It’s time. Whether I’m ready for it or not, I’m jumping in.
After getting together in the capital to celebrate our one year anniversary in Peru, I returned to site with newfound energy. I made fliers to distribute to the students in 4thth grade of primary school. Tomorrow I will hold the first after-school meeting of Club R.A.H.U. [Props to my site-mate for coming up with the acronym, which means “mountain” in Quechua and in Spanish stands for “Red de Amigos de Huascarán,” which in English means “Network of friends of Huascarán” because we are located at the entrance for the Huascaran National Park.] and 5
The fliers weren’t perfect and I was tempted to revise them and push the start-date back another week. But if I waited until everything was perfect, nothing would ever get done. I found the teachers and asked if I could speak to their classes. I talked about the club and said I hoped to see everyone tomorrow. Jeez. I hope someone shows up. I hope the director gives me the key to a classroom. I hope I don’t crash & burn in front of these kids. What am I going to talk about? I’ve never taken a class on teaching, and prior to last year, kids scared the crap out of me.
I was on my way home when I saw a woman collecting trash in the path to/from the school. I asked if I could help, and ended up collecting a huge bag of trash until it was filled to the brim. I walked with her all the way to the plaza and she said she’d be collecting trash around the school tomorrow if I wanted to help. I told her I would be there in the morning helping in an English class, and would look for her afterwards. I’m actually looking forward to picking up trash.
From the plaza, I went to the park entrance booth. I asked how the tourist surveys were going, thinking that they were probably used as firewood or toilet paper in the week since I first left them there. The control booth guy asked if I wanted him to get them. So…they weren’t in the control booth. Okay, don’t freak out – this was to be expected. I say he doesn’t need to “get them” but I just want to know if any have been filled out. He asks again if he can go get them. Yes. That may clear things up about their whereabouts. He returns 5 minutes later with the bag I gave him a week ago. I’m thinking that this bag has been untouched and chilling in someone’s house for a week. I pull out the red folder and my jaw drops when I see there are 20 filled-out surveys inside. He explains that some people want to fill them out, others no. I can’t believe I left this task in the hands of someone else, and it is working!! By then there is a small crowd peering in as I translate the results to Spanish. I explain what projects we could work on based on the answers thus far. There is little response for hiring llamas as pack animals instead of donkeys. There has been a huge response to the idea of selling trees to the tourists to plant inside the park. I give a little speech on business and marketing, realizing these guys have no concept of customer service. Yet they are listening to me, and they seem to be absorbing and understanding what I’m saying. Accommodate the customer, and business will improve. Offer services the tourist is interested in, and money will flow into the community. I didn’t bring up artisan products yet, but I plan on giving a whole spiel at the next meeting of the tourist association. To know that thousands of tourists come through this small town every summer, and no one has thought about selling food or water or artisan products! Unbelievable. My biggest fear is that some outside party will swoop in and build a hotel or store, before I can motivate the community to do it. My community is a huge untapped goldmine, and could easily be exploited. As it already stands, vast amounts of income do not stay within the community. The guides earn between $50-100 daily; they speak English and have been certified by the Casa de Guías which represents the Mountain Guide Association of Peru. EVERY guide hired is from the capital 3 hours away. NOT ONE guide comes from Cashapampa itself. Compare this to the men I work with who earn $10 daily as donkey-drivers. If Cashapampa isn’t the perfect example of needing to convert to eco-tourism, I don’t know what is.
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