More Pictures!

The finalists for the reina of Bambamarca.

The first (blue dress) and second (white dress) place winners. The winner is only 15 years old!


Me and Lindsay "dressed up" for Carnival.

Me and Heidi after a long day of painting!

Hahaha.

Look at my hair!

This was after I got the bucket of water thrown at me - look at the back of my pants compared to the front!

Hanging out with the girls (from left to right, Reannon, Jessica, Lindsay, Heidi, me, Erin, and Sarah).

Carnival and Earthquakes!

Before I tell you about Carnival, I just wanted to report that I’ve officially felt my FIRST EARTHQUAKE!! On Friday night, Jessica and I were talking in the kitchen as we waited for an apple cake to finish baking. She was telling me a story, but I had to interrupt and admit that I had no idea what she was saying because I felt like I was moving. I wondered if it had something to do with the fact that I was leaning against the oven so I moved away, but I still had the feeling. I was such a weird feeling. I leaned back again and could still feel myself moving. I was worried I was about to pass out or something. Jessica was looking at me sort of strangely, but then I got over it and we continued on with our conversation. She called me about an hour later after she had left to tell me that it had been an earthquake! She said she felt it too, but didn’t say anything since neither of us realized what it was. She thought she was just imagining she was feeling something since I said I was. Turns out that Lindsay felt it too down in Cajamarca and so did Kevin all the way on the coast in Trujillo! Lindsay said things feel off shelves in her house, but I don’t think anything like that happened here. I thought we’d hear something on the news about it, but so far I haven’t. That might also be because I don’t have a radio or TV…. At any rate, I finally felt my first earthquake! How exciting!

Carnival was like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. First of all, it’s technically only one week in February, but since the beginning of the month, people have been gathering at night to party, dance, and sing their coplas (special songs for Carnival). They stay until the sun comes up and then start all over again the next night. Peruvians are such partiers – I don’t know how they do it!

We arrived in Cajamarca on Friday, February 16th in the afternoon, but decided to just have a chill evening since we knew the rest of the weekend would be crazy. Saturday is apparently one of the central days of Carnival and the way it is celebrated in Cajamarca is by throwing water balloons, paint, and whatever else might be available (I’ve heard everything from shoe polish to oil to urine!). I had to run 6 miles that day so I got up at 6:30 am to try to avoid as much paint and water as possible. Luckily I made it back to the hotel still clean and dry, but I didn’t stay that way for too much longer.

Lots of Peace Corps volunteers had come in for the weekend (from many different departments) and were staying at another hostal in a great room with a balcony facing the street. We all agreed to meet in their room on Saturday morning to kick off the day with mimosas, painting ourselves, and of course throwing water balloons from their balcony. I was talking to Giff on the phone around 10:30 am before I got too wrapped up in the festivities, but had to let him go after seeing a bunch of friends come in from the street already covered in paint! It looked so fun – I had to be part of it! I went up to the balcony room and discovered some kids were about to run an errand for something we forgot. Like a big dork, I volunteered to go because I really wanted to be part of the action. With only about 10 more feet to walk until we were back at the hostal, I thought I had survived my first venture into the streets until all of a sudden a huge group of Peruvian guys came from around the corner, and I knew I was done for. One guy put his arms around me so I was trapped and his friend threw a huge bucket of paint at my back so I was covered from head to toe – including my hair! I know this probably doesn’t sound very fun, but it was hilarious! I was laughing so hard. What a great way to get the day started!

My friends and I had bought a big gallon of blue paint the day before because we heard that if you’re already painted, you’re less likely to get paint thrown at you. I guess it’s a nice idea, but whoever told us that must have been Peruvian because since we’re gringos, we are number one targets no matter how painted we already are. However, not knowing this yet, I decided to go inside and paint whatever skin was exposed to “protect” myself. We were laughing at ourselves because we bought SO much paint. Everyone called us the Blue Man Group because of our blue paint all over us, but we enjoyed it. After painting ourselves, we spent time filling lots of water balloons (so we could have ammunition) and a few water bottles with blue paint. We went upstairs to join the group and throw more stuff from the balcony, but when it was time to leave and go into the streets, we somehow got separated from them. Most people travel around in huge groups of 20-30 people, but since we got separated, it was just Kevin, Lindsay, Heidi, and me. It was hilarious trying to protect ourselves. We were each carrying a bottle of paint and a huge, heavy bag of water balloons. We were getting pelted from all angles and felt sort of helpless with our hands full. I didn’t want to put my bag of balloons down or it’d get stolen so I tried to throw paint at people, but every time I did, it would only go about two feet in front of me and not get anyone or anything – just the street. You should have seen how covered in paint everything was, including the taxis. I tried to get a taxi stopped at a traffic light, but couldn’t even do that. I was hopeless with my paint, but once I got rid of that, I was much better with my balloons.

As we were on our way to the plaza, we got attacked by a big group of people throwing from the window of their house. Naturally we fought back, but getting the balloons to their window was pretty difficult. We decided to go for the group of people (more family members) standing on the street outside of their store. Unlike me, Kevin is a good athlete and therefore has really good aim so the balloon he threw at them nailed someone right in the middle of their group. We were so excited until the person turned around and we saw it was an older woman! Oops. We decided to give up on them and just run for our lives. It was so funny, but we felt bad. Oh well though – if you’re on the street, you’re free game. If you don’t want to get hit then you’re best off staying inside.

