Daily realities

A friend back home said she was envious of my ideal life in Peru. It's fascinating, yes. Ideal, not so much.

So, let me tell you about life without a bathroom.

To get to the latrine, I must pass through the barnyard, which is coated in cattle excrement.

When the cows are home, I have to push my way past them to get out. I'm kind of scared to do that, so I don't use the latrine at night. I have a chamberpot. Here are some of the cows (we have a bull, 4 cows and a calf). They're not Fierce Cows, just a bit much for me in the dark of the night.

 The latrine is out into the field behind the house. Here it is:

The view is nice.

But here’s the ‘toilet’.

I guess this is the moment to share with you that Peace Corps musical hit, “You’re gonna poop in a hole”. Have a listen. Please. It’s all true.

We have running cold water, but there is no bathroom. I participate in that great Peace Corps tradition, the bucket bath. I bathe in my bedroom. Here is my bath:

I heat up some water, so it’s a bit more comfortable, given that the temperature in my room is usually about 55 degrees. I can wash my hair and all the "parts that fold" with one Nalgene (liter) of water or less. I have discovered that baby washcloths are readily available; they do the job, are gentle on the skin, and dry quickly. I also highly recommend this type of clothespin rack for hanging towels and washcloths to dry in your room. Also excellent for drying socks and underwear without taking up a lot of space on the clothesline, and can be moved inside quickly when the rain and hail start. These handy things are available in the market at the same stall where you purchase your chamberpot.

Also, while we’re mentioning daily realities, there’s the mud. My road becomes brown slurry when it rains, and right now it rains a lot. Fortunately, I have ditch boots and (so far) they don’t leak. Here’s the street outside my house after a rain. Also, notice the local trash disposal system at work.

 

It's not that I'm complaining. As you could tell from the song "You're gonna poop in a hole", this is how it's supposed to be in the Peace Corps. If all the amenities existed, they wouldn't need us and I wouldn't get to have this amazing experience, living in Peru. And how could we understand the daily realities of the people we're serving if we didn't share those realities on a daily basis?

Actually, my house has some facilities that might make volunteers in, say, Africa, sneer and label my site "Posh Corps". We have a washing machine!!!

And for my host moms birthday, my host sister gave her a microwave!!!

 It is true, hot running water would be nice. My last shower was when we had our December Junin volunteer meeting in La Merced, and I stayed in a hostel.

 That was a month ago. I can't think of a time in my life when I've gone a month without a shower. And actually, it doesn't bother me; I'm already used to it.

So, for any of you who are jealous of my adventure, just remember, it’s not all this.

It’s also this:

Largesse from the USA or They Stole my Goldfish

I got a package from my parents, full of Christmas presents. It came just after New Year’s. It probably took a while to get here because it was stopped by the postal police in Lima. They opened it and checked a few packages, then sent it on to the post office in Jauja. After several pages of paperwork, the Jauja office released it to me. I brought it home and opened it in my room. Lots of packages, a little Christmas tree with ornaments, and some new window clings for my collection. It was very exciting!!!

I set up the tree and arranged the packages around it, so I could savor the anticipation.

We admired them from the courtyard, too.

The next day, I succeeded in both finding a connection stable enough for Skype and reaching my parents at home in the USA. In the internet café, I opened my whole pile of presents while on Skype. It was a lot of fun to talk with my parents about each present and thank them for their thoughtfulness. We were on for an hour. The teenagers playing games on the other computers kept giving me quizzical looks as the wrapping paper piled up around my feet.

When we finished, my mother said there was one package missing: a container of goldfish crackers. It seems that the postal inspector helped him or herself to my goldfish. Everything else came through fine. My father said we could think of it as a small tax. Still, this incident has left me craving goldfish crackers. I like the Parmesan ones the best, but they all dance before my eyes: original, cheddar, pretzel…

But to refocus on the positive, I got a whole bunch of other snacks, including candy and dried apricots. Yum! And the softest, warmest set of fleece pajamas I’ve ever had.

