Olmos…the Limon Capital

After three years in Peru I still don’t know if a ‘limon’ is a lemon or a lime or something in between, but after our visit yesterday I know that the city of Olmos is the self-proclaimed Limon capital.

Olmos is an hour and forty minute $2.90 combi ride from Chiclayo. There are enough small towns in between dotting the desert landscape so that the ride passes quickly. The combi terminal in Olmos is located two blocks from the principal park, which is always a good place to begin exploring any new town. In the park is a sculpture of both a feminine and male hand – the male holding half of a limon. I’m not sure what imagery it is intended to convey.

WASHINGTON -- Welcoming the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers to the White House was no easy task for President Barack Obama. The president is a die-hard fan of the Packers' rivals, the Chicago Bears, the team Green Bay beat in last year's NFC Championship Game to move on to the Super Bowl.

Our exploration started at Bravo’s Restaurant, owned and operated by Lilly. After finishing our meals of menù we asked Lilly what there was to see in Olmos. She suggested Santuario Virgen De Nitape, followed by a zoo north of town, and some petroglyphs at the foot of the mountains. And not content to let us stumble around on our own, she hailed a mototaxi driver she was familiar with and made the transport arrangement with us. I know I’ve written this before, but day in and day out what I like most about Peru is the friendliness and helpfulness of small town people.

"I'm just gonna come out and say it," Obama said. "This hurts a little bit. This is a hard thing for a Bears fan to do. It doesn't hurt as much as the NFC Championship Game hurt, but it still hurts."

Our first stop was the Santuario Virgen De Nitape. What happened here was on May 31 1973 Teodora Gonzales, a young village girl was walking when she saw the Virgin Mary high up in this tree. There was some discussion; other people came to the site - some apparently also seeing the Virgin, and a shrine was built on the spot. According to our guide, Teodora is now married and living in Lima.

“… the president had some suggestions for the team (Packers) -- namely trading their quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers to his beloved Bears. No word on how that suggestion was playing in Obama's hometown, and with Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.”

During the twenty-minute mototaxi ride to our next stop we had the chance to survey the countryside. My impression was that Olmos could also lay claim to the title of goat and sheep capital - they are everywhere. I toyed with the philosophical question of whether they were dodging us or we were dodging them. The hills surrounding the town and roads have been stripped bare of any vegetation, making me wonder what these animals eat to survive.

Ahhhhh---that beautiful Super Bowl trophy---life is good!

Our next (and as it turned out final) stop was the Asociacion Crax Peru, Pava Aliblanca zoo, which is actually an aviary for endangered species with a few monkeys, turtles and a fox included. It’s not a bad place to spend an hour or so. There is an extensive collection of large birds that make some of the strangest sounds I’ve heard, and they seem to enjoy putting on a show when approached.

We wanted to finish our visit at the Pipochinos petroglyphs but our guide talked us out of it, saying the road was rocky and dangerous and there “really is nothing to see.” In hindsight I wish we would have insisted.

There is nothing unusual or distinctive about Olmos or its people, which we’ve found to be the case with most towns located on major roads. You’ve got to get off the beaten paths to see identifying cultural traits. Still, Olmos offered enough to keep our interest and justify the travel, which is all we ask of any community.

Tom

The Village of Boro

It was more than one year ago that a friend told us of ancient ruins located high on a mountain not more than 40km from Chiclayo near a village named Boro. He said the locals referred to the ruins as “little Machu Picchu” and to his knowledge the site had never been formally explored. We visited the village and climbed the mountain yesterday.

There is no public transportation directly to or in Boro. The options are to contract a taxi or mototaxi in nearby Pomalca, or to board a combi going to Sipan and get off in the middle of nowhere and walk a mile on a dust choked trail. The village is long and narrow, built alongside the Cerro Boro (Boro Mountain).

On the north end of the village is Lagunas Boro; a pretty blue water lagoon that serves as a potable water source for Chiclayo. Fishing, swimming, littering, and even approaching the lagoon too closely is prohibited and enforced by a shotgun toting security guard.

