Photos are just easier!

So here's one of the projects we've been working on finishing and finally completed last week! We slowly obtained enough 50 gal. drums to sand down and paint to use for trash cans in our town. We made three of "organics", three of "inorganics", and three more of "recyclables." Even though it took about two months to get everything together, the REALLY long part will be starting the presentations with my town teaching them what the differences are between the three catagories, and, hopefully, getting them into the habit of using them. The first photo is my very first presentation I gave; one down, who knows how many more to go!

Let’s slow it down a notch.

So I’m not going to lie, its gotten slow here in Miraflores. Mostly because after the rapid fire succession of being in-site for a week then out-of-site for a week for almost two months time seems to turn into molasses when I’m not looking to leave site for almost two or three weeks at a time. Granted we have “La Feria” (Fair) coming up next week where I should be able to see exhibitions of local food, customs, and dancing, and we also have Fiestas Patrias coming up at the end of the month, which should give me something to count down to. And honestly each day brings a new experience still so I shouldn’t really complain about time moving to slow, but there are days when your only plan is to sit and read a magazine in the sun because everyone is at their farms. I’m sure these slow days will be something I look back on when I’m surrounded by floresent lighting and irate bosses and wish I was back in Peru, so I’m taking them all in, enjoying them as they come, and reminding myself that this is just as much a part of Peace Corps as the days when you can barely get a meal in because it seems the few 300 people in my town all seem to realize they need you for something!

My town is in the dry season right now, and we’ve finished harvesting all the crops, so in general we’re in kind of a down season. But its okay because its also the time for one of the biggest fiestas which should be coming up in August. My school is also planning on building a fuel-efficient, smokeless stove called a “cocina mejorada” literally meaning “better stove” and I’m hoping other people in my town will show an interest and I can help them build their own. The problem I run into though since we have a big NGO working here in the region is that when you propose a project the families aren’t really keen on supplying the materials themselves since they are so used to the NGO just supplying things for them. It’s a hard habit to break, and I’m afraid unless I put up some of the materials nothing will really take off the ground, so its an obstacle I’ll just have to overcome.

Overall I’m still happy and healthy, staying warm and still eating way to many potatoes. Frieda and I are still happy as ever. We are “Peace Corps Dating” which means we see each other every few weeks and hopefully can send the occasional email or have a phone call hoping there’s electricity or a good signal. Her and I are planning on hitting the US Circuit Tour this Christmas and taking vacation together to visit each other’s homes, so I’m looking forward to introducing her to all you guys back home! Other than that all I have to say is no matter how slow time seems to be passing its hard to believe I’ll have been in Peru for one year in about two months!

I hope all is well back home, send me some emails some time, I love you all.

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.

Not much to say

Hey Everyone, its been awhile since I updated the ole' blog, sorry about that. I'm going to let the pictures speak louder than my words....

In this photo i'm standing with Senora Crespin and Senora Pedro after completing the "Campana de Limpieza" (Cleaning Campaign).

This is the micro-relleno, compost, and bio-huerto (small garden) area that Professor Walter and I constructed with the students of Miraflores.

This is me and my socio-communitario, Roy. We were about half-way through a hike that took us up to Huaquis (the ruins near my town) and down through some terraced farming and this little oasis where some incredibly old trees were growing over the path.

This is the group of B3 (builders beyond borders) teens from the US that came and helped us make some sanitary latrines for families in Ica.

....So i've been staying fairly busy, and since I just finished Early IST (In Service Training) in Chiclayo, i'm full of new ideas that I can take back to my community. But for now I just need to survive May since I have a two, four-day fiestas, the anniversary of Nor-Yauyos Cochas (the reserve that i'm living in), a camping trip with the volunteers of Junin, a tech-exchange with volunteers in Ancash, and of course Mother's Day ; ) Busy, busy, busy, but i'm loving every moment of it!

Two Posts In One!

I don’t really have much to blog about these days. I’m kind of in-between jobs right now since we finished the trash diagnostic and now we are waiting for the Campena de Limpieza (Cleaning Campaign.)

I’m growing accustomed to waiting, and I think that’s a big part of learning to be a volunteer. What I mean is waiting allows you to face the times Americans fear most; the time when you have nothing to do! Sure it’s incredibly cliché of me to start comparing the fast paced lives of Americans to the slower pace of my Peruvian country living, but it really is teaching me something. Its teaching me to enjoy walking to no where in particular, staring at nothing in particular, and not doing anything in particular. Its helping me appreciate simple conversations and knowing how to just BE. For example, today I went and picked mushrooms with my host brother and sister and its probably the most activity I’ll do all day (besides typing this blog.) But if I didn’t do this simple activity I wouldn’t have been able to participate in my little sister (3 year old, Pati) pretending to herd Chucho and I up a hill like cows. She had the “Vaca! Vaca! Arriba!” going and everything! It was hilarious, and totally made my day. Now I’m not saying I won’t get back to America and crave the fast paced life, because ultimately no matter how much a person travels they will never be able to escape the person they were raised to be. But I do know that this experience has helped me remember what its like to laugh and to know that life will give us the happiness we need to carry on as long as we have the patience to embrace the times when we have nothing to do.

The Projects Are Coming! The Projects Are Coming!

