This Is When It Gets Real

Hello again everybody,

Well, I´ve got to say, I´m a little disappointed. Zero comments from you after I posted all those pictures from my trip. But oh well. I know how it is to be busy. Case in point: I let another couple of weeks go between postings. In my defence, I didn´t have a computer to post on. Actually, I still don´t, but I wanted to keep you in the know so here I am posting my life to you from a public computer in Huancayo. The only downside is that until I get my computer back, no pictures. No worries though. I have complete faith that your imaginations will create some beautiful images.

The last couple of weeks have been busy. We finished up training and then had the planning for the Thank you party to our families and for the swearing in ceremony. That´s right, I´m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! The swear-in ceremony was held on Friday and in our oath we promised to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and abroad. This is the same oath that our military take. Attending the ceremony were the head honchos: our country director (the highest ranking Peace Corps position in Peru) and the American ambassador to Peru, Miss Rose Marie Likins. You´ll be glad to know that I shook her hand, took a picture with her and even got to chat about her Thanksgiving spent with the Marines. So we swore in and have been promoted from PCT´s to PCV´s! Woot.

The day before swear-in was a heck of a lot more fun. That day was Thanksgiving and although I was missing the eating fest that the holiday brings in the States, we had our own bits of party. The morning began with a breakfast banquet with just us Environmental volunteers full of fruit and yogurt and nice breads. A much healthier breakfast than we had been used to. A little bit later, it was time to prep for the Thanksgiving party where our thanks was directed at our host families. As head of the food committee, this meant that I was running around buying last minute things like bread and juice and cutting fruit and cheese and laying them out on trays. I had also made pralines the night before to bring a little bit of Southern taste to our banquet. Also on the spread was sweet potato fries, fruit salad, guacamole, baba ganoush, chips, popcorn, carrot cake, mini apple pies, empanadas, taquitos and wantons. For drinks we served chicha morada and maracuya juice. I think everyone was happy except that they may have not gotten to eat all they wanted.

Although I was in charge of the food, I also participated in the entertainment. We put on a quick Thanksgiving play just to explain a little bit about the holiday. I was a Pilgrim Woman and all I had to do was say ¨Dios mio¨whenever she mentioned us. I think they liked the play but they didn´t quite get the message because the next day, I had to re-explain the idea to my host mom. The other act I participated in was the traditional Peruvian dance called the Carnaval Potosi. We dressed up in the typical dresses and danced barefoot. (This is where if I had my computer I would share photos and video but you´ll just have to wait, or special request it). Lots of fun. But the real show stopped (literally, it was the finale) was Peru 16´s rendition of Stomp. A small group of PCT´s grabbed whatever they could to make sounds and within three days had come up with a really cool routine and funny to boot. (Remind me for video later). I think the parents felt properly thanked.

We had our own party Friday night to say goodbye to each other. We went out to a bar near the river in Chosica and pretty much took over the second floor and its juke box. Nothing says good times like singing Cher and Rod Stewart in perfect english while the Peruvians across the street look on. It was a good way to say goodbye and wish each other luck. And it was weird to think about how long it would be, if ever, we were all in the same place again.

The last week has been and even still is, emotionally charged. I have felt incredibly happy and excited, tormentedly anxious and nostalgically sad. For the most part, I have just felt ready. Things have been frustrating and it has been sad to say goodbye to friends but I think we are all at the place where we are ready to get out and do good work. The anxieties are still there, but the optimism that everything will work out and come together overrides that feeling of nervousness.

So to recap training. I read 4 books, watched 6 movies, went to Lima 8 times, camping once, countless cold showers, a week without any shower, 8 hours a day - 5 days a week with 39 of my new close friends, many combi rides with no thefts and many more good times. I have a cell phone and can converse on it in spanish and I can explain that, no, I´m not a tourist. I can claim that I live here in Peru and I am ready to start working here too.

