VACACION!

Now that I am back at site and have plenty of free time at night to write blog entries, I’ll give my loyal readers out there a recap of the Dorans’ adventures in Peru the last 2 weeks. I think my mom, dad, Kyle, Pat, and Liz got a little taste of everything, from lomo saltado in Lima to condors in Colca Canyon to altitude sickness in Puno to Irish bars in Cusco. We followed the typical Gringo Trail by visiting Arequipa, Puno, and Cusco but it was a unique vacation for my family and we got to see three distinct areas of Peru. I’ll do my best to recount the trip in order of the places we visited and maybe our experiences can help out anyone thinking about visiting Peru. The whole adventure began in Lima…

Although Lima is the capital, I wouldn’t advise anyone to spend a significant amount of time there. The Plaza de Armas has an interesting history and architectural style, but after a brief tour, my family was ready to move on. We roamed around Parque Kennedy in Miraflores, checked out the Pacific Ocean from Parque del Amor, and had some tasty Pisco Sours at the Rosa Nautica. Later on we went to a typical dance show in LarcoMar at La Dama Juana. It was a really good introduction to Peruvian dance and I even got chased around on stage by a man with a candle trying to light a paper attached to my bum (a typical dance of Chincha). It probably wasn’t as professional as the show Brisas de Titicaca, but since my family got in so late the night before, there was no way they could have stayed awake to see a show that doesn’t even start until 10 pm. And we had to leave super early for Arequipa the next morning.

The next stop was Arequipa, better known as the “White City” for the white volcanic rock used to construct many of the buildings around the main plaza. Getting off the plane, you get an entirely new view of Peru. The city is surrounded by desert mountains and volcanoes but the hub of the city has pristine white buildings and cobble stone streets. After checking into our hotel, we went on a tour of the Santa Catalina monastery. I think at first we were all kind of dreading tours of monasteries and churches, but it was a really interesting tour and a very beautiful monastery. Apparently, the women who got sent there were all from wealthy families and brought with them their own servants, had their own rooms, got sent gifts of gold, etc. If there was ever any convent to want to get accepted into, it was this one- their lives of luxury were far cries from their vows of poverty. But then some head honcho nun changed it all and it became a convent as we know them today. It was definitely worth a visit to the monastery. We got a brief walking tour of the other major buildings around the plaza and after our trip to Colca Canyon we went to the Museo Santury where “Juanita, the Ice Princess” resides. Some archaeologists found a perfectly preserved Incan mummy, a 12 year-old girl (or about 500 years old now), on the top of the mountain Ampato. This museum was one of my favorite places in Arequipa. The artifacts that archaeologists have found and the information they have uncovered of Incan mummies is incredibly fascinating. Definitely a to-do for people visiting Arequipa. Another absolute to-do is eating at the restaurant Zig Zag. It was kind of an unexpected highlight to our trip. We all ended up ordering what the menu called a “trilogy of meats”- alpaca, beef, and ostrich- which arrived on sizzling blocks of stone. I also decided it would be fun to order a peach cocktail that came in a giant ostrich egg. The presentation and the quality of food would make this restaurant a for sure do again.

We only stayed in Arequipa city one night before heading out to the Colca Canyon. It was a day-long bus ride to the lodge we stayed at in Colca Canyon, but along the way you get incredible views of volcanoes, mountains, and rock formations. You also get to spend the bus ride guessing which animals are vicunas, alpacas, or llamas since there are a million along the way. You reach an altitude of over 14,000 ft as well. Thank goodness no one got altitude sickness. The lodge we stayed at had amazing natural hot springs. At that altitude, it’s pretty cold outside, so you never want to leave the thermal baths. I even went in for round two at about 5 in the morning the next day before we left for the Condor Cross. The Condor Cross was still another hour or two away from our lodge, so we left early in the morning along with all the other tourists. We saw a whole clan of condors soaring above the canyon. I’m sure Liz got some fantastic photos. On our way back from the canyon, we stopped to see another clan of condors perched on a cliff. I think they knew I had Choko Sodas and they were waiting to snatch them from me. If we had more time, it would have been interesting to stay another night or two to hike around the canyon. I’ve heard it’s really beautiful, but if you’re trying to do Arequipa, Puno, and Cusco, you’ve got to cut some things out.

We spent one more night in Arequipa before getting on a plane to Puno. Up to this point I forgot to mention that I certainly did not pack well for the weather in Arequipa, Puno, and Cusco. For some reason, I didn’t think that 10,000-14,000 ft about sea level would be cold. I think somewhere in my head I connected vacation with hot weather and brought a sun dress. I was very wrong. It’s realllllly cold in Arequipa and Puno and Cusco. Especially Puno. We were all exhausted the day we arrived in Puno, so after some naps and lunch, Kyle, Liz, and I went to the Sillustani ruins nearby. We kind of winged it and decided to hire a taxi instead of going on a tour (which probably ended up being cheaper anyways). The ruins were a real surprise for me. Since I live near the Chavin ruins and I saw a million Mayan ruins when I lived in Mexico, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed, but the Sillustani ruins were really cool. On top of a high plateau are a series of enormous funerary towers. Llamas roam around the ruins and there are gorgeous lakes on all sides. We got there late in the afternoon, so it was pretty quiet and the setting sun gave the place an almost ghostly feel. I was really glad we decided to venture out to the ruins. We stayed at a hotel that was a little bit of a ways from the center of the city directly on Lake Titicaca, so we ended up sitting in front of the fire and getting some dinner at the hotel that night. Staying right in the center of Puno would have been a different experience. My dad and I went into the center to get some medicine for my sinus infection and the streets were packed with people. We definitely were at a more tranquil location.

