Peruvian Independence day y mas

This past weekend was Peru's independence day. This included a lot of fiestas, a lot of Peru flags EVERY WHERE (they say you get fined by the police if you don't have a Peruvian flag outside of your house during Peru's independence week!!) and official marches that took place in the streets of Lima that all the families love to watch on TV. I personally became bored after just ten minutes of watching the same kind of marching but for some reason my family and all the other families in Peru seem to be enthralled with it. I think its because of the tradition! I guess during recent years there has been this movement of nationalism and patriotism in Peru. I guess before this didn't really exist but now people are all about it and during their celebration week of independence, like I said, literally every house has a Peruvian flag hanging outside, there are many less official flags every where that say "TE AMO PERU" (I love you Peru) and people will wear buttons that say "SOY PERUANO Y SOY FELIZ!!!" (I am Peruvian and happy!!). I of course went all out for Peru's independence day and bought a Peruvian flag and their national soccer jersey! VIVA PERU!! :) We still had training class on Peru's independence day but our Spanish teachers performed some traditional Peruvian dances from different parts of Peru. They even wore the traditional outfits and had been practicing the dances for weeks. It was very beautiful!!

With out Spanish teacher in her traditional coastal Peruvian outfit :)

Showing my love for Peru on their independence day

Being in Lima and still being in training now that I know my site has been difficult....now that I know my site, I am really anxious to get there, learn all about it, and start working with the youth. I really feel done with training and all the busy work that I feel like we are doing but I know that I need to finish strong and enjoy these last weeks with my fellow volunteers while we are all together. We are all feeling pretty ansy to be done with training. Only 2.5 weeks left! And a week of that includes the site visits we do next week!

One thing is for sure, after spending just a week in Ancash I really realized how sort of, kind of, really ugly Lima is...dusty, dry, brown, polluted, over crowded. Its a dessert surrounded by enormous dirt hills that look like big piles of dirt. I love Lima for certain things but I definitely won't be sad to move to the fresh, lush, clean, beautiful Sierra Mountain Range!!!

2.5 weeks and I'll be there for good!! Well, for the next two years at least :)

This is a map of Peru with a sticker in every state that Peace Corps Peru has volunteers! 

A little "hike" by Kaeli's house...a 10 minute incline up the side of a large pile of dirt is really the closet thing to a hike that you get around here.

Being from Washington and Colorado, we like to hike and Lima is definitely lacking in that department. Thankfully soon I will be moving to the mountains where I will be surrounded by unlimited glorious hikes!!  

Sorry Lima, but I really won't miss this...Here's the view we had from out hike. Even though we felt like we were in Palestine, it was still nice to get out and do a little hike of some sort!

My two year site!!

Today we found out where we will be living for the next two years!! My site is a small town called Huallanca in the state of Ancash!!! (the pronunciation of Huallanca is "¨why-an-ca") I am so excited that I will be living in beautiful, mountainous, picturesque, Ancash!!! BUT I am even more excited for the type of challenging work that awaits me in my future town according to my boss and the information about my town that I have been given. After being assigned our sites today, my boss came up to me and said "There is A LOT of work to be done with the youth in your site. We definitely gave you this site for a reason." Let me explain a little bit about what I have been told regarding the situation and needs of Huallanca and why they have decided to place a Peace Corps volunteer there to do youth development.  Huallanca has a population of about 4,000 people and 8,000 people including the surrounding communities. It is a town that has four near-by mines. There are many men who come from all over Peru to work in these mines which has caused some problems for Huallanca. When the men in the mines have time off, they often go down to spend a few days in Huallanca. While there, many men sleep with young girls who they've met for the first time, causing unwanted pregnancies for these young women who end up not even knowing who their baby daddy is. The teen pregnancy rate in Huallanca is extremely high.

