This past weekend I put my recent marathon training to the test. There was a huge marathon/half-marathon/10k event in Lima sponsored by Adidas and the main cell phone company here. Since I am a little over half way done with my training, I decided to run the half marathon to see how fit I am. What I found out is that running 13.1 miles is very tough. I had run up to 15 miles successfully in training but the race was quite a bit more trying. During the first 10 miles of the race I felt pretty good and was running on the spirit, energy, and adrenaline of the event. The last three miles my main thought was "I just want this to be over and I have no idea how I will run twice this distance." I was inspired and a bit embarrassed when the elite marathoners (who had started their 26.2 mile race only an hour before us) came blowing by me to finish their race in not much more time than it took me to run half that distance. The satisfaction that I felt after the race was quite overwhelming and I determined that it was well worth the 3 or 4 miles of pain that I went through. The question now becomes am I willing to endure 13 miles of pain for an exponentially more satisfying accomplishment. I have heard about marathons my entire life but never had I realized how incredible of a feat just completing the entire race is let alone running 26.2 consecutive miles faster than I can hope to run even 1 mile. I like a good challenge but I am now getting seriously nervous about the challenge that I have signed up for in July. In the upcoming weeks my training runs will start kicking up a few notches and I will try my best not to blow out my shins, knees, back, and every other part of my body. Luckily two of my fellow volunteers are also preparing for the main event and we have made a tradition of having sleepovers before our super long runs and then following them up with good food and beers (after a few liters of water and Gatorade of course). I must say that, while I appreciate the sense of accomplishment and the therapeutic aspects of running, one of my favorite parts of marathon training is the carbo loading. I may be taking this a bit too far as I have not lost any weight even though I am running around 30 miles a week.
From here on I will be working hard to keep up the motivation to get up and run before my work. At the same time I am also jumping into some big projects. Thanks to all the donations from friends and family we have funded an environmentally themed leadership camp for adolescent boys and are in the planning phase. Aside from this, I am also working on planning the second annual calendar project recognizing women leaders in communities where volunteers are working. Last year's calendar was so successful that we are really looking forward to replicating the project. Since there have been major budget cuts for Peace Corps, we are making some changes in how the project is executed and we will have to raise funds from friends and family once again so keep an eye out for my email begging for your support. I find these larger scale projects to be very rewarding and I look forward to working on these in addition to the projects that take place in my site.
In site, I am working with a group of recycling promoters going house to house and giving everyone sacks to put their recycling in. This is pretty fun work because almost everyone we talk to is excited to start collecting recyclables to sell so that they can help clean up the town and earn a little money at the same time. I think many of them aren't so excited about recycling as they are to figure out what it is that I am doing here besides hanging out in the market eating the tasty street food. I think the door-to-door aspect of my project is something that I should have done earlier on in order to explain myself more thoroughly from the outset.
I am feeling pretty successful lately but I am still in a constant battle to avoid the perils of the Peace Corps. The most recent of these potential obstacles is a tropical disease called Dengue. I have talked about this before but now it is here in Pacora and even my host father got it. Dengue is transmitted by a particular mosquito and the symptoms include flu-like symptoms and body aches so severe one feels as if their bones are breaking. It only lasts a week and goes away on its own but I would still rather avoid anything that doctors refer to as "agonizing." I will be doing all I can by putting on repellent, sleeping under a net, and wearing long pants and sleeves but those mosquitoes are sneaky little buggers and I cannot be completely safe. Wish me luck!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Welcome to the Jungle
Since I work in a Catholic country I get a four-day weekend for Easter and I decided to go all out with my chosen vacation. Four friends and I headed south to the Manu Biosphere Reserve to look for the elusive national bird of Peru, the Cock of the Rock (obviously this caused never-ending innuendos which originally annoyed our guide but eventually he was the one making raunchy jokes). We flew into Cusco for some awesome touristy food and left before dawn the following morning for the drive to our first lodge. The drive that day was grueling to say the least. The first couple of hours were on paved roads and we got to stop at some picturesque villages along the way but when we pulled into the Manu national park, the roads got a bit treacherous. The Hyundai mini-van we were riding in was not made to wade through mud pits and ford streams. We ended up getting out of the car at the muddier spots so that the car could pass through. With about two hours left in the drive we came up on a long line of cars and went to investigate the holdup. What we encountered made the reality of our situation much scarier that the harmless adventure on rough roads we had thought it to be. The road ahead had collapsed under a lumber truck sending the truck sliding into a ravine. Luckily, no one was hurt and apparently this happens all the time, but it was incredibly nerve wracking to come across this scene. I had no faith in the estimate that we would be on our way again in about an hour but all I could do was wait. Amazingly enough, one bulldozer and one tractor was plenty to pull the truck out of the ravine relatively quickly (they had already been working at it about 4 hours when we showed up) and then carve a new road out of the side of the mountain. Luckily, there were a bunch of cars that had to pass over the new section of road before we did so the integrity had been well proven. Still, I waited on the far side of the collapse site and hopped in the van once I saw that it did not go sliding into the ravine.
