my fiestas patrias feast! im eating the chaufa de mariscos adn thats one of the 3 full crabs in the soup the size of any huge serving bowl in the states
torta (i did share it with consuelo) that i def didn´t need
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
earlier 2nd post then I thought... please see previous post first
Well I should start by saying it is 7:45 pm and I just finished dinner. Well, yeh dinner; papas secos. Basically since you can do anything with papas this is the one I heard about and more or less was baffled by and even more so now since I have learned the taste and more importantly the smell… what happens is they dry the potato in a very long process then sell it dry and then the people cook the potatoes… I had this with some rice… and a lot of aji (which gets me thru anything I don’t like just to say I do like it) because with enough aji any taste can be indistinguishable. Though that smell… it didn’t remind me of anything really pleasant… so that was interesting…let me get back to my re-cap though…
Monday, my family and I went to Chosica to eat some lunch. Combi fares were up because of the holiday and whole 50 centimos to be a Sole… grr We had a real feast in Chosica all platos tipicos del Peru like chaufa con mariscos, sopa de pescada, ceviche porsupesto!... and because we didn’t eat enough finished up all the food in Chosica with amazing tortas de chocolate, lucuma, y frescas… basically a strawberry shortcake (jealous dad?) After a walk around the park for a bit we headed home at about 4:30ish and I passed out for a nice, long nap. When I woke up, I was informed I was heading to a birthday party at a local discoteca with my sister and her brother… I really didn’t want to go because we had school the next day and plus I really don’t have any outfits for going-out nor my straightener… but I went and it was fun hearing all the Criollo music and seeing them dance, dances I have yet to master but give me 2 years… just you wait…I knew it was my cue to leave for the night when I heard the intro to MIB by none other than Big Willie (Smith)…yes grant your main man…so I headed back to my warm bed and wonderful pillow ;)
Tuesday we heading into the center at about 9:30 but classes really didn’t start till about 10…gotta love the holiday mood everyone was still feeling. We basically recapped the ferria we went to and what the volunteers were doing there with their groups and also about starting youth projects in our communities. Then what was really interesting was in our language class we watched “Estado de Miedo” which is a very informative movie about the 20 years period of Shining Path, a dark and scary period for Peru, due to terrorism… I rather not talk about it on my blog…opinions and such… so feel free to google that yourself or for want of a better visual, seek out the movie!!
After sessions the mood was easily flipped by giving a “christening” to our new techo in the courtyard that two of our workers put up… pretty sweet… then the facilitators invited us to celebrate Fiestas Patrias with them…they taught us some bailes tipicas and then ate a monton de piccarones… another one of my favorite desserts of Peru… it is a donut made from camotes (sweet potatoes) then drizzled in honey… I will learn how to make this and bring back to the states because I could make a killing selling these… or besos de mozas or for that matter alfajores…yum…
So today was basically learn about key words we might need to know for the policia and the law…then we took a field trip to the local police station to ask our questions and to learn how to fill out a Peruvian crime report. Somethings to remember about my experience: 1. If you don’t report in the same day chances are they won’t do much…same thing if you didn’t witness the person… for this purpose the denuncia is more for our benefit (American insurance replacements) 2. Police can drink in uniform and with fire arms…though after I asked about this I was told that congress is trying to change this..however their congress is slow…I told him that’s not only in Peru J
After lunch we had a great session on Peruvian history...which I loved! And then we had a medsession on disease followed by a playing of the ends of the COS videos done by Peru’s group 4/5/6/7 which was another reassurance/affirmation that PC could possibly be the best decision of my life with out a doubt. Two more days till we know our site!!
TKMxoxo
Elizabeth <33
Monday, my family and I went to Chosica to eat some lunch. Combi fares were up because of the holiday and whole 50 centimos to be a Sole… grr We had a real feast in Chosica all platos tipicos del Peru like chaufa con mariscos, sopa de pescada, ceviche porsupesto!... and because we didn’t eat enough finished up all the food in Chosica with amazing tortas de chocolate, lucuma, y frescas… basically a strawberry shortcake (jealous dad?) After a walk around the park for a bit we headed home at about 4:30ish and I passed out for a nice, long nap. When I woke up, I was informed I was heading to a birthday party at a local discoteca with my sister and her brother… I really didn’t want to go because we had school the next day and plus I really don’t have any outfits for going-out nor my straightener… but I went and it was fun hearing all the Criollo music and seeing them dance, dances I have yet to master but give me 2 years… just you wait…I knew it was my cue to leave for the night when I heard the intro to MIB by none other than Big Willie (Smith)…yes grant your main man…so I headed back to my warm bed and wonderful pillow ;)
Tuesday we heading into the center at about 9:30 but classes really didn’t start till about 10…gotta love the holiday mood everyone was still feeling. We basically recapped the ferria we went to and what the volunteers were doing there with their groups and also about starting youth projects in our communities. Then what was really interesting was in our language class we watched “Estado de Miedo” which is a very informative movie about the 20 years period of Shining Path, a dark and scary period for Peru, due to terrorism… I rather not talk about it on my blog…opinions and such… so feel free to google that yourself or for want of a better visual, seek out the movie!!
