FIESTAS PATRIAS VACATION AND MY EPIC FAIL

Fiestas Patrias is the equivalent to the 4^th of July here in Peru. As volunteers we get “free vacation days”, mainly because it wouldn’t matter if we wanted to work the majority of people stop everything and celebrate. I and another volunteer Ellie had some of our other vacation days free to use so we took one and headed to the big city, Lima.

Once we got there the good times started to roll. First things first we had Dunken Dounuts and sat and used their awesome internet! We proceeded to McDonalds and I had a Big Mac Fries and a Coke. Unfortunately we should have started small, cause so much rich food in that short frame sent my stomach into freak out mode. BUT nothing could slow us down we had been dreaming of this vacation for weeks and we still had shopping to do. So we headed to the individual stores got tired and headed to the mother land, Jockey Plaza Mall where there is a Chili’s, TGIF, Subway and so many more good places to eat but my personal favorite (in Peru) STARBUCKS!!!! In the duration of 2 days I had Starbucks 4 times. A bit obsessive I know but going months without properly prepared Carmel Macchiato I just had to get as many as possible. Anyways as you can tell our trip to Lima was primarily to stock up on American food and drink until we come back to Lima for Mid-Service Checks.

Next we went to the Ancash Mountains (The Andes), Huaraz. Huaraz has a spectacular view of Huascaran Mountain, this mountain people use to train for Everest.  It is the highest mountain in Peru and more or less the only place you will see snow. So we got in and then so did the rest of the group: Kate from Cajamarca, Alison from Piura, and Julie from Lambayeque. We were only missing Sonnet from Tumbes but her bus came in a day later. Of course the first thing we did after hugs was find food. (If you can’t tell what I and others miss the most is FOOD). In Huaraz there is a café called California Café where they have bagels, waffles, eggs and bacon etc. So it was a lovely way to start the day. We got information on some “beginners” hikes. Spent the rest of the day moseying around, then met up with another volunteer from our group, Matt. For dinner we either had good Mexican food or Thai. Yum!

I said “beginners” hike earlier because of the following story/ disaster for me particularly but the group in general. After talking with the guide agency we felt secure that we could do this hike on our own without a guide. Got up at 5 AM to get a combi, which took us an hour into the trip, in that same combi another white looking couple was there. When we got off to get a taxi we absorbed them into our group (cheaper and faster to fill up cars with 7). We get a taxi up into Huascaran National Park.  Obviously we ask about the couple, they were from the Czech Republic. They had already done Churup hike the day before. Anyways we get to the starting point of the hike. Our driver tells us it is a good 3 hour hike, after the first small laguna (lake) it is 30 minutes farther. The Czech couple stayed behind to eat breakfast. We started and 30 minutes later the Czech couple passed us hahahahaha. That should have been our first sign. We go and go for another hour and finally take a good 5 minute break to refuel.  

There was our second mistake because before we were powering through and from there on we needed small breaks every 10-15 minutes, yes the hill got steeper as well but oh man did the going get rough. Almost at 3 hours in we reach the first small lake and we think thank God we are almost there and take another break. This break in particular was for me. I don’t know if I just did acclimatize well or I’m just that out of shape (even though I started running 2 months ago to prevent just that) but my body shut down. I mean yes it was hard to breathe but that wasn’t my main problem nor sore muscles, it felt like I had no muscles. But I didn’t want to bring the group down or be so weak so I said charge on McGruff I’m going to make it 30 minutes more and I truly think I can because the path levels out and then I see it the mountain we still have left to climb. The path seems to split in 2 directions at first we try the one on the right because it isn’t a steep uphill climb of course that isn’t it. We go back down and there are these old run down stone houses. We pass them and start that massive climb I get a few minutes in and know that there is no way I’m making it to the top without collapsing. So I get my sandwich and head back down. Now there are these 3 cows grazing just below that start my way and follow me for a minute. I think they are gone but oh no just after I find a nice covered place to sit here come these cows and they are not afraid of me…and want my sandwich. So I move around a couple of times and still they follow. I’m tired, mad and disappointed in myself and now these cows won’t leave me alone. So I jump on top of the stone wall and walk until I see a nice little place where I don’t think the cows can get in. I’m right! I start eating and the snow starts falling. Around 30 ish minutes later I see my friends coming back down the hill yelling that it was the other way. So they start yelling at people behind us that it is the other way but one group has a guide and by the time my friends are to my hiding place he is telling everyone that it really is the way the girls just came. So we decided to just picnic next to the small lake. Kate did a lake jump into the freezing cold water and once again it started to snow. How many people can say they had a picnic in the snow?