After our harrowing 13-hour drive, I was thrilled to get to our little haven in the cloud forest, San Pedro Lodge. The lodge had big outdoor sitting areas with the noise of the river, the birds, and insects in the background. Although we were close to the little mud road we had ridden in on, there was not a car to be heard the entire night. I can't think of the last time that I found a place where there was no evidence of motor vehicles but this was it. The next morning after a successful bird walk where we spotted the cock of the rock and a few other beautiful species, we climbed back into our minivan and headed to our next activity, rafting. On the drive we spotted a pack of wooly monkeys, one of five species in the area. The next lodge was only accessible by boat so we rafted half way and then took a motorboat when the river got a bit bigger and flatter. The second part of our adventure took places at the Erika Lodge and began with a nature hike through the quicksand. In an effort to reach an enormous tree with a root so big it looked like a dinosaur trail, we had to move cross a patch of ground that sucked three of us in up to our knees before we found a spot solid enough to make a stick bridge and cross. I think it sounds so Indiana Jones to sink in quicksand so I am pretty proud of myself.
The next day we had to arrive at the clay lick before 6 am to watch flocks of amazing birds arrive for their morning feeding. The clay lick is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a wall of clay where birds come to get their minerals. We ended up seeing four species of birds and a beautiful sunrise over a tributary of the Amazon River. After a breakfast of delicious pancakes, we hiked up to the zipline for a day of cruising through the canopy in harnesses. Our full day of activities continued with a typical jungle lunch cooked in banana leaves followed by a hike and paddle around a beautiful lake where we spotted the Hoatzin or "stinky bird" (called this because its digestive system operates like that of a cow complete with three stomachs). This bird looks like the archaeopteryx dinosaur with a feather Mohawk. We looked for the capybara (the world's largest rodent) but were not lucky enough to find it. Despite this, we did get a glimpse of our second species of monkey, the squirrel monkey. Overall, this was an amazing final activity for our trip.
The last day of our jungle experience did not disappoint on the adventure front. After a quick ride up the river we got back in our minivan for 13 hours of alternate riding and trudging through the mud. Late that night we got into Cuzco and headed straight for burgers and imported beer with the rest of the tourists. One of my favorite things about Cuzco is the amount of high quality pub type food. After an Easter Sunday that involved hiking up to the giant white Jesus overlooking Cuzco and spending lots of money on food, we headed back to our sites. Remembering these experiences makes me a little sad as I sit in my room watching episodes of House and planning my next trip to the jungle as mice literally scurry in under my door. Being a tourist is pretty awesome.
After our harrowing 13-hour drive, I was thrilled to get to our little haven in the cloud forest, San Pedro Lodge. The lodge had big outdoor sitting areas with the noise of the river, the birds, and insects in the background. Although we were close to the little mud road we had ridden in on, there was not a car to be heard the entire night. I can't think of the last time that I found a place where there was no evidence of motor vehicles but this was it. The next morning after a successful bird walk where we spotted the cock of the rock and a few other beautiful species, we climbed back into our minivan and headed to our next activity, rafting. On the drive we spotted a pack of wooly monkeys, one of five species in the area. The next lodge was only accessible by boat so we rafted half way and then took a motorboat when the river got a bit bigger and flatter. The second part of our adventure took places at the Erika Lodge and began with a nature hike through the quicksand. In an effort to reach an enormous tree with a root so big it looked like a dinosaur trail, we had to move cross a patch of ground that sucked three of us in up to our knees before we found a spot solid enough to make a stick bridge and cross. I think it sounds so Indiana Jones to sink in quicksand so I am pretty proud of myself.
The next day we had to arrive at the clay lick before 6 am to watch flocks of amazing birds arrive for their morning feeding. The clay lick is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a wall of clay where birds come to get their minerals. We ended up seeing four species of birds and a beautiful sunrise over a tributary of the Amazon River. After a breakfast of delicious pancakes, we hiked up to the zipline for a day of cruising through the canopy in harnesses. Our full day of activities continued with a typical jungle lunch cooked in banana leaves followed by a hike and paddle around a beautiful lake where we spotted the Hoatzin or "stinky bird" (called this because its digestive system operates like that of a cow complete with three stomachs). This bird looks like the archaeopteryx dinosaur with a feather Mohawk. We looked for the capybara (the world's largest rodent) but were not lucky enough to find it. Despite this, we did get a glimpse of our second species of monkey, the squirrel monkey. Overall, this was an amazing final activity for our trip.
The last day of our jungle experience did not disappoint on the adventure front. After a quick ride up the river we got back in our minivan for 13 hours of alternate riding and trudging through the mud. Late that night we got into Cuzco and headed straight for burgers and imported beer with the rest of the tourists. One of my favorite things about Cuzco is the amount of high quality pub type food. After an Easter Sunday that involved hiking up to the giant white Jesus overlooking Cuzco and spending lots of money on food, we headed back to our sites. Remembering these experiences makes me a little sad as I sit in my room watching episodes of House and planning my next trip to the jungle as mice literally scurry in under my door. Being a tourist is pretty awesome.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
So you want to get involved with my projects? Read this!
