Sunday, December 31, 2006

La Navidad

December 25th, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

La Navidad

I am not celebrating Christmas this year. I am celebrating Navidad. I decided it would be harder if I tried to half celebrate Christmas and therefore decided to celebrate Navidad however they celebrate here instead. It doesn´t really feel like Christmas anyways. There aren´t any Christmas trees. No lights or decorations. And definitely no snow. I mean its 103 degrees out today. Plus, we didn´t even go to church either day. I don´t know if anyone in town did.

Its definitely been a different Christmas…..Navidad. We just sat around and passed the cup. And danced a little. And wrapped up the party at 9pm. It wasnt a bad holiday season, just a nonexistent one. Who knows, maybe next year I will celebrate Christmas.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Christmas Happenings

December 24th, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

Buena Noche (Christmas Eve)

Christmas Eve is the bigger day here. Actually, in hindsight, neither day appears to be a very big day. We pretty much just sat around til midnight watching not Christmas movies but just regular programmed television, which didn´t differ from previous nights. But anyways…

At midnight we ate capus, which is chicken and lamb cooked in for hours in the ground and comes out real tender. This was accompanied with champagne and paneton and wine. The champagne was decent but the wine tasted like cough syrup. Most Peruvian wine is like this, way too sweet. Which is funny, because Chilean wine is normally quite appeasing. We then exchanged gifts.

Perhaps the Best Gift I have ever given

A week prior we drew names to exchange gifts. Yes, each person in my family is going to receive one gift valued at between $3 to $5. It kind of worked out perfectly because my host dad drew for my host mom and vice versa, as well as for my sister and her husband and my nephew of one year, Pedrito, and I. I bought some cool little sneakers for him. He got me a stuffed monkey. Its nice. The rest got clothes.

I bought the family a gift also. About 8 months ago, the family´s blender broke. And they have been dejected about this fact ever since. I don´t think two days go by without someone mentioning the blender. Last week I bought an Oster 12 speed blender. I wanted to get something that would hopefully last for years. My sister earlier this week asked me what babies eat in the states, since she is a little concerned about the nutrition of her baby since we only tend to eat rice and potatoes. I described her as best as I could how we have baby food vegetables. She stated she could do that if she only had a blender.

On Friday, I noticed her feeding the baby liquidated broccoli and cauliflower. I asked her how she made that and she replied, “With the blender.” (This is before Christmas). “With what blender?” I ask.
“Porfirio brought one.”
“Where did you get a blender?”
“I borrowed it from Mom.” His family lives on the other side of town.

I wipe my forehead in exasperation. I can still give the best gift I have ever given. Its not that I have never given a good gift before, its just that never has a gift been so desired and needed. After opening the box, the family probably mentioned how beautiful the blender was at least 7 times before we called it a night at 3am.

December 23rd, 2006 Mogote, Peru

Chocolatadas

A common Christmas tradition in Peru is a chocolatada. The kids in the community come with their mugs and smiling faces. Each kid is given a fruit cake like snack called paneton and a mug of hot chocolate made from real cocoa. Sometimes they are also given a little gift valued at $1 to $2. These kids are happy. We organized it for the association and had each member bring there kids. There were not extra toys, but we had plenty of hot chocolate and paneton left and thus informed the children to inform their neighbor friends. With half an hour kids were racing up the street from all directions with their mugs in hand. These kids were genuinely excited.

One of our members lives in a caserio of La Encantada. A caserio is a little village of about 200 people or so that rests about an hours walk more or less from the town it is associated with. He informed us that no one has anything like a chocolatada for the kids in his village. The association organized a chocolatada and later Saturday afternoon about 12 of us headed out to the caserio of Mogote. These kids were beaming as we called each of their names and presented them with our humble gifts. It was a good experience.

Bond, The Fam, The Gov

December 17th, 2006 Piura, Peru

Bond and the Christmas Conference

After the Ministry of Tourism left Saturday morning, I headed into the big city to buy Christmas gifts and do other things. Sunday afternoon I had a webcam conference with my family. Extended family. My dad´s side of the family was meeting at my Uncle´s house outside of Detroit. It was nice to talk to my cousins, aunt and uncles, grandparents and family. It was the first time I had ever used a webcam also. Its nice to see people, more real than just a phone. Everyone seems to be doing pretty well.