The next morning we left for a boat ride on Lake Titicaca. We stopped at the Uros Islands, which are floating islands made out of reeds that the Uros people made to escape the Incas. The islands were really impressive and worth a visit. There a bit touristy (you can even buy Diet Cokes and Snickers on the islands) but the people who live there still speak Aymara and dress in traditional clothing. From the islands, the boat continued on to the Taquile Island. You hike up a giant staircase to the top of the mountain to the main plaza. We happened to be there when the town was celebrating Corpus Christi so we got the chance to see the Taquile people in traditional dress and doing traditionally dancing. At first I thought the celebration and the parade might be something they do every day for tourists, but then I was told it was Corpus Christi. From the top of the island, you can see Lake Titicaca extending for miles and the snow-capped mountains on the other side of the lake in Bolivia. After lunch on the island, we hopped back on the boat. My only complaint on this day trip was that the boat, along with the other tourist boats, was painfully slow. The trip took about 2 ½- 3 hours each way, but I feel like it should take about 1 each way. Maybe we had just had too much travel and long rides at that point for it to be a relaxing boat ride. Nevertheless, it was an awesome trip and I never would have imagined the immensity of Lake Titicaca. We only saw a tiny portion of the entire lake and I suppose it would take several days to get around the whole thing.

After the tour, we all huddled around the fire at the hotel and had a much needed low key evening. An early bed time prepped us for another early wake up call. In the morning, we hopped on the train Andean Explorer to Cusco. If I remember right, the train has been around since the 1930s but has been remodeled on the inside. It was a beautiful 10-hour ride from Puno to Cusco that Kyle unfortunately didn’t get to see much of since he was suffering the wrath of the previous night’s salad. They keep you entertained on the train with a fashion show, live music, and Pisco tutorials, but I was more fascinated by the little towns you pass through and the countryside you get to see. It was an interesting experience and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to see the various changes in landscapes along the way, but it is a long train ride.

Cusco was my favorite city of the trip, which was somewhat unexpected. I was prepared for a city overrun by tourists and street vendors endlessly harassing you with their “home made” souvenirs. It definitely has no shortage of tourists, but it is a city that still clings to its traditional Quechuan roots. We ended up canceling our tour of the Sacred Valley the day after we arrived in Cusco, since Kyle was still recovering and I think we were all recovering from exhaustion a little bit as well. My mom and I walked around the city in the morning on our own, and then in the afternoon we all went on a guided city tour. Pat and I might have grabbed a McFlurry along the way. Later on, we had a briefing with our Inca Trail guide and got packed and ready to go on our 4-Day hike. And what better way to fuel up for a trek? Pizza at Chez Maggy’s. Probably one of the few places in Peru that serves up decent pizza, even though there are a million places that call themselves “pizzerias.” So we packed our bags with the bare minimum and got one last night’s sleep in a bed.

At about 5:30 AM, our guide Jose from Wayki Trek came to our hotel to pick us up. He took us to a small town about an hour away from Cusco to meet up with the other people in our trek group. They had stayed a night in the town where the porters live to see what the life of a porter is like. We all had a very traditional campo breakfast together (toasted corn kernels, potatoes, lima beans, cheese, tea, and quinoa porridge). Then we took off for the starting point which was still another hour or so away. It was a gorgeous drive to the start- you have to drive through the Sacred Valley to get to the start at Km 82. We stopped in Ollantaytambo first to pick up any last minute items. Pat, Liz and I bought walking sticks, which turned out to be really helpful on the trail. So did my 3 Musketeers bar. Right before the start of the trek, we got handed our sleeping bags and mattress that we had rented. We didn’t hire an extra porter, so we had to carry our personal items and our sleeping stuff on our own. Many people hire an extra porter so they can just care a small backpack with water and maybe sunscreen and bug repellent. We decided to be tough guys, which definitely made the second day really hard, but since everything else on the trail was done for us by the porters, it made me feel like I had at least a little more credit. My bag definitely was heavy (or maybe it just felt heavier as the days went on), but it wasn’t unbearable by any means.

The first day was a piece of cake. After getting through the checkpoint, we continued on along the River Urubamba, which had spectacular views of the snow covered mountain Veronica. Jose and his assistant tour guide Victor gave us some history lessons along the way about Quechuan beliefs in the Pachamama, the Mother Earth, the duality, the cardinal points, and the importance of coca. After some pretty flat terrain, we ate our first lunch prepared by the porters. They had a tent, chairs, and a table set up for us, and even had little wash bins with soap so we can could clean up. The food they cooked was great the entire trip, a million times better than anything I could have cooked on the trail. Lunch and dinner always had soup first, garlic bread, some kind of salad, rice, potatoes, or quinoa, and different main dishes like pizza or chicken. After our first lunch, we proceeded on to see the ruins of Llactapata from atop a hill. Then we started our descent down to the first campsite, Wayllabamba, where our tents had already been set up. We even had a “happy hour” before dinner complete with coffee, tea, popcorn, crackers and jam. Dinner was a really good chance to get to know the other people in our group. Three girls were freshmen/sophomores in college, there was a married couple from Australia who had been traveling around the world for 2 years, and then the 3 Dorans and Liz. Our group ended up meshing really well. And I certainly learned a lot about Australia that I didn’t know (turns out Foster’s really isn’t “Australian for beer” as the slogan says, bars apparently don’t even carry Foster’s that often). Having a small group was also a blessing. Most of the groups we saw were pretty large, maybe 15-20 people. Even though they allow 500 people to start the trail per day (including porters, which are half the group), everyone moves at different speeds so you don’t feel like your stuck in this giant mass of gringos. Our guide did a phenomenal job with timing our days. He was always spot on on how many more minutes we had to go and we always got to camp a little before dark so we weren’t waiting around with nothing to do. Since it got pretty cold at night, I appreciated not having to sit around the campsite. It was much better to take a longer lunch break.