I just spent the last couple of hours buying things that I will need to furnish my new room in site including a mattress, frame and sheet set. Who knew that the first bed I would ever buy on my own would be in Peru? Tomorrow we will grab our car, strap the bed to the top and take the 4.5 hour trip to site. From there, my work will begin.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you. I have a new mailing address. Please comment here or e-mail me if you would like me to send it to you. Know that I´m thinking of you lots. Blessings.

Well, folks, I'm terribly sorry for having left you thinking about Halloween for the last three weeks. The case is that I spent 10 days of those weeks traveling and the rest of those days gearing for and gearing down from traveling. We completed our FBT (field-based training) in a place called Junin and then I went on to visit my future home in Yauyos. So 10 days of travel and it was good to come "home" to the bed I'd gotten used to. Anyway, the good news is that, as some followers of my blogs know, when I go traveling, the result on my blog is......a TOP 10 LIST!

So to remind you of the rules. Top ten lists need not reach ten nor be limited by ten. The order in which items of the list appear has nothing to do with the coolness of the event. Also, my lists count up. So here we go!

1. In the drive to Junin I achieved a new personal best highest altitude reached. That sign says 4818 meters (15,807 feet) above sea level!

2. We got to visit many current volunteers in their sites, including Lauren in Huayre. Huayre is cool because of this giant in their plaza.

That is a maca. It is a tuber indigenous to high altitudes (Huayre is at about 4100 meters) and known worldwide for its health benefits - specifically, high in vitamins, energizing and an aphrodisiac. We started many a day in town with a hot papaya-maca smoothie.

3. Teaching the children. Also in Huayre, as well as Junin, we were able to give environmental education talks to a few classes in the schools. We focused mainly on reforestation and the importance of planting trees since we were there during Reforestation Week. The kids made us feel like a rock star. Even if we were feeling unsure of our spanish and the adults didn't really know what to make of us, the kids loved us immediately.

4. Working with special children. We also got to visit a special ed school in Junin. This was a simultaneously cool and ugly experience. Cool because, well, let's face it, if kids make you feel great for loving you, special ed kids have the biggest hearts and therefore have way more love to give. The ugly side came when, being there, we could observe a few of the attitudes of other Peruvians towards special ed kids. Some are ashamed, others are afraid and others don't necessarily see them as capable. But for the most part, this experience was uplifting - especially when we all sat down to a mid-morning roll and plastic cup full of Inca-kola.

5. Teaching the adults. On this trip, I had my first experience leading a discussion with adults. The tourism committee of Huayre asked us to give a talk about eco-tourism and help them visualize how they could do that in their town. Having no experience in eco-tourism (except as an occasional patron), we were a little insecure going into this talk too. Of course, even with our limited experience, we still had more than these community members. It turned out to be a great chat and ended with delicious Sol de Cuzco hot chocolate and soda crackers. Yes.

6. Giant frogs! In case you're just tuning in, no, this isn't a list of plagues. Junin is home to a couple of endangered and endemic species because of its altitude and its lake (Chinchaycocha). It is really a quite beautiful altiplano wetland. But due to hunting and loss of habitat this little guy (not so little) is in danger.

Because of that, Peru's protected area service is conducting a population rehabilitation center which we got to visit. Also cool. As a biologist, Lake Chinchaycocha was calling my name.

7. Running into an old Brassica friend at the municipal vivero (tree nursery) in Junin. This little guy was all over Spain when we were looking for its relative last year.

8. Flamingos! We went on a boat trip out onto the lake one morning and from our zodiac, we could see Andean coots, zambullidores and flamingos. So cool. Here they are flying.

9. Historic site of the battle of Junin as well as the location of Incan ruins in Chacamarca (I think that's the spelling). This was the first day that I could actually be in a short-sleeve shirt. It was lovely.

10. Recycle buyback with PCV (and C of C alum) Will. For 4 hours, we bough recyclables from little old ladies, drunk old men, moms and children. The total we bought I think turned out to be about 300 soles (~ $100) worth of recycled materials.

