Christmas day started off by opening up a little gift my parents sent me - a scarf, necklace and pendant. It was a cute little morning with my little strand of Christmas lights on. After that and my morning run, I left the house to figure out how I could spend the day (nothing was going to happen in my host family´s house because my host grandmother went to Trujillo and my grandfather apparently doesn´t like celebrating the holiday). After walking around for a while, checking out the internet and chatting with people in the Plaza, my friend who is the president of the water office in San Ignacio called me to join her for lunch.
Lunch of papa de la guancallina - me encanta! Then we went to several different caserios. At the first one, La Falda, they served us each a plate of the cow they killed the day before. It was taste, but I was so full! There was traditional dancing in La Falda called negrito. This is a dance where one person dances at a time, stomping their feet on the ground at different tempos with the rhythm of the music (played by a harpist and violinist). It´s normal for everyone to participate, such as people 80 years old to 5 years old, so, when they asked me to dance I really had to. It was so fun and so difficult! Really doesn´t look that hard, and I am embarrased to say I danced for 8 years when I was younger, but it really is quite difficult. But, alas, the gringo danced, so they all cheered and loved it! Haha!
Well, Vilma and I continued onto Las Viscas after this and did more of the same - chillin´, dancin´, and laughin´. At this site I also asked the violinist if I could use his instrument and play. So, we spent a bit of time trying to teach eachother different songs - him teaching me the tune for the dance and me teaching him fiddle. It was fabulous!
Then, returned back to La Falda because there were tons of people! This is where my friends Teigan and Kate met up. We watched more dancing. I did more dancing. And Teigan caught it on film! (I wouldn´t realize it until later how many people had caught it on film and how practically everyone in Palpa knows I danced at La Falda...talk about a ´quick win´ Peace Corps!) Then it was off the celebrate Christmas the American way...
Teigan, Kate and I went back to my place and made hot cocoa (with a splash of the lovely American Baileys), lit a candle, and chilled. It was so relaxing. Nice to get the warm feeling of being around people who feel like long time friends. Then we attempted to watch Elf, which didn´t work, so watched something else...but I feel asleep 5 minutes into it dreaming of snow.
Next day, we woke up at 4 ready to go fishin! A friend, Alberto, picked us up at the hora Peruana (an hour later) at 5 and we hit the road with 3 other home made cars that resemble sandboarding cars and 10 other people. A trip these guys take each year, and one that Alberto invited us to join in on. Got to the beach using back sand roads 2 hours later, a layer of sand in our hair, and barely able to keep our eyes awake after 2 hours of sleep. But the beach certainly put some life back into us! It was gorgeous! The anticipation of getting there was great too. We could smell the salt and feel the wind before seeing the water as we came over the top of the sand dunes. This beach, Puerto Caballa, only has 3 people living there, about 6 houses and only a total of about 100 people know about it. Just gorgeous and crystal clean.
Whiel there we had a little Thermodynamics review as we watched the clouds being pushed over and down the sand mountains and dissipating into the ocean, bringing the wind and dropping the temperature. Nerds, I know. But, we are all WatSanners. Caught fish (using a net that we let sit out for 2 hours) and went off to a little incove to look for little crabs. The cliffs of the incove reminded me of New Zealand (flash back of other good times). Made a soup with all the goodness. So rico! Pulled in the fish line and cooked the 6 fish we caught. They were soooo great! Finished the day with a nap, when I got burned, teaching the guys how to play frisbee, and swimming in the water. It was a perfect day! Got back at 6:30 and craaaaashed. Little burned, good food in the belly, and too warn out to attend the celebration of Palpa´s anniversary.
Next day we cooked a cake. Chocolate cake. Mmmmm...
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
quick summary of the past few weeks
so, i haven´t been doing a good job keeping up with this...but that´s the way it goes. i had a sweet, sweet birthday celebration last week. i was going to meet up with teigan and kate in la venta, teigan´s site, at 5. but, alas, one should never tag a time to an event because it just won´t start at that time. i think just because i was so excited to get out of my site and hang out, it intentionally took longer. so, it started that friday with me visiting a water system in san ignacio with 5 other people...keep in mind, ´hora peruana.´
well cleaning goes as such: one man puts a rope around his waste, another man lowers this one into the 6m deep well. the man in the well takes one end of a 50m long half-inch thick wire and sticks it as far into the tube as possible to clean out roots that are stuck. this goes on, and on, and on, because there are tooons of roots clogging up the well. i thought it would only take 2 hours, and took 4.5. so, by the end of cleaning two wells and lots of tubes, we get back to the taxi to start the 15 minute journey back to palpa. however, the car doesn´t start - as to be expected. the taxi driver fiddles with some wires which does nothing; we climb to the top of a hill to get cell phone service, which doesn´t work; finally we push start the car and get it going. so, now we´re all back in the car and starting the climb up the mountain on the road...i hear a ´hiss, hiss, hiss´ and then we stop the car and get out - the TIRE POPPED! of course. so, we change the tire. get back in, and the car won´t start! omg, at this point i didn´t even think i was going to be able to leave. well, a car comes around the road luckly (it´s kind of far out there and not many cars drive by), so i get a ride back in the car with the taxi drive who is going to get help and we get back to palpa. i felt bad ditching the rest of them, but they told me to get in and go and, well, i didn´t refuse. got on the soyuz, peruvian style late, and headed off to la venta.
