vacations go and life goes on

Well many things are happening right now in my life. As usual I know you people probably think that I am the poster child for the saying the only thing constant in life is change. So in these past weeks I am now in charge of a huge project and am a little short of time in my life to be doing 3.5 projects at the same time. But multitasking has always been a strength so just have to keep pushing. But lets go back to last week when my family showed up, so nice to have the chance to show my life off to my mom and sister. I think sometimes it is impossible to be able to describe accurately my day to day life. I know that I talk a lot about work and that is well because pretty much my whole life is work. However, it was great getting to show them around to the chakras or fields where I spend my little free time singing at the top of my lungs in English without fear that someone is watching or listening. Then we headed to my Sunday hangout the river to play with the fishes and they got a kick out of the mototaxis getting stuck trying to cross the river and laughed harder at all the bouncing and jiggling that is produced when riding in these mototaxis. They were amazed at the constant traffic jam of goats, cows, donkey’s with carts, or sheep. They instantly fell in love with Peruvian food and even more so with my host mothers’ cooking so good. After a very necessary shower because of being covered in sweat and dust, we headed to meet the boyfriend’s family. It was great showing them that I have such a solid and entertaining support system. For the most part the two people who usually have the biggest mouths my boyfriend and his mother had their tongues stolen apparently by the cat. After some private conversations the air seemed to be a little less heavy. And they all went to my dance recital that I had prepared. It was my favorite moment to see my sister and mom laughing at me shaking my bad thang. And checking out the all to short or revealing costumes. The next day I had a meeting with the mayor and my boss about the future. The general consensus was that I have done excellent work and my community would like me to keep working another year here. My boss then said that it was an option and seemingly necessary as there is still so much work to do in my site. I think she left overall very impressed with my achievements and so while it is not written in stone yet. There is a really strong chance that I am staying in my site next year to be able to do the second part of my nutrition project, develop some sort of youth development and pregnancy prevention techniques, and build the bridge of communication between the schools, the municipality, and the health center. Waiting for a phone call depending on the situation I will be in the states for Christmas however if I do not get my paid month of vacation I will not be able to come out to Colorado. Then we headed to the beach for a few days of what I describe as gluttony because it was great food, laying around, playing on the beach, sleeping in, and no schedules. I unfortunately stepped on some animal in the water the first day which left me with a bleeding and painful bottom of my foot. It was not a stingray so I did not die. Then we came back to the city to get ready for Desi’s departure headed to check out some of the famous artesian work. Lots of buying of pretty things. Then the best dinner I have had in so long. No just for the food or the environment but rather for the company and conversations, 3 hours and way too much food, drinks, laughter, and money spent I felt like maybe this had been the future all along. I am realizing that sometimes we focus so hard on one future that we forget to look up and see if something better is sitting right in front of our noses. On my last day with mom I showed her that you can also live the good life here too. Went to a museum, got facials, got lunch, got coffee, went shopping and surprisingly felt like any Saturday in the states. I am so grateful that they were able to come experience my life and see my Peru and not just partake in the touristy stuff. I think they understand much more the reality that I face both the challenges and the rewards of what I do. They now have met all the most important characters of my soap opera which we have lovingly named “Tropical Storm”. I believe that my mom feels much more comfortable with me living here knowing that my support system is incredibly strong and loving. I feel rejuvenated not so much from being on vacation but rather because their trip reminded me why I am here and how important what I am doing truly is. And while it is never going to be easy I know the best things in life are worth fighting for. Lots of love keep ya’ll posted I should get the answer of whether or not I am for sure staying or going.

