Zaña

The small town of Zaña, about an hours ride in a Combi from Chiclayo is well known for its ruins.  Ruins in Peru are like cornfields in Nebraska: not hard to find and not far between.  I traveled to Zaña with a friend last weekend to enjoy the relaxing rural atmosphere away from Chiclayo and to see ruins of 4 cathedrals (in cornfields!).

peak at SKIP

Although I'm not working with the NGO SKIP, I saw this well-done video and thought it may be of interest to some of you to see some of their work in Trujillo (the city I visited a few weeks ago).
SKIP video

Peru goes to Peru

Interestingly, although Nebraska may not be one of the most well known places in the USA or world, Peruvians are familiar with the state of Nebraska ... better said everyone here has heard of "Nebraska."  Why?  The brand "Peru" (which produces all sorts of things in Peru) did a commercial in Peru, Nebraska.  It is especially funny to me understanding both sides Nebraka and Peru, but it may be interesting for you all to check out.  The commercial lasts about 15 minutes.

Documental Marca PERU en Nebraska

Hope you enjoy it!

April(l)’s first week

This week was the first week of the month and of the regular semester at La Pedro (the university as it is nicknamed) and the first time of seeing some of the new projects near Chongoyape and getting to talk to an American and a German since coming to Peru.

Classes began on Monday at the university and my schedule is still being worked out.  I am teaching beginning English for sociology majors, as well as teaching and assisting with other classes for upper level foreign language education majors.  One really interesting, but fun thing that I did at the university was attend a French class for foreign language majors.  The students are in their 5^th semester of French and in order to practice their translation skills, I was invited to the class to participate in their conversations and answer their questions.  The trick was, that they were only to speak French during the class and I was only to speak English.  It was rather tricky, because I kept wanting to respond in Spanish or in French (for the few small things I know), but I loved it and realized that I seem to understand French quite well, as I never had to have them translate for me!

I am just getting back from the second of 2 days near Chongoyape (in the mountains) where CIPDES has a few projects.  Yesterday we were checking on families who are raising guinea pigs for food and to sell and also ensuring that they had shared 8 of their “cuys” within the first year, with another family to help support them as well.  Additionally, I got to see and visit with some women whose home or kitchens had been improved with the support of CIPDES.  Now they have more than 1 room for the family or they have a kitchen with a wood-burning stove rather than a few stones on the ground…which makes cooking much simpler and quicker and uses less firewood.  The women are no longer shedding tears from the smoke as they cook.  I felt so happy for them, as I can well relate to how much better their situation is after my time in Kenya.  

Today, we left Chiclayo at 5:30am for Chongoyape where I met a Peace Corps volunteer from Maryland.  CIPDES is helping to support her in the construction of a community building for the rural village which shall include a small library, a place to perform theater presentations, other nature facts and a honey house to support the local bee keepers and give them a place to sell from.  We spent all morning hacking away at the ground and digging the foundation.  By the beginning of next week, they plan to add the cement for the basis of the structure.  It was great to swap stories with the volunteer and I also met a girl from Germany in that area for a few weeks.  Since she speaks very little English and Spanish, I got the role of translator…which was a bit complicated to speak to everyone in the right language at times, but fun all the same.

Now, filthy and covered in dust, I think I’ll wash my clothes while there’s still sunlight to dry them.  

Visit to San Pedro/Pacasmayo/Trujillo

San Antonio

This Monday, I didn’t seem to have much thrilling work to do at the Language Center for the university, when the department’s lawyer walked in.  I’d met her before and gone to her home and she asked me if I’d accompany her on a campaign.  After getting permission to leave work, I had a much more interesting evening!  Charrito (as she is nick-named) is campaigning for governor of Chiclayo.  We went to San Antonio, one of Chiclayo’s pueblo jovenes (meaning a slum that sprang up nearly overnight when a group of people invaded the land and settled and are trying to develop in the area).  The area is extremely poor.  We distributed 1-2 kg of rice to each of the family’s who had come and lined up to receive rice.  Of course there had to be many photos.  The event lasted about 2 hours and then we departed to head a little higher up into the cerros (rocky mountain-like areas) to visit a home.  There we found a teenage girl who had stepped on a nail earlier in the day.  The infected nail (likely tetanus) had caused her foot to swell and produced a horrible blister where it had penetrated and she could no longer walk.  We also visited a neighbor woman with 5 children under the age of 14, whose husband had abandoned her.  They were living in a one-room adobe home and the mother suffering from what seemed to be cancer (based on a large tumor on her head) and a problem with her kidneys is on her deathbed.  We greeted her and the children and gave them some rice as well.  Then we returned to the first home to take the girl to Mercedes Hospital in Chiclayo.  Unfortunately she didn’t have insurance, personal documents or any means of paying for a tetanus vaccine so the hospital did not want to treat her.  The lawyer and I went to several people and finally got a social worker to help clear up the situation.  The girl was asked to return the next morning and the hospital was to get a tetanus vaccine (since they don’t keep that on hand).  It was quite the evening and was nearly midnight by the time I made it home.  Encountering such situations really make you appreciate all the blessings you have.  

Calara

I love going to the countryside and getting to spend time in fresh air, listening to the sounds of the breeze rustling the trees, donkeys hee-hawing; tasting fruits plucked fresh from the trees like guava, plums, passion fruit, bananas and pomegranates; smelling and touching the dirt in the fields when walking across them or digging.  It gives me a sense of peace and home away from the honking cars and mototaxis, endless piles of trash and sidewalks and barricades buildings of Chiclayo. 

This last week, I got to return to Calara, where CIPDES is working on the asparagus project by helping to provide the local farmers with supplies and knowledge.  The drip-irrigation system is being constructed entirely of plastic PVC pipes and thin tubes.  CIPDES provides engineers who offer guidance, while the local farmers are expected to provide most of the labor: digging the trenches for the pipe, carrying the pipes, sawing the pipes to the right size, using sandpaper or files to rough them up and gluing the pieces themselves.  In this way, they must have an investment in their own systems as well as are learning how it works so that if they need to make any repairs in the future, they are capable of doing so.

Several times each hour, I saw a donkey pulling a cart either loaded with harvested goods or passengers.  It’s ironic sometimes to think about this entirely different world.  Back home I think of little girls giggling as they play with their dolls or paint each others’ fingernails or play t-ball/soft-ball.  Here they are laugh together as they drive donkey-drawn buggies or help their younger siblings bathe in the water spewed from a cracked irrigation pipe.  Two little boys (probably about 8 years old) had a ball as they got to play with the elbows and other connecting pieces for the irrigation system making towers and spy-glasses while their fathers dug trenches.   Another interesting sight was seeing several men work together to lift a mototaxi and pass it over the trench across the road so that the passengers could continue on their journey.  (Mototaxis resemble Tuktuks).   

As much as I enjoy it, there are awkward moments.  When lunch time came around, I was served a pile of rice with an entire roasted guinea pig piled on top.  The guinea pig, known as cuy here, lay on its back staring up at me with its mouth open.  I had to kindly thank the Señora, but request that she bring me an empty plate upon which I put the rodent and returned it to the kitchen.  The four men at the table all devoured their critters and rice.  What a day. 

It is a beautiful area and I feel blessed to be able to go there surrounded by rocky mountains (cerros) on all sides in the middle of what will soon be an oasis in the desert.

(I picked some of these guavas from atop CIPDES’s pickup, then climbed the tree to get more for the engineers). You don't eat the seeds...just the sweet white cotton-like flesh.