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.