Part of my job is working with artisans who make souvenirs and such from sea shells. You know those things you´d buy if you went to Mexico on vacation, things such as a big sea shell that has a sunset painted on it and the words ¨Cozumel, Mexico¨ written on the side and it was made by a local Mexican. My artisans make these things. Well to get the material, they go to the beach and find a variety of seashells: big ones, small ones, red ones, orange ones, circle ones, spiral ones, sharp ones, soft ones, etc.
So last Wednesday, my artisans tell me we are going to the beach Friday morning to find sea shells. I was all for it because just getting out and doing something different is great. Friday rolls around and they said we were going to leave at 9:00. Therefore I got up at 9:00 in order to eat breakfast, drink some coffee, watch some t.v. Why did I rise at 9:00? Well simple. In Perú, 9:00 really means 10:00, or possibly 10:30. It depends. That is Peruvian time. At first it was a little pain, but I have gotten used to it and it is really nice. So anyways, I got up at 9:00 and about one hour later, one of my Artisans comes to my door to get me. We walk down to the locale where we have our meetings and there are 8 other artisans waiting for our ride. Last time we went to the beach, we rode in a pickup truck: 3 people in the front, 4 in the backseat, and about 10 in the bed of the truck. Peruvians will get in any moving thing and fit as many people as they can into them. That’s the way things work. Well this time, I was expecting something similar. After about 15 minutes of waiting ( we only waited for 15 minutes?! Usually we wait for anything and everything for at least 30 minutes. Needless to say, I am definitely learning patience), this big truck that looks like a trash truck comes driving down the street and my artisans tell me that’s what we are riding in. I laugh because I thought it was a joke, and they laugh too because they thought I was laughing because I was in disbelief. Sure enough though, when the truck got closer I saw two of my artisans riding in the front seat. Okay, I am thinking, this is definitely not a joke!
All of my artisans begin getting into the back of the truck which has 10 foot walls that are made of wood and and nailed together quite loosely. Once you see the back it looks like something cattle would travel in. There was nothing in the back but 4 wooden benches that we all sat on. The only problem with them was they were not nailed down, so whenever we hit a bump or the driver slammed on his breaks we all went flying. Anyways, a couple of the women tell me to ¨sube¨ (to get in ) in the front, but I insist in riding in the back. I think it would be fun and I always want to ride with my artisans. I don’t want to feel like an outside or someone who is better than them. I want to live like they live so I can understand them and relate to them better.
After I sube in the back, we ride for about 1 hour on the highway and honestly, the only time I fear for my life in Perú is when I am travelling. These Peruvians are the craziest drivers in the sometimes most un-stable vehicles. When I went to Ancash for my FBT (field based training), we rode up the side of this mountain in a taxi that was going so very fast, on this dirt road with loose gravel, that had a drop off into the canyon just 5 feet from the road. Talk about scaring! It seems like on slip of the drivers hand and he would lose control and send us scaling down the mountain.
Well the driver is taking us to Parachique, which is the town where we are going to be finding sea shells, and instead of taking the road that goes down to the beach, we takes the road that continues into the vastness of the Sechura desert. He then stops the truck and drops all of us off in the middle of the desert. I had no clue what were going to be doing in the middle of this desert when we were supposed to be finding sea shells on the beach. I ask one of my artisans and she tells me we are finding sea shells, of course. It was really strange, but there were just random piles of sea shells scattered all across this desert. And they were assorted by type, too. It was quite easy to find sea shells that we needed once we found the piles, but finding the piles was the hard part. My artisans told me they were there because the fishermen gathered the shells for the food, then dumped them in the desert. But that wasn’t the only thing I found dumped in the desert. While walking for 2 hours, in bloody flip flops from all the thorns that were getting stuck in my shoe and gashing at my feet, I happened to run across a decayed cow corpse and the corpse of a dog that had a decayed head but still had all of its hair on its body. Weird. I almost tripped over them too because here I am looking down at the sand trying to find sea shells and not watching where I was going.
