PS- Street Food!

Just thought these were fun :) 

Loving La Libertad Part 1: Playa Puemape

I don't think I say it enough, but I LOVE living in La Libertad. During training before I really knew anything about Peru, I didn't really care where they put me. I'm confident that wherever I would have gone, I'd love it. But after having lived in La Libertad for 5 months now, damn I am happy to be where I am. Not only do I have access to beautiful beaches and the economic capital of the North (our capital city of Trujillo), but I am a part of an awesome community of volunteers who genuinely enjoy each other. Our volunteer group continues to be a source of support, fun, and inspiration for me. I love these people and the dynamic we have as a group. In the past month, I've found myself in a handful of really random groups of volunteers under varying circumstances, and I've enjoyed all of them. 

One of my 2012 goals (if I call it a resolution, I'll forget about it in a few weeks- so it's a goal ;) is to explore La Libertad more than I have been. While I love going to our capital city of Trujillo and it's neighboring beach town of Huanchaco, I'm ready to branch out a little bit. There is a pile of places to visit and things to see in our department, so I shouldn't be spending my free time in only 2 places and limiting myself. January got me started on this little goal and so far I am loving this inadvertent project I've started for myself and my friends. 

The beginning of the month I laid low in Ascope for the most part. I needed to get things ready for my summer school classes, and I was enjoying spending some quality time with the host family, so I hunkered down around the Valle for awhile until I got a little stir crazy and hatched an impromptu plan for a beach weekend. It started with a burnt out Thursday call to Amanda in the midst of our first week of summer classes in which we both celebrated and sighed about the excitement and stress of starting summer classes. We were both too busy to talk much that week and needed to catch up, so we were like, "Hey, why don't we just go to the beach this weekend?" Best question ever. Why not go to the beach? This being Peace Corps and all,  news, gossip, and ideas travel fast. So it didn't take long for our party of 2 to turn into a party of 7, which I love. Almost everyone who lives north of Trujillo and on the coast was game for a beach day, and only 2 out of our 7 had been to this well kept secret of a hidden beach, so we were curious to check it out. That random Saturday ended up being one of the best days I've had since my vacation in December. I think sometimes I get so serious and wound up in what's going on and in trying to make everything perfect- especially when I'm just starting something- like my summer classes, that I don't realize how stressed I am. This is why I love having the ocean as a neighbor. Not only is this beach free of the crowds that have recently descended on my other favorite beach spots, but it's beautiful. Instead of trash there are shells- tons and tons of beautiful shells. I've been after seashells for awhile now, as I will be using them for an art project for my afternoon class.  And I found these shells sitting atop the prettiest sand I have ever seen. It was a strange sparkly gold that could be nothing more than proof that this was a magic day ;) 

Besides a gorgeous day of beach lounging, shell picking, sea glass searching, and catching up, we also enjoyed some delicious ceviche and an entire box of Princesa candy bars... not sure how the Princesas happened, but I will accept the consumption of 40 little candy bars by 7 volunteers in 20 minutes as nothing more than AWESOME. 

We left as the sun started it's descent and began making our way back to our respective sites, hostels, etc. Kerri (who lives about 30ish minutes away from me) and I headed back to the Valle, but not before grabbing some street food. Another one of my 2012 goals is to eat more street food. I'm doing really well at that goal actually. The favorite so far is the egg sammich I can get for 50 centimos in the mornings. Nom. As far as that Saturday goes though, street spaghetti turned out to be a great way to end a fantastic day and will be something I go back for the next time I'm in Pacasmayo. 

And now a few shots I stole from Kerri... enjoy :)

The sand is gold. Magic. 

Slack working on getting us free candy bars... 

Epic Peace Corps Day

Wednesday: January 11, 2012

While I am happy pretty much all the time here, there are certain days in Peace Corps that are just really great. Days where people come to things you plan and nothing falls through and life just overall feels better. Today was one of those days. Whenever a day like that fall on me, I feel like writing about it. 

From what I've noticed, there are certain components that turn otherwise normal days into epic days. These are as follows-

1.) A successful class or presentation with excited participants. 

2.) Surprises of the pleasant variety. 

3.) A Visitor, or two. 

Today was great and I will tell you why. But I am exhausted and am thinking in short bursts right now so please bare with me. 

Reasons why today was awesome-

My English class size has tripled. On day 1 I had three students. Day 2 brought four. Today I had fourteen. 

My art class went from seven kids to twelve. 

I now have my own classroom (with my very own key!) to use for all of summer break. No more stuffy sessions in the library without a chalkboard :)

Art class today was the best one I've had so far, both in numbers and contentment of the kids. It's only the third one though, so maybe I'm getting a little too excited. Any any case, the kids loved the project which made the class super fun for me. I had them draw caricatures that they made by blindly picking a little head, pair of eye, nose, and mouth that I had printed and cut out for them to mix and match randomly. They were really into it and it was cool to see them laughing and having so much fun with it. They were joking around and sharing pieces, getting along, coming out of their shells and having fun. So great! Not sure how I'm going to follow that up. My favorite part about it is that it wasn't even my idea. One of the students, a 12 year boy who is really great when it comes to drawing, suggested caricatures when I asked what they wanted to learn when we started the class a few days ago. Their ideas are better than mine and that is fantastic. If I've learned anything recently, it's that I don't think like a 14 year old anymore. I know, that might be shocking  to some of you, lol. So to keep having successful classes, I need to figure out how it is that they think again. But today was a good start and a fun class. 

