Murphy’s Law of Sickness

So damn if Murphy didn’t know his shit... Just the other day I was talking with the nurse at my health center about how surprised I was that I hadn’t gotten really sick yet. Let’s face it with the chicken hanging from a hook for a day before we eat it, and the electricity coming and going I don’t even want to think about the fish and milk in the fridge, getting sick is bound to happen. But not 2 days after having this conversation with the nurse…that rumbling in my stomach started up and you know you’re in for a FUN fill adventure in potty land. Yes I am aware of the fact that that sounds like the name to a child’s potty training book…but trust me, it needs a happy name-- it’s no fun.

There is nothing like waking up at 3am and battling the lizards, spiders, and cats to make it to the restroom with…we’ll just call it issues. Now normally I’m a good Peace Corps Volunteer and I wait a day to see if it’ll pass before I take the magic pill (Ciprofloxacine) to make it all better…but people this time was BAD, so George and Suni (our doctors) I hope ya’ll can forgive me, but I was not willing to wait a day. So pop goes the magic pill and the waiting begins. This was a horrid day, Cipro and all. My host mom thought I was dying…for a while I too thought I was dying. Stomach cramps so bad I was crying, the aforementioned…issues…not being able to keep anything down. As we say here in Peru, it hit with FUERZA! (Force/Strength). Now I won’t go into details, God knows you all don’t want to hear it and I don’t want to remember it. But I am sure as HECK glad that I packed my Gatorade in my suitcase. A. there is nothing even remotely similar to Gatorade here in my town, and B. the electrolyte tablets in our first aid kit are gross. In addition I would like to thank myself for thinking in advance and purchasing saltines in Chiclayo when I was there last because “they always come in handy.” Damn I’m good sometimes.

And really when you’re sick the only thing you want to do is sleep and take care of the issues. But since its Christmas time (the 27th of Dec, aka sick day) my house is BUSTING with family, normally I’m cool with family, more people to talk to and more stories to hear. But when you’re sick that just means it’s that many more people to come in and ask “are you ok?” or in the case of the 2 ½ year old “are you dying?” I felt the love, but I just wanted to sleep. Peruvians also have some weird homemade remedies…and yes I got to try them all. So I have drunk a tea made from the peel of a pomegranate (we have a tree in my yard), tricked into drinking a shot of canazo (really gross shine made from sugar cane) mixed with sugar and who knows what, and had an egg passed over my body (yeah I don’t know, it apparently sucks up the bad stuff…). Fun times.

But enough with the sickness! The next day I went with the Health Center staff “fishing” at the river. Now when I think fishing I think of a rod or pole with a hook on the end, be it a spinner or a fly rod. Well fishing Peruvian style means hunting for crayfish! Haha so much fun! I had flashbacks to being 11 and searching for them in the creek near my house at Kitchener Ct. with Lauren Bilski. I took some pictures I’ll try to upload but the funniest moments went photo-less. Walter, the lab technician screaming like a little girl when the crayfish bit back, us deciding to follow Carlos’s “shortcut” which lead us 30 minutes out of the way in the backwoods of Peru (thank god the Gringa is a Boy Scout at heart and had her headlamp since the sun had set mid being lost), and then the “how to gut a crayfish” lesson that followed. I’m just sad that we were unable to cook up a chowder with the days catch (about a kilo…so 2.2lbs) because there is a pregnant woman in a nearby town currently giving birth across the street in the health center and all hands are on deck since the OB-GYN is out of town. Well almost all hands, since I know nothing about child-birthing I figured I would be of more help by not being around. And since I don’t know the woman, I’m sure she’s happy not having a stranger in the room.



Currently I am taking a break from making my very own crayfish catching net from the old mosquito net that Andrew left behind and typing up this blog. But I figure you all will be very proud to know that there is Duct Tape involved…because we all know that it’s required in any homemade device. Hopefully it works…I’ll keep you all updated.

Christmas--Nanchoc Style

Hey everyone!! It’s now 5 days until Christmas and I’m sure there are a ton of Christmas cookies being baked, eaten, and shared going on back at home (eat up, I haven’t had any Christmas cookies this year). I know that I won’t get to post this until after Christmas when I make it back to Chiclayo but I just wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAYS/HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone back home! I miss ya’ll a ton! Take in the Christmas tree smell for me…there is no such thing as an evergreen where I am…unless a cactus counts…which in my mind it does not.

So Christmas Peruvian style:
Just like in the states, Peruvians eat turkey for Christmas…now in a place where there are grocery stores with a supply and demand market, you know that 95% of the time you’ll be able to find a turkey for the big day as long as you don’t procrastinate too much right? Well in Peru its home-grown turkeys, and this year, there apparently are not enough to go around. So it’s been really funny listening to people talk about the ways they’ve protected their turkeys (here in Peru you buy it still gobbling a few weeks before and fatten it up for Christmas day in your yard):
-Tie it to the tall part of the tree and put food up high so it doesn’t hurt itself trying to get down to eat. Ok so the rational here is that Peruvians are short and wouldn’t be able to climb this prickly tree without his ladder that is hidden…all of 3 meters from the tree by a towel. That and turkeys really do like to hang out in trees, happy bird, happy family.
-The turkey sleeps in the bedroom with the family. Ok so my inner health promoter is just cringing at this thought…we work so hard to keep the animals OUT of the houses…and their poop out of the houses. But this story is just funny enough that it might be ok to overlook the turkey poop in the kitchen. So this family ties the turkey to the bedpost at night. Rational: turkey thieves come at night…this is true.

