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.
Monday, May 17, 2010
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.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
CARNAVAL!
This week I had my first Carnaval experience. Never having celebrated Mardi Gras or Carnaval, I have been looking forward to engaging in the debauchery inherent in this holiday. Courtney had spent the previous weekend in Venice at their Carnaval so after hearing about her experiences I got even more excited to celebrate . Since I arrived at my site, every conversation has been guaranteed to include three topics, my opinion of Pacora, the weather, and which "bando" I will join for carnaval. Everyone in town either belongs to the Bando Rojo or the Bando Verde (red and green) and they take these affiliations very seriously. The majority of my friends here belong to the red band but my host mother was once queen of the green band so I always said that I would participate in both. On the day of carnaval I ended up wearing a red dress (by chance, not having to do with my affiliation), and a green lei in order to show my support of both teams.
The festivities began with a parade for each band complete with giant floats and marching bands. After the parade, I had lunch with my family. I refrained from drinking during the day but I was the only one. After a few beers the lunchtime conversation turned to creationism as the reason for different races. I held my tongue for a while but when my host mom started talking about a "crazy theory where humans came from monkeys" I couldn't keep it in any longer. She started telling everyone that some people believe that monkeys walked into the ocean one day and the water made their hair fall out and that is where humans come from. I politely interjected that science shows us that over generations, natural and sexual selection for desirable traits has led to development of different species. This concept was difficult to explain in Spanish so I probably just left them thinking I am a crazy person. I often worry about my reputation as my true opinions and beliefs emerge. I usually express that I am not Catholic but I am Christian and then smile and nod as they explain to me the importance of having God in our hearts and souls. These talks only get more intense as the level of alcohol involved increases. Probably my favorite example is an old man who chases me down every time he sees me to ask when he can baptize me and, thereby, become my godfather. I think his main motive is so that I can marry his grandson (who is already married with a child) in the Catholic Church.
After my very interesting lunch, it was time to go out and start dancing the day and night away. The different bandos had concerts going simultaneously so I bounced between them but eventually settled into the red concert because I liked the music better. The Ivan Roberts Orchestra is essentially a glorified cover band that plays everything from Cumbia and Salsa to American 80's pop favorites. There is little I enjoy more than seeing grown men from a very machista culture jumping around like mad to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." I ended up dancing all afternoon until midnight with my host mom, her sister, and various other family members. I figured out that the secrets to the Peruvian party endurance are drinking slowly due to passing one glass around, and taking mid party naps. It is perfectly acceptable to sit down on the curb, bench or floor and take a twenty-minute nap while the party rages around you. I can't see myself doing this but my host family has mastered this skill.
The festivities began with a parade for each band complete with giant floats and marching bands. After the parade, I had lunch with my family. I refrained from drinking during the day but I was the only one. After a few beers the lunchtime conversation turned to creationism as the reason for different races. I held my tongue for a while but when my host mom started talking about a "crazy theory where humans came from monkeys" I couldn't keep it in any longer. She started telling everyone that some people believe that monkeys walked into the ocean one day and the water made their hair fall out and that is where humans come from. I politely interjected that science shows us that over generations, natural and sexual selection for desirable traits has led to development of different species. This concept was difficult to explain in Spanish so I probably just left them thinking I am a crazy person. I often worry about my reputation as my true opinions and beliefs emerge. I usually express that I am not Catholic but I am Christian and then smile and nod as they explain to me the importance of having God in our hearts and souls. These talks only get more intense as the level of alcohol involved increases. Probably my favorite example is an old man who chases me down every time he sees me to ask when he can baptize me and, thereby, become my godfather. I think his main motive is so that I can marry his grandson (who is already married with a child) in the Catholic Church.
After my very interesting lunch, it was time to go out and start dancing the day and night away. The different bandos had concerts going simultaneously so I bounced between them but eventually settled into the red concert because I liked the music better. The Ivan Roberts Orchestra is essentially a glorified cover band that plays everything from Cumbia and Salsa to American 80's pop favorites. There is little I enjoy more than seeing grown men from a very machista culture jumping around like mad to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." I ended up dancing all afternoon until midnight with my host mom, her sister, and various other family members. I figured out that the secrets to the Peruvian party endurance are drinking slowly due to passing one glass around, and taking mid party naps. It is perfectly acceptable to sit down on the curb, bench or floor and take a twenty-minute nap while the party rages around you. I can't see myself doing this but my host family has mastered this skill.
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