There is another major problem in Huallanca for the youth: There are many families who work in farms surrounding Huallanca that send their children to live in Huallanca and rent rooms by themselves so that they can go to school. Instead of actually going to school like they are suppose to, many of the kids end up just fooling around and getting into drugs and alcohol since they are living on their own without any parents around. Even though the need is great, the Peace Corps has never placed a volunteer in this site partly because it is in an area bordering where the terrorist group "The shining path" use to be. They have wanted to put a volunteer in this area for years and are finally able to. Needless to say...I will have my work cut out for me! I will most likely be focusing my projects on working with young, single moms, pregnancy prevention and sexual education, women´s empowerment and self-esteem for young women, decreasing malnutrition rates for babies and young children, and so much more! Because there is so much work to be done in the site where I will be living, there will be a male volunteer going to my site as well. The town asked for a male and female volunteer to be able to work with and have a big influence and be a positive role model on both the boys and girls in Huallanta. 


I had asked my boss for a site that was very small, very rural, and very indigenous. Being a town of 4,000 people (8,000 people with the surrounding communities), Huallanca is not as small and rural as I initially wanted but I am truly SO EXCITED for the type of challenging work that awaits me and for the opportunity to try to make a difference in the young women´s lives who live in this town. Working with young, single mother´s and pregnant teens through women´s empowerment and trying to increase self-esteem for young girls is something that I am truly thrilled about doing! I know that Huallanca is where I am meant to be. Because of my personality and past experiences with at-risk youth, the Peace Corps staff placed me in the town of Huallanca for a reason. If I ever doubt myself or have hard days, I just need to remember that! When I move to Huallanca, I will be starting from scratch, especially since there has never been a Peace Corps volunteer in the area. I will be taking nothing and turning it into something. That is one of the many beauties of being a Peace Corps volunteer!

I get to visit my site in about two weeks! I can´t wait!!!

Here is the location of the state of Ancash (it is right above the state of Lima):

Field Based Training in Ancash!

I returned home yesterday from a week in the Sierra with a group of ten volunteers for field based training. We had a great week! It was a very busy trip and was a bit stressful at times because we had to give a lot of sessions to students and we were always on the go, but we all learned so much and got a lot of practical experience and an idea of what our next two years will be like. We spent our week visiting different current Peace Corps volunteers in their sites and putting on activities and facilitating class sessions for the schools. There was a lot of late nights planning sessions to present and constantly running around to different sites, always on the go. But we truly all learned so much and it was so fun to get a sneak peak of the different Peace Corps sites in Ancash and to get a picture of what our lives could be like for the next two years. All of the sites we visited were smaller communities/towns which is definitely the size site that I would love to have. Some of the volunteers lived in adobe houses made of mud and straw with dirt floors with limited running water/electricity. I think I would love to live like that and have that kind of experience. We will see what kind of town and what type of living conditions I end up with!

Ancash is a BEAUTIFUL state. All of the towns that we visited were nestled in a valley between a stunning mountain range. The beauty of it all was breath taking at times and it felt really great to be out of dirty, polluted, crowded, dusty, Lima and in nature with all the fresh air, mountains, rivers and lakes. The Cordillera mountain range in Ancash is world famous among climbers and mountaineers so there are always a lot of mountaineering tourist staying in the capital city in Ancash during the high season.

My favorite part about Ancash was the high presence of the Andean indigenous culture. This culture is so beautiful and interesting to me in so many ways and I am so excited that I will get to be a part of it for the next two years. It was so fun to hear people speaking Quechua and to see them dressed in their beautiful traditional clothing. In a few of the communities we went to, the kids at school even spoke in Quechua amongst themselves and it was so awesome to see that.

Some highlights of the week included:  taking a “fun day” to visit a beautiful turquoise colored lagoon at the base of Mt Huascaran, eating the traditional indigenous Sierra dish called “Pachamanca” which is when they surround chicken, corn and potatoes with scalding hot coals and bury it in the dirt to let it cook for hours, leading a group of about 50 indigenous woman and girl in an exercise class of stretching and dance aerobics (picture a big group of shy, indigenous women in their traditional dress laughing and giggling as we tried to get them to dance and work out-things they never do!), learning (or at least attempting to) some Quechua words and phrases from some students at a school where we gave sessions, and exploring the capital city Huaraz.

Ancash is a truly amazing state with the beauty of the mountains and all the nature, the Andean indigenous culture that I am so in love with, a great capital city, and a family of awesome Peace Corps volunteers already serving there that I would get to become a part of. I will be one lucky chica if my two year site ends up being in Ancash!!! We find out tomorrow where our two year sites will be!! I am really hoping that I will be in Ancash!!!  I will make sure to let everyone know when I find out!!! 

