My Day in the Clouds

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.

My summer school class went great, not quite as planned but great. We had requested that the class be of kids between the ages of 10 and 15. However the day before my host sister asked if my little niece could come. She is 5, I couldn’t say no, so I agreed. But as we left our house, the kids just started following, none of which were ten years old. And by the time we reached the school, we had about 10 kids behind us. I wasn’t going to turn anyone down. So to my disappointment, the man who was supposed to come and open up a classroom for me didn’t show up. So we had to have class outside which didn’t bother me and ended up working out okay. About 15 kids came in total. It was a little awkward at first for the kids to understand us and warm up to us. First we had them make pretty name tags, because sometimes they can tell me their names 100 times and I still don’t understand. Then, we had them make community maps. It was actually to benefit us, because it’s a project the peace corps wants us to complete for our diagnostic. So we threw that in there. Afterwards I took pictures of each kid, because in a few weeks they are going to make picture frames. They didn’t seemed thrilled with anything. So I wanted to make sure that we sent them home happy, so we tried to play tag.

Just in case anyone who is new to Spanish wants to teach kids how to play tag….not the best idea….and didn’t go over well! They all just kept running and touching each other. No one was out or froze or anything. No one was it….it made no sense. Fortunately they didn’t seem to mind but BJ and I were so confused. So then we had them play duck duck goose. That they understood and really seemed to like. It was really cute. Then I gave them each a piece of candy and sent them home. However, now I’m a little nervous that word is getting out about the class and I’m afraid next Tuesday I am going to have a ton of kids. So I hope it goes as well.

So Thursday my host Mom, sister and nephew came home from Lima. They have been gone for several weeks. They went to take care of their sick uncle. Well, they returned with the sick uncle and my host mother’s mom…so my host grandmother. She is from the jungle. The uncle is dying. He has a metal plate in his head, and cancer and he is also blind. Many of my family members here have not seen him in years, so as he came into the house they were all crying. However….within 20 minutes or so, they were congregated outside of my room in the little sitting area complaining how they didn’t like him anymore. They said all he does is yell at everyone, and that he is mean. It made me laugh. I have many years of experience working with people just like the uncle, so I know grumpy old men well. Today at lunch he told me that all Americans do is run Latinos out of our country. Although he is half right, my host Mom jumped in and said that I don’t understand Spanish so he shouldn’t talk to me, then she winked at me. I thought that was really funny. I guess she is protecting me from all future arguments. And then he preceded to tell my host Mom that her food tastes like dog shit. He has been told he has 3 months left to live and I have a feeling these are going to be some of the most interesting 3 months of my life in Peru.

So yesterday, BJ and I went into our district capital. It’s called Las Lomas, and it’s about a 30-45 minute drive up and out of our valley. We needed to meet with the new mayor to arrange a meeting with our regional director in a few weeks, plus, we just needed to introduce ourselves. But, first, we had to find an internet café to print a few things off to give him when we went. I had no clue how difficult that was going to be. Literally every time I logged into the computer the electricity would go out. EVERY TIME. Not for just a little while, it would be an hour or more at a time. The first time it happened we went in sat in the park and waiting, people watched, second time we left and went to the market. My family asked me to buy things I’d like them to cook, so I bought tons of vegetables, and nail polish to paint the girls nails when I got back. The third time the electricity went out, we went and got lunch.

We found a little chicken place to get lunch, fortunately everyone cooks with gas, so no electricity doesn’t effect that. However, the entire time we ate, there was this group of men who wouldn’t stop staring at me. It is so creepy and so weird. I’d really like to know what they think that is going to do. Like do they think I am going to stand up and take my clothes off and confess my love for them? Like I don’t get it. Not only that, but I’m having lunch with a guy. They don’t know my relationship with him. But I guess it’s obvious that all 4 of them did not care.

After lunch, we finally were able to print our stuff and we headed over to the mayors office to meet with him. One thing I never expected when I came here was the instant celebrity status that comes with simply being a white person….never mind a white American. We went into the mayors office and were ushered around by the people who work for him fascinated by us, and then we were able to sit down and have a 45 minute meeting with the mayor. Most Peruvians would be very jealous of how easy we were able to do that without even having an appointment. We familiarized him with Peace Corps, fortunately he was familiar with the pervious volunteers. However, he seemed much more interested in supporting us if first I find him a permanent doctor for my town (all of our doctors are doing their residency and only stay here for a few months) and he’d like it if they had a specialty, like a pediatrician. He repeated this multiple times, and it sort of scares me because that is completely out of my realm and has nothing to do with my job. But I’ll wait for my regional director to come and explain that to him further.

Afterwards, we had told BJ’s host Dad that we would meet him at 2:00 to ride back home with him. However it was way after 2:00 so we just hopped in a taxi and were planning on going without him. Well just as we are about to go he pops out of nowhere and tells us to get out and take another one with him. As we were talking to him, I see his eyes are blood shot and he wreaks of alcohol. This meant he was going to be very entertaining for us and he definitely lived up to the part. First, he told us to wait in the bus terminal, and he kept coming back and forth giving us little hand signals to wait. And then he said his wife was coming, we weren’t sure whether or not to believe that, but eventually she showed up. In the mean time we are watching many taxi’s come and go and he tells us not to ride with them. We are confused. Finally he comes back with a taxi and the 4 of us get in with the taxi driver. It all seemed normal at first. But as soon as we turned onto the dirt road leading into the valley the driver started going crazy. I think he thought he was a NASCAR driver. And then BJ’s Dad scooted himself over, practically in the same seat as the driver and they were joking and laughing the whole time. They are obviously friends, and I think that maybe that had been drinking together before this ride home. BJ’s dad kept grabbing the guys hand and kissing it and stuff. It was weird. But at the same time hilarious. I was in the middle of the back seat between BJ and his host Mom and we were all hanging onto the seats for our lives. I have never driven that fast on those roads. I was scared! And as we flew through some of the smaller towns people were just sitting outside their houses staring and probably thinking “WHAT THE HELL”. It was definitely the most interesting and fastest ride I have had home in ever.

