Long time no blog post.

I haven't had a strong urge to write here until the past day or so.  I was really sick with the gripe two weeks ago.  Then this past week I've been having a hard time.  I think my body was still recovering, so I was really low energy and didn't have the gusto for a lot of extra activites.  I was also pretty sad.  The past week has been the darkest since I've been here, which isn't saying too much since I've been pretty fancy free.  I've been kinda lonely and fretting about the things I've left behind.  I've been reminding myself that the things that are important will still be there when I get back.  And the things that are gone may have been lost even if I was in the states.  I don't have any serious thoughts about leaving.  What I miss in my mind isn't what I'd find if I went home.  I don't actually want to go home.  This is an awesome opportunity and I'm really enjoying it for the most part.  There are just times when I want to be with someone I know and love, when two years seem like a million, and when I wonder what the hell I'm doing. 

I had a mini internal meltdown on a combi this week.  A combi is a bus that doesn't have any specific stops, so you can get on or off whenever you'd like.  A lot of people got on and I gave an older lady my seat.  I was standing toward the front of the combi with a bunch of people packed around me.  None of the windows were open because people are afraid of purse snatchers reaching through them.  From the perspective of this ride, you'd think Peruvians are allergic to walking.  It seemed like the combi stopped ever 30 feet to let someone off or pick somebody up.  And the driver would slam on the gas and the break at each one, like he could make up some serious time by swinging the contents of my stomach from the front to the back.  I did my urban surfing, looking at this little boy, being certain I would throw up on him, cursing in my mind everything I could think of, wondering why I was there instead of with my family at home or on my porch in Missoula.  We got back to the training center and I had a nap and was fine.  But it was quite a time.

At the very beginning, our environmental program director Diego gave a talk.  He's awesome, by the way.  He has a moustache and an accent like Puss in Boots from Shrek.  Anyway, he was talking and said, "In Peace Corps, you will have high lows and low lows."  He meant high highs and low lows to emphasize the extremes one can feel during service.  Still, it was funny.  I'd call the combi ride a medium low. 

On to more fun things.  Pirated movies are widely available here and you'll often find a bunch of movies on one DVD.  I rummaged through my hermanito's collection and found this gem.  Many of the descriptions don't match up with the movie they advertise.  I can't imagine Karate Dog is a Nicolas Cage action thriller.  Though I've never seen it, so who knows?  But I also read the box for Dinotopia and I can't imagine that movie involves Jullianne Moore and terrorism. 

Yesterday morning I went to the baptism of my primos Diego and Camilla.  Here's Camilla and her dad Sergio.

We went to the church and then all piled into the car to go hang out at our abuela's house.
 We stayed and chatted for a long time.  It was nice to be included and feel welcomed.  They asked me lots of United States questions, but I'm starting to feel like less of a sideshow and more as somebody who can be interesting as an individual.  I think they're liking me for more than my novelty.  My host mom said that I'm "muy cariñosa."  Very nice. 
It was also great to sit around and speak Spanish and not have to think about speaking Spanish.  It flows much better these days, though I still have to back up sometimes to correct my grammar.  And it can be an interesting game to try to talk about a concept I don't have the vocabulary for.  Nobody has a better grip of acupuncture after I try to explain it in Spanish.  Or neoliberalism.  Thankfully, I have lots of sympathetic listeners who will try to suss out what the heck I'm blabbing about.  Though this evening, I explained the greenhouse effect (efecto inverdadero) to Lilli and she totally got it.  That's a self-esteem booster.

I've been having lots of good talks with my host mom lately.  I learned all about her childhood.  How they were poor and she had to take care of her siblings because she was the oldest sister.  She cooked meals for everyone when she was 9 and had to go fetch water.  She's pretty progressive now.  She only has two kids and is all about them getting a good education.  It shows that she's really supportive of them because they're very bright and inquistive.  Unfortunately, the university system here is worse than the states.  Very expensive and hard to get into.  I hope Yessica and Jose can break in if that's what they want to do.

After the baptism I went home for a siesta and then off to David's birthday/Halloween party.  There were some great costumes and I was really proud of the creativeness of my gringos with little time and fewer resources.  Green man was there along with a tourist, ghost, cat, Frida Khalo, and a couple of thugs.  Sadly, lots of folks thought I was a bunny, which is crazy because I was clearly a llama.  I had false eyelashes, made ugly faces, and had ribbons in my ears (people put them in llama's ears for good luck).