We walked around for a couple of hours and THEN went down to the beach to eat. Parachique is a big fishing spot so there are hundreds of boats from all around Piura trying to make a living catching and selling fish. There are also a bunch of women there who have set up tables just 20 feet from the shoreline where they serve ceviche (raw fish) and camotes, canchita ,chincha (sweet potato, fried corn kernels, and this really bad fermented corn drink) to the fishermen and locals. I am not a big fan of ceviche unless it is made in a restaurant. Anywhere else, people do not prepare it correctly. I did have to sit and pretend to eat it though. I always just eat the onion and tomato that is served with it to make it look like I ate some. But it was really cool to be eating at these tables right off the shore and to be surrounded by all these big fishing boats and ocean wildlife flying and crawling around everywhere.
After five hours of being in the desert, we finally went home. I had envisioned the trip being only 2 hours, max. But that’s one thing you need to know about being here. Things never turn out like you think they will.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
I Just Got Peed On
So here I am, running like usual. The same thing I do everyday and I see this boy walk outside by the street. He just looks like he is going to stand outside and not do anything, he wasnt about to run off or start playing with a spare tire that seems to be the only toy of a lot of the children in my town. But the next thing I know this boy pulls up his shirt, arches his back, and begins peeing. His pants arent even down, he isnt standing in a corner, he is 2 feet from me making his pee like a rainbow that arches just enough to get on my leg. OMG, I was like so mad! First off, this whole Peruvian thing where they just pee anywhere and at anytime really irritates me. I mean I understand some of them do not have bathrooms, but go some place secluded where no one will see you. The men in my neighborhood are the worst. The one alley that I have to walk up to get to my house always has the moto taxist peeing there and this alley smells horrible! I am tired of seeing these boys, and girls, peeing on walls, peeing on sidewalks, and peeing on me! I have even seen a mother helping her son pee on the side of a wall in Lima. Maybe I am not peeing culturally sensitive, but goodness! Oh, and the grossest thing I have seen was a big pile of diarhearia (sp) in a middle of a sidewalk next to my training center in Lima. It was obviously from a human, and it was out in the open. But the worst part of it all was there was toilet paper laying right next to it where the person had wiped with. The person obviously was ready for to go poo and was prepared...Why couldnt you have waited till you found a bathroom? It could have been a PCV´s, there have been stories of them not being able to hold it...
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Reunion in Lima
So I finally got to go back to Lima...it was great. It was more like a vacation than work though, which made it even harder to go back to site. It was definately filled with excitement from the get go!
My artisan and I arrived at the bus station in Piura 2 hours early, so i asked if the bus station could store our boxes that had our products in it for the fair behind their desk. And they were said of course and asked me what bus I was on. Because of this, I thought they were going to automatically place our boxes on our same bus...yea it didnt quite work out like this. We arrive in Lima 15 hours later, Thursday morning, and our boxes are not on the bus. This is a problem. The artisan fair was at the United States Embassy which has a million rules on security. For the fair, they needed ALL the products that were being sold, at the Peace Corp Headquarters in Lima by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. Well I didnt have my products, and they would not be able to make it until the following morning because there were no other buses that ran from Piura to Lima. So all we could do was wait. I had no clue if the Embassy was going to let us bring our products in or not. And we had worked really hard the the week before getting everything ready. It would really suck if they wouldnt let us in.
The following morning we leave our Hostel at 8:00 a.m. and head to the bus station. Everyone else left at 7:30 and were already at the Embassy setting things up. The fair opened their doors at 9:00 and we were hoping to get there as soon as possible. Well here we are waiting, at the bus station for 2 hours for the bus to arrive. There are two buses that come from Piura and on the first bus there were none of our products. Oh jeez, what if they dont make it? So we wait for the second, hoping and praying they are on there. And sure enough, they are the last boxes off the bus. Thank goodness! One step down, one to go. We still had to see if the Embassy would even let us in.
