Getting to Know Chocta

I'm sitting here in our Peace Corps office in Luya. I haven't been able to get to internet in a few weeks, so sorry about the lack of posts!  I'll let you all know that I'm doing great and poco a poco (bit by bit) I've been adjusting to life in Chocta.

My first weeks have been a lot of meeting people, hanging out with my family, spending time in schools and the health post. I sat in on a music class and sang with the 5 year olds. I helped my host cousin plow her field across the street from my house. I shadowed our obstetriz as he assessed a 17 months along pregnant woman. Yesterday a baby was born (they took the mom to Luya to give birth). They call giving birth "dar la luz" which translates to "giving the light." Very poetic! I've learned how to chop up lettuce without a chopping board, peel potatoes with a knife, and cook over a fire like a pro! We actually just got a new cookstove that we'll be able to start using in a few days. It's still with firewood but traps the smoke through a chimney so it doesn't fill the room. There have of course been ups and downs, but overall, I've adjusted very well so far and have been kept very busy!

Two Saturdays ago I went to Karajia, a tourist attraction very close to my house. I went with my host mom and brother, a few primas, and some random kids. We walked up to the next town, Cruzpata, where the entrance to the hike was. After walking down a fairly steep path, we come across an opening to an incredible beautiful canyon where the path continues off the side of the mountain. As we walked, we looked up the side of the mountain to see the famous sculptures. I fount the hike to be more interesting than the actual sculptures. As we finished the walk and started to head back, it began to rain pretty hard! We scurried up the path, passing tourists (from Spain we guessed) on foot and a few on horseback. By the time we were back in Chocta, the sun had come out again and we basically dried. I really liked the hike, and recommend it to whoever's planning on visiting!

Turns out my family is very Catholic. Which is great! Being involved in the church is a great way for me to be seen in the community and meet people. My host dad is the pastor who holds mass on Sundays. The priest only comes up to Chocta once in a while. The first Sunday I was there, he asked me to read one of the readings. I didn't want to say no, so I agreed. It was pretty rocky trying to read Spanish bible verses in front of a a room full of Peruvians. But I got through it. Who knows if anyone could actually understand any word I said. When I told my host mom I am baptized and confirmed Catholic, she was so excited! We talked about how beautiful the Catholic religion is for three days after that.

Last weekend, I spent a nice Saturday playing with my host brother's 18 month old daughter Marllely and cleaning the Church in preparation for the 1st Communion/Baptism the next day. The pastor was coming to town so they were going to hold both during the same mass. That night, while hanging out with my host brother and sister in law and their kids, my host dad asked to speak with me. Very sweetly and officially he asked me to do the honor and be Marllely's god-mother. There's no way I could say no to that! Plus I've grown to love that little girl after just a few weeks and she finally warmed up to me after days of just staring at me when I talked to her. So I agreed and held my god-daughter as she was baptized last Sunday! And guess what? She didn't even shed a tear. She loves me. The only awkward part was when the priest told me to hold her with her head down I didn't understand and it took a while for everyone to get the message across to me. It was a very proud moment and I feel very honored and special to have had that honor. And now I have a god-daughter!

Almost every afternoon I play volleyball (voli) for an hour or so with some kids. It's been good to do a bit of exercising and just let off steam. Jessica is the jefa de voli in her class and loves it. She's a super sweet 12 year old who's very patient with me and helps me with my Spanish as she wants to learn English. I've also gotten to know her mom pretty well who has a house next to the plaza where I enjoying sitting and chatting sometimes. Everyone is seriously so nice and invites me to everything!

Everything including promotions! There have been tons of promotions (kindergarden to primary, primary to secondary, completion of secondary). They consist of the kids dressing up really nice, a "Madrina" paying for a party with cake and balloons, everyone dancing, kids drinking soda, adults drinking whiskey... It's been really fun! I love to see they kids all dressed up and it's been fun bonding with the community.

It's nearing Christmas, and I really can't believe it. It doesn't feel like the holiday season right now and I'm sure it's because I'm away from friends and family back home. I'm very lucky to have a community hear in Peru that is warm, welcoming, and caring. Half of the town is related to my host mom so a bunch of kids call me tia or prima. It's amazing to feel so much a part of the community even after a couple weeks. They tell me already how much they'll miss me when I leave in two years! The spirit of Christmas is very much alive here as well. Yesterday I sat in the garden singing Christmas songs in English as some neighborhood girls sang Christmas songs back to me in Spanish. We all joined in to sing Feliz Navidad, apparently they have that song here as well!

I miss all my friends and family back home but I hope you have a Merry Navidad and a Happy Ano Nuevo. Love you guys and I'll be thinking about you all over here!

Happy Birthday, Dad :)

PS. sorry there's no photos, when I get better internet I'll upload them here and/or onto facebook:)

Last days of Training!

My entire training group: Peru 24

I just swore in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru along with all 58 of the other volunteers. Yes we ALL made it through! Training went by so fast and yet it feels like I’ve known my fellow volunteers for a LONG time. We’ve shared so many tough times, happy times, boring times, and extremely busy/crazy times. Although I wasn’t able to get close to every single person, I have a solid group of people who I know have my back and I can go to for anything I need, as they can equally count on me. I’m sad that we’ve all parted ways but I am confident that I will be visiting the other regions to see my new friends!

After site visit, the last 2 weeks were such a blur. We wrapped up our language and tech trainings, I had my birthday, we had Thanksgiving, we said bye to host families, we became real life Peace Corps Volunteers.

My birthday was fun! We had all gotten back from site visit and spent most of the day in Lima, going out to lunch and exploring a chocolate factory. Back in Chacrasana, TJ’s host mom prepared a cake for me. All my friends went over to her house to celebrate with me, even though they were tired from the long trip that morning. I truly lucked out with this group of people. Each one of them is an incredible human being and I don’t know what I would have done without them. Luckily 4 of the 11 are coming to Amazonas with me!

