Channel Your Inner Rori Gilmore...

I can't believe three weeks in India have already flown by! It seems like it's been just a few days and not a few weeks! India is surreal. No words can truly do it justice. India is an assualt on the senses - the smells (generally burning trash), the sights (especially watching the driving!), and the sounds (I am greeted by a cacophony of honking every morning which goes well into the night. Actually, I am now quite certain that every car, truck, richshaw, and bike has a different horn sound!) can be overwhelming at times! Despite all this and the brutal heat, Indian people are the kindest I have ever met.

I'm spending my first month here in India interning at the Madurai Messenger monthly magazine. This magazine is sent free of charge to over 800 schools, hospitals and libraries throughout Madurai. Upon arrival, all volunteers are asked to write their "First Impression" of India as one of their articles. Below, I have included my First Impression article as well as the Culture Kitchen article that Eddy and I worked on together. Eddy (one of the guys in my group) and I had the honor of representing America for this month's Culture Kitchen article. Essentially, the volunteers chosen have to decide upon a traditional dish from their country to make for all the other volunteers in the Journalism office at the tiny Projects Abroad kitchen. It proved to be quite the experience!

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am absolutely obsessed with Gilmore Girls. Every Tuesday at eight o'clock, my mom and I would plop ourselves down on the couch (generally with a bowl of overly buttered popcorn) and laugh and cry with the Gilmore Girls for an hour. Rori Gilmore, the daughter, was an aspiring journalist who became editor of the Yale Daily News and later went on to report on the Obama campaign when the series sadly came to a close. When I told my mom about all the articles I am writing (I have a few others besides these that I am working on), what do you think her advice was?

"Well, just channel your inner Rori Gilmore!" (Can I just say that I love my mother :) )

So, here is me channeling my inner Rori Gilmore! I hope you enjoy!

A Warm Welcome

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about coming to India. In October 2011, I embarked on an eight month adventure with a group of six other American volunteers. Under the care of Projects Abroad, we are travelling to five countries. So far, we have experienced crazy and chaotic Ghana, diverse and exhilarating South Africa, and the magnificently beautiful Peru.

Whenever people asked me about my concerns for this trip, I would always respond that I was anxious about India: from how Indians dress to the religions they practice; from the food they eat to the language they speak; from how they drive to how they don’t wear shoes inside (which I actually quite enjoy now). Everything about India seemed to be so culturally different from the US.

I quickly learned that I need not have worried.

Upon arrival to Chennai, I was absolutely exhausted. After three days of travelling, we walked out of the airport at 12:30am and were greeted by a wave of heat, a cacophony of honking, and a surprising number of people at that hour.

We then entered the departure area at the airport ready for our journey to Madurai, only to find the exact opposite of what we had encountered outside. It was completely dead. Apparently it doesn’t open until four in the morning. With no security to go through, no open shops to browse, and no restaurants with food to devour after days of surviving on airplane food, we formed a circle and all fell fast asleep on the floor.

When I woke up, an Indian man had settled nearby. Without us asking, he offered us some of his food. He didn’t speak a word of English, but generously shared his naan and chili powder with us.

A few minutes passed before his family joined us. Our new friend, his two English speaking daughters, his wife, and the seven of us, formed an even bigger circle and spent an hour together enjoying good food (we shared our Reese’s chocolates and sweet tarts from the US), great conversation, and of course, wonderful company.

This experience was incredibly touching because despite the language barrier, or the fact that we were strangers, or it being three o’clock in the morning, this man and his family went out of their way to make us feel welcomed. It was an experience rather foreign to us. Something like this would never happen at Los Angeles Airport. It was an unforgettable welcome to a beautiful country.

Immediately, all my fears were assuaged and I knew that my time in India would be filled with the same warm hospitality, generosity, and kindness that this family had shown us.

Culture Kitchen - American Style

We are proud to be from the land of the free where hot dogs, sixteen ounce sirloin steaks, meat loaves, pork roasts, and fried chicken are devoured in outrageous quantities. Now, when you throw two Americans into Indian society where virtually no meat is consumed and ask them to whip up a traditional American dish sans an oven, they have to get a little creative.

