Living in the Present

It is so hard to live in the present sometimes. We are always thinking about the exciting things that are to come or we let the horrible things of the past take over our thoughts. The important thing with traveling is living in the present or else you start to miss out on the good things that are in the here and now. I think that is what I love the most about traveling, I appreciate the random volleyball games in a the middle of the city, the million parades, traditional dances, traditional foods, or even just the fact that I can order breakfast in Spanish... of course I said juego(game) the first time instead of jugo (juice).. A pineapple game doesn't sound as appetizing as pineapple juice. I have actually successfully ordered meals without making mistakes though. I have learned that I can get around on the basic phrases that I know and I surprise myself sometimes with the Spanish that I do know. I definitely want to continue learning and feel frustrated that I haven't gotten a better grasp of the language thus far.

I finally got the courage to travel by myself down here last weekend. I went to Cajamarca. Vaguely translated as the box market as my students and I were joking about. Cajamarca is a mountain town with the most unbelievable skies that I have ever seen and a lot of history. It's claim to fame is the final battle between the Incas and the Spaniards and all of the ancient historical landmarks and ruins that accompany the two cultures. My favorite was probably the silla de Inca (the seat of the Inca King). It was supposed to have been the throne of the Inca King as he watched over his people and troops when they were in battle. It just looked like a flat rock jutting out of the mountain side. Never the less, the view from this "landmark" was absolutely breathtaking. I could see the entire city of Cajamarca and all of the countryside surrounding it. I walked up an intense, Rocky like, staircase filled with artisans and markets with Peruvian souvenirs that led to a small beautifully restored blue and white church. After reaching the top, completely covered in sweat and realizing that I am way out of shape to work out in high altitude I took in the view of what I thought was the top. Like always some little Peruvian man began to talk to me so I wasn't alone for very long. This guy was in school for business and tourism so I guess he was out practicing his tour guide skills. He tried to describe the history of Cajamarca and show me around, but I'm pretty sure I only understood about half of what he was saying. To me half is actually an accomplishment. Although half can be really bad when you are making plans with people of trying to get information out of them. I also went to see the Ventanillas de Otuzco, the burial grounds of the Incas, i guess. The tombs were carved into the wall of this huge rock wall making it look like it had windows (ventanillas). The sky here was also strangely breathtaking. On one side it was so vividly blue and then across the valley the grey skies of a storm were forming over the mountains. The rest of my weekend was spent exploring the city, which is probably less touristy for some, but it felt really nice just being in a bigish city. Talk about being in the right place at the right time, I was walking up to the plaza de armas with my german friend that I had met in my hostel and saw this gringa staring at me from the corner of a shop. After paying more attention to her I began to think that she actually looked familiar. Somehow it just clicked and I said, "Katie?" and we ran up to each other like we were best friends who hadn't seen each other in years. Katie is Maria's roommate from college and has been living in Trujillo for the past 4 months. We had been in contact on FB but had never actually met until this exact moment in Cajamarca. Crazy how things work out. I had been planning to come to cajamarca the weekend before and Katie's trip was also a little last minute so it was definitely fate that we met that weekend. The girls and I sat in the Plaza de Armas for a few hours talking and snacking on wine and Cajamarca Cheese. It was all very European. I'm sure we were a big spectacle being a big group of gringas having a blast in the middle of the Plaza. It was just so nice to finally hang out with girls my own age and get to talk about our shared experiences with living and working down in Peru. A view of the countryside

In the campo hanging out with the cows.. Yes I really was that close to them. My lunch on Saturday.. Somehow I enjoyed this after pulling away all of the skin and trying really hard not to look at the eyes. The potatoes were really good though.

Why wait until tomorrow when you can do it today.