Speaking of the amazing Chacrasana volunteers, we spent many hours during the last week preparing a dance to perform at the Going Away Party/ Goodbye to our families. This was totally our own idea, and no one else did anything like it! Although we were all busy with everything else that week, we committed to it and the result was awesome! Check my facebook for the video, it’s epic! We saw it performed during our visit to the Sierra early in training and were able to find a YouTube video to learn the choreography. We executed so well, and the response of the host families was incredible and so worth the time and effort. It was one of my proudest moments, for sure!

The Chacrasana crew after our dance!

After the host family Party, we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Training Center. We have some AWESOME cooks in this group! We all put in 10 soles and ate like kings! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (my favorite), sweet potatoes with marshmallow, and more! We shared what we were thankful for, reminisced, danced, and laughed a ton. Even though I missed home a lot that day, spending it with those crazy gringos made it bearable.

Thanksgiving dinner! ~notice the plate I licked clean ;)

The next morning we packed up all our belongings and headed to the Ambassador’s house where Swearing In takes place. It was was huge and gorgeous, and the day was beautiful. Swearing in was short and sweet with a few speeches, us all speaking the official oath, and receiving our certificates one by one. After, we socialized with Peace Corps staff and host families while eating snacks including chocolate chip cookies that were delicious! Then we said a final goodbye to host families and staff and headed to our hostel.

That night we all celebrated the ending of our long 11 week training and our last night all together! We went out for dinner and drinks at TJI Fridays (thought of you, Liz!). Afterwards we spent some time hanging out in the hostel and then hit a bar, then a discoteca. I usually am not a fan of discotecas because I’m not a good dancer, but this was amazing! There was a live “boy band” up on a stage that was high up on the second floor level looking down at us. They were so good with so much energy and I loved them! We danced till 3 in the morning and then made our way back to the hostel. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, ran a few errands, and ate AMAZING burritos. After a few tearful goodbyes and good wishes, the Amazonas group headed to the bus stop to begin our 24 hour trip.

I’m now here in Chachapoyas and will head to Chocta in the morning. I am excited, nervous, and still a little bit in denial that this is real. I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer and am about to start what we’ve been training for all this time. I will no longer be in our bubble of training and will be out, on my own, working as a PCV in Peru. My two years of service starts now: ready (I think so…)- set (Can’t turn back now!)- go.

New (Permanant) Address

A post for my loved ones back home:

I love getting mail from you all, thank you so much to those of you who've sent letters and/ or packages!

If you do send a package please keep it under 3 lbs, a padded envelope gets through easiest, and use USPS only. Hints for what to send if you so choose: PHOTOS (thanks Aunt Karey!), tea bags, candies, home-made cookies wrapped really well for freshness, (cough cough mom- homemade christmas candies), incense sticks...

Simple letters really are the best treat though!

Thanks everyone! Love and miss you all back home :)

Alexis Halstenson
Cuerpo de Paz
Serpost Chachapoyas
Apartado 68
Chachapoyas, Amazonas, Perú

CHOCTA, Amazonas, Perú

I spent last week getting to know Chocta, my future home! It was an amazing week so here are some highlights:

View from my front door

The week started in Lima where we caught the 24 hour bus to our regional capital: Chachapoyas, Amazonas. Except unfortunately it took us just over 30 hours because we were stopped behind a landslide for 6 hours! After sweating in the hot bus and teetering on the edge of passing out from dehydration.... we made it to Chachapoyas! About 20 of the current Amazonas PCVs were there at the bus station waiting for us. They are all so great. They helped us get our bags, carry them to the hotel, where they had prepared a chili dinner for all of us! I'm so excited to get to know them better because they seem like an amazing group of people.

My PC Peru 24 Amazonas group!

Chachapoyas is beautiful! It's one of the smallest capital cities in all the regions of Peru. There are no corporations like Starbucks or McDonalds, nor movie theaters. There are tons of great restaurants, however, and we were able to try a few while we were there. There is also plenty of shopping so we'll be able to get anything we need there. In the hotel I took a hot shower for the first time since I've been here- it was magical! We spent 2 nights there. During the days we had workshops with community members as well as our new host families. These were to clarify to community members what Peace Corps is and why were are there, as well as address some cultural challenges that may arise.

On the second day in Chachapoyas, our host parents came to pick us up and bring us to our new homes! My first impression of my host mom is how tiny she is! She has to be under 4 feet. My host dad is about the same height as me. We left Chachapoyas with 2 other volunteers (Austin and TJ), because the three of us live in the district of Luya. They are in Luya Mismo, and I am in a annex (smaller sub-community) of Luya, called Chocta. Before I left for Chocta, the community of Luya had a small reception to welcome the three of us, as well as say goodbye to the current volunteers in Luya. It was very nice! Luya is beautiful. It's a pretty well established town (paved roads) in a valley with beautiful mountains surrounding it. Up one of those mountains was my future home, Chocta.

The drive up to Chocta was on a one-way, unpaved road for about 40 minutes. We drove by a few communities before we arrived in mine. Chocta is a small chacra (farm) town. So pretty much every house is on an acre or more of farm land. My parents have potato and corn farms as well as chickens, pigs, and sheep. Cows and horses are everywhere as well. It's a quiet mountain town of about 900 people. It's pretty chilly but theres strong sun during the day, and it rains frequently. There aren't any paved roads, but most houses sit on a cement foundation.

