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!
Friday, July 23, 2010
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.
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