I´m going away for Early In Service Training, then vacation at the beach in Piura and hiking in the cloud forest of Amazonas. It´s unlikely that I´ll be posting and I don´t know about the internet or cell service. I just didn´t want anyone to think I got lost in the pampa or trampled by vicuñas.
I´m so incredibly excited to go. There´s a lot I love about my site and my family, but it´s an existence with almost constant small frustrations and you can get a little stir-crazy. I can´t wait to see my volunteer friends, to understand all the jokes, get the band back together, go see new places, and stretch my legs. I think it´ll be incredibly rejuvenating and I´ll come back to site ready to teach some kids and sort some recycling.
Before I leave, I wanted to share the events of the first 10 minutes of my morning with you because they seemed impossible anywhere else but in the Peace Corps in the altipampa of Peru.
-Wake up at 6:30, see steam from my breath puffing out in front of my face. Wish I had slept in a hat.
-Roll back window curtain, see the awkward spectacle of alpacas mating right across the way.
-Put on boots, leave room, chase and eventually catch the chicken that had made its way upstairs. Carry it down and toss it in the garden before going to the latrine in the yard.
I also got a piece of meat in my lunch today that was completely mystifying. It was mostly skin and bone with black fur on it that got into my potatoes. Goat elbow?
Cuidate!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Adventures in Medicine
Several weeks ago, I woke up with itchy red bumps on my hands. After a while and a depletion of will power to resist scratching, they turned into blisters. A bit later the blisters opened into ugly, pussy wounds. My fingers swelled and became tender. The skin around the lesions started to change colors and recede. This continued for weeks and only seemed to get worse. Here´s what my hands looked like at almost their worst. Apologies if you are reading this on a lunch break.
My hands became a nightly topic of conversation for my family. They gave lots of theories to what the problem could be. Cold, heat, something I ate, bites, a plant, etc. The final conclusion was that I had been cursed by the nearby mountain because I hiked up it. Nevermind that 3 of my siblings were with me and they were all fine. My family wanted to put kerosene and vinegar on my lesions to lift the curse. I was able to get out from under the kerosene, but every night my sister Elena (a nursing student) would come to my room and put vinegar on my wounds, first making a sign of the cross with the droplets then mixing them together. Surprisingly, it didn´t help and I got tired of discussions of my damnation every evening.
I eventually made a dermatologist appointment through the PCMOs and got checked out in Lima. It turns out that it was either a cold injury or infected insect bites. Either way, I took a round of antibiotics and my hands look better.
It was an interesting experience. I often have different opinions than my family on medical issues and treatments. Some I argue, but the majority I let go. It´s easier to say that you´re sick because of the cold rather than old meat when you´re stomach won´t let you rest. I wasn´t too worried about my hands most of the time, but once in a while the creeping thoughts would come in when I was trying to go to sleep. Bedtime is the realm of creeping thoughts for me. When my hands were really ugly and it had been going on for weeks, I started to wonder if there was something really wrong with me. Did I have leprosy or flesh-eating bacteria? Would I have to go home?
That was the most revelatory thought. I was surprised how resistant I was to the idea of going home. For how difficult this experience has been at times and how much I miss people, I really don´t want to leave. I would consider it a great failure to go home early. I feel like I have a lot of growing and work to do before I can go back. It´s nice to know that those feelings are what are in my core and that quitting seems worse to me than the dark times.
My hands became a nightly topic of conversation for my family. They gave lots of theories to what the problem could be. Cold, heat, something I ate, bites, a plant, etc. The final conclusion was that I had been cursed by the nearby mountain because I hiked up it. Nevermind that 3 of my siblings were with me and they were all fine. My family wanted to put kerosene and vinegar on my lesions to lift the curse. I was able to get out from under the kerosene, but every night my sister Elena (a nursing student) would come to my room and put vinegar on my wounds, first making a sign of the cross with the droplets then mixing them together. Surprisingly, it didn´t help and I got tired of discussions of my damnation every evening.
I eventually made a dermatologist appointment through the PCMOs and got checked out in Lima. It turns out that it was either a cold injury or infected insect bites. Either way, I took a round of antibiotics and my hands look better.
It was an interesting experience. I often have different opinions than my family on medical issues and treatments. Some I argue, but the majority I let go. It´s easier to say that you´re sick because of the cold rather than old meat when you´re stomach won´t let you rest. I wasn´t too worried about my hands most of the time, but once in a while the creeping thoughts would come in when I was trying to go to sleep. Bedtime is the realm of creeping thoughts for me. When my hands were really ugly and it had been going on for weeks, I started to wonder if there was something really wrong with me. Did I have leprosy or flesh-eating bacteria? Would I have to go home?
