Puno Research Team 2005

Research Complete....

2005-08-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

The research team of Puno 2005 has completed it´s research. You can view the results at the following address.

groups.msn.com/PunoRST2005

Chris

District of Ayaviri

2005-07-20T09:16:00.000-05:00

Logistical:

Ayaviri is located at 14° 52’ 53s and 070° 35’ 26w and sits at 12,880 feet above sea level. It takes approx. 1 hour and 25 minutes to arrive in Ayaviri via bus from Juliaca. There are three checkpoints on the way to Ayaviri and a toll of s/ 8.50 when leaving on the main road towards Juliaca.

Living Conditions / Culture:

There are 9 total districts in Melgar. Ayaviri is the capitol of Melgar. According to the hospital, there is a population of 30,000 people in Ayaviri. There are many public telephones in various locations and there are two public telephones stores located in the plaza. Here at these stores, you can purchase 147 cards for the telephones. With the 147 cards, you can double the talk time if you call from the hotel phones. There are approx. 20 internet cafés with speedy connections. The cost of the internet cafés are 1 sole an hour. There are around 8 gas stations that sell diesel, gas, and kerosene. There are 3 gas stations as you enter the city from Juliaca. There are 23 total police in the province of Melgar and 12 of them are stationed in Ayaviri. We noticed that at any given time, there were 2-3 land rovers as police vehicles at the station. The station is located off of Puno and Cuzco and the Governors office is located next to the police station.
The rainy season last from October to March. In the rainy season, it is possible to travel but it comes with many problems. The coldest times of the year are May, June, and July. In July, the temperature drops below freezing.

The plaza is located 4 blocks by foot from the bus station. One could take a trici taxi to the plaza for one sole. In the plaza, there is a municipal building, many stores, and the Hotel Lumonsa. You can purchase just about anything you need in the stores here. We, however, found problems when purchasing milk. There is always a mini-market on the street adjacent to the plaza. Here, you can find personal hygiene, clothes, Hardware supplies, ECT. To the left of the Catholic Church, you can purchase fresh fruits, canned meats, kitchen supplies, fresh meat, ECT. Things are fairly inexpensive here during our time in June that we spent. We found that the majority of the fruits and vegetables are fresh (with the exception of the pineapples). The main market is on Wednesday.

There are around 50 restaurants in this city. Our team found ourselves eating at restaurant Johanna’s. We could eat the breakfast for 2 soles. IT usually consists of rice, potatoes, and meat of some sort. They would also fix us fried eggs and bread in the place of the breakfast. This would usually be 2.50 soles. This is a recommended place to eat. It is located on the street located on the other side of the plaza from the Catholic Church. The waiter’s name is José. There are also three other restaurants that you can eat at for under 10 soles for dinner (non menu). Los Americanos, Restaurant Vegetarian, and Doña Julias are all great places to eat. They are located either on the plaza, or a block away on an adjacent street.

There are a few things that you can do for fun around Ayaviri. There are the municipal hot springs that are located on the edge of town. There are numerous things to do in this municipal area. There is also Tinijana. This is located about 45 minutes outside of town. They are the natural canyons. They hold a festival there every July. This is the only time when you can enter for free. There is usually a cost to enter, but we do not know what it is.

Hotels and Lodging

There are about fifteen alojamientos located in Ayaviri. Our team stayed in Hotel Lumonsa which is located on Grau in the main plaza across from the church. This is the most expensive place to stay in Ayaviri, but they have three different classes of rooms for different prices. All together there are thirty nine rooms and around seventy beds. There are only three workers, whose names are Sophio, Oliaska and Jessica. The staff is very kind, but they do not speak English. Jessica speaks a very small amount of English, and they are all very interested in learning from the Americans that come through. The following are the prices for the rooms:

Lumonsa serves breakfast, and it is free only depending on the type of room that you stay in. The kitchen is open for use at night, but only with permission; the oven does not work, but there is a stove and a microwave that are in decent condition. Heaters are available for the rooms, but at an extra price of three soles a night. The rooms with televisions have only three channels and they are all Spanish channels. Make sure that you ask for a room that the sun shines on because it is very cold in the hotel. Our room was overlooking the plaza which was nice because the sun shined in our room, but they also had a lot of parades and festivals that go on all night and we could hear everything.