The second day of the trek was definitely as hard as they say. I admit, I went into the trek thinking that it must be easy if so many tourists can do it. But the second day was rough. It was basically all uphill, and what makes it hard is that you have to climb up stone steps with all your belongings strapped to your back. I got more than a little sweaty climbing up to the top at Dead Women’s Pass, which is at 4198 m, the highest point on the trek. We took some good photos when we finally got to the top and rewarded ourselves with some mini snickers, goldfish, and Choko Sodas. Fortunately, no one in our group needed to be fed oxygen on the way up like some other hikers. The hike down the mountain to the next campsite at Pacaymayo was not easy either. It was still about an 1 ½ away and was a real knee-ruiner. Good thing I had my wood walking stuck that I bought for a dollar. That night at camp we were all pretty exhausted but pretty stoked we finished the hardest day. We had a lot of laughs playing cards, telling stories, and hanging out.

The next day started with another big hill. Fortunately, we stopped a little ways up to see the ruins of Runkurakay where Jose gave us another history lesson. Runkurakay was apparently a sort of checkpoint for chaskis, or messengers, along the Inca Trail. Then the climbing continued, past a false summit and two small lakes, to a pass at 3950 m. I was totally wiped by the time I got to the top of this pass. My bag felt like it weighed a million pounds. But the views of the Cordillera Vilcamba were incredible and I knew the rest of the way was pretty much downhill. From this pass, we went down to probably the biggest ruins along the way to Machu Picchu called Sayaqmarka. This was a small town and perhaps another checkpoint along the way. After the ruins, we ate lunch at a big campsite and continued on until we reached another pass at 3700m where you can see a fantastic view of the Urubamba valley and the Peru Rail train that brings tourists to Machu Picchu. I also got cell phone service all of a sudden at this point and my phone started beeping like crazy with voicemails. I think at this point I realized how close we were getting to our destination. We passed by another set of ruins on our trek downward called Phuyupatamarka, which have an interesting series of “Inca baths.” We kept going past these ruins and opted to detour to another set of terraced ruins called Intipata before packing it in for the night. Even thought it’s probably 40 minutes out of the way, I would recommend checking these ruins out. The terraces are enormous and offer a great view of the valley below. The last campsite sold beer and had hot showers, although I didn’t participate in either. We thanked our porters after dinner since the next morning was the last time we’d see them and we knew we’d be in a hurry to get to the Sun Gate.

For some reason, there is a gate at the last campsite that doesn’t open until 5:30 AM. Everyone rushes to get up and get to the gate first at about 4:30 in the morning so that when the gate does open, you can run to the Sun Gate to see sunrise over Machu Picchu. So that is exactly what we did. The trail from Winay Wayna, our campsite, to the Sun Gate, normally takes about 1 ½ hours. We did it in 40 minutes. Halfway along the route, we basically started running since sunrise is around 6 AM. We were probably the second group to get there and it was like icing on the cake. We finally caught a glimpse of Machu Picchu with just a touch of sunlight pouring over it. It was absolutely breathtaking. After absorbing as much of Machu Picchu as possible, our group continued on down the path with another objective in mind- to climb Wayna Picchu, the tall mountain in the background of all the well known photos of Machu Picchu. The reason we rushed was because they only allot 400 tickets to go up Wayna Picchu, and anyone who stayed in Aguas Calientes the night before could get up to Machu Picchu and wait in line starting around 6 AM. There’s no way for anyone doing the trail to even get in line before 7 AM. So we sprinted our way down in hopes of getting some of the last tickets to Wayna Picchu. By the time we got there, they were sold out of tickets for the 10 AM entrance but still had tickets for the 7 AM entrance. Hot off the trail, we climbed Wayna Picchu. Fortunately, we were forced to check our backpacks, so we climbed up the steep spiraling stone staircase to the top of the mountain. The view of Machu Picchu from Wayna Picchu is one-of-a-kind, but if you have a fear of heights, this is not a mountain you should climb. It’s actually pretty dangerous and the top of the mountain was not a plateau like I expected- it’s a series of giant, jagged rocks that you kind of have to shimmy over to get across. Most people end up going back down the stairs on their bums it’s so scary. Once we had our fill of the view, we went back down the mountain to the entrance to get some water and snacks after a very full morning. We happened to come across my mom and dad at that point so they got to join us for the tour. Jose gave us a great tour of the ruins and we took tons of pictures. I probably could have stayed at the ruins all day if I wasn’t so exhausted. By about 2pm, most tour groups are gone so it gets pretty quiet at the ruins.

We all took the bus down to Aguas Calientes together and had a goodbye lunch/dinner. The Inca Trail has probably been one of the best things I have ever done and I owe that to my parents for providing me with the opportunity, my brothers and Liz for being wonderful company along the way, and to our trail guide, porters, and trekking mates for making it fun, interesting, and entertaining. The scenery along the trail is unlike anything I’ve every seen and getting to hike through cloud forests, mountain ranges, and Incan temples is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And Machu Picchu is really as remarkable as they say. I wish I was better at words to describe the entire experience, but maybe it’s something that you have to experience yourself.

The town Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu is, to put it nicely, not a very pretty town. Every tourist has to pass through there by train to get to Machu Picchu, so the town is full of tacky restaurants and artisan shops. However, we stayed at an absolutely gorgeous hotel that somehow was situated in an almost tropical oasis. They have nature walks and ponds right within the premises. The matrimonial rooms had fireplaces and the restaurant had amazing food. The hot springs in Aguas Calientes were so-so, but the pizza at Chez Maggy’s was delicious (I know that was Pat’s favorite!). We took the train back to Cusco the day after completing the trail, and after getting situated in the hotel, Kyle, Liz, Pat, and I went out to celebrate at an Irish Pub called Paddy’s (Pat and I had our eye on this pub from the minute we arrived in Cusco for our post-Inca Trail celebration). We even got to watch a little bit of the NBA finals on ESPN.

