Sunday, 26 July, 2020

Today I was woken up by the sound of construction out my window. The past few weeks, the obnoxiously loud construction out my windows has woken me up every morning and distracted me from just about everything all day long. Sunday was the only day they didn’t work. Even all day Saturday was fair game. I woke up this morning with the realization that I have lost my one day of peace and quiet.

I have to get out of this apartment. This will be a four story building, which means that soon it will not only be the sounds of cutting rebar and mixing cement right outside my windows. It will be construction workers up at the level of my second story bedroom and living room - then looking down into my bedroom and living room. I’ve started keeping the curtains closed all day, which makes my room so dreary.

Also, the noise from the construction has driven away the birds I used to watch outside my windows. No more Sparkling Violetear hummingbirds, blue and yellow Tanagers, Black-Throated Flower Piercers, Crowned Chat-Tyrants or Golden Billed Saltators. Bird watching got me through the first ten weeks of quarantine, back when I really couldn’t leave the house. Back when police and military were allowed to arrest anybody who wasn’t leaving the house for food or medicine. Back when only pharmacies, grocery stores and markets were open. Back when I could be arrested for hiking up to the Temple of the Moon.

It’s much easier to leave the house for a hike now and even possible to leave Cusco to go for a hike in the Sacred Valley. Still, I don’t have a job to go to every day and as cases of Covid rise in Cusco, I want to spend as much time at home as possible.

This Saturday I am going with the rest of the Covid Relief Project team to the rural community of Chahuay. This is our fifth day taking food to families in need and every time I get increasingly nervous about the risk of taking the virus with us from Cusco. None of the communities we have visited have had any access to a hospital, clinic or pharmacy. We absolutely cannot expose any of these people to the virus. Our efforts to help cannot cause harm.

Monday, 27 July, 2020

Today I went to meet Yesi, the accountant from the trekking agency I used to work for. She helped me though all of the paperwork to get my permanent resident card and work visa and has been unfailingly helpful since I started work there last September. Since she called me at the end of June, to tell me that my last day of work would be June 30th, I have been waiting to hear if the company is actually totally bankrupt or if they just have to stop paying everybody for a while.

I had been the last employee left, working half time in April, May and June. Then, not working at all in July. After talking with Yesi, I called the boss, Saul. He reassured me that he would be able to hire me back part time in September. I learned to live on half of my usual salary April through June, so even at part time, I can get by financially. However, he always sounds so optimistic when I talk to him that I really don’t trust him. He reassured me all through March and April that August would be completely back to normal. Does he really believe any of this or is he just trying to be optimistic to placate me?

Yesi had both good and bad news for me in terms of my health insurance. Since I’m still technically on contract, even if I’m not being paid at all, she still has to pay for my health insurance. Having health insurance during a global pandemic is a very, very good thing. The bad news is that the hospital won’t see anybody if they don’t have Covid. Last week she took her father-in-law to the hospital for a suspected heart attack. They made him stay in the taxi while they took a drop of blood from his finger and came back with the news that he doesn’t have Covid and won’t be admitted. They actually told her to buy some aspirin and take him home.

Like the Kasier system in Seattle, health insurance here is linked to a specific hospital. There is the public hospital for all of those too poor to have health insurance. Then there is the hospital for people with insurance, like me. Then, there are private clinics that charge high prices and only accept some kinds of private health insurance. My health insurance should cover me for all treatment and medication at the associated hospital, except that they won’t let me as long as I don’t have Covid. I can’t get a prescription for my normal meds filled at the hospital pharmacy until I can get a prescription from one of their doctors. It’s another part of the waiting game that the pandemic has put all of us in.

Monday evenings, my friend Hannah usually comes over for her Spanish lesson. However, in an effort to minimize any exposure to Covid, I decided to do the lesson at her place. It’s an odd calculation I have to make. Is it more dangerous for me to go into her home and be exposed to any germs in her space, or is it more dangerous for her to come to my house and breathe in my living room? I opted for going to her place with the idea that I can wash my clothes and myself when I get home more easily than I can wash the couch after she sits on it for an hour. I also insisted that we both wear masks during the lesson.