Taking this year and last year into consideration, I don't think other people like my Halloween costumes as much as I do.  One aspirante, SaraB, really liked and understood my llama.  Last year, only Bridget loved Lil' Jon and none of my male friends would look me in the eye.
Occasionally, we'd move the party under Andrew's ghost costume.

Tomorrow is the long-awaited site placement day.  There's been a lot of chisme (gossip) about placements, but I've been pretty superstitious and don't want to get attached until I'm told for certain.  Then on Wednesday we split up for regional training and head off for our areas.  We're in small groups for a few days and then get sent alone to our site for a few more.  Then back here.  We'll be gone 10 days all together.  It's so nutty that I'll be seeing my new home for the next two years.  Training has had it's challenges, but it's basically been like a really nerdy camp.  The real thing is coming up.  I'm excited and apprehensive.  I think I can do a good job.  I wonder what it'll be like to come back for three more weeks of training after I've had a taste of the campo. 

Fun Facts/Events
-I had fried chicken hearts for dinner the other day. 
-I ate a whole raw carrot and my family acted like it was the weirdest shit they've ever seen.
-Peruvians think black people are good luck. 
-There are a ton of Peruvians in New Jersey.
-Sunday is the day to be drunk.  All day.  Especailly if you're going to the local futbol game.

No hay sitio

I had a meeting with Diego, the associate country director, today.  All the MAC (environment) volunteers had a while to talk with him today about site placement.  I had gotten it into my head that I wanted to go to Ancash and study around PN Huascaran, partly because it´s a new park and partly because it is an area of incredible mountains.  It turns out that I can`t go because it`s a very machista area and nobody would listen to me.  I was pretty disappointed.  Isn`t that funny?  Initially, I had wanted to go to Peru and when I got that assignment, I couldn´t imagine wanting anything more.  Then I get here and learn and form other desires that come with disappointments.  I wonder if that`s mostly an American thing or just a human impulse.  I`m usually good with appreciating the moment and what I have, I just thought it was a funny train of thought to look at.  Maybe I should start meditating in earnest.  I haven`t had much time at all to reflect, though there should be plenty of that at site.
Grant, another volunteer, talked about "savor moments" last week and how people who have them are generally happier.  Those are the moments when you stop and take everything in.  I feel pretty lucky because I seem to have those every day without really trying.  I have been a generally effortlessly happy person my whole life and it`s such a blessing. 
Anyway, it looks like maybe I`ll be placed in Junin or Pasco.  But it`s so hard to tell because Diego says I`m one of the 40% or so of the aspirantes that he hasn´t placed yet.  Some folks already know.  We don`t officially find out until Halloween, so I`ll have to be patient.  The only thing I do know is that I`ll be in the mountians, which makes me happy.  I know I'll work hard and end up loving wherever I go.

In other news, we designed and gave a lesson for the local elementary school last week.  I loved every second of it and had almost forgotten how great environmental education is.  The kids were pretty rambunctious and it was hard to hold their attention, but I think they had fun and got the basic concepts we were trying to teach.  Peruvian kids are definitely not as orderly as Americans.  But I think it will be easier when I get to site and can build relationships with them.
I bought a trompo, which is a top you spin by wrapping a string around it and flinging it.  All the little guys are experts at it and do sweet tricks.  It`s like a Peruvian yo-yo.  I´m going to practice and have kids teach me so I can ingratiate myself with them. 
I`m also practicing my charrango.  I think I need to stop playing it like a guitar, though there are some Beirut songs that sound awesome on it.  Hopefully there will be someone at site who will be willing to give me lessons.  Once I get settled, I`m going to get a cajon, which is a percussive box you sit on.  I`m going to come back and be a one-woman Rodrigo y Gabriella.  Or maybe justa gringa with cool instruments.  It will be great either way.

Pachamanca

I hope you are not bored by another food post, but this week has been gastronomically epic.  For Spanish class one day, we went to my teacher´s house to make Pachamanca.  She has a beautiful house with banana trees and her own cuy operation.

Ok, so here is how pachamanca works.  First, you dig a hole and heat up a bunch of rocks.  When the rocks are hot, you put them in the hole then add a layer of herbs your meat of choice (we had chicken), camote (like a sweet potato, but better), potatoes, choclo (giant corn) and fava beans.

Then there´s another layer of herbs, banana leaves, cardboard covering, and you bury the whole operation.

Leave it for an hour or so and watch a practice cockfight in the meantime.  The man in the prep pictures is my teacher´s husband and cockfighting is one of his hobbies.  He put covers on the spurs of the roosters so they couldn´t really hurt each other.  They become like dinosaurs when they fight, all flying frills and jabs.  It an important part of the cluture, but I don´t think it will be one of my preferred spectator sports.

