The Anticipation Is Finally Over!

After waiting for what seemed like FOREVER, I finally got to visit my site and get a taste for where I'll be spending the next two years of my life. For the most part, I'd say it was a great experience, but as I've quickly learned here, you have to be prepared for the unexpected here and that was definitely the case!

As I mentioned in the last entry, we took an overnight bus from Chiclayo to Cajamarca city and arrived at 4:15 in the morning. Our coordinator was there to meet us at the bus and take us to our hostel. Thank goodness because we were all completely delirious and couldn't do anything but laugh. We probably would have slept on the street that night if he weren't there to get us because we were pretty helpless considering the incredible lack of sleep we were all feeling. My friend Jessica was having such a hard time sleeping on the bus that she decided to make the best of it and have a little feast at 3 am. So right there on the bus she opened a can of tuna (yes tuna) and a carrot that she peeled with her swiss army knife. She also had a headlamp on to do this so you can imagine how much the people on our bus loved us (not to mention we were talking and laughing a lot at how crazy this whole situation was). At least we weren't crying.

Anyway, José picked us up and brought us to our hostel. However, when we arrived, they told us they only had one of the three rooms they had promised him. He got really upset because he had purposely cancelled our reservation somewhere else because they told him we'd have to be out of the rooms by 10 am. This place promised him three rooms and said we could stay in them as long as we wanted. Oh boy. So at 4:45 am we left to find another hostel. We actually really lucked out in the deal because we got to stay in this beautiful hostel right on the Plaza de Armas. We woke up in the morning (well I guess I should say afternoon) and stepped outside to see that we were right next to this beautiful old church. It was pretty incredible. Not to mention the fact that it had HOT showers and cable TV - honestly, what more could we ask for. We were living large in Cajamarca!

As for the city itself - incredible doesn't even begin to describe it. Based on the different places we visited on Field Based Training, I can honestly say we will be living in the best department. Don't get me wrong, I love the beach, but there is something so charming and quaint about life in the sierra that you can't replace. Even in my delirious state, I knew from the moment I arrived that I was going to love it here. The city is much cleaner than others I've been too (we actually saw trash cans on the streets and people using them, not to mention people cleaning the streets at 4 am!!) and has a bit of a European feel to it. Perhaps it's because it was the first place the Spanish arrived during the Inquisition (I think I got that right). Whatever it is, I love it. The city is also surrounded my mountains, and not just any mountains, green ones! I've had a great time living in Santa Eulalia, but I've really missed seeing green vegetation. I didn't realize how important it was for my happiness and well-being until I arrived in Cajamarca and felt a huge sense of relief. I'm so glad I was placed in the sierra. I think I'm really going to love it here.

After getting in so late (or early depending on how you look at it), we slept until noon and then met up in the early afternoon with José and two current volunteers who live right near the city. We all went out to lunch and toured a little bit of the city (visited the market, a great lookout point, and Baños del Inca - some hotbaths I'll be frequenting often). Before dinner, some of us had to get bus tickets out to our sites for the next day. So while some of our friends got to lie down or check internet (for FREE at our hostel!), Jessica and I went on a wild goose chase with José in try to buy our tickets. Somehow the office had changed locations in one day so we drove all over the place trying to figure out where to buy our tickets. After a loooong two hours, we finally had the tickets. We went to dinner at a delicious restaurant that night that must cater to gringos. They had things like vegetable fettucini alfredo, hamburgers, greek salad, and BLTs on the menu. Everything was incredible and we were all so excited to be eating vegetables and foods we love! After dinner, Lindsay, Jessica and I went on a mission to find some good desserts. You'd think this would be an easy task, but the cakes here are very deceiving. They all look delicious, but then you take a bite and they're incredibly dry on the inside. We call them PCs (Peruvian cakes - I know, really original). We were determined to find something that lived up to our standards. We had heard of this excellent ice cream place, but they were already closed (10 pm on Sunday night) so we took the risk and went to a place that sold pies and cakes. We got a slice of cheesecake, chocolate cake, and pecan pie and I'm happy to report they were all three excellent. It was a great way to top off the evening and get ready for our departures to our sites the next day.

Jessica and I were supposed to leave on a bus for Bambamarca at 11 am. José didn't pick us up from the hostel until 10:50 so we were obviously getting a little worried, but we were forgetting that we now have to live by "la hora peruana". Of course our bus didn't actually leave until about 11:45 so we had plenty of time. We traveled to Bambamarca with two other volunteers, Rory and Heidi (who incidentally was my roomate our first two days in DC) because they will be living near a town called Chota about an hour and a half north of us. The bus ride isn't so bad - it could definitely be a lot worse. The scenery is absolutely beautiful, but you can definitely tell we are way out there. I think on the whole 4 hour ride from Cajamarca city, we pass by a few mines and only one or two towns before Bambamarca. The road also starts out paved, gradually turns into gravel, and ends up in a bumpy, narrow, dirt road. After seeing few signs of civilzation for most of the trip, Bambamarca appears to be quite the bustling metropolis. I've heard there are anywhere from 80 to 200 casarios (surrounding towns or communities) around Bambamarca so a lot of people come into the "city" (of 12,000) to do their shopping, etc. Other than agriculture, I'd say the principal business in the city is just having a tienda (store) to sell goods to the people from the campo (countryside). The good thing is that because there is so much traffic from the surrounding areas, it looks like I'll be able to buy a lot of stuff I need right in Bambamarca (without having to go all the way into Cajamarca).

There were two women waiting for us when we arrived in Bambamarca around 3:30 pm. One was Jessica's counterpart, Isabel, and the other was a woman named Carol, who works at the Centro de Salud with me, but isn't my counterpart. They took us to the Centro de Salud to meet the doctor who is our overall supervisor. I think we have the same supervisor because I'm going to be working with the Centro de Salud that is in charge of the Puesto de Salud (Health Post) that Jessica will be working with (about 30 minutes away). The doctor, Martín, is hillarious and really nice. He seems to be a very caring man and took a lot of interest in getting to know us and find out what we studied and why we're here. I'll be honest, I definitely some a few pangs of, "oh lord what have I gotten myself into," but for the most part, I had a really good feeling from them. It didn't help that we were both starving (we hadn't eaten lunch) and feeling very overwhelmed about the whole situation in general. I think we both kept thinking, what are we doing here?