I have never had an answer when someone asks me to recount my most embarrassing moment but I may have achieved just that at the regional 50th anniversary party that we held for Peace Corps recently in the municipality of my capitol city. We had been planning to celebrate President Kennedy's signing of the order to create Peace Corps for many months and had put together an elegant event with photo exhibitions of our work, testimonials from volunteers and counterparts, and words from the Peace Corps Peru director. There were quite a few authorities and important people present and my body thought that it was the perfect time to come down with the flu. I had been unable to eat much that morning so when it came time for snacks I went to town on the finger sandwiches and tiny empanadas. I approached the director of the national park that I live near to thank him for the support he had given the most recent reforestation effort that I have been working on. This man is pretty important in the Peruvian equivalent of our National Park Service. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into when I started a conversation with this man and how sick I was actually feeling. As he got increasingly excited about new ideas to save the forest and help the people who live off of it, I got increasingly woozy. My vision started to get blurry and my sampler of snacks started to make its presence known in my belly. Finally I interrupted a monologue about organic gardens that I would have been very excited about ordinarily and asked if I could sit down. As soon as we reached the trash can by the wall I started hurling everything in my stomach into said trash can in the middle of this elegant event. I was somewhat discreet but the VIP guest I had been talking to felt obligated to take care of me. He gave me toilet paper to wipe my face and a pill that he had from his recent illness. I called one of my friends over to help me out with a plastic bag so that I could get to the bathroom and relieve the park director of his duty. At least I had a hair tie so he didn't have to hold my hair back.
Going along with the theme of uncomfortable situations and bodily functions, I would like to describe what it is like going to the bathroom in my house. I have a real bathroom so I am ahead of many of my friends in terms of amenities and I am not complaining. Many people that I know have holes in the ground and I have heard about encounters with snakes, black widows, tarantulas, and other fun creatures in the bathroom. Luckily I only have to deal with roaches in the bathroom but I often have "why did I decide to do this?" moments when I walk into the bathroom. I usually take a deep breath, wave away the roaches so that they scurry off the toilet seat back into their holes, and then position myself on the cement toilet bowl that is less than comfortable to sit on. The funniest but most disgusting thing about using my bathroom is that it is so hot that I am usually dripping sweat. The sweat droplets are often an indistinguishable sensation from flies or roaches crawling on the skin. I know that this is all a serious overshare but the small stuff like going to the bathroom is so different from my life in the United States that I think it deserves to be explained. It helps to set the scene so that some of you at home can laugh at/with me about my experience.
Workwise, I am trying to train recycling promoters and coordinate a work plan for this school year. So far I have had a good amount of success with both goals thanks to the very active groups that already exist in Pacora. I am working with the women's organization, the university student's association, and the health promoters who I have been training in HIV/AIDS prevention. We are doing door to door training in recycling and giving each household a sack to put next to their garbage can. This strategy will require a lot of follow up but I think that executing this project will be a great way to keep busy until November when I finish my service. There is a lot of potential for me to finish strong as I enter the last third of my time here in Peru and I know it will fly by. Now it is a matter of me cutting back on my reading, movies, and podcasts in order to do some serious work.
Peace Corps funding has taken quite a hit due to budget cuts mandated from Washington. Because of this, some of our larger projects need to be funded through the "Peace Corps Partnership" program. We ask friends and family to donate to our projects through the Peace Corps website. I am starting two projects that we need to fund this way so PLEASE PLEASE help out. The first is a leadership camp for boys where we each invite outstanding young men from our sites who we will train in healthy habits, environmental consciousness, leadership, and other important topics. All of this learning will be mixed in with a soccer tournament and a cross-cultural lesson in s'more making. Last year's event was a huge success and we will need your help to make this year's equally successful. I will be getting the link to donate up as soon as possible and I will also be sending out an email with more details.
Along the same line, I am also working on a calendar recognizing powerful Peruvian female leaders who support volunteers in their work. We made this calendar last year and it has been a huge success in calling attention to the wonderful efforts of ordinary women in our sites. Last year we held a celebratory conference in Lima to which we invited all of the women featured in the calendar. This year we will hold conferences in each of the departments (Peruvian equivalent of states) that has a woman featured in the calendar. We hope that this will allow the women to celebrate their achievements among their own peers and keep our travel and lodging costs down. The calendar last year was the highlight of my Peace Corps experience so far and if you have more interest I can send you a PDF version. We will also be asking you for money for this project as well so expect to receive a link to the project on the Peace Corps website. All donations are tax deductable and these projects will undoubtedly cause a direct impact in many lives. Thank you very much for your support and I hope you will get involved. Tell your friends and family!
As I was posting this blog the project got posted! Please donate!
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=527-036
Going along with the theme of uncomfortable situations and bodily functions, I would like to describe what it is like going to the bathroom in my house. I have a real bathroom so I am ahead of many of my friends in terms of amenities and I am not complaining. Many people that I know have holes in the ground and I have heard about encounters with snakes, black widows, tarantulas, and other fun creatures in the bathroom. Luckily I only have to deal with roaches in the bathroom but I often have "why did I decide to do this?" moments when I walk into the bathroom. I usually take a deep breath, wave away the roaches so that they scurry off the toilet seat back into their holes, and then position myself on the cement toilet bowl that is less than comfortable to sit on. The funniest but most disgusting thing about using my bathroom is that it is so hot that I am usually dripping sweat. The sweat droplets are often an indistinguishable sensation from flies or roaches crawling on the skin. I know that this is all a serious overshare but the small stuff like going to the bathroom is so different from my life in the United States that I think it deserves to be explained. It helps to set the scene so that some of you at home can laugh at/with me about my experience.