So today, I found out that there is a lot of talk about this uncle who is living with me around town. There are apparently two witches in town. One who is more of a witch then the other. She even has the heads of a man and woman hanging in her house, and arms too. I asked my family where she got them, and they said she went to the cemetery and cut them off the corpses there. I am pretty sure in the US that doing something like that is a MAJOR crime….and just simply crazy!! They told me that she makes stews and stuff with frogs and everything. But she doesn’t look like the witches from Halloween she looks normal. But they said that the people that usually go to see her die, instead of get better. Why does that not surprise me?!?! So anyway, this witch believes she can help the uncle, and the uncle wants to see her. Fortunately my family thinks it is a crazy idea. I am very glad to hear they think this, especially because I am on the fence a lot with their crazy ideas, because they are often crazy.

So tomorrow my host sisters want to die my hair black. I don’t know where they got this crazy idea but they won’t leave me alone about it. I have never ever died my hair, and I’m scared to death. But it’s temporary, and they are really pressuring me. I think they want me to look more like them. So I am going to let them do it. Wish me luck!!!

Great Weekend!

There are times when I feel like I am in the US. And I know that defeats the purpose of being here in Peru, but it is so comforting sometimes to have some of the reminders from home. For example, this past weekend I went into our capital city, Piura, for a meeting. That means all of the volunteers from my region and a region north of us, Tumbes, come into the city. So for one, it’s English, all the time, which is really nice sometimes. And we get time to vent on all the gripes of our sites. There was something about this visit that I realized we were all going through a phase together. Most of us were extremely annoyed with our host family, or something going on in our site. So it was nice to share that stuff with each other, and in most cases we could relate to one another.

It was also the first trip I had made a lone. My site mate wanted to stay behind because he had a soccer game, and I wanted to go to be able to get some stuff done. So I did it all alone, which I didn’t mind. But it’s nice to have someone there sometimes because crazy stuff happens or crazy people talk, and it’s nice to have someone to look at in those situations. For example, the way my trip works, is first I take a taxi out of my valley, and the taxis only go when they are filled to capacity. The taxis are small beat up station wagons, and they will put 2 people in the front passenger seat, and 3-4 people in the back seat, and sometimes someone will sit in the trunk. This particular trip, I was the first one at the taxi, and the trunk was filled with cases of empty beer bottles, we could barely fit my stuff back there. But by the time we left the valley, we had accumulated a full car of people. However, on the way out, we stopped and they actually crammed someone in the trunk, I am not sure how they did it, but they did it. It was crazy. So that ride, usually lasts 30-45min to get out of the valley. Then we get into Las Lomas, which is the big city of my district. From there, we can either take a bus or a taxi. Usually I take a taxi to the bus station in the next town simply because it is much faster and save me time. Those are usually small car taxis, and again, they fill them to capacity before we go. That is about a 20-30min ride to Tambogrande, the next town on the way to Piura, it is bigger then Las Lomas, and it has a bus terminal, and that is where the taxi takes us. From there I take a bus, sometimes a big one, other times a small rough looking one, and my bags usually go on top on inside, and sometimes in the bottom. This bus ride is usually 2 hours long. So this time, I was alone and the bus was kind of empty, so I go to the back and grab a seat, and there are like 20 empty ones back there. Then this older lady comes on, and she oddly looks at the millions of seats around me, and guess where she sit…YEP…in my seat with me. I don’t get it…tons and tons of seats, but she had to be in my bubble. The bus never filled up, so I looked the entire time at all the empty seats and couldn’t figure out why I was sharing one.

Usually in Piura we seek out food as close to American as we can get. There is a place called Carbon Burger which is open at night, and it has some of the best burgers, even better then some that I’ve had in the US, so there is no complaining there. We also do a little shopping while were in the city. Normally we go to the market because it is so cheap. But it’s crowded, and trying to find the section of the market that has what you need can be complicated too. And inside, it is incredibly hot. Plus, it’s dangerous and you have to hide your money and stuff. This weekend one of the volunteers had her necklace ripped right off her neck while she was walking through. So this weekend, I decided to avoid it, I just wasn’t in the mood. So I went to the “Peruvian Wal-Mart” instead to pick up a few things. While we were there we had heard about a burger king being somewhere in the vicinity. So we decided to look for it. We ended up at this new mall that I had never heard of. It had a Peruvian “home depot”, and it had this store called “tottus” which reminds me more of target. I had seen lots of commercials for it, but I didn’t think we had one here so I was really excited when we found it. But the best discovery of the new mall, was STARBUCKS. It is under construction, but it is coming soon! I was really excited about that. There was also a KFC and pizza hut inside, and there is a really nice movie theater coming soon. So that was a great discovery. Not many of the volunteers have found it yet, so they were excited about it too.

One of the nights, we decided to have a little girls night, so we went to this Italian restaurant and got dinner and drinks. A popular drink here, other then beer, is pisco sours. I am not positive what is in it, but it tastes a lot like a margarita. It had pisco in it, which is a liquor here, but they use a blender to blend some kind of egg whites or something, so there is this foamy sweet layer on top of the drink. They are good, but strong, I can usually only handle one at a time.
The next day, we decided to go to Catacaos, which is a small touristy town outside of Piura. It is an artisans market and a lot of local people sell stuff to the tourists there. We had been there one time before and at a really good restaurant. So we went to look at stuff and find the restaurant. Once we were there we asked a moto taxi driver if he could take us to the restaurant. He said he knew it, but once he started driving we could tell he didn’t know what he was talking about. The name of the restaurant had the word blue in it. So he drives us to a blue building and tells us that the restaurant moved and that is where it was. Well since were not stupid we knew that wasn’t true, the building was shut up and had a for sale sign outside. We made sure to point that out, and then he took us somewhere else. The restaurant looked like the one we thought, but it had a different name. Once we were inside we convinced ourselves it was the same restaurant. Even though the inside looked different and the menu was a little different. it’s a seafood restaurant and it all seemed to add up. But afterwards we walked outside, and literally next door was the restaurant we had been looking for. We felt pretty stupid!