But my family is lucky enough to be one of the ones that raise turkeys, so I know that my family will have a turkey. Why am I so certain that my family’s turkey won’t get yanked you might ask? Well she’s a crazy ass dog that’s tied up in front of our chicken/turkey house. So Don Jose (my Peruvian dad) either bought or was gifted a set of puppies, one is mentally challenged after an incident with a brick to the head…so obviously he’s not going to stop a turkey thief…it’s his twin sister that’s the devil in doggie form. Ok well she’s really not the devil-- she’s just ADHD like no other and is the most hyper thing I’ve ever seen in my life. So hyper in fact that she is tied to the tree in front of the chicken house all day every day. Now I have tried to walk by her without dying…it can’t be done, I have the scratch marks to prove it. So my family doesn’t have to worry about being turkey less this year. In addition, I think we have around 10 turkeys that we are safe guarding for family friends (let’s face it the devil-dog watch system is bullet proof…ok bad choice of words…). But I was doing some calculations the other day. Dona Julia, my host mom said that turkeys are going for S./12 a kilo…that’s roughly S./24 a pound, which is like $8 a pound…now I don’t remember how much a turkey costs in the states, but I sure as heck know that we’ve never paid that much for a turkey…I don’t think.

But in addition to turkey, Peruvians do Paneton…Now Paneton is like fruit cake. Ok you can all stop making that gross face. I said it’s LIKE fruit cake, not that it is. This stuff is actually pretty good. Like all other made-in-Peru things, when I first tried it…I kinda wanted to throw up in my mouth just a little…but now, I LOVE IT. So it’s this big muffin looking piece of bread (like 7” in diameter, and a foot tall) with little candied fruit in it…but the Paneton I had last night at the health promoters Christmas party had…dun, dun, dun, CHOCOLATE!!! It was amazing. So in the states, Christmas supper is turkey, dressing (or stuffing for my Yankee friends), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes in some form (or maybe that’s just a southern thing too), green veggies, bread, gravy. Here it’s Paneton and turkey with hot coco. Yeah my stomach was a little disappointed, but its good food, and here it’s expensive food. So Peruvian’s bust out the good stuff on Christmas day.

I was fortunate enough to be gifted a Paneton and a can of milk (yeah it comes in cans, old school huh?) by the health post (Cajamarca RED, aka the boss man, gifted Panetons and Milk to all the health centers/posts in their RED…oh yeah a RED is a network). So my family and I are either going to enjoy it for Christmas supper, or for the going away party of Cleo, my house mate. She’s a teacher at the local school, so she’s only here for the school year (in Peru it’s from April to December), so we might throw her a little party…not sure yet.

The health center also had a party (so I’ve had a lot of Paneton, turkey, and duck…we had duck at this party) where we played Secret Santa (Amigo Secreto). Now since I believe that I am a boy scout at heart (always prepared) I happened to have…are you ready…2 Christmas presents with me when I came to my sight for just such circumstances. God I’m good sometimes…haha. So I did my best ghetto-wrapping job I could (because I didn’t know that you buy wrapping paper in Peru in single serving pieces and I didn’t want a whole roll…rolls are not done here in Peru. But I took an envelope that my mom had sent me some leaves in that was the nice and thick paper but not quite cardboard material, unfolded it, reversed it so it was brown side out, and decorated paper (computer paper size) in red, white, and green, and taped it to the front. People laughed at the Gringo and asked if that’s how we wrap presents in the States…because apparently the guy before me here in Nanchoc did something similar.


Well I’m going to cut this blog here, figuring that I’ll write another one before my trip to Chiclayo. But Happy Holidays everyone! Love you all, Miss you all!

and here's the Turkey that we...sacrificed...for christmas...enjoy :)

First Week in Site!!

So I’ve finished up my 9th day in site and came back to Chiclayo to buy a few things I needed for my room and to pick up the box of books that the Peace Corps sent to us via a bus line. Its kinda weird being in such a fast paced city again, I like campo life’s slow pace. But my last week or so in site have been great. I haven’t “officially” started working yet, the Peace Corps likes us to do a community diagnostic during our first 3 months to figure out what would benefit our communities the most before we start up working. That being said my first few days were really nothing other than getting to know everyone at the Nanchoc Health Center and watching the Parade. No—they didn’t have a parade just for me, I know you’re all disappointed. But they did have their towns 50th political anniversary on my first full day in site, so it was really awesome to see the town all decked out in white and gold balloons. The kids from Nanchoc and the surrounding districts had a competition for the best portion of the parade. Nanchoc won with typical dances and dress of various parts of Peru—Afican dancing from Ica, typical Selva dancing, a dance I’m not sure where it’s from but it’s representative of war and has bells on the dancer’s legs, and the prize of the bunch, the Marinara! The Marinara is a courtship dance that is very popular in Peru in the northern part of Peru. After the parade there were the introductory speeches of all the honored guest, the current and former Mayors of Nanchoc, the surrounding areas, directors of the schools, and so on. I lucked out and didn’t have to give a speech my first day there because my arrival was sort of a surprise. Due to a combination of our cell phones not working right in the first few days, and Nanchoc’s phone having issues, I wasn’t able to call ahead to warn them I was on my way…Supresa!