We get down and back and of course have to wait for the car and the Czech couple. On the ride back we asked if they made it, of course they did. Yet they ruined all goodwill from us by saying they made it up in 40 minutes with stopping and if we had really wanted it so could have we. Making it seem even worse that I stopped so early and they didn’t reach the finish line. Oh well I failed but had a good time doing it. Haha. When we got back we were so tired the lights were out by 9:45 pm.

  

 Next morning we got breakfast and then headed out to Katie and Ben’s site to make lunch and see their community. Wow is it pretty there but I don’t think I want to live there. I think the mountains would get old or less amazing due to close proximity. We had awesome lentil burgers and sweet potato fries. Yum yum yum. It was so great to just hang out with friends and have no agenda but to eat and talk. In site you can relax anytime you want but it is always by yourself and you know that at any moment someone might want something or another and no matter what it will be said in another language. So if nothing else that one day made the vacation.   

That night we took an overnight bus to Trujillo. Got in super early so we spent a couple of hours on the couches of the Peace Corps Hostel there…woke up to young boys staring at us. Haha. As the day progressed we got to see Cristina. With Cristina we went and had either an awesome salad (me) or good rotisserie chicken and to top if off went to see The Dark Knight Rises!!!!! Oh man do I love those movies. Such emotion! Anyways to say that our trip was successful and full of fun is an understatement. Now a week back in site it seems like the first month were I was fresh with ideas and enthusiasm so hopefully the next step taken will be a full-fledged project! I’m bursting with vacation optimism. Ah haha. 

And on a random last note I have killed and plucked my own chicken to eat...I can now live in the wild! haha

CHOTAFEST

Peruvians LOVE TO PARTY! Which is great for us as volunteers because then so do we. Why? Because when a party is going on in your town or a nearby town you might as well schedule that time as cultural exchange time because that is where your towns people will be. haha. As of yet the disruptive parties have been small (anniversaries of neighboring schools or the small communities) BUT I now know what it means to party on the Peruvian Big Scale! haha and oh man is it fun. Now I can for sure understand why life stops and the crowds flock.

  Day One: So I went into Chota as usual on Sunday (the party had already weathered 4 days of partying) to the Pampa. The Pampa had beer tents every where just like an Oktoberfest including craft venders haha. A group of us volunteers passed a large part of the day there enjoying the food and entertainment. Entertainment included some typical Huyano dancing and singing, the Peruvian horses, among various speeches (each speech got longer and longer as the day went by). I'm not a fan of Huyano so I was sad that I left my cotton balls at home to stop the nails on a chalkboard sounds. ha ha.

So we spent the day frolicking and then went back into main Chota to recoup for the nighttime activities. When we left for the night we went to the fountain in the Plaza to listen to the bands and people watch. Also, in a funny turn of events wound up having like a heart to heart with 2 of the older volunteers about how to make the new group feel more included because we didn't do such a good job with the older group. Oops! After this great I don't know 1 or 2 hour chat we went DANCING!!!!! It was so much fun. The Amayas Hermanos were playing that night. A volunteer, Courtney, loves them so of course we got right up there by the stage to dance the night away. Dancing in and of itself is super fun, but dancing with super drunk Peruvian men who don't understand that you don't want to be touched is a whole different bag of beans.  Although I went with the best two volunteers Courtney and Barbara because they know how to tell those men to leave a girl alone! ha ha. Anyways we drank and danced until 4 AM I haven't been out til 4 AM since I don't know how long....Prom? haha. But it was a great night! After the group stopped playing we went got some street food to restore us and head home.

