Since I don't have new photos, here's me and Nikki building cocinas mejoradas in Santa Cruz

Ok, so I just posted 3 days ago, and not much has happened since then, but  I wanted to get back on schedule. I did not end up getting the proforma (estimate) for the cocina materials Friday as hoped, but now at least I have the exact list of materials I need…and I will get a proforma for sure on Tuesday… (things always demorrar/take more time than you think in Peru).

I did, however, go to Lima and get my bike: STORM. (What? Another trip to Lima? you say. I thought you weren’t supposed to leave Ica until March-ish? True, I would tell you, except when you are being chaperoned by your regional coordinator to buy a perfectly authorized PC bicycle: STORM). Obviously, I am very excited about my bicycle: STORM (STORM is written on the side of my bike, and that is its current official name…though suggestions are welcome). I also got a new camera, so more pictures to come soon!

STORM was custom made with front end suspension in about an hour in a slightly sketchy biker alley in Lima. I’ve never had a bike with any kind of suspension before, so I’m pretty stoked. I’m really stoked to have the freedom to get out to my caserios via bike (aka get to go whenever I want whether or not there’s a colectivo), and to be able to bike for exercise. Now I can be the crazy white chick who runs and bikes.

I got back to Rio Grande today and fellow Volunteer Eben and I took our bikes for a spin. We went down the occasionally paved (mostly pothole/gravel/rock “road”) to my caserios, a road which has many a rise and fall. I must say, I have not done a lot of biking in the past. And I have never been mountain biking (this probably wouldn’t classify as such, but it’s certainly more intense biking than this city girl has ever done).  I have to hand it to biking. Biking is…much harder than I thought. Especially on such terrain. I have a lot to learn, but I’m really excited for this new form of transportation. Also, my butt is really sore…

WATSAN Peru 18 at swearing in (since I never posted those photos)...probably the best we will ever look during our PC service ;p

With the engineers doing the trash study

Last Monday I went around with the Engineers from the Ministry of the Environment to help with their trash study. It was pretty cool realizing how much I could help them out, and how much I’ve figured out about Rio Grande; though obviously I still have a ton to learn.

Tuesday I was supposed to go to La Isla with my water system people, but of course that did not happen. Instead my water system operator bought me a papa rellena (filled potato) and some jugo de cebada (juice) and drew me a map of the water system, so no biggie. I did my first 3 encuestas/surveys! Woot woot! I still want to change mine, but I’ve also printed a bunch, so I want to use those, and I just plain want to get started. I also went with the engineers to the caserios of Santa Rosa and La Rancheria to check out the trash situation, which looks to be worst in Santa Rosa (people in Rio Grande often complain about how little people in Santa Rosa care for the environment).

Wednesday I visited the “oxidation lagoon”, where the sewage of Rio Grande goes. It is not so much an oxidation lagoon as a giant lagoon of sewage. There’s not a lot of oxidizing going on, and the place is completely inaccessible because of the amount of brush, trees, plants and animals there. Also, apparently, the river infiltrates the “lagoon” everywhere. Not at all a public health hazard…

I also did laundry, which is no small feat if you’ve ever done your laundry by hand, especially in a situation with limited water and with a healing broken pinkie. And cleaned my room. Booyah.

Charla on Tratamiento de Agua en Casa and Reciclaje y Compostaje in the Rio Grande Comedor

Thursday I basically spent all day planning the most amazing charla/talk in the world. I felt my previous cocina charlas (talks for my cocinas mejoradas project) could have been a lot better, so I wanted to really knock this one out of the park. It was on tratamiento de agua en casa (treatment of water at home) and reciclaje and compostaje (recycling and composting). Though Maria Bautista, my socia, couldn’t make it (again), the engineers from Lima came to the charla, and one of them even helped me present! And, I am not going to lie, we were a huge hit. The ladies at the Rio Grande Comedor Popular Virgen de Fatima were so impressed; they bought us a 3 liter bottle of Inca Kola, high praise. These ladies are just awesome. They actually come to the charlas, they participate enthusiastically, and by the end of the meeting they were already talking about getting all their materials together! (Usually things don’t happen so quickly here in Peru.) Highlight of the week for sure. My favorite parts:

• I had them do a blindfolded taste test of the three different kinds of treated water (boiled, chlorinated, and SODISed – left out in direct sun for 6 hours – it works!).
• I also brought a bunch of objects and had them guess how long they would take to decompose. They guessed nothing would take longer than a month – including the plastic bottle, so boy were they surprised to learn it would take 500 million years to decompose…

Where Rio Grande's trash goes...an archaeological site.

