So yesterday I went on a real adventure. Earlier in the week, BJ’s host dad had asked me if I’d like to go sometime when they go visit his family in Sapillica. Sapillica is a town further into the mountains of the valley that can’t be seen from where we live. So I said sure, and then he decided to plan the trip for Saturday. So early Saturday morning I got up to meet BJ and his Dad in el cruce to go on our trip. We piled into a truck and went heading off into the valley. From most points, the valley just looks like a complete circle and I never really thought that you could continue out of it from it’s farthest point which I had yet to visit. But apparently, there is a break in between the mountains and you can turn off and head further into a much smaller and skinner valley and that is what we did. At first we were low and it was beautiful, more beautiful fields and in the middle is a large rocky canal that I hadn’t seen before. Within this hour trip we ascended into the mountains. We climbed the high creepy rocky roads that I really don’t love so much. Since it was early in the morning the clouds were still clearing and we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains so well. I remember BJ telling me that he wishes we were up in the clouds. Little did he know that is where we were headed.
It was kind of nice as the little truck with tons of people climbed higher and higher it got colder and colder. I was smart enough to bring a jacket so it put that on. I cannot tell you how nice it was to be able to put a jacket on. I have not done that in months. Most of the time I am just sweating through my clothes. And it was also rainy. We’ve had rain here before, mostly at night. But it hasn’t been cold and rainy. I might seem like a total jerk for writing this because right now I know all of you at home are freezing and shoveling snow. I’m not complaining, but at least when it is summer there, you have air conditioning, swimming pools, and a fridge with cold drinks to relieve some of the heat. There isn’t any of that here. And I have been lucky enough to find a place that the water comes up to my knees so I can sit in it for a little relief on a hot day. And I boil all of my water the night before and put it in my nalgene bottles on the floor hoping it cools down enough to drink the next day.
So enough about that. We reached the town of Sapillica, which wasn’t at all what I expected. I was thinking it would be a quiet little town on the side of the mountain, much like some of the places I visited during training. But no, it was a big city , not like Piura, but more like my district capital Las Lomas. But it was much prettier then Las Lomas, it is on the top of a mountain, really high up. And it overlooks a beautiful valley that I couldn’t see because we were in a cloud. There were many cute stores and markets with more stuff to buy then in Las Lomas. There is also more fruits that are grown there because it is less dry and hot then the valley I live in. So everything around us was really green, which was beautiful. But we may have been the first “gringos” that many people in that town have seen, so we got a lot of stares.
First, BJ’s dad took us to a little restaurant to grab breakfast. The options were pig or chicken soup. I opted out of both. I have had some many soaps recently I couldn’t eat anymore and I refuse to eat pig here. So fortunately the kitchen was able to make us eggs, rice, and potatoes. However, BJ’s dad got the pig, which looked like someone had chopped someone’s fingers off and then fried them black. It was so disgusting and another reason I will never eat pig. So the reason I tell you about this meal is because it was the first of many for the day.
Also I need to preface this part so you will understand my growing frustration for the day. Even after BJ’s dad has asked me my name repeatedly, he still decided to call me “gorda” for the day. Gorda means fat girl! This is a term I’ve come to accept here. Even though the context is somewhat different it means the same thing. But I have lost a considerable amount of weight since I’ve been here and my host family is constantly telling me this and the people of my community and no one calls me that anymore. And before they used it as a description, because yes, I am much larger in height and weight then these people. But BJ’s dad decided to use this word in place of my name for the entire day.
So after breakfast we headed to Bj’s dad’s family house. I had no clue what I was in store for. The walk was long. Very long. And at first we were on a road, but with time we went off onto a trial which with down the side of the mountain for a long period of time, very very steep. Then, we would get down and we would have to climb back up a very steep and high slope. We did this repeatedly. It was rough on me! We passed a lot of mines, which I knew were up there but hadn’t seen them. Apparently they are mining for gold, and at one of the mines Bj and I climbed inside. It was cool at first, but the further you go inside the creepier it gets as it get hotter, and smaller and all I could keep thinking about was the mining accidents in the news in the past year, and I had to get out!
Finally we reached the sister’s house, situated high on the side of a mountain. It is incredibly weird. These people live in the middle of nowhere. Far from civilization, and they have running water!!!! I live in a city, and we DO NOT! But, they don’t have electricity. And at this point if I had to make a choice, I’d go for electricity over running water. Maybe because I’m just used to it. Here we were served another meal. This is when I knew I was in trouble, because I’ve been very careful not to eat anywhere other then my families house because I know people aren’t clean and I am so fearful of getting sick. So here we had some dried corn and some kind of beans I never had. It wasn’t bad, but since I had just eaten breakfast and hiked a mountains, I wasn’t hungry. After we left there, we went about a 15 minute walk down to the brother’s house. Here we were served yet another meal, first they gave us a banana, then they served us some kind of soup with goat meat. Goat meat is another meat I won’t eat, especially in weird people’s houses. But again, I had just eaten 15 minutes earlier and I was feeling sick! Afterwards, the brother showed me lots of pictures of his family. He has 7 children. The oldest is 26 and lives near the beach and runs a casino, the youngest is a little over a year and was crawling around on the floor. And his wife looked ancient. She was probably in her 40’s but looked well into her 70’s. The brother is a farmer, but in February he is starting a new job working in the municipality. All I kept thinking was how in the world he would make that walk into town everyday. There are no moto taxis or motorcycle there. These are really rural houses scattered in the middle of nowhere and even if they wanted a bike, they couldn’t go up in down the hills without killing themselves.