Day Two:

So as you would expect we slept for a good portion of this day. When we finally did get up, we cooked breakfast which was simple: scrambled eggs and toast but oh man did it hit the spot. The only time we left our room was to go buy tickets for that afternoons Bull Fight! I figured I didn't go to one the last time in Peru because I thought I wouldn't like what they do to the bulls, etc. But this time around it is a big event!! We laid around until 3 PM bull time.

 So Barbara explained to me what was happening every step of the way and it made bull fighting take on an artful feel in place of animal killing. 

The 3 main toreadors were from Mexico and Spain. The guy from Mexico was the best of the 3. He was so entertaining. His dancing with the bull was by far the most captivating BUT the young buck from Spain, Jairo was the best to look at. 

 I mean look at him.....

So we screamed and yelled the bulls on and the toreadors as well. One bull was very fortunate and received a pardon because the people thought he was to small for the fight. It was the craziest thing because weight wise he wasn't the smallest bull of the day either haha. Also, the young Jairo got the best bull of the day...the last at 480 kilos=1056 lbs. Huge right!!!! and man oh man that bull didn't take anything laying down. He charged and charged with the same level of energy until the end. We all thought that Jairo would get 2 ears (ears are the token of a successful bull fight. Unfortunately when he went in for the kill he didn't get the sword thing in in the right place and then it got kinda sad because he had to kill the bull in the head which takes awhile. 

So we ended on a sad note BUT I must be a blood thirsty person because I loved it.

So that was day 1. I liked it so much that I convinced some other the girls to come in for the last performance of the week.

 However, it was campo day...meaning the quality of bulls and fighters went way way down.

 As you can see from the photo above and below you can see that they are more afraid of the bulls as well.

 This dude in red is from Peru...he wasn't very good but he got 3 ears in total. This is also justification of their lower quality because on day one only the Mexican received an ear for each of his torros and he was leaps and bounds better! Some of the girls didn't like the bull fighting as much as I did so who knows who will go with me next year but 

                                          while in Peru do as the Peruvians do and celebrate with a party.

A Peruvian/ American Birthday

 Photos from the big day and the day before!

First and foremost the month of June is a busy birthday month even here in Peru. My host brother, Yoni on the 5th, host mom and another volunteer, Hayden, the 12th me the 14th, another volunteer Kate the 16th, host brother Mayo (Alex) on the 24th, Emily on the 28th.....and if I missed someone sorry I'm at birthday overload! haha.
Anyways here in the Campo of Peru there isn't much of a celebration to birthdays. If they remember there is the Feliz Cumple, pasalo bien, and the frying of a cuy or another animal if you are lucky. But this is about the extent. My host mom forgot that it was her birthday until I reminded her. So we are joking about it and how the kids are going to find my a sapo (frog) to give me as a present the night before. They actually go to the river for a bit to look haha. I thought that would be about it for the passing of another year of life.

OH HOW I WAS WRONG!!!
At 3AM noises start from upstairs. I mean it sounds like the family has decided to redecorate in the middle of the night by dragging the furniture around and around. The noise goes on and on and on for about 30 min. Finally I think. Wrong at 4:30AM it starts again. Later I found out that my host mom, Martha successfully killed two rats that morning. haha. At about 7 or 7:30 Mayo starts yelling through the window Yenni are you awake? Yes! (Although don't want to be yet) Okay well then open your door.
Now this is odd because usually we open the window to chit chat. So we play around for a bit with me opening the other door, he runs around, I open the front door, and so on. Finally we are at the same door and I'm still half asleep. He rushes in to give me my 23 birthday spankings. haha. Now Mayo is 11 and quite small but that little kid is strong! After it was completely adorable though he gave me not 1 but 2 hugs and told me Happy Birthday. (Side note: the reason he decided I needed birthday spankings---for Yoni's 14th Birthday I explained that we have this custom in the States and they just thought that was a whoot!) Now people here in the Campo are not the touchy type so getting/giving hugs is kinda a big deal. When I went for breakfast my sister, Zaida and my host mom both gave me hugs and told me how happy they are that I'm here.  A little later Yoni told me to prepare myself because he is not only giving me my 23 spankings but 14 extra...haha (although he didn't follow through).

