The Beginning

So I am starting my blog a little late...4 months late. But better late than never, right? Is that how the saying goes? I am not sure, aftering speaking spanish for 4 months things in english do not always sound right. Well here I am in Piura, Peru. Its gorgeous. Palms tree, beaches, sun year round, and hot weather. The best part of Piura though is its skies. The skies are amazing, especially at sunset. My site is in the middle of the desert so I can see as far as my eyes will let me.

Well I am finally living at site and its great. But I had to go through 3 months of training in Lima to get here. It was a fun but hectic time. Ultimately, it was a good experience that prepared me to live on my one. Before coming to Peru, people said that it is one of the best countries to be a PCV because the land is breathtaking and the staff is amazing. Isnt that the truth! The staff consist of about 1/4 Americans and 3/4 Peruvians. Everyone speaks both English and Spanish, but some will only talk to you in Spanish. That was a tough one for me coming in here. My spanish was definetly lacking and I struggle at times. But being around Spanish for 4 straight months you really improve. I cant speak it extremely well, but I can understand a lot. As long as you can understand it, I dont think you will have a problem.

I really enjoyed training because of all the traveling we were able to do. I spent my field based training in Ancash. Ancash is in the middle of the Andes is home to the second largest mountain in South America. We visited the captiol of Ancash and its like Denver in the US, but twice as breathtaking. I also traveled to Piura for a week for my future site visit. That was a nightmare. I was scared to death when I got to my site. My host mom was glued to my side the ENTIRE TIME, she drug me around the entire town showing off her ´gringa´ at 10 oclock in the evening, and I was introduced to their rabbit that she said they were going to eat in celebration for my first night with them in two weeks when I returne to start my service. Thank goodness the rabbit is still around. I also got to travel to Chincha for Fiestas Patrias (their independence day) and to Lima nearly every week. Lima was a lifesaver for me in the beginning. It was the place we could go and be Americanized while eating delicious food and enjoy some form of entertainment other than listening to the Wino music every Peru has.

That leaves me now in site where I miss the ´busy´life a little. I work only 9 hours a week at site and it gets boring real quick. I sleep until 9:30-10:00 some days because there is no use in waking up early. Sleeping until 10:00 is late for me, especially when my family wakes up at 7 and has their music blaring till lunch time. I fill my free time with a lot of reading, and not really much else. Cooking sometimes, sometimes running. The free time is nice, and I know it´ll pick up. But when?