The only other hotel in Ayaviri is Hotel Paradiso and is located a few blocks from the plaza. They have one hundred and forty beds, one computer with internet access, and for two soles a day they have a garage to put trucks or cars. There are two classes of rooms, one with community bathrooms and one with private bathrooms. The following are the prices of the rooms:

Class A (private bath) Class B (community bath) Extras
1 bed – S/ 8 1 bed – S/ 17 Color t.v. – S/ 4 night
2 beds – S/ 14 2 beds – S/ 30 Cochero – S/ 2 night
3 beds – S/ 21

The best hostal in town is the Hostal Imperio, which is located on Grau just past Hotel Lumonsa. It has a garage that is big enough for probably only two cars. There are seventy beds, community bathrooms and three hot showers. We bargained with them for better prices, so you should be able to get the price for only community bathrooms at seven soles a night; they also have rooms with private bathrooms that are fifteen soles a night. The sun doesn’t hit much of the hostel so the rooms are very cold, and they didn’t have heaters when we went. The beds are comfortable, but you will need a cold weather sleeping bag along with the blankets that are provided. There is also a Telfonica green public phone inside the hostal.

Medical:

There is a hospital that is located about two blocks from the bus station to Juliaca. The hospital was built in 1966. We talked to the administrator of the hospital for 30 minutes and they were very suspicious of why we were asking all of these questions. However, we did get the information we needed out of the staff. There is one hospital and 2 puesto de saluds. All together, there are 13 doctors. Of these, there are 3 family doctors and 6 O.B.s. The Puestos have no doctors. The main hospital has an x-ray machine and one ambleance. There are 5 nurses, 40 technitians, 3 dentist, and 50 beds in the hospital. You can reach the hospital at 051-863849

Churches/Religious Status of Ayaviri:

Catholicism alongside Adventist convictions make up the religious affiliation of the majority of the population. The Catholic Church is located in the central plaza and, we were told, it meets regularly on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings led by priest Ricardo Chavez Carderon. In addition to the church, there is also a catholic temple on a hill overlooking the city and is used for festivals. We also found a catholic temple in a small annex of Ayaviri called Millripata. We traveled there after being told there was an evangelical church in the area, but we did not find one – nor did anyone in the town know about one in the area.

An Adventist woman shared with us that there were four Adventist churches in Ayaviri. The one we visited is on Pacheco Secara. The people were very welcoming and what I understood of the message and music, it seemed fairly sound, but when the service was over, they began asking me if I knew their prophetess, Elena White, whom I heard from a missionary, Ricardo Martinez from the U.S., includes some unbiblical doctrine in her writings. We arrived at about 11:15 on a Saturday morning (the typical day for Adventist to meet) and estimate about 100 to 150 people were attending that morning. Chris made the observation that many people did not join in the singing and seemed to be inattentive as they sat/stood in the church. This includes adults as well as children. Neighboring the Adventist church we attended is an Adventist school. Later, we also found a second of the four Adventist churches located on the outskirts of the town near the bridge (heading toward Juliaca). Apparently they send out people to talk with people in the town because as our team stopped to minister to a woman about Christ, she mentioned she had been visited by Adventists. Another reason to conclude they are active is because they are widely known in the town. People often do not know exactly where the church lies, but they are well aware of the denomination.

Another church active in the community, the Movimiento Misionero Mundial (MMM) more info about this denomination can be found at www.mmmperu.org, is a Pentecostal church headed for six years by Pastor Edgard Cari A.and his wife Marleny Huarsaya de C. They can be found at Av. Manco Capac # 311 Barrio Manco Copac. Their telephone number is 051 – 301044 and their email is marleny4910@hotmail.com
106.3 FM Radio Bethel and Radio de Luz (for which we do not know the frequency) are sponsored by the MMM Pentecostal movement of which we were told are about 60 churches worldwide. The church in Ayaviri meets every night with the exception of Monday nights at 7pm. We estimate 15 youth and 40 to 50 adults. Our team was graciously invited into the pastor’s home at which we were able to talk with the pastor’s wife about their doctrine. They seem to be very sincere people and serious about God’s word. The services are held in both Quetchua and Castillano. According to the pastor’s wife, the IEP church in Ayaviri separates themselves from their (the MMM church) because they are more rigid in their rules and are often labeled legalistic. The most obvious difference in their believes is evident in the women’s clothing. They do not wear the traditional skirts of the region, but instead wear skirts that are ankle length. It is my understanding that they do not desire women to wear pants at any time, but they did not seem to hold this against the girls of our team when we were with them in pants. The pastor’s wife looked through our gospel tracts and agreed with the doctrine represented in them. They were basic representations of the Gospel. According to her, the problems of the area include alcoholism (which our team witnessed first hand) and teen pregnancies. From this family we were also given a name of a possible Baptist contact in Araquipa, Juan Haursaya.

