Upcoming Projects

I've been at site for just over three weeks now. I haven't been really busy or anything, but somehow the time has gone by fast. The first three months at site are meant as an adjustment period in which we learn about our community and start to get some ideas about projects we would like to complete. We are also supposed to do smaller projects that should be pretty easy. That is where I am now.

Although I initially thought living with a host family would be annoying, I have come to see how beneficial it really is. I sometimes feel like a teenager again - like being told when and what to eat - their utility has really shown itself. Most recently, as I begin working on these smaller projects. I have just come back from the library that my dad runs. Him and I brainstormed for about a half hour and came up with some very exciting projects.

First, we will be holding a weekly movie night at the library. It will start next Friday with The Pianist. I thought this movie might be a little too mature for a younger audience (though I admit I haven't seen it), but my dad thought it would be fine for them. Since I haven't seen it and he knows the kids better than I, I trust him. My dad works for the municipality so he can borrow a projector from the municipality that we can use.

Another project will be a chess club. This was my dad's idea. I don't know much about chess, but he says the kids will love it. Apparently they had one last year, but it kind of fell off. He already has the chess boards and everything.

We are also going to start a book club. Some complain that kids in the States don't read enough, well they should see Peru. Practically nobody here reads for fun. To exacerbate the problem, books are very expensive and libraries are few (that's why I'm so lucky to have a librarian as a host dad). I'll start this project a few weeks after the movie night so that I can get to know the kids and gauge their interest. I'm really excited about this one. I myself love to read and I think it's immensely important that kids start this habit early.

The final project we came up with will require a bit more work. We want to hold a womens marathon. They held a mens marathon here a few years ago, but never one for the ladies. Because there exists a lot of machismo culture here in Peru, it would be great to hold an event just for women in which they can display their physical talent and discipline.

So all this has got me very excited. I've already bought supplies to make signs for the movie night to post around town.

Later today, I have a meeting with a group of high school students who are going to perform a play about teen pregnancy as part of a department wide competition with other schools. Our group won the first part of the competition which was to make a poster for the prevention of teen pregnancy, so hopefully we can carry the momentum over into this play.

I'll let you all know how everything goes!

Chau,
Roberto

Getting to Know the Town

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my host dad is very well-respected and known in the town. He literally knows everybody. I have met lots of people by just walking around town with him. So today when he asked me if I wanted to go meet some of his friends, of course I said yes. We started out at the house of one of his oldest friends. We picked him up and then walked over to the house of another friend who has cancer but has been getting better. We talked with him for a bit and then moved on to my dad's brother's house. On the way, we bought a bottle of wine and some cerveza (mind you it was 11AM). We got to his brother's house, but he wasn't home. Apparently he was visiting his son in the nearest big city.
Without a place to drink our wine and beer, we decided to return to the first house. We relaxed there for a bit and discussed the differences between cultures and politics in the US and Peru. For instance, they find it fascinating that people move out at 18 and start their own lives. In Peru, children usually stay in their parents' house until they are married or even then they may just move their family into their parents' house. It's not unusual for people in their 40's or 50's to live with their parents.
We talked and finished the wine (which is very sweet in Peru. It's almost like a port.). Then my dad and I walked over to his sister's house. She has a very nice house and we talked and played with her grandchildren for a little while.
After that, we walked over to the town center. It is election season and all of the different campaigns have headquarters around the main plaza. My dad is well connected with the current administration and is good friends with the mayor, so we went into his campaign headquarters. Now this is more or less against Peace Corps policy. As non-political volunteers, we shouldn't be seen to be aligned with any particular political party. With this in-mind, I planned to only stay for a little while, but I had to walk a fine line. I want to integrate within the community and spend time with my host dad, but I didn't want to appear to be supporting the mayor's reelection campaign.
I stayed in the headquarters for a bit and passed the vaso with my dad and the mayor and the campaign staff. "Passing the vaso" is the manner in which Peruvians drink. It involves passing around a bottle of beer and a vaso (glass) in a circle. After the bottle of wine and a few beers and not very much food, I was starting to feel the alcohol so I excused myself and returned home; where I started to write this blog entry. I ate some graham crackes and I'm not feeling the booze so much anymore.
We were supposed to have a pollada (a community chicken feast) so I'm going to go find that now because I'm starving.
Chau, amigos!

All Kinds of Tranquilo

I am loving life down here in Peru. I really have the perfect set-up. My site rocks, my family rocks, my community partner rocks, and all the other volunteers rock. Everything's just pretty much rockin' right now. So here are some of the rockin' things I've been doing since my last update.