So the rest of the weekend was finishing up work and a meeting. But after all of that, the volunteers who had stayed wanted to go watch college football, after a lot of searching around the city, we found a bar that the game was playing on. Surprisingly, for it being Peru, the bar was really crowded. But it was fun, I definitely did not feel like I was in Peru, surrounded by Americans and watching football, it felt like home. That really doesn’t happen too often.

When I got back to my site with my host sister we were sitting down having a talk and they presented a great idea for me to work on while I am here. They really want a playground for the kids. I think this is a great idea. The kids don’t really have anything to do. Other then mess with the dogs and run around, they don’t have a lot to play with and it makes me sad. As I am writing this, the kids are playing with an English/Spanish puzzle my Mom sent me, and they keep doing it over and over again. I love that they get so excited about the things I can share with them, I just wish there was more for them to do. So I think I am going to make the playground a project towards the end of the year and see where I can get money from to help with it.

I am excited and nervous because tomorrow my summer school classes start. Last week, BJ and I put together a radio spot, and apparently our commercial has been airing in the valley, so I just hope that kids show up for it tomorrow. Today, BJ’s was actually supposed to start, but there is construction going on at his school and the principal thinks next week would be better, so I really hope we can start there soon. He has been doing a lot of work in his community trying to recruit people. And we bought a lot of stuff to prepare for it too. We are teaching art, health, English and American sports (which is really just kickball and dodge ball). But all of our art projects are related to health topics. We are going to make and decorate trash cans and hand washing stations, and little animal containers to put tooth brushes. So it should be cute…just as long as the kids show up!

So wish me luck!!!! I’ll update soon!!!

Great Weekend!

There are times when I feel like I am in the US. And I know that defeats the purpose of being here in Peru, but it is so comforting sometimes to have some of the reminders from home. For example, this past weekend I went into our capital city, Piura, for a meeting. That means all of the volunteers from my region and a region north of us, Tumbes, come into the city. So for one, it’s English, all the time, which is really nice sometimes. And we get time to vent on all the gripes of our sites. There was something about this visit that I realized we were all going through a phase together. Most of us were extremely annoyed with our host family, or something going on in our site. So it was nice to share that stuff with each other, and in most cases we could relate to one another.

It was also the first trip I had made a lone. My site mate wanted to stay behind because he had a soccer game, and I wanted to go to be able to get some stuff done. So I did it all alone, which I didn’t mind. But it’s nice to have someone there sometimes because crazy stuff happens or crazy people talk, and it’s nice to have someone to look at in those situations. For example, the way my trip works, is first I take a taxi out of my valley, and the taxis only go when they are filled to capacity. The taxis are small beat up station wagons, and they will put 2 people in the front passenger seat, and 3-4 people in the back seat, and sometimes someone will sit in the trunk. This particular trip, I was the first one at the taxi, and the trunk was filled with cases of empty beer bottles, we could barely fit my stuff back there. But by the time we left the valley, we had accumulated a full car of people. However, on the way out, we stopped and they actually crammed someone in the trunk, I am not sure how they did it, but they did it. It was crazy. So that ride, usually lasts 30-45min to get out of the valley. Then we get into Las Lomas, which is the big city of my district. From there, we can either take a bus or a taxi. Usually I take a taxi to the bus station in the next town simply because it is much faster and save me time. Those are usually small car taxis, and again, they fill them to capacity before we go. That is about a 20-30min ride to Tambogrande, the next town on the way to Piura, it is bigger then Las Lomas, and it has a bus terminal, and that is where the taxi takes us. From there I take a bus, sometimes a big one, other times a small rough looking one, and my bags usually go on top on inside, and sometimes in the bottom. This bus ride is usually 2 hours long. So this time, I was alone and the bus was kind of empty, so I go to the back and grab a seat, and there are like 20 empty ones back there. Then this older lady comes on, and she oddly looks at the millions of seats around me, and guess where she sit…YEP…in my seat with me. I don’t get it…tons and tons of seats, but she had to be in my bubble. The bus never filled up, so I looked the entire time at all the empty seats and couldn’t figure out why I was sharing one.

Usually in Piura we seek out food as close to American as we can get. There is a place called Carbon Burger which is open at night, and it has some of the best burgers, even better then some that I’ve had in the US, so there is no complaining there. We also do a little shopping while were in the city. Normally we go to the market because it is so cheap. But it’s crowded, and trying to find the section of the market that has what you need can be complicated too. And inside, it is incredibly hot. Plus, it’s dangerous and you have to hide your money and stuff. This weekend one of the volunteers had her necklace ripped right off her neck while she was walking through. So this weekend, I decided to avoid it, I just wasn’t in the mood. So I went to the “Peruvian Wal-Mart” instead to pick up a few things. While we were there we had heard about a burger king being somewhere in the vicinity. So we decided to look for it. We ended up at this new mall that I had never heard of. It had a Peruvian “home depot”, and it had this store called “tottus” which reminds me more of target. I had seen lots of commercials for it, but I didn’t think we had one here so I was really excited when we found it. But the best discovery of the new mall, was STARBUCKS. It is under construction, but it is coming soon! I was really excited about that. There was also a KFC and pizza hut inside, and there is a really nice movie theater coming soon. So that was a great discovery. Not many of the volunteers have found it yet, so they were excited about it too.

One of the nights, we decided to have a little girls night, so we went to this Italian restaurant and got dinner and drinks. A popular drink here, other then beer, is pisco sours. I am not positive what is in it, but it tastes a lot like a margarita. It had pisco in it, which is a liquor here, but they use a blender to blend some kind of egg whites or something, so there is this foamy sweet layer on top of the drink. They are good, but strong, I can usually only handle one at a time.
The next day, we decided to go to Catacaos, which is a small touristy town outside of Piura. It is an artisans market and a lot of local people sell stuff to the tourists there. We had been there one time before and at a really good restaurant. So we went to look at stuff and find the restaurant. Once we were there we asked a moto taxi driver if he could take us to the restaurant. He said he knew it, but once he started driving we could tell he didn’t know what he was talking about. The name of the restaurant had the word blue in it. So he drives us to a blue building and tells us that the restaurant moved and that is where it was. Well since were not stupid we knew that wasn’t true, the building was shut up and had a for sale sign outside. We made sure to point that out, and then he took us somewhere else. The restaurant looked like the one we thought, but it had a different name. Once we were inside we convinced ourselves it was the same restaurant. Even though the inside looked different and the menu was a little different. it’s a seafood restaurant and it all seemed to add up. But afterwards we walked outside, and literally next door was the restaurant we had been looking for. We felt pretty stupid!