11. Site visit! Walking my new home with the volunteer I will be replacing. Here we are at the end of the street on which I will live.

12. We're heading into the rainy season and so one lovely rainy afternoon (it rained from 1:30 until 7:30), we had an information download. I sat with my notebook and wrote down everything Cate could throw at me about our new town.

13. To tackle one of her current problems regarding trash separation and at the same time introduce me as the new volunteer, we made an informational video. It will be played before the popular television shows so that everyone watching will see.

14. There's another tall, blond, foreigner in my town. She's from the Netherlands and is doing a study on the biodiversity of the snails in the area for her masters. What are the odds?

15. Donkeys. Everywhere. Including the health post.

I think that's it for now. Though I'm sure I'll be coming up with a lot more for you. We have one more week of training and then we move out to site. Since I will have internet there, I plan to be keeping you up to speed through the blog but only time will tell with what frequency once my work gets going. Thanks for reading.

Blessings.

This is Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!

This is my first Halloween ever out of the country, without costumes and candy, trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples or pumpkin carving. Still, Halloween does exist in Peru. There is an interesting dichotomy that happens here at the end of October. The youth, tend to celebrate "Halloween." Little kids do sometimes dress up in costume and collect candy. Instead of "trick or treat" they just say "Halloween!" but you get the idea. Our idea of Halloween is pretty integrated into their Halloween culture that we get images like this in the more upscale places.

But on the other side of Peruvian culture is the Dia de Todos Santos (All Saint's Day). This celebration is more akin to Mexico's Day of the Dead in that families buy special breads and candies and set the table for the souls of their loved ones to join them for dinner. Some families go to the cemeteries to have a party. It is not solemn or scary but a true celebration of the lives and the spirits of the living and the dead. It is a happy rememberance. As we were coming home from the training center last night we passed a couple of cemeteries where there was a lot of celebration happening. Outside the entrance to the cemetery was a flower vendor stall (expected) and a beer vendor stall (not quite expected). And that is the idea: we celebrate our loved ones, living and dead.

As for my celebration for this time of year this year, I will maintain my Halloween traditions with my fellow American trainees and I will experience Peru's traditions tomorrow with my family. We will have our own party (costumes optional) with candy, food and drink and I'll bring my standard Halloween movies: Hocus Pocus and Rocky Horror. Tomorrow I hope to go with my madre to the cemetery to experience how my familia celebrates this time of year.

In other news...

If this blog is the only way you are keeping up with me, then you have not yet heard. Tuesday, was "Site Assignment Day" and as you can imagine, we found out where we have been assigned. They put all the assignments on little slips of paper and put one slip of paper into a balloon, tied to a string in a tree. Like this.

One person began by popping a balloon, reading the name of the person and their site on the slip inside and then that person would pop the next balloon until everyone had heard where they were going. As the person who popped the last balloon, I had a long wait to find out that I will be going to....

Laraos, Yauyos, Lima, Peru.

This means - Country: Peru, Department: Lima, District: Yauyos, City: Laraos.

This is within a naturally protected area and everyone says it is beautiful. My town will have about 300 or less people and I will be working with the national park service (SERNANP - SERvicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas). I get to visit this place in a week and a half and I cannot wait. Then, in one month, I will be packing my bags to move there. I have a lot more research and learning to do before I get there.

But for the rest of this weekend, I will be doing the Halloween/Todos Santos celebrations. Let me know how you spend your Halloween.

Blessings.

Dia de Votacion

Well folks, I have just finished filling arrows on my absentee ballot, thus ensuring that my voice is heard in this year's Illinois election. Now it's just a matter of mailing it in but I think I will wait for the day we travel to the American embassy and see if I can mail it for free from there. But this seems like a perfect opportunity to discuss elections.

Peru had their elections for mayor two weeks ago (Sunday, October 3) and it was pretty cool. When we arrived in country, the political advertisements were everywhere. The most common of said advertisements were wall art like this.