Friday I rode around with the engineers in the trash truck. Turns out all the trash in Rio Grande (that is lucky enough to get collected), is dumped in a botadero (aka just dumped), which also happens to be an archeological site.

Saturday we had our Regional Meeting in Ica. It’s always a blast to see the other volunteers and to pick up my mail – a huge THANK YOU to: Elizabeth, Joeli, Becca, Mom and Marie & Bud!!!

Then it was off to Lima. We’re not supposed to leave Ica for our first 3 months of PC service, but the doctors wanted me to get my pinkie checked out, and, yup, looks like I’m going to rehab! (Physical therapy.) For the rest of my life, I will always have an awkward, fat, malformed pinkie to remind me of my PC service! I also learned that my teeth have been developing sensitive spots because of the lack of fluoride in the water here. That trip ate up a bunch of time, so I am glad to be back on the grind in Rio Grande. Yesterday I did more encuestas/surveys, and today I met with the Director of the high school about starting my English teaching for summer vacation classes (vacaciones utiles). I also did my last charla at the Comedor in Rio Grande! The ladies have almost all their materials for their cocina together! (I can’t believe how quickly they’ve moved along with this project – super exciting!) And they want to do exercise classes with me haha. Love them. Looks like I’ll be heading to Palpa tomorrow in the hopes of purchasing cocina materials!

2012: the end of the world! Until then, though, I’ll keep working.

It’s been an exciting start to the year. I wrote up a mini-informe of my activities for the month of December for my socios (counterparts). Met with the President of the AUSAPSA (our water committee) (again), in an effort to get the receipts for Beto’s water project (again)…still no luck.

My system operator, Chacalon, adding solution to the hipoclorador.

My water system operator is awesome, and he took me to inspect the reservoir along with the engineer in charge of the water systems in Palpa (my province). They’ve been experimenting with a modification on a hipoclorador (method of chlorinating water to make it safe to drink) recommended by the health ministry. However, not all water systems are created equal. It turns out that the flow rate in my reservoir is very high (12 Liters per second), and the water is way under-chlorinated. (It is still the best maintained system in Palpa, thanks to my awesome system operator.) My operator has manually been adding 300 grams of HTH (33% chlorine) every 1.5 days…when it turns out the reservoir needs 3.2 kg daily.

Rio Grande's gravity fed water reservoir.

In order to effectively chlorinate the water, we need to install cloracion por goteo (a drop system), so we’ll see if that works out. The water in Rio Grande is pretty safe; it comes from a spring, and many people boil it before drinking it (but many don’t). The water situation in Rio Grande is much better than in the anexos and caserios. But compared to American standards… I did get to do some household testing for residual chlorine (shows the water has been treated), with the Ing. Juan de Dios (Palpa engineer), and many of the tests showed some, if not ideal, levels of residual chlorine – but that was because we added more chlorine to the reservoir right before the test.

In other exciting news, we inaugurated the GORGEOUS new health center (an event 2 years in the making). It is extremely impressive. It is clean, it has water and grass and scales and beds for patients. It’s basically a miracle in itself. The priest blessed the center, they cracked a bottle of champagne, revealed the inaugural stone tablet, raised the Peruvian flag and sang the national anthem, everyone (including the madrina and padrino– every ceremony needs a godmother and godfather here) gave a speech, there was a toast, with alcohol.

No it's not Willow Smith. It's another little girl at the Rio Grande health center inauguration.

