Where you at?

We got our site assignments yesterday!  I remember thinking at the beginning that it was so far away, now I can’t believe it’s time.  I’m going to Carhuamayo in the department of Junin.  I’ll be living close to Chinchaycocha, which is the second biggest lake in Peru after Titicaca and a protected area.  There are also endangered giant frogs.  And vicunas.  The town is north east of the lake in the northeastern corner of the department.  Sorry this map is so busy, it was the best I could find.

I got a little folder with some info about Carhuamayo.  It’s in the altiplano, which are high plains.  Diego told me that I’m on a plateau and can see high mountains in the distance.  I’m only a little ways away from the highest volunteer in the world.  It’s cold as heck most of the time and the rainy season is January through March or so.  It rains every day from 2pm into the night.  I’m not sure how big my town is.  It has a primary and secondary school, so it must be an ok size.  Though I’m definitely out there in the campo.  I have electricity and water, but it’s not clear if I’ll have a toilet or be “hole shitting” as Diego says.  There’s also internet in the town, so I won’t be totally disconnected.  I’ll have to see if my cell phone works.

Wikipedia en español has an article on the district of Carhuamayo, so I don´t know how applicable it will be to where I am.  But the district has 8,400 people over 220 km squared.  Is that spaced out?  It seems like it. I´ll bet a lot of folks are in the town with rural outskirts.  It´s at 4,126 meters above sea level which is 13,536 ft for you gringos.  High as hell.  When we visit the department this week, we have a mandatory two hour rest when we arrive so we don´t throw up or pass out.  Whenever I visit the coast or go back home, I`m going to challenge everyone I see to races up hills.  My hemoglobin is going to be off the hook. 

It’s a new site, which comes with its own advantages and challenges.  I won’t have anyone to live up to and there won’t be clashes of former working styles.  I’ve heard that some volunteers get called by the previous volunteer’s name for a year.  But, it’s hard to break in a new site.  No one will have any idea what Cuerpo de Paz is and I’m sure I’ll explain it the entire time I’m there.  They’ll probably be mystified by this gringa who runs around and tries to talk to them about the environment and seems to lack basic survival skills.

My family is big.  The info form says that there are 11, but that includes those who come and go regularly.  I have a mom and dad, two brothers, and a sister.  The hermanos are all in their early 30s so maybe part of the 11 are spouses and kids?  Can’t tell.  The first thing Diego said when he gave me my assignment is that my family is really great.  My sister works for the municipality, so that’s a great in to start working with the government and get projects off the ground.  I’m looking forward to having a house full of activity and comings and goings.  I think it will help me meet people and integrate better. 

I’ll be in a pretty big cluster of volunteers.  Laura, Grant, Alison, Nicole, and Kryssa will all be reachable for a weekend thing.  Matteo is 6 or so hours away.  Some are closer by than others and we’ll have to see how it shakes out.

All of those mentioned above are going with me for Field Based Training on Thursday morning.  We’ll go up to the city of Junin and tour around other volunteer’s projects and do other things I’m not sure of.   Then we’ll split up and each have three days at our sites.  What happens then all depends on our families and whether or not socios (counterparts) have planned anything for us.  I don’t know who my socio is or what he/she does.  So mysterious!  I’m really excited to go and find everything out.  We spend those three days and then I think we have to find our ways back to Sta. Eaulalia on our own.  Then it’s back to training until the end of November.  I wonder what it’ll be like to go and come back. 

We're going to get to site a month before school lets out and the rainy season begins.  I think we´re going to spend our first bit of time getting to know the place and then doing some "vacaciones utiles" classes, which are like productive things for kids to do during their breaks.  We´ve heard that many people leave their towns during summer vacation and the rainy season, so it will definitely be interesting if I´m there for a month and then it becomes a ghost town.  That will be a good time to think about my master´s project and maybe take up knitting. 

The town is right on the edge of the Preserva Nacional de Junin around the lake, so I´ll be working with SERNANP as well, which is like the Peruvian Forest Service.  I´m really looking forward to that.

So much speculation!  I´ll have more real things to talk about when I come back.  I haven´t spent a night away from my host family since I arrived.  It will be interesting to be gone for so long and then reunite with everyone.  I can´t wait to hear all their stories.