The village has been in existence for 35 years with many of the original settlers coming from Cutervo in the Cajamarca region. It is not clear whether these people actually hold title to the land. It was just three months ago that electricity and street lights were installed. Despite the lagoon there is no municipal water. Townspeople use wells for water to wash with but not for consumption, claiming the water tastes of salt and is contaminated. As in most remote desert villages stomach parasites and general health are a problem.

According to Consuelo Rivera (right) who is the informal mayor there are 56 families living in Boro. All of them are poor. A mid-day meal is supposed to be cooked every day in the ‘comedor popular’ (community kitchen) for those in need, but often government donated food does not arrive for days at a time. When food is available each family takes a one week turn at cooking. Despite the Reque River being nearby, there isn’t much in the way of family farming. Most of the men work either at a sugar factory in Pomalca or in nearby fields cutting sugar cane. There is no park and, almost amazingly, no church – a sort of town hall serving as a place of worship. There is a three room school and a separate building for kinder which isn’t being used due to lack of desks and tables. A restroom for the school with well water was constructed in 2002.

Climbing Cerro Boro is strenuous and sometimes tricky but not dangerous. Labeling the ruins ‘little Machu Picchu’ is going too far but not by much. The remains of a Moche culture city extend for miles in all directions. Outlines of roads, houses, storage facilities and temples are clearly evident.

A feature I dubbed the ‘great wall of China’ extends for miles north and south. The walls are remarkably well preserved. Another surprise was the lack of looter activity. Ugly looter holes we’ve come to associate with most archeological sites are not apparent here. Consuelo said that tourists do not come here and she is not aware of any government exploration of the site. Our guide suggested that our photos may be the first ever taken of this site… an intriguing notion but likely not true.

There is really no reason to visit Boro…unless you like small towns with friendly people, or exploring the remains of a huge, once thriving city dating back about a thousand years.

Tom

A Family Story

Miguel and Maria (not their real names) are both in their mid thirties and both are mentally challenged. They have had a relationship for many years, though they aren’t married and don’t live together. Twelve years ago they had a son Luis who until recently lived in an orphanage.

There are two versions of how Luis came to be in an orphanage. In one version the government became aware of “a suspect family situation” and legally took the child and placed him in the orphanage. Miguel has had problems with alcohol and drugs which gives credence to this explanation. In the other version Miguel and Maria realized they could not take care of a child and voluntarily gave him up. It’s probable that even they are not clear on what took place. Whatever the case, every Sunday afternoon the family was together at the orphanage.

Some time ago a family from Spain visited Chiclayo with the intent of adopting a child. After several meetings with Luis the family was sure he was what they were looking for. And Luis apparently felt strongly about them also. Adoption is a lengthy process in Peru as in other countries. As the process was nearing a close Luis made a request of his new family to be. He asked to be allowed to communicate with his mother, and that when he was old enough to work he wanted to be able to send money to his parents. Luis is normal in all respects and knows that his parents are handicapped. Legally, agreement to the adoption was not required from Miguel and Maria, but they were asked and both consented.

I don’t know when the parting took place or what was said. I do know that Luis is in Spain and has started email communication with his parents. I also know that Miguel has said he misses his son but is happy Luis will “maybe be a engineer”. Maria has printed the emails from Luis and proudly shows them to friends.

Tom

A Visit to Tarapoto

While being heavily rained on in a mototaxi for the second consecutive day, I asked the driver if it rained every day in Tarapoto. His response was…”sometimes.” The ambiguity of his answer for me sums up our entire visit.

Tarapoto is built on a series of hills in a valley surrounded by mountains. The city itself is pretty much indistinguishable from any other Peruvian city of similar size in terms of architecture, design and content. It doesn’t have much to offer in the way of tourist attractions beyond a small museum, the Orquidea Chocolate factory, and the Tabacalera del Oriente cigar factory which we didn’t have the opportunity to visit. The information office located across the street from the principal park is not very helpful regarding information or maps. To determine where an attraction was located and how to get there it was always necessary to ask several people – police, motodrivers, passersby before finally getting an answer, and that not usually very clear. For a city that encourages tourism, it seems to me there has been no effort made to put even a minimal tourism infrastructure in place.

That’s not to say a visit to Tarapoto isn’t worth the effort. There are several attractions outside of town that are worth seeing. The Ahuashiyaku waterfall is one example.

