...to write every three days. That obviously did not happen. Sorry about that, guys! Life seems to be getting in the way of me blogging about it these days! I will try to be better, as I always say.
Right now, I´m in Lima, the huge, freezing, overpriced though impoverished capital of Peru for Peru 14's Close of Service Conference and medchecks! Conference finished yesterday and medchecks start on Monday. Just another step to finishing up service and coming home!
The first day of the conference was a bit bittersweet. As soon as Kathy, our Training Director, started off by saying, "Well, it was almost exactly two years ago that we first met here, and you all had just walked off an excruciatingly long day of traveling," I got a little nostalgic! Two years, while to me it has felt like nothing and a whole lot of time, is really quite a significant amount of time! Since I´ve been gone, friends have gotten married, a few have passed away, some have started universities, babies have been born, careers have been started, ended or changed, friends have skipped the country, other people were inspired to apply for the Peace Corps (yay!). It´s quite overwhelming, but a good growing experience.
It's interesting to look back over two years (any set of two years, really) and see how experiences change people. I now have more direction in life, a whole lot more patience, a whole lot more impatience, another language to speak, creative problem solving skills, a high level of comfort in highly awkward situations, and the ability to eat anything with just a spoon.
When people ask me about living abroad, they ask things like "What are the people like? What do you do? What is it like?" and Peruvians ask me the same about the States. To be honest, it's not really all that different. Everyone has to eat, everyone has to sleep, everyone needs a job (even if they don't want one) and everyone fights with their parents (don't deny it). Climates vary with altitude and latitude, as much in the States as here. There's a coastline, forests, and beautiful high sierra, deserts, though admittedly the States lacks a rainforest. Sure there may be a higher incidence of houses made of mud and adobe and/or cemente, but housewives take care of them just as well or better than USA housewives (no offense intended).
As for food, well....It's great. I can see a lamb in the morning and know that I am eating that exact lamb (or chicken, goat, sheep, pig, turkey....) for dinner. I know what it eats and how it was treated during it's life. That's a great feeling, even if they don't cut the pieces very well or trim the fat as much. My dad once told me of an old roommate of his who had no idea how to cut a chicken, and would seemingly j ust take the whole chicken and make two chops in it-one longwise, and one lengthwise. That's about what Peruvians do to chop their food-portions include meat, bones, tendons some organs and whatever else is in there. The main organs are separated out and given to esteemed guests. In my first house, when I had first gotten there, I was always served a heart or lung or kidney or liver in my soup at lunch. Never was I able to accustom myself enough to bring myself to eat it. But, that didn't matter because all leftovers were always fed to the dogs or pigs, nothing was left to waste, which is a great lifestyle. Well, it would be if all the dogs were able to get enough protein to fatten up enough, but that's a different story.
I still have about 2 more months in this crazy country, and i'm going to do the best i can to see as much as possible before it's time to go. Starting the next phase of my life sounds very daunting, but mostly just really exciting.
sábado, 3 de septiembre de 2011
domingo, 31 de julio de 2011
Olmos lately
I really wish that I had been keeping up with this better, because there are so many things to talk about, that I don't know where to start! I've been cheating, and just keeping a Sticky Note of blogworthy things on my desktop. That list is now 23 items long- I suppose I should start telling stories. I am posing a personal challenge to myself: Tell all these stories-one every three days. That would bring me up to date on 6 October, which actually means that I would still be behind, but I would be closer up. Right? And anyway, there's a huge possibility that I would write more than every three days, as long as I can make a habit out of it. So, all three readers that I have-keep me on track. It is your duty as readers of this silly blog. And I want to know what you think! So, go forth, and tell me what you think.
I will start with a fantastic story of a vacation that my sitemate and I took in April. I believe that the dates were April 20 to 25. We left Olmos (I really should post a map of Lambayeque on here soon, it would help you all a lot-Sticky Note updated). Our destination? Laquipampa National Wildlife Refuge, in the foothills of the sierra of Lambayeque. Everyone remembers that Lambayeque is the department (state-type designation) that I live in, right? Good. We thought it would be brilliant and awesome to go up there and hike and camp and see awesome wildlife for a few days. And it was. But there were a few setbacks. I mean, adventures.......
Our first adventure was just getting there. We took the normal minivan ride from Olmos to Chiclayo just fine, and stayed overnight to get food and other supplies for the trip. We thought it would be great, since this was Sarah's first backpacking trip, to go real barebones, and just get the necessities. We walked out of Plaza Vea (read: Peruvian Walmart) with tuna, mayo, crackers, peanut butter, jam, bread, cookies and water. That it's. And that's what we brought with us. Did you see a fork or plate or cup on that list? Nope. You sure didn't.
So, we head out to start our journey the next morning, about 10am. We're told that it's a 30 minute collectivo (station wagon packed with as many people, sacks of food, and chickens as possible) to the point where we can take a combi (rusted out old bus) the 2 hours to Laquipampa. Once we get to the combi, we realize that there actually isn't any room for us, and asked if they could please find room. So we rode the whole way perched on the jump seat over the engine, on top of some sacks of who knows what. Sarah got sick of it about and hour and a half in, and sat on the top. Everyone in the combi thought she was crazy, since it was drizzling outside, but I think she had a better ride than I did. It really was beautiful. As we cut our way up rocky valley walls, and rounded up the sides of some steep cliffs, I was reminded that Lambayeque is not all the dry forest that I live in, and is a very diverse and beautiful place to be.
It was late when we got to the town of Laquipampa, about 4pm (nothing ever happens at the time that you expect it to here), and since it was drizzling, the park rangers would not allow us to go out on the trails. As it turns out, the don't let girls do hardly anything on their own anyway, but we didn't know that at the time. We set up camp in the lot behind the school house along with a few others groups, much to the delight of who I assumed to be the locals. They were absolutely enthralled as we set up the tent, and insisted on helping. Yes, people: we're girls who happen to be of a much lighter skin color, and we can set up camp just fine, thankyouverymuch.
So, we get to the subject of dinner next. We had thought that we would make tuna crackers, which sounded delicious. However- our only utensils were the tin cans that the tuna was already in, a dinner knife and a pocket knife. Note the lack of ideal food preparing objects in our possession. Next time, don't be quite so cocky, you might be saying. Well, we didn't get to that point until a little later in the trip. Thankfully, a very nice group of Chiclayanos were near us, and offered us, without knowing that we sucked at food packing, some ramen noodles. AND two plastic forks! We ate up, and took care to store the forks in a safe place for later. What luck.
The next morning, we set out to find a waterfall and see the cool wildlife. A very nice guide took us out on a lovely 2.5 hour hike to a small waterfall, pointing out the giant mountain called Nuevo Mundo (new world), that not many people hike, and all the little birds and trees. Of course we wanted to hike up Nuevo Mundo, and talked about it a lot, trying to figure out how to do it. The hike came complete with a canine companion, an adorable white dog named Paloma (dove). Apparently, there had been a Peace Corps volunteer in this town about 4 years before, and Paloma (whom we later learned had been re-named Princess) was her dog. She paid us more attention than normal, and we thought it might have been because not too many American girls pass through the area, and she thought we were her volunteer again. It was a sad parting.
