Christmas and Jell-o Swishing

I hope everyone back home had a very Merry Christmas and is about to have a very Happy New Year! If you haven’t already (or even if you have), give someone you love a great big hug :p

I don’t want to sugarcoat my recollection of Christmas this year: being away from home during the holidays flat out sucks. I miss you all very, very, very much! And in this new environment where Christmas music isn’t very popular, I haven’t been able to get that familiar feeling of Christmas spirit or whatever you want to call it when you just know it’s almost Christmas and that knowledge makes you smile. Sun and sand are poor substitutes for a Chicago winter—sometimes I’m very grateful for that fact, but not when I want to feel like Christmas!

It also didn’t help that I got some kind of food poisoning again. I will spare you the details on what it is like to squat in the dirt in a latrine under the heat of the midday sun. On Christmas Eve. Yum.

But that is not to say that I didn’t have any fun this Christmas. I baked cookies a few days before the holiday, which meant introducing my host family to pecans for the first time—I hadn’t realized that people here in the campo have never even seen them, so I let everyone taste-test before I smashed them up with a hammer (no, I don’t have a food processor) and baked them into pecan horns (or Russian tea cakes, for everyone not in my family). The kids also had never smelled vanilla extract, which made for some funny faces. With so much newness, my host family didn’t so much help as stare at me as I baked. They did, however, enjoy eating them afterwards, and now that they have confidence in my baking abilities I’ve been enlisted to help make a cake for a birthday party next month.

In Peru, everyone celebrates on Christmas Eve (“Buena Noche”) rather than Christmas Day (“Navidad”). For lunch that day, I had roasted chicken that was probably fresher than any I’ve had in my life—only a few hours dead! That evening, I went with my host family to a niece’s house, where we had both pork and duck (also killed that morning!), and the traditional hot chocolate and panetón, or a version of the popular Italian fruit cake. Culturally, panetón is pretty random--I’m guessing it migrated to Peru from all of the Italians in Argentina? I’m not a huge fan, to be honest. It reminds me of the texture of cinnamon rolls, except since the cinnamon goo and frosting are replaced by raisins and gummy fruity things, it kind of just makes me miss Cinnabon. Couldn’t they have adopted tiramisu instead? The hot chocolate, however, is excellent—made from melted bars of chocolate instead of powder, with cinnamon and cloves.

We ate all of this by candlelight—not because we were trying to be romantic, but because the power picked an excellent time to go out. As inconvenient as that was, it did allow for the most amazing display of stars that I’ve seen since ASP. Being far from the city, I didn’t expect there to be so much light pollution, but I think it’s intensified by the dust in the air. Without light, however, even all the tiny stars in between the big ones were bright—it was the kind of sky you could get lost in.

By midnight, the lights had come back on. We watched the clock and right at 12 am everyone cheered and hugged each other, and the kids had sparklers and small firecrackers—it sort of reminded me of New Year’s. Supposedly afterwards there was some dancing, but I was tired/still sick and chose to go to bed early.

Christmas day, I watched quite a bit of Mad Men and Serenity, in between taking phone calls from some of my favorite people ever (thank you Padres + Katherine!) I also successfully satisfied my Jell-o craving—delicious! I don’t know why, but I tend to crave Jell-o a lot down here. Thankfully it’s very easy to make, plus there is always someone walking around selling it ready made in the markets or at bus stops.

I’ll end with a random Jell-o related story: I really have only one concrete memory of my great aunt Stell (she died when I was young) and of course it involves Jell-o. I was at a restaurant with a bunch of family and had gotten Jell-o cubes off of the buffet table, which I was swishing around between my teeth (if you don’t know the joy that is Jell-o swishing, I highly recommend making some right now and giving it a try!). Of course my mom told me to stop—it’s not exactly good table manners. But Aunt Stell was sitting nearby and contradicted her—she laughed and said that she liked eating it that way, too. I’m not sure that my mother appreciated her input, but I do know that I still love to swish my Jell-o. I’m such a rebel :p

Stinks and Rocks

Stuff that stinks: Feet, Dogs, Long Meetings
Stuff that rocks: Sunshine, Safari Vests, Clearer Sinuses