now, that´s just friday...the 18th...
then was saturday. i will sum it up because i am currently ´late´ to the christmas celebration that is going ot happen tonight in San Ignacio. saturday i got two packages from the mail box from my parents (THANKS!). went sandboarding in Ica which i would recommend to everyone! then, topped off the night with gluten-free cake that kate baked and the three of us had a blast frosting and late night swimming in the oasis and pool. it.was.a.blast. :)
headed back sunday (my real birthday) and bought a bike in Ica which is beautiful and now i feel free to travel around anywhere, and had a small dinner of pollo a la brasa with my friend here. it was small and sweet.
now is Christmas time (24th) and the big day for celebrating the holiday. I am currently going to San Ignacio and told there will be dancing, music, and killing a cow. They also told me they will cook Panchamanca since I told them it was my favorite Peruvian food. Not exactly sure what to expect though! Late tonight there´s supposed to be dancing in the Plaza in Pala and a big church service. All there festivities happen leading up to tonight at midnight. Tomorrow there isn´t much of anything, so it´s quite a bit different. Not Santa, trees and present...but then again, I do get to help kill a cow. So...it´s all just a little different!
I hope you all ´desfrutar´ your Christmas day with family and friends! All my love!
well cleaning goes as such: one man puts a rope around his waste, another man lowers this one into the 6m deep well. the man in the well takes one end of a 50m long half-inch thick wire and sticks it as far into the tube as possible to clean out roots that are stuck. this goes on, and on, and on, because there are tooons of roots clogging up the well. i thought it would only take 2 hours, and took 4.5. so, by the end of cleaning two wells and lots of tubes, we get back to the taxi to start the 15 minute journey back to palpa. however, the car doesn´t start - as to be expected. the taxi driver fiddles with some wires which does nothing; we climb to the top of a hill to get cell phone service, which doesn´t work; finally we push start the car and get it going. so, now we´re all back in the car and starting the climb up the mountain on the road...i hear a ´hiss, hiss, hiss´ and then we stop the car and get out - the TIRE POPPED! of course. so, we change the tire. get back in, and the car won´t start! omg, at this point i didn´t even think i was going to be able to leave. well, a car comes around the road luckly (it´s kind of far out there and not many cars drive by), so i get a ride back in the car with the taxi drive who is going to get help and we get back to palpa. i felt bad ditching the rest of them, but they told me to get in and go and, well, i didn´t refuse. got on the soyuz, peruvian style late, and headed off to la venta.
now, that´s just friday...the 18th...
then was saturday. i will sum it up because i am currently ´late´ to the christmas celebration that is going ot happen tonight in San Ignacio. saturday i got two packages from the mail box from my parents (THANKS!). went sandboarding in Ica which i would recommend to everyone! then, topped off the night with gluten-free cake that kate baked and the three of us had a blast frosting and late night swimming in the oasis and pool. it.was.a.blast. :)
headed back sunday (my real birthday) and bought a bike in Ica which is beautiful and now i feel free to travel around anywhere, and had a small dinner of pollo a la brasa with my friend here. it was small and sweet.
now is Christmas time (24th) and the big day for celebrating the holiday. I am currently going to San Ignacio and told there will be dancing, music, and killing a cow. They also told me they will cook Panchamanca since I told them it was my favorite Peruvian food. Not exactly sure what to expect though! Late tonight there´s supposed to be dancing in the Plaza in Pala and a big church service. All there festivities happen leading up to tonight at midnight. Tomorrow there isn´t much of anything, so it´s quite a bit different. Not Santa, trees and present...but then again, I do get to help kill a cow. So...it´s all just a little different!
I hope you all ´desfrutar´ your Christmas day with family and friends! All my love!
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Final Countdown
Birthday countdown: 3 days!
Plans: going to Teigan’s site in La Venta where we’re to bike around with Kate (the Three Muskateers reunite!), frolic in asparagus fields, climb mounds of dirt, make oatmeal pancakes, eat watermelon, drink wine, listen to music blasting from Teigan’s phone (soooo ghetto), and laugh lots!
Today: I found a pool in Palpa. Yep. A legit pool, quite green since they don’t chlorinate nor treat their water, but none-the-less, it’s a friggin’ pool in a posh lookin’ hotel! Gunna check out my 5th water system since being here in Palpa in the caserio (village) of San Ignacio. Quite excited about this because it’s a sweet looking little place and has a pretty view of the mountains.
