Lake Titicaca and Snow in Juliaca

Last night I went to Puno and met up with Annie Siddoway, a good friend from Boston. We went to a nice Italian restaurant and is was great to eat real food for once. She planned this trip just on the spear of the moment and it was just by coincidence that we were in the same part of Peru on the same day. After being here five weeks, it was very comforting talking to a good friend. Afterwards we walked along the beach of Lake Titicaca to the bus terminal where she caught a all-night bus ride back to Cuzco and I hopped in a random car that took me back to Juliaca.


Well I had never seen snow in South America until last Tuesday morning when I went for my run in a snow blizzard. Crazy! It has been really cold here this week as we’ve worked in the town of Juliaca, about 45 minutes north of Puno and Lake Titicaca in southern Peru. We are evaluating the surrounding areas to see if there is a need for a financial program that gives credit with education to the poorest of the poor. We have held focus group discussions with 5-10 women in the some very rural areas asking them about their financial resources, how they make/spend money, and what times of the year are the hardest financially. The people here live off their crops and their livestock- that’s it. One of the most interesting things I learned this week was those who work in the fields are not paid with money but rather with the very crops that they harvest. So they literally work for the food that feeds their families. In addition, everyone here has no concept of saving money. When they need to make a purchase, they go and sell a cow, sheep, llama, or pig in town. So all their savings is pretty much in the livestock they raise. They live day to day so there’s never any extra money to put away for savings. This photo below reminded me of a scene from Jurassic Park. At least their livestock benefit their crops.


Another interesting finding is how people here have connected the prevalence of disease caused by lack of food. At the end of our focus group discussions I usually ask, “What diseases are prevalent in this region?” Pneumonia is very prevalent, especially in the colder months of the year, as well as diarrhea (which happen to be the two biggest killers world wide with children under 5). I follow up by asking, “What causes these diseases?” Usually the first answer that comes is, “The cold weather.” But as I have probed more, I have often heard, “Lack of food.” As this financial program is implemented and the people here are able to take out a little bit of money for capital to assure they have enough to eat, infectious diseases will diminish. The research here is rewarding because I feel like we are treating root of the problem here instead of just the disease. Many of these people would love to have a little but more money to plant more seeds, buy more livestock, or sell the clothes they make. But there is never extra money. They are trapped in their poverty without a way out. As a result they don’t have enough food to eat, which ultimately leads to suffering and disease. I feel we are teaching, in our own way, the people here how to fish so they can be more self-sufficient with the food security of their families.


Friday we had the day off so we went and did a tour of Lake Titicaca, one of the highest lakes in the world at 12,500 ft. along the Peru/Bolivian border. We took a motorboat out to Los Uros which are artificial islands made of floating reeds. The people there live off of their own fishing and also tourism (which believe me is very prevalent). We were dropped off on a tiny island with nothing to do for 2 hours except to look at all the souvenirs to buy. It was the ultimate tourist trap as we were surrounded on three sides by water and the other side by artisans.