well

ok sorry guys that I did not blog for awhile I have been busy and busier. Back to dancing with the dance group, working, managing projects, traveling a little and trying to keep it together. I had applied for a third year leadership position and apparently was not the right fit so I think I am going to come home as of December. Then weird things started happening and I started feeling like I was supposed to stay in my site. So I talked with my boss about the option of staying in my site for another year and she said she did not know because we do not know the budget of 2012 still to be able to decide how many third year positions there will be. The reasons that I started thinking that I should stay is basically work started falling into place perhaps too much. I got an opportunity to design and manage a s/24,000 project. To recover and prevent malnutrition. Which is exactly what I have been wanting this whole time that I have been here and just did not get the time to make the effort. This literally fell into my lap and they gave it to me. So excellent. Really honestly stressful because I am still in charge of managing my sexual health promoters, accompanying them to teach classes, doing nutritional counseling, teaching in night school, helping on the parent school to make sure it does not fail, running my healthy households to soon be builiding improved cookstoves and now this project. Plus I received a phone call to say that there will be a training in my site in August. Then for some reason the health professionals at my health post finally started to think that I was actually worthwhile and want me to train them about health promotion and nutrition. Getting everything together to be able to take a lovely vacation with my sister and mom and get to show them the life I lead. I feel like it will be so interesting getting their perspective on my reality. Got the opportunity to go up to the mountains and take a bath in a mysterious lake I think it worked a little too well. It was a 3 hour hike one way and it was a trek because it had been raining so hiking up and down hills steep hills in straight mud. I did not fall but my friend did. exhausting, freezing. Getting into the lake was like the polar bear plunge because the water was freezing cold it burned my skin. It was hilarous because I had put on my bikini a bikini in the mountains in the rain running in an open field shivering and yelling thinking that getting into the lake would be an improvement and finding out I was chillingly mistake. I thought I was going to get pnemonia or hypothermia. I spent three hours after we got home trying to get the feeling back into my feet. The future is so uncertain I have to admit I got nervous at the thought of coming back to the states and having total culture shock and being unemployed, and not being able to dance like 4 times a week and not get to be my own boss anymore. And having to be punctual and live in a place with so many laws. But if I have to come home I think that it will be great to be close with the friends and family and get to check out the next chapter in my life. I was disappointed to have not gotten the job because well I really did not think that I would have gotten rejected. But it happened. And then I felt silly for having always thought that I would have been here for another year and now it might not happen. I can only wait now to see if staying in my site is a realistic option. Tomorrow is the yearly meeting for the budget for my district where I will be trying to get funds for improved cookstoves and the second stage of the nutrition project. There is so much to get done in these months to come. I would like to congratulate the newly engaged. best of luck lizann. love yall.

ships ohoy

I think that is how you spell it. Anyways work is going at speed lightening rate because well it kind of has to. I was in my site for four days after my vacation getting organized, having meetings and trainings, trying to make sure that everything was in place. The craziest thing happened I have recently started working with the Mother of the church. She is religious but incredibly straight forward, no bullshit. Well traveled, and runs on full speed. So she wants to do a improved cook stove project so she signed me up to train some 150 people about the subject in her next meeting which entailed me up on an alter with a big jesus hanging behind me talking about how to do one of these projects. I also had to build one as an example.Never could I have ever imagined I would get the opportunity to be preaching on an alter and cannot say I would like to do it again though I heard in September I may have to in order to do a Nutrition Training. It was amazing and I am not exactly sure how many improved cook stoves will come out of that presentation but none of them will count as my work because they are out of my district. Then there was my birthday which I passed with friends drinking and dancing and drinking and dancing and eating ceviche and going to a mass for my friend's dad that passed away on my birthday last year. terribly unfortunate but reason enough for my friend to have returned from Lima to La Matanza. It was nice hanging out with my brothers and then I headed to Piura to dance in a club with some other friends. The next day I was headed to Paita to translate for the US Navy ship the USNS COMFORT. I spent three days there working in the OR, the patient admission, ICU, recovery. Talking with families, explaining procedures and symptoms between the patients and the doctors. It was neat being practically inside a modern hospital that I would expect to see in the states but it was on a ship. I only got sea sick when I was eating because that was located on the top floor. I got lost a few times because you had to use certain stairs to get to certain places. It was strange being surrounded by Americans and all in uniforms. I broke many rules like wearing shorts the first day when I arrived, and wearing sandals, I could not be punctual if I tried so I resorted to running in the halls also illegal. I almost kissed a boy but I figured that would have just been rebellious so I did not. Also I did a presentation about cultural sensitivity after observing their operation outside and on the ship. So that they could better serve the Peruvian population. I did that presentation which was about 15 minutes for about 100 of the most important people on the ship doctors, captains, the commodore. All in uniform all much older than me with a lot of work experience and all intimidating. Me on a microphone again. I worried that they would take it as criticism that I would say something inappropriate halfway through my speech I realized there were two Peruvians in the audience from the Embassy that spoke English so I got nervous I would some how offend them with the information I was presenting. Afterward though I got a strong applause followed by at least 15 people coming up to thank me saying it was the best debrief they had received since arriving to any of their destinations and that they would be using the information as of tomorrow. Then the 2 peruvian women came up my heart swallowed a bit but they were smiling and told me that was the best presentation just the things that they would have also suggested that I clearly knew the culture and the people. Followed by the commodore calling me over. To thank me and then ask me to write a document for them to have so that they did not forget anything I said and could implement my every suggestion. I almost started crying simply because I did not expect such a positive response or that what I had done to be so useful to them. Needless to say it was an excellent experience my first time translating which I have decided I am really no good at because I always want to throw in my own words or tweak the message. I had to get back to site even though I was invited to stay for the remaining 4 months and travel to the other 6 countries. so flattering. I remembered who I was on that ship and what I was capable of doing. I also got my organization involved with an NGO that works on amazing water chlorinating projects. And made contacts with regional municipality to bring my organization to them and with this other girl whom i deem the queen of development. The food was good there was skim milk ha! I made myself sick drinking too much of it I think I am now lactose intolerant. Then I had to return to my life in my small town. Damn it I am a big fish. Any who, doing good things keeping going with the projects right now I am in cram time I think I may have once again tried to do to much in too little time. Only 5 months to go, and still waiting to hear if I get to stay or not a third year. But that would be a different position. That's all for now.