Yes, as the title implies, the projects are coming! We finished our trash diagnostic for our town and to quote the engineer after I turned in the information to her, “todos (everything) ESTA CORRECTO!” And yes, it was in capital letters. Though I felt the numbers were a bit off considering over half the town has left for the rainy season and most houses didn’t give us all their “true” trash because they were afraid of public scrutiny. Though in the end it turned out fairly believable, something around .85Kg per person per day. Now we are preparing for the Campaña de Limpeaza, where most of the Nor Yauyos Cochas Reserve is going to clean up the freakin’ trash! Each town is going to be responsible for its streets, farms, and watersheds, and it sounds like an amazing initiative; not to mention we get free hats and t-shirts. Tommorrow I’m going to present the plan and the date to the communitarios during the fiena, which is a community work day that should provide me with a pretty good venue.

In a way, I feel that the more projects I do concerning trash the more my community will think of me as some sort of “Solid Waste Control Volunteer.” This makes me a little uncomfortable simply because I desperately wanted to work mostly with agro-forestry promotion. On the other hand I also joined for the sole reason of helping, and that usually means doing the work other people have put off doing. So, alas, maybe my fate of my service will be solid waste management. But, then again if we truly think about it, what other physically sustainable projects can an Environmental Volunteer in the Peace Corps actually do? So much of what we are trying to promote is just an idea, theory, or simply to big to truly comprehended (i.e. “GLOBAL” warming.) Its such a huge hurdle to just get the school kids to recognize that they are living in a protected national reserve of Peru, let alone within a constantly evolving eco-system encompassing the entire planet! Sure we can plant a 1000 trees (which is actually one of our goals in each site), but does the community openly know the “why” behind it all? I will probably finish two of my three Environmental Volunteer Goals (plant trees, manage trash, educate about the environment,) within the first 6 months of my service, but if I can’t start reinforcing the “why” behind protecting the environment then none of my projects will truly be sustainable…

Is this the true meaning of the Peace Corp’s? Being in site long enough to possibly make a possible lasting impression that might possibly lead to a possible change in some unfavorable habits? (Please take note of all the possibilities.) With this type of reasoning does a PC volunteer ever really know if they made a difference? I think a Peace Corps volunteer needs to come to terms with the idea that even self-less service is selfish and this is just as much behavior change for us as it is for our communities.

Its not all work and no play.

I just had an opportunity to thaw out. We had a regional meeting in Cañete, near Lima and right on the beach. It was totally worth the bus ride through swerving mountain paths and cliffs to just be able to feel the sand in my toes and hear the waves crashing again. And to be warm! I can’t say enough how much the sun helps a person’s overall well being. The meeting went well, there was a lot of discussion about the upcoming Builders Beyond Borders group that is coming to that area to help the Water and Sanitation volunteers build some cool projects. Sadly us Yauyos folks won’t be able to participate because we’re a little to far to travel easily back and forth, but its still neat to hear about high-school students caring enough to volunteer in other countries already. Later, of course I ate plenty of good food and was able to drink some beers with all the other Peru 14er’s I haven’t seen since Swearing-In, and in the end I realized how amazingly therapeutic the trip was for me mentally. This whole process is totally like training for a marathon where you stair step your way up, back-off the training a bit and let your body recuperate, then stair step it up some more. After just speaking English freely, relaxing, and swapping war stories with the other volunteers I really felt ready to get back to site and take it all on again. It’s amazing how much a process living life is; there’s the beginning stages where it’s all new and novel, the stage where that starts to wear off and things start repeating, the stressed out stage, the release and relaxation, and then we head back to start it all over again. And during this entire process we are building our bodies and minds for something greater, and we understand that we are part of something greater as well…so as you can tell by my positive mindset I’ve obviously been at the beach. I also met some volunteers in the Peace Corps Response Program. From what I could gather they volunteer for 3-6 months tours and usually in disaster areas or just generally with the Red-Cross or other organizations. Of course you have to be a completed Peace Corps volunteer before you can apply for the Response Program, but it seemed like a really neat thing to do, especially for someone that’s finished up the Peace Corps, wanted to head home right afterwards and after a few years realizes they want to volunteer again and signs up for the Response Program. And this brings me to another point; what really motivates me to complete my service here in Peru. The motivation comes from the idea that after these two years I’ll be part of a global fraternity of RPCV’s (Returned Peace Corps Vols.) for the rest of my life. I’ll have the college assistance like the Fellows program available to me, opportunities like the Peace Corps Response Program, and even just the camaraderie that will constantly surprise me, starting from the day I get back and lasting forever. I’ll have that secure feeling for the rest of my life of knowing that I belong to something great.

So as you can tell, the trip was great and I’m ready to take on the upcoming project in my town for a landfill and trash management system. I’ll be coordinating, promoting, getting dirty, and sharing technical information with my town and SERNAP who’ll be overseeing its execution. SERNAP wants to excavate a landfill for each town in our protected area that will last 6-8 years and hopefully help stem the problem of the towns just throwing trash in natural caves or the river. Its an ambitious project, especially because they want to get done by the middle of this year, but its totally do-able. Right now the Peace Corps volunteers have been asked to start house-hold trash accumulation surveys to get an idea how much trash is produced in each site, so that should keep us busy for a bit. The only hard part now is trying to find level ground that is far enough away from the river…I have a feeling that after some frustrations I’m going to have to barrow the “Iraqi Okay” slogan I adopted during my deployment and use it for our landfill’s placement; “so what if its not exactly 50 meters from the river,” its still “Peruvian Okay.”