After sessions the mood was easily flipped by giving a “christening” to our new techo in the courtyard that two of our workers put up… pretty sweet… then the facilitators invited us to celebrate Fiestas Patrias with them…they taught us some bailes tipicas and then ate a monton de piccarones… another one of my favorite desserts of Peru… it is a donut made from camotes (sweet potatoes) then drizzled in honey… I will learn how to make this and bring back to the states because I could make a killing selling these… or besos de mozas or for that matter alfajores…yum…
So today was basically learn about key words we might need to know for the policia and the law…then we took a field trip to the local police station to ask our questions and to learn how to fill out a Peruvian crime report. Somethings to remember about my experience: 1. If you don’t report in the same day chances are they won’t do much…same thing if you didn’t witness the person… for this purpose the denuncia is more for our benefit (American insurance replacements) 2. Police can drink in uniform and with fire arms…though after I asked about this I was told that congress is trying to change this..however their congress is slow…I told him that’s not only in Peru J
After lunch we had a great session on Peruvian history...which I loved! And then we had a medsession on disease followed by a playing of the ends of the COS videos done by Peru’s group 4/5/6/7 which was another reassurance/affirmation that PC could possibly be the best decision of my life with out a doubt. Two more days till we know our site!!
TKMxoxo
Elizabeth <33
a clip from my film presentation on Tumbes... yeh i look real serious i know
me and Roxanna, Consuelo and Alejandra
don´t hate we have a huuuuge light of Jesus... haha actually its a big tourist local the cristo blanco.. I should prob get more pics of this... they have awesome pools in front with different lights in each one as well as a catedral underneath
the group pic from san miguel..
business beach bidddies
my totally tubular hat... best thing ever... mom you jealous? and yes I found starbucks, I mean what did you expect... and I got exactly what I love a caramel macchiato helado with shot of caramel instead of vanilla with lactose free milk... yes mom they ahve lactose free milk here instead of soy!! chevere, no?
Sat 26 Julio & Sun 27 Julio
Well, I’ll start with Saturday morning, the beginning of the 3 day weekend for fiestas patrias! It was a relaxing day because I didn’t have to wake up and rush off to the Agraria. So after sleeping in till 9ish I got up and made banana pancakes for me and the fam, def not as good as the ones my mom makes here, she has more of a crepe texture which I like better. (Though dad I still love your choco-chip pancakes the best!!) After eating I sat around for a bit reading then decided I should prob exercise after such a heavy meal and went on a run at the top of the cliff (same place where I filmed that video) and yes the time I filmed that video I was running up the hill and was exercising so that’s why I was breathing heavy!! I had lunch with my fam and also my sobrinos and cuñada. After, I had a meeting with Sophie and Camille (the two other girls in my town) to discuss our CBA (Community Based Analysis) Project. We decided on doing a young mothers group, since there are a lot of them in Chacra. We ate dinner which is basically most of the time, left overs from lunch, since that is their biggest meal. Then heading to a Peruvian baby shower at 10pm. And what’s interesting is that they actually call it Baby Shower. So that was quite funny to hear in everyday speech and then when I told my mom that we have them too she was like really? You have baby showers. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I think they got their word “baby shower” from the English language… so I let it go lol.
So, about this baby shower… nothing like the one we have in the states! First of all its at 10 till about 2am and men are invited. The father is there as well, and the whole time we play games to basically embarrass the couple and esp the father. It is a bit like a roast of the couple. One of my favorite games was when they dressed the father in diapers and made him crawl around the room to get fed from a bottle or when he was blind-folded and was given 3 sec to guess the gift. When he was wrong he would have to drink from another bottle (which was pure liquor). So it was interesting. Also, there were live clowns there who were funny but really crude humor. I thought was a tad wrong since there was kids there but my mom told me usually there not but today was an exception because the family had another party earlier in the day for their sons 7th bday party. We had soo much food there and don’t forget the cow hearts, which made an appearance as well! Gotta love them! So I headed back about 12ish and went to bed.
