Back to School, Back to School

Wrote parts of this while ago, but all in all here are some tidbits from my life in Perú J

            Rainy season is defiantly upon us now (March); rain begins without fail at 2pm each day and is known to continue with vengeance until I wake the next morning.  The close of my Vacaciones Útiles seems to have most unfortunately coincided with the increase in rainfall: meaning I have found myself with an abundance of extra time.  Classes should begin March 4^th, but I have heard that they really will not commence until the following week.  Students know they do not have to show up for the first week of classes, and consequently, they do not, because the teachers and school directors are still working out their schedules and year plans.  A task undoubtedly that could have been accomplished before the actual start of school, but this tradition of procrastination has otherwise been nationally adopted and therefore adds a week of summer vacation to the calendar.  In these extra weeks of downtime, I have read all about Harry, Hermione, and Ron, developed year plans for numerous projects, finished my community diagnostic, seriously thought about running, and developed a severe cough.

The real bummer about being sick is not the diarrheal urges, pounding headaches, constant chills, or the rib-cracking cough; it is the constant speculation by everyone in town as to what I have eaten, drunk, forgotten to bundle myself in, or more often the not, at what temperature my drinking water is that has made me sick.  The upside of being sick: hours easily dedicated to Harry Potter (I finished the series last night, a sad, sad day), natural herbs and teas such as Huamangripa and Muña, and an excuse to do my work on the computer.     

I have to say I do love me some choclo y queso (ear of corn and cheese) sold for a Nuevo sol at the most convenient locations. However, as I just ate a sweet corn kernel out of my Instant Lunch Ramen, I find myself longing for a nice juicy ear of sweet corn, drenched with butter, salt, and pepper. If one is asked what they think of first when you say Peru, I imagine responses might consist of Machu Picchu, indigenous culture, llamas, alpaca, potatoes, and corn, and my hat is off to them; they nailed it (for the sierra). While of course, there is much, much more to my Peruvian brothers and sisters than the aforementioned, potatoes and corn, for example, are a fine representation of my diet.  However, something that has bothered me is the lack of delicious potato entries.  While I understand that boiling potatoes that were recently harvested form the farm down the hill by my neighbor is cheaper than mashing those potatoes with some sour cream, milk, butter, salt, and ground pepper, I cannot help but wish every time after I am served a bowl of boiled potatoes and nada más for my segundo, especially when it was preceded by some trigo and papa (wheat and potato) soup.

It is a weird thing to google an event I plan to attend or a place I plan to visit and have NOTHING appear about it on the internet.

A few weekends ago, I found myself going on a hike up to the mountain peak Rajatunag (5,200 meters) with some fit and agile young, Peruvian men who know this range like the back of their hands; well-acclimated, jovial boys they were.  At about 4,600 meters up, you can bet I was neither well-acclimated, jovial, nor a boy.  Naturally, it is here we met the steepest and roughest incline and terrain of soft dirt and rocks, which obviously led to the “cave” and impromptu rock climb.  Not wanting to look weak and too foreign, I agreed to the climb through the hole in the rock up to the next layer.  Here, I do use the word climb lightly as I was more pushed and pulled up the 8 foot hole.  I made it to the top with minimal scrapes and bruises and hardly any blood loss.  Worth it—I turned the huge rock corner to see the peak, which to me looks like a Santa Clause hat, and a whole new snow covered ridge to my delight.   

On the way back down, I was in heaven, a beautiful decent, breathing back to normal, sweat subsided, and in a sea of donkeys.  The rain had recently stopped, but the path down the mountain was assumed to be slippery.  I had my fresh, new hiking boots and was not too worried.  However, as we neared the end of the trail, a donkey let loose an eeeee-hhhooonnn.  It is a naturally terrible sound; I for one cannot understand how such cute, loveable animals can own up to such a call, but alas that is the way of the donkeys.  So, here we are walking down the “slippery” slope as the donkey lets out its inner feelings, when the man behind me jumps up and into action, yelling himself, all nervous-like.  What is it?, we as him.  Out of shameful giggles, he says that he thought that I had fallen.  While I was charmed that he sprung to action like that to save my life, I was simultaneously a little offended that he thought that shrilling bray from the donkey could come from my sweet little mouth. 

            WORK! Thank you to everyone who donated to our Camp ALMA! We had about 25 girls from all over our department of Ancash come to partake in the SUPER MUJER events.  We talked about the topics and issues most important to teenage girls, all the while having fun and solidifying new friendships.  We spoke about Sexual Health, Self-Esteem, Body Image, Professional Careers, and touched upon various other issues evident in our Sierra towns of Perú.  I brought three girls from my town of Chiquián, and they had a blast, made new friends, and have bracelets galore. They are also part of my Pasos Adelante group, in which we discuss the aforementioned topics as well, but have a heavy emphasis on HIV-AIDS, STIs, Sexual and Reproductive Health.  It is a group of about 25 students of high school level (chosen by their professors and school directors based on their leadership skills and desire to learn) from my two Colegios that meets once a week.  The idea is that they will teach and transmit the learned information back to their classmates and create healthier, better informed schools.  It is a program developed by former Perú PCVs and is implemented in most PC Peru sites!  These are the events/programs to which I have been most dedicated in the past few months.  This week, I am working to put together a series of EARTH DAY events, and we will paint a World Map on a wall in Chiquián for everyone to see.  This is a project that is not only realized in Peru by the PCVs, but all over the world in previous and current Peace Corp countries.  It is Bien Chevre!

Although I did thoroughly enjoy rainy season, the time I had to plan for projects, read the HP series, and crochet little hats, I do have to say that I am happy that is it no longer too cold, rainy, and muddy to walk across the lawn to the bathroom, nor do I (have to) pee and brush my teeth in the same bucket that serves to catch the rain water from my ceiling any longer.