I am sitting here with a little bit of a cold choking on the smoke that my host mom just spread through the house to bring in the good and chase away the bad. I find these rituals very interesting and I love participating in them but I had to laugh when my asthmatic host mom and sister say that jello induces their asthma and not filling the house with smoke twice a week. There are many Peruvian beliefs that we volunteers appreciate but tend to joke around about amongst each other. The strongest of these beliefs is that cold food and drinks, breezes, and jello are almost always the reason of the common cold. My host mom gave me jello for lunch in the 90-degree heat and at 6 PM as I begin sneezing and coughing; she tells me that the "cold" jello is what made me sick and then tries to smoke out my room. Now I was very excited to be a part of this custom but when she asked if she could go in my tiny room and fill it with smoke, I couldn't help but think of the itchy eyes and the smell of all my stuff for the next month so I declined. I made the mistake of admitting to feeling sick and now my host mom will be watching my every move throughout the next week to make sure that I don't eat anything they consider "cold" (I still don't understand how foods get this designation as it ranges from obviously cold foods to things like popsicles to random things like the aforementioned jello and even papaya).
The real reason for my cold is that I was recently on a big vacation of the colonial mountain city of Arequipa (the white city because its buildings are made from a white volcanic stone called sillar) with other Peace Corps volunteers who I haven't seen in a while. This vacation consisted of a lot of exploring, artisan shopping, hiking, and our fair share of happy hours but very little sleep. The first day my friend and I went up to Lake Titicaca to see the floating islands that are still home to the Uros people. These people have lived on these man-made reed islands for hundreds of years and are constantly adding more reeds to keep themselves afloat. The concept that these people live like this is incredible although the presentation brings to mind the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland as you paddle around in boats and the residents decked out in impeccable traditional costumes dance and sing for you. After living within a foreign culture for so long I can't help but being a little cynical when someone's life is presented in such a kitschy way. Overall, the lake is incredible and the mere existence of the civilizations on both the floating and natural islands is something to be admired. The artisanry was also incredible and I had to resist buying much because this was my first day of vacation and I didn't want to spend my entire very limited souvenir budget.
Directly from our full day boat tour my friend and I boarded a bus to continue our whirlwind tour of the southern Andes. We arrived at our hostel in Arequipa and were put in a room with three sleeping strangers. When we woke up we realized that these strangers were actually Peace Corps volunteers also taking their Thanksgiving vacation in Arequipa. As it turns out, we picked a hot vacation spot as we seemed to run into volunteers everywhere we went. With Peace Corps Peru now at above 250 volunteers, it is a safe bet that you will run into volunteers at the destination spots over our free travel weekends (Thanksgiving and Fourth of July). During our trip we were trying to come up with a list o how to distinguish PCVs from ordinary travelers. The best identifying characteristics we came up with after observing ourselves were:
1. Often talking on cell phones, sometimes in Spanish
2. Constant haggling over prices of everything
3. Using laptops at every opportunity
4. Splurging on ethnic food (other than Peruvian). While other travelers try to save money and get to know the local culture by eating traditional foods, we search tirelessly and spend good amounts of money to get Mexican food, crepes, Pasta, falafel, etc. in order to take a break from Peruvian food. I ate all the aforementioned foods while in Arequipa this trip.
5. We tend to be somewhat obnoxious as all of our politeness and cultural sensitivity gets used up at our sites.
On Thanksgiving day, five more volunteers from our group showed up to take advantage of the weekend off that Peace Corps gives us to celebrate our American heritage (and the indigenous cultures of our own country…?). Our first stop as a group was the frog juice lady. This is exactly what it sounds like and you can check out the facebook album for the photographic documentation of what went down. We had heard of this from other volunteers so we decided to suck it up (pun intended) and give it a try. The frog shake is supposed to relieve any ailment with a focus on stress relief. I felt very stressed while watching the frog juice be made but the amount of laughter that went on as the seven of us passed around our frog shake definitely made me feel good about life. The woman who made us the shake obviously had A LOT of practice. She grabbed the live frog out of the tank, smashed it against the table, and skinned and gutted it all before we knew what was going on. After that, she boiled it and threw it in a blender with other ingredients including milk, honey, pollen, quail eggs, and some supposedly healthy plant products. It all reminded me of a witches brew. She blended this up which brought to mind the joke "what's red and green and goes vrrmmm vrrmmm? A frog in a blender." After straining out the frog bits, she poured it in a cup and we took turns drinking it. It actually tasted mostly like milk, honey, and an Andean tuber called maca. I didn't taste the frog but just knowing it was in there grossed me out a bit. This was an excellent way to start Thanksgiving Day.
The rest of our day consisted of hunting down the famous Arequipeña cheese ice cream, which turned out to be just hand made vanilla ice cream that was traditional cut into cheese-like wedges. It was delicious but I was slightly disappointed not to have another bizarre food experience after the frog shake. Our goal was to find a place to eat a big traditional Arequipeña meal for Thanksgiving but this proved more difficult than we anticipated because these foods are actually lunch foods. After heading out to a highly recommended traditional restaurant only to find it occupied by a bible study group and no fellow eaters, we jumped on a combi to head back to central Arequipa and one of my friends pulled dried cranberries out of his pocket to get us in the Thanksgiving spirit. We had a good laugh over our non-traditional Thanksgiving. Once we got to the center of town we found a traditional restaurant that was willing to stay open for such a fun group as ourselves and ate like gluttons in order to feel more at home.
That night we went to the casino where I came out the big winner in the slot machine with 18 soles ($6) and then we went to bed in order to get up at 3 for our trek into the Colca Canyon. The people who live in this area claim that the Colca is the deepest canyon in the world but this is debated by the people who live at another nearby canyon. Regardless, after a night of eating and gambling, we woke up as the rest of the hostel guests were returning from their nights on the town to get to the trailhead. On the way we stopped to see the famous Andean Condors soaring above the deepest part of the canyon. We took a long route down into the canyon past villages only accessible by foot or mule and beautiful natural scenery. That evening we arrived at "The Oasis," a rustic hotel with natural pools for swimming and good food. The next morning we hiked straight up hill for three hours in order to get out of the canyon. Many people who live in the canyon wait with their mules as struggling tourists pass by and take advantage of their wimpyness to charge whatever they want for a ride out of the canyon. I toughed it out and made it up on my own two feet but even 5 days later I can feel the burn even when I take a small step up onto a curb. The hike was well worth the physical pain for the exposure to a whole isolated culture. This site has become incredibly touristy but the people that live there still bring everything in on foot or by mule. We even say a man carrying a 20 foot long, 6 inch pvc pipe down the trail and moving much more quickly than ourselves. I would recommend this trek to anyone coming to Peru. I only regret not making time to do the three day version that allows time for playing in hot springs and waterfalls along the way.
Although I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home with family next year, this was one of my favorite vacations that I have ever taken and I can't think of a better way to celebrate the quintessential American holiday than goofing around and seeing incredible sights with a bunch of friends.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Women In Development Conference
The Peace Corps experience is determined mostly by the specific site in which a volunteer works but my recent work with the Women in Development committee gave me a chance to mix up my projects by doing some work that reaches out to all communities where the Peace Corps works. This past week the committee released a calendar featuring twelve women from all the departments of Peru where Peace Corps operates who were nominated by the volunteers they work with. In order to celebrate the women featured in the calendar we held a conference at the U.S. Embassy, which turned out to be an excellent way to recognize these twelve women and show appreciation for the work that they do. The embassy is a fortress surrounded by high walls and the entrance consists of multiple metal detectors and eight inch thick doors. I was grateful that the embassy staff was so willing to help us put on this event and lend us not only their venue, but their expertise in event planning. I can definitely say that I learned a lot about paying attention to detail and coordinating between many people from this experience.
Even though the event achieved the goals that we aimed to accomplish, there were a few glitches along the way. The embassy was an impressive and exciting venue for our conference but the high security created a few obstacles. The day started with a workshop on legal rights put on by a prestigious Lima law firm. We didn't warn the lawyers that they wouldn't be able to bring electronics into the embassy so they had to do about an hour of their presentation without powerpoints until we were able to solve the problem. Despite this oversight on my part, the workshop turned out to benefit both the women and the lawyers. The women were completely engaged and asked many questions regarding their legal rights and the process they can follow to ensure that their rights are not compromised. The lawyers seemed to be surprised by the diversity of the women present and learned a lot about the types of challenges people face in the small communities of Peru. We caught them off guard when we asked them to minimize the lawyer jargon because one of our women spoke mainly Quechua and only simple Spanish. Despite a language barrier, this particular woman from the Andes turned out to be the highlight of my conference experience. On this trip to Lima, she got to see the ocean for the first time in her life and at the end of the conference she even stood up and made an incredibly heartfelt speech in broken Spanish about her experience working with the Peace Corps volunteer who invited her. This speech was the perfect culmination for a successful event because it encompassed everything the calendar stands for. I am looking forward to putting on an even better event next year because now I know what details I need to think of ahead of time. This whole process has definitely been a learning experience and I have an incredible respect for those people who plan events for a living.
As it turned out, the man who helped us secure the support of the embassy, the use of the conference room, and the keynote speaker for our event was helping to coordinate a conference for women entrepreneurs for the two days immediately following our event. By working with him, I got invited to the much larger conference that he was putting on at the Lima Country Club and hotel. After struggling to work out the details for our tiny endeavor, I was amazed at the coordination and logistical planning that must have gone into putting on their event. Their speakers included the U.S. ambassador (who had cancelled her talk at our event), the mayor elect of Lima, the head of the Latin American division of the International Trade Commission in Geneva, and many other very impressive female leaders. The other people invited to attend mainly consisted of artisans and small business owners from all over Latin America. My favorite were the artisans from the Lake Titicaca region of Peru who charged the stage after each speaker to get a photo with each of them. I was sitting directly behind these women the entire time and they provided constant entertainment. The one downside was that they were in full traditional dress including hats making it very difficult for me to see the speakers. This conference was an excellent networking opportunity and I even got invited to the (giant) house of the president of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Peru the next day for coffee. The connections I made and the inspiration that I got by attending this conference will benefit not only my own work but, hopefully, will help to advance the efforts of the Women in Development Committee in general.
Even though the event achieved the goals that we aimed to accomplish, there were a few glitches along the way. The embassy was an impressive and exciting venue for our conference but the high security created a few obstacles. The day started with a workshop on legal rights put on by a prestigious Lima law firm. We didn't warn the lawyers that they wouldn't be able to bring electronics into the embassy so they had to do about an hour of their presentation without powerpoints until we were able to solve the problem. Despite this oversight on my part, the workshop turned out to benefit both the women and the lawyers. The women were completely engaged and asked many questions regarding their legal rights and the process they can follow to ensure that their rights are not compromised. The lawyers seemed to be surprised by the diversity of the women present and learned a lot about the types of challenges people face in the small communities of Peru. We caught them off guard when we asked them to minimize the lawyer jargon because one of our women spoke mainly Quechua and only simple Spanish. Despite a language barrier, this particular woman from the Andes turned out to be the highlight of my conference experience. On this trip to Lima, she got to see the ocean for the first time in her life and at the end of the conference she even stood up and made an incredibly heartfelt speech in broken Spanish about her experience working with the Peace Corps volunteer who invited her. This speech was the perfect culmination for a successful event because it encompassed everything the calendar stands for. I am looking forward to putting on an even better event next year because now I know what details I need to think of ahead of time. This whole process has definitely been a learning experience and I have an incredible respect for those people who plan events for a living.
As it turned out, the man who helped us secure the support of the embassy, the use of the conference room, and the keynote speaker for our event was helping to coordinate a conference for women entrepreneurs for the two days immediately following our event. By working with him, I got invited to the much larger conference that he was putting on at the Lima Country Club and hotel. After struggling to work out the details for our tiny endeavor, I was amazed at the coordination and logistical planning that must have gone into putting on their event. Their speakers included the U.S. ambassador (who had cancelled her talk at our event), the mayor elect of Lima, the head of the Latin American division of the International Trade Commission in Geneva, and many other very impressive female leaders. The other people invited to attend mainly consisted of artisans and small business owners from all over Latin America. My favorite were the artisans from the Lake Titicaca region of Peru who charged the stage after each speaker to get a photo with each of them. I was sitting directly behind these women the entire time and they provided constant entertainment. The one downside was that they were in full traditional dress including hats making it very difficult for me to see the speakers. This conference was an excellent networking opportunity and I even got invited to the (giant) house of the president of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Peru the next day for coffee. The connections I made and the inspiration that I got by attending this conference will benefit not only my own work but, hopefully, will help to advance the efforts of the Women in Development Committee in general.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
New Motivation
My new host grandma, Blanca, has been a defining feature of my new life in my new house in Peru. Blanca grew up hear in Pacora and so did her parents and grandparents. She knows a huge amount of history about the Incans and the Pre-Incan cultures in Peru. She gained her knowledge by reading everything she could get her hands on while working at the post-office that used to exist in Pacora. Doña Blanca had to take learning into her own hands because back when she was a kid, school only went up to third grade. Blanca liked studying so much that once she had gone through her three grades once she started over at first grade and did it again. The other night over dinner Blanca demonstrated her incredible memory by reciting poems that had been in her reader during her two passes through elementary school. Blanca will be leaving for Lima soon to get cataract surgery and her stories will be greatly missed. Hopefully she will be back for Christmas for some stories over hot chocolate and paneton (Peruvian fruitcake that I am wierdly in love with).
My life has continued to improve drastically. After a year in the Peace Corps, it becomes disappointing to not be where you thought you would be. Professionally, I feel I have accomplished a good amount but personally, I was starting to feel like I hadn't developed the friendships that I expected to. Now, my new host mom, who I have always considered a friend, has started introducing me to all her friends. My recently started an exercise group with a few ladies and we tend to laugh and joke around more than we run. For the last two days we have first gone on a run/walk and then gone to one of the women's house to do aerobics. I have a couple of videos in Spanish but I also get to lead a little bit of pilates and yoga. There are more women who want to join our group and I am hoping to use this time to promote exercise and healthy eating but also to make new friends. One of the members of the group is the incoming mayor's wife who is quickly becoming one of my very good friends. I thought that I had met everyone in Pacora but there is a whole group of vivacious and hilarious women who I have missed out on getting to know over the first year. I am in the middle of a significant breakthrough in overcoming cultural barriers that I thought had defeated me a long time ago.
Success in the Peace Corps depends on intrinsic motivation. Our work is not monitored very closely which means that I could hang out and chat with grandma Blanca and eat candy all day if I wanted to (which describes my routine my first weekend in my new house). This week I had a visit from the directors of recruitment at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington D.C. The two men that visited had not had much contact with Peace Corps volunteers in action and I wanted to make a good impression for myself, Pacora, and Peace Corps Peru as a whole. I used this visit as a motivator for my municipality to hang three signs we had recently made calling attention to recycling and environmental issues in town. It is amazing how much can get done with the phrase "my bosses from the United States will be visiting and they want to see how much work we have done in Pacora." The combination of my personal happiness, my desire to make a good impression, and the desire of my local counterparts to look productive allowed me to get all kinds of cool stuff done.
Along with the banners I hung up, I got a beautiful mural painted and gave a powerpoint presentation on STDs for the high school teachers complete with gory pictures of sifilis, gonorrhea, and herpes. The shock factor of this presentation will make it difficult for them to forget. The best part of the day was when I busted out the condom and made them all touch it. They loved it and I again felt lucky to have been sent to a site filled with people enthusiastic about learning and open to talking about taboo subjects. As an outsider I can act as the catalyst for changes in attitudes because I have a free pass to say whatever I want. The respect for the United States as a developed country leads them to believe that if openness about sex in the U.S. has allowed us to get where we have gotten, they should welcome it. I am trying my best to take advantage of this idealized perception of the United States to set a good example.