Sunday woke up around the same time, decided I loved my morning routine from the day before, so I had some pancakes and then after went for a run! My relatives were still here so I woke up to little children’s screams and playing, which is the best form of birth control… ever. When I got back from my run I did my usual Sunday cleaning of my room and taking a shower. In the afternoon at about 4ish me, Consuelo and Roxanna (my cunada) went to bingo at the escuela primera of her daughter for an interesting game of bingo. It's pretty serious there are about 300 people there, it starts at10 in the morning and goes all day. In between each game of bingo a liveband takes the stage and plays a set. I think they play bingo exactly the same; calling out a letter B-I-N-G-O with a numberto form a specific letter. ALthough,in reality I have never been to a bingo game in the states sooo who knows lol... I guess I'm really not the go-to girlabout this. SO after bingo I met up with Sophie in Chosica to get some dinner we had pizza andthis amazzzziiing app called Taquenos. It was like wan-ton noodles filled with cheese andthen we had guacamole dipping salsa!! Yum! Afterwords we met up with some other gringosand there host families to do some karaoke...that was a grand time... I received a standing ovation when I left lol... even here, who doesn't love me?!?!? haha Chosica was so packed for fiestas patrias... which I did celebrate with my family on MOnday...which I will write about tonight and post tomorrow
tkq xoxo
ekh
So, about this baby shower… nothing like the one we have in the states! First of all its at 10 till about 2am and men are invited. The father is there as well, and the whole time we play games to basically embarrass the couple and esp the father. It is a bit like a roast of the couple. One of my favorite games was when they dressed the father in diapers and made him crawl around the room to get fed from a bottle or when he was blind-folded and was given 3 sec to guess the gift. When he was wrong he would have to drink from another bottle (which was pure liquor). So it was interesting. Also, there were live clowns there who were funny but really crude humor. I thought was a tad wrong since there was kids there but my mom told me usually there not but today was an exception because the family had another party earlier in the day for their sons 7th bday party. We had soo much food there and don’t forget the cow hearts, which made an appearance as well! Gotta love them! So I headed back about 12ish and went to bed.
Sunday woke up around the same time, decided I loved my morning routine from the day before, so I had some pancakes and then after went for a run! My relatives were still here so I woke up to little children’s screams and playing, which is the best form of birth control… ever. When I got back from my run I did my usual Sunday cleaning of my room and taking a shower. In the afternoon at about 4ish me, Consuelo and Roxanna (my cunada) went to bingo at the escuela primera of her daughter for an interesting game of bingo. It's pretty serious there are about 300 people there, it starts at10 in the morning and goes all day. In between each game of bingo a liveband takes the stage and plays a set. I think they play bingo exactly the same; calling out a letter B-I-N-G-O with a numberto form a specific letter. ALthough,in reality I have never been to a bingo game in the states sooo who knows lol... I guess I'm really not the go-to girlabout this. SO after bingo I met up with Sophie in Chosica to get some dinner we had pizza andthis amazzzziiing app called Taquenos. It was like wan-ton noodles filled with cheese andthen we had guacamole dipping salsa!! Yum! Afterwords we met up with some other gringosand there host families to do some karaoke...that was a grand time... I received a standing ovation when I left lol... even here, who doesn't love me?!?!? haha Chosica was so packed for fiestas patrias... which I did celebrate with my family on MOnday...which I will write about tonight and post tomorrow
tkq xoxo
ekh
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
24 Julio 2008
So this week has been amazing!! I´m having such a wonderful time here, better than I could have expected!! Especially this week!! I have two projects on Friday that I´m actually researching for one right now and thought I´d take a little time to tell you about my week! Well besides getting emails from all of my best friends coincedentally this week annnd getting a great package with peanut butter inside... I got to watch Hairspray... which let me tell you is one great pick-me-up movie!! Also, today we went into Miraflores, Lima to go to the artisinians fair. We got to see 4 other volunteers´groups work and some of the volunteers were there!! Also, I got a bit of the inside info from some of the ladies there that there are 2 sites for girl volunteers one in piura and one in lambayeque... but it could be chisme (the word for gossip here) there is a mountain of that going around at any one time
Also today we had a presentation done by a Peru 4 volunteer who finishing up his third yr of law school is coming back to start a for profit type NGO to create a sustainable Peru based company... it´s really difficult for me to explain in this short amount of time, but it was very interesting how he came up with the idea and how it is working in Peru currently...
