Piero Ponce

Self-assessment & roadmap 2007 (review)

2011-12-30T20:32:00.000-05:00

It's been four years since I wrote this self-assessment. I am pretty happy to review it, since it reminds me about my way of doing things, particularly when dreaming and assessing myself. Briefly explaining the context: I recently finished my last job as External Relations Manager in Africa for AIESEC, and was working on a local project in Egypt, so my interests were closely related to development (and starting with) tourism.

So, I decided to write down my comments on whether these bullets where achieved (or not). I may not use nice metaphors at this time, but these thoughts represent nice feelings.

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Myself

- Vision

"Enlightment & armony between human actions and nature".

- Current state: humankind strives for achieving economic power. But there are cases of people who achieve my vision everyday, most of them remain antonym (my faith).

Now I noticed that the "current state" probably did not mean exactly a "mission", so this may apply better by the time I get into the political arena :)

Harmony and balance are two of my favorite words... even though, there will always be rolling coasters around our lives, at the end of each phase our souls will feel more satisfied of achieving balance on this experience.

Entrepreneurship

- Vision 2010

Responsible tourism generates sustainable development and rewards cultural diversity in Peru.

Wow! I have to admit that this was a pretty high vision!

- Mission

Our learning network around responsible tourism in Peru connects individuals and organizations, and provides them with a platform for accessing opportunities and assessing consumers' behavior, so as they can lead sustainable development in their communities.

By being Travel Ambassador at TIES (www.ecotourism.org) and becoming Executive Board member at CARETUR (Regional Chamber of Tourism in Ayacucho, Peru), I started networking with peruvian companies for promoting ecotourism' mission and values. This is not exactly a learning network, but I did achieved it partially.

Values

Equal opportunities, environmental, diversity

Objectives

- Myself: Alignment between individual goals & family joy / Physical health (sports) / Income generation through the things that passionate me the most

Ok, not achieved at all. Sports must be taken seriously and not just on plans!

- Study mates: Level of communication with former mates (from just chilling to inspiring & enlightening)

I have met cool networks throughout these years... but I realized how important is to give first, so the reaction can be enlightening as well.

- Community: Lima: Facilitation of networks among all economic/social levels. Awareness creation. / Outside: Empower learning networks around local relevant topics.

Yes, I did it! and even more, outside Lima

- Country: Unity towards an enjoyable developmental process / Diversity towards recapturing traditional knowledge and generation innovative approaches

- World: A more balanced power and decision making / More openness to global citizenship / More balanced access to opportunities

Again, this was high demanding, so it is better suited as a vision.

Panelista en 2da cumbre internacional de voluntario juvenil

2011-11-07T22:53:00.000-05:00

La realización de la 2da cumbre internacional de voluntariado juvenil, organizado por Partners of the Americas & IAVE, fue el espacio para que el Econ. Piero Ponce participara y compartiera sus experiencias como panelista del taller „Proyectos basados en intercambio internacional“.

Este importante evento permitió que 700 voluntarios entre los 16 y 30 años de edad - y adultos que trabajan con jóvenes- participaran del encuentro para discutir los temas de Diversidad e Inclusión, mientras interactuaron en talleres dictados por conferencistas jóvenes internacionales; y participaron en concursos y eventos culturales, así como en actividades de trabajo social en Barranquilla, Colombia.

Licenciado en Economía, con enfoque en Proyectos de Desarrollo, Piero aplicó su experiencia de facilitación en este taller, aportando los años de experiencia realizando análisis y gestión de proyectos que promueven emprendimientos productivos con enfoque inter-cultural y activando aptitudes de liderazgo en personas de escasos recursos. El tema central del taller fue cómo desarrollar programas de intercambio internacional entre jóvenes voluntarios, para darle más fuerza e impacto a proyectos locales de desarrollo.

New position: Director of Projects and Research in Tourism

2011-01-16T10:43:00.005-05:00

For the past several years, tourism has been a passion for me and I have been looking forward to work in this industry. So, 2 weeks ago, a new step was achieved and I am very glad to share with you that I have been elected as part of the Executive Board at the Regional Chamber of Tourism in the Ayacucho Region (Peru). And in my role of delivering the area of Business Services, I look forward to explore exciting initiatives and to see many changes in one of my favourite regions in Peru: Ayacucho.

Why Ayacucho? this region has a lot of unleashed tourism potential. If you feel like experiencing vivential tourism or to learn quechua in any andean community, this place is right for you. Despite all bad news that unfortunately is being delivered by national media, actually people and social trends context in this region is positively developing, and thus, citizens are actively engaged in any initiative that may lead to development. And also, there are lots of old ancient festivities and good music to hear around.

Why tourism? it is about passion for discovering, engaging and feeling close to nature. I think, this is one of the most holistic industries and eventually lead to new hobbies and passions.

So Ayacucho... kuskanchik llamkasun (let's work together!)

Mudanza y otros aires

2010-08-27T16:28:00.002-05:00

En agosto del año pasado me mudé de casa. Un traslado como tantos, en el cual con mucha flojera tuve que empacar mis cosas, y con la leve nostalgia de que dejaba mi casita... para llegar a otra.

Como en toda historia... esta también tuvo un par de anécdotas. Primero una abeja que me siguió por todas partes de la casa antigua mientras empacaba (¿qué mito podría traer? ¿algo que dejé olvidado? ¿algún destino de esos que solo se leen en cadenas?). Nunca me picó, sino me acompañó como dándome ánimos.

Después de 3 horas la primera parte de la mudanza ya estaba hecha: todas las cosas tiradas en mi nuevo espacio. En ves de ordenarlas decidí hacer otra cosa y regresé a mi oficina... para presenciar la segunda anécdota rara: a los 10 minutos empezó una lluvia atípica en Ayacucho (no era época de lluvias y además hacía semanas que no caía ninguna). ¿Sería esta la lluvia mítica de la abundancia? ¿o la lluvia flemática y triste por la despedida?

De cualquier forma... me alegra constatar que mi nueva casa no está encantada...

JOVENES DE GRUPO JUVENIL PARTICIPAN DE REPINTADO DE PARROQUIA

2009-07-09T17:28:00.001-05:00

As part of its regular activities on its annual plan of the youth organization "Fishermen of the Youth" coming from the Saint Francisco de Paula Church, several youngsters organized an outdoor cleaning and painting event of the mentioned church. The aim was to rescue and revalue our cultural heritage, which is reflected in the local construction with colonial style of the churches part of the Ayacucho city touristic circuit.

These young participants gave a positive example, by stating that they are the real agents of change. Thus, the revalue of our heritage must come from its own citizens and hope that other local youth organizations will organize similar activities. The institution CEDRO is offering technical assistance on similar initiatives, which foster healthy life styles, away from the drug's chain and invite the community to participate on "civic actions" and artistic-cultural events, such as the cleaning of public spaces, social campaigns, dance fests, theater, among others.

Despues de 4 meses en DC

2009-06-01T16:38:00.002-05:00

Es esta la razón que me trajo a Washington DC hace exactamente 4 meses. Y ahora puedo decir que alcance todo esto. El video muestra la esencia del programa al que asistí. Aquel que marco mi vida, una vez mas…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufjxou_o_D8

Un cambio de piezas

2009-04-07T13:56:00.004-05:00

Imaginate estar compuesto por piezas o fichas, algo asi como legos o el mismo rompecabezas. Tomemos para este ejemplo una gran figura humana compuesta por piezas de lego. Tienes piezas de distintos colores y tamanos, todas han sido cuadradas y estan perfectamente ajustadas entre todas. A partir de esto, se han generado figuras bellisimas y eres capaz de moverte sin temor a deshacerte.

Pero entonces viene una mano y (pum!) saca una de las piezas. Nada grave, es solo una pequena pieza y puede ser puesta en otra parte, ademas las anteriores siguen fuertemente unidas. Pero viene otra mano (llamemosla "estimulo") y vuelve a sacar otra pieza y la mueve a otra parte. Y viene otra mas, y otra. Luego de varias semanas, te das cuenta que muchas piezas se han movido, y tienes temor de deshacerte o de adoptar una forma que ya no sera bella.

Pero entonces asimilas que sigues en pie y que eres capaz de seguir moviendo piezas y encontrar otras maneras de moverte. Ademas que fue por tu decision que esos estimulos tuvieron el permiso de mover esas piezas. Y sigues andando, y sigues disfrutando, con mas inseguridad por momentos, con mas alegria y tristeza por otros. Todo se hace relevante. Seguramente el nivel de estimulos disminuira despues de un tiempo y algunas piezas volveran a su lugar original, pero otras se quedaran en su nuevo lugar y asi seguiras evolucionando como persona. Con nuevos talentos y defectos por explorar.

Si alguna vez pasas por esto, reconocelo y no temas de pensar en ello y disfrutarlo.

TURISMO VIVENCIAL: COMUNIDADES INDIGENAS SE CONVIERTEN EN EMPRESARIOS

2009-03-22T23:33:00.005-05:00

El turismo vivencial se perfila poco a poco en el mercado como un segmento de interés para generar focos de desarrollo en el Perú, dado que contamos con los requisitos básicos: una rica historia, cultura viva y naturaleza diversa. Una ventaja importante es que un servicio así permitiría que comunidades indígenas ingresen a cadenas económica, pues ellas se convierten en los ofertantes de este servicio. Y conforme progresen las visitas, se van generando negocios de otros tipos: hoteles, restaurantes, entretenimiento, deportes, y todo aquello que pueda motivar al turista vivencial.

En la práctica aún falta trabajar en la capacitación de las comunidades indígenas (desde temas de revalorar prácticas tradicionales hasta concebir un servicio al cliente como principal característica del servicio). Además, por lo general, las comunidades son vistas como "parte de la foto" y no se les da ese papel vital que cuentan en el servicio. Ante esto, jóvenes emprendedores de las principales ciudades deberían considerar trabajar por un buen tiempo en esas zonas rurales en la generación de la oferta turística vivencia, y así poder aplicar esos conociemientos académicos, además que serían un vehículo de integración y reconocimiento de nuestra diversidad.

Ex-presidente polaco Aleksander Kwaśniewski habla sobre reconciliación

2009-02-12T00:20:00.002-05:00

Siempre es un placer tener a un político reconocido como ponente en un curso, pero esta vez fue muy interesante conocer ayer a Aleksander Kwaśniewski, quien fue presidente de Polonia en el periodo 1995-2005. Su experiencia como presidente fue extremadamente única: le tocó liderar la transición en su país hacia la democracia social, en un momento donde se necesitaba de un liderazgo importante para ejecutar la "reconciliación" después del comunismo.

Sus recomendaciones en este proceso fueron el de identificar a líderes para el mismo, asegurar educación (por ejemplo, libros promoviendo relaciones amistosas entre contrapartes), contactar e involucrar a la prensa (para crear un ambiente positivo/constructivo) y eliminar las fuentes de pobreza (es decir otorgar los servicios básicos). Estos 4 puntos se podrían aplicar con utilidad en regiones como Ayacucho, Perú, en donde se viene experimentando la transición a la reconciliación luego del terrorismo. En resumen, una buena exposición y una experiencia motivante.

Former polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski talks about reconciliation

2009-02-11T23:59:00.007-05:00

It is always a pleasure to have a recognized politician as speaker in a lecture, but it was really interesting to meet yesterday Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who was former president in Poland from 1995-2005. His experiencie as a president was extremely unique: he lead the transition to a social democracy in his country, which needed an important leadership on the reconciliation after comunism.

His recommendations in this process was to identify leaders for this, to ensure education (ie books fostering friendly relations among counterparts), approach and involve the media (for creating a positive atmosphere) and eliminate sources of poverty (ie satisfy basic needs). These 4 points apply in a useful way to regions like Ayacucho in Peru, which is currently passing through a period of reconciliation after terrorism. In brief, a good lecture and a motivational experience.

NEW CHAPTER: WASHINGTON DC

2009-02-01T21:28:00.003-05:00

Washington DC, 7pm
More than 35 young profesionals representing more than 12 ibero american countries pay attention to Ricardo, a Deputy Dean who enthusiastically and sincerely explains why are we now sitting in Washington... "we develop latin american leaders who can generate a strong change towards regional development". In fact, latin america has aproximately 550 million habitants, which is more than the U.S. and more than the European Union. However, it just represents 6 per cent of the global gross domestic product. No wonder why we latin americans are not present at the global agenda.

Today I jumped into a new road for the next 4 months for developing and getting to know better myself... for enjoying new experiences and sharing mines with people who truly goes beyond things. I have had long stays in Europe, Africa and I have seen Asia, but this will be the first time that I will enjoy a latin american experience, funny isnt it? Tomorrow I start a study program at Georgetown University and I will jump in the culture of a nation that recalls opposite emotions in the world, a place that will become the starting point of a new journey of knowledge and happiness.

NUEVO CAPITULO: WASHINGTON DC

2009-02-01T21:14:00.003-05:00

Washington DC, 7pm
Más de 35 jóvenes profesionales representando a más de 12 países en ibero-américa prestan atención a Ricardo, un docente quien con mucho entusiasmo y sinceridad nos explica por qué nos encontramos en Washington... "formamos líderes latino americanos que generen un cambio sustancial de desarrollo regional". Y es que latino américa tiene aproximadamente 550 millones de habitantes, más que EEUU, más que toda la Unión Europea. Y sin embargo, sólo representa el 6 por ciento del valor de producción mundial. Los latino américanos no estamos presentes en la agenda mundial.

Hoy día inicié un interesante camino de 4 meses para desarrollarme y conocerme más... para disfrutar nuevas experiencias y para compartir las mías con gente que trasciende en la vida. He estado por largo tiempo en Europa, Africa y he conocido Asia, pero esta será la primera vez que compartiré con Latino América, ¿anecdótico no? Y mañana inicio un curso en la Universidad de Georgetown y un nuevo recorrido en la cultura de una nación que genera emociones encontradas en el mundo, y que será mi punto de partida para nuevos conocimientos y alegrías.

Support me... to stop over assisting you

2008-12-18T22:14:00.002-05:00

Working in a social projects necessarily leads to working in a network of NGOs, grass-root organizations, lots of people with needs and, of course, hope. But it means as well to deal with one of the most misused words in that professional circle: support.

Supporting is definitively a good thing: I support someone who needs help, I support people who suffered a negative thing and need to recover, I support somebody close to me who aims to achieve something and need friends, anyway, supporting people is necessary and proves a colective approach of things with win-win decisions. But, what happens when an institution/organization asks for "support" in order to get a sponsorship? What does it mean when a bounch of young people with terciary education and able to work by themselves ask for "support" in order to pay their prom party? And a teacher asking for "support" in order to install recreational playgames? What happens when we want to empower people within the poverty line and we get used to "support" them through breaks, local transport, dishware, etc?

There is a limit for everything. We need to use the words in the right place and moment. Otherwise, a social project may have over assisting withouth having planned so.

Apóyame... a dejar de darte asistencialismo

2008-12-18T21:53:00.006-05:00

Trabajar en un proyecto social implica necesariamente entrar en el círculo de las ONGs, organizaciones sociales de base, mucha gente con necesidades y, por supuesto, esperanza. Pero también significa lidiar con una de las palabras más maltratadas en el lenguage profesional: el apoyo.

El apoyar es ciertamente una buena cosa: uno apoya a aquél que necesita una ayuda, se apoya a personas que han sufrido algo negativo y necesitan recuperarse, se apoya cuando alguien cercano a nosotros quiere conseguir algo y necesita amigos, en fin, el apoyo es necesario y es muestra de un gran sentido colectivista y con características de reciprocidad. ¿Pero qué significa cuándo una institución/organización te pide "apoyo" porque quiere un auspicio? ¿Qué significa que un grupo de jóvenes con estudios superiores y plena capacidad de trabajo pidan "apoyo" para cubrir los gastos de su fiesta de promoción? ¿Y un profesor de colegio pidiendo "apoyo" para instalar juegos educativos? ¿Qué efecto se tiene cuando se quiere empoderar personas de escasos recursos y uno se acostumbra a ofrecer "apoyo" a través de refrigerios, pasajes, ollas, etc?

Todo tiene un límite. Hay que usar las palabras en el lugar y momento correcto. De lo contrario, un proyecto social puede caer en el asistencialismo sin siquiera pensarlo.

180 degrees turnovers

2008-10-23T00:23:00.002-05:00

Once again... I felt that time was not being enough and that my priority list was being unfair. I felt goals becoming more valuable than daily life, difficulties were consuming myself from within and time being stopped. Fortunately this ended by this week, so I took again books and magazines, I played back with my guitar, I started over my language lessons and ended up tonight enjoying some nice pictures from travels and dreams.

And when looking at those, I figured out that same quote: turn your weaknesses into strenghts. As this tree, which was once a threat for the construction of a fence, but ended being part of it... with a fancy looking and creativity actually. And what about you? Which weakenesses have you turned into strenghts lately?

Giros de 180 grados

2008-10-23T00:14:00.003-05:00

Una vez mas... sentí que el tiempo no alcanzaba y que las prioridades eran injustas. Que las metas eran mas valiosas que el día a día, que las dificultades me corroían y me detenían en el tiempo. Felízmente eso acabó esta semana y volví a coger libros y revistas para leer, volví a desempolvar la guitarra, volví a estudiar idiomas y volví a disfrutar viendo mis fotos de viajes y sueños.

Y justamente en uno de ellos, encontré la tan simple explicación: convierte tus debilidades en fortalezas. Así como este árbol que en algún momento impidió la construcción de la pared, pero que terminó siendo parte de ella... y con mucho estilo y creatividad diría yo. ¿Y tú? ¿Qué debilidades has convertido en fortalezas últimamente?

Crossing through another bridge

2008-08-05T22:32:00.002-05:00

A bit more than 6 months ago, I started a new phase in my life, since I decided to come for working in Ayacucho for a social project. Something kind of unexpected for an economist like me, who may have seen himself as a business man.

But as far as I check my latest pics from a travel in Ayacucho, and at the same time I hear some music I brought from Egypt and Cameroon, I realized that I took the good decision. I can feel again this awesome energy which burns from within at the beginning of a new experience, but when it stops shining as much as the common life takes a major role. Anyway, soon I will enojy an intensive moment, by remembering each moment that Ayacucho has offered me: people, travels, food, Quechua, images, my fears and decisions. Indeed I life in my homeland, but Peru is so diverse that being in this part of the andean mountains is like living in a new atmosphere which brings many surprises.

Soon I will continue enjoying realizing these trips. Soon I will go to a great international conference, where I will talk so much about awesome things in Ayacucho, and thus I will continue awakening dreams on people like me who like to life like nomads, and who at the same time become citizens of an ideal world... one which does not accept limits.

Atravesando otro puente

2008-08-05T21:14:00.004-05:00

Hace poco mas de 6 meses empecé una nueva etapa en mi vida, al decidir venirme a trabajar a Ayacucho por un proyecto de corte social. Algo tal vez inesperado para un economista como yo, que se veía asimismo como un estricto hombre de negocios.

Pero mientras reviso las fotos de mi viaje por Ayacucho, y simultáneamente escucho música que traje de Egipto y Camerún, compruebo que no me equivoqué. Todo lo contrario, estoy cada vez mas listo de seguir explotando esa gran energía que a uno le quema al inicio de cada nueva experiencia, y que por un momento deja de brillar ante lo cotidiano. Pronto pasaré por una linda etapa en la cual asimilaré cada instante que Ayacucho me ha regalado: la gente, los viajes, el Quechua, la comida, las imágenes, mis miedos y decisiones. Es cierto que vivo en mi mismo país, pero el Perú es tan diverso que estar en esta parte de los Andes es como vivir en una atmósfera novedosa y con muchas sorpresas.

Pronto seguiré disfrutando de este asimilar de los viajes. Pronto iré a una gran conferencia internacional, en la que hablaré hasta el cansancio sobre las maravillas de Ayacucho, y seguiré despertando sueños en mas personas como yo que disfrutan el ser nómades, y al mismo tiempo habitantes de un mundo ideal... el que no conoce límites.

Details

2008-06-22T23:58:00.003-05:00

This image represents a small sample of the beautiness of the peruvian mountains. This region is called Pacaycasa and as a matter of fact, it was the place of the oldest peruvian culture. In order to have this shot, I had to walk up about 100 meters in a hill full of cactus, but the view was definitively worthy. You can see the big mountains at the end, some farms and a white Christus status, which looks like protecting the town in front of him.

But now, let's go down and enter in the town of Pacaycasa. What shall we find? among others, streets made of stones, houses built on mud's walls, a lonely park, maybe a couple of shops. But if you pay attention and start enjoying Pacaycasa's details, you may find what I got in this shot: a line of animals walking at the same rythm. All of them being taken at the same speed and it looks like they were enjoying that walk, too.

Trying to look just at the big things may not enable us to see the small hidden things on the road. Like in Pacaycasa, today I remembered that in life it is needed to take some time for realizing things, for finding those small details which are hidden in myself. Today I took a break in the busy life and went for a walk... and I enjoyed looking at my details, on realizing what is going on in this new phase on my life...

Detalles

2008-06-22T23:37:00.006-05:00

Esta foto representa una pequeña muestra de lo lindo que son las montañas en el Perú. Esta zona se conoce como Pacaycasa, y entre sus particularidades está que albergó al hombre más antiguo del país. Para llegar a tener esta toma, tuve que hacer una interesante escalada de 100 metros en una colina llena de cactus, pero la vista espectacular lo merecía. No sólo se ven las montañas a lo lejos, sino también algunas parcelas de cultivo y un cristo blanco al lado derecho, como protegiendo al pueblo que está frente a él.

Sin embargo, ahora bajemos de esa colina y entremos al pueblo de Pacaycasa. ¿Qué encontraremos? entre otros, calles empedradas, casas de barro, un parque solitario, tal vez un par de tiendas. Pero si te tomas más tiempo en disfrutar de los detallesde Pacaycasa, tal vez encuentres lo que ví en esta imagen: una fila de animales marchando al unísono. Todos siendo conducidos al mismo tiempo, como disfrutando el camino.

Y es que el querer ver todo lo grande no necesariamente nos permite disfrutar de las cosas pequeñas y ocultas de nuestros caminos. Como en Pacaycasa, hoy volví a recordar que en la vida hay que saber darse un tiempo para asimilar las cosas, para ver esos detalles que residen en uno mismo. Hoy hice un alto en mi vida y decidí irme de caminata... y me gustó mucho ver mis detalles, en asimilar lo que vengo haciendo en esta nueva etapa de mi vida...

Carnavales Ayacuchanos 2008

2008-02-16T16:50:00.004-05:00

Febrero ha sido el mes de los carnavales. Y mi actual ciudad de residencia Ayacucho no podía ser la excepción. Con la participación de más de 100 comparsas durante el primer día de esta fiesta, la ciudad literalmente dejó de vivir, para así empezar a disfrutar de esta fiesta. Y definitivamente valió la pena ser parte de ella.

Junto con la comparsa organizada por la institución CEDRO, más de 80 jóvenes aparecieron en las calles cantando, gritando, tocando y bailando por más de 8 horas. Pero esta comparsa fue única: en nuestros cánticos hacíamos un llamado a una vida saludable sin el abuso de las drogas y a la revalorización de nuestra cultura local. Por momentos sentía que mis piernas íban a rendirse frente a la hostilidad del calor, por al final de la noche, fue estupendo asimilar el hecho de haber soltado tanta energía y pasión en el intento de disfrutar de estos carnavales en su lado más esencial.

Este es un video explicativo sobre los carnavales Ayacuchanos y fue creado por una organización local de jóvenes llamada "Chapla Cultural". En ella se explican el significado, mística e historia de esta fiesta tan especial. ¡Disfrútenlo!

Carnival in Ayacucho 2008

2008-02-16T16:25:00.008-05:00

February has been the month of carnivals. And my current home city Ayacucho was not the exception. With the participation of more than 100 groups during the first day of this fest, the city literally stopped living in order to begin enjoying the party. And it was worthy to take part of it.

Together with the party organized by the organization CEDRO, more than 80 youngsters appeared on the streets singing, shouting, playing and dancing for more than 8 hours. This party was unique: we were calling for a healthy life without the abuse of drugs and the revalue of our local culture in every note of our songs. For some moments, I felt my legs surrendering to the heat, but at the end of the night, it was awesome to realize how much energy and passion came out from ourselves in order to speak up and enjoy carnival in a very traditional way.

This is an explanatory video of carnival in Ayacucho, created by a local youth organization called "Chapla Cultural". It explains the meaning, mystic and evolution of this particular fest (in Spanish). Enjoy it!

Obteniendo un alma nueva: Quechua

2008-02-16T16:08:00.006-05:00

"Aprende una nueva lengua, y obtendrás una nueva alma" (anónimo)

Un idioma es mucho más que un conjunto de palabras y estructuras gramaticales. Se trata de un estilo único de interpretar el mundo y de interactuar con los demás. Ya sea hablando otro idioma, o escuchando alguien más hablando el tuyo, regularmente es divertido enfrentar este desafío de traducir dichos, formas de pensar y opiniones en tus propias palabras. Y a la vez es emocionante cuando se consigue sentir una cultura nueva dentro de uno mismo, tan sólo por haber aprendido una nueva perspectiva de la vida... a través de otro idioma.

El idioma oficial del Perú es el Español (Castellano), pero ciertamente no es el único hablado en el país. Dentro de 33 idiomas distintos sólo en el Perú, justamente alrededor de 13 millones de personas en todo Sudamérica aún hablan el idioma del antiguo imperio Incaico. La semana pasada decidí dar un paso más en la conjunción de todas aquellas piezas de mi personalidad y decidí estudiarlo. Esto es algo que quize desde hace años, ahora he tomado el reto de producir conocimiento en Quechua.

Se pueden encontrar algunas informaciones interesantes sobre Quechua en http://www.quechuanetwork.org
O simplemente dále una mirada a Wikipedia en http://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qhapaq_p%27anqa

¡Paqarincama! (hasta mañana)

Gaining a new soul: Quechua

2008-02-16T15:53:00.006-05:00

"Learn a new language, and you will gain a new soul" (anonymous)

A language is much more than a set of words and grammar structures. It is about a unique style of shaping the world and interacting with others. Whenever you speak in another language, or you hear somebody speaking yours, it is sometimes funny to face this challenge of translating sayings, mindsets, opinions with your own words. And it is also exciting when you achieve to feel a new culture inside yourself, just because you gained a different perspective of life through another language.

Peru's official language is Spanish, but it is certainly not the single one being spoken in the country. Among 33 other languages and dialects just in Peru, actually about 13 million in South America still speak the former Inka Empire's language. Last week I decided to move forward with this awesome puzzle of souls and I started learning it. This is something I was looking for since years, now I decided to take the challenge to create knowledge in Quechua.

Check out some cool infos about Quechua under http://www.quechuanetwork.org
Or simply take a look to Wikipedia under http://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qhapaq_p%27anqa

¡Paqarincama! (see you tomorrow)

Historia del Imperio Incaico por Garcilaso

2007-12-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

Hace 2 semanas encontré un buen libro acerca de la vida del Inca Gracilaso de la Vega, quien es uno de los escritores peruanos más famosos debido a su contribución literaria sobre la historia del entonces Imperio Inca. Garcilaso de la Vega no era un Inca verdadero (pues el nombre sólo se acuñaba a cualquiera de los 13 reyes de este imperio), pero perteneció a la primera generación de mestizos peruanos, es decir, su padre era español y su madre una descendiente de la nobleza incaica.

Su vida estuvo hecha por un gran conocimiento de estas dos culturas, y fue testigo de los primeros años de debilitamiento cultural y económico del imperio Inca en favor de la expansión de la colonia española. Sus trabajos son buenas fuentes de información para gente interesada en aprender sobre la cosmovisión Andina y las razones por las cuales la cultura peruana es tan diversa y a veces intolerante entre gente de diferentes regiones. Estoy contento de haberle dado una mirada, especialmente porque el trabajo sobre turismo en la región Andina demanda entender mejor la mentalidad y costumbres de las ciudades a las cuales queremos aplicar el conocimiento tradicional. Espero mucho poder enlazar exitosamente estos antecedentes culturales con los eventos y productos turísticos que queremos desarrollar…

History of the Inca Empire by Garcilaso

2007-12-23T21:37:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I found a nice book about the life of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who is one of the most famous peruvian writers, due to his contribution to the literature about the history of the former Inca Empire. Garcilaso de la Vega was not a real Inca (name only given to any of the 13 kings of this empire), but he belonged to the first generation of peruvian mestizos, since his father was Spanish and his mother a descendant of the Inca nobility.

