Cajamarca

There is a boxer next door that does not stop barking. He barks…and barks…and barks and I literally do not understand how his throat does not get scratchy or tired. He sounds like a broken record and he is on top of his roof to top it off. It is quite amusing after a while.

Field Base Training was amazing. We left Saturday, July 17 at 6:30 p.m. and arrived Sunday at 10 a.m. to Cajamarca City. It did not seem like so many hours because the buses were so comfortable. The large seats turned into beds, they served a delicious dinner, dessert, wine, breakfast, coffee, and showed movies. It was the best 17-hour trip ever. Once we arrived we had a full agenda the whole week. Some current volunteers who are at the end of their service met up with us. We went to a hotel to the top of the city and had a bonfire there. It was so beautiful. Just talked, drank and hung out all night.

The next day we traveled to Matacares where another awesome volunteer was waiting for us. He had visit to a school planned for us. I remember him mentioning that the girls wanted to play volleyball with us so to wear comfortable clothes (little did I know what was to come). As we walked up to the school, we saw two big flags crossing each other at the door. It was the U.S. and Peru Flag and below that it said, “Bienvenidos Cuerpo de Paz.” At the entrance was the administration waiting to shake our hands and after that was the school band playing the drums as if the president had arrived. The whole school was sitting in the cement bleachers and the girl’s volleyball team was wearing their uniforms, ready to play us. We were so grateful for the warm welcome but definitely not expecting it! The volleyball game ended up being hilarious. The whole school laughed every time we messed up. When we were up to serve they would ROLL THE DRUMS. I can’t explain how funny this experience was. Our technical coordinator said it was the start of many embarrassments we were about to experience these next two years. After they creamed us, the guys played their soccer match and did a lot better than us.

We then went to a professor’s house where he had a surprise for us. It was a zip line! You had to climb a tree that was about 40 feet tall and the line ended about 20 meters on the other side of the “campo.” I was really excited and thought I was going to be able to do it. I climbed the tree, grabbed onto the rope (no safety, you just had to grab on and hope for the best), but was so scared to push myself because if I let go, there was nothing holding me if I were to let go. When I finally got the courage to push myself off I was so terrified that as I was pushing off with my legs, I wrapped my legs around the tree branch and twisted myself back up. I couldn’t do it so I decided to just ride a donkey the rest of the time there.

After that, we headed to San Marcos, which is where our Field Base Training would be taking place. Another volunteer was waiting for us there and had a full week planned out for us during free time. On Monday night a family closed down their nightclub to host us there. It was really pretty, open doors. They cooked delicious dinner (roasted chicken, french fries and salad) and afterwards we had a bonfire there. The next morning we had to prepare our materials for our classes in the afternoon. We found out that the students we would be teaching were either studying accounting or agriculture in that institute. Teaching entrepreneurship, marketing, accounting, etc. was so much fun! They called me, “Profesora Ana.” One of the students decided to bring her eight-month-old baby to class and to top it off she breast fed him while we taught. We couldn’t help but secretly laugh because everyone saw it as normal; huge culture difference. I discretely took a picture so you guys can see. When things like this happen, we just say to each other, “Welcome to Peru!” Once our students chose a business they wanted to do, we struggled a lot with teaching them what the point of equilibrium was. They wanted to get ahead on their business plans and were very stubborn about their price setting and variable & fixed costs. They wrote their business plan, took out a loan, ran their businesses either Thursday night or Friday and by Friday at 5:30 p.m. they all paid back their loans with 2% interest. They loved it and learned so much. One group hosted a soccer tournament, another did a raffle and the prize was a lamb, a group tried doing a movie night but ended up falling through, and a lot of the businesses involved food.

On our free time we ended up hiking to towns outside of San Marcos. The scenery was unbelievable. I may have mentioned this but Peru is famous for eating guiney pigs. Here they are called cuy. Our group decided to go to a cuy farm, got to choose their own cuy, kill it, and cook it. I couldn’t do this for the life of me. While they were doing that, I was helping Doña Lola (sweet lady hosting us in her town) make the salad and sauce. They had a bag of clams to make ceviche, too. With my luck, a clam crawled out of the bag, made itself to a small hole of water where you turn on/off the water and as I did this to wash my hands, it bit me! I just remember taking my hand out and seeing it hang from my thumb. It wasn’t anything serious though; just some minor bleeding and stinging.

