Field Based Training

Okay, so I´ve spent the last 5 days traveling through Lambayeque. The first night, we took a bus from Lima to Chiclayo. The buses are a vacation in themselves, with dinner and movies, and the most comfy reclining leather seats I´ve ever sat in. We watched ¨Marley and Me¨ and ¨The Devil Wears Prada¨in Spanish with English subtitles. The reclining chairs were arguably more comfortable than our beds at home, and it was nice to just sit back and enjoy a movie.

We arrived in Chiclayo and took a combi (a van) to Olmos, near where I will be living for the next two years. We went to a school near Carolyn´s site and taught a couple of grades. Because we were told kinda late about teaching classes, we prepared our lessons over the two hour car ride and lunch. Sara and I taught our class on the various routes of water contamination. In this particular community, there isn´t a trash pick-up program. Adults and children just throw their trash wherever they happen to be standing when they are done with it. The sides of the streets are littered with pastic bags and packaging materials. Seeing all the trash made me very grateful for the strict littering policies in the US.

The first night, we stayed at a animal refuge/zoo outside of Olmos. The refuge mainly houses birds and different monkeys, some the size of chimpanzees and others that were itty bitty. We cleaned out animal cages, did some painting and planted vines that will hopefully shade a patio area. I´m starting to realize how afraid of animals I am. While attempting to clean out a cage, one black bird less than a foot tall ¨cornered¨ me. I was frantically yelling at it to go away, but it just towered over me from a meter away, clucking and staring me down. I was stuck for probably 3 or 4 minutes before a ran by it screaming, making a b-line for the door. And that was the end of that project for me. I went on to painting cages, which was messier but less of a threat to my life. I still have black paint stuck to my arm and fingernails, but the switch was a good move. Then me and Lisa (who used to live in my site) painted the kid´s slide and talked a bit about Jesus and a desire for community. I´m looking forward to getting to know her better.

The next night, we camped out in the Bosque of Pomac (a dry, sandy forest). I pooped outside for the first time! I´m learning that we talked more in the Peace Corps about poop than any other subject. We make a lot of jokes around poop. ¨Tengo bicicleta¨ literally means ¨I have a bicycle¨, but it is an expression that means you have diarrea. We´re often singing ¨beee-cicleta, beee beee-cicleta¨. We all share this experience. Some of us might be better at Spanish, some of us might be adjusting differently to the daily stresses, but we all have ridden the bicicleta at some point.

After spending the night in the bosque, we climbed some huacas. These are pre-Incan, man-made hills that housed treasures and were the center of the communities. The leader would live atop them. These sites are full of archeologically valuable material that has yet to be studied. Unfortunately, there also hasn´t been enough protection from raiding and much has been lost. Nevertheless, it was fun to climb these ancient adobe hills andf look at the seashells and pottery pieces all along the ground.

That night, we had pollo a la braza (chicken and french fries) and I got super sick the next day. Never, never ever eat chicken that it kinda pink. It is not worth it and I don´t care how hungry you are. To be honest, I´m not sure if that is what did me in. I´m the only one that got super sick. But I was vomiting and had diarrea at the same time. The pain in the stomach was unbareable 10 minutes before each time I got sick. It started at 5 in the morning and I stopped throwing up around noon. The rest of the day was pretty bad, but nothing in comparison to the first half. I got to the hotel in Chiclayo around 3 and got to sleep and watch tv the rest of the day. All of the volunteers took turns helping me. Some carried my bags, others brought me snacks,the third year volunteers made sure to check up on me and got me a front seat in the combi ride to Chiclayo. Tina even gave me a pad in case I accidentally pooped my pants (which I´m told happens to every volunteer at some point, but thankfully didn´t happen to me yesterday).

Today was America Day, the day we have all been excited about. The third year volunteers showed us all around our capital city of Chiclayo. There is a shopping mall, Real Plaza, with many of the comforts of home including RadioShack, Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks, and a movie theater. I didn´t get to see a movie, but hear that they actually play the English audio with Spanish subtitles. I´m looking forward to enjoying that one of these days when I need some American time.

Then we went to a technology market where you can buy all sorts of electronics, clothing or inexpensive entertainment. And then we headed down to the beach and ate some fried rice with fresh fish. Peru has really incredible Chinese food, and good seafood on the coast. It is a perfect combination if you ask me.

Tomorrow, I meet my counterparts that I hope to work with over the next two years. We´ll spend the day getting to know one another in formal sessions and then they´ll take me to my first visit to my site in Corral de Arena. I´ll spend three days getting to know my new host family and the community. I´m nervous about the latrine and even more about the dirt floor in my room. I heard stories about parasites through the feet (and I think I´ve already extracted tick larva from one of my toes). I want to lay cement in my room, but am not sure how much that would cost. Some volunteers recommend laying cement, and others say it will just make my hot room even more unbearable when summer rolls around. Prayers would be great for all of the above. I love you all. Thanks for keeping up with how things are going here in Peru.