My Momma came to visit me!

I got to spend the last 9 days with my mom! I am so lucky she came all the way out here to see me. And she was such a good sport. First she came up to my site in rural northern Peru. First she flew into the Lima airport; which I believe is only airport that receives international flights into Peru, then she flew into the tiny Cajamarca airport. I met her in Cajamarca last week Wednesday and we immediately hopped onto a three hour partially unpaved cramped and stinky van ride back to Bambamarca.

It was so amazing to see her in the airport in Cajamarca. It almost felt like home had come to me in Cajamarca. I didn't realize how much I had missed her and everyone I love back in Michigan until I was crying in the airport hugging her. Yep, we made a scene, but as a gringa I pretty much make scenes wherever I go-so it was old hat for me. After the uncomfortable ride to Bamba I took mom to the market. I had promised my host mom I would buy ingredients for dinner.

Money and food are the two most uncomfortable topics I have to deal with in Peru. My family was so excited about having a visitor and I was worrying about money. I offered to buy some food ingredients instead of straight out paying for her meals-now in retrospect that may have been an easier way of handling the situation. So fresh off the bus I took my mom into the Bambamarca mercado. We bought some crazy fruit for her to try and the dinner ingredients my host mom and I had agreed on.

We went up to my site San Juan Wednesday afternoon. My friend Hayden came up with us to meet my mom and attend the celebration at the elementary school. When we finally got all of our luggage up to my site it was a big relief to just be able to put our bags down and our guard down. I gave my host mom the ingredients we bought at the market, but she had decided to cook something else for dinner and acted confused when I handed them over. Also mom had brought a lot of great loot from the states; new underwear, a super soft sweatshirt, cards from family members, as well as some presents for my host family. The host family present was a tricky situation. After presenting my family with the assorted candies, a bracelet that Jessie made for my host mom, and a Michigan oven mitt, it became clear that my host family had expected more things or maybe different things.

It is all together possible that I am just being a worrier in this case, but I wonder if I should have asked her to bring more. I didn't know what was customary and I was worried about setting a gift giving standard too high that I would have to maintain when I visited the States for Christmas. My host family was incredibly welcoming and genuinely happy to see my mom as well as my volunteer friends that visited. I am so lucky to have such a great Peruvian family. Each night at dinner my whole extended family was in attendance to maximize their time with my Mom. It was the first time I have seen my grandparents eat at my house, usually we all go and eat at their house since they have a bigger kitchen. That was really sweet.

On Thursday morning the elementary school had put together a special welcome ceremony for my mom. We showed up about an hour later than the director and I had agreed upon, but the teachers and kids weren't ready for another hour after that. The ceremony was so adorable. Each class did a small performance; dances, poetry, songs. My host family came to the event too, as well as two more volunteers; Jennifer and Diamond. It was a really fun ceremony. Everyone kept dedicating songs and dances to my mom. After the ceremony we had a Peru vs. U.S.A. volleyball game. The teachers played against us volunteers and we filled out our team with a couple of tall sixth graders.

Later we ate a lunch with the staff of the elementary school. My favorite teacher profesora Silvia organized it all. At lunch we took turns translating between teachers and my mom. After lunch the other volunteers headed out for a Peace Corps event in Cajamarca. So it was just mom and I Thursday night. We had a big family dinner again. Mom was so relieved that we didn't eat guinea pig, instead we had fish and humas.

On Friday we went back to Bamba to leave for Cajamarca. My host dad Joel insisted on going into to Bamba to see us off. At the time he was driving me crazy. I hated feeling like he was thought I couldn't take care of myself, I hated that it felt like he was starting to impede on my time with my mom-I had shared her with them for 2 days now. In the end he saw us off and gave my mom a box of Peruvian chocolate bars. My mom said she thought he was just being fatherly and that he just wanted to be a part of our trip for a little longer. I know he was just being thoughtful, but sometimes I just feel like I need a break from them. They are wonderful, but I need space at times-more space than I ever have needed before. I feel embarrassed sometimes at how I get so easily frustrated and angry here, but I like to tell myself that it is a part of adapting to a new culture.

I was also really upset when my host family told us on Friday morning before my mom and I were leaving for Bambamarca to go on to Cajamarca, that they were all going to come into Cajamarca on Saturday so we could spend the weekend together. I was so frustrated. I felt like they were taking away my time with my mom-my escape from my campo reality. I just felt so angry with them and I spent the rest of Friday and all day Saturday worrying about it all.