Our beautiful day trip to the lake!

The llama that was in our backyard 

Just a little bit of the beauty of Ancash!

Smelly meat in the market-a usual in Peru!

Mountains galore in Ancash!

Taking a quick break between sessions

Eating Pachamanca! A meal that is cooked buried in  a pile o f dirt.

Freezing cold in our hostel...The Sierra is very warm during the day thanks to the strong sun, but freezing cold at night!

A session I gave on recycling and the environment!

One of the classes I taught

Our aerobics dance class that we taught to some indigenous women :)

Ancash is so beautiful!

Algunas Cositas

The Peace Corps gave us our Peruvian cell phones! So I wanted to post my number so that people can call me on my Peruvian cell phone if necessary. You can buy a phone card and call me from your phone in the states directly to my Peruvian cell. My number is: 001-511-943692237. You can also directly call this number from skype if you purchase skype credit (don´t worry mom, I´ll talk you through it next time we skype each other!).

A sad Peace Corps moment: Running out of the peanut butter that you brought from the states. It´s a sad moment because peanut butter is not popular here and all and is difficult to find/extremely expensive...as in I would have to pay like my month´s salary to buy more...might be an exageration it is pretty dang pricey!

My American peanut butter is all gone :(

Tomorrow I am headed to a state called Ancash in the Sierra mountain range to spend a week doing field based training. This will include shadowing current Peace Corps volunteers as well as facilitating educational sessions in the classroom at different schools. Some very exciting news is that I unofficially found out that I will indeed be living in Ancash (the state in the Sierra where I will be all next week) for my two year site!! I still don't know exactly where in Ancash I will be living but I am beyond excited! Being there all next week will only make it more real!

Photos and stories to come when I return from the Sierra in a week :)

Life as a tall gringa

Bakery treats with my homegirl Kaeli 

Large statues of Jesus seem to be very popular in Latin America

Halfway through training and region assignments!

 It is now week five of training which means that we are halfway through! Today, they announced our regional assignments and I will officially be in the Sierra in a Quechua speaking area!!! I am so excited!!! It´s just what I wanted :) While it would have been nice to live in the warm weather on the coast, close to the beach, living a more modern life style, I have known all along what kind of Peace Corps experience I truly want; something less modern and very culturally rich and living in the Sierra is just that. We are still waiting to find out our exact site locations. We won't hear about that for another few weeks. I am anxious to know! Being a Peace Corps volunteer sure is teaching me how to be patient! Next week, we will go on a "field based training trip" and when we get back from that I will start my Quechua classes and that is also when they will be telling us our exact site locations!

Here are some recent photos from a few different events:

At a Peruvian outdoor fiesta with some volunteer friends

The "torro loco" (crazy bull) that shoots out fireworks in all imaginable directions.

When they gave us our region assignments! There is my name and photo on the "sierra" sign. Yay!!!

About to consume an enormous pizza with some volunteer friends. Its nice to have American food every once in a while.

We went on a short hike through the foothills that are in our neighborhood!

Here we are at the top

Peru 19!

Here is a group photo of Peace Corps Peru 19!! (Peru 19 means that we are the nineteenth Peace Corps group to be serving in Peru since they returned in 2001). These are the people that I spend forty hours a week with in training! We are all from different states all over the US and we are/will be each other's biggest support through out this two year Peace Corps journey! I thankful to be a part of this phenomenal group of volunteers and even more thankful to be a Peace Corps volunteer in general in the amazing country of PERU! I could have been placed anywhere and Peru is what I was given. Many, many Peace Corps applicants want to be placed in Latin America and very few actually are given that. So I feel so lucky to not only be in Latin America, but to be in a country as beautiful as Peru that has so many amazing sites to see and such a beautiful culture!

Peru 19. This photo was taken on our first full day together in Peru!