So the rest of the weekend was finishing up work and a meeting. But after all of that, the volunteers who had stayed wanted to go watch college football, after a lot of searching around the city, we found a bar that the game was playing on. Surprisingly, for it being Peru, the bar was really crowded. But it was fun, I definitely did not feel like I was in Peru, surrounded by Americans and watching football, it felt like home. That really doesn’t happen too often.

When I got back to my site with my host sister we were sitting down having a talk and they presented a great idea for me to work on while I am here. They really want a playground for the kids. I think this is a great idea. The kids don’t really have anything to do. Other then mess with the dogs and run around, they don’t have a lot to play with and it makes me sad. As I am writing this, the kids are playing with an English/Spanish puzzle my Mom sent me, and they keep doing it over and over again. I love that they get so excited about the things I can share with them, I just wish there was more for them to do. So I think I am going to make the playground a project towards the end of the year and see where I can get money from to help with it.

I am excited and nervous because tomorrow my summer school classes start. Last week, BJ and I put together a radio spot, and apparently our commercial has been airing in the valley, so I just hope that kids show up for it tomorrow. Today, BJ’s was actually supposed to start, but there is construction going on at his school and the principal thinks next week would be better, so I really hope we can start there soon. He has been doing a lot of work in his community trying to recruit people. And we bought a lot of stuff to prepare for it too. We are teaching art, health, English and American sports (which is really just kickball and dodge ball). But all of our art projects are related to health topics. We are going to make and decorate trash cans and hand washing stations, and little animal containers to put tooth brushes. So it should be cute…just as long as the kids show up!

So wish me luck!!!! I’ll update soon!!!

New Years Eve!

New Years Eve in Peru. I sadly feel like I missed out. In the morning, I went with my host sisters to church. It’s really interesting because I don’t realize it I guess, but my host family rarely leaves this little area of the street where all the family is, and for the most part they can buy everything they need here as well. So making the ¼ mile walk to the church was a big deal. And being that it was sunny, it became an ordeal. We had to take 2 breaks along the way to the church in the shade, and then once we got to the church we sat outside for another 10min break before we entered. Sometimes I get really confused about this stuff. Once we were in church I have come to realize that it is more of a social gathering then it is to truly attend mass. For one, they talk through the entire mass and eye up the other people within the church and then talk about them. And the kids just run wild and play in the aisle, scream, and be as loud as possible and no one does anything. And this goes on the entire mass. It’s very distracting and I cant seem to figure out why they even go, I think it’s more out of moral obligation then anything else.
Then, in the afternoon we came home to make a scarecrow. Apparently the tradition is that at midnight in Peru they burn these scarecrows that are dressed in old clothes and it’s burning away the old and preparing for the new. It was so weird to see these scarecrows all over the place for new years. My host family went out and bought fireworks for it too…I missed all of this which I will explain later.
Later in the evening we had dinner…or so I thought, we had a soup. But I was informed at midnight we would have a bigger dinner. My host sister has asked me earlier in the week to go to a quincianera with her in my site mates town. I knew a little of this was so she could see her boyfriend who was a godfather for the event. I agreed. She said we were going to leave at 10, so I got ready and was good to go at 10. I also had told BJ about it and text him saying that wed be on our way at 10. I should have no better…Peruvian time. My host sister comes by my room at 10 and she is just then going to get her shower. So….at 11 we leave. So there was a moto taxi waiting for us outside and my host sister had commented about something before we left but I didn’t pay attention, and I didn’t pay attention to the guy driving either. So we get to the quincianera, and I didn’t even bother looking for BJ because we were so incredibly late, and she told the moto taxi guy to wait for us and we’d be just a minute. I should have known she was up to something. Well we go in, find her boyfriend, then she darts off. So I am left sitting there and people are just staring at me. I am not as well received in that town because I am not their volunteer and they aren’t familiar with me.
Then, the beer and food started circulating, and as sick as I got after the last wedding I attended I turned them both down, not without a steady persistence from a man with beer. I decided to avoid it all I would go outside and wait for my host sister. The moto taxi driver came to sit with me….that’s when it hit me that he was at the wedding we were at the weekend before and he has a huge crush on my host sister and he keeps coming around the house to get her attention. And the only reason he drove us to the party was because of her! And here she made him wait for us while she spent time with her boyfriend. When I figured that out, I was really upset. He started asking me lots of questions about her, and if she had a boyfriend and all kinds of stuff, I felt terrible. Then, as time passed, he was wondering where she was, because she said we were only going to be a minute, and apparently she had promised to go to a dance with him that was back in our town.
So here I was when midnight rolled around of the new year sitting outside this party in a town I was dragged too because my host sister wanted to see her boyfriend in secret and she ditched me. And I am sitting there with this mopey 19 year old moto taxi driver with a broken heart. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was in Peru, it was a pretty crappy way to bring in 2011. Eventually my host sister found me, dragged me back in so I could watch her dance with her boyfriend one time and we left with the very sad moto taxi driver. I was even more sad because as we drove home, all of the scarecrows I was dying to see burned up were lying in the streets charred. I missed the entire thing! I was really sad. And the entire time we rode home in the moto taxi there was this super weird tension because the kid was crying, we even had to pull over for him to wash his face and get it together. And the whole time my host sister was making fun of him. I just don’t have much of a tolerance for that. This kid never did anything but like her, and she just totally used him and was a total bitch to him. It wasn’t fair. Then right before we got home she asked me lie to the rest of the family and tell them that BJ was there so they didn’t get suspicious of her. I felt horrible about everything.
When we came in the house my family was just finishing up dinner, and I got served alone after everyone, and then they all went next door to my host sisters cantina to drink and dance. I wasn’t really interested, my heart was broken a little as well, I just hate how the whole night had gone down.
My family dragged me outside with them, and I made an escape to make a pretend phone call that would end with me going in the house and going to bed. But while I was sitting there the inebriated nasty drunk neighbor came and got literally directly in my face and said to come dance. When I repeatedly told him that I was talking to my boyfriend in the US, even pretending to talk into the phone he just got closer. I got so incredibly angry, he just kept telling me that he wasn’t here so what did it matter. He was so close I almost just pushed him, and I started yelling, and once I did that he got the point. I have just had it, this happens constantly and it makes me so angry. NO RESPECT!!! So at that point, and it was 3am, I went to bed and left them to drink and dance until who knows.
I’ve never been a big New Years Eve person, but I was looking forward to being a part of their traditions, and I sort of felt like I got shafted. Usually I am not superstitious, but I really hope how I brought in 2011 is in no way a reflection of how the rest of the year is going to be!

