Saturday, March 31, 2012

Anniversario de la Ronda Campesina

 The verb rondar means to patrol.  In rural Peruvian communities like mine there are no police instead we have the Ronda.  The Ronda is a highly organized community group that is made up of male representatives of every household.  The have several meetings a month at the level of individual sectors of my town and a bigger one with the entire centro poblado.  Men take turns patrolling the streets at night.  They carry machetes, coca leaves to chew, rope (apparently to tie someone up if need be), and little notebooks to write offenders names if they encounter anyone trying any funny business. 

From what I can tell the Ronda is quite effective in keeping the crime rate down.  There is not a whole lot of breaking and entering, or stuff like cattle theft.  It is pretty tranquillo around here.  This week was the anniversary of the Ronda in my town.  It was a very big party.  The party started during the daytime on Thursday.  The men had a soccer tournament and the teams were divided by the sectors where the ronderos live.  In the evening my grandparents hosted a dinner for everyone in our sector of town; sector centro (we live a block within the Plaza de Armas or town square), we ate normal party food giant plates of rice, potatoes, and instead of cuy (guinea pig) we had lamb.

At around 8pm people started gathering in the Plaza from all the various sectors.  Each sector had a banner, a Peruvian flag, lots of fireworks, and a small band.  My neighbors asked me to carry the flag for our sector.  I was a little nervous and said to them ‘but I’m not Peruvian,’ and they told me they wanted me to carry the flag anyway.  I was in the front of our group, just behind my neighbor Segundo who was lighting off fireworks and shooting them into the air from his bare hands.  Don’t worry I asked my brother Witman to take pictures and he got a video of one of the ronderos shooting off the fireworks.

After each sector had had it’s turn to parade around the Plaza there were some speeches made and several small groups of people sang songs over the sound system.  Then each sector with their own little band danced.  In the past when I have attended dances a song would end and the dancers could take a break if they chose to do so.  This time was different the music never seemed to stop.  My first dance partner quit on me after about 15 minutes, then I had a second dance partner and he was probably about 9 years old, my third dance partner was a neighbor who I am guessing is in his sixties.  Griserio is his name and we danced for more than an hour straight.  After I realized that the song just kept on going I thought it might be some kind of dance competition.  Then new dance pairs would join in and I realized it was just non-stop dancing with no competitive edge.  Boo, I love a good dance-off!

I think Griserio must have been chewing coca leaves or something, because I can’t think of any other explanation for how he had so much energy.  He and I were definitely the most energetic dancers.  My host grandmother Niceda and a neighbor named Juan danced next to Griserio and I, only we were jumping around sweating while the others moved their feet slowly.  The ronderos chew coca leaves when they have to stay up all night.  In Peru coca leaves are not illegal and I have been told the effects are like having an espresso shot. 

At midnight when Griserio and live band showed no signs of stopping I had to bow out.  My feet hurt and I was covered in sweat.  It was fun.  And I think I earned some Peruvian street cred from my neighbors.  The vast majority of people just stood and watched the dancing.  There were probably only 8 pairs of dancers at any given time.  The dance that we did is called Huayno.  It’s pretty easy.  You stand facing your partner; there are only male/female pairs-when I tried to dance with my grandma once she told me it was not alright for 2 women to dance together, and stamp your feet around.  Every so often you switch sides with your partner.  Also everyone dances in a long line.

I’m not a big fan of Huayno music, but the dancing is easy and fun.  I’ll be sure to bring back some Huanyo music videos to the states.  My understanding is that Huayno is vastly more popular in the sierras than on the coast.  On the coast they listen and dance to other types of music called Cumbia, Marinara, and Reggatone (not sure on the spelling). 

All in all it was a fun party.  The Peruvians sure know how to have a good time.  I went home after midnight, but the party went on until 4am.  Then the kids all went to school on Friday morning bright and early.  The party continued on all day on Friday and seemed to wind down at night.  I don’t know how they do it here, but I guess if there’s a will to party they’ll find a way to party.