We heard that the opening ceremonies were at the stadium so we tried to make our way there to meet our friends. Unfortunately by the time we figured out where it was and made our way down there, we had already missed everything and were walking opposite all of the people leaving the stadium so as you can imagine, we were prime targets for them and got dowsed with even more water and paint. I know you’re probably reading this and thinking it doesn’t sound like much fun at all, and to be honest, I was skeptical, but when you know what to expect and just get into it, it’s so much fun. I got paint in my eyes and even my mouth at one point because I was laughing when someone threw paint at me, but you can’t get mad because that’s what the day is all about.

By about 4 pm we had run out of ammunition and were getting hungry so we decided to head back to the hostal to refuel. On the way back we ran into our friends who seemed to be walking with a huge parade of people playing musical instruments, but decided to meet them in the plaza after we had found some food. We were gung ho about going back out, but once we made it back to the hostal and settled down for a minute, we realized we were exhausted and getting cold from being so wet. Instead of going all the way back to the plaza, we threw our remaining balloons from the balcony room and called it a day. But what a BLAST! It was, without a doubt, the most fun I’ve ever had in Peru! It’s really hard to explain what it’s like to be there, but I honestly can’t believe how much fun we all had.

I felt so bad leaving Lindsay and Kevin at their hostal because the whole place was trashed. There was blue paint and water (from filling up the balloons) all over their bathroom. We did our best to help clean up, but I was grateful we were staying at a different place (you know how I can’t stand a mess). The balcony room looked like a tornado had gone through. I felt so bad for the staff at the hostal, but I guess they expect it since it’s an annual tradition. Some Peruvians even threw water and paint inside the hostal!

After taking a looooong shower, I still had blue paint on my neck and arms, but felt much better. Reannon came over with taco dip (from the States!) and we enjoyed some food and relaxation. It felt so nice to just lay down and watch TV after all the excitement of the day. Luckily the water and paint throwing stops after the sun goes down so you’re safe to walk out in the streets after dark. We went out to dinner with Kevin and Lindsay and then for a piña colada at the “Mexican” restaurant, but had no energy to do anything else after that other than go to bed. As we were walking back through the plaza after dinner, my friend Annie tried to pull me into a circle with her to dance, but when she wasn’t looking I escaped. I had no energy. We went back to the hostal and were in bed by 10:30 - apparently the paint throwing combined with mimosas and running around in the sun took it right out of me. But what a blast!

So here comes the silly Americans part of the weekend. We knew that Sunday and Monday were big parades, but mistakenly thought that the water balloon throwing part was over. On Sunday I had gone to the locutorio (phone booths) to call Giff and got drenched by a water balloon about ten feet away from our hostal. I went back and changed my clothes and decided to wait a few hours before venturing back outside. One of our friends was visiting from Piura and wanted to get cheese and yogurt, etc. for lunch since that’s what Cajamarca is known for. Don’t ask me why we thought we would be safe from water balloon throwing at this point, but apparently we did because we left to go buy the stuff. Well we didn’t even make it as far as the corner before I got a huge 5-gallon size bucket of water thrown at me! So I went back to the hostal, changed my clothes again (into my PJs because everything else was wet), and vowed not to go back into the streets until after dark. Sorry Giff – no phone call today. We were able to get our cheese and yogurt though because we paid our friend Brad to go buy it for us – guys don’t get targeted nearly as much as girls, surprise, surprise. We spent the afternoon inside watching movies on my computer and eating good Cajamarcan food while we waited for my clothes to dry.

On Sunday night some friends and I went out for a late dinner at NY Pizza (definitely not New York style, but pretty good for Peruvian pizza – they actually use real tomato sauce instead of ketchup). After dinner we decided to head over to the plaza to see what it was all about. None of us were really expecting to go after dinner so we had purses, cameras, cell phones, etc. with us that we wouldn’t normally have taken. The plaza was more packed than I’ve ever seen it in the past six months. There were lots of food and alcohol vendors and then lots of people standing in circles, singing their coplas, dancing, and drinking. With all the people that are there – especially drunk people – you can imagine it’s a goldmine for thieves. Even though I was walking arm in arm with Lindsay, with my purse in between us, lots of people were eyeing it up and making me very nervous. Luckily nothing happened to me, but after only about ten minutes of walking around, Heidi’s phone got stolen out of her pocket and she didn’t feel anything! She too was walking arm in arm with another friend and even though the phone was stolen from the pocket in between the two of them, neither of them realized what happened until afterwards. It was really scary and she was obviously really mad so we decided it wasn’t worth it to stay any longer. I would have liked to go back one night to dance in one of the circles, but I wasn’t going to risk it when I had my purse with me. There is always next year.

There was another parade on Monday that had all of the reinas from the different provinces. I wanted to go to see the float from Bambamarca, but that didn’t work out so well. The parade was supposed to start around 11 am, but of course didn’t actually start until 1ish. I went around 2 with my friends Matt and Laura, but by the time we got there, it was impossible to see anything (people started staking out their spots at 7:30 am when I was running!). I had learned my lesson from the day before and was wearing my running clothes still because I didn’t care if they got wet, but my friends had both just showered and were so annoyed when we got drenched within the first ten minutes. We debated staying, but as Laura said, “we just got water raped – I’m outta here.” Haha. If I was going to get wet, I wanted to at least see something, but clearly that wasn’t happening so we left after just 10 minutes. That’s another thing I’ll have to save until next year. Don’t worry though; I have a plan for next year. I’m going to ask someone if I can pay them to watch it from their roof. Unfortunately since we’re gringos, we can usually get away with stuff like that.

