¡Feliz Navidad!

Each day

is a little different

than the others.

Well I thought I would listen to some Christmas music on my computer to lighten my mood during the holiday away from family and old friends. Although, songs like “There’s no place like home for the holiday” and “I’ll be home for Christmas” did not help much.

The first month in Canchaque has been one to test my resolve. Many thoughts passed through my head, thoughts which the Peace Corps staff said were normal: What am I doing here!? Is this really what I should be doing with my life?

And I have also been struck with days of inaction. When there is no boss checking if you start work at 8am sharp, or noon for that matter, it is quite easy to watch hilarious tv series like “How I met your mother” or “Its always sunny in Philadelphia”.

That’s not to say that I have done nothing during this first month. I have had a few meetings with the Health Post and have made a list of the villages that I will focus on. Luis Humberto is a very organized health promoter that I am really excited to work with. Together we will coordinate meetings with the local water committees to clean out existing reservoirs, and implement a chlorination system to disinfect the water.

On top of this, he really wants me to build Cocinas Mejoradas (literally “better kitchens). Most of the people cook over open fire inside of their homes. Not only is this a very inefficient use of wood, but it causes a lot of lung problems because of improper ventilation. There are a variety of types of stoves that have been designed and tested by Engineers in a University in Lima. They measure the efficiency by how long it takes to boil 5 Liters of water. Some models can do it in 25 minutes, while others take longer (45min). The 25 minute model has a very smallopening, and requires more labor to cut up the firewood, while the 45 minute model takes longer, but requires less work from the women who will be operating it.

45 Minute Model.

Another interesting fact that the Engineers did not take into account was the habits that have been formed from cooking with open fires. Many women have become accustomed to cooking while squatting, close to the ground, and did not like the new models that required them to stand. While it made little sense to the engineers, human habit does play a role in the design process, so they developed a model that is low to the ground.

Floor Model

Most Efficient 25 Min model

Another model has little cubbies to place the livestock (guinea pigs) that would warm up while cooking, keeping their animals warm during the cold seasons. All models have an exhaust out of the house, so that the smoke will no longer cause respiratory issues.

While I have not started any projects to date, I already have a general idea of things that I will be working on. The first three months of service are dedicated to our Community Diagnostic. Unfortunately for me, the first three months in my site are filled with rain rain, and more rain.

I am going to add some variety to my life by teaching an English class during the summer vacation. I made some posters during my free time the other day (about 3 hours for each poster) promoting the classes. It will be interesting to see how many (if any) people will come,

and what ages.

Speaking of school, I got to see the graduation ceremony at the secondary school I will be teaching at. It was really nice, they had a ceremony of the changing of the student council. The new “mayor” of the school just happens to be the new mayors son. They also had a small nativity scene with the students.

Christmas was very relaxed. The tradition is to have a turkey dinner at midnight, with Paneton (a mix of angel fruit cake and our American fruit cake. Actually very tasty) and hot chocolate. To everyone surprise, the power went ou

t around 8pm. It was extremely dark, until everyone busted out their LED flashlights (technology spreads fast). We had a candlelit dinner with champagne, Turkey and duck. The hot chocolate was delicious, very rich. It was a nice night, followed by gifts in the morning. I bought my little host siblings some paints and a new candy red Hot Wheels car. I also gave out some candy canes which my mom sent to me.

As lonely as it is being away from family, friends, and my wonderful girlfriend, my new host family did a great job of filling the void. Merry Christmas and happy new year to everybody!

I am officially a Volunteer...now the real fun begins!

FBT PHOTOS- Training in the north of Peru, and visiting my new home

PHOTOS- Thanksgiving and Swearing in Ceremony

HOME - A few snapshots of my bedroom in Canchaque

The past two weeks have been nothing short of a whirlwind of paperwork, fiestas, great food, great entertainment, and goodbyes.

I have finished my 10 weeks of training, obtained an "intermediate mid" level of spanish and made a lot of close friends. Its going to be hard moving away from everyone. We are all going to different departments across the country, and it will be one year before we see each other again. So much can happen in a year, and I am excited to see what everyone else will be up to (although they say we should not compare our projects with anyone else)

Everything has been building up to this point. The months and months of waiting for the Peace Corps office to get back to me, the weeks of technical training, hours of stumbling over hard pronunciations, the pounds and pounds of rice and potatoes, heaps of ají and all the hora locas.