Why wait until tomorrow when you can do it today: just one of the many lessons that I learned from Loly, the second of my installments of roommates down here. Loly, the hermana de Ecuador(sister from Ecuador), as they kept calling her was visiting Pacasmayo on her way through some of the coastal cities to minister about God and give testimony about her life. I really felt bad for her at first. She was basically dumped into our already cramped apartment (Ginny and Shar were still here) without much of an introduction. She came out to dinner with all of us and the guys from bible study the first night and no one really talked to her. I guess no one knew she spoke English at that point. Loly had just finished her first class in English and with my broken Spanish and her fairly decent English we managed to touch one another's lives. On a very basic level, I taught her how to use the microwave and helped her send some emails to her sister back in Ecuador. I’m sure it was also pretty cool to be dropped in the middle of “Camp America” to practice her English. A goal of hers is to come to the United States in order to share her testimony. Everyone has a story, Loly’s just happened to be pretty miraculous. She told me all about her walk to God, which began 8 years ago when she was called to the front of a church. Loly had been battling leukemia and had been called down to the alter to be healed. She told me that at the moment she gave her life to God, she felt the sickness lifted. Sounds completely unbelievable, but there she was standing in front of me, completely healed. She showed me the video of her healing and it was definitely the woman standing in front of me, but completely emaciated and bald under her hat. I don’t really know how I feel about the evangelicalist healings, but this was definitely a God thing. She kept calling me her sister (I think that’s a missionary thing) and invited me to come up to Ecuador insisting that I stay with her when I do. Apparently Ecuador is amazingly beautiful and I can’t miss out on that. Fun fact, Ecuador uses American money. Who knew?? They even have their own Ecuadorian coins that are the same sizes as American coins as well as using the American coins.

Chan Chan

Excerpt from today: Only having one month left somewhere makes everything come in to perspective. It's kind of cool how that happens, it makes you spend everyday as something to cherish and something to get the most out of. Also, a kid peed on me at open market yesterday. I guess he wanted to pee on the grina.. Story: I was just buying some veggies at the open market and felt some water splash the back of my leg. I turn around to see a little boy around 2 or 3 with his willy out peeing right behind me. I think if he was was older he probably would have had better aim so I mainly got that upsplash... I gasped in shock only to see his mother not even phased by the event. I think I said gracias very sarcastically and turned back around to pay the veggie woman, who seemed appalled and sorry for me at least. I don't know if he was trying to pee on the grina or if he, like many of the other kids here just pees whenever and where ever. I did see him peeing again about 5 minutes later and his mom just kept on walking by. So.. i guess we need to teach some manners and definitely some hygiene.

Okay back to Chan Chan and the roommates:

We held a bible conference at the church, presenting me two amazing roommates from Missouri for 10 days. It was really nice to have some new faces around here at the compound. These women came down to Peru to put on the conference. Ginny, one of Cherry's friends from Springfield and her sister, Shar had never been out of country. It was really fun watching them experience their time down here. Definitely brought some life into our lives down here as they took touristy pictures, bought things at market just to say that they did, and even packed sugar, coffee, and our special dishwashing soap with them to bring back to America. They definitely did not take their time down here for granted. Everything was an amazing experience. Exactly what traveling should be.

We traveled down to Trujillo with the ladies and even had Kevin in tow. Somehow I convinced him to get out of the compound for the day :-) (I'm just joking, if you ever read this Kevin, I know you get out). We went to see the Chan Chan ruins. Ruins being something that this country has a lot of, just meaning that it has MUCHO history! It's kind of wild being somewhere that was built in the 1300's. Now, mainly just adobe walls, that from above must look like a giant rat maze, is in the process of restoration. They are trying to recreate the wonder this empire with it's claim to fame as the largest adobe city in the world, according to my Lonely Planet guide book of Peru (2007). The best part was the beginning of our tour through the city without a tourguide. We all just started making up our own stories for the city and what each room was. We had a great time taking pictures with the giant monkey statues and tiny clay pots they had turned into trashcans. I will have one of those in my house when I grow up. :-) Halfway through our tour, we hopped on with the English speaking tour guide and her European tourists. Didn't really help all that much because of her THICK accent, but we did learn that they worshiped the pelican and sacrificed lots of virgins and other ritual sacrifices when the royalty died. A lot of the ruins were burial grounds and tombs, which were looted when the Spaniards came to take over the Empire. The succession of power as it was explained was the Chimu, Inca, then Spaniards, but was destroyed by El Nino floods. One of the sad parts of this tour was that some of the building here in Pacasmayo aren't much more advanced than the adobe huts that the Chimus and Incas were living in 700 years ago.
A very out of place pond in the middle of this adobe city in the middle of the desert

A model of Chan Chan in from the Museum

One of the tombs were we learned about needing to sacrifice young women. We also saw a horribily staged mummy in the back of the tomb.