Each candidate has a name (obviously), a party and a symbol. Anyone of these could be referenced in an advertisement. One candidate for instance could advertise simply: "Vote for wheat," - wheat being their symbol. The downside to this could be that a voter does not remember the name of the person for whom they are voting.

Like I said, the vote two weeks ago was for mayor. Each city votes for their mayor but there are also regional mayors. My family then voted for the mayor of Chosica (the nearest large town) and for the mayor of the department of Lima. The voting age here is 18, just like us but one large difference between our political system and Peru's is that here, voting is mandatory for all citizens between 18 and 80. If someone fails to vote, they may be fined. So, one day (Oct. 3) between 8 and 4, everyone has to go to their assigned voting spot, wait in a very very long line and cast their vote for the candidate/symbol/party of their choice.

That voting is mandatory is one difference but there are more similarities. As with any elections, scandal is very present. For instance, there are rumors that the current and re-elected mayor of Chosica is homosexual and/or has AIDS. As far as I have heard, the only reason people believe this is because he is a single man. This has in no way damaged his political career, however, because he has held this office for such a length of time that even Rita Mullins (Palatine people explain this please) would be impressed.

In the race for mayor of Lima, the scandal has a lot more to do with personality and fact than with rumor. The leading candidates were two women and each one had her own schtick. One of the ladies would sing at any of the rallies, the other would always be dancing. However, the dancing candidate in a personal phone call, told her confidant that winning the mayor of Lima didn't matter to her because it wasn't president, the post she really wanted. That conversation was illegally recorded but published anyway and so the favor swayed from the one candidate to the other.

I wish I could tell you who came out on top in their race but they are in fact, still counting votes. The mayor of Choica was decided the night of elections, but the race for mayor of Lima was/is so close that the quick vote was not enough to decide a winner. They are STILL counting the votes! I guess that's what happens when voting is mandatory. That - and you get people voting who don't know what's going on. Well, we get that in the U.S. too but I guess it's less frequent because people who don't know what's going on can just abstain from voting.

As I wrote above, it is mandatory for all Peruvians between 18 and 80 to vote. The elderly I suppose catch a break just in case they become incapable of leaving their homes to vote. Still, the oldest participant in Peru's elections two weeks ago was a one hundred and some years old woman who showed up to her polling place in a wheelchair! That's just impressive in any country.

I wish I had some profound thoughts to wrap up this political blog but alas. My profound thoughts are spent on other cross-cultural comparisons (tune in next time). I just thought it would be interesting for you all to know as you think about casting your votes for your state's future, how this country goes about their democratic process.

Blessings.

Un Techado

It seems like I'm on a Thursday kick with the blogs. Anyway, this blog isn't meant to be about my routine here in Peru - that was last blog (check it out!).

THIS blog is about a Techado. What is a Techado, you might ask. Literally, it means "roofed or, in our case, the even of putting a roof." This is the final step in the construction of a house when you think of it and so the addition and completion of a roof is in fact, a big deal. I had the luck to attend a Techado party my first weekend here.

As I think I mentioned, my host padre is a construction worker/foreman/expert. My first Saturday in country, my madre invited me to visit him where he was working. Excited to have as many experiences as possible, I of course agreed. Little did I know the to-do that this excursion would be.

The location of this even was about 2 hours away on a crowded and small combi (the public transportation system) and then a mototaxi ride up the mountain to where the house was under construction. We arrived just as they were finishing the final smoothing of the cement. I joined the ladies up the hill to watch the proceedings.

While we waited for the construction to finish, I joined a game of street volleyball. Who knew that this favorite sport of mine is so loved by Peruvians? I wouldn't even have included it in the options. They are small people. The net stretched across the street so that every time a car or mototaxi came by, we had to lift the net to let them through. And it turns out that being a 5'8" gringa in a Peruvian volleyball game has its advantages. Let's just say that I made more spikes that night than in my high school sporting career. But it didn't matter; my team still lost and I lost 50 centimos (don't worry, that translates to about 15 cents).

