February 18, 2011


50 Years

“This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, the appetite for adventure over the life of ease.” JFK

This week we celebrated the 50th anniversary of P.C. with a celebration here in Cajamarca. We reflected a lot on the past 50 years and even had a Cajamarca volunteer from the 70’s speak. I gotta say serving in the techno age I have a lot of respect for those early volunteers. Sure people in my town ride donkeys for transportation but they do it while texting and listening to Justin Beiber (Globalization is so weird). In those early years people had no idea what they were signing up for. There were no blogs, no returned volunteers to learn from. Those volunteers were pretty much plopped down in the middle of nowhere with their only training being at some university in the states. Travel and communication were fairly non-existent. To be so motivated by an idea to sign up and then to complete 2 years of service, many times more, is awe inspiring.

Peace Corps has come a long way in the past 50 years and has learned a lot about how to do effective development work and how best to create happy, healthy volunteers capable of sustainable development. They learned that to have volunteers in contact with others, in country training, community partners to work with, and constant in-service training Is better than dropping volunteers in the middle of nowhere and hoping they can make a difference (which is often time the dreamy, idealistic, vision people have of PC).

Peace Corps still has a long way to go and it has its critics but rightfully so. Un-criticized it wouldn’t change, advance and be better at what it tries to do. I see a lot of NGOs at work here but few do what Peace Corps does. Sending volunteers to live, work with, and become a part of their community for 2 years is unique and I think it’s the reason Peace Corps has the successes it does.



6 Months

There’s one question every Peruvian asks when they find out you actually live here. “Te acostumbras?” or “Are you accustomed?” Sure the answer has always been “Si, estoy acostumbrado” mainly because it’s the easiest response. 9 months in Peru and 6 in site and I can actually say that’s true. I’m at a point where I can have a conversation with ease which, hell, is half the battle. 4 hour car rides crammed into the back seat with 4 other people (one being a very large breast feeding woman) no longer bother me. I maneuver my legs and arms into a shape that allows me to sit somewhat comfortably, sit back, enjoy the scenery, listen to the latest “This American Life” podcast and (if I’m on my way to Cajamarca) try not to throw up. My host mom understands my distaste for rice. I walk into the Municipality without any anxiety and know to come prepared with something to occupy myself because I WILL wait. I know when I walk down the street there will always be someone I know and some kid is sure to yell “Keeeem” or “Miiiiisss”. Instead of looking forward to my next capital city trip it now kind of stresses me out to have to leave (although, I do admit I enjoy myself when I’m there)

16 Days

16 Days until school starts back up here. It could get delayed depending on rain but doesn’t look like that will be a problem. The talk around town is about a possible draught. Rainy season is planting season and outside of these winter months we get virtually no rain. Therefore we are completely dependent on the rain we get during the winter which this year has been very little. Sure every afternoon clouds over and we tend to get a ton of fog and dampness but actually rain has been little and infrequent. The popular thinking is that our dear patron saint, San Mateo, is pissed but I think I’ll blame global warming.


March 10, 2011

This past Saturday I found myself with a group of fellow PCV’s covered head to toe in paint, armed with water guns and water balloons, walking and singing through the streets of Cajamarca. Yes, I think Carnaval is my new favorite holiday in Peru. Carnaval is the time leading up to Ash Wednesday/Lent and is basically the way cooler older sister of Mardi Gras (note to my NOLA friends: yes, I realize how biased that is and plan on doing a real comparison when I return to the states) and cousin to Flunk Day. I mentioned how kids have been nailing people with water balloons since January but that is just the tip of the ice berg.

The real thing began first in my site at the end of Februray. Innocently enough I walked out of my house one Saturday morning after hearing a band (while that is not unusual in the least, I was curious). I was definitely not prepared for what I found. The Carnavalon had begun! The Carnavalon is basically a procession of people with a band, water balloons and buckets of water. The procession quickly turns into an all-town water fight. People in the streets dump buckets of water on each other and people throw water balloons in the streets and from the balconies of their houses. Despite being completely unprepared I was sucked into the procession and spent the next few hours completely drenched, singing, and dancing. As I was repeatedly told, Contumacinos love to include “their” foreigners.

The next week consisted of queen coronations, beauty pageants (apparently I was the only one who thought it odd to announce each contestant’s measurements and the age at which they think they’ll marry) and dances in each barrio with a comparsa competition at the end of the week. Each barrio has a comparsa which is comprised of a band and a group of people singing and dancing that accompany their queen and then each comparsa competes in a dance competition at the end of the week. My barrio asked me to dance with them. I said yes and would soon come to regret that. What I do in the name of cultural integration. On the night of the competition I was dressed head to toe as a devil with the rest of the comparsa, in front of the whole town, nervously trying to remember how to dance huayno, and trying to retain everyone’s last minute instructions. We got out there and it only took a few seconds to realize that the skirt of my haphazardly sewn together costume was falling down. I spent the next 15 minutes attempting to dance and holding up my skirt as not to moon the whole town. I felt a little better after I found we had been disqualified due to arriving nearly two hours late, in true Peruvian fashion. Also in true Peruvian fashion the night ended in booing and hissing directed at the judges, whom many accused of being bought off by one barrio or another.

Shortly after ending in my site it began in Cajamarca, the self proclaimed Capital of Carnaval. A lot of PCV’s showed up in Cajamarca on Friday then Saturday was the epic paint day. You basically spend the whole day parading through the streets singing, dancing, painting each other, and throwing water balloons or buckets of water at each other. This literally goes on for hours and EVERYONE is fair game. It’s a take no prisoners situation all weekend. Every night groups form drum circles around the plaza. They drink and dance till all hours and of course anyone walking by is invited to participate. The weekend is also filled with spectacular parades. The parades are made up of what seems like hundreds of comparsas all dressed in amazingly elaborate costumes. Thanks to some Peruvian connections a large group of us got spots in the Pilsen tent for the biggest parade which not only provided great views but lots of Pilsen swag as well.

Now it’s back to site and back to work as the school year has begun. I forgot how many people actually live in this town! I got used to the “winter crew” or all the people who stick around for the winter. It feels like I’m starting over! Its great though because with school back in session I have a lot to do. Boredom and idle time can really be the death of a volunteer.

-Note: It´s taking way too rediculously long to upload photos so stay tuned for my next post which will include the rest of my Carnaval photos!