So, after much consultation with other American volunteers, it was decided that good ol’ mac n cheese is a classic American dish. The challenge: we’ve only ever made mac n cheese out of a box complete with the fake cheese powder.

As the directions were to cook two dishes, we chose s’mores as a uniquely American dessert. I (Tyler) have a pretty big family. I am the oldest of eleven cousins all of whom are at least eight years younger than me. Whenever we get the whole family together at my house it is absolute madness! After a few grueling hours of throwing the brood of youngins’ around in the pool, it is tradition for us to make s’mores. This is always my favorite part of the day – not only because I love s’mores, but also because it is great fun to watch all the kids make an ooey gooey mess! The only problem with s’mores is that after you eat that first one, you always want s’more!

With my close ties to this delectable dessert, I decided it would be fun to introduce the journalism staff to this treat. For those of you who don’t know what a s’more is, it only has three ingredients – graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars. Generally, you cook the marshmallow to golden brown perfection over a crackling fire. However, seeing as we are in India and only have a gas stove at our disposal, we are asking the volunteers to roast their marshmallows over a stove top. These treats are absolutely irresistible!

As it turned out, deciding on the dishes was the easiest part! It was finding the ingredients which proved to be quite the task! The first obstacle we were forced to overcome was one we never thought we would encounter: our temptation. We found it. We found the holy grail, the road to el dorado, the fountain of youth. We found boxed mac n’ cheese. Despite our overwhelming desire to purchase it right then and there, we overcame that enticement, deciding that the volunteers deserved an authentic American cooking experience. After making this devastating decision, we purchased the plain macaroni noodles and left the store before we could change our minds.

Our following stop did not end in tragedy. However, we did hit a few bumps along the road. We discovered that there are only two types of cheese in India: processed cheddar and plain cheese. As these were our only two options it made the decision a little easier. Our next task was to track down “milk” chocolate. Here is where our two cultures collided. Unbeknownst to us, in India, “milk chocolate” is our equivalent of “white chocolate.” We kept asking for milk chocolate and they kept bringing white chocolate. After a few minutes of being lost in translation, we finally figured it out and were able to locate milk chocolate or “white and milk chocolate” as it is known here. While we miraculously found marshmallows (albeit flavored), the last little problem we faced was the acquisition of graham crackers. We knew that finding them would be a long shot, but what we didn’t know was that no one even knows what they are. Needless to say, we had to improvise. Instead, we purchased True Marie Biscuits which proved to be an adequate substitute.

Finally, we were ready. It was time to teach the volunteers a little something about American ingenuity in the kitchen. Our weapons: a two burner gas stove, some pots, a whisk, and our mental acuity. It was bound to be interesting.

Things were going according to plan until the mystery lumps began appearing in our cheese sauce. To this day, we still don’t know what they were. We followed the recipe to the letter, yet when we mixed the milk-flour mixture with the simmering milk, the flour started clumping up. It was postulated that the flour had perhaps burnt, but that didn’t make any sense seeing as how the milk had just only started simmering. Even as we both took turns whisking furiously, the lumps just wouldn’t seem to go away. So we kicked the heat up a notch and mixed in the cheese, whisking away all the while. After the cheese had all finally melted and our sauce was a perfect tint of orange, we mixed the sauce in with the pasta. Despite the lumps, our mac n’ cheese turned out to be pretty delicious. In fact, it was the first culture kitchen dish that has made volunteers go back for a second helping.

After our unexpected yet triumphant success with the mac n’ cheese, it was time for dessert.  Surprisingly, none of the other volunteers had ever tried and only one had ever heard of s’mores. After a brief explanation on the art of making this messy treat, Kim Clarys, from Belgium, was the first volunteer daring enough to take on this daunting task. After the others saw her countenance change in delight upon her first bite, it was a fight to see who would get the skewer to cook the next marshmallow. True to its name, everyone wanted s’more after they had had their very first s’mores.

All in all, we think it’s safe to say that the Americans put on the best culture kitchen to date. 

