Before I reflect a little on the first half of the strangeness that is my life in Peru, I’ll update everyone on the goings on of the past month or so. Probably the most exciting thing I have done recently was my first trek in Peru.
Wanting to get in one good outdoor adventure before the rain struck, Pete, our friend Will and I decided to set off on the Santa Cruz trek at the end of October. The Santa Cruz trek starts about 3 hours away from us, goes for about 50km (that’s right I’m on the metric system now…it sounds more impressive) and end on the other side of the Andes. It is the most popular trek in Ancash, with over 5000 trekkers per year and it starts and ends in Peace Corps sites. It usually takes 4 days, but since we are all acclimatized to altitude, and we wanted to prove that Peace Corps volunteers are better than normal tourists, we did it in 3 fueled mostly on oatmeal, tuna fish and ramen. It was absolutely beautiful, and I understand why it is such a popular destination. We were constantly surrounded by immense snow covered peaks, we passed through awesome forests of native queñal trees and we got to hike through a 4700m mountain pass in the snow. The worst part was the ride home—5 hours in a miniature bus, about 20 different body parts falling asleep, with Peruvians staring at the gringos all the way down harrowing switchbacks. Overall, a very satisfying and enjoyable experience.
Next up on the fun calendar was Halloween. Proving that every Peace Corps volunteer has a little bit of kid and/or a little bit of college kid in them, we all went into the regional capitol, got dressed up and Halloween party. Pete, Kaitlyn and I dressed up as the dashing trio of Robin Hood, Maid Marion and Little John respectively. This presented awesome opportunities for us to where tights and funny hats and also to go to the market, buy fabric and drop it off at a lady with a sowing machine with a vague description of what we wanted done. I would say it turned out surprisingly well and I had fun struggling to hack the business end off of a broom with a Leatherman for my Little John stick.
While the party was fun, it was also a little melancholy because it served as a going away party as well, for the 7 Ancash volunteers who had finished their two years here. It was tough to say goodbye, and it also made it really hit home, that yes, I have been here a year. I remember meeting those kids for the first time on a training trip last Halloween, and thinking “wow, they’ve been here forever. They must have everything figured out.” Well, now I’m at that point and I don’t know if they had everything figured out or not, but I sure as hell don’t, although I’m a lot less confused than I used to be.
The day after Halloween here marks the day of the dead. We celebrated by making break, some of it in funny shapes (I made a tree, a turtle and the Yankees interlocking NY)
and going up to visit the cemetery, where flowers are put on graves and for some reason everyone eats ice cream. It was actually a really nice day. Mostly everyone in the community was at the cemetery together, and they were laid back, enjoying each others company, not hurrying to do anything or stressing about crops and animals. It was nice to spend time with everybody, and I learned a lot more about my host family and their deceased relatives (including the fact that my paternal grandfather’s bones are in a box in our store room. Don’t ask).
Lest anyone should think that Peace Corps is all treks and costume parties and ice cream in cemeteries, I have been getting some work done as well. The departing of old friends means that new ones arrive, and at the beginning of November the 6 environmental nubes came to Ancash to visit our sites and then theirs’. They came up to Yanamito for a day and we put everyone to work at the nursery school, with the PTA and an Engineer from the National Park office, building a small queñal tree nursery. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, and some of us got some blisters, but it now exists and looks really good (if I do say so myself).
It is also visible to the community, which is good, because that way they know that yes, sometimes I do do work and it gives me and excuse to talk about native specie reforestation anytime anyone mentions it. And talking to the new kids around different sites and in Huaraz made feel old and wise. Ok, not really either of those things, but it did make me realize that I have come a long way in the last year, and I know a lot more and feel a lot more comfortable than I did a year ago.
The rest of the big work I’ve been up has been in the school, as usual. The school year here goes from March/April (depending on the motivation levels of the teachers) to December, and so things are beginning to wind down. Inspired by the success and nice lookingness of the world map mural we did in August, I had the bright idea to draw and paint an environmental mural with the graduating 6th graders. I solicited submissions, and made the other teachers pick which one we should actually put up, so as to avoid any dirty looks or disparaging comments from the students whose work wasn’t chosen. We’re making progress on a nice mountain scene with a rainbow and some native animals, and knock on wood, it should be finished and look nice long before graduation.
And the national park people came back and we finally finished the puppet show that drove me to the drink last month. Hooray.
Which brings us to Thanksgiving 2010. Of course it’s a bummer not to be with family, but Peace Corps gives us a long weekend of vacation, so next best thing. I am on my way to Arequipa (southern part of the country, supposed to be stunning) with some good friends. It should be a lot of fun. And with that, I will finish up and check to see if it has stopped raining and I can go running. Happy thanksgiving to everyone.