So I spent the day watching movies, hanging out with the host fam, went on a long run and to end the day Zaida took me on a hike. I've been asking her to take me to the top of this hill for about a month. It was beautiful from the top and fun spending time with her. To top things off, for dinner we had lentils because my host mom knows they are my favorite! Now doesn't that sounds like a good day!

Selfish Moments

For the first time since coming to Peru I spent a day and a night completely alone. It was WONDERFUL!!! I can’t express how much I need some time completely devoid of other people. Yes some might say that I’m alone all the time: I have my own room and spend most of my time there BUT I’m not truly alone because I can hear my host family through the walls and floors. If they turn on music the turn it up so loud that I feel like I’m sitting right next to the radio. They yell and talk in such loud voices I can usually follow the conversation. They tell me when and to come to dinner or any meals. At mealtime we chat and chat and when I’m done eating and ready to leave the ALWAYS say No stay a bit longer and chat some more. So for that time my time is not my own. When we volunteers travel or “take our breaks from PCV life” we are always together and it is much cheaper to stay in one or two rooms in comparison to five individual rooms. Usually I love that we do this. It helps us bond and allows for venting frustrations BUT you try to be conscious of how much hot water you use, conversations are going on and rude/unsociable not to join in (and most of the time you want to anyways), time is still not your own because is very body ready to go eat etc.  None of the fore mentioned things are bad. Yet still a person or at the very least I need alone time were I don’t have to consider anyone but myself.

Selfish…Yes but to some extent aren’t we all. I mean I bet even Mother Teresa needed some alone time or took a selfish minute or two in her lifetime. Anyways back to my point: I feel so refreshed now. For instance today alone finished writing the Healthy School Project, scheduled the next two days of sessions with the school, finished the session information, helped my host mom with drying the corn, hand washed clothes in the river, and still have hours left to go in the day. For sure I’m going to have to take more personal/ alone mental health days. Also, it was really great to talk with my family and One Miss Emily Hays. The PCV life can sure put a cramp in communication, meaning it had been over a month since I talked with that girl…in just one month a lot can happen and a lot is forgotten, so that when we do get to talk we forget all the things we would usually share. Haha.

Now on a side note: Argh!!! Stupid strikes are messing up my plans. I had to reschedule my educational sessions because this Thursday starts another strike (which is why I was supposed to do my session) and when there is a strike almost no matter what it is about the schools close! Yes this time around the strike itself is BIG BIG here in Cajamarca but literally the schools close all the time and it makes it really hard to create and keep scheduled activities. Now for why there is a strike: We here in Cajamarca have actually already had strikes about this in previous months but this is a BIG BIG one because once again they are going to block the roads. So no one in or out unless it is an emergency. They are striking against the mines, specifically one called CONGA. Even though I live here I still don’t know all the details but what I do know is that the issue lies in water. You my friends will have to conduct your own research to know more… 

So I wrote this first part two weeks ago then I got suck in my site without travel options until today. Yet another educational session is going to be messed with this week because of the strikes. It is so annoying! haha. But at least got a chance to come into town get some English speaking time to rejuvenate  me for this next go around of striking....hope it doesn't last that much longer!!!!

PS More pics to come!

