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…