Tonight I got confused with the KEXP schedule changes and thought I had missed El Sonido. I just kept listening and Chilly came on an hour later than I had expected. One of the changes they are making is that Alvina Cabrera, who has been producing the show, will be co-host starting in a couple months. I love KEXP but it has been bothering me that my favorite DJs, William Meyers, John Richards, Kevin Cole, Darek Mazzone, Kid Hops and Troy Nelson, are all white men. Alvina will bring more diversity to El Sonido and there are a lot of other changes that will bring more diversity to many of KEXP’s shows.

Tuesday, 28 July, 2020

After waking up, working out, showering and having breakfast to the sounds of cutting rebar and mixing cement, I went to check out another apartment. It was by Puente Almudena, on the far side of Mercado San Pedro, which is not the part of town that I’d ideally like to be in. However, it was super cute and I bargained them down to my price range. Like many empty apartments in Cusco, it has been an AirBnb.

With the complete disappearance of all tourism, most AirBnb apartments are now available for rent at normal prices - but with all of the furnishings and amenities of an AirBnb. I have to find a furnished apartment, since I don’t want to bother buying furniture here - especially during a pandemic. I can’t afford new furniture now that I’m unemployed, and I don’t want to buy used furniture that has been in somebody’s home. Who knows how many people have used that furniture in the two weeks before I buy it - and if any of them are carrying the Covid virus?

It just wasn't the right place for me, so I’ll keep looking. When I got home, President Vizcarra was already part way through his presidential address.

Today is the 199th anniversary of Peruvian Independence from Spain. Of course, all parades and parties and events have been cancelled, but we can all watch the president on tv or on YouTube. I watched him on YouTube. The past week or so, there have been lots of rumors that in this address he will give us some information about potential new lockdowns or if we are going back into a real quarantine like we had March, April and May.

He said nothing about new quarantines. He mostly spoke to the congress, telling them about a five point plan for making Peru a better place. It was a long speech but not very useful for those of us who want to know what’s going to happen in terms of work and life. I want to know when hospitals will allow people to make routine appointments and when the borders will open up for international tourists. I appreciate that he has a plan for Peru, but it’s a political plan, not a plan to deal with the pandemic in the next few months.

I cancelled my class with the Cusqueñian guy that I usually teach English to on Tuesdays. Last week he told me that a friend from Arequipa was moving in with him. Arequipa has a much higher rate of Covid cases than Cusco and if I’m trying to be extra careful in anticipation of this Saturday, I really can’t go to his apartment or let him come to mine.

I still went to teach French and Spanish to the couple who have me teach on their upstairs balcony area. I told them ahead of time that I’ll be asking them to wear masks during out lessons this week. The space that I teach in is a partly outdoor rooftop terrace. I’m not in their apartment and there is plenty of fresh air. That seems safe enough to me, even if I’m trying to be extra careful this week.

Wednesday, 29 July, 2020

Kerry found a place for rent that we both went to look at this morning. It was a serious walk up from our current home, which is already up high above the center of town. This place was so high up it was almost out of Cusco, higher even than the San Cristobal church. The place was cute and had a fantastic view, but the kitchen was tiny. With restaurants closed and/or unsafe, a good kitchen is essential during a pandemic.

We walked back down to home and on the way I bought some charcoal at the San Blas market. It’s s/2.50 for a kilo, which was plenty to grill our lunch. This was round two for my DIY bbq that I made for last Saturday’s party. We only had six people over, and they all stayed upstairs, outside on the roof, but it still made me a little nervous since I’m going to Chahuay this Saturday.

I am so thankful that I got to take a little break from fundraising for this Saturday. It’s exhausting to have to continually fundraise. I gave it all I had for the first four villages, but then ran out of steam. This coincided perfectly with somebody in Australia picking up my slack. A couple weeks ago, I met a woman named Kyra at the Friday yoga class. She had seen my posts on Facebook and told her friends back home in Australia about the Covid Relief Project.

