One Year in Site

September 4th, 2007 La Encantada, Peru

One Year in Site

Today I completed one year in the small town of La Encantada. In order to celebrate, my family killed a turkey and roasted it up traditional style. I had a few friends over and we celebrated with some rum and coke and a few cigars I´d bought in Lima just for the occasion. It was good time reminiscing about memories we´d created the past year.

After living here for a year, I can say I know this place pretty well. I have made some really good friends and am realizing more and more each day that it will be difficult when I leave here a year from now. The families have really reached out to me and tried to make me a part of the community. I´ll miss the kids the most.

August 28th, 2007 La Encantada, Peru

SPA Grant Approved

I have been working with mango farmers planning a dried fruit project. In June we finished writing an 18 page report detailing the project details and how the business would operate. We recently learned that USAID approved our project and would be sending a check our way promptly. Therefore, the mango farmers and I will be purchasing materials to build solar driers and dehydrating fruit for sale rather soon.

Med Checks

August 17th – 24th, 2007 Lima, Peru

Hey Mom, No Cavities

After serving a year in site, Volunteers are required to have a thorough medical check to ensure us that we aren´t carrying any parasites or other unwanted hosts. Doc says I am healthy. Healthy is a very relative term. I never felt so unhealthy in my life. Due to the stifling climate and that the roads are made of dust, I hardly ever exercise. I don´t even run although once in a while I do get to play basketball in Chulucanas. My diet has also never consisted of so little vegetables and so much rice. I may be down 17 pounds but hey I am not going to get too frustrated. It could be worse. Much, much worse.

I have never had a cavity. Volunteers told me they could claim the same until their first year as a volunteer and the during med checks: BAM! They got like 3 cavities. A couple other volunteers and I therefore started taking care of our dental hygiene in an almost paranoiac state. I have never flossed so consistently in my life. I can also still claim 15 knockouts and counting with plaque in the ring.

1 Year Reunion

Med checks is also a time to reunite with the volunteers you bonded with during training and share stories and successes and frustrations. It was fun to hang out with the crew again. We ran in the mornings, played some tennis. Played a lot of cards. Mostly spades although I did win 3 poker tournaments. Had a few drinks and best of all: enjoyed some delicious food at various eateries. It was a good time.