I can’t believe how fast fall in flying by. Half way into service all volunteers have to go to Lima for a week to get a routine medical check, teeth cleaning and present on their first year accomplishments. Overall all the checks went well, although I did find out I had 1 parasite and 1 cavity. Not terribly unusual or surprising here. We spent one day listening to everyone’s 1 year presentations which was actually really interesting. It’s always fun to see what people are up to in their site and, of course, see pictures. Everyone’s sites are so different that it doesn’t get too repetitive. Outside of the presentations and appointments we pretty much had the week to ourselves in Lima. It was kind of like a short vacation with everyone (well a vacation where everyone poops in a cup). I haven’t spent much time in Lima and I am coming to appreciate it more and more, especially now that Pinkberry has opened.

Shortly after heading back from med checks I was off to Cajamarca with two girls from my site to Camp ALMA. BIG SHOUTOUT to everyone who donated and made this event possible! We had about 35 girls in attendance for the 3 day camp and the girls really loved it. They visited the University of Cajamarca, listened to a Career Panel of professional women, participated in teamwork and leadership activities, and listened to charlas on sexual health, gender, and self-esteem.

Teamwork!

10-17-2011

As I am writing this I am sporting a pretty awesome new tan (no longer just my face and forearms) and what feels like a 100 healing mosquito bites on my legs all thanks to my trip to the Amazon! I just spent an amazing week and a half surviving a vacation to the jungle.

The Great River Amazon Raft Race is held every year in the city of Iquitos and after hearing about it from some volunteers who participated in it last year myself and pretty much every other PCV who could flocked to the jungle to participate.

I flew into Iquitos a few days before the race to aprovechar the opportunity to do a little jungle exploring. Iquitos, aka the land of mototaxis, has a completely different feel to it than everywhere else I have been in Peru. It doesn’t feel very big and we surprised to see very few tourists (keep in mind this was before the race). My host family from training is from Iquitos so I had some exposure to “selva food” but even with that looking at the menus in the local restaurants was like a puzzle. It was like we weren’t in Peru anymore. 2 forks up for the food there, although I must admit we went to “The Yellow Rose of Texas” restaurant more than I care to admit. 

Small town we visited, notice all the houses are stilted for  rainy season.

Nauta

The whole jungle crew

Our Lodge

Yellow Rose of Texas

Pirahna Fishing

Pirahna eating

For three days a group of us went on a little jungle trek. We started our tour in a town 2 hours outside of Iquitos in Nauta, where we would later return to start our rafting adventure. From Nauta we took a boat (after Nauta that’s the only transportation option) another 2 hours to our jungle lodge. After learning that yes there are anacondas and pirahnas in this part of the river I spent most of our time on the river on the watch out. Have you ever seen the movie “Anaconda”? Rent it. Jennifer Lopez gives a very riveting performance, she was definitely robbed by the Academy. That movie is pretty much all I could think of…that and the song “Baby Got Back”. While we never ended up seeing an anaconda we did go piranha fishing (some of the easiest fishing I’ve ever done) and made a nice lunch of them. We also visited a local village, went swimming with the famous pink dolphins (more like we got into the same part of the river as them), went on a very sweaty and buggy forest hike and searched for the incredibly elusive alligator (we spent a few too many hours searching for the dang thing).

Back from our tour we met up with the other 44 teams participating in this year’s raft race. The race was an unforgettable experience. Here’s the idea:

-Get a team of 4 together. Preferably people you can stand for long amounts of time.

-Attempt to machete-y into existence a raft of huge balsa wood logs that will hopefully stay afloat for 3 days and 112 miles on the Amazon River.

-If your Boy Scout knot tying skills are lacking (the Girl Scouts should really teach that) you can hire a local to help. Watch in awe.

-Realize that you are reapplying sunscreen every 30 minutes after sweating it all off and congratulate yourself for buying a big derby style reed hat. Proceed to loose hat on day 1.

-Crawl into your tent for the night with the other teams assigned to sleep there and get real cozy with those other team members. Awaken to a torrential downpour and realize that the tent doesn’t actually close. You will have damp clothes for the next 3 days.