Teaching the Peruvians and tourists how to throw away trash.












@ Huan Chaco after Chan Chan: I didn't try to throw this one back.. it was a little too big.

Halloween at Casa de Paz

Halloween... Well, there wasn't much of a Halloween done here for me besides devouring a bag of candycorn sent by my mother this past week and having the kids carve the pumpkin that Kevin found at Market. It actually turned out really well for being the strangest pumpkin that I have ever seen. It very likely could have been some other type of gourd, but it served it's purpose extremely well as our attempt to celebrate Halloween. I guess that pumpkin was more for us than it was for the kids.

It was so cute however watching the kids rip out all of the guts from the pumpkin. They had never really seen a jack-o-lantern before and for a lot of them they were under the impression that Halloween is BAD, EVIL... and so on. I guess it began as a pagan holiday but so did Christmas. I guess in that respect we should think Christmas is evil. Most of these pagan holidays have conformed into merely traditions or into religious holidays like Christmas. I tried to explain to some of my kids in Class last week how kids in the US celebrated Halloween, but they stood by their position that Halloween was Bad. We were trying to place a better connotation on the holiday. No idea if it actually worked, but they seemed to have a lot of fun carving the pumpkin. Most kids love getting to stick their hands into goo and being able to get a little messy in the process.

Danielo intensly watching Kevin carve the pumpkin

The lighting ceremony


The finished project which we left in one of the kid's houses for them to enjoy. It's still not broken miraculously.

Cañoncillo

Lots has happened since my last post. We have taken a couple trips, built a few sand sculptures, held a bible conference, and have even been reprimanded for not following "missionary rules," what ever those are . I'll try to update on each one of those.

Cañoncillo

Nestled away about an hour north of Pacasmayo is Cañoncillo or little canyon, a conservation area packed with not only a somewhat secluded lake but miles of forests and sand dunes. The hectic trip of to get to canoncillo was definitely worth it after our day of relaxation and peace at the lake. The trip started with having to catch a car to San Jose and then mototaxis to canoncillo all involving our translator Gabby and a great deal of miscommunication and confusion. We had to trek up a wooded part of the sand dunes, which is 5 times harder than walking up a normal hill. It was like walking on a really soft beach but on straight uphill. It was a wonder how anything grew up through all of the sand. After getting a little lost and turned around in this maze of a forest, we finally made it to the first lake where a few cows were grazing about 15 feet away from us. The animals weren't even startled by our presence.

The second lake was more of a person friendly lake, which included one of those amazing climbing trees whose branches hung out over the lake and a very quaint beach. Taking advantage of the sunlight of the morning we settled down on the beach to take in some rays and to have a little picnic, wonderfully prepared by Jan. I never thought I would actually say this, but I really like Tuna Salad, something that the mere smell of would make me nauseous. Our peaceful beach was taken over by two groups of university students on a field trip out to canoncillo. One was even camping near by. Both were completely fascinated with us and asked to take pictures with me. I felt like a celebrity at a press conference. They were asking me every question they knew in English and then asked to take their picture with me. So there are probably pictures of me floating around peruvian facebook now saying I met a grina or something to that effect. Meeting people from other cultures is just fascinating, especially when you aren't expecting to meet anyone like that. I think I was just very unexpected for them.

After the press conference Gabby and I took off to see the sand dunes and to see if we could watch the students sand boarding, which Cherry and I are determined to do before we leave. No such luck finding anyone sand boarding but standing in the middle of a field of sand dunes is absolutely breathtaking. Think Aladdin walking out to the Cave of wonders. Gabby and I even tried to slide down one of the hills, but learned that it was just a good way to get sand in all of your clothes and shoes. We need to find something to use as a board or a sled for the next time.

The Pier

Well, I finally took the plunge and went out on the Pacasmayo pier on Sunday. I had kind of been putting that off until I got really bored or had a big group of people that wanted to go out there mainly because you have to pay to walk out on it... That was my big gripe with it. I have never paid to walk out on a pier. That just sounded so strange to me. Anyway Cherry ended up paying the one sole for each of us to go out on the pier and it ended up being a lot more eventful than I could have ever imagined. The entire thing seems to be falling apart. There were missing, rotted or wobbly boards causing for a very uneven and terrifying for some I can imagine walk out to the end. There were even missing railings with a somewhat steep drop off into the ocean. It was your basic pier, people fishing, families congregating for a day out, and couples hand in hand walking the the length of the pier. It was all very picturesque. I of course was off in my own little world taking pictures and completely frustrated because I didn't have my big camera with me, which I'm sure none of the guys understood. They just thought I was mad at them. They keep asking me if I'm angry with them, which I have no ideas as to where that is coming from. I keep telling myself, it is just a different culture, it is just a very different culture down here.

