6th month update

Hey everyone, I hope this new blog finds everyone in health in happiness. I’m sitting in my room waiting for the sun to come up, which usually happens at about 9:00 am these days. I’m wearing three layers, a down vest and a stocking hat just to stay warm! After the rain stopped the temperatures started getting pretty cold at night, we usually wake up to frost and ice on the ground. But there’s nothing to be alarmed about because once that good ole’ BOB (big orange ball) comes peeking up over the mountain it warms up pretty quickly. Its funny to say, but I usually start my day out in a stocking hat and end up putting on sunscreen before lunch!

So I’ve officially passed my 6 months in site road marker on this crazy journey. 6 months in site, 8 months in Peru, its amazing how fast its been going. I think lately its been flying by because I’ve been traveling quite a bit to other areas. It’s a safe bet to say that in these last few months I’ve left my site atleast twice a month, each time for about a week. We’ve had things like Early IST where we went to Chiclayo and Chongollapay for some training and updates from the Peace Corps. Then I had a PEPFAR Initiative meeting in Ica which is an initiative that’s being pushed throughout all Peace Corps countries to try and increase the amount of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention activities. I’m actually going to be the Yauyos representative on the HIV/AIDS Peace Corps committee when all the Peru 12’ers I’m working with here leave in 5 months. And most recently I also sat through the Congreso Regional de Educacion Ambiental presentation in Huancayo, which I just got back from yesterday. Of course I never thought the Peace Corps demanded this much travel from its volunteers, but then again being a volunteer in Peru is so much different then other countries. First of all, I think since we have such an integrated bus system here in Peru the main office can use that to its advantage. And secondly I just think that living in such a large country makes any trip many times longer than normal (It took me two days of traveling to get to Early IST!) I stop and wonder what service is like for people in countries like Togo, Africa which looks about the size of Rhode Island and is surrounded by countries that may or may not let you cross into their borders. I don’t feel like my traveling is affecting my service or integration at all, considering just yesterday getting back from Huancayo I was invited to another Ranza (a work party where they put new ribbons in the cows ears) about 30 minutes after getting back to my house. But I do feel that when trying to explain being a volunteer to my community its kind of hard to talk my way out of the question that always comes up, “if you’re a volunteer, how do you pay to travel?” Though, with the help of some other Peace Corps friends that have been here a year already, I’ve realized that being in site with occasional travel ends up being a healthy combination. For one thing some of the meetings and presentations I go to the Peace Corp pays to send a community member from my site to come with me. This is surely a positive thing when considering one of our goals here is to develop community leaders and project managers that live in our local communities. The other thing I like to remind myself is that this experience is just as much an opportunity to improve your community as it is to experience the country in which you are living. So do I feel bad being away from site to long? Yes, undoubtedly, its what I’m here to do. But I’m also incredibly grateful that I’ve seen so many places in Peru already, and only plan on seeing more.

As for my projects in site, I’ll give a quick shout out to what I’ve accomplished so far. I would say the majority of my time is spent in the schools these days, teaching environmental education with Prof. Walter and his Agro-pecuaria classes. We’ve built a micro-relleno, a compost pile, a school garden, and occasionally we work in the tree nursery and take care of the trees we planted early in the year. I’ve also bumped my micro-relleno count to six; four more to go and I’ll reach the project goal of atleast 10 in a volunteer’s site. I’ve also been spending quite a bit of time in the tree nursery by myself, just weeding and watering and taking care of the over 800 trees I need to plant next year to reach the other project goal of over 1000 trees planted in site. So far I’d say I’ve been a pretty productive volunteer, and I’m incredibly pleased with how well my Spanish is improving and how many cultural events in my town I’ve been able to participate in. I can only say I felt pretty integrated when the town president offered to bring his daughter back from Lima where she’s studying and “introduce us” sometime. I had to laugh because he was three sheets to the wind on chamis (Peruvian moonshine) and could barely stand, but I couldn’t help but think it was an “I love you man” sort of drinking moment that really only happens amongst friends.