Still a Gringa

Over the last 2 1/2 weeks I've felt pretty much on top of the world here in Peru.  My Spanish was sufficient  for most conversation topics and I got compliments on my speaking ability, I love my group of fellow trainees, and I live with an awesome family.  I also haven't gotten significantly sick yet (while a number of my compañeros have), have loved most of the food I have tried, and almost everyone I've interacted with has been super helpful, nice, and respectful.  I knew the day had to come when reality set in, and today was that day!

As I've mentioned, I take a "combi" to pretty much everything (the Center, home, errands, going out)- it's a public transport that is somewhere between a van and a bus in size.  It's pretty hectic on board, especially when it's busy.  You have to know your way around to use the combis, because its up to you to know how much your trip costs (which can be bargained in bigger groups) and where your stop is.  At some point during your ride you give the "cobrador" (money-taker/door operator/announcer) your money, which is usually between 50 cents and 2 soles depending on the length of the trip and tell him where you are going, by pretty weird landmark names.  For example, we get off at "Lavandería" for the Center, which means the (clothing) cleaners, even though I assume there are plenty of other cleaners in the area besides that cross-street.  If the cobrador is busy/inattentive (90% of the time), he won't remember your stop so you have to squish your way to the front and yell "Lavandería baja!" as a reminder before the combi passes your stop.

Today I got on the combi with a compañera named Lindsey, heading towards home after Training.  I gave the cobrador 1 sol and asked him for my change because I was getting off at Portada del Sol (which is 50 cents).  He acted confused and told me that the trip from Chaclacayo to Chacrasana was 1 sol.  I've encountered this a number of times before, since they think we're American tourists that don't know any better.  I told him no, I live here and it is 50 cents.  Usually at this point they shrug their shoulders and give me my change.

I protested a bit more, telling him I know how much this costs and its 50 cents, and the Señora sitting closest to the door started supporting me, saying "No joven (youngin'), you know perfectly well that it's 50 cents from here to Chacrasana.  Give her the change."  I told her thank you and continued protesting with him as he ignored me.  At this point Lindsey had to get off at her stop, so I was on my own.  I and this lady (but mostly this wonderful lady) continued to argue with him for the next 10 minutes, the whole ride to Chacrasana.  He pretended to be on the phone, walked through out the bus, continued to say it was 1 sol, did everything but just give me the freaking 50 cents.  The lady got continually more fiesty, with a constant stream of words coming out of her mouth for the whole ride that was something like this:

"Give her the change.  Listen to her, she lives here, she knows just as well as you do that its 50 cents.  You are what is wrong with Peru.  You, joven, trying to take advantage of others.  You are an example to the entire world right now.  Don't be bad (sounds better in Spanish), just give her the change.  You are the reason why foreigners feel taken advantage of in Peru.  Look at yourself joven, look at what you are showing her about Peru."

She was so, so awesome.  I tried a couple other tactics too, telling him I'm being patient and just want my change, blocking the door that he needed to operate, asking him why he has to be that way, why does 50 cents matter to you that much, but I think at some point there was no turning back for him, he just wouldn't make eye contact with me.  I got pretty loud in my protests and about the half the combi started supporting me and the woman too.  Eventually I had to get off at my stop, and it took all of my self control not to punch him in the back of the head as I stepped off.  I thanked the Senõra for her help, told her I know that he's not an example of all Peruvians and that there's just a few bad ones, and that's all I could do.

I definitely started to tear up on the combi when I realized I was completely powerless in this situation.  Combis are not exactly the safest places in Peru, it wasn't really an option for me to physically attempt to get the 50 cents out of his pocket, and there was no authority I could report him to.  I couldn't protest by staying on the bus, because then I would eventually owe him the full 1 sol.  However, the most frustrating part was that I don't believe that anybody is bad to the core, so I just really wanted him to give it up and be a decent person!!!  He probably thought I had plenty of money anyways (as a gringa), but the reality is that I am living on 8 soles a day (less that $3), so YAH, that 50 cents means plenty to me!

