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
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
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| Dalila and I working on our skirts. |
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| Witman goofiing off with my croquetting and sombero |
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| hauling cuy food campo style; tied to my back with a blanket |
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| Witman borrowed my camera and strangely enough took pictures of his Aunt Esperanza just standing around at her house.... |
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| but I thought it would be good to include them, just to give people more examples of how Peruvian homes look where I live. |
Just remember, you'll have plenty of time to lose the weight when you come home, eat as much salad as you want, and start running. Don't let it distract you from the fact that you're living in Peru!!! A little potato gut is nothing compared to being able to see montanas like that!
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