While walking to the health center we ran into three women and a little 3 year old boy. I thought they said it was my host family, but then I asked the oldest woman where she lives and she said she lives in the campo about 45 minutes away. However, she later brought us to a house to set our stuff down and when I asked whose house it was they said mine and that I'd be living there with her and her family. Apparently the other two women and little boy live there too. I don't know, I was really confused and overwhelmed. Then, poor Jessica was told she had to sleep in Bambamarca that night because there was no car up to her site at that hour (even though it was only 5 pm) and that she shouldn't live there anyway because no one lives there and they don't even have electricity (although she was told by Peace Corps that they do have it - how you miss a detail like that beats me). I felt so bad for her because we had all been really looking forward to this day to finally know where we'd be living and she still had to wait another day.

We returned to the house where I had left my stuff and found out that it was definitely my new host family. We went up to my room and I quickly noticed I didn't have a door to my room. However, no less than 30 seconds after I had this thought, some men came and installed a door (without a doorknob). I was getting a little sad because I wasn't feeling that comfortable in my room - it just didn't feel cozy, didn't feel like home - but tried not to think about it too much. We were able to go to dinner early at a restaurant in town. It was a little strange because they didn't have a menu, they just told us to request something and they'd cook it. Perhaps a tofu and vegetable stir fry served over some organic brown rice, please (haha, yeah right)? When I asked if they had any vegetables he said no, they only have them at lunch time. Okay then, I'll stick with grilled chicken and rice - don't want to get too crazy here. I did see him come out with a plate of grilled onions and tomatoes though so asked for some of those. Don't ask me why they don't qualify as vegetables, but I was excited to get a little color onto my plate. Of course I had to pay extra for them, but it was well worth it.

Jessica had been invited to sleep over at my house that night, but we decided not to because we figured we'd just spend the night crying together and being nervous. It was time to finally separate and start integrating into our community. My family was eating dinner when I got home and asked me to join them. I sat in the kitchen with my host mom and another woman who turns out to be a daughter-in-law. I still haven't figured out whether or not she lives in the house, but she does eat dinner with us every night. I told them I had already eaten, but I still tried a little bit of what they were eating. It was some stew with potatoes that tasted like beets to me and I don't like beets at all so I was really glad I had already eaten. My host mom is really nice, but kind of quiet. She and the rest of the women all sit on the floor in the kitchen (they had me sit on a bag of potatoes so I wouldn't be on the floor) while the men and I eat in the dining room. I felt really awkward every time we ate like that and wished they'd just let all of the women eat in the dining room. It's a perfect example of all of the machismo that exists here in this country. There is a little window in the wall between the dining room and the kitchen and when the men want more they just go up to the window and hand their plate to my host mom. I felt so bad for her. I asked my counterpart why they do it like this and she said many of the women here feel like it's their duty to serve their family so they sit in the kitchen on the floor to serve everyone. She said I should invite her in to eat with us or ask the men why they let the women eat in the other room on the floor and tell them I'd enjoy their company. I thought it was a really good idea and I'd like to do that someday, but I didn't think my first few nights with them were appropriate.

The next morning (and all the others to follow) we had soup for breakfast. It wasn't that great, and I was already missing my quaker and eggs from home. Santa Eulalia was feeling more and more like home and I really missed my family there. I was told to be at the Centro de Salud at 8 am, but of course the doctor didn't show up until 9:30 (even though he lives right behind it). While I was waiting for him to arrive, I met a woman who had just finished school in Lima and was trying to get a job at the Centro de Salud, and another woman from one of the caserios. They were both really sweet and nice to talk to. It was really interesting because the one woman was there with her son for his 2 year check up. They told her e was really under weight and too small for his age. The other woman was saying that she needs to feed him a more balanced diet and then started asking me about what I eat in the States. At first she said everyone in the States eats fried food all the time, but I told her that wasn't true, that I rarely eat fried food and instead I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. She started talking about nutrition a little and then said that's the difference between a developed country and an underdeveloped country - that we eat fruits and vegetables and they eat rice and potatoes. I felt badly when she was saying that because they have an abundance of fruits and vegetables here and they aren't that expensive. They could eat them too, but most of them just choose not to or don't know they should because they were never raised on eating fruits and vegetables and they aren't educated about it either. Nutrition is definitely a topic I'd like to address while I'm here.

After the doctor arrived I met Rita and Araceli who will be my main counterparts. Araceli is an obstratrice (sp?) and Rita is the coordinator for all of the Health Posts around us that belong to our health network. We had a little meeting about our expectations and goals for my two years and what we're hoping to achieve with the kids. It was fun to talk with them because we have a lot of the same goals. They've wanted to have a program with adolescents for a long time, but they are so short staffed, that they haven't been able to do so in the past. However, now that I'm here to help them, they can start with this program. They want to use the two secondary schools (like high school) in our town as a pilot program for our project and then branch out to the caserios from there. We'll begin by covering basic topics like hygene and cleaning up trash, etc. and then go into self-esteem, values, and leadership. After that we'll touch on heavier topics like sex ed and HIV/AIDS training because they don't receive any of this in their schools and teen pregnancy is a huge problem. There are apparently a lot of girls getting pregnant around 13 or 14 years old! They also would eventually like to set up a program where adolescents can come into the health center and get free counseling. It sounds like a really great program we're going to be doing at the schools so I'm really excited to work with them.

I was definitely getting a little overwhelmed because I feel like they are so excited about this that they want to start on it day one when I get back to the community. However, Peace Corps really recommends that we spend our first 3 months or so just really getting to know the community, analyzing its needs, and integrating ourselves into everyday life. I tried to explain this to Rita and tell her also that I'm a community volunteer, not just a volunteer for the Centro de Salud, but I'm not quite sure if she got it. When I told her I wanted to spend the majority of my time at the beginning building confianza (trust) in the community, and more importantly, the adolescents, she just kept saying, "me too, me too" so I'm not sure what that means. After I thought we got that all cleared up, we went to the schools and talked to the principals about when we can meet with their teachers to pitch our idea and get the program started. Oh boy. I decided that wasn't something I should worry about in the two days I was visiting, we'd get it figured out.

They introduced me to everyone at the health center and I already have a great feeling from them. They are all really nice and very excited that I'm there to help them. I can really see myself becoming good friends with some of them so that was a great feeling. I basically spent the whole day (until 8 pm) with them at the health center because I really like the people and feel very comfortable with them. I did go home for lunch, but left to use the internet after I ate because I just don't feel comfortable. I had a little mental breakdown at the internet because I was feeling so overwhelmed and uneasy about my family. They are really nice, but there is definitely an issue with hygene and security in the house that don't make me feel comfortable. I just kept telling myself though that if it doesn't work out then I don't have to stay there. Tons of people change host families and it's no big deal.

