Hiking adventure

Hello everyone!

Today’s big news is that I finally got out of the suburbs of Lima for a little adventure! It was SOOO nice to get out of the dusty, desert towns we live in (and love!) for a short while and experience some nature… probably more like the stuff we are going to live in for two years! What happened is that my program group (medio ambiente/MAC/environment) went out on an excursion to the mountains to learn about plants and how they are grown and utilized at higher altitudes. What most of us got out of it was a 2 ½ hour to 3 hour hike up and down a mountain at over 2,500 meters to a waterfall. The view was fantastic, the exercise was great, and breathing in less dust for a couple hours was priceless.

But, I of course cannot forget to mention the car rides there. Now, I cant believe I haven’t mentioned this before, but riding in vehicles in Peru is nuts. I have never seen cars and busses get so close together at such high speeds without hitting each other. The first couple times I rode in a combi (the busses) and could see out the front windshield, I was sure I was going to die. I still clench my seat when I am paying attention to the driving, but I have learned to zone it out. It is also not uncommon for a combi driver going into Lima at high speeds and frequent screeching halts to answer his cell phone and chat for a while. There are also no stop signs or lights on the small roads and cars tend to just honk as they approach intersections to alert other cars that they are coming. All this just to tell you that we took a combi and two cars up to the mountains the other day. I was in the mini-combi with 11 or 12 others and we our combined weight was so much that the combi had to stop to cool down from overheating one time. And one girls shoes that were sitting on the ground of the bus got so hot that she burned herself on the metal part of the shoelace. It was pretty crazy. Then, when we got there, we had to drive up a tinee tiny road with absolutely no walls or fences up a winding path to the town we were going to. The combi couldn’t make it up so we waited for the two cars to come back for us. The one I rode in and was listening to cumbia mixes of Michael Jackson. Despite the relaxing atmosphere, this winding little road really felt like the place I would meet my end. It was terrifying driving up there. But we made it, we hiked, we ate lunch, and somehow made it back down to face the scary highway another time with cars driving in both direction in both lanes and cliffs just around every bend to roll off of.


Picture of cows blocking the road on the way down. Very fun.

That night, tired from hiking and filthy, I rushed home to be whisked off by my host Mom to a party for my host brothers special education school. It was very entertaining to go to a club with all his classmates for two hours (7pm-9pm) and dance to cumbia, wino and latin versions of some American pop songs. I danced awkwardly with students to the amusement of my host Mom and tried to not be given too much sangria. That might sounds strange, but I am living in a culture where there is a dual standard for women. One standard is that we are expected to never drink in excess, on tiny amounts. The other standard (and this is actually true from many sources including my host Mom and Peace Corps training) is that we can NEVER allowed to say no when someone offers to give us or pour us a drink because it is considered as rude as slapping someone’s hand away when they want to shake it. Thus, women have to learn how to avoid being given too much to drink. And it makes for even more of a challenge when you are the only white, blonde chica in the room trying to remain anonymous. Not going to happen. But it all turned out ok, with my host Mom helping my with my sangria while elegantly drinking hers at a snails pace.

Also, in the mountains and today, it rained!!! Only a little, I can barely call it rain, but it was so cool! This is a desert so rain is neat to see. Usually everyday is exactly the same, hot and dry… sometimes with clouds. I was really excited to feel a little drizzle of rain. But I might eat those words in a few weeks when I move to the north of Peru in the rainy season and a possible El Nino year… who knows?

Last but not least, I have barely spoken Spanish in two days because training has monopolized my life and I feel like I suddenly forgot everyone! It is frustrating to feel like I am going backwards, not forwards. But I guess once I move to my site I will never be speaking English and I’ll have no where to go but up!