...............

12-7-11

My new site is beautiful, its starting to really feel like home. I bought a new bed, sheets, coffee mug, and dresser. Okay, so my room is starting to feel like home. Its been a little hard for me to get out of my comfort zone. But today was good: I went to the health post and talked to different counterparts who I will be working with to do my Community Diagnostic.

The Community Diagnostic is a document that I need to compile in the first three months. There are different activities that I orchestrate to help the community figure out what their strength and weaknesses are. I also go around house to house doing surveys to see who actually has the basic services: Running water, toilets, sewage, trash service ect. After the three months, I compile all the info and figure out what projects I should be doing for the three years.

Peace Corps training taught me that doing this Diagnostic can be very frustrating, but perseverance is the key. In America, if you talk to someone about a meeting, and they say they will come, it is considered rude and overbearing if you call them to check if they are really coming. In Perú, the importance of your meeting is directly related to how often you mention it to the person. If they don’t come to your meeting, its really your fault for not reminding them about it 5 times. Perseverance is hardwired into the culture. If someone wants to get a hold of me, they wont call once and leave a message. They will call 15 times in an hour. Its not rude, its just the way things are done.

On a side note, my host mom is going to teach me how to make café liquor tomorrow! Excited about that too. I will try to make these blog posts more frequent, and exciting for that matter. Miss you all.

Photo time!

Field Based Training

The past few weeks I have been traveling to other volunteers sites, seeing projects and listening to the wise words of those who have come before me.

We took an overnight bus north about 8 hours to the department of La Liberdad. We arrived in the regiounal capital of Trujillo around 7am and ate a small breakfast of beef empanadas and bananas. Then guess what? another bus! after about an hour ride up the mountains, we stopped at the side of the road next to a small adobe house. Here we met Brian, a volunteer who has been living in a small mountain town (Otuzco) and making a daily commute to the surrounding small villages.

From there, we lathered up in sunscreen and hiked for about 30 minutes down a valley of Eukaliptus trees, across a river on a small wooden suspension bridge and up the other side of the mountain. We met up with a small Peruvian man who is the operatore of the water system that services about 30 families. We hiked another 20 minutes up the mountain to inspect the different components of the gravity fed water system. It was fairly new, built by Engineering without Borders, a NGO from Spain.

Later we inspected a "Eco Bathroom", an oder free toilet that recycles human waste into fertilizer. Basically it seperates solids and liquids with a nifty toilet. After going #2, you throw in a handful of lime or ash to keep the pit dry. Once full, you let it sit for 6 months and presto! great fertilizer.

Okay well there is a lot more of this story, but it going to have to wait. In the mean time, enjoy the photos below!

Halfway through training!

Its hard to believe that I am already halfway through my training. This past week was quite different that all the others. We had Field Based Training, meaning that my group of 19 went on a field trip 5 hours south of Lima.

Driving down the Pan American Highway revealed some amazing views of the Pacific. Between the sand dunes and steep rocky cliffs, I saw the waves crashing onto the sand. The sunset was also really breathtaking.

The first site we visited was in Cañete. We visited two married volunteers who had been living in a small pueblo outside the city for about a year. It was really nice to actually see some of the projects we will be doing in the future, instead of just having lectures about it.

The first day, Dan showed us how the gravity fed water system worked. We walked from the canal, past the pre-sedimentary tank and along the distribution line. The system serves a village of 85 families, who work in the chacras (farm land) surrounding their small community. We walked past potatoes, apples, artichoke, alfalfa, and many exotic fruits (Lucama, mariculla, pepino to name a few). Cañete is a desert climate, but the canal coming from the mountain provides water for the chacra and the village.

The quality of the water varies throughout the year. In the spring, when there is rain in the mountains, there is a lot more sediment in the water. This often causes issues with the simple water system, because it requires more maintenance of the settlement tank. There are only two people who “work” with the system, and they do it without being paid.

Often, people in the villages have to relearn how the system works, because information is not passed down, and there are no diagrams of where different components are located, and most people done know how it functions. This is why the Peace Corps stresses capacity building, training and education. If you find money and build something to help a village, it won’t mean much if there is not someone who knows how to maintain it.

