I’m getting close to having spent 6 months here in Peru, and almost 3 months in my own town that will be my home for 21 more months. Now that I am getting into a routine and understand how things work more and more, I feel like the days fly by in a flash! All my friends in my town told me I would be leaving before I know it, and now I am starting to believe them!
But with routine also has come the feeling that things don’t surprise me anymore. I try to remind myself how little things in my life here used to shock me and make me laugh on a daily basis, but now are just things that happen. But, for example, it is still so amazing to go for a run and have a pack of wild horses walk by, grazing in the newly growing grass that has sprouted seemingly from no where. However, I still feel lucky because everyday brings little surprises. Yesterday for instance, I went to the river with a couple local kids and we played tag in the water for a while, followed by them inviting me to eating pure sugar cane for the first time in my life. I had never even seen sugar cane, let alone eaten it. It tastes like... sugar! But its cool because you suck the sweetness from a plant and it somehow doesn´t seem like eating white processes sugar. I guess it really is ¨pure¨ meaning that it is unstripped of all the nutrients from the plant. Cool stuff! I also have started a new tradition of going to my best friends league soccer games in the main town on Sundays. I get to go to a stadium and watch them play and its really fun and full of people from my town watching. Even better is that his Mom is a lot like my Mom and just sits on the bleachers yelling at every play! It´s a lot of fun and reminds me of home... except now I am watching and not playing!
A few things that have changed in my life lately, for example, it is no longer avocado season… making me very sad at breakfast time when I no longer have my source of green. Luckily, the field is still sprouting bananas, mangos, limes, coconuts, and a fruit called mamai that I had never seen before and don´t know what it is in English. Also, my dog is growing everyday! I went away for the weekend for a meeting with other volunteers and when I came back he had grown considerably! Him growing means he is getting stronger and now follows me around town and everyone knows he is my dog. A lot of people ask me to give him to them because he is so pretty and healthy looking. But I tell them I cant because he is my love and I cant part with him. I have also started learning how to cook. The other day I had a cooking lesson from a local friend on how to make “papa rellena” which is a little bit like fried mashed potato balls. She sells them every night while the local boys play soccer and they are delicious and I was honored to get cooking lessons from her and to spend time with her family. I also learned from my host sister how to make chifles, or fried bananas. It is actually as easy as it sounds, but I didn’t know you needed a special kind of banana! While I know how to cook and have cooked for myself for years, cooking here is a whole different adventure because it is with firewood and without running water. Everything is just a tiny bit more complicated so I am taking my time learning to make local food. Hopefully when I come home to visit I will shock and awe all of you with the wonders of Peruvian food.
In terms of weather, the rain still hasn’t hit us hard yet. I heard it will be crazy in March, so I will fill you in then if I am able to leave town of course! What we do have is lots of clouds and humidity. Humidity like you wouldn’t believe. I feel like I sweat 24 hours a day, even while I’m sleeping. When it actually does rain it feels sooooo nice because it cools down a little and I stop sweating for a very short while. The humidity and little bit of rain has also brought us mosquitos and I find myself constantly coating myself in bug spray in the afternoons to save my poor arms and legs.
Finally, to keep my email relatively interesting, this time I have decided to write a list lifestyle things I have adopted in order to fit in to my Peruvian community:
-I can carry my big bucket for my clothes on my head when I walk to and from the river on laundry days.
-I listen to cumbia music ALL the time… even when I can listen to my own music I sprinkle in my own cumbia. (There is a song named after me about an English teacher call ‘Carito’ by Carlos Vives if anyone is interested…)
-I talk about the weather several times a day (a VERY common conversation filler)
-I go to the chacras (fields) with my host siblings to hunt for fruit from the trees
-I sweep my dirt floor
-I let people abuse and pick on my dog
-I eat lots of shaved ice and ceviche (a fish dish famous in Peru) from people in my town that sell it to support local stuff and because it is delicious!
-I sometimes spend over an hour “bathing” in the river just to play with kids or be social with the local women
-I describe people in a much more physical way, using words like fat, skinny, tall, short, dark, light, etc. It is very normal here to describe someone as fat or skinny, and I am told all the time that I am “engordando” or getting fatter, in a very loving and sincere way.