In the evening, we took a hike down the hill/street from the town to look for the Pava Aliblanca (White Winged Guan) that live wild in the area. With the same guide as the earlier hike, we walked down about 30 minutes to the designated spot (which looked to me like a bunch of rocks on the side of the street) and sat for almost an hour looking for the birds. We saw 9, which the guide said was a lot, and we were happy. Let me tell you, those things are impossible to take pictures of. They never leave the trees for more than a few seconds, and like to hide in the branches. But it was a really cool feeling to have seen such an endangered animal in the wild, even if it wasn't exactly their historical habitat.
We set off to set up camp after that, very excited about the days activities. As we expected, the guide was nervous about us camping at the normal spot because it had been sprinkling, and insisted that we set up out tent under a boulder on the side of the trail. We did, headed out to the actual campsite where another volunteer friend was waiting for us, and immediately decided that it was better to NOT set up our tent underneath a big, albeit sturdy looking, rock. Again, our fellow camper saved us with his tasty food, and we shared a super tasty dinner.
And this is where it got interesting. One of the main reasons that Sarah wanted to come on this trip was that she had heard of an ancient Incan burial ground in Laquipampa and really wanted to visit it. Everyone that we had talked to said that the burial ground was still being excavated and that we coulnd't. But, after a nice little chat with another parkguard, we found out that there were TWO burial grounds, and the one that we wanted to see was actually open to the public. We just had to walk up the side of the mountain to our right. No big deal, right? he said there were trails, so we went off without a second thought.
We should have thought again. The trail ran out after about 10 minutes, and we still had at least 3 hours to go. No big deal. We could SEE where we were headed, so we tried just blazing our own trail, and following the trail when we found it. Well, turns out that the only things that actually explore that area are cows and their herders, and even then, they must not go very high on the hill. The brush was incredibility thick and was annoying adept at hiding cholla cactus that always seemed to pop out right as I was about to fall. We were exhausted. It got to be that coming to a clearing was the most exciting thing to happen all day, so that we could gauge which direction to keep going.
By about 5:30, one hour before sunset, we look up, sweating, breathing heavily and covered in dirt. We had been going straight up the side of a mountain for about 4 hours now. We were at a rocky outcrop, at the top of which was purportedly our burial ground- goal for the day, and campsite for the night. We could think of nothing but the moderately small amount of water in our packs, and the cookies right next to them. As much as we wanted to get to the top, see the valley at sunset and set up camp, we had to conceed that, at the rate that we were going and factoring in that we really had no idea where we were going, it was going to be between 2 and 15 hours before we actually got to where we wanted to get. Dejectedly (but, secretly, happily) we turned around and sought out the closest and flattest spot from where we were. An hour later, we find a slanted, but open rocky area and squeeze the tents in next to the rock, the happiest that I have ever been after taking off a backpack. And the smelliest. It was terrible. If we hadn't been so tired and bummed that we didn't make it to our destination, we would have realized how awesome it was to be camping literally in the middle of nowhere, not sure what else was around, with a fantastic view of the moon. We polished off the rest of the tuna without much fanfare or even much discussion at all, and fell into our sleeping bags.
The next morning we were able to appreciate that the area that we were in was actually very pretty, with a nice view of the valley and the town. We slowly breakfasted on the rest of the cookies and peanut butter, and crawled down the mountain, expecting it to take us maybe 3 hours to get down. It took one. We were mildly impressed, though mostly a little bitter that we took the wrong fork in the road from basically the beginning. oops. If trail maps existed here, we would have caught that. Next time.
Because it was the end of the month and we were all really broke (I think we had about 100 soles between the 3 of us), we decided to walk to the closest town where the cheap mobility would take us to our friend's site for the night. We had zero idea how long it would be, and estimated about 4 hours based on the drive up. It took 6.5. Just trudging along the road. It was one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever hiked, to be honest. You could see everything (once we got off the mountain), and could trace the road through and out of the valley, unhurried and tranquilo. About and hour and a half down the road we stopped for a while at the river, and washed up. It was the best bath I've ever had. The water was cool, not too fast and there was a perfect spot where the blazing sun did not reach my already fairly burnt skin. I didn't want to leave, but, sadly, all good things come to an end.
The walk back, which beautiful, was uneventful. We pushed ourselves really far, and made it back. When we finally made it to a town outside of the valley, we almost squealed in happiness. It was Easter day, we realized, and a lot of people were going between home and easter dinner, and we took advantage of a nice family going in the direction that we needed to go, bouncing down the highway in the back of their truck.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend adventure. While we didn't see the burial ground, we saw some endangered birds, a beautiful waterfall, made friends with a cute little dog, and explored somewhere new. I was finally able to walk normally about 4 days later, and life went on.
I will start with a fantastic story of a vacation that my sitemate and I took in April. I believe that the dates were April 20 to 25. We left Olmos (I really should post a map of Lambayeque on here soon, it would help you all a lot-Sticky Note updated). Our destination? Laquipampa National Wildlife Refuge, in the foothills of the sierra of Lambayeque. Everyone remembers that Lambayeque is the department (state-type designation) that I live in, right? Good. We thought it would be brilliant and awesome to go up there and hike and camp and see awesome wildlife for a few days. And it was. But there were a few setbacks. I mean, adventures.......
Our first adventure was just getting there. We took the normal minivan ride from Olmos to Chiclayo just fine, and stayed overnight to get food and other supplies for the trip. We thought it would be great, since this was Sarah's first backpacking trip, to go real barebones, and just get the necessities. We walked out of Plaza Vea (read: Peruvian Walmart) with tuna, mayo, crackers, peanut butter, jam, bread, cookies and water. That it's. And that's what we brought with us. Did you see a fork or plate or cup on that list? Nope. You sure didn't.
So, we head out to start our journey the next morning, about 10am. We're told that it's a 30 minute collectivo (station wagon packed with as many people, sacks of food, and chickens as possible) to the point where we can take a combi (rusted out old bus) the 2 hours to Laquipampa. Once we get to the combi, we realize that there actually isn't any room for us, and asked if they could please find room. So we rode the whole way perched on the jump seat over the engine, on top of some sacks of who knows what. Sarah got sick of it about and hour and a half in, and sat on the top. Everyone in the combi thought she was crazy, since it was drizzling outside, but I think she had a better ride than I did. It really was beautiful. As we cut our way up rocky valley walls, and rounded up the sides of some steep cliffs, I was reminded that Lambayeque is not all the dry forest that I live in, and is a very diverse and beautiful place to be.
