Settling in

I’ve temporarily settled in!

I now live in the pueblo of Chacrasana, in the middle of two large dusty mountains. It is one of many pueblos that extend up into the mountains by one single main street. The weather is usually foggy yet sunny and conditions around the pueblo are constantly dusty. I am still located in Lima, which I have learned, is a gigantic city. Chacrasana is located about 15 minutes by bus from the PC training station. Daily, the other 7 volunteers in my community and I plan to take the combi (bus) to site around 7am.

Mi familia…

I belong to a household of 8. I have a mama (Nilza), a papa (Mariano), two sisters in their early thirties (Raquel y Rosillo), they both have husbands (Rennger y ???), each couple has a little girl (Alexandra, 3 y Aracele, 4)… they are wonderful and welcoming! Already they have said “you must never forget us!”. The two children already enjoy my presence in the house and call me Tio! (uncle... that’s uncle jimmy to you, haha) When my mom first picked me up, she had Alexandra at her side who was intensely staring at me and my luggage… not a peep… we have progressed very much!

Mi casa…

When I say mi casa, I mean it… I’ve got a place all to myself, although, it’s not so much a casa as it is a shack. My 8-member- family all live under one room, seemingly comfortable. They set me up with my own side room, which I access by walking out the back door, through the concrete backyard, passed a cat and a talking parrot named Aurora, into a quaint living space I call my home… in the room I have a double-sized bed (hard as a rock), a table and chair which is now nicely decorated with my books and belongings, a few drawers and a small portable cabinet where I can store my clothes. The roof is made of tin or aluminum? And the walls are most definitely constructed with wood. Nice colors! My bed is warm, which is nice because nights can get as cold as 50 degrees F. So far it’s been a bit of a struggle to get a decent complete night of sleep. Outside of my door there is a staircase leading to the roof where over 15 chickens and a couple chickens reside…they can be o so loud… also, about 50% of the time there are some kind of wild dogs fighting over chew toys or something… they are vicious (if I get unwanted attention from a wild n crazy dog I’ve been instructed to bend down and grab a rock… the dog will immediately run away and whimper… in fear that I’m gonna peg him in his doggy mouth, I hope I never have to!) There is one more essential piece to the puzzle of my room… it’s a simple bucket. You know… incase I have to pee in the middle of the night and don’t want to walk in the house, which was actually quite handy last night!

Monday…

I could tell you about all the wonderful days and experiences that I’ve been having throughout my time here in Peru… but I feel like I need to vent. Today could easily be classified as ‘horrible’. I woke up and read a bit of 1 John and felt pretty good about my first day of training. Ate a small breakfast and headed to the bus station with a group of volunteers and our mamas. On the bus was when I felt the first wave of queasiness. I wasn’t quite sure what was wrong, but pushed on strong. At site, we stood up and shared some funny experiences of our first night with our host families… I stood up and quickly told the entire group that it pained me to see everyone in such a joyful mood… I was feeling upset/impatient/completely unpeppy and wanted to see if anyone else could relate, thankfully one volunteer raised his hand and put my heart at ease. We have all been warned again and again that we will have up and down days, I found that out quick. The rest of the day was filled with increasing stomach pain and urgency to run to the bathroom. Diarrhea had quickly struck, and I was its first victim. Both the staff and fellow volunteers were nothing but kind, polite and giving. My friend Tim even traded me his rehydrating Sportorade for my water… thanks Tim. All I could eat for lunch was crackers. At 3 o’clock there was a charla (presentation) on diarrhea, put on by one of our wonderful Doctors Jorge… how fitting!
I can now say, the day has wound up pretty nice. I was able to eat a bit of dinner (chicken noodle soup), visit the internet café, and attend a small party for some Canadian students stopping by the town. My stomach feels a ‘tad bit’ better too!
I’m currently writing from ‘mi casa’ and will later post this when I head to the internet café again. Thanks for reading! -blessings


Also… if you plan on sending anything, it is suggested to make it less than 1 kilo (2 lbs) and large envelopes work wonderfully! If a package is much bigger, I will have to pay taxes like WOAH on it.