Pictures to follow! Also, the week after next I will be working at St. Joseph's for the Dying Destitute - a hospice which gives the impoverished, ill elderly a place to be clothed, fed, sheltered and to have company. Please send positive thoughts my way as I'm nervous that this will be one of the most difficult (albeit most likely the most rewarding) placements I will work at.

The Road to Happy Destiny

I don't even know where to begin! The last three weeks have been such a whirlwind! From working at the archaeology/community project in the middle of the cloud forest, to hiking the Inca Trail (or the Road to Happy Destiny as Kayla so lovingly calls it), to saying our goodbye to Peru (I leave for India TODAY!) - the last few weeks have been absolutely unforgettable.

Now let me tell you a little something...if I thought I had become a professional cement mixer in Cape Town it was only because I had yet to realize my talents as an expert machete-ist. My machete was commissioned everywhere around Huyro. I macheted all the weeds around the banana field to prevent them from strangling the new trees. I macheted all the overgrown plants at the local school (school started on Tuesday at they wanted it to look nice for when all the kids returned.) Essentially, because they are lacking basic modern machinery such as weed whackers and lawn mowers, we were the school's lawn mower. I macheted overgrown plants in drainage ditches to allow the water to flow through so it wouldn't drown the fields. And I matcheted plants that went over my head to clear ruin sites so that we could map and explore them. I macheted until my hands were covered in blisters and then I continued to machete until all those blisters popped. Quite frankly, if I never have to pick up a machete again it will be too soon!

You can tell we were all very happy macheting...we only got a little
dirty in the process!

The Inca Archaeology / Community Project was absolutely incredible though! Along with all the macheting mentioned above, we read to kids at a local library started and run by previous Projects Abroad volunteers, we explored and mapped totally off the map ruins, and we worked on the fields around El Establo. All the volunteers live in a community house, El Establo, and it is working to become a completely self sustainable place. The project opened in 2007 and in five short years they have cultivated banana fields, corn fields, coffee plant fields, and they also grow passion fruit and a few other fruits. They also have chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, and rabbits there to eat. Additionally, just four months ago they got electricity by utilizing the endless rain and water supply. They use the rain water to run a turbine to create electricity used for lights and other basic things.

 El Establo

We did so much hiking while we were there exploring a ton of ruins which I absolutely loved! Not only did I get to see indescribably beautiful scenery hiking in the cloud forest to these ruins, but I was also able to see how the Incas lived through exploring these off the beaten path ruins which truly showed their way of life. They created an unbelievable network of roads and were able to accomplish unbelievable feats for the technology they had.

Probably my most memorable experience at El Establo was waking up at 4:56 in the morning to this in my room:

I heard rustling and started saying "Kayla? Kayla, is that you?!" My flustered cries woke her up at I turned my flashlight on to find this rustling through my room. I only heard it because the poor snake had tape stuck around its next. We sat in our beds for a few minutes unsure of what to do. It was an intense stand off between us and the snake. We were stuck in our beds and it was curled up in striking position. Finally, we decided that Kayla should go get a broom to get it out of our room and I would stay in the room with a flashlight so that we would know where it is. Kayla walks out and thirty seconds later I hear her scream.

There was ANOTHER snake hiding in the brooms.

That shriek woke up the house and it became a great ordeal getting the snakes out of the house. After some time, we finally achieved getting them out, but at that point everyone was so awake that we got little after that. Along with snakes there were also the biggest spiders I have ever seen at El Establo! That was fun...

This is the local soccer field a two minute walk from El Establo....not a bad view, huh?

On Thursday we said goodbye to El Establo in preparation for the Inca Trail. We drove the nearly four hours, mostly petrified, to where we would start the four day trek/journey/death trap to Machupicchu. Day 1 was pretty mellow and we just cruised up and down, enjoying the views. It was Day 2 that we were all anticipating with much trepidation. It's essentially all uphill and when you finally reach the top, you go straight down stairs that were most likely created to induce the need for knee surgery.