FOOD!!!!

Often I get emails or letters that ask about the food here…so let me tell you a little about the food, I’ll take you through a typical day of meals here in the valley. For starters you can pretty much guarantee that rice will be present with each and every meal, no matter the time of day it doesn’t matter there is almost always white rice. Plus, rice is grown all over the valley so it’s fresh, not that I am sure there is such a thing as rice that is unfresh. But the other day I did have the honor of sifting through the rice. I am really confused on the whole process of rice anyway, I am starting to learn. Once the tops of the rice are chopped off (it looks like wheat), they are laid out front of the houses on large tarps and it dries in the sun all day. The thing I’m not sure about is when it goes from looking like wheat into looking like rice. But I do know that when I was sifting through the rice my job was to pull out the ones that still looked like wheat. So I don’t get it!
Okay, so back to the food, breakfast usually starts with a fried egg and rice and usually this coffee drink. It’s not really coffee but I know it’s similar. Some days, if I’m lucky I just get bread for breakfast and I have some jelly I put on it. Other times I could have pasta with chicken for breakfast. This morning…I actually had boiled sweet potatoes and a fried egg and I thought it was a good breakfast.
Lunch is usually and almost always rice and chicken. And you would think that with all the chicken I eat that I would be so sick of chicken, but the truth is that I am always craving more and more….there is usually barely any meat to pull off the bone of whatever part of the chicken I am served so I am always wishing for more. The absolute best part of lunch is the juices. I have fresh juice everyday from an assortment of fruits. My absolute favorite is maracuya. It’s this hollow shelled fruit that has these weird globules of seeds inside and you put that part in a blender and it makes the best juice you have EVER had. Other times I get papaya blended up or guananbana which is a coconut looking fruit that doesn’t have a really distinct taste but isn’t bad. A lot of time, I just have lemonade made from limes. Sometimes they also make this awesome tea from orange leaves and I like that too. The other day I had lunch at my host sisters house, and she made juice out of these weird little tomatoes that are a little bigger then a cherry tomato but also resemble an apple. That juice was not so good, it smelled like something I shouldn’t be drinking, but I did it anyway.
So for dinner, usually it might be chicken and rice again. But sometimes I get chicken soap with some vegetables thrown in there. Or at night they go and get cheese and we have cheese and rice. The cheese isn’t like anything I can explain. It is made from cow milk and they make in their home, and it’s wet and just different. Most of like a cottage cheese texture but molded together. I actually like that dinner because the cheese just adds a little something. And my absolute favorite meal usually is avocado. In Lima I used to have mashed avocado sandwiches. Here, they just cut up the avocado and serve it like that and I always really like it. That isn’t as frequent anymore because apparently avocados have been hard to come by.
Their fancy dinner is this meal called green rice and chicken. And it is literally just that, it’s green rice (not sure what makes the rice green) and it is always mixed with carrots, and then chicken, and usually a lettuce leaf with a slice of potato and this really good spicy yellow sauce I have grown to love. No lie, that is literally the EXACT meal that gets served at all special occasions.
There are rarely snacks, but if there are, it’s usually a mango.
That’s pretty much it, it doesn’t vary too much, I think of all the fruits and vegetables that they have here they could get more creative and experiment, but not really. But I’m not complaining because I actually enjoy the food, I am losing weight so that makes me happy. The variety kind of sucks at times, but I actually look forward to some of it. I guess the lack of options will do that. And food is a huge deal here, they take so much pride in it even though not much creatively goes into making it.
So when I get the opportunity to go into the capital city for a night or two and I can pick my meal, usually we go to Carbon Burger (I know not a very Peruvian name), and they have really good hamburgers for literally the equivalent to $1-2 American dollars. Sometimes we go to the chicken place and get a giant chicken dinner and fries, that makes up for the chicken craving! And then there are the other indulgences that include a frappucino at the cool place we discovered or a milkshake at this really good ice-cream spot. Other than that I usually get some good bread for an avocado sandwich ( I do love those things) or I pick up some fresh fruit in the market for snacks.

Cinderella Moment

Tonight I had a little Cinderella moment and it made me laugh. Well I was on my way back from BJ’s town and I was riding in a moto taxi and it was dark out. And we were riding alongside some of the fields and all I could see on both sides of me were sparkles. For real…sparkles. These sparkles were from the millions of fireflies (or lightening bugs) that were hanging out in the field. It made me think of Cinderella and the fairy godmother transforming everything with her magic wand. And then on top of it, I was riding in a moto taxi, which for a moment felt like my carriage (or at times my pumpkin). It definitely made me smile to myself , mostly because I couldn’t be further from feeling like Cinderella since I was all sweaty from the heat, and my clothes and feet were filthy. I felt more like the Cinderella before the sparkles and carriage. But the whole thing was pretty cool, I’ve never seen enough fireflies in one place for it to look like sparkles in my entire life, but I loved it!

