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.