Item one on the awesome day checklist: Complete 

Before this class happened though,  another item on my epic day checklist was knocked down. Shortly after lunch as I was getting ready for the art class, Maggie came to my room and told me I had a visitor. I don't have a lot of local friends that would visit me... 'a lot' in this case meaning 'any at all.' So this idea of me having an unexpected visitor was confusing. I thought maybe it was some parent asking about the classes I am teaching now, or one of the kids from my classes stopping in to say hi. But she went on to say that it was my friend from Sausal... a neighboring town where Matt used to live. Matt's in the States right now, so it couldn't be him. Odd. I went outside to investigate and found Matt's good friend from Sausal outside our gate. Love it. I've hung out with him on a couple different occasions with Matt and a bunch of other gringos and really enjoy his company. I never expected him to show up for a surprise visit though, so that was fun. He was in town on an errand that required him to wait around for a few hours, so he figured he'd ask around on where the gringa lives and swing by to say hi. It was nice. We had some mango and good conversation, then I made my way to the afternoon class. Even though I'm not sure if I can claim his as a friend, as opposed to a friend of a friend, it still feels nice to have someone stop in to visit me. Perhaps I'm on my way to making my own local friends my age... it's on the list of goals. So far most of my friends in Ascope are children or elderly neighbors. I'll keep you updated on this one. 

After art class, I walked home feeling pretty good. On the way, I took a side street that I usually don't and walked past a house with an open door. In the doorway was a small case full of alfajores and nothing else. This was not a bodega or a restaurant, just someone's house. And here we have one of the many reasons why I love Peru. I knew that if I stood in the doorway long enough, a nice lady would come out to take 50 centimos from me and give me an alfajor, even if they weren't for sale. But because of their placement and position, I knew these were for sale and I knew they were fresh. I was right about all of the aforementioned and my afternoon treat was delicious. 

Upon my arrival back at the homestead, I discovered that my host brother, grandma, and aunt had all returned from Cajamarca where they had been since mid December celebrating the holidays with relatives. They brought with them Tio (Uncle) Felipe, who owns a bakery and was for many years a farmer. After the initial round of welcome home hugs and souvenir sharing, I was ushered into the circle to sit and visit, chat, and eat fresh bakery products. I really enjoyed talking to Tio Felipe. Mostly because of our first interaction. It went something like this-

Tio Felipe: What state are you from in the US?

Me: Wisconsin

Tio Felipe: Have you ever been to the World Dairy Expo?

What the hell? A Peruvian who knows what, where, and when the World Dairy Expo is? This is a magic day. He went on to tell me that he has friends who have been to this event and that he has always wanted to go himself. So crazy. We went on to talk about farming and all that it entails for about an hour or so until we were enveloped in a cloud of ashes from the sugar cane that was being burnt across the way and I chickened out and went inside to watch Chavo with Piere. For the record (and if you're reading this, you already know this next little factoid), I am not a good person to talk to about farming. I can hold my own, but I kind of wish I had Bill or Dad or Marty around when they start asking questions like, "How many liters of milk does each cow produce on average there?" Hell if I know. Shortly after the sun went down, my host dad came in the house to get me because he wanted to show me the fire from the sugar field, which is actually really pretty at night. I resumed my spot in the circle, ate some more baked goods and generally enjoyed a really nice night. The moon was great last night. Magic day, I'm telling you. 

Dinner followed which brought some more good conversation and family story time. I realized then that I missed the family members who were gone without realizing it until they were back. That's a nice feeling. It's good to have them back. Julie even bought me a really cute little purse that is very very Peruvian. I've been wanting one of those. And Betty got me a little stone elephant pencil holder. So sweet of them. 

So about the checklist-

Visitors? Two of them! 

Surprises? Alfajores, visit from Sausal, fresh baked goods, souvenirs, elevated class sizes, etc. 

I love today. Epic Peace Corps day. 

Bocas

One of my favorite drawings from today's class. 

Fresh Rosquitas from Tio Felipe's bakery!!! A whole bag just for me!!! 

Sugar fields on fire. 

Fruit!

It's summertime! Which for me means summer school, crazy heat, and fresh fruit. A fondness of fruit is something I share with Piere so he has been inviting me on his fruit picking adventures this week. So far we've snagged some cherries and peaches. Here are a few shots from some recent afternoons. 

Day 1: Cherries 

Showing me where he can't reach... I figured out real fast why I got invited to pick cherries ;)

Day 2: Peaches 

Victory! 

...and the corresponding dance that followed. 

This is how we get the ones up high. Not as easy as it looks. 

Someone Stole This

Now that summer vacation is in full swing and the holidays are over, I have started teaching summer school classes. Last week I made this poster for the art class I'm teaching in the afternoons... and someone stole it. Not sure if I should be proud or annoyed. I'm choosing proud. 

The Little Things

"Be Kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." T.H. Thompson and John Watson

This quote sticks out in my mind lately. It seems as though many members of the Peru 17 group are dealing with something less than pleasant as of late. In times like these, I think the little things become so much more significant and meaningful. 

Last Sunday I was on the beach picking up seashells to use for a future craft project. A random stranger approached me and showed me her palm full of seashells. She said two words, "an exchange." Then she gave me one of her shells, and I gave her one of mine. We smiled and continued on our ways. It was pleasant. 

A favor: Do something nice today. Por favor. Someone could use your kindness. And kindness is good. 

Piere Quote for the Week

Maggie (Host Mom): Piere, you should eat as many vegetables as Britt does. 

Piere: She doesn't eat carrots. 

Maggie: Sure she does. 

Piere: No she doesn't. If she were eating her carrots, she wouldn't need to wear glasses.