next day I was sick, sick, sick! I do not ever remember being that sick! All night I was sick and I remember thinking that if things didn't improve by morning, I would have to seek out some medical attention. Thankfully, I stopped being sick, but could hardly move for the next few days. I had to delay my trip back to Cusco because I was too sick to travel.


I booked a flight back to Cusco where I would have a teaching job at a little school by the name of Speak Easy. I had met the owners of the school while I was there during June and July since I was taking private Spanish classes from Enny, one of the owners. At the time I was taking my lessons, I had no idea that she was an owner. I just thought that she was a very nice, very warm and friendly Peruvian giving me Spanish lessons! One day during our lesson we were discussing what we would be doing on the weekend, and she told me that she was going to play tennis. I got very excited and asked her where did she play? She asked me if I wanted to play with her and I jumped at the opportunity! We played many times together at her tennis club: Club International, on clay courts and sometimes her husband would join us. I had made it known that I was looking for a job teaching english and Daniel one day offered me a job. So at the end of September, I started a 5 month teaching job at their school. The following pictures are some of my classes and students:

My advanced class

My Basic 1 class

My Pre-Int class: 4 men ages 18-25

I found a 1 bdrm apt to rent for $280/mo that was fully furnished and by Peruvian standards it was considered luxury; although my stove was a 2 burner camping stove attached to a 5 gallon propane tank, the kitchen sink had only cold water, no washing machine, and no central heat. But I had hot water in the shower, a TV, and a small refrigerator! This was luxury compared to Chachapoyas! The school was just a short 20 minute walk away...

I lived across the street from the Mercado Vigen Asunta and this is were I bought most of my food. Yes, even the chicken that was not refrigerated. And I was never sick for the 7 months I spent in Cusco.

View from my kitchen window of men loading sacks of potatoes on their backs into the bed of trucks. They did this all day long!

Kuelap, the Machu Picchu of the north

A few hours drive away by car from Chachapoyas is Kuelap.This fortress is the largest stone structure of South America. It contains more than 450 stone houses. It is located on a mountain higher than Machu Picchu, is much older than the Inca Empire. This Machu Picchu of the North was found in better condition than the one in the South. The Kuelap complex remains relatively unknown in this remote zone, which only thirty years ago took two months to walk out to from the nearest road. The fortress is filled with a million air plants, bromeliads and orchids, high on a mountain top, in this mysterious cloud forest. I asked my student and friend, Lucy, to take me as well as 2 of my fellow teachers Lora and Charlie. So early one weekend morning, we all jumped in a cab and traveled up to Kuelap. It was another terrifying cab ride along the narrow, steep, bumpy, windey, unpaved dirt roads!

Lucy and her 12 yr. old son, Oliver with the fortress wall behind

Lucy was a wealth of knowledge;however, she only spoke Spanish. So Charlie, one of the teachers with us helped us a bit...

One of many houses and walls

Me and Lucy in passageway on our way out

Close up of the walls showing the triangular details

Top of the passageway leading back down with our group

The interior of one of the houses; standing around a grain storage hole

Charlie and Lora at the top of the lookout tower

Charlie and Lora walking around remains of houses

Oliver with wild Llama behind him

 It was a 1/2 hour walk back down to where the taxi said he would wait to take us back to Chachapoyas and we were hoping that he would still be there! If not, we would be in big trouble since we were 2 hours away! 

Waterfall at Gocta

Gocta; 3rd highest waterfall in the world

"The Department of Amazonas, which includes Chachapoyas and the ancient walled city of Kuelap, is where the main trunk Amazon River violently carves out a valley in the Andes, deeper than the Grand Canyon to enter the Amazon Basin. This is the land of the Cloud People or Chachapoyans who live in the "ceja de selva" or eyebrow of the Amazon. This is the cloud forest of eternal mist, high in the Andes, overlooking the Amazon Basin." Anonymous

One of the very first weekends I was in Chachapoyas, I took at full day tour to a very remote valley that would involve a 4+ hour very strenuous hike(hardly any level portions of the trail and mostly steep hiking going up or steep down) into the jungle to the upper waterfall named "Gocta".It was first discovered in 2006 by a German explorer and by his measurements, it was determined to be the 3rd hightest waterfall in the world.This day, we would just be going to see the upper part of the falls. It would take another whole day to see the lower portion.  4 of us left by taxi from Chachapoyas and were driven to a very small village where we were met by an older local man who was in excellent shape to guide us along the trail to Gocta. He did not speak a word of English, but thank goodness 1 of the men in our group was from Lima and spoke enough English that he could translate for us! 