Jessica came half way through the day because she had come to town with her family to buy a mattress. She came to see if I wanted to go along. I couldn't have been happier to see her face. After having a little breakdown at the internet cafe (in front of the doctor's children by the way), I really needed to talk to her. She admitted she had had two so far so it made me feel like I wasn't being completely unreasonable. We were going through a lot of changes and it's completely normal to feel overwhelmed and sad. When I got back to the health center they were all sitting in the conference room having hot chocolate and little cheese sandwiches. It was so cute and something I really needed. They were all so welcoming of me and I felt like I was coming home to a family.

I think I had guinea pig for dinner that night. It was a big plate of rice and the potato stew from the night before (that I had also had for lunch) and some paw of an animal. There was a tiny little leg attached to it that I tried to eat some of the meat off of, but I started gagging because I could see the toenails of the animal starting up at me and I got really grossed out. My stomach had been acting funny anyway for the past few days (I think from trying to adjust to all of the traveling and changes) so I didn't want to push it even further. I know that it can be very offensive to families, especially in the mountains, if you don't eat their food, but I'm sorry. Everyone has to draw their line somewhere and that was the line for me. The next night I wasn't feeling well either and heard them say it was going to be rabit for dinner. Instead of being served the food and not eating it, I decided to just ask for a plate without any meat on it from the beginning. They said yes, of course, but then still served me one with meat. Luckily when I asked the second time I did get it without meat. So that night for dinner I ate boiled potatoes and a huge chunk of cheese. Because of my IBS, I'm not really supposed to eat that much cheese, but since I had already asked for no meat, I figured I better lick my plate clean so they don't think I'm completely disrespectful. Did I mention they served me cow heart for lunch with the potato stew? Needless to say, I didn't eat that either. I'm sure they were offended, but I couldn't do it. I knew I would get sick. I've already requested that I'd like to cook my own meals when I get back because I love to cook and I'm a vegetarian and I don't want them to have to cook differently for the whole family just because of me. My host mom was really nice about it and said it was no problem, but that I could cook for the entire family (13 people ate the other night!) because she's sure they'd love my food. It was really sweet, but I don't want to cook for 13 people for 3 meals a day. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

My family invited me to their aunt's birthday party that night. It was a surprise and we didn't go over there until about 10 pm. When we arrived she was upstairs and we were downstairs. They turned up the music to the maximum volume and we waited until she came down. Her husband had to finally go up and get her because she wasn't coming, but it was cute because she was definitely surprised. The best part is that her 6 and 8 year old kids knew about it and didn't ruin the secret! Then they turned off the lights and sang to her (but not happy birthday yet). Afterwards her husband said something really nice about her and how they recognize this day as being so special because she was born and we all hope she has a great day, etc. Then anyone else in the room who wanted to say something nice about her stood up and did so. It was such a nice tradition. I loved listening to all of the nice things everyone had to say. Her daughter, the 6 year old, didn't want to say anything because she was too shy, but at the end she stood up and said, "Mom, I just wanted to say I love you very much and Happy Birthday and you're the most perfect mom in the whole world."! It was so adorable. Then we were served another dinner. Luckily since I didn't eat my claw for dinner, I was still hungry. I was really scared it would be guinea pig again, but it was rotisserie chicken. Even though I don't particularly like eating chicken on the bone, I've never been happier to have it in my life! After we ate there was a toast and then some dancing. Their kids were incredible dancers and so adorable. The little boy asked me to dance with him. It was really funny because it was a traditional dance from Peru so I had no idea what to do and he was dancing in circles around me. The whole time I was thinking we were just having a birthday party really late because they do everything late here in Peru, but then at midnight they sang Happy Birthday to her (in English! - apparently that's the norm, but I thought they were just doing it because I was there) and cut the cake. I finally figured out that they have the celebration so late because it's the eve of the person's birthday and it starts the day out in a very special way for them! It was a really nice party and I was so glad to have been able to particpate. I'm sure there will be many more to come!

The next day a lot of people from the health center had gone to a conference in Chota so Rita and I went to Apan Bajo to visit Jessica in her site and talk with the people she'll be working with at the Puesto de Salud. Rita wanted to tell them about our program and coordinate with them so we'll all be on the same page. It'll be fun because Jessica and I will have the opportunity to work together sometimes when we do our projects out in the caserios. Martín also told us that we're going to be getting two health volunteers in December! We had no idea about this, but that would be really fun to do cross-sectoral projects with them. Anyway, Apan Bajo is like a whole other world. It's absolutely gorgeous and very calm and quiet. The air is so fresh and clean out there. It reminded me of Little House on the Prarie even though I've never read the books or watched the show - this is how I'd imagine it to be! It'll be nice to escape to visit Jessica when I feel like I need to get out of my city for a night. It felt really peaceful and relaxing to be out there.

Jessica's host grandma had invited us all over for lunch. She served us lentils and rice with fried chicken. It was much better than any of the food I've had at my house, but sooooo much! Rita and I were joking afterwards that it was a monton (mountain) of food. I tried to eat as much as I could, but I don't physically have enough space in my body to fit that much food. She seemed really sad that we weren't eating it all (because Jessica couldn't finish either) so we did our best to explain that we're not used to eating so much, but we loved the food. She kept insisting that we must not have liked it so I finally asked for a bag to take the rest of it home and eat it for dinner (a trick my host family in Santa Eulalia taught me). She was satisfied with that so I felt much better! I didn't think it would be a good idea to bring it home to my family there and tell them I already had dinner so I gave it to a woman with two young kids who looked like they could use the food. It took a while to convince her that it was just a gift and I didn't want anything for it, but she was very grateful in the end and I felt really good that I could make her so happy with just that little gesture. Oh by the way, since Jessica lives in the country, they don't have an actual kitchen, they cook on something called leña (over a fire) that is just in the corner of the dining room. It's so rustic - I loved it! There were also tons of guinea pigs running around the room and under our feet the entire time we were eating. I'm sure you can imagine I wasn't so fond of that.

