Back to site visits. Emilia and Enrique went up to Claudia’s site, Huantar, in the morning and then came down to San Marcos in the afternoon. Before we began my site visit, Emilia let me shower at her hostel since I hadn’t showered in a week and a half. Then we went to my health post, had a meeting with the NGO in my town ADRA, had a little one-on-one interview with Emilia about life at site, and then out to Huarimayo to talk to my host family. Emilia’s visit exceeded my expectations and was exactly what I needed in this point of my service. I had been having trouble working with my counterpart in the health post and I needed Emilia to see the roadblock I was facing since my counterpart had been unresponsive in every attempt I’d made to work with her. But after an hour long chat, I think Emilia set her straight, and in the process gave me a huge boost of self-confidence. Indirectly, she complimented me by referring to me as a professional, as an essential resource, and as a wealth of enthusiasm, energy, and creativity. It was really something I needed to hear after 4 months of failed attempts to work with my counterpart. I’m hoping that my counterpart takes the chat to heart.
Emilia also did a good job of explaining Peace Corps to the NGO ADRA, which I think was a little bit confused by my presence in San Marcos despite my best explanations. We had two great meetings with ADRA and I’m super excited to work with them. I’ve already been working with the comunicador Francisco on some radio and TV commercials so be on the lookout for future youtube postings (we’re working on a 1 minute cooking show clip called Gringos Al Gusto). The employees of ADRA are all in their late twenties and have a true interest in development work, which I guess is the difference between ADRA and the employees at the health post. Also, the majority of the employees of ADRA are from Huaraz, Lima, or other big cities and have completed higher levels of education. So far I have nothing but good things to say about them.
After the meeting with ADRA, we took a trip to visit my host family. I think my host family was really intimidated by Emilia. They looked so nervous and embarrassed by their living conditions. I learned during her conversation with my host mom that Emilia never actually saw my house before it was approved for me to live in. This may be normal in Peace Corps protocol but seemed strange to me. However, the next day my family started working on putting down some rocks for the new bathroom so maybe after 5 or 6 months at site I can stop pooping in the chacra. We’ll see.
I also had a small heart to heart with Emilia as part of the site visit. We talked about pretty much everything- my physical and mental health, what projects I’m working on/hope to work on, what resources I need, etc. We did the whole interview in Spanish but for the first time, I feel like I conveyed my true sentiments to Emilia, and that she understood where I am coming from. She knows that life out here is harder than life on the coast and that we’re doing our absolute best to make things happen. I told her about my plans for a grupo de jovenes (youth group), English classes, a safe drinking water course with the water inspector at the health post, health classes at the elementary school, a video exchange between Feehan and the high school in San Marcos, and a future latrine or cocinas mejoradas project in Huarimayo. I have so many plans and ideas in my head but everything here takes so much longer to accomplish than I’m used to. As the other volunteers know, Emilia is really good at inspiration talks. Her visit put a lot of things into perspective for me and also put a lot of things in order.
Now on to some more fun firsts! I got my very first visitor from the U.S.- Pat! He came to visit over Easter Break, which was my first Peace Corps vacation and Pat’s first vacation outside of the United States. We had a BLAST. It was quite a whirlwind tour of Peru (sorry Pat) since we started off in Lima and went all the way north practically to the Ecuadorian border. Maybe it would be best to break down the trip by major cities:
1. Lima. I went back to Lima with Emilia and Enrique to pick Pat up at the airport. He got in pretty late at night so we ended up soaking in a little of the posh nightlife in Miraflores. Not a bad first stop- the wealthiest area of Lima on a Friday night. We got some wine then Pat got his first taste of Peruvian street food, a chicken hamburger complete with egg and some aji. No better time to get accustomed to street food than the first night! Fortunately, no serious ailments resulted.
Parque del Amor in Miraflores2. Lima day 2. Pat and I took combis to the Plaza de Armas. We walked around to check out the beautiful architecture, which as it turns out are actually all replicas of the originals. After exhausting ourselves walking around, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in Miraflores. We got a quick snack at McDonald’s (why did it taste so good?) then we went to the Parque del Amor by the Pacific Ocean. It’s a really neat place- it has mosaic tiles with famous quotes about love. Que romantico. Later on we had a delicious fish dinner at a restaurant by the water. We had to get back to the hostel to check out and get ready to take a night bus to Huaraz, but knew we had some time to kill before the bus so we watched the NCAA semi-finals at a very American bar. It was great. I missed March Madness terribly this year! Let’s not even talk about Georgetown getting knocked out of the first round of the NIT.