It was late when we got to the town of Laquipampa, about 4pm (nothing ever happens at the time that you expect it to here), and since it was drizzling, the park rangers would not allow us to go out on the trails. As it turns out, the don't let girls do hardly anything on their own anyway, but we didn't know that at the time. We set up camp in the lot behind the school house along with a few others groups, much to the delight of who I assumed to be the locals. They were absolutely enthralled as we set up the tent, and insisted on helping. Yes, people: we're girls who happen to be of a much lighter skin color, and we can set up camp just fine, thankyouverymuch.
So, we get to the subject of dinner next. We had thought that we would make tuna crackers, which sounded delicious. However- our only utensils were the tin cans that the tuna was already in, a dinner knife and a pocket knife. Note the lack of ideal food preparing objects in our possession. Next time, don't be quite so cocky, you might be saying. Well, we didn't get to that point until a little later in the trip. Thankfully, a very nice group of Chiclayanos were near us, and offered us, without knowing that we sucked at food packing, some ramen noodles. AND two plastic forks! We ate up, and took care to store the forks in a safe place for later. What luck.
The next morning, we set out to find a waterfall and see the cool wildlife. A very nice guide took us out on a lovely 2.5 hour hike to a small waterfall, pointing out the giant mountain called Nuevo Mundo (new world), that not many people hike, and all the little birds and trees. Of course we wanted to hike up Nuevo Mundo, and talked about it a lot, trying to figure out how to do it. The hike came complete with a canine companion, an adorable white dog named Paloma (dove). Apparently, there had been a Peace Corps volunteer in this town about 4 years before, and Paloma (whom we later learned had been re-named Princess) was her dog. She paid us more attention than normal, and we thought it might have been because not too many American girls pass through the area, and she thought we were her volunteer again. It was a sad parting.
In the evening, we took a hike down the hill/street from the town to look for the Pava Aliblanca (White Winged Guan) that live wild in the area. With the same guide as the earlier hike, we walked down about 30 minutes to the designated spot (which looked to me like a bunch of rocks on the side of the street) and sat for almost an hour looking for the birds. We saw 9, which the guide said was a lot, and we were happy. Let me tell you, those things are impossible to take pictures of. They never leave the trees for more than a few seconds, and like to hide in the branches. But it was a really cool feeling to have seen such an endangered animal in the wild, even if it wasn't exactly their historical habitat.
We set off to set up camp after that, very excited about the days activities. As we expected, the guide was nervous about us camping at the normal spot because it had been sprinkling, and insisted that we set up out tent under a boulder on the side of the trail. We did, headed out to the actual campsite where another volunteer friend was waiting for us, and immediately decided that it was better to NOT set up our tent underneath a big, albeit sturdy looking, rock. Again, our fellow camper saved us with his tasty food, and we shared a super tasty dinner.
And this is where it got interesting. One of the main reasons that Sarah wanted to come on this trip was that she had heard of an ancient Incan burial ground in Laquipampa and really wanted to visit it. Everyone that we had talked to said that the burial ground was still being excavated and that we coulnd't. But, after a nice little chat with another parkguard, we found out that there were TWO burial grounds, and the one that we wanted to see was actually open to the public. We just had to walk up the side of the mountain to our right. No big deal, right? he said there were trails, so we went off without a second thought.
We should have thought again. The trail ran out after about 10 minutes, and we still had at least 3 hours to go. No big deal. We could SEE where we were headed, so we tried just blazing our own trail, and following the trail when we found it. Well, turns out that the only things that actually explore that area are cows and their herders, and even then, they must not go very high on the hill. The brush was incredibility thick and was annoying adept at hiding cholla cactus that always seemed to pop out right as I was about to fall. We were exhausted. It got to be that coming to a clearing was the most exciting thing to happen all day, so that we could gauge which direction to keep going.
By about 5:30, one hour before sunset, we look up, sweating, breathing heavily and covered in dirt. We had been going straight up the side of a mountain for about 4 hours now. We were at a rocky outcrop, at the top of which was purportedly our burial ground- goal for the day, and campsite for the night. We could think of nothing but the moderately small amount of water in our packs, and the cookies right next to them. As much as we wanted to get to the top, see the valley at sunset and set up camp, we had to conceed that, at the rate that we were going and factoring in that we really had no idea where we were going, it was going to be between 2 and 15 hours before we actually got to where we wanted to get. Dejectedly (but, secretly, happily) we turned around and sought out the closest and flattest spot from where we were. An hour later, we find a slanted, but open rocky area and squeeze the tents in next to the rock, the happiest that I have ever been after taking off a backpack. And the smelliest. It was terrible. If we hadn't been so tired and bummed that we didn't make it to our destination, we would have realized how awesome it was to be camping literally in the middle of nowhere, not sure what else was around, with a fantastic view of the moon. We polished off the rest of the tuna without much fanfare or even much discussion at all, and fell into our sleeping bags.
The next morning we were able to appreciate that the area that we were in was actually very pretty, with a nice view of the valley and the town. We slowly breakfasted on the rest of the cookies and peanut butter, and crawled down the mountain, expecting it to take us maybe 3 hours to get down. It took one. We were mildly impressed, though mostly a little bitter that we took the wrong fork in the road from basically the beginning. oops. If trail maps existed here, we would have caught that. Next time.
Because it was the end of the month and we were all really broke (I think we had about 100 soles between the 3 of us), we decided to walk to the closest town where the cheap mobility would take us to our friend's site for the night. We had zero idea how long it would be, and estimated about 4 hours based on the drive up. It took 6.5. Just trudging along the road. It was one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever hiked, to be honest. You could see everything (once we got off the mountain), and could trace the road through and out of the valley, unhurried and tranquilo. About and hour and a half down the road we stopped for a while at the river, and washed up. It was the best bath I've ever had. The water was cool, not too fast and there was a perfect spot where the blazing sun did not reach my already fairly burnt skin. I didn't want to leave, but, sadly, all good things come to an end.
The walk back, which beautiful, was uneventful. We pushed ourselves really far, and made it back. When we finally made it to a town outside of the valley, we almost squealed in happiness. It was Easter day, we realized, and a lot of people were going between home and easter dinner, and we took advantage of a nice family going in the direction that we needed to go, bouncing down the highway in the back of their truck.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend adventure. While we didn't see the burial ground, we saw some endangered birds, a beautiful waterfall, made friends with a cute little dog, and explored somewhere new. I was finally able to walk normally about 4 days later, and life went on.
miércoles, 11 de mayo de 2011
Volunteering in Peru
I swear I will one day (soon!!) write a longer and more interesting blog, but I wanted to let you guys know about a really cool opportunity! If you ever thought "I´d really like to go volunteer in another country, but have no idea how to do it," check out Crax 200 at www.en.craxperu.org! We´re looking for interested internationals to come on down and hang out with us and the animals. You could spend lots of time with awesome animals and ME!
sábado, 26 de marzo de 2011
Well, it´s been a while, hasn´t it?
So here we are, almost a year later! Oooops. Lot´s has happened lately!