At 11:00 a.m. we head to the Embassy with some Peace Corps workers and I felt really important. The first day at the Embassy, we had to wait in this long line in the front of the building to get in and go through the metal detectors, you know they drill. But you arent allowed to have liquids, cameras, or cell phones with cameras in the Embassy, among other things. Well the second day, we were riding in the back way with official people of the Embassy. Going around the back way was a little different. First our car pulled into this gated area and they made us shut off the engine. Then they ran a metal detector all over and around the car and also used mirrors to check under the car. Then they lifted the hood and checked under it, and followed with checking the IDs of everyone in the car. That was fun. But we finally got in to the fair and they let all of our products in so we were happy! Even though we were 3 hours behind everyone else!
We sold 5 products, S/. 42 worth. I am not sure if this is real good or not. It was my first fair and my aritsans. And we were not selling to people we would normally be selling too. We were selling to wealthy Americans who worked at the Embassy. With that said, when selling at our next fair, we probably wont sell as good because it is going to be to the lower classes of the Peruvian people.
We also got to go see our old host families while in Lima. That felt great! It was like coming home after we´d been gone for so long. My mom cried when she saw me. It was so sweet! I also got to see the other host families of the volunteers who I´d spend a good amount of time with also. It is so funny because they have shrines of us volunteers in their houses. There are walls covered in Pictures of us. We were their first group of volunteers which was difficult for us because they did not know how to treat us, but also good because there is always something special about those firsts. My mom didnt want me to leave, but I promised I would come back whenever I was near Lima.
Other great things about the trip: I had Mcdonalds, Twice. I was able to be ¨Americanized¨ by the Starbucks, big shopping malls, and by the other American tourist. I was out of site where my every move wasnt being watched by everyone. There were a million different types of ppl from all over the world! I need that interaction sometimes. I got to hang out with and catch up with all of my fellow PCV´s :-)
My artisan and I arrived at the bus station in Piura 2 hours early, so i asked if the bus station could store our boxes that had our products in it for the fair behind their desk. And they were said of course and asked me what bus I was on. Because of this, I thought they were going to automatically place our boxes on our same bus...yea it didnt quite work out like this. We arrive in Lima 15 hours later, Thursday morning, and our boxes are not on the bus. This is a problem. The artisan fair was at the United States Embassy which has a million rules on security. For the fair, they needed ALL the products that were being sold, at the Peace Corp Headquarters in Lima by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. Well I didnt have my products, and they would not be able to make it until the following morning because there were no other buses that ran from Piura to Lima. So all we could do was wait. I had no clue if the Embassy was going to let us bring our products in or not. And we had worked really hard the the week before getting everything ready. It would really suck if they wouldnt let us in.
The following morning we leave our Hostel at 8:00 a.m. and head to the bus station. Everyone else left at 7:30 and were already at the Embassy setting things up. The fair opened their doors at 9:00 and we were hoping to get there as soon as possible. Well here we are waiting, at the bus station for 2 hours for the bus to arrive. There are two buses that come from Piura and on the first bus there were none of our products. Oh jeez, what if they dont make it? So we wait for the second, hoping and praying they are on there. And sure enough, they are the last boxes off the bus. Thank goodness! One step down, one to go. We still had to see if the Embassy would even let us in.
At 11:00 a.m. we head to the Embassy with some Peace Corps workers and I felt really important. The first day at the Embassy, we had to wait in this long line in the front of the building to get in and go through the metal detectors, you know they drill. But you arent allowed to have liquids, cameras, or cell phones with cameras in the Embassy, among other things. Well the second day, we were riding in the back way with official people of the Embassy. Going around the back way was a little different. First our car pulled into this gated area and they made us shut off the engine. Then they ran a metal detector all over and around the car and also used mirrors to check under the car. Then they lifted the hood and checked under it, and followed with checking the IDs of everyone in the car. That was fun. But we finally got in to the fair and they let all of our products in so we were happy! Even though we were 3 hours behind everyone else!