It was a horrible feeling to have to just give in and get off that bus, letting him win with that full sol.  I was taken advantage of simply because of the fact that I am white and a foreigner, no matter how much I reminded him that I live here and am going to live here for two years (which Peruvians usually find pretty surprising and which changes attitudes towards us).

The better part of the experience, of course, was the support I got from that fiesty Señora and the other combi-riders.  It's not the first time that a Peruvian has stuck up for me or a fellow trainee when a cobrador tries to play stupid with us.  There are so many well-intentioned, helpful, and smart people here.

The big lesson today was that good language skills does not remove that fact that I am white.  I've heard from a number of Volunteers that people will always try to take advantage of you because they assume you have a lot of money.  Peace Corps (Cuerpo de Paz) is actually fairly well known in some areas and well-respected, but people don't usually realize that we are subsistence living for two years.  In retrospect, I wish I had covered that in my argument with the cobrador.  I wish I had said something more along the lines of:

"...I live here.  I'm living here as a VOLUNTEER with Cuerpo de Paz.  I don't have any money, I'm making 8 soles a day to be a VOLUNTEER to help young men like YOU get better jobs and open your own businesses.  Can I have my change now?" (and if that was ineffective) "Maybe one day you'll realize that cheating a gringa of 50 cents isn't going to get you any further in life.  I hope that one day you have enough pride in yourself to realize you're better than that."

Of course I think my 50 cents was a lost cause no matter what I said, but I hope that he felt enough shame from the scene and the fiesty lady to think twice about doing that again.  Probably not.

Well, at least I have my speech ready for the next time a ratero like him tries to engañarme!

Sírvete!

In the last post, I mentioned that I have liked almost everything that I have eaten in Peru.  To give you all some idea of what I’m eating here at training…

-Like many other countries, lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and big by Peruvian standards is HUGE.  If I eat lunch at home it usually involves two plates.  For example, my lunch today was spaghetti with sauce, a piece of chicken about the size of my fist, and a separate (full) plate of lentils with rice.  Overeating is definitely socially encouraged.  Every Monday in my family and for many families across Peru is lentils day.

-My family eats chicken about 4-5 days out of the week, which is awesome for me.  Fish about once a week, and (red) meat about once a week.  Peruvians only consider red meat to be meat, so when I asked my madre if meat was in the lentils, she said “No, its only lentils, carrots, ham…” so I laughed and said that ham counts as meat to me.  She responded back “Well then it’s chicken.  You love chicken, right? It’s chicken.”  She’s quite the jokester.

Things I’ve tried:

-Chicha morada: a dark “juice” made from corn… I think it’s technically fermented but it’s not alcoholic? I dunno, I don’t understand these things.  The one I tried had fig in it too, and it was really good- tasted kind of like sweet black licourice (sp?).

-Pachamanga: a tradition from the selva (rainforest), a hole is made in the ground and rocks are heated until they are red hot.  Then various meats, chicken, potatoes, and other vegetables are covered with leaves, spices, and buried, and cooked for an hour.  The result is an AWESOME smokey taste, that I got to try when a family member brought some home from a birthday party.  The yucca was to die for.

-“Quaker”: many Peruvians serve oatmeal as a drink, so they mix oatmeal (get it? Quaker?) with more water or milk than we are used to.  It’s pretty good, and is pronounced with a Latin accent as “kwah-ker.”

-Mazamorra: A great winter drink that I just tried for the first time tonight, made of corn, peanuts, milk, and cinnamon.  Yummmm so good.

-Lots of weird fruits: I’m forgetting the names of them, but there two kinds of “booger fruit,” as we call it- they looks a bit like oranges from the outside but when you peel back the skin it is all gelatinous juice and seeds inside.  It looks somewhere in between boogers and alien eggs, but it tastes really good! One version tastes like a plum and the other tastes like Tang.

-Plátanos, fried yucca: YUM YUM YUM

-Inca Kola: the preferred drink of Peruvians in pretty much all settings that don’t involve alcohol.  Is ridiculously sweet, tastes like bubblegum.