To begin with, I changed sites in October. I went from Corral de Arena to the district capital, Olmos. I love it bunches. It´s nice to be closer to other volunteers (there are two within reasonable walking distance) and to be closer to things in general. Internet, the market, lots of people. Running water. It took me a while to admit to myself that I just wasn´t cut out for campo living. Not that I need constant running water or internet or anything personally, but in order to get work done and to stay sane, it actually is a little necessary. And it´s easier to talk to people in Olmos, as the conversations have gone farther than "you just hanging out?" and "you´re totally going to get married and live here forever." Nope. Not going to do that.
I´ve been working with a captive breeding and rescue center, Crax 2000, which is in another caserío (little town in the campo) of Olmos. It really cute, and eventually I will post some pics. Once I figure out how to do that. It´s challenging, but a good challenge.
A few weekends ago, we went to the department of Cajamarca to celebrate Carnaval, which is Peru´s version of Mardi Gras. It was ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome, I mean. There was a city wide water fight, and for some reason it´s cool to throw paint out, too. It made from some cool souveniers, anyway. I´ll always remember why those clothes are colored to strangely now. The next day, they had a 5 hour long parade, still threw water balloons (thankfully i think it was illegal to throw paint, though), and we all relaxed and recovered, heading home on a night bus. of course, i got sick, as always, but it didn´t last too long.
While most of us were in Cajamarca, my new (as of January) sitemate and another volunteer masterminded a super awesome sandwich competition, because most of us live on sandwiches and, well, who doesn´t like a day of fantastic food? That craziness happened last weekend. I was really impresed by the sandwiches that everyone made. There were 8 contestants (5 volunteers and 3 Peruvian women), and we had everything from mayo and hotdog, to super tangy maracuyà (a local fruit) marinated chicken, currey and soy meat, lots of mangos, and an omlet. Definitely ranks up there as one of the 5 best days ever. A special shout out to our fantastic judges, as well. One judge, Dani, was dying of a migraine and saying she was probably going to puke her guts out, but she was so dedicated to judging such delicacies that she put that aside. And kept it all in! Mike, our volunteer leader, put his best foot forward and judged everyone fairly. Sarah´s 2 host siblings also participated, and, of course, judged her sandwhich the best. Whatever. I still got second :) And her sandwhich was awesome anyway.
The 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps was this month! On 1 March, Peace Corps threw a party in Lima, which a small number of volunteers were randomly given the opportunity to attend (we did a raffel). Then each department had their own regional celebration throughout the month. Ours was last Tuesday, and it was a huge success. We spent a huge amount of time putting togther a beautiful picture gallery (if I don´t say so myself) and the actual ceremony went well. Even if I caught Dani´s flu from two days before and spent the afternoon puking my guts out. But the day itself was nice. A group of dancers performed a really beautiful dance, as well. For a second I thought, " I could totally do this, that looks awesome." then I remembered that I have zero rythm. Oh well. One can dream, no?
Sarah and I are on our way out to Zaña today, which is our friend Nicole´s site. She had invited the dance group to the anniersary party and they are performing in a festival tonight. Should be good! Pics to come, as usual.
To begin with, I changed sites in October. I went from Corral de Arena to the district capital, Olmos. I love it bunches. It´s nice to be closer to other volunteers (there are two within reasonable walking distance) and to be closer to things in general. Internet, the market, lots of people. Running water. It took me a while to admit to myself that I just wasn´t cut out for campo living. Not that I need constant running water or internet or anything personally, but in order to get work done and to stay sane, it actually is a little necessary. And it´s easier to talk to people in Olmos, as the conversations have gone farther than "you just hanging out?" and "you´re totally going to get married and live here forever." Nope. Not going to do that.
I´ve been working with a captive breeding and rescue center, Crax 2000, which is in another caserío (little town in the campo) of Olmos. It really cute, and eventually I will post some pics. Once I figure out how to do that. It´s challenging, but a good challenge.
A few weekends ago, we went to the department of Cajamarca to celebrate Carnaval, which is Peru´s version of Mardi Gras. It was ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome, I mean. There was a city wide water fight, and for some reason it´s cool to throw paint out, too. It made from some cool souveniers, anyway. I´ll always remember why those clothes are colored to strangely now. The next day, they had a 5 hour long parade, still threw water balloons (thankfully i think it was illegal to throw paint, though), and we all relaxed and recovered, heading home on a night bus. of course, i got sick, as always, but it didn´t last too long.
While most of us were in Cajamarca, my new (as of January) sitemate and another volunteer masterminded a super awesome sandwich competition, because most of us live on sandwiches and, well, who doesn´t like a day of fantastic food? That craziness happened last weekend. I was really impresed by the sandwiches that everyone made. There were 8 contestants (5 volunteers and 3 Peruvian women), and we had everything from mayo and hotdog, to super tangy maracuyà (a local fruit) marinated chicken, currey and soy meat, lots of mangos, and an omlet. Definitely ranks up there as one of the 5 best days ever. A special shout out to our fantastic judges, as well. One judge, Dani, was dying of a migraine and saying she was probably going to puke her guts out, but she was so dedicated to judging such delicacies that she put that aside. And kept it all in! Mike, our volunteer leader, put his best foot forward and judged everyone fairly. Sarah´s 2 host siblings also participated, and, of course, judged her sandwhich the best. Whatever. I still got second :) And her sandwhich was awesome anyway.
The 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps was this month! On 1 March, Peace Corps threw a party in Lima, which a small number of volunteers were randomly given the opportunity to attend (we did a raffel). Then each department had their own regional celebration throughout the month. Ours was last Tuesday, and it was a huge success. We spent a huge amount of time putting togther a beautiful picture gallery (if I don´t say so myself) and the actual ceremony went well. Even if I caught Dani´s flu from two days before and spent the afternoon puking my guts out. But the day itself was nice. A group of dancers performed a really beautiful dance, as well. For a second I thought, " I could totally do this, that looks awesome." then I remembered that I have zero rythm. Oh well. One can dream, no?
Sarah and I are on our way out to Zaña today, which is our friend Nicole´s site. She had invited the dance group to the anniersary party and they are performing in a festival tonight. Should be good! Pics to come, as usual.
viernes, 14 de mayo de 2010
Oh, the States.....
I feel like I've been going about this blogging nonsense the wrong way, and I hope this blog will change that. Anyway...what have I been doing....
For the past couple of months, I've been at site, finishing up my diagnostic and getting prepared to actually start DOING something. I've putzed around in site for far too long, it's high time to start making a name for myself. Well, a name other than Gringa, or The One That Runs A Lot. I've been doing little things, like summer school, hanging out with the kids a few afternoons a week, I dug a micro relleno (which the director of the school refuses to use) and I've been talking to a lot of pobladores about what they want to see change in their town. But, why haven't I done anything? I'm not really sure. Part of it is laziness, I think, because it takes a lot of energy to organize things. Part of it, I think, is also a little bit of fear. I don't want to start with something that sucks, because then they won't think that I can do anything good at all. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the type of volunteer that I want to be, too. I talked to a lot of the other volunteers at an In Service Training that we recently had in my lovely department of Lambayeque, and a lot of them are out teaching. I don't think I want to do the teaching, at least not to the kids. I want to be involved in it, but I don't want to be the main teacher. That kind of cuts down on the things that i can do, but it is way more sustainable. I can teach the teachers, I think, who, in turn, can teach for a long long time after I leave. I suppose what I really need to do is get out of my house more. The heat tends to detract me from wanting to leave the hammock in my front yard, but now that it's getting cooler, I think I should be out and about more. I'm a role model in town, and I should act like it.