One of them, Justine Moorman, who has never even been to Peru, started a fundraiser for us on Facebook. She raised $650 Australian, which became $450 USD when she sent it to our r PayPal account. I could hardly believe it! That’s half of what we needed for this Saturday!

If I hadn’t known that Justine was doing a fundraiser, and if I hadn’t known what the goal was, I would have had to put in a lot more time trying to get donations last week and this week. We usually manage to pull in exactly what we need the night before we actually go to a village, but the whole process is exhausting. It’s especially stressful for me when we’re 24 hours from leaving and still don’t have enough donations to cover the food we need to buy. I’ve started trusting more that the donations will come in, even if they’re late. Still, I am so thankful to Justine for pulling in half of what we need this time. It was a huge weight off my shoulders.

Thursday, 30 July, 2020

This afternoon I had my second round of French & Spanish lessons with masks. It’s really fun to be able to tutor one on one and so much more flexible than with a group. I start out with a plan of what we’ll do during the lesson, but if we head out on a tangent, I don’t have to reign us back in and stick to the plan. We can just follow the tangent wherever it goes, as long as my student/client is happy and learning, we can talk about anything.

Unfortunately, they are going to spend part of next week in the Sacred Valley, so I won’t see them on Tuesday. That actually takes a third of my weekly income away. It’s just another kick in the pants to get me going on looking for more students, either in person or online.

Most of the online English teaching platforms hire native speakers without any teaching experience. From what I’ve heard from other people who teach for these companies, many of them treat their teachers like they’re idiots. With twelve years of teaching experience and a master’s degree in education, I really don’t want to work for any of these companies. I need to do some research and see if I can find one that requires teaching experience, will pay me for it, and will treat me like I know what I’m doing.

Friday, 31 July, 2020

This morning, I walked over to Puente Belén to buy maná. This is the puffed (not popped) sweetcorn that we have taken a couple times when we take food to villages for the Covid Relief Project. Once we bought 40 small bags for s/40, once we bought 3 kilos and small bags to fill ourselves. That only cost s/30 for the maná and s/1 for the bags, and we got 52 bags. Today, I bought 4 kilos and more small bags. I’m hoping to get around 70, so every kid in the village can get something.

Maná is very popular with kids here but small villages don’t have the kind of vacuum puffer that you need to make maná. They obviously have plenty of corn, but they get it boiled or roasted, not puffed. When maná is made they also add some sugar so it’s slightly sweeter than it would be normally.

Back home, I got a message from my friend Steve. I had invited him to join us for the day taking food and school supplies to Chahuay, but he texted me this morning to tell me that his roommate has had a high fever for three days now. Said roommate mentioned it this morning when they were in the kitchen, as if it were no big deal. Steve was also informed that they aren’t going to bother getting tested. Obviously, I had to uninvite Steve. There is no way I can risk taking the virus to Chahuay.

Trying not to worry too much about Steve, I walked up to the Temple of the Moon for the weekly yoga class with Sonia. I asked if she or her boyfriend David would be interested in joining the Covid Relief Project tomorrow, but they’re leaving town to go spend a few days in the Sacred Valley.

Kerry had to stay home to get some work done, and nobody else showed up, so I got my own private yoga class for s/10, which is less than $3. Considering how little I make these days, s/10 is real money for me, although I know that some day I’ll miss my $3 yoga classes. When I moved to Seattle after living in Bangladesh, what I missed most was my masseuse. She came to my house once per week and gave me an hour and a half full body massage for about $12 - and people told me that I was over paying! There are certainly some advantages to living in developing countries.

Back home, after yoga, I checked the health app on my phone. I’ve already walked 7k/4.3 miles today and climbed 43 floors. That’s basically what I was doing in February and March last year, as I was trying to train for hiking the Inca Trail at the end of March. Of course, I was doing that at sea level, in Seattle. Today I did that at about 11,000 feet / 3,400 meter above sea level.

