Youth Group Happenings

The weekend after Carnival, my youth group and I went on a paseo (outing). They had been begging me for about a month so we finally planned to go to Maraypampa where there is a big field to play volleyball and a river to swim in. The girls were supposed to meet at my house at 8 am to cook Arroz con Pollo that we took with us to eat for lunch. Of course they didn't get there until 9 and without any ingredients so by the time we got everything made and left, it was about 10:30. Maraypampa is about a 2 hour walk from Bambamarca so we planned to walk there and get a car home. However, only about 5 minutes into the walk, one girl in my group, Yovany, saw one of her friends who was also going on a paseo with her family and offered to take us with them. I was hesitant at first since it was about a 1.5 hour drive in the opposite direction and I had told the girls parents we were going to Maraypampa, but they assured me it wouldn't be a problem so I finally gave in. I must admit that you get a lot of credit for your "gringo status" as we call it in Peace Corps. A few of the girls told me that their parents don't let them go anywhere with anyone, but they trust their girls with me (even though they had never met me!).

I figured we were safe since we were going with family friends of Yovany's. They own a typical 4x4 truck that is built for 6 people (3 in front, 3 in back) with a very short bed. Well do Peruvians know how to maximize space or what because you better believe we crammed 17 people in that truck! That's right, 17 and as if that weren't enough, we picked up 2 more on the way home! Good lord. I rode the whole hour and a half standing up with my arms around the two girls who were in front of me. I held on for dear life and was exhausted by the time we got there. On the way home I decided to sit, thinking that might be a bit of a break, but boy was I wrong. I could feel every rock, pot hole, etc. that we hit and literally had black and blue marks the next day from the trip! Besides for that, the paseo was really fun. There were 6 of us and we had a blast hanging out together and enjoying the beautiful day. We went to a place called Pinipata, which is the same place I went back in January with the girls Jessica and I met. It has thermal spring water and two of the girls went swimming in the pool. The water was YELLOW and I'm not quite sure why. They said it was "normal" and supposed to be like that because of some mineral in the water, but they have these baths inside little rooms that are more private with the same water and it's clear so don't ask me. Everyone who went swimming went in old clothes so I was not about to go in since I missed that memo - the gringa in her bikini did not sound appealing to me. Plus, the poor girls were wearing white and when they got out, there clothes were stained yellow! Gross. It also turns out that they didn't know how to swim very well which I didn't know until they got in and were hanging on to the wall just about the whole time. Luckily it wasn't too deep and there were lots of other people in the water. Just for the record though, I was ready to jump in at the drop of a hat (or girl). The other girls and I played UNO (their new favorite game) and enjoyed the sun and the river while we waited for the girls in the pool. When they got out we ate our Arroz con Pollo (which was delicious if I may say so myself) and then surprised Yovany with an apple cake I had made the night before and brought with me. We didn't have enough to share with the family though so we hid behid a little cottage there, lit the candle, sang, and ate our cake. Haha. So despite for the ride there and back, it was a success and the girls who didn't go are so jealous that they missed out. Looks like we have another paseo to plan.

The youth group meetings during the vacation months went pretty well, but the girls were really shy and it was hard to get them to carry on a conversation with me or hold a discussion at the meetings. I had the brilliant idea of doing house visits because I thought that might help break them out of their shells. I'm still not sure if it helped since we've only had two meetings since I finished the house visits (more on the meetings later), but I had a blast doing the house visits and I think the girls really enjoyed them too. The first visit was a disaster in that the girl never showed up even though I had reminded her three times the day before. Luckily I know her parents so it wasn't that awkward and I just sat in their store and waited for her to come. Her dad bought me arroz con leche so I lucked out there even though Nayla never showed up (I gave up after 30 minutes). Obviously I didn't have high hopes after that first visit, but every other one was a blast!

The first successful visit I had was with Luz Meri. I had a little trouble finding her house as the address she gave me was for one of the high schools. I went in and looked around, but was clueless. After asking around, one teacher led me through this little secret door in the back and pointed way down the hill to her house. Good thing I was wearing my boots (and I don't mean hiking boots)! I almost killed myself about three times walking down, but I finally made it. Turns out her family sells milk and cuyes (guinea pigs) so they had lots of cows and cuyes. I've never seen so many cuyes in one place - I swear there were over 100! Of course they insisted I take a picture with one so you can imagine how thrilled I was about that. Then her mom taught me how to milk a cow! It was such a "Peace Corps moment". It's harder than you think. I thought I was going to pull it's utter off, but if you didn't pull hard, nothing came out. Then Luz Meri and I went on a walk with her little neighbors. They were absolutely adorable and since most Peruvian children are malnourished, they were tiny. I was sure the boy was three and the girl five, but the boy was five years old and the girl seven. They LOVED taking pictures and the little girl suggested we take a picture about every two feet. She couldn't get over me since I'm the first gringa she's ever seen. She kept talking about how I'm the most beautiful girl in all of Bambamarca and I'm so nice and have such nice, white skin, etc. She also told me I look so pretty in all of the photos and I told her she did too. Her response was "claro" (clearly!). I thought it was hillarious. She had such sass and modeled in every photo with her little leg out and her hand on her hip or her hands under her chin. Haha - adorable. We walked along the river, up to a garden, and collected and cracked walnuts to eat. I thought I'd never tried "nogales" so I was really excited to try them, but it turns out I just don't know what walnuts look like in their shells because when we cracked them on the rocks, they were just walnuts. Eventually we wandered our way back through the corn fields to Luz Meri's house where we drank warm cow milk - yes the same milk I had just squeezed an hour earlier from the cow's utter! It was delicious because it was nice and warm and full of sugar. Her mom insisted I had two cups and I really couldn't refuse since it was so good. This very well could be what let to my being extremely sick (possible parasite) four days later, but at least it was tasty going down. It was a very successful first visit and I already have another visit planned because we all had so much fun. I'm not quite sure what I'll do about the milk though....