3. Arrival in Huaraz. Pat and I got in super early to Huaraz and passed out at our hostel. We stayed at probably my favorite hostel in Huaraz. It has a beautiful lounge area on the third floor where on clear mornings you can see Huascaran. After breakfast, we went around and explored Huaraz. I showed Pat everything from the meat market to my laundry place. We also went to the oldest remaining street in Huaraz (pretty much all of Huaraz was destroyed in an earthquake in 1970) where they have a sort of food festival every Sunday. Pat got to try pachamanca for the first time. We spent the evening at Café Andino where a couple of volunteers were hanging out. We chatted for awhile and eventually headed back to the hostel to sleep to get ready for the next big day.
Pat eating cuy4. Trip to the Conchucos Valley. So I underestimated Peruvian punctuality and didn’t buy our bus tickets out to San Marcos and Pat and I ended up riding for 2 and a half hours in the trunk of a car to Chavin (I’ll be posting a video soon). On the flip side, the taxi driver played some good tunes, featuring NSYNC, Madonna, and Celine Dion. We made it out to Chavin in one piece and attempted to go to the ruins but they were closed. Even though the governor promised to take me, he must have forgotten himself that the ruins are closed on Mondays. So no ruins. Or museum, since it too was closed. Tyler met up with us and we took a trip to San Marcos to get some pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken served with French fries and salad). I showed Pat around my site a little bit and then we went to my house. He finally got to see my room and meet my family! We were supposed to cook cuy for dinner but I’m not really sure what happened. My host family fed him an Andean speciality- month old potato pudding-esque food called mazamorra de tukush. They bury potatoes in the ground, add water, and wait. It actually tastes as foul as it smells. I eat pretty much anything and I refuse to eat tukush. They say it is full of penicillin though. Yum.
5. Back to Huaraz. But not before eating cuy for brunch. Pat and I had pretty much given up on the idea of him trying cuy, which I was really disappointed about, until my host mom decided to serve it for brunch. She is an absolute sweetheart, but sometimes I wonder what gets lost in translation between the two of us. I had no idea that she was going to actually prepare the cuy, so as I go to say goodbye before Pat and I catch a bus, I find her pealing cuy fur in the kitchen. So Pat and I stick around and play with my host sister Mari while we wait for cuy. I’m growing quite fond of cuy. Can’t say the same for Pat, since the cuy he ate made a reappearance the next day in regurgitated form. Again, sorry Pat. After getting back to Huaraz, we vegged out at another favorite PC volunteer hang out, California Café. Pretty much all of the Ancash volunteers were there since we were heading out that night for the start of our vacations. Pat got to visit my entire Ancash family! Later that night, we hopped on another bus, but this time to Trujillo.
Eating ceviche in Huanchaco
6. Huanchaco. The real start to vacation- beach! Huanchaco is a pretty laid back surfing town outside of Trujillo. We arrived at our hostel early in the morning, 7 Ancash volunteers plus Pat. Pat collapsed in the hostel with a pretty bad case of Montezuma’s revenge. Thank goodness for James Reyes arriving from Cajamarca and giving Pat his supply of Cipro- we gave Pat a dose of the antibiotic and he was almost as good as new the next day. Pat joined us later on at the beach and we had a really chill day just being beach bums with everyone.
7. Huanchaco day 2. Pat and I get burned at the beach. That’s what we get for being practically albino these days, Pat spending all his time running neuroscience labs and me seeing nothing but rain. But it was so worth it. After a long, luxurious day at the beach, Pat and I went to explore Trujillo a bit. Pat was still under the weather, but we had a delicious dinner at an Italian place and met up with everyone at a brewery later on. Then we took another night bus up to Piura. There were only 10 seats on the lower level of the bus and they were filled by our group. It was wild. When you put that many volunteers in enclosed spaces, only silliness can result.
Mancora 9. Departure from Mancora/Arrival in Lima…again. Pat and I did some serious bus traveling to get back to Lima so he could catch his nighttime flight. About 18 hours on two buses. But I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. The whole trip was perfect (well maybe except for the Pat getting sick off cuy part) and I think Pat got to see a pretty good chunk of Peru in 10 days. Maybe his next trip will be a little more tranquilo… maybe just one or two places instead of 7 or 8. His firsts were a lot of my firsts as well- I might know San Marcos and Huaraz like the back of my hand but I had never eaten a churro (fried dough filled with dulce de leche) off the street, swam in the Pacific Ocean, searched for chifa in Piura City, or gone to the illegal software market in Lima. It was quite an adventure and I only wish it hadn’t gone by so fast.