After getting back to the hostal and showering, I spent that afternoon hiding in my room as well, watching movies with friends until it was dark and safe to walk on the streets. However, once it got dark, we were all too exhausted to go anywhere so we ordered pizza and spent the evening recounting stories from the weekend and watching TV.

I got back to Bambamarca early on Tuesday morning (got a free ride from my boss who was passing through town!) and thought Carnival was over until I almost got hit by a few water balloons that afternoon. Turns out it wasn’t really over until Saturday (last night). They have this tradition called Unsha where they decorate a tree with presents and then dance around it and take turns taking a whack at it with an axe. In Bambamarca, the ones I’ve seen aren’t trees, but huge displays at the top of a big wooden pole. Apparently once it falls, the whole crowd goes running in to grab the free presents (brooms, buckets, clothes, etc.) and whoever was the one to make it fall has to sponsor the party next year. I was invited to one last night, but I went on a paseo with my girls yesterday and was exhausted when we got home. Plus I don’t know how crazy I am about being around drunk people using an axe – only in Peru! I’ve also heard it’s kind of dangerous when it falls because people will trample over you to try to get to the prizes. I think I’ll pass. Maybe next year….

All in all though, in case I haven’t said it yet, Carnival was a BLAST!!! I can’t wait for next year’s celebration. If anyone wants to visit me for this, you are MORE THAN WELCOME. You won’t regret it!

Pictures!

Me with Lindsay and her mom, Meredith!

Hanging out with some friends in Cajamarca (Jessica, Reannon, and Katie).

Soaking wet after the 50 year old guy threw a bucket of water at me!

The cute little boys we met at the waterfall.

Amanda and me at Llacanora.

Superbowl and More

I don’t think I’ve written since January so you’re probably all wondering where I’ve disappeared to. Well believe it or not, the thing that is keeping me most busy right now is WORK! I never thought I’d get to this point, but I’m finally working in my community and it’s helping me to feel much more useful and as if I have a purpose here. I’m still just meeting with my youth group of girls that I started in the beginning of January. When I have 100% attendance, there are 11 girls, but usually we average around 8. Although the girls are really shy and quiet, they seem to be having a blast. Who am I kidding….so am I!

In early February, it was one of the girl’s birthdays so I invited the girls to my house and we made a torta de plátano (aka banana bread). While it was cooking, I showed the girls my room, which as you can imagine, was a big hit. They loved looking at all of my pictures, maps, postcards, etc. hanging on the walls and playing with all of the little toys I have from home (like the Slinky I got for Christmas – how exciting)! I loved showing the girls my room too because I thought it gave them a better idea of who I am. [Sidenote: I’m a little worried someone stole 3 packages of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups from my drawer while they were here because I realized last week that 3 are missing…The only other person who has been in my room is Jessica and I know she didn’t steal them. It’s unfortunate since I love them, but I’m not going to bring it up because I don’t know for sure and I don’t want to make accusations, especially when I’m trying to help them open up with me]. I had also asked the girls to bring in their own pictures so we could make collages for them to take home and hang in their rooms like I have in my room. Of course they had no idea what to do because it was an exercise in creativity, but with a little guidance, they gained a little confidence and made some nice collages.

The following meeting we did an activity to get to know me better so they don’t think of me as their profesora, but more their friend. I explained that I’m sure they all have lots of questions for me after visiting my room so we were going to take some time to ask me questions. I left it open to anything they wanted to know about my life – my family, friends, boyfriend, education, culture, etc. I knew they would be shy about it so we did it anonymously by writing questions on pieces of paper, crumpling them into a ball and throwing them into the middle of the table. I only had seven girls there that day, but they must have asked me more than 30 questions! Of course the majority of the questions were about Giff – how long have we been together? Do I love my boyfriend? Would I ever cheat on my boyfriend? Am I going to marry my boyfriend? Is my boyfriend coming to visit? But there were also questions about my family and friends (mostly what are their names and ages). They also asked me a few questions about Peru – do I like Peru? Am I used to living here? If I fell in love here, would I stay? Who is my best friend here? What is my favorite food in Peru? Etc. However, the prize for the most creative question goes to I don’t know who since it was anonymous, but I was still very impressed by it. One little girl asked me what are my deepest thoughts? I was shocked! Where did that come from? Good job my dear! This weekend the girls and I are going on a little paseo (outing) together so that should be fun. I know they are all really looking forward to it.

Besides for my youth group, not too much has been going on in site. I’ve been trying to spend more time with Karina because I really like her, but since she works in the internet roughly 12 hours a day/7 days a week, it is sometimes difficult to find time to catch up with her. I try to go to the internet and keep her company sometimes because I love the conversation, but I’ve been so busy recently that I haven’t been able to do that much. Sometimes I’ll “work” there for an hour or so for her so she can have a break since we’re the only two home right now. It works out well because I get to use the internet for free and she gets to leave for a little bit. I told her that Giff started using a webcam so now we can see each other when we talk. She was so excited because then she would be able to “meet” him. She could not stop blushing and giggling when she was talking to him (by this I mean she looks at him in the camera and tells me what to say to him) because she thinks she’s so handsome. After she talked, she came back about five minutes later and said she had something else to tell him. She told me she told her friend that he’s a manguito. I had no idea what that meant and had never heard it before. She said it comes from the word mango so I guess it literally means he’s a cute little mango. However, when they really want to express how great something is, they attach “azo” (huge) instead of “ito” (little) to the end of the word so she changed her mind and said he’s actually a mangazo! Hahaha.