Another thing I really love about Cusco is that living at this altitude makes me feel so healthy. Any little walk I take is a much more athletic endeavor than it would be in Seattle. Even though I’ve been here almost a year, and my body has totally acclimated to the altitude, I’m still at 11,000 feet and my body is still working harder to function with less oxygen.

After hiking the Inca Trail last year, with 20 high school kids, I was only home for a few weeks before I started to plan my move to Cusco. I moved here the first week of August, 2019, only about four months after I got back to Seattle from the Inca Trail trip. It seemed like a sudden move to some people, but when I told my mom that I wanted to move to Cusco, she wasn’t surprised. She remembered me telling her in 2013 that I wanted to move here, right after my first trip to Peru, when I got to spend some time in Cusco. It just took me six years to do it.

The pros and cons of taking a sabbatical from teaching have completely changed with the pandemic. Covid-19 has put everything in a different light and although being unemployed now is terrible timing, it might be worth it to have skipped trying to teach online last March, April and May. I think it’s also worth it to not have to deal with the stress of strikes. It really doesn’t look to me like schools are actually doing enough to make opening safe this September. Teachers’ unions are threatening strikes and I don’t blame them. I certainly wouldn’t want to go into an enclosed space with a number of children from different families.

Each of those families likely has at least one adult who works outside the home, maybe in a factory or office, both known Covid contagion risks. Most of those families have more than one kid, so those kids would each be exposed to every other kid in their classrooms. That web is too big. That is not a safe pod. Schools have to implement massive changes to make them safe. I am so glad that I’m not facing the choice of going to work in an unsafe environment or going on strike, or quitting my job. It just all sounds too stressful.

Also stressful, this afternoon, the regional government of Cusco declared that we are going back to some of the quarantine restrictions. Effective tomorrow our curfew goes from 10pm back down to 8pm. Since these restrictions come and go without any warning, everybody is nervous that this is just the beginning of taking us back to the draconian restrictions of April and May.

Now I’m worried about if we will be able to get to Chahuay tomorrow - and if we will be able to get home in the evening. When travel restrictions were strict, we had trouble trying to get back into Cusco after taking food to rural areas outside of Yaurisque on May 16th and the communities of Sut’uc-Pacchaq outside of Urubamba on June 6th. On May 16th the mayor of Yaurisque drove Henry and I home in his truck, and got through the checkpoint back into Cusco with all of his documentation, some arguing and a strong warning to not transport more than one passenger in a vehicle. The police themselves drove Auqui and I back to Cusco on June 6th, but still got hassled at the checkpoint trying to get back into Cusco.

If we are heading towards increasing restrictions, everybody will be on edge and transportation to Chahuay will be complicated for us tomorrow. The community sent a truck tonight, after the new quarantine restrictions were announced. Auqui, Henry and I went to Wagner’s to help load all of the food. We bought for 90 families this time, since the community leaders of Chahuay told us that there were 90 families who really need help more than the others.

For each family, we bought 5 kg rice, 3kg sugar, 2 small bags of oatmeal, 1 package of soda crackers and 1 liter of vegetable oil. At Wagner’s they helped us find which products they could get the best price on. They also donated about 40 cartons of fruit juice, completely free for the families. Unfortunately, they didn’t have 90, but any help is welcome.

After we saw the truck off, we walked over to the police station to ask if we would need special police permission for tomorrow - like we did in May and June. They assured us that tomorrow there wouldn’t be the same restrictions tomorrow as during the first part of the quarantine and that we wouldn’t have any trouble leaving Cusco - or coming home in the evening. Fingers crossed!

Saturday, 1 August, 2020

Today a van picked up Henry, Auqui and I, plus our friend Kyra Eddy, right at 8am, as they had promised. Kyra and her friend Justine, who lives in Australia, raised almost half of what we needed for today. It was such a huge help for me, since I was getting exhausted with the constant effort of trying to get enough donations every two or three weeks.

