One of the constants in life here is unpredictablity and the knowledge that you are not in control! As another volunteer said today, "I realize that control is an illusion but I´d like a little more of it!"
My host family invited me to have lunch with the extended family in Lima on Sunday and I accepted the invitation. So Saturday, I asked what time we were leaving for Lima and learned it was 7AM. OK, 7AM I´ll be ready. What time will we get home? Well around 9PM... By now I was alarmed and renegotiated the getting home time so that in the end, I got home at 5PM.
So Sunday comes around and at 6:30 a knock on my door announced it was time to leave. When I came out of my room, my host parents were struggling to get the mother duck (think large white duck) into a plastic bag. There was a lot of flapping, quacking and plastic rattling. Finally the duck was encased up to the neck in two plastic bags and we headed off to Lima. What was my first clue that we were going to have duck for dinner?
When we got to Lima, I realized I was going to spend a very long day in a small room with the TV blaring, lots of kids playing and the adults talking over the noise. About an hour later, we ate tamales and tea. I was so tired that I asked for a place to nap and slept for 2 hours in someone´s tiny bedroom. When I got up, my host mom and I went to a huge, crowded market and I ate some really delicious rice pudding at a small stand after passing up on other options that had stomach problems written all them.
So somewhere in the early afternoon, we ate the duck along with a few vegetables, potatoes and the usual mountain of rice. I left much of the rice on my plate explaining that I´m just not a good Peruvian! All this washed down with Coca Cola or Inca Cola which is a caffeine free version of Mountain Dew. The baby ducklings in the back yard are now orphans.
And yes after several more hours of hanging out, I got a ride home in time to do homework. You never quite know how anything will happen here but I always know that I´ll be served a mountain of food with all eyes on the gringa to see if she likes it and will eat it all. I eat almost anything but draw the line at stuffing myself.
And today I learned that I´ve advanced another level in Spanish much to my surprise. We have a very hectic final week, swear in formally on Friday and ship out Saturday afternoon for 2 years in new sites. I´m tired and rather intimidated by what lies ahead but also feeling a sound sense of accomplishment for getting through this phase!
Cheers
Sara
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Week 11 of Peace Corps training
Yep, I´m ready to move to Tumbes and begin my next 2 years of life and work. I do appreciate the training program, especially the terrific language teachers and at the same time being on a tight schedule day after day has grown old. Every since I came back from my site visit, I´ve been very tired but that 22 hour bus ride might have something to do with it. This next week we have a party for our host families, lots of administrative details, a formal swearing in ceremony and then on the bus to our sites (after a night of partying).
In the 11 weeks of training, I´ve learned so much both in the center and from my host family. I´m a long ways from Spanish fluency but also a long way from where I was on September 12. I´ve learned to ride the damn combi´s, haven´t gotten diarrhea, learned to eat rice day after day and had a great time generally. I´m on this journey with 47 adventurous Peace Corps volunteers who I´ve grown to love in a very short period of time. There will be tears shed when we head out in different directions...
I´ve had few down times, generally related to fatigue or frustration. I´m also about 12 pounds lighter than when I came, stronger and more energetic. I´ve asked Sean and Sara to go to my house in Madison and dig out some summer clothes as it´s going to be hot,hot, hot in Tumbes. I gave my warm winter things to a volunteer who´s headed for the mountains since there are no sweat pants in my future for the next 2 years.
Cheers
Sara
In the 11 weeks of training, I´ve learned so much both in the center and from my host family. I´m a long ways from Spanish fluency but also a long way from where I was on September 12. I´ve learned to ride the damn combi´s, haven´t gotten diarrhea, learned to eat rice day after day and had a great time generally. I´m on this journey with 47 adventurous Peace Corps volunteers who I´ve grown to love in a very short period of time. There will be tears shed when we head out in different directions...
I´ve had few down times, generally related to fatigue or frustration. I´m also about 12 pounds lighter than when I came, stronger and more energetic. I´ve asked Sean and Sara to go to my house in Madison and dig out some summer clothes as it´s going to be hot,hot, hot in Tumbes. I gave my warm winter things to a volunteer who´s headed for the mountains since there are no sweat pants in my future for the next 2 years.
Cheers
Sara
Friday, November 14, 2008
Looking for larvae
Wow. I could write a book every day but just hope to get enough on paper to remember this when I return to the US.