Rita and I returned to Bambamarca after lunch and spent the afternoon together. I really wanted to meet her 7 year old daughter and she let me use her phone to call my parents. It was really nice to hear their voices, especially since I was feeling pretty homesick. I started crying to them on the phone when I was talking about my home situation. I absolutely love the community and the staff at the health center, but I'm feeling really uneasy about the family. My parents helped me realize that it's not permanent and we'll get it figured out. After my conversation, Rita had made us a snack (she's so sweet) and we started talking about my living situation. I was trying not to tell anyone in my community about it because I didn't want to start any chisme (gossip), but she brought it up. She said she could tell how well Jessica had adapted to her new family and how much she loves life out there in the campo, but she can tell that I still don't feel that comfortable and wanted to know if she could help in any way. I really felt relieved when she asked me that and felt like I could open up about it. After explaining the whole situation to her, she thought I should probably not live in that house and said she wished I could live with her, but she doesn't have any room. She has lived in Bambamarca for 15 years though and her husband is from the city so she said she'd ask him and they'd look for a new family for me. That was really reassuring and made me feel really good that she was that concerned about me.

It was a pretty relaxed night at my house. There were 13 people over for dinner and another woman and I were the only women who ate with the men. It was so awkward because no one talked to me the entire meal. They act like they think I don't speak Spanish even though they know I do. It's frustrating because if it's just me, one-on-one with one of the men in the house then they'll talk to me, but if there is just one other person, then they don't talk to me. After I ate I went downstairs and watched a little TV with my host sisters, but then went to bed early because I was exhausted from all of these changes and adjustments I was making.

I left around 8:30 the next morning to return to Cajamarca city because we were going back to Lima on a bus that left that night. Of course the bus left about 45 minutes late so I made friends with the two men who work for the bus company and was having some deep conversations with them about stereotypes and how we're all human and that people should give outsiders more of a chance. It was a really interesting conversation and when I was leaving, the guys asked me when I'd be back to finish our conversation. I also had an interesting conversation with a woman I met on the bus. She said she had seen the doctor talking about me on TV the other day (because they came to do an interview, but I told them I can't be on the news so he talked about me). She started telling me how her son is 17 and wants to be an elementary school teacher (by 17 they've normally already graduated from high school here). He has the opportunity to get this scholarship to go study in Venezuela and she was asking me if I thought she should let him go. Of course I said yes and just kept talking about what an incredible opportunity it is for him. She showed me her gray hairs she's gotten from worrying about it. I told her that my parents are worried about me too, but that Peace Corps is responsible for me and they take care of me as well as the Peruvians I've met, like her. She was so sweet and really seemed to trust what I was telling her. She said when I come back in Bambamarca in two weeks she's going to go look for me at the health center so she can invite me over to see her house and eat lunch with her family!

Jessica got on in her town and we talked the whole way back to Cajamarca. We'd both been through a lot in the past few days, but are so happy to have each other near by for those really tough days. It was nice to walk around in Cajamarca and be able to stretch our legs before our 14 hour bus ride back to Lima. We ate lunch at the good gringo restaurant again and it felt like it was the best meal I had ever had after the meals I had in my site. We also went to the ice cream store that we had heard about last time, but hadn't been able to visit. The ice cream definitely lived up to its hype and I'm sure it'll be the first place I go to everytime I go into Cajamarca city.

The bus ride back to Lima was really long, but it was fun to catch up with Lindsay about her site visit. We also talked about how much we missed Hana so we choreographed a dance to a song for her. It was so funny - we couldn't wait to show her! We didn't get back home until almost 12 pm that day and were supposed to be in the center for an afternoon session at 1 pm. After not showering for 4 days, I decided I was going to take my time getting ready and eating my lunch. I felt rude running in and out of the house without talking to my abuelita since I had been gone for so long. She was so adorable when I got home and scurried over to answer the door after she saw it was me and gave me the biggest hug telling me how much she missed me! What a great welcome home!

I've been home now for a week and can't believe I have less than a week left here with my family. It's going to be really sad to leave my family here. I've been running around like crazy since I got back so I feel like I've barely seen them at all and now I'm about to leave. OH boy. Anyway, keep checking back because I have lots more to update you on. Love you and miss you tons! Thanks for all of the mail and packages. I had 11 pieces of mail when I got back from the trip! I felt so loved!!

Finally some pictures!

Look at the pictures in reverse order and they will make more sense to you (the first picture I downloaded is the last one shown).



My abuelita, host mom, and Naomi enjoying their Panchamanca. They're so cute!











Me and Hana getting ready to dig into our first Pachamanca. The best part is that you eat it with your hands! For some reason food tastes so much better when you eat it with your hands.










The pit for Pachamanca and all of the food that was cooked in it - beef, chicken, pork, yucca, bananas, fava beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cheese (not in the picture).











This is me helping to take out the food from the Pachamanca that we cooked. It's traditionally cooked in a pit in the ground, but my host uncle replicated it with a pit of bricks and lots of coal covered with banana leaves and wrapped in plastic and tons of blankets to keep it really hot.








My host siblings - Fernando and Naomi.













My host mom holding a cuy - don't get too attached, it'll be eaten any day now....



















All 13 of us who will be going to the department of Cajamarca (youth and business volunteers).











Lindsay, Hana and me the day we got our site assignments (yes I know we look dorky with our Peace Corps folders).











Our training center, where it feels like I've been spending every second of my life for the past 9 weeks. I know it looks like a prison, but it's actually a lot nicer on the insde (it's really open with a courtyard and grass).







The view from my house.















The multi-purpose room in my house where I do my exercises in the morning and where we have Spanish class sometimes.












My cozy room. What luxury I live in here...I'm not ready to leave!















Standing on my front steps, looking down my street (yes it's a dirt road and people water the dirt every morning so it doesn't blow around so much during the day...I'm not quite convinced it works, but they must be since they do it everyday).









My house in Santa Eulalia.

A Taste of Life as a Volunteer

So two weeks ago (Monday, August 7th) we left to go on a 10-day trip up north for Field Based Training (FBT) and our site visits. The small business volunteers did their FBT in two different departments of Peru, but the youth development group all traveled together. During FBT we visited current volunteers to get a better feel for what life is really like as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Our first stop was in a city called Chiclayo in the department of Lambayeque (sp?). It's on the coast and very much has the feel of a beach town. Although more than 500,000 people live there, it didn't feel like a big city. The people there were really warm and friendly. While in Chiclayo, we listened to a panel of 4 current volunteers about some projects they've done in their sites with youth. It was really interesting and gave me a lot of good ideas. Had we not listened to their experiences, I would have thought I could never do the things they described (radio programs, candle making and other crafts, selling friendship bracelets, summer art programs, etc.), but I realized it doesn't matter if I know how to do those things, I can learn with the people and we can do it together. It was really exciting for me to figure this out because before I was getting really worried that I didn't have any "skills" to bring to the table and kept thinking, what in the heck am I going to do with these people? I felt really relieved after our panels and realized I really can do this. (Sorry that was pretty cheesy, but I need to keep telling myself that....)