My friends and I all decided to go into Cajamarca for Superbowl weekend and have a little celebration – just like at home. Lindsay’s mom happened to be visiting at the time so I got to go out to lunch with them. It’s so fun meeting a friend’s parents because it helps you to understand them so much better. I had a really nice time with them and was glad to spend a little time with them before they traveled to Colombia together to visit Lindsay’s best friend from high school! After lunch we walked out into the street and witnessed an Anti-American protest. That was a little awkward. Welcome to Peru, Meredith!

That weekend Jessica and I also decided to spoil ourselves (since we haven’t in a while) by getting facials and full body massages at this resort in town. I figured I deserved it since I’ve been running so much (which is going very well by the way besides the fact that it’s definitely boosting my appetite – I’m always ravenous). Before the massage we got to go in the sauna and this Jacuzzi that was filled with the water from the thermal springs nearby. That followed by a full body massage and a facial…..wow (or as we say here, que rico)! Not exactly what you think of when you think of the Peace Corps, but hey, you try living here….we deserve it once in a while (as least that’s how we justify it). By the way, the lady told me that I have beautiful skin, but lots of blackheads that were going to ruin my skin if I don’t take care of them. She said she’s sure it’s from the change in climate and food. In order to fix my skin she suggested I drink a FULL glass of PURE olive oil to give me diarrhea and clean out all of the bad things that are in my stomach and making my skin bad. Oh man I love this country. I think I’ll pass on the olive oil though…..I’m pretty good at getting diarrhea on my own without drinking pure oil!

To be honest watching the Superbowl was a little disappointing because they didn’t have any of the American commercials. Don’t they know that’s why we watch the game in the first place? On top of that, I didn’t think the half-time show was that great so there goes most of my interest in watching the game (since the Eagles weren’t playing of course). I would say I watched about 20% of the game at the most, but I still had a blast because it was fun to be hanging out with a bunch of our friends and eating delicious taco dip, guacamole, chicken wings, and homemade cookies that we made. Yum!

Usually when I’m in Cajamarca, I spend my time running errands, going to the movies, and eating good food. Recently though I was in the city and found myself at a loss for what to do since I had finished my errands and wasn’t hungry. It was a beautiful day so my friend Amanda and I wanted to take advantage, but didn’t know what we could do. Then Amanda remembered this really beautiful waterfall she had visited a couple of times with friends and her family when they came to visit. The waterfall is on the outskirts of this little town called Llacanora. It’s just a short, easy hike out to it, but it’s absolutely beautiful and very characteristic of Cajamarca. Amanda had heard before that there are actually three waterfalls, but most people only go as far as the second one. We decided to venture out to look for it since it was such a nice day and we had nothing else to be doing. We ran into these two twelve year old boys who are from the area and asked them if they knew where it was. Turns out it was at least another hour further, but a lot bigger than the first two. They also said there is a lake there where you can go camping! It sounded like a lot of fun, but we didn’t have time so hopefully we’re going to return one weekend for a camping trip. We ended up staying and talking to these boys for about a half an hour. I don’t think they’ve ever seen any gringos before because they were mesmerized by us. We taught them how to say waterfall in English and introduced them to anti-bacterial hand soap – very exciting! After talking to them for a little bit, we learned that the boys are cousins and both work 40 hours a week in their family’s fields moving rocks and dirt for only $10 a week! Talk about child labor. Amanda and I both felt so bad. Welcome to reality in Peru. After talking with them a little while more, we took some pictures (they loved the digital camera) and were on our way. We promised the boys that if we came back we would look for them to be our guides up to the third waterfall. They were adorable. I know this is so corny, but it was definitely one of those “Peace Corps moments”.

My high from that moment quickly disappeared as we returned to the city and I got a huge bucket of water thrown at me by a 50 year old man! I was furious! It was about 4 pm and we hadn’t eaten lunch yet so not only was I starving, but also soaked and freezing from the water! I yelled at the guy, but Amanda just laughed and told me I can’t get mad because it’s Carnival – that’s what they do. I don’t care if I’m not supposed to get mad, I’m starving and wet – how do you think I feel you jerk? Luckily I was able to go back to the hostal and change so it wasn’t so bad. I guess I should just look at it as a preview of what’s to come during the big weekend of Carnival.

I will write all about my CRAZY experience in Cajamarca for Carnival in the next posting, but before I left for the city, I went to the crowning of the Reina of Bambamarca (queen) with Karina and some friends. Apparently each town selects their reina and that person gets to march in this big parade on Monday of Carnival. The event was held at the theater in town and was so packed that they didn’t let us in at first. After a little whining, Peruvian style, we finally got in. It was absolute madness inside the theater with people cheering and throwing candies when their favorite girl was being presented. We went on Thursday night which was the final round of just eight girls (the night before they had been selected out of a total of 24 participants). It was essentially like a beauty contest (Dr. Martin was one of the judges!), but lots of fun. We don’t have anything like Carnival in the States so it was really exciting to attend this event and see how crazy people go celebrating. The girl who was selected is only 15 years old (the youngest finalist) and will represent Bambamarca in the parade!

