Aniversario!

Hey everyone! My second week in site has been crazy busy in part because this week was our district anniversary. Since my town is the capitol of the district of Pacora, it was the center of the action. My motto has been "say yes to everything" which has gotten me involved in all kinds of projects in the community. It is amazing to have everyone so excited to work with me and hang out with me but it has given me a new respect for what it must be like to be a celebrity. Although I love when the school children yell out "hola señorita Dani" every time I walk by, it is not as endearing when I am relaxing in the living room with my family and groups of little kids come up to peek through the window. I am hoping that soon some of the novelty will wear off and people will be more interested in working with me and getting to know me than just staring at me.
Over the weekend I attended various events leading up to the anniversary including the Señorita Pacora pageant and the mass wedding. Both were very well attended events and allowed me to experience a little more of the culture in Pacora. The pageant was a typical beauty pageant without the talent portion. The mass wedding was an opportunity for people who do not have enough money for a wedding to participate in a proper civil ceremony complete with cake and snacks all provided by the municipality. Twenty-one couples participated ranging in age from 15 to 65. It was a happy occasion for everyone but also an interesting glimpse into the lives of the people here. I am definitely an anomaly due to the fact that I am not in any rush to get married or have kids at 22. Many of the people I meet are convinced that I will end up marrying a Peruvian.
This week started off great. Sunday evening I went to introduce myself to the people who own the local equestrian tourism company and give tours of the historical sanctuary Bosque de Pomac. They were thrilled that I am interested in working with them and they said that I could ride whenever I want. I am also invited to accompany them any time they take tourists out into the forest. They also do inn-to-inn type of tours through the forest and to different ruins throughout the area. I am really excited to go on one of these rides one day! For now, they offered me the opportunity to show up any time I like and take a horse out. They have Peruvian Pasos which are horses bred for their incredibly smooth gait. They say that these horses are so smooth you can sip wine while riding. That sounds like my ideal afternoon.
Monday the real work started. My fellow Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) Tyler came into Pacora and we taught an environmental lesson about the biosphere at the local high school. I taught the lesson three times in the morning and then two more times later in the afternoon. It went really well with everyone and at the end of each lesson we created a contract of things we will do to help protect our biosphere. All of the kids came up with excellent ideas and then signed. The teachers and director were so excited about these contracts that they posted them in the quad area so that everyone would see them. I will be teaching every Monday and Wednesday at the high school and I am hoping to coordinate with the local elementary schools to work with them as well. I only hope that I am creative enough to have consistently good lessons.
On the day of the anniversary, I went out into the plaza at 8 am to help run a campaign for world AIDS day. Some nursing students came from a local university to help my friend Rocio and I talk to people in the plaza about HIV-AIDS and pin red ribbons on passersby. We even convinced the local politicians and authorities to wear the ribbons and demonstrate their support for our cause! Rocio is the OBGYN at the health post and has tons of energy. We already have ideas for projects informing the public about adverse health effects of dumping garbage and campaigns for hand washing. I am looking forward to getting going on some of these longer-term projects.
When it came time for the ceremonial part of the anniversary, the mayor requested that I participate along with the authorities. I ended up carrying the flag around the streets of Pacora along with the governor of our district, the mayor, members of the military, and other important figures. I also got VIP seating and a shout out in the mayor's opening speech. It was a little intense and embarrassing but I think it helped me to build credibility with the public.
Once the real parade started, I marched first with the health post, much to the dismay of the women's group that I work with, and then I ran back to march with the solid waste management committee. It was flattering to be in such high demand among the local institutions and organizations.
One of the projects that I will be working on while I am here is maintaining the tree nursery that my predecessor established in a rural area outside of Pacora. So far, our weekly meetings have been very productive in terms of the quantity of trees that we plant but I am trying to figure out how to deal with some frustrating patterns that I have noticed. The women tend to start out every meeting bickering about who forgot to bring a shovel and who brought a small bucket to water the trees. After that, we spend a good amount of time deciding how to divide up the work so that it is fair and then, finally, we begin planting. It is great fun to chat and joke around with them and their children are adorable but I will definitely be learning to have patience from this activity.
This weekend I will be going into the capitol city of Chiclayo for our monthly regional meeting and I am looking forward to debriefing some of my recent experiences. I am also looking forward to meeting all of the other volunteers in the department of Lambayeque as they will be my support network over the next two years. As we move into the Christmas season, I think it will be really nice to have friends that understand what I am going through and give me a connection to my former life. I hope everything is going well back in The States. I am entering summer down here so I hope all of you will go out and play in the snow for me! Miss you!