My host parents plus a host aunt with her kids

My house is near the center of town. It's big and white with wood doors and a view that will take your breath away! My room is very large with two doors: one to the inside of the house and another to outside. I have a dirt floor, two windows of cloudy glass, a bed, a desk with a chair, and benches along the walls. It used to be their living room. I'm so happy with it; I can't wait to decorate and make it feel like my own! The rest of the house consists of a few more bedrooms/ storage rooms, and a kitchen. There is no bathroom, only a latrine 20 yards from the house. Three people live there: my host parents and a 21 year old host brother. My host brother, Elder, is great! He's just your genuine, hard-working, polite guy who helps his parents run the farm all day. All their other sons have moved out, but now live close by; them and their wives/ children are running around the house all the time!

My shower is new! Before I got there, my family would bathe out in the open next to their only water spicket. For my privacy, my host dad built a nifty plastic enclosure, complete with door and soap shelf for me to use! I am very proud of my outdoor shower. There's something wonderful about showing in the outdoors overlooking a view like mine.

The next few days consisted of me getting to know the community. Amanda, the past volunteer who lived in Luya and worked a bit in Chocta, showed me around the first day. We met a few teachers, the nurse-Marina-who works in the Health Post, and the group of teenagers Amanda worked with. That was her last day in Chocta before leaving for the US, so when she left, she left me with a bunch of crying teenagers! It was a little awkward but they were happy to have me there for what little comfort I could give them. It's so awesome to see how much of a mark Amanda left on those kids and she was only in Chocta once a week! It makes me excited for future relationships I'll have here.

The next day (Friday) Austin came to visit and we both went to a meeting with Chocta's water committee. Austin is a Water and Sanitation volunteer and will be working with this group of community members. I'll be able to help out by coordinating, and standing in when Austin can't make it to meetings since I live in Chocta and he doesn't. After that meeting, I went to the elementary school. They were having an election for student government (so cute!) that day. The kids who weren't voting were in the courtyard dancing. So obviously I joined in, and ended up dancing with children for the next 2 hours! It was a blast, all the kids loved me and are so excited that I'll be living there for the next 2 years! After that, I spent an hour or so in the Health Post chatting with the nurse and getting some info about the health of the community. There are 3 employees in my Health Post, with lots to do. I'm excited to help out with anything they need!

Health Post- Chocta

I had dinner that night at my host aunt's house across the street- fried CUY (guinea pig)! I knew I would eat it soon and it finally happened and was delicious! The skin was a little tough and greasy but the meat was tastey! So fresh. I watched Senora Natividad and her daughter Denia catch the cuy, kill it, pick off the fur, gut it, chop it up, boil and fry it. All within an hour's time! Sorry if that was a little insensitive or too graphic, but asi es la vida!

Oh and another guinea pig story! My family knows I'm a little allergic to guinea pig hair. I've had a few minor allergic reactions (stuffy nose, sneezes, nothing too bad) at my Uncle Matt and Aunt B's house whenever I held/ touched Phenelope or Kiki... Well in my host family's kitchen, about 20 guinea pigs run free. This includes under the kitchen table where I eat. So understandably, I had an allergic reaction! Luckily I was able to explain it to my host parents and they took the cuy out of the kitchen, thank God. I can now sit in there without sneezing and clogging my sinuses. It's also great because guinea pig should not be roaming in the kitchen, where food it prepared and eaten, in the first place! So one day in and I already have made improvements in the health of my community! ;)

Overall, it was an overwhelming but incredible few days. I love Chocta: I love the people, I love the views, I love my host family, I love how I feel when I'm up there. It's the community that people say is going to change my life. It's the beautiful community that I'm so happy to soon call my home.

On Relationships and Development

Two things that make me excited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer: 

Meaningful Relationships and Sustainable Development

On Relationships: 
Today I had my last home visit with the mom I've been working with for training. This project started out so incredibly awkward as I asked a stranger if I could come into her home to practice giving educational sessions with her. I met Emilin and her baby Micaela when "Mica" was having her 9 month birthday. I left Mica today at 10.5 months. I honestly spent a total of < 5 hours with this lady over the past 6 weeks. However, I left her house today like I was saying bye to a friend. I left feeling like mutual learning took place. I left feeling like I made a difference.

Working with Emilin was incredibly valuable for me. First, it taught me that I can do this. I can teach parents of babies about nutrition, anemia, hygiene, early stimulation, etc. Not only can I teach this stuff but I can teach it in Spanish! How cool is that? Second, it taught be about relationships. It taught me that it is possible to form a strong bond with a woman from a different culture in such a short time. Not only was it possible, but it was relatively easy. To build "confianza" (confidence) with the people we work with, we are taught numerous tactics: dress nice, smell good, be punctual, spend time just talking, play with the baby, etc. All those things are completely valid. The number one thing, though: be genuine. If your heart is in the right place, people will recognize that. People will appreciate it and trust you. I will hold that close as I start my service in 3 weeks...

On Development:
We had a speech on Tuesday from our country director. The topic was "development." We spoke about Peace Corps mission: sustainable, capacity building, development. Those just sound like big fancy words. Let me explain to you what they mean. We, as Peace Corps Volunteers, are not here to complete projects, and improve the lives of people in our communities. We are here to train and support community members in THEIR projects to improve the lives of people in our communities.
When a Peruvian does the work from the beginning, they will be more invested, and the project becomes sustainable. This is an awesome part of our work but also one of the toughest parts. As young people from the United States, we want things done right in the quickest way possible. Development through the Peace Corps is never fast. It's excruciatingly slow most of the time. Many times we won't even get to see the result of a project. But if we do everything for the people we work with, they don't learn. If we do a project our way, they don't grow. When we leave after two years, nothing has changed.

