Have I Become a Complete Tree Hugger? aka Down with Water Wasters aka Spilt Milk?

I guess I would say I have always had hippie tree-hugger tendencies. I have actually always been kind of proud of that part of my personality. Maybe I’m not Al Goring it up preaching about an inconvenient truth, but I’ve always thought about the environment and my impact on it. It seems, however, that what was once a passing preoccupation, something always somewhere in my mind (but not usually in the forefront) has become one of the most important things in my life. And what a strange place to make that transition, here in Perú where things are supposedly more natural. I come from the world’s biggest polluter to a place where there are fewer factories and chemicals start to see the real impact of humanity on our world. I think things are just more obvious here. Most places in Perú are littered with mountains and mountains of trash. Literally. In the desert where I live you can see miles and miles of trash laying in the desert. Maybe that’s what has made me think more about it. Who knows?

So here’s the story of what brought on this particular blog entry. I recently (the beginning of August) moved into a new house. In my old house there was no running water in the house. We had a little faucet thing outside in the corral and when the water came at 8am until 10am everyday, we filled up huge garbage cans for the day. Due to our lack of readily available water we were pretty cautious about how we used it. While my old host family had other very environmentally damaging habits (like the way they, and everyone, disposed of their trash) they were pretty good with the water. When I moved to my new house I was excited about the fact that we have water in the house. In my new little town the water comes 2 times a day for about 2 hours at a time. Every morning we fill up HUGE tanks of water and a few big buckets. There is a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet (I know that seems obvious but here you’re lucky to have all three of those things in your house), we have a kitchen sink, and there is a little place to do laundry (by hand of course). I was excited, that is, until I saw how much water the family wasted. Most of the faucets leak, A LOT. And when they aren’t leaking often the family just leaves them running. They throw out huge amounts of water because it’s a bit dirty and won’t even let me use it for the plants, insisting that the dirt will kill the plants. In general they are just very wasteful and we usually run through every drop in the huge tanks by nightfall. In this town everyone pays a fixed amount of 12 nuevo soles (about $4) per month for water. It doesn’t matter if you use one drop or try to build a lake in your house, like my family did. A bit of background so you can understand my living situation.  (I even put a diagram above)
  
The front and backdoor have different keys. I only have the keys to the back door. My door doesn’t actually have a handle or anything. On the inside I have one of those little slide locks and on the outside (into the hallway) there are two hooks where I put a padlock when I leave. Usually when I leave I lock the backdoor and then padlock my hallway door and leave through the front door. Therefore, I have to enter through the front door so that I can un-padlock my door. Understand? Yeah anyway. That’s what I did this particular day. When I got home, there was no one else there and the front door was locked. So I went around back and went into my room. However, that means I was basically trapped in there and couldn’t visit the rest of the house. I don’t normally mind and figured I’d just wait for everyone to get home then I’d go around the house and un-padlock my door. I heard a strange whiney noise but just figured it came from the neighbors. When the family got home they called me and I went around front to see what was going on. That is when I encountered the lake that was our kitchen and living room. They had forgotten to turn off the knob for the water and when it came again in the afternoon it kept running and running and running overflowing everything. There was literally about 4 inches of water covering the living room and kitchen (luckily for me all the floors are different levels and mine is about 6 inches higher so the water didn’t come into my room). It had to be more than 50 gallons of water. More. I tried to reuse the water, watering and washing all the plants. Watering the street (so the dust doesn’t come in my room). Washing things. Whatever I could do so that we weren’t just dumping tons and tons of drinkable water down the drain. The family couldn’t understand why I would do that. They were ok dumping all the water down the drain. Mind you, I live in the freaking desert. There are 1000s of people within 10km of me that don’t have water. No one can plant gardens b/c they don’t have water. People who used to live off agriculture go weeks without fresh food because there is no water for their plants. And my area is better off than many places in the world. I just finished reading about Niger where people will wait in line for days to get a bucket of mud and try to suck the water out of that, drinking the dirt and parasites and everything that comes with it because that is all they have.

Now I realize me saving a bottle of water, won’t directly help those dying in Africa or even in other parts of Perú, but it does make a difference. Anyway, maybe I’m overreacting but I almost teared up thinking of how much water was being wasted. I know that the mini-lake in my house had some comedic value but more than anything I felt sad and really angry. I tried to convince them to save it in one of the big buckets we have and I would use it for the next week for the plants, but they again said plants can’t have water that has dirt in it (from the dirty floor) and that those buckets were for drinking water (we use that water to wash clothes). I know its water, but I was a bit heartbroken. I’m trying and trying to convince the people here we need to take care of our earth by preserving water, not throwing our garbage all over, reusing and recycling everything we can. In a place where people are worried they may not have something to eat tomorrow, taking care of the environment is their last concern. To them its just extra work, however, they don’t understand that the extra work they do today could help them have more, healthier things to eat and a better life tomorrow. I try to remember we are coming from different worlds but it’s hard. It feels like an uphill battle. Hell not even uphill. It’s like I’m standing at the bottom of the hill trying to climb up while all of Perú throws buckets of perfectly usable water and trash down on me.