That was the most revelatory thought. I was surprised how resistant I was to the idea of going home. For how difficult this experience has been at times and how much I miss people, I really don´t want to leave. I would consider it a great failure to go home early. I feel like I have a lot of growing and work to do before I can go back. It´s nice to know that those feelings are what are in my core and that quitting seems worse to me than the dark times.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Here Comes the Sun
The past 3 days have been so lovely. There´s sunshine and it feels like PA in the springtime. The sun is warm and the breeze is cool. There are little flowers everywhere and even some songbirds. And I have been feeling awesome. The sun shines through my manta curtain at 6:15 and I´ve been getting moving and it doesn´t feel like there´s enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. It´s incredible. It´s not warm enough for a t-shirt during the day, but the long-sleeved shirt I have on over my t-shirt and under my vest is pushed up to the elbows.
I don´t think I realized how much the rainy season weighed me down. It was like a months long attrition on my mood and motivation. I had down times and I can´t blame them all on the weather, but I´m sure it contributed. And the rainy season isn´t just rain. It´s cold, sideways rain, wind, hail, mud, and clouds. It´s wearing when it´s miserable to be outside 70% of the time.
We´re not fully out of the rainy season yet, but it´s refreshing to see a crack in the clouds. The sky is so vast here and it´s incredible where there are puffy white guys floating around rather than the grey blanket. And the sunsets! And the stars! Colors are brighter with this new light and even the animals seem happier.
The challenge of the next months will be getting back to the states without having a catcher´s mit for a face. Sun hat and sunglasses all the time.
I don´t think I realized how much the rainy season weighed me down. It was like a months long attrition on my mood and motivation. I had down times and I can´t blame them all on the weather, but I´m sure it contributed. And the rainy season isn´t just rain. It´s cold, sideways rain, wind, hail, mud, and clouds. It´s wearing when it´s miserable to be outside 70% of the time.
We´re not fully out of the rainy season yet, but it´s refreshing to see a crack in the clouds. The sky is so vast here and it´s incredible where there are puffy white guys floating around rather than the grey blanket. And the sunsets! And the stars! Colors are brighter with this new light and even the animals seem happier.
The challenge of the next months will be getting back to the states without having a catcher´s mit for a face. Sun hat and sunglasses all the time.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Mystifying Answers to Supposedly Simple Questions
I taught 5th and 6th graders their first Environmental Science class of the year and am revising my lesson plans in my mind as I type. Just in case you were wondering, I was speaking Spanish.
Stasia: Tell me your first name and your favorite animal. I´ll go first! I´m Stasia and I like manatees and sloths.
(Horrified silence at being forced to come up with a favorite animal)
(Several minutes pass) Then favorite animals: Dog, dog, dog, cat, dog, sheep, cat, cat, cat, cat, dog, puppy, cat, parrot, dog, dog.
Stasia: We´ll be having classes all year! What are some environmental science topics that you want to learn about?
Kid 1: To not litter!
Kid 2: How we went from cells to monkeys to humans and how God made us.
Kid 3: Plants and animals!
Stasia: What about plants and animals?
Kid 3: Plants and animals! Their parts!
Kid 4: Multiplication tables!
Kid 5: Friendship!
They are not dumb, and they´re mostly very nice and enthusiastic kids. They´re just not on the wavelength of kids I´ve worked with or how I remember myself and they have no experience with creativity or critical thinking in the classroom. I´ll have to ease them into it.
I want to do a lesson on adaptations and expand it to the ecology of cryptozoological creatures, but I think we´ll have to work up to it. Is dragon fire for hunting or defense? Do mermaids gestate or reproduce in the water column? Pegasus migration? The ecological niche of the chupacabra? Fun, right?
Stasia: Tell me your first name and your favorite animal. I´ll go first! I´m Stasia and I like manatees and sloths.
(Horrified silence at being forced to come up with a favorite animal)
(Several minutes pass) Then favorite animals: Dog, dog, dog, cat, dog, sheep, cat, cat, cat, cat, dog, puppy, cat, parrot, dog, dog.
Stasia: We´ll be having classes all year! What are some environmental science topics that you want to learn about?
Kid 1: To not litter!
Kid 2: How we went from cells to monkeys to humans and how God made us.
Kid 3: Plants and animals!
Stasia: What about plants and animals?
Kid 3: Plants and animals! Their parts!
Kid 4: Multiplication tables!
Kid 5: Friendship!
They are not dumb, and they´re mostly very nice and enthusiastic kids. They´re just not on the wavelength of kids I´ve worked with or how I remember myself and they have no experience with creativity or critical thinking in the classroom. I´ll have to ease them into it.