His life was made of great knowledge about these two cultures, and he witnessed the first years of cultural and economic weakening of the Inca Empire towards the expansion of the Spanish colony. His works are good information sources for people wanting to learn about the Andean cosmovision and the reasons why the peruvian culture is so diverse and sometimes untolerant among people from different regions. I am glad I took a look at it now, especially because my work around tourism in the Andean region demands a better understanding of the mentality and traditions in the cities where we want to apply traditional knowledge. I look forward to link succesfully this Inca cultural background with the events and tourist products that we want to develop…

Achieving my next dream in the Andes / Cumpliendo mi próximo sueño en los Andes

2007-12-03T23:04:00.000-05:00

(versión en Español debajo)

I've been waiting several weeks before writing this post. And finally today, the organization where I started working for almost 1 month ago, gave us the final confirmation: the project has been accepted. Now we can move on to the Peruvian Andes in order to start working on communication for development and responsible tourism.

The best of this is that I am the selected project manager for this initiative, and therefore I will move to the city of Ayacucho, a pearl located in the central Andes in Peru. About 15 years ago, this place was the hell, since it witnessed among others, the birth of the Lighting Path, a terrorist group which paralyzed Peru for several years. It all first started in Ayacucho, and a bit part of its society may still experience a 'post-traumatic syndrome'. However, this part of the past and now there are lots of beautiful things to tell about this region: it is home of the best handicraft makers, Andean music players, and preserves one of the best climates in the country, the history of this region is awesome (check out the Wari Culture, which was prior to the Incas). Did I need more reasons for taking this chance? and furthermore, I will learn to speak Quechua, the former language of the Inca Empire. I am happy I did not only find this job, it actually matches a lot with my vision expressed in the last page of my former blog's chapter.

----------------------

He esperado varias semanas impacientemente para poder escribir este párrafo. Hasta que finalmente hoy día, la organización en la que trabajo desde hace 1 mes nos dió la tan ansiada confirmación: el proyecto ha sido aceptado. Ahora podemos partir a los Andes peruanos a fin de comenzar a trabajar en comunicación para el desarrollo y turismo responsable.

Lo mejor de todo esto es que soy yo el seleccionado como gestor del proyecto para esta iniciativa, y por tanto viajaré a la ciudad de Ayacucho, una perla ubicada en los Andes centrales. Hace 15 años, este lugar era literalmente el infierno, entre otros factores, porque fue el lugar que fue testigo del nacimiento de Sendero Luminoso, un grupo terrorista que paralizó al Perú for varios años. Todo había empezado en Ayacucho, e inclusive buena parte de la sociedad actual aún experimenta el 'síndrome post-traumático'. Sin embargo, ahora hay muchas cosas maravillosas que hablar de esta región: es hogar de los mejores artesanos, músicos Andinos, y preserva unos de los mejores climas del país, la historia de esta región es fabulosa (atención a la cultura Wari, la cual es anterior a los Incas). ¿Es que acaso necesitaba más rasones para tomar esta chance? y aún mas, voy a aprender a hablar Quechua, aquella lengua del Imperio Incaico. Estoy muy contento de haber encontrado este trabajo, en realidad encaja mucho con mi visión expresada en la última página de mi blog anterior.

Lima in a glance / Lima en un vistazo

2007-11-25T22:31:00.000-05:00

(texto en Español debajo)

After 3 years of absence, I was surely expecting to see lots of differences in my home town. Today I went for a walk to the beach with my family and I found the beach corridor (Green Coast) with renewed spots for eating and sightseeing. So nice! In other parts of the city, this renewal looks in a different way, like for example... beggars. There are no so many of them selling chocolates and cookies on the streets anymore, but now all of them offer sneakers and mint candies (check it out globalization fans!).

Well, have you ever come to this inspiring city of Lima? let me give you some interesting insights for backpackers:
- Food: one of the best in the world! food from the desert coast, highlands or jungle, you choose! and be excited to try something spicy!
- Transport: check out the micro buses. All of them hire a guy specialized on ticketing and marketing, who is constantly shouting "Get in, get in! there is plenty of space... ma'am, please stand a bit more to your left... alright dude, just pay half the price... speed up driver! the traffic policemen are approaching...!
- Communications: people in Lima are very fast and straight to the point when talking on the cellphone... "what's up dear? I just wanted to say hi... huh, could you call me back? 'cause I don't have credits on my phone".
- News: not long time ago, we were hearing a lot about the funny story of "Pepito double-cannon" (a guy who was born with 2 penis)
- Dancing: wanna try out something new? learn "Perreo" (preferred among people looking for a hook up, whereas the couple dance as close as 2 doggies making love).
- Working: there is lots of expectations towards tourism... so if you got a new idea...

Drop me an email if you want to come over to this interesting city...
(image source: http://users.techline.com/rsilvan/Peru/b%20Lima%20Central%20Square.JPG)

----------------- Español -------------------
Luego de 3 años de ausencia, definitivamente esperaba encontrar hartas diferencias en mi ciudad natal. Hoy me fui a dar un paseo por la playa con mi familia y encontré a la avenida principal (Costa Verde) con lugares renovados para comer y apreciar el paisaje. ¡Qué bonito! En otras partes de la ciudad, este rostro renovado toma otra perspectiva, como por ejemplo con los... mendigos. Ya no se les encuentra vendiendo chocolates y galletas en las calles, sino que ahora ofrecen sneakers y caramelos de menta (¡atención admiradores de la globalización!).

Bueno, ¿les gustaría descubrir esta inspiradora ciudad algún día? déjenme darles algunas pautas interesantes, especialmente para mochileros:
- Comida: ¡una de las mejores en este mundo! comida de la costa desértica, las altas montañas or la jungla, ¡tu escoges! e intenta probar algo picante.
- Transporte: diviértete con los microbuses. Todos ponen a cargo un chico especializado en boletería y mercadotecnia, quien constantemente grita: "¡Sube, sube! hay mucho espacio... señora, por favor párese un poco más a su izquierda... ya pues hombre, paga la mita no más... ¡acelera conductor que la polícia de tránsito se aproxima!
- Comunicaciones: la gente en Lima son muy rápidos y van directo al punto cuando hablan al teléfono móbil... "¿cómo estas mi amor? sólo llamaba para saludarte... mmm, ¿podrías llamarme de vuelta? es que se me acaban los créditos en mi celular".
- Noticias: por un tiempo estuvo de moda la graciosa historia de "Pepito dos cañones" (un chico que nació con 2 penes)
- Baile: ¿quieres probar algo nuevo? aprende "Perreo" (el preferido por los que andan de caza, en la cual la pareja danza tan cerca como 2 canes haciendo el amor).
- Trabajo: hay muchas expectativas en el sector del turismo... así que si tienes alguna idea buena...

Así que mándenme un correo o comentario si quieren darse una vuelta por acá...
(fuente de la foto: http://users.techline.com/rsilvan/Peru/b%20Lima%20Central%20Square.JPG)

Reconnecting and rebuilding / reconectando y reconstruyendo

2007-11-13T00:02:00.000-05:00

It’s been 3 weeks since I arrived to

Peru

, but actually it was 3 years since I was not at home. Many nice feelings arise, most of them related to my family and closest friends. And in this sea of warm hugs and remembrances, my younger brother Jesus captures most of the attention. Like in the old times, reminding us why we are such a very special family.

My brother Jesus has Down syndrome, a mental incapacity that gives us the sensation of having a lovely child in our house forever. This situation makes us not stronger and more open minded people, and also big moments of life learning. As a matter of fact, Jesus has been quite depressed in the past couple of years, apparently due to the fact that my brother and I went abroad for a long time. He missed us and he missed the unity of a family. And now, I took some time for doing small things with him, such as playing puzzles, making a short walk in the park, playing with a small drum, helping him to practice his vocabulary. My parents say, they have noticed some small improvements in his behavior.

But there is something that I did not expect. He is also teaching me about life. He gives me constant lessons about how we humans feel and desire. Since he has no barriers for expressing himself, I am sure for being able to read his messages: stay in peace with yourself and share love.

<<>>

Han sido ya 3 semanas desde que llegué al Perú, aunque en realidad han sido 3 años desde que no he estado en casa. Muchas sensaciones rebrotan, la mayoría de ellas relacionadas con mi familia y amigos más cercanos. Y es en este mar de abrazos y recuerdos, en donde mi hermano Jesús captura la mayoría de la atención. Como en los viejos tiempos, recordándonos por qué somos una familia tan especial.

Mi hermano Jesús tiene síndrome de Down, una discapacidad mental que nos da la sensación de tener un niño cariñoso por siempre en nuestro hogar. Esta situación nos hace más fuertes y de mente abierta, así como nos da grandes momentos de lecciones de vida. A decir verdad, Jesús ha estado bien depresivo en los últimos dos años, aparentemente como resultado de que mi hermano y yo nos fuimos al extranjero por un largo tiempo. Y es que él nos extrañó y también extraño la unidad de una familia. Y ahora, me tomé un tiempo para hacer algunas cosas pequeñas con él, como jugar rompecabezas, un pequeño paseo por el parque, tocando un tambor pequeño, ayudándolo a practicar su vocabulario. Mis padres dicen ver algo de mejoras en su comportamiento.

Pero hay algo que no había esperado. El tambien me está enseñando acerca de la vida. Constantemente me da lecciones acerca de cómo nosotros humanos sentimos y deseamos. Dado que él no se pone barreras para expresarse a sí mismo, me siento seguro dep oder entender sus mensajes: siéntete en paz contigo mismo y comparte cariño.

Un viaje de regreso: El Cairo - Lima

2007-10-30T23:35:00.000-05:00

Alguna vez Julio Verne soño en dar la vuelta al mundo en 80 días, pues yo me siento orgulloso de haber hecho la mitad del camino en sólo dos. Y no dejó de ser emocionante y una buena fuente de inspiración para esta fase de turismo responsable, lo cual me permite re-definir ese arte llamado viajar. A continuación mi itinerario en resumen:

Aeropuerto del Cairo: después de pasar la noche anterior en vela, tomé mi último bus en Egipto el cual me dejó a las 7am al aeropuerto, dejé las maletas, conversé con un marinero que había viajado medio planeta y utilicé el último saldo de mi celular en despedirme de algunos amigos.

Avión El Cairo - Nueva York: nada que contar (dormí durante las 11 horas de vuelo, excepto durante las comidas)

Espera en Nueva York: por unas horas estuve haciendo tiempo en el aeropuerto, con lo cual volví a sentir esas emociones encontradas que sólo se pueden tener en los Estados Unidos:
- Sorpresa (Carritos para llevar mis maletas en alquiler por 3$)
- Admiración (Mezcla de razas bajo nacionalidad US)
- Risa (interminable fila de tiendas, lo cual hacía parecer el aeropuerto a un gran centro comercial)
- Cansancio (órdenes de agentes de seguridad por todas partes: entre, avance, muestre su pasaporte, quitese los zapatos tambien, ¿por qué viene a los EEUU?, etc)
- Orgullo (el chico peruano que vivió un tiempo en Egipto y desea regresar a su país)
- Frustración (opciones de comida limitadas a comida chatarra)
- Estrés (comida express, spa express, café expreso, seguros de vida express)
- Lucidez (la lengua oficial es el Inglés, pero todo el mundo habla Español)

Después de divagar buen rato, me fuí a visitar una tienda de libros, me compré comida China y a medianoche me encontré con un viejo amigo de la escuela. ¡Qué buen momento para hablar de los viejos tiempos y de pasarnos los chismes de nuestros colegas!

A la mañana siguiente tomé mi vuelo a El Salvador, y confieso que me quedé fascinado con el paisaje que ví desde las alturas en el avión. Unas 4 horas más y llegué finalmente a la hora de la puesta de sol a mi ciudad natal Lima en el Perú. Esa ciudad cubierta por una espesa neblina semejante a la panza de burro, y llena de brazos abiertos y nuevas aventuras esperándome para los próximos meses.

The last page of this 1st novel

2007-10-20T18:42:00.000-05:00

I once had a dream. I wanted to travel all over the world, to meet crazy people, to do crazy things, to feel strong emotions and to enjoy small achievements. To feel a purpose in life by traveling.

In this last days I have been passing a process of waking up. And fortunately I can remember my dream, because it actually became real.

I have been in 13 countries, I have learned 4 foreign languages and I have friends all over the world. I loved and I hated, I admired and I despised. I helped and I envied. I know I am unique person and at the same time I am just one more in this world. I learned not to follow auto-destructive paths and to believe on peace. I figured out that kissing is more fun without alcohol and that there are strong links between your basic instincts and deepest ideals.

Now I close my eyes and I see a new dream coming up... I am participating in a learning network around responsible tourism in Peru. I am empowering indigenous communities and assessing consumers' behaviour. I am hiking mountains and creating knowledge in Quechua. I am not just working, but creating art. I feel like becoming younger throughout the years.

Because of this, this short post is an epilogue and an introduction at the same time.

Palestina-Israel Conflict: a story tail for children?

2007-10-09T05:22:00.000-05:00

It is very sad to remember how long is this conflict in the Middle East taking place. For some periods of time, there seems to be hope until a bomb attack or military agressions bring us back to reality. Each of the actors in this story defend their own perspective, and also third parties involved clearly had (and have) particular interests out of this.

This issue deserves a strong movement of talks, conferences, peaceful manifestations, publications, etc. But should children receive propaganda about this? Las week I went to a public library in a city in Egypt for picking up some new books for reading at home. As usual, I went to the children's section (since my Arabic skills are equivalent to basic). For my surprise, I found a stock of about 30 small story books with anti-semitism content. Most of them showed explicit propaganda against Israel, including caricatures of an octopus embracing a big part of the middle east region, people (supposedly arabs) fighting against high-tech weapong and the well known star of Israel as icon of war and imperialism.

I don't think this is the right way. Children are not enough self-aware for understanding (or at list thinking about) this issue. The most probably result out of this may be a people having stereotypes about this issue and possibly taking action just for the sake of rivalism. If history has to be communicated for learning, then it should happen in the right way: fostering communication and understanding between ourselves.

Port Said y el Canal de Suez

2007-10-01T17:52:00.001-05:00

La ciudad de Port Said debe su existencia a la construccion del canal de Suez, lo cual lo coloca como una de las ciudades mas importantes en el Norte de Egipto. Aproveche entonces que esta a 30 minutos de Damieta y le hice una visita a mi estilo: transporte local, un lapicero y notas, mi camara y cero expectativas.