Our second to last day in Cusco, everyone but Kyle went on a tour of the Sacred Valley (Kyle stayed home with round 2 of Montezuma’s revenge). I was slightly disappointed with the tour, but it was my own fault I think. I had in my mind that we would be stopping to see several sites in the Sacred Valley but we only really went to the ruins at Ollantaytambo. The ruins and the drive out to see them were amazing, but I think I was hoping for a little more. We stopped from afar to see the ruins of Saqsaywaman, but the ruins of Pisac and other Inca sites were too far away to be included in a one day tour of the Sacred Valley. If you have more time in Cusco, I’m sure doing other day trips to see the ruins around the Sacred Valley are worth it. My mom and dad did some horse back riding and rafting in the Sacred Valley while we were on the trail, so if you don’t do the trail there are certainly other options to get to know the area outside of Cusco.

For our last dinner, we went to a restaurant called Cicciolina, a recommendation by many people around Cusco, and definitely a great place to go. Getting used to being well-fed and well-bathed was not good preparation for going back to my site but the 2 week break from reality was much needed. Our last morning in Cusco, my mom and dad and I watched little kindergarteners doing traditional dances around the Plaza de Armas for the celebration of Corpus Christi. The main plaza in Cusco is my favorite of any I’ve seen thus far. It also has several mini plazas around the plaza which make it an interesting place to walk around. There’s so much to see and explore around Cusco. Of all the places we visited, I would probably return to Cusco first.

My family vacation was better than I could ever have imagined and it was really hard saying goodbye again. It will be at least another 6 months until I see everyone again, depending on if I come home for Christmas or if I can convince them to travel somewhere with me (I know I won’t have to convince my parents!). I’m thinking Argentina for New Years. Why not turn 24 in Buenos Aires? :)

Here are some links to my pictures on facebook. Liz is putting up photos on Picasa and next time I'm in Huaraz I'll put my picutres on Picasa or Shutterfly for better quality.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177375&id=1406276&l=1ba1df35f1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177370&id=1406276&l=1a9757511b
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177367&id=1406276&l=6fc03a5730
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177357&id=1406276&l=71d3a5dbff
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177399&id=1406276&l=7b139336c4

Site Update: I returned home to find mouse poop on my bed and on my table. I bought a mouse trap and am awaiting the extermination of the mice in my room. I also bought bricks to construct my bathroom and am awaiting a “maestro” to come and help me build it. My host mom says “this weekend.” We’ll see.

April- A Month Full of Firsts

April started off with a real kick- I had my first site visit, which is when the director of each Peace Corps program (health, environment, business, etc.) comes out to evaluate our progress, check up on our living situation, and talk to us about how we’re feeling about our PC experience so far. My boss, Emilia, came out to the Conchucos Valley with our director of security, Enrique. I think Emilia would have come alone but Enrique came along to help her find Tyler a new place to live in Chavin. Fortunately for me, he came the day I locked my keys inside my room so he broke my lock with some kind of metal object and then put a new lock on. Enrique means serious business, but he has a great sense of humor. One second you’ll be talking about a previous volunteer being held up at gunpoint and then he’ll be bragging about how he makes the best bbq wings. PC Peru definitely has a great staff.

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 Miraflores

2. 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 cuy

4. 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

8. Arrival in Piura. We finally make it to Mancora! Mancora is probably Peru’s most famous beach. It’s hot year round, has great waves, and amazing food. We met up with a bunch of other volunteers coming down from the north at our hostel. The hostel was interesting. It was run by a bunch of young Australian/Israeli/British surfer dudes. It had a Playboy Bunny themed party for Easter, to give you an idea. It’s also sandwiched between the Pan American highway and the beach. Literally, 100m separates the Pan American highway from the Pacific Ocean. We had a great couple of days getting tossed around by the waves, sipping some drinks by the pool, and eating everything from burritos, to waffles, to surf and turf. I don’t think I’ve eaten so well on such a consistent basis in a long time. The occasional splurge in Huaraz on a plate of Thai food doesn’t even compare. I don’t think I ate a potato all vacation. We’ll maybe I stole a few fries off Pat’s plate, I just can’t resist. Mancora was beautiful and I had an amazing time, but now that I have experienced it, I don’t have a strong urge to go back. It’s not a quiet place by any means (discotecas were playing music until 6 am), so getting some good zzzz’s isn’t really an option. But I never did the typical Spring Break in college, so it was a good experience. Worth all the long bus rides!

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.

Huellas

The last two weeks have been super busy! When I first moved out here, I was desperate to find anything to fill up my days, whether it was hiking two hours up to Tyler’s site or even just searching for the best menú in San Marcos (Peruvian lunch time version of a dollar menu). I’m actually taking today completely off from everything so I can clean my room, wash my dishes, do a crossword puzzle or two, and spend some time in the chacra with my host family. It’s been a really great last two weeks and I have one more to go before I head into Huaraz for a second week of Quechua classes. I’m going to have lots of emails to catch up on and hopefully lots of packages and mail to pick up!

To start, yesterday was my last day of summer school. We had a big end of summer school celebration called a clausura. The kids did a bunch of performances for the parents and municipality, and originally, I was supposed to sing Cielito Lindo and another song called San Marcos Tierra Milenaria with a chorus of kids, but I managed to get my way out of it and just play the drums (I had to channel my sixth grade xylophone skills for that one).