My life has continued to improve drastically. After a year in the Peace Corps, it becomes disappointing to not be where you thought you would be. Professionally, I feel I have accomplished a good amount but personally, I was starting to feel like I hadn't developed the friendships that I expected to. Now, my new host mom, who I have always considered a friend, has started introducing me to all her friends. My recently started an exercise group with a few ladies and we tend to laugh and joke around more than we run. For the last two days we have first gone on a run/walk and then gone to one of the women's house to do aerobics. I have a couple of videos in Spanish but I also get to lead a little bit of pilates and yoga. There are more women who want to join our group and I am hoping to use this time to promote exercise and healthy eating but also to make new friends. One of the members of the group is the incoming mayor's wife who is quickly becoming one of my very good friends. I thought that I had met everyone in Pacora but there is a whole group of vivacious and hilarious women who I have missed out on getting to know over the first year. I am in the middle of a significant breakthrough in overcoming cultural barriers that I thought had defeated me a long time ago.
Success in the Peace Corps depends on intrinsic motivation. Our work is not monitored very closely which means that I could hang out and chat with grandma Blanca and eat candy all day if I wanted to (which describes my routine my first weekend in my new house). This week I had a visit from the directors of recruitment at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington D.C. The two men that visited had not had much contact with Peace Corps volunteers in action and I wanted to make a good impression for myself, Pacora, and Peace Corps Peru as a whole. I used this visit as a motivator for my municipality to hang three signs we had recently made calling attention to recycling and environmental issues in town. It is amazing how much can get done with the phrase "my bosses from the United States will be visiting and they want to see how much work we have done in Pacora." The combination of my personal happiness, my desire to make a good impression, and the desire of my local counterparts to look productive allowed me to get all kinds of cool stuff done.
Along with the banners I hung up, I got a beautiful mural painted and gave a powerpoint presentation on STDs for the high school teachers complete with gory pictures of sifilis, gonorrhea, and herpes. The shock factor of this presentation will make it difficult for them to forget. The best part of the day was when I busted out the condom and made them all touch it. They loved it and I again felt lucky to have been sent to a site filled with people enthusiastic about learning and open to talking about taboo subjects. As an outsider I can act as the catalyst for changes in attitudes because I have a free pass to say whatever I want. The respect for the United States as a developed country leads them to believe that if openness about sex in the U.S. has allowed us to get where we have gotten, they should welcome it. I am trying my best to take advantage of this idealized perception of the United States to set a good example.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
New Family and an Amazing Abuelita
Today, I moved to a new house. This had been a long time coming because my old housing situation had gotten a bit uncomfortable. My host mom who was my closest ally moved out and they needed the room I was living in for visitors. After a day in my new house I am really looking forward to being part of an amazing family for my second year. My friend Mariela happened to have an open room in a little house that her family uses during the day as a kitchen and dining room. I live with my friend, an amazing woman who works on the local archeological project, her 6 year-old daughter, 14 year-old son, and her grandmother.
So far, getting to know the grandma has been a great time. She doesn't hear very well so talking to her is a big strain on the voice but she talks a lot so I don't have to do that much yelling. She has told me all about her childhood here in Pacora and her adventures on riverboats and mudslide prone highways. She even got as personal as to tell me about eloping or "being robbed" as she explained it. All her stories are like something out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. I used to think Latin American literature is far fetched with all of the magical touches but after a couple hours of conversation with my new Peruvian grandma I start to realize that the magical twists on reality are not considered so outlandish. Even my good friend who is very modern told me about her experiences with a witch doctor. My favorite of her stories is about having the cuy (guinea pig) passed. This is when the cuy is rubbed over the entire body to absorb all the negative energy. According to my friend, after the cuy passing was completed, the animal died in her hands signaling that it had absorbed all the negatives. I am thinking of having this done just for the experience but I must admit that I am interested in starting off my second year as free from negativity as possible. I was excited to hear that my new host family recently had a ritual performed on the house involving soaking corn and rose petals to fill the space with happiness. Even if I don't really think anything is physically changed by these rituals, I believe in their potential to change attitudes, which is many times more valuable than physical changes.
Another bonus of my new house is that we have a little dog, poopy. This is actually his name. I am tempted to tell them what the name means in English but I don't want them to feel like they should change the name. I like the fact that I get to chuckle every time I call him over. He looks kinda like a rat and he is losing hair on his back but he is so sweet that I can't help but pet him. I will probably end up diseased from playing with poopy.
The danger of moving to a new house in Peru is that Peruvians tend to show their love through food, incredible food. My new host "mother" (more of a good friend) is particularly inclined to demonstrate her excitement about hosting me through less than healthy food. In order to show my appreciation, I have been eating everything she gives me from candy to large breakfasts of chicken and bread to doughnut type deserts covered in honey. We cooked Sunday family lunch yesterday and since I was involved in the purchase and preparation, Mariela made sure I got my share of the leftovers for breakfast. I got a huge plate of spaghetti for breakfast instead of my usual fruit salad. For now I am enjoying the excuse to eat all the sweets and carbs I can handle but soon I will have to make some sort of effort to get back to healthy eating without offending my new family. Overall, my renewed love for the people of Pacora will dramatically increase my motivation to help the community thus increasing my effectiveness as a volunteer.
So far, getting to know the grandma has been a great time. She doesn't hear very well so talking to her is a big strain on the voice but she talks a lot so I don't have to do that much yelling. She has told me all about her childhood here in Pacora and her adventures on riverboats and mudslide prone highways. She even got as personal as to tell me about eloping or "being robbed" as she explained it. All her stories are like something out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. I used to think Latin American literature is far fetched with all of the magical touches but after a couple hours of conversation with my new Peruvian grandma I start to realize that the magical twists on reality are not considered so outlandish. Even my good friend who is very modern told me about her experiences with a witch doctor. My favorite of her stories is about having the cuy (guinea pig) passed. This is when the cuy is rubbed over the entire body to absorb all the negative energy. According to my friend, after the cuy passing was completed, the animal died in her hands signaling that it had absorbed all the negatives. I am thinking of having this done just for the experience but I must admit that I am interested in starting off my second year as free from negativity as possible. I was excited to hear that my new host family recently had a ritual performed on the house involving soaking corn and rose petals to fill the space with happiness. Even if I don't really think anything is physically changed by these rituals, I believe in their potential to change attitudes, which is many times more valuable than physical changes.
Another bonus of my new house is that we have a little dog, poopy. This is actually his name. I am tempted to tell them what the name means in English but I don't want them to feel like they should change the name. I like the fact that I get to chuckle every time I call him over. He looks kinda like a rat and he is losing hair on his back but he is so sweet that I can't help but pet him. I will probably end up diseased from playing with poopy.
The danger of moving to a new house in Peru is that Peruvians tend to show their love through food, incredible food. My new host "mother" (more of a good friend) is particularly inclined to demonstrate her excitement about hosting me through less than healthy food. In order to show my appreciation, I have been eating everything she gives me from candy to large breakfasts of chicken and bread to doughnut type deserts covered in honey. We cooked Sunday family lunch yesterday and since I was involved in the purchase and preparation, Mariela made sure I got my share of the leftovers for breakfast. I got a huge plate of spaghetti for breakfast instead of my usual fruit salad. For now I am enjoying the excuse to eat all the sweets and carbs I can handle but soon I will have to make some sort of effort to get back to healthy eating without offending my new family. Overall, my renewed love for the people of Pacora will dramatically increase my motivation to help the community thus increasing my effectiveness as a volunteer.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Obi Wan
After two robberies in two days and a confrontation that led me to find a new host family last weekend, I was having a bit of a rough time with my Peace Corps experience. The best way to get through tough times here has been giving myself little things to look forward to. Right now, I am looking forward to the women's empowerment conference that I have been helping to organize at the embassy. After this, I will be traveling to Arequipa or "The White City." An Andean city that is famous for architecture, food, and gorgeous surroundings. During this vacation, I will also travel to the Colca Canyon, home to the Andean Condors and Lake Titicaca. I can't wait for these events.
It is not only large-scale travel that keeps me motivated in tough times. There are certain personal and professional activities that I look forward to. Personally, I look forward to reading and watching almost disgusting amounts of movies and tv on my laptop. Right now I am watching all the Star Wars movies including the prequels. I have also become addicted to Lost, the Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Glee, Gossip Girl, and Friends. It is really funny watching friends because in some alternate reality that could be my life, hanging out with a group in a coffee shop all the time and having the comical adventures that twenty somethings have. Thanks to my cousin I have an entire external hard drive full of of movies and tv, which will definitely last me until the end of my service here. The first thing I thought when I got my stuff robbed last weekend was how happy I was not to lose my laptop. I don't know what I would do without my programs.
This weekend I got to attend a Peruvian wedding. It was a bittersweet event in that it was my friend's 17 year-old host sister's wedding resulting from her unplanned pregnancy. This young woman will not be finishing high school and will not have much say in how the rest of her life plays out due to cultural expectations and machismo. Seeing this firsthand inspired me to keep working with young women particularly on sexual and reproductive health and general self-esteem and empowerment to pursue personal goals. There was a mood of sadness during the entire ceremony and I couldn't help but note the contrast between this wedding and my idealistic and perhaps naïve view of how weddings should be. Despite all this, after the ceremony ended the fun began. There were six of us volunteers at this fiesta and we were in high demand as dancing partners. I went to bed around 4 am but the party was far from over, in fact, when I left the house at 9 am the next day, the party was still far from over.
After I went to bed crazy things started to happen that I did not learn about until the next morning. For no apparent reason, the huge group of dancers turned into a brawling mob. The other volunteers came into the bedroom where I was sleeping and watched through the window. Everyone present got involved. The groom was throwing punches and the bride was trying to break things up while still wearing her gown. There was even a woman with a child in one arm throwing punches with the other man. After putting the child down, she picked up a beer bottle and proceeded to chase him around the soccer field in front of the house. It was quite a way to finish an already emotional day.
After a wild wedding, I am ready to get back to work so in the upcoming weeks I will be building a model improved cook-stove. This model will hopefully inspire more people to do the same in order to use less firewood and not inhale so much smoke. It is unbelievable to me that so many people here still cook on open fires in their kitchens. Along with this, I look forward to giving my HIV/AIDS prevention workshops and classes and watching my gardens grow. This week I will be selling a bunch of recycling which always feels good because I get to turn over cash to the schools that they can spend to improve their school. I am lucky to have so many people to work with so that I can stay active and motivated.
The Peace Corps is a roller coaster both professionally and emotionally and the key is to ensure that there will be plenty of ups to balance out the downs. I got hit with a few unexpected free falls on this roller coaster last weekend and now I am on a slow climb back up by using the combination of personal and professional successes and, of course, THE FORCE.
It is not only large-scale travel that keeps me motivated in tough times. There are certain personal and professional activities that I look forward to. Personally, I look forward to reading and watching almost disgusting amounts of movies and tv on my laptop. Right now I am watching all the Star Wars movies including the prequels. I have also become addicted to Lost, the Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Glee, Gossip Girl, and Friends. It is really funny watching friends because in some alternate reality that could be my life, hanging out with a group in a coffee shop all the time and having the comical adventures that twenty somethings have. Thanks to my cousin I have an entire external hard drive full of of movies and tv, which will definitely last me until the end of my service here. The first thing I thought when I got my stuff robbed last weekend was how happy I was not to lose my laptop. I don't know what I would do without my programs.
This weekend I got to attend a Peruvian wedding. It was a bittersweet event in that it was my friend's 17 year-old host sister's wedding resulting from her unplanned pregnancy. This young woman will not be finishing high school and will not have much say in how the rest of her life plays out due to cultural expectations and machismo. Seeing this firsthand inspired me to keep working with young women particularly on sexual and reproductive health and general self-esteem and empowerment to pursue personal goals. There was a mood of sadness during the entire ceremony and I couldn't help but note the contrast between this wedding and my idealistic and perhaps naïve view of how weddings should be. Despite all this, after the ceremony ended the fun began. There were six of us volunteers at this fiesta and we were in high demand as dancing partners. I went to bed around 4 am but the party was far from over, in fact, when I left the house at 9 am the next day, the party was still far from over.
After I went to bed crazy things started to happen that I did not learn about until the next morning. For no apparent reason, the huge group of dancers turned into a brawling mob. The other volunteers came into the bedroom where I was sleeping and watched through the window. Everyone present got involved. The groom was throwing punches and the bride was trying to break things up while still wearing her gown. There was even a woman with a child in one arm throwing punches with the other man. After putting the child down, she picked up a beer bottle and proceeded to chase him around the soccer field in front of the house. It was quite a way to finish an already emotional day.
After a wild wedding, I am ready to get back to work so in the upcoming weeks I will be building a model improved cook-stove. This model will hopefully inspire more people to do the same in order to use less firewood and not inhale so much smoke. It is unbelievable to me that so many people here still cook on open fires in their kitchens. Along with this, I look forward to giving my HIV/AIDS prevention workshops and classes and watching my gardens grow. This week I will be selling a bunch of recycling which always feels good because I get to turn over cash to the schools that they can spend to improve their school. I am lucky to have so many people to work with so that I can stay active and motivated.
The Peace Corps is a roller coaster both professionally and emotionally and the key is to ensure that there will be plenty of ups to balance out the downs. I got hit with a few unexpected free falls on this roller coaster last weekend and now I am on a slow climb back up by using the combination of personal and professional successes and, of course, THE FORCE.
Monday, October 18, 2010
The last couple of weeks have been filled with my first Peruvian election experience, a trip to Lima to help train new volunteers, and a few personal challenges. The mix of professional success personal obstacles has been typical of the Peace Corps experience. While I work to change host families due to "irreconcilable differences," I am focusing on the professional triumphs that I have had lately. Along with advancing in my HIV/AIDS work, I have gotten closer to getting environmental murals in one of the schools, I have started recycling in another school, and I am getting closer to actually constructing a model improved kitchen in one of my counterpart's houses. I know there will be obstacles but for now I am happy with what I have accomplished recently.
I am in the process of submitting a grant for starting a recycling collection project and soon I will have funding to make real progress on that but right now I am looking for ways to spend money for my school recycling project. As a PCV who supposedly has no money, it is nice to find that I stress over how to spend all the money I currently have and will be receiving in the near future. In the next year I will have money coming from the participatory budget and the Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance program, which I am thrilled about but now comes the hard part, finding a group of people who will voluntarily help me execute these projects. One big challenge is that when people see that you have funded projects, they expect that there is funding to pay those who work on the projects. I have a core group willing to work with me but, just as it is anywhere, it is difficult to get people to give up their leisure time to sort recycling and go to educational presentations about the environment.
One upside of my recent experience is that the regional elections went smoothly and we have a new very motivated mayor who actually gave me shout outs in his campaign speeches. I am hoping that he will consider trash management more carefully than the previous mayor has. It is also encouraging that his family and friends are some of my best friends in town so I am optimistic about the open lines of communication that I will have with the local government. Peruvian politics is fascinating because, like Latin America in general, they have experienced a lot of corruption, upheaval, and even a couple of coups. Their political reality is so different than what I am willing to accept as a functional democracy that it is hard to grasp how people can be complacent with some of the things that occur here. For example, there are tons of examples from this most recent election of candidates literally paying people to come in from different municipalities and giving them an id document with a new address so that they can vote for the candidate. Every time I talk politics here, I realize how lucky I am to live in such a stable country where, even if I don't agree with the leadership, I do not live in fear of collapse and/or government overthrow. The Peace Corps has made me realize what a bubble the United States is and I feel lucky to have been born there.