But also on the Anniversary of Nanchoc (Dec 2) we had a seminar at the Health Center for doctors, nurses, OB/GYNs and heath promoters from surrounding areas about HIV/AIDS testing and methods of teaching prevention to coincide with World AIDS Day. So it was nice to get to meet some of the heath workers from surrounding areas. The day of the Parade was also the first taste of hot truly hot it does get in my site. Now I talked to a few people about the heat and my site and it was a huge surprise to find out that Peru isn’t all mountains and cold. So I’ll give the breakdown. Along the coast is desert, but with a breeze from the ocean usually so the temperatures are a little cooler, but still hot. Then you have the in between coast and mountain regions that can be broken into a few parts: Rain Forests, just like it sounds, green, rainy, and cooler, then the Dry Forest, where I am—and it’s just like it sounds, dry and dusty and hot, until the rainy season, then it gets hotter and rainy and green. The next section is the mountains (the Sierra) and this is the section that most people think of when they think about Peru, but it too has variations. There is Jungle like mountain sections and more “typical” Peru sections. Then on the other side of the mountains is the jungle (the Selva) and its just that, jungle. So at my site “hot” right now is 95 F in the shade with not much of a breeze during the afternoons. But I’m told in a month that I’ll be begging for that temperature back, because it gets up to 115 at my site WHEN it’s raining. Wooo!

So with the hot weather comes the rainy season. And in my site, when it rains, it POURS. So it sounds like starting in January and ending in around March it’s going to get harder and harder to leave my site due to wash outs in the road and mainly due to the height of the river that intersects the only road to and from my town. So I’m not sure how much you all will be hearing from me over the next few months…but this is just a warning that most likely I haven’t died, I’m just on the other side of the river chilling in my site working on some health stuff.

Speaking of health stuff, I’ve had a few meetings with various interested town bodies (the teachers, the doctors/health staff, the mayor, and coming up soon the health promoters) about what changes they would like to see in their community and what has worked well in the past. I am always amazed at how much they have actually already done in my site. My community partner (the person the Peace Corps set me up to work with) is a nurse and she is really into learning the most she can about Community Health Promotion. She has been going to monthly seminars in the capital of Cajamarca, Cajamarca City, to learn more about the problems in our region (well the health concerns). Where I come in is helping think up FUN ways to teach these things. In Peru the education system is rote memorization, so most people don’t know how to do much more than give lectures and hope like hell that they stick…so this is where the Peace Corps Volunteer and their non-formal education techniques come in!! But some ideas we have come up with so far are:

Community Gardens/Home Gardens: Now I know what you’re thinking, “Jenny you live in farm land, how would the need gardens if they’re already growing stuff?” Good question! Turns out they are growing food, it’s just not food that has a very high nutritional value for the most part. There is a lot of Yuca (think a stringy potato…but tasty, at least when my host mom cooks it), potatoes, corn (but more feed corn that eating corn), and Tobacco—and you don’t eat that. There are a few people who grow cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, and other veggies, but they sell most of them. My typical meal might have 5 peas in it and a few slices of tomato, the rest is rice, beans, and potato or yucca—it’s really filling, but lacking a lot of vitamins. So if we can get everyone to grow a few plants that have more nutritional value, then we can add to their diets and benefit everyone—they don’t have to pay for the produce, and they are more healthy.

Cocinas Mejoradas (Improved Stoves): A lot of Peruvians in the campo cook with wood. And usually its an open grate inside the house (or in a enclose space near the house) where they do the cooking, therefore the smoke is EVERYWHERE. The walls are black, the bricks are covered with suit…along with the inside of the lungs of anyone living in the house. So and Improved stove traps the smoke inside a tunnel and sends it outside the house through a chimney—they actually use less wood and burn hotter too, so it saves money and time. Win Win.

Youth Work: Teen pregnancy, lack of self esteem, lack of creativity, and lack of individuality are all issues in my site—I would like to point out that I did notice this in my trips to the school, but it was mentioned as a project from me by the teachers and doctors. So I will most likely be doing self esteem and individuality workshops with students and start up a youth group or as the mayor suggested, a girls soccer league!

Those are just a few ideas that we have come up with, I’m sure there will be more to come. So I’m in Chiclayo for the day to buy things for my room such as sheets, pillow, shampoo, hangy closet organizer thing that will function as my dresser. Just the necessities. I also splurged and bought a new shirt at the Peruvian equivalent of a Walmart, it was cute, and of a really really light fabric so I can survive the hot days of Nanchoc. Speaking of doing the necessary tasks, I really should get going to the post office to pick up the packages that people have sent (thanks Kacie, Mom, and Josh!) and to the grocery store to get some pecans and milk (in a can) so I can make sweet potato casserole for my family and co-corkers. Bye guys!