After cockfighting, you dig up the food and take it out of the hole.  Then you pile it on a plate and eat it with your hands and some ahi.  This was my plate.  It was so delicious, I scarfed up everything but half a potato and some of the fava beans.  I can´t even tell you.  I´m going to start a pachamanca restaurant when I get back to the states and make a billion dollars.

Then for dessert we had tres leches and I snacked on a cuy.

I´m trying hard to be less of a needy wuss about what I´m eating.  I´m accepting that it´s mostly out of my hands right now and trying to find peace with it.  Though I still look forward to cooking for myself more when I get to site.  One dinner this week was the first meal that really gave me pause and made all my former vegetairan sentiments tingle and squirm.

It turns out that chicken foot isn´t too bad.  It doesn´t taste like much and has a bit of a gelatinous quality.  You eat it like corn on the cob.  Onward and upward in culinary exploration!

On Friday, my spanish teacher took the class out for cake because we´re switching classes this week.  I had chocolate cake and a cappuccino, then us students went to meet a bunch of others for kareoke in Chosica.  Cake, espresso, and beer made for an interesting mix of sensations in my body, but probably helped my singing.  Jacobo and I brought the house down with Hey Ya!

Then Saturday, a few of us went to Lima to buy guitars.  I came back with a charrango, which is like an Andean ukelele.  I figured I should go for it while I here and I´m really excited to learn it.  Here are my host mom and sister playing with it in my room.

Intestinal Warfare

Lately, I´ve been pretty wreckless about what I eat in favor of cultural experiences.  It caught up to me today, but it wasn´t so bad.  We have a betting pool going and the last one to poop their pants gets the pot.  It´s only going to be enough money for a Saturday night out, but those victory Cuscuenas would be extra delicious. 
Here they call diahrrea ¨bicycleta¨because when you have it, you sit like you´re riding a bike.  Our primary doctor coined the lovely term ¨tandem bicycleta¨for when it´s coming out both ends.
There is an incredible market in the nearby city of Chosica.  I love to wander around and look at all the fruits and vegetables I don´t know. 

Most of the owners of the tiendas are friendly and answer my gringa questions.  There are meat stalls splattered with chicken blood, squash too big to lift, and purple corn.

Last weekend, I ate some of a friend´s street food without asking what it was.  It turns out that anticucho is cow heart on a stick.  It wasn´t bad and was better accompanied by fried rings of dough dipped in honey.  I also had my first ceviche, which is raw fish with lime and sauce.  It was delicious and I can´t wait to find more. 
On Wednesday, I brought a fellow aspirante to a birthday party of a Peruvian aunt.  We ended up hanging out with the kids playing hide and seek and Peruvain truth or dare.  Kids think gringos are super interesting and it was fun to be so entertaining.  A tradition in Peru is to pass around a bottle of beer with a glass, pour yourself a bit and drink, then salud the next person and pass it on.  We had a bunch of passes of beer and fig wine with the glass everyone used then had a dinner that I assume was not cooked for weak foreign bellies.  We had all that and went to bed at 1:30 and I was pretty sure we were done for.  Como un milagro, we showed up to class at 8 the next morning with all our fluids in the right places.

Then, the next day, we had language class at an aspiratne´s house and cooked cuy (guinea pig) that my Spanish teacher raised in her yard.  She is a really sweet and hilarious mamacita. 

It was pretty graphic to see them, but we sucked it up and chopped and fried them.  I ate a side, a head, and some organs.  It was pretty good, but nothing I´d seek out.  The liver was the best part.  Please notice that the little piece of meat is the top of a head flipped upside down.  You can see the little teeth.

Here is my Spanish class, my teacher, and a host mom enjoying our almuerzo.

Yesterday, we went to Lima for class.  We explored the nice sections and had to ask passerby for information and haggle with cab drivers.  It gets tiresome, but that kind of cold approach is good practice.  There was a sexual diversity exhibition/concert at Miraflores, so that was neat and unexpected in a machista culture.  I suppose part of it is being in the rich part of town.  But still, progress!  I am jealous of how skinny Matteo stays with such a starchy diet.

After official school work, we ambled around, spent money, and ended up at the ocean.  We ran into some health volunteers who are training at a different center and it was really nice to see them.

It´s funny how regular life feels already.  I´m still deeply appreciative and in awe of the opportunity I have here in Peru.  But it feels normal to duck mototaxis and blow out dirt boogers at the end of the day.  I´m so lucky and am looking forward to the next day.