As we are walking down the pier we saw a WHITE MAN!! It is very rare to see another "WHITE" person down here that isn't connected with us so I made eye contact and said hello, assuming he spoke English. I need to remind myself that not all White people are from the United States. That has just been so ingrained into my mind that it is a hard habit to kick. This man ended up running to catch up with me and asking in broken English/ Spanish (I don't really remember which) where I was from. He, the 60 odd man with sparkling white hair was from Scandinavia and was overjoyed to meet me. He kept telling me how interesting I was and that it was just so great to have met me. He ended up telling me all about his friend Jose, whom he was living with down here to start up his new hotel they were in the process of building. He began telling me about Jose, who was fluent in 4 or 5 languages, plays the harp, guitar, and the flute, which the Scandinavian man kept mispronouncing and told me that I must meet Jose because he would be interested in playing some music for the kids at our school. I along with Cherry and most of the guys from bible study ventured into this future hotel to meet Jose. Traveling up to the third floor, my mind completely embraces this entire experience, loving how traveling provides you with such random amazing experiences. Jose ended up excusing himself from his dinner party that he was having and bringing his giant harp out to the hallway to play for us.
Such a Beautiful Day.

Una Mes

One Month. One month ago I had just stepped off my coach into this unexpected place. This experience and Pacasmayo was something I could have never prepared myself for. I probably could have packed a little bit better and remembered that Walmart was a really long way away, but there is no manual for releasing a city girl into a very rural town, let alone a very rural town in a very foreign country.

About a week ago something changed. I finally felt adjusted. Not comfortable in the middle class, west county sort of comfortable, but adjusted. I started feeling like I actually had a life down here. Of course it was very different than the one I had been leading for the past four years. I had to learn how to just relax again. Stop feeling the need to constantly be doing something, constantly being around people, or constantly planning something. I'm definitely not cured of the need to constantly be on the go, but I think I have figured out that I can be on the go and still enjoy the here and now. I needed this time to breathe; I hadn't caught my breath from the summer just yet. I'm also starting to realize how much I am focused on myself right now, whether or not that is a good thing. This past year has pretty much been all about me. All about traveling, learning, and experiencing. In some respects I love that I'm finally worrying about myself. I have began to figure out what I want to do with my life (no asking, the plan is still formulating), I have began to start listening to myself, my emotions, and have finally started expressing them; I have began to grow up. Traveling across the world and graduating from college all in the same year will really do something to a person. (Sorry, I'll try to keep the seriousness and the blunt honestly to every month or so :-) )

Maybe that's why so many of us just take off after college to explore the world. We don't know how to deal with that transition so we cover it up with a different one. Assimilating into a new culture is very interesting. It took all of a week or two to be completely happy in England. I was on a college campus, with college students, in a small town, which just happened to be the exact same environment that I had left in America. Kirksville, Mo the Ormskirk, UK of the USA.

Assimilating to Pacasmayo, Peru was very similar to my experience in England actually, but a bit intensified. I remember being at Morrisons, our grocery store in Ormskirk and having the hardest time trying to understand the woman at the checkout counter telling me the total for my groceries. I stood there for at least a minute trying to carefully listen to her THICK northern/ liverpudlian accent and us getting so frustrated with each other because there was such a miscommunication going on over about 50 pence. In Peru, I have somehow managed to learn enough Spanish in these few weeks to actually buy things at the open market, but not without miscommunication. I went down to market on Monday to get some fish and bought them without too much struggle. Somehow I had to figure out how to tell her that I just wanted a forth of a kilo when I only knew the word for half. I just told her that I wanted less than a half a kilo and used a lot of hand gestures. I actually got my forth of a kilo and for 3.50 soles (which is a little over a dollar) It wasn't all smooth sailing in the beginning though. I couldn't even go to the grocery store alone. I was completely scared to use my limited Spanish, now I'm just a little shy about it. Girl's gotta eat, right?