It's Official We're Peace Corps Volunteers...and We Have Cell Phones To Prove It

Ok guys, sorry that I haven’t written one of these in forever and a half. Life finishing up training has just been crazy as heck! Since I’m writing this away from the internet I’m not even sure where my last blog left off so I’ll just pick up at my site visit. My town is called Nanchoc, Cajamarca—if you’re going to try to Google it, don’t, it’s not there (well not much about it). So I’ll try to fill everyone in on the happenings. Nanchoc is a small district capital of 350 people on a busy day that is surrounded by 7 surroundings neighborhoods with a total population that’s still less than 1000 people ( or so I’m told…in 3 months I’ll be able to tell you the exact numbers I hope). But my house is AMAZING! I love it, and I’m about 99% sure that I have the nicest, or at least in the top 10, bathroom in the Peace Corps. I have tile, AND, get this, a shower curtain. Ok so the shower curtain doesn’t sound like an extraordinary feet, but there for some reason seems to be a lack of shower curtains in this country…assuming that you have a shower. But my house is rather large for a house in the campo, it has 2 kitchens (one wood burning stove outside and one gas stove inside), 2 living rooms (one from the older portion of the house and one newer one that they just built in the back of the house), 4 bedrooms, but one’s used more for storage, and the best part…a cuy room. Yes, you read that correctly, we have a whole room that’s dedicated to guinea pigs. I think there was around 30 of them in there…not sure of the exact numbers yet.
My host mom and dad are really nice; their names are Julia and Jose. My mom runs a Pension out of the house, which is basically means that she cooks meals for the teachers and doctors in the area. And my dad is a farmer--we have a ton of land and animals. I think I’ve counted 6 cows, 10 goats or sheep (ok so you laugh that I can’t tell the difference…and well Wendy is crying. But these are the weirdest looking animals I’ve ever seen…I think they’re a new species or something.), 15 turkeys, lord knows how many chickens, 5 pigs, 2 donkeys, 2 horses, 2 dogs, and 2 cats. And hopefully when I return the cute, adorable puppy that I found at the barn will still be there and I can claim him as my own…but that’s a big assumption I probably shouldn’t make.
My house is located right across the street from the health center, which is great since I will be working so closely with them over the next 2 years, and the school (the only school in the whole district) is right down the street. Everyone seems really excited to be working with me and really happy to have another volunteer in their site. I’m replacing a guy from…get this…Raleigh, NC—so basically they think everyone in the Peace Corps is from North Carolina now, which is weird, but my house is decorated with the pictures from a NC calendar, so it’s like being at home…sorta. My first night in Nanchoc we had a meeting with all of the health promoters, doctors, nurses, and teachers to discuss what they would like to see from me as far as work projects are concerned over the next 2 years. They want a lot of work with youth, which I am super excited about, and in the areas further away from town they still need improved stoves and latrines, then there is the obvious working with the health promoters and keeping them up to date on information and the like.
So since I can’t really think of any other interesting site descriptions right now I’m going to switch topics and talk about graduating!!! Ok so it’s not really graduating, it’s just officially becoming a volunteer…that’s right as of yesterday, the 28th of November we are all officially Peace Corps Volunteers! We had a really nice ceremony in the back yard at the training center with a tent decked out in red white and blue with the Peruvian flag, the Peace Corps flag, and the American flag in the center. Douglas, a member of my health group and all around bad ass for his songs and guitar skills during Spanish presentations among other skills, managed to give an amazing speech IN Spanish while being deathly ill. He somehow made it through the hour long ceremony without puking then had to retreat to the bathroom to pass some time. Poor guy, but he did an amazing job, so KUDOS Douggie!!!!
Oh I forgot to mention before the ceremony we all had to bring all of our luggage to the center so we could take it with us to Lima that night. Ok so 47 people, with 2 to 4 bags each = a shit ton of luggage. We somehow managed to carry it all on to the buses that picked us up from the training center and took us to Lima. Once in Lima we quite literally put our bags down in our hostel and ran for supper/to celebrate with our fellow PCVs. Brian and I ate at a pretty good restaurant in Parque Kennedy, I had the best Lasagna ever…ok that’s a lie, but since I haven’t seen real mozzarella since I left America, it was amazing. (sorry I realize I’m using the word amazing a lot…but it’s just fitting and I’m too lazy to think up another word) Then after supper we met up with the rest of the group in Barranco at a bar/discoteca and left around 4 in the morning (and for Peruvians that’s early…they usually stay out till the sun comes up).
Then my plans for today were to go see my host family from the last time I was in Peru, but when I got to their house they were on the way out the door to a lunch, so I talked for about 5 minutes then they had to go. Maybe I’ll catch them the next time I’m in Lima. So right Now I’m sitting on the end of the bed listening to Brian snore, and waiting for Sarah to fall off the bed because she’s only half on due to luggage, typing up this blog. I guess at some point I’ll wake them up so we can go grab some lunch…or quite possibly join in with the nap fest. My bus for Chiclayo leaves at 8:30pm and I should be arriving there around 9am tomorrow. Then pass the day in Chiclayo and head to Nanchoc Monday afternoon (it would be Monday morning, but the only bus leaves at 1.)