Workwise, I am trying to train recycling promoters and coordinate a work plan for this school year. So far I have had a good amount of success with both goals thanks to the very active groups that already exist in Pacora. I am working with the women's organization, the university student's association, and the health promoters who I have been training in HIV/AIDS prevention. We are doing door to door training in recycling and giving each household a sack to put next to their garbage can. This strategy will require a lot of follow up but I think that executing this project will be a great way to keep busy until November when I finish my service. There is a lot of potential for me to finish strong as I enter the last third of my time here in Peru and I know it will fly by. Now it is a matter of me cutting back on my reading, movies, and podcasts in order to do some serious work.
Peace Corps funding has taken quite a hit due to budget cuts mandated from Washington. Because of this, some of our larger projects need to be funded through the "Peace Corps Partnership" program. We ask friends and family to donate to our projects through the Peace Corps website. I am starting two projects that we need to fund this way so PLEASE PLEASE help out. The first is a leadership camp for boys where we each invite outstanding young men from our sites who we will train in healthy habits, environmental consciousness, leadership, and other important topics. All of this learning will be mixed in with a soccer tournament and a cross-cultural lesson in s'more making. Last year's event was a huge success and we will need your help to make this year's equally successful. I will be getting the link to donate up as soon as possible and I will also be sending out an email with more details.
Along the same line, I am also working on a calendar recognizing powerful Peruvian female leaders who support volunteers in their work. We made this calendar last year and it has been a huge success in calling attention to the wonderful efforts of ordinary women in our sites. Last year we held a celebratory conference in Lima to which we invited all of the women featured in the calendar. This year we will hold conferences in each of the departments (Peruvian equivalent of states) that has a woman featured in the calendar. We hope that this will allow the women to celebrate their achievements among their own peers and keep our travel and lodging costs down. The calendar last year was the highlight of my Peace Corps experience so far and if you have more interest I can send you a PDF version. We will also be asking you for money for this project as well so expect to receive a link to the project on the Peace Corps website. All donations are tax deductable and these projects will undoubtedly cause a direct impact in many lives. Thank you very much for your support and I hope you will get involved. Tell your friends and family!
As I was posting this blog the project got posted! Please donate!
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=527-036
Friday, March 11, 2011
Poopy the Dog and Paint Covered Festivals
I finally got over my aversion to petting my dog puppy (pronounced poopy). His name comes from a brand of soap by the same name that had a puppy as a mascot. The Spanish pronunciation of the vowel "u" means that Peruvians pronounce this English word as poopy. The name is pretty fitting for my dog. This mangy little terrier is missing splotches of hair and is constantly covered in all manner of nasty bugs. For the longest time I never pet him because I don't want to catch any sort of mange, fleas, ticks, or other nasty critters. Little poopy is so friendly that I have recently given in and started to play with him. I do a daily tick check and pull off as many as I can before I play with him but I usually still end up with one crawling on my leg looking for a good place to latch on and suck my blood. Since I am the only person that will actually pet him, poopy follows me all around town and helps me with my tasks. It must be quite comical for the townspeople to see the tall white girl walking around followed by this splotchy little creature who has lost all the hair on his tail.
This past week I had to leave my little friend Poopy to go celebrate Carnaval in the beautiful Andean city of Cajamarca. Over 100 volunteers had showed up for this legendary three-day party. The highlight of the weekend was running around the streets with squirt guns and paint and taking part in epic battles between the various neighborhoods. Gangs made up of people of all ages run around the streets with buckets of paint, water balloons, squirt guns, and other weapons all the while beating on drums and chanting. I purchased my water gun and water balloons, dressed in my rattiest clothes and joined the fray. I was worried that I would hate the experience because of the strangers running up and rubbing paint all over me but as soon as the first person grabbed my face and rubbed paint all over it, I was hooked. I definitely got hit more than I was able to hit others but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Every so often I would take a dance break with one of the drummer gangs and then continue on my way. Around 1 pm the skies opened up in typical rainy season fashion adding to all of the chaos. By this time I was completely blue including my face (luckily I had worn old sunglasses) and the rain caused me to start shivering. I tried to tough it out but right as I was getting remotivated a group of kids with buckets started shoveling buckets of gutter water onto the group that I was with. I had seen men peeing in these same gutters all day long not to mention all the nasty stuff that runs off the streets and I couldn't take it. At this point I was soaked to the bone and shivering and decided to give up. The day had been awesome but I had reached my limit so I headed back to my hotel and indulged in a very long, hot shower. It took me at least two more showers to get the blue tint out of my skin and feel fresh and free of grime and urine but, I had an excellent and memorable carnaval. Now I feel ready to take on Rio and New Orleans in order to enjoy excess before lent. I am, however, not so sure that I am ready to give up chocolate for the next 40 days. I'll probably just take up caramel or vanilla.
After my weekend of delicious food, excellent volunteer company, and outrageous celebrations, it was time for me to get back to site. When I walked back into my house Poopy immediately started jumping around and wagging his little hairless rat tail. I reached down to pet him and was not surprised when a couple minutes later I looked down to find a tick crawling up my leg. I have found that the key to surviving this experience is laughing at the ridiculousness of everyday occurrences.