-Speaking of engordando… I eat plates of rice and cooked fish, onions and tomatoes for breakfast.
I plan on making a photo diary of a week or my meals here in Peru sometime soon to share with all of you. My food is sometimes shocking, sometimes delicious, sometimes overwhelming, and sometimes boring. But I will share food stories for the next email! In the mean time, if anyone every feels like sending me snacks, in particular cliff bars, from the US… I would be forever grateful!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The joys of the Campo
I have to say that I feel very fortunate that I can get up early, go for a run in rolling hills of green (this time of year) and return to jump in a river to bath/cool off, followed by hunting my families field for fresh bananas and mangos. Life without electricity and running water can really bring out little joys and pleasures.
But it is interesting to note that Peruvian campo kids are just as obsessed with cell phones and technology as American youth. They constantly crave putting music on their phones and trade songs and games and pictures with their fancy phone technology. They have me beat, because my phone doesn't take pictures or upload music... which they find very distressing.
Otherwise I am enjoying my daily doses of cumbia music, dancing in my house, learning how to sweep up my dirt.... At first I thought throwing water on and sweeping dirt was counter-intuitive but I have learned the error of my thinking. Water keeps the dirt more solid, instead of dusty. Sweeping after you have thrown the water on the floor gets rid of the excess dirt and keeps your floor more solid and neat looking.
My puppy is looking good, the envy of many because he is so cute and healthy looking. However, it was difficult for me to argue when they told me he got sick because too many people were playing with him and joking around with him. Even more confusing when I was feeling sick and my host Dad asked me if I felt shy the other day when I was hanging out with people by myself... because obviously that would be the reason I wasn't feeling well. Oh how I love the illness theories here. It would make for a great anthropological study! Maybe in the future I'll look into it further. In the mean time I will keep you all updated on my ups and downs in health and health theories.
Did I mention the purchasing of animals to kill for birthdays? My host Dad's birthday came and went with the killing of a sheep (pictures soon to come on facebook). The sheep was eaten for the next few days, its organs and meat floating around the kitchen and its skull sitting in a bowl in the kitchen watching me. I have started to think about what animal I will buy to share with my family and friends for my birthday, but I feel they will laugh when I tell them I want to buy ducks because it is so small. But man do I love duck! Vegetarian gone wild.
Much love to all!
But it is interesting to note that Peruvian campo kids are just as obsessed with cell phones and technology as American youth. They constantly crave putting music on their phones and trade songs and games and pictures with their fancy phone technology. They have me beat, because my phone doesn't take pictures or upload music... which they find very distressing.
Otherwise I am enjoying my daily doses of cumbia music, dancing in my house, learning how to sweep up my dirt.... At first I thought throwing water on and sweeping dirt was counter-intuitive but I have learned the error of my thinking. Water keeps the dirt more solid, instead of dusty. Sweeping after you have thrown the water on the floor gets rid of the excess dirt and keeps your floor more solid and neat looking.
My puppy is looking good, the envy of many because he is so cute and healthy looking. However, it was difficult for me to argue when they told me he got sick because too many people were playing with him and joking around with him. Even more confusing when I was feeling sick and my host Dad asked me if I felt shy the other day when I was hanging out with people by myself... because obviously that would be the reason I wasn't feeling well. Oh how I love the illness theories here. It would make for a great anthropological study! Maybe in the future I'll look into it further. In the mean time I will keep you all updated on my ups and downs in health and health theories.
Did I mention the purchasing of animals to kill for birthdays? My host Dad's birthday came and went with the killing of a sheep (pictures soon to come on facebook). The sheep was eaten for the next few days, its organs and meat floating around the kitchen and its skull sitting in a bowl in the kitchen watching me. I have started to think about what animal I will buy to share with my family and friends for my birthday, but I feel they will laugh when I tell them I want to buy ducks because it is so small. But man do I love duck! Vegetarian gone wild.
Much love to all!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Valentines Day Amor
Hello everyone,
So I thought I might just send a few little antecdotes for Vaentines day. Fun stuff really, easy read... haha.