Me sorprendio encontrar el camino algo verde, pues se debe a la existencia del lago Manzala (aguas saladas), que permite ver pesca y algunos aficionados a las aves tomandoles fotos. Luego de llegar a la ciudad, tome un microbus hasta el mismo canal... o mejor dicho, canalazo! de verdad estaba mas grande de lo que pense, y me parecio muy simpatico poder tomar uno de esos botes gigantes (ferry) para transportarme a la hermana ciudad de Port Fuad.

Port Fuad

Esta pequenha ciudad me sorprendio mucho, en realidad es muy bonita. Una gran parte esta copada de casas blancas de madera y estilo mediterraneo, hay mucho verde por las calles y la mezquita a orillas del canal es espectacular. De regreso pase por una pequenha alameda y tome el bote de regreso a Port Said.

Playa, caos y retorno...

Port Said tiene acceso al mar y decidi hacer una caminata por la playa, es muy impresionante sobretodo cuando no hay gente, se puede apreciar mucha tranquilidad. El contraste vino rapido de camino a la ciudad, pues pase por el centro mismo: un conglomerado de tiendas, luces, articulos y vendedores que me recordaron a mesa redonda desde hace mucho tiempo. La verdad no me intereso mucho quedarme tanto tiempo, ademas tenia hambre y no podia comer en las calles (durante la festividad de Ramadan, los musulmanes no deben comer ni beber hasta la puesta de sol, por lo que no hay establecimientos de comida abiertos).

El retorno fue tranquilo, algunos choques con la policia, que revisaba los paquetes de la gente. La razon es que Port Said es una ciudad de comercio libre, y por ende no se pagan impuestos. Pero estos impuestos deben ser pagados si los articulos salen de la ciudad. En fin, fue un dia soleado, de turismo local y simple, de una buena caminata y respiro.

What I was thinking about during Ramadan

2007-09-24T08:35:00.000-05:00

تحلم ، لأنك عاوز حاجة مش عندك ، أو عايزها تكون احسن. ولكن لما تحقق حلمك, يدعك في حالة من الفراغ التي يجب ملؤها بتحقيق حلم أخر.فلا تتوقف عن الأحلام وأسعي جاهداً لتحقيقها

You dream, because you want something you don't have, or you want it to be better. But when you achieve that dream, it leaves you in a new state of emptyness, which needs to be filled by the achievement of another dream. Do not stop dreaming, and do strive for achieving it.

Some information about Ramadan.

New blog address / Nueva direccion de blog

2007-09-21T04:58:00.000-05:00

New blog address
From 01/09 onwards, my blog will be hosted under:
http://poncepiero.blogspot.com/

Be aware that the previous blog may not have updated posts. What about you guys? do you have a blog to share with?

Nueva direccion de blog

A partir del 01/09, mi blog estara alocado en:
http://poncepiero.blogspot.com/

Tengan en cuenta que el blog anterior no tendra contribuciones actualizadas. Y que hay de ustedes? tienen algun blog para compartir?

2007-09-21T04:48:00.000-05:00

Looking for a job in responsible tourism

Hey guys, I am looking for a job in Peru from November 2007 onwards, preferably in areas related to responsible tourism. If you know about any opportunity, or have a good contact, please let me know! (just send a comment to this post).

You can find my CV online under:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pieroponce

Thanks! Piero

Buscando empleo en turismo responsable

Gentita, estoy buscando trabajo en el Peru a partir de Noviembre 2007, preferentemente en areas relacionadas al turismo responsable. Si saben de alguna oportunidad, o tienen un buen contacto, por favor haganmelo saber! (simplemente envien un comentario a este mensaje).

Pueden encontrar mi CV en linea bajo:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pieroponce

Gracias! Piero

2007-09-07T04:39:00.000-05:00

Self-evaluation

In the past few weeks, I have been working on evaluating myself in different areas (work, personality, personal, etc). Analyzing oneself is really impressive, it is like watching those old pictures from your box, and thinking on how do you want to drive yourself for the future. It is maybe a lot about regreting, but not as much as enjoying the good moments.

I just wanted to write below a couple of thoughts that I came out with when doing some self-evaluation in regards to some competencies fostered by AIESEC. First you will find the definition of the competency, then an explanation on how I feel I have developed it in myself. The point is: we evolve, we must do so. What do you think?

Empathy -The ability to identify with and understand another person's feelings or difficulties
Due to my personality, in the past it was quite difficult for me to fully understand the state of mind and emotions of others. However, I did my best for feeling more connected with people and I am glad to see how much I learned from human nature... and from me!

Adaptability - To be able to adjust easily to changes and new conditions
I consider myself very flexible in regards to general conditions, particularly since I have been passing through my @ XP in very different environments (Germany-Cameroon-Peru-Egypt). However, this is also related to self confidence, since I think that everything is easier to handle and adapt, as far as we know what we want.

Self Confidence: confidence in oneself and ones own abilities. Managing and continually improving one's own performance
As said before, this is related to my adaptability for change, and this through the different environments I have been working in. The more environments I have experienced, the less difference I find within people's feelings and capabilities. Therefore, performance is an inner thing, rather than a consequence of the current facilities.

Negotiation: Working with others in order to reach an agreement. A successful negotiation is one where all parties are satisfied with the agreement
I do believe on a win-win negotiation, but it was not so easy to convince the others that I was following this. Therefore, negotiation competencies must come together with social inclusiveness, so people in our circle can understand our main objectives and agree on the common welfare.

Self Awareness - Having a balanced and honest view of your own personality, and often an ability to interact with others frankly and confidently
Again, my experience in different environments have enhanced this competency on me. Particularly, I have noticed that I can be better on individual discussions rather than energizing a big amount of people at the same time. This is linked more to my personality as well.

Communication - Clearly conveying and receiving messages to meet the needs of all
For example, I tend to take 'a bit more' on writing an email, since I a want to make sure that the message is clear and written in a simple way. I have also proven to myself that better lay-outs and visuals also increase the capacity for transmitting the message, and that's something I also want to learn more (through stronger IT skills for example).

Innovation and Creativity - Taking risks, adapting quickly to change, leading the change process Innovation is the creation of new solutions for current challenges or a new approach to an old situation
Yes, I do take risks, but I aim to get feedback from parties involved, when possible. In order to feel confident about taking those actions, I also aim to get a good level of understanding of the situation, therefore I like to discover effective ways of gathering information. I learned a lot to manage knowledge!

2007-08-28T14:08:00.000-05:00

Aprendiendo a hablar

De manera cotidiana vengo todas las manhanas a la biblioteca publica de Damieta, para trabajar en las labores administrativas y de disenho del proyecto de turismo en esta ciudad. Pero algo mas, esta biblioteca se ha convertido en mi nuevo centro del saber.

Copada de cientos de volumenes, dozenas de empleados y gente ocupando las computadoras, fue dificil pasar desapercibido al comienzo. Y claro, una de las principales razones era mi increible nivel de Arabe que se asemeja al de un ninho de 7 anhos. Frases tan complejas como 'quiero 1 hora de internet', 'como estas sadiki (amigo)', 'aqui esta mi carnet', etc, despiertan el interes de la gente. Y mi timidez tiene que quedarse de lado para responder al flujo de preguntas inquisidoras.

Durante algunas tardes, regreso a la biblioteca para recoger algunos libros que leer antes de dormir. Mi objetivo es bien claro "Seccion Ninhos"... me siento y mi mundo se convierte en imagenes de animales, plantas y oficios, todos plasmados en libros coloridos y con muchos dibujos. Para asi aprender las palabras nuevas que me permitiran algun dia coger los libros de filosofia e Islamismo ubicados un piso mas arriba. Algunos otros ninhos se sientan a mi costado, y de vez en cuando me quieren ofrecer sus crayolas para ayudarlos.

Estoy pasando por un ejemplo claro de 'educacion continua'.

2007-08-16T04:29:00.000-05:00

A highlight about my current home Ras El Bar

Thanks Abdo for the great job!

2007-08-15T02:51:00.000-05:00

Una conversacion a orillas del Nilo

Al final del dia regresaba pasivamente a casa, luego de haber comprado algunos viveres (verdura para los desayunos, dulces y una riquisima botella de agua helada), pero antes de pisar la casa, decide darme un pequenho paseo por el Cornige ('Cornich', calle principal colindante al Nilo). El ambiente era muy agradable: gente caminando por todas partes, algunos sentados en las bancas, todos mirando al Nilo, como esperando que nos diga algo.

En medio de la caminata encontre a un senhor de tercera edad sentado pasivamente en una de las bancas de madera. Se le veia muy tranquilo observando al rio, como si estuviera ensimismado en sus pensamientos (o recuerdos?).

Decidi tomar la pequenha aventura y me acerque a el:

- Perdon, tal vez…?
* Claro! Sientate! (dejandome la mitad de la banca libre)
- Gracias… que tal?
* Bien, gracias a Dios
- …

- … la ciudad al otro lado del Nilo, tambien es Damieta?
* Por supuesto! Si tomas esa calle, te llevara a Damieta nueva, y mas al norte a Ras El Bar, conoces?
- Si, si conozco.
* Meshi ('esta bien'), Damieta es grande, la ciudad se abre por todas partes
- (yo pensando: pero solo tiene 500 000 habitantes jeje)
* Y manhana seguiran renovando la ciudad, van a mover el Puente metalico al lado de la biblioteca.
- Ah! Es por la visita de alguien importante, no?
* Bueno, si, el primer ministro…
- Entonces va a haber una gran fiesta
* Jaja, si, por que no?
- Usted es de Damieta?
* Si, si, soy de aca
- Y su familia?
* Mi familia vive aca, todos vivimos juntos en Damieta, mi casa esta al norte de la ciudad, cerca a la mezquite, la ves? Por ahi vivo, si, yo voy siempre a esa mezquita para los rezos, la ves?
- Que bien… si, si la conozco, por ahi hay un mercado grande
* Y tu? De donde eres…?
- Soy del Peru
* (?)
- America Latina, Sudamerica…
* Ahhh! En Sudamerica se juega buen futbol! Si, Brasil, Peru, Argentina…
- Exacto (yo pensando: aunque yo no veo el futbol, pero bueno…)
* Bienvenido!
- Gracias
* Bienvenido, bienvenido! Que haces en Damieta?
- Trabajo en una organizacion que da educacion a los jovenes de por aca… (por ahora dificil de aprenderme una frase mas inteligente en Arabe)
* Que bueno, que bueno…
- …

- … bueno, estoy un poco cansado, me voy a casa…
* Meshi, la paz sea contigo!
- La paz contigo tambien…

Y asi se cerro uno de tantos dias rutinarios en Damieta, cerca al Nilo, cerca de la gente... mas cerca a mi...

2007-08-14T04:26:00.000-05:00

My new job: Branding Ras El Bar

As a matter of fact, I could say that I luckily found a job in Egypt (for the next 3 months) around the topic that passionates me the most: responsible tourism.

And I can really feel being lucky, because it was unexpected for me that a new initiative directed by AIESEC in the city of Damietta would run this. Maybe currently the single tourism project in the whole AIESEC MENA region. So I decided to take this chance (as H4TF for the people that know the @ terminology) and jumped to the north of the country, in the last resort close to the Mediterranean Sea, in the town where one of the Nile's arm meets the sea...

The town 'Ras El Bar' is located in a very interesting geographical location, it is a small peninsula where the 'Damietta Nile' has its last path before flowing in the sea. Thus, when being there, you have the impression of being surrounded by water. On the right you meet the Nile, on the left the Sea... no more than 500 mts to reach each of them when located in the center of the town. When going to the point where these 2 Gods meet, there is a light turm that invites people to dream about what to find on the other side of the Sea.

Ras El Bar is a well known typical summer resort for Egyptians, and not for foreigners that may hear more about the big beach resorts on the Red Sea. Thus, I am once again so glad to be able to be in close contact with locals, to enjoy local daily life, to speak with them, to hear their weird impressions about Peru (most guys may know about it just because of football) and once in a while, young business men asking me to speak about what type of commerce to run between our countries.

As said, the town is very local designed, and so are the houses... beautiful small colorful buildings (no more than 4 floors, and this is by law in order to keep the harmony of the place), a couple of small chaotic markets, loads of people jumping to the beach, complete families coming in caravans to spend some weeks away from Cairo, and of course lot of fish for lunch. One of the couple of things that I don't like though is that most of the places become extremely dirty at the end of the day. The level of awareness for keeping the town in a good state (clean, organized) is very low, especially you can see lots of cans and bags all over the place (this is one of the main reasons why I condemn this new era of industrial food) ... most of the visitors belong to the medium-low economic class, but should this be an excuse?

What am I doing there for God's sake?

As part of the tourism initiative, the people there have decided to improve the image of Ras El Bar, through for example better information (look for the town in internet and tell me if you find something worthy) and marketing materials. In the near future, people from abroad should come to the town for doing internships around building capacity in local organizations and providing awareness and trainning to local youth around tourism marketing and environmental issues, isn't this exciting?

Yeah, I am very happy to be here and to try something new, without loosing my essence: continuous discovering, challenges and being positive...

2007-08-04T11:08:00.000-05:00

Visiting a big garden: the Nile Delta

In the middle of pharaoh temples, huge mosques and mass tourism summer resorts, the Nile Delta actually receives poor attention from most travelers coming to Egypt (and tour operators). Maybe because one of the world's largest river deltas only offers green areas, agriculture and daily life experiences with locals?

I had a dream... I could imagine a network of youth hostels spread all over those dozens of towns in the Delta, which were inter-connected by several roads and train rails, each one offering beautiful green areas and local people always looking forward to meet the visitors. In reality, almost everything is on place, except from the youth hostel networks. But still in order to discover this area, I decided to prepare a small backpack and my camera, and went out together with two friends (Mallory and Amr). Before I continue this story, and for the purposes of 'ambiance', let's call these 3 guys: Biero (Arabic pronunciation for Piero), Moleria (Mallory) & Omar (Amr).

The initiation: keep it simple and local

On Saturday at 8am, Biero woke up at 8am, then blamed at the fact of waking up early, took a shower and had a quick breakfast (fruits from the fridge). After 15 minutes walk, he arrived to the Metro station and drove till 'Mubarak' Station, as usual he was delighted watching people talking with themselves and a couple of sellers offering newspapers and magazines.

By 9:30am he arrived to the train station, both Moleria and Omar blamed at him for coming some minutes late, anyway the three of them went obviously to pick up the... microbuses located outside the train station. After Piero completed his breakfast with a fat 'taameya' (falafel) and a cup of 'asab' (sugar can), these 3 adventurous agreed on following the microbus inviting to 'Mansoura, Mansoura... Mansoura!'. The first couple of hours showed a magnificent piece of the Delta: green and canals everywhere, farmers riding their donkies, etc (like a Netherlands without rain). On a sad note, I witnessed couple of guys throwing their cans of soda through their windows.