That, however, will have to wait until I actually get back to site. As my title suggests, I am in the United States of America, living it up with long sleeves, non scratchy sheets, CARPET, toilets and a varied diet. PIZZA. All the English I can speak. ZERO GRUPO CINCO! I love it here. I have thought about not going bavk, but I have no idea what else I would do. I came back on emergency leave, because Greg relapsed about a week into April. I waited until what should have been the end of his chemo, but as I was boarding the plane in Lima, he was puking his guts out and went back into the hospital. I've been home for 2 weeks now (and have 2 more weeks to go) and he's still there. However, the doctors, to their very own surprise, got him into remission and now the plans have started to change. they didn't expect that that was possible, but Greg has proven them wrong countless times in the plast 5.5 years, that no one is surprised. The docs are scrmabling to put a plan together to keep him on the road to recovery. Who knows how long it will last, but we are carefully keeping our fingers crossed. It made for a nice return home, though, I must say.
This experience, the whole last 5.5 years, have been a huge lesson and test of faith, positivity and optimism. And laughing. And a whole lot of other things. But honestly, it is so incredible what can happen when there are tons of people thinking the same happy thoughts. Peter Pan had it right. Well, I guess it was Tinker Bell who taught him that lesson. In any case, when someone like Greg has hundreds of motivated people pulling for him, anything can happen. It is so obvious, too. Mom has been saying that she has sat in the hospital, watching Greg suffer in pain and whatever ailment is on the docket for the day, written an email to his supports telling them about what's going on, and in a matter of hours, he's feeling at least a little better. It's something we can see. So keep that in mind, Readers, whoever you are: positive thinking is one of the most powerful forces that we have, and we have complete control over it. Complete control. We can choose to be negative or we can choose to be positive. And I know that sometimes it takes way more energy to positive than negative, but as soon as your mind can make that switch, the just seems to get brighter. It just feels so much better. It's something that I need to keep in mind in site, and in life in general.
This trip home hasn't been a picture of wonderfulness, though. As the doctors were diagnosing Greg's relapse, his best friend went missing, in some very dangerous water in Hawaii; his body was found a few days later. The memorial service happened while I was at home, which I was glad about. It was really good to see some people who I hadn't seen for several years, and to see everyone celebrating Ryan's life with smiles and laughs. This guy was the picture of positivity, really. Everyone was his friend, he had a joke for anything, and hearing his laugh would make everyone else around him laugh, too. He was pretty darned inspirational, and a super motivating force for Greg. It was sad to see him go, though he never REALLY left us. Everyone agrees that his energy is still here and acting on us.
I hope that this trip home can re-energize me for the next year and a half of projects. I've been thinking a lot about what to do after PC, as I always need a goal to work toward. It's helped me a lot to look at the grad schools that the PC Fellows program supports, and for the next year and half I will be thinking of those opportunities as I am struggling to get people to come to meetings, reminding people that it is unhealthy to burn garbage, and all the other frustrations that come with trying to incite behavior change. I just hope that it's all worthwhile change, but that's a problem for another blog. I hope everyone is well, and if you made it all the way to the end of the blog, well, thanks a lot for sticking with it!
For the past couple of months, I've been at site, finishing up my diagnostic and getting prepared to actually start DOING something. I've putzed around in site for far too long, it's high time to start making a name for myself. Well, a name other than Gringa, or The One That Runs A Lot. I've been doing little things, like summer school, hanging out with the kids a few afternoons a week, I dug a micro relleno (which the director of the school refuses to use) and I've been talking to a lot of pobladores about what they want to see change in their town. But, why haven't I done anything? I'm not really sure. Part of it is laziness, I think, because it takes a lot of energy to organize things. Part of it, I think, is also a little bit of fear. I don't want to start with something that sucks, because then they won't think that I can do anything good at all. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the type of volunteer that I want to be, too. I talked to a lot of the other volunteers at an In Service Training that we recently had in my lovely department of Lambayeque, and a lot of them are out teaching. I don't think I want to do the teaching, at least not to the kids. I want to be involved in it, but I don't want to be the main teacher. That kind of cuts down on the things that i can do, but it is way more sustainable. I can teach the teachers, I think, who, in turn, can teach for a long long time after I leave. I suppose what I really need to do is get out of my house more. The heat tends to detract me from wanting to leave the hammock in my front yard, but now that it's getting cooler, I think I should be out and about more. I'm a role model in town, and I should act like it.
That, however, will have to wait until I actually get back to site. As my title suggests, I am in the United States of America, living it up with long sleeves, non scratchy sheets, CARPET, toilets and a varied diet. PIZZA. All the English I can speak. ZERO GRUPO CINCO! I love it here. I have thought about not going bavk, but I have no idea what else I would do. I came back on emergency leave, because Greg relapsed about a week into April. I waited until what should have been the end of his chemo, but as I was boarding the plane in Lima, he was puking his guts out and went back into the hospital. I've been home for 2 weeks now (and have 2 more weeks to go) and he's still there. However, the doctors, to their very own surprise, got him into remission and now the plans have started to change. they didn't expect that that was possible, but Greg has proven them wrong countless times in the plast 5.5 years, that no one is surprised. The docs are scrmabling to put a plan together to keep him on the road to recovery. Who knows how long it will last, but we are carefully keeping our fingers crossed. It made for a nice return home, though, I must say.
This experience, the whole last 5.5 years, have been a huge lesson and test of faith, positivity and optimism. And laughing. And a whole lot of other things. But honestly, it is so incredible what can happen when there are tons of people thinking the same happy thoughts. Peter Pan had it right. Well, I guess it was Tinker Bell who taught him that lesson. In any case, when someone like Greg has hundreds of motivated people pulling for him, anything can happen. It is so obvious, too. Mom has been saying that she has sat in the hospital, watching Greg suffer in pain and whatever ailment is on the docket for the day, written an email to his supports telling them about what's going on, and in a matter of hours, he's feeling at least a little better. It's something we can see. So keep that in mind, Readers, whoever you are: positive thinking is one of the most powerful forces that we have, and we have complete control over it. Complete control. We can choose to be negative or we can choose to be positive. And I know that sometimes it takes way more energy to positive than negative, but as soon as your mind can make that switch, the just seems to get brighter. It just feels so much better. It's something that I need to keep in mind in site, and in life in general.