Playing the drum

The teachers did convince me to put on a traditional Ancash costume for my musical debut though. All of the performances were great and I was really impressed, especially with the students who learned the Marinera, one of my favorite Peruvian traditional dances. But my favorite part of the whole day was presenting my fifth and sixth grade students’ big project- the Mapa Mundial. It turned out PERFECT! I mean, there were some small countries and islands missing and splotches of paint in the oceans, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The students did all the work; I just supervised and labeled the countries. The teachers all complimented on it, the mayor came over and congratulated me, and I even got interviewed by the local TV station! It was a huge learning experience for me and gave me a whole new appreciation for teachers. Trying to keep the kids under control and yelling at them in Spanish was a challenge to say the least (I think I said ¡No toque! Don’t Touch! and ¡Espera! Wait! a million times). On top of everything, it’s Carnaval right now and the kids have been trying to hit me and my map with water balloons. Fortunately, I’ve escaped unscathed so far.

A few of the students with the Mapa Mundial

In addition to the map, Prof. Manuel and I laid out a bunch of the students’ works they had done over the last two months- collages, wreaths, etc.

Some of the students' masterpieces

The biggest compliment I got all day was other teachers asking if they could take samples of the projects to do with their students during the regular school year. That definitely made me feel good, especially since I didn’t get the best vibe from some of the teachers during summer school. I’m not sure if they were scared of me or felt threatened by me or what, but in the end I think they got used to having me there. After all the kids left, the teachers celebrated in the typical Conchucos valley way- by eating cuy. On Monday, the director of the school informed me that all the teachers had to bring a cuy for the celebration. So I planned on buying one from my host family. When the other teachers found out I was getting one from my family in Huarimayo (most of the teachers live in San Marcos or some bigger city, not a caserio), they all started asking me to buy one for them too. By the end of the day on Tuesday, I had to find 12 cuyes in Huarimayo and have them ready for the clausura the next day. My reluctant neighbor sold me the cuyes, but then I had to ask my host mom to kill them, skin them, and clean out their insides. I’m not really sure what I was going to do if I couldn’t find 12 cuyes since the party was the next day and no one has cell phones. It would have been an absolute disaster! But it all worked out in the end and we ate picante de cuy, drank gaseosa and cerveza, and listened to huayno. Tyler came all the way from Chucos and filmed everything for me! It’s always good to have gringo support at events like these. Check out his video blog soon for a video of the event!

Picante de cuy

It’s also good to have other volunteers around on holidays, like Valentine’s day. For Valentine’s Day, I walked four hours to Claudia’s site. I passed by Chucos and picked up Tyler on the way. We cooked lunch together (well, I made a sort of tuna stir-fry and Claudia made rice and beans with her secret Puerto Rican spices and Tyler cheered us on) and we watched 27 Dresses. We of course had some chocolate Sublime bars. I spent the night at Claudia’s and we watched Revolutionary Road, which probably wasn’t the best love story to watch on Valentine’s Day (it was no Kate and Leo Titanic repeat). The next day, the three of us went down to San Marcos for lunch and pasear. I definitely missed my novio on Valentine’s Day though.

As far as health work goes, my interviews for my community diagnostic are coming along. I’ve done a bunch but still have a lot more to do (we have to do 100!). The next couple weeks will be dedicated to finish up my encuestas and analyzing the data. I’ve been going house to house visiting the moms in Huarimayo and it was really intimidating at first. I’ve been going by myself because my counterpart in the health center is too busy and the NGO that works in my neighborhood is on vacation until March. I only have until our 3 month Reconnect on March 16 to get it all done! It will keep me busy though that’s for sure! Until next time.

Teaching Art in Ancash

It’s been almost a month since my last blog update! I’m actually writing this blog at my site so that tomorrow when I head to Huaraz I’ll just have to upload it. Whenever I go to Huaraz it’s just a whirlwind of activity- picking up my mail and packages at Serpost (the part I look forward to most!), catching up on 2 + weeks of emails, calling home and skyping, doing errands like making business cards and stamps, Britney Spears’ latest music video blunders on youtube, taking as many hot showers as possible, etc. I actually have a hard time sleeping when I’m in Huaraz because there’s always so much I want to do! This week I won’t be in so much of hurry because I will be in Huaraz a whole week taking Quechua classes. The last week in February I’ll be back again for another week of Quechua. Two full weeks of Quechua boot camp!

Fortunately the Superbowl and Quechua week coincided. I’ll be watching the big game somewhere in Huaraz imagining that it’s actually Patriots jerseys I see on the TV.

So what’s new at my site? I started teaching art classes in the elementary school in San Marcos. It’s summer right now, so I’m teaching vacaciones utiles, or summer school, Monday through Wednesday from 8 am to 12:30. They paired up all of the professors and even though I told them I just wanted to help out, they paired me up with a professor and have me teaching first through sixth graders. I have no real teaching experience so I didn’t want the full responsibility of being a profesora, but it’s actually been a great experience so far. I sat down with my teaching partner and told him my ideas for some projects, and we essentially just built a curriculum around my projects. He got assigned to teach art with me, but I’m pretty sure he has no art-teaching experience (for the week that I am in Huaraz, he’s planning on making the kids memorize a song). He also is not very reliable. I had to go to Huaraz last Monday for an Ancash regional meeting, and I left him with all the materials he needed for the 3 classes on Monday. When I came back on Tuesday, he told me he had forgotten the envelopes I bought to make envelope puppets and the photocopies of the Mapa Mundial activity I had made. I was not pleased. But that is the absolute worst that has happened so far, and I’ve really loved doing the art classes. The little kids see me around town now and will run up and give me a hug and a kiss or will call my name/Senorita/Profesora from across the street. I’ve met a bunch of moms that have told me I teach their little ones and that they come home saying that the gringa taught them how to finger paint. I’ve also made friends with some of the professors and even made ceviche at Prof. Olga and Roger’s house two weeks ago. It’s a good feeling to have somewhere to be and have people counting on you, as well as to have some new friends, even if they might only be 6 years old. Here are some pictures of my art activities so far:

My 5th graders

My 2nd graders

Popcorn Wreaths

After school gets out, I usually walk home with my host-nephew Emerson. Then I help my host mom with lunch. Since school started, we’ve had a really good system of collaborating on lunch. One day I brought a can of tuna and made an onion and tomato salad, and my host mom boiled potatoes, and made mazamorra de calabaza (kind of like mashed up squash) and rice. Another day I helped her carry food up to the workers in the chacra. If a neighbor or friend is helping you out in your chacra, you get a free lunch from that person’s family. Carrying lunch up the mountain was not easy. It took us over an hour. I have no idea how my host mom could possibly carry everything by herself on a normal day. But I was glad I helped and I even provided a few laughs for the workers when they made me ride the donkey. I like spending time with my host family, whether it’s fishing for trout unsuccessfully or playing superheroes with Emerson.