By the time they arrived to Mansoura, they had some snacks and decided to have a small lemons juice before leaving the city and start backpacking. However, their taxi driver seemed not to get the motto 'keep it simple, interact with locals', since he drove them to a hotel called '4 seasons' (written in English). No problem, Omar just repeated the magic words 'akhua' and then the guy took the to a right local cafe. Afterwards, they made a walk to the microbus stop and they took one to Ras El Bar. This small town located in the Mediterranean Sea was the next objective.

The Delta opened its arms again and showed them an incredible landscape, adorned by mosques every 5 minutes' ride and some other farmers leading their sheeps to the other side of the highway. Some kilometers before arriving to Ras El Bar, the microbus kindly dropped them in an agricultural area, so Moleria took the lead and started getting inside one of the fields. Some pictures were taken, including some of a young guy that suddenly 'joined' them and followed them for the next 30 minutes.

This picture was taken when meeting a family in one of those farms. They invited our 3 travelers for having lunch, but they rather continued walking (the civil status of Moleria would have been in risk, if one of the guys would have shown interest in her!).

The way also showed them a small canal (see pic), and they decided to make a walk closer to that 'smelling lake' (they realized afterwards that it was a zone of water treatment). It was nice, but dangerous, a couple of them got stucked into the mood. By 5pm, they decided to arrive to Ras El Bar, so they captured the attention of a pick-up and the guy drove them to their destination. Without doubts, what a beautiful landscape! full of farms, a canal beside the road, a couple of small canoes in there, the fresh wind touching their faces...

Ras El Bar welcomed them with a small meeting of the AIESEC local chapter there, in the night, they went out with some local friends and had some fish, fatir. The night was spent sitting in front of the beach, having some relaxing talks and a glass of wine. Moleria was surprising the others with her stories about US driving regulations (there is a rule for almost every action, and a fine if you don't accomplish it!), so much different from the free, chaotic regulations in the Peru and Egypt...

The way back: check out the same path but with other eyes...

Next day was spent to see the place where the Nile flows in the Sea, for enjoying the beach, for having fatir as breakfast, and for taking a microbus back to 'Mansoura, Mansoura!... Mansoura!'. They took the same way, some other farmers were riding horses and carrying fruits somewhere to the South. In Mansoura there was a break for lunch and afterwards, Omar, Moleria and Biero took any microbus which dropped them in any small town in the Delta: they realized its name was Meet Ghamr. By seeing the reaction of the people there, it was clear that they were not used to backpackers, since they were extremely fun and friendly. Our backpackers took a 'moto taxi' to one side of the Nile, got some shisha on the other side of the Nile (which now belonged to the town 'Zefta') and jumped into the Nile! Moleria and Omar went beyond and wanted to cross it! fortunately, an spontaneous rescue boat came to pick them up.

The way back to Cairo was very relaxing: driving in a public car, watching the sunset from the window, admiring the 'grey Delta' (downtown of Cairo) and enjoying a swimming pool in a friend's house. As they agreed: "in 2 days, we managed to be in the water of the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile and a pool". Isn't it a real meaning for diversity?

What is happening to the Delta now?

As part of the urbanization process, the Nile Delta also suffers from the increase of towns and main cities in its surroundings. I find it a bit sad, when I see that a meter of green area is converted into an unplanned house of cement. But on a more happy note, meeting people there overpassed my expectations. I have been convinced about the solidarity and pace mood of Egyptians since the first day I came here, and traveling in the Delta just proved it again. This big garden is definitively worthy to visit, and I still think that creating a network of youth hostels is a cool business to think about! (it is very easy to find transport from one place to the other). But if you do so, please be responsible and do respect the locals!

2007-07-25T13:37:00.000-05:00

Transition in Holland, in all aspects...

Since last Thursday, I have been brought to Rotterdam for a working transition, which means that a new team for AIESEC in Africa has been selected. Therefore, as member of the outgoing team, I have been in charge to offer sessions for trespassing knowledge, experiences, gossips, and everything that can be relevant for the new team to rock the house on 07 08.

I had decided to pass through a personal transition as well. After 5 years of working actively in AIESEC, it has come the time to jump into the next adventure, it is time to come up with new dreams and to think about the things I like, the things I can do... about my future!

This may sound as a difficult phase to face, I don't feel it that much, and I hope that this is a good sign. Since many months, I had been asking myself several times, what? why? why not? and now I have decided that my future should be linked to tourism... an activity that will actually match with the current pillars of my philosophy of life (love coming back to basics, balance between me and earth, enlightenment and joy of senses), an activity that can be actually linked to my private life (I don't believe on the separation of 'work' and 'private life'), and something that I know I can be good at. Thus, my ideal working place looks as follows: leading a network of organizations working on the different stages and areas of a tourism cluster, but with the desire of run activities for the sake of the community, rather than individual revenue generation. In other words, I started challenging my mindset of what 'business' means, and I hope to put this other mindset on place. Of course I still need time, but it is going to be so much fun!

A bit of the fun descriptive part of this blog: after a quite normal flight Cairo-Amsterdam, I stepped into one of my favorite machines (a train) and traveled till Rotterdam, from its train station I walked 15 minutes to the East and I arrived to the AIESEC International office. Yeah! that one floor apartment, where the biggest amount of nationalities can be seen working together. It was so exciting to meet some old friends, and it was even more fun to spend the weekend through the 'AI transition party'. Good times! some drinks with the people, speaking about 'how has it been doing', 'how is it now', 'what's next' and many other less difficult questions. Some grilling during the day, a couple of parties, receiving the visit from Mari (muy lindo de tu parte, ich werde es nie vergessen!) and some fun making walks in this 'big city' of a bit more than 500,000 inhabitants.

Work started on Sunday evening and the last few days have showed me how much I have lived in Cairo! this whole meeting has given me some space for doing some 'transition' in my own life. I can not explain it so well, but it is a mix between turning the page and re-bringing the feelings in me. It is about coming back to the path, and celebrating the path achieved... it is time for realizing what has been done.

By tomorrow night I will be back in Cairo and from there I will spend 3 more months (or a bit more) in Damietta, a city located in the North of the country, by the Mediterranean Sea. From there I will work in a tourism project and at the same time, I will continue building things for starting up this actual dream of a Tourism Learning Network in Peru. This will not be the first time such an idea is implemented, but it will be very fun being me the one putting efforts on making it happen.

Now, I will come back home and meet the team, with whom I will enjoy my last dinner in Rotterdam...

2007-06-03T15:53:00.000-05:00

Combis en Egipto: para aprender

El Cairo es una megapolis de mas de 18 millones de habitantes, de noche.

Durante el dia se incrementa en un par de milloncitos, dado que gente fuera de la ciudad viene para trabajar. Felizmente hay 2 lineas de metro, pero no es suficiente para aguantar tanto flujo. Aparte de la infinidad de taxis, las combis y micros son lo mas comun.

Yo vengo de Lima, y se lo que es la cultura de las 'combis'. Esos pequenhos buses de 15 pasajeros (20 despues de que el chofer hizo malabares para meter un par de asientos mas) son capaces de trasladar gente a toda prisa, si es que ningun accidente los detiene. Y en El Cairo me siento como en casa viendo pasar una combi tras otra y aventurandome en alguna, de cualquier manera vale la pena viajar al costado del Nilo en direccion al Sur.

Pero hay 1 unica pero importante diferencia entre las combis peruanas y egipcias. Adivinen que es: en Egipto NO HAY cobradores. Exacto, es el chofer el que recibe el dinero y pasa los boletos. Pero, como puede pasar eso? muy simple, el pasajero sube, se sienta e independientemente de su lugar de asiento, simplemente le da el dinero correspondiente a cualquier otro pasajero que este sentado mas cerca del chofer. Este se lo pasa a algun otro pasajero en caso no llegue a alcanzar al chofer, y asi sucesivamente hasta que el dinero llega a manos del chofer. Finalmente este le entrega el boleto a la persona mas cercana y ese papelito hace el mismo viaje (de regreso claro) hasta el acreedor del pasaje.

Una ventaja simple de esto es que naturalmente el chofer prescinde de la necesidad de pagar a un cobrador (o sea, el pasaje es un poco mas barato). Pero a mi me sorprende y me cautiva un par de valores tan simples e importantes: honestidad (para pagar) y cooperacion. Hay veces que una persona toma el 'liderazgo' y colecta el dinero de todo el mundo y asi le da el dinero exacto al chofer, para que este no se distraiga de su importante labor (mirar con cuidado la pista). Que buenos no?

2007-05-25T14:36:00.000-05:00

نصري: شعري الأول

ازاي تعرف انك بتقرأ شعر؟

عندما موضوع ال نص ليس السياسة, لكن هو يشجع الناس
عندما نحن مانختارش سؤال, نكتب بس,
عندما نقفل ماضينا و نغسل جروحنا,
عندما كل يوم نتحسن, و ندى اكثر من نطلب.

نصرى

2007-05-21T14:24:00.000-05:00

Re-discovering Cairo

كتب: بيّرو بونسي

In the last weeks I have realized (again) how beautiful is the city I am currently living in. It is just a matter of taking the metro and getting off in any of those stops, the city is full of people and life. And the secret of all this is simple, just walk and take your time to contemplate every corner and shop that you may find in the streets, and if you are tired, sit down in any 'cafe' and ask for a tea or a lemon juice, and wait till the sunset when the weather gets fresh and the mosques start singing for calling people to pray.

But the walking tours re-started since last week, I went first to the station 'Mar Girgis', which is located in the heart of a copt area. From there I continued walking on the way to downtown, the main street does not offer much more than lot of traffic and some shops, but as soon as I entered in one street, I felt like being in another world. It is very difficult to describe these places, they are actually the typical 'low income' neighbourhoods, no-pavemented roads, small streets, shops everywhere (one in front of the other) and offering all those things that you may need in your daily life: bread, fruits, vegetables, iron service, cafes, bazaars, telephone cards, clothes, sugar cane juice, etc. Everything surrounded by people from all ages offering their products and or enjoying the evening, particularly the middle aged men who sit down calmly in their wood made chairs and drinking tea and smoking shisha. I kinda look like an arab by the way, so I don't feel so much seen, which lets me enjoy it at my rhythm, like one of them walking there. I was a bit hungry, so I had the 'wonderful' idea of buying some meet (kofta) in a big bread. It was so delicious! and I started talking with the sellers there, starting by answering that question: where are you from? what do you do in Egypt? do you like it? which is your religion? These guys really keep me challenging my self-awareness, I have to say!

After about half an hour, I saw a big wall in front of me. I just continued going on that direction and notice that my way brought me to the gates of Cairo, big pieces of wall that were used for protecting the city and now are beautiful old monuments in the middle of roads and neighborhoods. I was so focused contemplating those big walls, when suddenly I saw a man running after a sheep!!! I am sure the poor animal already knew about its sad destiny and was willing to escape within the crowd. I also saw cats jelling between themselves, chickens and ducks walking without worries, horses and donkeys pulling loads of boxes with fruits and vegetables, etc.

After drinking my lemon juice, I started my way back home, but since I decided to take a parallel street (on the other side of the metro, to be exactly), I could also admire those old streets, almost like a labyrinth of small passages, with some children walking freely and playing football with a can or anything that can be kicked by the feet. By going 500 meters to the east I suddenly arrived to the 'cornige' (long main ways that go on the side of the Nile), which brought me back to that life of cars, policemen and bigger stores and gas stations.

For the past few days, I have been continue re-discovering other metro stations, and each of them has been fantastic. Always beautiful streets to follow and very friendly people to find out there. Generally speaking, Egypt is the safest land so far that I have been in.

I was too shy for taking out my camera and picturing all this, but I found a site that reflects very well all those daily life things that I have been finding on my way in Cairo, take a look:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hamdyreda/Artellewa

2007-05-08T12:46:00.000-05:00

New life and new pets

'wie wolltest du neu werden, wenn du nicht erst Asche geworden bist!
(Also sprach Zarathustra – ein Buch fuer alle und keinen)

Lo novedoso de un dia se convierte en lo cotidiano de una vida. Por eso, es necesario ir en busca de aquellas novedades que nos gratificaran toda una vida, asi como no olvidar disfrutar aquellas cosas cotidianas que nos abren las puertas a nuevos descubrimientos.

My balcony deserves a visit from the Discovery Channel. Since 1 month, I have some guests at home: a big pigeon (looks actually like a small eagle), has built its nest and now I see three wonderful things from my balcony each morning: the Nile, the pyramids and a pigeon family. And yesterday I could witness how the 'dad' took over the 'mum's' role for keeping the eggs. I could even hear them communicating and then the dad making a space for her. And they did not care about me having breakfast in the balcony!

It is possible the equilibrium between humankind and nature? Is it possible to renew by going back to basic life?

2007-05-02T03:26:00.000-05:00

A short comment around Economics and Africa

"African countries will see a sharp jump in growth this year, according to an assessment by the IMF. The short-term outlook for Africa was described as "very positive", reflecting rising oil prices in crude exports, macroeconomic stability, a strong demand for commodities and debt relief."

When I read this comment in an on-line newsletter (http://www.businessinafrica.net/news/west_africa/530921.htm), I just smiled. Anybody with basic background in Economics and some interest for development issues may understand that:

- Rising oil prices: means that more companies hungry for oil are coming to Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and other several Sub-Saharan countries. Instead of looking for other types of energy, governments just care to take short term incomes. If you are updated with global news, you may know about the strong link between the oil industry in developing countries and the social and economical problems that those countries face, since it is not just a matter of pollution but also that an elite receives the economical benefit out of it.

- Macroeconomic stability: this means that no catastrophe is expected. Or like saying: be happy, this year there will be no tornados!

- Strong demand for commodities: another vicious circle, Africa sells raw materials and imports manufactured products. I can see the big smile of Chinese companies.

- Debt relief: sure, Africa owes money to developed countries, but why? Because they need to repair all the damages caused during colonialism? Because of the economic deficit faced due to the previous points?

Yes, surely the short term outlook for Africa looks good… for some.

There's a human factor in the equation in the economy (actually economics is considered a social science, since it studies the human nature in terms of use of resources and welfare). But do we really consider human impact when doing big business?