I like waterfalls. I especially enjoy jungle waterfalls. The pungent sweet aroma of wet, decaying vegetation; the calls of exotic birds; the dozen shades of green mixed with a sprinkling of other spectacular colors kept vibrant by mist from the falls all combine to create an attraction that I think appeals to my primitive being. There are many waterfalls located close to Tarapoto. We didn’t get to them but hope to on a future visit.

The town of Lamas located 22km from Tarapoto is regarded as a tourist attraction. Outside of a castle under construction there isn’t any one thing to create lasting memories in my opinion. The view of lower Lamas from the El Mirador tourist park offers spectacular scenery while enjoying a meal or drink.

The petroglyphs of Polish are located just a few miles from town. To reach the site we were told by several mototaxi drivers (who didn’t go there themselves) to look for “a new moto because the road is bumpy and don’t pay more than 15 soles round trip.” We ended up paying 40 soles to the only driver we could find who would take us there. The site is very small and comprised of a few large boulders with petroglyphs on some of them. The caretaker said the petroglyphs date back to the Inca period and were probably roadmaps of a sort. An incident while leaving the site deserves some comment.

When we had arrived at the petroglyphs I noticed two men sitting at the side of the road. They were manning a road barrier which was raised when we entered. In response to my question the caretaker told us the men were Ronderos; self-appointed vigilantes who exist to combat crime. When we attempted to leave the site, the men would not raise the barrier until we gave them a tip. The distinction between Rondero and robber is not clear to me.

Close to town is Laguna Venecia. Other than a small chocolate colored lake there is nothing to see or do. It has the look of what was or could be a tourist park, but the entire facility has the forlorn appearance of something from days gone by. It was deserted the morning we were there. To boot, the two motodrivers we had contracted to take us there and back voiced their unhappiness with our agreement and insisted on more money. As I write this I’m trying hard not to let these occurrences color my viewpoint, but there were simply too many blatant money-grabbing instances like this to ignore them.

We didn’t get to the village of Chazuta because the road was under construction, nor did we see what various tourist publications describe as a “must see” – the town of Sauce and Laguna Azul, mostly because we were short of time but also because we were tired of laying out exorbitant amounts of money for transportation. All of the tour services we saw charged 85 soles per person for transportation and lunch. We were told we didn’t need a tour service, but we’d had enough of dealing with private carriers.

Beside the Ahuashiyaku waterfall the highlight of our visit was something we hadn’t planned on - a very pleasant evening spent with new friends Tony, Herb and Luis at the Stonewasi bar. Mucho gracias amigos.

We will return to Tarapoto to see the waterfalls we missed and the village of Chazuta. And we’ll probably see Laguna Azul. But if someone were to ask me if I’d recommend a visit to Tarapoto, my answer would be an unequivocal …”maybe.”

Tom

A Mountaintop Chocolate Factory

Nestled atop a bluff on the outskirts of Tarapoto is the Orquidea Chocolate factory. It can be reached by an interesting up and down mototaxi ride (it seems as if one is always traveling either up or down in Tarapoto) from the city’s center.

The timing of our visit was not good – arriving on Saturday when the plant is not operating. On weekdays visitors will be given a tour to actually see chocolate being produced. We were limited to seeing cocoa beans drying in the sun, later to be placed in vats and allowed to ferment for seven days.

The entire production process was explained to us by these pleasant Orquidea employees, who also told us that Orquidea has been in its present location over ten years; has nineteen employees; sells all over Peru and exports to the United States. At present they manufacture nine standard varieties of ‘bars’ but will also produce custom blends and large blocks for resellers.

The ownership of Orquidea was not made clear to me. As I understand it Orquidea was an NGO start-up operation in 1998 with a budget of $30,000 and is but a small part of a larger effort in the San Martin Region to encourage alternate crops to replace coca. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the government of Peru have invested more than $100 million over the past fifteen years toward a goal of eradicating coca production.

The company has several web sites. This one has interesting commentary about local farmers growing cocoa as an alternative to coca.
http://www.peruvianchocolate.com/

Orquidea is attempting to enlarge its presence in the US and then hopefully to other countries. We bought several of each of their offerings and will vouch for the fine taste of their products.