So until next time: love you all! Miss you all! Stay safe.

FBT

So I’ve been trying to figure out how I can write a blog that sums up my Field Based Training experience without being so incredibly long that you all fall asleep while reading it. Now do not get me wrong, FBT was not boring, the complete opposite, it’s just I never thought that so much could be crammed into a week…so I’m just going to give this a shot:
You might ask, how does one travel from Lima, the capital of Peru to the province of Piura (which if any of you have seen a map of Peru you know that Piura is freaking far away from Lima)? Well in a Bus Cama of course! So for the Spanish-disinclined, bus cama literally translates into Bed Bus. And its just that, a really nice bus with seats that recline back to nearly a bed. Now I’m not sure if I’m just too tall for these busses (well any gringo for that matter) or if I just can’t sleep on busses—both are very well possible. But I just wasn’t able to get much sleep on my 14 hour bus ride (during the night) to La Cuidad de Piura. But I will give Bus Camas this one thing: not once did my butt fall asleep, so that goodness for that! After our 14 hours in a bus (with a dinner and breakfast that were actually eatable) we hopped in some taxis and began the second phase of the Piura adventure: the 4 hour ride in a taxi that is older than we are!! Never-the-less, our beat up yellow itty-bitty taxi somehow made it to Jilili (the city I spent 3 days in for FBT). Jilili is the site of a Peru-10 volunteer (I’m a Peru 12, so that means he’s been in site for a year just to fill you in on Peace Corps lingo…its confusing I know) named Brian. His site was just beautiful. It was a mix of sierra and selva (mountains and jungle), it had the tall steep, winding mountain views combined with mango trees, banana trees, and sugar cane. Brian spends most of his time working with the JASS program, which is a committee that monitors the collection, treatment, and distribution of water and the management of sewage…he’s still got a ways to go with the treatment part…let’s just say us trainees were advised to brush our teeth with bottled water…yumm. But Brian is doing a great job so far just keeping the ball rolling with his projects, and finishing up the projects of the previous volunteer at his site (she worked with latrines and there is still a lot of follow up he has to do with those).
While in Jilili we took a tour of the heath center, saw some HOLSTIENS (wendy I know you’re proud!!!), worked with some latrines, and community garden/compost projects, gave a few education sessions of the importance of communication to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grados (aka 13-16 year olds), and attempted to make a radio spot but was forced to abandon that due the rain. Rain on a calaminia roof (aka tin roof) is really loud and makes it IMPOSSIBLE to record a skit for the radio on a computer…trust us we tried. But that just about sums up my 3 days in Jilili to the best of my cliffs note abilities. So onward to Potrerillo!
From Jilili we ran, quite literally, to the combi as it was pulling away from the town center with all of our things yelling “WAIT!!!!!” The bus did wait, we were able to get our seats between a woman with a rooster and a man with a typical hat of Piura on (think reeeealy wide brimmed cowboy hat-10 gallon style). After a 3 hour bus ride and a 2n hour taxi ride we were at our next site, Portrerillo. AND small worlds of small worlds the volunteer, Lizzi, is from DURHAM!!! Turns out we lived all of 20 minutes from each other, she went to Durham Academy (I know, but we like her anyways)! It was so cool to be able to “talk shop” with a fellow Durham-ite. She was asking about all the good places (Elmo’s, Cosmic, Fosters, Mad Hatters, so on) AND we realized that we have a few common friends (Lindsey and Jeffery Spears mom cause I know you’re wondering…). It’s just such a small world.
But Portrerillo is way different that Jilili, it’s located in a valley called Chipillico and is soooo pretty. There are rice fields as far as the eye can see at times surrounded by beautiful mountains, banana trees, more mango trees, and all the chickens, cows, and pigs your heart could desire. (PS Wendy tell me what type of cow has a huge hump on its back and some hair business going on its belly…cause that’s all they have there). But the sun here was fierce! I’m talking Eric got a sunburn from the part of the sun that was shining through the window on his leg in the car ride to the site…wow. But Lizzi has the coolest project I think I’ve seen yet, she is finishing it up now (just in time to end her service in late November), she has worked with an NGO called Plan International and brought her community and the surrounding communities the coolest gift ever—FLUSHABLE LATRINES!!!! Ok so Ya’ll probably aren’t as excited as I am about this…but you don’t have to poop in a hole…so I don’t expect much animation. But the way these things work: Plan International and her worked together to supply the communities with the necessary supplies, bricks, metal doors, TOLIETS, PVC tubing, cement, and skilled workers. And the communities in return provided the man power, the adobe bricks for the walls of the bathroom, and the will and want to work to better their community. So here’s the Basic Run down: You’ve got a normal toilet, all white and shiny and just asking to get used, that you put on a cement base, get this INSIDE of your house, and connect the toilet to a “septic tank” with a PVC tube. The “septic tank” is a hole in the ground with a wall of bricks with spaces in between them, you then fill in the bottom of the tank and the sides of the hole (between the dirt and brick) with a mixture of sand and larger rocks. Top off the “tank” with some cement and a ventilation tube, and you’re DONE! How this works: you walk to the canal (irrigation/water source for everyone usually really close to the house) grab a bucket of water, go to the bathroom, do you’re thing, pour the water in the toilet and TADA it flushes. The water travels in the tube and is filtered through the sand and rock and the clean water goes into the surrounding earth, while the nastiness is kept in the tank. And just when you think it can’t get better…oh it does: Potrerillo is supposed to be getting a RED Sistema de Agua (aka a water system, with pipes that bring water to the house, and remove sewage and used water from the house) so the community will be able to use their pre-existing bathrooms with the new system…they’re moving on up in the world!