During this training, I'm learning to be prepared for ups and downs, moments of frustrations and moments of pride. All I can say now is, bring it on! I'm ready, I got this :)

Dia de Cancion Criolla/ Halloween/ Dia de los Muertos

October 31st is the Dia de Cancion Criolla (Day of the Song) in Peru! This is a Peruvian holiday or festival that celebrates the traditional songs of Peru. Peru is an extremely diverse country resulting mainly from the various geographical areas. The people on the coast live very differently than those of the sierra (mountains) and the selva (jungle). Because of this, each region has different cultural norms from how they dress, what the eat, and the type of songs they enjoy. This day is to celebrate the diversity of the culture through song!

We had a celebration in the Training Center where each Spanish class presented and sang a song from Peru. We also got to dress up in traditional clothing (and hats!). After we all sang our individual songs, we sang "Este es mi tierra" all together. It's a very popular one that is super fun to sing: it was stuck in my head all weekend! The celebration ended with us all dancing impromptu for about 15 to 20 minutes as the teachers played back the Peruvian songs! It was a great time, I really enjoyed the music!

Although Lima doesn't celebrate Halloween as much as we do in the US, they do celebrate it to some extent! Many restaurants were decorated and on Friday we saw lots of children walking around in costumes. They trick or treat in the bigger pueblos. On our way home from the center, my friend Graham bought a bag of candy and was handing it out on the streets. It was very entertaining to see the people's reaction to a white man with a long beard handing candy to their kids on the side of the street! In the nighttime, the volunteers and I dressed up in our desfrazes (costumes) and went out dancing! It was nice to be able to celebrate a US tradition!

November 1st is also Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)! Many people in Peru spend the day at the cemeteries remembering their past loved ones. My host family didn't do that but they did light a candle next to a picture of an abuela who had passed. They also put fruit and pastries next to the candle. They told me it was a way to celebrate her. Overall, it was a fun weekend full of celebration!

My Spanish class before we sang our song, "Me llamo Peru"!

Cultural exchanges: Baseball and "Esto es Guerra"

I was able to watch the SF Giants win the World Series! I watched game 5 with my family as well. They had never seen a baseball game and were confused (and a little bored) by it. It was an adventure trying to explain the rules in Spanish! They still don't completely understand, but enjoyed learning. My host mom also pointed out the Giants players were good looking, so that's probably why she tolerated watching it! The coolest part was that I got to show them a bit of what San Francisco looks like. It was cool for them to see a place I had been on the TV! They enjoyed seeing the city when the camera panned out. Game 7 I watched at another volunteer's house with another "kinda fan" and a few other volunteers. They didn't share the same level of excitement and energy with me, but it was fun watching it together!

I have to tell you about my new favorite show: Esto es Guerra (This is War). Everyone in Lima seems to watch it and if not, they've seen it at least once. The players are all over advertisements, commercials, the news, etc. It's a huge deal. Many volunteers watch it with their families at night, and most can't stand it. But I am sooo into it! It's this game show where the contestants compete in physical or sometimes mental competitions. They are all super fit and extremely attractive. I have yet to see Peruvians in real life who look like the Peruvians in this show. It's also overly dramatic and pointless. However, I am super entertained by it! I look forward to watching it every weeknight, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! Hello, it's a cultural experience, people! Here's a picture for you're viewing pleasure:

Think Like a Mountain

It's easy to forget how connected we all are; It's easy to miss how much beauty, both of nature and of people, exists in the forgotten corners of the world. 

Here's a cool video shared with us in class today. It was made by a Peruvian and won an award from the United Nations Forest Film Festival. It's about appreciating nature and the "underdeveloped" cultures that exist in the jungles of Peru. (Underdeveloped has such a negative connotation. Same with "developing." It suggests they need to change, they need to develop. But who said it isn't okay to live without concrete and technology??)

Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Miraflores!

Yesterday a few fellow trainees and I spent the day in Miraflores, Lima. This is the nicer, more uppity part of Lima.

We started out getting into a Colectivo. It’s like a shared taxi: a privately owned van that you pay to bring you somewhere. People will jump in if there are open seats and they are going in the same direction. We flagged down an empty one, since we had 9 people who would fill up the whole thing. They first said 100 soles. After arguing for a while we got it down to 10 soles each, which is good for a ride into Mira Flores, considering it’s farther than Central Lima.

Only 10 minutes into the ride, however, we blew a tire! Luckily there was a tire repair shop shack on the side of the road. The worker helped jack up the van (with us inside of it!) and swap tires. Unfortunately the rim of the spare wasn’t fitting so they had to put the rim of the old tire onto the new one. Instead of using the machine auto shops use to do this, the man did it manually. It was very impressive, he made it look easy and like he’s done this for a while. After about 30 minutes sitting there, our driver paid the repair man and we were on our way!

Once into Mira Flores we found a café that had yummy coffee drinks and a hipster café atmosphere. It was a great escape that made us feel like we were back home in the States. We hung out there for a good hour. Afterwards we did some bookstore browsing and then headed towards the beach. The ocean was a 5 minute walk from where we were. We didn’t get down to the actual beach but soaked up the views at an overlook. It was quite breathtaking!

Next came the mall! This mall rivaled Southcoast Plaza for all my Orange County people! It had pretty much only name brand stores: Northface, Ugg, Nine West, etc. I couldn’t shop at these types of stores when I was working for $13/hour, I certainly can’t afford them now when I make less than $4 a day as a PC Trainee!! (to clarify: this is how much I get for spending money… My meals and housing are coveredJ). So I wasn’t able to find the boots or fleece I was shopping for. We did enjoy a delicious lunch of sandwiches and “the best French fries in Peru!” Sabrina and I got a second coffee before we headed back to the park area to grab cocktails.

