Aniversario de Vice: Year 2

As I mentioned in my last blog, this week we celebrated my town’s anniversary. The actual anniversary is June 15th, but we had a week long itinerary with activities all day, every day. For me, everything started on Thursday June 9th with a motivational jog in the morning. Some of the employees of the municipality, including the mayor, and representatives of a few organizations got up early to go running through the streets of Vice. There were about 20 of us in total, men and women, running on the streets singing and chanting as we ran. Since everyone knows that I go running every day I was elected to lead the pack along with one of the security officers. We did some basic chants repeating what one of the workers said like “No me canso” (I’m not tired) or “Buenos días pueblo de Vice, les invitamos a correr” (Good morning Vice, we invite you to run). My personal favorite was “El sudor es mi ducha” (Sweat is my shower). People in the town really got into it and were cheering us on, but no one joined in on the fun. We went for about 20 minutes and I was honestly surprised with how some of them did considering that they literally NEVER exercise or go running. I had a good time and think that this is something the municipality should continue to motivate the population to exercise. A lot of people are too embarrassed to go out running so never do. This will help organize the neighbors and also reduce diseases such as diabetes in the community. I would definitely support that kind of initiative!

The second event that I participated in was the Miss Vice competition, which is basically the beauty pageant for the town. I was asked to be a judge along with 3 people from Piura who work with a make-up brand, the Ministry of Tourism, and one more that I forget right now. Tons of people come out to the Coliseum since the event is so popular and this year we had 12 candidates between the ages of 16 and 20. They start by doing a little dance to warm up the crowd, and then everyone models their sportswear, traditional clothing, and evening gowns. As far as the sportswear goes, all I can say is that shirts that don’t cover your belly aren’t for everyone. The traditional outfits were my favorites: the municipality bought all the girls traditional costumes from the times of the Incas and they were elaborate and gorgeous. I wish I had pictures, but since I was a judge I thought it was unprofessional to be taking pictures while I was supposed to be analyzing. I’m going to see if someone from the municipality can pass them to me. During the evening gown round each candidate had to answer two questions. The questions were about the history of Vice, what they would do as Miss Vice, etc. All the candidates received the questions and answers beforehand and basically memorized them. At the end of the night one of the judges had to get up and announce the results, and who do you think had to do that? One of the judges who knows how to speak Spanish perfectly? No, I did. The girl who won wasn’t my top choice, but she was in my top 3. Anyway, what happened next is very typical in Peru any time there is a competition. A group of people wanted to contest the results. They said that the winner had answered the question wrong and shouldn’t have won. They were EXTREMELY upset and rude. At the end I just ignored them as did everyone in charge, but it rubbed me the wrong way. For the rest of the week people were asking me why we elected a fat and ugly Miss Vice. Seriously?

The next day, Saturday, was a big day for me. I had organized the final volleyball tournament for my Escuela de Voley. We had a great turnout of girls with about 48 participating on 6 teams (obviously they’re going to come if they get a free tshirt). All the authorities from the municipality came. We had music. My friend Eric, another volunteer from Piura, came to ref. The parents came and the municipality gave snacks and dinner to everyone there. We had so much fun! They were cheering on their teams and having a great time playing. Their smiles were worth all the work. The first game we had the little girls from Vice play against each other. They have gotten a lot better over the past 4 months and it was fun to see. The second game Vice played against Chalaco (5 minutes from the center of Vice – I work there a lot with the women and children). The girls in the age group were between 10 and 12. Then the older girls (ages 13 to 17) played Chalaco v. Vice. In both of the older age groups Vice won. The last game was extremely exciting and went into 5 sets. In the end, without fail, the girls who lost started crying and saying that it was the ref’s fault that they lost. They didn’t want to stay to take pictures or stay to get their certificates. For me, this was a huge disappointment because the mayor had come and was going to say a few words (and give me my certificate!) and the whole idea of the tournament was to have fun. At one point one of the dads came up to me and asked why the girls were crying and abandoned and I had to explain that they had lost and wouldn’t participate. The vice mayor had to go over and talk to the girls and tell them how bad their manners were in order for them to come and get their certificates. It was really disheartening. I talked with my mom afterwards and what she said made a lot of sense. In the States we play sports where there are winners and losers all the time. I have played in hundreds of games and lost half of them. We learn how to win and how to lose. We understand (well, the majority of us) that it’s just a game. Here, that’s not the case. This is probably the only competitive game these girls have played in their whole lives. Their disappointment is understandable. But they still need to learn how to be respectful and lose with grace. So we’re going to have a nice little meeting on Tuesday to discuss how we could have prepared them better and what they can do the next time around. Other than this little incident, I have to say that the Escuela de Voley is the project that I am most proud of in Vice. Some of the girls have really improved and wait for me faithfully before every practice. They started without knowing anything and now are serving overhand and I’m gearing up to teach them a 6-2 rotation. It’s so encouraging to see their excitement and desire to play. I have decided that even though we technically finished the volleyball school I’m going to keep teaching. It’s just been so successful and there’s so much participation that I can’t leave the girls hanging. It breaks my heart knowing that when I leave it won’t be the same for them.