Probably the most exciting project that I have been working on is not in my site but on a national level. I am part of the Women in Development/Gender and Development Committee, a PC worldwide initiative meaning that it operates in many countries where PC has a presence. I recently became what we refer to as the "point of contact" or head of the committee. Our big project this year has been putting together a calendar featuring twelve women nominated by PCV's from all the departments where PC works. In order to unveil the calendar and celebrate the women who were selected, we will be holding a conference and empowerment workshop in November. So far, we have a family law organization who will be giving a workshop about women's rights, a celebratory luncheon, and an address by the US ambassador who happens to be a woman. The conference is being held at the embassy, which will make it all the more special. Some of the women have selected and invited to the conference have never left the villages where they live and one even speaks Quechua (an indigenous language from the Andes) and not Spanish. I am thrilled to be a part of such a huge project. Our dream is to make this calendar and celebratory empowerment conference an annual event and in order for it to be sustainable, we will be selling future calendars to fund what we cannot get donated and put the rest of the money in a scholarship fund for young women. I will be notifying all of you as soon as we have calendars for sale. THEY ARE REALLY COOL AND IT'S FOR A GOOD CAUSE SO GET EXCITED! That is my plug, I hope everyone is interested.
In less happy news, I experienced my first robbery since being here in Peru. I have let my guard down quite a bit after living here for a year and I felt the consequences yesterday when my purse was snatched from my shoulder in broad daylight with tons of people watching. I was walking from the hostel we stay at to Starbucks after a regional meeting, a walk that I have done 1,000 times, and I felt a tug at my purse. I thought I had caught it on something. When I turned around to look, there was a man behind me yanking on it and I resisted. He tripped me and dragged me on the ground while over a hundred people watched. I finally let go of the bag and am in the process of getting my passport and other important items replaced. I guess life isn't all sunshine and rainbows in developing countries…
I am in the process of submitting a grant for starting a recycling collection project and soon I will have funding to make real progress on that but right now I am looking for ways to spend money for my school recycling project. As a PCV who supposedly has no money, it is nice to find that I stress over how to spend all the money I currently have and will be receiving in the near future. In the next year I will have money coming from the participatory budget and the Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance program, which I am thrilled about but now comes the hard part, finding a group of people who will voluntarily help me execute these projects. One big challenge is that when people see that you have funded projects, they expect that there is funding to pay those who work on the projects. I have a core group willing to work with me but, just as it is anywhere, it is difficult to get people to give up their leisure time to sort recycling and go to educational presentations about the environment.
One upside of my recent experience is that the regional elections went smoothly and we have a new very motivated mayor who actually gave me shout outs in his campaign speeches. I am hoping that he will consider trash management more carefully than the previous mayor has. It is also encouraging that his family and friends are some of my best friends in town so I am optimistic about the open lines of communication that I will have with the local government. Peruvian politics is fascinating because, like Latin America in general, they have experienced a lot of corruption, upheaval, and even a couple of coups. Their political reality is so different than what I am willing to accept as a functional democracy that it is hard to grasp how people can be complacent with some of the things that occur here. For example, there are tons of examples from this most recent election of candidates literally paying people to come in from different municipalities and giving them an id document with a new address so that they can vote for the candidate. Every time I talk politics here, I realize how lucky I am to live in such a stable country where, even if I don't agree with the leadership, I do not live in fear of collapse and/or government overthrow. The Peace Corps has made me realize what a bubble the United States is and I feel lucky to have been born there.
Probably the most exciting project that I have been working on is not in my site but on a national level. I am part of the Women in Development/Gender and Development Committee, a PC worldwide initiative meaning that it operates in many countries where PC has a presence. I recently became what we refer to as the "point of contact" or head of the committee. Our big project this year has been putting together a calendar featuring twelve women nominated by PCV's from all the departments where PC works. In order to unveil the calendar and celebrate the women who were selected, we will be holding a conference and empowerment workshop in November. So far, we have a family law organization who will be giving a workshop about women's rights, a celebratory luncheon, and an address by the US ambassador who happens to be a woman. The conference is being held at the embassy, which will make it all the more special. Some of the women have selected and invited to the conference have never left the villages where they live and one even speaks Quechua (an indigenous language from the Andes) and not Spanish. I am thrilled to be a part of such a huge project. Our dream is to make this calendar and celebratory empowerment conference an annual event and in order for it to be sustainable, we will be selling future calendars to fund what we cannot get donated and put the rest of the money in a scholarship fund for young women. I will be notifying all of you as soon as we have calendars for sale. THEY ARE REALLY COOL AND IT'S FOR A GOOD CAUSE SO GET EXCITED! That is my plug, I hope everyone is interested.
In less happy news, I experienced my first robbery since being here in Peru. I have let my guard down quite a bit after living here for a year and I felt the consequences yesterday when my purse was snatched from my shoulder in broad daylight with tons of people watching. I was walking from the hostel we stay at to Starbucks after a regional meeting, a walk that I have done 1,000 times, and I felt a tug at my purse. I thought I had caught it on something. When I turned around to look, there was a man behind me yanking on it and I resisted. He tripped me and dragged me on the ground while over a hundred people watched. I finally let go of the bag and am in the process of getting my passport and other important items replaced. I guess life isn't all sunshine and rainbows in developing countries…
Friday, September 24, 2010
Dead Goats and Sex
My blogs quite often mention culinary adventures and misadventures and this blog will not disappoint in that respect because, even though my main topic will be my recent foray into HIV/AIDS education, the killed a goat this week and the aftermath is too gross to go unblogged. My host dad's birthday was Monday which meant, apart from copious amounts of booze (not on my part), a good slaughter. Goat is the typical birthday food of the region where I live and I have come to love it. They cook it up with vinegar, cilantro, veggies, and other deliciously flavorful ingredients and serve it up with white rice LOADED with MSG. Before Peru I always thought of MSG as a negative but I have started to see it as a necessity for everyday cooking (this is what we refer to in the Peace Corps as TOO integrated into Peruvian customs). On the day of the birthday we got all the yummy parts of the goat that we back home in the States consider meat. For the days after, every meal is devoted to using up the rest of the goat which, in my previous life, I would never have known to be edible. These days every time I open the fridge I have to suppress my gagging because some organ or other is looking at me. When I use the word "looking," I mean this quite literally. The past few days the first thing I see when I open the fridge to get my water is a goat head, complete with eyeballs but missing skin. This finally got cooked in the typical post birthday lunch of head stew but I found it even more disturbing to open the pot where I expected to find boiled water and instead I found a boiled head, still with eyeballs, staring at me. The legs (with hooves and fur), liver, heart, intestines, and all other manner of organs still await their turn in the fridge. The use of every last bit of the animal is excellent from a sustainability perspective but I am just not there yet. The lack of money does glorious things for the ecological footprint and hopefully I will come back to the US a little tougher and more willing to apply these concepts to my own life. I will be back for Thanksgiving in 2011 so bring on the giblet gravy!
As promised, I am branching out from the culinary theme to tell everyone a little about my adventures as a sex ed teacher. The Peace Corps gives us the opportunity to apply for various grants and one of these is PEPFAR (President's Emergency Prevention Fund for AIDS Relief). This program was a positive pre-emptive strike taken by George W. (insert snide remarks here) in order to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in certain target countries around the world. I applied for a grant and, with the help of my excellent obstetrician, am executing an education campaign in the high school and other local institutions to prevent teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other STDs. This project encompasses a huge range of topics and right now we are working on sexuality and sexual development. I have to admit I was very intimidated at first to talk to high schoolers about sex in Spanish but it is really fun. They laugh at me because I only know the vulgar words for a lot of stuff rather than the pc scientific words. Our lesson today was about physical development. The kids worked in two groups, one drew a naked man, and the other drew a naked woman. We then discussed what they had drawn and the importance of these changes for development. Part of the reason these activities are so fun is because throughout the course of one lesson, the kids go from being shy, immature, and uncomfortable to being mature and genuinely interested in how to develop into sexually responsible adults. Sometimes a giggle escapes me when I learn a new phrase (i.e. wet dream) and I find myself being less mature about stuff than they are about this subject. I might have to grow up a little before I go give a talk to the municipal authorities or the teachers but for now I am having a lot of fun.
As promised, I am branching out from the culinary theme to tell everyone a little about my adventures as a sex ed teacher. The Peace Corps gives us the opportunity to apply for various grants and one of these is PEPFAR (President's Emergency Prevention Fund for AIDS Relief). This program was a positive pre-emptive strike taken by George W. (insert snide remarks here) in order to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in certain target countries around the world. I applied for a grant and, with the help of my excellent obstetrician, am executing an education campaign in the high school and other local institutions to prevent teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other STDs. This project encompasses a huge range of topics and right now we are working on sexuality and sexual development. I have to admit I was very intimidated at first to talk to high schoolers about sex in Spanish but it is really fun. They laugh at me because I only know the vulgar words for a lot of stuff rather than the pc scientific words. Our lesson today was about physical development. The kids worked in two groups, one drew a naked man, and the other drew a naked woman. We then discussed what they had drawn and the importance of these changes for development. Part of the reason these activities are so fun is because throughout the course of one lesson, the kids go from being shy, immature, and uncomfortable to being mature and genuinely interested in how to develop into sexually responsible adults. Sometimes a giggle escapes me when I learn a new phrase (i.e. wet dream) and I find myself being less mature about stuff than they are about this subject. I might have to grow up a little before I go give a talk to the municipal authorities or the teachers but for now I am having a lot of fun.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Getting Dirty
After a year in Peru, My Spanish flows pretty well most days and I even find myself thinking to myself in Spanish but one area that is definitely lacking is my slang. I often don't get the jokes people tell because the punch line is a play on words or a double entendre. Recently I got an excellent lesson in dirty jokes and dirty words from the group of women that I work with planting trees in the Pomac Forest. While we reforest, make compost, and talk about how to save this forest, the women also chat in a version of Spanish that I have never heard before. They also often talk about topics that I can't particularly relate to like livestock and crops. I love to listen but I do find that every other word is slang unique to the rural villages. Slang is much more prevalent here than even in the small urban center where I live. The women I work with have recently taken it upon themselves to help me out with my language shortcomings. Our recent conversation began with a few PG potty jokes but quickly devolved into an exchange I wasn't quite comfortable having with this group of women I think of as surrogate grandmothers. The examples that stick out in my mind include a joke where a child asks his teacher if hearts have legs after overhearing his father say to his mother "open your legs my heart." Once I realized what they were saying I started cracking up because I couldn't believe these grandmotherly ladies would say such things. They also started talking about something that directly translates to "the bearded cat." I thought about this for a few seconds and again devolved into a fit of laughter as I explained that in English we also have a word that refers to both a cat and a part of the female anatomy. I think I will put this little cultural exchange session on my next progress report that gets sent to congress in order to secure funding…
In other cultural exchange news, I recently took up a new strategy for combating machismo. Originally I just ignored the whistling and catcalls but that was letting to much frustration build up so eventually I started giving a mini-lecture on respect etc. but the other day I was so repulsed by a particular commentator that a new technique just sort of happened. As I was returning from a run I passed by the local bar and a man barely capable of standing upright was urinating on the side of the building. I heard the whistle and the comments following me down the street and the next thing I knew the rocks I was holding were flying towards the side of the building close to the offender (but intentionally not hitting him). The rocks had been meant for warning miss-behaving dogs not to bug me and I think this guy qualified. I have become a much more tolerant person here in Peru but everyone has a breaking point.
While I've been using dirty jocks and flying rocks to promote cultural exchange, I have also been making progress in my actual Peace Corps primary goal work. I recently began a new improved kitchens project where community members in the poorest section of town will collect mud, ash, and a few other cheaply accessible materials to construct stoves that use less firewood (the environmental justification) and send the smoke out of the house via chimneys. This is a simple and easy way to drastically improve health and quality of life and I am really looking forward to constructing my first kitchen. We often debate tangible change versus behavioral change in the Peace Corps and I have found that tangible changes such as the installation of improved kitchens motivate community members but, also allow me as the volunteer to see something on the ground, which is the key to keeping myself working and motivated.
In other cultural exchange news, I recently took up a new strategy for combating machismo. Originally I just ignored the whistling and catcalls but that was letting to much frustration build up so eventually I started giving a mini-lecture on respect etc. but the other day I was so repulsed by a particular commentator that a new technique just sort of happened. As I was returning from a run I passed by the local bar and a man barely capable of standing upright was urinating on the side of the building. I heard the whistle and the comments following me down the street and the next thing I knew the rocks I was holding were flying towards the side of the building close to the offender (but intentionally not hitting him). The rocks had been meant for warning miss-behaving dogs not to bug me and I think this guy qualified. I have become a much more tolerant person here in Peru but everyone has a breaking point.
While I've been using dirty jocks and flying rocks to promote cultural exchange, I have also been making progress in my actual Peace Corps primary goal work. I recently began a new improved kitchens project where community members in the poorest section of town will collect mud, ash, and a few other cheaply accessible materials to construct stoves that use less firewood (the environmental justification) and send the smoke out of the house via chimneys. This is a simple and easy way to drastically improve health and quality of life and I am really looking forward to constructing my first kitchen. We often debate tangible change versus behavioral change in the Peace Corps and I have found that tangible changes such as the installation of improved kitchens motivate community members but, also allow me as the volunteer to see something on the ground, which is the key to keeping myself working and motivated.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Getting comfortable
I've reached a point in my service where the Peace Corps has decided that I am ready to apply for funding and execute some "real" projects. In June I attended a training to apply for USAID funding that will be available in October and I am putting together a project that will involve door to door training in recycling and establishing a monthly recycling collection. My host father is an agricultural engineer who is close with many of the local farmers and he has agreed to help me do compost workshops. This is all very exciting but it is also overwhelming as I have struggled to get enough people actually committed to executing the projects. The biggest challenge I have encountered has been translating excitement about projects into actual work. I am definitely getting some life skills and lessons in being persistent from this experience.
Since I have been here for 11 months, I have not been finding as much inspiration for my blogs as I used to. Sure, I have real projects going on and actual funding coming in, however that stuff is not as fun to write about as cultural mishaps, parasites, and culinary adventures. Yesterday I looked in my refrigerator and I realized that these moments haven't gotten any more rare, I have just gotten used to some of the stranger things that I come across on a daily basis. I went to get my water bottle and noticed the full pig legs with hooves that would later be boiled for lunch alongside the bowl of blood and chicken hearts. Even though I live in a house that has electricity (and recently got internet), I am still in rural Peru and life is different in many comical ways. I don't notice these details as much any more but every so often I get caught off guard, which, depending on my mood, makes me laugh or head straight to my room to watch tv alone on my laptop.
Transportation tends to be one of the main sources of frustration/comic relief for me (again depending on my mood). My usual means of travel is by combi, a 15 passenger van with 20+ people stuffed in. Quite often, people bring their livestock to market on these same vans, which makes the hour ride to my capitol city even more fun. The other day I was on a particularly full combi when a duck escaped from a bag under my seat and went hopping around the bus. I was the only one who had a strong reaction to this. Everyone else seemed pretty okay with the situation. If you wonder how one transports livestock larger than a duck on a van full of people, the answer is, you can put anything up to a medium sized pig on the roof. Today My neighbors were prepping for a wedding which entailed 5 men lowering two substantially meaty live pigs down from the roof of a van. This process is not only awkward and goofy looking but it is incredibly loud. I was standing outside my house discussing plans to go to Machu Picchu next month when the high-pitched screaming started. I made a point to avoid my back yard for the rest of the afternoon because I knew the slaughter would be even louder. I often find myself saying "oh Peru…"
Another time when I find myself abruptly remembering that I am in Peru is at parties. Some aspects of the parties are amazing. I get to dance with everyone since I am generally a guest of honor and, my favorite part, I get to eat my favorite dish, goat with squash. I always look forward to these parties as a reminder of what I love most about Peruvian culture, the emphasis on sharing and having as good a time as possible. These parties, although fun, are usually a pretty good test for the skills I learned in fifth grade for resisting peer pressure. I am ok with a few sips of beer with lunch to avoid offending my hosts but when the moonshine comes out I am forced to draw a line. When I have to put up a legitimate fight to not take shots of homemade liquor at 2 in the afternoon, I realize that I am no longer in my comfort zone. I have learned to play it off as a cultural difference explaining that I am not accustomed to such aggressive boozing and I enjoy the dancing that ensues.