Also, I don't know what everyone is talking about losing weight here.. I don't think I have lost a lb, but who knows. The food is absolutely delicious, and apart of the chicken foot soup, I have enjoyed almost every meal. I even had an amazing Peruvian hamburger from a street vender last night. No worries, I haven't gotten sick yet. Talk about delicious, this burger had two patties, all the fixins, and a huge fried egg in the middle all smothered in ahi (hot) sauce. That probably needs to be a treat though, because I'm sure it is ridiculously fattening. No queso though, so that was a bummer. :-( Chicken and fries, the token fast food down here is pretty fantastic and definitely has KFC beat. We also have this little sandwich shop which serves the most amazing spicy sausage sandwiches for 2 soles, which pared with a strawberry smoothie makes my mouth water. Ceviche, the traditional Peruvian food was also an amazing find. Pacasmayo is apparently the ceviche world's capital, as told by Carlos, this man that Cherry and I met the other day. He was riding around on this 4 wheeler with a du-rag that had an American flag in the shape of the US on the front. He yelled out, "Hey, where are you guys from?" and drove over to talk to us. He had apparently lived in Phoenix, AZ and moved back to Peru 4 years ago to retire and live on the beach. Ceviche, is raw fish marinated in a spicy lime and garlic sauce that when prepared just right is fabulous. I have decided I only really like the fleshy white, raw fish. I'm not much of a squid person. It's too rubbery.

Hopefully, I'm not gaining any weight because of this fabulous food. I severely doubt any change in my weight would go up, but I deceived not to weigh myself until I get back to the States. I think I look great and don't need to lose any weight, so I'm not going to bother even thinking about it. :-) I think that is all a part of me finally taking care of myself. I finally feel comfortable in my skin, which has been a long process over the past four years. Me gusta ser altura. I like being tall, which has been somewhat of a joke with the guys down here so I'm very glad I got over that a long time ago. Yes, I'm taller than most of the Peruvian people I have seen, which gets me even more attention. I was walking with the guys from church downtown yesterday and they saw a tall girl and automatically starting staring and talking about her. I guess tall people are sort of a novelty down here just as much as white people are. I am constantly been stared at, called a gringa, whistled at, and blown kisses from moving mototaxies. I just want to go up and smack them sometimes and tell them that they aren't being a good representation on their culture for tourists. Not all of the men are like that thught. There are a lot of Peruvian men that actually respect women, but I guess I won't ever get to meet them because they aren't the ones whistling at me in the street. OKAY, I'm done complaining about that frustration.

I absolutely love teaching. I feel like I am student teaching, because for the most part I have no idea what I am doing, but I really enjoy it. I really like coming up with new, fun things for the kids to do, and definitely like being an authority on something. I definitely have a lot to learn about teaching, if I want to continue on down this track, but for now this experience has been a lot of fun and is even helping me. I have stage fright; I get nervous, my heart starts racing, turn red, start shaking, and my voice starts to quiver when I get up in front of people alone, yet today, I sang a song to my fourth and fifth grade class. How in the world is that possible?? Maybe it’s because they don't speak great English, maybe it's because they are just kids, or maybe it’s because I'm actually growing up and growing out of it. I have pushed myself in front of crowds and even in front of my 100 + person organization at school to try and combat this stupid phobia, and finally without even thinking about it, I make a big stride in the right direction.

For everyone that I have already talked to about being down here, please don't worry about me. I know that sometimes I might seem really down and depressed but, it’s just like that sometimes. Sometimes it's just really depressing down here. It looks like a bomb went off in half of Pacasmayo and there is trash almost everywhere. I feel like I'm living in a big dumpster sometimes, but it definitely has its perks down here. I am in 70 degree weather pretty much all the time, I live 10 minutes from the beach, the food is fabulous, and I have even started to make some friends outside of my isolated community at the orphanage. Life is getting better. I'm feeling happier, and actually getting into somewhat of a routine. I'm learning Spanish, teaching, and hopefully making a difference in a child's life. I get the most amazing hugs everyday from our kids. They squeeze you tight like they haven't had a hug in years and then their faces light up afterwards. Wouldn't it be great if every hug was like that? It's pretty amazing down here sometimes.