Sunday we had the artisan fair and contest. I was unofficially in charge of this and kind of threw it together last minute because I had no idea that I was in charge of it. It turned out pretty well, with two artisans winning from Becara, and one from Sullana. In the end it was worth it because when I went to invite the judges from Dircetur (Direction of Tourism) in Piura, they told me that they could support the artisans with a designing project. We’re going to start the training sessions in July. Also, one of the judges said she could support the association with free lessons in artesanía marina. This was exciting for me because ever since I started the volleyball camp I have kind of ignored the artisans. I know I should be more involved with them, but their bickering over the sewing machine we bought with money from the project we did through Peace Corps really annoyed me. We have recently made business cards and tags for their products though, finished a course in artesanía marina, and I’m teaching a few of them how to use their new email address. With this new training program I’ll be an active artisan supporter again!

Monday June 13 there was a mini marathon for elementary and middle school students and I was so excited to walk outside of my house and see that half the participants were from my volleyball school! Some of them were even wearing their uniforms!! Later in the day there was a “Show Infantil” which is like a dance show for little kids. The municipality hired a group to come and they dance and have games and cookies and candy for the kids. I went just to show my support and sat with the family of one of my artisans. I know I’ve mentioned her before, if not by name, at least how she gave me a roasted duck for my birthday. Her name is Elena and she’s the new president of the association in Chalaco. She has 4 daughters between the ages of 14 and 2, one of them with a motor disability, and her husband has Parkinson’s disease so is out of work right now. She makes about 6 – 8 soles ($2 - $4) a day selling chifles (banana chips) to support her family. The girls are so cute and I love spending time with them. I wish there was something more solid I could offer them, because I know their suffering a lot right now. Elena recently took out the equivalent of a $40 loan from one of my community banks and is the first person in the history of all the banks I work with to not be able to pay it back. She is just going to continue paying the interest and have them take the loan amount out of her savings when we liquidate the bank. I want to just give her the money, but I know that I can’t. It’s not a solution and will just make things awkward in the future. But I will say it’s crazy the lives you can change with what we think of in the States as a small sum of money.

Tuesday was an exciting day that included a “Best Street” competition. Yours truly was asked, again, to be a judge along with an architect and engineer from the municipality. I was really not in the mood to have to deal with being a judge again after my experience with Miss Vice, but couldn’t say no (basically in Peru saying no is the rudest possible thing you could ever do. It’s better to lie and say yes). We got off to a late start, of course, and began walking through the streets of Vice, marching band close behind. Long story short, it was so much fun! On the first street there was birthday cake (for Vice’s 91 years), confetti, a piñata, dancing, singing and toasts from the neighbors. In the streets that followed we danced marinera, ate traditional foods, listened to the history of the different neighborhoods, drank wine and champagne, and even ate a roasted chicken. They sprayed us with silly string and gave us leis and funny hats to wear. All we had to do was smile! I had a great time – it was so unexpected! We didn’t do this last year and I thought we were just looking to see which street was cleanest. In the end, I loved seeing the camaraderie between neighbors and the organization it took to put on an event like that. Everyone was just really happy to be celebrating Vice’s birthday. At night there was the Serenata, or talent show which brought artists from all over the country. Thankfully this year I was not called to the stage or even mentioned and I could relax and just laugh at the jokes and enjoy the music. Afterwards, at midnight, there was a firework show and we all went to bed exhausted.

Wednesday was the big day!! 91! There was the ceremony (the mayor finally gave the artisans their much awaited sewing machines!) in the morning and the parade in early afternoon. I walked with the artisans. Unfortunately we didn’t march as the Escuela de Voley because I didn’t have the chance to communicate to all the girls, but hopefully we’ll be able to for 28 de Julio (Peru’s July 4). After the parade we went to a lunch which, in my opinion, wasn’t as fun as last year. This year we have a new mayor, and last year was the mayor’s last year and everyone says that the last year of a mayor’s term is the best because they want to go out with a bang. I sat with people I didn’t really know, including the beauty queens from the local high school. Woo hoo. The men who were sitting at the other end of the table decided that the women where I was sitting didn’t want to drink so didn’t pass us the beer bottles. I started to get annoyed and that’s when everyone started to dance, which would have been fun if I had known the people who asked me to dance. I decided to call it quits early and save up for the night. Agua Marina, a cumbia band from the provincial capital Sechura came to perform at a dance and we all had a blast. Thursday was a morning of rest then back to work in the afternoon.

Overall, a very fun week which left me completely exhausted. If you’re ever going to visit Vice, this is the week you should do it. As of today, I have 52 days left at site. I’m trying to figure out the best way to spend them. I think I will focus mostly on my volleyball girls, the community banks I work with, and work here and there with the artisans. Mainly what I want to do is soak it all in and enjoy my time with family and friends here. I know my life is about to change drastically. I keep wondering if a year from now I will remember on June 15th that the town of Vice in Peru is celebrating 92 years since its creation. I hope so, and I hope someday I can make it back to judge one more contest.