This past week I had to leave my little friend Poopy to go celebrate Carnaval in the beautiful Andean city of Cajamarca. Over 100 volunteers had showed up for this legendary three-day party. The highlight of the weekend was running around the streets with squirt guns and paint and taking part in epic battles between the various neighborhoods. Gangs made up of people of all ages run around the streets with buckets of paint, water balloons, squirt guns, and other weapons all the while beating on drums and chanting. I purchased my water gun and water balloons, dressed in my rattiest clothes and joined the fray. I was worried that I would hate the experience because of the strangers running up and rubbing paint all over me but as soon as the first person grabbed my face and rubbed paint all over it, I was hooked. I definitely got hit more than I was able to hit others but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Every so often I would take a dance break with one of the drummer gangs and then continue on my way. Around 1 pm the skies opened up in typical rainy season fashion adding to all of the chaos. By this time I was completely blue including my face (luckily I had worn old sunglasses) and the rain caused me to start shivering. I tried to tough it out but right as I was getting remotivated a group of kids with buckets started shoveling buckets of gutter water onto the group that I was with. I had seen men peeing in these same gutters all day long not to mention all the nasty stuff that runs off the streets and I couldn't take it. At this point I was soaked to the bone and shivering and decided to give up. The day had been awesome but I had reached my limit so I headed back to my hotel and indulged in a very long, hot shower. It took me at least two more showers to get the blue tint out of my skin and feel fresh and free of grime and urine but, I had an excellent and memorable carnaval. Now I feel ready to take on Rio and New Orleans in order to enjoy excess before lent. I am, however, not so sure that I am ready to give up chocolate for the next 40 days. I'll probably just take up caramel or vanilla.
After my weekend of delicious food, excellent volunteer company, and outrageous celebrations, it was time for me to get back to site. When I walked back into my house Poopy immediately started jumping around and wagging his little hairless rat tail. I reached down to pet him and was not surprised when a couple minutes later I looked down to find a tick crawling up my leg. I have found that the key to surviving this experience is laughing at the ridiculousness of everyday occurrences.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Am I really Killing Your Baby? Myths Versus Reality in Peru
Before starting in on this blog I need to set the scene a little bit so you can better understand some of the little things that affect my day-to-day life. I am sitting on my mattress without sheets because I was getting little bites all over my legs and even on my butt. After inspection, I found that my sheets are filled with biting ants and I know exactly how this infestation started. I washed my sheets a couple of days ago and hung them out to dry. During the process of drying outside, they filled with ants. One of my daily frustrations is that my clothes actually seem to come out dirtier after I wash them because as they dry, they fill with ants, dust, and leaves. As I look around, I realize that the ants have also infested my mattress and the only solution I think of at the moment is to make myself a nice little bed involving a sleeping bag and a yoga mat on my floor. Camping on my own floor almost sounds fun but in the long run I think I'm going to resort to spraying my mattress with some sort of chemical. Constant contact with the elements due to shoddy construction leaves me exposed to lots of critters and in the summer, when the insects come out, this exposure becomes almost unbearable. Maybe I'll end up sleeping on my floor until ant season is over, at least it is nice and cool close to the cement.
This weekend one of the hot cumbia bands of the moment came to my friend's site and, not having attended any concerts in a while, I decided to dance the night away. We assemble d a group of gringos and had a big night of Peruvian style fun. First, we invited the neighbors over who taught us to make pisco sours, the cocktail of Peru involving lime, sugar, and egg whites all whipped together and spiced up with a bit of pisco, the typical Peruvian liquor. When we got to the concert security helped us cut the line and then we took to the stage to dance with the band. It will be very strange to get back to America where I will not be treated like a VIP nor will I get away with stuff like jumping up on stage and demanding to dance with the band at concerts. Although I don't really like being watched all the time, it is nice to get away with whatever I want.
I recently had an incident in which I ended up taking on an entire van full of passengers in order to not suffocate in the sweltering heat. I got on the van in the hottest part of the day and opened my window. I considered this to be a completely normal thing to do but apparently the air that I was letting in was incredibly harmful to the baby in the seat behind me and as soon as we started moving the mother slid my window shut. I looked back at her and opened the window again. This action was met with an angry response by the mother about how the air was going to make her baby sick. Just so you have a clear picture in your head. It was about 100 degrees in the afternoon sun, the vehicle was a 15 passenger van crammed with 20 passengers, and the baby was swaddled in blankets. I refused to shut the window saying that the heat was more of a danger than the air only to be lashed out at by everyone in the van. I held my own and went about my business reading my book with my arm wedged in the window. My run in with this Peruvian belief gave me the idea to write a blog about some of the other seemingly irrational beliefs, fears, and superstitions that come up on a daily basis. Below are some of my favorite examples of advice I have received:
1. Don't go outside in a breeze if you aren't feeling well or if you are a baby. I mention this first because it comes up nearly every day and no matter how hot it is, people are terrified of "el aire." I have even heard some claims that particularly strong winds can paralyze you.
2. The other most common belief that I hear is that drinking cold beverages at night or when one is sick will make you very sick. If you eat too many popsicles, severe respiratory illnesses will ensue. A woman once told me that her daughter's respiratory problems resulted from eating too many popsicles during pregnancy.
3. Recently, my host family freaked out when I tried to go outside to go to the bathroom after eating hot soup because it would leave my mouth twisted to one side in a really awkward expression for the rest of my life. I found this particularly hilarious because, unlike the other superstitions I have heard, I can't come up with a rational explanation for the cause and effect at play.
4. In the same conversation about how cold air after hot food will twist your mouth, my family told me that they know someone who got their neck permanently twisted because they opened the refrigerator in the morning when their body was still warm from being under the covers in bed.
5. One belief common in the Andean regions of Peru is on the scarier side and has been known to affect the ability of volunteers to integrate into their communities. Many people believe in pishtacos, a demon in the service of the devil that kills people and sucks out their fat. These demons have light skin and hair, therefore some people have commented on their resemblance to male volunteers.