So went spent a little time there, and then we ventured even lower to the parent’s house. And the whole time were trekking down, all I can think is that I know we are going to get served another meal, which I was dreading. And the entire time we’ve been traveling, I have only been introduced as “gorda”, and BJ’s dad keeps saying “gorda take pictures”, “gorda eat more”. Fortunately, everywhere we went the family had enough decency to ask me what my name was. So the tension was starting to build a little for me.
Once we reached the parent’s house we had really traveled a lot that day, and I knew these people would be elderly and I just couldn’t imagine how they ever would get out of that valley. It was pretty rough on me, although I don’t have a lifetime of years behind me living that life. I still couldn’t wrap my head around how they do it. Then let alone if there was an emergency, what would happen? I am sure these people live their lives never thinking that someday they will die in a hospital bed, they must always just believe that they will die at home because there is no other option for them.
At the parent’s house we were served another meal of course. This was a simple one, it was yucca (a type of white potato) and queso fresco ( the cheese that have here). Except this queso fresco was really dry and had a funny color and taste to it. I had pretty much given up on believing I wasn’t going to get sick by this point. And I was somewhat comforted to know that I had bought extra antibiotics last time I was in the city so I knew I could treat it when I got home. And of course Bj’s dad kept telling the gorda to eat!!! The parents were really nice, and here they lived out on this mountain in the middle of nowhere and they had no electricity or running water. They just live off their land, and they are happy. Two brothers came out of the fields to meet us. They were really nice as well. We got into a conversation about how all American’s are beautiful. I’ve had this conversation before and again I had to explain how many Americans are ugly too, just like anywhere in the world, you have pretty people and ugly people.
After awhile we decided to leave. I was starting to get annoyed because right in front of my face the Dad told the rest of his family that we weren’t walking the same way we came because “the gorda” asked if we could go in a car. I snapped at this because I had never ever asked such a thing. Nor did I once complain during the day at all. So I was starting to get really annoyed. But we did take another way home that was still rough for me, and by this time I was wiped out. I hadn’t had much to drink, which was good and bad, because drinking in those homes would have been my death sentence. However, somewhere during the walk, when the Dad and I were alone, he told me that I eat a lot of grease with fat and that is why I am fat. At this point I was ready to kill him. And when we finally climbed out of the beautiful valley onto a road I couldn’t wait to get rid of him.
We were sitting outside of this home waiting for a truck to come to take us home, and I listened to the Dad tell the guy the reason he believed I was fat and they thought it was so funny! Which I didn’t and BJ didn’t and I think we were both pretty sick of this man by now. Finally a truck came, and when I say truck, I want you to think of the smallest pick up truck you can think of. And imagine this pick up truck with 4 people crammed inside, and 9 of us in the bed of the truck along with a pig who weighed much more then me! Yes, that is how I spent the next 30 minutes riding back to my town.
But wait it gets better. Imagine being incredibly exhausted, you woke up early, you hiked all over the place, you ate more dirty food then you ever wanted, and you got called fat girl all day long! That was my day, except now, I am crammed in the back of a truck with a bunch of men winding down mountains with a pig practically between my legs. I was not a happy camper. Then, suddenly, the pig becomes very agitated and starts jumping up and trying to get out, except there is no room for it to go anywhere, and I was freaking out. Then suddenly, I felt something warm on my leg, and it was the pig taking a shit! I jumped up and started freaking out trying to get away from it. It was horrible. Then the pig started biting. First it tried biting BJ’s dad. Then it bit into BJ’s back pack and broke one of the straps. He got really mad, and then the men started accusing him of provoking the pig and getting it all worked up, which we both knew wasn’t true. So we drove the rest of the way home, angry, and at moments hating Peru a little bit. I was very happy when we stopped and I got to get away.
It was a shame. I got to see an absolutely beautiful place that day and there were so many parts of it that got somewhat ruined. I am definitely going to go back!
When I got home, I told my family all that had happened. I wasn’t sure how they would react because they don’t see the harm in the gorda thing either. But they told me the way the Dad had used it all day was basically him making a joke of me. And that there are many ignorant people in the world and he is obviously one of them and they were really mad. Even the mean uncle told me that I wasn’t fat at all and that I need to close my ears when ignorant people speak. Then we preceded to have a conversation about the mines. Apparently there is a lot of gold in Peru and that is what the mining is for. But then he asked me why everyone is so poor. He is a really smart man, and lately I’ve had some good conversations with him. He isn’t such a mean uncle anymore and I even enjoy our chats!
So that was my day in Peru, I had to deal with a little hurtful culture shock that I wasn’t expecting. I guess just like in the US there are ignorant people everywhere and I shouldn’t expect because I am here they everyone is always going to be nice to me. I got to meet some interesting people, and I got to see some beautiful places. And at this moment, I just finished my laundry in the canal, and my entire family is sitting around the living room with me, and were watching Harry Potter in Spanish.
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