Two major improvements have been made to my house since the last blog update. I finally got roofing put on! YAY. Only took two months and a third of my monthly stipend, but it got done. My room is finally starting to feel like home. I even put up my Georgetown men’s basketball poster that Maura sent me and Congressman Earl Pomeroy’s DC calendar. All I need now is a bureau so I can unpack my clothes. I’m waiting for February’s stipend for that big purchase. We also have a cement hole that is functioning as a toilet/latrine. I prefer the bucket in my room, but at least we have a hole now where I can do my business and simultaneously watch the cuyes scuttle around my feet.

I was a little bit bummed that I missed all the inauguration activities. I would have killed to be in DC this year! I watched Obama’s speech on youtube and some of the performances at the Lincoln Memorial. All you Hoyas that are still in DC I am so jealous of you! Apparently Obama has pledged to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. I feel like there may not be enough room in this year’s budget for that.

Speaking of youtube, you should all check out Tyler’s latest video (tylerspeaceofperu.wordpress.com). He made a mock J.Crew photo shoot with very trendy Quechua clothing. My hours spent watching Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model finally paid off (Maura you will be so proud! And Pat, now you can see that I watched the same episodes 3 times for a reason. I knew this day would come.). I’m just waiting for all the modeling agencies to call now haha.

So, in short, life in Peru is good and I am healthy and happy. There are, of course the down days, when things are just frustrating and Spanish just won’t come out of my mouth and French fries with rice for lunch is just not appetizing. But there are always way more up days, like going to a Peruvian wedding and dancing way too much Huaino or managing to grid the entire Mapa Mundial project despite the doorman locking the school on you. I wouldn’t trade where I am or what I am doing for anything. Thanks for all the support from home- it makes being here that much more feasible. Mucho amor de Peru!

Prep for My Mapa Mundial Project

“Your eyes show the strength of your soul.” –The Alchemist

Dos Mil Nueve

Happy New Year from Ancash, Peru! I survived Christmas at my site and decided to celebrate my birthday and the new year in Huaraz. After 2 plus weeks at site, it was time for a little descanso. I’m heading back to Huarimayo tomorrow, but I want to put up a few photos and write a couple quick stories to keep my loyal readers updated on my life.

mi familia on Christmas morningChristmas stockings!

Christmas. At 6 on Christmas morning, Emerson, the six year old in my family, woke me up for some hot chocolate and paneton. There was way too much paneton (paneton=icky fruit cake). I bought one, and my family had gotten two others from the church and the municipality. For lunch, we had another Peruvian tasty tradition. My family killed two cuyes and we had a Christmas dinner of guinea pig, potatoes, and mote. I think cuy might be growing on me and I actually find myself craving potatoes. Very weird.

I tried to share a little bit of my traditions with my family, so I had them all hang up socks and I put some cookies, pens and pencils, gum, fruit, and toys inside. They really liked it which made me super happy. They invited me to go with them to Chavin to see the baile de los negritos, a traditional Peruvian dance, but I had made plans to go spend Christmas afternoon and night with the two other volunteers in Conchucos, Claudia and Tyler and the same dance was taking place in San Marcos. We got a hostel room together in San Marcos so we could give ourselves the gift of a hot shower and comfy bed. We watched movies and chatted on the phone most of the day and night and Tyler filmed some footage for one of his new videos. Tyler has a video blog that all of you should check out- he’s made some great videos of our Peace Corps life so far. His website is tylerspeaceofperu.wordpress.com.

My birthday and New Year’s Eve were wonderful. The two missionary girls in Chavin had told me about a spa-like place in Huaraz, so I started my day off with an hour long hot bubble bath, followed by an hour long massage (all for US$15, thanks Grandma!). For a minute I forgot I was in Peru. But then I looked at all my pulga (flea) bites and I remembered I live in the Andes. Nevertheless, my spa experience was AMAZING. Tyler and Callie went with me too, and we were all just glowing when we left. I had a lovely lunch at our favorite café that has wireless, did some shopping (for exciting things like nails and a table cloth), and then got all dazzled up for my birthday dinner (I put makeup on for the first time since swearing in!). We went to a place called Chilli Heaven that is run by a British guy and his Peruvian wife. After devouring our plates of thai curry, burritos, and fajitas and finishing off our imported British beers and ciders, we went out to our favorite gringo bar 13 Buhos. The owner of the bar even made me a chocolate cake! Even though we rang in the new year at midnight, we kept on dancing and celebrating well past that.

