The Story of the Fair of San Jacinto

I would like to take a moment to share a snap shot of my life with all of you. The scene: it’s Tuesday, the 5th of January, 2010. I am riding my bike in the miserable Sechuran desert heat to visit the artisans. I have been in Mancora up until Sunday, so I have not communicated with them in a week at this point and we have a monthly meeting scheduled for Thursday, the 7th, that I have to invite them to. Invitations in Peru are very important. I had to type it up and print in out and stamp it with my very official seal and then sign it for it to be a real invitation. Then they sign another copy that I keep when they receive theirs so I can prove that they received it. The meeting on Thursday is very important because we will be planning the Artisan Fair that is going to take place during the fiesta of San Jacinto, the patron saint of Vice. I have to visit all 4 artisan groups and it takes about 2 hours of pure bike-riding, doubling back several times, but I finally accomplish my goal and am satisfied that we will be able to coordinate on Thursday.

I knew I would be leaving on Sunday the 10th to go to Lima for In-Service training for the week. The fiesta starts the week I get back, the 18th, so there is no time to spare in the planning process. Thursday rolls around and I wait. I wait a little more. Finally representatives from Vice show up, then an hour and a half later, a representative from Becara. I ask them what days they would like to have the fair during San Jacinto. Vice chooses Saturday, January 23rd, and the artisan from Becara doesn’t know what her association would prefer. So guess what I did on Friday? I spent the afternoon riding my back to visit the 2 associations that didn’t show up to the meeting and the one that was clueless to talk about what we talked about in the meeting – the fair in Vice. Finally, I got an answer from all of them and the days were set. Chalaco and Vice were going to sell their products on Saturday the 23rd, Letira and Becara were going to sell theirs on the 24th. Done.

I went to Lima leaving only one task for them – solicit a stand from the municipality so we have somewhere to show the products. When I went to the municipality on Monday the 18th, I realized that this had only been halfway done. We did what we had to do, talking and coordinating with the various officials, and I confirmed (riding my bike) with all the associations that they would be there. Chalaco told me that they had decided that they would not participate. Fine, Vice was scheduled to start a 4pm on Saturday. I made a poster board sign for them that said “Artesanía Viceña” with a very pretty design if I do say so myself. I was very excited and interested to see how it would go – the last fair we had been to was in Lima in November.

I am at the church at 4pm on the dot on Saturday with my sign and some sales sheets in hand. For some unknown reason, I think the artisans will already be set up. They are not. It’s okay though because I am here at exactly 4pm and we do live on the hora peruana and of course they won’t be here for another half hour or even hour. 4:30pm comes and goes and there is no sign of the artisans. The shade is shrinking and now I’m in the sun. I change benches but am still sweating. It’s 5pm and I decide to call Socorro, the only artisan whose phone number I have with me. Socorro tells me that the artisans are going to be here at 6. I am a little annoyed because they could have at least warned me about the time change, but don’t think much about it because, thinking ahead, I’ve brought a book to read. 6pm………6:30………. I leave. You see where this is going don’t you? Later that night when I returned to the church with my family for the mass that takes place before the central day of the party I looked to see if the artisans had set up their stand. No one was there. Did the artisans of Letira and Becara come on Sunday to sell their products? What do you think?

Así es la vida.