The next house I visited was Berta's. She is 11 and absolutely tiny and adorable. I could probably fit her in my pocket. She and her brother had gone blackberry picking the day before with their uncle so they gave me a whole big bowl of their berries. They were definitely not ripe, but a little sugar can make anything taste good so I ate them all to show them I was grateful. After that we played Monopoly with her nine year old brother, Edin. It was fun other than the fact that it was a ghetto version. We buy lots of pyrated movies and CDs here, but I didn't know they also make "pyrated" versions of Monopoly. The board was clearly photocopied and paper thin. The money wasn't even real Monopoly money, it was some other photocopied money in different colors. They didn't have all of the cards for the different properties and they only had one die, one player piece (the car), two houses, and about four hotels (which we had to use for pieces so it was hard to keep track at time who was where). They were really cute about it though because it was new and Berta had read all of the rules as soon as they got it. They were very particular about what properties they bought and wanted to put houses and a hotel on every property. It was fun to play with them since they were so excited about it. Luckily the hot chocolate was ready so I was saved from playing with them all night. We passed into the kitchen and squished around the table with their mom, grandparents, cousin and his wife. Their house was VERY rustic with dirt floors, cuyes running around, and a cat that was literally crawling all over their grandma, but as their mom said, "small table, big heart". That is one thing I've noticed about Peruvians, they may not have much, but they are extremely generous and grateful for what they have. It was a really nice night and fun to sit around talking with Berta's family. She is definitely more outgoing and talkative at home so it was fun to see her in her own environment.

The next house visit was to Jouleisy's house. I visited her on a Saturday morning and we startd talking about food. Jouleisy told her mom I like to cook so they insisted I stay for lunch and cook with them. I do like to cook, but I don't really know how to cook Peruvian dishes so I was glad when her mom took over the cooking. It was fun sitting and watching her cook and talking because it reminded me of home (as much as cooking in a Peruvian house can). Her mom was really sweet, but kind of annoyed me because she told me her friend had just called from Cajamarca and she told him I was there and that I'm single. She said, "I gave him your measurements and told him you're really cute and single so he's leaving Cajamarca right now to come meet you." Umm gross....especially after I had just told her how hard it is to be away from my boyfriend. I guess I deserved it though because later she asked me how old I thought she was and I guessed too old....oops! She has a 15 year old son so I guessed 35, but I forgot people start early here in Peru and she is only 32. Luckily I think it's not as big of an insult here. The rest of the visit was fun and Jouleisy's family is really sweet.

The last visit was with Katy (because I still haven't been able to coordinate with other girls). Katy's family is really sweet and their house is REALLY nice. It doesn't look like it fits in Bambamarca, but her family is from the coast and from my observations, people from the coast always have really distinct houses and styles. At Katy's house, the visit was much more formal, sitting in the living room and talking and then having coffee and bread in the kitchen. It was still really nice to meet her family though and see her in her own environment.

After the house visits, I was really optimistic about the group, but things just started to go downhill. Classes have started now so the girls are much busier than they were during the vacation months. We only meet once a week now instead of two, on Saturday afternoons, but the girls are having a hard time showing up at all, let alone on time. Last week I was annoyed because by the time everyone was there, it was 45 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start and then they all left early (almost without helping me clean up until I made them help me). I was frustrated because I spend all of this time planning meetings and then they just show up when they please and leave without helping me or having a discussion about why we did that activity. Last Saturday was even worse because only two girls were there by 3:30 and then one left to find her friend who was at the soccer courts watching the games (because she came at 3 and left because no one was there). We played UNO until 4 o'clock when two more girls came, but I told them we weren't going to do an activity because they aren't going to be rewarded for showing up so late. I told them we are going to start meeting at 11 am on Saturdays and I will wait for them until 11:05. If no one is there I will leave because it's not fair for me to sit there and waste all of my time waiting for them. Plus the president of Peru has launched a Punctuality Campaign so we need to practice in our youth group. I think they got the idea that I was frustrated and they can't keep walking all over me like this or else the group won't continue. I also told them we're only going to meet twice a month since they're having a hard time coming and I need to have their commitment so we'll see how the next meeting goes. Needless to say, I was frustrated.

Unfortunately things haven't been that great here. I've been feeling really down and sad, but I talked to the doctor and he said that's really common after being in site for six months because the honeymoon period is over and the reality of another year and a half here sets in. Hopefully things will start picking up soon because I've been really bored and lonely. I'm making more of an effort with my family so I think that will help. I've started eating lunch with them because I never talk to them and just feel like a tenant here. I figure if we start eating together, even if I cook for myself, at least we'll talk and spend more time together. Hopefully things with work will pick up soon too. I have a lot to look forward to in April so I'm trying to stay positive.

I miss you all and appreciate all of your support, emails, packages, etc.

P.S. If anyone has any extra school or art supplies lying around and would like to know what to do with them, PLEASE send them on because they're expensive here and I can always use them in my youth group. Here is my address again just in case you've misplaced it.

Kristen Cummings/Cuerpo de Paz

Casilla Postal No. 48

SERPOST Chota

Cajamarca, Peru