I have begun to accept many aspects of the culture, which I never expected to be comfortable with but I still retain many of my foreign judgements and values. I am at a point in my service where I am generally pretty comfortable but Peru never fails to throw me major wake up calls when I am least expecting it. Soon, I will be headed off to Cuzco and Machu Picchu where I will probably feel more out of place amongst tourists than I do among Peruvians.
Since I have been here for 11 months, I have not been finding as much inspiration for my blogs as I used to. Sure, I have real projects going on and actual funding coming in, however that stuff is not as fun to write about as cultural mishaps, parasites, and culinary adventures. Yesterday I looked in my refrigerator and I realized that these moments haven't gotten any more rare, I have just gotten used to some of the stranger things that I come across on a daily basis. I went to get my water bottle and noticed the full pig legs with hooves that would later be boiled for lunch alongside the bowl of blood and chicken hearts. Even though I live in a house that has electricity (and recently got internet), I am still in rural Peru and life is different in many comical ways. I don't notice these details as much any more but every so often I get caught off guard, which, depending on my mood, makes me laugh or head straight to my room to watch tv alone on my laptop.
Transportation tends to be one of the main sources of frustration/comic relief for me (again depending on my mood). My usual means of travel is by combi, a 15 passenger van with 20+ people stuffed in. Quite often, people bring their livestock to market on these same vans, which makes the hour ride to my capitol city even more fun. The other day I was on a particularly full combi when a duck escaped from a bag under my seat and went hopping around the bus. I was the only one who had a strong reaction to this. Everyone else seemed pretty okay with the situation. If you wonder how one transports livestock larger than a duck on a van full of people, the answer is, you can put anything up to a medium sized pig on the roof. Today My neighbors were prepping for a wedding which entailed 5 men lowering two substantially meaty live pigs down from the roof of a van. This process is not only awkward and goofy looking but it is incredibly loud. I was standing outside my house discussing plans to go to Machu Picchu next month when the high-pitched screaming started. I made a point to avoid my back yard for the rest of the afternoon because I knew the slaughter would be even louder. I often find myself saying "oh Peru…"
Another time when I find myself abruptly remembering that I am in Peru is at parties. Some aspects of the parties are amazing. I get to dance with everyone since I am generally a guest of honor and, my favorite part, I get to eat my favorite dish, goat with squash. I always look forward to these parties as a reminder of what I love most about Peruvian culture, the emphasis on sharing and having as good a time as possible. These parties, although fun, are usually a pretty good test for the skills I learned in fifth grade for resisting peer pressure. I am ok with a few sips of beer with lunch to avoid offending my hosts but when the moonshine comes out I am forced to draw a line. When I have to put up a legitimate fight to not take shots of homemade liquor at 2 in the afternoon, I realize that I am no longer in my comfort zone. I have learned to play it off as a cultural difference explaining that I am not accustomed to such aggressive boozing and I enjoy the dancing that ensues.
I have begun to accept many aspects of the culture, which I never expected to be comfortable with but I still retain many of my foreign judgements and values. I am at a point in my service where I am generally pretty comfortable but Peru never fails to throw me major wake up calls when I am least expecting it. Soon, I will be headed off to Cuzco and Machu Picchu where I will probably feel more out of place amongst tourists than I do among Peruvians.
Getting comfortable
I've reached a point in my service where the Peace Corps has decided that I am ready to apply for funding and execute some "real" projects. In June I attended a training to apply for USAID funding that will be available in October and I am putting together a project that will involve door to door training in recycling and establishing a monthly recycling collection. My host father is an agricultural engineer who is close with many of the local farmers and he has agreed to help me do compost workshops. This is all very exciting but it is also overwhelming as I have struggled to get enough people actually committed to executing the projects. The biggest challenge I have encountered has been translating excitement about projects into actual work. I am definitely getting some life skills and lessons in being persistent from this experience.
Since I have been here for 11 months, I have not been finding as much inspiration for my blogs as I used to. Sure, I have real projects going on and actual funding coming in, however that stuff is not as fun to write about as cultural mishaps, parasites, and culinary adventures. Yesterday I looked in my refrigerator and I realized that these moments haven't gotten any more rare, I have just gotten used to some of the stranger things that I come across on a daily basis. I went to get my water bottle and noticed the full pig legs with hooves that would later be boiled for lunch alongside the bowl of blood and chicken hearts. Even though I live in a house that has electricity (and recently got internet), I am still in rural Peru and life is different in many comical ways. I don't notice these details as much any more but every so often I get caught off guard, which, depending on my mood, makes me laugh or head straight to my room to watch tv alone on my laptop.
Transportation tends to be one of the main sources of frustration/comic relief for me (again depending on my mood). My usual means of travel is by combi, a 15 passenger van with 20+ people stuffed in. Quite often, people bring their livestock to market on these same vans, which makes the hour ride to my capitol city even more fun. The other day I was on a particularly full combi when a duck escaped from a bag under my seat and went hopping around the bus. I was the only one who had a strong reaction to this. Everyone else seemed pretty okay with the situation. If you wonder how one transports livestock larger than a duck on a van full of people, the answer is, you can put anything up to a medium sized pig on the roof. Today My neighbors were prepping for a wedding which entailed 5 men lowering two substantially meaty live pigs down from the roof of a van. This process is not only awkward and goofy looking but it is incredibly loud. I was standing outside my house discussing plans to go to Machu Picchu next month when the high-pitched screaming started. I made a point to avoid my back yard for the rest of the afternoon because I knew the slaughter would be even louder. I often find myself saying "oh Peru…"
Another time when I find myself abruptly remembering that I am in Peru is at parties. Some aspects of the parties are amazing. I get to dance with everyone since I am generally a guest of honor and, my favorite part, I get to eat my favorite dish, goat with squash. I always look forward to these parties as a reminder of what I love most about Peruvian culture, the emphasis on sharing and having as good a time as possible. These parties, although fun, are usually a pretty good test for the skills I learned in fifth grade for resisting peer pressure. I am ok with a few sips of beer with lunch to avoid offending my hosts but when the moonshine comes out I am forced to draw a line. When I have to put up a legitimate fight to not take shots of homemade liquor at 2 in the afternoon, I realize that I am no longer in my comfort zone. I have learned to play it off as a cultural difference explaining that I am not accustomed to such aggressive boozing and I enjoy the dancing that ensues.
I have begun to accept many aspects of the culture, which I never expected to be comfortable with but I still retain many of my foreign judgements and values. I am at a point in my service where I am generally pretty comfortable but Peru never fails to throw me major wake up calls when I am least expecting it. Soon, I will be headed off to Cuzco and Machu Picchu where I will probably feel more out of place amongst tourists than I do among Peruvians.
Since I have been here for 11 months, I have not been finding as much inspiration for my blogs as I used to. Sure, I have real projects going on and actual funding coming in, however that stuff is not as fun to write about as cultural mishaps, parasites, and culinary adventures. Yesterday I looked in my refrigerator and I realized that these moments haven't gotten any more rare, I have just gotten used to some of the stranger things that I come across on a daily basis. I went to get my water bottle and noticed the full pig legs with hooves that would later be boiled for lunch alongside the bowl of blood and chicken hearts. Even though I live in a house that has electricity (and recently got internet), I am still in rural Peru and life is different in many comical ways. I don't notice these details as much any more but every so often I get caught off guard, which, depending on my mood, makes me laugh or head straight to my room to watch tv alone on my laptop.
Transportation tends to be one of the main sources of frustration/comic relief for me (again depending on my mood). My usual means of travel is by combi, a 15 passenger van with 20+ people stuffed in. Quite often, people bring their livestock to market on these same vans, which makes the hour ride to my capitol city even more fun. The other day I was on a particularly full combi when a duck escaped from a bag under my seat and went hopping around the bus. I was the only one who had a strong reaction to this. Everyone else seemed pretty okay with the situation. If you wonder how one transports livestock larger than a duck on a van full of people, the answer is, you can put anything up to a medium sized pig on the roof. Today My neighbors were prepping for a wedding which entailed 5 men lowering two substantially meaty live pigs down from the roof of a van. This process is not only awkward and goofy looking but it is incredibly loud. I was standing outside my house discussing plans to go to Machu Picchu next month when the high-pitched screaming started. I made a point to avoid my back yard for the rest of the afternoon because I knew the slaughter would be even louder. I often find myself saying "oh Peru…"
Another time when I find myself abruptly remembering that I am in Peru is at parties. Some aspects of the parties are amazing. I get to dance with everyone since I am generally a guest of honor and, my favorite part, I get to eat my favorite dish, goat with squash. I always look forward to these parties as a reminder of what I love most about Peruvian culture, the emphasis on sharing and having as good a time as possible. These parties, although fun, are usually a pretty good test for the skills I learned in fifth grade for resisting peer pressure. I am ok with a few sips of beer with lunch to avoid offending my hosts but when the moonshine comes out I am forced to draw a line. When I have to put up a legitimate fight to not take shots of homemade liquor at 2 in the afternoon, I realize that I am no longer in my comfort zone. I have learned to play it off as a cultural difference explaining that I am not accustomed to such aggressive boozing and I enjoy the dancing that ensues.
I have begun to accept many aspects of the culture, which I never expected to be comfortable with but I still retain many of my foreign judgements and values. I am at a point in my service where I am generally pretty comfortable but Peru never fails to throw me major wake up calls when I am least expecting it. Soon, I will be headed off to Cuzco and Machu Picchu where I will probably feel more out of place amongst tourists than I do among Peruvians.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Back to Work
Upon my return to Pacora, I found that it can be very detrimental to leave fragile Peace Corps projects in the hands of busy community members during harvest season. I came back to a community garden that had been left unwatered and eaten by chickens and two recycling projects that had not been started as we had agreed prior to my trip. Since I have gotten back it has been pure catch-up (with a short break for the world cup final with fellow Peace Corps volunteers). I have been running recycling campaigns in two elementary schools, starting to plan a garden with my ecological brigades at the high school, getting a proposal together for the participatory budget for 2011, and, in the midst of all this, taking 4 high school boys to a weekend leadership camp. WHEW!
The leadership camp happened this weekend and turned out amazingly thanks to our fearless leaders who planned the whole thing. The camp consisted of lectures about effective communication, self-esteem, leadership, project design, environmental topics, and health, and activities ranging from a soccer tournament to a s'more making workshop. For the health lecture we brought in our Peace Corps doctor from Lima and sent away the girls to facilitate an open discussion about risks and challenges facing young boys particularly having to do with sexual health. Even though I wasn't present at this particular talk, I have seen the same presentation given to girls and Peace Corps volunteers and I can tell you that it includes incredibly graphic real-life photos of genitals infected with the nastiest of diseases. The culmination of this talk is a condom relay, which I found hilarious. Each boy got to go through all of the steps of using a condom starting with discussing it with their "partner" (i.e. a male peace corps volunteer). It was a great way to take the pressure off of the one on one sex talks.
My responsibility at this camp was to give the solid waste management talk, which, due to the lack of enlarged photos of genitals, was a little less exciting than the health talk. Little did the boys know that after my talk they would get to participate in the building of a micro-landfill, translation digging in the hot sun while I watched and kept talking about the benefits of burying trash as opposed to throwing it in the river or burning it in the back yard. My main point was that it is important to minimize the amount of trash by reducing, reusing, and recycling so that you don't have to dig many holes. I think they got that point after busting their asses and getting about a foot into a meter deep hole.
Camp VALOR was a success and now I have a core group of boys to help me in any project that I do with the high school. We have discussed doing recycling collection, building a solar oven, and building a garden and I am really excited to take advantage of the newfound motivation that has been generated in these kids.
Since coming back from camp I have been replanting the community garden that got eaten by chickens and sorting recycling. My campaigns with the elementary schools are going very well aside from the fact that I have to figure out how to keep them recycling in their houses once I quit giving them stickers for bringing it into school. We always talk about tangible results versus behavior change in the Peace Corps and I am working on my strategy for making the jump from the former to the latter with my school children. I must say that these campaigns are so rewarding that they become an invaluable way to bond with the students, teachers, and parents, and to get people thinking about waste management and recycling if not actually changing their behavior…yet.
In health related news, I had my first experience with exciting third world parasites since coming back to site. THIS PARAGRAPH IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO ARE EATING OR FAINT OF HEART. I noticed a small sore under the end of the toenail of my second toe and I attributed it to my new running shoes that my parents had brought me and forgot about it. One night, while sitting in my room and watching the Sopranos as I usually do after dinner, I noticed that my toe was a little swollen and hurt a bit. After poking at the sore, I squeezed out the usual puss along with the egg sack of the pique, a small insect that makes its home in pig shit and burrows into the flesh of unsuspecting victims to lay its eggs. Even though this was a particularly disgusting experience, at least I caught it before the eggs hatched. One of my good friends let hers go too long (also thinking it was a running shoe issue) and her toe yielded a whole batch of maggots instead of just an egg sack. Of course, like an idiot, yesterday I went out into the rural area again in flip-flops but this time I remembered to do a thorough check before going to bed. I ended up finding at least four piques burrowing into my skin and I just hope that I got them all.
Aside from being the host to some unwelcome friends in my toe, life has been pretty good here. I feel successful as a Peace Corps volunteer and I look forward to seeing my projects through. I have found some motivated counterparts who are always willing to work with me and I have gained a good amount of respect in my community. Now if only I could get the chickens to stop eating my plants and the kids to recycle for the sake of the environment instead of the stickers, candy, and pencils that I hand out. If anyone has any potential prizes lying around, feel free to send them (along with dark chocolate, trashy magazines, and hand written letters). My address is:
Dani Rueter
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla Postal 208
Serpost Chiclayo
Peru, S.A.
I miss everyone! Keep in touch!
The leadership camp happened this weekend and turned out amazingly thanks to our fearless leaders who planned the whole thing. The camp consisted of lectures about effective communication, self-esteem, leadership, project design, environmental topics, and health, and activities ranging from a soccer tournament to a s'more making workshop. For the health lecture we brought in our Peace Corps doctor from Lima and sent away the girls to facilitate an open discussion about risks and challenges facing young boys particularly having to do with sexual health. Even though I wasn't present at this particular talk, I have seen the same presentation given to girls and Peace Corps volunteers and I can tell you that it includes incredibly graphic real-life photos of genitals infected with the nastiest of diseases. The culmination of this talk is a condom relay, which I found hilarious. Each boy got to go through all of the steps of using a condom starting with discussing it with their "partner" (i.e. a male peace corps volunteer). It was a great way to take the pressure off of the one on one sex talks.
My responsibility at this camp was to give the solid waste management talk, which, due to the lack of enlarged photos of genitals, was a little less exciting than the health talk. Little did the boys know that after my talk they would get to participate in the building of a micro-landfill, translation digging in the hot sun while I watched and kept talking about the benefits of burying trash as opposed to throwing it in the river or burning it in the back yard. My main point was that it is important to minimize the amount of trash by reducing, reusing, and recycling so that you don't have to dig many holes. I think they got that point after busting their asses and getting about a foot into a meter deep hole.
