I was in the paper

September 14th thru September 21st 2006 Encantada/ Piura, Peru

I´ve already been in the paper

On Monday I went to Piura to meet some of the government officials in the department’s capital of Piura. This town doesn´t have a restaurant but could really use one since there are tons of tourists who come through here each day to buy ceramics. Therefore, the government has been working on a project where they are planning to build a restaurant run by the community where all profits are used for future community development projects. I will be heading this operation once it gets up and running. I met with Consuelo, one of the directors of tourism for the regional government for a little while.

On Saturday, Jose (president of artisan association and my host father) and I went to the Universidad Alas Peruanas to meet with some of the university students there. A girl named Lucia is organizing a raffle of 6 ceramic pieces where all the funds will go to support sending a member of our group to a fair in Colombia. And then Consuelo, Jose and I visited several classrooms where Consuelo surprised me by asking me to give a little speech to the class. It could have gone worse, but I survived. Actually, in one class it went quite well. I made it known to the students that there was a lot to be done in the community and I could use their support. The professor asked me to write my name on the board so they could see it, and Consuelo asked them if they would like my email to which many of the ladies replied “Yes, please.” It was nice to feel like a superstar all day on campus.

Afterwards, Consuelo, Jose, Lucia and I went to lunch at this pretty nice place in Piura. The atmosphere was real chill and the food great. Consuelo introduced me to a bunch of the big wigs one of who was a journalist. He asked me to do an article. So on Sunday morning I had an interview with El Tiempo, a fairly prestigious paper in the region, and then had a half page spread on the 12th page. That was kind of fun, but I think I was supposed to get clearance from the Peace Corps office beforehand.

Other Happenings

Friday the 15th, was Rachel´s birthday so we all met in Piura. It was nice to see friends again after 2 weeks of solitude. We ate at some fun restaurants, including this place where I found some decent fajitas. That night we played cards and then hit up the discotech for some salsa dancing and what not. Saturday night, the volunteer who I am replacing here, Thomas, was the godfather for a child being baptized. So we went to the baptism and then there was a huge party here. They really know how to party here.

A funeral

A couple of Sundays ago, I attended a funeral. A large group of people walks through the town while a band plays sorrowful music and another group carries the casket. Everyone comes out of their homes as it passes and joins the crowd. We proceeded to the cemetery where the service continued. Leaving the service was quite different though, because in typical Peruvian style there were vendors selling everything from ice cream to chips right outside the cemetery gates. They seem to treat death quite differently here. Perhaps, it is because they are used to it.

Swearing In and At Site

September 6th thru September 13th La, Encantada, Peru

Now at Site

I was little worried about getting to site with ALL my belongings but fortunately there wasn’t the slightest problem. So far I have not done a whole ton. Everyday, I wake up between 7:30 and 8:00am and eat breakfast which consists of a couple of rolls, either a super salty fried egg or two boiled eggs, and some hot condensed milk. Then I usually study Spanish in the morning for a while before I join the president of the artisan association I will be working with. We do some things in the local where classes on design are taught. In the evenings I play soccer or go running. Quite often there is a meeting at night with all the artisans and they discuss splitting up large orders and such.
We don’t eat dinner until 8:30 or 9pm. Then the telenolevas come on. Sometimes I try to watch their silly nonsense, but often I read.

Restaurant Possibility

The reason I got assigned to this town in particular is because of my restaurant experience. The town has petitioned the government to build a restaurant for the town since none exist for the population of five thousand. It is going to be operated by a group of mothers and all profits will be used for the development of the community. I went with Jose, the president of the association, to the capital to talk to the director of tourism there. We discussed how far along the funds are such.

September 3rd, 2006 thru September 5th, 2006 Lima, Peru

Swearing In Ceremony

Swearing in was less eventful than I had imagined. In the past, President Toledo has come to the ceremonies because he had a Peace Corps Volunteer in his house when he was a child. But we weren’t even lucky enough to get an Ambassador. After the ceremony we all said goodbye to our host families which was actually pretty emotional. My little sister cried pretty bad.

I had a really cool language class because it was all males. Our language instructor studied English in Buffalo, New York so obviously one day we talked about the Bills and buffalo wings for quite a while. He took us to a place where we could find some delicious wings. Then he busted out some Cuban cigars. We had mentioned how they are hard to find in the States and are costly. He surprised us with these and we smoked them on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. He said they only cost $1.25. I got to find the place he found them.

Later we all went out to the discotecas and then turned in around 4:30 am. Unfortunately, we were all awakened at 8:00 am because our Visas had arrived and we had to individually sign for them in the hotel lobby. We ate breakfast and then did some shopping in Lima. We went to this huge market of pirated material. You can find any movie or television series pirated at perfect quality for only $1.25 per disc. You can also find any computer software program for the same price. It is going to be hard to refuse purchasing pirated material at such a low cost.

That night we all departed on 4 separate buses to our department capitals. Here we each spent the night and then headed off to our sites individually.

The Last Two Weeks of Training

August 15th,2006 thru September 2nd, 2006 Santa Eulalia, Peru

The Last Two Weeks of Training

Things pretty just coasted by the past few weeks of training. Basically, it was just more of the same old language and technical training. A couple of fun things happened the last week. One day we went to visit the main Peace Corps office in Lima. I got forced to eat at McDonald’s, a place I don’t frequent in the States, but it was the best McDonald’s I had ever had. They have to use higher quality ingredients in order to justify the high prices because no one would pay $5 for a meal here if it tasted like normal McDonald’s. Later that night, we went to the Director of the Business Program’s house for dinner. He had ordered Pizza Hut and we all ate to our heart’s content. I tried to eat as many calories as possible. I am trying to regain some of the 8 pounds I have lost. If this wasn’t enough, our technical trainer hosted a breakfast for our last session where we got to cook pancakes and eat cereal. I really miss cereal since I used to eat it everyday and have now only had it twice in 3 months. Another cool thing is that I jumped two language levels after the last language interview to Advanced Low. That was a good confidence boost.

The Last Two Weeks of Training

August 15th,2006 thru September 2nd, 2006 Santa Eulalia, Peru

The Last Two Weeks of Training

Things pretty just coasted by the past few weeks of training. Basically, it was just more of the same old language and technical training. A couple of fun things happened the last week. One day we went to visit the main Peace Corps office in Lima. I got forced to eat at McDonald’s, a place I don’t frequent in the States, but it was the best McDonald’s I had ever had. They have to use higher quality ingredients in order to justify the high prices because no one would pay $5 for a meal here if it tasted like normal McDonald’s. Later that night, we went to the Director of the Business Program’s house for dinner. He had ordered Pizza Hut and we all ate to our heart’s content. I tried to eat as many calories as possible. I am trying to regain some of the 8 pounds I have lost. If this wasn’t enough, our technical trainer hosted a breakfast for our last session where we got to cook pancakes and eat cereal. I really miss cereal since I used to eat it everyday and have now only had it twice in 3 months. Another cool thing is that I jumped two language levels after the last language interview to Advanced Low. That was a good confidence boost.