I’m typing from my new room here in Buena Vista, preparing something for the next time I go to the internet cafe in town. It’s around 80 degrees and intensely sunny, typical for the afternoons here, and there’s a nice breeze through my window. It will cool off this evening, enough to wear a sweater—there’s no humidity to hold in the heat after the sun is gone. It’s gorgeous, but I am a little in denial about Christmas coming up so soon. It won’t be the same! But to cheer myself up, every time I start to miss the snows in Chicago, I try to imagine the sensation of slush seeping through my shoes and socks—I don’t really miss that! And then I remember my ever-darkening tan lines from my daily footwear—Chaco sandals <3—and run to put more sun screen on my feet (and my arms and face and neck while I’m at it!). Instead of slimy frozen socks, I get dirty bare feet with a nice coating of dust that smells suspiciously like Coppertone

The rest of my outfit is also fitting to the Peace Corps, I think. Dirty jeans and a tshirt that doesn’t make any sense—what could be more Peruvian? Near the end of training, we designed and ordered a group tshirt, but the printing company… epic failed. We had attempted to commemorate Panchito the alpaca on the front, but instead got a strange pixilated blob. And last I checked, “Cuepo” has an “R” in it, as in “Cuerpo de Paz.” Oops. On top of that, my official Peace Corps vest, with all of its glorious pockets, was torn when they delivered them, so I just finally got the new one today. I might never take it off--it’s like I’m on a safari, except better because it has my name and “Cuerpo de Paz—Programa de Agua y Saneamiento” embroidered on it. And instead of giraffes, I’m surrounded by livestock and dogs.

Speaking of animals, I never thought I’d say this: Last week, I was bitten by a pig. Yes, a freaking pig (named Jose). It was nosing its nasty nose around under my chair, probably eating dog diarrhea or something, and I accidentally kicked it—it responded by trying to take a hunk out of my calf. Thankfully it did not break the skin, just left a bruise. Battle scars! Even more thankfully, Jose is now tied up—he started out hanging in and around the house because his mother died and my family had to bottle feed him for a while, so he kind of turned into a pet and my host dad had a hard time letting him go. But as it turns out, pigs make terrible pets—not only do they bite, but did you know that pigs can scream? Whenever he’s hungry—squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! If you can’t tell, I kind of hate the thing now, and look forward to some crispy bacon when he’s bigger :p

Now is probably a good time to mention that I live on a small farm outside town, with several pigs, gaggles of geese, ducks, chickens, hens and turkeys and a few cows living amongst the mango and avocado trees. The birds pretty much define the term “free range”—I am glad that after a few days of being here, we got a wall built to separate my room from the rest of the house so that they can’t run in when the door is left open during the day.

We have a few dogs as well—“Cual” and “Porque” belong to my family, and then we also are regularly visited by a host cousin’s new puppy “Estrellita” and another neighborhood dog that I’ve been calling “Bug” because I always catch him eating flies out of the air—I think he’s a little crazy. Another host cousin also brings his dog by sometimes as well, which reminds me—I was bitten by a dog, too.

I was spending the day scrubbing out my room, which included killing a whole colony of spiders living in my curtains. I went outside to go look for the broom to help me reach the spiders on the ceiling, when out of nowhere there’s a large dog leaping for my elbow. Thankfully the dog didn’t break the skin either (another bruise—battle scar #2!) so I didn’t have to rush off to Trujillo for rabies shots, and my host mom can to the rescue brandishing a stick. A few days later, I was surprised to have to assure several Peruvians that it is normal for bruises to turn yellowish-green as they fade—I guess most Peruvian’s have skin that’s just dark enough to make it difficult to see.

Also, in case you care, the sinus issues I was having in my last post due to my apparent allergy to the country of Peru are going away now, hopefully for good this time—I am switching my allergy meds. I picked up the new stuff in Trujillo last weekend when I was there for the monthly regional meeting with all of the other La Libertad volunteers, and it seems to be working. Yay!