I generally find the beliefs and superstitions entertaining except when they threaten to keep me enclosed in a moving oven in the hot summer. I don't know if I handled my particular situation very well by confronting a bus-load of people about their deeply ingrained beliefs but standing up for myself has become instrumental in maintaining my sanity. I wonder what Peruvians would say if they knew that I sleep with a fan blowing on me…
This weekend one of the hot cumbia bands of the moment came to my friend's site and, not having attended any concerts in a while, I decided to dance the night away. We assemble d a group of gringos and had a big night of Peruvian style fun. First, we invited the neighbors over who taught us to make pisco sours, the cocktail of Peru involving lime, sugar, and egg whites all whipped together and spiced up with a bit of pisco, the typical Peruvian liquor. When we got to the concert security helped us cut the line and then we took to the stage to dance with the band. It will be very strange to get back to America where I will not be treated like a VIP nor will I get away with stuff like jumping up on stage and demanding to dance with the band at concerts. Although I don't really like being watched all the time, it is nice to get away with whatever I want.
I recently had an incident in which I ended up taking on an entire van full of passengers in order to not suffocate in the sweltering heat. I got on the van in the hottest part of the day and opened my window. I considered this to be a completely normal thing to do but apparently the air that I was letting in was incredibly harmful to the baby in the seat behind me and as soon as we started moving the mother slid my window shut. I looked back at her and opened the window again. This action was met with an angry response by the mother about how the air was going to make her baby sick. Just so you have a clear picture in your head. It was about 100 degrees in the afternoon sun, the vehicle was a 15 passenger van crammed with 20 passengers, and the baby was swaddled in blankets. I refused to shut the window saying that the heat was more of a danger than the air only to be lashed out at by everyone in the van. I held my own and went about my business reading my book with my arm wedged in the window. My run in with this Peruvian belief gave me the idea to write a blog about some of the other seemingly irrational beliefs, fears, and superstitions that come up on a daily basis. Below are some of my favorite examples of advice I have received:
1. Don't go outside in a breeze if you aren't feeling well or if you are a baby. I mention this first because it comes up nearly every day and no matter how hot it is, people are terrified of "el aire." I have even heard some claims that particularly strong winds can paralyze you.
2. The other most common belief that I hear is that drinking cold beverages at night or when one is sick will make you very sick. If you eat too many popsicles, severe respiratory illnesses will ensue. A woman once told me that her daughter's respiratory problems resulted from eating too many popsicles during pregnancy.
3. Recently, my host family freaked out when I tried to go outside to go to the bathroom after eating hot soup because it would leave my mouth twisted to one side in a really awkward expression for the rest of my life. I found this particularly hilarious because, unlike the other superstitions I have heard, I can't come up with a rational explanation for the cause and effect at play.
4. In the same conversation about how cold air after hot food will twist your mouth, my family told me that they know someone who got their neck permanently twisted because they opened the refrigerator in the morning when their body was still warm from being under the covers in bed.
5. One belief common in the Andean regions of Peru is on the scarier side and has been known to affect the ability of volunteers to integrate into their communities. Many people believe in pishtacos, a demon in the service of the devil that kills people and sucks out their fat. These demons have light skin and hair, therefore some people have commented on their resemblance to male volunteers.
I generally find the beliefs and superstitions entertaining except when they threaten to keep me enclosed in a moving oven in the hot summer. I don't know if I handled my particular situation very well by confronting a bus-load of people about their deeply ingrained beliefs but standing up for myself has become instrumental in maintaining my sanity. I wonder what Peruvians would say if they knew that I sleep with a fan blowing on me…
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Girls Empowerment and Maggotty Rats
This week I returned from one of the highlights of my Peace Corps experience to encounter one of the grossest moments of my experience thus far. The ALMA leadership camp for girls consisted of three days of workshops on entrepreneurship, leadership and self-esteem talks, reproductive health presentations, and condom relay races. I brought four very motivated girls from my town who I trust will help me bring this information to all the adolescents in town. We broke up the educational activities and lectures with volleyball games and water balloon fights. Many of these girls are forced into a premature adulthood of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their younger siblings. The goal of this camp is to empower them enough to look for opportunities to continue their educations and avoid pregnancy long enough to pursue personal goals. I think these three days were among the most valuable in my service because they provided young girls with the knowledge and motivation to have a lasting impact in town. This type of intensive motivational and self-esteem building activities are required to facilitate true sustainability.