Which reminds me, check out this video featuring Inca Kola, pachamanga, ceviche (which I haven't tried in Peru yet) and other great Peruvian things.  The video is part of a big Peruvian tourism promotion, in which Peruvians go to a tiny town called Peru, Nebraska to teach them about Peruvian customs. (sorry it's in Spanish, but you'll get the general gist)

The bad parts of food here:

-Even though a lot of coffee is grown in Peru, drip coffee from ground beans is hard to find.  Everyone drinks instant coffee.

-Everything has about 4 more scoops of sugar in it than I would prefer, but I am quickly getting accustomed to the sweetness, especially with Inca Kola.

-All the packaged snack foods I’ve tried, like chips and cheese puffs, are stale.

-Similar to the above bullet, most chocolate bars leave something to be desired, they sometimes kind of tasteless and stale.

-So. Much. Rice.

This is just my experience so far in Chaclacayo at training, and most likely I will be eating a lot more potatoes and a lot less chicken at site.  As you can tell, overall I am really enjoying the food here.  Everything homemade is awesome.  People (the women) spend all day preparing lunch and dinner, and as my madre says, a lot of “cariño” goes into cooking.  I’m definitely going to be a gordita in no time!

Who's Cold?

My pictures from our weekend trip to Marcahausi are uploaded!

Pictures definitely don’t do the trip justice, but hopefully you can get a sense of how awesome the views were.  We were at about 13, 500 feet, and the altitude definitely took its toll on some of us.  I took medication for altitude sickness but still my feet started falling asleep as we ascended.  Besides some mild dehydration I felt fine for the rest of the night.  We had a grand time eating dinner around the campfire, making s’mores, playing all kinds of American and Latino music on portable speakers, and playing our special version of “Would you rather.”

The temperature was probably around freezing, so the problems came when it was time to get some sleep.  Some seasoned campers had brought their own sleeping bags, so they promptly passed out and had a wonderful night’s sleep.  The rest of us were left with rented sleeping bags, which were basically glorified windbreakers.  Even with my four layers + sleeping bag, my toes were numb and I couldn’t get anywhere close to sleep.  Around 2:30am Lucas (from a tent or two over) yelled “Alright, who’s cold?” and a resounded “ME” was heard from about 10 of us.  He then auctioned off the extra sleeping bag in his tent to whoever could guess the number he was thinking of, which unfortunately wasn’t me.  Without a sleeping pad or sufficient insulation, I got a couple snoozes but probably not more than an hour of sleep, and most of my compañeros had similar nights.  The worst was that I was having significant nausea and trouble breathing for part of the night, depending on the position I was in.  Anyway, I lived through it to see the day!

Since we were all still awake anyways we all got up between 5:30 and 6:30am, and once the sun came over the rocks it promptly became HOT.  Crazy mountains.   In the morning I learned that Sheridan, a Volunteer who finished her 2-year service in Peru and is back visiting with her husband, vomited from altitude sickness during the night and again in the morning.  As we all warmed up and got some caffeine (I had an awesome tea made from a local plant that looks a lot like a dandelion) we started to explore over the other sides of the large rocks surrounding the campsite.  We’d get super winded after climbing up a few rocks at a time (more altitude issues) but once we got to the edge of the rocks, the views were INCREDIBLE. 

Cecily and Me

It looked like we were on the edge of a lake or ocean, but actually it was the CLOUDS we were seeing, that we were above, with the mountains peaking over top! Really felt like we were on top of the world.  I’m really starting to think that Peru is the coolest country of all time.

Later our facilitadora (language teacher) and friend, Jeni, showed us around the ruins that Marcahausi is famous for.  There are remains of some pre-Inca houses and many strange animal shapes in the rocks, some of which looked natural and others which appeared to have been cut.

We descended on horseback, which is how we ascended too, except this time I got a wicked sunburn.  While waiting for our bus back to Chaclacayo, I RAN INTO Ruthie, who had just arrived to ascend!  Small world, huh?  We’re still planning on seeing each other next weekend when we go on an “excursion urbana” to Lima, but the unexpected run-in was a great surprise.