After a round of Pisco Sours, we did some more shopping at more reasonably priced shops around the area. We found a store that sold any type of boots you could possibly imagine! They were not too cheap and looked good quality. According to the sales woman they are “100% leather, made in Peru.” I ended up buying a nice brown pair and I am very satisfied!

There was also an artisan fair (mostly just paintings) in the park. We browsed for a while. Katy bought a set of 4 tree paintings that were beautiful and affordable! I wanted to buy an oil painting but the one I wanted was pretty pricey and we couldn’t get the price low enough. Sabrina and I decided we would wait and put out money into Amazonas’ economy instead! There was also music and a dance floor in the middle of the park. It looks like a pit circled by stairs that go down into it. People were standing on the stairs and around the top, and couples danced in the bottom of the pit. They were dancing salsa when we walked up and a woman next to us taught us a few moves!

Our journey home was quite an adventure. First we got on a large packed bus that was free to ride. We got off at the stop they told us too. However, after asking where we pick up Combis, we were told we had to get back on the bus and get off in central Lima. After riding 20 more minutes on an even more packed bus, we got off in the middle of Lima. It was not the nicest area and packed with people. Not to mention it was starting to get late. Not a safe place for Gringos with big shopping bags. Fortunately we all managed to stay together and keep a hold of our bags as we made our way to the Combi stop. Once we got on the Combi it was a straight shot back home to Chacrasana. I checked up on the Giants game (wooo we won!) and called it a night.

AMAZONAS here I come!

On Wednesday we got our site placement, and since then I've been on cloud nine! I was not expecting or hoping for the region of Amazonas, but after hearing about it I could not be more happy. I'll be heading north at the end of November :)

Amazonas is a region in northern Peru. It's half mountains (where I'll be) and half jungle. We will be the volunteers who are the farthest driving distance from Lima (Piura is technically farther, but the roads on the coast are nicer). My bus ride from Lima will take 24 hours! But we ride on "buscamas" which are buses with chairs that recline 180*. So it won't be bad. I can read, watch movies, sleep.
Anyways, I will be in the mountains of Amazonas, in the district of Luya, the annex called Chocta. Chocta has 1000 people, about 220 families. I am the only volunteer in Chocta. My closest volunteers are TJ and Austin who will live in the district capital, Luya. It will take me about 40 minutes to get there in a car, or I can hike up and down (1-2hours). Apparently on Thursdays there is a really great market in Luya where people come from all over to buy and sell. I'm looking forward to visiting on those days!

Amazonas is humid and it rains A LOT. There is a dry season most years and the rainy season is October-March. Luckily it isn't too cold. I can get away with a light rain jacket over layers. Rain boots are a must, especially considering Chocta has no paved roads! The mornings are usually sunny enough for sunglasses and T-shirts; but after 1pm, expect rain.

Because of the rain, theres lot's of vegetation and therefore a wider variety of food than other places. While I'm sure potatoes and rice will still be apart of my diet, avocadoes, mangoes, corn, and other great foods will be included! There's a large production of dairy products from our many dairy farms (yay cheese!). We also heard that real coffee is harvested there! Many volunteers like to buy raw coffee beans to roast and grind themselves.

My host family consists of a stay at home host mom, a farmer host dad, a 14 year old host sister and 5 year old host brother. My room will be furnished but I have to buy my own mattress (PC gives me money for that). I don't have many details about my house, but they have running water, plumbing, and electricity so I'm happy! When I go visit in 2 weeks I will update with photos.

Amazonas is statistically the safest Peace Corps region in Peru, as far as any reported crime goes! I was told a volunteer left her iPhone in a bar and came back to get it successfully 3 hours later. Peace Corps Volunteers in Amazonas also have a reputation of being hard workers and producing great projects. I can't wait to be a part of this amazing community!

Here's a picture of 2 current Amazonas PCVs, our Regional Coordinator, and the eight Peru 24 Volunteers who'll be joining me! 4 from Community Health and 4 from Water and Sanitation

Field Based Training

This past week was definitely my favorite one yet! I spent the week in Huaytara, Huancavelica. It's a departamento in Peru just east of Lima up in the Sierra (mountains). It was a beautiful place with beautiful people! Everyone was so friendly and communal, which was a little different then most people in the bustling areas of Lima. It was a week without any wifi or connection to the rest of the world (I missed the exciting series that put the SF Giants in the World Series, but at least I'm back to watch the World Series ;D). It was hard coming back to Lima after such a wonderful trip!

The drive up (9,000 ft) was smooth and the views were incredible! We spoke with some volunteers who live in the region and got tons of great advice. Then we had dinner (the food was AMAZING all week) in the hotel which was also a restaurant. They cooked us almost all our meals for the week. Below is a picture of the beautiful hotel. There was no room service, HBO on demand, wifi, or hot water, but is was clean and comfortable! And the views made up for all that anyways ;)

The next few days consisted of an alcohol awareness session at a colegio (high school) and a few house visits about anemia and feeding practices. A couple highlights are the walk to a PCV, Lauren's community. The walk was about 30 minutes from town and it was so beautiful. Lots of cows and rolling hills... This would be my ideal site I decided then and there! We learned how to be persistent when trying to get into homes. A skill that is naturally uncomfortable but we are getting plenty of practice in uncomfortable situations as Peace Corps health trainees! We all satisfied our increasingly demanding sweet tooth with the town's pastries. There's a cookie called "alfajores" that was my favorite! It's a flakey sugar cookie sandwich with caramel in the middle. So addicting and so cheap! Only 2.50 soles for 4 of them!! All of us are worried about how much we crave sugar here! I don't know if it is the stress or all the carbs but I've never craved sweets like I do here...