Now I’m heading back to site, so no internet/phone for the next two weeks. But I’m stocked up on chocolates (thank you everyone from home, you all know my chocoholic self too well) and movies and letters and crossword puzzles and magazines! Thank you SO much for the packages, it really felt like Christmas when I arrived and had letters and boxes to open! And muchas gracias for the phone calls! My bus leaves in less than an hour so here are a few anecdotes/updates from the last two weeks:

I finally made a trip up to Tyler’s site two weeks ago. The day I went to visit happened to be the graduation ceremony for the students at the elementary school. On the way up to his site, a woman in the combi asked if I’d be a madrina, which is a godmother. I said sure, why not, I’d never been a godmother before, thinking she was asking me to be the godmother of the ceremony. They also asked Tyler to be the padrino, so we were all excited to be the godparents. But then all the mothers started pulling us aside and asking us to be the godparents of their kids. Turns out, Tyler and I had each signed ourselves up to be the godparent of one of the children. To this day neither of us even knows the names of our godchildren. We had to take part in the ceremony, which lasted probably 3 or 4 hours. The night before I had had the worst diarrhea of my life, so it was a bit of a struggle to get through the ceremony, which consisted of awkward huaino dancing (look it up on Youtube. Try Sonia Morales, she’s famous), an enormous plate of cuy, and lots of photo taking with my digital camera (once they saw I had a camera, everyone wanted an individual picture or three). Tyler and I finally escaped the ceremony, telling them I was mal de estomago. We were supposed to get a ride down the mountain from Tyler’s host dad who drives a combi, but he wasn’t making any more trips down to San Marcos so we had to walk an hour and a half. It was an interesting day to say the least.

the happy godparents

picante de cuy

Sadly I don’t have time to write any more anecdotes but here’s a few quick updates and counts:

Letrine update: No news to report. Still using the squatting in the chacra technique.

Room update: Spent 5 hours painting my walls sky blue on Sunday. Still need to buy some roofing materials. Have yet to unpack my suitcases.

Work update: Finishing the previous volunteer’s cocinas mejoradas project and hanging out with lots of cool Quechua women.

Cuy count: Have eaten cuy 3 times in the last 2 weeks. So 4 times total in Peru.

Potatoes eaten: 19475894749827548752487875

Ok gotta run! Look for another blog update in the next two weeks. Muchos besos y abrazos!

AnCash B'Gosh

A chacra in Rancas

Thanks Pat for the title of this blog entry. I feel like it suits the craziness of my life right now and the ridiculousness of some of the past weeks’ events. Currently, I’m in Huaraz for a regional meeting with the Ancash volunteers. I’m doing very well- I’ve already taken two hot showers, put some quality food in my stomach, and spent several hours on the internet. It’s good to be back in the company of the other volunteers, especially since our cell phone network stopped working this week and I didn’t talk to virtually anyone from Saturday until Thursday. It was really hard not being able to call people to tell them all the strange, terrible, wonderful things that happened during the week, or to ask for advice on what to do in certain situations, but I’m proud to say I made it through the two weeks without any tears whatsoever.

Where to begin! I guess I’ll start with a quick anecdote about my arrival at my new home. To get to San Marcos from Huaraz, you have to take a coach bus (which is more like a Chinatown bus- those of you who have ridden them from Boston to New York or New York to D.C. know what I’m talking about). My house, literally the door to my room, is on the main road that the bus takes, so I asked the driver to let me off to see if my family was home before I unloaded all my luggage and new mattress. I didn’t want to be waiting outside with all my stuff if my new family wouldn’t be coming home from the chacra for a few hours. As I got off the bus, I noticed the door to my room was open and there was a big pick up truck outside my door. When I looked into my room, there were four men sitting around a table drinking beer. The bed that had been there during site visit was gone and there was nothing else in the room. I was in so much shock that all I managed to say was “Hola” and ran back to the bus to get one of the other volunteers to help me. He came over to my room and said something to the men about Cuerpo de Paz, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of my host family, and the bus was beeping at us, so we had to get back on and go the rest of the way to San Marcos. I ended up spending the night at the health post on my mattress with Claudia, Tyler, and Mike, because I didn’t know what to do, and Claudia and Tyler didn’t have any transportation up to their sites anyways. I went back to my house the next day and the men were gone- all that remained was the table and empty box of beer bottles. Turns out the mayor of one of the nearby towns was having a “meeting” in my room. I have no idea how this came about- of all the rooms in all the houses in all the communities that the mayor is in charge of, he picked my room to have his “meeting.” Go figure.

the aftermath

In other news, I am still without a latrine. The man in charge of water and sanitation at the health post, who I wanted to talk to about constructing a latrine, has been on vacation for the last two weeks. As a result, I have bought myself a bucket for my room for emergencies, and the chacra behind my house is dotted with a few mounds of toilet paper, which I’m sure is not environmentally friendly. No one in my community seems to have latrines. Everyone just seems to go in the open air. I try to hold out and use the bathroom at the health post or somewhere else in San Marcos. At least I know I have a project idea!

Speaking of construction, my room is undergoing some changes, which leads me to a second anecdote that’s a little bit longer. I talked to my host family about fixing the walls and the roof in my room and explained that I would pay for the changes instead of paying for the first couple months rent. They agreed to the deal, but actually figuring out what needed to be done to the walls was a huge challenge. I thought that I could just buy some bags of yeso (white plaster) to put on the walls, maybe around 8 bags or so for my whole room. But when I asked my host mom how we’d fill in some of the window-sized holes in the wall, she said that we’d have to put some obra negra (adobe mud stuff) on the walls first then yeso. So I said sure, let’s do that. Then she asked the neighborhood wall builder guy to come over to check out my room and he said it would take a month for the obra negra to dry and to just use 40 bags of yeso in layers instead. This sounded a little dubious to me so later on I had a conversation with my host mom and dad and tried to explain that I wanted the obra negra stuff. I wasn’t really sure what was decided after the conversation because they spoke to each other in Quechua for the most part.

