Señorita Mariska

I know, it has been quite a while since our last update and we are now in Chile, but first I will tell you all about our time in Cajamarca, northern Peru. Here we stayed in the cheapest hostel so far, which unfortuntely also meant the worst matresses so far. But Cajamarca is a beautiful historic city, just as nice as Cusco, without the tourist masses. We spend our days helping out at Warmayllu. Warmayllu in Cajamarca is run by Mariska and her colleagues Diana, Maria, Olga, WIlliam, Laura and Theo. Most of them spend several days a week at the various schools in the countryside and mountain villages, where they do workshops and projects with the kids and assist and teach the teachers. In the afternoon they return to the office to prepare new projects and do the paperwork.

Warmayllu has written extensive publications on the arts- and intercultural curricula for the schools, and the Warmayllu staff spend most of their time ´ìn the field´ to implement their programs. This year they also started their own secondary school in the countryside with about 35 students, which takes up an enormous amount of time and effort. To get to the schools everyday is no easy feat. First they have to get up extremely early to hitch a ride with the teachers to the countryside (When I joined Mariska we were with 12 people in 1 stationwagon, don`t ask me how....). And then it´s generally a brisk walk through the hills from where the road ends to actually get to the school. For one of the schools this means more then 1,5 hours uphill to actually get there! Mariska and her colleagues see these walks as an important part of their work, because they get the time to talk to the teachers, and meet kids, parents and people of the village(and stay enormously fit, while networking!). Along the way they organise the sheep for the shearing of the wool for the weaving project, or the assistence of parents in the building of the traditional herding huts/shelters etcetera. When we visited one of the schools we could see how the kids enjoyed the workshops and of course how they all adore Señorita Mariska. The kids are very excited about the projects and learn to appreciate their own culture and heritage. This is very important because the campesino`s (rural farmers) are being looked down upon in their own country a lot, despite the fact that they have a very rich and interesting variety of customs and cultures. While travelling we have seen how rich and diverse the peruvian culture is, every village has their different dresses, hats and weaving techniques, and everyone can tell of a rich history of myths and legends of the area.

At the bottom of this story I will give you the bank details of the Warmayllu friends and family fund, if you feel like contributing to this great cause!

Near one of the schools the villagers found several tombs with mummies in it and a lot of ceramic artefacts. These are now displayed in a small stuffy room in the school. The school would like to realise a small museum with the help of Warmayllu. Based on some ideas of Mariska and the school I made some sketches and a little model for the museum, annex new classroom, which we presented to the teachers, parents and the kids. Meanwhile Hans also reorganised the library at the Warmayllu office.

Mariska took us along to the celebration of ´San Juan´ in one of the mountain villages Chamis. El Fiesta San Juan is celebrated over 4 days in which they don`t stop to sleep. On flute and drums they play music and dance and drink for 4 days straight. Every 5 hours they spread out a cloth on the ground and serve a simple meal of mais and soup or rice with beans. Then they go straight back to the dancing and drinking, all sharing the same cup that goes around with chicha (homebrew maisbeer) and cañase (homebrew sugar cane liquor). When you are tired you sit down on the ground, rest your head against the wall and sleep for a little while. We brought our sleeping bags however and especially for us gringo´s they spread out some hay on the half wooden floor above the party. Not much sleep but a great experience richer we awoke early the next morning to go straight back into the routine and kept on dancing untill 2 that afternoon. While the rest of the village continued on partying for another 2 days we walked back to Cajamarca in 4 hours.

Everywhere you go with Mariska in Cajamarca and the villages you have to stop a thousand times. Everybody knows ´Señorita Mariska´ and of course likes to have a chat with Señorita Mariska, who is at least a feet taller then all the Peruvians (men and women). It is great to see how well Maris is integrated in their world and society.

Our other highlights in Cajamarca: we went to a open air concert of Daniel F, a famous peruvian rock hero / singersong writer. Even though we were freezing we stayed the whole 3 hours of the concert, because it was amazing. We spend a few great nights at the ´peña´ Usha Usha, where Señor Jaime plays his guitar and sings and all his local friends join in with their musical instruments and voices. Mariska turns out to have an incredible singing voice, her german friend Lisa plays the violin beautifully (tango tunes!), a peruvian friend Percy on the drum box.... Wow, before you know it it is 4 in the morning.
We spend many nights in the company of Mariska and Maria, either watching a DVD at their place or eating a sandwich in town.
We did a great hike from Cumbemayo back to Cajamarca. We watched the Eurocup with the few dutch people that live in Cajamarca. And before leaving for the Peruvian jungle Mariska and her colleagues organised a great goodbye party for us, again with lots of music and singing and even some ´smartlappen´ sung by Hans. Muchas gracias Señorita Mariska & Warmayllu friends for a fabulous time in Cajamarca!

If you wonder what good cause to support this year, here´s our recommendation:
Warmayllu friends and family fund (unfortunately only in the Netherlands, contact us if you´d like to contribute from the land of Oz).

ABN AMRO bank: 50.27.23.955
t.n.v. Mariska van Dalfsen