What else ohh I sent out a bunch of postcards sooo be looking for them and also a few letters... mails getting a bit hefty down here i just dropped a cool 80 soles on you peeps!
And for those of you who are unaware, Monday the 28th is Peru´s independencia day! So there are parades like crazy everyday and starting tomorrow all the schools go on a 2 week vaca... pretty sweet... basically everything shuts down because many people use this time to travel to see family. Interesting fact of the day: the german´s came before WWI and taught the German military march to the Peru army... so in all their parades for their national independence all the school kids are walking down the main carreterras in a German type march/salute... it´s a bit awkward if anything but hey who am I to look at this as something weird.. i mean with this method they march really straight
Oh on my way home from Lima today with a couple of the people we were on combis and fyi it´s relaly hard to find a seat on the way home and that means standing for an hour or more... so when people stand it´s a race to the seat and as americans we decided to take our sports knowledge to use to our advantage and ¨box out¨ the others on the bus... so picture this... when someone would get up from their seat we would yell ¨box out, box out¨and crowd the seat to take it... it was pretty hysterical prob worth a video of it but i was laughing so hard every time... okay i need to do my project!! I miss you all
xoxo
ekh
...yes i know bad spelling and grammar once again...
Also today we had a presentation done by a Peru 4 volunteer who finishing up his third yr of law school is coming back to start a for profit type NGO to create a sustainable Peru based company... it´s really difficult for me to explain in this short amount of time, but it was very interesting how he came up with the idea and how it is working in Peru currently...
What else ohh I sent out a bunch of postcards sooo be looking for them and also a few letters... mails getting a bit hefty down here i just dropped a cool 80 soles on you peeps!
And for those of you who are unaware, Monday the 28th is Peru´s independencia day! So there are parades like crazy everyday and starting tomorrow all the schools go on a 2 week vaca... pretty sweet... basically everything shuts down because many people use this time to travel to see family. Interesting fact of the day: the german´s came before WWI and taught the German military march to the Peru army... so in all their parades for their national independence all the school kids are walking down the main carreterras in a German type march/salute... it´s a bit awkward if anything but hey who am I to look at this as something weird.. i mean with this method they march really straight
Oh on my way home from Lima today with a couple of the people we were on combis and fyi it´s relaly hard to find a seat on the way home and that means standing for an hour or more... so when people stand it´s a race to the seat and as americans we decided to take our sports knowledge to use to our advantage and ¨box out¨ the others on the bus... so picture this... when someone would get up from their seat we would yell ¨box out, box out¨and crowd the seat to take it... it was pretty hysterical prob worth a video of it but i was laughing so hard every time... okay i need to do my project!! I miss you all
xoxo
ekh
...yes i know bad spelling and grammar once again...
Monday, July 21, 2008
Watching over one of my groups getting a loan from the bank of PC .. that is Alfredo he is my APCD really awesome guy...
Oh and ps He looks exactly like Marco, my boss for the past two years at Sole... and whats worse though is i confuse them adn call him marco ...but my other boss´s name here is Marco how crazy is that... and to make it even crazier my other boss at Sole name is Alfredo
... what is the difference you ask?? The ALfredo and Marco of the Past are from Italy and the Alfredo of present from Peru and Marco is from the US... what a coincidence ... did that even make sense??? ONly the people that know SOle in Stone HArbor, NJ will get that
The ladies of San Miguel.. Kelly, Evira, Me, adn Bron
haha my group with our Tech TRainer Dennis
(prob my fav pic)
At the house of one of our students making Papa la hauncaina... ugh i think i butchered that much like every other word english or spanish i attempt to spell...