During our stay in Chiclayo, we split into two groups and went on an overnight trip to two different communities about an hour outside of the city to shadow a volunteer and do a few hands on projects with them. I happened to go to a girl's site who lived with my same host family last year when she was in training. I was so excited to finally meet here because she is practically a celebrity in this household. I'm pretty sure not a day goes by without me hearing a story about her (I'm pretty sure I could tell them all by now) so it was nice to be able to put a face to all of these stories. I sure hope they talk about me as much as they talk about her!! Hopefully they'll remember me for other things other than breaking the family heirloom - just kidding. It was nice to be at her site because she's been living there for almost a year so has really integrated into the community. We got to visit the Centro de Salud where she works and attend one of her youth group meetings. Visiting the health center was a big shock because I didn't realize how much we take for granted how sterile our hospitals are. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as we thought it was, but I was pretty shocked to see pee samples in empty glass coke bottles.

The youth group meeting was fun because we don't get to work with kids very much in training - we usually just practice our stuff on each other. It's so much more valuable to actually work with kids and put all of our training into action. The kids are really shy, but took a lot of interest in us and were so cute (around the ages of 12-18). We played lots of games with them and then did a project of painting our feelings. Children here are rarely given the opportunity to be creative. In the schools, they are taught by rote memorization so are used to just copying whatever they are told to write down. We talked about different colors and what feelings we associate with certain colors. The task was really open and we purposely showed them very abstract examples so they couldn't copy what we did (we did it the day before in our panel). Of course about 80% of the kids did the same thing (painting stripes of the same colors in the same order on their sheet), but they still had fun and got to see all of the different things that can come out of it because we each did one too. It was really interesting to watch the process. They're all so shy, but the volunteers told us that poco a poco you get to see them change and it's so rewarding. Watching the volunteers with the kids and seeing what great relationships they had made with them made me really excited to get to my site and start building the same relationships.

Before leaving Chongoyape (the town we were visiting), we did charlas at a private school. My group was in the 5th grade of high school so the kids we worked with were about to graduate. We did this exercise called "An interview with myself in 10 years" to help the kids understand the importance of having goals for the future. It went incredibly well. The kids behaved really well and participated without copying each other's answers. There was one girl in our group who was so cute and really into the project. She wanted to move to Lima and work as an arcqueologist (sp?)! I was so proud of her for having such an ambitious goal because all the other kids just wanted to stay in the area or move to Chiclayo. They reminded us afterwards that it was a private school so we were working with kids whose parents put a lot of emphasis in education and their futures. It would have been really interesting to then go and do it in a public school and see how different the answers are between the two groups.

From Chiclayo we traveled to Piura (the capital city of the department of Piura). Piura is further north than Chiclayo and a much bigger city. It's going to be Hana's capital city for the next two years so we were scoping out all of the good eateries for her! We met up with 4 more volunteers in Piura for another panel. These volunteers are called "center-based volunteers" which means they are assigned to work with a center (like a home for street kids, a police station, or a ymca-type thing). On the other hand, I'm called a "community-based volunteer" because my work is a little more flexible as I don't have a specific organization I have to work with (we're still assigned to the Centro de Salud though to have a mentor in the community). The panel didn't seem that informative because it was very repetitive of what we had heard from the other volunteers in Chiclayo. I also won't be living in a big city or working at a center so it didn't seem as beneficial to me.

While in Piura, I visited two different centers with volunteers. The first one was a YMCA-type place that has an after school program for children from poor families. Their parents have to pay for the program, but it's really cheap and they get fed a big meal so their parents like to send them there. The volunteer we were visiting has done a lot of things to help those children. She's worked primarily with the adolescents in issues like self-esteem, values, HIV/AIDS, etc. We spent the whole day hanging out at her center to see what types of projects she has done and play with the kids. In the afternoon we did a charla on the physical, emotional, and financial costs of drinking alcohol. The kids were really well behaved and it was obvious how much work the volunteer had done with them. It was really interesting to be there, but I definitely am glad I won't be working in a center. I did get a lot of great ideas from the volunteer though that I might be able to use in my site as well.

The next day we worked at a police station where another volunteer is placed. The police station has a school there and he works with the children at the school, but on Saturday mornings there are over 100 kids that just come to play and eat lunch and then go home after they eat. We were there to help him with that. Good lord was that hard work. First of all it was so hot outside (mind you this is the coldest month of the year here - I would probably die if I lived in Piura) and then the kids were running around like maniacs. He said it's usually more crowd control than anything on those mornings. We broke the kids and ourselves into groups and had 6 stations of games for the kids to rotate between. Even though we were supposed to do the same game every round, we ended up changing our game every time because for one reason or another, they just weren't working. It was pretty funny, but we started to get frustrated because it was so hot and it was so hard to get the kids to cooperate. We were also in the same room they were cooking the lunch so that was making it even hotter. We were only supposed to do that for about an hour, but then the police came and filled the huge courtyard where we had set up soccer and volleyball nets. The police were doing all of these formations and stuff so we couldn't play there. The volunteer said this never happens, but of course it happened that day. We were lucky in that there was a room where we could escape to the shade for a minute and collect our thoughts away from the kids, but the poor kids were stuck out in the hot sun without any water! I felt really bad for them. They all kept running into the bathroom and sticking their heads under the sick to cool down a bit. When it was finally time for lunch, they all had to stand in a long line to wait to enter the little cafeteria thing to eat. Unfortunately it can only fit so many kids so they have to eat in rounds (this was true the day before also). Some of the kids had to wait 45 minutes longer than the others because they had to wait for the first kids to finish eating before they could go in. Peruvians eat a lot slower than we do so that's a long wait. I felt so bad for the kids because it was so hot and even I was getting cranky from not eating so I can't imagine how they felt. I've noticed though that Peruvians don't seem to be aware of this in general (that's obviously a huge stereotype). The day Hana and I went to Lima with my host mom and siblings and didn't eat lunch until almost 3 pm, we were starving and so cranky, but it doesn't seem to phase them at all. I don't get it - I'm always hungry and wanting a snack! I hate to say this, or even think about it, but perhaps some of them are used to such hunger pangs and don't let it bother them. You can tell a lot of children here are malnourished just by looking at them. One of the girls I was playing with I was sure was no more than 8 years old, but she told me she was actually 12. It's really sad because you wish there was something you could do for them. They have the sweetest hearts.

