Junín

May 26, 2013

We reached Junín this morning at about 5am after a long (but not too terribly uncomfortable) bus ride. As we got off the bus, I think the cold shocked me more than the altitude – definitely not the weather in Lima and nothing close to the summer I’d been anticipating in MN. Several small motorcycle taxi things met us at the bus stop and brought us to La Parroquia, a sort of Catholic Church boarding hostel and our home for the summer.

We had several hours of rest before breakfast and I think that was when I first realized the change in altitude. I’m used to breathing at a certain frequency, but that same frequency wasn’t going to cut it here. I felt winded after a few minutes and had to try to convince myself to breathe more frequently. Does that make any sense? Strange.

We had breakfast with the Padre and several other people who live and work here – Nancy and Pochita, the women who help in the office and kitchen, and David and Dennis, the young men (early 20s) who sing and play guitar at Mass. Everyone at la Parroquia has been incredibly warm, welcoming and accommodating. Initially they had the three of us in two rooms but after lunch insisted on giving us each our own rooms (which, I imagine, will help our sanities a ton since we’ll be working together all other hours of the day). I definitely landed the nice room – I have a small window to the outside (which must face North since the sun has been coming in all day so far, southern hemisphere and all), a comfy double bed, a television (that I don’t actually plan on watching, but maybe I will if there are telenovelas or partidos de futbol on in the evenings), and my own bathroom! Visitors are welcome anytime… :)

The climate reminds me of Lesotho winters. It’s not too bad outside when the sun is up, but none of the buildings have heat, so we each have a ton of blankets on our beds and everyone walks around in jackets. The sun is powerful though; I’m sure I’ll come home with an awesome tan on my face (and nowhere else).

We also walked around town a bit – up to the central market, greeting people and taking in the sights. The sun felt absolutely glorious when it was out! Most of the streets seem to be one-way, though I don’t think they get much traffic. As we walked south, we went uphill, and coming back north was downhill. Lago Junín (also called Chinchaycocha, and the one contaminated by the mines) is to our northwest, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to see it sometime this week. We’re situated not too far from la municipalidad – the municipal building where I’m guessing we’ll be meeting with the mayor tomorrow or sometime early this week.

After being here several hours, I can definitely feel the altitude. I’m thankful to be in such good shape and am very much hoping to be able to run at some point this week, but for now I’m a bit dizzy and my head hurts; running can wait a few days. Right before lunch, Nancy also brought us a vial of some sort of strong-smelling thing. She instructed us to put several drops in our hands, rub them together and inhale deeply several times, then rub the rest on our forehead. I was hesitant to take a whiff at first (for obvious reasons), but it did help a bit with my headache. Then again, warm soup, potatoes and hot tea also helped tremendously. At lunch, they also served us “agua de coca” – a tea made with coca leaves, which was supposed to help calm our stomachs and heads.

It’s incredibly heartwarming to see how much these people care for us already. They know so little of us (they weren’t sure if we would be men or women and how many would be here until this morning when we arrived!) and yet everyone here has bent over backwards to make sure we’re comfortable and taken care of; already it feels a lot like a family.

Hasta luego,

-k