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Sometimes you've got to get out of town even if it means piling in a minivan with 17 people squeezed into way fewer seats. Also this is what I look like. #lunahuana #peruadventure #peacecorpsresponse

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Questions...

The last 2 1/2 months in Peru have been... confusing. The amount of questions I have is astounding. Thankfully every day brings answers (like if Peru makes amazing coffee, how come no one here drinks it? And if you don’t run fast enough across the street WILL that mototaxi really hit you? Like that). Time answers many and people sometimes help or at least attempt to point me in the right direction (often leading me to more conundrums). 

Yet oh so many questions remain answerless. Here are my top 10 questions in no particular order. If you have an answer, feel free to share.

1. If you find cockroach legs of different sizes and colors all over your floor but no cockroaches, what happened?

2. When washing dirty clothes, if the water in the rinse bucket is incredibly dirty, how do you know if your clothes are still filthy or if your water is that gross?

3. Is it worse to shower in water that smells like fishy sulfur or just not shower that day/week?

4. If the medical team calls you to tell you that several cases of Zika and Dengue have been reported in your area and they give you 2 (for a total of 3) mosquito nets to cover your windows and doors as well as a huge can of repellent, do you tell them you have no roof?

5. Is dousing yourself with deet twice a day better or worse than getting Zika or Dengue?

6. If Peruvians don’t care about being on-time, how come so many of them wear watches? 

7. Who knew that soy sauce and Chinese food would be the hardest gluten to avoid in Chincha? 

8. How do you effectively explain to your friend that doing yoga is not worshipping other gods and it is okay for a Christian to practice yoga?

9. If there are moths inside of your bedroom even though mosquito netting covers your door and windows, where are they coming from?

10. Do the mototaxi drivers really think if they honk enough times, slow down enough, or shout at you loud enough that you’ll really change your mind and get in for a ride?  

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It’s Me Again. In Peru.

I’m not sure if this is the best venue or not for blogging but I figured as I begin my 3rd month in Peru, it’s high-time I start documenting something or other. So here we are again. I’m sitting in my favorite (re: only) coffee shop in the city of Chincha. I’m about 2 hours from Lima in a car or 4 by bus. I’m in the region of Ica. I’m the green-eyed gringa of Chincha. I was interviewed for the local channel when I arrived. I’ve been recognized on the street. Yet, it’s not a tiny town. It’s a good-sized city. A big city without the big city resources I am quickly learning. I’ll get to that.    

I took a position with Peace Corps Response. It’s the professional branch of the  Peace Corps. My experience here in Chincha though is apparently very similar to the usual Peace Corps positions in that I have no idea what I am doing and I have no guidance whatsoever. Welcome to Chincha! 

It is different however in that I applied for this specific position and they requested someone with my experience and then I accepted this specific job as Environmental Education Consultant. So here I am. But not quite sure what to do. I’m working for the Municipality and so far it’s like a small-town Peruvian version of Parks and Rec. I understand about 1/3 of anything happening around me but I’m realizing that the majority of the time I DO understand, but nothing makes sense. It’s working for the city government in the states times 500. Read: super disorganized and half the time people are playing games on their phones or looking for their next favorite karaoke song. 

Now, I realize Peace Corps volunteers often have blogs and they share those blogs. If I’m really going to write what’s going on, I’m not so sure I want Peace Corps reading this (translation: what if I want to talk smack about someone?!). i’ll start with my counterpart. Nice guy. Plays soccer. Invites me to random things and then sometimes shows up. Offered to cook me a chicken dinner but then never called to tell me where. Offered to make another chicken dinner (yes I made sure it was not just the 2 of us) and again he never called but when I gave up waiting and went for a walk and to eat popcorn for dinner, apparently he showed up at my door with the chicken. What?

This brings me to my apartment and why it’s not an ideal place to cook a chicken or host more than 1 human at a time. I’ll get back to my counterpart, The Engineer, later. There’s a whole lot more there. I have a room with windows which look into a space I call “my living room” but really it’s a square with a sink and a door to my bathroom. This area has no roof. Now, you’re probably thinking a cool jungle dwelling. Nope. I’m in a city. A real city. It doesn’t really rain which is good because right, I have no roof. It’s an amazingly dusty city. Also, my upstairs neighbors have a window above my roofless area. This means I do not walk out of my room unless fully clothed. It also means I clean up random things spilled out their window and onto my floor. The first week was a purple corn drink called chicha morada- delicious but not so nice splattered on my floor. 

My kindly landlord/landlord’s son helped me shop for stove parts so I have a gas burner with a big ol tank of gas I bought from his friend. The whole business seemed sketchy but I’m not sure what I would do without it. Actually, I do. I’d eat 2-3 meals a day out. Instead, I get to walk through my marketplace (the small one near my house Mercado Modelo, not the gigantic one down a ways) shopping for ingredients for that day’s lunch. Now, I have no fridge, nor oven nor anything else you’d imagine in a kitchen so I have to shop accordingly. I’m also into saving the money I make here for travel. I have a bowl, a mixing bowl, a mug, a pot, a fork, a knife, and TWO spoons. Most of these things were given to me by colleagues after laughter subsided when I told them about my apartment. There’s not much to splurge on here in Chincha so I’m super good with my rice dishes with a rotation of avocado, tuna or eggs- pretty much every day. Plus I eat a bucket of fruit every day. Like today I spent about the equivalent of $1.50 on a cherimoya, 3 little bananas, 1 prickly pear, and 2 granadias. So I’m good.  

Oh, also I have no hot water. This would be okay since it’s pretty warm out except that my water tank is unusual and is underground so my water is ice cold. Ice. I heat up a pot at a time of water to fill a bucket and I bathe with that. Again, I’m not in a cool rural setting. Also, the tank generator is in my “open space” so when my neighbors’ tanks need filling it goes through my apartment. I’m not at all sure the mechanics of it but I know it causes an ear-splitting sound at all hours and lasts about 30-40 minutes. 

If anyone is out there and if tumblr still works these days, hey, here I am again.

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Hazy day in the desert. (at פארק ספיר)

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Lamb, pot, rug. (at Fez, Morocco)

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Lovely ladies of donostia- nos vemos pronto en la playa! (at Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain)

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#cycle #intxaurrondo (at Intxaurrondo Kultur Etxea)

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Already miss this little nugget. (at Perrières, Basse-Normandie, France)

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Oscar Lou. Bath time. (at Périers, Manche)

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#normandy #omahabeach #dday (at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial)

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Nazi bunkers and artillery damage #dday #omahabeach (at La Pointe Du Hoc)

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Drive to Normandy. Adam says God is barfing a rainbow. (at Normandy, France)

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Storm's a brewin'. (at Playa Zurriola)

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Storms a comin'. (at Playa Zurriola)

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Sunny day in Donosti.

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My school people.

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Spooky evening in Gros. (at Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain)