This post was written in a hurry and contains no pictures,
only information. I am sorry, I glossed
over many of the incredible details of this life so far.
We landed in Lima about 45 minutes behind schedule, and in
the middle of an intense game of checkers between me and my flight mate,
Ashley, although I am pretty sure I was going to win. Getting through customs with 56 people is
surprisingly smooth when your foreign development organization claims 4
custom’s booths for you. Equally smooth
was the baggage claim due to the fact that ~70% of the luggage was ours (is is
pretty easy to tell Peace Corps luggage apart from other international
travelers, simply look for backpacking packs or pretty much any beat up piece
of baggage that is filled to capacity).
The squad of bomb sniffing, drug searching, Spanish speaking dogs may
have slowed us down slightly due to rubbernecking, however we were soon out into
the brisk (65°F) Lima winter.
After a 90ish minute bus ride we arrived at our new home for
the next two days: A resort in the foothills of the Andes (see pictures). This place was fully equipped with the
following: pools (2) (although we never had time for them), dogs (1), Koi ponds
(1), dorm style bedrooms (~40), classrooms (quantity unknown),
soccer(futbol)/basketball/handball facilities (1), and anis tea (enough to sink
a ship). Here we had our first two days
of orientation where we discussed safety and medical issues, money matters, and
survival Spanish. After two days we
piled (literally) into 5 vans and drove to our training center in Chaclacayo where
we further discussed things (I forget what they were) and learned where we were
to be living during training.
Chacrasana
Chacrasana is my new home for the next 10 weeks. It is described by my family as “tranquillo”
and it lives up to this description.
There is something like 4 roads leading up the hill that the town is
built on (pictures to follow) and 2/4 of the roads are paved. The other roads are a dirt/gravel combo that
provides ample selection for finding the perfect dog rock (explanations to
follow). Chacrasana is built in a valley
between two mountains that contain approximately 0% vegetation (we have seen
one cactus on our mountains). They are
strikingly beautiful/eerie and have a few hiking trails that are super fun to
run/hike on.
Chacrasana houses 10 aspirantes (volunteers before we are
real volunteers), and contains about 500-800 year round residents (estimate
performed by a super under-qualified estimator). Chacrasana contains a large number of street
dogs which bark at all hours of the day and night and frequently run at me in
the street (see the aforementioned “dog rock” and look for the definition in
coming posts). Additionally, I live with
2 rabbits, ~10ish roosters/chickens, and a parrot.
My family is really fun, and although I can’t really speak
with them I greatly enjoy listening to their conversations and contributing
when I can. More on my family in later
posts, but essentially I play giraffe with my 4 year old (soon to be 5) sister. If your imagination is poor and can’t picture
what playing giraffe looks like, imagine a 6’6” gringo with red hair running
around with a 4 year old ~35-40lb Peruvian girl on his back.
Peace Corps School
Training is exactly like school, except longer. We arrive at 8am and leave at 5pm. We get lunch and 5-10minute recesses where we
play foosball, ping pong, and volleyball.
A typical day consists of 4 hours of Spanish in the morning followed by
an hour lunch. The afternoon is 4 hours
of various trainings related to our individual sectors (water & sanitation,
health, or environment) or Peace Corps in general. Following school some of the lower language
groups (me) have tutoring for an additional 45-60 minutes. When we don’t have training many of us go for
a run through the town.
Getting to and from school is super exciting every
morning. We ride a combi which is a small
bus sort of thing that the cobrador (doorman/money man/guy who yells things)
crams people in to. The combi then
drives sporadically and quickly to the next stop approximately 0.25-0.5 miles
down the road, weaving in and out of traffic.
Even though I can’t completely stand up on the combi, it is one of the
highlights of my days.
For language, we occasionally take field trips around the
area. We went to a larger city in our
vicinity called Chosica and interviewed people in the park. Some interviews went super well, while others
we incredibly poorly and had to be ended by purchasing something from the
person. This past weekend we took a trip
to Lima for the day. Lima is an
incredibly large city where approximately 1/3 of the population in Peru
lives. We toured the presidential palace,
the Museum of the Inquisition (where they tried and tortured non-Catholics or
people not following the “Catholic Code”) and rode a bus up a mountain for an
incredible (but slightly smoggy) view of the city. Lima was incredible, but I much prefer the
feel of Chacrasana. Pictures of Lima to
come in the future.
Upcoming Posts
Super good stuff to come (see the following list). Most of this stuff is glossed over super
quickly just to get it out into the web, but if you have any questions or want
more details on something I am pretty sure there is a place where comments can
be put. Simply address your wants,
needs, questions, comments, and desires, and I will do my best to address them.
I have promised, and intend to follow through with the
following:
- Pictures (Chacrasana), Lima, Training places
- Definition of Dog Rocks
- 3 de Octubre Fiesta (including the famous/infamous Toro Loco)
- My family
- Other things I may remember
- Also I’m going on a shadowing trip so there will be a post (or something) about that
- Birthday party I went to
- The breadman
tl;dr Peru is awesome, I love it. I am having a splendid time.