Later that night we went and saw the new James Bond movie. That movie rocked. He was so much less pretty boy than the previous bonds. I thought it was pretty good. The movies are nice because they are so cheap in US $. They provide an air conditioned building and an escape from reality.

December 16th, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

The Ministry of Tourism Visits

This morning I woke up with Mario at 7am and we headed to La Encantada. Today was a very important day because the Ministry of Tourism from the national government in Lima came. Everyone was bustling around the locale trying to clean it up and make it presentable. We met the Ministry on the main road and then escorted them to La Encantada. The artisans went through the 16 process and then presented the director with a piece. I chatted with some government workers who knew some other Peace Corps volunteers. That is always interesting.

I didn{t realize I still play Varsity

December 15th, 2006 Chulucanas, Peru

I didn´t realize I still play Varsity

Every Saturday I play basketball in Chulucanas with my counterpart Mario. He told me instead of playing Saturday we were going to play on Friday in the new coliseum in Chulucanas. Apparently, he told me a lot more but I must not have been paying attention very well.

Friday night we walked up to the coliseum and I could hear the national anthem. I walked in to see about 1,000 people in the stands. Afterwards, the mayor gave a speech and some kids performed traditional dances. These little 6 to 8 year old kids are incredibly impressive. Following this a group of women from Chulucanas played a volleyball game against a team from Piura.

Now it was our turn. We suited up in uniforms. There were referees. This was for real. I didn´t start but after the first 3 minutes of the first quarter was subbed in. Little did I know I would play the next 37 minutes without a break. Or water. I couldn´t drink the water fountain water so I gave money to the coach to have someone retrieve me some. He didn’t return until the last 5 minutes of the game.

He got down by 8 at one point but then placed me at point guard to break the press and going into the fourth quarter we were up by 10. But that lead slowly crumbled as they ran a different press and a certain player of ours kept turning it over. With a minute left they made a 3 to go up by 1 point. With 30 seconds left one of our players gets fouled in the bonus and makes both free throws after missing his previous 5. They miss and I grab the rebound and begin to dribble up court where I am fouled with 3 seconds left and us up by one. I don´t recall the gym ever being so loud during my days at New Life. Nor do I ever remember us ever having a 1,000 fans in one game. My first free throw rolls around the rim and falls off to the side. I calmly swish the second to put us up by two forcing a three in the final seconds. They fail to make it.

People are going nuts. I get tackled after spotting a game high 13 points. The team is presented with a trophy and pictures are taken. As I walk out little kids are asking the “Colorado” (whiteboy or gringo) to sign autographs on their shirts. Mario´s teenage nieces inform of a few fans I have but when I wave they scurry off giggling.

Its now 1:15am and we head to a little restaurant with the team and down a couple Coke´s and eat a full meal. Returning to the Mario´s house at 2:15am I shower and crash before we have to be up at 7am.

Might have been the best night I have had in Peru. Oh, the glory days of varsity.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Pedros Birthday Party

December 9th, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

Peru Six Visits

Today a group of girls from Peru 6 came to my town to buy ceramics before heading back to the States for Christmas. It was a nice visit. I had the artisans go through the 16 step process with them and two girls even tried to form a couple pots themselves. Afterwards they each went shopping and bough many gifts for La Navidad.

Cumpleaños de Pedrito

At 3 o’clock today we had the birthday party for my nephew. He was turning 1 year old. They do parties a little differently here. First you arrive at least an hour to two hours late. Then each kid gets a bag and periodically someone walks around drops anything from popcorn to candy in your bag. We ate jello but not the cake. That is saved for when the kids leave; they each get a different surprise bag and a piece of cake to go. There was also a piñata but not the kind that you smash with a stick. You just pull on a cord and the insides spray everywhere.

After Party

All the kids left around 6 and then family members from both sides came and celebrated the evening with us. There were about 20 of us, mostly family but some friends. We ate turkey capus, which is a method of cooking it in the ground that makes it real tender. We danced and sipped on beer until about 1am. When I get back you should see my cool beer opening tricks. No need for an actual beer bottle opener around here.