I spent the morning in a very poor neighborhood going door to door with the vigilantes for vectors from the health center. We went house to house while they looked for standing water, old tires with water in them, and water barrels without lids. They used flashlights to look for larva from the mosquitos that cause dengue fever. In one house they found an open water barrel full of algae and squirming larvae. They cleaned out the water and barrel, added some kind of chemical and gave instructions.
Never in my live have I seen poverty like this. I really am at a loss for words.
I've now met the principals of 3 schools, am scheduled to give an address to the entire school of 1300 including teachers and parents the day after I come back to La Cruz, have been to the community where I'm expected to work most, a very poor rural neighborhood of 300 houses. I've met so many people, have stumbled greatly with the language and watch as a mountain of expectations build all around me. I told my host mom at lunch that I'm not Mother Theresa. So I did the only sensible thing, ate lunch (fresh fried fish, lentils and rice)and napped in the hammock on the front porch.
I've learned I'm expected to work 6 days a week, half time in the rural neighborhood and half time with the obstetriz. That's going to include lunch with my family and a nap in the hammock mid day. Mid day, the folks in my host family sleep and watch TV. At 4 every day except Sunday, they gather for volleyball more faithfully than for church.
Speaking of which, I got roped into being presented to the priest and congregation Catholic tonight by one of the women at the health post. After which I learned that my host mom is Jehovah's Witness and can't enter the Catholic church. She told me I'd likely be shunned when they learn I'm not Catholic. Sounds like a blast. Tomorrow I go to Tumbes for the day and then get on a bus at 4 to return to Lima. Probably nonstop decompression with the other volunteers who've just met their sites and host families.
Did I say I still like this? It's true. Probably demented but true. Hope to get my host family to put a door on the bathroom before I return.
Cheers
Sara
I spent the morning in a very poor neighborhood going door to door with the vigilantes for vectors from the health center. We went house to house while they looked for standing water, old tires with water in them, and water barrels without lids. They used flashlights to look for larva from the mosquitos that cause dengue fever. In one house they found an open water barrel full of algae and squirming larvae. They cleaned out the water and barrel, added some kind of chemical and gave instructions.
Never in my live have I seen poverty like this. I really am at a loss for words.
I've now met the principals of 3 schools, am scheduled to give an address to the entire school of 1300 including teachers and parents the day after I come back to La Cruz, have been to the community where I'm expected to work most, a very poor rural neighborhood of 300 houses. I've met so many people, have stumbled greatly with the language and watch as a mountain of expectations build all around me. I told my host mom at lunch that I'm not Mother Theresa. So I did the only sensible thing, ate lunch (fresh fried fish, lentils and rice)and napped in the hammock on the front porch.
I've learned I'm expected to work 6 days a week, half time in the rural neighborhood and half time with the obstetriz. That's going to include lunch with my family and a nap in the hammock mid day. Mid day, the folks in my host family sleep and watch TV. At 4 every day except Sunday, they gather for volleyball more faithfully than for church.
Speaking of which, I got roped into being presented to the priest and congregation Catholic tonight by one of the women at the health post. After which I learned that my host mom is Jehovah's Witness and can't enter the Catholic church. She told me I'd likely be shunned when they learn I'm not Catholic. Sounds like a blast. Tomorrow I go to Tumbes for the day and then get on a bus at 4 to return to Lima. Probably nonstop decompression with the other volunteers who've just met their sites and host families.
Did I say I still like this? It's true. Probably demented but true. Hope to get my host family to put a door on the bathroom before I return.
Cheers
Sara
Thursday, November 13, 2008
La Cruz
Well, here I am in a tiny internet cafe next to my new home in La Cruz. What an incredible experience this is. I live 2 blocks from the beach with a HUGE family. There are only about 7 sleeping in the house but there is an enormous extended family in all the houses around me. I'll never get everyone straight. My first day here, I kept saying to myself, "you can do it, you can do it" because my room is on one side of the living room with a wall 3/4 way up. The music, tv and family activity are constant. There isn't running water, no refrigerator, no shower (bucket baths) and no quiet. Ok that's the down side and what the hell, this is the Peace Corps.
On the up side, I'm surrounded by strong women who are leaders in their community. My host mom must know everyone in this community and is president of an organization of leaders in a group that mediates conflicts. She's a natural leader who's worked to develop mother's clubs, preschools and goddes knows what else. She's awesome, is taking me around explaining Peace Corps, introducing me and giving me cues when I forget the ritual courtesies that are all important here.