The police station was interesting in that it also was nothing how we picture a police station in the states. None of the bathrooms were very clean and it just didn't seem to have the strict reglas and protocol (for lack of a better word - my English is escaping me already) that we do in the States. We saw a bunch of people in handcuffs being driven into the main courtyard (yes the one full of young kids) and dropped off, perhaps to go into some sort of jail they had there. We were all pretty shocked by this, but the kids just kept saying, "oh he's a drunk or he's a drug dealer". Pretty sad.

On a side note, one of the girls called me a "Chinita" (little chinese girl) because I took off my sunglasses to show her my eye color and I was squinting a lot from the sun. I told her I wasn't Chinese, but she kept insisting I was. It's a term of endearment here so I figured it was best to just let it go. Another term of endearment here is "gorda" or "gordita" (fat one). I'd be much more offended if she called me gordita even if she meant it in a nice way. That's one thing that will take a little more time to get used to. Another girl kept commenting how "gringa" I am and asked me "is your whole body really gringa like that?" I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I said yes anyway.

All in all Piura was a fun city. The best part was probably that we had HOT showers and cable TV at our hostal - with HBO, MTV, WB, and other channels in English. I'm not going to lie, that was pretty incredible for us. We felt really spoiled. Also, we found some amazing eateries that must cater to gringos like us. We found burritos, a great breakfast place with the biggest fruit salads and delicious egg sandwiches, huge and fresh salads, mouth watering brownies, cakes, and pies, and an awesome ice cream place that let us try about 25 flavors before we chose one! Can you tell I'm missing some of the food from home?

One of the nights we were in town, Hana, Lindsay, and I went with our friends Josh and Cheridyn to get ice cream and then here live music at some bar in a nice hotel in the Plaza de Armas. The band was a little Peruvian group that played a lot of traditional music. They even asked Josh to get up and dance a song with them and later Lindsay did too because she was dying to dance with them. The bar looked like it came right out of some European country and was really expensive, but it was really fun anyway (besides for the cover charge they made us pay).

After our long day at the police station, we had a panel by the current volunteers on some of their projects and ideas for us and then we had an hour to relax before we left for our site visits. We each visited our own individual future sites, but those of us who are going to be in Cajamarca all traveled together to the department capital. We left Piura at 6 pm and didn't arrive in Cajamarca city until 4 am. The bus we took from 10 pm to 4 am didn't have a bathroom and I was feeling really sick. I wasn't sure if I was going to have diarrhea or throw up, but I felt horrible. It was a rough ride, but luckily I hung in there and didn't get sick. We bought the economy tickets so our seats only reclined slightly (like on an airplane) so you can imagine I didn't get the best sleep that night.

I'll save the rest of my stories for the next entry. I have lots to say about my site visit so it'll be another long one.....what a surprise, right?

Mail and More Updates

I sent out an email awhile ago about my new address. I only have two weeks left here in training and packages take anywhere from 1-3 weeks on average to get here, so if you have something to send and you can't get it in the mail ASAP, I'd suggest waiting until I get my new address that I'll be using for the next two years. Just to give you all a heads up, the closest post office to me is 1.5 hours away so don't send anything that can't wait to be picked up. Also, our director made a very good suggestion when it comes to packages that I wanted to pass along to all of you. I know it's difficult to keep packages under 1 lb. and tempting to send more, but if it weighs too much, we have to stand in long lines in customs to get it and then pay money for it. Sometimes we have to pay more than the contents of the packages are even worth. Therefore, our director suggested that if you'd like to do something nice for me, you can always send a check to my parents and they can deposit it into my bank account so I can buy something for myself. We do have a lot of stuff here and can get a lot of things that I've requested from the home, however, they just cost about 5 times more than the other products here so I don't buy them for myself because I don't get very much money. With a little extra money in my account though, I wouldn't feel bad splurging once in a while to buy something nice for myself (like a bag of M&Ms or peanut butter). Of course there is NO PRESSURE to do this, I appreciate anything and EVERYTHING I get from home. I just wanted to "pasa la voz" as we say down here. To send something to my parents, the address is:

Kristen Cummings
c/o Bill and Judy Cummings
2125 Skycrest Drive #2
Walnut Creek, CA 94595

Speaking of packages though, when I got back from my recent 10-day trip (I'll be writing about it soon), I had 4 packages and 6 pieces of mail from home! I must have been the happiest girl in Peru that day and just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have been thinking of me and taken the time to send something. It means more than you could possibly know (especially since I had a rough week last week). Just in case anyone is wondering what is on my wish list, here are a few suggestions of some things I´d love to receive in a care package:

-peanut butter (I´ll be happy with any kind - I´m desperate)
-trail mix
-chocolate (m&ms, dark chocolate, chocolate chips, etc.)
-reese's pb cups (IMPOSSIBLE to find anywhere down here)
-cereal (fiber one, bran buds, go lean crunch, pretty much any kind)
-luna bars or power bars (especially those with extra protein - any kind except mint)
-granola bars (Nature Valley, Chewy, All Bran, or Kashi)
-dried fruit (raisins, dried cranberries, apricots, mangoes)
-fruit leather
-UNO (the card game)
-SET (another card game with a special deck that you´d probably have to buy at a toy store)
-oragami
-hair gel (can´t find it anywhere)
-facewash astringent (I think that´s what it´s called, used without water - I know Aveeno makes one and I think Cetaphil does too)

I did find a few of these things at big grocery stores in Lima, but they are really expensive. A bag of chocolate chips for instance costs $7 and a small jar of peanut butter is $5. I only get $2 a day so that doesn´t go very far. Really anything from home is much appreciated - even just a letter! And if you do want to send me anything for my birthday, I´d like to request that you wait and send it to my new address when I get it because otherwise there is a chance I won´t get it since I leave here on September 1st - less than two weeks!!.