I returned home exhausted from three days of intensive activities and sleeping in tents to an awful stench in my room. Partially out of denial I attributed this scent to the avocado I had left in my room. After another day and a half the smell still hadn't gone away and my host mom mentioned that while I was gone she had put out rat poison and I should check my room for dead mice. I immediately knew that this was the source of the stench in my room and set out tearing the room apart to find the offending rodent. After pulling everything out from under my bed and searching amongst the random educational brochures, books, and art supplies that crowd my floor and shelves, I had almost given up thinking that the critter had died in my wall ( a potential but very probable disaster due to the cracks in the plaster and gaps in the adobe). I decided to pull out my clothes that were hanging up. I hadn't thought to do this because how could a rodent balance atop hanging clothing.? As I pulled out my first set of shirts a giant rat, approximately 8 inches long, plopped to the floor in front of me spraying maggots everywhere. The rat corpse was deep into the process of decomposition with the help of ants and maggots. I burst out of my room for fresh air as tears welled up in my eyes, my breath quickened almost to hyperventilation, and the gagging commenced. I still cannot understand how I managed to not puke but I know that I would have had I not gotten outside as quickly as I did. To make matters worse, there was no running water at the time and I had to get to a meeting in my capitol city so I threw all my maggot covered clothes in a tub and my host mom offered to wash them. Getting out of town for the rest of the day was necessary for me to minimize the scar left on my brain by the image of a maggot infested rat falling out of my personal belongings. This was just one of the worst experiences that I have had here in Peru and I have seen some pretty gnarly shit. This may make me some kind of freaky Peace Corps nerd but I often find myself appreciating the beauty of decomposition and nature's way to clean up after itself. I am grateful for the ants that eat and carry away the cockroaches in my bathroom every day and the vultures that land on my street to keep it clear of livestock and dog carcasses. I do not, however, feel the same way about the maggots that were attempting to help me do away with the rat that had fallen victim to the venom my family puts out to defeat them. Rats are my least favorite animal and after this experience I think that I will be even more horrified than ever at the sight of them.
I returned home exhausted from three days of intensive activities and sleeping in tents to an awful stench in my room. Partially out of denial I attributed this scent to the avocado I had left in my room. After another day and a half the smell still hadn't gone away and my host mom mentioned that while I was gone she had put out rat poison and I should check my room for dead mice. I immediately knew that this was the source of the stench in my room and set out tearing the room apart to find the offending rodent. After pulling everything out from under my bed and searching amongst the random educational brochures, books, and art supplies that crowd my floor and shelves, I had almost given up thinking that the critter had died in my wall ( a potential but very probable disaster due to the cracks in the plaster and gaps in the adobe). I decided to pull out my clothes that were hanging up. I hadn't thought to do this because how could a rodent balance atop hanging clothing.? As I pulled out my first set of shirts a giant rat, approximately 8 inches long, plopped to the floor in front of me spraying maggots everywhere. The rat corpse was deep into the process of decomposition with the help of ants and maggots. I burst out of my room for fresh air as tears welled up in my eyes, my breath quickened almost to hyperventilation, and the gagging commenced. I still cannot understand how I managed to not puke but I know that I would have had I not gotten outside as quickly as I did. To make matters worse, there was no running water at the time and I had to get to a meeting in my capitol city so I threw all my maggot covered clothes in a tub and my host mom offered to wash them. Getting out of town for the rest of the day was necessary for me to minimize the scar left on my brain by the image of a maggot infested rat falling out of my personal belongings. This was just one of the worst experiences that I have had here in Peru and I have seen some pretty gnarly shit. This may make me some kind of freaky Peace Corps nerd but I often find myself appreciating the beauty of decomposition and nature's way to clean up after itself. I am grateful for the ants that eat and carry away the cockroaches in my bathroom every day and the vultures that land on my street to keep it clear of livestock and dog carcasses. I do not, however, feel the same way about the maggots that were attempting to help me do away with the rat that had fallen victim to the venom my family puts out to defeat them. Rats are my least favorite animal and after this experience I think that I will be even more horrified than ever at the sight of them.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Summer In The Zone
Summer where I live has its ups and downs. First of all, there is the fruit, which is absolutely amazing. Imagine a never-ending supply of avocadoes, mangoes, and many exotic fruits that I had never even heard of before coming here. People are so eager to introduce me to something special about Peru that they continually bring me fruit from their "chacras," the small agricultural plots the majority of my town relies upon for income. I have learned how to choose which guabas are fat enough to eat, how to peel the hard-shelled mamey in order to get to the thick, juicy fruit inside, how tamarinds taste like sour warheads and act as a natural laxative, and that lucuma makes an excellent ice cream but is pretty disgusting plain. In the Peace Corps we often refer to goals 2 and 3 to keep us motivated when our "real work" isn't going so well. These goals refer to teaching Americans about Peruvian culture and Peruvians about American culture. The fruit is definitely a good opportunity for cultural interchange since it allows me to complement Peruvians on something that is a huge source of pride for them. I sometimes even tell them that avocadoes and mangos sometimes cost $2 each to make them realize how special their products are. Even though I achieve this goal, I usually regret talking about money because it makes Americans seem super rich and spoiled, the exact stereotype I most want to dissolve.
With fruit season also comes the "rainy" season. Being from Portland, the monthly drizzle that makes up rainy season here leaves me a little disappointed. I often hope for rain just so that I don't have to carry buckets of water to the trees that I have planted. The infrastructure is not made to handle any rain, which means that even this slight bit causes flooding in all the streets. As soon as this rain comes, the snow in the mountains starts to melt and just enough makes it to my town. This is the signal for the rice-growing season to start because they are able to flood the chacras. I question this practice for a few reasons. First of all, growing rice here requires turning what is essentially a desert into a checkerboard of marshes. This does not seem like a very efficient use of resources. These human-made marshes attract that wonderful little marsh insect, the mosquito. I have been too lazy to hang up my mosquito net until now but I recognize it is necessary because Dengue fever season is starting up again and a particular breed of mosquito is the main vector. This disease can be fatal and is always incredibly painful so I fully intend to avoid it. After contracting this disease, any subsequent infection is much worse. These fears turn the mosquito from an annoying pest into a potential killer makes me even more bitter that rice is the main crop right now.
