It has been an adventuresome few weeks. At least life is always interesting here.
At the end of July I went on vacation for Fiestas Patrias with two good friends from Peace Corps. We decided to keep things pretty chilaxed so we headed up north to Los Zorritos, Tumbes. It’s a really quiet, peaceful beach town. The hostel we stayed at was incredibly beautiful and peaceful and pretty much exclusively ours for the nights we were there. We ate good food, hung out on the beach, hit up some mud bathes and just hung out. Lot’s of reading in a hammock and deep intellectual conversations. I also had a lot of time for reflection on what I am doing here (or what I’m not). The two women who went with me both live in the sierra and it was interesting to hear how different our experiences (especially with machismo) are. After a few really relaxing days there we went back down the coast to meet up the rest of the PC crew that was having a wild time on the beaches of Mancora. We ate good food and hopped on a bus back to Chiclayo.
After saying goodbye to my friends I headed back out to site and got ready for the next biggest change I will experience for a while. I moved families. My regional coordinator came out to talk to my old host family and tell them PC wanted me to move. It was really... awkward. And sad. Mainly cause I am going to miss my puppy. She sat there and starred at me. I think she knew something was wrong but couldn’t figure out what. It’s ridiculous how much I love that dog. She’s a dog. I know, but she’s my best companion at site. I guess the move will also inspire me to find new sources of support (maybe even human ones). So it was settled. I moved the first days of August.
Well I moved my stuff into the new house (where I still didn’t have a door) and then packed up a bad to go on a field trip with some people from my community (including my new host sister).
My counterpart and I went with 8 people from my community up to Chachapoyas, Las Amazones to visit and learn about some the tourist and agribusiness sites. It was incredible! I loved being there. The people were incredible. Super helpful, there were almost no creepy men whistling and hissing at me. I never felt like people were trying to take advantage of me. It was also really beautiful. The department of Los Amazones is technically jungle but Chachapoyas is nestled in the mountains at about 2800 msn (8400 feet). We visited Kuelap (an ancient Chacha town and fortress), and the caves of Quiocta (an ancient burial cave), as well as a lot of places that make lactose and fruit products. It was really interesting, educational, and inspiring. I definitely got frustrated a few times with some of the people from my community who were constantly complaining and asking for things (on an all expense paid field trip). We’re still working on addressing the ingratitude of many people. However, my counterpart and the people who were hosting us were so wonderful and such great companions. I recommend Chachapoyas to any traveler. They have some of the most amazing archeological ruins and beautiful landscapes.
From there I came back into Chiclayo waited around, visiting people for a while and than hopped back on a bus with a friend to head into Lima for my 1 year med checks. Know what that means? I have been in site for a year. I can’t believe how fast it went. One volunteer said it best when she said the days crawl by as slow as possible but the months fly. Lima was insane. It was a huge adventure. I met up with the entire business group and we had one day of overlap with the youth group, who had spent the entire time partying, hard. We business people are slightly more tranquilo. The first night we went out big with everyone. The second and third nights I didn’t hang out at all with Peace Corps people really. I met a bunch of crazy British people who kept me very entertained. We literally didn’t sleep for over 50 hours (on my part at least 50% of my reasoning for not sleeping was that I got violently ill and spent a good part of the night running to the bathroom). Tuesday was spent running from my bed to the bathroom. I don’t know the last time I threw up so much. It was far from pleasant. Then on Wednesday we had a meeting with the Peace Corps doctors who gave us the STI/HIV lecture and scared the crap out of everyone. There are about 500,000 more new cases of HIV every year than there are in the States. And Peru isn’t even ¼ the size of the States! Scary huh? So after being scared away from any type of sexual relationship with a Peruvian I headed out to visit with my old host family outside of Lima. I miss them so much! It was so great to be with them. They treat me like family. I hung out with my sisters all day long and then my host parents came home and I spent the night catching up with them. I am really lucky to have a family like them here in Peru. No one could ever replace my real family but it is nice to have people that love and care about me here in Peru. I love them a lot. The next day I met the new trainees and present my years work and a few other charlas. Nothing too exciting. It was kinda fun to meet the new volunteers but I think they are far along enough in their training that the last thing they want is more advice and more volunteers telling them about our experiences. Not that I blame them. I felt the same way when I was where they are. They only have about 1 week left before they ship out. That will be nice for them. So anyway.
The next few days was just hanging out with friends (and being really sick). Some people went out but I ended up getting sick. BOO sickness. On Friday I met two volunteers that just finished their service in Paraguay. It was great talking to them. I really enjoyed them. We ended up going out for a very relaxing time. A few beers. It was so great. Then I met a couple of other people from Lima who ended up being great. I hung out with them yesterday and then back on another bus and here I am in Chiclayo again.
So that was my almost month long adventure in a nutshell. I am killing some time in Chiclayo and trying to catch up on some emails before heading back out and trying to figure out the second half of my service.
Its pretty nerve wracking having to renegotiate money and house rules with a new family, try to figure out what new projects I can start, and get back into the swing of things. It’s going to be difficult. I guess that’s Peace Corps though. It’s been an inspiring month and I have lots of good new ideas. The hard part will be maintaining the motivation and actually getting them in action. We’ll have to see.
That’s that. By the next time post I will hopefully be settled into a new house, with a new family, with a new job, without my puppy
PS! For pics of Chachapoyas go to http://picasaweb.google.com/
smuhlba bookmark that page as that is where I will be putting my fotos!
