Parades, Fairs and Milestones - (Part I)

Huaracinos (residents of Huaraz) love parades. Whether patriotic, religious, political, or schools celebrating their anniversaries, there are several every week. Just yesterday, the main street through downtown was blocked off during the noontime rush for a school parade. Our colectivo/taxi had to detour many blocks to get around it. Parades and celebrations reached a new height recently with the combined Peruvian Independence day, July 28, and the 157th anniversary of the official founding of the City of Huaraz, July 25. 

Peru's war of independence from Spain was a series of military conflicts beginning in 1811 that culminated in the proclamation of independence of Peru by General José de San Martín on July 28, 1821.

The City of Huaraz was officially founded in 1857, although the area has been inhabited by various native groups for many centuries, as evidenced by the ancient ruins in and around the city.

Political parades are increasing weekly as we approach the municipal and regional elections in October. (We will do a blog post on the election posters, which are everywhere, later on.)  Here are a few parade warmups.

We'll start with this parade of military recruits down the main street. We have seen them on several occasions. They are carrying car tires around their necks. We're not sure if that is some form of punishment or just part of their basic training to "toughen them up". There are a number of women in the group and they seem to have bicycle tires on their necks.

This was a "mini" political parade. The candidate, Sr. Calderón, was walking at the front of the procession but I missed getting a picture. The interesting fact about him is that he held a government position in the city or the region previously but was arrested and jailed for fraud several years ago. He is back running for regional president. 

The locals say all of the candidates for mayor and regional president are former politicians and just recycle every election. A commonly heard comment is "they all lie about how honest they will be if elected." 

As we mentioned in an earlier blog, the current regional president is in jail awaiting trial on charges of defrauding the regional government of approx. US$ 200 million during his 7 years in office and orchestrating the murder of a former employee "whistleblower".

The plaza in front of our apartment is a favorite gathering place for organizing the political rallies and parades. Here are some photos of the beginning of a political parade that went on to march downtown.

Every parade must have some music.

Here they are, ready to go, as they leave our area.

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On Friday, July 25, the government offices were closed, including the archives where we work, and all employees were invited (asked) to participate in the parade celebrating the 157th anniversary of Huaraz. The director of the archives specifically invited us to march with them. So we did.

Here is the archives director on the left, Jaime (who has worked in the archives for 25 years) in the middle and Vila, the director's secretary, awaiting the start of the parade. Notice that all are wearing suits which was required of all who marched in the parade (except us). Also notice the disguised lady in the background.

Here we are, leading the archives section. The only ones out of uniform and probably the only gringos in the entire parade.

We mentioned that all those who work in any government office came dressed in suits, both men and women. Most of the women wore high heels and walked the entire 5 blocks of the parade. This lady was just in front of us. Ouch!!!

Many schools were in the parade. This goose-stepping group caught our attention.  Some of the schools reminded us of the pictures we have seen of the Hitler Youth groups, but not as severe.

Ahh...that feels better! What do you do while you are waiting for the parade to start and you need to stretch a leg? Lean on your sword and stretch. Another school group (military).

This school marching group was noticeable for their plaid outfits and hats.

The girls' drum section.

And here is the boys' brass section of the same school.

The reviewing stand for the parade. You can see from the hats that it was a beautiful sunny day in Huaraz.

There were a few soldiers in full battle gear along the parade route, but we are not sure why. There were no indications of problems and the crowd was not unruly.

We saw this little "tank" after the parade. Apparently, he was behind us. Upon closer examination, we noticed that the little boy was in a wheelchair and the "tank" was a clever cardboard covering.

Parade watchers on the third floor of a private university.

This is the only float we saw. The sign says "Huaraz Natural Paradise".

What would a parade be without some cotton candy!

 Taking advantage of the large crowds, the other cell phone company, Claro, had this couple dancing to typical Peruvian music on the sidewalk in front of their stand near the central market.