This past week: Rollercoaster. It started out so down in the dumps. I was sad about missing my family and friends, that I’m going to miss Jen’s graduation, our birthday (this will be my first time celebrating it alone!!!), Christmas, New Years, Secret Santa’s with the family, sledding, hot cocoa (I did buy some, but it’s not the same to drink it in the desert), stockings, Christmas breakfast…along with that, I was just not feeling at home here and couldn’t figure out why I was feeling so down about it. So, after fishing into the depths of myself and shedding many tears I realized that I need to change my host family. It’s just not working out with me... Rather than feeling like I have to put up with it, I am going to change, so I am currently in the real-estate market. I have several prospective families I am going to talk with and quite excited for the change. After figuring all that out, it’s been so so so great! I been making headway with the people here. Instead of feeling like I have no idea what I’m doing here in Palpa and talking with anyone to try and figure out to get people to do what I want, I am now more demanding. It’s the difference between tip-toeing around the community trying to be polite because I am not sure what the custom is here, and walking boldly knowing what I want, who I need to talk to and what I’m doing. It feels good.
DNT: Beto and I are starting Do Nothing Tuesdays which happened accidently. Last Tuesday happened to be a Saint’s day so work was canceled for everyone. Instead it was a big day for the First Communion and we ended up celebrating with some friends here. After the communion in the morning we drank beers, rode horses, and went swimming in the Rio Grande River. Yea, it was totally paradise -mountains in the background, fields of beans, animals, good company. Then, this past week we ended up skippin’ town and checkin’ out Nasca which apparently is just another tourist town. It’s good for Christmas shopping, seeing the Nasca Lines and drinking Sherly Temples in tourist bars, but otherwise it’s just another town.
Things I need to do: wash my clothes (hm….it’s been 3 weeks and I just haven’t had 4 hours of time to wash them at Beto’s yet), make peanut-butter, finish my Christmas presents to mail home.
Christmas countdown: 8 days!
Exciting things coming up: Christmas! Not sure how I’m going to spend it yet. I think I am going to celebrate with some people in my community. But, not my current family because my grandmother is going to Tibillo and my grandfather doesn’t enjoy celebrating it. So, several other families have invited me over which I am excited about. Then, New Years and I’m also not sure how I’m going to celebrate that.
Birthday gifts for myself: a fan, a guitar, and a bike.
Plans: going to Teigan’s site in La Venta where we’re to bike around with Kate (the Three Muskateers reunite!), frolic in asparagus fields, climb mounds of dirt, make oatmeal pancakes, eat watermelon, drink wine, listen to music blasting from Teigan’s phone (soooo ghetto), and laugh lots!
Today: I found a pool in Palpa. Yep. A legit pool, quite green since they don’t chlorinate nor treat their water, but none-the-less, it’s a friggin’ pool in a posh lookin’ hotel! Gunna check out my 5th water system since being here in Palpa in the caserio (village) of San Ignacio. Quite excited about this because it’s a sweet looking little place and has a pretty view of the mountains.
This past week: Rollercoaster. It started out so down in the dumps. I was sad about missing my family and friends, that I’m going to miss Jen’s graduation, our birthday (this will be my first time celebrating it alone!!!), Christmas, New Years, Secret Santa’s with the family, sledding, hot cocoa (I did buy some, but it’s not the same to drink it in the desert), stockings, Christmas breakfast…along with that, I was just not feeling at home here and couldn’t figure out why I was feeling so down about it. So, after fishing into the depths of myself and shedding many tears I realized that I need to change my host family. It’s just not working out with me... Rather than feeling like I have to put up with it, I am going to change, so I am currently in the real-estate market. I have several prospective families I am going to talk with and quite excited for the change. After figuring all that out, it’s been so so so great! I been making headway with the people here. Instead of feeling like I have no idea what I’m doing here in Palpa and talking with anyone to try and figure out to get people to do what I want, I am now more demanding. It’s the difference between tip-toeing around the community trying to be polite because I am not sure what the custom is here, and walking boldly knowing what I want, who I need to talk to and what I’m doing. It feels good.
DNT: Beto and I are starting Do Nothing Tuesdays which happened accidently. Last Tuesday happened to be a Saint’s day so work was canceled for everyone. Instead it was a big day for the First Communion and we ended up celebrating with some friends here. After the communion in the morning we drank beers, rode horses, and went swimming in the Rio Grande River. Yea, it was totally paradise -mountains in the background, fields of beans, animals, good company. Then, this past week we ended up skippin’ town and checkin’ out Nasca which apparently is just another tourist town. It’s good for Christmas shopping, seeing the Nasca Lines and drinking Sherly Temples in tourist bars, but otherwise it’s just another town.