I thought the ceremony for the reina was crazy until I actually got to Cajamarca and participated in the festivities there…..whoa! It was out of control, but a blast! Stayed tuned to read about it in the next entry….

I miss you all like crazy. Keep the emails, letters, postcards, etc. coming. I love hearing from you all!

A Few Observations

While I was on the coast, I started to think a lot about the education system here in Peru. I have thought about it numerous times before as I think it is lacking a lot, but I revisited the subject just recently because Carol and Martin attend something called “vacaciones útiles” at one of the schools in Ferreñafe. The way Chabu and explained it to me before, I thought it was an extracurricular type thing where they took music, dance, art, etc. classes because they do not get much of that throughout the year. However, it turns out that it is essentially summer school, but not for kids who did poorly in the last school year, but for kids who want to do well the next year – it’s prep work for what they will encounter in the next grade. They go to class Monday – Friday from 8 to 1 pm and even have tests! Any extracurricular activities are done in the afternoons after school (the kids are currently learning to play the recorder – that was fun).

Since the education system is so poor here, you have to go to summer school to help you get ahead and get a more thorough education. The new government realizes something needs to be done about education in Peru so it has implemented a teacher evaluation. All teachers (I’m not sure if it applies to private school teachers as well) must take an exam to show their expertise in their subject area. Although it is not designed to cause people to loose their jobs, teachers fear this is what will happen and therefore are refusing to take these exams. It’s frustrating because teachers are the very ones who are hindering development in the schools – a little ironic in my opinion.

One cool thing I did encounter while I was on the coast was a school of Bellas Artes where Chabu and her teacher both teach. It is run during the summer by a retired teacher who has an interest in pursuing the arts in Ferreñafe. Chabu teaches a painting class and her sister teachers an embroidery class. They also have music, drawing, dance, and many more classes that they offer the community for a very cheap rate. It was really fun to see and the teacher seemed to be a very genuine guy. I found it very encouraging after the disappointment in the traditional education system.

Being on the coast I definitely noticed a difference in lifestyle and the people. Life in the Sierra is much more rustic and atrasado (behind) than life on the coast. The houses that I saw on the coast were very nice and much more modern than anything I’ve seen while living in the mountains. The people are very warm and friendly and not nearly as reserved as those in the Sierra. I guess being on the coast, the people are influenced more by life outside of Peru, but it was really interesting to note. We only saw about 3 indigenous people the whole time we were there and they seemed really out of place, whereas in Cajamarca, they blend in much more. Two of them I saw standing on the sidewalk one evening as I went to buy more water. They seemed mesmerized by something, but I looked where they were looked and all I saw was a house. As I got closer, I realized what was calling their attention – a telenovela that was playing on the TV inside someone’s house. The window was open just right so these people could stand across the street and watch the program.

Although the people appear to be more modern and advanced, it doesn’t mean they don’t have their crazy superstitions. My friend Molly was telling me that she just bought a fan for her room because she can’t sleep at night from the extreme heat. Her host mom comes in the room every night and turns it off because she insists the cool breeze it projects on Molly is going to kill her. Molly told her she always uses one at home and she’s sure she’ll be okay so please leave it on. Her host mom reluctantly agreed, but said, “fine, but don’t blame me if you don’t wake up one morning.” Oh man. Also, my friend Steve was telling me how he got really sick in his site from eating bad tuna fish and his family was convinced he had conchaque. Of course when you’re sick, understanding Spanish is that much harder, especially when they introduce these crazy words and illnesses we’ve never heard of. They told him conchaque is something you get when you’re embarrassed by food. This could mean you ate more than anyone else, you asked for seconds and there weren’t any, you took the last bit of the food, etc. The symptoms for this crazy illness are diarrhea, nausea, headache, vomiting, dizziness, high fever, etc. Since Steve had all of these symptoms, there was no doubt in their mind he had conchaque. They told him there are two ways to cure it. One is by wrapping a piece of your hair around your finger and yanking it out. The popping noise it makes when you yank it out is the conchaque being released. Unfortunately, this was not an option for Steve has he has a shaved head so that left him with option number two – cracking your back. Yes you guessed it, the conchaque is released by all of the cracks. Luckily Steve’s host dad, who works at the health center, came home shortly after and said he thought Steve had just eaten bad tuna so he escaped having his back cracked. How can you not love this country?

Moving onto my next favorite topic about Peru: creativity – or lack thereof. In my youth group meeting on Tuesday we played this game called “Two Truths and a Lie”. The idea is that you say three sentences to the group and one of them is a lie. The group then has to guess which is the lie (obviously the more obscure your sentences are, the harder it is to guess). I’ve played this game numerous times with Americans and it’s always really fun. I went first to give the girls an idea – that was my first mistake. I said, 1.) I used to live in Chile, 2.) I am afraid of birds, and 3.) I have been to Bolivia three times. They originally guessed my fear of birds was a lie and then living in Chile so it worked well because I stumped them. Then I asked who wanted to follow. Of course no one wanted to because they said they couldn’t think of anything. Finally one girl said she was ready. Here were her three sentences: 1.) I have been to Ecuador, 2.) I have been to Argentina, 3.) I like rats. Oh boy. Every girl that continued after that (only 3 more out of the 10 went) said two places they’ve been and something about animals. Oh boy. Clearly we weren’t ready for that game yet.