Henry did some shopping yesterday and had with him a couple boxes of school supplies. We have a list of the 75 kids 14 and under in Chahuay and we bought notebooks, coloring books, colored pencils and pens for all of them. For the children under 2 years old we bought a carton of milk, since notebooks and pens would be less useful for them.

We loaded the school supplies and the four of us in the van and set off. Kyra and I sat just behind the driver, with boxes piled between us. Henry and Auqui sat in the back, with as much social distancing as possible. We wore masks and every time we went through a police checkpoint I also put on my face shield. They never stopped us to ask for paperwork, but Henry did have that for us, just in case!

It took more than two hours to drive to Chahuay and we stopped on the way, where we crossed the Urubamba river for Henry to do a little ceremony at the river. Today is New Year’s Day for those who follow traditional Andean traditions and religious beliefs. Henry was a river guide for rafting and kayaking for years on this stretch of the Urubamba, so he wanted to thank the river for keeping him safe all those years.

All four of us climbed down the river bank and spent a little time praying over quintu. A quintu is three coca leaves, which you pray over, asking the Pachamama and all of the Apus, sacred mountains, for whatever you want in your life. With one quintu, I asked for protection for my family from the pandemic and for good health in general. Then I set the leaves in the river and watched them be carried downstream. You can pray over as many quintu as you want, so I got another three leaves and asked for protection for all of the people of Peru from the pandemic, from hunger and from poverty. The longer this pandemic goes on, the harder it gets for all of us.

After we set several quintu each down the river, we got back in the van and drove the last half hour to Chahuay. The town is on Lake Pomacanchi, in an incredibly beautiful setting. They had set up for us on the soccer field, which is near the lake. We set out the school supplies, and they brought the food that we had sent in the truck last night. We also got out the maná, which came to 58 bags, once I put the four kilos into smaller bags.

We called the kids first, oldest to youngest, to give them their notebooks and coloring books to keep them busy while we called the adults to come get their donations. The kids happily started eating their maná and coloring in their books as soon as they got back to sitting with their families. Even though we gave milk to the kids under two, we saw several older kids drinking straight from the cartons. I was just happy to see the kids smiling and sharing their school supplies and maná.

It took a while to get everybody on the list checked off, but it was only about noon when we were done. After the villagers all left, the community leaders brought out a couple tables and their family members brought food for us down to the soccer field. They served us plates piled high with boiled potatoes and onion salad, topped with a whole fried trout. Their lake is known for great fishing and it was the best trout I’ve had in a long time.

We ate with the community leaders by the lake and shared chicha. Most chicha is a lightly fermented corn drink. This chicha was made with barley, so it tasted a bit different, but was still delicious and refreshing. I’ve developed a taste for chicha in all forms and am always happy when we are served fresh chicha. This chicha was also “frutillada” which means that they mixed in strawberry juice to sweeten the chicha.

Eventually, we had to leave and piled back in the van for the drive back to Cusco. Thankfully, we didn’t have any trouble with the police checkpoints and the driver took Kyra and I back to my house. Kyra is living in Pisac, in the Sacred Valley, and drove her motorcycle to my house in the morning.

It’s about an hour back to Pisac, but we got back to my house around 4:30, so she easily made it back to Pisac before dark. She said that she didn’t have any trouble with police checkpoints, which was a big relief for me. I was so thankful both for her help today and for her friend Justine’s fundraising over the past couple weeks. I really didn’t want her to get stuck somewhere just because she came to help us.

Tomorrow we are back to the all day Sunday curfew, but I have enough food to get through one day and don’t have any errands I really have to do. We only had three “normal” Sundays, when we were allowed to leave the house, since that was one of the restrictions of the quarantine from March through June. I have no idea how many more restrictions will be added on, now that we are heading back into quarantine in Peru. Hopefully, it won’t be as strict as in April and May.

Covid in Cusco: Week 20