Everyone in my town has told me that everything will be green after the rains (right now it is pretty brown and dusty... except in the feilds). So, I have been looking forward to see this tropical greenness I have heard so much about... while not really forward to the rainy season. Well, we finaly had a day of about 26 hours of straight rain and everything turned to mud and guck. The river grew about two or three sizes and the roads became amost unpassable for the motos. I was wondering how I would survive three months of that kind of rain. I was shocked when that day of rain happened to be a day of my classes and I marched through the rain a little late to my class to find 11 students waiting for me! What a pleasant surprise! Especially since my host sister told me no one would go, haha. Luckily, we haven´t had another rain like that, and in fact, it has been pretty dry. The river shrank a little bit and the water is clear again, bathable and cloths washing'abe! AND, everything is turning green! How cool it is to watch grass sprout up and the trees turn greener. It is making the hills beautiful and I will be sure to take pictures.
My wonderful little spunky puppy had got really sick the other day. I was very concerned when he was laying on the floor crying, with diarreah and would drink or eat anything. I was very concerned he might die, which is not uncommon for dogs here. That morning I went for a run, and when I returned, my host sister told me my dog is really sick! I said, ya I know, but what has changed? While I was gone, she had ¨passed the egg¨ over him to find our what was wrong. This consists of rubbing an egg all over his body and then cracking in a glass of water which they the ¨read¨ to find out what is wrong with the person or, in this case, animal. It is also supposed to help absorb the sickness. I guess it must have worked because he pulled through and is looking ten times better! He is playing again and biting everyone. The other day, he even followed me all the way across town for the first time... which leads to another story.
I was martching through town with my host sister to watch the boys play soccer and my little puppy Brandol follwed me there. Everyone got a kick out of meeting my dog and the kids a played with him. The funny part was, my puppy was greeted by a couple of guys that I don´t know personal by the name of ¨Cachimbito¨ which means ¨little Cachimba¨ which is the name of one of my friends here. Cachimbito spurred from a joke of when I first met my friend Cachimba and liked his nick name so much that I told him that was my dogs name (obviously not really, but a joke). The joke has spread like wildfire... hurray for little towns! haha. So now my little puppy has been givin the full name of Brandol Cachimbito Capitan, lovingly called Brandito by me.
My host Dad´s birthday came and went this Thursday, and he was very sad that none of his family from the City came to see him. He had even bought and killed a sheep for all of us to eat! The head of which is still sitting around in the kitchen which is jaw and big eyes taunting me. I tried hard to make up for his lack of family by drinking more than I usually do in site (which is still not much) and dancing with my host parents and siblings, trying to energieze them and keep up the celebratory spirit. I told him we will all celebrate again on Sunday.
Finally, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day! Here in Peru I will be celebrating at a Valentines Day dance (feels like grade school... just a little) where I´m sure attempts to marry me off will be made and I will have a good old time practicing my Peruvian dance moves. I also made Vday cards with my students which turned out to be a lot of fun, we wrote in engish loving expressions and everything and they got a real kick out of it. Also, there are rumors that my oldest host brother will be coming into town, so that should be a good time all around, the whole family together!
Hugs and kisses all around, lots of love, and I miss you all!
So I thought I might just send a few little antecdotes for Vaentines day. Fun stuff really, easy read... haha.
Everyone in my town has told me that everything will be green after the rains (right now it is pretty brown and dusty... except in the feilds). So, I have been looking forward to see this tropical greenness I have heard so much about... while not really forward to the rainy season. Well, we finaly had a day of about 26 hours of straight rain and everything turned to mud and guck. The river grew about two or three sizes and the roads became amost unpassable for the motos. I was wondering how I would survive three months of that kind of rain. I was shocked when that day of rain happened to be a day of my classes and I marched through the rain a little late to my class to find 11 students waiting for me! What a pleasant surprise! Especially since my host sister told me no one would go, haha. Luckily, we haven´t had another rain like that, and in fact, it has been pretty dry. The river shrank a little bit and the water is clear again, bathable and cloths washing'abe! AND, everything is turning green! How cool it is to watch grass sprout up and the trees turn greener. It is making the hills beautiful and I will be sure to take pictures.