The last day was my favorite. We went even further up the mountain to another community where Monica, another PCV, lives. This community was much more rural and incredibly beautiful. We hosted a group session for mom's with children under 3 years old. Because the moms were coming from up and down the mountain, many were late. So we gave our first session with the punctual moms and then gave 2 more sessions as moms continued to arrive. We learned this is a good strategy so the punctual moms don't have to wait but the late moms still get a chance. Sure it made more work for us but that's why we're here! It was also great practice. We toured the health center and the "early stimulation center," which is a room paid for my the government where babies come to be stimulated and develop motor and vocal skills. The government saw a need for this because many babies in the Sierra spend their first 2 years in a sack on their mother's back. Often their heads are covered so they are in the dark, no one is talking to them, they aren't using or developing any of their muscles... So this stimulation center is great to get these babies active!

Overall, it was an incredible experience. It gave us a taste of what are daily life would be like and I left so excited to start my service! It's so cool that we are able to do things like this during training... I am continually impressed and grateful for the PC training staff. They really know what they're doing and are SO nice. I'm constantly being inspired by Emilia's outlook, awed by Andrea's passion, encouraged by Marita's sense of humor, and amazed by all the spanish teacher's patience! Because of the awesome training I've been receiving, I know I will start my service confident and ready to be a great volunteer.

Comida!

In Peru, food = love :)
I have definitely found that to be true everyday that I've been here! When we aren't cooking, we're talking about food. I honestly don't have any complaints. Many of my companeros are sick of how much rice and potatoes we get. I say keep em coming! I love the rice and papas I've been eating here. Peru has over 4,000 tipos de papas!!! Camote (sweet potato) and papa amarillo (yellow potato) are my favorite so far. Chicken is common but we get beef a lot as well. Lots of eggs, but not for breakfast.
Veggies are served a lot because our host families know (and joke about) how much Norte Americanos love verduras! My breakfasts are light and yummy: they vary from rolls with jelly, cereal (yogurt instead of milk), or fruit with yogurt.
Below is my typical lunch or dinner: Rice and potatoes plus meat or a fried egg. Usually the rice is white with a little lime flavoring. The sauce on the papas varies. If this was lunch, I'd get some fruit (apple, mandarin, granadilla) and maybe boiled veggies.

You can also see how important food is here in Peru by the content of our classes these past couple weeks: Last week we had a competition for who can cook the most delicious and nutricious meal from Peruvian ingredients on a budget. Below are our dishes we came up with:

 

Note all the avocado, mango, and camote! SO good!

This week we cooked a nutritious lunch for our language class. We made vegetarian tacos with a camote+ onion+ peppers stir fry, mango, avocado, and black beans. Que rico! Graham's mom ate with us and loved it! Tacos are not common here, the tortillas were hard to find. The purple drink you see bellow is called Chicha Morada. It's sweet Peruvian fruit juice made from purple corn, pineapple, spices, water, and LOTS of sugar.

We also prepared baby food this week with our language classes. Each class was asked to make a balanced, nutritious meal that would be good for a growing baby. Our assigned age range was 6 meses. This is the age when moms start adding complementary feedings (2/ day) to the breastfeeding. The food must be mashed smooth but not liquid. Our recipe included zapillo (squash), papas, y hidago (liver). Todos los food groups included! Hidago, as well as other animal organs are excellent sources of iron and protein, crucial to the growth and development of babies. I also tasted sangrecita (cooked blood) made by another group- this is the BEST source of protein for babies. It wasn't too bad, just a little metallic-y. It would have been better eaten with a sauce or with rice/ papas. I have yet to try ceviche or cuy (guinea pig) but stay tuned!

Nutrition education is different here because we do not focus on reducing carbs and fats like we do in the US. In fact, we encourage babies and young children to eat carbs and fats. They need those for their brain development. Our main concern is that they are getting enough protein. Very little of the food here is processed, so obesity is not a problem. Malnutrition from lack of protein and micronutrients (esp. iron), however, is definitely a problem. That's why our Goal 1 has a focus on sufficient nutrition for babies under 3 years old. We target them during those crucial ages of growth and development so that they can thrive as healthy, strong, and intelligent adults. (sano, fuerte, y intelegente!)

Election Day!

Today was the election for the local governor elections. Each district (12 in total: Lima, Piura, Huancalvelica, etc.) voted for their perspective governor today. I woke up this morning to a timid knock on my door at 8am. My host cousin told me breakfast was ready. Downstairs, a bunch of people, some new faces, were eating pancakes and talking about politics. The news was on covering the election. After breakfast, the family started to get ready to leave to go vote in Chosica. I was sitting outside with Erick, when Katie’s host parents and her pulled up in a big van and asked me if I wanted to come to Lima with them to vote. I hadn’t showered and I was planning on doing my laundry so of course I said why not! I grabbed my bag and hopped in.

Katie’s host sister had to vote in Lima because that is where she goes to school. In Peru you vote where you go to school or work, not where you live. Her parents planned to drive all the way out there just so she could take 5 minutes to vote. On our way there people covered the sides of the streets and we pulled over to pick up complete strangers and give them a ride for $$. I think that’s how they justified driving all that way in crazy election traffic- they made some money. We literally dropped off Katie’s host sister, circled around for a while, picked her and a bunch more people up, and headed out of Lima.

Then we went past home and into Chosica where Katie’s host parents voted. We parked and walked into a university with them. Elections are only held in high schools and universities. They are super organized as in you have to go to a specific room that coincides with your personal ID number. There were soooo many people there as it’s mandatory to vote. If you don’t, you have to pay a fine of over 100 soles! After voting, you get a sticker on the back of your ID card. Another difference is the amount of police officers at each voting location! Katie’s sister was surprised we don’t have police officers regulating our locations in the US.