I helped give some more charlas (classes) on teen pregnancy. Then on Friday I didn't have anything to do so I went for a long walk along the beach. The beach is about a 10 minute walk from my house and it is one of the most stunning, wild beaches I have ever seen. It's totally untamed and practically deserted. During the winter, which we are in down here in the good ol' SoHe (that's my cool abbreviation for Souther Hemisphere), no one goes there except for a few fisherman. So my beach starts out as a pretty normal sandy beach (that is once I pass the gnarly sand dunes and ruins of 200 year old church). Then I come across a bunch of colorful, wooden fishing boats scattered along the sand. These sit in front of Puerto Eten, the smaller town by my city and where lives another volunteer. After the boats, the beach turns into these giant cliffs. I walked along the edge of the cliffs and stared out into the vast ocean. From the top of the cliffs I could see for miles and miles. If Sarah Palin where with me should could have probably pointed out Russia.

After walking along the cliffs for a while, I came to a secluded section of beach walled-off by the cliffs. I found a little trail down to the beach and sat there and read for about an hour. Then I got hungry and returned home. I can't remember what I ate for lunch, but I'm sure it was delicious seeing as how my mom is a fantastic cook. Peruvian food is actually really good. They have just about every ingredient imaginable. Potatoes and Tomatoes were actually first grown in Peru in the Andes near the border with Ecuador.

So that was a fun day. Today I had a really productive meeting with my counterparts. I met with my counterpart the obstetrician, her staff of two nurses who are about my age, and a woman from an organization that supports abused mothers and children. We planned out a meeting that we are going to have with about 50 parents from the community. We are going to use it as a way to introduce a myself and a broader series of classes on parenting that we will be hosting. My dad, the librarian, is going to let us hold it in the town library and we are going to borrow a projector from the municipality to show a movie on family values. I'm really excited about it.

Not being a parent myself, I'm a bit worried that the parents won't listen to me, but I know if I present myself professionally and sound like I know what I'm talking about, it will work. So I'm going to study up on what I want to say to them and prepare myself well. I even bought some business cards to further my professional image.

Well that's all I have for now. Suerte a todo.

Chau!

Teen Pregnancy and the Bed Bath and Beyond of Peru

Hello there:

Feeling bloated? If that's the case, and you're a 13 year old Peruvian, you're probably pregnant. The average age at which women have children here is 16. It's really terrible because many of these girls begin having sex at a very early age and don't use protection. Many times they get pregnant on their first go.

Because teen pregnancy is such a big problem here, my community counterpart has taken the initiative to start teaching classes at the local high school on teen pregnancy and how to avoid it. My counterpart is an obstetrician and she is really on top of things. I am very lucky to have her. (A counterpart by the way is a local professional who Peace Corps finds to work with the volunteers. They can be librarians, teachers, doctors, or municipal workers, or just about anyone who is active in the community.)

When I first got to my site I was worried that I wouldn't be able to think of any meaningful projects, but thanks to my counterpart, I already have one. These classes about teen pregnancy definitely aren't something I would have started on my own, but I have helped with 3 so far and I really enjoy them. The kids also seem to be interested in the issue; perhaps because so many of them have already had experience with it.

Although the kids can be a little rowdy, they are sweet. I'm quite the novelty to them. It's very strange being so different from all of them. Sometimes they will laugh at me when I speak Spanish or even when I'm not really doing anything at all. Sometimes they treat me like a celebrity. At the end of one of the classes I had to sign a bunch of autographs for a horde of little girls. That was really weird. Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the kids are really strange.

After my class today, I took a taxi into the departmental capital, Chiclayo. The taxis aren't like taxis back in the states. It's just some guy who has an old Toyota who tries to make an extra buck by cramming 5 or 6 people into 4 seats. It's pretty uncomfortable for a tall gringo like me, but it's cheap (about $1 for a 20 mile trip) and I enjoy the convenience of being able to go right into town anytime I wish.

So when I arrived in Chiclayo, I went to the large shopping center called Real Plaza. This place really is ridiculous. It caters to about the top 10% of Peruvians because most things here are just insanely priced by their standards. It has a Starbucks, a KFC, a Pizza Hut, and a Long Horn Steak House. It's kind of like being in America again. I am actually writing this using the Free WiFi in Starbucks.