I could write a book and may do so when I return but for now, I want to talk about how Obama has impacted people in Peru. I think I've met over 50 people in my short 2 days here and after about 5 minutes, every conversation turns to the election. You can't even imagine how much importance this election has for the US overseas. I have to say that again, YOU CANT IMAGINE HOW OBAMA'S ELECTION HAS IMPACTED PEOPLE IN PERU! Everyone wants to know who I voted for and how I feel. And on a side note, I brought pictures of my kids with me and everyone thinks Sean looks like Obama. People see is as a sign of hope and a victory against racism. Often people comment that he is a man of humility and compare him to Kennedy in his ability to inspire. This dominates every conversation with adults.j
Kids are another matter. I am surrounded by kids staring at the gringa. The children (grandchildren) in my host family took me to the beach yesterday to run in the water which is really warm. The adults thought it was hilarious when I came home with my slacks wet up to the thigh.
I've had to say goodbye to caution about food as I'm going to eat with this family for 2 years. Went to the market today with Silveria, my host mom and helped cook lunch. Said a prayer for my digestive tract after visiting the market. That said, the food was delicious, there are several fishermen in my family and they made sure I had fresh cerviche made with sailfish for lunch.
Wow, I could write a book... There's no question this is going to be hard work but right up my alley. My primary co-worker is a high energy obstetriz (midwife) along with the nurse in charge of the clinic who talks so fast I understand about 1/2 of what she says, The obstetriz is Gladys and the clinic nurse is Elke. Last night a young man came to the house to meet me, he works with a youth group and wants my help in giving charlas (talks) about safe sex, pregnancy, drugs, etc. Well, first I need to get up to speed in Spanish. I've been in meetings where I didn't understand a damn thing (unfortunately this includes my meeting with the mayor) but my one on one, I understand and am understood. I'm eating meals with my family and a dictionary.
Wow. More later. I am tired but after lunch the family put up a hammock on the front porch and ordered me to sleep! With motorcycles revving up, music blaring, kids hollering. If anyone knows how to do a laryngectomy on a rooster without killing the damn thing, please send me directions!
Sarita
On the up side, I'm surrounded by strong women who are leaders in their community. My host mom must know everyone in this community and is president of an organization of leaders in a group that mediates conflicts. She's a natural leader who's worked to develop mother's clubs, preschools and goddes knows what else. She's awesome, is taking me around explaining Peace Corps, introducing me and giving me cues when I forget the ritual courtesies that are all important here.
I could write a book and may do so when I return but for now, I want to talk about how Obama has impacted people in Peru. I think I've met over 50 people in my short 2 days here and after about 5 minutes, every conversation turns to the election. You can't even imagine how much importance this election has for the US overseas. I have to say that again, YOU CANT IMAGINE HOW OBAMA'S ELECTION HAS IMPACTED PEOPLE IN PERU! Everyone wants to know who I voted for and how I feel. And on a side note, I brought pictures of my kids with me and everyone thinks Sean looks like Obama. People see is as a sign of hope and a victory against racism. Often people comment that he is a man of humility and compare him to Kennedy in his ability to inspire. This dominates every conversation with adults.j
Kids are another matter. I am surrounded by kids staring at the gringa. The children (grandchildren) in my host family took me to the beach yesterday to run in the water which is really warm. The adults thought it was hilarious when I came home with my slacks wet up to the thigh.
I've had to say goodbye to caution about food as I'm going to eat with this family for 2 years. Went to the market today with Silveria, my host mom and helped cook lunch. Said a prayer for my digestive tract after visiting the market. That said, the food was delicious, there are several fishermen in my family and they made sure I had fresh cerviche made with sailfish for lunch.
Wow, I could write a book... There's no question this is going to be hard work but right up my alley. My primary co-worker is a high energy obstetriz (midwife) along with the nurse in charge of the clinic who talks so fast I understand about 1/2 of what she says, The obstetriz is Gladys and the clinic nurse is Elke. Last night a young man came to the house to meet me, he works with a youth group and wants my help in giving charlas (talks) about safe sex, pregnancy, drugs, etc. Well, first I need to get up to speed in Spanish. I've been in meetings where I didn't understand a damn thing (unfortunately this includes my meeting with the mayor) but my one on one, I understand and am understood. I'm eating meals with my family and a dictionary.
Wow. More later. I am tired but after lunch the family put up a hammock on the front porch and ordered me to sleep! With motorcycles revving up, music blaring, kids hollering. If anyone knows how to do a laryngectomy on a rooster without killing the damn thing, please send me directions!
