Last night it rained here in Ayacucho, Peru as it has for the past two weeks. Every afternoon or evening like clockwork...a shower. Some are stronger than others, and have been accompanied by lightning and thunder. I was thinking to myself this must be the rainy season in Ayacucho, when my host family corrected me and said ¨This is nothing just wait until February or March when it gets really good.¨ Ayacucho is a colonial city with narrow streets and frankly inproper drainage, but so is Charleston, SC (USA) so who is counting. When it rains the cobble stone streets collect about 2 to 3 inches of water so that your feet and socks get just wet enough to make you cringe, and the damp weather makes it to cold to go in Chaco sandals (My Chacos have touched four continents now by the way!) , which means barefoot without socks.
So this morning I knew that I had to get across the city to the Paz y Esperanza Office, even though it was a mix of down pour and sprinkles. This water from the sky also seems to make the air outside cold. I had to breakout my heavier coat and wore four layers as I headed out. I peeled them off one by one. I decided that I would still try to use the bus system, why not, I am already wet. I walked to the corner by the Mercado Choro and spotted a doorway that was free. This nice Peruvian woman and I shared the doorway to stay as dry as we could until my bus came. We struck up a conversation about where I was from and what I was doing here. I told her I was ¨Learning from the Peruvians about building relationships among church communities and accompanying victims of long term trauma.¨ The woman was intrigued.
We both noticed that the Mercado (market) Choro was considerably less active this morning. We were standing in one of the many doorways to the fish and meat market. Usually, I try to avoid these doorways becasue they smell like a wet foot, but it seems that the rain outside was supressing the smell. I admit to being a carnivore adapting to living with a 95% vegetarian family (that is because the host dad is the only vegetarian, the rest of the family follows along). I noticed that the smell of the meat and fish market was not so powerful today so I split my vision. I watched for my bus with one eye, and scanned the meat market with the other just to checkit out. Wouldn´t you know it right up front instead of chicken or hamburgers was a chica selling Alpaca meat for 7 soles per kilo. I wish I had paid more attention in 8th grade science class when we were doing metric convesrions to pounds. Darn it!! Alpaca is Llama (the Ll here is ¨Ya¨). It is supposed to have less cholesterol and fat than beef.
So back to the rain. Sorry I always get distracted by Llamas. It is a work in progress. What can I say?
The rain is always a concern in a colonial city. We are in a mountain valley for Pete´s sake. When it rains it is just steady. The merchants that are open near the mercado roll out these little awnings that divert the water away from their doors.
Last year, I remember hearing about the unseasonable amount of rains that were coming down in Ayacucho and Cuzco regions of Peru, even all the way back in the States. It is probably becasue the train to Maccu Piccu had to be shut down because of flooding and mudslides. In Ayacucho, last year, apparently the deluge of rain and other forces caused a resvoir to give way and the water plunged down a main street in the form of a flashflood. The street had no drainage system, and is a downhill run. Some 6-11 people were killed (numbers not confirmed)and all the cars and other things on the street were wiped out as well. Reactionary of course (like most governemt action anywhere), that main street which stretches pretty much across the city, is now closed and under going a complete overhaul including the creating of an underground drainage system of pipes and resvoirs to collect an abundance of water if needed. I think the people of Ayachucho, including the regional government, are learning to adapt their beautiful colonial city to the weather patterns and expanding habitation and activity of the modern world, without sacrificing its charm. Stay tuned for February and March, and by the way...I did find my raincoat, right in my bag where I packed it two months ago.
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