Let's Hear it for Water!

Before I begin, I must make a quick retraction from a former blog. I quite irresponsibly said that Peru has more than 2,000 types of potatoes, when en actuality they have over 3,000. I apologize for this blatant and disgusting misstatement.

That being said, I know that I just updated less than a week ago, but I’ll be out of commission until next Saturday, so I figured I’d better go ahead and do it while I had the chance. This Saturday we leave for Cajamarca, a Department to the north to perform what is called, “Field Based Training.” As a Business volunteer, I will be in a group of three people, and we will be teaching a four-day business course to a group of approximately 35 high-school students. Did I mention we will be doing this in Spanish? Yeah, that should be interesting. I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize to the students who have to listen to us butcher their beautiful language and talk to them about balance statements… double whammy. Anywho, it should be great practice for us, so I am actually rather excited. The following week we get our site assignments, for which we are all getting more and more anxious. The other day a current volunteer from Peru 12 (if you recall from previous blogs, I’m Peru 13.. stay with me people) came to give a little educational chat and showed some pictures of his town. He is in the environment program, and most of them are in very tiny, very remote communities. He lives in a town of 300 people smack dab on top of an Ande. He had some incredible stories that make me want to visit, but not live in, his town. The best example: His town got into a fight with a neighboring town over a cattle dispute. There were machetes involved. That’s right: machetes… and these machetes were being thrown. One man took a machete to the back and another got a graze across the skull. My list of things that would cause me to go home now include:


1. Being attacked by a rabid bat; and

2. Being injured by machete, even if only a “graze”


I know I am here for the “experience” and all, but throw me a bone here… I just don’t think I could handle that. I’ll try to find a link to his blog and post it on here. He will clearly have better stories than me… at least I hope. Okay, so back to my life. This week has actually been quite eventful. First of all, we have experienced the fourth day of massive strikes since I’ve been here. The people have been striking for various causes, but the majority of the strikes have been transportation-related. The government raised the fines for traffic violations, such as speeding, running red lights, etc. The people have a serious beef with this and thus have organized nation-wide strikes by all public transportation. Even the good ole mototaxi drivers are throwing their hats in the ring. It is quite debilitating, as most people do not have their own car and rely entirely on public transportation. The result is that schools are closed (except for mine, I’ll get to that momentarily) and nobody can get to work. Way to give it to ‘The Man,’ people of Peru. Apparently the police got involved in the center of Lima and were able to get some transport running, but they definitely didn’t make it as far as my little community. To ensure that the strike would persevere regardless, some rascals in my town littered the streets with giant boulders and tree trunks, thus preventing any ambitious drivers from getting to and fro. The result is that I had to truck it 45 minutes to the next closest town for language class and stay there most of the day. Tomorrow the Peace Corps is going to send some “unmarked vehicles” around to collect us and hope that we aren’t mistaken for public transport, which would clearly result in rocks to the windows and tires. Just another day at the office!


In addition to the strikes, last Sunday was a HUGE day for our little town of Yanacoto. Right now, we only have access to water for one hour, twice a week. Everybody has a tank on the roof that they fill up as a reservoir, but once this is gone, it’s gone. Better plan your icy cold shower accordingly! They would really like to have more frequent access, and after some serious pestering, they were able to get an audience with some big-to-do fellow from the government in Lima. He was invited to a town meeting, and the townsfolk spent weeks preparing. They strung Peruvian flag banners all over, gathered up every musician and dancer they could find (I was awakened at 6:00 am by a 10-piece brass band positioned casually on someone’s roof). They even had a parade to welcome/impress the special guest. Definitely not the typical town-hall meeting in the U.S., which nobody ever attends. Oh no sir, every single person living in Yanacoto attended and stayed all day. Men and women were in their finest dress, and every Mototaxi bore some lovely streamers or balloons. A few little entrepreneurs came out to sell snacks and popsicles to the masses; the whole event had a very carnvialesque feel to it. Although I may have lost something in translation, I think it ended with a promise that they would have more water access by 2011 (may want to hold off on booking your trip to Yanacoto until then). Afterward they celebrated with lots and lots of drinking. I left pretty early, but I could hear the festivities continuing on well into the night, as the brass band competed with the speaker-strapped car for the honor of most obnoxious. I don’t know if I can really make you all appreciate how excited people were about this town meeting without some pictures and videos, so here goes:

The town dressed in her Sunday-Best:

Mototaxi looking all spiffy:

Even my dog Rambo (in the middle) didn't want to miss out on the action:

*** I have two GREAT Videos from this event, but the Internet is questionable at best right now, so I'm going to have to post these at a later date... you must come back to view. All apologies!

Although this blog post is getting a bit wordy, I feel that this a good place for an important disclaimer*. I’ve had more than a handful of people email me on the side and ask if I’m “really doing okay.” Upon looking over my last few blogs, I realize why there is such concern… I’ve certainly been a little more negative than intended. Guess I was just trying to keep my audience entertained! Nobody likes a Debbie Downer, however, so I would like to take a moment and set your minds at ease: I am incredibly happy right now. Although I miss people and conveniences of home, I cannot get enough of this country. My favorite part is clearly the Peruvians themselves; the best way to describe them is that they are transparent. They put on no airs and truly know who they are; it is utterly refreshing to be around. In addition, the more I learn about the Peace Corps, the more fortunate I feel to be a part of it. I have so much respect for my country for starting this program and continuing to fund it. Not only does it have some of the loftiest and noble goals, but it employs the best and the brightest to educate and facilitate its volunteers. I feel so honored to be chosen as a representative of the United States here in Peru, and I will do my best to represent it well. Now, before I climb too far up my high horse, I do want to remind myself and others that I am currently being paid by the government to learn Spanish and gallivant around Latin America. It rocks. Bring on the rabid animals and machetes!

*To the Peace Corps Peru Country Director, Mr. Michael Hirsch: Thank you for reading my blog! I hope I don’t say anything to embarrass you. I would like to take this moment to say that I had already typed the above disclaimer prior to your conversation about keeping blogs “positive,” so I am not doing this out of guilt, I promise! Keep up the great work!