This trip home hasn't been a picture of wonderfulness, though. As the doctors were diagnosing Greg's relapse, his best friend went missing, in some very dangerous water in Hawaii; his body was found a few days later. The memorial service happened while I was at home, which I was glad about. It was really good to see some people who I hadn't seen for several years, and to see everyone celebrating Ryan's life with smiles and laughs. This guy was the picture of positivity, really. Everyone was his friend, he had a joke for anything, and hearing his laugh would make everyone else around him laugh, too. He was pretty darned inspirational, and a super motivating force for Greg. It was sad to see him go, though he never REALLY left us. Everyone agrees that his energy is still here and acting on us.
I hope that this trip home can re-energize me for the next year and a half of projects. I've been thinking a lot about what to do after PC, as I always need a goal to work toward. It's helped me a lot to look at the grad schools that the PC Fellows program supports, and for the next year and half I will be thinking of those opportunities as I am struggling to get people to come to meetings, reminding people that it is unhealthy to burn garbage, and all the other frustrations that come with trying to incite behavior change. I just hope that it's all worthwhile change, but that's a problem for another blog. I hope everyone is well, and if you made it all the way to the end of the blog, well, thanks a lot for sticking with it!
domingo, 7 de marzo de 2010
Peruuuuuuuu
oh perú. what more is there to say about it. So far, things are going well. I´m learning how to deal with being a celebrity, which is absolutely awkward. it´s absolutely impossible, or at least it seems like it, to befriends with anyone but girls, because everyone thinks that when any dude hangs out with a girl and vice versa, they are a couple. it´s rather annoying.
in other news, i am slowly starting to think more in spanish and getting used to the rest of the culture. it´s a slow process, but going steady. i´m getting a trash program started in site and it is also a slow process. i wish someone had put a warning label on plastics so that it was obvious to everyone that tossing that crap in the streets so that the animals that you yourself are going to eat is a pretty bad idea. like everything in the peace corps, it´s just a slow process to get going.
even though it´s early on in service, i´ve been thinking about what i want to do afterwards. i think it depends on how peace corps goes, but i´m thinking about taking advantage of grad school opportunities through peacecorps, as long as the programs are hands on and interactive. i want to actually be doing something and not sitting around discussing theories. while i think that´sanimportant thing, i think i would go crazy if i wasn´t being productive.
tomorrow is international women´s day here, and i am very excited that peruvians recognize it. they don´t seem to do much for it, but it´s a start that they even organize anything for it. i think that will be one of my objectives for my projects.
i really didn´t have a reason to writethisblog, but since it is written, there it is. by the way, cumbis is REALLLLLLY getting on my nerves....
in other news, i am slowly starting to think more in spanish and getting used to the rest of the culture. it´s a slow process, but going steady. i´m getting a trash program started in site and it is also a slow process. i wish someone had put a warning label on plastics so that it was obvious to everyone that tossing that crap in the streets so that the animals that you yourself are going to eat is a pretty bad idea. like everything in the peace corps, it´s just a slow process to get going.
even though it´s early on in service, i´ve been thinking about what i want to do afterwards. i think it depends on how peace corps goes, but i´m thinking about taking advantage of grad school opportunities through peacecorps, as long as the programs are hands on and interactive. i want to actually be doing something and not sitting around discussing theories. while i think that´sanimportant thing, i think i would go crazy if i wasn´t being productive.
tomorrow is international women´s day here, and i am very excited that peruvians recognize it. they don´t seem to do much for it, but it´s a start that they even organize anything for it. i think that will be one of my objectives for my projects.
i really didn´t have a reason to writethisblog, but since it is written, there it is. by the way, cumbis is REALLLLLLY getting on my nerves....
sábado, 13 de febrero de 2010
helllllllllloooooooooooooooooo
Well, here I am, about 2.5 months into the Peace Corps. I really don´t have anything planned to say in this here blog, so i´m just going to spill my brains out.
Let´s see........Spanish is going well. I´ve finally stopped trying to be/think/live like a Peruvian. I decided that it´s just not possible. During training, they went on and on about how we need to try to look through purple lenses, not blue (like peruvians) and not red (like americans), and it really is true. I´m a lot happier, now that I have given myelf the opportunity to have, well, intelligent thoughts, and not force myself to hang out with them and do nothing like they do allll the time. They really absolutely do NOT understand my reading. I will be sitting in a hammock for an hour or so, quite obvisouly rocking back and forth with a book, and when I get up, someone will unvariably ask if I slept well. The next time I´m in Chiclayo, the cdapital, I might try to hunt down some books for them. They ALWAYS ask if I brought them anything when I go, and this time I can say that I did. We´ll see if they appreciate them. I hope they do.
It´s the rainy season now, which is pretty awesome, but only when it actually rains. When it doesn´t rain, it´s about 300 degrees and incredibly humid. the ground is all dirt and sand, but the roads and yards are really compact, so the water doesn´t absorb well, it just evaporates, and hangs in the air.
I´m advancing in my work, though! I made a micro relleno, a giant hole in the ground so that the kids in the school can bury garbage instead of tossing it on the ground. My next project is going to be organizing something for the whole town, and getting some sort of recycling going, too. It´s to be a long road, but I hope I can make it go fast. It´s heart breaking to see everyone burning heaps and heaps (litterally, they burn it in heaps) of plastic and compostables. I try to offer alternatives to them, but so far, no dice. I guess that´s why we´re here for 2 years, though, right?
As usual, this will be a short one we´ll see if I can get in another one soon!
Let´s see........Spanish is going well. I´ve finally stopped trying to be/think/live like a Peruvian. I decided that it´s just not possible. During training, they went on and on about how we need to try to look through purple lenses, not blue (like peruvians) and not red (like americans), and it really is true. I´m a lot happier, now that I have given myelf the opportunity to have, well, intelligent thoughts, and not force myself to hang out with them and do nothing like they do allll the time. They really absolutely do NOT understand my reading. I will be sitting in a hammock for an hour or so, quite obvisouly rocking back and forth with a book, and when I get up, someone will unvariably ask if I slept well. The next time I´m in Chiclayo, the cdapital, I might try to hunt down some books for them. They ALWAYS ask if I brought them anything when I go, and this time I can say that I did. We´ll see if they appreciate them. I hope they do.
It´s the rainy season now, which is pretty awesome, but only when it actually rains. When it doesn´t rain, it´s about 300 degrees and incredibly humid. the ground is all dirt and sand, but the roads and yards are really compact, so the water doesn´t absorb well, it just evaporates, and hangs in the air.
I´m advancing in my work, though! I made a micro relleno, a giant hole in the ground so that the kids in the school can bury garbage instead of tossing it on the ground. My next project is going to be organizing something for the whole town, and getting some sort of recycling going, too. It´s to be a long road, but I hope I can make it go fast. It´s heart breaking to see everyone burning heaps and heaps (litterally, they burn it in heaps) of plastic and compostables. I try to offer alternatives to them, but so far, no dice. I guess that´s why we´re here for 2 years, though, right?