Then a little girl did an extremely sexual Amazonian type dance. Then the food was served, sopa seca (which translates as dry soup; it’s noodles and a bean-potato-y sauce mixture; no ceremony in Peru is complete without food.) Then music began playing. Most people other than the health post staff left. And that’s when the party really got started. A giant bottle of pisco was busted out, and everyone proceeded to drink and dance in earnest. After an appropriate number of dances and a few mandatory cups of pisco, I politely snuck out.

Maria Bautista bailed on me for a planned charla/talk (Rutas de contaminacion/Vectors of contamination and Lavado de manos/Handwashing) for the Comedor Popular (popular eatery where we are building a cocina mejorada/improved stove). Fortunately I was able to recruit another Peruvian nurse to accompany me, and the charla was a great success.

This weekend fellow Volunteer Raquel and I went to Changuillo to assist fellow Volunteer Eben with a charla. Like me, Eben is in his district capital (he is in the town of Changuillo, the center of the District of Changuillo; I’m in Rio Grande, the center of the District of Rio Grande). Changuillo is much smaller than Rio Grande population-wise (about 600 people compared to about 5000 people for me). I would describe it as more rural (it is more separated from the PanAm), and has fewer resources. Eben is more isolated than I am mobility wise (because he’s not on the PanAm, it’s much harder for him to get anywhere). He is also living a little rougher; he only gets water from about 6am to 9am.

I must admit I got a little site envy visiting Eben. He took us to the ruins of a Spanish Cathedral from the 1700s – one of the coolest things I think I’ve ever seen. There were no tourists and no signs (in fact, there was trash, graffiti, and human poop inside). The place was half collapsed (probably in the 2007 earthquake), but absolutely gorgeous. I wish I had pictures, but, alas, my camera… It’s just crazy to see this evidence of the Spanish conquest in such a small place. You could see how they mixed traditional Catholicism with local traditions – there were traditional frescoes as well as indigenous faces carved into the stone of the church.

Eben managed to get most of the presidents of his caserios/anexos to come to Changuillo (no small feat considering scheduling and the lack of mobility – he recruited the town ambulance driver to pick them up) for the meeting. We presented Peace Corps, our mission, our WATSAN program goals, and the types of projects Eben will be doing. Then we had them make a community map – a pretty awesome way to learn about a community. Community mapping isn’t just about where things are, but what is important to people, where people spend their time, where people meet, and the strengths and problems of the community. They identified lack of sufficient water, lack of any form of sewage, and lack of sufficient health services as their three main needs. But they were also quick to realize that constructing a sewage system is a massive undertaking, and that, in the meantime, latrines could serve them well. All in all, an inspiring meeting!

Rio Grande from the water reservoir.

Now I’m back in Rio Grande, as are some engineers from the Ministry of the Environment in Lima who are working on a trash study for a sanitary landfill, so I’m trying to help them out and learn from them as much as possible.

Side note: Though I haven’t gotten out much to the caserios/anexos (because of the lack of transportation…can’t wait for my bike! PC Volunteers are prohibited from riding motorcycles, a major form of transportation here, even though PC Volunteers used to be issued motorcycles!), I do run along that road (so at least I’m on waving terms with a lot of people). Not many people, especially women, exercise/run in Peru. I’m mostly known in the caserios as “that crazy white chick who runs for exercise”…but at least I’m known!

Additional side note: My pinkie should be healed, but can’t bend…so, we’ll see how that goes…

Annnnd, today is my (American) dad’s birthday, so happy birthday dad!!!

(I realize I haven’t done this before, so retroactive birthday shout outs to: Meg, Mom, Joeli and Dani!!!)

Looking like a Volunteer! With The Angel in Rio Grande.

Christmas Day 2011 = broke my left pinkie. How’s that for epic? It does make typing rather difficult… I can’t say much in my defense, except that Peru is definitely a country where you need to be looking down while walking. There are unexpected holes in many places. Though, alas, I cannot even say I was felled by a hole. I simply tripped, and…broken pinkie finger. It’s just the phalange closest to my hand, so it should heal in about 15 days. Only my second broken bone ever (the first was a broken collar bone sustained during an intramural floor hockey practice my senior year of high school).