I should also mention amongst all of this negativity about attack animals that my host family is wonderful :p

The other day I showed some of them my photos from home. Mom and Dad, you should know that you are both “so young!” and “so happy looking!” and “so pretty/handsome!” Mike and Tommy, you both look just like your parents. And Mike, you better stop growing because you’re “so giant!” and scare my host mom a little bit :p

And yes Babcia, I am getting plenty to eat—my host mom, Azucena, is a great cook. And today, she and Javier, my host dad, were cleaning out their old gas stove and oven so that we can put it into use again for baking Christmas cookies—I’m very excited for that!

Since I am still in my “getting to know the community” phase, I don’t have much to report as far as work, although I am in the process of discussing teaching English during break and painting a world map on the wall at the school. I’ll keep you updated!

Excerpt from my journal: How does everything work up there?!

I didn’t make it to the colegio (primary and secondary school) this afternoon, spacing out with a book and napping instead [I had a sinus infection]. Damn sinuses, and damn me for surrendering so readily to the excuse! I was a little overwhelmed this morning by how quickly the mayor seemed to move (and especially speak), whisking me off to the Health Post where a blustering nurse methodically rushed through patients, grumbling almost cheerfully about the Post being understaffed. Strange that I from Chicago, USA, should feel overwhelmed by speed in the Peruvian campo, but I suppose I appreciate a slower pace while I’m adjusting and still learning the language.

While I half read, half napped, I was also thinking about how incredible it is that in the U.S. we can dump used water down a drain instead of using it to water the dirt. That we think it’s a novelty to cook over an open flame—I’m not surprised that we enjoy it because for some reason food tastes better coming out of a charred sartén [pan] than a shiny wok on a gas stove, but I am more baffled by our ignorance in finding this to be a novelty. That we rarely wash anything by hand (that’s what dishwashers and mesh laundry bags are for). That we don’t bathe in rivers or out of buckets. I can already feel the shock of returning to the US after this experience creeping up on me—how did things happen this way? Life here is so much more difficult in very basic ways and yet no one seems to notice.

Perhaps the human spirit needs to struggle against something. The easier we make our lives, the more we will invent new plagues to worry us—ironically, these troublesome inventions have become measures of progress: industry, philosophy, culture.

My life is now basically a camping trip—except isn’t that statement kind of insulting? Really my life is now a little closer to that of the majority of people on Earth, and my American mind has the arrogance to compare it to the bizarre way that we deprive ourselves of our easily acquired luxuries and call it a vacation. Like kids playing cowboys and Indians, we sometimes play at poverty.

Meanwhile, somehow everything works! Drains, toilets, gas lines, storm sewers, government people who show up if it breaks. People to hold accountable. Obviously there are plenty of rough edges—things do break, corruption and mismanagement happen—but the rest is smooth enough that we can distinguish the bumps as way out of the norm. We hated Bush for his failed response to Katrina, but when a huayco [land slide] wipes out a village, everyone just quietly invades a new area and crosses their fingers for a deed to the land some day.

I wonder if two years is going to be enough for me to wrap my mind around this.

Recommended Reading

I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading down here and would highly, highly recommend both East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. They’re both epics—Steinbeck takes the farm life in the Salinas Valley and makes it into an epic, while Robbins mixes the modern day with the past through fantasy, imagining the potential for epically long life--and they both prompted me to write down a few quotes that I’ll share.

Jitterbug Perfume:
Sometimes Robbins’ writing style gets a little bit obnoxious—his metaphors can be way out there—but getting through that is well worth the story. And one metaphor does manage to capture a feeling that’s difficult to explain—how things that feel intensely real when they are happening also feel surreal.

“The eclipse,” said Ricki. “It was probably the most real thing I’ve ever seen, but it was also like a dream. You know what I mean? Real and unreal, beautiful and strange, like a dream. It got me high as a kite, but it didn’t last long enough. It ended too soon and left nothing behind.”
“That’s how it is with dreams,” said Priscilla. “They’re the perfect crime.”

East of Eden:
Lee and Samuel are discussing the story of Cain and Abel and there is a discrepancy between 2 versions of the Bible, so they look up the old Hebrew. They realize that “thou shalt triumph over sin” could be better translated to “thou mayest,” giving man the power to make decisions.

[Lee speaking] “… But the Hebrew word, the word timshl—“Thou mayest”—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if “Thou mayest”—it is also true that “Thou mayest not”…
“Why that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the Gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it though and win…
“…[T]his is a ladder to climb to the stars.” Lee’s eyes shone. “You can never lose that. It cuts the feet from under weakness and cowardliness and laziness.”