Annexes of Ayaviri

The small town of Milliripata, according to the teniente, has about 35 houses and approximately 80 people. Besides the houses, not many other buildings exist in the town besides a preschool consisting of about fourteen children between two and six years old. Their nearest primary school is located in a nearby annex called Umasullo Alta. Malliripata is located at 14°53’07s and 070°28’53w at approx. 12,900 feet.
Another town in Ayaviri called San Luis, may also have an IEP church according to the pastor of the IEP in the city of Ayaviri, but unfortunately our efforts to get there were thwarted because there is also a San Luis in Nuñoa which is where the Combi driver brought us. More about this annex of Nuñoa will be written with the rest of our reporting concerning Nuñoa.

Update

2005-07-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, a lot of our work is on the Martinez computer and we forgot to email it to ourselves or paste it to our blog, so much of our info for Ayaviri, Nuñoa and surrounding villages will be posted later. For now I am going to provide more information about the religious status of San Juan del Oro and Cuyo Cuyo. San Juan del Oro wasn´t actually a place we were asked to investigate, but because we were stuck in Sandia waiting for Kiaca (it is only possible to travel there on Sundays), we ended up in San Juan del Oro (which is a funny story in itself!) and decided to at least investigate the church status. San Juan del Oro is a very nice place to visit. The climate is a nice change from the cold we have experienced elsewhere and the scenery is beautiful located in the high jungle. It is warmer and greener than Sandia and in addition to the nice atmosphere, the people are very friendly toward foreigners. People were very eager to talk with us and were quick to give gifts. One is not at a loss for finding good food either. Both the restaurants and street vendors proved very satisfying and reasonably priced. There are plently of reasonably priced places to stay. We stayed in a hostal owned by Nicasio (we don´t know his last name, but EVERYONE knows which hostal if you mention Nicasio) and were very pleased with the quality of the rooms and the bathrooms. The beds are not the most comfortable, but are sleepable. Many students reside in the town and attend the institute for ´enfermeria´, they will basically be qualified medical technicians from what I understand. Among things to do in the town, many frequent the public pool (50 centimos) or swim in the river (about a 15 minute hike from the center of town), but there is quite a current so caution is recommended. Otherwise, close to the plaza there is also a place for people to congregate and watch movies together.
The religious affiliation of the people is very similar to that which we found in most other towns in Peru, namely a strong Catholic presence (with sycretism of Incan beliefs) followed by Adventists with around 80 regular attendees(church located near the public pool) and then a very small number (about 30) of Apostolic Pentecostal believers with few youth and children. The Catholic church as usual is located in the plaza. Whereas the Adventist and Pentecostal churches are a short hike outside the center of town and are much more difficult to find, however many locals know where they are located and are glad to help anyone who asks. In addition to the church, an Adventist private school also exists in the small town. We were told that Aymara, Quechua and Catillano are spoken there, but it seems that Quechua is more prevelant in comparison with Aymara and that Castillano is well understood by the majority. According to the Pentecostal pastor, one of the greatest needs of the community is a Bible school or seminary.
Cuyo Cuyo is very different in many respects including temperature, geography, panorama, and general acceptance for foreigners, but is very similar in religious affiliation. Catholicism prevails over all else, the church is located in the central plaza and is then followed by adventists. Unlike San Juan, these are the only two churches in the town. As far as we found, there are no other churches or believers of other faiths. A Catholic missionary in Cuyo Cuyo, Roberto Onihuela, told us that everyone was a Christian in the town. Whether that is true or not is questionable, but it gives us a good idea of the prevelance of Christian (at least in name) ideologies. The Adventist church is located on Jiron Santa Rosa.