My week got more Christmas-y when I got to meet fellow PCV Nikki’s family, visiting for the holidays. We made gingerbread houses, ate M&Ms, sat around and played guitar, harp, and sang. It was really lovely.

I had to go into Ica to get my finger x-rayed, where I also had the delight of picking up some AWESOME holiday packages and letters! (Shout out to mom, dad, Ellen, Annie, Meaghan, Mara and Lea — ya’ll made me cry…). My appointment took forever and I ended up spending the night at Patt Orr’s, a third year Volunteer living in Ica. One thing I love about PC is the immediate friendship and trust between fellow Volunteers — I didn’t even know Patt Orr, but he met me for dinner and let me crash at his place.

Work wise, I finally got my business cards. Miguel Angel “the Angel” came for a visit. He’s my Peruvian Regional Coordinator (I think PC Peru is very lucky and more effective because we have Regional Coordinators). The Angel has lots of experience in the NGO world and a PC car at his disposal. He knows what our lives are actually like in-site, can provide support, and can also help people in the PC office in Lima understand our situation. I really enjoyed showing him around my site and aprovechar-ing (taking advantage of) the movilidad (mobility). Budget cuts have really affected us, to the point where not everyone who wants/needs a bicycle will be able to get one. Luckily, I’ve made the cut. Can’t wait for my bike so I can more easily get out to the caserios/anexos (small surrounding towns) which really need the most help.

Nurse Maria Bautista giving our first cocina charla!

This week Maria Bautista, my socio (counterpart) for the cocina project and  I gave our first charla/talk on Rutas de Contaminacion and Lavado de Manos (Vectors of Contamination and Handwashing) at the Rio Grande school. It went really well!

And, of course, it was New Years. Which has a lot more tradition surrounding it here in Peru than in the US. It really depends on where in the country you are, because there are lots of different traditions. But here, you must be wearing new yellow underwear for good luck! You eat 12 grapes at midnight and make a wish on each one. You can also run around the block with your suitcases to bring you travel in the new year. And you can burn a doll of all the bad stuff in your past. And there are lots of fireworks! Pretty cool.

Wishing you all the best for the New Year!

Left to my own devices, I discovered all the health center staff in Rio Grande were attending a two day capacitacion (training) on nutrition at the consejo/municipality. Uninvited, I showed up at 9am (I heard it was supposed to start at 8am), and they were just getting started. The training was very interesting; I enjoyed observing a skilled Peruvian facilitator. He made lots of references to the Inca, and to God (there were even power point slides dedicated to God and Jesus), and incorporated lots of dinamicas (active icebreaker games). At times the workshop felt a little disjointed. He talked about the Millenium Development Goals (if you don’t know what those are, click on this link right now!), efforts to decentralize the Peruvian government, ways the municipality and the health post can work together to obtain funding, malnutrition (23.3% of children under 5 are chronically malnourished in Peru), communication, etc.

Then I headed to Palpa to celebrate fellow Volunteer Eben’s 24th birthday! We got some pollo a la brasa (roasted chicken), jumped on a trampoline (and I bruised my bum), played bilingual scattegories, and ate traditional Christmas Paneton.

Paneton!

Which brings me to Noche Buena (the good night — Christmas Eve, when Christmas is celebrated here in Peru).

For Christmas, local governments hold chocolatadas in all their anexos and caserios (surrounding towns). This involves giving out chocolate milk, Paneton, and a present for each kid, bought and paid for by the government.