Camp VALOR was a success and now I have a core group of boys to help me in any project that I do with the high school. We have discussed doing recycling collection, building a solar oven, and building a garden and I am really excited to take advantage of the newfound motivation that has been generated in these kids.
Since coming back from camp I have been replanting the community garden that got eaten by chickens and sorting recycling. My campaigns with the elementary schools are going very well aside from the fact that I have to figure out how to keep them recycling in their houses once I quit giving them stickers for bringing it into school. We always talk about tangible results versus behavior change in the Peace Corps and I am working on my strategy for making the jump from the former to the latter with my school children. I must say that these campaigns are so rewarding that they become an invaluable way to bond with the students, teachers, and parents, and to get people thinking about waste management and recycling if not actually changing their behavior…yet.
In health related news, I had my first experience with exciting third world parasites since coming back to site. THIS PARAGRAPH IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO ARE EATING OR FAINT OF HEART. I noticed a small sore under the end of the toenail of my second toe and I attributed it to my new running shoes that my parents had brought me and forgot about it. One night, while sitting in my room and watching the Sopranos as I usually do after dinner, I noticed that my toe was a little swollen and hurt a bit. After poking at the sore, I squeezed out the usual puss along with the egg sack of the pique, a small insect that makes its home in pig shit and burrows into the flesh of unsuspecting victims to lay its eggs. Even though this was a particularly disgusting experience, at least I caught it before the eggs hatched. One of my good friends let hers go too long (also thinking it was a running shoe issue) and her toe yielded a whole batch of maggots instead of just an egg sack. Of course, like an idiot, yesterday I went out into the rural area again in flip-flops but this time I remembered to do a thorough check before going to bed. I ended up finding at least four piques burrowing into my skin and I just hope that I got them all.
Aside from being the host to some unwelcome friends in my toe, life has been pretty good here. I feel successful as a Peace Corps volunteer and I look forward to seeing my projects through. I have found some motivated counterparts who are always willing to work with me and I have gained a good amount of respect in my community. Now if only I could get the chickens to stop eating my plants and the kids to recycle for the sake of the environment instead of the stickers, candy, and pencils that I hand out. If anyone has any potential prizes lying around, feel free to send them (along with dark chocolate, trashy magazines, and hand written letters). My address is:
Dani Rueter
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla Postal 208
Serpost Chiclayo
Peru, S.A.
I miss everyone! Keep in touch!
Critters
In the third grade I did a project on birds and, through my research, I across the blue-footed booby. Aside from the particularly hilarious name, what drew my attention were the beautiful photographs of enormous colonies performing unique mating dances in some far off place called the Galapagos Islands. This was a turning point in my life where I held this place as a vacation ideal above all others. When I found out that I would be in Peru, just an overnight bus ride from the jump off point for a Galapagos adventure, I set my mind to making this vacation happen when my parents came to visit me. Since my family prioritizes wildlife watching over most other activities when we go on vacation, they weren't too difficult to convince that this was the perfect vacation idea to follow up their visit to my Peace Corps site. In fact, I cannot think of a better motivation for working on environmental education and management in South America than seeing such a surreal example of the human/nature interface and the potential for generating appreciation for the unique qualities of each place.
The trip started off with a long, somewhat daunting bus ride from Northern Peru to Guayaquil, Ecuador for our departure to the Galapagos. I had planned this part of the journey with the mindset of bringing my parents into my world of backpacker traveling. The bus was okay but not the "super VIP" overnight bus that I had introduced them to on our trip from Lima to my site. We were awoken at 3 in the morning for customs, 4 in the morning for Ecuadorian immigration, and 4:30 for a passport check by armed Ecuadorian soldiers. Needless to say, we were all a little on edge after being awoken in a creepy border town by men with automatic weapons. Once we got to Guayaquil, we finally left the world of a Peace Corps volunteer and checked into the Sheraton complete with high thread count sheets, a spa/gym, and as much complimentary wine and coffee as we could drink. At this point in the vacation I was thinking that I could just stay there for the 9 days and be content but we had a dream vacation to embark on.
We flew into the Baltra airport, the main entrance to the Galapagos and immediately I was in awe at the variety of landscapes and ecosystems that we passed through just in the half hour we were on the bus to the main port of Santa Cruz. The combination of my own expectations, the intense excitement reflected on the faces of all my fellow bus passengers, and the beauty surrounding us made me want to jump out of the bus and start exploring immediately. The complimentary coffee at the hotel and on the plane didn't help but I was almost literally peeing my pants in anticipation.
We had decided to do a land-based tour of the islands in part because of my mom's susceptibility to seasickness. This turned out to be the right choice as we watched from our hotel balcony as the boats in the bay rocked all night long. That first afternoon we hiked out to the Charles Darwin Research Station, the home of Lonesome George, the last giant tortoise of his population who is currently refusing to interbreed with tortoises of other populations. On our way there we started to get a dose of what the Galapagos is really all about when we saw sea lions lounging on park benches and marine iguanas sunning themselves on every rock. After seeing tortoises of all ages and sizes in an area that felt somewhat like Jurassic Park, we explored some nearby lagoons where we saw a variety of birds including the famed Darwinian finches. I couldn't wait to get started on the serious wildlife search the next day.
Our second day was jammed with activity as we headed out to Tortuga bay. In order to access the pristine beaches we had to watch our step so as not to step on marine iguanas and baby sea lions awaiting the return of the mothers who had headed out to hunt. On this hike we saw our first blue-footed boobies diving from way up in the air to catch fish. Their blue feet are even more strangely comical in person than they are in pictures. One of our main goals on this hike was to get to the kayak rentals so we could head out into the bay and look for the sea turtles. The kayak rental guy never showed up so my dad and I waded out to try and see the turtles. As we saw their little heads popping up to take breaths, we were frustrated by our inability to get any closer. It all turned out alright as we ended up seeing quite a few sea turtles throughout our trip.
While we were still on Santa Cruz we took a boat tour out around some of the bays nearby. I snorkeled with incredibly playful sea lions while dad and grandma watched from the boat. My mom made the correct decision to stay behind for this one as many of the passengers were vomiting off the side within a few minutes of leaving the bay. Winter in the Galapagos is not fun for those prone to motion sickness. On this tour we also saw tons of sea turtles hanging out in the waves and, of course, marine iguanas.
The next stop on our journey was Isabella, an incredible island partly because it is the largest and has very little development compared with the other populated islands. During our stay on Isabella we saw flamingoes, sea turtles, LOTS of sea lions, penguins, and sharks. On our first day, my dad and I took a very vigorous hike up to the highlands to see the Sierra Negra volcanic crater. The lava field landscape added another otherworldly ecosystem to our list of experiences. This crater last erupted in 2005 so the newly cooled lava was a rainbow of colors and minerals that ended at the sea on one side and a huge hill covered in vegetation on the other side. The extremes and contrasts left little doubt as to why this place is considered such a biological miracle.
The highlight of my entire Galapagos trip was probably the bay tour we took on Isabella. This tour started out with a snorkel through a grotto where the white tipped sharks go to rest. These sharks are docile but imposing at up to 2 meters long. As I floated on top of the water, tons of sharks rested below me and a playful sea lion scooted along underneath me. This sea lion made me nervous at first as it swam ahead and then swam at my face at full speed only to dive deeper and go under me at the last second. From the shark grotto, we continued on to a little island where we got out and walked along another grotto with tons of sharks and puffer fish. This grotto happened to be next to a well populated bay. I got giddy when I realized that the dilemma I faced was whether to watch the sharks, the penguins, the sea turtles, or the manta ray. I had never been around so much incredible wildlife at one time.
When we tried to walk around this small island to get to the rock that the local penguin colony calls home, we found a large, aggressive sea lion in our path and had to get back on our boat to continue to the other side of island. When we got there we were not disappointed. The penguins were jumping in and out of the water and waddling around just as I had always imagined them but, obviously, much cooler in person. After this tour I was sold on Isabella Island as the best and I was disappointed that our boat left for San Cristobal Island the next morning. I could have spent a good amount of time exploring all that Isabella has to offer.
The last stop on our adventure was San Cristobal, the capitol of the Galapagos Islands and our point of departure. After a grueling boat ride where I thought I was going to have to run out and vomit even though I have never experienced seasickness in my life, we landed in what is rightfully referred to as the sea lion capitol. There were so many sea lions everywhere that it was impossible to walk down city streets without watching where you stepped. Our favorite activity in this town was to sit on the boardwalk overlooking the bay and watch the sea lion mothers come in from their daily hunts and reunite with their babies. The reunions were full of barking and embracing followed by the babies nuzzling in to nurse off of their newly fed mothers. This activity turned from joyous to heart-wrenching when we started to notice that some of the babies waiting on the beach and barking for their mothers were never answered and, letting natural selection take its course, were left to starve. Some of the more emaciated looking babies seemed to be on their second or third day of waiting and I became too emotional to watch any longer.
Our trip to the Galapagos lived up to expectations and then some. The end of the trip was particularly difficult because the next time I see my parents will be next July for my little sister's wedding. Reaching the end of a dream vacation is hard enough without saying goodbye to the family for the next year. Even though the adjustment has been difficult, it has been good to get back to the projects I had neglected and, now that I am keeping pretty busy, I know this year will fly! I can take some of the inspiration of the Galapagos back to Pacora and use it to generate excitement about our own special ecosystem and national protected area. I am also finding myself with a new enthusiasm about traveling because there are so many unbelievable things to see here in Peru and I will be heading back to the USA before I know it.
Check out pictures of my parents' visit and our Galapagos trip at www.picasa.com. The album is called Peru and Galapagos Trip. I will have Facebook pictures up soon.
The trip started off with a long, somewhat daunting bus ride from Northern Peru to Guayaquil, Ecuador for our departure to the Galapagos. I had planned this part of the journey with the mindset of bringing my parents into my world of backpacker traveling. The bus was okay but not the "super VIP" overnight bus that I had introduced them to on our trip from Lima to my site. We were awoken at 3 in the morning for customs, 4 in the morning for Ecuadorian immigration, and 4:30 for a passport check by armed Ecuadorian soldiers. Needless to say, we were all a little on edge after being awoken in a creepy border town by men with automatic weapons. Once we got to Guayaquil, we finally left the world of a Peace Corps volunteer and checked into the Sheraton complete with high thread count sheets, a spa/gym, and as much complimentary wine and coffee as we could drink. At this point in the vacation I was thinking that I could just stay there for the 9 days and be content but we had a dream vacation to embark on.
We flew into the Baltra airport, the main entrance to the Galapagos and immediately I was in awe at the variety of landscapes and ecosystems that we passed through just in the half hour we were on the bus to the main port of Santa Cruz. The combination of my own expectations, the intense excitement reflected on the faces of all my fellow bus passengers, and the beauty surrounding us made me want to jump out of the bus and start exploring immediately. The complimentary coffee at the hotel and on the plane didn't help but I was almost literally peeing my pants in anticipation.
We had decided to do a land-based tour of the islands in part because of my mom's susceptibility to seasickness. This turned out to be the right choice as we watched from our hotel balcony as the boats in the bay rocked all night long. That first afternoon we hiked out to the Charles Darwin Research Station, the home of Lonesome George, the last giant tortoise of his population who is currently refusing to interbreed with tortoises of other populations. On our way there we started to get a dose of what the Galapagos is really all about when we saw sea lions lounging on park benches and marine iguanas sunning themselves on every rock. After seeing tortoises of all ages and sizes in an area that felt somewhat like Jurassic Park, we explored some nearby lagoons where we saw a variety of birds including the famed Darwinian finches. I couldn't wait to get started on the serious wildlife search the next day.
Our second day was jammed with activity as we headed out to Tortuga bay. In order to access the pristine beaches we had to watch our step so as not to step on marine iguanas and baby sea lions awaiting the return of the mothers who had headed out to hunt. On this hike we saw our first blue-footed boobies diving from way up in the air to catch fish. Their blue feet are even more strangely comical in person than they are in pictures. One of our main goals on this hike was to get to the kayak rentals so we could head out into the bay and look for the sea turtles. The kayak rental guy never showed up so my dad and I waded out to try and see the turtles. As we saw their little heads popping up to take breaths, we were frustrated by our inability to get any closer. It all turned out alright as we ended up seeing quite a few sea turtles throughout our trip.
While we were still on Santa Cruz we took a boat tour out around some of the bays nearby. I snorkeled with incredibly playful sea lions while dad and grandma watched from the boat. My mom made the correct decision to stay behind for this one as many of the passengers were vomiting off the side within a few minutes of leaving the bay. Winter in the Galapagos is not fun for those prone to motion sickness. On this tour we also saw tons of sea turtles hanging out in the waves and, of course, marine iguanas.
The next stop on our journey was Isabella, an incredible island partly because it is the largest and has very little development compared with the other populated islands. During our stay on Isabella we saw flamingoes, sea turtles, LOTS of sea lions, penguins, and sharks. On our first day, my dad and I took a very vigorous hike up to the highlands to see the Sierra Negra volcanic crater. The lava field landscape added another otherworldly ecosystem to our list of experiences. This crater last erupted in 2005 so the newly cooled lava was a rainbow of colors and minerals that ended at the sea on one side and a huge hill covered in vegetation on the other side. The extremes and contrasts left little doubt as to why this place is considered such a biological miracle.
The highlight of my entire Galapagos trip was probably the bay tour we took on Isabella. This tour started out with a snorkel through a grotto where the white tipped sharks go to rest. These sharks are docile but imposing at up to 2 meters long. As I floated on top of the water, tons of sharks rested below me and a playful sea lion scooted along underneath me. This sea lion made me nervous at first as it swam ahead and then swam at my face at full speed only to dive deeper and go under me at the last second. From the shark grotto, we continued on to a little island where we got out and walked along another grotto with tons of sharks and puffer fish. This grotto happened to be next to a well populated bay. I got giddy when I realized that the dilemma I faced was whether to watch the sharks, the penguins, the sea turtles, or the manta ray. I had never been around so much incredible wildlife at one time.
When we tried to walk around this small island to get to the rock that the local penguin colony calls home, we found a large, aggressive sea lion in our path and had to get back on our boat to continue to the other side of island. When we got there we were not disappointed. The penguins were jumping in and out of the water and waddling around just as I had always imagined them but, obviously, much cooler in person. After this tour I was sold on Isabella Island as the best and I was disappointed that our boat left for San Cristobal Island the next morning. I could have spent a good amount of time exploring all that Isabella has to offer.
The last stop on our adventure was San Cristobal, the capitol of the Galapagos Islands and our point of departure. After a grueling boat ride where I thought I was going to have to run out and vomit even though I have never experienced seasickness in my life, we landed in what is rightfully referred to as the sea lion capitol. There were so many sea lions everywhere that it was impossible to walk down city streets without watching where you stepped. Our favorite activity in this town was to sit on the boardwalk overlooking the bay and watch the sea lion mothers come in from their daily hunts and reunite with their babies. The reunions were full of barking and embracing followed by the babies nuzzling in to nurse off of their newly fed mothers. This activity turned from joyous to heart-wrenching when we started to notice that some of the babies waiting on the beach and barking for their mothers were never answered and, letting natural selection take its course, were left to starve. Some of the more emaciated looking babies seemed to be on their second or third day of waiting and I became too emotional to watch any longer.