One encouraging thing I’ve come across while being in Peru is the healthy body image they promote. As you all know, they think having some meat on your bones is really beautiful compared to the disgusting and impossible to reach super skinny image our country promotes. I really noticed this when I was watching a news show like Entertainment Tonight at the bus station. The host of the show was really beautiful, but I noticed she was not super skinny as she would be if she were the host of a show in the U.S. She was so much more “normal” than the woman all over our TV screens. Maybe we should take a lesson in this and stop promoting such an unhealthy ideal.

And last but not least, Peruvians are always wearing shirts from the U.S. that say ridiculous things that must have been misprints. Of course these people have no idea what they say or what they mean so I always find it amusing. One day I saw a man with a Philadelphia Eagles hat on and almost had a heart attack. Now how does someone in Bambamarca, Peru end up with a hat like that? Well it happened again. I was standing in line at the bank today and a woman in front of me was wearing an Old Glory All-American BBQ tshirt. I thought the logo looked kind of familiar, but couldn’t place it. Then she turned around and on the back it said Georgetown! That was it – Old Glory in Georgetown. I wanted to tell her I’ve actually been there, but was pretty sure she didn’t care so I just enjoyed the moment by myself. What a small world.

A Peruvian Wedding

While my boss was in town for my stie visit, my host mom took the opportunity to ask her if I could go with them to their cousin’s wedding on the coast. Since my whole family was going, she gave me permission to go (without taking away any vacation days)! The wedding was held in Ferreñafe, this town about 15 minutes away from Chiclayo. I was really excited to go to my first Peruvian wedding, have some bonding time with my family, and go to Ferreñafe since Dr. Martin and his family are from that town. Chabu and the kids spend their summers there so I would also be able to visit them! Apparently my host mom wasn’t kidding when she said the whole family would be going to this wedding because there were 14 of us who traveled to the coast together! As you can imagine, this was very overwhelming for me at times since we did just about everything together. Being from a small family, that was a big change for me. The first day we arrived at 5 am and after eating breakfast at the bride’s house, we all went to this one room to get ready for the civil ceremony. I decided I needed to go for a run to escape for a little bit. The run felt great, but coming back and walking into the room with everyone changing and my host mom standing there topless was quite a shock – even more so when they told me to take a picture of her! I was speechless. Maybe I thought it was weird because I’m not from a big family like that, but I couldn’t believe sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, etc. were all just getting naked and changing in front of one another! Luckily there was another room that I could go in for a little privacy. It didn’t have a door, but I think my host mom knew I was overwhelmed because she offered to stand in the doorway and block traffic until I was done. Needless to say, it was much appreciated.

For the most part I had a good time with my family, but it was hard at times. I felt like one of their brothers, who is 25, was constantly making fun of me even though Karina said he wasn’t trying to be mean, he just thought he was being funny. He kept saying things to me in Quechua and pretended it was Spanish and that I didn’t understand. Plus he kept begging me to teach him English because everyone here seems to think you can learn it overnight. He has met Jessica before and asked why I didn’t invite her to go to the wedding with us because she speaks better Spanish than me. I know she does, but why do they always have to point that out? Peruvians have a lot of great qualities, but comparing people is not one of them. They constantly have to be comparing your body, your appearances, your level of Spanish, etc. to others and it drives me crazy. Why can’t you just accept me for Kristen, rather than having to compare me to someone else?

Shopping as a family was a bit much for me too. The entire battalion went together, they didn’t have much of a plan, and it was HOT so my patience didn’t last very long. Plus the stores in the market we were in were big enough for about two people to stand in while the rest of us had to stand in the aisle waiting and being pushed and shoved by the moving traffic. The best part was that my host mom felt the need to breast feed during all of this so she is walking around with her boob hanging out and Emily drinking when she wanted it. I am definitely a proponent of breast feeding, but not when it means you’re walking around in public with your breasts hanging out. This does not only happen with my host mom, but with the majority of women here. Everywhere you turn, there is someone breast feeding because they use it like a pacifier. In my opinion, they also breast feed for way too long. One day I was walking down the street in Bambamarca and saw this woman who was sitting on a bucket on the sidewalk. Her son was STANDING in the street and breast-feeding! Are you kidding me? When your child in old enough to STAND and ask for it, I think he’s too old to be breast-feeding. But who am I to say? I know for many of these people, it is the only away to provide their children with food so I cannot judge. It’s just definitely shocking to see at times and something I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to.

Now on to the wedding. Of course every two seconds I was asked if it was the same as in the United States and I would say for the most part, the traditions here are not that different. The ceremony at the church started at 9 pm. I’ve heard that daytime weddings are very rare here. I’m wondering if that is partly because of the heat because good Lord is it HOT on the coast right now. My family was DYING and sweating up a storm the whole time we were there. To make matters worse, there is only water in Ferreñafe from 7-10 am and 4-6 pm so houses just have huge trash cans and buckets filled with water. My family would run to the buckets every five minutes to dunk their heads in and pour water all over their hair. They couldn’t believe I wasn’t dying like they were. They are so funny. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was really hot, but it wasn’t humid so I didn’t think it was as bad as they did. After living in San Antonio, that didn’t even come close to comparing for me.