Thursday Night Tradition

So BJ and I have gotten into this tradition and we always get together on Thursday afternoons just to hang out. We’ve been trying to find little spots to go where we can hang out and not really be bothered with Spanish and all the other stuff. We’ve gotten lucky and found some really good spots. However, this week we succeeded on the good spot, just not so much on the secludedness. To have to say an “hola” or a “Buenos tardes” is no big deal, but this week, it was really bad. First, we had this lady come up, she was from a neighboring town that was actually quite far for her. And here we were sitting in the middle of a field, surrounded by corn and cows and yet she found us. At first she questioned us about where we were from and then asked us about Patricio (the legend volunteer who worked in my town over 2 years ago). Apparently Patricio had taught English is her town…which again is no surprise because Patricio was definitely a super volunteer. Well, the lady wouldn’t leave, even when there were lulls in conversation she just kept standing there staring at us, which was incredibly awkward. At times when their were lulls, she would again bring up how beautiful the valley is and whether or not we liked it. That was a question we probably answered at LEAST 3 times in the conversation. Then, she spotted BJ’s laptop and began asking “how much” questions. Finally, finally after being polite and cordial for very very long, BJ and I just decided to start doing work on the laptop and look really engaged in it. With some time, the lady got the hint and said her goodbyes.
An hour or so later, we were approached by an interesting looking gentleman, this guy didn’t wait for us to chat he just started going, and going, and going. We heard about the money his kids send him from lima, and the entire story as to how he told them to go, and how people always ask why he is so skinny and he always loses weight from walking so much, he named all the towns in the valley, he even talked about fruit at one point I think. I could tell that this guy was a little off. For one he didn’t seem to concerned about the 2 white people sitting in a field listening to music, it just seemed like he wanted to talk, and he had stuff to say and we were sitting there, it could have been anyone. After what felt like forever, he spotted BJ’s lap top and asked about it, and as BJ was answering the guy just walked away, and that was the end of it. It was kind of a funny end.

TV...the leading cause of heart attacks in Chipillico

So this week, I was informed that my host Dad was in the cemetery helping to dig a whole for someone who passed away that previous night. Apparently, the man who passed away was 38 and he died of something happening to his heart because he had just bought a TV and was so excited his heart stopped working. Yes, I was told this story in complete seriousness, it was hard to not have a reaction.
I commented that 38 was very young for someone to die of heart trouble, and again, I was faced with the grave explanation of the TV again. Sometimes I think I ask those kinds of questions just to be sure my Spanish wasn’t too rusty and I heard it right. Other times I ask those questions because I am so completely shocked at the justification I have to hear it again.
Later that night, my host Dad got all dolled up, and my sisters started coming down hard on him about drinking, so I just figured he was going to a drinking circle or something. Since it has been the week between Christmas and New Years I just thought there was continuous celebration. But apparently no, my host Dad was going to the viewing of the dead man. The way I understood viewings as well is that they deceased person is placed on a table in the living room for 2 days and people come and pay their respects at the household, this sometimes includes drinking in the same room as the body. This whole concept really disturbs me, because I live in the middle of nowhere so I know during this time the body isn’t preserved, and during the day, the temperatures can get incredibly hot. So I asked my host sister and answer I already knew, wouldn’t the body stink. She told me that yes, but probably not this guy because it was a heart problem. But another guy who had stomach issues and after he died his stomach was swollen and his nose had bleed, apparently he stunk really really bad.
This whole thing bothers me so much. How can you watch someone you love decay right in front of you. I think the hardest part of someone passing is the viewing anyway, and then to have that inside you house. It just doesn’t feel right. But it also allows me to see how different these people view death. I believe them having that person in their living room allows them a little more time to say goodbye, and their love and devotion helps them overlook the smells and the strangeness that death brings.
I was hoping to see the funeral precession, or however that works here, but as of today I haven’t seen it. I sure hope that it has happened because it has been 6 days since the man passed away. I am sure they have put him somewhere else by now.

Shame in my Belly Button

Although I have had plenty of episodes of not so great health since I’ve been in Peru, I don’t think I have had such a bad day as I did this past week. I am not entirely sure what caused it but I was miserable, throwing up, even had a fever. And it definitely does suck to be feeling sick in incredibly hot weather. But instead of being able to curl up on the couch or in my bed at home, I am in Peru and everything is different. For one, I had a good half of days laundry to get done, and at first that wasn’t so bad, I didn’t start feeling really sick until closer to the end. But then when I started throwing up and realizing I couldn’t keep any water down, I started panicking. I don’t think I would have worried if I were home. But I knew that it wouldn’t take long to become dehydrated if I couldn’t keep water down, and then if I became dehydrated, that meant that it would be harder to get up and get out of bed. And if I couldn’t do that I knew I’d be looking at being sick much longer then I ever wanted too.
Anyway, once my host sisters realized I was sick they made it their duty to not leave me alone. I was able to get a few hours rest in while they finished up laundry, but after that, they somehow thought asking me every two seconds if I was feeling better might somehow miraculously make me feel better. That didn’t happen! So since women here are incredibly sensitive about their food, my family instantly went into blaming the food and alcohol from a wedding I had attended a few days earlier. First they claimed all the cooking was done in the sun and that could have made me sick. If that were the case I would have been way sicker much sooner then that. Then, they blamed me not being used to drinking. That was frustrating because I am 26, I’ve obviously had a few drinks in my life. Besides I didn’t even drink enough that day to feel anything. And then I through out there that drinking out of the same glass that is their custom probably is what made me sick. They kind of looked at me funny when I mentioned that one.
Later, when I was up making myself some water, my host sister pulled up my shirt and put her finger in my belly button and claimed she was trying to feel my shame. Because apparently, having shame can make you sick as well, I tried to explained that wasn’t it. Then she explained to me that sometimes during that time of the month for a female they could have pains associated in their stomach, and she asked me exactly where the pains were. Again…I’m 26 and I think I’ve had my period more than a few times in my lifetime.
All that I wanted to do was lay in bed and hope that as long as I hydrated myself it would pass. However, my host sisters thought differently. The forced me to come and sit with them outside my room, and the entire time commented on how my face looked sad. Then they kept telling me that I needed to walk around because if I stayed in my room I would just become sad, and being sad would make me more sick. All of the insights are very valuable to my work here, but at the moment I just wanted to be left alone and not have anyone guess anymore about me and just lay in bed and relax and rest. They also kept trying to force me to eat. I would go to the table to oblige them, and then I’d take two bites, say thank you, and leave the table. I know they always like for you to finish you food, but if you are going to force me into something I already don’t want and said over and over again I wasn’t interested in eating, then you might get your feelings hurt when I barely touched it.
They also claimed that they NEVER get sick, and this was as my oldest host sister was sitting there looking absolutely miserable fighting a cold. When they mentioned she should visit the doctor, she said she had shame and that she would just take pills from the pharmacy she has in her house. I guess maybe being sick is shameful because they aren’t stronger. I don’t know…but I thought that was a poor excuse for not going and seeing the doctor.
Fortunately, I believe in part to my rehydration salts and lots and lots of water, I felt much better the next day and didn’t have anymore problems other then just feeling kind of week which took a few days to wear off.
I had the opportunity to talk to my friend Brittany who lives about 6 hours away in Piura Alta, and she told me that she had also been sick over the same time span I was and like me, she would NEVER tell her family again because they also had problems leaving her alone. They blamed hers on washing her Mango with COLD water. There is a myth in these areas that believe COLD makes you sick. This includes and is not limited too, cold water for drinking and washing, as well as the cold from your refrigerator, and ice-cream. So unfortunately Brittany has never heard the end of her terrible mistake.