My wonderful little spunky puppy had got really sick the other day. I was very concerned when he was laying on the floor crying, with diarreah and would drink or eat anything. I was very concerned he might die, which is not uncommon for dogs here. That morning I went for a run, and when I returned, my host sister told me my dog is really sick! I said, ya I know, but what has changed? While I was gone, she had ¨passed the egg¨ over him to find our what was wrong. This consists of rubbing an egg all over his body and then cracking in a glass of water which they the ¨read¨ to find out what is wrong with the person or, in this case, animal. It is also supposed to help absorb the sickness. I guess it must have worked because he pulled through and is looking ten times better! He is playing again and biting everyone. The other day, he even followed me all the way across town for the first time... which leads to another story.
I was martching through town with my host sister to watch the boys play soccer and my little puppy Brandol follwed me there. Everyone got a kick out of meeting my dog and the kids a played with him. The funny part was, my puppy was greeted by a couple of guys that I don´t know personal by the name of ¨Cachimbito¨ which means ¨little Cachimba¨ which is the name of one of my friends here. Cachimbito spurred from a joke of when I first met my friend Cachimba and liked his nick name so much that I told him that was my dogs name (obviously not really, but a joke). The joke has spread like wildfire... hurray for little towns! haha. So now my little puppy has been givin the full name of Brandol Cachimbito Capitan, lovingly called Brandito by me.
My host Dad´s birthday came and went this Thursday, and he was very sad that none of his family from the City came to see him. He had even bought and killed a sheep for all of us to eat! The head of which is still sitting around in the kitchen which is jaw and big eyes taunting me. I tried hard to make up for his lack of family by drinking more than I usually do in site (which is still not much) and dancing with my host parents and siblings, trying to energieze them and keep up the celebratory spirit. I told him we will all celebrate again on Sunday.
Finally, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day! Here in Peru I will be celebrating at a Valentines Day dance (feels like grade school... just a little) where I´m sure attempts to marry me off will be made and I will have a good old time practicing my Peruvian dance moves. I also made Vday cards with my students which turned out to be a lot of fun, we wrote in engish loving expressions and everything and they got a real kick out of it. Also, there are rumors that my oldest host brother will be coming into town, so that should be a good time all around, the whole family together!
Hugs and kisses all around, lots of love, and I miss you all!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
updates!
Hello everyone!
I find myself wondering when I wrote my last big email, and I cant remember if it was recently or weeks ago! I´m sorry to be so neglectful, but internet time has become very valuable and I find myself rushing through it for more and more Peace Corps related work things then personal things. Which I guess is a good thing, I´m actually working!
Things are more of less lovely as usual in my little Pueblo. I get to know more and more people every week, and ever new interaction I have leaves me in a good mood and smiling. I have gotten closer with a few friends in my site, leaving me with one girl to girl talk with and a couple of guys to chat with in the electricityless evenings. It really makes the time fly having buddies and people to talk to and I am so very grateful to have that. A third year volunteer from my area who actually chose my site for me told me that she things my town is the best town in all of the volunteer peace corps sites in Peru. When I asked her why, she said it was because the people are so nice and open here, and its not like that in most other places. For that, I am so grateful I can not even put it into words. I don´t know how will I would fare if I was in a town with very reserved, quiet and unfriendly people, as I´m sure is the circumstance for some of our volunteers! I would like to say I´m lucky, but Peruvians have trained me to say ¨Gracias a Dios¨ so I will stick with that.
But what am I up do on a daily basis you might ask? Well, it changes everyday, but there are some emerging patterns. Almost every single morning I get up early to go for a run before breakfast. This always brightens my morning with lots of hello´s, greetings, and sometimes even people stopping me to ask about my summer school classes or to invite me to things. Afterwards, I head to the river, often with my little puppy companion tagging along to keep me company, and always acompanied with a lecture about how I am going to get sick because it is too cold to bath in the mornings (I will get to that later). For breakfast, I try not to be bummed out when there is no avacado and look longingly at my pile of white rice with a tiny piece of either pork or fish on top and will it to be a bagel with cream cheese. But, it makes days WITH avacado seem that much greener and better! After this typical morning, I either stay in the house and prep for one thing or another (upcoming class, who I should go to interview, etc), or I read. Or, I go with my host sister to deliver the breakfasts to our hard working Dad, sister, Mom and brother. This consists of a half an hour walk in the sun to the mango feilds where we might stay for half an hour or an hour chatting with the workers and watching them pile up more and more green mangos that will be headed for the US (enjoy Peruvian Mangos! They are in season and delicious!). A lot of the young boys from my town also work there, so we usually walk by to say hi to them, and try to not to get caught in a Canavales game of water splashing.