Movistar is the largest cell phone provider in Peru but Claro is very competitive and has generally better service. We have both. The Mission provided us with a basic Nokia cell phone with Movistar for calling and texting only. At our expense, we had Movistar install a land line with DSL internet service at our apartment, as the landlord's wi-fi was not reliable.

In order to have a wi-fi "hotspot" to access the internet when we are training outside of Huaraz, we purchased a 7" Android tablet with internet service from Claro with the ability to provide internet service up to 8 other computers.

Milestones - On August 3, we completed six months in the mission field. Time has really been flying, especially in the three months since we received our callings in the stake to direct the family history and indexing effort. We are busy every weekend training leaders and members in family history and indexing. Perhaps the most rewarding part of this calling has been the opportunity to help members find information on deceased grandparents and prepare their names for temple work.

Last week, we passed the 100,000 mark in images we have taken at the archives since we arrived in February. We are now working on the birth records for the city of Huaraz, with the first entries recorded in 1888. The books are old, dusty and falling apart, so getting the records photographed and digitized will ensure their preservation for future generations.

We have joked that we will go home with white-lung disease from all the dust as opposed to the black-lung disease the miners developed working in the coal mines.  But seriously, we are doing well and using masks and gloves helps control the dust and we are enjoying our work in the archives.

Exotic fruits in Peru -

The choice of fresh fruit in Huaraz is extensive. In addition to watermelons, pineapples, coconuts, peaches, apricots, apples, grapes, oranges, mandarins, pomegranates, mangoes, papaya, bananas, and pears, there is a multitude of exotic fruits, many of which grow only in the Andean region of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The variety of fruits and vegetables available in Huaraz is due to Peru's multiple climates, elevations and growing conditions. The dry, warm coastal plains, the cooler mountains and plateaus, and the tropical jungles each provide ideal environments adapted to the production of a wide variety of crops.

Here are just a few of the exotic fruits we have encountered since arriving in Huaraz.

We'll start with cactus pears or "tunas" as they are called in Mexico and Peru. They grow all over the world and are common in the Southwest of the U.S. Vendors sell them on the streets in Huaraz, peeled and ready to eat.

Pacay, a large pod-shaped legume related to green beans, peas, and peanuts.

When opened, they contain a row of large black seeds encased in a sweet, white material similar to cotton candy.  These really are quite tasty.

The seed is discarded and you eat the white part. They are very popular here and sold in the central market and by many street vendors.

This is chirimoya, which grows in most warm and moist climates. They come from the jungle areas of Peru.

The inside of the chirimoya is sweet and is eaten fresh and used as a flavoring in ice cream. It also has large black seeds like the pacay pods.

This is granadilla, is also eaten fresh, made into juice, and used as an ice cream flavor.

The inside of the granadilla. The seedy green part is eaten with the seeds much like a pomegranate. We don't really like the slimy juice and so many seeds but have seen lots of children chewing on them.

Carambola, a really exotic-looking fruit. "Star shaped" is also used to describe this plant, shown here between apples (from Chile), grapes, and oranges.

Carambola shown here with a cucumber.  We have been told that you just boil them and they dissolve into a juice.  We have been served many different juices and really don't know which fruit they come from.  We haven't tried to make juice from these.

Perhaps one of the strangest fruits grows in front of our apartment. It is called aguaymanto. This a photo of the plant with its fruit.

Inside of the paper-like outer shell is a small fruit about the size of a small olive. Here you can see three stages of ripening, with the red one ready to eat. The flavor is a tart-sweet. They are supposed to be very good for controlling cholesterol.

There are many more interesting fruits and vegetables in Peru but these are some of ones we have encountered so far.
  

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Postscript:  We discovered this week that one of the sidewalk holes that we photographed and discussed in our last blog post of July 26 (photo 3), has been repaired. Maybe the owner of the property or the city saw us taking pictures of the hazard and decided to fix it. Here is a photo of the work in progress.

The new covering will be a welcome and safer replacement for the hole that was there before, as long as they bend down the wires that we assume will be handles to remove the cover when needed. In the meantime, the warning rocks are a considerable hazard themselves.