Chau for now,
kb

Diamond and I giving a presentation about Peace Corps to a municipality health  reform group in Bambamarca.
Sector Centro!  My cousin Eduar on the left and neighbor boy Willian on the right.  

Witman took this picture.  The guy in the poncho with the hat is Griserio who I danced with.  The young guy is holding the fireworks that the men were all lighting and shooting out of their hands.


Witman took lots of pictures of the parade for me...

This little boy was in my summer school english class.  His name is Edder.

It's difficult to see, but that is me marching in the front with the Peruvian red and white flag.






Two of my favorite neighbor boys; Willian and Nilton, arm wrestling while we waited for other sectors to  parade around the Plaza de Armas.

Yessie is my favorite neighbor girls and the star student of my english summer classes.   She and Willian are my next door neighbors.  She's about the same age as my sister Jessie.




P.S. the internet in Bambamarca will take forever to upload youtube videos-so I'll put them online next week.  For Easter we get a 4 day weekend and a bunch of us are going to the beach in a neighboring department called Piura.  In the bigger cities the internet is always way better.  




Thursday, March 22, 2012

cuy food and engordaring

Today was an organized strike in my district and maybe in all the department of Cajamarca.  The strikes are against the mines in this area.  The mines are planning on draining a lake that is the water source for a large population in the Hualgayoc district (that’s where I live, yikes!).  The schools and the health post were closed to show their solidarity with the cause. 

So I spent the day hanging out with my host family.  I went with my brother Witman to the corn field to bring back food for the cuys; which seemed like plain old normal grass that grew in between the stalks of corn.  I sat around with my host mom and croquetted.  Witman helped me go over some grammar points in Spanish.  It was the first time I have cracked open my Spanish grammar book in a couple months.  I wrote some letters (Aunt Linda and Sesame, hopefully I’ll get those mailed out next week).  Then after lunch Witman and I played soccer-err futbol- with a bunch of neighborhood boys.  I tried to get some of the girls to play with us, but they just wanted to watch.

I didn’t get a whole lot of ‘work’ done, but I felt like it was a good bonding day with the host family.  Right now any real work is in the planning stages.  I feel overwhelmed by all the project ideas getting tossed around and I know that I just need to pick somewhere and start.  Waiting around for someone else to take the lead is not going to work, because it’ll never happen.  That’s the whole reason why I’m here.  I am a professional; at least that’s what Peace Corps keeps telling me, but I am living here with a whole lot of free time on my hands to get projects going.  The people that live in my town and the professionals at the schools and health post work very hard.  Taking an initiative on some kind of volunteer community project is not high on a subsistence farmer’s priority list. 

Even though I feel like project-wise I am moving super slowly, time is going by quickly.  Next month for Semana Santa or Easter, a group of us Peru 18ers are going to the beach!  I am looking forward to the face time with Americans and food that is not rice or potatoes.  I’m trying to do P90X workout videos in my room to get rid of my potato belly.  Plus, Witman promised to help me by playing soccer or frisbee every afternoon.  He is so sweet. 

I am slowly stepping in the kitchen more to learn how to cook on our wood burning stove and without refrigeration.  My ulterior motive in helping in the kitchen is influencing Dalila to prepare more vegetables.  I made a salad on Sunday night and it went over pretty well.  Witman wouldn’t eat any of it except the carrots, but Joel and Dalila ate it all.  So, maybe if I’m lucky people will stop telling me on the street in my town that I am fattening up so nicely…I know they mean it as a compliment, but I am still not a fan of hearing it from my neighbors.  I asked my host family about it and they said that the previous volunteer that lived with them started daily runs at 6am in order to loose potato weight.  It’s just throws me off, because I always associated living in a developing country with loosing a lot of weight.  I guess I need to climb some more mountains for that to happen.

Some days I feel like I want to smack a Peruvian in the face I am so frustrated here, but other days like today I feel very peaceful.  I need to remember to take a step back and enjoy the mountains, the people, and the cuys!  Thanks for listening, hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to post about next time.

Chau for now,
kb

Dalila and I working on our skirts.