Changing the topic a bit, I had another first recently- my first trip to the doctor! I played around in the waves so much in Mancora that I think I got some sand and water seriously stuck in my left ear. My ear was throbbing and I couldn’t really hear that well so our Peace Corps doctor in Lima, Suni, sent me to a clinic in Huaraz. The first doctor took my blood pressure and looked down my throat then gave me 3 prescriptions. Didn’t even look at my ear. I immediately called Suni, who scheduled me an appointment with an ear doctor for the next day. At my ear doctor appointment, he took a quick look in my ear then wrote down a prescription for a shot and 2 medications. So I got my first shot in my bum that day. And now I’m taking 2 anti-histamines/anti-inflammatories. I still don’t really know what’s wrong with my ear. I’m just going to assume it was an ear infection. Tyler went with me that day too because his sinuses were all congested and he got a shot in the bum too. We decided to make Tyler’s shot more dramatic and asked if he could lie down and hold my hand through the entire 2 second process. It was a pretty comical experience for the two of us. I think the nurses were entertained too.
Being back at site was pretty hard at first. I got used to hot showers every day, beach, good food, the company of other gringos…and knowing I wouldn’t be back to Huaraz for two and a half weeks was a little daunting. I did have a surprise waiting back at home for me though- my host mom had put in a cement floor for our future bathroom! While I was gone, she took the first step in putting in a bathroom in the 5 months I’ve been here. Only thing is, no further steps have been taken since then. And there isn’t really anything I can do- I’ve tried talking to her about making some kind of plan of action (what day we can start constructing the walls, when can we put up a roof, etc.) but making plans with exact dates and times isn’t exactly the custom here. My host mom also said she hired someone to come do the work, which is great, but when I asked when he is coming she said he is away doing work in another community and doesn’t know when he’ll be back. So now I’m stuck trying to figure out if I should just go ahead and hire someone else and possibly hurt her feelings, or wait for this guy to come. I was also supposed to buy the toilet, sink, and showerhead, but my host mom said she already contracted someone to get the toilet. But when I ask when it’s coming, she says she’s not sure and that she has to go to Chavin to talk to the Señora she contracted. So I’m stuck in limbo- I can’t buy a toilet or hire someone to build the rest of the bathroom because my host mom supposedly already did it, but I’m stuck waiting until who knows when for this bathroom to be built. I have a feeling I will be a year into service before I can actually sit down to pee.
My youth group at the top of Shaywa
In work related news, I finally got my youth group started. We had our first meeting and the next day went on a hike up a mountain called Shaywa to a cross at the top. It was really fun and I think I have a great group of girls. We had a little picnic at the top of the mountain and the whole time the girls were talking about other hikes and places and things we can do. So I think they are excited about the group, too. With the high school, I’m working on doing a sort of video exchange with one of Señora Drobnis’ classes at Feehan. I’m still working out the details with a professor at the high school in San Marcos- he’s been pretty impossible to find lately. None of the teachers at the high school seemed to know where he was for an entire week. I’m not sure if he was sick, went to Huaraz, or just didn’t show up (as is often the case with teachers in my town… not exactly sure why). Unfortunately, the timing of this project is kind of bad since high school ends in the U.S. in the next month and a half and school just started up here. I’m hoping Señora and I can figure out some way to keep it going over summer break in the U.S. 
I'm in the costume on the right
Work has been kind of slow lately out here, which is why it’s been hard to be back at site. People sometimes don’t show up to meetings or visits to communities get canceled at the last minute leaving me with nothing to do for a day. But I’ve been keeping busy with other things like learning how to make compost, helping Tyler find a house in Chavin, studying Spanish, watching Gossip Girl on my computer. I also helped out at the anniversary festival in San Marcos. I helped ADRA at their tent by teaching people how to make cakes and breads by essentially turning pots into ovens and cooking them over a fire. And I dressed up in a costume of a campo child. It was a good time- just really hot in that costume. I think things will start to pick up soon and I’ll be craving some of this extra free time that I have.
This week I am heading to Chiclayo, a city up north on the coast. We have a workshop where we bring someone from our community and learn how to do big projects like improved stoves and latrines. I’ve been looking forward to this workshop for awhile. And I always love the opportunity to travel and see more of Peru! There’s always room for more firsts. Until next time.