Sarita
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Big day for Peace Corps Volunteers!
Well, today we got our assignments for 2 years, learned who will be close to us and got a brief bit of information about our host families. This is one very happy woman!
I´ve been assigned to a town called La Cruz (or sometimes called Calida Cruz) in the province of Tumbes. This is a town of 10,000 RIGHT ON THE OCEAN in the north of Peru on the Pan American highway. I´ll be 25 minutes from the capitol of the province and a very short distance from the border of Equador. The climate will be very hot (close to the equator) and the beaches are said to be some of the most beautiful in Peru. This area is also excellent for birdwatching as there are some reserves nearby that you go into by boat. There will be lots of seafood and fresh fruit.
Not only is the location great, but the work assignment is a perfect fit for me. I´ll be working with the staff at a midsized clinic in an area where teen pregnancies and rising HIV rates are problematic. I´ll be working close to the sites of 2 other volunteers from my group who were on field based training with me. Sarah and Robin will be great to work with, we all have different backgrounds and abilities that are complementary and we´ll enjoy working together. There´s a Peace Corps volunteer, Michael, in a nearby town that is extending his service for a 3rd year to work on an HIV prevention initiative. I met him last week and am really happy to be working with him. The first week we´re in site is the start of a year long HIV initiative so next week I get to use my barely adequate Spanish to invite the mayor of my town to go to a kick off meeting in the capitol with me.
As you can probably tell, I´m a little panicked about being on my own with my language abilities but it had to happen sooner or later! I´ll be living with a family of 7, will have electricity, water service 3 days a week, phone in the house, cell phone and internet service in the community. So I will be able to stay in touch easily. Anyone coming to visit will fly to Guayaquil, Equador and take a bus down rather than flying to Lima and taking the LONG bus ride north. And the capitol of Tumbes has an airport.
We ended the day with a talent show put on by all the different language learning groups. Yours truly sang and danced in a chorus line!
So as you can tell, I´ve landed in Peace Corps heaven and am one happy woman.
Cheers
Sara
I´ve been assigned to a town called La Cruz (or sometimes called Calida Cruz) in the province of Tumbes. This is a town of 10,000 RIGHT ON THE OCEAN in the north of Peru on the Pan American highway. I´ll be 25 minutes from the capitol of the province and a very short distance from the border of Equador. The climate will be very hot (close to the equator) and the beaches are said to be some of the most beautiful in Peru. This area is also excellent for birdwatching as there are some reserves nearby that you go into by boat. There will be lots of seafood and fresh fruit.
Not only is the location great, but the work assignment is a perfect fit for me. I´ll be working with the staff at a midsized clinic in an area where teen pregnancies and rising HIV rates are problematic. I´ll be working close to the sites of 2 other volunteers from my group who were on field based training with me. Sarah and Robin will be great to work with, we all have different backgrounds and abilities that are complementary and we´ll enjoy working together. There´s a Peace Corps volunteer, Michael, in a nearby town that is extending his service for a 3rd year to work on an HIV prevention initiative. I met him last week and am really happy to be working with him. The first week we´re in site is the start of a year long HIV initiative so next week I get to use my barely adequate Spanish to invite the mayor of my town to go to a kick off meeting in the capitol with me.
As you can probably tell, I´m a little panicked about being on my own with my language abilities but it had to happen sooner or later! I´ll be living with a family of 7, will have electricity, water service 3 days a week, phone in the house, cell phone and internet service in the community. So I will be able to stay in touch easily. Anyone coming to visit will fly to Guayaquil, Equador and take a bus down rather than flying to Lima and taking the LONG bus ride north. And the capitol of Tumbes has an airport.
We ended the day with a talent show put on by all the different language learning groups. Yours truly sang and danced in a chorus line!
So as you can tell, I´ve landed in Peace Corps heaven and am one happy woman.
Cheers
Sara
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
What a celebration!
So last night a group of about 40 Peace Corps volunteers here in Peru talked a closed resturant into opening for us because they had a wide screen TV with CNN international. We watched, drank beer and cheered as we heard the results state by state. It was a riot. I was tired and went home at 10PM once I heard that Ohio went blue. So when I got up this morning, I was trying to figure out how to turn on the TV in my family´s home and heard my host dad hollering through the bedroom wall, "Obama gano!" meaning that he won. I started shaking and crying. Ran next door to the tienda just as it was opening at 6AM to talk the owner into turning on his phone service so I could call Sean and Jenni.