“I feel that a man is a very important thing—maybe more important than a star. This is not theology. I have no bent toward gods. But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed—because ‘Thou mayest.’”

Another Adventure Begins?

Training is... over! I am currently at a hostel in Trujillo waiting to leave for my site where I will be for the next two years and it is pretty surreal. I'm going to do... what? Really? For 2 years? Oh my... I'm excited though, too!

I already visited my new host family a few weeks ago after our Field Based Training in Alto Piura (FBT=we spent a few days traveling around Piura learning about latrines and solid waste management systems--sorry it has been a while since I updated!) and am looking forward to going back to Buenavista. My host family has mango, avocado, banana, guaranabana, and lucuma trees on their property, as well as some pigs, cows and chickens--they have a small farm just outside of town. I'm very excited for January, since that is when the mangoes will be ripe!

Some things to get used to: I don't have a bathroom or shower; instead, I get to bathe either in buckets in my room or in the irrigation canal that runs through their property, and use a latrine. As I discovered during my site visit, both of these things require more practice than I would have expected! But I survived and I'm sure I will eventually get over my fear of forgetting that the latrine doesn't have a toilet/seat over it and accidentally stepping or falling in to the hole :)

Site Selections!

I will be going to Buena Vista in La Libertad (the Departamento, kind of like a state)--it's a small town near the coast (re: hot and dry, but maybe near enough to a beach!), about an hour from Trujillo (the second biggest city in Peru) and eight to ten hours from the city of Lima.

More details to follow, I have to run now because we're off to Chosica to celebrate! :)

In Which I Finally Figure Out the WATSAN PCV Job Description and Have Some Idea of What My Job Will Be

Sometimes when I think about what I’ve learned so far, I come to something I’ll call an overwhelmed blank—I know that I have learned things, probably many of them useful, but there is so much swirling around in my head that sometimes I can’t seem to think of any! It has been an intense 6 weeks so far, where time seems to alternate between slowing down to a crawl and sprinting suddenly ahead. I’ve been mostly very busy, but also very bored (mostly while sitting at home for 2 days this week with that one illness that every volunteer seems to get at one point or another—yippee!) and I’ve been overwhelmed (like when 2 days later I hiked up a mountain at around 10,000 feet—not sure I was physically prepared for that, but the photos are worth it!). And I have definitely learned things…. *drumroll please*….

Yes, people, I am finally confident (after 6 weeks) that I have some semblance of a job description for a Water and Sanitation Peace Corps Volunteer. Yay! I’ll break it down what I’ve learned into a few categories:

How Not to Die 1: Speak Spanish: As I’ve mentioned, we have language classes most mornings, split into different levels based on 2 interviews, one from the first day here and the second was just last week. There are 9 levels—I began at Intermedio-Medio and then last week moved up 2 levels to Avanzado-Bajo, although I am still in class with Intermedio-Alto. I think that the distinctions between levels are very minimal, and even a little random since they’re based partly on what kind of day you were having the day of the interview last week, but my Spanish has definitely improved since I got here!

How Not to Die 2: Peruvian Culture and Survival Techniques: Every so often we have charlas related simply to just living in Peru and Peace Corps policies. Early on we learned how to distinguish between real and fake money, and we’ve since covered topics like how to find a good taxi, how minimize your risk of being robbed, health (physical and mental), and cultural differences related to dating and alcohol. As an American (especially a female American), I have to be careful not to give the wrong impression to men I meet in my community—men and women are rarely friends, and even something as simple as accepting an invitation to grab an ice cream can be interpreted as “I want to have a serious relationship with you” and/or “I want to have your babies.” And it is also almost funny how much time we have spent learning how to say “No, thank you” when someone offers us food—people tend to show appreciation or affection with food, so it is kind of rude to refuse it, but if you’re visiting multiple people a day who all try to feed you, the calories can definitely add up and a lot of volunteers gain weight if they aren’t careful.

