the sand globe of palpa

i was sitting today under a straw awning on a tree trunk bench with several other women in their big hats and dresses and market bags, waiting for a truck with 20 people to come and pick me up. i was heading up the huanchaco in rio grande to do the canal work for this week. it started blowing sand everywhere with the wind, so the book i was reading got covered in a thin film of sand. what's new? i began thinking, it's like i live in one of those snow globes you see with the snowmen in them, only it's filled with sand. one thing i learned early on is that you can't hate the sand. it will always win. so, to succumb to pages that get a film of grimy sand, or the sand in the clothes, or the sand that enters the house and gets all over everything just becomes normal. it just makes washing your face and hair at the end of the nice that much better, because you really appreciate being clean. i also like to think of it as a natural exfoliation.

so, the truck never came to pick me up. i called up agustin, the coordinator in santa cruz for the people, and he said there were only 8 people this week who were going to come. well, that is just a number that is unexceptable. they know that i will not go up there unless there are aroudn 20, because otherwise we will just never get the work done. we will see if they can get 20 people for tomorrow so we can head out and get back to work. it is a little frustraiting when the people can't simply organize themselve to get out there and do work...they even are getting paid for it! the frustraiting part is that this is a project that will help them, we aren't charging, and who doesn't want water!? all they have to do is put the man de obra. we'll see how it develops.

so, i went over to beto's house, my site mate, and chilled. there is a circus in his town right now. it's actually the circus that was in my town for about a month, and was in palpa like 5 months earlier as well. i call it the circo pobre. it's just that. the enterance is tattered, the clothes they wear are old, the music is scratched from years of use, the animals look tired, the actresses are either very young (like 8) or really old, and in total there are like 6 that change roles throughout the show because there just aren't enough people otherwise! the reason the circus is here, is because they didn't make enough money in palpa to support their transportation to another spot, so they moved next door to the even smaller rio grande. i doubt if they will get like 10 people to go from here! i wonder how long i will hear the circus music that starts at 6 when i come to visit beto's house? months...

lovely life in lima

here i am, in the office, dedicating three days to helping the PCVC finish the end of the year report for our project group. it was apparently a nightmare last year, but this year it has been a breeze, and honestly i haven´t needed to do too much of the report because he had finished so much before i got here. this is now my last day here, and then it´s back to the district of Palpa. the other day i went to play ultimate frisbee at the embassy. amazing! the first real game i had played in months. within the walls of the embassy with those 16 other americans, i felt like i had transported back to the field at city park and was playing during the tuesday and thursday night pick ups, only this time with shoes and without beer. one of the players there happened to go to college with a highschool friend, abe graber. he was wearing a carelton hat and said they had played frisbee together...small world! the others were either studying, working at the embassy, some working with health NGOs, and some just looking to live there to improve their spanish. sweet!

i have also really enjoyed the variety of food here in lima, as i always do. whenever i get the chance to come up here i am always excited about the middle eastern food, the mcdonalds (yea, i just said that), sushi and the starbucks. this time i tried out indian food at a place called Guru´s. WOW! probably better than any of the other food that i have had here. will definitely be going back. it´s a switch up from the pollo a la brasa (though one night i was looking for just that but decided to take advantage of the options while here), papa de la guancaina, cevichi, and chaufa.

i have also really enjoyed the opportunity to run in lima without feeling like a million people are watching me. it´s normal here! usually i get around to doing some yoga as well, catching up with those friend, but this time i didn´t get the chance. i am still targeting out some musiums i want to visit, but that will happen on another visit.

when i head back to site i am going to be heading back to the moutain to continue work on the canal. it´s currenlty a sunday night to wednesday night job. then i get back and have to start up my HIV-AIDs prevention project with some doctors in my site to try and finish that before december. and i am finally starting up the ecology club! yay! my school is excited, i am excited, and i just need to buy the trashcans. it´s taken quite some time in the planning, but before i get frustrated at thinking about that, i remember that i am in peru. and that´s the way it is.

well, it looks like it rained a little last night, so i am gunna take a walk along the beach and soak up some of those water dropplets. it will be rain than i have had in palpa during the past year. then, later on to some amazing restaurant before heading down under again...