Afternoon tea in prison

"Remember those in prison as if you were there yourself"

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting a woman's prison here in Lima.  Santa Monica prison is in the area of Lima known as Chorillos and is a maximum security prison holding, amongst others, suspected terrorists.  I had never visited a prison before let alone a maximum security facility and so I really didn't know what to expect when I got there.  We had lunch in a restaurant opposite the prison doors and bought some bread, cheese and ham to give to the women in the prison then at 2pm when the visiting hour starts, we had to line up outside a huge cast iron door and wait to be ushered inside.  I was with my friend Miriam and another girl visiting from England but I was pretty nervous about the visit.  After 15 or so minutes the door opened and we were called into a small, dark room where we had to show our passports and leave our belongings.  We weren't allowed any cameras, mobile phones or watches or jewellery inside the building and we had to wear skirts in case we had to be strip searched! 


Our passport numbers were logged onto the prison system and we were given three ID tattoos and a number.  We then went into a room and were searched for anything illegal including mobile phones and after passing this test we were allowed into the prison.  As we stepped inside the prison confines and the door to the outside world closed behind us, I felt a bit nervous and slightly claustrophobic.  I didn't know how safe the place was or who we'd find there.  

Our security tattoos

Miriam goes to Santa Monica every week and so knew immediately what to do and where to go.  We followed her past row upon row of tiny dark cells till in the last cell of the block we stopped and Miriam called someone's name.  Out of the darkness of the cell emerged two women and at first I thought they might be guards.  I had no idea they were inmates and was surprised by their friendliness and warm welcome.  They seemed so pleased to see us that I was quite touched!  They invited us into their "room" and showed us what had become home for them.  There were two bunk beds and a tiny area curtained off with a toilet.  All their worldly possessions lay on their bunks or on two small shelves on the wall.  Except for the beds and the toilet there was no other furniture.  The doors were padlocked from the outside every night at 9pm and opened at 6am.  If there was an earthquake nobody could escape.  The cell was tiny and dark and very claustrophobic so we sat outside in the patio.


Fanny and Cecilia, as the women were called, made us coffee out of their meagre rations and we chatted about all sorts of things as more and more women took an interest in the "foreigners" and came to see what was going on.  All the ladies we spoke to were very open with us and shared their life stories.  I was surprised by how warm they were.  Cecilia and Fanny were long term members in the prison.  Fanny had already been there 16 years and Cecilia 14 and had sentences of 25 years each.  Fanny became a christian in prison because of missionary volunteers who run a Bible study and her peace and the love she has for others was evident.  She said she believed that in God's time she would have her freedom and that He had forgiven her.  Cecilia was a quiet lady but opened her heart to us and told us so much of what life was like in prison.  She wasn't a christian and was often very depressed and spoke with such hopelessness that it was emotionally difficult to hear her story.


The ladies explained that hardly anyone ever leaves Santa Monica because most women have very long sentences but every week more and more are arriving and there's no room.  In some cells there are two bunks and a third person sleeps on the concrete floor with a blanket.  The penal system in Peru is very corrupt and most of the women have already been in prison years before their case in heard in court.  As political prisoners accused of terrorism, their convictions are not often based on evidence but on the intuition of the judge.  Sentence lengths often do not reflect the crime committed.  Sentences are very rarely shortened and even good behaviour and effort in studies doesn't count for anything.  


There are not only women in Santa Monica but children too.  Children born to women in prison stay with their mothers till their 3rd birthday and are then sent out to life with family/friends or in orphanages if they have no one.  I can't imagine how awful the pain must be for the women who have to give up their children and how terrifying the experience must be for the little children who don't understand why their mums can't come with them.  When it was time to leave, Fanny produced a present for each of us that the ladies had made in their workshops in prison.  


Both myself and Verity felt very emotional when we said our goodbyes and the door closed behind us locking them in and letting us walk out to the freedom of life outside the confines of the prison wall.  It was an experience I will never forget and although it was at times emotionally draining, I am glad I went.


It would be easy to think that a place like Santa Monica is a lifeless, souless and hopeless place but amazingly that is not always the case.  God is working among the prison community of Santa Monica in a powerful way and many of the ladies go to the weekly Bible study. This made our trip a great experience. God is working miracles in the lives of those who nothing and His limitless mercy forgiveness is clearer to see here than probably anywhere else in this city.