On the way out we toured a cheese “factory” which was basically a room in someone’s house, and many of us bought some awesomely good Swiss cheese- supposedly one of the first European settlers in the area taught the townspeople how to make it and they’ve been producing Swiss cheese since.  We also briefly checked out a trout farm, that was composed of a bunch of trenches with temperature-regulated water running through them.  Earlier that day we had trout from that farm for lunch, and it was DELICIOUS.  I have yet to try a food/drink in Peru that I didn’t like!  Well, except a “salad” that was made of peas, potatoes, carrots, apples, and mayonnaise.  Yeahhhh, I’ve had better.

1/5 Done with Training

Tomorrow we leave for the mountains of Marcahuasi, after taking a bus ride to San Pedro de Castas from where we ride 2 hours on horseback.  I’m told it is 14,000 ft there, which I am also told (by my friends from Utah and Colorado) will definitely be the highest altitude I’ve ever experienced.  There are no skiing resorts in the US at that altitude, from what I'm told.  Our medical officers have given us altitude pills to take just in case we react badly to it.  At Marcahuasi we will do some sessions in the evening and relax with a bonfire, then do some consulting practice on Saturday with the eco-tourism company there. 

Today I bought one of the classic Peruvian hats called a chullo (choo-yoh) that looks like this:

The cost of living here is absurdly low- my hat was 7 soles (a little more than $2 I think) and to get to the bigger town, I pay between 50 centimos to 1 sol depending on the time of day, approximately 15-30 US cents.

Talking about my “chullo,” you have to be really careful about pronunciation here, because there are so many slang words that are muy parecidos (sound very similar), at least to an American ear:

Choro (chore-roh): pick-pocket

Cholo (choh-loh): Indian, mestizo (can be either affectionate or insulting depending on context)

Cojo (koh-hoe): a person missing one leg

Chullo (choo-yoh): the Peruvian style hat I bought


Churro (choor-roh): good-looking, guapo

Culo (koo-low): ass (I assume this slang is used in Peru too)

Cuyo (koo-yoh): whose

Choclo (choh-cloh)- maize

Choco (choh-koh): I hit (like a car accident)

Chacra: field (agriculture)

Chamba: job

Chompa: pullover jacket

By the way friends, please send me your Skype name if I don’t have it! (Fran, Haley, Jessie, Katie Neal…)

Angeline, my host-niece

yes, that is a TV you seen in the background.  As I mentioned, our training homestays are quite cushy.

I can’t believe it’s only been a week and few days since I was in the States!  Our days of class are super long (8am-5pm) which may contribute to the feeling that I’ve been here for like a month.  My Spanish gets better every day but definitely still have moments where I have no idea what is going on at the dinner table.  I´m in a language group with 4 others, and all of us live in the same barrio together.  Chris and I have been deemed Intermedio-Alto and Hallie and Lucas are Intermedio-Medio so the four of us plus a kid named Alex (who might switch groups) make up my language group.  We take a “combi” to class which is basically a bus that is like Orange Line rush hour except blasting dance hits (Lucas and I are bringing the fist pump to Peru) and lots more chances to be robbed.

We´ve also had some technical training exercises, like finding informal business (like fruit vendors) to interview them about how the history, marketing, operation, and accounting of their businesses.  Starting next week and until the end of training we will actually be consulting with the entrepreneurs that expressed interest to receiving advice for improving their businesses.  We´ve also had to do language practices with asking random people questions about their lives and recommendations for security on the streets.  These exercises can be pretty intimidating at first since some people understandbly aren´t too keen on random gringos asking them questions about their lives, but it´s been great practice in gaining trust and confidence.  Overall I´m really impressed with how training in run, although the 9 hour days are really tiring.

Tomorrow my neighborhood is having a block party for Fathers´ Day.  Happy Fathers´ Day, Dad!  Sorry I won´t be there with you.

Love,

Kim

Saludos!

Today is my third full day at our training site, Chaclacayo, a town outside of Lima.  Here’s some points of interest of my life here:

-my host family is AWESOME, an older mother + her daughter and son-in-law, + the most adorable 4 year old girl that was ever born (hope to be upload a video soon of her singing)

-I live in a barrio named Chacrasana, which is basically an enormous dirt hill with bigger mountains around it.  There are 4 other volunteers in my barrio, and we describe where we live by “almost at the top” or “where the pavement ends.”  We climbed a small mountain yesterday, accompanied by 3 boys about 6 years old, each of which kicked our asses arriving to the top and returning to the bottom.