What ended up happening was that my host family didn't call all day on Saturday. Mom and I went on a tour of San Francisco church. We walked to the market to people watch and wander. We drank fizzy waters and got ice cream for lunch-a trend throughout our time in Peru. Later we walked to the mall to try to go see a movie. I asked the girl behind the counter if they had the Avengers in English and she assured me it was. We bought our tickets and the movie was most definitely dubbed in Spanish. We walked out and I was ready for a fight. I demanded a refund and was totally surprised when the manager easily agreed. I had worked myself up to be ready for when they tried to rip me off and was happily surprised when there was no problem. I think it was fun for my mom to see me be so sassy in Spanish though.

After the movie flop mom convinced me to call my family to see if they still wanted to meet up. My aunt Esperanza confirmed that she and Witman had stayed in San Juan, but that Dalila and my host grandma Niceda should be in Cajamarca. She also told me I should call them. It kind of pissed me off when she said that, because they had very clearly told me only the day before that they would call me when they got into Cajamarca. However, if they called me it would use their phone credit, so maybe they were waiting for me to call them so it wouldn't cost them anything. We scheduled to meet in the plaza, mom and I waited for about 40 minutes for them to show up. Mom and I had already checked out the mass schedule at the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas, which was a good excuse to get out of hanging out with the host family if they wanted to go hang out at my host sister's apartment.

What ended up happening was that my host mom, grandma, and sisters went to mass at the cathedral with my mom and I. Afterward my mom treated everyone to dinner at a pizza restaurant. It was the first time my host family had tried pizza. Well, the first time besides the disastrous one I made for Mother's Day dinner. It was really nice to see them and my mom was happy to show them her gratitude for taking such good care of me. All around it was a success and I realized how silly it had been for me to worry so much about the whole thing.

We made it to Arequipa Monday night after a couple of hiccups in the travel plans. Arequipa is a pretty big city south of Lima. It is famous for the beautiful Plaza de Armas, lots of colonial architecture, baby alpaca products, and for the 3 volcanoes that surround the city. Mom and I spent 3 days in Arequipa. We ate good food, saw a lot of churches, and searched for the perfect baby alpaca sweater. One of my favorite things we did was visit a museum with a mummified child sacrifice. Her name is Juanita and she was found frozen solid, very well preserved. Scientists were able to test what was in her stomach at the time of death, her hair was still in a braid, and except for some sun damage on her face (she lost her nose and eyes) her skin was all intact.

Here's a google map of the distance between Cajamarca and Arequipa:

http://maps.google.com.pe/maps?hl=es&tab=wl

Also in Arequipa Mom and I toured a monastery. It was so beautiful. We were surprised to learn that in the 1600's the nuns had slaves and maids! There is a part of the monastery Santa Catalina that is still in use today. One of the nuns from Santa Catalina was canonized (became a saint) by Pope John Paul II in the 90's. There wasn't a whole lot of detail on what she did to become a saint except that she converted a lot of people to the Catholic religion and apparently she cured a case of cancer.

Baby alpaca wool products were everywhere in Arequipa. Baby alpaca is very soft and expensive. Also way more expensive as a foreign tourist, but luckily I am a good haggler. Anyhow, we spent a lot of time looking at artisan products. By the third day all I wanted to know was where was all the cheap adult alpaca stuff. As it turns out the adult alpacas also get turned into very delicious burgers. And I did find some cheaper crappier sweaters in the artisan market in Lima.

On the way back to Cajamarca I got to spend a night with my host family from training. I was reunited with Sting, Lesly, and Mama Vicki. Sting's front teeth have grown in and he seemed a lot taller. Lesly baked cookies and Mama Vicki had just as much energy as ever. When I arrived no one had told Mama Vicki I was coming to visit and she was completely surprised. I had been dreading the visit, because I thought it might be weird after not seeing them for 6 months. It was actually really nice to see them all.

I'm writing from Cajamarca right now, because there are currently a lot of protests going on in my department. The people are protesting gold mining projects that are contaminating the water. The whole thing is very political, because these gold mines are a big money maker for the Peruvian government. The roads are blocked right now and people are protesting. There are tons of military police here throughout the entire department of Cajamarca right now, but Peace Corps wants me to stay in Cajamarca city for a while longer.

chau for now,

kb

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