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!