I went to a place called Casa & Ideas. It's a home store that resembles Bed Bath and Beyond. It's pretty pricey, but today most of the stuff was between 30 and 50% off. I bought a really comfortable blanket, some sheets, curtains, and a bunch of rugs. My room is pretty bare (those with Facebook can refer to the photos of my room for a better idea). The floor is pretty much rocks covered in cement and the walls are uncovered bricks. Lots of little critters crawl through the walls. I spider bit me in my bed the first night I was here and I found a black widow yesterday. I used to hate spiders, but now I just see them as roommates. So I bought all of the rugs to lay on the ground and I hope to use a few of them to cover the walls.

Well that's all I have for today. I'm probably going to finish up here and go back home to do some reading. I'm really lucky because my dad is a librarian and yesterday he brought me this Spanish book on the French Revolution. I'm looking forward to reading it. I think I might even take it and walk down to the beach tomorrow to read it. Take care all!

Chau!

Swearing-in

It's been a few since I last updated the blog. In that time, I have sworn-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and have moved to my site. I am now sitting in a hostel in Chiclayo, the capital city of my department - Lambayeque. I arrived in Chiclayo this morning (well technically yesterday morning sense it is after 12:00AM) with the other 3 volunteers from my group who will be working and living in my department. We are staying the night here and then tomorrow we will all go to our respective sites.

My site is fabulous. It is exactly where I wanted to go. It is named Ciudad Eten and I visited it on for Field-Based Training a few weeks ago. At that time I did not know where I was going to go, but after visiting Eten, I knew I wanted to go there. I made it clear to my bosses that I wanted Ciudad and I was lucky enough to get it. It is literally right on the beach and it is such a tranquila city. Everyone is really chill and my host family is fantastic.

My community partner is an obstetrician who is totally on her game. She is fantastic and already has some health classes with which I will be helping her lined-up this week at the high school.

I am a bit intimidated, because I have so much freedom in what I can do. I can literally do any project that I want for the next two years as long as it involves youth development. In some respects that is liberating, but in others it is daunting. I visited Eten two weeks ago and met the mayor and lots of other important people. They all spoke of such grand expectations for me. I am worried that I won't live up to their expectations, but I am going to do my best.

The first three months at site are meant to be an integration period. We are supposed to work on a community diagnostic in which we assess the community's needs, resources, strengths, weakness, and threats. During this time we are not expected to do much in the way of actual projects, but should be focusing on the diagnostic while accomplishing early-wins. Early-wins are little projects that we can do with little preparation and training. They involve teaching English, drawing a world map on a wall with children, or teaching a few classes on simple health topics like brushing teeth or washing hands.

It's weird to think that I will be at Eten for the next two years and I don't even know what I will be doing exactly. However, I'm super excited to get out there and figure it out. I'll have internet in my new house, so I'll try to keep this thing updated so you can all know how things are proceeding.

Chau!

Fiestas Patrias

Perú gained its Independence from Spain on July 28, 1821. The general San Martín fought to help Perú gain its independence and is now remembered every July 28 on Fiestas Patrias. In this day, Peruvians show their national pride by raising the red and white striped Peruvian flag (red for war and white for peace) and getting together with family to show their reverence for those who have made this country so great. It is a very important day of honor for Peruvians. It is a day full of reminiscing, family, friends, oh . . . and of course cerveza! Peruvians love passing the vaso (glass) and a bottle of Cristal (the most widespread national beer) in a big drinking circle with friends, old and new.

Of course my fellow volunteers and I, being the cultural junkies that we are and trying our best to integrate into Peruvian life, took this opportunity to visit a Fiestas Patrias party that one of the host families threw. I showed up at 11 AM to find the beers flowing, the food cooking, the music blaring and dancing in full swing. My friend Adam, whose family threw the party, and a couple of the other volunteers and I helped prepare food and get everything organized. Adam’s mom, Gloria, is an amazing cook and one of the nicest people I’ve met. I’ve been to his house about 10 times and every time she makes sure I am well fed. It was also her birthday so we all wanted to make this day extra special for her by helping out with the cooking and just generally showing her a good time.

While we were all in the kitchen, Adam’s dad, Lucho, called me over for a secret mission. He was going to pick up Gloria’s birthday cakes from a bakery in the next town and asked if I wanted to help. His dad’s awesome and I love spending one-on-one time with Peruvians speaking Spanish so I took him up on the offer and we hopped into his 1987 Camry and sped off.

Because it was a holiday, there was mucha congestión on the road. But luckily, Lucho knew a short cut. He pulled off down a narrow side street, almost collided with a mototaxi (like a rickshaw tricycle thing), and before I knew it we were flying at a breakneck 40 MPH down a dirt road. A few more near collisions later we arrived at the bakery and collected the cakes.