2007-04-07T10:38:00.000-05:00

Cairo welcomes me back

'This process of the good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-hearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities. It involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself fully into the stream of life'. (Carl Rogers, 1961)

Contrary to the last part of my previous blog, I have to admit that it feels good to be back at 'home'. I have good food here (fruits!!! And delicious fish), and it was delightful to be last time in Downtown for a tea. Tonight I just had another 'sahla', which is kind of a white hot drink (mainly partially of milk and quite sweet). Now I am checking next cultural events and I am excited again about calling some friends.

I realized that most people from the conference in South Africa are in the middle of exams, but it was still very nice to read their emails, even if they were just for saying hi! Now it is ester, actually I am not joining the typical 'bacalao-fest-family' like usual, but fortunately my parents called me a couple of days ago.

So for now, I am just picking up some work and enjoying myself with the old guitar and chilling with my roommates.

2007-04-07T10:27:00.000-05:00

AFROXLDS: 2 intensive weeks in South Africa

My travel to South Africa came in the right moment. For the past several months, I have been passing through lot of excitement, frustration, happiness, joy, etc. I have been asking myself if I had been taking the right decisions.

Not being selected as Director in the last applications of course decreased my motivation in general. I had to realize that I could still work on other parts of me, particularly the parts that deal with other people, indispensable thing for aiming to reach new leadership opportunities in the blue organization. So, the chance to come to South Africa just gave me this unique (but again at the same time) option to interact with people in the way I like the most: discussions, fun, reflection, and more fun.

I don't know yet how to describe all what happened during that conference. It was just too fast. Too many people, so many things to share, long sessions and funny parties. At the end I could not avoid that people related me as Latino search of women, but who cares? For the first time in a long time, I could open myself a bit more than just delivering good sessions, and actually the mood was quite cool within delegates. Somehow our typical logistical problems where compensated with the fun and crazy way we tried to manage things, a couple of times we over passed the limit (especially during games and roll calls related to sex). But it seems that in general the people had a good image about all of us. Like usually, I brought some music to the stage, this time there was no guitar, but I brought the small zamponha (which was loud enough).

I will miss it. Maybe a part of me is still insecure about what comes next, but this will happen anyway. So I guess it is now a matter of just a couple of weeks.

After 8 months and half, life in Cairo is now different. It is not that magic anymore, I am getting used to it. I don't get surprised for seeing women totally covered on black, and people interacting on the streets in a very 'aggressive' way (they are not, but it just look like so). But once again, I still remember some things that I wanted to do here, I still need to check them out! Music, arts, interesting discussions about the region, etc.
This time there are no pictures, but memories. I guess you gotta try to come to South Africa by your own if you want to realize (again) that we are all made from the same model! And finally, did I achieve what I want? Well, yes I did. I felt frankly closer to people than usual. But it is not a matter of a 7 days conference; I guess I have to learn to keep the momentum and to make it an ongoing attitude.

2007-02-13T06:25:00.000-05:00

El Cairo, 10 de Febrero del 2007

Para empezar, un pequenho articulo desde la cocina de mi casa, cocinando spaghetti con salsa roja y zuchinis..., y la verdad no soy yo quien escribe, sino Celeste desde su laptop...
Hoy aparecí por 3era vez en mi vida en un periódico del cual hablaba de algo que aun no entiendo completamente..., y no porque tenga problemas de procesamiento de información sino porque aun tengo que practicar la lengua en la que este esta escrito: ARABE...

Algunos meses antes: Colonia, 14 de Julio 2007

Tome mi tren 24 horas antes de tomar mi vuelo a mi próximo destino... y es que Colonia pareciese haberse convertido en mi pista de despegue de los viajes mas grandes de mi vida (y de momentos de quiebre en mis memorias). Pero esta vez el destino no era una cálida y húmeda jungla tropical del Sub-Sahara, esta vez mis sueños y dudas me llevarian al árido... Egipto.
Una vez más la "blue organization" me abrió las puertas de descubrir un país que muchas veces vi en la televisión y periódicos, pero que 2 meses atrás no sabía que iba a pisar.

En fin, la razon? A ver, un poco sobre mi trabajo, fui elegido External Relations Non-Corporate Manager for Africa (por primera vez mi cargo es más largo que mi nombre completo). La idea es que busque posibilidades de financiamiento para proyectos en AIESEC AFRICA enfocados por ahora en HIV/AIDs, empresariado, Turismo y Educación.

Turismo es mi gran pasión y de hecho me provoca aprender sobre las otras areas, así que mas contento no puedo estar con mi trabajo. La única gran incomodidad de todo esto es que es primordialmente virtual, entonces, me hace falta contacto con gente, lo cual busco o trato de buscar en mi tiempo libre...

Por supuesto, esta posición me ha llevado a un par de eventos internacionales incluyendo el viaje a Polonia que sale antes de este capitulo.
Pregunta del millon... como describir Egipto? en términos económicos y políticos, es uno de los países más influyentes del Medio Oriente, es el centro de producción cinematográfica y musical de toda la región y obviamente el país del río más largo del mundo... En el día a día se asemeja en realidad mucho a Lima, osea, superficialmente hablando se encuentra el mismo caos, las mismas casualidades de la vida cotidiana, mismos niveles de vida, claro que una de las primeras cosas que me impresionaron bastante es que (posiblemente muy influenciado por la religión) la gente es muy cooperativa, relativamente tranquila y sumado al turismo bien amigables y bien abiertos con el extranjero. Siguiendo con cosas cotidianas, diría que es algo “mágico” sentir el canto de las mezquitas llamando a los fieles a rezar 5 veces al día... y es un poco surrealista ver como la gente ve al amor y los deseos por esta parte del mundo... algo asi como tener 6 y 80 anhos al mismo tiempo. El cooperativismo hace ver también las calles como literalmente propiedad de todos..., en ellas se pueden ver autos, gente, caballos, ovejas y niños... una vez hasta vi un camello transportando unos ninhos juguetones.
Para que, mi casa está bien situada en el piso número 23 de un edificio con vista al Nilo, 3 pirámides y el Citadel..., vivo a 15 minutos a pie del primer metro construido en Africa y a 10 minutos a pie del Nilo... un pequenho hotel 5 estrellas segun yo.
Ahora, dejando de lado el plan turístico que suficientemente se explican con las fotos... mi atención se ha ido a “qué diablos piensa la gente ahí”, es decir, en el plano sociocultural... Egipto fue colonia un tiempo de Inglaterra y Francia..., en realidad Egipto nunca perteneció a los egipcios en por lo menos los últimos 1000 años y es recién a partir de los 50 este pais 'Egipto' ha tenido una vida normal de republica: historia de militares, atentados, guerras civiles, fundamentalismo religioso, imperalismo capitalista..., lo cual conlleva a que mucha gente diga 'merci' en vez de gracias, que Cuca Cula y Bebsi sean unas de las bebidas más populares, que la gente chatee en árabe usando teclado en inglés, que existan universidades que enseñen íntegramente en inglés, que muchos no sepan donde queda Perú pero sepan quienes son Pizarro y Cubillas, etc.
Los primeros días en Egipto fueron de sol..., así que, que mejor calidad de vida que sentarse en el balcón a almorzar una buena ensalada y mirar las pirámides directamente..., en estos ultimos dias por lo contrario ando medio depre porque estamos en invierno pero igual no faltan los fines de semana como para darse sus escapadas a oasis, SINAI, mar mediterráneo, Abu Simbel (al sur cerca de la frontera con Sudán), pueblos jóvenes...
Por ahora, luego de 7 meses..., una de las pocas cosas que realmente he aprendido es que este mundo nos es para todos, por la simple razón de que al hombre no lo hace el velo ni la túnica, ni la pirámide, ni el único río..., ojalá pronto se caiga el concepto de nacionalidades y por fin la gente se de cuenta de que todos tenemos 2 ojos, 2 brazos, 2 piernas, sueños y frustraciones...
... ya la próxima escribo más que ya es hora de comer...

Gracias Eli por tipear todo lo que te dictaba... aunque no pude evitar leer este texto y editarlo un poco (imposible quitar de lado mi obsesion compulsiva).

2006-09-20T09:26:00.000-05:00

De visita en Polska...

Since the first time I was studying in Germany, I got to meet students from Eastern and Central Europe (majority from Poland, Czech Republic, Rumania, etc). Now I could go to Poland!!! Somehow, the more I travel, the less excited I feel in regard to first impressions… but coming to this beautiful part of Europe just drove me crazy… somehow, I have had the feeling that I could come very well along with people from these countries, we share in some way the same problems, jokes, styles and… development issues hehe

Once again, thanks to the 'blue organization', I was accepted as facilitator (let's say, trainer) to the International Conference in Warsaw, so after working hard (and having some cool parties, very exhausting though…), I took 7 days holidays and went through a small adventure in Polish territories (I could not go to other countries, thanks to visa regulations…) This first picture is with my cool africano friends Habib and Betty. We work together for Africa and the experience its being just unique… obviously it is not easy to understand it while living the day-to-day work, it is just when I start talking to friends (or writing this weblog), that I realize how far is it possible to go… we just need to want it (and to be verrrryyyyyy open minded for sure). The conference was just amazing, at the beginning it was not that obvious to see the big impact that we were having on 550 people from +91 countries (evenmore, there were some people from Palestine as well!!!), but after coming back home and receiving emails just saying hi! Or thank you!, it is sooo nice. I was also very happy, because during the conference, AIESEC Cameroon received an award as best country performance in Africa for the last year. Oh my god!!! My team was awesome and it is so exciting to feel the results of this in such a big event… parties were of course the best…! I wish I could attend all the AIESEC conferences in the world!

After the conference, after making promises, after feeling that we are not dreaming but having a blast, after wanting so much a couple of hours of rest, after all I could remember… time was ready for holidays!

Europe is the place of the cute old towns… no doubt about it. And Wroclaw (I hope it is well spelled) was not an exception. Just by having a coffee (with a kebab) and looking for sitting where the sun shines, thousands of memories just come to my mind… a walk there was more than worthy. And the most exciting part, in these tourist places, polish people speak either English or German. I felt so happy for not having communication problems! Going further to the picture, I don't remember anymore the name of that Cathedral (plop!), I just remember that this square was very beautiful… so many old colorful buildings, people having a drink in sits outside the restaurants, people with backpacks looking for cheap hostels, couples dressed totally on black and using piercing (they looked very romantic though by holding their hands while walking!). In Wraslaw, the old town is surrounded by water canals, so it is really nice to look for a park and rest for a while. During this part of the trip, I was touring together with some friends from the conference. I still remember our talk about fruits and vegetables in Latin America during the first evening, guys! By the second day, we had to split us, so I decided to continue my way (by train, of course) to Krakow.

I considered Wroclaw as a very nice city… Krakow was amazing!!!! This old city was the capital of Poland for many centuries, and fortunately it maintains lots of the architecture heritage (as contrary in Warsaw, a lot was destroyed during the 2. World War). The picture is from a small hill, where a small 'Zitadelle' was constructed. By the way, I met more people from AIESEC (this time, the Russian delegation), so we had a nice time walking in the city and having some fast food (kebab for me again) and sitting in a park. We were also making fun of some stereotypes about Latin telenovelas (soap operas) and Russian women with short skirts and large boots. Vodka was not a stereotype, but a reality during my whole stay in Poland, by the way, hehe…

Well in Krakow, I was staying in a youth hostel, so there I met another guy from The Netherlands, with whom I had a cold tasty Polish beer in the Jewish quarter. I was happy not going to the (full of tourists) main quarter… I definitely prefer small bars with good drinks and bohemia environment. There we met a friend of him, who was coming to the bar with her DOG! (just for taking it out for a walk).

A day after I decided to go to Auschwitz… a concentration camp. Actually, the biggest one, which was home of the most impacting scenes that Nazis made to Jewish 'prisoners'. I spent the whole day there, and it was not enough… I felt so ignorant about history, nowadays I feel more comfortable by being more informed about the whole process. Lots of questions still surround my mind… humanity??? Where are we going??? Are we still facing this episodes, but in different context??? (neee, ich bin zu keinem Schluss gekommen…) One of the most impacting parts of this concentration camp is the entrance, where is written 'Arbeit macht frei' (work brings freedom). Remember the question: are we still facing this, but in different context?

Afterwards, instead of going to the North (where I wanted to see some beautiful lakes), I decided to go to the mountains on the South. Actually, I heard about Zakopane thanks to a woman that I met in a train, she could hardly speak English, but managed to show me in the map that Zakopane (border with Slovakia) was the perfect place for enjoying nature and hiking…

Zakopane was beautiful!!! This is a commitment, by the time I come back to Peru I will definitely create such a place for hiking… we just need to put some signals about where to go, some information about risk zones and flora/fauna, and finally just charge 1 EUR to people getting inside. The Andes are the perfect place for doing that! Well, despite of my bad conditions on sport, I managed to arrive to more than 2000 m. above sea level. I was especially excited for being in the border to Slovakia (I could touch Slovakian territory, even I did not have a visa for entering to the country hehe). And the landscape was beautiful (and the weather the nicest in Europe). At the end of the day, I was dead, my legs too, and I just took a night bus back to Warsaw.

The last 2 days of this trip were more relaxing. I still traveled to a small town, and had a sun bath at the river, while hearing 2 people fishing… I went back to Warsaw and met 2 Venezuelans, with whom I shared the accommodation (the woman renting the place was sooo nice, he offered us polish tea and polish soup, and she had so many interesting stories about other people traveling and staying in her place)… by the time I was leaving to the airport, a polish member of AIESEC recognized my T-shirt and accompanied me to the airport. A last chat about traveling and a cold milk shake were my last experiences

Did I learn something out of this travel??? Well, now I feel more comfortable to travel alone (it is always possible to meet people to talk on the way), I definitively want to come back to Central Eastern Europe and go hiking and taking trains… I learn that world is becoming just too small, and it makes no sense, no looking for ways to meet people everywhere… and of course I got new ideas for my future tourism projects in Peru ;)

I am back in Cairo and now I am tired and wanna go home. In the evening I plan to make a walk on the Nile… but Egypt is another long story, so I will just take more time to get cool pictures.

Abrazos desde la zona mas seca del planeta.

2006-08-22T13:22:00.000-05:00

International Congress in Poland

Now 20000 delegates are attending the AIESEC International Conference in Poland!

Check out the following link: live.ic2006.pl

See you there! Piero

2006-08-20T13:27:00.000-05:00

Le Cameroun est l'Afrique en Miniature!