A Peruvian Christmas

So Christmas has come and gone, and I thought it would be a very emotional day for me. However, it wasn’t so bad. It was a very fun few days leading up to Christmas. Although there weren’t any major differences in my community with regards to Christmas, very few decorations, no Christmas trees, no Christmas music, you could still feel that a little something was different.
My host Mom and little host sister and little host nephew all went to Lima last Monday to be with a very sick uncle. So that changed the dynamic around the house. The interesting part was that they took with them 2 turkeys, 3 pigeons, and 2 chickens. Watching them prepare these things for the trip was very interesting. The shoved the 2 giant turkeys into a small box and tied it shut, the pigeons went into an even smaller box and the chickens were put into a sack and tied tight and only their heads were popping out. It was really funny to see all these animals in our living room waiting for the taxi. When the taxi did come, it was already full, put they put the turkeys on top of it and tied the box down, and my host mom, sister and nephew climbed into the trunk of the station wagon and waved goodbye. It was kind of a sad day, but I think it will give my host Mom some relief, she’s been very upset and worried about her brother.
But since they’ve been gone, I feel like we have more family in the house then we did before. My oldest host sister Betty comes over a lot to cook, and that means her family follows to eat. As well as my older host brother Gavilan, he and his wife and two children have been hanging out a lot too. Their kids are really really cute, but the little one Nicole, is a handful. She is 3, and the only volume she speaks at is a scream, and she gets into everything. I had a packet of jelly out with my things and she sucked it dry, she also comes into my room and takes things, so when she is here I have to keep my door locked. The worst part is that when I am holding the babies she comes over and gives them Indian rope burn, and bites and hits them. The problem is that she is just so cute it’s hard to stay mad at her!
The day before Christmas Eve my host sister held a chocolada at our house. This is when they start a fire out in the backyard and friends and family bring over milk and chocolate and they use these giant giant pots to make basically hot chocolate. Then the moms fill there jugs with the hot chocolate and take it home and they drink that throughout Christmas. Apparently too, they usually have a little gathering for the kids and they get little toys and stuff too.
So Christmas Eve….here comes the fun part….I had been asked by a few people to take pictures at a wedding being held on Christmas eve. So of course I didn’t mind and I knew my host family was going to the wedding so it wasn’t a big deal. So on Christmas eve we went to the church in the morning for what I thought was a wedding. WRONG!! First it was a mass, and the church was crammed with people, there was no where to sit, no ventilation, and it was so hot. But I stood there and followed along. Once the mass ended some people left, and then all the sudden there was a mad dash to the aisle, because apparently that is where the families were lining up for the 17 kids who were about to be baptized. So that was an experience too. These kids screamed and screamed and screamed like someone was about to kill them, it was horrible. Then directly after all of that, the bride and grooms lined up for the wedding. There were about 10 couples who were getting married and they all lined up behind one another. The ages ranged from very young….to very old! The dresses and suits or lack there of were interesting! The vows and everything that is said at a Catholic wedding were identical, however, instead of repeating after the priest the bride and groom would just read everything out of a book. There was one sad couple that came up and the groom could barely read and he stumbled through the entire thing. What bothered me was that no one helped him, instead people in the audience laughed and talked about him. It kind of pissed me off. I live in a community where many people can’t read, and the fact that they aren’t nice enough to step up to the plate and help one of their own out really really makes me mad.
The other really interesting part of the wedding was the lack of joy and excitement. A bride and groom in the states are so lovey, and can’t keep from looking at each other or their hands off each other. At this wedding, it looked like it was painful for them to hold each others hands. And NEVER once did they look each other in the eyes. And when the kiss came….that was painfully awkward to watch from the outside. Not only did they not look at each other, it looked like it was their first kiss EVER…they went in for it eyes open the entire time and it was quick and then afterwards they didn’t look at each other nothing. And once they were married standing on the sidelines watching the next couple, the wouldn’t touch each other, look at each other or talk to each other. It was so so so weird. And I know for a fact some of these couples were new and others had been together for years and even had kids.
So afterwards, I was invited to one of the wedding receptions. We went to their house, and at first we sat in a circle lining the room. No one spoke, we had lunch and just sat there, this went on for about 2 hours. Then, someone went out and got beer. I think I may have explained before that drinking usually consists of one large beer bottle and one cup. Basically when I am handed the beer bottle and the cup I pour my own glass, pass the beer bottle to the next person in the circle, drink my glass, throw the last sip on the floor, and then pass the glass. Although I was planning on not drinking at my site, I have found it incredibly difficult to avoid these drinking circles at events like this. However, I have found the secret to them as well. For example, I drank pretty consistently from 2pm-10pm that night, but not once did I feel drunk. And this was because when the beer and glass were passed to me, I barely put enough beer in it to cover the bottom of the cup, then I’d take a small sip and throw the rest on the ground!
After this first drinking circle, the party moved outside, and that is where they had the couples first dances, and a toast, and more and more people showed up. They had hired a DJ to run things and they lots of music and more and more beer. I believe that people showed up too who were already drunk so that didn’t help. At one point I was sitting alone watching everything when this drunk man, probably in his early 40’s approached me. He was obviously inebriated, he moved his chair practically on top of me and was almost kissing my neck every time he leaned in to talk to me. He kept asking me to come to his house and how he wanted to show me his house. It was so disgusting. I was leaning so far away from him, and looking so incredibly uncomfortable, and people just looked at me. No one though to send me a rescue. Finally, he left. But things only got worse when the dancing started.