We didn’t just so only latrines, we also saw the construction of an improved stove (one that uses less wood but gets way hotter for cooking) and gave s few education sessions on AIDS/HIV to a the local high school. Now I get to the fun part of Field Based Training: The Prank…
So, Rebecca (my DC Roomie) happened to have a birthday during FBT, Nov 1 to be exact. And Lizzie and my instructor had decided before FBT that a birthday party of sorts was needed in a bad way to celebrate. Sooo with a little planning and some kick ass acting if the rest of my group does say so, we had a plan in order. Here’s how it went down: Friday morning as we were waiting for a few people in the school yard before our HIV/AIDS talk (Rebecca being one of them) George (the instructor) laid out the plan. “We’re going back to Piura City for Rebecca’s birthday. But we want to surprise her, so she can’t know. I will say something later and just play along with it.” And the scene is set.
We made it through the class, the concert after the class, and lunch before the plan started to come together. Gorge spent A LOT of time on the phone, which made Rebecca worried, being the natural observer that she is. Then as we were about half way through with our stove George called Lizzie out of the room for a second and then he left. Lizzie walked back in and said, “OK guys, something’s happened. We need to thank the workers and the family and get back to the hostal for a meeting with Gorge.” So we all thanked everyone and started walking back. Once we arrived in the hostal George had a talk with us and told us that Michael Hirsh (the Country Director of Peace Corps Peru) was in Piura City and needed to have a talk with us, so pack up all of your things and get ready, the taxi will be here in 20 minutes. We all thought this was a great plan…but we didn’t know the effect it would have on Rebecca…the poor girl naturally assumed the worst: A Peace Corps Volunteer had died, a family member of someone in the group had died, and the list just goes on. So we did our best to be upbeat about our fake meeting with Michael. We all got our stuff together, hopped in our 2 taxis and were back in Piura City in a little over an hour and a half.
Now here’s where our “painless surprise birthday party” started to run into a few kinks. I forgot to mention that Rebecca was sick…well most of our group was sick in some form or another (Sick of taxis, sick in the stomach, nice and gaseous, something like that). Well when we showed up in Piura City…the hostal we were supposed to be staying at was closed. They had forgotten to write a receipt for a customer and the government had shut them down for 3 days (tough love, I know). So we walked around for an hour finding another hostal (we weren’t quitting till we found one with hot water!) and finally got one for a reasonable rate. George announced that we’d all meet back in the lobby in 30 minutes after everyone had the chance to shower, then we’d go and meet Michael at a local eatery for the meeting. Rebecca just couldn’t understand why we needed to shower to go meet with Michael, he was used to smelly PCVs--she was sick and just wanted to go to bed. Reluctantly she showered then we all went to the “meeting.” Lizzie and Gorge had already planned with Cappuccinos (the local PCV hangout) to have a table for 8 ready (there were 7 of us) so as we walked in there was our table…and by shear coincidence the table right beside us was another group of Peru 12 from the environment group…well that added a little more reality to our prank. So we went to their table before Rebecca and did the “so you’re here to meet with Michael too?” wink, wink, nudge, nudge move. That poor group was so confused, but we managed to get Rebecca away before they ruined our hard work. We sat down, acted anxious about meeting with Michael, and then the waiter brought wine. Rebecca said, “Why the heck is Michael Hirsh buying us wine??” Then George decided to break the news in form of a toast: “Rebecca, I just want to say on behalf of the group that we’re sorry but we played a trick on you…Michael Hirsh is not coming, this was a trick to get you here. Happy Birthday…did I mention we’re sorry?” Speechless, Rebecca sat and pondered the day’s events for a second and said, “wait…Hirsh isn’t coming? What? Ummm…”
Yes I’m pretty sure the lying made us bad people…but the food was worth it! Oh yeah, I left out one little part of the story. The electricity was out, so when we walked in everything was candle-lit and looked like a place you’d go on a date…that also confused her. And seeing as how the electricity was out they were only able to prepare half of the menu. So we all had salads and the BIGGEST brownie and ice cream we’d ever seen. The End.
Thanks everyone if you made it through the end of this blog, I know it was long…but it did sum up a while week! Take care!

“When worse comes to worse, get your mom to send you a $%*# ton of chocolate.”