Christmas Ignorance

November 27th thru December 8th, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

My Santa Claus Ignorance

The other day I was watching TV with my host brother, Porfirio, after dinner. A commercial with Papa Noel came on and I asked him if he believed in Santa Claus. He told me no, and I started trying to convince him that I believed in Santa Claus. When I asked when he stopped believing, he exposed my ignorance like no one ever has before. He responded, “Brent, I never believed in Santa Claus. Santa Claus doesn´t come to Encantada like that with all the presents and stuff. He visits some of the houses in Piura (the capital city) but not Encantada.” Wow, that was rough.

Colombia Catalog

I spent most of the week working on the catalog and preparing Emilio for Colombia. I think I am going to start making a compost pile soon so I can make a garden in the backyard. Then we can eat vegetables more frequently. If it goes well, I’ll probably start a family garden project and teach nutrition classes. I plan on starting to teach computer classes in early January.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Turkey Day Festivities

November 22nd thru 26th, 2006 Huanchaco, La Libertad, Peru

Thanksgiving Vacation

Wednesday we took a 7 hour bus ride to Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru. The overnight buses are so much nicer than the day buses. Those day rides get real long real fast. At 8:30pm we arrived in Huanchaco, the beach town where we will be staying.

The hostel was pretty sweet and we pretty much had one whole part to ourselves. We did have 32 people. There was an area for camping, and a kitchen and a sweet patio overlooking the ocean. We spent most of the time playing cards and chilling on the beach. One morning we went fishing. Not with rods. Rather you have a 3 inch by 3 inch board with some line wrapped around it. Just let your hook dangle at the bottom of the ocean and if you feel something bite, try to set the line. We actually caught a decent amount of fish this way.

The Feast

I was actually very impressed by the amount of food we had at the Thanksgiving dinner. I can’t recall a single dish that was missing, except maybe some Cool Whip for the pumpkin pie. I was stuffed and the quality was pretty high. I think that Peace Corps Volunteers are better than average cooks for the most part.

The food was good all week. I ate at a little Mexican joint a couple times that served big burritos. And another place served a pretty good grilled meat dinner. You split a ton of meat 4 ways and it was only $3 a person including drinks. Finally, I had falafel at this great vegetarian joint. One night we went to a microbrewery where we had some good beer for a change. They only have 4 kinds of beer here and they are all owned by the same company.

Turkey Bowl

For the past month we have been jarring at each other over who is going to win the Thanksgiving Football Game. We are split up into departments and decided to play Piura & Lambeyacue vs Cajamarca & La Libertad. Basically, North vs. South. The North won, but don’t they always. I played quarterback most of the game until I reopened the scab on my knee with a leaping dive for a first down. Hey, at least I got it.

Manuel actually found a trophy and had “Annual Peace Corps Turkey Bowl” inscribed on it. We are going to try to start a new tradition. Everyone in the North has to take it around their site and take photographs with it and then pass it along to another teammate.

Pretty much Thanksgiving was awesome. But I think the best Thanksgiving ever will be the one in 2008 when I return to the States and it is with my family. That will be pretty hard to top.

Elections / Injury

November 19th, 2006 Chulucanas, Peru

Elections

The regional elections were today. Everyone has to vote or they get fined a pretty decent sum. And the army is at the polls to prevent any chaos. And I was told the wait in line was over 2 hours long. Sounds a little different than our elections, huh?

The candidates don’t really talk about the issues either. When they come through town they just give speeches about how much money they have given to such and such school or what not. Pretty much whoever has given away the most of their fortune wins. But now that the campaigning is over, it should be a little quieter around here.

November 18th, 2006 Chulucanas, Peru

Ouch, my knee

Every Saturday, my counterpart and I go to Chulucanas to play basketball. It is actually kind of frustrating because they only play zone and play with some slightly goofy rules, and just about anything is a foul. Who plays zone in a pick up game? Anyways, it’s usually pretty fun.

This past Saturday I got tripped though scraped up my knee pretty bad. This isn’t your average asphalt but rather some pretty rough concrete. My wound is about twice the size as a quarter. I have been fighting infection all week with a bucket bath, not the most sanitary method of infection prevention…but make do.

Also, while I was in the shower I had Mario lookup the score to the Michigan-Ohio State game. It was in English and he accidentally told me UM won, when they lost by 3. I still think they deserve to play in the National Championship game since USC lost to Oregon, not the number 1 team in the league.