Witman goofiing off with my croquetting and sombero


hauling cuy food campo style; tied to my back with a blanket


Witman borrowed my camera and strangely enough took pictures of his Aunt Esperanza just standing around  at her house....

but I thought it would be good to include them, just to give people more examples of how Peruvian homes look where I live.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Peace Corps loves it's acronyms


This week is my first Peace Corps In-Service Training or IST.  All the volunteers from my training group in Lima (we’re Peru 18, the 18th group of volunteers to come through the training center since Peru was re-opened for Peace Corps my President Toledo and I can’t remember what year that was).  We haven’t seen each other in 3 months and we are spread out all over the country in very different climates, cultures, and completely different Peace Corps Peru experiences.  It is exciting to see everyone again.  It’s like our own private little America when we get together.  It kind of feels like summer camp with our training schedule; we have all our meals together, we room together, and activities all day.

I live out in the campo (campo= country) and up in the mountains in Cajamarca.  I have animals and lots of green plants around me, but the technology and development in my area is significantly less than the volunteers that live on the coastal desert climates.  The population of my town is about 4,000, but there are people that live in very urban areas with much larger population size.  It is really interesting to compare notes with the other volunteers on their experiences.  On the coast they have toilets, showers, and internet, but they also have HIV, a whole different type of desnutrición from all the processed food, and they have to live in the heat, yuck!  I’m feeling really happy with being a Cajamarquina right about now; I’d pick sierras over desert any day of the week.

Our IST is in a costal tourist town.  The beach is nice, but beyond the main drag of surf shops and restaurants is just desert.  There are mountains all around, but they are barren dirt mountains-like the ones in Lima.  On Sunday after getting off the Saturday night bus we went to the beach.  It was amazing to get some sun and go in the water.  I think the majority of us have gained some weight during the first 3 months, and all the potato bellies came out yesterday.  I got to show off my flea bites too. 

Last week my cell phone was robbed and I went into Bambamarca to do the police report or denuncia.  Then I had to go to Serpost to send a hard copy to Lima.  In Chota I met up with some of the other volunteers and my friend Jennifer Cobb received a very special package.  Her mother sent her a device that allows women to pee standing up.  The extra special part was that the package came in on International Women’s Day.  So she opened it up in Serpost and the two Peruvian employees were very interested.  Jennifer had to explain to these two Peruvian women the pee funnel her mother sent her in Spanish while Diamond and I laughed our butts off.

Later that day on my way back to my site an elderly woman grilled me in the truck on the way back up to my town.  We went through the usual interrogation I get from the Peruvians; why are you here, where are you from,  how old are you, do you have kids, are you married, are looking for a man, do you like Peruvian men?  My usual response is no I am not interested or looking for a man, but just for the hell of it I told her I did like Peruvian men and I was looking.  This woman was so excited.  She told me she was going to give me a man.  The verb she used was ‘regalar’ which translates to ‘to gift’, so she is going to ‘gift me a man’.  I have never met this lady before, but now she knows who I am and where I live.  I guess we’ll see what happens with the man-gift situation, the ball is in her court.

Anyhow, although they are keeping us busy this week for the training, I am thoroughly enjoying my time here.  We have nice comfortable beds, sun, beach, showers, and high speed internet.  Plus, I am not eating rice and potatoes at every meal!  I’m speaking English and swapping external hard drives.  Aren’t you all glad to know your tax dollars are hard at work putting up this volunteer in a hostel on the beach of La Libertad?!

I should be able to update soon with all this internet, woot!  Thanks for all the mail; Aunt Linda, Mom, and Sesame.  Expect some letters back. 

Chau for now,
kb

Sunday, March 4, 2012

I can't believe it's already March!



This week went by really fast.  On Monday I had my site visit with the regional director for Cajamarca, which went really well.  On Tuesday and Wednesday I spent the days finishing up my encuestas in a sector of my town that is about a half hour up the mountain from my house.  I have never done so many door to door surveys in such little time before.  I was so determined to get them done, that I actually encuesta-ed 11 families on Thursday between 9am and 12pm.  Typically I get about 5 done in 3 hours.  That’s right, I am a super volunteer.