Afternoons are more idle, usually spending time playing with my host siblings, listening to cumbia music and visiting neighbors. Things vary sometimes when I have to do laundry or go into town for work or internet things. By the time evening roles around, the family starts to come back from a long day of mango picking and we chat, eat, and joke around. Sometimes we go to watch the boys play soccer, althugh that has died down ever since my oldest host brother left to work in the capital city for a while. At night I get visits from friends or wander around talking to people (especially on Sundays). I find myself feeling happy most days and love the laid back atmosphere of small town life. Although, I am starting to learn gossip and am sure the horror stories about people will eventually pile up.
And how is my little puppy doing? Wonderful. He knows I am his loving mother and comes to me anytime he is hungry. I´m also the only one he will follow to different places, and the other day I discovered that he has taken on a protective role of parking at other dogs and people from my feet. To the eyes of the locals this is a ver good thing, because he is protecting me. I can see how this could be endearing, although I´m not looking for an attack dog.
But backing up a bit to the hot and cold beliefs here in Peru. The belief here is that people need to be balanced by hot and cold substances and that it is very bad in particular to be too cold. So, in the mornings when the sun isn´t out and its not hot yet, me bathing seems crazy because I am most deffinately going to catch a cold. Not matter how much I am soaked in sweat, the locals who see me going to the river early in the morning think I am nuts. But, this hour of bathing gives me some of the only alone time I get and is very refreshing for me, so I stick to it despite doubts from the locals. This hot and cold balance belief also applies to food, leading to all kinds of theories like people being sick from eating a popsicle at night, or eating avacado when they had a cough.
Today is also the first day that I think the rainy season might actually be starting. It is the first time I´ve seen rain here so early, and it led to less motos traveling in and out of my town and the main town (with the internet) being filled with water. I am interested to see what will happen in a few weeks when the real hard rain comes and I will apparently be unable to leave my town due to the mud and the rising of the river. Only time will tell!
The last bit of fun news is that this upcoming week is going to be a lot of fun because it is my host Dad´s, sister´s AND brother´s birthday! As well as another gift tree cutting party with dancing and music on the 14th (yey for valentines day party!). Apparently they celebrate valentines day here too and I have had my fill of jokes about finding myself a boyfriend for or at this party. I will never tire of the local women being stunned by my singleness and wanting to fix me up for marriage right away.
I guess I will leave you all with links to my favorite songs here in Peru so that you can know what I listen to almost every day! But if you are interested, just look up Grupo Cinco (5), Hermanos Yaipen, Grupo America, or los Astros Del Peru. Always a good start for good old Peruvian Cumbia. Because unlike the U.S., in peru they have a handful of home bread groups that play all the time on the radio and actual come to small little pueblos like mine to play! Very exciting. Enjoy! I love you all and miss you to death. Please please please keep me updated, I love getting emails!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMknaRGpm5I (my favorite song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavXtx6_A7o&feature=related
I find myself wondering when I wrote my last big email, and I cant remember if it was recently or weeks ago! I´m sorry to be so neglectful, but internet time has become very valuable and I find myself rushing through it for more and more Peace Corps related work things then personal things. Which I guess is a good thing, I´m actually working!
Things are more of less lovely as usual in my little Pueblo. I get to know more and more people every week, and ever new interaction I have leaves me in a good mood and smiling. I have gotten closer with a few friends in my site, leaving me with one girl to girl talk with and a couple of guys to chat with in the electricityless evenings. It really makes the time fly having buddies and people to talk to and I am so very grateful to have that. A third year volunteer from my area who actually chose my site for me told me that she things my town is the best town in all of the volunteer peace corps sites in Peru. When I asked her why, she said it was because the people are so nice and open here, and its not like that in most other places. For that, I am so grateful I can not even put it into words. I don´t know how will I would fare if I was in a town with very reserved, quiet and unfriendly people, as I´m sure is the circumstance for some of our volunteers! I would like to say I´m lucky, but Peruvians have trained me to say ¨Gracias a Dios¨ so I will stick with that.
