Bienvenidos a Guadalupe

It’s hard to believe that I am only now entering the fourth week of my two years of service. On top of our ten weeks of training, Perú 20 has really only been in country for a little over three months. Yes, that can sound like a lot but in the grand scheme of a 27-month adventure it’s just the beginning.

The first couple weeks at site were pretty difficult, which had absolutely nothing to do with my new host family, the people I work with or the community. My biggest struggles came from the transition itself. I went from the being surrounded by English-speaking friends from training and a training staff cheering us on every baby step of the way to a new home, new routine and a slightly scary sense of freedom. Training was super structured and demanding, but here I’m my own jefa and I set up my own schedule. For some people that can be very exciting but for me, major transitions freak me out. Thankfully, poco a poco, a true Peruvian phrase, is becoming more of a way of life for me each day.

Everyday is different but I’ve finally settled into something of a daily routine. Most mornings I’ll have breakfast with my host mom and one of my sisters and then go for a run or climb the cerro with my site mate, Amanda. I found scheduling meetings with people in the morning motivates me for the day. I’ve met with municipality workers from the sanitation department, scoped out city wells, travelled to some of the surrounding rural towns where I hope to work and tagged along to handful of Amanda’s events. I also hit up the market to pick up mangos, carrots and other delicious things on the daily.

Plaza de Armas

El mercado

fresh fruit errrryday

GIANT avocados!!

After a packed morning it’s time for lunch with the fam and I am happy to say my host mom is an excellent cook. Lunch is definitely the biggest meal in Peru, and it’s always delicious. Sometimes I’ll have other meetings scheduled for the afternoon or I’ll help Amanda out some more, other times I’ll search the internet for hobbies. I’m embarrassed to say, more often than not, it’s the latter and I’ve got a stack of handmade Christmas cards and a handful of friendship bracelets to show for it.

On my way to one of my annexes in a moto

A couple weeks ago I accompanied Amanda to one her English classes in a town called Casa Blanca  where we made paper plate snowmen and a Christmas tree out of green paper hands. 

The kids loved using our cameras

Muñecos de Nieve

In the evenings my siblings have English class in a city just north of us so sometimes I’ll use that time for my own Spanish class in hopes that I can somehow speed up my learning process. Being in site has helped my speaking and listening skills a ton but I’m just not grasping the language as quickly as I’d like. Poco a poco, I suppose.

Dinner is normally around 9 pm or so and more of a snack than a meal. We’ll have bread and a fried egg, rice and fried bananas, or leftovers from lunch and usually we’ll watch a show or movie. I’m pretty much in bed by 11 and soothed to sleep by the sounds of barking street dogs, forever honking motos and Peruvian party music (there’s always a party somewhere).

I don’t have too many funny/strange/silly anecdotes to share yet but here are some photos of my town and the small adventures I’ve taken this past month.

Parque de La Paz, where I take my morning runs and avoid being chased down by street dogs

My first two weeks in Guadalupe happened to be during the annual festival of La Virgen de Guadalupe. The weeks were filled it late night concerts, booths of handmade treats and trinkets and other cultural events.

One of the events included a kick ass performance by these adorable chicos dancing the marinera, a traditional dance originated in La Libertad.

Amanda and I prepared a taco feast [my sibs: Juana, Jorge and Trini]

yummmm.

Nativity scene in the plaza

gift-wrapped trees!

Each week I feel more and more comfortable and I’m slowly beginning to feel like an actual member of the community. People recognize me on the street when I run through the park or walk through the market and they even remember my name. People attempting to read my name have called me “Hammy” on several occasions but since it was a nickname already given to me by one of my roommates it’s more comforting than anything else. I’ll choose Hammy over gringa or mamita any day.