The next morning, there were 20 bags of yeso outside of my door. I assumed they had decided on yeso without me, so I went on about my daily business in San Marcos. When I got home in the afternoon with a new bed frame I had asked a town carpenter to make me, my host dad and the wall builder guy were covered head to toe in obra negra, and the obra negra mud was all over the room. Most of my things had been taken out of my room or were on top of my bed covered by a plastic tarp. I wasn’t really sure what to do at this point since I clearly was not going to be able to sleep or cook dinner in my room that night. In panic mode, I called two American girls I had met the week before who are working as Baptist missionaries in a nearby town. I asked them if I could crash on their sofa or floor or whatever they had and thankfully they said yes. It ended up being a great decision.

Courtney and Lyndsey are 23 and 25 and have been living in a hostal in Chavin for the last year. Staying at their place was like a little oasis. I showed up wearing the same clothes I’d been wearing for 2 days, my new sombrero, and the backpack I carry around with my notebooks, toilet paper, and pocket knife (the essentials). I hadn’t showered in about a week either to make things better. They took me in, gave me PJs and a coach to sleep on, fed me pizza and pancakes (they have an oven, a refrigerator, and a microwave), let me take a hot shower and watch My Best Friend’s Wedding, and sent me home with a brand new jar of Peter Pan peanut butter. And they gave me a ride home in their truck. They are so nice, and more than having any of those amenities, I really appreciated their company. Sadly, they’ll both be away for Christmas so I won’t see them again until January. But they’ll be here for another year and I’ll have some people nearby to get together with.

As of Thursday, my walls were still drying but it looks like we’ll be putting yeso on this week. I bought some light blue paint this weekend to put on later. It’s going to take a long time to be comfortable in my room, but I’m looking at it as a blank canvas and another side project to keep me occupied. It would be boring if my room was already perfect when I moved in! I’m trying to tape my own version of extreme home makeover with my digital camera.

I’ve met a lot of interesting people already, mostly just by walking around town. Since my work hasn’t really started I just spend most of the day in San Marcos talking to people. I’ve found that you can never find people when you’re actually looking for them. For example, I’m supposed to drop off Peace Corps letters to different leaders around town but they never seem to be in their offices or always seem to be “on vacation.” I just have to be in the right place at the right time to meet the people I’m looking for. Last Sunday I was in the market and ended up talking to a guy who was the mayor of Chavin. He invited me to go see the ruins the next day. I ended up getting a private tour of the ruins and treated to lunch. We also talked about potential projects I can work on in the communities. The previous volunteer Amanda had done some gardening projects. I really like the town of Chavin a lot- it’s bigger than San Marcos (big enough to be in the Peru Lonely Plant Guide) and since I’ve walked around San Marcos probably a thousand times, it will be fun to explore somewhere new.

some of the ruins in Chavin

My counterpart at the health post doesn’t help me out too much, so it’s good that I’ve been going out on my own, meeting people, and forming relationships. Everyone I’ve met has been friendly and easy to talk to. I frequent many of the same tiendas and restaurants so people are starting to realize that I’m not just a tourist or a lost gringa. A PC volunteer introduced me to a family that owns a restaurant in town and I love going there for lunch because they chat with me and I don’t have to eat alone (and sometimes they give me special food that’s not on the “menu” that day, like fried trout. A “menu” is kind of like a combo meal- you usually get soup, a plate of rice, potatoes or veggies, and meat, a juice or chicha morada, and maybe jello. And it all cost 5 soles=$1.60). I can’t really go home for lunch because it’s a half hour walk back or I have to pay for a taxi, so I spend the whole day in San Marcos for the most part. That will change when I start working in the communities. I make breakfast and dinner on my little gas stove in my room and try to converse a little bit with my host family and maybe learn a new Quechua word or two. I usually am in bed by 8 after I watch a couple episodes of Arrested Development. I didn’t have electricity for the first couple days at sight so I walked around my little room with my head lamp on. Hopefully I’ll have electricity on a fairly regular basis so I can charge my computer and cell phone batteries and read at night.

I’m really excited to get going on my projects. Right now it seems like I’m just trying to fill my days with things to do. If I have one meeting or one event to do a day, I feel like I’ve accomplished something. This past Wednesday, I went out to visit a community called Rancas where Amanda did her cocinas mejoradas project. I just decided to walk out there and see if I could find some of the women in her project. I ended up finding the woman she appointed president of the project and I spent the afternoon talking with her and cooking with her over her new adobe cocina. She was so humble and yet so motivated. She talked to me about all the things she’d love to see her community have- vegetable gardens, better teachers, etc. That afternoon was probably the highlight of my first two weeks at sight. It gave me such a renewed enthusiasm and a verification that this will all be worth it.

one of the women in Amanda's cocinas project

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do for the first three months while I’m working on my community diagnostic- the evaluation Peace Corps has us do on the community we want to work in. The school children are about to go on summer vacation but they still have activities and classes at the schools. I’m thinking about doing some kind of art classes. I also really want to get involved in the artisan’s and women’s groups in San Marcos. I don’t think I want to teach English. I think learning Spanish and Quechua might take up all my patience. I would maybe like to organize kids to go on hikes as well- my area is absolutely gorgeous and I’d love to see more of it. I really am in love with my sight and glad that I got assigned to Ancash.

I’m pretty optimistic and positive about everything so far, except about spending Christmas at my site. Whenever I ask how people in my Conchucos valley celebrate, they say with “chocolatada,” which is the tradition of eating a type of fruit cake called Paneton and drinking hot chocolate. But that’s about it. Someone told me that for the people in the campo, Christmas is really just another day. I bought some hot chocolate and Paneton for my family anyways. There are a few decorations up around San Marcos but not around my community. I heard that there might be some kind of dance performance in town and that the children are doing a Nativity play. Worst come to worst, a volunteer gave me Love Actually so I can watch that to get in the Christmas spirit. I’ll be back into Huaraz for New Year’s/my birthday so don’t worry too much about me! And, with luck, I will have cell service and electricity so you can all call me on Christmas J I love you all! Again, thanks for sending me letters and care packages, they mean the world to me. Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año!