Smashing Butter

This past Sunday after our presentations at the Bioferia we began our journey to Gracile's town about three hours outside of Lima.  Gracile and Juan (her MESA love interest) are both alumni and currently live in various towns - Marachanca, Ayas, Lima, Arequipa - "migrants" as Juan puts it.  We curved our way through winding roads and ascended to the town of Marachanca, a small pueblo without electricity and in which only a few men actually live (the rest of their families live in the towns below where there are schools and light) to work their chacras.  In Marachanca, we picked up trash, visited a garden with a collection of cacti from the region, helped to rid the soil of grass after being hoe'd (?) by two huge bulls, and ate scrumptious fresh food prepared by Gracile's mother Maria.  She is awesome - lively, optimistic and bouncing with energy all the time.  We munched on fresh plums, homemade peach jam, bread from Los Siete Enanos in Lima, tamales that we assembled, and tons of fresh vegetables during our three days with the family.  For the final lunch, we decided to take charge.  On the tiny, crowded stove we prepared brussel sprouts, a sweet gingery quinoa salad, quinoa patties, and a selection of other goodies.  Earlier in the day, we had joined with a man named Gustavo (who practices biodynamic agriculture) to prune his brussel sprouts and kill the worms that are plaguing his crop right now.  Who knows how many worms we ingested with our lunch...... In Ayas, we also played volleyball and other sports with the community and joined together in a game of trivia about the town, followed by a reward of picarrones (donut-like treats made of sweet potato, squash, and yucca that are dipped in a syrupy substance) for all.  Our last day in Ayas we spent an hour in the factory of Vacas Valices, Gracile's dairy company, squishing the butter to get the water out.  The bus to take us to Maracancha, where we were to get a car to take us to another town and then to Lima, was supposed to arrive between 5 and 6.  It ended up showing up at the factory around 6:15, only to tell us that he planned to pick up a load of alfafa at the top of the mountain and return within the hour.  Of course, in Peru time this translates to about three hours....minimum.  So, slightly frustrated, we ended up descending the mountain on foot as the sun set and we stumbled down rocky paths aided by a few headlights and Juan's phone's flashlight in my case.  Finally, we reached the base of the mountain and sat as huge trucks passed, followed closely by zippy cars darting past them on tight, curvy roads.  We waited.....and waited.....and waited..... In Peru, there is no such thing as timeliness.

Finally, a van from heaven stopped and we piled in.  Somehow, the other men in the van were traveling to Lima as well so we bypassed the second leg of the journey and were dropped directly at the House Project by the end of the night.  An episode of slight frustration with the Peruvian sense of time, but it all worked out.  All in all, our time with Gracile, Juan, and Maria was extraordinary and their vibrant passion made them easy to connect with.  When asked what he misses most about the United States, what was Juan's answer?  Lamb. ;P