I left Cameroon 2 months ago, and since then I had promised myself to write something about the last moments of my live there. Ok, like usual I had the typical excuses of ‘no time’, ‘no mood for today’, but someday it would be the time to see the old pictures and to realise that I was there... even I would have never expected to be there, at least not for almost 1 year.

As expected, my main motivational motor for coming here was the opportunity for travelling. But why travelling ??? interesting question, since at the end how important should be to take pictures to every old churche or famous building in somewhere thousand kilometers far away from home ? I mean, besides me, who cares ? Definitively it is not about telling others ‘look, I was here’, but to meeting people and saying ‘look, I come from this place’. I think that the second one is more exciting.

Travelling in Cameroon has been one of the best learning experiences I have ever had in this intent of independency (alright, the concept of learning experience might sound very familiar to most of my friends). Anyway, it was not only taking a bus or a train and going somewhere unknown, but also getting to know new people everyday and to realise how interesting can be to value what I have, only by the time that I don’t have it... Landscapes and food in Cameroon are wonderful, and still I could remind me about the rainforest in Peru. My god ! I have realised that in Peru I can find almost everything which is available in the world ! (I think I should call this text ‘Le Peru est le monde en miniature’). Coming back to my african temporally home country, I still remember quite good the weekend I went to Mont Cameroun, that bunch of earth of 4070 meters above sea level and all that nature I saw there. Of course the ascension had to be done by walking... from the rain forest, the climate and flora changed together with the altitude and by 2000 mts it was possible to see the savana, by 3000 mts it was very cold, and on the top I could just see rocks and to receive a freezing wind... something like being in the moon at night. Mont Cameroun was borned due to constant volcanic activity in the region (this mountain appears alone in that whole region, like an island in the middle of the rain forest), because of this, it is still possible to see some vulcan activity close to the top and even black sand. The landscape is just amazing (I definitively love mountains), green and black hills one after the other, with an overview of the sea and the main cities of Buea and Douala. A couple of NGOs are trying to develop eco-tourism in this region, I am totally glad to hear about any kind of environmental initiative, but it is still cool to feel that I was walking in a region, where almost nobody comes...

Some months later I went also to another region in Cameroon, full of mountains, but more crowed with cities and town (and tourist initiatives which mainly try to get as much money as possible from the rare foreigners that come to visit). The North West of Cameroon is well know for being the touristic focus of the country... it is important to understand, that tourist focus is meant in the sense that it has enough hotels and infraestructure for receiving people aiming to have relax and to travel with comfort in a car, and surrounded by lots of towns with markets for souveniers and ‘musicians’ and ‘kings’. All this is then not relevant at all for me. Well, yeah, Bafoussam and other surrounding cities are nice... like usual, I had to be quite careful when purchasing things, since people tended to take the best price (let’s say, they thought I was a rich guy from France). One of the nicest experiences was to stay in a friend’s family, something that I am not that used to... it is very nice, because in such a way, I complement this lack of moments with my family, while visiting the family of others. As we think, distance strenghts relationships...

Another region that I found really exciting in Cameroon was the North. This upper half of the country is really different from the souther rain forest, where most citizens life. This Sahel zone is simply the closest to the Sahara, and thus, climate and geography are more difficult for people (at least for the ones like me, which are very used to facilities). There is not much water, it is extremely hot and very poor. Most of the people here are muslims, so it is quite common that buses make stops in the middle of the road, so people can get down and pray for some minutes. Since I was not praying, I used to pick up some delicious mangos and to buy some water. This was however, my first direct contact with Islam...

In between I had been doing small travels to other towns close to Douala and Yaounde. But every town I see and every landscape I enjoy, reminds me to Peru... I swear, my home country has every single geographical attraction that I can imagine.

On the 28/07/2006 it was the time to say good bye to Cameroon... I have been thinking for many nights about my how I felt when leaving... it is true that I would miss lots of things, but I also was quite happy going to Germany, visiting a couple of friends and coming back to some confort. Sub-Saharan Africa is definitively a very hard place to live and this has enforces my passion for economics around developing issues. I still believe that the private entrepreneurship is the simple base for development, however poverty can not be saw just on articles or on the TV. I think it can be very exciting to work in development, while having fun. If everyone could have the chance to go there, for sure much more would be done for the world... by enjoying it.

2006-04-16T16:25:00.000-05:00

An unexpected travel to India and Kenya

I had headache during the whole day. When asking to my collegue at work, I confirmed that it was because of the heat. This means, if somebody works too much, the heat and tireness start kicking the head as a ball in a Cameroonian football match. So, not even the global economical interests but also the weather do not let me to work!!!

Anyway, I wanted actually to write something about a past travel made to India and Kenya, because of the International Conference of AIESEC (the biggest during the whole year). After many discussions in my team (we were 7 aiming to flight, but only 3 places to cover), they accepted me to go there as vice president for Incoming Exchange (I knew this position was always strategically for having fun!!! haha).

Getting the visa was already a big issue (but not that interesting for writing here), anyway, Habib flew first to India and Shanice and me took 2 days later the beautiful plane in the way to Nairobi, for finally having a scale in Mumbai before arriving to our final destination in New Dehli. I always considered myself quite well know about Indian stuff (delicious food, Mahatma Gandhi, Tak Mahal, more than 1 billion habitants), but I did not expect to learn sooo much during the travel, because we would be almost the whole day in the hotel (well, the most beautiful one I have ever spent in my life). I was also happy to giving some time to my friends in Cameroon for finding an accomodation for me in Douala !

We arrived to Nairobi early in the morning for having a delicious breakfast, then we slept 3 hours in the floor (I learned how much comfortable it was after several weeks without having my own room!) and in the evening we took the flight to Mumbai. There was a nice indian film, which was actually very similar to the latin american “telenovelas” (the rich guy finding a poor girl, with a great heart! finally leaving his job in the NASA for living in the village with her and constructing a small electricity power station). Since I was quite emotional for the last 8 weeks, I almost drop a cry in front of Shanice (who was watching his american film about gansters and hollywood). Diversity rocks!

We arrived at 1am to India, very hot, totally hungry and exhausted. We received our tickets and we waited 4 more hours until our plane to New Dehli was prepared. I was so excited for having my first newspaper in hindi that I almost tried to read it! I could also understand some tittles about the USA, Bollywood (I wonder why it is called in that way), China and Sri Lanka. By the way, some persons approached me in Hindi!!! (I does not surprise me, since my whole has thought during my whole life that I have some Arabic roots... so I am an arabic africano nowadays). Some small problems with my passport and we finally got the flight and arrived to New Dehli at noon. What a beatiful city!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least up there from the plane. And I did not know that cars drive on the left side, lots of moto taxis like in Peru and people trying to get as much money as possible from the rich tourists...

A guy offered to carry us to Agra (our final destination), for only 94 USD, but something suggest me that he wanted to fuck us. So we just took a taxi to the bus station and we got our 2 places in an old bus for 3 USD. Now it was really hot!!! I was almost happy that the bus was running like in hurry, because of the fresh wind. We could see almost every 5 minutes a monument or mosquee, a couple of camels, monkeys and lot of people eating flat bread with vegetables. Of course, I tried one of them! (fortunately without consequences).

When finally in Agra, we took a last taxi to the hotel and before dying from exhausting we received our keys and the commitment to assist to the conference, since this had already started.

I will not take so much time writing about the International Conference, you might expect what happened there... lots of sessions, people from all over the world (includying Afghanistan) trying to change the world, cool parties and good food (at least from my point of view, because my african friends were disspointed for not finding so much meat as usual).

After the conference, we still had 2 days for visiting India, so we had to hurry up!!! After watching the Taj Mahal in 15 minutes, we took quickly a train that brought us back to New Dehli. We lost the flight, but fortunately they accepted to take us the next day, so we took a shower and slept in the airport. Next morning the flight took us back to Mumbai, where I finally had the chance to see something about this exotic country. The first day was not that exciting… we had the bad idea to rent a guy with his taxi, so he started showing us a couple of malls and jewelry stores. We tried to explain him that we wanted to see something more indi, so he drove us to a museum of Ghandi, another one about the history of India (with cool very cool pictures! Everything so religious and mysthic!). I was anyway so exhausted that I fell asleep on the way back home. In the night there were some people to see some people in the streets, because there was a fest (I forgot now the name, but the god is something like a mixture of an elephant, snake and mouse). I got some rice with vegetables for dinner, and Shanice his sandwich with jam and cheese. We picked up some fruits to the hotel and just went to sleep early in the night.

The next day, we did surely some changes to our plans!!! Shanice and Habib decided to go already to the airport, so I decided to give them a couple of my bags and I start going with no direction in Mumbai... literally I just took a small map and asked somebody if it was far way from the hotel. That day was a real one! I took one of those funny red buses that dropped me close to the next train station… I definitively love trains! Full of people, no doors on the sides, women and girls with hennas (paintings in the arms and legs), men bringing big packages with products to sell in the market, etc. I was really amazed to know that there is such a good train system in India, almost to every single corner of the cities. After 30 minutes I decided to get out of the train and saw a small market 100 meters far away from me, so I just decided to get it… then I found thousand things to buy!!! From socks to small kitchens and of course all types of spices from so many different colors. I tested also some sweets, hygienic conditions seemed not to be the best, but fortunately my Cameroonian stomach was already prepared for this… what else? People all around, even sleeping close to the railways (the first thing that came to my mind: lots of them living in the streets!!! This is 10 times bigger than Lima!).

Then I tried another train... it brought me to another market... this elephant/snake/mouse everywhere! In this second town I found a mosque, so beautiful!!! And I had never been inside one! After asking somebody, I took off my shoes, start walking in the cold white floor and saw so many elder men discussing and it seemed they were having a rest. I wanted so much to learn Hindi!! Curiously there was a man from Ivory Coast there, so we had a chat for some minutes in French, which was really delighting for me... for eating just a kind of sandwich (always spicy of course) and my favorite juice of sugar can (with lemon) and another one of orange... it was 3 pm, so I still had some hours to discover Mumbai in my way... going forward, cows all over the roads, lots of children, moto taxis, etc. The next train took me back to the center of Mumbai (I guess so!), and there I found (again) a market with a quite chick mall, where I decided to buy some clothes (of course!)... there I spent my last rupees… but I did not realize it later on.

Other 2 hours of walk, small chats with people in order to get an idea how to get in the next hours to the airport... I don’t know how I arrived at 7pm to the beach and I saw my last big mosquee. An extraordinary white building in the middle of the ocean… for getting there there was a small road connecting the coast to that mosque... delighting! I started my walk and during this I could see so many families and friends going together to that place, like guys and girls in Peru when going to a disco! At my arrival, I was really exhausted and amazed about the beauty of this white palace... I walk to one of the spaces looking to the beach, I sat down and finally, I took off my shoes and I finally realized that I WAS IN INDIA. Many things came to my mind... I started remembering lots of friends and relatives, parts of my trips in Europe and Peru… and now for a small moment of my life in this part of the world. The weather warm and the waves calm, people from my age speaking with the others like having a rest...

It was more than 9 pm, and I had finally to go back home... but after 30 minutes, I could not find any bus to the airport!!! I started asking more and more people, finally I realized that my bus was not running anymore and the most logical way would be a taxi... but I didn’t have money for that!!! And even English is the official language, most people could hardly speak with me. Yes, I started to feel nervous.

One guy tried to help me, but finally he had also to leave, so he took 20 rupees from his pocket (about 2,5 euros) and gave them to me before leaving...

After spending my last money with the last train and bus, I finally used the 20 rupees for getting the last moto taxi… and of course I had to bargain a lot! When I arrived to the airport at 11pm, I had then finally 1 rupee in my pocket (as souvenir) and many times came to my mind the same question: does HE exist??

Shanice and Habib were having a rest in the airport... I could finally wash my hands and face and looked at me in the mirror... like a man of 30 years old. About 4 hours later our plane brought us to Kenya, where we spent one more day before coming back to Douala.

Kenya was only one day... too short, but actually it was really comfortable to sleep in a cool hotel with a good lunch and many facilities... while making a walk, I found members of a local committee in AIESEC Nairobi, so there I got to know Leah and we made some tourism during the rest of the day. Yeah! Really nice! Visiting a couple of shops, a big park, having a big break there, speaking a lot about Kenya, Cameroon, Peru... in the evening we got a coffee and then we decided to go out in the night... unfortunately on that evening I had a really bad headache and the evening finalized with TV and some chats before falling asleep...

Early in the morning it was time to go back to the airport, after some hours traveling we finally landed in Douala, nobody was waiting for us in the airport, but in our office. I still had this headache for 2 days, but I will never know if it was an illness or just the heat and tiredness… my friends gave me anyway tablets against Malaria and I felt better...

This is what I would call more or less an amazing travel to India and Kenya, 2 countries, 2 continents in 2 weeks...

2006-02-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

Cameroun, le pays des grandes ambitions

Cierro los ojos e intento recordar aquel 22 de Julio del 2005, que fue cuando mi vuelo aterrizó en Douala y luego de 24 anhos pise nuevamente suelo camerunes. Esta no es ma primera vez que vengo a Camerun, considerando que la reencarnacion si existe y por eso estoy 100% seguro que alguna vez fui un rey de una tribu lejana, y recuerdo haber tenido una gran familia, dedicada a la recollecion de frutos y a la caza.

Retrocediendo algunos meses, no se cuando exactamente decidi venir a Africa. Al comienzo sonaba como una broma, luego como un “por que no?” “un año mas de vida para que puedas pensar en que te vas a meter a trabajar”. Entre los meses de Enero y Julio del 2005 tuve un transito por mi querida Alemania, aquella que me trae numerosos recuerdos bellos, malos, frustrantes, romanticos, estresantes, etc, pero que al fin y al cabo siempre ha valido la pena. Aunque estos 6 meses de historia han quedado temporalmente escritos en mi libro de neuronas. En fin, la madrugada del 22 fui acompanhado a la estacion de tren de Colonia, pues estaba por tomar el tren a Duesseldorf, que es donde tomaria mi vuelo a Paris y finalmente a Douala. Un beso gordo y abrazo fuerte de Elianna y un “machs gut” y apreton de manos de Samuel fueron mis ultimas impresiones antes de abordar el ICE... maldito Air France! Si mi vuelo hubiera salido 1 hora despues hubiera podido tomar el tren normal y asi ahorrarme 30 euros.