The alcohol culture is pretty different as well—Peruvians often drink sitting in a circle with only one small glass and a large bottle of beer, passed around so that everyone drinks one at a time. In more conservative areas, women may be expected not to serve themselves. The combination of sitting in a circle to socialize and not being able to determine how much you take can make it difficult to regulate how much you’re drinking (and being wasted in front of the community is generally a pretty bad idea), so we actually practiced ways to decline alcohol when it’s offered.

Job Descrip Part 1: Community Diagnostic: We have spent a lot of time going over how to conduct a Community Diagnostic, the survey of our communities that every volunteer has to complete within the first 3 months on site and present both to the community and to the Peace Corps. It kind of feels like I’m writing my BA all over again, except in Spanish, but it’s really important. The purpose is to get to know the community better and to be able to design informed projects later on. Basically I will be conducting a bunch of interviews in order to understand people’s needs (what is the water like? common health problems?), habits (do people already know how important it is to wash their hands? do they use the latrine or take care of business out in the fields?) and resources (what time are people available for meetings? how much can people afford to pay for new infrastructure? who wants to work with me?). Without this kind of information, it would be very difficult to implement a truly useful and sustainable project. To help us with this, we have practiced interviewing people in the community, writing interview questions and ways to organize information to make sure we’re covering everything. If you’re ever done a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), we covered that, too, except in Spanish they call it FOTA.

Job Descrip Part 2: Non-Formal Education and Behavior Change: I am intentionally saving the actual construction project component for last, because I am not going to be out digging holes or building bathrooms every day like you might imagine—education and awareness about healthy practices (like hand washing, the link between germs and disease, etc.) and cultivating the interest necessary to build something that the community will put to good use will actually be a much bigger part of my job.

Consider some failed projects: Brand new water systems have been build only to fall into disrepair and disuse because the community isn’t organized enough to pay for and carry out necessary maintenance (this is actually the reason why the water system in Santa Eulalia where I’m currently living is under-chlorinated—very few people actually pay the monthly water fee, there is no system in place to make them pay, and then there is no money for maintenance). Latrines have been built only to end up as tool sheds because the families don’t know how to properly maintain a latrine and/or don’t understand why using the fields for their needs can cause disease—these are the kind of project failures we’re trying to avoid. So we talk a lot about non-formal education to promote behavior change—basically the idea is that instead of lecturing, it is more productive to have some kind hands on activity that will sort of guide the group towards coming up with your intended lesson on its own. I’m a 22 year old gringa—who am I to tell Peruvian adults what to do? But if they own the idea themselves, they may really believe it.

Job Descrip Part 3: Buildin’ Shit!: Finally! There is a reason I showed up in this country with gloves and boots. So far at the training center, we have constructed:

Compost Piles and Worm Bins: Composting is actually pretty easy if you have the space—the trick is to keep it hot by allowing oxygen to circulate throughout the pile (keep an open hole in the middle and stir it around every so often) and keeping the correct ratio of green (green plants or wet vegetable peels) to brown (dried out dead things) compost. It doesn’t smell so hot, however. But the end result is abono—an awesome soil additive for your garden that will hold a lot of water and has some extra nutrients. For super nutrient-rich soil, you want a worm bin. Keep your dirt and organic material damp and fill it with worms—they’ll eat it up and leave behind some really rich soil as well as a liquid that you can also add to your garden as fertilizer. We have one in the ground and a second that hangs from a tree to prevent animals from munching on your organic material.

Micro-relleno/ Mini Dump: If you can’t recycle it or compost it, please don’t burn it! Except that’s what Peruvians do. A small dump is a potential solution—you pretty much just dig a hole with a little channel around it to keep out water, compacting and alternating layers of trash with layers of dirt. It’s not perfect, but it is preferable to the smell (toxic fumes, actually) of burning wrappers.