Here in Rio Grande, the government had all the mothers and their children exit an enclosed compound to wait in line for their toys and food. This led to MADNESS. Mothers (and fathers) were pushing each other out of the way, jostling for a good spot in line, complaining that other kids got better toys…

My family was pretty chill about celebrating Christmas. We put up two strings of blinking lights downstairs. I helped my mom make the delicious traditional chocolate milk (cocoa, water, special chocolate, cinammon, ground sesame seeds, and evaporated milk — the main kind of milk drunk here), and we picked up 3 chickens that they paid “El Gordo” (the fat one)/”El Moreno” (The black/brown one) to bake (ovens are a rare commodity). We drank our chocolate milk and ate our paneton well before midnight (the traditional hour for eating dinner), and ended up going next door to abuela’s/grandmother’s to eat our chicken close to midnight. I was in bed by midnight…but didn’t get to sleep until 5am, because the municipality was blasting music until that hour from the loudspeaker system in the plaza which has a convenient angle directly into my room.

I have to say…it doesn’t feel too much like Christmas, or December, to me. Maybe because I am very hot and so far from so many family and friends. It is hard to believe I’ve been here for four months now.

But I did get to talk to family and friends yesterday, and that was wonderful! And I’ll be getting together with my new Peace Corps family in the next few days

Well, Merry Christmakkuh and Feliz Navidad!  Thank you so much for all your love and support. Know that I am thinking of you and wishing you all the best during this holiday season. Much love from Peru!

Meeting her definitely made me realize how accustomed I’ve become to Peruvian hospitality. We stood there, talking to her outside her house (in the hot, desert, mid-day sun), for about 30 minutes. No Peruvian would have allowed that. We probably would have been invited in to the shade (or at least given chairs), and probably invitar-ed to some gaseosa (soda) and/or food.

The Canadian had two children, who had brought their iPod touches, iPads, and had an above-ground pool they were trucking in water from Palpa for.

I wonder…will that be me in 20 years? Will I be bringing my kids here to show them “this is where mommy used to live when she was an idealist”?

Also, check out this Huffington Post article.

Merry Christmas from Palpa/Nazca PCVs! (Clearly, the heat is driving us a little nuts...)

So. Tuesday night we had another despedida for Jess. We played Chinese Checkers, and got dressed up in ridiculous red and green clothes to take a family Christmas portrait.

With Beto and his Ceviche de Camarron!

Wednesday I spent the morning with Beto, and got to partake of some delicious Ceviche de Camarron the Alcalde had made for them (my favorite dish in Peru so far — Crawfish Ceviche!). Then I headed to Ica to do some errands (and snuck in a meal at the Croissonteria, aka Heaven — they have an extensive and delicious menu, and, get this, they actually have everything on the menu). I got some Christmas presents for my host family and got to see fellow WATSAN 18er Jen, who is living right outside of Ica in Guadelupe.

Santa Cruz. It is HOT.

Thursday through Sunday, I have been going to Santa Cruz with Nikki every day to train nursing students from the tecnico in Rio Grande about cocinas mejoradas (as well as get trained myself!). I may be biased, but I am a huge believer in this cocina model. It was designed by a Peruvian engineer in collaboration with GIZ (the German version of the US Agency for International Development/USAID). It is culturally appropriate, cheap, and makes a huge difference for families both in terms of health (reducing respiratory infections) and money/energy efficiency (by using 50-75 percent less firewood). Each cocina is custom made for each family based on the pots they use.

Cocina building also means a lot of getting invitar-ed — to gaseosa (soda), almuerzo (lunch), chocolatada and paneton (hot chocolate and fruit cake), giant pieces of watermelon, jello, etc. This time has been much more like what I thought my service would be like. Getting transportation in Santa Cruz is no simple feat. Nikki made a cocina schedule and distributed to all of the families, but often we go to the family whose cocina is supposed to be built that day, and they don’t have their adobe, or their mud, or they don’t have any water (they often only get water every 10-20 days in Santa Cruz), and we have to go see if another family is ready. There is a lot of sitting around and waiting (and sometimes getting to chill with the locals as they play guitar).

Making a loza (cement slab) for a cocina mejorada with some nursing students in Santa Cruz with fellow PCV Nikki

It is wonderful to see the pride these families take in helping build their own cocinas. I’m also really glad we’re able to introduce the nursing students to this idea; they seem really excited and keep commenting about making one for their own families.