The sidewalks of Huaraz -

We have discovered some interesting items on the sidewalks of the city. In an earlier post, we sent a photo of a short fire hydrant embedded in the middle of the sidewalk. We have discovered more of these around the city. We have also noticed a number of openings in the sidewalk that were formerly utility boxes for water and sewer that are no longer used. They are a hazard to pedestrians who may happen to step in one or trip over the covers that have been placed on them. The owners of the property in some cases have apparently tried to cover up these unused openings with different items.  Here are a few of the openings and their coverings.

First we'll start with what a normal utility cover should look like. This is a residential water meter box in the sidewalk.

These are utility boxes in front of the house next to our apartment. One has a partial cover and the other is serving as a dandelion garden. This was taken during the rainy season, thus the green weeds.

This abandoned utility box, next to a properly installed one, is now serving as a public garbage can, and a sprained ankle, or worse, waiting to happen.

Here is one owner's solution, a nice cement block with a handle, I guess in case if it ever has to be lifted up to access the hole.

A similar solution with a flatter block, but still a tripping hazard.

A variation on the slab concept - add a big boulder to help keep it in place (and guarantee that someone will trip on it or get a good bruise on their shins.

Another approach, add two hunks of concrete and no one will step in the hole, however they may just sprain an ankle on these monsters.

A sloppy job of trying to cover this hole.

Not all holes are square or rectangular. This little round one is collecting its own share of public trash.

And the sawed-off fire hydrants. This one is on the main street downtown.

This one is near our apartment and possibly is not operational anymore. Notice the open utility box to the left and the uncovered opening on the hydrant. We walk around it every morning on the way to the corner to catch a taxi or colectivo to the archives.

Holes in the sidewalks are not the only obstacle to enjoying a stroll in the neighborhood. The sidewalks downtown present a different type of challenge. Since the city is built on a gradual sloping area, some sidewalks and curbs in the center of town and adjoining streets have been made to adjust for the changing elevation. Here are a few examples.

This is the curb in front of Nova Plaza, one of the grocery stores that we frequent every week.

Some of these sidewalk steps are fairly high and if you are coming down the sidewalk and not paying attention, this can give a sudden jolt to your spine, or worse if you happen to fall. Sister Oxborrow is enjoying an ice cream cone from our favorite nearby hamburger restaurant.

Sidewalks do not always run in a straight line. This one detours to the right, apparently to accommodate more parking room on the left.

We haven't commented on the dogs that roam the streets in Huaraz, but they deserve to be included in the story of sidewalk hazards. Obviously, there are no leash laws in the city and apparently no regulations on turning them loose to run the streets each day or night. We are sure some belong to families because they appear to be clean and well fed. Others are street dogs, but they too do not resemble the scrawny and flee-bitten street dogs we saw in Guatemala and Mexico City. These apparently find enough scraps and garbage in the streets to maintain themselves.

Here we have four sidewalk obstacles in one photo! Notice the large boulder on the left. These appear from time to time on some sidewalks with no apparent reason for their presence. Also, the small utility hole with a rock and nice grass growing in it. The dog, and his residue, are additional things to watch out for on the sidewalks. We have seen this dog around our neighborhood so we suppose that he belongs to someone nearby. He readily agreed to pose for this photo.

His shaggy brother, or cousin!

Both of these dogs live in our area as we see them regularly outside one of the homes. They are obviously clean and well fed (and friendly).

Patrolling the city center is a hard job but somebody has to do it. This dog was asleep on the main street, obviously tired from his hard work.

This dog is asleep on the sidewalk of the main street in downtown Huaraz, oblivious to the many people walking by or the noisy traffic. He is probably a legitimate street dog.

We'll end this post with this photo of two well-groomed neighborhood canines as they soak up a little sunshine.Sometimes there are as many as six or more in a pack in our neighborhood, but they seem friendly and we haven't ever had any problem. 
One day we were walking past a pet store on the main street and Marilyn commented that she wondered why anyone would spend money to buy a dog when there is a plethora on the streets just waiting to be taken home.