The game finished, we headed back to wash our hands and get ready for the festivities. The ladies had been cooking all afternoon, the men were finished with the roof and washing up and the band was tuning up. The band consisted of 4 saxophones, a violinist, a drummer and a harp-bass type thing that I can't identify. Maybe you can?

So. Here's what happened. My madre and padre were actually the padrinos (literally = godparents but when referring to a party, it's more like sponsors) so they brought a bottle of champagne and some flowers and tied them over the door of the house. My madre gave a speech while I stood next to her (quite an honor), she named the house and christened the house by breaking the bottle of champagne. She then threw candies and fruits into all of the people in attendance like a 4th of July parade. All the kids (and adults too) were saying "Vecina aqui, por favor" to try and get a little bit more candy love.

Then, the food was served. Chicken and potatoes and - as the padrinos - my padres were served first. This means I was also served first and it was delicious. After dinner, the band struck up and there was dancing! The style of music is Huayno (wai-no) or Santiago and the manner of dancing is a lot of feet shuffling in a circle. It is a dance that comes from the Sierra of the Andes and a lot of people told me that is was a dance for keeping warm. It worked. And I was not allowed to sit down.

One of my favorite things of the night was that I was dancing and a woman was trying to get a man to dance and she exclaimed to him: "Of course you can dance. Look! Even the gringa is dancing! Come on!"

Also this night was my first experience with the Peruvian drinking custom. There is one bottle, one cup and one circle. A person pours himself a little bit in the cup and passes the bottle to the next person. This person waits, holding the bottle, while the first person finishes the glass but for a little bit, tosses that bit onto the ground to "clean" it and passes the cup. And around the circle it goes. Not the most sanitary of drinking customs but definitely one of the more social ones.

The dancing went on for a while and the drinking continued and the music played. They had terrific timing for their breaks for just as we tired, the band would cut out and play softer music. Then, the drummer would count off and it would pick up again. Around 10pm, we decided to make our trek back to Yanacoto. I fell asleep in the colectivo once or twice and collapsed into bed that night, exhausted and contented with my first Peruvian culture party experience.

Blessings.

La Rutina

Great news! I saw a puppy today!

So, I promised to write about training this blog and I will make sure to do that, but I got some more questions about my housing so I felt like I should give you some more info on that. Anyway, I'll walk you through my house now. This is the outside of my house.

There's some great cacti on the outside and that window to the left and on the first floor is my room. It's the only room on that floor and then we immediately head up some stairs to the second floor which looks like this.

It's very empty because it's under construction. Then you go up one more level and you are on the beautiful beautiful roof patio that leads to the living area of my family. The garden/porch and view from the top looks like this:

So you now you know where I live. Through training exercises, I’ve come to know a little bit more about my town. For instance, there are 5 zones of the town and I live in the 2^nd zone. The first and second zones have water and waste systems but the ones above do not. We get water 2 days a week for 20 minutes. During this 20 minutes, we fill our cisterns full to be used until we get water again. There hasn’t been a problem with having enough water yet but I know a few of my companyeros’s families have forgotten to refill a couple of times and have run out of water. So I have a shower, yes. The temperature of this water depends entirely on the time of day and whether there are clouds or not. If it’s a sunny midday, my shower could be pleasantly room temperature but more often, it’s evening or early morning as the neblina is settling on our mountains.

I know that the rundown of the house will not be complete until you get pictures of the other inhabitants but I haven’t gotten those yet so it will just have to wait.

On to training. Training happens at a center in Santa Eulalia which is a 30 minute ride on the ‘combi’ public transportation system. One ride there costs 1 Nuevo Sol (~30 cents). Though the mountains around the center are dry and dusty, inside it is somewhat of an oasis. There are all sorts of flora and one important bit of fauna.