21 Julio 2008
Cajamarca: San Miguel
Buenas! Sorry its been some time; I was in Cajamarca for FBT (Field Based Training). I’ll start off explaining our 3rd trip to La Agraria. This time we learned about how to clean seeds and in what climate each seed (fruit or vegetable) is best grown in. Also, one of the professors there did a presentation on the 3 different regions of Peru; the coast, the silva, and the sierra. This day is basically a blur to me, I think due to the anticipation of leaving for FBT. Business was allowed to leave Saturday, the day before YD (Youth Development) because we cut funds out of our travel costs. Therefore, we were able to add a day in San Miguel, now traveling at night. The buses we travel on are luxury… high class. But, I think because so many people use public transportation and buses as means to travel instead of cars. Who knows though? Before we left Lima, a group of us went to see Hancock (Movie with Will Smith as a superhero) did not like it. But I think that’s only because it just wasn’t what I expected to be about. Also, I was able to see the main PC building in Surco. That was really cool. It’s right next to the University of Lima. Our bus left at 8 and we reached Cajamarca at about 11. We had a 2 hour lay over in Cajamarca, were we got lunch and walked around a bit. The views of the Sierra are amazing, as you can see through the pictures I have posted!! It was beautiful, though the roads were another story. Most of the roads aren’t paved. So you’re climbing a 3400 m mountain in a Combi packed to the brim and flying around mountain bends like no problem. And somehow it seemed I was always on the window side/the side that was hanging over the edge. A few times I was close to dying of heart attack and many times I found myself closing my eyes and saying a few Hail Mary’s just to get through. Not to mention the immanent fear of death that comes with these roads, but also the fact they are insanely bumpy. Thank god for Dramamine, without it I think I would have needed a barf bag. Thankfully, no one threw up in our group (on the way up), but apparently it’s pretty common for that to occur. After lunch we hopped onto a combi, roads def worse this time and headed to Chilete (2 hour drive) and then from there, another 2 hour car ride up to San Miguel. All-in-all I think mas o menos 23 hour travel time.
We stayed at a nice hotel, the town had about 8,000 so not to big, not to small. I would actually prefer this population for my site. Bron, the volunteer we met there, said that San Miguel is called the site that has everything you need, just not everything you want. Which I believe is true. She works with artisans there and I bought a scarf, excellent quality, really cheap! I guess I will explain a little bit about FBT. My group at San Miguel consisted of 9 (1/2 the bus aspirantes), 3 groups, each having 3 people. Mark and Kevin were in my group. (I posted pics of us teaching in front of the class) Each group had to teach business concepts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then on Thursday we had a mini-simulation of the businesses. Each class was split into 4 groups, each group responsible to plan a business, take a loan, run the business on Thursday morning, then return the money to the bank with interest. The business concepts we focused on were; Entrepreneurship, Micro-Negocios, FODA (I have explained this earlier, and like the exercise I did previously in Chosica, each of our groups in class had to do a FODA of their community) Market Analysis, Finance, Marketing, and Business Plan. I think, or what I was told, the position I held in my group was the planner. I put a loose outline of the days together and then eventually the boys would wing it; until they ran out of things, look at me and say, okay now what? Ha, but they gave me a lot of shit for being too worried sometimes, which as usual, I was. I just wanted to do a good job explaining the concepts, so our class would do a good job in the simulation. As far as my Spanish speaking skills were concerned, I think I did pretty well. Although, through FBT I realized I have a lot of work to do!! The difficultly is not only being understood in the general day to day language but then we all have to become familiar with technical terms of business. Any who, I’m alive and now I know I can survive charlas and such at site. Which I believe is, of course, the biggest thing on peoples minds about now… 4 more weeks till site!!
Oh yeh, we were supposed to have hot water in the hotel, which would have been great for those who are unlucky and don’t have hot water in their houses, but it really didn’t work in our hotel. Only a few rooms had it, mine wasn’t one. So, being spoiled with the hot water then switching to cold for the week was interesting, but at least I experienced it, and I’m still alive and clean! But honestly, cold waters are like not cold but freezing. Bron was saying how people in her town think its unhealthy to shower in hot water… that may be something to hard to explain, kind of like how people should have toilet seats. Yeh, that’s a whole other convo. But fortunately I’m spoiled in this aspect as well, My family has a toilet seat, gotta love Julia!
Well all week I had the healthy diet of Roasted Chicken and French fries, literally, every night. Yeh… I was talking to some locals about this and why they don’t have more restaurants and why they don’t have vegetables in their diets. They just simply said its not their custom too; which is a very common explanation. Many questions are answered with this phrase. I mean in perspective, it’s the best answer to give. They don’t have them because they haven’t had them. And if no one changes it then it just stays the same. I don’t know if that is making sense to you, I can’t come up with the right words to explain this. So anyhow, I’m glad to be back in my house with vegetables and my mom’s cooking! (Because I def gained some Lbs this week!)