We sold 5 products, S/. 42 worth. I am not sure if this is real good or not. It was my first fair and my aritsans. And we were not selling to people we would normally be selling too. We were selling to wealthy Americans who worked at the Embassy. With that said, when selling at our next fair, we probably wont sell as good because it is going to be to the lower classes of the Peruvian people.
We also got to go see our old host families while in Lima. That felt great! It was like coming home after we´d been gone for so long. My mom cried when she saw me. It was so sweet! I also got to see the other host families of the volunteers who I´d spend a good amount of time with also. It is so funny because they have shrines of us volunteers in their houses. There are walls covered in Pictures of us. We were their first group of volunteers which was difficult for us because they did not know how to treat us, but also good because there is always something special about those firsts. My mom didnt want me to leave, but I promised I would come back whenever I was near Lima.
Other great things about the trip: I had Mcdonalds, Twice. I was able to be ¨Americanized¨ by the Starbucks, big shopping malls, and by the other American tourist. I was out of site where my every move wasnt being watched by everyone. There were a million different types of ppl from all over the world! I need that interaction sometimes. I got to hang out with and catch up with all of my fellow PCV´s :-)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Basketball & Coffee
My mom sent me a package a couple of weeks ago and all last week I was looking forward to going to Piura and picking it up. Here, things like getting a package is what motivates me to get up in the morning when I have nothing else to do in this slow paced country. So Monday passes and then Tuesday. Then I FINALLY get to go to Piura on Wednesday to get my package. But it wasnt there! It got stuck in customs and I was so bummed... I had to wait a week until the customs people were there to get it. The customs people are only there one day a week. This meant I had to go back yesterday and wait in a long line bc everyone who had things in customs all had to go the same day to pick it up. I thought I was going to have to pay to get it out, but if the value of things in the package is less than $100 you dont have to pay. So that was really good...But I would have payed to get that package out because it had some COFFEE! Vanilla flavored folgers coffee. OMG, AMAZING! The coffee was sitting in my room all day yesterday and now my room has the wonderful aroma of coffee, mmm!!
Then this morning I couldnt wait to get up to make it. I honestly could not sleep last night because, for one, I am going to Lima today for an artesan fair, and two, I was going to drink this amazing stuff. It was like when I was a little kid on Christmas Eve, I could never sleep because I was filled with excitement. No joke, thats how I was last night.
Well here in Peru, you have to learn to be creative. I dont have a coffee maker bc I dont want to spend the S/. 40 to buy one. No thats not a lot of money, but I figure I can spend it more wisely on something else. Like staying a night in Piura and eating at the most amazing restuarant, Cappacinos. Thats become a ritual with us Peru 9ers. It is what keeps us from losing our sanity. So in order to make the coffee, I boiled some water and added the coffee grinds in it. I only boiled it for like 2 or 3 minutes and probably should have boiled it longer because it was not very strong. After that, I but a lid over the pot and allowed for a lil opening where the coffee could come out into my cup while keeping the grinds in the pot. I was not sure if this would work, but it did and that coffee had the most amazing smell, the most amazing taste...it was just perfect!
So then I go in my living room and turn on the TV. Its really weird bc all of the American shows we do get and of them that we dont get. But the weirdest program, in my open, is that we get football. Yes, straight up American Football. We get Sunday day football, we get Monday night football...everything. We also get baseball games. So I was thinking, if we get Football and Baseball, will we get Basketball?? I stopped the TV on ESPN this morning (yes ESPN in ENGLISH) and what did I see...highlights to the Cavs game! OMG, I was so excited!! I dont need to see full basketball games, just the highlights will do me good. I screamed with joy and my sister came running into the living room asking me what was wrong. Lol, I´m a gringo. I can do weird things like that.