So it is official I have achieved something in the Peace Corps! haha it only took 6 months in site but at least it happened. I started my healthy schools project last week. I gave an hour long chat/ session/ charla (whatever you want to call it) twice over how to create a healthy classroom. It might not seem like a lot but talking in front of secondary school age kids for an hour is SOOOOO HARD! Especially when it is in another language. Praise God that my Spanish is finally up to snuff! My health post only had to clarify once or twice for the kids. Some photos from the day

Obviously ME!! teaching. I know hard to believe but it actually was a lot of fun. In large part think that is because I only will do it about every two weeks.







They had to draw a healthy classroom or school. The winner got some candy...the things necessary to motivate haha.

So this kid on my right is one of my favs!!! 

 My health post worker 

 Dona Mari

Now that I have accomplished something concrete I'm hoping my service will pick up and not only be more exciting but more filling. Never ever did I want to discover that sitting around is really hard and boring! haha.
This week we also did a group visit to Kate's site. Her mom is here from the states so we had a good excuse and the fact that we had a camp, VALOR, this weekend and Kate's site is kinda on the way. Anyways it was really fun. Her primary school put on a celebration! It was so cute they danced and sang and read poems. Then we had a Peru vs USA volleyball game which was a blast.

 I was asked for more photos....part of why this one is so full. This is a view from the road in-between my site and the capital city. 

 So where we live in the mountains everybody is pretty poor. Yet there is money in the government. When they don't spend their budget they loss it, so this town has this really nice soccer stadium and is currently building a bull stadium....you can't see it in the photo but there is so much trash and incomplete buildings etc. I guess soccer ranks a bit higher than those things.

 and now LOOK I am actually growing something. I'm very proud of my little green sprouts. I grew them from lentils and I can't wait to eat them!!







As most of you can probably tell by this blog my life is super duper exciting, haha. Hoping that in the months to come I'll get some really great stories to tell. LOVE.

Oh how the Peace Corps can bring a person down

Today was suppose to be a BIG day. What led to disaster? Well let me start from the beginning...(some fun pics of my animals).

 My pigs!!!

The baby puppies!!
I have been in site for almost 5 months. I spent the first 3 months working on my Community Diagnostic, gathering data etc.Then months 4-5 were filled with training/ writing diagnostic/ first vacation. AKA jammed pack. So we were asked to turn in a rough draft of our Diagnostic. So all us Caja girls did.


When we got them back...the nicest way to put it is just go jump off a bridge with your report because that is about how good it is. Think back to when you were in junior high and you get a paper back and it is all in red. Oh and that the graphs you made are not the right type. Why aren't you a mind reader? Didn't you know we wanted it this way! I mean sorry we didn't give you a format to follow or actually we did and you followed it....but never mind we changed our mind on which one we wanted.
So that put me in a stellar mood to begin with! Then in my community I started inviting people to come to my presentation of that very Diagnostic. While asking people, almost half of them say...No sorry have something else to do. Others say sure. And the third set of people why are you asking me so far in advance! I won't remember, ask me a couple of days before. I went back to those people and guess what...oh I have something that day. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Sometimes I really don't like Peru! But oh well some said they would come including my "volunteer boss, Barbara". So I make all the posters as best I can because have no artistic talent, buy snacks....

The presentation is set for 8am this morning. Well my cousin, Deisy, from the Early Stimulation Center shows up at 8:05am. We are sitting out front of my health post because they still aren't there yet. Around 8:30am 2 of my health post workers show up, among them the Jefe (boss) of the health post not included and my PCVL, Barbara. Then at about 8:45am the PRONEI lady shows up and that is it!!!!! Not my mayor or anyone else that I asked and said yes. I just spent almost 5 months getting ready to be to this point and no one bothers to show up. I can hear a beer calling my name at 9am in the morning. Also, feel like crazy and then trying to pop off peoples heads!
Anyways so I don't give the presentation and Barbara and I leave. Guess who I see? Low and behold my mayor getting ready to go to Chota. Well thanks for your time and consideration. I mean your show of support really means a lot to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words cannot express how angry I am right now.
Oh well. soon I will get happy in the same pants I got mad in.........but not yet, haha.