The less threatening but equally annoying insect that comes in waves with the summer moisture and heat is the ant. Ants are everywhere! I have lost two bags of oatmeal to ant infestation and countless plates of leftovers have become ant colonies. With so many critters everywhere it is an accepted fact that everyone will be eating lots of ants over the next couple of months. At my host mom's birthday party I happened to be in the kitchen when they were making the cocktails for the toast and I witnessed what we in the USA would consider an egregious party foul. The cocktail consisted of canned peaches and champagne blended into a sweet and bubbly drink, even if it is kind of syrupy. They opened the can of peaches and then left for about ten minutes to tend to the duck that was being cooked and when they got back it had filled with ants. They shrugged it off and dumped the can of ant infested peaches into the blender and no one had any idea. I was skeptical but took the black specs that I knew to be ant parts in my cocktail like a pro. This was just the most blatant example of ant eating that I have been a part of but even as I write this I am drinking a glass of water that had two ants floating in it before I started and now it is down to zero. This is the Peruvian village version of protein powder.
Another huge part of the summer months are the unending parties. I have started hiding from these parties because they are so exhausting. A simple birthday lunch almost unfailingly turns into sloppy debauchery and extends to dinner and then night time dancing, and then more snacks (usually some campo ceviche, raw salted fish chopped into bits and mixed with lime and onion). I usually duck out after a couple of hours. At one party I was at a few months ago, someone started asking me about my real name and, when I told them it was Sheridan they were amazed. They had me write it down and at a recent party I attended with the same group of people, I found out that they had liked the name so much that they recommended it to their cousin as a baby name and now there is a little baby Sheridan running around somewhere in Northern Peru. This was a huge honor for me and made me realize that what seems like somewhat silly inquiries into mundane details of my life to me can turns out to be more serious than anticipated. Hopefully one day I will get to meet this child who will probably be confused by her own name for the rest of her life (and hopefully a little proud to have been named after a gringa volunteer). And now I must go work on goals 2 and 3 by eating Peruvian food and most likely graciously accepting a glass of beer at a lunch party that I was invited to. I can't wait for winter when I don't have to be so social because people actually have stuff to do!
With fruit season also comes the "rainy" season. Being from Portland, the monthly drizzle that makes up rainy season here leaves me a little disappointed. I often hope for rain just so that I don't have to carry buckets of water to the trees that I have planted. The infrastructure is not made to handle any rain, which means that even this slight bit causes flooding in all the streets. As soon as this rain comes, the snow in the mountains starts to melt and just enough makes it to my town. This is the signal for the rice-growing season to start because they are able to flood the chacras. I question this practice for a few reasons. First of all, growing rice here requires turning what is essentially a desert into a checkerboard of marshes. This does not seem like a very efficient use of resources. These human-made marshes attract that wonderful little marsh insect, the mosquito. I have been too lazy to hang up my mosquito net until now but I recognize it is necessary because Dengue fever season is starting up again and a particular breed of mosquito is the main vector. This disease can be fatal and is always incredibly painful so I fully intend to avoid it. After contracting this disease, any subsequent infection is much worse. These fears turn the mosquito from an annoying pest into a potential killer makes me even more bitter that rice is the main crop right now.
The less threatening but equally annoying insect that comes in waves with the summer moisture and heat is the ant. Ants are everywhere! I have lost two bags of oatmeal to ant infestation and countless plates of leftovers have become ant colonies. With so many critters everywhere it is an accepted fact that everyone will be eating lots of ants over the next couple of months. At my host mom's birthday party I happened to be in the kitchen when they were making the cocktails for the toast and I witnessed what we in the USA would consider an egregious party foul. The cocktail consisted of canned peaches and champagne blended into a sweet and bubbly drink, even if it is kind of syrupy. They opened the can of peaches and then left for about ten minutes to tend to the duck that was being cooked and when they got back it had filled with ants. They shrugged it off and dumped the can of ant infested peaches into the blender and no one had any idea. I was skeptical but took the black specs that I knew to be ant parts in my cocktail like a pro. This was just the most blatant example of ant eating that I have been a part of but even as I write this I am drinking a glass of water that had two ants floating in it before I started and now it is down to zero. This is the Peruvian village version of protein powder.
Another huge part of the summer months are the unending parties. I have started hiding from these parties because they are so exhausting. A simple birthday lunch almost unfailingly turns into sloppy debauchery and extends to dinner and then night time dancing, and then more snacks (usually some campo ceviche, raw salted fish chopped into bits and mixed with lime and onion). I usually duck out after a couple of hours. At one party I was at a few months ago, someone started asking me about my real name and, when I told them it was Sheridan they were amazed. They had me write it down and at a recent party I attended with the same group of people, I found out that they had liked the name so much that they recommended it to their cousin as a baby name and now there is a little baby Sheridan running around somewhere in Northern Peru. This was a huge honor for me and made me realize that what seems like somewhat silly inquiries into mundane details of my life to me can turns out to be more serious than anticipated. Hopefully one day I will get to meet this child who will probably be confused by her own name for the rest of her life (and hopefully a little proud to have been named after a gringa volunteer). And now I must go work on goals 2 and 3 by eating Peruvian food and most likely graciously accepting a glass of beer at a lunch party that I was invited to. I can't wait for winter when I don't have to be so social because people actually have stuff to do!
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