Carata´s Anniversary, H20, and B-Day

June has come and gone so here are some updates from Carata Perú.

June 5th-8th brought four complete days of a fabulous party in my own village. The reason was to celebrate the town’s anniversary, and this meant lots of live music, dancing and the inevitable consumption of alcohol. For months I had been hearing about how great this party would be and that it was one of the best traditions, I obviously couldn’t miss it! And all the talk rang true. I was most impressed with the organization from locals and the amount of money spent. It dawned on me that these people really can get things done and work together if they have a common goal. We do have hope for future projects…maybe.

The first day of the party was complete with the receiving of the first marching band by the ¨mayordomo¨(who was the master of ceremonies and bankroller for most of the events). It continued with a procession of 8 donated cows that were killed to feed people for the week. The killing of the cows was incredible enough to witness. They were brought out to a field where men drove kitchen knives through their skulls until they dropped to the ground. I will never forget it. But wait it gets better…. The party continued with dancing and a youth talent show at night. The next day two more marching bands (of 25+ members) arrived. Rockets were shot off all day as early as 6am. Ann came from her site to visit and we danced, drank and hung out with my host family and the relatives (totaling 30 or more!). We watched a cock fight at an official corral, some local’s house. Cock fighting is a popular sport here, and very competitive and serious. Men raise specific breeds of roosters for fighting and bet on their performance. Ann was horrified, but I thought it was pretty sweet.

The electricity just went out, hours later I’m back retyping what I had written. The lights have been going out a lot lately. It’s so annoying. But I can deal with no electricity, it’s when the water goes. That’s really fun.

In the end the party was enjoyable, especially the ¨Castillos¨ which are large wicker towers they had built around town. At night they were lit and we enjoyed a pyrotechnics show of fireworks. Imagine a life-size erector set 6-8 stores high. Very impressive.

I’ve been working with other volunteers as a traveling theatre group presenting a simple play about a girl and her unhygienic habits. It’s a fun way for us to educate youth, especially the elementary kids and have a good time doing it. I’m eagerly awaiting the date when we reunite in my site to give the play to my school. I play a Peruvian doctor (very convincing, right?)

Another ongoing assignment is doing monthly water reservoir inspections in my town and surrounding villages. I’ve found that two of the four reservoirs have consistently failed code and could really use some help, one of the two being my own village! The water committee never meets, rarely cleans the reservoir, doesn’t treat the tank with chloride, and frequently encounter problems with broken tubes throughout the town. It’s a disaster really. I’m personally making an effort to work more in the area of water management with the ultimate hope of reforming the water committee, training them in how to work together, and how to maintain a healthy reservoir for the village. Our statistics show that the two towns with poorly functioning reservoirs are directly correlated with higher cases of illness and children with cases of diarrhea and parasites. Worse though, without clean water, we’re challenging communicable diseases, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to prevent.

June 17th was my 26th birthday, my first birthday spent out of country. I got some great phone calls cards and emails, thank you to everyone who contacted me! It was truly a wonderful birthday weekend. I traveled north to the coastal city of Chiclayo in the department of Lambayeque. My friends completely spoiled me by taking me to a country club to watch the US vs. Italy game, and eat and drink delicious food. A cake was brought out and moments later my friend Jean shoved my face into it (a Peruvian tradition). That night we went out to a club, and I received free drinks the whole night, complements of the club owner. It helps to know people I guess! Thanks Brent!

More recently, Juan and I have almost finished painting house numbers for the town. We’ve started nailing them to peoples houses and charging S/.1.50 equal to .45 cents. We’ve spent more than S/. 200.00 soles (Peruvian currency) on materials for the project. The idea is that we get reimbursed but sadly many people cannot even afford a .45 cent house number. It’s frustrating because we’ll surely be out money, but a common reality. I miss you all and think of you often from my adobe house in the mountains…Love Matt

PS- Congrats to PERU 7 who arrived at the end of this month, a fresh new group of Business and Youth Development volunteers!