So Kayla, Billy, Macrina and I left first Saturday morning determined to tackle Dead Woman's Pass (the name of the highest point of day two at a whopping 4,215m [nearly 14,00ft]), without is turning us into dead women (and man). The first half hour wasn't too bad and we were all thinking okay, we can do this. The first half hour was extraordinarily deceiving.

To be honest, I don't think I have ever been in a more beautiful place. The scenery on Day 2 was indescribable.

Example One:

Example Two:

The thing was that you are so incredibly exhausted that it is difficult to appreciate it as much as it deserves. There seemed to be a million, never ending stairs! They just went on and on for miles...literally! Finally, you make it out of the forest and think it's finally going to flatten out. Again, the trail likes to play tricks on you. Just because you made it out of the forest in no way meant that you were done climbing. In fact, it just meant that there were more stairs to be climbed. So, I took a deep breath and continued on. At this point, we were all spread out a little because it was so strenuous. Honestly, what saved me on this trek was snickers bars! I would not have made it without them!

SO MANY STAIRS!

Finally, Kayla and I met up and had our eyes on the prize. We could see the top. Dead Woman's Pass was within reach...almost. After trekking for what seemed like an eternity we finally settled on a twenty stairs then take a break approach for the home stretch. I channeled my inner Dory and instead of "just keep swimming," "just keep going" became my mantra.

After two hours and forty minutes, Kayla and I were the first in our group to reach the top! (No it's not a competition, but we were pretty proud of ourselves nonetheless.) It generally takes people six hours to do what we did in just over two and a half. We ascended 1500m (over a mile) in six kilometers (roughly 3.5miles). It was steep. We felt on top of the world when we finally reached the top. As you can see, we also felt super strong!

Day 3 was much easier and also extraordinarily beautiful! We woke up on Day 4 at 3:30 in the morning to get going. After only an hour and a half of hiking we reached the Sun Gate which is where you are supposed to get the ever so famous view point of Machupicchu.

This is what we got:

While a little disappointing, it still felt like such an accomplishment. Billy and I stuck it out for a little while and the clouds cleared JUST enough for us to get a glimpse of Machupicchu from the Sun Gate. That was pretty rewarding. After that, we descended down into Machupicchu to walk around and enjoy the place we had worked so hard to come see.

MACHUPICCHU!

The Gang at the Top of Machupicchu

The Inca Trail was an unreal adventure that I am proud to say I have crossed off my bucket list!

There were surprisingly lots of llamas at
Machupicchu

Since we finished the Inca Trail we have had two days in Cusco to unwind, recover, and reflect back on our time here. In South Africa the “Ubuntu” mentality made a lasting impression on me. Here in South America, “Por hoy” has had the same effect.

One weekend, we were leaving Cusco and we drove past the city, Poroy. Poroy was shortened from “por hoy” which means for today. Here in Peru I have really focused on being present and have learned just how important it is to be in the moment, to be living for today. Whether reading to Luci and Derek, hiking with the group, teaching my students, macheting away, or dying on the Inca Trail, I was simply there in that moment. This ability is so important to me because it is so seemingly impossible to do back at home. At home constantly thinking about what you’ve already crossed off your checklist, but more so, what you still have to do. It’s a constant rat race running around, always thinking about what’s to come and never just enjoying what is.

In Peru, I’m simply enjoying what is. I’m enjoying the here and now and this is an incredible gift that Peru has given me that I will carry with me forever. I think one of the things that contributed to this is that Peruvians are ALWAYS celebrating. Every day we hear cannon fire marking some celebration. You make think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. Literally there is cannon fire EVERYDAY. Actually, the cannons just went off about two minutes ago. Whether it’s dia de las comadres, dia de los compadres, carnevale, dia de la virgin de something (there are LOTS of them), or dia de los ninos, there are always celebrations generally whose purpose is simply to appreciate one another. (When your child is baptized, your child’s godmother is your comadre – they have a different day to celebrate the godparents, but this day is to recognize the role the comadre plays in the parents’ lives. Yup – the Peruvians think of everything and anything to celebrate. J )

So here’s to remembering that I am because you are and the importance of being here, wherever that happens to be, being wholly here, right now. 

The Plaza de Armas at Night
There really is nothing quite like it.