Today was an interesting day. Since it’s the last day before our trip to field based training it was pretty slack. We had a dental talk from Suni, our friendly neighborhood PCMO, which can be summed up into floss, floss, floss. It’s expensive to buy in Peru so don’t bother, she’ll give it to us for free…oh the joys of PC life, free floss…now I just need to get in the habit of doing it every day…it’ll make Dr. Jordan happy (my dentist from home). But after our talk we had a very animated 3rd year PCV named Joshua come in to talk to us. Let me just say this guy cracks me up! He just had some lines today that were so funny, I actually wrote them down in my notebook for the SOLE purpose of sharing them with you all faithful (I’m sure) readers of my blog. So here we go, let’s start the show:

“When worse comes to worse, get your mom to send you a $%*# ton of chocolate.”
Ok, so Joshua didn’t actually say this, his friend Cheri (I’m guessing another PCV) did. But it’s just so perfect. There is chocolate here in Peru. Every trainee in our group can tell you a Sublime bar is kinda a taste of home (think a really thick Mr. Goodbar, but way better chocolate to peanut ratio). But every now and again, we just need an M&M. In all my trips to markets and supermarcados here in Peru I’ve yet to encounter M&Ms…and I just can’t for the life of me figure out why. Its chocolate, that the Mars company swears doesn’t melt in your hands…but I can state for the record, it actually does…but its just so dern good I’m not sure how Barney has made it to this country and not M&Ms. Any way, onward to the next quote

“Don’t turn away food…you’ll give them a complex.”
So in Peru food is a VERY important part of establishing confidencia (confidence…yeah you guessed right, I love cognates too). Like I’m talking no matter how big the plate of rice and potatoes is that they put in front of you, you better darn well find room for it in your stomach to fit it. You see when I soon travel to my site for the next 2 years, the first 3 months will be spent doing what is called a Diagnostic Report, basically a written out report saying how everything works (or doesn’t work) in my soon to be barrio, and who’s who in the area. So in order to gain people’s confidence, and get to know them, what do you do in Peru? Why you go to their house for lunch, dinner, lonche, a snack, a baptism, a wedding, a birthday party…well really whatever they invite you to and you EAT. And I’ll tell you what; Peruvians can eat some rice and potatoes! But that’s ok because I’m about 98% sure I’ll never get sick of potatoes…but maybe I shouldn’t say that only a month into training…
“If you don’t care for your host family’s food then invite them to peanut butter on a regular basis. They will understand how you feel about their food.”
Ok for the most part, Peruvians are not a fan of peanut butter…no clue why, because lets face it its AMAZING. But for the most part, not big consumers of PB…que triste. But Joshua’s point was if you find your self eating the same…well untastey meal over and over again, just offer them some of you S./16 Peanut butter (yeah that’s about $5 a jar…a small jar) because most likely they aren’t going to like it either. But as part of Peruvian culture, since you are offering…they must eat it. And at some point they will reach their limit, because obviously peanut butter is WAY grosser than say chicken liver…haha. And they will ask to not have any because they aren’t really into it. Then that provides you the perfect opportunity to say: now that you mention it, I’m not really feeling the chicken liver either…no matter how much iron is has for me. Problem solved.

“Stear clear of the fridge. Its DANGEROUG….that 3 seconds of artic wind that come out when you open the door will cause you to get deathly ill.”
So to Americans the before stated will sounds crazy. How can you get sick from the fridge. The fridge keeps your food cold and actually prevents sickness from grossness that can grow in food right? WRONG. Ok so in Peru, Cold=Bad, no ifs, ands, or buts, about it. I was sick for the first 2 weeks I was here because I was wearing chacos when my mom and dad came to pick me up. I’m going to get sick because today I walked barefoot to the bathroom this morning…what I really had to go! And the list goes on. When you’re sick you can’t drink cold things, it’ll just make you worse, only hot things, so hot infact you’ll lose the linning to your mouth. But hey this is a cultural exchange so we’re all making the best of it, trying to wear our “house shoes,” not let our mom see us leave the house in chacos, you know the drill. But man, careful when you open that fridge, infact its best if you stand behind the door as you open it, use the door as a shield. And don’t stand in front of it for too long…that’ll get you sick in a heart beat.
Now let me clarify, I’m not mocking, There has to be some truth to the fear of cold, I mean I did actually get sick for a day after I went to that night soccer game in chacos and without a hat on my head…so my mom must know her stuff. It was just a shocker when we all came here to go from cold gingerale when you’re throat hurts to NOTHING COLD, ONLY HOT! But hey, I love hot tea, so it works out.

Well that’s all the insite I can share from our buddy Joshua, he was a hoot. I love hearing from the current serving PCVs because they all have so much information to share, and we all need to take in as much of it as we can…I mean we’re 6 weeks through training…only a few more left! GASP!

As for now, I’m heading to Jilili, Piura for Field Based Training. I’ll be sure to let ya’ll know how it goes!