If you should happen to visit Orquidea be sure to take a camera. The view alone from the factory is more than enough to make the trip worthwhile.

Tom and Maribel

Padrinos de Corte de Pelo

Peru is a land rich in traditions, and though modernization in the big cities may be causing some aspects of that culture to slowly fade away, many customs are still strongly held on to in remote villages. One such custom involves a ceremony centered on a child’s first haircut.

Davis Montenegro is 19 months old. Last month his parents Magno and Juanita decided it was time to get his hair cut. The custom is that family members gather together on the appointed day, and a sponsor or sponsors – “Padrinos de Corte de Pelo” (which translates to Godparents of the Haircut) snips a ceremonial cut of the child’s hair. Photos are taken which will be placed in an album along with the first snips of hair, to be presented to the parents and later to the child when it is older. Then everyone sits down to a big meal. It seems that most Peruvian customs I’m aware of usually involve a big meal somewhere along the line.

When Maribel and I were asked to be sponsors we felt honored and gladly accepted. We had no difficulties with the ceremonial cut, and Maribel kept cutting until the job was done. I don’t know if that was the plan or not but she did it. The only real problem I had was with the meal.

If there is a graceful way to eat cuy (guinea pig) I haven’t found it. The skin is like thick, very elastic rubber; cutting it with a standard knife and fork doesn’t work. There is no choice but to pick it up with your hands and try to bite off the meat without having the skin snap bits of meat all over the table, your dinner companions and your face. I usually don’t succeed but everyone politely ignores my mess unless I’ve showered them too severely.

The Montenegros are good people and Collique Alto is a good place to spend a relaxing half-day. We’ll be back.

Tom and Maribel

A Successful Medical Campaign

The three-vehicle convey arrived at the Collique Alto School at 9:30am Sunday, July 3rd. By 10:00am the team was set up and processing the first of what would be a steady flow of patients until the doors were closed at 1:30 pm – a full hour beyond the previously announced closing time. Set up involved designating separate classrooms for Triage/Pharmacy, General Medicine, Pediatrics, Gynecology and Dental and the placement of the appropriate equipment for each.

Triage was the first step in the process, where nurses took and recorded vitals including height, weight, blood pressure and temperature, and based on symptoms routed patients to the appropriate medical specialty.

Dr. Rogger Cieza Oblitas dealt with general medicine patients. Due to a missed communication we were without two other general practice doctors so Rogger had a heavy case load. Occasionally one of the other doctors would step in when patients were too backed up.

Pediatrician Dr. Jorge Wilmer Cacho Oliva was kept busy with the many youngsters and also made time to see general medicine patients.

Gynecologist Dr. Jorge Enrique Limo Peredo saw a constant stream of patients. A second gynecologist could easily have been kept busy.

Dr. Francisco Antonio Canlla Ore (second from left) was a huge help to the campaign. He brought with him a number of students from his university dental class, and offered to drive his own car when seating space in the bus was limited. On the right is Promesa Peru board member Attorney Salomon Morante Velasquez.

Dr. Ore’s dental students were a surprise. The professionalism they displayed was impressive. There was no hint that they were students as they handled a multitude of dental problems without any indication of awkwardness or uncertainty.

The final step in the process was the pharmacy, where nurses dispensed the prescribed medications including injections. We ran out of some medicines and had a surplus of others.

A general observation about the system is this – with due respect to the doctors and other team members, it is the nurses who are the backbone of a medical campaign. Much of the work falls on their shoulders, and given the demands for their time they also somehow manage to keep complete patient records and maintain a real time medicine inventory. Special thanks from Promesa Peru to Claudia Seclen Yaipen, Yosi Gil Mendoza, Cecilia Sosa Ramirez, Angie Katherine Cavero Chapoñan, Ana Guerrero Valladolid, and the Nursing College of Peru IX Lambayeque. Our thanks also to Vilma Mendoza, Martin Angeles, Cesar Mestar, and the Regional Director of Health - MINSA for medicine donations, and to Jeff H., Joyce, Ray and others for financial contributions.

Many of the team assembled for a final photo upon our return to Chiclayo’s Las Muses Park – all of them expressing a willingness to “do this again.” And we will. Medical campaigns are a needed and rewarding activity.