When we got back to the party more volunteers and family members had arrived. I quickly grabbed a plate of food: ceviche (raw fish that is “cooked” in lemon with onions and garlic – it’s REALLY GOOD), a delicious potato dish, chicken and rice (which is like the Peruvian equivalent to pizza or cheeseburgers in the States because they eat it so much here), and yucca. I had just sat down when I saw Lucho walking over to me with a huge grin on his face and two pitchers of some mysterious liquid in his hands. I didn’t need an explanation of what was in the pitchers, Lucho’s grin said it all – he loves getting drunk with the gringos (that’s what they call us white people by the way). He poured me a big glass of the mysterious liquid and explained to me what it was. It was Chicha de Jorra, a drink made with corn and fermented barley that they drink in the mountains. It was delicious and I can’t think of a comparison to it back in the states.

After some eating and a bit more Chicha de Jorras, some of us guys decided that we needed to integrate our group of gringos with the group of Peruvians that was sitting on the other side of the yard. We got up and invited some of the moms and grandmas to dance. I’m a terrible dancer, but so are most Peruvians so I felt right in my element. We danced for a while and then decided to work on some superlatives for our class of volunteers. These consisted of some pretty innocuous ones like, “most likely to learn Quecha,” and “most likely to kiss a Peruvian,” but there were some other more risqué ones like, “most likely to knock up a host sister.” We tried explaining the idea to our Peruvian friends, but they didn’t get the idea at all. I guess we just sucked at translating.

After the superlatives, a couple of people and I decided to share some American culture with our Peruvian hosts. I had shown some of my friends how to make pizza at Adam’s house a few weeks ago and his parents really loved it so we thought we would do it again. We commandeered the kitchen from Gloria, put on our aprons and got to work. We made about six or seven pizzas all from scratch: dough and sauce and all the accoutrements. Vegetables and fruits are really cheap in Perú so we bought lots of avocados (which you can get for about a dollar here), mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and anything else we thought would go good on a pizza. We even made a BBQ chicken pizza and a spicy pineapple pizza which were big hits.

After the pizza we sang Happy Birthday and Cumpleaños Feliz to Gloria and devoured the cake. I think Gloria had a really good time which made me really happy because she is always very nice to us and never thinks twice before opening her home to us and filling our bellies. It was a really swell time and a right proper way to celebrate my first Fiestas Patrias. I hope the next two I have here are just as good.

Chau!

Blog Resumption

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I suck at keeping this thing updated. I am having so much fun here and I'm so busy all of the time that it seems like the blog is harder than I thought it would be. But no worries, I am determined to keep all of you curious minds informed about my adventures in Peru. If you have Facebook, make sure to check my profile, because I am better at posting pictures on there than I am about writing in the blog, but I promise to be better at that too.

So I have been in Peru for about a month and a half now. I am in the middle of training which means long and sometimes boring days. Training is in a medium-sized town named Chaclacayo which is about 30 minutes east of Lima, the capital. I live in a nice little house with a host mom, Victoria; a host dad, Santiago; and my host brother, Felipe, who is my age. It's a pretty sweet set-up because I get hot water, which is a rare luxury in Peru.

Every weekday I wake up at about 6:30 and eat breakfast with the family. Then I go to the training center around 8 and have 4 hours of language class. The language class is actually really fun and we mostly just sit around and discuss important matters like the Peruvian gossip column. Then we have lunch. My host mom packs me a lunch everyday and it's always AWESOME! Peruvian cuisine rocks so much! It usually has a lot of potatoes (Peru has over 2,000 kinds of potato) and rice, but that's cool because I love those things. Then after lunch we have technical training which, because I am a youth volunteer, often consists of us visiting a school and teaching the kids about hygiene, nutrition, self-esteem, community involvement, or sometimes just playing games or chatting.

That was my first 5 weeks of training. It started to get pretty boring, but there were always fun experiences tossed in there. I got to take part in a religious parade and carry a huge alter that was impossibly heavy. I got chased by toro locos (see the previous blog post for a description of this fantastic creature). And of course I've played my share of futbol.

Luckily, the monotony was broken up in week 6 when everyone took a week long trip to various sites in Peru. We broke up into groups of 10 or so and each group went to a different departamento (like a state in the US). My group went to Lambayeque, which is about 14 hours north of Lima by bus and lies on the coast. It was an amazing experience. I finally got to see some sites that volunteers work in and in which I may potentially be placed. After this trip I felt really confident to start my service.

Well that's about it for now. I just wanted to type out a quick general summary of what's going on here so you all know that I'm still alive. I'll try to update this thing a couple of times a week from now on with some more specific and fun stories.

Chau!