I am headed to Lima today for a fair with one of my artesans. I could not be happier bc I can need to get out of my site! I do nothing all day long. I need some excitement and traveling always does it for me. Plus I get to see the rest of the PCVs in my group and spend 3 days with them. I havent seen them for 6 weeks..I have been looking forward to this for a long time now...I cant wait! The trip to Lima is 14 hours from my site, but we take an overnight bus and these seats are more comfortable than my bed. I love these trips. We get fed dinner and breakfast and they always play 1 or 2 movies. These buses are super nice.
Then this morning I couldnt wait to get up to make it. I honestly could not sleep last night because, for one, I am going to Lima today for an artesan fair, and two, I was going to drink this amazing stuff. It was like when I was a little kid on Christmas Eve, I could never sleep because I was filled with excitement. No joke, thats how I was last night.
Well here in Peru, you have to learn to be creative. I dont have a coffee maker bc I dont want to spend the S/. 40 to buy one. No thats not a lot of money, but I figure I can spend it more wisely on something else. Like staying a night in Piura and eating at the most amazing restuarant, Cappacinos. Thats become a ritual with us Peru 9ers. It is what keeps us from losing our sanity. So in order to make the coffee, I boiled some water and added the coffee grinds in it. I only boiled it for like 2 or 3 minutes and probably should have boiled it longer because it was not very strong. After that, I but a lid over the pot and allowed for a lil opening where the coffee could come out into my cup while keeping the grinds in the pot. I was not sure if this would work, but it did and that coffee had the most amazing smell, the most amazing taste...it was just perfect!
So then I go in my living room and turn on the TV. Its really weird bc all of the American shows we do get and of them that we dont get. But the weirdest program, in my open, is that we get football. Yes, straight up American Football. We get Sunday day football, we get Monday night football...everything. We also get baseball games. So I was thinking, if we get Football and Baseball, will we get Basketball?? I stopped the TV on ESPN this morning (yes ESPN in ENGLISH) and what did I see...highlights to the Cavs game! OMG, I was so excited!! I dont need to see full basketball games, just the highlights will do me good. I screamed with joy and my sister came running into the living room asking me what was wrong. Lol, I´m a gringo. I can do weird things like that.
I am headed to Lima today for a fair with one of my artesans. I could not be happier bc I can need to get out of my site! I do nothing all day long. I need some excitement and traveling always does it for me. Plus I get to see the rest of the PCVs in my group and spend 3 days with them. I havent seen them for 6 weeks..I have been looking forward to this for a long time now...I cant wait! The trip to Lima is 14 hours from my site, but we take an overnight bus and these seats are more comfortable than my bed. I love these trips. We get fed dinner and breakfast and they always play 1 or 2 movies. These buses are super nice.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Exorcism...
So i came to the cabina tonight, at this time, bc i think they are performing an exorcism at my house right now, no joke. Well, maybe not an exorcism, but thats what it looks like to an outsider. Actually, my mom said they are doing it to cure her cold. So, right now, there are 30 ppl in my living room, all kneeling with candles lit and their bibles open. Weird? No, normal. There are also about 3 ppl playing the drums and tamberine. Weird yet? No, still normal. These 30 ppl are all chanting something different, with their eyes closed and arms stretched out. Weird now? Getting there. Then there is my mom at the front of the room and there is a woman standing over here, chanting and waving her hands over my moms head. I take this is an ancient ritual they did to cure illnesses. Or maybe its just a catholic thing, i am not sure. But here is when it starts getting really weird. The woman that is standing over my mom bends down and gets this vapor rub cream, lifts up her shirt, and begins rubbing my moms front side with the cream. All the while, my mom is crying her eyes out. Then, the woman performing the ¨ritual¨ begins gagging and then continues to throw up. THEN, my mom begins gagging and proceeds to throw up also. Okay, this was the point where I left. oo weird for me. Then after it is all done, they are going to eat arroz con leche and galletas (sweet rice with milk and crackers) and gossip for a while... HMMM!
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