-the chickens (about 12 of them) in the coop near my room are very well-behaved compared to those I experienced in Nicaragua.  They don’t make any noise until about 6:20, and I wake up at 6:30.  Que suerte!

-an entire afternoon of our training was dedicated to diarrhea, and it is 100% guaranteed that each of us will get it at least once during our 2 years.  The advice sent to us from current volunteers was “never trust a fart.” Oh yeah.  Also, did you know there are 7 different kinds of diarrhea?

-my life at training is WAY more comfortable than it will be at site.  My family has internet, a kinda-flat screen TV, a flush toilet, and hot (warm) water.  My host brother is a civil engineer.  Only a few of us have hot water here, so again I am very lucky!  Although I don’t want to get too used to this before leaving for site…


-we often watch music videos during dinner, including Enrique and Justin Bieber.

-my language training group is focusing a lot on jerga (slang) like panza (pot belly), chata/chatita (small bottle of rum), choro/ratero (pick-pocket), mancha (group of friends), and bobo (heart)

-a girl named Hallie in my group made the great observation that everyone in our group is “so different while being so similar.”  This is incredibly true- we all come from totally different areas of the states, different life experiences, we have different personalities, but we are all very positive, humorous, and open people which makes for a really fun training experience.  Definitely a really fun group, and we are all already a little anxious about what it´s going to be like to move from this group to complete solitarity in the campo.

-our APCD (Program Director) wants to give us a lot of say in our sites.  We start talking about options with him soon, and final decisions are given Aug 3 I think.  4 will be in the South, in Arequipa, and the others will be in the northern regions.  There are 17 of us in total

that´s all for now!

Hola de Peru!!

I've just finished my first full day in Chaclacayo, Peru!  We arrived at this "retreat" center last night at midnight after an 1 1/2 bus ride from the Lima airport.  We're staying in small twin rooms with 2 beds each, plus a bathroom with full shower, flush toilet, and electricity.  A few people have gotten warm water but I haven't been that lucky.  Overall this place is pretty plush compared to what we will get used to.  We spent today doing get-to-know you games, learning how to recognize false money, and learning medical and safety basics.  Tomorrow I will be moving a little closer to Lima with the other 16 small business volunteers, and we may not see the youth volunteers again until the 4th of July :(


My group of 51 people is an AWESOME collection of characters.  We have a very young group, all in between 22 and 33.  People are from all over the country, from California to Puerto Rico to New Jersey to Minnesota.  There's at least 5 people including myself from Northern Virginia, plus two more from Maryland.  Also, one of my business mentors/3rd year Volunteers graduated from UVA in 2008 and was part of the group that started the Nicaragua microfinance project I worked on!  Everyone is incredibly energetic, good humored, and from all kinds of academic and professional backgrounds.


I meet my host family tomorrow and move in with them!  The staff keeps emphasizing that it is completely fine if we are any degree of vegetarian, my lunch was a delicious avocado and omelette today.  I think the non-vegetarians are considering converting, because the lunch meat today was the consistency of beef jerky.


I don't know when my next update will be, but wanted to let you all know that I am having a great time so far!  If you want to get my blog updates by email, check out the right-hand column and submit your email address.


Love you all!

Election Results

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/06/06/general-lt-peru-election_8501741.html

We can only wait to see what the effects are on US-Peruvian relations, the Peruvian economy, distribution of wealth, and the Peace Corps.  Hopefully Humala is sincere in the role models he sites and his respect for democracy.

Things I Have to Look Forward To

gchat from my friend currently teaching in Chile:

we went camping in the mountains

where i got tricked into a five hr mountain bike ride

was openly wishing to be kidnapped so i could ride in a car

and then had to fight a goat who tried to steal my food

Had a dream about training last night, so I guess that means I'm finally coming out of denial.  I wish my packing was more representative of that fact.  I have, however, spent much of my procrastination/denial with friends, and this weekend was a great one.  I also got to see some more beloveds in NYC Wednesday-Friday, which was very necessary too.  Extended family will be having dinner together tonight, so more goodbyes will be in order.  Three days...