Quilcapuncu

2005-06-12T16:49:00.000-05:00

This village sits about 12,700 feet above sea level. From Putina, one can reach this city in about 30 - 40 minutes by bus. The population of Quilcapuncu is estimated at 2,500 in the village and 6,000 for the district. 70% of the village population work in a gold mine four hours away. In this village there are only two public telephones and no private telephones. No one could tell us the numbers to the public ones. Note: This village appears desolate and without much activity. Trash is everywhere along with skull bones (animals) in the middle of the street. During our visit we saw more animals than people. Three hostals exist, but only one seemed to be open. THere are no showers and no ceramic toilets, instead there are holes in the ground. To enter the hostal rooms you most go through a door that is 4 feet tall. There are four beds per room that are made of straw and wool blankets. The owner, Senora Fransica is very nice and only charched 4 soles a night (about $1.50). The health center consists of one doctor, Percy Velarde, an OB, 4 technicians (nurses), and 0 dentists. The town has no police officers.
The languagues of the area, Quetchua, Aymara, and Spanish are spoken by everyone.
Catholic is said to be the main religion, but this seems to be in name only as the people only meet on special occassions when a priest from a larger town visits. The adventists, who consist of about 30 people, appear to be much more active. There is one church building for each, but we could only find the Catholic church building (we assume the Adventists are meeting in a house).
There are 3 or 4 places to buy gas, but no actual gas stations.
The town has two primary schools (200 students) and a secondary school (300 students). The school year runs from April - December.
Travel during the rainy season of Dec. - March is possible, but very difficult.
We were informed the best place to stay is hostal Moralitos located by the soccer field.
There is one municiple building located in the plaza.
Three restaurants exist in the entire town. Mainly one can find lamb and rice. Several smaller stores around to buy fruits and other snack foods. Otherwise, one has to travel to Putina.
Internet cannot be found in the town, to access it one must also travel to Putina (about 30 - 40 minutes by bus for 1.50 soles).

Putina Report

2005-06-11T13:14:00.000-05:00

Putina:

A two hour and 25 min. ride from juliaca via Huancane and Huatasani, Putina is located at 12,700 feet above sea level. The population can be estimated at 15,000 and it is the capitol of San Antonio de Putina. Although many public telephones can be found, only about 10% of the homes have personal telephones. 4 hotel/hostals make up the guest lodging in the town. It has been recommended by the majority of the people that travelers say in the Hotel Santa Maria. There are approx. 40 beds, restrooms for both men and women, but no showers in the entire city. Baths and showers are taken at the hot springs. The Hotel Santa Maria is 7 soles per night (about $2.50). The health clinic has 3 doctors, 4 nurses, 3 obstrictist, 2 dentist, 6-10 technitians, and no x-ray machines. The radio frequency is 510. 8 police officers and one police station that is located next to the bank. There are 2 private primary schools and one institute. There are many new parks, one which was scheduled to open June 8, 2005. The main religion is Catholic (50 - 60%) There is a main church in the center plaza called San Antonio de Padua. There are also 7th day Adventist (3 groups), Pentecostal, and mormons (1%). We were unable to locate anything but the Catholic church. Because the city is the capitol of San Antonio de Putina, there is a municiple Palace where the governor works. (Telephone # 867003). His name is Geronimo Mamani Monrroy Alcalde. He, along with Hugo Chambi Chambi (public relations)are our main contacts. Hugo´s email - hugosystem@hotmail.com. The town websites are:
www.muniputina.gob.pe
www.putinavirtual.tk
The rainy season in Putina is from October to February. During this season, the roads are a ¨disaster¨. The best time to visit is Feb. - Apr. According to the governors office, about 2% are illiterate. Most of the pop. speak Quetchua, but all middle age and younger speak Spanish as well.

Prelouge to the "Official Report" pt.1

2005-06-10T17:06:00.000-05:00

Greetings All,

It has been 10 days since we embarqued on this research trip and oh what a 10 days it has been. Jen is recovering well from salmonilla poisoning, Heather had a 3 day bout with some bad food, and Chris has not gotten sick (by the Grace of God). We have had to deal with lost passports, I.D., money, ect. We have stayed on everything from straw mats to NICE cusioned beds in the hotel. We have stayed in villages that have no showers, to hotel rooms with hot showers, and we have filled up on Lomo Saltado for desayuno, almuerzo, y cena. But everything that we have gone through has been blessed by God. He has never left us nor forsaken us, as He promised.