Me along the trail with waterfall in the back; less than 1/2 way there

Lots of potatoes growing along the first part of the trail; clear, clean, beautiful air and sky

Our guide explaining how they make an alcoholic drink made of sugar cane. Tasted very sweet and very strong! I only had 2 sips and that was enough to make me light headed. To left is the man from Lima who could translate for us!

Extremely beautiful and serene hike

Waterfall in the distance!

About 1 1/2 hours into our trek to the waterfall, I was getting tired...! Every 100 yards or so I would ask our guide, "Donde es Gocta?!" to which he would point ahead and laugh at me! I knew a few words in Spanish so I also asked him how many times he did this hike and he answered 2-3 times per day! I was absolutely in awe of his physical condition since I knew that he must have been older than me...

The other couple that were in our group, were chewing on coca leaves and sucking on limes, but obviously this was not having any boosting physical effects, since they were both just as tired as I was!

Finally made it!

The other couple in our group(coca leave chewers) below the falls in the canyon

Pool at the bottom of the upper falls

Trail on our way back down. Parts were very scary; straight down and very narrow rocky trail! This would be illegal, I think, in the US.

 

Horses come to rescue hikers that are too exhausted to make the trek back!

Our worn out hiking group at the only restaurant in the village. We're waiting on fried chicken for lunch; the lemonade could not go down fast enough!

Lower Gocta Falls

This was another full day outing to get to the lower falls. A group of us from the school went in 2 taxis to the village where the hike began.  Another very strenuous 4 hour hike but a little bit easier on my knees!

Gorgeous colors of the rocks

Me

Sightseeing in Chachapoyas

Huancas

Huanca Urco is a canyon five minutes from the town of Huancas, itself only 20 minutes from Chachapoyas. The canyon has a direct drop 2000 meters deep.

Me on the edge; a very windy day!

Waiting for the car to take us to Huancas with my fellow teachers, Lora, Charlie, and Robby

Robby dancing with the local women who were feeling the effects of drinking "Chicha"

It had started to drizzle so we decided to have lunch before hiking to the canyon overlook; we were waiting for our Cecina=fried pork. The local ladies wanted to get in the picture!

 Trip to Leymebamba 

The village houses a famous museum and is 93 miles south of Chachapoyas (3 hours 30 minutes by car) and from Leymebamba it's a 10 km walk to the museum. The modern museum features mummies and objects found at the Lake of the Condors, as well as textiles, ceramics.weapons and Sarcofagi found in the area. I took a bus from Chachapoyas at 6AM with Celine, on of my fellow teachers and her friend. It was a very scenic trip through little villages along the way.

Me with the village below

On our way back down to the village from the museum

Sarcofagas at the museum

Recreation of the cliff dwellings at Revash(I didn't get there,unfortunately)

Mummies as seen through a glass window; some wrapped and some unwrapped

We caught the bus back to Chachapoyas at the main square in Leymebamba and settled in for our 3+ hour trip on the bus. Celine and her friend sat in the last 2 seater and I found a seat behind them at the very back of the bus. As soon as all the seats were taken, and everyone's things were stored, we were off! A few minutes on the road I heard a noise that sounded like "cluck, cluck, cluck"...I could swear it was chicken! After looking on the floor, the aisle, and the racks above the seats storing personal belongings, I saw the maker of the noise: it was,indeed a chicken and it was tied to a backpack! Just right there on the rack! 1/2 an hour later or so, the bus stopped, a man jumped up and grabbed the chicken and backpack and ran off the bus and up a little hill on the side of the road and gave the chicken to a woman sitting there. Then he ran back down the hill and jumped back on the bus! It was a quiet and peaceful ride back from then on!

Chachapoyas

After riding on a bus all night long, I arrived in the town of Chachapoyas at 5AM and was greeted by the owner of the school, 28 year old Fidel, and the academic director, Gregory, in his late 50's. How nice it was for both of them to be there! And at 5AM! We took a taxi to what they called the nicest Hostal in Chacha where I would stay until a more permanent accommodation could be arranged. The location was great: right on the main plaza but the bathtub/shower leaked so there was water all over the floor, the sink did not have hot water and the shower had hot water only! This kind of plumbing I would find is typical for all of Peru! I stayed in the hostal for 2 nights while we spent an hour/day looking for an apartment which consisted of Fidel and I walking around the town knocking on doors to see if there were any vacancies. The only luck we had would be in a complex of about 12 units and my room private with a bathroom down the hall and shared with 2 other rooms. I desperately wanted to get out of the hostal and have my own room, take my things out of my suitcase, and take a shower with warm water! Even though the bed looked like a child's(very low to the ground with a very thin mattress and very old) I decided to take the room. There was a nice armoir where I could put away my clothes, a table where I could put some things, the bed, and a small end table. And at night, I was serenaded by the noise from the disco a few doors away. Even though the bathroom was not very clean, it had a working shower so I was OK. And the toilet seat was broken, so you would not sit level, but on a slant! It would have to do...for awhile!

