Goodbye April

Goodbye April

I just came inside from washing my bike after a long ride home yesterday. I was too exhausted to even think about whipping off all the mud when I arrived home in the afternoon. I got caught in yet another downpour, and even though they tell me the season is changing, I’ll believe it when I see it… I changed out of my wet clothes, emptied out my back pack, and left it all to dry on my balcony. I had come from Chota to visit Ann and help her to explore a neighboring town called Cesar Vallejo. One of the locales, a man named Constante Reyes, had received word that Ann and I were American volunteers living in the region. He contacted Ann by walking two hours to Chota just to meet her and see if he could program with her. I was planning on visiting her, as we seem to have been talking turns,
(she visits me in Carata, and in return I visit her in Chota) this is a good way for us to keep our sanity.

She asked me to say the night and go with her on Thursday morning to this small village. In the past I have done day trips to see her, staying overnight at Ann’s host families’ house allowed me to see her reality. Even though we are both volunteers who live in the mountains of the same region and we’re only 2 hours from each other, we live very differently. She had warned me that her family was very campesino (read= countryfolk), but it wasn’t them that jolted me, it was the condition of the house in which she lives. She has a small adobe room in the basement of the house, with dirt floors, and plastic tablecloths covering her ceiling to trap the dirt that falls when there is movement upstairs. She’s been fighting a nasty case of bed bugs since she arrived in January with no such remedy to cure. In fact, when Peace Corps came to visit our houses, she was told to find help to pour a concrete floor and repair the ceiling or find another host family. I guess after living in the D.R. as a volunteer for three years, she really has seen it all and can live much more simply than I, or maybe I am just a gay man?!

The beginning of the month went off with a bang, I continued to do the census in Nuevo California, attended a two day workshop in Otuzco on sexual health and birth control methods, went to our monthly regional health post meeting, had a site visit from PC and my program director, missed a town meeting, and baby sat some kids during the presidential election on the 9th. Candidate, Ollanta gained the most votes, than Alan, and Lourdes. The second round will be held in 1 month between Ollanta and Alan.

The next week was Semana Santa, and we were given four days off to enjoy time away from our sites. I had plans to go to a beach in Piura (6 hours north) but decided to stay local in Trujillo to be accessible to Jenni, knowing that she would be returning from Cusco to meet me. I spent a couple of days at my friend Isaac’s site, Pt. Chicama on the beach camping with other volunteers and watching a national surfing competition.

Jenni drove up to Trujillo from Lima on Easter Sunday. How wonderful it was to see a familiar face from home. Bill and she had already been in Peru for four days, which meant they had plenty of stories to tell. We visited the oldest adobe city in the world, called Chan Chan an ancient Inca historical site, and stayed two nights in Huanchaco the closest public beach to Trujillo. We had a great time recalling the past couple of months, updating each other with details, and I was finally able to meet Bill, whom she is currently dating.

We left the coast to climb 9,000 feet into the Andes where I reside in my small village. I couldn’t have them visit Peru without passing through my personal residence. So we arrived, and that’s when I began to feel the indescribable range of emotions of having my own sister experience for herself, my current life. Not 5 to 6 hours later, both Bill and she came down with the typical symptoms of sorroche, altitude sickness. The next morning it still hadn’t passed and Bill was feeling the effects even worse. They stayed recumbent for a few hours as I washed clothes, later in the afternoon they were feeling better to walk around and see some of Carata. We walked through the center of town, the church, the school and played basketball with some of the local kids. Yes, basketball, they were utterly confused, trying to kick the ball.

The next morning I was awoken early by Jenni encouraging me that the only way they could get better was to get to a lower elevation. Rapido. They were both still sick with nausea, muscle aches, lightheaded, a loss of appetite, weakness and diarrhea. I got them some local medication from the health post for their symptoms, but knew getting back to the coast was the best remedy. Hours later when we finally arrived in Trujillo I helped them check into a hotel so they could recuperate. Although the two of them got sick visiting me, I was amazed to see them make the best of the trip by connecting with my host family, giving me advice about potential projects, entertaining local schoolchildren and sharing American culture with Peruvians. By the time my next foreign visitor arrives, I’ll know better as to have them acclimate at lower elevations before climbing such a height.

I came back from Trujillo to learn that cell phone service has reached Carata. The signal is weak…I have two bars, lol. But this means I can make and receive calls. My phone is now more than just a flashlight and alarm clock! It’s quite unbelievable to not have plumbing, nor heat, or any major appliances but yet there is now cell phone service. I’m just going to wait and see how many of the locals, who can barely read, run out and buy a cell phone. (It will happen I’m assured) I also started teaching English this month, twice a week I teach two hour classes to 9th, 10th and 11th grade. It has its benefits and disadvantages; we’ll leave that for another entry.

And so now that the month is over, and both Mom and Dad have aged one more year, I say goodbye to April. And happy retirement Dad, I hope you’ll have time to do all those things you’ve wanted to accomplish. Next up is May, when Rosa and I go to Lima to learn about the SPA grant and how we can fund a few of our many projects planned during my service. Until than, I leave you with a few quotes from Peru 3 volunteers who are just one month short of completing their two year commitment. Congratulations my friends…you’ve taught us it is possible to survive this long, strange journey.

“I’ve learned that PC is about learning to live…really live. It’s learning how to laugh and cry at the same time when you don’t know what emotion your feeling. It’s being able to humble yourself enough to say, “I don’t know” and accept the help that your friends offer. It’s not being afraid to see a different way of life and allowing that to change you.” – Lindsay Parramore

“I’ve learned not to smother a perfectly good silence with chatter. I’ve learned that life shouldn’t surprise me, yet always does. And the universe, demanding as it sometimes is, says, “Here, this is your clay, offered up to you on a platter. Create something that will last.” ¡Carajo! – Angela Jones

Life has become about the “journey not the arrival, the voyage not the departure.”- Lina Biber-Ferro

Pics from April

The long walk home, A local resturant in Huanchaco,

Jenni and Bill, Thanks for visiting me!

Pics from April

Camping on the beach, Local dancers in Trujillo, The surf competition