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tried to entertain us with stories, questions, etc.,
trying to make the time seem shorter. Finally it arrived,
having been waiting a long way from the airport - we got in
and took off down the dark streets to Calle Santa Marta in
Pueblo Libre. We got to Pueblo Libre in no time at all which
caused me to realize that $15.00 was way too much, however the
chofer couldn't find the street. Round and round we
drove.
The streets were rather deserted at this hour, and the
people he asked didn't seem to know where Marta was or gave
wrong directions. Finally he decided to go to the local police
station - a very sensible idea - but it was closed. He was
getting obviously very discouraged, sorry to ever have picked
us up but to Nick and I it seemed like only another leg on our
already long journey. We decided to look for a phone booth.
The first one was broken. The second one worked but the number
in my book for the Bendezu house was wrong. Nick then called
Rafael, in Cleveland, and passed him to the chofer to give
directions to his house in Lima. The sight of this Limenian
guy on the deserted streets getting directions from
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one thousands of miles away, in fact on another
continent seemed very funny, but it worked. In ten minutes we
were pulling up to the house, Oscar bounding out to meet us,
Chela rolling up in her chair and Nick's grandmother, Mama
Chela, behind to give us "un abrazo muy fuerte" and a warm
welcome.
During the next two days, more and more people
came to visit. The first day it was Rafael's brothers and
their wives, the second day the brothers and wives came again,
plus their sons, the sons' and daughter's children and a few
miscellaneous people who I couldn't quite place but seemed to
know me very well, telling stories of Nicolas when he was a
baby. Que verguenza de no los reconocer! The grandchildren of
Chela are living with them now and although quite young,
quickly had the other children running through the house and
screaming, something the two little girls did frequently
during our stay.
The women were dressed much more
informally than in years past, and no refreshments were served
the first night. It's no longer possible to |
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have downcast transplants from the Sierra living there
constantly to wait on people day or night, which is probably a
very good thing. On the second night someone went out and
brought in "Chifa" - Chinese food. It's so much better in
Peru! Alicia told me that it had been Peruvianized, just as
Chinese food in the US has been Americanized. The Peruvian
version is delicious, as is all the food.
Mama Chela is
still an incredibly affectionate and down to earth person with
some Serrana in her - it's a kind of humility. And at 84, with
very poor eyesight she still wears high heels which I teased
her about. Before leaving Nick fixed Chela's computer
and Chela drew me a family tree but just concerning the people
that we had seen. To draw a whole family tree for the Bendezus
would take too much paper and too many hours
The next
day we went to Arequipa. From the plane you can see hundreds
of miles of wind-sculpted desert with an occasional snow
covered mountain or mountain range
(Continued on page 10)
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Their mission is largely propaganda. I had used some of
their general movies on such topics as making better adobes,
selection of potatoes for seeding etc.-- Bolivians planted the
smaller genetically inferior potatoes instead of planting the
eyes of the bigger superior potatoes. (Bolivia is the
birthplace of the potato --300-400 varieties.) U.S.I.S. made
xerox copies of over fifty thousand copies of a portrait of
John |
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Kennedy and handed them out. This was very crass for
me.
Later, however, I and other Peace Corps volunteers
saw these JFK pictures on adobe walls in the remotest corners
of Bolivia, the most Indian country in the Americas -- about
60% indigenous. The father of the family I lived with later
informed me that there were plans for President Kennedy to
visit Bolivia the follow |
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ing April. Instead we got the President of France,
Charles DeGaulle, a charismatic person himself. The people
said it wasn't close to being the same. No other American
President has come close to matching John Kenney's popularity
in Bolivia or most of Latin America for that matter
Ken Rustad
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