Sand Filters (Schmutzdecke!): A sand filter cleans turbidity (dissolved dirt and whatnot) and bacteria out of your water in a pretty bizarre and definitely fun-to-say way. Ours are essentially large garbage cans filled with layers of rock, gravel and sand. A plastic tube runs from the bottom of the garbage can (held down by the rock layer) and out the side of the garbage can near the top (kind of like a straw). You pour water in the top, it filters through the sand, gravel and rocks, and comes out clean on the other end of the tube. The secret weapon is the Schmutzdecke—a layer of green algae-type gunk and bacteria that forms on top of the sand, which forms after you’ve been pouring water through it twice a day for a few weeks or so. You wouldn’t want to drink the Schmutzdecke, but what it does is literally eat the gunk out of your water. Killing bacteria with bacteria? Supposedly it works—England actually uses a larger scale Schmutzdecke system to clean its tap water. Unfortunately ours are not yet operational—first off, I don’t think we cleaned our sand enough (because really, why would you clean sand? It’s pretty much dirt, right? Not!) so the water comes out more turbid than it goes in. But hopefully they will get there!

Grey Water System: Grey water is waste water that isn’t sewage—it has maybe been used for washing dishes or showering, but hasn’t been down the toilet, so it actually can be reused. We built a system with an outdoor sink, and the drainage is distributed underground—we want to plant a garden on top of it, some plants will apparently digest soap residue so it doesn’t stay in the ground. There is a ton of ways to make grey water system, and they are really important to prevent standing water—for example, if a community has a communal water tap, the runoff shouldn’t be allowed to puddle around the base because it can attract disease and mosquitoes. If you have a basement with a sump pump or gutters on your roof that kicks the water out into some kind of underground perforated tube, that’s also a grey water system. You could also switch to organic detergents and drain your washing machine into something like this that would keep your garden or lawn effortlessly watered via underground tubing. Mom, I’m picturing this at our house, and it’s awesome. Just sayin’.

We have also covered:

Water disinfection via SODIS: I have no idea what that acronym means, but did you know that if you fill a clean, clear bottle with contaminated water all the way to the top (no air) and leave it on your roof on a sunny day for at least 6 hours, UV rays from the sun will kill most of the nastiness in it that can make you sick? That’s SODIS.

Types of water systems: We have visited several water systems just to see how they work—and by several, I mean I visited one when we hiked up into the sierra yesterday and the rest of the group also visited 2 more the day that I was home sick—and have discussed the components of each. I won’t bore you with them.

We still haven’t gotten to latrines or cocinas mejoradas, but we will! All of these are potential projects that our community might appreciate—we are by no means required to implement any or all of them.

* * *

I hope this lengthy description gives y’all (volunteers from the South are infiltrating my vocabulary) a better idea of what I’m up to and what I’m actually going to be doing when I get to my site! We will find out on Tuesday where we are going come November 27^th-ish—I’m pretty excited to know for sure. Of course, being sick means I missed our final interview with Jorge, my APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director, I think) who is largely responsible for selecting my site. Which means I told him in passing that I much prefer the coast to the highlands, but who knows if that actually matters. Que será, será y lo que pasó, pasó (whatever will be will be, and what happens, happens!).

More photos!

I will blog again soon, but not right now while I'm paying by the hour to use this internet. For now, photos!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2142020&id=2911230&l=4ac30435a8

Peace Corps 3 Goals in Song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gjWUJoHUFg&feature=player_embedded

**EDITED AGAIN 10/26/2010** Want to send me stuff? You know you do.

**I LIED. NO USED CLOTHES MAY BE SENT, ONLY NEW ONES WITH TAGS. OOPS. SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION!**

I would check out the shipping costs/customs duties with the post office before you buy anything to send—I understand it is expensive, especially if it weighs more than a pound or two. But if you want to send a small package, get my address from someone who already has it (I don’t want to post it on my blog), and here are some suggestions!

• Letters, cards and/or photos—write/draw to me about your life!
• **Small calculator (nothing fancy, just basic functions)**
  
• Halloween candy, especially candy corn (!!), York peppermint patties, Milky Way, Twix, Snickers, anything dark chocolate...FYI I really don’t like Reese’s, so don’t waste the space/weight
• Almonds (plain or chocolate covered)—they’re really expensive here
• Minty gum—there’s a plethora of the fruity kind here, too bad that doesn’t count as real gum. Spearmint Trident is one of my favorites
• Gladware/Ziplock Tupperware containers. Or even those reusable plastic ones that Chinese food comes in sometimes. Have to keep that leftover avocado from going brown! I might gift some to my host family since they don’t really have Tupperware here.
• Lightweight, casual long or ¾ sleeve button-up shirts—basically something I can throw on over a t-shirt to look a little more professional (even if I’m digging holes) and save my skin from the sun, without sweating to death. I realize that’s really specific, but if you happen to be shopping and see something… Size S in misses, M-L in juniors, por favor.
• The most comfiest sweats/PJ pants ever made. Cotton/ cotton blend por favor (otherwise they’re too hot