Lines of family waiting to visit the ladies
 in Santa Monica prison (not my photo)

A trip to the jungle (Part 2)

Wednesday

Today I went back to school with Megan in the morning. This meant getting up at 6am to be at school for 6.45am! I didn't dare mention that I was supposed to be on holiday although I was secretly glad that San Andres starts at 8am. The extra hour in bed makes all the difference! Megan had 4th grade today and so went through the routine of telling them where I'm from and what I'm doing here and no I'm not Megan's sister! The children enjoyed finding out about Scotland especially the Loch Ness monster! Wherever I go the children never seem to tire of this story so I've had to start adding bit to it until Nessie decides to make an appearance and give us something new to say about her/him.

The sign at the baths gave us a laugh:
"Welcome to attractive tourists " it reads in English!

Tonight we went for a trip to the thermal baths outside Moyobamba.  It was a fantastic experience for two reasons.  Firstly I got my first ride on a motorbike! Nearly everyone in Moyobamba has a motorbike since the dirt tracks, which are the only kind of roads here, make it impossible to drive a car.  Instead of taxis and buses they have mototaxis - a motorbike with a contraption attached to the back for the passengers to sit in.  Its a pretty noisy and bumpy journey and a bit of a pain when your mototaxi gets stuck in the mud after it rains but its another memory of Peru that I will never forget.

Tonight I went with of Megan's friends on her motorbike.  It was fantastic! We drove along the windy, dusty tracks out of the town and into the jungle.  It was beginning to get dark and as we sped along I looked up to see millions of stars burning beautifully and brightly against a background of palm trees and mountains covered in lush jungle.  A warm tropical breeze was blowing through our hair and the sound of parrots in the trees reminded me I couldn't be anywhere else but in Peru.  I had never seen the stars before from the southern hemisphere and they looked brighter and closer than they'd ever seemed at home.  It was one of the most memorable moments of my time here in Peru and one I will never ever forget! It made me think again of how fortunate I am to be here in such a beautiful country.

The Río Mayo from our canoe

Thursday
Today we took a boat trip along the Río Mayo (the Mayo river) which runs through Moyobamba for thousands of miles through the jungle until it reaches the great Amazon river.  We took Megan's substitute mother, Yolanda and a friend with us.  Luckily we managed to secure a covered top canoe since it was very hot and sunny.  Unfortunately we didn't see much wildlife except parrots but it was a lovely experience and a very relaxing out on the river with a very gentle warm breeze blowing.  The time passed very quickly and we had to return to shore long before I wanted to but it was another unique Peruvian experience I will remember for many years to come.  As we climbed the never ending steps from the river bank to the town on the hill above we came across a rather strange sight.  A group of men and boys were furiously hacking at the grass and undergrowth on the edge of the path with clubs and machetes! We stopped for a while to watch and ask what was going on.  Apparently a big poisonous snake had been spotted near the path and they were trying to batter it to death.  Further on up the path we came across a little green parrot who was quite happily nibbling on someone's coffee beans that were lying on a big piece of plastic, drying in the sun.  I don't think I'll ever tire of the unique sights and sounds of the jungle!

Friday
Today I left Moyobamba behind and myself and Megan headed back to Tarapoto before going to a little town called Lamas.  I'd heard about Lamas before and really wanted to visit.  One interesting thing about Lamas is that it is built on a hill in three levels and on the bottom level at the bottom of the hill live an indigenous community.  The Wayku, as they are called, are one of many indigenous tribes in Peru and are mostly Quechua speaking.  They live a quite different life to the mixed (mestizo) Spanish-Peruvian community in the rest of Lamas.  They still hold onto to their own culture, traditions and livelihood.  Many work as farmers in the fields that surround the town, others work as craftsmen making pottery or woven mats.

typical Wayku house with no windows

One of the things I noticed as soon as we got to the community was the strange houses.  The Wayku houses have doors but no windows at all so inside they are very dark! There is a small hole in the roof for the smoke from the fire in the centre of the room to escape.  Apparently the Wayku have their own religion, like many amazonian tribes, and are quite suspicious.  They believe that having windows in your house encourages evil spirits to enter and stay, bringing bad luck on the family.  The Wayku community are quite reserved and because we didn't speak Quechua we couldn't really converse with them which was a bit of a shame.  After a short time in the village we headed back up to Lamas where we stayed the night.

