Women are subjects in the private and the public space

Today is the international women's day. I spent the day in El Pedregal, Majes about two hour's bus ride from Arequipa. Some of the organizations that we support had arranged a day of activities in cooperation with other organizations as well as with the authorities. I was there to document the activities in the form of pictures that will appear on Svalorna.se shortly.

The day started out with a demonstration that passed through the main streets of El Pedregal. People carried banners and balloons to highlight that today is the international women's day. As we marched through the city we got both appreciative cheers and incredulous looks from passers-by. There were also some people who joined the precession as we passed, so in short there was a really good atmosphere.

At the end of the demonstration we arrived at the main square where information tables, distributing information about domestic violence and the contact details for a hotline, were set up. There was also a big stage where the mayor among others had gathered to hold speeches. This is the part that really left me speechless. There was one lady who talked about how important it is that women enjoy the same rights as men, but I could hardly believe my Swedish ears when I heard one man after another praising women first and foremost as the ones giving birth. Of course, the intention was to emphasize how important women are in social life, but I couldn't help to cringe. Women do so much more than giving birth and caring for their families. How about honoring women as workers, artists or politicians? How about acknowledging the achievement of women in the public as well as the domestic sphere? This discussion is very well known in Sweden but seemed completely absent here.

Tonight I went out to see a friend. On my way I was subject to various cat-calls such as “Hello beautiful”. Somehow it underlined that despite being western and liberated, I am no exception from the objectification that women are exposed to worldwide.

My first real earthquake experience

Yesterday I had my first proper earthquake experience – 6.2 on the Richter scale with its epicentre just south of the Chilean border. About 7:40 in the morning I found myself wondering who on earth was shaking my bed. It took my a few seconds to realize that I actually was experiencing my first proper earthquake and by the time I had leaped out of bed and put my jeans on the door to my room was rattling. I made a quick escape plan calculating that I had shoes by the door that I just need to slip into and decided that putting on socks would be a waste of time. Once out of my room I banged the door to Ida's room calling ”Wake up! There's an earthquake!”

Fortunately it stopped after a while and I decided to leap into the shower rather than trying to snooze a while longer. Later on in the morning I met up with my boss, Mattias, who took me to do some rock climbing. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow gear from him and we spent half of the day trying to overcome my fear of hights. This was the first time that I climbed outdoors and the second time I climbed properly at all, so my legs got really wobbly. While going up I wondered what on earth I had gotten myself into, but once back with my two feet on the ground I was really happy.

Escaping the rain

It has been raining almost every afternoon for two weeks now. Everybody talks about the rain. On the news, in the office, at meetings, on the bus. For someone used to a wetter climate, such as myself, I don't find it too unusual, but since building aren't constructed to cope with the rain there have been major problems with floodings. It has been even worse further up in the mountains. Outside Puno a whole bridge was washed away.

On the brighter side, Ida, César, Lauren, Alexy and I decided to do as all the other Arequipeños and hit the beach during the weekend. Said and done. We set out for Camaná, a village by the sea, that gets flooded by tourists during the summer.

It was a bit cloudy the first day, but we made sure to enjoy ourselves anyway. The Sunday was even better with dazzling sunshine. The picture above is from a small walking street inside the village where Ida and I ate the breakfast rolls that we had bought at the local food market. Below is yours truly squinting at the sun.

After having had breakfast and checked out from the hostel we spent all day relaxing at the beach. This last picture pretty much speaks for itself.

The Exorcist Failure

So I've spent the last week and a half being possessed by some sort of demon that messes up my stomach every now and then. To be honest I thought I could out-smart it by just pretending it wasn't there and go on with my life. I'm sad to say that I was WRONG. When I woke up Saturday morning it hurt so much I almost thought that I would die. That's when I decided to change my diet to boiled vegetables, toast and porridge.

My diet helped to some point, but since we happen to have an exorcist, Policlínico Espíritu Santo, just across the street I decided to give them a try. It turned out to be much ado about nothing. I went there Monday, utterly confused, and was shown to the fourth floor and was shown to a cashier where I paid to see the exorcist. Then I was sent to another room where I had to give my information, get my blood pressure taken and was quizzed on diseases in my family. Once finished I was sent to a waiting room. After about 30 minutes I got to see the exorcist. He squeezed my stomach trying to localize the demon and prescribed me to take samples.

Apparently I had to head back down to the bottom floor to pay to get the samples taken at one cashier, where the lady was very upset because she wanted to close the cashier down and go home. I managed to persuade her to take my money and was sent to another line to get a small plastic cup where I was supposed to put my sample (don't ask).

Yesterday morning I returned to hand in my sample. I was told to wait in reasonably long line and after a while a lady appeared and collected my sample and told me to wait in another line to get my receipt back. After about five minutes I got my receipt back and could happily head off to work. In the evening when I came back to get the results I first had to wait in one line to get my results and once I got them I had to head back up to the fourth floor to have the exorcist explain them to me. I caught him just as he had grabbed his coat and was heading home. He told me that the test was negative, so I guess I just have to continue eating my boiled food for yet some time.