• Books. Whatever looks interesting. I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and would like to read the rest of the series. And if you really feel like hunting, I’m interested in the truth commissions that happened after Peru’s terrorism issues in the 80’s-early 90’s—not sure if there’s a book in English on that. The truth commissions in South Africa and Argentina are also really interesting—maybe there’s a comparative book out there somewhere?

Thanks!! <3

¡ Invíteme!: Peruvian Food

People back home might be wondering what I’m eating (or even worrying about whether or not I have enough to eat—Hi Babcia!). Trust me that I am eating very well, sometimes maybe a little too well! Portions here tend to be pretty big. The biggest difference between meals here and in the US is the timing—lunch at 12 or 1 is the biggest meal of the day, and dinner is more of a snack/lunch around 7-8 pm.

My favorite part of Peruvian food so far is all of the fresh, local fruit: even a boring banana (or plátano) tastes better here. I’m also living near Santa Eulalia, the self-proclaimed palta (avocado) capital of the world. While I have no evidence to back up their claim, the palta and red onion sandwiches that I often eat for breakfast are really delicious. I also really love papaya, and don’t even get me started on the mangos. I just ate one. It was ammmaaazing!!

My other favorite part about Peruvian food: Peruvians are big on sharing. ¡Invíteme! (Invite me to have some!). The downside is that if I have a pack of 8 cookies and am sitting with 7 other people, I will probably only get to eat 1 after I invitar (invite) everyone around me to have some. But then I also get to steal other people’s snacks. Caitlin has yet another delicious mango? ¡Invíteme, Caitlin! Someone is eating crackers? ¡Invíteme! We definitely are abusing the phrase, shouting ¡ Invíteme! as soon as food appears or is won during class, but it’s fun!

Probably my least favorite part of the Peruvian diet is all of the carbs—even though most everything is tasty, it’s not always the healthiest. Even fruit has a lot of sugar, and little rolls of white bread goes with everything—they’re fresh baked and probably don’t have a lot of preservatives in them, but no whole grains, either. Saltines and tostada (pre-toasted white bread—basically giant crotons which I pretty much use as a vessel for eating butter and jelly, which for some reason I’m in love with lately) are also popular.

My breakfasts are usually instant coffee (which isn’t amazing, but definitely better than some of the instant I’ve had in the states!), palta or fried camote (sweet potatoes) sandwiches, and some kind of freshly made fruit juice—papaya, plátano, fresa (strawberry), or mandarina (big mandarin oranges). If you want the best accompaniment to breakfast ever, just throw some fruit and a tiny bit of water or milk in a blender. It’s like magic! I’ve also had fried yuca (like a potato but a little drier/even more starchy) or potato French fries coated with egg in the morning.

My lunches vary, but usually have a base of white rice, noodles or potatoes. Chicken is really popular—sometimes breaded and fried into a patty, like a thin chicken burger (I’m blanking on what that’s called), other times plain or with some kind of sauce. My favorites so far have been chicken and rice with a peanut-based sauce (pollo de maní, I think), and pachamanca, which is chicken, beef, potatoes, camote, and some veggies slow cooked with a whole bunch of herbs—mmmm! I’ve also had lentils or beans and rice a few times, and noodles with soy sauce and veggies (fidellos chinos). Popular vegetables include broccoli, zanahorias (carrots—I love that word), lots of red onion, cucumbers, and choclo, which is essentially yellow corn on steroids—the kernels are at least 3 times the size of those in the states. I had a salad made out of beets, zanahoria, and potatoes once, too, that was pretty delicious. And ají goes with everything--a hot sauce made out of some kind of pepper--it’s really good on pretty much everything from chicken to potatoes to soup.