Anyway, back to the wedding. Of course we didn’t get to the church until 9:10 and when we arrived, we heard a wedding ending and a couple walking up the aisle! We thought we missed it, but luckily it wasn’t their cousin, it was a different wedding. Then we heard there was another church in town and were scared we were at the wrong church, but someone reassured us that Samuel’s (their cousin’s) wedding was about to start. Well they weren’t kidding because about 2 minutes later he walked down the aisle and then the bride did. Her entrance didn’t seem like a very big deal like it is in the States. Everyone stood up and all, but there weren’t many people there (attendance had doubled by the end) and people were talking and not really paying attention. They also don’t have ushers or bridesmaids – just a best man and maid of honor (which they call padrino and madrina, literally meaning godfather/mother) – and little kids (a girl and boy each for the bride and groom). Other than that, it seemed like a pretty traditional Catholic wedding minus the bat that was flying around the altar during the ceremony. I haven’t been to very many Catholic ceremonies, but it seemed pretty similar with lots of singing, praying and then communion. They gave it to the bride and groom and offered it to the crowd, but only 3 little kids went up and took it. I thought that was kind of weird, but I don’t know how it usually is. I thought one of the little kids in the wedding would have had the rings (since that’s how we do it), but my host mom’s dad had the rings and had to walk up from his seat in the audience during the ceremony to give them the rings. I also noticed the priest never said, “you may now kiss the bride,” but I think he just made a mistake because Karina said they normally kiss. Before they walked up the aisle together, they went onto the altar and took a few pictures with some family members. By 10:30 the wedding was finally over and the new couple walked up the aisle together. I thought it was really strange because the bride looked really pissed. She looked that way the entire time. I only saw her smile about 3 times the whole night (including at the reception). I thought it was weird because I know that at my wedding, I will be bawling when my Dad walks me down the aisle and then glowing the rest of the time, but she just looked so mad. Maybe it was just nerves…..I hope so at least.

Everyone hurried over to the reception after the wedding because there are no assigned seats at the tables. The bride’s sister kicked this lady and her husband out of a table so our little army could be seated. That lady’s family wasn’t there yet and we were so we took precedence I guess. Since there were so many of us, we didn’t all fit at one table of course, but were able to get two tables next to each other. The place was decorated pretty nicely. It wasn’t anything special – very typical Peruvian. In my opinion, they decorate all locations pretty much the same for any occasion, whether it’s a baptism, birthday, graduation, or wedding. They use lots of fabric, fancy lettering, and have lots of cakes.

I was expecting to wait forever for the bride and groom to arrive as is the case at home, but to my surprise, we only had to wait about 20 minutes. As the entered the room, they made about 3 loops around the place and then instead of eating, they did all of their dancing with their parents, the best man and woman, etc. My host grandparents are the godparents of the groom, but they are in luto (mourning for my hostgrandpa’s mom who died in September). When you’re in luto, you’re not supposed to dance or party so my host mom and her brother had to dance in their place when their turn came. There was also a time when any woman could dance with the groom and any man with the bride so of course my family made me go dance with the groom. They were so excited and insisted on taking my photo. I have about 8 million photos from the wedding because everyone would say, “Oh Señorita Kris, please take my picture!” I loved that. I thought the dancing part was kind of weird because every single dance was to the same song – some bridal waltz which got annoying really fast. I told them that in the U.S. the couple picks a song that is special for them to dance their first song, but I guess that is not the tradition here. Well after lots of dancing and the bouquet and guarder toss (Karina caught the bouquet and screamed she was so excited), we finally got to eat – at midnight! We were all starving because no one had had dinner. I had a Luna Bar in my purse because I knew this was going to happen, but what was I going to do? I couldn’t bust it out in front of all of them so I starved right along with them. I thought what we were served was dinner, but it turns out it was just the first course because at 2:30 am we got the main entrée! In the meantime there was a lot of dancing and pictures. The bride and groom take their picture with anyone who wants it and then the bride changes out of her wedding dress! I thought that was strange, but they said that is the custom here. As you can imagine, since I was the only gringa there, lots of people wanted to dance with me, but I decided to stick with family members only. I had a really great time dancing with them (minus the times when I swear my host dad was flirting with his nieces and the cousins flirting with each other – gross!). There was lots of drinking too because Peruvians will use any excuse they can get to drink, but I didn’t drink very much – enough so they wouldn’t bother me about it, but not enough to get drunk. All in all I had a really good time, but by 4 am I had had enough. They still hadn’t cut the cake, but I couldn’t hold out any longer. Luckily my host mom wanted to leave too so she could put Emily to bed! I couldn’t believe my one year old sister was outlasting me! How do they do it?

We headed back to the house we were staying at and I crashed. There was only one double bed and one single bed in the room so it was really fun when the rest of the family came home at 6 am and had to find somewhere to sleep. They were so loud and acted like I wasn’t in the bed. They were throwing clothes on top of me and sitting on my legs. I was so annoyed, but too tired to say anything. Plus they were drunk. I think about 4 other girls ending up sleeping on the double bed with me. There were about 4 more in the single bed, 3 on the floor and the rest went somewhere else to sleep. At one point I got up to use the bathroom and couldn’t find my flip flops anywhere. I finally find them all the way across the room and when I put them on they were soaking wet. I was not amused. Nor was I happy that when I got back from the bathroom someone had taken my pillow and sheet. Oh boy. It was a fun weekend, but I was ready for it to end. The next day we went to the bride’s house for lunch and I saw the cake in its entirety. They told me that some people cut it at the party, but usually they take it home and share it with family members the next day. I snuck a bite of a piece that was cut out, but no one else got any. I know, I’m bad.