As usual, this will be a short one we´ll see if I can get in another one soon!
domingo, 27 de diciembre de 2009
things I appreciate about the States
Annonymity
Christmas Lights and the ability to plug them in
Sanitation Standards
building codes (wow THAT feels weird to say)
cutting boards
eletricity
running water
varied music tastes
People not asking how much everything I have costs (they do this peruvians, too, not just gringos)
proper sidewalks
proper city buses
driving
being able to fix cell phones quickly, instead of traveling for 2 hours to do it
kids not wanting to touch your white face all the time
personal space
thumbtacks
lockable doors
proper dicipline for children
recycling bins
open mindedness
communication
vegetables
peanut butter
proper cuts of meat
house marinated skirt steak
grated cheese
OVENS
cookies
Christmas Lights and the ability to plug them in
Sanitation Standards
building codes (wow THAT feels weird to say)
cutting boards
eletricity
running water
varied music tastes
People not asking how much everything I have costs (they do this peruvians, too, not just gringos)
proper sidewalks
proper city buses
driving
being able to fix cell phones quickly, instead of traveling for 2 hours to do it
kids not wanting to touch your white face all the time
personal space
thumbtacks
lockable doors
proper dicipline for children
recycling bins
open mindedness
communication
vegetables
peanut butter
proper cuts of meat
house marinated skirt steak
grated cheese
OVENS
cookies
martes, 22 de diciembre de 2009
my new alarm clock
¨Bahhhhhhhhhhh¨
¨Hee HAW! Hee HAW!¨
¨Cockadoodledooooooooooooooooooooo!¨
Such is the morning here in Coral de Arena. Noisy and already getting warm at about 6am. Thankfully, I finally mejorar-ed (made better) my sleeping situation (it used to be just sleeping on a straw mattress) so it´s not QUITE a rude an awakening. Peruvians here do all their work realllly early because it gets about 100 degrees during the afternoon, so I tend to feel REALLY lazy as they are sweeping the front yard (just a bare dirt area....it makes me cringe everyday), the house, mopping, going out to collect firewood, (the kitchen gets OVER 100 degrees when they are cooking...I don´t know how they do it) already cooking, taking the animals out to pasture, and trying to keep the almost-3-year-old out of trouble. It´s a hard act to follow, and so far I´ve been following it up with a lot of reading in room. Where it´s only 90 degrees. So far I´ve plowed through 4 books in 4 weeks, and been to 3 different continents. Maybe I should get some real work done. But who wants to do that when you can read about African safaris, Indian spiritualism and Haitian unrest? I sure don´t. (If any of the Cuerpo de Paz higher ups, or people in general are reading this: I really AM working on working).
In general, though, living life here is a lot different in every single way. Just about every day I´m asked if I´m married, how old I am, and where I´m from. Sometimes the marriage question is followed by, ¨come dance with me!¨(if I´m at one of the plethora of Peruana parties), ¨do you have a boyfriend in the States?¨ ¨what! why not! you´re 23!¨ and the most recent one is "can you accept marriage proposals while you´re here?" If you´re wondering, Mom, my answer to the last one was a firm "No, but at least you were polite enough to ask." One guy has gone so far as to bring me mangos and coconuts. Too bad the mangos were green and moldy. It´s rather comical. My mayor says that it´s just the Peruvian way of joking and accepting me, and they are just joking. I find it many things, but "just joking!" isn´t one of them.
I have come to appreciate many strange things about the states in the last 3 months. Carpet and floor rugs are one of them. less rice and more vegetables is another. they eat no less than 3 pounds of rice a day, per person. i may have said this already. but I´m reminding everyone (all 2 of you that read this). cleanliness is another. water pressure. tv shows with at least half-substantial content. annonymity. open mindedness. no machismo. being able to communucate.
being able to talk with those of the male species without others thinking that I am dating them. and without the males thinking that i want to date them. oh man. there´s a lot more things. but so far, so good. recycling. that´s actually been the hardest one. I´m here to implement recycling programs, but it´s hard to live without it as well. call me a dirty hippy (you´d be right, it´s hard to shower with only a few liters of water) but it´s true.
well, i´m off to the land of the sand. until next time!
¨Hee HAW! Hee HAW!¨
¨Cockadoodledooooooooooooooooooooo!¨
Such is the morning here in Coral de Arena. Noisy and already getting warm at about 6am. Thankfully, I finally mejorar-ed (made better) my sleeping situation (it used to be just sleeping on a straw mattress) so it´s not QUITE a rude an awakening. Peruvians here do all their work realllly early because it gets about 100 degrees during the afternoon, so I tend to feel REALLY lazy as they are sweeping the front yard (just a bare dirt area....it makes me cringe everyday), the house, mopping, going out to collect firewood, (the kitchen gets OVER 100 degrees when they are cooking...I don´t know how they do it) already cooking, taking the animals out to pasture, and trying to keep the almost-3-year-old out of trouble. It´s a hard act to follow, and so far I´ve been following it up with a lot of reading in room. Where it´s only 90 degrees. So far I´ve plowed through 4 books in 4 weeks, and been to 3 different continents. Maybe I should get some real work done. But who wants to do that when you can read about African safaris, Indian spiritualism and Haitian unrest? I sure don´t. (If any of the Cuerpo de Paz higher ups, or people in general are reading this: I really AM working on working).
In general, though, living life here is a lot different in every single way. Just about every day I´m asked if I´m married, how old I am, and where I´m from. Sometimes the marriage question is followed by, ¨come dance with me!¨(if I´m at one of the plethora of Peruana parties), ¨do you have a boyfriend in the States?¨ ¨what! why not! you´re 23!¨ and the most recent one is "can you accept marriage proposals while you´re here?" If you´re wondering, Mom, my answer to the last one was a firm "No, but at least you were polite enough to ask." One guy has gone so far as to bring me mangos and coconuts. Too bad the mangos were green and moldy. It´s rather comical. My mayor says that it´s just the Peruvian way of joking and accepting me, and they are just joking. I find it many things, but "just joking!" isn´t one of them.
I have come to appreciate many strange things about the states in the last 3 months. Carpet and floor rugs are one of them. less rice and more vegetables is another. they eat no less than 3 pounds of rice a day, per person. i may have said this already. but I´m reminding everyone (all 2 of you that read this). cleanliness is another. water pressure. tv shows with at least half-substantial content. annonymity. open mindedness. no machismo. being able to communucate.
being able to talk with those of the male species without others thinking that I am dating them. and without the males thinking that i want to date them. oh man. there´s a lot more things. but so far, so good. recycling. that´s actually been the hardest one. I´m here to implement recycling programs, but it´s hard to live without it as well. call me a dirty hippy (you´d be right, it´s hard to shower with only a few liters of water) but it´s true.
well, i´m off to the land of the sand. until next time!
miércoles, 16 de diciembre de 2009
Que Paso con mi English??