The traffic was pretty insane. Not only were there tons of people on the road, but no one seemed to be obeying traffic laws and everyone was in such a hurry. A two lane road became 4 lanes as people pulled onto the shoulders; cars were trying to pass traffic by pulling into oncoming traffic, blocking us so we had to stop and back up traffic… It was just a mess, no way to put into words. I really wish I brought my camera! As we pulled up to my house about 5 hours after leaving, I was so relieved to be home. Katie’s host dad told me now I know how horrible election traffic is! And he’s right. It may not have been one of the most fun days, but it was an important day. It was good for me to experience what Peruvians in Lima deal with.

Field Trip to Lima

Today all 58 of us took a field trip to Lima. It was a nice treat after a long week. We met at the training center at 8 and took off in private combis. It took us about an hour to get to the Palacio de Gobierno or the Presidential Palace where Peru’s president lives and works. We got a quick tour, and wow it was so beautiful! The entrance room housed Peru’s largest chandelier weighing 2 tons! There was gorgeous and impressive wood work, marble, and gold everywhere. Throughout the Palace were guards who looked similar to those you would find in London. Although they also stand perfectly still for their hour long shift, they were less serious and smiled at you when you said hello!

After the tour of the palace, we split into our Language groups for the next excursion. As a group, we decided to go see the Museum de la Inquisition. It was a free tour where a woman (who did not seem like she enjoyed her job) walked us through the museum which consisted of some artifacts but mostly mannequins displaying a reinactment. We started in the room where there would be trials for those who sined agains the Catholic faith. After that we heard stories of how people were tortured and killed for their “crimes.” Many Europeans had come to Peru to escape the Inquisition in their home country, only to be imprisoned here, as the same thing was happening all over the world. It was a little dark, but interesting!

After the museo, we found a coffee shop where I got delicious espresso! Most people in Lima drink instant Nescafé, so it was nice to drink some real espresso. We then had a few tasks to accomplish (ask a taxi driver how much it costs to get to a certain point, ask someone where dangerous parts of Lima are, etc.). I spoke with a security guard, as there were many hanging around the main square. We ended us speaking for a while, as he was learning English and was interested in what we were doing in Peru. After that, we were released for the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted! Our only instructions were to find our way back home before dark.

Katie, Sabrina, and I had lunch (chicken noodle soup nothing special) and then did some shopping and walking around. The weather was kind of gloomy compared to the sunny days in Chaclacayo. Summer is just starting here! But we found a huge shopping center that had a Starbucks and Pinkberry! I didn’t get any (not feeling many withdrawls from home yet) but did get some delicious gelato. I also bought the Hunger Games (Los Juegos del Hambre) in español for practice.

From our earlier research in the center, we knew there was a spot where combis will pick us up to take us home. We went there and found a combi (5 soles from Lima back to Chosica). The cobrador waited until it was full until we took off (30 minutes). It took us about 2 hours including that wait time to get home. A group of people were getting together for a movie night at TJ’s house but I was so tired that I decided to call it a night nice and early!

Problems with the Pipes

Our pipes were being worked on last week so the whole neighborhood was without water for three days! My host family and I filled a ton of buckets with water to last us the whole three days. Below is a picture of the buckets in our bathroom that were able to last us three days of showering and toilet flushing. Yes, this is where I shower! Four women who live upstairs share this bathroom; the boys have their own downstairs. It really wasn’t bad since I had experience in the Dominican Republic with bucket showers and force flushing toilets! 

As was fitting, I happened to get my first bout of diarrhea this week… I still don’t know if it was from an apple I bough and didn’t wash thoroughly or from a dinner place we ate at. (I’m hoping it was the apple because I definitely want to go back to the restaurant!) My host family gave me remedies (a tea that worked great), advice, and a scolding as to why I ate an apple before washing it. Anyways, the pipes are all back to normal: my bowels are behaving, our water is back on, all is good! 

I'm working hard, I promise!

So after my post about going out and having fun, I thought I'd talk a little about what work I've been doing:)

As health volunteers, we have two goals. Briefly, our 1st goal is to work with mothers of children under 3 years old: we help them to adopt disease preventing practices, provide good nutrition, and promote growth and development. Our 2nd goal is to work with adolescents to promote safe sex practices, encourage future aspirations, and create PEPs (Peer educators) to inspire classes to come. During training we are only focussing on the first goal and assuming the skills we learn will help with the 2nd goal during our service.

Our main task during training is to find and work with one mom in our community during our 11 week training. This includes 5 house visits lasting 30minutes to an hour. Last week we found our moms and this week we need to have had our first session. I had mine today! The mom I'm working with is named Emelin (I mistakenly thought her name was Emily, but the n just tends to drop off) and her baby is 9 month old Micaela. My host mom is good friends with Emelin's husband. Emelin is so nice and Mica is adorable, I'm excited to spend time with them!

During this first home visit we are to assess the mother's knowledge of their "CRED card". In brief, this is a card that a nurse fills out to track the baby's growth and development. It is great for the parents to visualize how well their baby is growing. It's a very cool, comprehensive paper with tons of information. Our role was to make sure the mothers knew about all the features, what they all mean, wand why they're important. Luckily Emelin is very educated and knew everything. When we go to our permanent cites, the people aren't as well off as they are here, which may lead to less knowledge and more malnourished babies. That's when us being there to clarify and educate will really make a difference. For now, we are just practicing to get a feel of how home visits work as well as learning Spanish so that we can properly and effectively educate people.

I'm so happy and proud to be a health volunteer! I love that we are able to work with moms on a personal level and really tackle the health disparities in Peru on a grassroots level. We have incredible tech trainers who are teaching us all we need to know. Fortunately, thanks to nursing school, I feel pretty comfortable the subject matter. Now all I need is better Spanish skills to really get work done!