So I finally finished my community diagnostic report and I just need to get my Spanish proof read.  The director of the elementary school told me he’d help me out with it, since I typed up a solicitude back in December.  He’s not so handy with typing, but I’m crossing my fingers he’ll just sit with me and read through while I type the changes.

On Thursday I hung out at the health post and attended a meeting for the gardening project that I am going to be helping with.  I also started work on finishing drawing a world map that the previous volunteer; Annie, started but didn’t get the chance to finish.  She drew out a grid and painted the ocean.  She even finished South America, most of Africa, and Asia.  It was the northern hemisphere that my host brother and I finished up sketching in block by block. 

Next week we’ll start painting the countries in, and I’m a little nervous that somehow we’ll mess it up.  I couldn’t find washable paint at the hardware store (or ferritería).  I’m crossing my fingers we don’t get too dirty and don’t smear the map.  I’ll try to take pictures.

Next week is going to be really busy, because the first week of the month is typically when all the various groups in town have their meetings.  On Monday night (first Monday of the month) I am going to go to the Ronda meeting with my host day Joel.  The Ronda is basically this highly organized neighborhood watch type system.  All the men in the community need to send someone in attendance to the meetings and depending on how much money your family can pay-they need to spend several nights a month patrolling the streets after dark.  There are no police where I live, but the Ronda does a good job of keeping crime down. 

The Ronda meetings are all men and they begin at 8-8:30pm and last until usually around 2am.  I’m not looking forward to that, maybe I can figure out a polite way to make my spiel and get the hell out of there before it’s the middle of the night.  My goal is to introduce myself and give a short explanation of Peace Corps, but also to try to introduce the idea of a campaign to improve the water system.  The Ronda is in charge of the water and right now the vast majority of the kids have parasites, because the water is untreated.  If the Ronda got itself organized and motivated the people, funds could be raised to buy powdered chlorine to sanitize the drinking water.  Then on Tuesday is the meeting for Juntos in Tucupampa; a independent sector of my town, and I’m hoping to work with them the way I am working with Juntos in the other sectors of San Juan.

On Wednesay I am going into Chota; a neighboring bigger town about an hour away, to go to Serpost and so I can meet Hayden’s friend.  One of the other volunteer’s best friend from college is coming to visit her and we are all excited to have some American time and just to meet her. 

Thursday and Friday I need to get the map finished up.  And Friday in the morning I am going to my friend Diamond’s site for a parade and charla, she and her health post are putting on for International Women’s Day (which was actually yesterday, but we’re on Peru time here).  Then Saturday I am leaving town with the other Cajamaraca training group 18ers to go to a Peace Corps training event in a big city in another department.  We are all super excited to get out Cajamarca and see how the rest of our training group is doing in their various departments throughout Peru

The main thing is that time is finally starting to speed up.  I feel like I am a little busy now.  I’m almost starting projects (we’re talking about gardening, but it hasn’t begun yet) and at this point I recognize practically everyone’s face and know some names.  I guess what it is-I’m starting to feel like a real volunteer.  I’ve got a long ways to go, but it’s a nice place to be. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still day dream about visiting Michigan, seeing friends and family, and just living like an American.  I can see now that these months before I get to come home and visit in December will go by much faster than these painfully slow first few.  I spend all week looking forward to skyping on the weekends.  Which is sort of sad and pathetic, but it almost feels like I will need to give up more of my American self in order to make room for Peru in my life.  So maybe I’ll start cutting back on my skype time and spend my weeks looking forward to cooking with my host mom or Frisbee with Witmanskpye-let alone give it up, but it’s something to think about.

Chau for now, I hope to update next week after I get back from Trujillo.
kb

Post paint war shot.

We hung out on the balcony for a while in the morning shooting passersby.


Cajamarca 18ers


Jennifer Cobb and I figured out how to use the public transit in Cajamarca city.   I was pretty proud of us.