My Future Town (s)

August 14^th, 2006 Chulucanas, Peru

Chulucanas, Peru

This city has a population of about 40,000 people and is fairly modern. It is about an hour bus ride from the departmental capital. It is home to some of the most famous ceramic work in all of Peru and I think is fairly popular in the world market. Rumor has it you can find pottery of the style of this particular city on Worldstock.com. There are a few decent restaurants, internet cabinas, an all important ice cream stand, and some other amenities such as a market I won’t have in my site. Therefore, I will probably make the 20 minute trip frequently to this town for necessities. The volunteer who is currently serving here, Terry, is not receiving a replacement and I may eventually do some work with the artisans in this town also if time permits.

La Encantada, Peru

This small town of approximately 5,000 people will serve as my home for the next two years. The name means “Enchanted Place”. Lets just say that very few find it enchanting. Actually another trainee who lives nearby said that the residents in his town were even talking bad about the town and how rough it is. For the most part La Encantada resides in the middle of the desert. There are basically four very long dirt roads lined with houses. This pueblo is one of the poorest in Peru and my future house is a good representation of the poverty and the priorities of the people.

There is a pad lock on the front of the house and our method of locking while sleeping at night is to place a stick under a ledge to prevent intruders. The floors consist of dirt and the walls are made of low quality mud bricks. The roof consists of thin metal and there are a few gaps. There are only two bedrooms in the house. Mine is partitioned off by a sheet from the entry although I will have to install a wall with a door and lock in order to pass Peace Corps safety regulations. The other room is occupied by my host sister and her husband and their 8 month old son. The rest of the house consists of roofs made from bamboo and metal open to the outdoors. They cook with fire. I use a latrine for the facilities. For those of you unfamiliar with latrines, I will describe it to you. Basically, they dig a huge hole in the ground, and place a cement piece over which to aim. This piece has three metal walls and a door made of paper to grant some privacy. Essentially, I am camping for the next two years. We do have electricity all day but only have water for two hours in the morning and everyone tries to fill as many buckets as possible during this time. Despite these conditions pretty much everyone in my town does own a television for the 3 channels they can receive. I read an article that the reason the impoverished usually buy items we can consider luxuries before investing money in their living conditions is because they do not own the titles to their homes and thus have a sense of insecurity.

Although, I have only spent three days with my family so far, they are great. My father is the President of the association with whom I will be working. And my brother-in-law is 22 and should be a good friend. Mom is sweet and is very concerned that I am comfortable and grow accustomed to the town. Once I get to know them better, I will give more detail.