                                                                                                          (*footnote)

I won’t mention everything, but it was definitely largesse, and left me feeling very loved.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

footnote* By the way, in the background of that picture is my "comfort wall". There are a bunch of photos I brought here with me, plus all the cards and letters and pictures that people have sent me. Want to be on my wall in Peru? Send me mail! Packages are ridiculously expensive, but a card, with maybe a photo or inspirational quote or cartoon tucked inside, really makes my day. Mail to Peru costs $1.05. My address is:

Alane Brown

Correo Central Jauja

Apartado 126

Jauja, Junin, PERU

p.s. After I wrote this, I experienced another theft. I was walking through the market on market day, going to meet my host mom for lunch (she has a stall in the market selling grains). I was wearing my backpack on my back. Now, Peace Corps and my host family both had warned me to carry my pack in front in crowded places. But I wasn't thinking about that, just about being hungry. When I got to the stall, one of the zippers on my pack was open, and when I checked, I discovered that my ball cap was missing. So sad! It had one of my Peace Corps patches on it--I'd been wearing it a lot to help people identify who I'm here with.

Thinking back, I realized that someone had bumped into me as I hurried through the marketplace. That's the strategy--one thief bumps you and when you look around, the other relieves you of your valuables. Still, I figure I got off really easy. They could have gotten my camera, but instead someone in Peru is walking around in a "Cuerpo de Paz" hat. I guess it's a tax on stupidity. Now I'll be a lot more careful! I have another patch and I can buy another cap for 5 soles. Life goes on.

The Environment Committee

I am SO lucky that I found the provincial committee on the environment. It was pretty much by chance. I was in a shop buying my host mom a birthday present and told the shopkeeper about why I’m in Peru. She told me not to leave and went to find her friend who’s on the committee. He gave me his card and invited me to a committee meeting. That’s how things happen for me here. Some of the best contacts are the ones that appear while I’m going about other business.

The people on the committee seem really committed to working to address local environmental problems. The first time I went to meet with them, it turned out that they were sponsoring a huge parade that day to raise consciousness about the pollution of a local lake, Laguna Paca. All the schools of our provincial capital, Jauja, had their kids in the parade.

They put me in the parade, too

I attended the monthly committee meeting, which included a workshop on community organizing for environmental action.

That weekend, there was a trash cleanup at the lake, so I spent the morning picking up trash. Then we ate. After that, there was an amazing conference about the lake. There were speakers from a whole array of government agencies, several environmental experts, and, of course, the politicians. They discussed options, including the possibility of having the lake designated as a protected area. I learned a lot about the lake, but also a great deal about the culture of Peruvian conferences. And then we ate some more. Have I mentioned yet that food is really, really important here?

Here’s the committee, and Kristi and I, posing with a congressman (center, in white) after the conference.

It’s a lovely lake. This is a photo I took from above, one day while hiking.

The provincial environment committee is also busy with an initiative that involves visiting each community in the province to ask them what their environmental concerns are. Kristi and I went along to one of the meetings. Usually it’s community leaders, but this time it was mostly schoolkids.

Nevertheless, I learned the process they use. Later on, when my Spanish is better, I may volunteer as a discussion leader for the project. My main goal with the committee, though, is to serve as a bridge to bring some of the energy and resources of the committee back to my own community, Marco. There’s a lake in our municipality, too and it is also contaminated. The committee has promised to help get us a water analysis. And during the most recent meeting, one of the goals set for 2013 is to get environmental action committees set up in all the districts in the province. I'm meeting with the authorities in Marco soon to discuss the process. It would be GREAT for me if I had a local environmental action committee to work with. Wish me luck!

Holidays and ceremonies.

For Navidad, my family gave me the task of building the crèche.

As my nephew Nico pointed out, there’s no cuy (guinea pigs). Here’s Nico. He’s 2. He stays at our house a couple of days a week and we’ve become very close friends.