A while back I met a PC volunteer who just finished her service in Paraguay. She was telling me that she was teaching organic farming and then one year the rains didn’t come and all the crops died. They ate a bowl of noodles and an onion everyday for months. And that’s it. One bowl of noodles with one onion. She said that she still thinks organic farming and trash management and recycling and all that is important but during those months she would have put anything on the plants to have something besides an onion to eat. It just makes me think of how much of a gap there is between my reality in the US and the reality here. It also makes me wonder about places that are worse off. All over South America the quality of life is improving (especially on the coast of Perú where I live). In other places in the Middle East and Africa and even other parts of South and Central America it’s still much much worse. There is no water. There are no plants. People are starving and no amount of handouts can change that. Imagine having a bucket of mud/animal poop/trash and putting that up to your lips trying to suck whatever drops of water you could out of it and even then only drinking a few drops so you can give the rest to your animals. It sounds unreal, but it isn’t. It happens everyday. 

I guess I’m still trying to figure out how to balance the economic reality of Perú with my ideals and desire to protect our poor, dying world. They say “don’t cry over spilt milk”, but what about over spilt water?

Living in Fear
Ask most of the PC volunteers in Perú and they will tell you one thing that is hard to get used to here is the way everyone lives in fear. Always. Especially women. They are afraid to walk by themselves, they are afraid to cross the street by themselves, they are afraid to start something new, they are afraid to eat this or drink that, they are afraid of the air that comes in through an open car window, cold beer (or drinks in general), bugs, everything. The most common phrase I hear here is “cuidado” or BE CAREFUL! Usually being screamed at me by a spastic mother as I do something (not so risky) like try to cross the street or step over a hole. Lord only knows the fear that strikes the hearts of the people who watch me when I do something really risky like climb a hill or ride a bike or walk across a knee high river. The next most common phrase “es peligroso” (it’s dangerous). That nasty moving air, very dangerous. Drinking a cold beverage on a hot day- that’s past dangerous, that’s deadly. I’m not even kidding. People will tell you that drinking something cold (especially a beer) will KILL you. The other day my host mom chastised me because I forgot to put the cover on the drain and the dirty water might clog it and that would be very very dangerous. Why is a clogged drain very very dangerous? I’m not particularly sure but I think it had something to do with the fact that when we tried to unclog it we might get sucked down inside, or maybe a monster will grow there. Who knows? Granted I understand that this is a stereotype. Not everyone in Perú is afraid of everything. I also understand that volunteers are living in some of the poorest parts of the country and the education level is much lower. With a lower education level always comes a lack of knowledge and view of the bigger (not quite as scary) picture. I have spent a lot of time trying to analyze this fear (and more time trying not to go crazy and slap the next person who freaks out and tells me to be careful). 

This morning I was talking to my host mom and had a bit of a revelation. I live about 45 minutes out of a relatively big city in Perú. This city, I think PC has some rule about how I’m not supposed to give away the location of volunteers so we’ll call it city C (ah fear), is growing really rapidly. I have only been here a year and in this year 2 new shopping centers have been built. Two of the biggest grocery story chains have come in. We’re getting a Starbucks (ah globalization). It’s growing really fast. Which brings me back to my host mom. She was telling me that when she was younger C-city was still really tranquilo (tranquil). She said that people left their doors open. There were only a few streets. No buildings with more than 2 floors. Two small grocery stores. Nothing really. Which made me think, most of the growth in C-city has taken place in the past decade or so, and if it has changed so much in a year, imagine how huge the change must be for my host mom. She has lived all her life in tiny places that could hardly be called towns, with one or two dirt roads, where everyone (until recently) lived off their own gardens and the things they grew and produced. 

Now that C-city is growing so much, people are flooding in looking for work. Crime is increasing, no one leaves their doors unlocked, and in general it is turning into a city. Big and bustling with all the good (more jobs) and bad (more crime/pollution) that comes with it. For me, it’s a city. I have lived in cities before. I know about crime and bustling streets (although Peruvian cities tend to be more chaotic and disorganized than those in the States), therefore the change doesn’t affect me in quite the same way. However, looking at it from my host mom’s point of view, I guess I can see how it would be pretty scary. News in the States is pretty sensationalistic but here, it’s worse. All you ever hear about is this accident or that murder or some riot somewhere. While these things always existed, people are just starting to hear more about them (TV is also relatively new). I suppose to go from your tiny little world where you only know what is happening with your neighbors and family to a world that is suddenly connected with roads, cell phones, TV, internet, all that stuff can be pretty startling. 

HOWEVER (there is always a however), for me, this fear is one of the biggest reasons (or excuses) why people don’t advance. The world is always going to be a bit scary, but it doesn’t do anyone any good to dwell on it. Obviously we should be careful about some things, but do we really need to spend all day worrying about this or that or being afraid some one will murder/kidnap/rob/etc. us? Remember that old advice song or whatever that came out in the 90s by Baz something or other? “Don’t worry about the future or worry but know that worrying is as affective as trying to solve an algebra problem by chewing bubblegum.” (I love that song) There is such a tendency for people to be afraid of change. People don’t like to step out of their comfort zone. I still don’t know if it’s just because things are changing so rapidly and it startles them, or if its tied to the machismo, or maybe its something cultural, or whatever, but there is such a tradition of complacency. Complacency does not lead to a better quality of life. Complacency does not lead to advancement or even happiness. It leads to fear of anything new or different. It also leads to me banging my head against the wall trying to work with people who are so complacent and afraid of change. I guess I have one more year to try and figure it out. Any ideas?