Forth of July celebration

Instead of having training on the forth of July, we had a big celebration at the training center! Our forth of July celebration included lots of games, a big "American lunch" (hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, lemon pie, and a big cake with an American flag on it!) as well as lots of American music and just hanging out. We even sung the national anthem together which ended in a big group huddle and chanting "USA, USA!". I haven't felt so patriotic in a long time...I mean really! It was a lot of fun! It was a great day and we all had a blast. It was a much needed day of fun and a good break for us to all get to actually hang out together while not sitting through language class or technical training. It was good bonding time for our group of volunteers! Being a part of an awesome organization like the Peace Corps truly makes me proud to be an American. We get to be the face, hands, and feet that represent the US in other countries in a positive way through helping others and integrating ourselves into another country and spreading love and peace. Through the Peace Corps, I've met so many awesome Americans who want to truly make a difference and change this world! If that doesn't make you proud of our country, then I don't know what will :)

Here are some photos from our celebration:

The huge cake we had!

My team for all the games we played

Playing a traditional Peruvian game that entails betting on which box the guinea pig will run in to... 

My Peace Corps best friend. After less than a month of knowing each other, we're already making plans for all the US trips we're going to take together when we get back to the states in two years haha ;)

Excited to eat out big American lunch!

Things got a little crazy with the blue frosting from the cake...

Anthropology Museum

This past week, our advanced Spanish class took a trip to an anthropology museum in Lima. It was so awesome to see all of the ancient pottery, jewelry, and everyday items used by the indigenous people of Peru. I studied Andean indigenous culture with the study abroad program I was with in Ecuador and every since then, I have had a bit of a fascination/passion for the indigenous culture. My heart aches thinking about how the Spaniards came to Latin America to pillage and rape all of the indigenous people and to turn those left alive into slaves, wanting to get rid of this “savage” culture and these “savage” people. And it was all in the name of “gold, god, and glory.” How lovely. I was so excited to be at the museum looking at all the ancient indigenous art and material remains, so content lost in the thoughts of the beautiful indigenous culture... And then I got to the section in the museum about the Spanish conquest and my heart dropped and I literally thought to myself “Oh yeah, and then the Spaniards came and tried to ruin it all.” This may be cynical thinking because of course I do enjoy the mainstream culture of Latin America that is known as “mestizo” which is considered to be the race of the majority of the people in Latin America and literally means mixed between indigenous and Spanish. But to me there is nothing like the beauty of the indigenous culture J

Here are some photos from the Anthropology museum:

A canoe as well as bow and arrows used by the indigenous people in the jungle

Dates that the Spaniards came over and "discovered" the Americas. Discovered is definitely not my word of choice.

When Lima was concurred. Just look at the expressions of the indigenous women and tell me that doesn't break your heart. 

Peru's version of the last supper...Jesus CLEARLY ate cuy at the last supper of course :) 

My language class outside of the museum

Something else exciting is that we have been having individual meetings with the Peace Corps staff about our site placements! Since Peru is such a climatically diverse country, we get to state our preference on the type of site we want. The two general options for site placements are either coast or the Sierra mountain range. Can you guess which region I have requested?...I want to be in the Sierra mountains! I do realize that this means I could be living in very cold weather depending on the altitude of the mountains that I am living in. But I really love the mountains, and furthermore, the indigenous communities tend to be in the Sierra Mountains and I really want to be living amongst an indigenous community because as I said, I have a bit of a fascination/passion for the culture of the indigenous people of the Americas. So, I have requested a site in the Sierra in an area that is Quechua (the most common indigenous language spoken amongst the indigenous people of Peru! speaking. This means that I get to learn some Quechua and I am so excited!!!  I am pretty much guaranteed my request because I am one of the only people in my group of 44 volunteers that is interested in learning some Quechua. Plus since I am one of the advanced Spanish speakers, they said that I can learn Quechua since I don’t have to focus on improving my Spanish so much. The large majority of the volunteers want to live on the coast where it is hot, close to the beaches, and where life is more modern. Only a small handful of us have requested the coast in a Quechua speaking region. Even if we are in a Quechua speaking region, Spanish will still be the primary language that we will use since Spanish is what is spoken in the schools. Quechua is a language that is dying out since kids speak Spanish at school. I am not planning on becoming fluent in Quechua, but I am really excited to learn a little bit to speak with some of the elders in the community. It really shows respect to the culture when you at least try to learn and speak in Quechua with the elders. I will post more about my site location as soon as I know!! I can’t wait to find out my exact site location!!! I won’t find out for another month so for now I just have to patiently wait as we are taught so well to do in the Peace Corps on so many occasions.