But what am I up do on a daily basis you might ask? Well, it changes everyday, but there are some emerging patterns. Almost every single morning I get up early to go for a run before breakfast. This always brightens my morning with lots of hello´s, greetings, and sometimes even people stopping me to ask about my summer school classes or to invite me to things. Afterwards, I head to the river, often with my little puppy companion tagging along to keep me company, and always acompanied with a lecture about how I am going to get sick because it is too cold to bath in the mornings (I will get to that later). For breakfast, I try not to be bummed out when there is no avacado and look longingly at my pile of white rice with a tiny piece of either pork or fish on top and will it to be a bagel with cream cheese. But, it makes days WITH avacado seem that much greener and better! After this typical morning, I either stay in the house and prep for one thing or another (upcoming class, who I should go to interview, etc), or I read. Or, I go with my host sister to deliver the breakfasts to our hard working Dad, sister, Mom and brother. This consists of a half an hour walk in the sun to the mango feilds where we might stay for half an hour or an hour chatting with the workers and watching them pile up more and more green mangos that will be headed for the US (enjoy Peruvian Mangos! They are in season and delicious!). A lot of the young boys from my town also work there, so we usually walk by to say hi to them, and try to not to get caught in a Canavales game of water splashing.
Afternoons are more idle, usually spending time playing with my host siblings, listening to cumbia music and visiting neighbors. Things vary sometimes when I have to do laundry or go into town for work or internet things. By the time evening roles around, the family starts to come back from a long day of mango picking and we chat, eat, and joke around. Sometimes we go to watch the boys play soccer, althugh that has died down ever since my oldest host brother left to work in the capital city for a while. At night I get visits from friends or wander around talking to people (especially on Sundays). I find myself feeling happy most days and love the laid back atmosphere of small town life. Although, I am starting to learn gossip and am sure the horror stories about people will eventually pile up.
And how is my little puppy doing? Wonderful. He knows I am his loving mother and comes to me anytime he is hungry. I´m also the only one he will follow to different places, and the other day I discovered that he has taken on a protective role of parking at other dogs and people from my feet. To the eyes of the locals this is a ver good thing, because he is protecting me. I can see how this could be endearing, although I´m not looking for an attack dog.
But backing up a bit to the hot and cold beliefs here in Peru. The belief here is that people need to be balanced by hot and cold substances and that it is very bad in particular to be too cold. So, in the mornings when the sun isn´t out and its not hot yet, me bathing seems crazy because I am most deffinately going to catch a cold. Not matter how much I am soaked in sweat, the locals who see me going to the river early in the morning think I am nuts. But, this hour of bathing gives me some of the only alone time I get and is very refreshing for me, so I stick to it despite doubts from the locals. This hot and cold balance belief also applies to food, leading to all kinds of theories like people being sick from eating a popsicle at night, or eating avacado when they had a cough.
Today is also the first day that I think the rainy season might actually be starting. It is the first time I´ve seen rain here so early, and it led to less motos traveling in and out of my town and the main town (with the internet) being filled with water. I am interested to see what will happen in a few weeks when the real hard rain comes and I will apparently be unable to leave my town due to the mud and the rising of the river. Only time will tell!
The last bit of fun news is that this upcoming week is going to be a lot of fun because it is my host Dad´s, sister´s AND brother´s birthday! As well as another gift tree cutting party with dancing and music on the 14th (yey for valentines day party!). Apparently they celebrate valentines day here too and I have had my fill of jokes about finding myself a boyfriend for or at this party. I will never tire of the local women being stunned by my singleness and wanting to fix me up for marriage right away.
I guess I will leave you all with links to my favorite songs here in Peru so that you can know what I listen to almost every day! But if you are interested, just look up Grupo Cinco (5), Hermanos Yaipen, Grupo America, or los Astros Del Peru. Always a good start for good old Peruvian Cumbia. Because unlike the U.S., in peru they have a handful of home bread groups that play all the time on the radio and actual come to small little pueblos like mine to play! Very exciting. Enjoy! I love you all and miss you to death. Please please please keep me updated, I love getting emails!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMknaRGpm5I (my favorite song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavXtx6_A7o&feature=related
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