After the water passes through the system to a tank above the village, it moves through a basic sand filter to remove larger particles. In a proper water treatment plant, chlorine is added to kill bacteria and viruses, but this village is not as fortunate. Everyone needs to boil their water before drinking it, otherwise they will get sick (often in the form of diarrhea or vomiting).

One of my main tasks in Peace Corps will be to facilitate Behavior Change. Its one thing to have town meetings about the importance of washing hands, boiling water, and using the bathroom in proper places, but it is a whole other thing to change the habits of people who have been doing something one way their entire life.

Day two, we learned about solid waste management. Yes, that’s right, I work with bathrooms and trash. Many volunteers work with the municipality to implement recycling programs. As it is now, no one recycles, even though plastic bottles, paper and tin cans are worth money. There are only 3 landfills in Perú, meaning that most towns just collect the trash and dump it a pile in the desert. Many times, there is no trash collection, and people just burn their trash. Everyday I smell the fumes of plastic and paper.

Although there is an informal recycling industry, it is dangerous for the people who do it. Basically people dig through these huge piles of burning trash looking for plastic bottles, without any protection on their hands or mouth. Many get lung cancer or other illnesses from the rotting trash they dig through.

Many Peace Corps Volunteers create pilot recycling projects, sometimes working with other NGOs. In Nazca, one volunteer created a program with 500 houses, with collection twice a week. It was great to see how much one person could do for a community.

The last two days were in Ica, a very hot and dry city in the south of Perú. We toured a school and saw how a volunteer started a recycling program there. The students use the money from the program to improve their “green spaces” in the school, buying flowers and trees.

The whole trip was quite amazing. The food was great: Sopaseca, chicharones, tamales and the Pisco. The last day we went on a dune ride: unbelievable. In addition to the rollercoaster like drops we drove down, we sandboarded and used sleds to ride down the fine sand. I have a lot of videos, but not sure how soon I will be able to upload them.

That’s all for now! My birthday is next Friday and the Monday after that, we find out where we will be placed for the next two years! I will let you know soon.

Oh PS: we got our phones! My number is 51-979-585-414.

Solo fotos, nada mas

The futbol field outside of my house has soccer ever sunday. we sit on the roof, with great view

They play until sunset

Last saturday, the water sanitation program visited Ayas, a town of 85 families about an hour and a half away from my host community. we hiked for about 2 hours to inspect their gravity fed water system. The view along the way was stunning.

Visit of Ayas

Town of 85, at 2500 meters above sea level

A short rest, about an hour hike above the town.

Sunday:

The town of Santa Eulalia has a festival every year called Pachamanca. It even has the guiness book world record for the largest amount of Pachamanca. It has three types of meat, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, all slowcooked in the ground with hot rocks. Very very filling and delicious

This is my host mother. I am the 7th volunteer she has hosted, but all the others have been girls. She is very understanding and hospitable. She makes cakes for special occasions, but mainly attends to the household. She is very motherly towards me, and always reminds me not to drink cold things at night, because it will give me a cold.

Videos!

Video 1: Procession of the cross- when the spaniards converted the Incans to catholisism, they put crosses onto the mountains that the Incans worshiped. So now there is a tradition of carrying crosses from town to town. This video is from the first night I got to my host family

Video2- This is the party we had with the church after the procession, with free food, free drinks and free dancing. My mom is part of the church group and so she helped prepared everything. This is the convent, where they have pet llamas.

Video3-Hora Loca. So last saturday I went to a 2year olds birthday party. It was very intense, with clowns, a walking mini mouse and all sorts of treats. Then at one point, it became hora loca (crazy hour), where the clown sprayed us with silly string and handed out whistles and balloons and crazy colored hats and snake ties and all sorts of stuff. it was probably the most intense hour of my life. later that night, another volunteers host grandfather was turning 70.

He had a 5 horn band, a harp, a violin and beer for all. About 20 volunteers showed up, as well as his family. It was in a small barrio higher up in the mountains, and the view at night was stunning. After about two hours of dancing around to the saxiphones, all of a sudden a whistle blew....and guess what? This 70 year old man had the exact same hora loca, dancing clowns and all. And when I say dancing clowns, I mean they were grinding, hardcore.

Sorry the internet is supper slow and I cant upload all the videos now. I will soon though