The ride back home was just as comfortable on the bus. I got home exhausted Sunday at 11 a.m. and my family was waiting for me so I can go to my nephews school event (Bingo/Fair). It was awesome but I was exhausted. Also, being with the whole family made me start missing my family so much. I get so emotional sometimes. My brother, mom, dad, close mentor and a best friend have written me letters. I get knots in my throat as I read them. They mean the world to me and it makes my day. I can honestly say that the hardest part about being here is not being able to see my friends and family. Aside from that, I feel lucky and am living with absolutely no luxuries.

P.S. the boxer is still barking…

Integrándome

I don’t need an alarm clock. I wake up to a real sound of a rooster every morning. I still don’t know where he is but it is coming from one of the neighbors. The best part about waking up is walking through my hallway and looking outside; there is a really heavy fog that comes over the mountain I live in every single morning. It is so gloomy and chilly. Most of my friends don’t like it but I personally love it. The winter here is not that bad. Most days it is about 70 degrees. After getting dressed in the mornings I head downstairs for breakfast. They consist of bread with either oatmeal or papaya juice. If I’m lucky I’ll have an egg, too. I am always starving by 10 a.m. and eat some of my lunch! I have tried making it a point to eat a lot of fruit since it’s so delicious and cheap here.

I have been pretty busy these past two weeks. Training has only gotten more overwhelming. For our language classes we have visited several sites including the Museum of Anthropology, Catacumbas (over 20,000 human bones found here), and Parque de la Muralla. We have learned about the Independence of Peru, the time of terrorism here and a lot of history to become more culturally integrated.

Prior to being sworn in, we have to complete what is called Field Base Training. I found out I’m going to Cajamarca (northern Peru). Depending on the trainee their tasks are different. Mine will consist of traveling to this town and with a team of three trainees create a week agenda for a group of 25 students, ranging from 18-24 yeas old. We will split them up into groups and go through an intense but exciting week! The base of it all is small business development. Day one we will teach them all about entrepreneurship, community analysis and a SWAT Analysis. Day two will consist of them choosing a business idea, and learning about marketing and finance to apply to their business idea. Day three we will present the basics on accounting and apply it to their business idea. Also, we are going to have them fill out real forms to take out a Peace Corps Loan of up to S/120 with a 2% interest rate and requiring each group to leave a valuable item for security that they will pay it back. They will be submitting this application at the town bank. This is all a summary of it. So, in other words, we will be teaching these students the basic concepts of how to start their own business. We leave this Saturday and get back next Saturday. I’m excited to share this experience when I get back!

I have felt so integrated into the community these past few days. Some friends and I went to Universitat vs. Alianza game (biggest rival soccer game in Peru). We were warned that it would be really dangerous. It was quite the experience! There was police with armor and shields, and horses! It felt like there was a civil rights movement going on. They had swat cars; you had to go through four security sections to get into the game. Once we were in there it was so much fun! The atmosphere, the energy, the spirit…I had never seen anything like it.

Another thing I did this weekend was the circus. It was really different and small. I went with my host sister, niece and sister-in-law. The circus consisted of two comedians who were not really funny, unfortunately. A dog wearing a dress that could walk on two legs for about 10 seconds and a clown that made fun of everyone. Quite interesting I must say.

So, I must confess, I already had Pizza Hut in Lima. I could not control myself. I never thought I would say this but OMG I miss American Food so much; hamburgers, fries, hot wings, pizza, nuggets, and the list goes on. It’s OK, though--I have my rice and potatoes that I eat every single day with every single meal. That is one great thing about this experience: integrating into a new culture. It has been really challenging to find a balance between my eating habits and Peruvians’ eating habits. First of all, they hardly drink water. I have never seen my family drink a glass of water since I arrived. I drink the whole pitcher in the fridge by myself. Also, the portions of rice in every meal are extreme. I do not know how to say, “please do not serve me so much rice” in a polite way. I am afraid I will offend my host mom, so what I started doing is leaving half the rice on the plate and saying I am full (which I never am—one of my friends already called me hungry hippo because of the amount of food I eat).

These are just a few of the things that have gone on these past few days. I’m happy and healthy--what more could I ask for?