-Begin the first rafting day after awakening at 5:30am because the sun raises god awful early in the jungle.

-If you’re lucky enough to be a part of a super gringa looking team with a pink tarp and sparkly Hawaiian leis draped from the corners do a few interviews for Peruvian TV.

-Get your boat out on the water. Congratulations! It floats….for now.

-Spend the next 6 hours non-stop rowing and trying to figure what the hell a current is and how to find one that won’t send you the opposite way or into a whirlpool.

-Arrive at the first nights rest stop! Claim a mattress amongst everyone else on the floor of the little pueblo’s school. Realize you should have packed that Peace Corps issued mosquito net you never use because you live in the mountains.

-Search for dinner. It, of course, is MIA. So you grab a beer, the one thing that has always showed up on time and ready and review the day’s sun burns and sore muscles with fellow racers.

-Pass out on your “mattress” and wake up, yet again, the next day with the sun.

-Start Day 2, the longest day, more prepared and ridiculously dressed after seeing some of the previous day’s sunburns.

-Spend the next 9 hours non-stop rowing, trying to figure where to go, playing every possible game you can think of, and singing. Now you know why picking your team wisely is important.

Not nearly as thrilled day 2

-As the sun sets, watch as a huge thunderstorm approaches and wonder where the hell the coast guard, who was supposed to pick you up an hour ago, is. Perhaps piranha fishing?

-Decide that this little homemade raft probably has no chance against the Amazon River amidst a thunderstorm and choose to abandon ship.

-Land at a little pueblito, tie up your raft and meet the residents of this 10 family village with people who will probably talk of this night the rest of their lives.

-Get picked up by the Coast Guard, say goodbye to your new jungle friends, join the other 7 teams whose rafts were abandoned in the storm and resign yourself to not being able to finish the race.

-Day 3, Take the support boat back to Iquitos with the other teams. Not all bad news, a friendly drunk ex-pat has purchased beer for everyone! Start enjoying some Cusquena Red Lager and watch the other rafts paddle.

-Arrive in Iquitos, watch, and cheer on all your friends and companeros still in the race!

-Vow to one day return and finish the race! Any volunteers?

11/7

Last week, after more than a year in site, I visited one of our caserio schools at the request of its teacher. A caserio is a very tiny town outside that are found outside larger towns. Usually having at most a small school and health post.

Now my town is a provincial capital of roughly 7,000 people (they’re working on a census right now) which is a pretty big site by PC standards. Since most PCVs live in much smaller towns they often go out and work in caserio schools or communities but since I’m such high demand here I’ve haven’t had the need or the opportunity to get out to the caserios. While I do live in a rural town which is lacking in a lot it’s nothing like the school at Hoyada Verde. These kids live far out in the campo and the teacher picks them up on her way to the school (a fairly treacherous route, even by normal standards). The one room elementary school has no electricity or running water and has 9 students ranging in age from 6 to 13. I went out to visit and to see exactly what I could do at this school. The teacher gave me a little insight into some of the kids. 3 of the boys are brothers and rarely attend class. The oldest is 13 and has only made it into 5^th grade. There are only 2 girls, the youngest in their family. One will graduate next year and hopes to go on to Secondary School. Unfortunately it’s not likely, few of the students from this school make the trek into town to continue their education and instead take on chacra or farm responsibilities full time. I also learned that the girls older sister at 14 is already married. The teacher told me that working with parents trying to stress the importance of education is futile. One parent told her all their son needs to be able to do it write his name.

 I taught a little English (it’s required in all Peruvian schools) and then observed the class for the rest of the time, curious as to how exactly one teaches with such a dynamic. I have thinking a lot about these kids and how exactly I can work with them. I have a problem with the fact that English must be taken by all students in Peruvian schools (especially when they can’t read in Spanish) but the kids just love it, even more so at this school I think. What can I do that will make the biggest difference in the lives of these kids? These kids who are so far out and who’s futures are, while not set in stone, on a very set path.