Our trip to the Galapagos lived up to expectations and then some. The end of the trip was particularly difficult because the next time I see my parents will be next July for my little sister's wedding. Reaching the end of a dream vacation is hard enough without saying goodbye to the family for the next year. Even though the adjustment has been difficult, it has been good to get back to the projects I had neglected and, now that I am keeping pretty busy, I know this year will fly! I can take some of the inspiration of the Galapagos back to Pacora and use it to generate excitement about our own special ecosystem and national protected area. I am also finding myself with a new enthusiasm about traveling because there are so many unbelievable things to see here in Peru and I will be heading back to the USA before I know it.
Check out pictures of my parents' visit and our Galapagos trip at www.picasa.com. The album is called Peru and Galapagos Trip. I will have Facebook pictures up soon.
Huntley-Rueter's Peace Corps Vacation
I spent the last couple of weeks with my parents and my grandmother, which allowed me to take a little vacation from my work and share my life here with people from home. I met my parents in Lima where we spent a nice first day exploring Lima and catching up. The highlights included eating typical foods overlooking the ocean and watching part of a world cup game on a giant screen in the main square. That first night we began the mini-Peace Corps experience that I had planned for my family before heading off on our Galapagos dream vacation. The adventure began with an overnight bus ride to my site, a very typical Peace Corps experience. Although this sounds rugged, the bus actually turned out to be more comfortable than the mattresses at the hotel that I had set my parents up in. We traveled bus-cama (bus-bed), which, in my opinion, is the only way to go. The seats are like super comfy recliners that lean back to 180 degrees.
Once we got to Chiclayo we rented a room at the hostal where volunteers always stay and took our last hot showers for the week before heading off into the countryside (campo). I also showed my parents around the usual Peace Corps hangouts in Chiclayo and took them to the grocery store to stock up on necessities like peanut butter just in case we were only served intestines or chicken foot soup at any point.
After saying goodbye to the big city we jumped in a combi (15 passenger van generally used to move 20+ people) and made our way up to Pacora. I had set up a very full 5 days in Pacora since everyone that I know and work with was dying to meet my parents. On our first evening we explored, met my host family, and then headed to dinner at one of my friends' houses. I figured out pretty quickly that facilitating this visit was going to be exhausting because I had to repeat every conversation in two languages. I also found myself extra popular with the Pacorans due to their curiosity about the other tall white people who were with me all the time. I had to be extra careful to greet and introduce everyone I ran into to my parents. Although it was exhausting, it was amazingly rewarding to finally share the life I am living with my family from home.
Over the course of the five days, we rode horses in the forest, climbed pre-Incan ruins, got a private tour of an archeological dig, attended various lunches with my friends, went to a local museum, threw a party, and planted a community garden. The last two activities that I have mentioned were definitely my favorites. It was so great to see my biological family interact with my new family and friends. My parents went to work on the community garden and my mom even found some very animated ways of communicating with the little kids. At the party, we invited a few of my closest friends and family members to the typical Peruvian party food, goat. It was delicious although my American family was a little hesitant to dig into the bony meat with their hands (the only effective strategy for tackling cuts of meat here). My parents and my grandma even danced to the Peruvian folk music provided by a local band! I have only seen my dad dance one time at his brother's wedding about 10 years ago and he claims that before that the last time was at his own wedding. When my mom got tired of dancing she put her competitive edge to work deflating machismo. She beat every guy in the house at arm wrestling with her right and left hands and then finally after about 6 rounds she lost to my host brother in law (who hadn't wrestled yet and, therefore had quite an advantage). Everyone was very impressed. I was amazed by how quickly my families integrated even without speaking the same language.
Overall, the visit was an incredible opportunity for my family from home to relate to my new life a little better and my family here to get a little better idea where I come from. I really hope that more people will come visit me while I am down here because it is so special for me to share this amazing new life that I have fallen into.
Once we got to Chiclayo we rented a room at the hostal where volunteers always stay and took our last hot showers for the week before heading off into the countryside (campo). I also showed my parents around the usual Peace Corps hangouts in Chiclayo and took them to the grocery store to stock up on necessities like peanut butter just in case we were only served intestines or chicken foot soup at any point.
After saying goodbye to the big city we jumped in a combi (15 passenger van generally used to move 20+ people) and made our way up to Pacora. I had set up a very full 5 days in Pacora since everyone that I know and work with was dying to meet my parents. On our first evening we explored, met my host family, and then headed to dinner at one of my friends' houses. I figured out pretty quickly that facilitating this visit was going to be exhausting because I had to repeat every conversation in two languages. I also found myself extra popular with the Pacorans due to their curiosity about the other tall white people who were with me all the time. I had to be extra careful to greet and introduce everyone I ran into to my parents. Although it was exhausting, it was amazingly rewarding to finally share the life I am living with my family from home.
Over the course of the five days, we rode horses in the forest, climbed pre-Incan ruins, got a private tour of an archeological dig, attended various lunches with my friends, went to a local museum, threw a party, and planted a community garden. The last two activities that I have mentioned were definitely my favorites. It was so great to see my biological family interact with my new family and friends. My parents went to work on the community garden and my mom even found some very animated ways of communicating with the little kids. At the party, we invited a few of my closest friends and family members to the typical Peruvian party food, goat. It was delicious although my American family was a little hesitant to dig into the bony meat with their hands (the only effective strategy for tackling cuts of meat here). My parents and my grandma even danced to the Peruvian folk music provided by a local band! I have only seen my dad dance one time at his brother's wedding about 10 years ago and he claims that before that the last time was at his own wedding. When my mom got tired of dancing she put her competitive edge to work deflating machismo. She beat every guy in the house at arm wrestling with her right and left hands and then finally after about 6 rounds she lost to my host brother in law (who hadn't wrestled yet and, therefore had quite an advantage). Everyone was very impressed. I was amazed by how quickly my families integrated even without speaking the same language.
Overall, the visit was an incredible opportunity for my family from home to relate to my new life a little better and my family here to get a little better idea where I come from. I really hope that more people will come visit me while I am down here because it is so special for me to share this amazing new life that I have fallen into.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Queens of Controversy
This week I put on a recycled fashion show and contest where all of the contestants were dressed in outfits made completely of recycled material. The event was well attended and served its purpose of making the school children think about recycling, the amount of waste we generate, and environmental issues in general. The success of this event was due to the creativity of the contestants, their teachers, and their parents. The costumes ranged from a wedding dress made completely of plastic bags to typical dress from all regions of Peru, to a bunny rabbit. The universally high quality of the outfits was both a blessing and a curse because, although the event was overwhelmingly impressive, the judging was difficult. I invited three of my friends from nearby communities to act as guest judges and, as it turns out, I was throwing them to the lions. I didn't realize beforehand that an innocent contest for children could get so ugly as soon as winners were announced. Thankfully, one of my friends had the foresight to come up with judging criteria and a scoring system or we would have all been lunchmeat for the losers. At least with these bases covered, we had some kind of explanation but this didn't help the fact that some teachers and parents weren't there to lose. After a large public protest of the judges' decisions, my judges aren't sure if they will ever be able to show their faces in Pacora again and I am not sure if I am still welcome in all the schools. One thing that I learned from this experience is that it is a much better idea to do an exposition than a contest. The lack of prizes may deter some participants but it is better than being blacklisted by entire institutions. Only time will tell how this all will turn out but at the moment I am glad I have a meeting in Lima all week next week so that I can let people cool off a bit. On the up side, my project also served as a lesson in sportsmanship, a concept that evidently needs to be addressed in my site.
In other news, I have had many new experiences in the last week or two that are blog worthy. First of all, I got to be a godmother of my five year old host cousin when she was sworn into the eco-brigades at her school. This is a great honor and now she calls me "madrina Dani" which literally means godmother Dani. Her mom also calls me "comadre" which translates to co-mother. It is great to feel so integrated into the community and its traditions. My other new experience this week was more gross than the first. I have slowly but surely been expanding my gastronomic repertoire. So far the more adventurous things that I have eaten include sheep testicles, various types of intestines, literally every part of the chicken, all kinds of internal organs, pig ear (complete with little bits of hair), guinea pig (obviously) and, most recently, cow tongue. This definitely isn't the craziest thing I've eaten but it was gross nonetheless. I went out to lunch with a couple of friends and we ordered the menu of the day. When our food came I asked what it was and my friends said beef. Within a few minutes my friend decided to go back to her office at the health post to get the lunch she had packed. I asked why and my other friends told me it was because she didn't want to eat tongue. I had already finished my plate so I gagged a little and then we all laughed for a while when I explained to them that I had no idea and that it was my first time eating tongue. Overall, it wasn't that unpleasant but the idea still grosses me out. These little culinary mishaps and adventures definitely keep me on my toes. I end up laughing at myself all the time for being so clueless and I have been lucky enough to find some Peruvian friends who appreciate my situation and laugh with me.
In other news, I have had many new experiences in the last week or two that are blog worthy. First of all, I got to be a godmother of my five year old host cousin when she was sworn into the eco-brigades at her school. This is a great honor and now she calls me "madrina Dani" which literally means godmother Dani. Her mom also calls me "comadre" which translates to co-mother. It is great to feel so integrated into the community and its traditions. My other new experience this week was more gross than the first. I have slowly but surely been expanding my gastronomic repertoire. So far the more adventurous things that I have eaten include sheep testicles, various types of intestines, literally every part of the chicken, all kinds of internal organs, pig ear (complete with little bits of hair), guinea pig (obviously) and, most recently, cow tongue. This definitely isn't the craziest thing I've eaten but it was gross nonetheless. I went out to lunch with a couple of friends and we ordered the menu of the day. When our food came I asked what it was and my friends said beef. Within a few minutes my friend decided to go back to her office at the health post to get the lunch she had packed. I asked why and my other friends told me it was because she didn't want to eat tongue. I had already finished my plate so I gagged a little and then we all laughed for a while when I explained to them that I had no idea and that it was my first time eating tongue. Overall, it wasn't that unpleasant but the idea still grosses me out. These little culinary mishaps and adventures definitely keep me on my toes. I end up laughing at myself all the time for being so clueless and I have been lucky enough to find some Peruvian friends who appreciate my situation and laugh with me.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Night Time in Peru
The situation that I am in at the moment that I am writing this pretty much epitomizes my life as Peace Corps volunteer. I overcaffeineated during my Starbucks session this afternoon so there is not much chance of me falling asleep at a reasonable hour. Starbucks lures me in every time I am in Chiclayo with its promise of air conditioning, Joni Mitchell, wireless internet, anonymity, and real coffee (I drink mostly instant down here as the export the good stuff to, you guessed it, Starbucks). I think of Starbucks as "my office" because it provides the most conducive environment for real work time. Anyway, back to the current situation. It is almost midnight and I am in my sleeping bag watching The Wire on my computer and making flowers out of plastic bags to decorate my costume for the recycled fashion show I am organizing. My stomach started grumbling so I snuck out of my room for a snack only to be met by creepy scurrying sounds as I approached the kitchen. Not willing to face rats, roaches, and whatever else might be out there, I ran back to my room and here I am again with the Wire and my recycled flowers. This situation is not only typical in the literal sense, it sums up the mix of emotions that I feel on a day to day basis:
1. Thankful for the down time to watch entire seasons of shows at a time
2. Frustration that even the little things (i.e. grabbing a midnight snack or getting my sheets dry in time to sleep on) are difficult or uncomfortable
3. Excited about upcoming projects and events
4. Struggling to strike a balance between my current life as an honorary Peruvian and my past life as a Starbucks fiend
The Peace Corps isn't difficult because of the obvious differences like not having running water 24 hours a day. That stuff is kind of fun to go without because you come to know what to expect pretty quickly. The tough part is when the small things you need to keep yourself sane and comfortable aren't right there at your fingertips. Excuse the cliché but the best way to describe the Peace Corps experience is an emotional rollercoaster where you not only go up and down but sometimes conflicting emotions occur simultaneously. Right now I am frustrated and uncomfortable but also thrilled that my plastic bag flowers look great and I get to feel like I'm camping in my sleeping bag.
This week has been filled with little ups and downs but this moment was just too representative of my life to not highlight it. My main tasks lately have been distributing wall mounted bottle holders for hand washing, planning the recycled fashion contest, working with my newly formed environmental brigades in the schools, and pushing for the funding that the volunteers before me were promised by the municipality. Every step comes with its frustrations but every time the problems that make me pull my hair out resolve themselves with a little bit of persistence on my part. Luckily, I have two local counterparts in particular and countless contacts who share in the burden of pursuing lofty goals.
The big thing this week is the recycled fashion show to celebrate the international day of the environment. I have already seen some of the outfits and posted pictures on facebook. I am thrilled because everything I have seen so far is better than the examples that I found on the internet. I even invited my fellow Peace Corps volunteers in the area to be guest judges and I can't wait for them to see how creative and organized my town is. In the next couple of days I have to tie up some loose ends that are worrying me (getting prizes and certificates for the winners, making sure we have an amplifier in working order, etc) but overall I am pretty confident. I wish my friends from home could share in this experience with me. If anyone gets a chance to come to Peru make sure you get up to Pacora! I have already scheduled a work party to plant a community garden when my parents and grandma come in late June.
1. Thankful for the down time to watch entire seasons of shows at a time
2. Frustration that even the little things (i.e. grabbing a midnight snack or getting my sheets dry in time to sleep on) are difficult or uncomfortable
3. Excited about upcoming projects and events
4. Struggling to strike a balance between my current life as an honorary Peruvian and my past life as a Starbucks fiend
The Peace Corps isn't difficult because of the obvious differences like not having running water 24 hours a day. That stuff is kind of fun to go without because you come to know what to expect pretty quickly. The tough part is when the small things you need to keep yourself sane and comfortable aren't right there at your fingertips. Excuse the cliché but the best way to describe the Peace Corps experience is an emotional rollercoaster where you not only go up and down but sometimes conflicting emotions occur simultaneously. Right now I am frustrated and uncomfortable but also thrilled that my plastic bag flowers look great and I get to feel like I'm camping in my sleeping bag.
This week has been filled with little ups and downs but this moment was just too representative of my life to not highlight it. My main tasks lately have been distributing wall mounted bottle holders for hand washing, planning the recycled fashion contest, working with my newly formed environmental brigades in the schools, and pushing for the funding that the volunteers before me were promised by the municipality. Every step comes with its frustrations but every time the problems that make me pull my hair out resolve themselves with a little bit of persistence on my part. Luckily, I have two local counterparts in particular and countless contacts who share in the burden of pursuing lofty goals.
The big thing this week is the recycled fashion show to celebrate the international day of the environment. I have already seen some of the outfits and posted pictures on facebook. I am thrilled because everything I have seen so far is better than the examples that I found on the internet. I even invited my fellow Peace Corps volunteers in the area to be guest judges and I can't wait for them to see how creative and organized my town is. In the next couple of days I have to tie up some loose ends that are worrying me (getting prizes and certificates for the winners, making sure we have an amplifier in working order, etc) but overall I am pretty confident. I wish my friends from home could share in this experience with me. If anyone gets a chance to come to Peru make sure you get up to Pacora! I have already scheduled a work party to plant a community garden when my parents and grandma come in late June.
Monday, May 17, 2010
1 car battery+1 bucket of guinea pigs=1 amazing party
This week I had the chance to attend a meeting about the ecoefficient schools network that one of the third year volunteers in my province is helping to develop. I am interested in getting some of the schools in my area to follow suit and at least try and start in on some of the requirements for this program. Aside from being an introduction to a potentially excellent opportunity for my community, this meeting served as an excuse for me to check out my friend's site, who happens to live where this network is being developed. Her site is closer to the stereotypical Peace Corps experience that I was anticipating and, therefore, I was curious to step into her world for a bit.