On Sunday we were supposed to go to the beach, but everyone in my family was either sleeping, hungover, or vomiting so we never went. I had had a great weekend with my family, but decided to use the opportunity to visit Chabu and the kids for a little while since I hadn’t seen them since before I went home to the States. It was really fun to see them and meet Chabu’s mom and siblings. Her family is so nice and welcoming. They had someone from Switzerland live with them for four years when Chabu was a teenager so they are used to having a “gringo” around. I felt so comfortable and relaxed with them – what a nice feeling and huge contrast to the weekend I had just spent with my family.

While I was on the coast, I also had the opportunity to see a bunch of my Peace Corps friends. On Saturday my family went shopping for the wedding gift. All of them were going together and they didn’t know what they were going to get so I opted not to go. I decided to call one of my friends who lives close to the city to see if she wanted to have lunch. It turned out to be my lucky day because almost all of the volunteers from that department were in town for a planning meeting for camp ALMA. I met them in the city and then we all went to the beach to eat ceviche (raw fish that I actually liked!) and hang out. It was such a nice break from being with my family and lots of fun to see a bunch of friends who I rarely see. I also met two married couples from Peru 8 which was really nice for me because they could really understand my situation and how hard it is to be away from Giff.

On the way back from the beach something happened in the combi that really reaffirmed my faith in Peruvians. The man who collects the money on the bus tried to overcharge our friend Matt who lives about five minutes away from the beach (so he obviously knows how much it costs). He argued with the guy telling him he was trying to rip him off and the guy kept insisting he pay more. Matt refused so the guy kicked him out! I was talking to two other girls so we weren’t really sure what was going on, but all of the Peruvians on the bus started yelling at the guy and telling him not to take advantage of the tourists. One of my friends said, “he isn’t a tourist, he lives here and works at an orphanage down the street!” She said she hates to pull that card, but sometimes it’s necessary. The people kept telling the guy 20 centimos is not going to make him rich or poor so just let our friend back on. The driver ended up pulling over and insisting Matt get back in the combi. After a little convincing he finally did and when he tried to pay again, the guy wouldn’t accept his money because everyone on the combi had just embarrassed him so badly. It was really nice to see how quick the Peruvians were to stick up for him since so many people try to take advantage of us here when they see our white skin.

I better stop now before your eyes get too tired from reading. I’ll write more later. I miss you all so much and hope you’re all doing well and surviving the cold weather….

Site Visit

About two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hosting my boss at my site when she came to do my site visit. APCDs (our program directors) do site visits for all new volunteers about three months after being in site to help smooth out any problems and see how we are doing integrating into our communities. She wanted to see me in action with the youth I work with, meet my host family and counterparts, and see my room and living environment. I had warned her ahead of time that I wasn’t sure she would be able to see me working since most kids in my town are traveling, but luckily I was able to pull my youth group together right before her visit. She (along with two others from Peace Corps staff) attended and participated in our second meeting. I did an activity about the importance of communicating clearly where the kids had to write directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was really fun and a big hit since I brought peanut butter and shared it with everyone in the end. My boss said that the girls were adorable and really seemed to enjoy themselves. She thought they were very engaged and motivated and said that I was a natural with them! After the meeting I showed her my room (which she absolutely loved and took lots of pictures) and we went out to dinner. The last time I had really talked to her about my host family was in November when I broke down crying because she wouldn’t let change families. So she was expecting to come and me tell her that I wanted to move, but instead I told her that I’m so happy now with the family and wouldn’t change even if she gave me the opportunity! She was thrilled to hear that and told me it really shows her what kind of volunteer I am and what kind of volunteer I will be. She was very proud of me for overcoming that challenge and I was so happy because I felt like she was finally seeing me for who I really am. It took a long time to get here, but I think we really have a nice relationship now. Having her visit my site and see me in my environment really helped and it was nice for me to spend some time with her on a more personal level.

The day after my site visit, Jessica and I had the opportunity to go with her and the two other staff members to do site development in this place called La Paccha (about 2 hours from Bambamarca). In order for a community to get a volunteer, they must send a solicitud (solicitation) to the Peace Corps office in Lima and then the staff will go out and have a meeting with the community. My boss had received a solicitud from this community with the signature and finger print of every single person in this community (all 250 of them) so was really excited to visit such an enthusiastic community. When we arrived at the health center we found out that we were at the wrong community. They didn’t recognize any of the names on the solicitud even though we were in La Paccha. It turns out that it was really from this little town about 10 meters from our regional coordinator’s house in Cajamarca. He was so embarrassed when he realized this, but since we were there, we met with them anyway. It is a really beautiful community way up in the mountains and would be a great place for a volunteer (besides for how isolated it is). It was really exciting to participate in the meeting with the staff of the health center in La Paccha because they were able to meet two “real live” volunteers and hear what our life is like in the community. Listening to my boss explain our work and our goals within a community, talking myself, and seeing the enthusiasm from the staff at the health center was really exciting for me and made me feel really motivated to return to my community and do more work. One of the men from the health center commented on how much he liked the Peace Corps model because so many development places just come in and give lots of money, but don’t actually change anything. The people get used to receiving their money without having to do anything and therefore are actually contributing to the problem. He was really enthusiastic that our program is about human resources rather than financial ones in an attempt to teach the people of our communities how to be self-sufficient and make our work sustainable. After that meeting, I’m looking forward even more to expanding on my projects in Bambamarca and involving more local people to help make my work sustainable and worthwhile.