jungle

so i spent the first day hiking up to the first waterfall and bathing in freezing cold water. on the way down we got to try various local liquors made from berries and other tropical fruits mixed with something similar to moonshine. Then we headed to a different lagoon to go swimming and kayaking. I accidentally stole someone's kayak. the next day we went to a different town that was having an Easter Celebration. so we got to check out an artisan fair with a lot of ceramics and wood work, a gastronomic fair were my friend any I ate probably six plates of food. Ceviche, fish grilled in a palm leaf, chicken grilled in a palm leaf, 2 plates of donuts, and flavored ice chips. We checked out a reenactment of the passion. Then went to check out the church. and 2 coffee shops. It was a lovely day as the streets were filled and others blocked off and completely painted with gorgeous images of Jesus. Oh and there was a castle a real castle in the middle of this little poor town a beautiful castle being built by some Italian guy, i do believe it is the only castle in all of Peru. The next day we traveled to the blue lagoon, we had to cross a river in a ferry that carried the cars and then headed on really muddy roads to the lagoon. then took a boat across the lagoon to our own private dock and hiked a little in the jungle saw a centipede that my friend did not realize was dangerous. had to keep my eyes on her because she likes to touch everything and rarely knows whether it could kill her or not. though i enjoyed her company a lot (Emma) because she is a spontaneous and sometimes brave character that loves traveling. so anyways we went swimming a bit and I did yoga on my dock and then a crazy rain storm rolled in for like 15 minutes and we were stuck in a cloud and the thunder seemingly vibrated the once tranquil lagoon and then it passed and the sun came back with strength and the lagoon was once again a strong sea blue. In the afternoon we took a walk to the next town, got picked up by a catering van to another town along the way, went back to hiking and then got picked up by a truck. By the time we were truly on our way it was already pretty late and the road was closed until six because of construction in which I thought one of the guys from the trucks waiting in line to pass was going to rip of this girl's head, then two other trucks wanted to pass and were stopped by two other guys standing in front of their cars. At six we continued saw a live viper that was then masterfully run over by a truck and picked up to be cooked for later. Once outside of the desired destination we ran into a 8 wheeler stuck in the mud trying to get up this hill which consequently blocked our path. so stuck again and the sun already set at six thirty we contemplated walking again though after realizing that neither of us had batteries for our small flash lights we waited for the truck to be pulled up the hill by ropes and twenty men. Man power better than wheel power. At 830 we finally got to the town and exhausted we showered and went to bed. Following morning we woke up early to hike two hours to another waterfall. It was muddy and one had to be very careful where they placed their foot so as not to slide down the hill. We took a guide because the senora at the hostel insisted it was necessary. it was thank you senora. we got to a river and had to cross it by foot because there was no bridge we had to then climb large rocks to get to the next pass. then came on great rock that we had to climb down to pass the river again. Emma fears falling I never thought i would get her to scale down but she did with some convincing then the guy said we had to swim across the river in a deeper part. but Emma did not want to again because she is not such a strong swimmer. with more coxing we got he across. I think at that point she hated me a little bit. crossing slippery rocks we finally got to a intensely falling waterfall. it was gorgeous. i only almost got sucked down the river once and only fell on the rocks once both i consider impressive for my clumsy nature. We hiked back another two hours and the guide was surprisingly more tired than us, I think it is because we walked at a faster rate and did not rest. We went to lunch and a downpour like the ocean falling out of the skies came down. the houses there are made out of palm trees and while it seems like water would get in they are perfectly tied together in a way that makes them resistant. Then another sketchy truck ride back to the city and we got into a taxi to head to the next and last town. This was like the capital of orchids so we first went to some sulfur baths, followed by hot springs, then to an orchid garden where i got to see 20 varieties of orchids naturally blossoming. The girl explained that in the garden they had over 200 varieties and in the department of Tarapoto there are 1500 varieties, she also explained that some only blossom once a year for about 2 weeks but others bloom more frequently but only for one day and at the end of the day the flower falls. This explains so much about my orchid fern that never blossomed again mom. Up the hill, followed the hummingbird garden which had like 20 different types of hummingbirds and we climbed into this three story natural tree house to observe. I wanted to live there favorite flower, favorite bird, sweet house in a garden looking over a city and mountains. At lunch I got to try fried ants, suckerfish soup, peanut soup, and fresh grape juice. Never drink concentrate again. the ants were neither good nor bad I think I did not like that they were fried because they had a sort of burnt thing about them. We headed to an orchid nursery and saw about 30 more varieties, parrots, bright toads, turtles, pythons, and crocs. Then to the botanical garden. As the night came we hung in hammocks conversing until the bats scared off Emma. Then onto the 12 hour bus ride that turned into the 24 hour bus ride because of a land slide that blocked off the highway in like 6 places. We had to wait so that the heavy machinery could basically push all the debris to form a new road. We would roll a few feet and then stop for an hour and a half and repeat. We got the idea would could walk to the closest town 2 hours away to get mobility. but then the bus started moving. then it stopped for another long time, so we got serious again and got our luggage out of storage and then ironically the bus started moving a kept moving. I think maybe the people on the bus thought that God loved the crazy gringas enough not to let them hike two hours on a questionable and filthy highway for two or three hours getting cat called by truck drivers. Gratefully my friend does carry pictures of Jesus in her bag and the virgin under her hat and incessantly prays. So we made it grabbed cow hearts grilled on a stick and got on the next and last bus for 3 more hours getting home at 10 pm. fell into bed and are now back to life again. safe, and sound as we could wish to be a little tired, brused, bitten, and sore, but that is what a great trip should be like.