So dancing here is very very different than in the US. I am almost positive that after 2 years here I am going to become and awful awful dancer. The don’t really move, they kind bob around, it’s hard to explain. When I came to South America, I was looking forward to learning all those exotic Latino dances. I do believe they exist here in Peru, just not in my little valley! And the only dancing that is done is by invite only. No one gets up and dances alone or with friends, it is guy/girl only! So immediately the men from the rowdy drinking circle would ask me to dance. At first it was harmless, I would dance without touching them or anything, then there were a few who would ask me to dance and we would dance more formally where like I was holding their arm and their hand. THEN….there was a younger guy who kept asking me to dance, he was actually a decent dancer, but he was trashed and would basically try and talk to me the entire time screaming in my face, and then he started asking me inappropriate questions. I kept trying to put an end to it, and at first I let it all go. But then, he continued to ask me to dance, each time he kept pulling me in when I kept pulling away, and he would try and interlock fingers and put his fingers over my mouth. All the while asking me more and more inappropriate questions. I don’t know if I could have not looked any more uncomfortable, and I was just look at the people I came with, with this horrible look on my face. At one point after I sat down from dancing with him I told the women I didn’t like him and the stuff he was saying to me. And when he came over to ask me to dance again I said no, but the one lady pushed me too it. So this last time when I was dancing with him, he grabbed my head to yank it in close to his, I intercepted that deal really really quick and told him NO, and that he was bad, and I wasn’t going to dance with him again and that for the last time I had a boyfriend in the US who I love very much and don’t want another one. I still don’t think he got the hint, but fortunately many other guys asked me to dance after that one and he never got another opportunity with me.
I had a lot of fun dancing, I actually really did despite all of the garbage from the drunks. But there is one thing I was unsure of. The one really annoying guy I think is a local hottie, and the looks I got from the other girls made me really uncomfortable. Even though I think I looked totally disgusted when I was dancing with him, I still think the girls got jealous. Hopefully with time I can prove to them that I don’t want to steal their men…they can keep them!
So the feast we were supposed to have a midnight the night of Christmas Eve had been delayed due to the wedding festivities. Although I came home around 10-10:30 my host sister was drunk and fell asleep right away and my host Dad went back to the wedding to drink. So when my oldest host sister Betty told me we weren’t going to be having the big dinner I was relived that I could just go to bed.
So Christmas morning came around and at 8 am I ran outside to my special spot with cell phone signal and awaited the call from my REAL family back in the states. It was so great to talk to all of them. But incredibly weird that they were talking about the cold and the snow and I knew that my day was just beginning to warm up into the high 80’s or 90’s. Sometimes it’s really weird to think of myself as so far away. Alex was sure to remind me that there weren’t any presents under the Christmas tree. He is so good to me!
Later that morning we had the feast that we didn’t have the night before. I was happy, I thought it would be lots of crazy foods, but fortunately all I had was rice and turkey. And the turkey was really good actually. The men of my family had rice, potatoes, pasta, and turkey. So I’m kind of glad that I am started to be treated more like one of the daughters and they are laying off on the loads of food, I was perfectly happy. It was really nice though because all of the brothers and sisters and their kids were there around one table and it was really casual, I liked it. Reminded me a little bit of home…just in Spanish.
So….I had made a cake for Christmas. They had asked me to do it. And originally I was going to do it all from scratch, but when I saw how much that was going to cost me I lucked out and actually found a box of betty crockers chocolate cake mix at the super market in Piura. However, instead of icing I did by the Peruvian man jar Blanco (kind of like a thick caramel). So anyway, using this little interesting oven, I made this little cake. Well I pulled it out that morning after breakfast and my family just kind of acted funny. Apparently my host dad asked why the cake was black. One thing I didn’t realize was that they are NOT used to chocolate cakes. So I was a little offended when they were all hesitant about it and I really didn’t think they liked it. But apparently that wasn’t the case at all, they had NEVER seen a chocolate cake and were confused. They ended up loving it and since then have asked when I can make another one! So I was really excited about that!
The rest of Christmas Day was kind of dull, my host family scattered into doing chores and different things and I went to my room and watched Sex and the City 2 on my computer which I had been saving for a special occasion. Later during the day I went over to BJ’s town since we had decided we were going to celebrate Christmas together as well. He had found this really cool spot in his parents field where we could hang out and put out feet in the water. So we went down there, his family followed later and we watched them set the remnants of the corn on fire in their field, getting prepared for the rice growing season. I would think that this valley would be an instant place to start a forest fire with out dry everything is, but surprisingly they light stuff on fire and I don’t get it, but it magically goes out once it’s finished. Later with boredom, we ended up making boats out of whatever we could find and then raced them down the little river….that was actually really entertaining. Afterward, I headed back to my house. It was dark at this point and it was hard to believe that Christmas was almost over.
I have to admit that I really loved the simplicity of the day. As much as I do love Christmas at home and I cannot wait to get back and put up the tons and tons of Christmas decorations that I have accumulated and not had the opportunity to use yet, I still enjoyed how simple things were here. The children didn’t wake up to tons of gifts, they woke up to just another day and were happy for it. I helped my little host niece make bubbles and you would have thought I had given her one of those Barbie cars that you can actually drive. She was so excited and it made me really happy. I also enjoyed how all they expected for Christmas was turkey, and simply to be together, that was it. I liked that. That is the way it should be, and it’s shame that is takes spending Christmas with people who have nothing to understand that you don’t need anything more.