I haven't given up many of the amenities that I had mentally prepared myself to live without prior to the Peace Corps and, although I am grateful every day for my refrigerator, gas stove, and bathroom, I have been dying to try out the day to day life of some of my fellow volunteers. The town I stayed in has no electricity or running water, which, as it turns out, has many blessings in terms of the social dynamics of the community. My adventure in the caserio (small rural annex) of sincape began with an afternoon watching soccer and chatting with the women and children who gather every day to watch the young men play. Because there is no electricity, soccer, card games, and conversation dominate the social scene. The afternoon of soccer was refreshing after six months with the tv almost constantly playing in the background.
That night it turned out to be my friend's host mother's birthday. I was thrilled that my meeting happened to fall on an event providing me with a chance to see how they get down in Sincape. I knew it was going to be a memorable experience when the first step to preparing for the party was selecting the fattest guinea pigs from the herd running around in the kitchen. After the women of the house filled a bucket with the heartiest sources of meat, I made a conscious effort to avoid the prep of our tasty rodents so as to avoid losing my appetite. One of the most offensive things a guest can do in Peruvian culture is refuse food that they have been offered. I have toughened up a lot in Peru but I still don’t feel like watching a guinea pig slaughter. As it turns out, the dinner was delicious, the best guinea pig I have had since I have been there. I was pleasantly surprised because I lost any enthusiasm I may have had about eating these creatures I used to regard as adorable pets when my host mom prepared it last week and failed to remove all the hair from the skin before tossing it in the frying pan. As I cautiously picked my way around the fur, I thought I would never eat cuy (the Peruvian word for guinea pig) again.
After dinner, the car battery arrived. In a world without electricity, the charged car battery is a precious commodity because it means tv and music. We hooked it up to the stereo and the dancing commenced. At any event where dancing is involved, I become even more the spectacle than I already am so I was obligated to spend the entire night dancing until the last people left. I was thankful that the next day was a work day so the party wound down a little after midnight rather than lasting until the sun comes up like weekend parties.
The next day, my fellow volunteer and I headed to the river for another activity very significant in the day-to-day life in Sincape, bathing and washing clothes. Whereas I wash my clothes in a large sink in my house and bathe in a shower, my friend experiences these two activities as a social event every afternoon down at the river. All of the women from the town were there laughing and gossiping and the kids were running and jumping into the water. We even got into a splash war and a rock-skipping contest with about 10 of the children. It was the most lively and social bath that I had ever taken.
When I left Sincape, I was given very firm instructions to come back soon and was even invited to multiple birthday parties coming up in the future. Even though I only spent one night there, I am already in love with this town and I look forward to my next visit. In the mean time, I am appreciating my electricity and running water.
I haven't given up many of the amenities that I had mentally prepared myself to live without prior to the Peace Corps and, although I am grateful every day for my refrigerator, gas stove, and bathroom, I have been dying to try out the day to day life of some of my fellow volunteers. The town I stayed in has no electricity or running water, which, as it turns out, has many blessings in terms of the social dynamics of the community. My adventure in the caserio (small rural annex) of sincape began with an afternoon watching soccer and chatting with the women and children who gather every day to watch the young men play. Because there is no electricity, soccer, card games, and conversation dominate the social scene. The afternoon of soccer was refreshing after six months with the tv almost constantly playing in the background.
That night it turned out to be my friend's host mother's birthday. I was thrilled that my meeting happened to fall on an event providing me with a chance to see how they get down in Sincape. I knew it was going to be a memorable experience when the first step to preparing for the party was selecting the fattest guinea pigs from the herd running around in the kitchen. After the women of the house filled a bucket with the heartiest sources of meat, I made a conscious effort to avoid the prep of our tasty rodents so as to avoid losing my appetite. One of the most offensive things a guest can do in Peruvian culture is refuse food that they have been offered. I have toughened up a lot in Peru but I still don’t feel like watching a guinea pig slaughter. As it turns out, the dinner was delicious, the best guinea pig I have had since I have been there. I was pleasantly surprised because I lost any enthusiasm I may have had about eating these creatures I used to regard as adorable pets when my host mom prepared it last week and failed to remove all the hair from the skin before tossing it in the frying pan. As I cautiously picked my way around the fur, I thought I would never eat cuy (the Peruvian word for guinea pig) again.
After dinner, the car battery arrived. In a world without electricity, the charged car battery is a precious commodity because it means tv and music. We hooked it up to the stereo and the dancing commenced. At any event where dancing is involved, I become even more the spectacle than I already am so I was obligated to spend the entire night dancing until the last people left. I was thankful that the next day was a work day so the party wound down a little after midnight rather than lasting until the sun comes up like weekend parties.
The next day, my fellow volunteer and I headed to the river for another activity very significant in the day-to-day life in Sincape, bathing and washing clothes. Whereas I wash my clothes in a large sink in my house and bathe in a shower, my friend experiences these two activities as a social event every afternoon down at the river. All of the women from the town were there laughing and gossiping and the kids were running and jumping into the water. We even got into a splash war and a rock-skipping contest with about 10 of the children. It was the most lively and social bath that I had ever taken.
When I left Sincape, I was given very firm instructions to come back soon and was even invited to multiple birthday parties coming up in the future. Even though I only spent one night there, I am already in love with this town and I look forward to my next visit. In the mean time, I am appreciating my electricity and running water.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Life as Señorita Dani
The past couple of weeks have been incredibly busy between planning and executing an Earth Day parade and recycling collection, continuing in my efforts to get funding from the municipality, and attending my first in service training. I am feeling very productive and I am incredibly excited to continue with larger scale projects that will be sustainable. The work that I have put in over the past three weeks has been the most rewarding part of Peace Corps yet.
The Earth Day celebration was weeks in the making and I couldn't help but worry as I waited in the plaza for the students to show up for the parade. As it turned out, there was no need to worry. At 9 am exactly the students from the four schools that I had invited came flooding in carrying the picket signs they had worked so hard to create. One of the elementary schools even brought their marching band along which made it impossible for the community members to ignore our parade. During the parade, the students from one of the schools went door to door to collect recycling, which they then sold to raise money for an amplifier they can use at school events. The parade was incredible and boosted my confidence as a volunteer. Of course, as with any project, there were a couple of glitches. The prizes we had solicited for the poster contest were meant for individuals but the students worked in groups so we had nothing to give the winners but we have decided to buy clocks for the winning classroom once the money for our solid waste management education budget comes through from the municipality.
Working with the municipality has proven quite an ordeal so I am concerned about relying on their timetable. The volunteers that I replaced got a solid waste education project approved last year through a program called the participatory budget. I came to site thinking that I would have this large budget waiting for me but, as with any bureaucracy, it was not that simple. I have spent the past six months fighting alongside the solid waste committee to get the money that the previous volunteers had been promised. As it turns out, their project had been lumped together with a large municipal project that is going to cost 700,000 soles (about $250,000). The municipality will never have this kind of money and they refuse to simplify the project in order to make it more feasible. They also insist that they cannot start any aspect of the project until they have funding lined up for all of it. My job has been to get the solid waste committees project separated from the large-scale municipal project so that we will have control over the timetable and logistics. This week I made huge strides to getting my hands on the funding that my predecessors were promised last October. I should have access to the money to start purchasing garbage cans and educational materials next week but I will believe that once I have money in my hands. I am confident that we are almost there in which case I can establish recycling programs in all of the schools of Pacora, which will earn them income and, therefore, have more of a chance at sustainability. I have learned a ton from this process about patience, persistence, and lobbying skills. These are all qualities that will come in handy if I decide to work in the U.S. government. I'd like to think it will be easier to get stuff done in the United States but that would be naïve, bureaucracy is bureaucracy.
In terms of general Peruvian life, I don't have anything too exciting to report. This may be because I am getting used to the things that used to throw me. I now don't think twice about the goats in bags on the combi or the bowls of organs in the refrigerator. My perspective on some things is much different now. For example, I am no longer offended by people publicly picking their nose, ears, bellybutton, or other orifices. I only hope that I will be able to shed my rural Peruvian manners once I get back to the U.S., especially since I will be traveling home for my sister's wedding, not the ideal setting for public displays of personal hygiene maintenance.
The Earth Day celebration was weeks in the making and I couldn't help but worry as I waited in the plaza for the students to show up for the parade. As it turned out, there was no need to worry. At 9 am exactly the students from the four schools that I had invited came flooding in carrying the picket signs they had worked so hard to create. One of the elementary schools even brought their marching band along which made it impossible for the community members to ignore our parade. During the parade, the students from one of the schools went door to door to collect recycling, which they then sold to raise money for an amplifier they can use at school events. The parade was incredible and boosted my confidence as a volunteer. Of course, as with any project, there were a couple of glitches. The prizes we had solicited for the poster contest were meant for individuals but the students worked in groups so we had nothing to give the winners but we have decided to buy clocks for the winning classroom once the money for our solid waste management education budget comes through from the municipality.
Working with the municipality has proven quite an ordeal so I am concerned about relying on their timetable. The volunteers that I replaced got a solid waste education project approved last year through a program called the participatory budget. I came to site thinking that I would have this large budget waiting for me but, as with any bureaucracy, it was not that simple. I have spent the past six months fighting alongside the solid waste committee to get the money that the previous volunteers had been promised. As it turns out, their project had been lumped together with a large municipal project that is going to cost 700,000 soles (about $250,000). The municipality will never have this kind of money and they refuse to simplify the project in order to make it more feasible. They also insist that they cannot start any aspect of the project until they have funding lined up for all of it. My job has been to get the solid waste committees project separated from the large-scale municipal project so that we will have control over the timetable and logistics. This week I made huge strides to getting my hands on the funding that my predecessors were promised last October. I should have access to the money to start purchasing garbage cans and educational materials next week but I will believe that once I have money in my hands. I am confident that we are almost there in which case I can establish recycling programs in all of the schools of Pacora, which will earn them income and, therefore, have more of a chance at sustainability. I have learned a ton from this process about patience, persistence, and lobbying skills. These are all qualities that will come in handy if I decide to work in the U.S. government. I'd like to think it will be easier to get stuff done in the United States but that would be naïve, bureaucracy is bureaucracy.
In terms of general Peruvian life, I don't have anything too exciting to report. This may be because I am getting used to the things that used to throw me. I now don't think twice about the goats in bags on the combi or the bowls of organs in the refrigerator. My perspective on some things is much different now. For example, I am no longer offended by people publicly picking their nose, ears, bellybutton, or other orifices. I only hope that I will be able to shed my rural Peruvian manners once I get back to the U.S., especially since I will be traveling home for my sister's wedding, not the ideal setting for public displays of personal hygiene maintenance.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Spring Break Peace Corps Style!
Easter weekend in Peru warrants a four-day weekend and as part of our "cultural integration," Peace Corps volunteers are given free vacation days. I decided to head up to Mancora, the Spring break destination of Peru, and spent my four days playing on the beach, eating amazing foods, and enjoying the infamous Mancora nightlife scene (with every precaution taken to stay safe of course). About twenty other volunteers showed up from all over the country so this turned out to be an excellent opportunity to catch up with people I hadn't seen since training and to meet volunteers who have been here longer than I have. The Peace Corps pretty much took over our hostel and enjoyed a weekend in the roll of tourists rather than idealistic, international do-gooders.
When the weekend ended it was back to reality, a transition that has been a little more difficult than I anticipated. I had taken full advantage of the Mancora culinary scene and eaten fresh seafood quesadillas, amazing octopus curry, and even some waffles at a restaurant called Green Eggs and Ham. I had left some loose ends before hitting the beach so I had to jump right from mojitos overlooking the Pacific Ocean to sorting hundreds of kilos of recycling and writing my community diagnostic. I am proud to say that I have completed both of these missions and I am back to feeling like a PCV.
The recycling campaign was the most fulfilling thing that I have done since getting to my site. I gave every student a bag (the waste in plastic probably seriously decreases the net benefit of the project but the educational aspect was more the point anyway), which they filled with recyclables and brought to me in exchange for candy and stickers. We ended up filling an entire room with bags of recycling and when I got back from my trip it was time to sort. I enlisted the help of some older students (all male despite my insistence otherwise) and we spent a total of four hours over two school days sorting out the garbage and putting all the recycling in sacks to be weighed and sold. At one point one of the boys helping sort the trash found a "toy" shaped like a certain part of the male anatomy, which belongs on the shelves of fantasy video and not in an elementary school recycling campaign. This provided for lots of giggling and extreme awkwardness on my part. When the recycler came to purchase the material, there was still much work to be done so I ended up staying at the school until 10 pm two nights in a row to finish up the sorting, weighing and transporting. The recycler transported all the material to his storage area across town using a tricycle with a big basket type of thing. It took about five very full loads but we finally sold a total of 170 kilos (374 lbs) of recyclables which is a huge amount considering a plastic bottle ways next to nothing. The enthusiasm on the part of the students was so satisfying that I have high hopes for instituting a permanent recycling program in the schools and I look forward to more campaigns like this in the future. The director has already requested that we make this a monthly campaign, I just need to figure out a more efficient way to collect the trash than individual bags for each student.
My next big project is to set up an Earth Day parade and banner contest among the school children. So far all of the schools have agreed to participate and I am looking forward to drawing more attention to environmentalism in Pacora. As my boss Diego always says, "the children are your little soldiers."
When the weekend ended it was back to reality, a transition that has been a little more difficult than I anticipated. I had taken full advantage of the Mancora culinary scene and eaten fresh seafood quesadillas, amazing octopus curry, and even some waffles at a restaurant called Green Eggs and Ham. I had left some loose ends before hitting the beach so I had to jump right from mojitos overlooking the Pacific Ocean to sorting hundreds of kilos of recycling and writing my community diagnostic. I am proud to say that I have completed both of these missions and I am back to feeling like a PCV.
The recycling campaign was the most fulfilling thing that I have done since getting to my site. I gave every student a bag (the waste in plastic probably seriously decreases the net benefit of the project but the educational aspect was more the point anyway), which they filled with recyclables and brought to me in exchange for candy and stickers. We ended up filling an entire room with bags of recycling and when I got back from my trip it was time to sort. I enlisted the help of some older students (all male despite my insistence otherwise) and we spent a total of four hours over two school days sorting out the garbage and putting all the recycling in sacks to be weighed and sold. At one point one of the boys helping sort the trash found a "toy" shaped like a certain part of the male anatomy, which belongs on the shelves of fantasy video and not in an elementary school recycling campaign. This provided for lots of giggling and extreme awkwardness on my part. When the recycler came to purchase the material, there was still much work to be done so I ended up staying at the school until 10 pm two nights in a row to finish up the sorting, weighing and transporting. The recycler transported all the material to his storage area across town using a tricycle with a big basket type of thing. It took about five very full loads but we finally sold a total of 170 kilos (374 lbs) of recyclables which is a huge amount considering a plastic bottle ways next to nothing. The enthusiasm on the part of the students was so satisfying that I have high hopes for instituting a permanent recycling program in the schools and I look forward to more campaigns like this in the future. The director has already requested that we make this a monthly campaign, I just need to figure out a more efficient way to collect the trash than individual bags for each student.
My next big project is to set up an Earth Day parade and banner contest among the school children. So far all of the schools have agreed to participate and I am looking forward to drawing more attention to environmentalism in Pacora. As my boss Diego always says, "the children are your little soldiers."
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Diagnostic Troubles
I am sitting here eating lunch and trying to work on my community diagnostic, which is technically due by the end of the week, and I realize why I usually head into Chiclayo to work on anything that involves focus. I lost complete focus about 30 seconds ago when my host brother-in-law came into the room with a live chicken and proceeded to saw at its jugular with a dull kitchen knife. He then shook out as much blood as possible as I pushed the remainder of my lunch and my community diagnostic to the side. Currently, he is laughing as the dead chicken makes strange noises as he plucks it. So much for concentration but at least I know where my dinner came from!
