Field based training in Ancash!

This week my training class traveled to Ancash for Field Based Training.  Ancash is the state just north of Lima.  We took an overnight bus from Lima, which turned out to be pretty comfortable.  The type of travel bus we took had big cushy seats that leaned way back, blankets, pillows, and employees that were very reminiscent of flight attendants.  We arrived early Wednesday morning in Huarez; the capital city of Ancash (Lansing to Michigan kind of relationship), and hopped into smaller vans to drive about an hour and half further to our hostel.

The hostel was beautiful.  I stayed in a room with 7 other girls-it felt like summer camp.  The view was amazing, because we stayed in a town close to Huascaran-the tallest mountain in Peru.  Unlike the mountains around Lima; barren dirt mountains, the mountains in Ancash were green, snowy, and I could even see cascades of glacial waters.  I took photos, but I am not a great photographer and I don’t think I caught it fully.  I promise to check through the other volunteer’s facebook pictures to find some better ones to post later.  Wednesday we walked down the road to a local school and the trainers used a science classroom to give us some lectures about site placements (we find out Tuesday I am excited and terrified to find out) and living with host families at our sites.  Later we went back to the hostel and had more lectures there.  The topics were about the Peruvian health system, how to work with community counterparts, and other stuff like that. 

Wednesday night several people got really sick.  I feel very lucky I wasn’t one of them.  It was just the usual Peace Corps stuff; vomiting and diarrhea, which apparently I should start getting used to now since volunteers are frequently sick.  Before people started getting really sick though, a couple of us played Euchre.  I was so excited to find others who knew how to play.  One of the girls in my training group; Allison, actually went to U of M too and we sort of knew each other on campus.  She and I both have a close mutual friend who is living in Khazakstan right now as a PC volunteer.  It was kind of surreal to be sitting in a hostel in Peru playing Euchre.

Thursday we drove up the mountain to a different community to work with a volunteer and see what kind of projects she does.  The volunteer Kaitlyn had us do home visits with the health promoters from her site and we learned how to build latrines.  It was really great to see a volunteer in action and to see a real community.  It gave me a better feel for what I might be doing as a volunteer and the standard of living of people in the campo.  Most people had running water, but not a ton of electricity, no toilets-just latrines, and even the cocinas mejoradas (improved cook stoves) were still just wood burning stoves. 

Friday we went back to the same community and learned how to build cocinas mejoradas.  The kitchens that I saw (which I was told by the volunteers are very typical) were small windowless rooms and all the walls were blackened with soot.  Without ventilation there is a ton of soot in the air and there is an increased risk for respiratory infections.  The improved stoves are more fuel efficient and include a chimney to get that smoke out of the kitchen.  On Friday my group built the base for one of these types of stoves, because it takes a day for the base to dry we didn’t get to learn how to build the top.  The family was supposed to have made the base the day before we got there, but they forgot or had some other reason.  Apparently this too is a common occurrence during projects.  We call it la hora peruana or Peruvian time, because there is just a sense of a slower pace here.  The staff use this term too in a loving way, but I think volunteers use it in a little less loving way.  I can only imagine how many ways this will drive me crazy when I get going on my work. 

After building the base for the cocina mejorada; which by the way is a big government campaign here to build 50,000 stoves by the end of 2015ish, we did a photo scavenger hunt.  I thought it was pretty fun, but a lot of people didn’t like it so much.  Essentially we had to walk all around town and ask people questions.  It is really awkward to interrupt people and talk to them in broken Spanish, and it wasn’t always even benign questions.  We had to ask someone to teach us how to dance.  We were supposed to get photographic evidence of things.  For example one of the things to find was twins-and on Thursday I had gone to a house on a health post visit where twin little boys lived.  My scavenger hunt team went back to that house, knocked on the door, and asked this woman if we could take a picture with her kids.  It’s hard to imagine Americans being receptive to this kind of invasion of privacy, so it felt very uncomfortable.  I also got to hop on a horse in someone’s backyard, carry a baby on my back with a sling of clothe, and learn how to say ‘how are you’ in Quechua.  So I had a good time-the more shy volunteers not so much.

Saturday was this big surprise day.  We were all so excited, because the staff wouldn’t tell us a thing and we heard from the Water and Sanitation volunteers that their surprise was to go sand boarding.  We packed all our stuff and left the hostel earlier than usual to drive to our surprise.  The surprise turned out to be this really weird 4 hour session on spiritual health stuff.  We practiced hugging each other for about 1 hour-not kidding, hugging!  We talked about how the power of positive thought could cure people of their illnesses, which I found to be really funny since we are health volunteers.  This couple that taught the class told us that they had lived in the mountains for the past 30 years and they never use any kinds of medicine, they only eat the food they grow in their own garden, whenever they feel sick I guess they just think happy thoughts.  We also did a bunch of activities with blindfolds-practicing nonverbal communication we divided into groups and walked around this big steep hill one person guiding a group of blindfolded people.  Then we talked a lot about our feelings.  We ate lunch blindfolded with our hands and we weren’t allowed to talk to one another, because were supposed to experience our food. 

I was kind of disappointed.  It was okay, and I guess it was team building.  Mostly I was completely jealous that the other training group got to go sandboarding.  It irritated me when the couple told us about how positive thoughts have been known to cure cancer and AIDs.  It was kind of a funny experience and we all had a good laugh afterwards.  After our surprise we drove back to Huarez and had free time until our overnight bus.  By the time we got to Huarez everyone was starving.  Two current volunteers met us in Huarez to show us around.  We divided into groups and my group went to a barbeque place.  It was amazing.  I spilt a chicken with two other girls-it was so delicious, but we couldn’t finish it.  When we left the restaurant we all felt sick we were so stuffed with food, but it was totally worth it.  We got to walk around for a couple hours, but it was dark and rainy so I didn’t really see the city. 

We got back to Lima this morning really early around 5:30 and I caught a cab back to Chaclacayo with the other 2 girls in my neighborhood.  It was such a fun time and really helpful for understanding more what service is like.  On Tuesday we find out where we are going and Wednesday we are all going to our regional capitals for more training.  So I am only home for today, Monday, Tuesday and then I’m gone again for around 10 days.  When I get back I will have seen my regional capital, met other volunteers that will be working/living near me, and I will get to meet my new host family, see the community, meet my community counterpart (the person who I will potentially work with in my community).  I am kind of terrified.  So wish me luck.  I’ll have a lot to write about when I get back! 

Hauscaran is one of the tallest mountains in Peru.

volunteers walking down to Mancos for training sessions.

I thought this view was really beautiful.

I couldn't get over how beautiful this mountain is.

Latrine building.

It felt like we traveled back in time.

My latrine building team.

Alison and I, go blue!