Weekend fun!

Friday night a bunch of us got together at Sabrina’s house to try out Peru’s famous Pisco Sour. Her parents are super fun and made them for us. I was expecting a Midori Sour type drink, but it was very different! The ingredients include Pisco (a type of brandy), lime juice, egg whites (whipped to create a frothy layer on top), and a dash cinnamon. They were muy suave! Very strong but smooth and the egg white took off the edge a bit. Sabrina’s parents (and the hippest abuela I’ve ever met) were such fun hosts! They made lots of yummy food, danced with us, and had us play musical chairs, which turned out to be tons of fun!

After that, the 15 of us headed into Chosica to dance at the discotecha. There we met up with probably 20 more volunteers. The Peace Corps has a rule of avoiding groups of more than 20 people for safety reasons as big groups draw attention. With our large group, it is very hard to do. There weren’t many Peruvians out so we kind of took over the discotecha. It was fun to dance with each other, and let loose!

Saturday night we went to a town fiesta to celebrate the founding of that specific town, 3 de Octubre. It was founded on October 3^rd believe it or not, but they had to celebrate a weekend early because it’s Election Day next weekend! We saw some traditional dances of Peru, complete with awesome outfits. There was a lot of music and dancing after that. Then at midnight they let off fireworks. We were standing in a basketball court and they were literally firing off the fireworks into the sky from a rooftop right by us. They felt sooo close! 

After that, they did something super cool: The made a papier-mâché type bull that a person can stand inside and run around. Then they attached firework sparkers to the bull. When they lit it, the bull was spraying huge streams of sparks and running towards groups of people! I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m surprised and glad nothing caught on fire! It was really awesome to see and experience though. I’ve found that Peruvians enjoy finding any excuse to celebrate, and I love itJ

I saw my first Peruvian Llama today!

We took a field trip to a mountain town called Callahuanca today. The drive was about an hour up a beautiful mountain side. It was still pretty dry looking, but there was more green than we see at our site. Callahuanca is famous for their cherimoyas, a mellon type fruit that is extremely sweet and has countless medicinal properties, according to the town folk. They even have a Cherimoya festival every year!

15 of us went there with our Language teachers for a new and different cultural and language emersion. I really liked it! It was great to see a new place and do something different with our day. We started out by talking with the Municipalidad (town hall/ government building) that works to organize and fund many programs around town. Understanding the Spanish was difficult for most of us, as the people speak much faster and less clear than our language teachers! From there we had lunch and ice cream.

Afterwards we went to visit a school and split up into groups to speak to the students. We weren't given any structure or instructions besides to introduce ourselves to the students. My group happened to be made up of 5 novice mid level speakers and me, an intermediate low.

*Side note about Spanish levels: the staff divided us according to our language level as determined by a phone call interview a week before departure. There are 3 groupings: novice, intermediate, and advanced. Within those groups are 3 levels: low, mid, and high. In order to pass training and become an official volunteer, we have to test out of training at intermediate-mid. I got put into intermediate low, so I only have one level to go!*

So even though my spanish is still really lacking, they all looked at me to introduce the group, so I did! It went alright; it's good practice to put myself out there even if I look and sound silly. We've been practicing the description for Cuerpo de Paz (Peace Corps) so it wasn't bad. We answered tons of questions the kids had about what part of the states we're from to have we know Top Model or have we met Barack Obama.

After that we just got to hang out with the students! The taught us a traditional dance and we had a blast dancing with the kids. We also got to meet a funny looking llama locked inside a gated soccer field in the middle of town! Overall it was a great experience and I can't wait for the next field trip :)

Saturday Hiking Excursion

My first hiking trip in Peru!!

It was nice to have a break from the Training Center for a few days. Saturday morning I slept in a bit (7:30am!) and played cards with Marbeli until 9:30. I taught her "Egyptian Rat Slap" and she calls it "Juego de Jotas" meaning the "game of Js" because the Jacks are the most important to have to win! We have lots of fun with that :) Afterwards I spent some time at Austin's house talking to his 8 year old sister and playing with his 8 month old sister, so cute! I bought a bracelet from the older one for 2 soles (~ $0.70).

Then Austin, Katie, Graham, Graham's sister, dog, and I ventured out on a hike over the foothills behind our community and into the next community, Yanacoto, where some more volunteers live. It started out awesome with clear trails, etc. At the highest point we saw a beautiful resort/ country club complete with multiple pools, a lake, horse arenas, tennis courts, and soccer fields! After a little over an hour of walking up and over our hills, we started up the next set of hills and realized there was a huge wall that stretched from the bottom to the top as far as we could see. Our idea was to walk to the wall and then follow it down to get around it.

After trekking through vegetation, a river, and realizing we were somewhere we shouldn't be, we ended up in front of a bungalow INSIDE the country club! We apologized to the renters, told them we got lost, and asked where the exit was. They were super nice and no one really seemed to suspect we didn't belong to the club! That is until the guards noticed we had a dog with us... She told us the dog couldn't be there so we apologized and said we had gotten lost and are looking for the exit. The guard escorted us to the exit and was soooo nice. She told us about all the club had to offer, how much it cost for a day, gave Graham's sister a pretzel: very nice treatment for trespassers!

Eventually we made it into Yanacoto and took refuge in Gillian's house to rest our legs and refill our waters. We also ran into Dale and Andrea. Their community is much larger than ours but similar in the way it looks. From there we asked for better directions and this time made it around the wall by following it all the way up until it ended at the top of the foothill. Getting up there was the hardest part so after that it was smooth sailing until we made it back home finally!

Our whole trip lasted from 10:15- 3:00pm, about five hours! It was really fun though, and my cold water shower never felt so good!