events

excellent news i did in fact receive my once promised funding so the improved cookstoves will be built. thank goodness. did some trainings for the professors of the schools about nutrition. man there is a serious deficit of knowledge. i am glad i could help out and now they are going to start teaching nutrition and they have started recycling in the primary schools. saving trees. been nice dancing with my crew again we had our first presentation and it went ok. the first dance we did i totally got stage fright and forgot the moves. muh. the second we all kicked butt. and went super well. though getting back into a miniskirt still is not very comfortable for me. working with the moms about diarrea and the cold/flu. speaking of i am rocking a bad cold right now but it has to happen at least once a year right. then we had a girls leadership camp that i think went incredibly well. I taught about health relationships dont laugh yall. A friend told me those who cant do teach. So that should help girls pick better boyfriends or stay single. I also taught about how to go to the university. we had teams and competitions and my yellow team of super stars one it was exciting. they got medals. we acted out a soap opera at night for the girls which i co wrote and produced. hilarious. I also was the host of a dating show. i am thinking perhaps my calling was in television. busy trying to start teaching sex ed again with the help of girls in the school. and still fighting to recover at risk kids from malnourishment. I sent in my third year application so i should know by the end of may whether or not i got the position. on sunday it is the presidential elections here i know little about the canditates but am extremely excited that i will no longer have to see anymore propoganda or hear debates or their terrible promotional songs. i think i have forgotten what life was like here before politics got so big. the new president will be entering office in july. the economy here is getting bad partly because of droughts and partly because of strikes. at least in my site people are struggling, robberies are up out of necessity i assume, and prices are rising. hopefully things get under control some time sooner than later. I am shocked and poorly informed about what is happening in japan though i am rather curious what the domino effects should be in the rest of the world. here people think there should be an earthquake. in other places i have no idea but radioactive ocean sounds like a better name for a band than a reality no? anyways these are the things on my mind. hopefully you all are safe and well and prepared for a potential disaster always better to be prepared than screwed. k loves.

stuff

so got back to site to find out that there may be problems with the funding for my improved cook stoves but i still have no solid word on the project. So i keep doing the trainings with the mothers and they are changing their houses and behaviors and showing up to the meetings so i could not be happier. Then i headed to the mountains of piura to give a training about malnutrition, how to form health promoters, how to run educative sessions, and how to do house visits. It was really great getting to meet the next round of volunteers and to also get the experience of training volunteers. it is so strange to feel like not that long ago we were in their shoes except that a year and a half has already passed by and we have learned so much and changed. it was also entertaining to hang out with one of my best girl friends here because the training was in her site. lets just say that after spending three days with her that we have in general definately lost our minds and will likely be very socially awkward when we get back to the states. Then got back to site and am working on improving people´s bathrooms by building cement platforms still have not decided as to whether I want to do a full latrine project or these platforms are good enough in my opinion. If i do decided to do the latrines I am going to need your guys help with donations totaling in $500 total which is really not all that much and could probably make 30 latrines. Anyways i will let u know if i do or not soon. I joined my dance group last week and will start dancing and performing with them again. I realized after dancing in the 50th anniversary how much i missed and loved dancing. So it is helping my physical health, as for mental health i have been finger painting super relaxing and started doing yoga again. Getting stuff prepared for a girls leadership camp that will be happening next week. all around evrything is pretty calm right now hope all is well with yall.