The business simulation was on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. All but one group did food, which is common. The one group that was different did a movie night at the institute we taught at on Wed night. They showed Titanic. They didn’t charge on an entrance fee, but rather charges for food they sold there. They sold out within 1 hour, I think about 300 people showed up, which is a huge turn out. Then on Thursday the rest of the groups sold, including all 4 in my class. One group did Papa la Hauncahina (Which is potatoes in a cream pica salsa served with an egg); Another group did a Jugeria (Sold juice, pound cake, and fruit salads); Another was The Milk-Men (haha postres tipicos de Peru like Arroz con leche and other desserts) The 4th group I forget right now but it was sausage and corn on a plate and it sold out the quickest. I was extremely full and grateful (because I didn’t have to eat roasted chicken and French fries at the Polleria). All groups paid back the loan and made a decent profit. The profit at our site, San Miguel, beat out the other site with 9 volunteers, Contumaza. Which was a friendly competition with no real bet, but I guess bragging rights. Our last night in San Miguel, the institute held a dance for us. It was a lot of fun, I danced with a lot with the kids, well, and they’re not kids because they were all between the ages of 18-24. Then, I went to bed early because we had to leave by 9.
About 9:30 we headed out back down the roads to Chilete (2 hours) unfortunately, Kelly, the other girl on my trip wasn’t feeling well and we ended up stopping the combi for her to throw-up (only once though). We had a lay over of about 2 hours, were we just sat around before getting on a bus for a 5 hour ride to Trujillo. There we met up with the other group of volunteers and stayed at a really nice hostal. Trujillo is beautiful and has some of the best surfing beaches and is known for having the best looking people in Peru. Or so I was told. Also, it is called the city of eternal spring, which I think is pretty self explanatory. The weather was amazing and we had a great time on Friday night, most of us went out together dancing. On Saturday, after breakfast we met 2 other volunteers and hear about their experiences. One of which, is Steve. He started a marathon event here which most volunteers, including myself plan to run in the 2nd one next year. We also met Javier another business volunteer as well. Then we all headed to the beach to get some sun. All the boys went surfing, because the waves are amazing. Nothing like I’ve ever seen in Sea Isle…but as always our beaches are def better. The sand just doesn’t compare also the bottom of the ocean is really rocky. I gave a boogie board a try but the ocean is so strong I didn’t feel very safe without a wetsuit and better leash. Next time, def will have another go at it. WE headed back to the hostal to get our bags, which were in storage because we checked out in the morning. This was also a pain because we couldn’t shower. So I had sand in my hair all day and night for the trip back. Gross. WE got into Lima around 7 am from there I took a taxi back to my fav place Chacrasana and took a looong shower and did my laundry, cleaned my room from all the dust the accumulated over the week and lunched!
Buenas! Sorry its been some time; I was in Cajamarca for FBT (Field Based Training). I’ll start off explaining our 3rd trip to La Agraria. This time we learned about how to clean seeds and in what climate each seed (fruit or vegetable) is best grown in. Also, one of the professors there did a presentation on the 3 different regions of Peru; the coast, the silva, and the sierra. This day is basically a blur to me, I think due to the anticipation of leaving for FBT. Business was allowed to leave Saturday, the day before YD (Youth Development) because we cut funds out of our travel costs. Therefore, we were able to add a day in San Miguel, now traveling at night. The buses we travel on are luxury… high class. But, I think because so many people use public transportation and buses as means to travel instead of cars. Who knows though? Before we left Lima, a group of us went to see Hancock (Movie with Will Smith as a superhero) did not like it. But I think that’s only because it just wasn’t what I expected to be about. Also, I was able to see the main PC building in Surco. That was really cool. It’s right next to the University of Lima. Our bus left at 8 and we reached Cajamarca at about 11. We had a 2 hour lay over in Cajamarca, were we got lunch and walked around a bit. The views of the Sierra are amazing, as you can see through the pictures I have posted!! It was beautiful, though the roads were another story. Most of the roads aren’t paved. So you’re climbing a 3400 m mountain in a Combi packed to the brim and flying around mountain bends like no problem. And somehow it seemed I was always on the window side/the side that was hanging over the edge. A few times I was close to dying of heart attack and many times I found myself closing my eyes and saying a few Hail Mary’s just to get through. Not to mention the immanent fear of death that comes with these roads, but also the fact they are insanely bumpy. Thank god for Dramamine, without it I think I would have needed a barf bag. Thankfully, no one threw up in our group (on the way up), but apparently it’s pretty common for that to occur. After lunch we hopped onto a combi, roads def worse this time and headed to Chilete (2 hour drive) and then from there, another 2 hour car ride up to San Miguel. All-in-all I think mas o menos 23 hour travel time.