I want to do a lesson on adaptations and expand it to the ecology of cryptozoological creatures, but I think we´ll have to work up to it. Is dragon fire for hunting or defense? Do mermaids gestate or reproduce in the water column? Pegasus migration? The ecological niche of the chupacabra? Fun, right?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tiny Things
I'm in Lima at the moment for a check-up. I have some lesions on my hands and have my fingers crossed against leprosy, but that's for another time.
It's funny to be in Lima after what feels like years in the campo. I rolled into a stylish district where there were some honest-to-goodness hipsters, and I was still unshowered, raggedy, and in my mud boots. The strangest part is that there are white people I don't know here. And sleeping in shorts rather than several layers of wool. Though the real question is, will the hemoglobin accumulated from months of living at mountaintop heights imbue me with Hulk-like powers at sea level? I'll try to lift a car tomorrow and I'll let you know.
Anyway, I have some speedy internet for once and I'm going to use this opportunity to post all the cute animal pictures I haven't been able to before. Baby animals are the lifeblood of the internet, so I hope you enjoy!
Cuy snuggles!
Ok, so it's not all cute, but look how giant that snail is! Even with his eyeball stalks all retracted.
We found this guy under a rock during a hike.
More cuy babies. Though they're all breeding within brothers and sisters and moms and I don't know how long it'll be until we have mutants running around.
It's funny to be in Lima after what feels like years in the campo. I rolled into a stylish district where there were some honest-to-goodness hipsters, and I was still unshowered, raggedy, and in my mud boots. The strangest part is that there are white people I don't know here. And sleeping in shorts rather than several layers of wool. Though the real question is, will the hemoglobin accumulated from months of living at mountaintop heights imbue me with Hulk-like powers at sea level? I'll try to lift a car tomorrow and I'll let you know.
Anyway, I have some speedy internet for once and I'm going to use this opportunity to post all the cute animal pictures I haven't been able to before. Baby animals are the lifeblood of the internet, so I hope you enjoy!
Cuy snuggles!
The man only told me this guy's name in Spanish, and I forget it anyway.
Ok, so it's not all cute, but look how giant that snail is! Even with his eyeball stalks all retracted.
I'm pretty lucky that baby alpacas are a part of my daily life.
We found this guy under a rock during a hike.
More cuy babies. Though they're all breeding within brothers and sisters and moms and I don't know how long it'll be until we have mutants running around.
Look how tiny these flowers are! They are all over the campo and there are white, pink, and yellow ones as well. And check out that plant diversity on this tiny patch of ground. There's lots of beautiful life in Carhuamayo, you just have to look for it.
Campo Cooking
I made a wonderful discovery recently: my family doesn't really like peanut butter. I goddamn love peanut butter, so much so that I'll take the trouble to make it for myself. Now, I consider myself a good sharer and it always warms my heart to make food for folks, but nothing lasts long when it's split 12 ways. It's nice to have something I can squirrel away for myself without guilt.
So you're in the campo of Peru and want some peanut butter? Here's what you do:
Buy a bag of peanuts.
Toast them, stirring constantly lest they burn. Sometimes with a kitten climbing your back like an oak and sitting on your shoulder to watch what you're doing.
Then peel every one of those suckers. Luckily, David offered to help me and I lent him my ipod. He started listening to Bob Dylan because that's what I had on, but I switched him to Juanes after a while. You'd have to be a jerk to dislike Juanes. David was cute and kept showing folks that he learned how to work the ipod and talking really loud.
If you're lucky, your mamita will see what you're doing and chide your gringa nonsense. They she'll show you that it's much easier and faster to sift the peanuts through your fingers and let the wind carry off the majority of the peels.
So you're in the campo of Peru and want some peanut butter? Here's what you do:
Buy a bag of peanuts.
Toast them, stirring constantly lest they burn. Sometimes with a kitten climbing your back like an oak and sitting on your shoulder to watch what you're doing.
Then peel every one of those suckers. Luckily, David offered to help me and I lent him my ipod. He started listening to Bob Dylan because that's what I had on, but I switched him to Juanes after a while. You'd have to be a jerk to dislike Juanes. David was cute and kept showing folks that he learned how to work the ipod and talking really loud.
If you're lucky, your mamita will see what you're doing and chide your gringa nonsense. They she'll show you that it's much easier and faster to sift the peanuts through your fingers and let the wind carry off the majority of the peels.
Once all the peels are gone, it's time to get buff and put the peanuts through the hand grinder.
Season (salt and honey for me) and then you're all done! I got about twice the amount below from a half a kilo of peanuts and almost 2 hours of work. It's a lot of effort for a little, but irreplaceable, product.
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