Apparently, the mark of a gringo who´s been in Peru too long, is that they just can´t decide what language they want to speak. Lamentablemente, I think that´s happening to me. I´ve acustombrar-ed here, (readjust? what does THAT mean?) and am slowly getting the hang of the language. Very very slowly. I have no idea what I will sound like when I regressar (regress? I think I mean ´return´) to the Good Ole Estados.
There´s more than just verbal language to get used to here, it´s kind of like learning to break a secret code. You have to wait a certain amount of time before deciding that the person you´re talking to just didn´t understand you, there´s a little song and dance when entering a room (tehre´s actually not, you just have to greet absolutely everyone in the room with a cheek kiss or a handshake), among various other things.
I´ve only been here in site about 3 weeks, but so far, I think i´m adjusting really well. except to the time management thing. i think i acabarred my cabina tiempo. :(
There´s more than just verbal language to get used to here, it´s kind of like learning to break a secret code. You have to wait a certain amount of time before deciding that the person you´re talking to just didn´t understand you, there´s a little song and dance when entering a room (tehre´s actually not, you just have to greet absolutely everyone in the room with a cheek kiss or a handshake), among various other things.
I´ve only been here in site about 3 weeks, but so far, I think i´m adjusting really well. except to the time management thing. i think i acabarred my cabina tiempo. :(
viernes, 4 de diciembre de 2009
Summer tiiiiiimes, and the livin´s easyyyyyy
Summer in the district of Olmos (which really never ends, as it´s in the desert) is proving to be pretty amazing. Apparently, the summer not only brings hot hot heat, but torrential rainstorms, as well. Good ole tropics. We have yet to see the rain (which some volunteers have told me is not actually that bad) but it´s been HOT ever since I got to site almost 2 weeks ago. It reminds me of the two weeks I spent in Bahía de Los Angeles, on a field study-we take 2-4 hour naps in the middle of the day. Or at least sit inside and read or talk or just melt a little for that time. For some reason, though, they enjoy serving soup for lunch, right in the middle of the hotness. I don´t understand, but they don´t seem to mind it, so I´ll just get used to it.
To describe my town a little: It´s a casarillo (a small town) in the district (county) of Olmos. The main part of the town has about 1500 people, and there are 7 anexos (think, umm.......just a really small town), each with anywhere from 50-300 people. There are no paved roads, though the roads near the river Cascajal (the river coming off the highway, on the way to my town) are mostly graveled. My host family grows mangos, papayas, lentils, tamarindos (kind of like big beans covered in Fruit Roll Up), and sweet potato, and has 2 donkeys, 15ish sheep, 10ish goats, 10ish Criloe chickens, 6 ducks, a few pigs, a several guniea pigs. They ae busy bees (I think they have some bee boxes too, but I haven´t found them yet). They wake up at dawn, more or less, to start their days work. There are two daughters that live in the house, Janet and Maria Angelica, though they go by Pocha and Keke (pronouced Cake-a, it always makes me want dessert). They keep the house together, though Pocha works at the municipality 5 hours a day. Keke keeps her nearly three year old son, Fabricio, in line, while doing laundry, and general house stuff. I mostly just feel useless. I have a community diagnostic that I have to do in my first 3 months, and I try to look busy doing that. Fabricio has adopted me, and I spend a lot of time keeping him out of trouble, too.
Mostly, I sit back in the hammock and think about what great luck these people have to live here, and they don´t even realise it. The skyscapes are gorgeous, and remind me of what I think that Africa would look like, if I ever were to see it. The mountains are inviting, though they can´t understand why I would think about spending energy to go there (we´re very close to some small peaks, and I plan to explore them quite soon), and while it´s super hot, at least it´s not super cold and snowing. I used to think that super hot was worse, but I think that I can stand it now. The one problems is the water, of course, as there is a river quite close and it floods. But, there are people (supossedly) working on that.
The last almost 3 months here have left me missing things in the good ole USofA-
Carpet. Floors are either dirt or cement in these parts.
Plentiful vegetables
Cereal (we eat a combo of rice, potatoes, fried meat, fried potatos and fried eggs. oi).
english.
rock climbing.
constant interent.
constant electricity.
constant water (I´ve learned to take a bath from 1.5 gallons of water every other day. sometimes even every day).
mexican food.
toilet seats. (my training house had a toilet but no seat. this house actually has a seat, but it´s a latrine and I regularly see cockroaches in it. I don´t sit.)
it´s time to head to a meeting with the municipality and the local schools, so I gotta run! I explain more about it later.
To describe my town a little: It´s a casarillo (a small town) in the district (county) of Olmos. The main part of the town has about 1500 people, and there are 7 anexos (think, umm.......just a really small town), each with anywhere from 50-300 people. There are no paved roads, though the roads near the river Cascajal (the river coming off the highway, on the way to my town) are mostly graveled. My host family grows mangos, papayas, lentils, tamarindos (kind of like big beans covered in Fruit Roll Up), and sweet potato, and has 2 donkeys, 15ish sheep, 10ish goats, 10ish Criloe chickens, 6 ducks, a few pigs, a several guniea pigs. They ae busy bees (I think they have some bee boxes too, but I haven´t found them yet). They wake up at dawn, more or less, to start their days work. There are two daughters that live in the house, Janet and Maria Angelica, though they go by Pocha and Keke (pronouced Cake-a, it always makes me want dessert). They keep the house together, though Pocha works at the municipality 5 hours a day. Keke keeps her nearly three year old son, Fabricio, in line, while doing laundry, and general house stuff. I mostly just feel useless. I have a community diagnostic that I have to do in my first 3 months, and I try to look busy doing that. Fabricio has adopted me, and I spend a lot of time keeping him out of trouble, too.
Mostly, I sit back in the hammock and think about what great luck these people have to live here, and they don´t even realise it. The skyscapes are gorgeous, and remind me of what I think that Africa would look like, if I ever were to see it. The mountains are inviting, though they can´t understand why I would think about spending energy to go there (we´re very close to some small peaks, and I plan to explore them quite soon), and while it´s super hot, at least it´s not super cold and snowing. I used to think that super hot was worse, but I think that I can stand it now. The one problems is the water, of course, as there is a river quite close and it floods. But, there are people (supossedly) working on that.
The last almost 3 months here have left me missing things in the good ole USofA-
Carpet. Floors are either dirt or cement in these parts.
Plentiful vegetables
Cereal (we eat a combo of rice, potatoes, fried meat, fried potatos and fried eggs. oi).
english.
rock climbing.
constant interent.
constant electricity.
constant water (I´ve learned to take a bath from 1.5 gallons of water every other day. sometimes even every day).
mexican food.
toilet seats. (my training house had a toilet but no seat. this house actually has a seat, but it´s a latrine and I regularly see cockroaches in it. I don´t sit.)
it´s time to head to a meeting with the municipality and the local schools, so I gotta run! I explain more about it later.
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.
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. :)
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. :)
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