That is Panchito. He’s the pet alpaca of the center and we all love him. So much so that I think he will be nominated for general assembly president next week. Our training sessions go like this: Language/Culture training in the morning (8-12), lunch (12 -1) and then tech training (1-5). There are also occasional Health and Safety talks as well as some vaccinations. (I’m 2 rounds into being immune to rabies!) It’s a pretty long day when you think about it and I get home about 5:45.

Much of language training is general conversation about cultural affairs with bits of grammar thrown in. We take field trips into the town and conduct interviews with random strangers, first practicing introducing ourselves and then asking what they think about such and such event.

Tech training is pretty fantastic. I liked it a lot last week as we immediately dove into necessary skills for an environmental education volunteer. We first learned about basic composting and then built three piles at the center. The next day, we learned the basics of beginning a tree nursery and then built one in a shady corner of the center. We have a few experiments going to find the most effective way to sprout our native species seeds as well. This week has been a little slower with actual lectures on things but there is something that keeps things interesting.

That something – no, it’s not Panchito – is the manner in which information is presented to us. We are in an age of the powerpoint in the United States and there is no denying it. But in Peru, projectors are not abundant and electricity isn’t a guarantee. The manner in which information is given us is in itself a training mechanism. We are seeing alternative and interactive ways to present information. Our trainers are huge fans of sequentially taping things to the wall as they speak. They also like to keep us moving, playing games, participating, and chatting as a whole, in small groups or in partners. Such activities take time and are in no way efficient in that sense. However, the benefits gained by ensuring participation through game-playing etc., far outweigh any time loss – especially for a person who has all sorts of time and is freely giving it.

That is one thing I’m learning and becoming comfortable with. Yes, we are being trained in technical skills so we can be an expert to communities to request us, but the most important thing we are giving is a full-time dedication of our hours to the development of sustainably meeting the needs of our communities.

I’ll leave you with this: I went for a hike today with two other trainees. This is where we ended up.

Blessings.

Oh. The Places You'll Go

It's funny how that phrase has continued to come up in my life. First of course, when I was little, I was read the Dr. Seuss classic by parents and teachers. Then, when I graduated college I was gifted the book again as inspiration for where I would be heading with this tool called a college degree. One more time, I was given a travel size version at my going away party just before leaving for Peru. This was to remind me of home and to inspire me as I go on my way in this adventure.

After arriving here, this phrase has taken on a whole new meaning. This past week has been full of introductions and welcomes and "this is how things will be running" seminars. It has also involved getting used to a new training center for the staff. One of these seminars was a health chat about, well, intestinal health and how we should be keenly aware of ours as we adjust to new foods, liquids and bugs. The talk ended with a slide reading: "Oh...the places you'll go."

It's funny to me that it has only been one week because it has been jam packed with events, new learning experiences and lots of new people/faces/names. My family alone, is enough to make a person's head swim. I have 5 brothers and they are all between 15 and 29. Francini, Frank, Rudy, Fernando and Renzo. We live in a town called Yanacoto which is about a 1.5 hour drive west of Lima. My mom is Gregoria and she does lots of things. My dad is Francisco and he works construction (right now putting a roof on a house in Lima). Two of my brothers are in the navy and the other three live at home. We have two dogs (Scrappy and Donde Estas), one tail-less cat (Chismoso) and many ducks, ducklings and chickens. No guinea pigs. There is also a vegetable garden more or less on the roof.

This is how our house works: Let me begin by saying that I live on the side of a mountain. My room (I have my own room!) is on the first floor, street level. Up one flight of stairs are a couple of rooms under construction and the bathroom I use. Up one more flight of stairs and you are outside without even passing through a door and on the third floor when you look at the street but still ground level if you head back to the hill. This is where the garden and animals are. You re-enter the house through a door and there is the living area of my family and the dining room. This is my view.

It. Is. Beautiful. Blessings.

Next up: Training!