Things I need to do: wash my clothes (hm….it’s been 3 weeks and I just haven’t had 4 hours of time to wash them at Beto’s yet), make peanut-butter, finish my Christmas presents to mail home.
Christmas countdown: 8 days!
Exciting things coming up: Christmas! Not sure how I’m going to spend it yet. I think I am going to celebrate with some people in my community. But, not my current family because my grandmother is going to Tibillo and my grandfather doesn’t enjoy celebrating it. So, several other families have invited me over which I am excited about. Then, New Years and I’m also not sure how I’m going to celebrate that.
Birthday gifts for myself: a fan, a guitar, and a bike.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Palpañian
So here is my normal day in Palpa: wake up, run (sweat), shower, dryoff (sweat), make breakfast of eggs yogurt with fruit, walk to whatever office I am going to visit that day (sweating, of course, along the way), show up (all sweaty), and hang out. Talk a little, all the while being conscious of how I am sitting to best maximize whatever little breeze is trickling through the room. All the while I am working my way through the Spanish I know and pretending I understand more than I really do with head nods. When it´s around 1 I make my way back home, being conscious not to turn my back on anyone and show them the embarrassing sweat marks that probably show through my pants as I leave the room. Then, it´s lunch, refreshing shower, nap, and back outside for the second part of the day.
From this routine, I have learned which pants are best to wear. Jeans are HOT and don´t allow for much airflow, unfortunately. The two windbreakerish pants I brought are great for airflow (thanks Patagonia) but suck at hiding sweat dropplets. For this, I have decided they´re best for night. Overall, caprees are best. Thank god I brought 3 pairs.
What I actually do during the day differs. I will openly admit it though, I am living in Posh Corps here in Palpa. The other day I took a ride with the head of the Office of Agriculture in his yellow convertable VW (dad, you would have loved it) to see some chakras (farming fields). The fields were beautiful, and actually the ones you see in tourist packets of Palpa. Whereas today I was in a parade organized by the Hospital for the World AIDs awareness and then went to check out some water systems in Sacramento with another engineer. Then I chilled in the market with my friend who is an old guy and owns a shop and we watched a lot of the movies he sells about different areas of Peru on his flat screen LCD TV. It was sweet.
Now, after my meal of rice and potatoes, I am going to head home. I may read a bit of an engineering report I got in Sacramento, but more than likely I will just try to finish the movie Milk I have been watching the past 4 nights and can´t seem to finish because I keep falling asleep.
Other cool things I realized:
1. Don´t bring up beer with your mayor unless he does first
2. I may look into doing a Masters at Michigan Tech with the joint PC program while here...I have been told it´s possible!
3. Doing Secret Santa´s in the Peace Corps is a fabulous idea!
4. Washing clothes by hand takes about 4 hours
5. Drying clothes in the desert makes them as hard as cardboard
6. Tuna on rice with chopped carrots isn´t that bad
7. You can nod your head through about any conversation and get away with people thinking you understand
8. Naps in the middle of the day are great
Until next time - paz y amor from your Posh Corps Volunteer in Palpa.
From this routine, I have learned which pants are best to wear. Jeans are HOT and don´t allow for much airflow, unfortunately. The two windbreakerish pants I brought are great for airflow (thanks Patagonia) but suck at hiding sweat dropplets. For this, I have decided they´re best for night. Overall, caprees are best. Thank god I brought 3 pairs.
What I actually do during the day differs. I will openly admit it though, I am living in Posh Corps here in Palpa. The other day I took a ride with the head of the Office of Agriculture in his yellow convertable VW (dad, you would have loved it) to see some chakras (farming fields). The fields were beautiful, and actually the ones you see in tourist packets of Palpa. Whereas today I was in a parade organized by the Hospital for the World AIDs awareness and then went to check out some water systems in Sacramento with another engineer. Then I chilled in the market with my friend who is an old guy and owns a shop and we watched a lot of the movies he sells about different areas of Peru on his flat screen LCD TV. It was sweet.
Now, after my meal of rice and potatoes, I am going to head home. I may read a bit of an engineering report I got in Sacramento, but more than likely I will just try to finish the movie Milk I have been watching the past 4 nights and can´t seem to finish because I keep falling asleep.
Other cool things I realized:
1. Don´t bring up beer with your mayor unless he does first
2. I may look into doing a Masters at Michigan Tech with the joint PC program while here...I have been told it´s possible!
3. Doing Secret Santa´s in the Peace Corps is a fabulous idea!
4. Washing clothes by hand takes about 4 hours
5. Drying clothes in the desert makes them as hard as cardboard
6. Tuna on rice with chopped carrots isn´t that bad
7. You can nod your head through about any conversation and get away with people thinking you understand
8. Naps in the middle of the day are great
Until next time - paz y amor from your Posh Corps Volunteer in Palpa.
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