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!