It is Monday 1:30 and while I have been working diligently all morning to get a recycling campaign off the ground at the elementary school, my neighborhood has been drinking on the sidewalk in front of my house since 9 am. I guess I am still in the American mindset that Monday morning is a dreaded hour where one returns to the grind but apparently that doesn't always apply when Sunday night's party was too good to end. I ask my host sister what the occasion is and she laughs as if this is irrelevant. I think this was the first time I've been made to feel guilty about turning down booze at 10 am on a Monday while on my way to work in the elementary school.
I don't want to give the impression that this is a regular occurrence, it usually only happens on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The majority of town has been hard at work today, including myself. I have actually had a rewarding morning in the Peace Corps. I had asked the elementary school teachers to help me design a recycling campaign and we came up with handing out sacks to each student to fill with recyclables which they will bring back to the school in exchange for stickers, pencils, and candies (care of Aunt Patty and my mom). We will then sell the recycling and buy something for the school or throw a little party. Today I was pleasantly surprised to find that a bunch of students had actually brought their bags back full of plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, and tin cans! Once the students who had forgotten the bags saw the stickers I was handing out they got really excited and promised me they will bring their bags tomorrow. Overall, the first phase of this project has been much more successful than I was anticipating and I look forward to going back tomorrow to find that even more students have brought in their recyclables. Another reason this project has felt so successful is that I have enlisted the teachers to talk to their students about how recycling benefits both human beings and our environment. I have never felt so excited about the potential impact of one of my projects.
In other news, I recently returned from Lima where I was working on planning a women's HIV/AIDS leadership workshop where we will work with female leaders on relevant skills. My favorite of these skills is "negotiation techniques." The machismo in Peru has made it difficult for women to take charge of their own birth control and the men are completely against condoms so we will work on self esteem and "negotiation" (I find this business-like explanation of the family planning process comical and disturbing at the same time). I am looking forward to this workshop and conference because I have become passionate about women's rights and sexual rights in particular.
When I arrived from Lima I found that 6 guinea pigs had been born while I was away. I enjoy watching the baby guinea pigs follow their mothers around so I was thrilled. I stupidly did not learn my lesson the last two litters of guinea pigs all of whom died, and I quickly got attached. The next day, there were two left. Some had disappeared, probably thanks to the neighbor's cat, but worse than that were the rapidly decomposing baby guinea pigs in the corner of the cage covered in ants. Ants have become the bane of my existence as they are tiny but numerous and relentless. Anyone who has read the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver probably remembers the scene where the ants come in and devour everything in their path leaving only carcasses of animals in their wake. The ant feeding frenzy through the guinea pig cage was kinda like that.
Now that the plucking process is done and I'm only slightly nauseous, I think I will head out back to my hammock to decompress before tackling my community diagnostic with a newfound appreciation for my current situation. It is moments like this when I look around and realize that I am still outside my comfort zone even after 4 months in my site. As I watch my host sister gut the chicken I realize that a sharp knife could be an excellent gift to my host family, and it might help me stomach the process a little more easily.
It is Monday 1:30 and while I have been working diligently all morning to get a recycling campaign off the ground at the elementary school, my neighborhood has been drinking on the sidewalk in front of my house since 9 am. I guess I am still in the American mindset that Monday morning is a dreaded hour where one returns to the grind but apparently that doesn't always apply when Sunday night's party was too good to end. I ask my host sister what the occasion is and she laughs as if this is irrelevant. I think this was the first time I've been made to feel guilty about turning down booze at 10 am on a Monday while on my way to work in the elementary school.
I don't want to give the impression that this is a regular occurrence, it usually only happens on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The majority of town has been hard at work today, including myself. I have actually had a rewarding morning in the Peace Corps. I had asked the elementary school teachers to help me design a recycling campaign and we came up with handing out sacks to each student to fill with recyclables which they will bring back to the school in exchange for stickers, pencils, and candies (care of Aunt Patty and my mom). We will then sell the recycling and buy something for the school or throw a little party. Today I was pleasantly surprised to find that a bunch of students had actually brought their bags back full of plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, and tin cans! Once the students who had forgotten the bags saw the stickers I was handing out they got really excited and promised me they will bring their bags tomorrow. Overall, the first phase of this project has been much more successful than I was anticipating and I look forward to going back tomorrow to find that even more students have brought in their recyclables. Another reason this project has felt so successful is that I have enlisted the teachers to talk to their students about how recycling benefits both human beings and our environment. I have never felt so excited about the potential impact of one of my projects.
In other news, I recently returned from Lima where I was working on planning a women's HIV/AIDS leadership workshop where we will work with female leaders on relevant skills. My favorite of these skills is "negotiation techniques." The machismo in Peru has made it difficult for women to take charge of their own birth control and the men are completely against condoms so we will work on self esteem and "negotiation" (I find this business-like explanation of the family planning process comical and disturbing at the same time). I am looking forward to this workshop and conference because I have become passionate about women's rights and sexual rights in particular.
When I arrived from Lima I found that 6 guinea pigs had been born while I was away. I enjoy watching the baby guinea pigs follow their mothers around so I was thrilled. I stupidly did not learn my lesson the last two litters of guinea pigs all of whom died, and I quickly got attached. The next day, there were two left. Some had disappeared, probably thanks to the neighbor's cat, but worse than that were the rapidly decomposing baby guinea pigs in the corner of the cage covered in ants. Ants have become the bane of my existence as they are tiny but numerous and relentless. Anyone who has read the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver probably remembers the scene where the ants come in and devour everything in their path leaving only carcasses of animals in their wake. The ant feeding frenzy through the guinea pig cage was kinda like that.
Now that the plucking process is done and I'm only slightly nauseous, I think I will head out back to my hammock to decompress before tackling my community diagnostic with a newfound appreciation for my current situation. It is moments like this when I look around and realize that I am still outside my comfort zone even after 4 months in my site. As I watch my host sister gut the chicken I realize that a sharp knife could be an excellent gift to my host family, and it might help me stomach the process a little more easily.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Fear Factor
I just walked in the door from my first trip back to Lima and I am sitting here in my living room watching women's high jump at the world track and field championships. I am getting a little homesick as I talk to my host mom about my own connection to the sport and explain that my mom in the U.S. has an Olympic medal in this sport. I have very rarely watched high jump in the U.S. so I am surprised to find myself glued to a track meet in rural Peru. After being on a bus all night, it is nice to zone out on something that reminds me so much of home.
At the beginning of this week, I felt like I was training to be a competitor on Fear Factor. It all started when I smelled something rancid coming from the kitchen and when I opened the pot where lunch was being prepared I saw an entire sheep stomach and liver being boiled. I politely chewed my way through as much of this as I could and then claimed to be full after the texture and bizarre taste of intestines became too much for me. My second training session was much more shocking. I was invited to my fellow Peace Corps volunteer's birthday lunch. He had bought a goat for his family to slaughter for the party (a tradition for any party in Peru). Before the main course, Tyler thought it would be funny to serve me up some of the goat testicle that his host mother had prepared. He set it in front of me so that everyone at the party saw I had been served. I had no option but to politely eat it as the entire neighborhood looked on. The spongy texture and mental image of what I was eating made it difficult but I forced a smile, chewed a couple of times, and swallowed as quickly as possible. I am still grossed out when I think about it but I am proud of myself for not offending anyone by vomiting.
My meeting in Lima this week was with the Women in Development/Gender Awareness in Development (WID/GAD) committee. WID/GAD is a worldwide initiative that helps volunteers in many countries to involve women in their development projects. I was recently accepted onto this committee and I am incredibly excited to get going on projects. This meeting was essentially a brainstorming session. We decided that this year we will do a staff training, a training for new volunteers, a calendar of strong female figures nominated by volunteers, and a project in conjunction with the HIV/AIDS committee. I have found from experience that no project can work without the support and involvement of women in the community and I have been looking for ways to inspire the women in my community to set goals for themselves beyond what is expected of them. I think that getting women to take more control in everything from education to money to sex will be a crucial step in sustainable development. I have seen so many women who are not allowed by their families and/or their partners to work outside the home or use birth control thus leaving them with no control over their own life. I am looking forward to working with this committee to help improve this situation.
Now that I am back from Lima, I need to get back to work on my trash projects and coordinate my environmental education in the schools. For today, I intend to watch some more track and take a serious nap. I just have to make sure that I get up in time for my radio interview in a few hours. I never pass up an opportunity to let people know what I am working on here in Pacora, otherwise they might think I just walk around eating popsicles all day.
At the beginning of this week, I felt like I was training to be a competitor on Fear Factor. It all started when I smelled something rancid coming from the kitchen and when I opened the pot where lunch was being prepared I saw an entire sheep stomach and liver being boiled. I politely chewed my way through as much of this as I could and then claimed to be full after the texture and bizarre taste of intestines became too much for me. My second training session was much more shocking. I was invited to my fellow Peace Corps volunteer's birthday lunch. He had bought a goat for his family to slaughter for the party (a tradition for any party in Peru). Before the main course, Tyler thought it would be funny to serve me up some of the goat testicle that his host mother had prepared. He set it in front of me so that everyone at the party saw I had been served. I had no option but to politely eat it as the entire neighborhood looked on. The spongy texture and mental image of what I was eating made it difficult but I forced a smile, chewed a couple of times, and swallowed as quickly as possible. I am still grossed out when I think about it but I am proud of myself for not offending anyone by vomiting.
My meeting in Lima this week was with the Women in Development/Gender Awareness in Development (WID/GAD) committee. WID/GAD is a worldwide initiative that helps volunteers in many countries to involve women in their development projects. I was recently accepted onto this committee and I am incredibly excited to get going on projects. This meeting was essentially a brainstorming session. We decided that this year we will do a staff training, a training for new volunteers, a calendar of strong female figures nominated by volunteers, and a project in conjunction with the HIV/AIDS committee. I have found from experience that no project can work without the support and involvement of women in the community and I have been looking for ways to inspire the women in my community to set goals for themselves beyond what is expected of them. I think that getting women to take more control in everything from education to money to sex will be a crucial step in sustainable development. I have seen so many women who are not allowed by their families and/or their partners to work outside the home or use birth control thus leaving them with no control over their own life. I am looking forward to working with this committee to help improve this situation.
Now that I am back from Lima, I need to get back to work on my trash projects and coordinate my environmental education in the schools. For today, I intend to watch some more track and take a serious nap. I just have to make sure that I get up in time for my radio interview in a few hours. I never pass up an opportunity to let people know what I am working on here in Pacora, otherwise they might think I just walk around eating popsicles all day.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Ludivina (my host mom) La Luz Divina (the divine light)
February is over which means I have been away from home for almost 6 months! Even though days move slowly here at times, the weeks and months fly by. Some mornings seem to go on forever and I often find myself saying good afternoon at nine in the morning. This is mainly due to the fact that I am always up before 6:30 and generally by 9 I have run errands, eaten a meal (or two) and gone for a run. It feels amazing to be productive and I am starting to have something to show for my persistence. I am getting projects off the ground and now that school is about to start I will have a captive audience for my environmental lectures and campaigns. I am really looking forward to this resource as the teachers have proven to be supportive and motivated allies.
This week I have started working with another very exciting counterpart, the archeologist who is uncovering a Pre-Incan pyramid surrounded by houses and other remnants of the Sican Culture. He approached me because one of his goals is to attract tourists to the region and the access to the ruins is completely covered in trash. I have been very busy working with his secretary to put together a document for the mayor that outlines the problem and some suggestions for solving it. We then presented this to the municipality and they have promised to attend our weekly trash committee meeting. I am apprehensive to put too much faith in the municipality but I think their attendance at our meeting will give the trash committee a say in outlining and implementing a sustainable trash management strategy. As it is now, the municipality won't do anything because it will be too expensive but, with the support of the committee and other local institutions, I believe we can find low cost ways to decrease the amount of trash dumped on the edges of town. Some of my suggestions have included a dumpster at the market and a mini landfill where the municipal workers can put the waste they collect during street sweepings. The task of cleaning up Pacora is so enormous that I am trying to focus on simple, low cost solutions and education through the schools for the long term. I would consider it a huge success if I could even just get the municipal workers to stop throwing all the trash they collect in the river. This new focus on tourism and my partnership with the archeologist have given me a second wind of optimism.
In non-work related news, I attended another concert of my favorite cumbia boy band, Hermanos Yaipen. This time, I brought my host mother and two other Peace Corps volunteers. It was very exciting to once again engage in the debauchery that ensues when a bunch of adolescent girls come together to express their love for overly groomed guys singing pop hits. I am much more into this scene than I would like to admit. My host mother was even more excited than I was and at one point charged up to the stage and demanded that the heart throb of the group give her his hand. She was grinning ear to ear after her handshake with THE Cristian Dominguez! Since I had been in the bathroom when they passed out the calendars and other autographed paraphernalia, I insisted we go to intercept the band as they boarded their tour bus. One of the band members (the older one who doesn't wear hair gel, thus making him less likely to get crushed by teenage girls) was standing outside the bus shaking hands and signing autographs. My host mom then took this opportunity to invite the band to dinner at our house and give them our address. He politely smiled and nodded as my friends and I laughed hysterically at the whole interaction. I walked away from this experience with a newfound appreciation for my host mother. I only hope I am as cool as her at 65.
This week I have started working with another very exciting counterpart, the archeologist who is uncovering a Pre-Incan pyramid surrounded by houses and other remnants of the Sican Culture. He approached me because one of his goals is to attract tourists to the region and the access to the ruins is completely covered in trash. I have been very busy working with his secretary to put together a document for the mayor that outlines the problem and some suggestions for solving it. We then presented this to the municipality and they have promised to attend our weekly trash committee meeting. I am apprehensive to put too much faith in the municipality but I think their attendance at our meeting will give the trash committee a say in outlining and implementing a sustainable trash management strategy. As it is now, the municipality won't do anything because it will be too expensive but, with the support of the committee and other local institutions, I believe we can find low cost ways to decrease the amount of trash dumped on the edges of town. Some of my suggestions have included a dumpster at the market and a mini landfill where the municipal workers can put the waste they collect during street sweepings. The task of cleaning up Pacora is so enormous that I am trying to focus on simple, low cost solutions and education through the schools for the long term. I would consider it a huge success if I could even just get the municipal workers to stop throwing all the trash they collect in the river. This new focus on tourism and my partnership with the archeologist have given me a second wind of optimism.
In non-work related news, I attended another concert of my favorite cumbia boy band, Hermanos Yaipen. This time, I brought my host mother and two other Peace Corps volunteers. It was very exciting to once again engage in the debauchery that ensues when a bunch of adolescent girls come together to express their love for overly groomed guys singing pop hits. I am much more into this scene than I would like to admit. My host mother was even more excited than I was and at one point charged up to the stage and demanded that the heart throb of the group give her his hand. She was grinning ear to ear after her handshake with THE Cristian Dominguez! Since I had been in the bathroom when they passed out the calendars and other autographed paraphernalia, I insisted we go to intercept the band as they boarded their tour bus. One of the band members (the older one who doesn't wear hair gel, thus making him less likely to get crushed by teenage girls) was standing outside the bus shaking hands and signing autographs. My host mom then took this opportunity to invite the band to dinner at our house and give them our address. He politely smiled and nodded as my friends and I laughed hysterically at the whole interaction. I walked away from this experience with a newfound appreciation for my host mother. I only hope I am as cool as her at 65.
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