In other news, before we left for our trip, we visited two different Hogares. They are homes where children who have disabilities, have been abandoned or abused, or are from very poor families live. The homes were very different, but both extremely inspiring. The first one we went to was on Tuesday afternoon, after we got our site assignments. It´s in a town called Chaclacayo, about 30 minutes from where we live. It was started by a doctor from Florida who came to Perú almost 25 years ago and started this foundation with his dad and brothers to help poor children in Perú with medical problems. They accept infants to 21 year olds (with a few exceptions) from very poor families and give them the proper medical care they need. They currently have 52 kids involved in the program, but their limit is normally only 40. After the kids have received this care and are better, they are returned to their families. The program is free to these families because the Hogar pays for all their medical expenses. They also have an outpatient program where kids can receive proper care from their families at home and employees from the center just come in to take them to the hospital for doctors visits and such when need be and they pay for the bill. The medical problems they have run the gamut - from cleft lips, spinal bifida, missing limbs, and heart problems, to cancer and other terminal illnesses. It was really sad to see these kids, but at the same time, so incredible that they have the opportunity to receive proper medical care. One of the little boys we met (about 6 years old) was born without any arms or legs. Dr. Tony (who runs the place) took the boy to the Shriner´s Hospital in Tampa last year where they fitted him with a prosthetic leg. He will return to the hospital every year where he will receive free medical care until he is 18. We found out that the home receives its funding mostly from the U.S. The foundation sends out a newsletter four times a year and people respond by sending donations. There is also a group of ex-pat Americans living in Lima who hold a fundraiser for it every year. Last year they raised $7,000 - enough to buy all of the equipment for a physical therapy room! Although it seemed like a very heavy afternoon after the excitement we had that morning of receiving our site assignments, it definitely hit home and reminded all of us why we´re really here. (Don´t worry though, Hana, Lindsay, and I celebrated that night by making Hana´s delicious banana bread. Oh man did it hit the spot!)

On Thursday, we visited the other Hogar (in Lima), for our Día de Práctica. This Hogar is owned by the municipality of Lima and has only boys from ages 13 - 17. We weren´t briefed about the details of the home before we left so I´m not entirely sure about how the system works there, but I do know that the boys that live there have either been abandoned by their parents, come from domestic violence, or are extremely poor. I know that many of the boys lived in other children´s homes before this one so I´m assuming that´s how they got to this house, but I´m not sure for the other kids. From talking to the boys, it seems like they have been at the house anywhere from 1 month to 1 year. They all live together at the home in dorm style housing, but they attend school outside of the home. Most importantly though, they also participate in this program run by an international NGO (non-governmental organization) called ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency). The NGO has its own cirriculum about self-esteem, values, having responsibilities, etc. However, the most important aspect of the program is vocational training where they learn what jobs match well with their personalities. They attend different career fairs, etc. to help them follow a career path and at the end of the program, if they received good grades and evaluations from the staff, they automatically get a zero percent interest loan to start their own business or enter into another. What an incredible opportunity for them! We spent all day at the Hogar so we got to know some of the boys. We were all really impressed at how well behaved they were (for the most part), especially for teenage boys. We played some dinámicas (games/icebreakers) with them in the morning and then went and observed them in class. Our class was about personal responsiblity and was very interesting. I really liked the teacher (an employee of ADRA) and thought he did a nice job of including us "gringos" in the conversation after class. That afternoon, we did charlas (workshops) for the kids about healthy lifestyle choices. Hana, Sarah, and I did ours on nutrition and it went surprisingly really well. We were afraid the boys wouldn´t participate and would just stare at us or be bouncing off the walls, but it wasn´t like that at all. They really seemed to be listening and paying attention and participated a lot so we had a great time. At the end of the day, we all played a bunch of dinámicas to wrap things up. It was really funny when we were leaving and they all attacked us to get our email addresses. I honestly felt like a celebrity among the paparrazzi. It was really funny. I guess that´s the cool new thing to do these days - haha.

That night I had made plans to make pizza with my new Peruvian friend, Rosemary (whom I´m doing a project with). We decided to make two pizzas since my family eats a lot, although since I had never made pizza dough from scratch before, there were no guarantees it would be any good. The pizza was supposed to take 20-25 minutes to cook so I figured we´d eat one while the second one was baking. Yeah right. It´s almost impossible to set an oven here to 450 degrees when all you have to look at is the flame and guess whether or not you think it´s high enough. The first pizza took over an hour to cook and we were all starving! The second pizza hadn´t been in the oven for more than 5 minutes when I heard this really loud noise. My worst nightmare had come true. The glass serving dish we were using to cook the pizza on had broken into about 10 pieces in the oven. I had envisions of this happening before we even started, but I asked my host mom if she was sure it could go in the oven and she said yes. Knowing what little I do from my dad, I was very skeptical because it looked like something she took out of the china cabinet, but she assured me they had used it before.

And then it broke. I told my host sister to run upstairs and get her mom. She kept dilly dallying around until I told her it was an emergency because the plate in the oven had broken. My host mom came down with a look of panic on her face and I was so scared. She was really calm about it and didn´t get mad at me (thank goodness), but proceeded to tell me that we needed to clean it up quickly before my host grandma woke up and saw what happened because it was the ONLY heirloom they had left from her great-grandmother! Are you kidding me? I almost died when she told me that. I wanted to crawl up into a ball and hide. I felt so horrible and apologized about a million times. You can imagine what a mess it was to try and clean up and transfer this raw pizza (covered with ham and pineapple) to another pan. After the chaos had died down a little, she gave me a big hug and told me it really wasn´t my fault and that I shouldn´t blame myself because she told me I could use it. I thought I was going to start crying when she was hugging me because I couldn´t believe this had happened - even if it wasn´t my fault, I still felt horrible about it (especially since she told me my host grandma used to sleep with it under her bed so no one would steal it). I´m still not sure if my host grandma knows about it because she hasn´t said anything and she usually likes to talk about things over and over. I´m sure she wouldn´t do it to make me feel bad, that´s just how she is. She hasn´t been acting any different around me though so I kind of think she doesn´t know yet. I thought they might tell her while I was away on my trip, but she was so happy to see me (practically jumping up and down - she's so adorable) that I don't think she knows yet.

At the end of the week we had a talent show that was absolutely hillarious. I thought it would be horrible because we didn't have any time to prepare. We had to do it by Spanish classes and my class prepared our whole skit in the hour before the show. We did a skit on all of the different ways, or ways Peruvians think, you can get diarrhea. It was a big hit and we had a great time doing it. There were some really creative acts - one group wrote a song, Hana's group did a hillarious parody of the staff, and Lindsay's class did a very funny rendition of "Los Pollitos Dicen" (The chicks say) - a traditional children's song.