You know you're a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru when:

- You come home and find a plastic bag of live pigeons in your kitchen

- When you come home later you find feathers from those same pigeons all over the kitchen

- And the next time you come home you’re given a piping hot bowl of pigeon soup- and you eat it.

- Dog bites are common

- It takes 17.5 forms to get anything done

- Having water in your house (let alone a bathroom) is a privilege

- You haul chicken poop around in little bags then precede to drink fermented corn with your unwashed hands, and enjoy it

- Turkey attacks are also common

- Your blonde hair suddenly makes you the most interesting person in the world

- Someone asks if you are so white because you bathe with bleach (silly people I don't bathe)

More to come.

Oh and here's some more pics of the APEC conference

The most important part of any conference is they give you something to eat

Look at me being all happy and formal, it didn't last long

Don't we look important- we're not really

You know you are in the Peace Corps when you've ripped your own toenail off on purpose more than once in the last 6 months- and it didn't gross you out

At least if I´m treading water I´m not drowning

Things are trucking along at the same slow pace I suppose. At least on the work front. I finished my report for Peace Corps today about what projects I’m doing and how they are going etc. and realized that even though I almost always feel busy, I’m not getting too much done. It made me really think about what differences I’m actually making. I was feeling pretty bummed about it but then talked to a good friend of mine in the capital. He pointed out that my host family now eats at least 3 vegetables a day (besides potatoes) and that there are a slew of kids that love me and follow me everywhere. Then he started talking about the time we spend together. I guess I realized that my biggest changes are going to be personal (both on my part and on the part of the Peruvian with whom I work). Maybe I’m not exporting of forming huge business but I’ve made great friends. I’ve realized that 8 times out of 10 if I’m having a rough day here, I don’t call my Peace Corps friends (although I love them dearly) I call someone in the capital. I guess that’s progress right?

I Wanna Be a Supermodel

Well not really but I have been quite the figuretti these days. Last week the APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Conference) was in Chiclayo and I was asked (along with two other volunteers) to translate for the artisans displaying their projects. It was an adventure. There were a lot of complications, to many to discuss, and very few benefits (we weren’t given credentials, transportation, pay) but all in all it was fun. It was great to spend the week with the PC girls and we met some interesting people from around the world. I also made some interesting (and some over persistent) contacts in Chiclayo. I met a ton of journalist (that’s where the figuretti part comes in- apparently gringas make the best models for photos). Another nice benefit was good food! We were really only left with whatever the delegates didn’t eat but the nice thing is that because the delegates were comprised of finance ministers from around the world the caterer prepared a lot of food. And it was good! Actually, I was told by a lot of people that it was sub par but when you’re a Peace Corps volunteer, sub par can be pretty damn tasty. There were even vegetables of all sorts of colors! Overall, it didn’t feel at all like PC. Everyday I got dressed up in business casual to formal attire. I acted all formal. I talked to important people. It was great. A little peak of life outside of PC.
In the comings and goings of the crazy week I also had a few other adventures. The new volunteers just got to site so I took some time out to meet them. There are about 6 coming to my department and they all seem really great. We even found some time to party it up a lot. I absolutely adore the people who are already in my department. I have great friends, however, it was nice to get some “fresh meat”. New friends, new personalities, new stories. Its good to have them around especially after having a fairly messing falling out with some one who was one of my best friends here.
The other thing about new volunteers coming in is that it drew my attention to the fact that I have now been at site for over a year. One more to go. It’s hard to believe the time passed so rapidly. I am sure the next year will go just as fast. It makes me think about all the things I’m missing back home. Like my dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you! It also made be reflect a bit on what I have (and haven’t done) and what I’d like to get accomplished. With that it kinda lit a fire under my butt to really start figuring out what I’m going to do with my life after PC. I started studying for the GMAT a while back but not to seriously and didn’t think much of it because I am not taking it till December, however, I’m realizing that December isn’t actually all that far off and I have a lot more to do. It’s pretty intimidating. Where will I live when I get back? How will I get a job? Where? What do I do about a car? Going to grad school? Will my old friends even still be around and if so will we still be friends? I’ve lost contact with a large majority of the people from my past already and I’ve only been here a year. What will happen in the next year? Its going to be an adventure that is for sure. Hopefully at least some people will stick around till I get back. I don’t want anyone to wait for me and postpone their lives until I get back (except Becky- Don’t get married till I’m back, I want to be there!). I know people need to keep pushing on, I just hope that pushing on doesn’t leave me too far behind.
So after a week of diplomacy, dressing up, not sleeping, losing friends, making new ones, and some crazy welcome and goodbye parties, I suppose its time to moving along and trying to be a good little busy bee. Time to play super volunteer. We’ll see how that goes