Lamas is really a very small town and doesn't really get much tourists so everywhere myself and Megan went we got stares and comments about our pale skin and blue eyes.  It's been quite an eye opening experience living in a country and a culture where I am the foreigner when I am so used to speaking of others in that way.

Some Wayku women making pottery and sewing

Tonight we walked to the top of the hill on which Lamas is built.  You get a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside from the top and the rural, empty countryside reminded me of home except the sound of the crickets and the warm wind! My time in the jungle is very quickly coming to an end.  Tomorrow I head back to Lima which is a million miles from the exotic, tropical peace and quiet I've got used to over the past week but strangely, going back to Lima feels like I'm going home.

A trip to the jungle (Part 1)

I'm afraid I've got very behind with keeping up to date on what's been happening in the land of the llamas.  I wrote this awhile ago but never published it so here is my news from the jungle.


I've just come back from a week long trip to the Peruvian amazon! We had a week's school holiday and I decided I had to get away from the traffic and busyness of Lima and see some more of the beautiful and fascinating country in which I am staying for just a little while longer.  On Saturday morning I left behind the city of Lima with all its familiarity and chaos and headed into the jungle!

Beautiful banks of the Mayo river

The journey didn't go too well at first.  I arrived in Tarapoto 4 hours later than expected because of "adverse weather conditions" in the area.  It turns out it was only raining heavily but the small plane we were on couldn't cope with landing on a wet run-way and so we had to wait out the thunderstorm in Lima.  After a few hours in the Lima airport, with pretty fierce air conditioning, I was a bit cold, fed up and very thankful that the rain never causes flight problems in Scotland or we'd never get off the ground!


Eventually I did arrive in Tarapoto and was met at the airport by my friend Megan who has been working in a school in Moyobamba since February.  It was lovely to see her again and I was glad the journey was almost over.  We got on a little mototaxi which took us to a taxi station where we got a taxi to Moyobamba which is about 2.5 hours from Tarapoto further into the jungle.  En route we passed some beautiful scenery: tall mountains covered with all kinds and colours of trees and flowers and tall waterfalls cascading over cliff edges surrounded by palm trees.  We passed through many little indigenous villages where the people live a very simple life side by side with their animals and as we arrived on the outskirts of the town of Moyobamba the sun set in a spectacular burst of red and yellow over the Peruvian amazon.  The trip promised to be an unforgettable experience!

Sunday

Traditional dancing

Megan took me along to her church in the district of Lluyllucucha (yep that really is how it's spelt!) The service was a special service for Mother's Day which in Peru is on the second Sunday in May.  Everyone was very friendly and the service was interesting to say the least! It involved tradition dancing from the selva (jungle), tambourines, lots of poems for the mothers and sandwiches, cakes and exotic fruit juice. The church doesn't have its own building so they meet in someone's house.  The room has no walls and the metal roof causes a lot of noise when it rains but luckily on Sunday it was a beautiful tropical summer day. The poor minister had to compete for attention with a very vocal cockerel who kept threatening to make a dash through the room and half way through the service a cat wandered right past him.  There was a beautiful colourful parrot next door who was thankfully well behaved although I'm told he quite liked to be the centre of attention too. All in all I think I can safely say it was a unique church service!  We went home to a lunch of mince and tatties followed by apple crumble - a little taste of Scotland in the amazon.

Monday 

Today I went to school with Megan.  Megan is working as a volunteer in a christian school called Annie Soper which was founded by an English missionary called Annie Soper.  The school is much smaller than Colegio San Andres, where I work, and much more basic but the children are lovely.  They welcomed me with plenty of hugs and kisses and endless questions.  They seemed to be a bit confused as to who I was and although both myself and Megan explained I was her friend from Scotland they still couldn't believe I wasn't her sister.  The morning passed very quickly. The school, like most in the jungle, starts at 7 am till 1pm to make the most of the cooler morning temperatures.  We headed to Megan's house for lunch where I met her lovely hostess Yolanda a very motherly lady who made us a typical jungle lunch of lentils, pork and rice.