I used to walk up to the top of a hill and this was the view on my way down of the village

Plaza de Armas the main square

Gregory, the academic director of the school and a fellow teacher, Lora in the kitchen at one of our weekend get togethers.

Outside the school with Lora, Elizabeth and Nick(he only lasted 1 month)

Me and Lora with 2 of our students

Location of the best Vegetarian restaurant!

$1 buys you all this! More than I could eat and delicioso!!!

Directly across the street from the Veggie Restaurant. There was no animal control so dogs were everywhere and lots of them!

Dyed lyme(powder) art work on the streets at the Plaza for a celebration

Beautiful!

This dog was usually cruising around the Veggie Restaurant.

About 10 days into my living in my tiny room and shared, dirty bathroom, I felt very itchy and saw bites all over my legs and arms. I had a feeling that I knew exactly what they were so "googled" bed bugs and was horrified that I was correct! I had heard about them but had never had the pleasure of experiencing it! I knew that I had to get out of there, but where would I go? I had a private lesson English student named Lucy and she saw me scratching like crazy and asked me what was going on. I showed her my arms and legs and she told me in Spanish that I could live with her sister who had a 3 bdrm apt. After class, we walked there and I moved all my things immediately! I would have the largest bedroom, brand new king size bed and share the bathroom(again). This looked perfect; however, the bathroom had a huge shower with ONLY cold water! I told them I could not take cold showers and had to have HOT water if I stayed there. Right away, they went and brought back an "electrician" from the closest hardware store and he rigged up the most hazardous looking thing that had wires running along the walls and ceiling from the kitchen into the bathroom. There was a switch on the wall that had to be turned on and off and when the switch was on the lights would flicker! I said a prayer everytime I went into the shower as I was afraid of getting electrocuted! The kitchen had cold water only still and there was no refrigerator or washing machine. Clothes were hand washed outside in a large sink and hung on the line. It was fine except for when it came time to wash the jeans; took forever to dry and very hard to wring out!

Criskas, Hildegaard's precious little dog on the Alpaca blanket on my bed.

Main entry door had a little window where you put your hand through and open the door

Door to the apartment

Hildegaard with her father and Criskas in the kitchen

One day, Lucy asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with her and her boyfriend, Donnel. We walked for 10 minutes up a little hill to here:The Chicken Fights. She didn't tell me where we were going...

I did not stay very long; too horrific to watch!

Lucy, my private English student, was staying in one of the 3 bedrooms in the apartment owned by her sister, Hildegaard, with Lucy's 2 children. Her actual home was about 45 minutes away in a town by the name of Luya. One day she asked me if I wanted to go see her house and she would take me to see the Sarcofagas of Karajia. That sounded like a great outing so we jumped in a taxi and we were off! Cars on the roads in Peru have no shock absorption and travel at frightening speeds around bends and turns that are not even wide enough for 2 cars. Every ride leaves you breathless!

Houses made of adobe as seen from the taxi on our way

Lucy, my English student

The horses were tiny; just like the Peruvian people. Clean and gorgeous blue skies.

On our hike down...

Sarcofagas' on side of the hill

Sarcofagas de Karajia
The Chachapoyan burial site discovered in the late 1980′s and dating back  1000 to 1300 CE.   High up on a cliff that overlooks a ravine are anthropomorphic clay sculptures filled with the remains of mummified leaders of this culture.

The trek down the hill was about two miles (all down hill… you know what that means…yes all uphill on the way back at an altitude of 8500 feet…  I was breathless once again and my heart pumped liked crazy but we made it back up. Lucy, who was about 15 years younger than me, was more exhausted than I was!