This week I also helped Nikki paint her place, had the most delicious chupete I’ve ever had in Peru (a plastic tube of frozen juice…this one was strawberry and milk), went on a bike mission in Santa Cruz to get the fierro (rebar) we needed for a cocina, had my chakras read by Jess before she left, and had a delicious tamal in Palpa.

The river in Rio Grande is finally coming in! However, they’ve just started fixing the bridge over said river (from last year’s rainy season), causing delays on the PanAm as cars literally drive through the river (and occasionally get stuck) to get to the other side. Hopefully construction finishes quickly…

I found out that my Alcalde (Mayor) is doing his own cocina mejoradas project, but unfortunately I found out that the model he’s using is far from ideal (just building any kind of cocina is good, because if it has a chimney you’re automatically reducing respiratory infections, but in many cases a wood-burning fire can be more energy efficient than a cocina, if the cocina is not well-engineered. Shoot me an email if you’re interested in some reading about this!). So I showed him a manual written by a PC volunteer of a cocina model we’ve had a lot of success with, that reduces the amount of wood consumed from 50 to 75 percent! He seemed pretty receptive, so we’ll see!

The Comedor in Rio Grande's current cocina -- soon they'll have a cocina mejorada!

I also spent a lot of time this week working on my (/Beto’s) cocina project; I wrote up contracts for the recipients to sign, drafted a timeline (which my socio told me would be useless — we would just have to “see how it goes”), and met with fellow Volunteer and cocinaexpert Nikki (I feel so lucky to have her help, support, and guidance in this project! If not I would definitely have to re-invent the wheel, so to speak.)

A cocina mejorada!

I got 6 of the 7 cocina contracts signed last week, and the last one today. We’ll be building them for 2 families, and 5 industrial ones for schools and Comedores Populares (cheap, government subsidized eateries). I felt pretty awkward, because I was meeting all these people for the first time, and simultaneously asking them to trust me and sign this contract. I also took “before” pictures, showed them a photo of a cocina mejorada, the construction manual, and explained how it works and the health and environmental benefits. The contract I wrote up includes that they must provide adobe and barro (cheap, doable construction materials that I think will increase their investment in the cocinas) and at least one person to contribute manual labor for the cocina. It also includes that they must attend 4 out of 5 educational talks to receive their cocina, about vectors of contamination, handwashing, composting and recycling, home water treatment and nutrition (to make it a viviendas saludables project — healthy homes, and not just a cocina project). I also included that they promise to use their cocina every time they cook, and to maintain it as shown, as well as to call me if they have any maintenance problems. Also exciting, it looks like I’ll be training 13 nursing students (12 of whom are women) from the local instituto in how to construct a cocina mejorada, and hopefully get their help for the construction (and ensure that more people are aware of this technology and capable of instituting it in the future).

The Castilla/fireworks tower at Sara Marca for the Dia de la Inmaculada Concepcion

Thursday was Dia de la Inmaculada Concepcion (Day of the Immaculate Conception), aka no one went to work Wednesday or Thursday. I went with my family to the mining town where my dad works, about 45 minutes away, called Sara Marca, for a fiesta on Thursday with fellow Volunteer Raquel. It involved free food, dancing, Peruvian drinking circles (everyone drinks out of the same cup), and an incredible castilla (fireworks tower) built by a civil engineer. We got back at 3am. I got up at 7:30am, because the Alcalde told me we would be working on his cocina project on Thursday. We left at 11am for Pampa Blanca, the furthest caserio (town) in the District of Rio Grande, which, it turns out, is 2 hours away. We crossed the river 3 times in our very unequipped cab and got a flat tire on the way. It also turned out we were not going for a cocina project, but rather for a fiesta to celebrate the Immaculate Conception. This involved free food, Peruvian drinking circles (in which it is very rude to refuse alcohol), and dancing lots of Huayno (and it is very rude to refuse to dance with a man). I also got to bond with the Mayor’s wife, Marcela, who told me about her love of Guns’n'Roses and Alanis Morissette. I rode home in the trunk of the cab (a hatchback; I frequently ride in the trunk of cabs…) with her 3 year old daughter, also named Marcela, who had behaved the whole day (except for our cab ride home).