Tuesday 

Kinder class in Annie Soper

This morning I stayed at home while Megan set off early for school again.  I made the most of having the house to myself to tidy up and catch up on my sleep.  I woke about 8 am to find someone looking in my bedroom window! I got quite a fright but the lady just cheerfully said "Good morning" and carried on her way.  Peruvians in general don't have the same idea of privacy or personal space as we do in Europe which is not always a bad things. They are far more outgoing and warm and that is something I really appreciate living here in Peru although I did make a mental note to close the curtains tonight!


In the afternoon we headed to our sewing class that we've got involved in a bit by accident really.  Last night we went to have ice cream with a teacher from the school and she took us to visit a friend who holds a sewing class in her house. Well, we were persuaded to stay for dinner and before we knew it we were sewing dolls too! So this afternoon, we went back to do some more sewing at Paula's house before being treated to a lovely dinner by one of the teachers at the school.  Pilar is the primary English teacher in Annie Soper and a lovely lady.  She has a cute little 6 year old boy called Jacob who's favourite phrase in English seems to be "I love you!"  Pilar made us "lomo saltado" which is my favourite Peruvian dish.  It's made with strips of beef, tomato, onions and basil mixed with rice and chips! Delicious!

Dinner with Pilar and Jacob

Happy Mother's Day

1st grade sailors

Today we had a big celebration in school all in the aid of Mother's Day which is the second Sunday in May here in Peru.  Peruvians seem to love any excuse for a party or celebration - this is one of the things I really love about the people of Peru.  
Mother's day is no exception!  Its a huge event here which starts days before the actual day on which its celebrated.  We had no classes at all yesterday as the children put on a performance for their mothers who had all come to watch.  
Each class had prepared something to perform from the little 1st graders right up to the the 16 year olds 

6th grade in their traditional Andean constumes

getting ready to leave school this year.  I only saw the primary performance but that really was enough for me! There was plenty of singing, dancing from traditional to modern and poetry.  All the children performed very well and looked so cute in their costumes.  The little 1st graders in their sailor suits were especially angelic looking and the 6th graders who performed a traditional dance from the Sierra region of Peru looked fantastic in their brightly coloured traditional costumes.  But one performance really stood out from the others.  A little girl in 5th grade and her partner danced a dance known as the national dance of Peru.  The "Marinera" is a dance which comes from the coastal area of Peru and is a fast paced and exciting to watch.  They both danced wonderfully and it was a pleasure to watch their performance.  For me it was another reminder of how different my culture is and the culture I am getting to know.  I miss many things about Scotland but I am reminded everyday how fortunate I am to be here in Peru amongst a people whose traditions and culture are very different to my own but equally as vibrant and exciting.

We have a week off this coming week and tomorrow morning I head off to Tarapoto and then onwards to Moyobamba in the jungle! I am very excited since this will be my first glimpse of the Amazon rainforest! I'm told Moyobamba is a beautiful place full of beautiful green palm trees and brightly coloured flowers.  More than anything I am really looking forward to escaping the traffic and noise of Lima.

The Marinera Nortena

A feast: Peruvian style

Yesterday was a national holiday and so we got a day off from school.  It was all in aid of "Dia del Trabajador" or the day of the worker which is a little ironic really but I certainly wasn't complaining! Myself and another two English teachers from the school decided to head into Miraflores for a relaxing lunch and to taste some of the local delicacies.  We headed to a restaurant in Larcomar, top tourist destination in Lima, where you can get just about any type of food that you might want but I had a specific type of thing in mind.  I've been in Peru now nearly 4 months but hadn't tried one of the Peruvian national dishes: ceviche.  Ceviche is raw fish marinated in lemon juice and served with choclo (giant corn) sweet potatoes and onions.  I have to admit that it doesn't sound awfully appetising but I fancied at least trying it.

Ceviche: one of Peru's national dishes

We decided on a restaurant on the cliff side with a wonderful view across the Pacific ocean.  I was pretty nervous about my raw fish lunch (I'd heard lots of horror stories of terrible food poisoning people had got from ceviche) but I knew I would be dissappointed to go hoem without trying it.  I only asked for a tiny bit, worried that I wouldn't be able to swallow it.  I sat there looking at it for quite a while before eventually plucking up the courage to put into my mouth and swallow it.  Once I got over the idea of chwing on a pirce of raw fish, I realised that it was actually quite nice!  Raw fish isn't something I'm used to but ceviche is very light with a mild taste of fish and a stronger taste of lemon.  I'm not sure if I'd have it again but I am glad I tried it.  It's certainly not as bad as I expected.