We are currently in Ayaviri, where we will stay for 17 days while we research this village and 5 others. We have already been to Putina, Quilcapunco, and Janansalla. We are staying at a hotel for these 2 1/2 weeks while we accomplish this research. It is very nice and the owners have been more than helpful. We have warm beds, hot showers, and laundry service. We have been accepted very well in this city. I call this a city because it is the largest we have been in. It has approximatly a population of 23,000. We have found the Catholic church (which if you know anything about Peru, you know that the Catholic church is the easiest thing in the city to find). We have also found the Penticostal church and the Mormon church in Ayaviri.

Today, we spent the majority of the day talking to the Governadora de Melgar, The Penticostal Church (the youth pastor and the head pastor's wife), and the school. We have found out more today than we did about any of the other villages. We have also began to teach two of the school girls English. They had special permission from thier professor to come and learn some of the language. This should tell you how accepted we have become here so far.

Durring our chat with the Penticostal church and the preacher's wife, we found out many interesting things about the religious status of Ayaviri. The Catholic church has a huge hold on this community. The schools all teach the Catholic Religion as a subject. There is a huge problem with teenage pregnancy(13,14,15 years old). There is a big problem with alcholism here, and everyday Idolitry. There are not many Christians here in this city according to the Penticostal church. The other religions that are here in this city include: Mormons, Assembly of God, 7th day Adventist, Penticostal, and Catholic.

While talking to the preacher's wife, we let her go through the tracks we had and see if the church was teaching the same doctrine. We were glad to find out that they were. Also, we were given 2,000 free bible stories (tracks) in Quetchua (the indian language). They were given to us by a 7th day Adventist book store in Juliaca. Because none of us speak Quetchua, we gave them to the preacher's wife to read over and she gave her approval after consulting her bible. This also gave us some encouragement. We will not be using all of these bible stories, but will be giving them to either Mike or Rick to use for future groups. There is a large presence of Quetchua here and they will be good to use eventually. However, they are not tracks, but bible stories. Therefore, we want to wait to use them for new believers in thier learning of the bible.

We were also glad to find out that there are three christian radio stations here in Ayaviri. The one that the Penticostals run is 106.3 Radio Bethel. Even though we are glad to hear that the Penticostal church is active, there are only 40-50 believers that attend services. In our opinion, there needs to be a bigger movement of evangelical churches in the area. It seems to be that the 2.2 % evangelized in the city is not accurate. There is a need here and people are very open to listen.

We plan on researching Ayaviri for another two or three days because of the mere size of the village. We then plan on bussing to and from the other villages and researching them on day trips. We will spend about 3 days in each of the other villages and research them. But we will be comming back to Ayaviri every night because of the availability of resources and hotels/hostiles.

Even though this is a long post, this is by no means the summery of our research so far. We will be posting the Putina and Quilcapunco summaries tommorrow. We will post Ayaviri within the next week.

Choa,

Cristobal

We have arrived in Huancane

2005-05-29T16:28:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Juliaca two hours early. We had a chance to meet a lady named Augustina who sold us some sweaters and blankets. We gave her a track and she looked through it with us. She said that this was an American religion and that it was not for her. We told her that it was also a religion for Peruvians. Her response was that it may have been for Lima, but not for Juliaca.

We were picked up by the missionaries here in Huancane, about 45 minutes outside of Juliaca. One the way here, we had to dodge many obsticles in the road like boulders and broken glass bottles. This is because there is a transportation strike that will be starting tommorrow. We will be stuck here for a couple of days to a week. We are not sure when we will be able to get a bus out of the city during the strike or not. But this time will give us a chance to plan out how we will be doing things this summer.

Leaving Lima...

2005-05-28T09:22:00.000-05:00

We will be leaving Lima today at 4:15 with Cruz del Sur. It will take us almost 24 hours with layovers and we will arrive in Juliaca, Puno at around 3:00pm the next day. Here, we will meet with Rick and Kelly Martinez, the missionaries in Puno. We will be staying there briefly while we wait out a transportation strike in Puno. From there, we will be researching 20 various towns and villages throughout the area.