Friday I met up with Eben, Raquel and Nikki (nearby fellow Volunteers), and headed to Ica for our Regional Meeting, some much needed time out of site, and some much needed beer. We hit up the discoteca The Who. The Regional Meeting also involved Chicarron (delicious fried pork), for Matt Inbusch’s despedida (goodbye); he is the Volunteer coordinator in Ica, the third year WATSANer. His replacement is a Youth Volunteer, so it’s a bummer to lose all that technical knowledge, but luckily I have a lot of accomplished Peru 16ers in the region I can look to for support (the previous generation of WATSAN, they are 1 year into service). Post-meeting we all went to Matt’s apartment for a lovely fiesta.

Sunday night I was forced to go to yet another fiesta, this one for Jess and Beto’s despedida at Don Jorge’s bar in Palpa. (Yes, that’s right, Beto/Win Williams, the Volunteer I am replacing, has returned!!! Check out his blog.) I have basically been following him around and trying to suck up all his knowledge via osmosis.

Monday we went to Sara Marca, and I saw the entire process for how my dad mines gold. It is a small-scale cooperative type operation. A day’s work results in about 150 grams of gold; currently worth S/120 per gram (about $45). And how do they do it? With mercury. Lots and lots of mercury. That they handle without gloves or masks. The mercury has to be burned off of the gold in the last part of the process. For those of you who don’t remember non-digital thermometers (says the 22 year old), mercury is toxic, and persistent exposure is definitely not good for you…

Today, Beto and I reviewed his water project (which looks to be completed) with the AUSAPSA (water committee), went to Santa Rosa to sign the last cocina contract (where we ran into the health center ladies giving out presents and Paneton (fruitcake), a Christmas tradition, and I tried it for the first time!), walked about 3.5 km in the blistering heat to La Isla to walk his water project, and returned for lunch, which brings us to now!

P.S. The roadblock is over (for now! A new one looks to be starting in Pisco over cotton prices.) but while in Ica I got a TON of wonderful packages and letters (THANK YOU mom & Aunt Cathy!). For those of you on the fence about sending me mail or a package, do it. I promise to post an acknowledgement here, on this very famous blog. Is that not an incentive enough?!

I’m living in luxury by PC standards. I have my own bathroom with a flush toilet and a toilet seat – the PC equivalent of heaven. (Apologies to those of you sensitive to bathroom topics; discussing our bowel movements and other bathroom-related issues is prime fodder for conversation here in PC.) On the one hand, I’m grateful for my wonderful family and beautiful room. But on the other hand, I do wish I was having a more traditional(-ly pictured) PC experience. We don’t choose our sites, and of course it’s easy to look at the grass on the other side and all that. While I’m getting more with my room, I’m also told by other Volunteers that I’m over-paying, so that gives me pause with regard to my family.

It’s been a very interesting week so far. It’s quite an adjustment to be out of training, not having every minute scheduled, to be entirely on my own. To be honest, I’m a bit exhausted from training, so I’ve been trying to take it easy. I’ve been exercising every day, and sleeping til an astounding 9am (which I feel quite guilty about). The past two days I’ve indulged in a 1 sol snow cone – a welcome miracle in a country which generally believes that cold things make you sick.

I’ve spent most of the week getting settled and hanging out with the wonderful ladies of the health post, who I think will make fabulous socios (counterparts). They recruited me to judge a bulletin board contest for World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) at the secondary school, during which the doctor made every class to a condom demonstration. Day 3 in site and already involved in condom demonstrations! (This is pretty freaking cool, as Peru is a very Catholic country…clearly my site is on the liberal side.) The secondary school is great, they have a biohuerto (gardening) project going, as well as a cuy crianza project (guinea pigs), and while I was there they did a disaster prevention earthquake drill. I’m hoping to teach them how to compost and perhaps even eventually install a biodigester (which basically converts organic matter into methane gas). Everyone has been very welcoming and seems eager to work with me.

