Blog:
It has been a while since I wrote my last blog. For the most part a lot has happened. I have spent my first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years away from home. I have thrown up well above 17,000 feet while hiking a mountain. I have also stayed in Lima for about 4 weeks attending forums and meetings.
I honestly can say now that I really enjoy my time here in Moyobamba. I have made friends and I have gotten to know my co-workers and my family better. I have started to play a couple games at soccer each week. We play every Saturday morning at 6:30am. I have missed playing sports so I have enjoyed that a lot. Even if I have to get up at 6:30 it is still worth it. Although, I wish it was hockey because I am definitely the worst soccer player out there. If I whiff less than two times on a one-timer, than that was a good game for me.
I have also fixed my coffee problem. My friend showed me a coffee place here in Moyobamba. The owner of the place, Jose, grows his own coffee than serves it at the café. I can order mochas for 4 soles which is a little over a dollar. It beats 12 soles for a mocha at star bucks. I have gone there so much that now he will give me a cup for free, here and there. That was actually my goal, to get a free cup of coffee. Jose invited my host brother, Roberto, and I to go visit his coffee farm. His farm was beautiful and very interesting.
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee
The farm also has this huge tree behind me. Its about 50-60 m tall. And has vines that hang down from the canopy.
He has a shade grown coffee farm so almost his whole entire café farm is covered by shade. He has banana trees and mango trees along with the coffee. Inside his family’s cabana, which is located next to the farm, there are a lot of guinea pigs running around on the floor. And those are not pets.
Jose is the second from the left. The others are his brothers.
A view from above.
Spending Christmas here was not hard for me at all. Mostly because living in the jungle region of Moyobamba, well it’s hard to feel that it’s xmas time when it’s warm and sunny. I definitely did not have a snowy xmas. They also celebrate xmas very differently here. The Sunday before xmas they did a sermon on the birth of Jesus, so instead of celebrating Jesus birth on xmas eve or on xmas they celebrate the Sunday before. I did not know this before I attended the service so I was very confused why they were talking about the birth of Jesus a week before. My host mom explained it to me later on.
I also did not feel lonely being here during Christmas because it felt more like a mix between Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. At midnight, they shot off a bunch of fireworks throughout the whole city. After all the fireworks, we ate a thanksgiving dinner, well almost, everything but gravy and biscuits. In Peru, they also do not celebrate with gifts or anything like that. Although the week before (host family and visitors), we all had a secrete Santa and that was it.
The day after Christmas I flew down to Lima. I had to stay there a few nights to wait for Todd who came down to visit me. It was almost surreal to have a friend down there or someone who I actually knew from outside Peru or outside my program. The first few nights we stayed in Lima. Lima is actually a pretty interesting city despite what most people say about it.
We explored Lima for two days and the other day we went surfing just outside Lima, called Punta Hermosa. To get there we had to take a few different buses, which was always kind of fun trying to figure out which bus we were actually suppose to take. Once we got there, we found a board to rent and we went out in the cold water without wetsuits. I only started to shiver after an hour and that is when I got out. Todd enjoyed surfing; I enjoyed getting crushed by waves. The waves did not seem too big from shore but they were pretty big once you got out there. Every so often a really big wave would come out of know where. With those waves I would either get crushed trying to escape them or trying to surf them so I usually tried to surf them. I just usually prefer a little mental properness before trying to tackle a big wave.
New Years at the hostel, World cup of futbal (Brasil, Argentina, USA, Puerto Rico, Chile)
Next Todd and I headed up to Huaraz, Peru because we wanted to see Cordillera Blanca/Andes Mountains. The city of Huaraz is located in between the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Negra. It sits at an altitude of almost 10,000 feet. We took a bus that left from Lima at 10pm and we arrived in Huaraz around 6am the following morning. Our goal was to climb a mountain and from the little research that I did this is suppose to be the bad time of the year because of all the snow. After we settled in a hostel we found a guide. We were barely in Huaraz a full day before we started our climb. We took a taxi along with our guide to Huascaran National Park and from there we started our hike with our backpacks. Besides my boots and my hat I literally had to rent everything. Since I live up in the jungle I didn’t have enough room to bring warm clothes. It was a good thing that this hike was an all included package.
I have climbed about four 14,000eners in Colorado and I have never had a problem with altitude. I started the hike pretty confident. However, I never took the time to really properly convert meters into feet. I wasn’t even thinking because when I contacted a couple tour agencies before I got there they told me that I would only be able to climb a 15,000 foot mountain. That is only 1,000 ft taller than the other 4 I have climbed. But it was a lot taller. We attempted to climb Mount Vallunaraju, elevation of 18,650 ft.
