Here I am 3 weeks into my time here and it still feels like I just arrived. So what have I been up to? Well I’ll give you a day in the life of me.


6:15am-7:15am – I hit the snooze on my alarm. It’s too cold to get out of bed.

7:15am- Try to get my butt out of bed to go for a run.

8:30- Eat breakfast. Host parents have already left for work and have left me breakfast. Fried egg, fried yucca, apple, what they call “coffee”, and bread. I eat the egg, bread, apple, and coffee.

9:30 – Climb the giant hill and head into the main part of town.

9:45- Visit Lily’s store, sit and chat for a bit.

10:30- Head to one of the High Schools to do a self esteem charla (talk) for a class of 15 year olds. I actually have no idea what time I will be teaching this charla.

10:40- Students have 20 min break…..which turns into 50 minutes because the teachers end up having a meeting.

10:40-11:30- Hang around, prep for my charla, and talk to some of the kids from the youth group.

11:30-12:00 Self esteem charla. Rough day for class participation.

12:00- Teacher leaves and tells me just to keep going until the next teacher gets there.

12:15- Next teacher comes in but leaves because he sees we’re working.

12:15-12:30-I try to get the kids to wrap up the activity they’re working on so the next teacher can start class.

12:30- Leave class, attempt to find the other teacher, and go talk to my host mom who is the secretary for the school. Apparently there’s a birthday in the family so we’ll be heading to her sister’s house for lunch.

12:30-1pm- Small talk with librarian. Talk to other teacher who has a group of youth who want my help with a project…..still a little fuzzy on what this project is all about. Walk away swearing i will study-review Spanish more regulary

1pm- Eat lunch with host mom’s family. Mmmm papa huancayina (potatoes in a yummy spicy cheese sauce), rice, more potatoes, chicken, chichi morada (a very typical drink made of purple corn that I am not a huge fan of), and two glasses of coke because my host mom insists. No cake but peaches in a very sweet syrup.

2:30pm-Finish lunch and my host moms family insists I stay and rest for a while.

2:30pm-3:30pm- Hang out and people watch from the balcony.

3:30pm- Go to the local “post office”. This is really just some lady’s house where mail seems to happen to end up. Try to send a letter to Lima….we’ll see how that goes.

4:00-5:30pm- Clean my mess of a room, go through some paperwork, and watch “Mad Men”. I would be shocked if people actually sold movies here that are not bootleg.

5:30pm- Continuous knocking on the door. My 8 year old neighbor wants help with homework. Turns out he only has one math problem. I think he just wants to play.

5:30-6pm- Yup. That one problem took 5 minutes. We end up playing double dutch, one end tied to a pole. My site mate shows up at the house to collect money to buy materials in Trujillo for the artisans he’s working with.

6pm-7:30-. Start P90x Yoga and decide I’m not really in the mood. Type some emails, some notes, and figure out what I’m going to do tomorrow.

7:30-8:30- Dinner and chatting with host mom.

8:30-10- Read, Into Thin Air, a book that was passed along to me by another volunteer. Realize I probably should have done some Spanish review today and resolve to do it tomorrow. It’s freezing in my room and I consider the idea of buying a poncho. Everyyyyyone has one and they look so warm. It’s probably mid sixties to low 70s during the day but at night brrrrrr.

10pm- Zzzzzzz



Not what I do every day but it gives you an idea as to what the heck I’m doing right now. Fiestas Patronales (Patron Saint of Contumaza Celebration which is San Mateo/Saint Mathew) is Sept. 9 till the 23rd. So far it’s just been masses everyday but the real fun starts Sunday and goes until Wednesday. Dances, Ferias, and a day of bull fighting!