The Zoo Story

Well, here we are. The last night in the CCS house in Ayacucho. I can't believe we've already been here for 3 weeks. Everyone said it would go fast, and I knew it would, but time FLEW by.

The past two days, Elyse, Erika and I spent our placement time at the prison. I didn't really know what to expect when I heard we would be going into jail to work with the women and children. In Peru, if a woman is arrested and has a child under 4, the child can live with her in the prison. Once he or she turns 4 though, they are taken away. Many of these children end up in the orphanage until their mother is released. This particular jail has about 170 women (and over 1000 men). Most of the women are there for drug reasons.

When we arrived at the jail, we went through a long process of security checks. Once we actually made it in, we had to walk through the men's section first, which I must admit made me feel rather uncomfortable. Once we got to the women's section, we were admitted and welcomed -- hugs, kisses, everything -- by the two women who "run" this section. The other girls explained they are kind of like the Godfathers (or mothers...) and control the women's prison. There was a large, open sort of area where all of the women seemed to be sitting and talking, sewing, knitting, etc. The women must pay a certain amount of money every month for their stay there, so to earn money they sell crafts and things like that. I was able to meet Roxanna, who made my scarf for me. She gave it to me and its beautiful! I was so happy with it and was so happy to actually get to pay her in person.

We spent the majority of the morning sitting with the two leader women and Sarah (one of the CCS-ers), who was teaching them English. We helped practice questions and answers with them. It was all very inspiring. I couldn't believe what amazing spirits these two women were in. They told us about their children and where they are today. A few of the kids came over to check us out, but they seemed a little hesitant to the group of gringas.

We returned home at lunch time and spent the afternoon just relaxing and hanging around the house. Around 5, Elyse, Erika and I went out to do some last minute shopping and to go out for dinner to celebrate the end of our stay here. I was really craving some pasta and had a very yummy (very large) plate of it. We ended the night by meeting up with some of the other girls at Via Via for dessert. I had chocolate caliente...which is much more exciting than our hot chocolate. They brought me a mug of really warm milk and a bowl of chocolate pieces. You put them in yourself and let it melt...it somehow tastes even better than "normal" hot chocolate. The night came to an end with an episode of GLEE, oh how I love that show!

This morning, we went back to the prison to pick up a few of the kids so we could bring them out of the prison and to the zoo. It took a long time to get all of us in there. Once we arrived to the women's area, mothers slowly brought us their little boys and girls. We had the slightly older ones today because they had to be able to walk at least some of the zoo. A young mom brought me her son, who immediately starting crying. No not crying, sobbing. I felt horrible...I didn't want to scare him of take him away from his mom. Marisol encouraged me to just go ahead with him because it would never end otherwise. He clung onto my shoulder...tears all down my neck and shirt. I couldn't give him enough love! I was trying so hard. We made it to the van, and I sat up front so he could see outside. Luckily, this calmed him down and as soon as he saw a dog he was just fine.

We drove the bumpy ride to the zoo, and all got out of the van. I was a little worried because my little guy immediately wanted to be held. I love holding babies...but this guy wasn't exactly a baby, more of a toddler. I held him close to me, and luckily when he saw the animals he wanted to be put down so he could look at them more closely. The kids all seemed to love it. They were all entralled with the squirrel exhibit, which I found very funny considering they barely gave the lions 30 seconds. It felt great to be able to give them at least a little but of time outside of their usual world and to get to see the animals like so many other children. My little guy immediately fell asleep in the car.

Elyse, Erika and I went to Via Via this afternoon for our last little snack ritual. I've been packing and organizing and getting ready for our departure tomorrow morning. We're having a bonfire tonight and probably going to watch more of The Office. I will certainly miss this place. I'm not ready to do the whole reflection thing yet...but I'm so excited for Cusco!