I've been pretty busy cooking things. After the pizza, I made granola and peanut butter with my friend Amelia. It was delicious! Hana and I also splurged and had a little party eating the cookies I made and peanut butter and bananas! So delicious! Hana and I also made Kaiserschmarn with homemade "applesauce" (it was more apple chunks than anything) for ourselves that was riquísimo (very yummy). It was pretty funny because we had been planning on making it all along for a big brunch for ourselves after a big night out on the town the night before. However, after dinner with my host family the night before, we were both feeling exhausted so lied down on my bed for a quick nap before we went out. We didn't wake up until 1 am!! I guess we were tired and needed the sleep, but we felt like such losers! Who does that? Haha. While we were cooking breakfast, my abuelita asked if we'd try making our first dinner again (remember, the one that was a DISASTER), but without aji (the really spicy pepper) this time. She had already bought the eggplant and everything so we agreed. It was a big hit this time and everyone LOVED it. I think now they finally believe me that I'm usually a good cook. They were joking that I was going to cook all of their dinners from now on because they love the food I make for them! Funny side note, when we were washing the dishes, Hana discovered my abuelita's dentures! Ewwww!

That´s about it to catch you up to my trip. I didn't get to finish this entry before I left so some of it might not make sense since I'm back now, but you'll get the idea. We took a trip to the North of Peru for 10 days to visit current volunteers in their sites and then to visit our own. I have lots of stories about that so it'll get it's own entry pretty soon.

Thanks again for all of the emails, letters, post cards, and packages! You guys are all the best! Thank you all for being so interested in my life and making it all the way to the end of my blog entries - I know they're long, but I hope to keep you entertained.

Some Pictures from Marcahuasi

The seven us when we arrived in San Pedro.














The main plaza in San Pedro.














The lunch we were invited to at 10:30 am.














Can you see the faces? (There are two.)



















What a view!














The camp site at Marcahuasi.














The sunset on our hike back to San Pedro.














Our new friends from Marcahausi

Cajamarca Here I Come

We FINALLY got our site assignments yesterday so now we all know where we´ll be spending the next two years of our life!! They did it first thing in the morning, probably knowing full well we wouldn´t be able to concentrate on anything all day if they didn´t tell us right away, but it turns out that we weren´t even able to concentrate even after finding out because all we wanted to do was talk to each other about our sites and what it would be like.

The two APCDs (program directors) stood in the front and took turns calling out sites. They would read a little bit about where the site is located and what we would be doing there and then say, "and this site goes to....." Hana, Lindsay, and I were so nervous. Lindsay pretty much knew where´d she be, but Hana and I had no clue. We were hoping we´d be near each other, but knew it would be okay if not. Hana was called first to a town in the northern highlands of Perú. She´ll be living in Pamparamba (?), Piura at about 10,000 ft. above sea level. Her town only has 247 families and no cell phone or internet service.

I got called next and I´ll be going to Cajamarca. My site sounds awesome and I´m really excited about it, but I must admit that I was very disappointed not to be in the same department as Hana. From what we can gather, we´re probably about 8 hours apart so it´s not impossible. We´re just looking at it as an opportunity to get to know another region of Perú. The hardest part is that Lindsay is also in Cajamarca. She and I are about 4 hours away from one another and can easily meet in the regional capital. I feel bad for Hana because I know I would be jealous if she and Lindsay were together and I was by myself, but we know that it´ll be fine and she has some really cool people in her department, including this girl Cheridyn that she´s become pretty good friends with.

Anyway, on to the details of my site. The town I´m going to be living in is called Bambamarca. It is 4 hours from Cajamarca city (the regional capital), but I pretty much have everything I need in my site so I won´t really have to leave much (besides to visit Lindsay and meet up with two other good friends I´ve made who will be living in Cajamarca too). My town has 12,000 people and is almost 7,000 ft. above sea level. I will have internet, cell phone service, a fixed phone line, water, electricity, a post office, hospital, and bank all in my town so I definitely lucked out! I was talking to the regional coordinator, José, about my site and he said it´s a great little town because it has a lot going on, but it still has the feel of the sierra (the mountains). He said there is a lot of agriculture in the surrounding areas and on Sundays there is a huge market in the main plaza where all of the local farmers come and sell their products. People also come in from the coast to sell their goods so there should be an excellent selection of fresh produce every week! I´m hoping to do a lot of my own cooking so it´ll be so nice to have fresh food to work with. On top of that, my host dad is a bee keeper and supposedly produces some excellent honey! Yum! I´ve also been told that Cajamarca is a lot like Wisconsin in that they have a lot of cows and dairy products. My Spanish teacher told me they have the best cheese in all of Perú and they also produce manjar blanco (like carmel) so I´m very excited about this!

I have two main counterparts (Peruvians who act like my mentor) who I´ll be working with - the health center, the high school (ages 12 - 16) - and another potential counterpart, which is the church. Apparently they have a pretty good social outreach program and one of their projects is tutoring street kids. José told me the doctor at the health center is really excited for me to come so that was good news to hear because we´ve heard some horror stories about bad counterparts who don´t do anything to help the volunteers. I was told that the health center in my site is associated with many smaller ones on the outskirts of town where I´ll also be doing some work. One of them is in this little town only 15 minutes away where my friend Jessica will be. Her community is very rural so she´ll have to come to my site often. We´re both happy to know there is a friendly face close by. I got some pictures of my site and the town looks so charming. The view on the way there is really incredible. I just can´t wait to get there and see what it´s actually like. It´s such a relief to have a site, but brings up so many more questions. I´m so curious now to know what it´s like.

José told me that the health center originally recommended four different families where I might be able to live, but none of them met Peace Corps qualifications for host families. José worked in Bambamarca for four years and was talking to his friend one day about the Peace Corps volunteer that was coming to their town and a little bit about what type of work we´ll be doing (self esteem, values, job skills, etc.). His friend asked where the volunteer would be living and José told him that was their dilemma - they were still searching for a good home. José said his friend lit up at that moment and said, "I have kids that are just out of school and entering the workforce and they need to learn all of that stuff. I would love for the volunteer to live with us!" So that´s where I´ll be. The man´s wife doesn´t work and they have a 21 year old son and twin girls that are 19. I´m so excited to meet them because it sounds like they really want to have me. As much as I love Fernando and Naomi, it´ll be nice to have siblings closer in age to me. I´m hoping they´ll help my Spanish improve a lot and really help me integrate into the town. Of course I´m also a little nervous, but excited more than anything!

I think that´s about it for now. I don´t think I left anything out about my site, but feel free to email me if you have any questions. I´m really curious to see what the weather will be like. It´s supposedly really cold in the winter and rains almost everyday from November to April, but is very lush because of that. I don´t think they get any snow, but I´m not positive. One volunteer we met from Cajamarca said she often sleeps in her hat and scarf! She´s at a higher elevation though so we´ll see. I might need to request some more long underwear in my packages.