Thursday, November 30, 2006

Feria Colombia

November 14th thru 17th, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

Preparing for Colombia

All week I have felt like I have had a real 9-5 job. I have been at the local at 8 in the morning til 6 or later at night working on the catalog for the international fair in Colombia. We have had to take pictures of all 285 pieces and then code them. This requires measuring their weight, height, and width. Then this must be entered into a database.

Now I have to make a catalog with all the pieces and their prices which still need to be determined. Therefore, upon returning from the beach where the volunteers from my class are gathering for Thanksgiving, I will have much work to do. But work makes the time pass.

November 8th & 9th, 2006 Chiclayo, Peru

Reconnect

Today we took a 3 hour bus ride to Chiclayo for Reconnect. This is a conference where everyone from your training class (mine is Peru 7) gets together after 10 weeks to discuss how we feel and brush up on any policies that need to be revisited.

It was fun to get to see everybody again. Ryan and I are still undefeated in Spades. We almost lost a game that lasted over 3 hours (we had to take a dinner break) but somehow came back after being down 300 points. I miss training where we could play spades everyday.

Run of the Buses

November 7th, 2006 Piura, Peru

Counterpart Day

Today we had Counterpart Day in the capital city of Piura. Each volunteer brought their counterpart from their town and there were conferences on the purpose of Peace Corps and other sessions which allowed the counterpart and the volunteer to have a better understanding of each other´s roles. It wasn´t too shabby. I do by far have the best counterpart. We joked around all day, and I might be the only one who can call my counterpart a legitimate friend as well. For this I am lucky.

We also got to meet all the new volunteers from Peru 8 that will be living in the department of Piura. They all seem pretty cool. They are only 3 months behind us, so our services should be pretty similar.

Run of the Buses

About every fifteen minutes there are buses that run from Chulucanas to Piura. I needed one early this morning to get to Piura in time for Counterpart Day. Therefore, I was promptly waiting at 6:30 am to catch a 45 minute bus and definitely be in Piura by 8:30am. The line is about 35 people on. I´ll probably get on the first bus. Except today there were no buses.

No one knew why there were no buses. They could only seem to explain to me how frustrated they were. A lot of these people have to be to work by 8. People are starting to get anxious. Real anxious when the first bus pulls up at 7:45am. But wait, this bus is for Lima. Everyone is real agitated now.

At 8:05 a bus backs in. This one is going to Piura. Since the Lima bus is in the way, everyone is about two blocks back from the bus door. Instead of cordially walking the line two blocks up to the corner where the bus door is, the bus company worker simply announces, “Next corner for a bus to Piura.” Suddenly, everyone starts sprinting to said corner. I in boots and professional clothes, grab bag and join the races passing people left and right to arrive in 10th place. But many people didn´t fare so well. Several people who lost numerous spots in line begin to argue about how unfair it is. It is. But this is “survival of the fittest.” One lady slaps a guy because he told her if she was a little less gordita “fat”, she might have been able to catch the first bus.

I really would like to visit the Amazonian jungle during my service in Peru. Perhaps, I won´t need to.

Dia de los Muertos

November 2nd, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

Dia de Los Muertos

I woke up this morning to travel to the cemetery with my family for Dia de Los Muertos. Those accustomed with the holiday may be thinking I was a day late. Well, at least here in Peru they only celebrate “angelitos” or “little angels or infants” on the first day of November and then celebrate the adults on the 2nd of November.

Upon entering the cemetery you are attacked by vendors trying to sell you candles and flowers to place at the grave sites. The custom is put a set of three flowers on those you have lost and sometimes you buy a pack of candles and place them on the headstone and wait until they cease to exist before leaving. Sometimes people just hold the candles in their hands letting the hot wax burn them. It was a sovereign day.

October 31st 2006 La Encantada, Peru

An Amusing Instance

Last night was Halloween. Here it was a “fiesta patronal”. Nothing was much different about the party than usual. Everyone forces the foreigner to dance for their entertainment. But an amusing instance did happen.

I got a call from another volunteer and walked off to take it. When I hung up, five girls of age ten or so pretty much bombarded me with questions. Which is normal, until they wanted me to give them 5 names of each gender with which to name my kids. And in Spanish. I haven´t even planned my future kids names in English. Well, I do want to name a girl Brianna but after that I got nothing. It was amusing…turns out little Peruvian girls dream the same as the American type.

Friday, November 10, 2006

cultural anecdotes

November 2, 2006 La Encantada, Peru

Dia de Los Muertos

I woke up this morning to travel to the cemetery with my family for Dia de Los Muertos. Those accustomed with the holiday may be thinking I was a day late. Well, at least here in Peru they only celebrate “angelitos” or “little angels or infants” on the first day of November and then celebrate the adults on the 2nd of November.