All day people have commented to me on the buses and street. On a combi today, as soon as I called out my stop (which means that once my mouth is open I´m identified as foriegn gringa) the man next to me asked about the election and everyone around listened intently. The Peruvians I´ve talked to are quite excited as well, see it as both change in direction and a victory against racism. Very thrilling to see such a sweeping victory for Obama!
All day people have commented to me on the buses and street. On a combi today, as soon as I called out my stop (which means that once my mouth is open I´m identified as foriegn gringa) the man next to me asked about the election and everyone around listened intently. The Peruvians I´ve talked to are quite excited as well, see it as both change in direction and a victory against racism. Very thrilling to see such a sweeping victory for Obama!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Field based training
Well, I got back home to Yanacoto this morning at 10AM after an all night bus ride home from Piura City. This may be a ditzy blog from a tired woman!
What a week! We rode all night in a bus from Lima to Piura City last Saturday. The buslines here put Greyhound to shame! They call it a bus cama which means bed bus. Big comfortable lazy boy type seats, movies and food. We all really slept pretty well. Then after 12 hours bus to Piura City, the 4 volunteers and one trainer in our group went by a small bus to Las Lomas, hired a private care to get us to Porterillo where we met two great PC volunteers, Lizzi and Michael who were our hosts for 2 days. We stayed in a small hostel there. Day 1 we walked a LONG way uphill to see the progress on a latrine project Lizzi was working with. Beautiful country in the foothills of the sierra with rice fields, banana trees, birds, burros and irrigation ditches. Yours truly walked probably 2 or more miles uphill to this site hearing along the way "mas arriba!" or higher, higher. Lizzi´s project was really inspiring, the pueblos dotted with the blue doors of new clean latrines installed in collaboration with another NGO.
In the afternoon, after walking back down, our group gave a talk at a community meeting on how to clean the latrines, handwashing and tieing up or corralling the pigs to prevent trichanosis (I can´t spell in either language now). My part was brief because my Spanish is really weak in front of a group. And then fatigue and heat caught up with me and I abandoned the group to find a latrine before I threw up and fell over in front of the 45 or so community people gathered. However, I recovered quickly with some orange soda and on we went! Every tiny community we went through had at least one gardener with beautiful flowers and stopping to admire the flowers gave me a chance to rest!
The next day we went to a secondary school for a class with the teenagers on HIV and AIDS given by Michael. I was so impressed with his teaching, the kids were attentive and knew the basics about prevention. We all really enjoyed this visit and were inspired by Michael and Lizzie´s work.
On Wednesday we left for another pueblo quite a long way into the sierra. Drove by private cars hired on the street to a beautiful tiny town where we ate lunch and waited for a combi. The combi was full so we wound up in another priave care headed uphill on dirt roads. At one point the driver stopped suddenly and tightened the lug nuts on the tires which struck me as hilarious given that we´d been bouncing along for over an hour on rutted road and I have no idea why at that point he decided to check the tires to see if they would stay on the car...
Sicches was so beautiful with greenery, flowers and many birds I´d never seen. Brian and Angela were our host volunteers, a married couple working in programs of health and environment in a setting very isolated. They have an organic garden at the health clinic, with the primary focus on nutrition and garbage collection. I was able to see the mountains of Equador in the distance so said hello to Sara Ponce´s land! The beauty of the country was definitely there but also severe deforestation, 100% with sugar cane fields and dry, bare hillsides. We attended a great class on nutrition for infants and toddlers at the health post organized by Brian in a community where 46% of the children have stunting due to poor nutrition and chronic diarrhea. Then we saw the water system... These intrepid Peace Corps volunteers have their work cut out for them!
In this Sicches, we stayed in private homes and I slept in an inside room of an adobe house with a dirt floor. The host grandmother showed me to my windowless room, warned me to watch out for some flying amimalita that bites (zancudos which I still can´t identify in English). I spent my first night awake, listening and swatting. Lots of spiders, Sean would have been totally unglued. However, the family was warm, the 8 year old girl delightful and what the hell, I´m hear to tell the story.
The second day in Sicches, I stayed behind at the health post to talk with the obstetris (another word I can´t spell) about childbirth and women´s health care. This will go in another post! I learned a lot including that my Spanish holds up pretty well one on one in a familiar subject area.