Base Camp
Anyways, Todd and I arrived at our base camp without any problems. I am not sure what the altitude was at the base camp but I am sure it was at least 13,000 feet. We set up camp than rested a little bit. Todd and I were sharing a 2.5-liter water bottle. Later when we got out of our tent I went to full up the water bottle. But when I looked at our tablets we had to wait 3 hours for it to properly clean the water. This was a problem because we were already a little dehydrated from the altitude. By the time it would have been ready, we were planning on being asleep. And when the water was ready it was too cold to drink. I could not drink it fast; I had to sip it like it was hot water. Neither of us drank enough water. At this point Todd was starting to get a headache. I was feeling good until dinner. I was eating fine then my stomach just started to lose its appetite. We both had some coca tea to help with the elevation. We later started to chew it. It didn’t help me either way.
Later, we headed to bed but trying to sleep at 13,000 feet is difficult considering 2 nights ago we were sleeping at sea level. Todd brought his sleeping beg which was not built for cold weather so he never really kept warm. Neither of us slept for more than 20-30 minutes at a time. Our guide came to wake us up at 1am and we were hiking by 1:30am. It was fun trying to hike in the dark with just our headlamps to light the way. We reached the snow in 30 minutes. From there we put our spikes on, took out our ice axes and tied each other up to one another. We had about 30 feet of rope between each of us. The snow was deep at times. And the mountain was plenty steep. I would be walking nicely on top of the snow then all of a sudden I would sink down to my waste. It became really difficult and frustrating when I tried to get out, I would take one leg out just to have it collapse through the snow again. The worst part of the hike was that I never woke up. All I wanted to do was take a nap on top of the snow.
We were still able to smile after we hacked
Todd was the one who seemed to be really hurting at first. At times I was trying to keep up with the guide so that he would not pull me down. The guide was leading, I was in the middle and Todd was the anchor. At times when I tried to keep up with the guide and I would pull Todd down in the snow. Todd at times seemed to be at the point of throwing up but he would get back up and continue. I wasn’t feeling at all 100% but I never felt like throwing up but then all of a sudden it happened. I was just hiking a long then all of a sudden I started to cough really hard then all my breakfast came out. However, I did feel a little better after I got it out. It was still dark at this time. I threw up around 17,500 feet. Less than an hour later Todd followed me. I puked first but he puked more.
At this point, the sun was coming up. We could finally see the mountains below us at this point it made it all worth it. We could barely see the summit. We continued to climb but we were both hurting a lot. At one point Todd could only walk 10 meters or so before he would crouch down on his knees to rest. Later Todd told me that I one point he looked up and everything was pink. I also, was not feeling great; I really had nothing left in the tank. The guide told me that we both pretty much had every symptom of altitude sickness. So we both made the decision to turn around. We didn’t make it but the views made it worth it and we are proud that we puked.
Day Hike after getting off the mountain
After Huaraz we went down to Huacachina to go sand boarding. The place was an oasis in the desert. It was a small town built around the sand board tourism. It was a lot warmer than Huacachina. We met a lot of fun people there that we hanged out with and sand boarded with. We took a dune buggy tour that included the sand boarding. The dune buggy drivers are crazy. I was plenty scared for the first 10 minutes of the ride but just the ride alone made it worth it.
The sand boards were made out of wood so I really didn’t try actually boarding down the dunes. I rode it like a sled, which was fun because you pick up a lot of speed. I did enjoy watching people who attempted to ride the boards like they were snow boarding. They always crashed and the sand doesn’t have a lot of give to it.
Todd and I parted ways for a few days. I had to go back to Lima to start work up again and he wanted to go to Cuzco. We both had a great vacation and we wish we had more time in Peru because there is so much to do down here. Lima was enjoyable. I didn’t love it but I liked how there was something always to do. I went surfing a few times. I found a place where I could watch hockey games. I went to a live blues music concert with a couple of friends from Lima. Apart from the ceviche that was my highlight of living in Lima. I lived in a apartment so I had to cook my own food. I thought I missed cooking but I was on a budget and I didn’t like having to prepare food when I was in a rush. I would usually begin cooking at 8 or 9 because of work most of the times.
However, I am back in Moyobama. I didn’t realize how much I missed my host moms cooking until I was back. There are a lot more different dishes here in Moyobamba and she cooks them all very well. I am currently busy with work. We are beginning the new year and there is a lot to do. I will be working directly with the coffee farmers in the next few weeks. I will be living with different coffee farmers for about a week at a time so until then I am planning out what are our goals and how we are going to reach them. As in, how to help improve their harvest sustainably and once they do that how can we improve their leverage in the market.
Over all I am very happy with my experience here. I have a lot to thank God for. For the opportunity that He gave me to work down here. For the opportunity He gave me to learn a different language and to live in a different culture. For a great host family. For the great people I work every day. And also for the support I have back home. I am looking forward to my last 6 months here but I hope it doesn’t go by too fast.
I hope everyone is doing well,
James