travels

So i know I said I would be headed to the beach but for budget reasons I was unable to go, which seemed very unlucky. But that same night at 8 pm i got an invite to go with a group of dancers from my site to Ecuador to perform in the Anniversary celebrations of Yantaza. So we got into a car at 11 pm and went driving all night to the border only getting mildly lost once. At the border we had to wait like 6 hours until our transportation arrived so taking advantage of the time we went to a playground to learn the dance we would be performing that same night. We had to borrow electricity from a house in order to have the music play and within an hour we were completely exhausted sweaty smelly and sunburned because the sun is so overwhelmingly strong. Then after lunch and a little loss of hope this sweet mini bus came to our rescue and we were told that there would be 7 more hours to go in order to arrive. So in between consciousness we tried to get the dance organized and memorized and catch up on sleep. However, the windy roads in high altitude got to the majority of us and consequently, there was nausea vomiting headaches dehydration and paleness. We arrived at a gas station and in the bathroom one of the girls told me that she did not feel good and then proceeded to pass out luckily my friend caught her before she hit her head on the corner of the wall. After what seemed like forever and lots of coaxing she sat up like a possessed person confused and scared. I was also scared because I had never seen anyone wake up like that after being passed out, with some pills everyone got into better conditions. At 830 we got to the town and then were told we had to go straight to the local to perform because the event was almost up. Entering we found ourselves surrounded by beautifully dressed groups and a sold out event. Talk about nervous because we were not an actual dance group just members of various groups molded together and barely practiced the dance. The organizer shows up and says you have two songs to get changed and then you are up. Dang we stripped off our clothes and throwing of bobby pins, hats, belts, safety pins, lipstick and earrings. Boom. Listo. So we hear our name and out we go nerves but excited none the less. It went well all things considered. After the relief of completing what we came to do I enjoyed watching the other groups and getting to know the traditional dances of Ecuador which are distinct from the dances I have learned, followed by a musical performance of a 10 man group, amazing. At midnight we finally got to the hotel only to find that there was one shower with one tank of water for the 15 of us. So form the line turn on and off the faucet and limits to two minute showers. None of us could have afforded to go without a shower. 130 sleep finally. Wake up and then a little sight seeing on the way back of Loja which is apparently one of the cleanest towns in the world. The air in the city was cleaner than the air in the country where I live. Nothing of trash in the streets no visible pollution. It also has the largest clock in the world. We saw a river that was so clear you could see to the bottom of it in which ever point of the river. Pristine. Then 6 hours back to the border. Slight problems with border patrol but they did luckily let me back into Peru. Then 6 more hours upon arriving to the entrance of my town the truck got a flat tire so we had to walk the 15 minutes to get home. Exhaustion next day back to work as though nothing happened. Then there was the 50th celebration in Piura where coworkers, socios and volunteers met to present the work we realize. It was refreshing to remember what the organization is about and then hear stories of experiences and successes of all the programs. It truly is an incredible thing what we are doing here. Then pack the bags off again to Lima for the central 50th anniversary event. I met the ambassador and the first lady. Then we did a flash mob dance which was a hit. Afterwards it was nice to go out and dance some more with friends at the clubs. The next day I was off to Cajamarca for Carnival. Did some sight seeing of archeological sites and hiking to waterfalls, bathing in the hot springs, eating delicious food mostly cheese and yogurt. The central day is hours of paint fights running all through the city dancing, singing, and throwing paint and water balloons at one another. Got cleaned up and then headed out to a dance club to check out an electronic dj that was in town. Rare experience here because techno music is not popular so taking advantage stayed out dancing until 5 am. lovely and super fun. Then there was more sight seeing and the big parade which lasted over 3 hours with elaborate costumes more songs and dance. My first carnival of many. And thank goodness for vacations much needed relax and release. Then tuesday its back to the chaos of my life. I am so grateful for the every moment i get to live. hope you all feel the same about your lives if not do something to get where you want to go. Seriously considering staying a third year in a leadership position. will know more in may. loves.