eat the rich

deleted for privacy reasons - please contact me directly if you'd like to read it.

:)
suzy

is anyone reading this?

hey all-

I wanted to check in with my friends/family/anyone else thats reading my personal blog. Are you still there? I won't be upset if you aren't :)

It's just now that I've become a blogging factory for two other blogs
http://www.lavidaidealist.org and
http://fellowsblog.kiva.org
...I dont want to maintain this one if I have no readers.

I myself would like to continue maintaining it because its my avenue to post things unrelated to Kiva, stories and experiences Matt and I are going through.

So please comment on this post if you ARE following this blog and would like me to continue!

Either way, i love you all :)

Love,
Suz

Tour de FINCA!

Here it is ya'll

Suzy's Tour of Kiva partner FINCA Peru! from Suzy Marinkovich on Vimeo.

Enjoy and excuse me for my hyperness... it is kind of annoying!!

Suz

cynics vs idealists

Something has happened to the field of development.

Idealism, if you had to define it with the FIRST sentence that came to mind, would probably involve an image of a hippie smiling and staring at the stars, talking about, I don't know, impossible things, ending the war on drugs, effective socialist governments (an oxy-moron, historically speaking), and so forth. It would involve an image of naivete, if not downright stupidity.

Cynicism, on the other hand, is "cool." Cynicism is something that the academic with the masters in International Development feels obliged to call their own. It is being "realistic" (which idealism is not) -- it is being "smart," and "informed."

According to dictionary.com,
Idealism: the cherishing or pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc.
Cynicism: an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others.

I have yet to see what cynicism accomplishes in development.
And though I have a conservative-leaning view when it comes to the markets, and particularly, to national defense, I am not going to fall into what I consider this stupidly trendly trap of cynicism in development. At best, it's unproductive, and at worst, its detrimental.

This philosophy that I'm developing is in its primary stages, but it is surely the reason I chose to apply to be a contributing blogger for Idealist.org/Action Without Borders Latin America volunteering blog -- called www.lavidaidealist.org

Check out my first post on the site, posted today.
It's titled "Where we pull apart, we bind together."

Suz

disgusted.

Did you know that women cannot get a mammogram in the city of Ayacucho?
No, they need to take a 11-hour busride to Lima for that, which costs approx sixty nuevo soles, or a small fortune to our indigenous women.

But you know what they can get here?
Botox.

I knew those two things before this was released a few days ago.
Of course, it´s much worse than I thought-
CNN: Peru´s pregnant women dying at ´scandalous´ rates


I know I bring it up all the time, my favorite quote, Thucydides- there will be justice in Athens when those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are.

There is so much racism against indigenous women here, because of their skin color, their language, their systematic poverty trap.

I actually am so pissed off right now I can´t concentrate.
Sorry if I took you down with me...

Suz

MATT and suz traveller!

he`-s here now!!!!!!!!!!! yayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he will be posting too.


love you all.

massive civil matrimony, of course.

The sole purpose of this post is to share with you guys some of my favorite "quirks" so far about Peru.

While in Ica over the weekend, I asked a Peruvian guy what the GIANT GIANT banner that said "MASIVO CIVIL MATRIMONIO" meant. He said (translated) "massive civil matrimony of course. its where a bunch of couples get married at the same time because it is cheaper." ... umm... like it was totally normal and standard. He looked at me really puzzled, because it should make perfect sense to me, of course...

also, i am working on a photo album of "lost in translation" photos. meaning, poorly translated in to english (whether it's t-shirts, menus, knock off clothing, etc). a la engrish.com.

oh, heres one of my favorites.
a knock off billabong shirt on this guy, that said "BILLBOARD"...haha...billboard

my favorite is also there are people here and there standing by themselves selling something completely random. and its usually just one thing that they sell.

cases in point:
scruffy, creepy man that stands outside of the blue door open air market with a stack of individually folded women's underwear that he tries to sell you. in case, you know, you are walking down the street, and realize you need a pair of underwear.

also, the colectivo taxis, not for weaklings for sure. they are dirt cheap but they pack you in like sardines. but the good ones will have techno peruvian flute music, and full on discoteca lighting, red and blue flashing lights, both on the interior AND exterior of the car.

what, else... what, else...

omg. you will love this one.
mamachas (the older women who dress in fully authentic andean woman attire -- top hat, full skirt, long long braids down their back) will tie their hair in to two braids that run down their backs. but heres the kicker-- they like to make sure the braids stay close together, so they take a lock of hair from one of the braids, and start weaving it into the other braid, so that the braids stay like six inches apart. the result is this sort of horse-bridle looking thing, like a letter H. it is hilarious. we call them mamacha bridles.

thats all for now. i'll be sure to post stuff like this every once in a while, as i always find these quirky things hilarious :)

suz