Then one of the men in the town told me something I barely understood about there being only one bus at 430 that afternoon because the next two days were holidays. I got Javier, our trainer to get the story untangled because I only understood a tiny portion of this guy´s Spanish. So after a lot of excitement and flurry, we were on a bus to Piura City a day early.
So now I´m home in Yanacoto, tired, dirty and satisfied with a great week. On Tuesday we learn who wins the election and on Thursday, we learn our work sites for the next 2 years. Then next Monday, we head to our sites for a 4 day visit.
Wow.
What a week! We rode all night in a bus from Lima to Piura City last Saturday. The buslines here put Greyhound to shame! They call it a bus cama which means bed bus. Big comfortable lazy boy type seats, movies and food. We all really slept pretty well. Then after 12 hours bus to Piura City, the 4 volunteers and one trainer in our group went by a small bus to Las Lomas, hired a private care to get us to Porterillo where we met two great PC volunteers, Lizzi and Michael who were our hosts for 2 days. We stayed in a small hostel there. Day 1 we walked a LONG way uphill to see the progress on a latrine project Lizzi was working with. Beautiful country in the foothills of the sierra with rice fields, banana trees, birds, burros and irrigation ditches. Yours truly walked probably 2 or more miles uphill to this site hearing along the way "mas arriba!" or higher, higher. Lizzi´s project was really inspiring, the pueblos dotted with the blue doors of new clean latrines installed in collaboration with another NGO.
In the afternoon, after walking back down, our group gave a talk at a community meeting on how to clean the latrines, handwashing and tieing up or corralling the pigs to prevent trichanosis (I can´t spell in either language now). My part was brief because my Spanish is really weak in front of a group. And then fatigue and heat caught up with me and I abandoned the group to find a latrine before I threw up and fell over in front of the 45 or so community people gathered. However, I recovered quickly with some orange soda and on we went! Every tiny community we went through had at least one gardener with beautiful flowers and stopping to admire the flowers gave me a chance to rest!
The next day we went to a secondary school for a class with the teenagers on HIV and AIDS given by Michael. I was so impressed with his teaching, the kids were attentive and knew the basics about prevention. We all really enjoyed this visit and were inspired by Michael and Lizzie´s work.
On Wednesday we left for another pueblo quite a long way into the sierra. Drove by private cars hired on the street to a beautiful tiny town where we ate lunch and waited for a combi. The combi was full so we wound up in another priave care headed uphill on dirt roads. At one point the driver stopped suddenly and tightened the lug nuts on the tires which struck me as hilarious given that we´d been bouncing along for over an hour on rutted road and I have no idea why at that point he decided to check the tires to see if they would stay on the car...
Sicches was so beautiful with greenery, flowers and many birds I´d never seen. Brian and Angela were our host volunteers, a married couple working in programs of health and environment in a setting very isolated. They have an organic garden at the health clinic, with the primary focus on nutrition and garbage collection. I was able to see the mountains of Equador in the distance so said hello to Sara Ponce´s land! The beauty of the country was definitely there but also severe deforestation, 100% with sugar cane fields and dry, bare hillsides. We attended a great class on nutrition for infants and toddlers at the health post organized by Brian in a community where 46% of the children have stunting due to poor nutrition and chronic diarrhea. Then we saw the water system... These intrepid Peace Corps volunteers have their work cut out for them!
In this Sicches, we stayed in private homes and I slept in an inside room of an adobe house with a dirt floor. The host grandmother showed me to my windowless room, warned me to watch out for some flying amimalita that bites (zancudos which I still can´t identify in English). I spent my first night awake, listening and swatting. Lots of spiders, Sean would have been totally unglued. However, the family was warm, the 8 year old girl delightful and what the hell, I´m hear to tell the story.
The second day in Sicches, I stayed behind at the health post to talk with the obstetris (another word I can´t spell) about childbirth and women´s health care. This will go in another post! I learned a lot including that my Spanish holds up pretty well one on one in a familiar subject area.
Then one of the men in the town told me something I barely understood about there being only one bus at 430 that afternoon because the next two days were holidays. I got Javier, our trainer to get the story untangled because I only understood a tiny portion of this guy´s Spanish. So after a lot of excitement and flurry, we were on a bus to Piura City a day early.
So now I´m home in Yanacoto, tired, dirty and satisfied with a great week. On Tuesday we learn who wins the election and on Thursday, we learn our work sites for the next 2 years. Then next Monday, we head to our sites for a 4 day visit.
Wow.
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