Peru: Conchucos, San Marcos (By Marta)

San Marcos is one of the three larger towns in Conchucos Sur. After crossing through the tunnel (as you saw in the last post), Chavin is the first town in the valley. About 10 km down the road is San Marcos, and another 30 km is Huari.

I lived in San Marcos for six months, after living in Cajay (a pueblo near Huari) for the prior 1 1/2 years. Unfortunately, many of my Peace Corps memories stem from Cajay and Huari and therefore, I feel a much greater identity to these locations. I often reminisce about my first host family in Cajay. Nancy was only a few years older than me and more a friend than a host mom. I am the madrina (god-mother) for her son Milton, who was 4 years old at the time I was in the PC. Her husband, Felipe, welcomed my parents and brother into his home during their trek to Conchucos. He gave my dad and brother handmade wool hats from a caserio de Cajay, made Pachamanca de la tierra (traditional meal cooked in the ground), and was truly an amazing host. Sometimes I wonder what my PC experience would be like if I never moved out of their house. I still have great memories about that home and the people I met in Cajay.

But you can't control everything that happens....a little over one year into my service, Nancy and Felipe separated due to marital problems and she moved to another town about 30 minutes away. I moved to a different family in Cajay as well. I was forced to move towns another 4-5 months later when my second host family situation became unsafe for me. I have not returned to Cajay since...I have just viewed it from Huari's hillside.

San Marcos was a good home. I had a new host family (pictured below) and I was much closer to Drew. I did some work with the health post and with local school there. I was able to take three more girls to an adolescent girls' camp. The move wasn't all bad. With a return visit, San Marcos does not seem to have changed much (unlike all the new obras we found in Chavin). Sometimes I wonder where all the Antamina money goes since San Marcos is supposed to be one of the richest districts in the area due to the mine. I was lucky to see my host family again. But like I said, my PC identity remains with Cajay...and perhaps also with Drew's host family in Chavin, a family that always welcomed me through their doors as well.

The saddest part about the return visit is that I was unable to track down my original family. Nancy and Milton were no where to be found and no one from Cajay or Huarimayo seemed to know what had happened to her. I have lost contact over the last two years since her email and phone numbers don't work anymore. She is probably in Lima with many of the other Peruvians that migrate to the capital. At least I still have the photos and memories.

I think I have become too serious in this post. It really was great to return to Ancash and re-experience many of the things that we did during the PC. I hope you can appreciate the beautiful area that we lived in from the many pictures posted.

-Marta

***3rd picture down is of dead guinea pigs if you are not interested, scroll to bottom after second picture.

Marta in the San Marcos plaza. Hasn't changed a bit.

Luisa (Marta's old host mom) cooking with the cocina mejorada I originally built for them. They have made several upgrades to it and it is good to see that they are still using it.

Lunch.

Marta's host family at their house in San Marcos. Willy, Yessi, Ana, Luisa, Cesar, Cesar's wife, Marta, Drew