Cuy Caca Powered Houses

Hey guys and gals!
This week has been a crazy busy blur of homework, projects, birthdays, and cuy guano. So let’s start with the homework bit and make ya’ll wait on the cuy guano part (gotta save the juicy stuff for last). Well I moved up a level or two in my Spanish classes. I was a Novice High, now I’m an Intermediate Medium—and as with any advance in levels of classes, there is an increase of homework as well. Now to qualify, really it’s not anymore homework than I got each night in High School or College (but in College I had more time to work on stuff, seeing as class only took up a portion of my day) but as I mentioned last time I have about a 1-2 hour window to do homework…so it just seems overwhelming sometimes. So far I have been able to finish it all, with the help of my lovely family. They have been checking it to make sure it sounds reasonably intelligent, and that I use the right vocabulary and verb tenses.
Then to add to the homework pile, we have charlas to prepare for!! Charlas are just mini lectures using non-formal education techniques. I.E. not an old school lecture when we get up and preach a subject and everyone pays attention, or falls asleep—because let’s face it, those don’t work in English, let alone most of our broken Spainsh. Rather we teach charlas using games, activities, posters, and well, fun! So for next week my groups have to have 2 charlas ready. For Tuesday we (Ryan, James, and I) are giving a charla on alimentacion complementaria, complementary feeding, of infants between the ages of 6-11 months to all of the PC Staff and PCTs. So we are going to work today (Sunday) on a way to make that…well fun…to people who don’t have an infant and who aren’t thinking about a baby for, well we hope, at least the next 2 years. Then for Thursday my language class (Saritia, Frieda, Mark, and I) are presenting everything we could find about Lambayeque (a province in Peru). So far…we need to find more information. But my mom has agreed to help me cook a typical dish once I find one…so the internet will be my hero later on today.
Moving on to BIRTHDAYS! Our lovely Robyn had her 23rd birthday earlier this week and we all celebrated with an amazing cake and gaseosos (soda) at the St. Nicholas Heath Center where we have been having class recently. The cake was great, but sadly it didn’t leave me with much room for my awesome lunch of Aji de Gallina! Ok so this dish is by far my favorite dish in Peru (it was last time as well, but my family never made it…but this family loves the stuff!!) Its some sort of pure of aji, think hell of spicy pepper, milk, and who knows what…mixed up with shredded chicken served over potatoes and rice. MMMMMMMMMM. Ok moving on to the next birthdays. Brad has a birthday and a party, but I was feeling tired so decided to skip the “its Friday lets go grab something sweet or a beer to celebrate making it through the week” gathering and catch a nap. So I walked the 30 minute trek home (I hate combis so I avoid them when possible) and open the door to have my sister grab my arm and whisper something in my ear. Wait let me frame this for you. I was walking with my iPod in listening to country music, because let’s face it they just don’t have it here and I miss it! And my brain hasn’t quite gotten the English-Spanish 0.20 second switch time down yet. So I still have Josh Turner’s “Would You Go with Me?” stuck in my head and I get a “Yennifer! Nos Olvido la cumpli de mi papi” (aka my whole family forgot that day was my dad’s birthday…oops!) So the whole family, including me, goes into super rush mode trying to go buy a Lonche (a snack before dinner) and some gaseoso to throw together a last minute mini party before my dad makes it back from his accordion jam session down the hill (yeah how bad ass, my dad plays the accordion). Needless to say it was funny as heck, and we celebrate what I think was my dad’s 60-something birthday. Now before you mock me for not knowing my dad’s age, I’m sure they told me the first day I was here…but I forgot, and it’s IMPOSSIBLE to guess how old a Peruvian is.
Ok on to the part you all really have been reading this far for. CUY GUANO! So we went to a “green” house, that was actually called the white house (casa blanca)…have I lost anyone yet? Well this house was about 2 hours away from the center in Chaclacayo in…Pacaha…something Lima. (sorry I stink at town names). But it was basically a husband and wife team, with assistants, who have a completely 100% green and self sustaining house. They grown their own food, veggies, fruit, and meat, and power their house off of methane gas released from this huge underground digester that basically eats everything that doesn’t go into compost. It was really cool. They run everything that’s usually gas powered off, well basically farts. So the stove and gas lights, and then run a gas generator that powers their indoor lights, tv, and so on. Not to mention the older couple were cute as hell, it was just a fun day.
After the day of cuy farts, I decided I was going to go to this AMAZING pastry shop near my school to buy a postre (dessert) for my dad’s real birthday party we’re throwing today. I got the most amazing apple pie I’ve ever seen…sorry dad, but its true…just…wow, mouth water to look at, I can’t wait to taste it later! I’ll let ya’ll know how it turned out.
Before I leave to go join in on the usually Sunday rituals of a late breakfast and lots of laundry I’ll fill you in on my newest piece of information: I’m going to Alta Puira for field based training the week after next. While I was originally a little sad to find out this information, because I had always associated Puira with the beach…and well flat land--Jorge, one of our AMAZING PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) has a presentation of PCVs sites all around the country. And low and behold…Alta Puria has MOUNTAINS and GREEN STUFF!!! God it looked amazing in the photos. It literally turned me from a grump to the happiest person in the room. Cause ya’ll know I love me some mountains!!!

Ok my laundry is calling, time to go add to these calluses on my hands and do this stuff the old school way! Miss everyone back home! Stay safe ! Love ya’ll, laters!