domingo, 25 de octubre de 2009

Training and such....it´s been about 6 weeks now, and there are exactly 4 more weeks till we head off to the perils and excitement of our sites in rural (mas o menos) Peru for the next two years. We´ll be going to sites of between 50 and 500 families. Yes. Families. These towns (at this size, they are called casarillos) are measured families, they are so small. Anywhere between 100 and 2000ish people. Sometimes volunteers are placed in larger cities, around 15 or 20k, but the director of the Environement program said we´d probably be in smaller communities and living in caves. The lucky ones will get windows in their caves, though. Maybe even a toilet, but don´t push your luck. We heard about one volunteers who´s first project was to build a toilet for her family. I wonder what she didn´t like about pooping in a hole in the ground...oh, true, it´s completely unsanitary.

We´ve been having a ton of charlas (talks/lectures) about various things, my favorite combination being diarrhea and dental care. It was quite relatable, actually, especially in the developing world. Living outside of a first world country is a bit shocking, but also really refreshing in a lot of ways. Shocking, because anyone can build a house absolutely anywhere they feel like. We visited a pueblo the other built right on top of a shallow water table, or maybe it was just a shallow underground river, which happens to be under a layer of sand. For those who aren´t scientifically minded, that means that the pueblo is putting pressure in the water, and it´s seeping up to the surface and making little pools. The pueblo is mad because they don´t want this pool and wants the municipality to do something about it. But the only thing that can really be done is that the pueblo is moved and destroyed. So they have been putting down more sand layers and planting small gardens instead. It´s not quite as effective as you might think, because they also have no garbagte system, and the site has become a bit of a trash dump. It´s going to take a long time.

The concept of these pueblos is pretty interesting, too. Like I said, anyone can build anywhere, and as long as they aren´t kicked off their sites in a matter of somewhere between 3 and 5 years (the number gets lost in the Spanish, usually) they can claim squatters rights and become an official entity. They are first called casarillios (there are a bunch of casarillos in a given district), then barrios, then pueblos jovenes, then pueblos, then ciudades, as they grow. That was a very simplified version, yes, but that´s the general idea. Speaking of growing cities, Lima doubled it´s population in about 20 years, during the Sendero Luminoso revolution. From 4.something million to 8.2 million. Take a minute to let that sink in. New York city is about 3 million. And it has the resources to plan a more or less organized city. Lima is huge, and doesn´t have a train system. It´s public tranportation is actually quite efficient, with a giant series of minibuses called combis. They go all over the city, and it´s really an experience that you have to have for yourself to really understand. For example. the ones we take from our communities to the training center everyday go from a town called Chosice to somewhere in Lima. They leave Chosice about every 30 seconds in the morning and it´s a highspeed race to Lima, the winner being the one to pick up the most passangers the fastest. They have about 18 or 20 seats, but atmost of the time, there are about 30 people. They make up the majority of traffic on the roads, which is unfortuante because they are all competing for the right hand lane, trying to make a stop every 20 to 100 feet, usually sounding the familiar ¨I´m coming, you´d better get out of my way¨honk. They stop for all of 0.15 seconds to let 3 people off and 2 people on, yelling ´getongetongetongeton¨or ¨gettoffgetoffgetoff¨and then put the pedal to the medal for the next 3.4 seconds till the next stop. Or if it´s traveling during the high traffic times in the middle of the city (I live outside of the city, where they can still get up to 40mph) the money-taker will get out and announce where they are going, trying to remind people that of COURSE they want to go to Chosica, what are they doing wandering around Lima waiting for a bus to Tacna or somewhere else? All those years of bus surfing in high only barely prepared me for this......experience. What can you expect, you can go all the way across Lima for about a US dollar. It can take around 3 hours, but you can do it. What the PC could really do for Lima is send in some civil engineers to put in stop lights or an underground system. Perhaps an elevated system would be better. Or at least sidewalks in most places. But that adds to the character or this place, and it´s pretty amazing, and I´m stoked to be part of something really awesome, like the Peace Corps.

sábado, 17 de octubre de 2009

Sube, Sube! Baja, Baja!

I am sick. I have contracted a sickness to which the only treatment is to just let it runs it´s course. Treating the symptoms includes things like: excessive use of my passport. jumping around the time zones. breathing recycled air in giant tubes at 3000 feet. 34 minute layovers in a mile long terminal. joining the peace corps and moving to the developing world. So far, I´m doing pretty well on the last one.

We´re about halfway through training at this point, and everyone is EXTREMELY anxious to get to their sites. We´re training in a smallish town outside of Lima, which is on the central coast of Peru. I just can´t seem to get myself away from the Pacific! I am in no way, however, complaining about this. I will complain that it is a 2.5 hours combi ride to the ocean, however. and it´s polluted. More about combis and pollution in a paragraph or two.

Actually, more in a day or two. Peruvians have an abundance of internet cafes, and i can never seem to be productive with my time in them. :)