We stayed at a nice hotel, the town had about 8,000 so not to big, not to small. I would actually prefer this population for my site. Bron, the volunteer we met there, said that San Miguel is called the site that has everything you need, just not everything you want. Which I believe is true. She works with artisans there and I bought a scarf, excellent quality, really cheap! I guess I will explain a little bit about FBT. My group at San Miguel consisted of 9 (1/2 the bus aspirantes), 3 groups, each having 3 people. Mark and Kevin were in my group. (I posted pics of us teaching in front of the class) Each group had to teach business concepts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then on Thursday we had a mini-simulation of the businesses. Each class was split into 4 groups, each group responsible to plan a business, take a loan, run the business on Thursday morning, then return the money to the bank with interest. The business concepts we focused on were; Entrepreneurship, Micro-Negocios, FODA (I have explained this earlier, and like the exercise I did previously in Chosica, each of our groups in class had to do a FODA of their community) Market Analysis, Finance, Marketing, and Business Plan. I think, or what I was told, the position I held in my group was the planner. I put a loose outline of the days together and then eventually the boys would wing it; until they ran out of things, look at me and say, okay now what? Ha, but they gave me a lot of shit for being too worried sometimes, which as usual, I was. I just wanted to do a good job explaining the concepts, so our class would do a good job in the simulation. As far as my Spanish speaking skills were concerned, I think I did pretty well. Although, through FBT I realized I have a lot of work to do!! The difficultly is not only being understood in the general day to day language but then we all have to become familiar with technical terms of business. Any who, I’m alive and now I know I can survive charlas and such at site. Which I believe is, of course, the biggest thing on peoples minds about now… 4 more weeks till site!!
Oh yeh, we were supposed to have hot water in the hotel, which would have been great for those who are unlucky and don’t have hot water in their houses, but it really didn’t work in our hotel. Only a few rooms had it, mine wasn’t one. So, being spoiled with the hot water then switching to cold for the week was interesting, but at least I experienced it, and I’m still alive and clean! But honestly, cold waters are like not cold but freezing. Bron was saying how people in her town think its unhealthy to shower in hot water… that may be something to hard to explain, kind of like how people should have toilet seats. Yeh, that’s a whole other convo. But fortunately I’m spoiled in this aspect as well, My family has a toilet seat, gotta love Julia!
Well all week I had the healthy diet of Roasted Chicken and French fries, literally, every night. Yeh… I was talking to some locals about this and why they don’t have more restaurants and why they don’t have vegetables in their diets. They just simply said its not their custom too; which is a very common explanation. Many questions are answered with this phrase. I mean in perspective, it’s the best answer to give. They don’t have them because they haven’t had them. And if no one changes it then it just stays the same. I don’t know if that is making sense to you, I can’t come up with the right words to explain this. So anyhow, I’m glad to be back in my house with vegetables and my mom’s cooking! (Because I def gained some Lbs this week!)
The business simulation was on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. All but one group did food, which is common. The one group that was different did a movie night at the institute we taught at on Wed night. They showed Titanic. They didn’t charge on an entrance fee, but rather charges for food they sold there. They sold out within 1 hour, I think about 300 people showed up, which is a huge turn out. Then on Thursday the rest of the groups sold, including all 4 in my class. One group did Papa la Hauncahina (Which is potatoes in a cream pica salsa served with an egg); Another group did a Jugeria (Sold juice, pound cake, and fruit salads); Another was The Milk-Men (haha postres tipicos de Peru like Arroz con leche and other desserts) The 4th group I forget right now but it was sausage and corn on a plate and it sold out the quickest. I was extremely full and grateful (because I didn’t have to eat roasted chicken and French fries at the Polleria). All groups paid back the loan and made a decent profit. The profit at our site, San Miguel, beat out the other site with 9 volunteers, Contumaza. Which was a friendly competition with no real bet, but I guess bragging rights. Our last night in San Miguel, the institute held a dance for us. It was a lot of fun, I danced with a lot with the kids, well, and they’re not kids because they were all between the ages of 18-24. Then, I went to bed early because we had to leave by 9.