Upon entering the cemetery you are attacked by vendors trying to sell you candles and flowers to place at the grave sites. The custom is put a set of three flowers on those you have lost and sometimes you buy a pack of candles and place them on the headstone and wait until they cease to exist before leaving. Sometimes people just hold the candles in their hands letting the hot wax burn them. It was a sovereign day.

October 31st 2006 La Encantada, Peru

An Amusing Instance

Last night was Halloween. Here it was a “fiesta patronal”. Nothing was much different about the party than usual. Everyone forces the foreigner to dance for their entertainment. But an amusing instance did happen.
I got a call from another volunteer and walked off to take it. When I hung up, five girls of age ten or so pretty much bombarded me with questions. Which is normal, until they wanted me to give them 5 names of each gender with which to name my kids. And in Spanish. I haven´t even planned my future kids names in English. Well, I do want to name a girl Brianna but after that I got nothing. It was amusing…turns out little Peruvian girls dream the same as the American type.

difficulties with the restaurant funding

October 27th 2006 Piura, Peru

Restaurant News

I met with Consuelo today and she informed me that now the government will not be building the restaurant in town because it is something that should be done by the private sector. In all honesty, I agree with her. But this town could really use one. I think it would be a good investment. The problem is that anyone capable of running such a business with the entrepreneurial skills required does not live in my town.

Therefore, the government building it was great. The main reason I was sent to Encantada in particular was because I have 3 years of restaurant experience in both the drudgery positions and the administration aspect of the business side. Well, it turns out I may be perfect for this site for even more reasons now.

Many of you know that I flirted with a business or two in college and was an entrepreneurship major. My first real run at building a business plan and seeking investors from the city may come now, in a foreign language and in a different culture. A culture which also isn´t the friendliest business environment. This is going to take a lot of work, and may prove impossible but let´s be honest. What have I got better to do? I´ll keep you updated. Haven´t quite decided if I want to commit to Super Volunteer status yet.

The first to go....for real.

October 24th 2006 La Encantada, Peru

The first to go…..for real this time.

Perhaps I should wait til she boards a plane and thus avoid writing blog entries which turn out to be false the next time I check the internet. Jenn called me today. She wanted to wish me the best of luck. She is returning to the States to be with her boyfriend. I wish her well. Throughout most of training, Jenn was one of my best friends.

I couldn’t imagine trying to endure the stress the Peace Corps entails while trying to maintain a relationship thousand of miles across the ocean, in a completely different hemisphere. I presume that is why most relationships don’t fail while one member is serving. This one must be strong enough, that one party is willing to sacrifice the dreams they had for their own life for the possibilities that exist with their partner. I wish her the best.

I got jacked

October 21st 2006 Chulucanas, Peru

It’s about time I got pick pocketed

I knew it would happen sooner or later. My USB got jacked this week. After dropping off something at the post office I remember putting the receipt in the pocket of my backpack and then heading to the little store where I buy water. As I enter the owner’s kids were playing. I waited at the counter and felt a shove in my pack. I thought it was just the kids playing. Later, I would realize it might have been the kids, but they weren’t just playing.

After paying, I left to retrieve a mototaxi. As I swung my backpack around I noticed the little pocket was open. “That’s strange,” I thought. I started rummaging through the pocket and noticed my USB flash memory disk was missing. I returned to the vendor and confronted the owner, but to no avail. The least she could have done was at least question the kids. The part that sucks the most is that there a high tax on electronics here, so buying one will prove costly.

A more serious holdup

The following entry is rated R. It is only for restricted audiences. That implies that if you tend to worry yourself over the safety of others although you have no means of controlling the situation, you should probably not read this entry. Mom, Grandma….that means you guys.

The passage between Chulucanas and La Encantada is somewhat dangerous. Every few months or so people are held up at gunpoint and forced to handover their belongings. On Saturday, a car of Peruvian tourists were stopped by a gang of masked men and forced to handover wallets and bags with pistols pointed in their direction. That same morning one of the designers who comes to La Encantada, was held up in his mototaxi.

I try to not let the possibility of theft worry me. They can take my things. They are only materials, easily replaceable. Yet I am still paranoid. It still irks me when I am pick pocketed. Hopefully, I will reach a point when I truly believe the third sentence of this paragraph. I wonder if I will have to be conditioned by being jacked enough times to reach this point or if preferably, I can just learn not to place such a high value on that which is tangible, rather concentrating energy on that which is truly irreplaceable.