Resting 1/2 way back up. Lucy kept saying, "calor!"(hot)

 We slowly made it back up the 2 miles to the tiny village where Lucy had told the cab driver to pick us up but he was nowhere to be found! Here we were, in the middle of a remote village where the main transportation is by foot or horse! We had a serious problem since we were about 2 hours away from where we needed to go to get a taxi back to Chachapoyas! Our cabbie had ditched us! We walked to the closest "house" and Lucy asked them if they knew where we could find a car?! I could not understand what was said, just saw some pointing uphill so we left and started walking in the direction of the pointing...
Miraculously, we saw a car next to a house and Lucy begged him to take us back! If I had not been with Lucy, I may still be in Karajia!


Living with a rooster for 3 days
Life was much better without having to live with bedbugs; however, things were pretty difficult still since I did not know how to speak or understand what was being said in Spanish! Hildegaard, the owner of the apartment I was sharing, worked for the mayor of Chachapoyas and traveled alot. I never knew when she was going or for how long she would be away or who would be staying in the house. Sometimes, her mother would be there, sometimes her father, and sometimes different women. On one of her travels, she had a girl stay in the vacant bedroom who brought a rooster with her! She had it tied to a chair in the kitchen where it stayed for 3 days. Every morning at 4AM, it would "cock a doodle do" and just "cluck" the rest of the day. And a rooster isn't exactly housetrained so it left a big mess which the dog would walk through!

Tied to the chair in the kitchen

On another one of Hildegaard's travels, I mistakenly locked my keys inside my room and was locked out of the apartment! I had my laptop and a couple of dollars and that was it! It was 9AM, I spoke little Spanish, I did not know how to get in touch with Hildegaard, I did not know where she was or how long she would be gone. I was very rattled! I walked to the school since the owner spoke English and told him my situation. He told me where Hildegaard's office was so I walked back to the main square and told the guard that I needed to speak with Hildegaard. He said she was out and would return in 2 hours. So I sat and waited for the next 2 hours! At 12, I returned only to have him say that she was going to be late and would be another hour. So I sat and waited another hour: 1 PM. I then went back and he said she was back and to go upstairs to room 210 which I did. I opened the door and did not recognize any of the women; the guard thought I was asking for someone else! So, I was back to square 1! I was really rattled now...
Next door to the mayor's office was a Tourist Info center but no one spoke English. While I had been waiting for 3 hours,I had found Lucy's phone number in my bag so needed to have someone in the Tourist office call her and hopefully she could help me! After the most frustrating 1/2 hour of my life, a girl called Lucy and told her that I was locked out,  Hildegaard was away and I needed a key to get back in! She said that she would call her mother who lived an hour away and she would bring me a key. So I waited another hour but no one came! Desperately, I walked back to the school almost in tears and was told that a gray haired man had been by looking for me who had a key to let me back in. I was guessing that this man was Hildegaard's father...? So with high hopes, I walked back to the apt and waited some more, and some more...
No one came! I walked back to the school and was told again that the gray haired man was indeed her father and he had been by AGAIN looking for me! We were playing "tag"...! I walked back to the apt and in a few minutes he showed up but only had the key to the front door and not my room! I was still in a bind! The window had bars on it so it was impossible to break in that way.He decided that he would go try to find someone to help him break into my room and in a few minutes came back with a man who tried to pick the lock with various instruments including a plastic bottle that he had ripped up...none worked however. I could count on one hand the number of people that spoke English in the town and Hildegaard's father had brought 1 of them!Things were looking up! He suggested that we just go and get a locksmith to open the door...so I went with him and we brought back a man who with just a few motions with a tool opened the door in less than a minute! And it only cost me a few dollars! Whew! What a day that was. I make sure now, that whenever I go anywhere, I have my keys, some money, and my phone!

The kitchen:no refrigerator, no hot water

One day while Hildegaard was traveling again, I switched on the hot water and not only did all the lights flicker, but all the power went out! I learned from my last experience with being locked out, to get her cell phone number for emergencies. I dialed her number but the call would not go through; she was apparently out of range. So, I was left on my own again, not knowing when she would return…maybe a few hours, a day or two? I had my flashlight for when it got dark and could boil water on the stove to make hot water and take a “spit bath” for the time being. Things were not THAT bad…

A few days later, Hildegaard and her mother are back and the same “electrician” supposedly has repaired the on/off switch so the power will not go out again. Things are good for awhile and then one day I turn the switch on and POW! No power again! And of course, Hildegaard is away again and I cannot get through on her phone, AGAIN! Hildegaard’s mother and father show up a few days later and they find out right away there is no power again. This time though, it is not the dangerous wiring, but something within the whole building and it would have to be totally rewired. Little did I know, that the process would take almost 2 weeks! So for 2 weeks, I had to use flashlights and candles after the sun went down and had to take spit baths! This was camping now…!