On Christmas Eve, I went to mass at the Catholic church. Each family brought the baby Jesus from its creche to put on the altar during the service. There were dozens of baby Jesuses, all in a row. Afterward, there was dancing in the church. Have I mentioned that dancing is very important here? Several barrios sent dance teams to do a dance representing the shepards visiting baby Jesus at Bethlehem. Each barrio had its own band, which featured little, high-pitched flutes. The music was non-Western in structure, so I’m assuming it was a pre-columbian dance and song that got re-purposed after the conquest. They did it more or less at midnight. I didn’t have my camera, so just imagine the bright costumes, and energetic children dancing to shrill music in a dim, echoing Catholic church.

On Christmas day, Kristi and I went with our friend Chasqui to a nearby village, Las Molinas. They were giving a Chocolatada for the children of the town, and we were part of the entertainment.

Then we went to my house and had a big meal.

Nico got an art set for Christmas.

Here is his drawing of “Nico y Nayna”. Here in Peru, I’m called Elena, but Nico’s version sounds like Nayna. I’m his Tia Elena (Aunt Alane). I’ve never been an aunt before, but I like it.

His mom, Kati, is teaching me the local dances so I can dance in the big town fiesta in February. We’re going to put together a costume for me, but here I am in hers.

Nico helped teach me to dance, too. He’s already danced (in costume) in the fiesta and has very definite ideas about how it’s done.

A few days after Christmas, our friend Chasqui took us along to a friend’s house, and we got to participate in a traditional ceremony for a child’s first haircut.

For New Year’s Eve, we went to Huancayo. (Yes, we had advance permission from Diego to leave our site.) First we went to the mall. Before I came to Peru, I never thought I’d be one of those Peace Corps volunteers who would snatch at any opportunity to eat American food. I was wrong. Here I am, blissfully enjoying Pizza Hut pizza at the mall. Scoff if you like, but next time it’s KFC.

And this is a billboard in the mall. This is just weird. Who would want a car that makes them into a sheep? I guess there are just some things about Peruvian culture that I don’t understand.

Then we met up with my sister Kati and her husband Roberto and took a stroll to look at holiday lights.

Back at the home of Roberto’s parents, we took a precautionary rest, then got up to watch the midnight fireworks. After that, we all sat down to a meal of baked turkey in garlic sauce, potatoes, rice, applesauce and baked pineapple, followed by a nut drink that is my new favorite Peruvian food.

After that, we went to the disco with the younger family members. I was the only person there over 30, but I had lots of fun dancing the night away. We left at 5:30 in the morning.

On New Year's Day, I dragged myself back to Marco and went to bed. Then today (January 2) I did laundry. It was sunny, a miracle! I wrote a report and some blog posts, ready at any moment to run out and take down my laundry when the rain came. But it did not rain on my laundry! If you've live in the Andes during rainy season, you understand how amazing that is. The sun at this altitude (above 11,000 feet) is very strong, so things dry fast when it's sunny. I put my DRY laundry away and headed to the New Year's fiesta in the plaza. Today is day 2 of 3.

Each neighborhood dresses up in its unique costume for the New Year's dance, which seems to have a sheep theme. (Maybe this explains the billboard in the mall.) I'm pretty sure some of these young people will soon be my students in summer school.

There was a parade around the plaza to bring the Virgin Mary from each barrio's chapel to the plaza.

The baby Jesuses arrived, too.

Each virgin is set up in a temporary chapel in the plaza. Then the kids run around 'capturing' people. I was a popular choice and quickly was brought to each of the 7 Virgin Marys. I had to surrender a coin, then was crowned

and given a beverage (depending on the neighborhood, this was wine, beer or chicha, a kind of corn liquor) and some stalks of ichu grass.

All over the plaza, there were drinking circles and music & dance circles.

People were getting pretty hammered, and after shaking off a few drunks, I decided to head home. I can hear the music from here, half a mile away. 

It's inevitable that I've missed home during the holidays. But overall, it's been a good time for me. Poco a poco, I'm finding a place here.