Dinner, as I said, is usually small, which took a little getting used to—the first week I couldn’t come close to finishing my lunch and then ended up eating a lot (lot!) of tostada for dinner. Now, I still don’t always finish my lunch (big portions!) but I’m used to having the smaller meal at night. My host mom usually makes some kind of sweetened oatmeal out of a few different grains, including corn (they call it polenta, but I don’t think Italians would approve of this sweet, soupy version), or soup with chicken, chicken feet (actually really delicious) noodles, rice or barely, to go with my tostada and tea. Twice I’ve also had mazamora de… something… which is essentially warm Jello that hasn’t set yet, mixed with a little bit of flour or something to make it a little thicker. If you think that sounds bizarre, it is pretty odd, but does taste good.

Even more bizarre—tonight I was at another volunteer’s house around dinner and was offered, yes, sheep’s stomach. It was actually really tasty—cut into small pieces, it was kind of chewy like calamari, and it was cooked with potatoes, carrots and lots of tasty spices. Different, but definitely delicious. I still haven’t tried cuy (guinea pig) or anticuchos (animal heart on a stick with sauce?), two Peruvian specialties, but I’m sure I will before my two years are up!

As far as drinks go, I try to stick to water (boiled, of course) to avoid eating more sugar, but I have tried chicha morada, a dark purple drink made out of maíz morada (dark purple corn) and lots of sugar. Inca Cola is a popular cotton-candy flavored pop that I am kind of glad I don’t like, because it has even more sugar than a Coke.

Something I will probably miss from the US is the beer—cerveza here is really cheap, but also really sweet. It’s no Sam Addams or Goose Island for sure. Sad. I did try pisco and Coke last weekend (piscola!) and a sip of a pisco sour, which was pretty delicious—I don’t know how pisco tastes plain, but it’s a hard alcohol distilled from grapes.

10 Adjustments

1. I am a gringa. I am tall (yes, 5’4” me is tall!) and rubia (blond). People will stare, whistle and/or make comments. This reaction is not limited to men. A 4” tall old woman peeked out from under her giant hat to stare and exclaim “Ooo gringas!” with a huge smile while a group of us were walking home from class the other day.

2. While driving a taxi or combi, staying in your lane or slowing down while passing pedestrians in the street (there are no sidewalks) is for the weak. Honking at everything that moves, however, somehow makes up for that. Don’t question it.

3. Hot water is for drinking (I can’t drink anything that hasn’t been boiled), while cold tap water is for bathing. I’m not sure I will ever adjust to the latter—instead I think I will just wash my hair less and less… brrrr!

4. Toilet paper does not, in fact, go in the toilet. The plumbing system here can’t handle it. I’m not sure what impact that has on the environment, positive or negative—there’s more garbage, but less contamination in the water… anyone know?

5. 22 years old is not too old to play musical chairs for chocolate (especially if it’s a Sublime bar… chocolate and peanuts mmmm). My Spanish classes are the most fun so far, mostly because we play a lot of games. My manos de mantequilla (butterfingers!) don’t always help me to win them, but it’s still a good time.

6. Stray dogs can be adorable until they chase after you barking and snarling. I’ve been told it’s better to turn and yell at them than to run, but I have yet to test this.

7. Before bed, I brush my teeth, wash my face, and wash my… feet. Everything is so dry/dusty here that my Chacos are already a little less black, so you can imagine what my feet look like when I get home!

8. I got stung by a bee at the center on Friday (stupid abeja), and my host mom and brother independently told me that this was a good cure for the cough I’ve had for the past week. I’m still coughing--apparently it takes time. Interesting.

9. Fun > Caution. Babies will not necessarily die if they play with butcher knives in the market or electrical outlets (cringe). And at a dance competition, I got to witness a torro loco—a crazy bull, or a guy running around wearing a giant papier-mâché bull costume/hat, out of which shot sparklers and fireworks. I was too worried about him imminent demise to think to snap a photo. ¡Mucho fuego! Miraculously, he did not catch fire and die. Apparently el torro loco is a popular appearance at big parties, so people tend to wear old clothes because it’s easy to get singed.

10. Language barrier. Confusion is my new default. Sometimes training sessions are a little disorganized—the schedule changes a lot and directions aren’t always clear. But even more confusing is the part where, believe it or not, everyone speaks Spanish here! ¿Qué!?! :)