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!?! :)

Dictionary of Peruvian Food Slang

Anyone currently taking Spanish classes (Tommy? Anyone else?): Use these phrases appropriately in your next paper or skit assignment for guaranteed extra credit! If your teacher is Peruvian, anyway :)

Camarones: Party crashers (literally: shrimp).

Chupe: Brown noser (literally: shrimp and lobster soup)

Cocinar un pacto: To make a deal (“cook” a deal)

¿Cuál es tu caucau?: What’s you’re problem? (caucau is cow stomach, I hear it’s nasty)

Donde come uno, comen dos: Where one eats, two eat. Peru is big on sharing food.

El que come y no convida tiene un sapo en la barriga: He who eats and doesn’t share has a frog in his gut.

Estar hasta el queque: To be sick or nervous (doesn’t translate literally, but queques are muffins)

Estas frito pescadito: You’re screwed (literally: You’re fried fish)

Fresca como una lechuga: “Fresh as lettuce,” someone who is bold/disrespectful and may abuse a friendship

Ganarse los frijoles: To bring home the bacon! (Except in Peru, they win the beans)

Me importar un pepino: I don’t give a… cucumber.

No es amor al chancho, sino a las chicharrones: It’s not love for the pig (person), only love for the bacon (money). Gold digger!

No se haga paltas/ Me paltié: Don’t get confused/ I’m confused (Don’t have an avocado/ I’m avocado-ed… doesn’t really translate)

Picarón: A flirt (also a dessert)

Plato fuerte: Important or main idea or topic (the “strong plate”)

¡Qué buenas yucas!: Nice legs! (Ow ow!)

¡Qué buena vaina!: What a mooch! (literally: What a great pea pod!)

Tema picante: Hot or controversial topic (literally: spicy plate)

Te estoy agarrando camote: You are/are becoming my best friend (sort of like, “We’re two peas in a pod,” except camotes are sweet potatoes)

Torreja: Something common or of low quality (literally: another word for egg and veggie tortilla)

Zanahoria: Someone who is naive (literally: a carrot)