In the evening we did a pasacalle (literally: passing through the street/parade) with the nursing students at the instituto (higher education) for World HIV/AIDS Day. The woman in charge of the nursing program is eager to have me teach technical English to the nursing students in April, and perhaps even start an educational radio program with me! I’m hoping to collaborate a lot with the instituto.

I was barred from attending the residuos solidos (solid waste) conference in Lima because, “Volunteers are supposed to spend their first three months in site working on their community diagnostic.” But I am helping the engineers from the National Ministry of the Environment with their trash study of Rio Grande and cautiously excited about the possibility of a relleno sanitario (sanitary landfill) (cautious because they are extremely rare in Peru and extremely expensive, especially when you can burn your trash or dump it into a hole somewhere for free.

Friday, Miguel Angel “The Angel,” our Peruvian regional coordinator, took us to buy stuff (for our rooms) in Ica. It felt bizarre to spend money (we have a settling-in allowance). I purchased an electric kettle for boiling my drinking water as well as coffee, etc. I offered to share it with the family, but my host mom said to just keep it in my room – that she would never get used to using it and would stick with boiling her water on the gas burner. PC was right: it’s much easier to teach someone (aka kids) a new habit, than to change an established habit. I also purchased some egg crate to go on my mattress, which is about the softness of a hardwood floor. And I bought a lot of toilet paper. I also got to spend some time with fellow volunteers in neighboring Palpa (just 10 minutes and S/1.20 away (about 45 US cents)) which included cocktails made by a bartender trained in Argentina and a S/3 (about $1) dip in a local spring/pool. The Peru 16ers (I’m Peru 18, Peru 16 is the most recent crop of WATSANers, they are about 1 year into service) have been extremely welcoming and seem eager to help out us newbies. Which is great, because I have a lot of work to do!

I finally have the money from the volunteer I’m replacing for the pending Rio Grande water project, changing the PVC pipe from 2” to 4” to increase water volume. So this coming week I’m hoping to catch up with the water committee and sort that out. Monday I’m planning to meet with my so

FYI packages/mail will be delayed getting to me…a strike in San Vicente has shut down the PanAm (Pan-American Highway), a two-lane highway that is one of the only ways of transporting goods around the country. People are protesting the expansion of a jail (which they say will bring criminals mostly from Lima, and with them families who will make their neighborhoods more dangerous). On the plus side, my site is right on the PanAm, so it’s been unusually quiet (there are usually trucks going by every minute). On the downside, the economy is taking a hit to the tune of millions of dollars per day. Check out this article.

Peru 18 at swearing-in: WATSAN, MAC (Environment), and Health (they trained elsewhere)

Friday the goodbye madness continued. We had our official swearing-in ceremony with the US Ambassador to Peru and our PC Country Director. I took an oath to the Constitution of the United States, so help me God. And of course, we went out. We had to despedir the “Green Room” the exremely hole-in-the-wall dive bar in Santa Eulalia which we frequent. All 34 MAC and WATSAN PERU 18ers came out, and everyone stood up one at a time and said a few words.

We spent the next night in Lima, and today I am in my site for the next two years, Rio Grande. While most Volunteers say they don’t do much the first 3 months, and just slowly work on their community diagnostic, I have a feeling my life will be rather different. I already have 2 projects to do, leftover from the Volunteer I’m relplacing. Last night (about 5 minutes after my arrival in-site), I met 4 engineers working for the National Ministry of the Environment working on a solid waste project in Rio Grande who invited me to come to an annual conference in Lima on Thursday. It sounds like an incredible opportunity, but we’ll see if my APCD (aka WATSAN boss) lets me go — he sounds pretty hesitant, because I am “supposed to be in site working on my diagnostic.” We shall see.

Well, I´m off to go explore and plan. World AIDS Day is also Thursday. In the meantime, please enjoy this video that some dear PERU 18ers made for our despedida. There are a lot of inside jokes, but hopefully you still find it enjoyable. You get to see the Santa Eulalia training center, and Chosica (white Jesus). Check it out (sorry, I tried to embed it, but the computer was not happy): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGwpt_Dwr84