About 9:30 we headed out back down the roads to Chilete (2 hours) unfortunately, Kelly, the other girl on my trip wasn’t feeling well and we ended up stopping the combi for her to throw-up (only once though). We had a lay over of about 2 hours, were we just sat around before getting on a bus for a 5 hour ride to Trujillo. There we met up with the other group of volunteers and stayed at a really nice hostal. Trujillo is beautiful and has some of the best surfing beaches and is known for having the best looking people in Peru. Or so I was told. Also, it is called the city of eternal spring, which I think is pretty self explanatory. The weather was amazing and we had a great time on Friday night, most of us went out together dancing. On Saturday, after breakfast we met 2 other volunteers and hear about their experiences. One of which, is Steve. He started a marathon event here which most volunteers, including myself plan to run in the 2nd one next year. We also met Javier another business volunteer as well. Then we all headed to the beach to get some sun. All the boys went surfing, because the waves are amazing. Nothing like I’ve ever seen in Sea Isle…but as always our beaches are def better. The sand just doesn’t compare also the bottom of the ocean is really rocky. I gave a boogie board a try but the ocean is so strong I didn’t feel very safe without a wetsuit and better leash. Next time, def will have another go at it. WE headed back to the hostal to get our bags, which were in storage because we checked out in the morning. This was also a pain because we couldn’t shower. So I had sand in my hair all day and night for the trip back. Gross. WE got into Lima around 7 am from there I took a taxi back to my fav place Chacrasana and took a looong shower and did my laundry, cleaned my room from all the dust the accumulated over the week and lunched!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
(This is something I forgot to post last week)
I hope you all like the pictures I posted... finally I found a speedy cafe!! YAY me! Okay so here are some observations that I´ve come across starting from last Sunday... I went to church and was amazed at the casual dress and attire of the people at mass. Also, my church isn´t extravagent and beautiful like the ones most of us usually see in Europe and Mexico.. mine is basic missionary style, much like Christ the King, my parrish at home. I was the most dressed up on kakis and a blazer... my family thought I was a bit much but I thought of Jan dying if I wore jeans and a tank top to mass lol... When I asked why people don´t dress up and my sister said that people go to mass more as a face saving rutine, basically everone knows if you dont go to mass and then they talk about you. Also, she said that since the missionaries came and preached to people in their day to day clothes, now it is no different, people go to mass in their normal clothes, interesting right... Mass was exactly the same.. except in another language go figure !! Then Monday it was the samee as usual.. Shots in the morning I think I got the hipatitis shot and rabbis again (fyi* i can´t spell those in english therefore I typed them in Spanish hoping you all wouldn´t notice kind of pathetic I know but I think I do it often through out my blog.. I´m just a really terrible speller) Que mas...
...I´ll have to post more later bc i only have 9 min left ---posting pics takes forev. But someone said that it seems like we are partying alot.. that is not true at all and I´m sorry if it has come across like thats all we do... its not.. it´s just who wants to read about the 19th lecture ive received on rape, my safety, or diarrhea... so from now on I will leave out reunions and and my weekend activities
I hope you all like the pictures I posted... finally I found a speedy cafe!! YAY me! Okay so here are some observations that I´ve come across starting from last Sunday... I went to church and was amazed at the casual dress and attire of the people at mass. Also, my church isn´t extravagent and beautiful like the ones most of us usually see in Europe and Mexico.. mine is basic missionary style, much like Christ the King, my parrish at home. I was the most dressed up on kakis and a blazer... my family thought I was a bit much but I thought of Jan dying if I wore jeans and a tank top to mass lol... When I asked why people don´t dress up and my sister said that people go to mass more as a face saving rutine, basically everone knows if you dont go to mass and then they talk about you. Also, she said that since the missionaries came and preached to people in their day to day clothes, now it is no different, people go to mass in their normal clothes, interesting right... Mass was exactly the same.. except in another language go figure !! Then Monday it was the samee as usual.. Shots in the morning I think I got the hipatitis shot and rabbis again (fyi* i can´t spell those in english therefore I typed them in Spanish hoping you all wouldn´t notice kind of pathetic I know but I think I do it often through out my blog.. I´m just a really terrible speller) Que mas...
...I´ll have to post more later bc i only have 9 min left ---posting pics takes forev. But someone said that it seems like we are partying alot.. that is not true at all and I´m sorry if it has come across like thats all we do... its not.. it´s just who wants to read about the 19th lecture ive received on rape, my safety, or diarrhea... so from now on I will leave out reunions and and my weekend activities
Me and Consuelo at a reunion
Playing with Shit... no literally, We´re making mulch and this is the part of the process where you spread dried shit on top of fresh cut greens... yum... I really didn´t do much it was more like hurry take the pic bc i dont want to play with shit.. pa i totally had liek 1000 shit jokes that day.. really corny i know but i bet dad and uncle bill would´ve liked them ;)
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