El ICE freno en Duesseldorf Flughafen y el tipico “meine Damen und Herren am Gleis 9... ihre naechste Reise Moeglichkeiten...” marco el inicio de una pequenha odisea hasta mi vuelo. Como hace ya 4 anhos atras en Hamburgo, estaba solo en la estacion y con casi 40 kilos encima, en fin, los africanos tienen mas razon que los occidentales, el tiempo gira en forma circular y no de manera perpendicular.

Uno camina unos 15 minutos hasta el primer tren aereo, que luego lleva al compartimiento B que significa que hay que caminar otros 15 minutos hasta llegar al registro 185 que corresponde a Air France. Llegue con dos horas de anticipacion, pero los 15 kilos de sobrepeso me obligaron a correr de un lado a otro y finalmente tuve que desaserme de todos los chocolates, mi charango, algunos libros de frances, mi tostadora, plancha, en fin, Aliosha y Juergen recordaran mejor que yo que es lo que deje en esa bolsa negra.

Cierro mis ojos, y no recuerdo algun imprevisto en las siguientes 10 horas. El vuelo salio a las 7:30 am en direccion a Paris, un pequenho descanso de 2 horas y el segundo vuelo partia directamente a Douala. Mis primeros latidos fuertes en el corazon se dieron cuando vi la cola, y claro, casi todos eran de piel negra... si bien es cierto que el racismo es negativo, definitivamente uno siempre pertenece a un grupo racial y ¡las cosas cambian cuando uno es la minoria! El vuelo a Camerun fue tranquilo, me pusieron al costado de una ninha de 8 anhos que hablaba el frances mucho mejor que yo, inclusive me pregunto si el ingles que aprendi era el americano o el ingles (¡!). De las 6,5 horas de viaje, 2 se las paso el avion por encima del desierto del Sahara... ¡que miedo!!! Hay que tener muchas agallas para hacer una de esas caravanas definitivamente. Finalmente, el avion se acercaba a la jungla y las vista se iba convirtiendo de un paisaje casi identico al que vi alguna vez en Tarapoto, todo lleno de arboles, agua, nada de gente y nubes cargadas de esperanza. 5 minutos antes del aterrizaje, los arboles se convirtieron en casas tercer mundistas, el agua en lodo que inundaba las calles, la soledad por cientos de chicos corriendo por las calles y las nubes por decenas de taxis botando industrializacion alrededor. En otros 5 minutos el avion hizo la ultima parada y finalmente el compartimiento se abrio y permitio que entrara un aire caliente, sofocante, humedo, las ropas se impregnaban a la piel y la gente empezaba a sacarse los sacos europeos y empezaba a reir con mas frecuencia en el camino de salida.

Para un peruano como yo no es dificil pasar por un aeropuerto como el de Douala, hasta trae recuerdos gratos: largas colas, policias mirando a los pasajeros con desafio, gente atendiendo con un caracter de mierda y un que otro “bonjour!, ça va?” entre pasajeros. Una senhora gorda reviso mi pasaporte, una, dos, tres veces, “que es Peru”? se habra preguntado. Luego se dio por vencida y me dio dos tickets pequenhitos blancos que hasta ahora los tengo en mi cuarto, y que no tengo ni idea para que sirven. Segunda persona, reviso mi correo... “AIESEC? Organisation des etudiants??? Gua tis dat? Guer du yu lif? Felizmente un chico se nos acerco:

- Piero?

- Yes! Landry? Habib?

- No, Habib, hello!

- Heyyyy!!!! Cool that you are hier! Please kannst du explain the man about mi visa?

- What? Your visa? Ok, no problem... by the way, welcome to Cameroon man!!!

Un sello nos permitio seguir por el proces, en principio Habib no estaba permitido de pasar a la sala de inmigraciones, pero como luego aprendi de mis amigos que todo puede ocurrir en Camerún. Revisaron una vez más mi maleta, pero me dejaron ir al ver que solo traia papeles y alguna ropa. Algunos camerunenses se traian sus pequenhas fortunas, dos celulares, disc mans, relojes, condones europeos, etc. Finalmente salimos del aeropuerto y ahi nos esperaban otros 3 chicos y 1 chica... me saludaron con gran alegria, claro que uno no se aguanto y me pregunto “eres mas pequenho de lo que pensaba, al comienzo creiamos que eras aleman, jaja!”. Luego, hora de abordar el taxi, una de las primeras grandes impresiones que uno se lleva es que todos los taxis son amarillos y los conductores siempre portan su permiso de circulacion en la ventana. Aunque no me hubiera desagradado subirme a alguna combi. Sin embargo, en Douala no hay buses, uno que otro que pasa por media provincia y que para repleto, asi que lo que siempre conviene es esperar a que pase un taxi, revisar si aun hay algun asiento libre y en 1 segundo gritar el lugar de destino y el precio que uno esta dispuesto a pagar, eso si que es eficiencia!!! Si el taxista acepta tocara el claxon. Sino, seguira su marcha...

Luego de 20 minutos de marcha llegamos hasta el barrio donde vive Habib. Recuerdo que casi me dio ganas de arrepentirme de haber dejado la moderna Colonia por venir a un lugar mucho mas sucio y caotico que La Victoria a las 2pm. Pero uno siempre toma las cosas de manera positiva, casi todos los dias es comun que alguien pase por mi costado y me diga “salut le blanc!”, “le Cameroun est bonn, n'est ce pas?”, “est-ce que tu as l’argent pour moi?”, lo que al final importa es la interaccion con la gente. Y aqui la gente interacciona muchisimo por la calle! Por lo menos en Douala, de 15 millones de camerunenses, 2 millones habitan en este pequenho infierno que alguna vez fue un precioso pantano y que primero fue habitado por los Doualas y los Balis, luego fue colonizado por los alemanes y al final de la segunda guerra mundial, los perdedores tuvieron que cederlo a los franceses e ingleses. Por esa razon en Camerun las lenguas oficiales son estas dos ultimas, aunque para los que viven en la zona de habla francesa, las escuelas ofrecen cursos de espanhol o aleman. Si a uno le gusta el negocio y piensa un poco mas en su futuro profesional, esogera el aleman. Pero si uno prefiere bailar salsa y ver telenovelas, entonces preferira aprender a decir “te quiero hacer el amor”. Ok, pequenha exageracion, pero por ahi va la idea.

Habib es un camerunes tipico, de porte mas alto que el del peruano promedio, delgado, gracioso, algo lento para el trabajo, no toma desayuno pero come a montones en las noches, habla frances e ingles y en la escuela eligio aleman, aunque sueña con ir al Brasil. No tiene ningun corte de cabello, sino que se rapa la cabeza para evitar parecer un afro estado unidense de los 80, siempre porta un bibiri o camiseta antes de ponerse la camisa, a pesar de que la temperatura media en Douala es de 28 grados y que esta se ve aumentada por el humo de los taxis. En su casa viven 10 personas, su madre, su papa, 5 hermanas y 2 hermanos. Las hermanas duermen por parejas y los hermanos nunca preparan la comida...

La comida!!!

Buen tema, Camerun es la jungla total y en este pais se puede cultivar de todo, pues aqui tambien esta el Mountain Cameroon con sus 4200 msnm e increiblemente hay ciudades de clima frio. En el norte extremo hay pocas lluvias y por eso se cultiva mas el algodon y se tiene ganado. En las montanhas hay mucho cafe y cacao, y en el litoral (Douala y alrededores) se cultiva mi trio preferido de frutas tropicales: platanos-papayas-piñas. Dependiendo de la epoca del anho uno puede conseguir mangos y obviamente abunda la yuca por aca, en todas las formas inimaginables. En fin, el camerunes tiene la mejor tierra para la mejor nutricion.

Lamentablemente, y como todo pais tercer mundista, Camerun se ha dejado enganhar por el adelanto y mercadotecnia de los paises industriales. En las tiendas uno encuentra mantequilla holandesa, mayonesa francesa, aceitunas espanholas, mermelada alemana, sardinas enlatadas, aceite de soya, leche condensada, etc. Y como el productor local de frutas, verduras y carnes se frego por culpas de los precios, el camerunes promedio desinteresado por la naturaleza y el medio ambiente basara su alimentacion en harinas, mucho aceite y yuca. En pocas palabras, mas vale cantidad que calidad: sanguches de tortillas de huevo con tallarines! Arroz con tallarines, pan y una cabeza de pescado en salsa de tomate! Casi nada de jugos naturales, sino puras gaseosas con la patriotica etiqueta “made in Cameroon”, etc. Claro, en la medida que uno este dispuesto a pagar mejor precio, uno puede ir intercalando de restaurantes y saborear algunos platos tipicos, que pocas pero abnegadas senhoras siguen ofreciendo en las calles y pequenhos restaurantes con ventiladores prendidos al maximo, luchando por aplacar el calor y olores sofocantes. Africa tiene uno de los mayores problemas de agua, excepto en Camerun. En casi todos los restaurantes el agua es gratuita y helada. Obviamente no es agua mineral, pero los filtros caseros a base de algodon se encargan de asegurar el nivel de vida, ojala que esto haya sido considerado en los Objetivos del Milenio de las Naciones Unidas.

De esta manera la dieta del aventurero peruano se baso en unas pequenhas bolas de harina con azucar y agua filtrada durante las manhanas, de frejoles y/o tallarines rojos con agua filtrada durante las tardes y de espectaculares banquetes de platanos sancochados, arroz, pescado en salsa roja, verde... siempre con su contribucion de agua filtrada.

De esta manera los primeros dias dormi en la casa de Habib, con Habib. Lo primero que pense fue que tenia que encontrar mi cuarto propio lo antes posible... no! Imposible dormir con otra persona, y encima chico! A que hora voy a leer mis libros? Y que tal si el ronca? Que acaso el nunca tiene “visitas”? Pasaron 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 semanas hasta que finalmente AIESEC consiguio una casa para todos los miembros del MC y asi ya tengo mi lindo cuarto con mosquitero.

Lebenzeichen in Peru (2005)

2004-12-30T14:36:00.000-05:00

erstmal ein schönes "Hola" und eine dicke Umarmung aus Peru!

ich wollte euch sogar seit WOCHEN was schreiben (als ich noch 23 Jahre war), aber irgendwie klappte es immer am Ende des Tages nicht. Warum? Manchmal dachte ich, eine Diplomarbeit oder eine Konferenz seien wichtiger als eine Email, und als ich endlich um 10 Uhr zu Hause war, konnte ich nichts mehr als direkt zu Bed gehen... wie doof!

Jedenfals, es ist etwa 1 Uhr morgens in Lima... wie schön! Ich höre gerade eine Cd von Laith Al Deen, zuvor habe ich was von Metallica gespielt ;) (man braucht doch Musik für die Stimmung, oder nicht?)
So was ist denn wichtiges bei mir passiert? Vor fast 3 Wochen hatte ich ein Telefongespräch mit einer Firma Kaufhof in Köln, die wollen ein Praktikant für den Bereich Coordination & Standards Controlling (keine Ahnung warum die Abteilung auf Englisch gennant wird... „Business“?). Nach EINER Stunde war ich totmüde wegen der Fachsprache und sonstigen betrieblichen Begriffen. Allerdings, die Frau teilte mir mit, ich sollte noch 14 Tage auf eine Antwort bekommen... was???! Zum Glück kam die Bestätigung am 27.10. (also, ein Tag vor meinem Geburstag) und zwar... „wir freuen uns Ihnen mitteilen zu dürfen, daß wir Ihnen ein Praktikum in unserem Bereich in der von Ihnen vorgeschlagenen Zeit anbieten können“...

Fazit, Leute: wir sehen uns bald wieder in Deutschland... :)
... und ich feierte am 28.10. richtig gut!

Jetzt muss ich mich „nur“ an das Visum beeilen und die Voraussetzungen erfüllen... d.H., viel Geld auf einer Kontonummer packen, 1 Bescheinigung von meiner Uni bekommen, noch eine von der Firma, eine von der Polizei (falls ich in der Vergangenheit irgendwelche Bank explodierte), 2 Bilder, ein round trip Ticket im Voraus buchen (falls ich mich in die Firma verliebe) und noch was... etwa 2 Monate auf die Antwort warten... mal sehen wie das geht, ich hoffe, ich kann alles ein bisschen schneller erledigen, damit ich zu Weihnachten schon da seie...

Nun eine grösse Bitte! Kennt ihr jemanden in Köln, der eine Wohung vermieten möchte? (so billig wie möglich, natürlich). Noch besser, vielleicht hat jemand eine Oma, die einen Jung für das Spaziergang ihres Hundes benötigt und dafür etwas bezählen möchte?? Ich freue mich auf eure Nachrichte!

Was machte ich denn gerade in Lima ausser Sorge von meiner Bewerbung für ein Praktikum? Mmm... war vor einem Monat beim Klettern und machte ein paar coole Fotos...

Das Ding hat mir gefallen... und es ist wirklich wichtig für mich, es zu sagen, denn ich bin überhaupt kein Sportman oder so, und diese Möglichkeiten erlauben mir ein bisschen Luft zu haben. Also, ein mal pro Monat würde es gerne machen... vielleicht kann ich ja in Köln in die Hauptgebäude der Firma klettern.
Was noch... aus dem Regenwald bekammen wir unseren ersten biologischen Bananen. Hungrig? ;)

Ich verpasste leider eine tolle deutsche Veranstaltung in Lima wegen dem Klettern: www.oktoberfest-peru.com , tja, nächste mal klappt das schon!

Und zum Schluss, ich schreibte einen Artikel für meine Uni über ein Kooperationsprogramm zwischen Europa und Lateinamerika:http://fresno.ulima.edu.pe/sf/rd_bd4000.nsf/vSeccionRevistaWeb/F57AA0BBAD0CD10B05256F43006DA5CA?OpenDocument&ID=econom%C3%ADa

Ok, ok.. statt eine Email von mir zu schreiben, dieser Brief sieht mehr wie ein Newsletter eines Unternehmens aus... ;)

So momentan verabschiede ich mich mir der Hoffnung um ein Wiedersehen... davor, versuche ich die letzten Aufgaben in Lima zu erledigen. Letzte Woche kaufte ich mir eine Palmflute, „Charango“ (kleine Guitarre) und die faberliche peruanische Mütze... naja, wenn die Bezahlung bei der Firma nicht genug ist, würde ich ohne Problem auf der Strasse spielen (pass auf der Strassenbahn auf, sagt mir immer meine Mama), oder Spanisch unterrichten (oder Salsa?!!) um meine Reise bezahlen zu können... mal sehen...

Ganz liebe Grüsse aus meinem schönen, chaotischen, sonnigen, gefährlichen und exotischen Lima,
Piero