Site Visit: Piura

I just got back from site and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by my visit. I had such a mix of emotions going into it – I’m just starting to get comfortable in Chaclacayo and now I have to start all over again – this time for real. I have learned a lot from my experience with my first host family and I have corrected a lot of my mistakes, but if I make a mistake with this new family, I don’t get a do-over. It’s a lot of pressure considering I’ll be living in the same small town for two years! So far, training has been a lot like summer camp or study abroad. There is a set schedule for you and all of your time is blocked out. There are activities and classes every day and sometimes we even go on field trips! All of the host families during training are briefed before we arrive and most of them have hosted volunteers in the past. In my case, my family has had 4 before me. They definitely know what they’re getting themselves into. What I noticed on my site visit is that there will be a shift in the roles we play as volunteers compared to trainees. During training, we are looked after and cared for. Our families know not to give us water, that we don’t have the swine flu, and that our Spanish might not be perfect. They give us advice on where to go, how to get there, and tell us how it was done before us. We take little steps during training. At site, we are suddenly professionals who are there to save the community. There is no more babying and people can lose patience when we can’t communicate. They don’t understand that in our culture people need personal space and alone time. These are only the beginning challenges. It was a wake up call to be suddenly put in a situation where people take my experience seriously and don’t just think I’m a silly American. But it was a refreshing wake up call and I actually am very excited to start the transition to my new life.
We arrived to Piura city on Monday morning after a 14 hour bus ride and had some time to explore. Piura, the city (the department is the American equivalent of state and Piura is also the name of its capital city), has a population of over 500,000 people so it’s very busy with pretty much all the comforts of home. We met some of the current volunteers who wasted no time in showing us around and introducing us to all of their friends. It seems like the group in Piura is really close and laid back which is nice. I like Piura better than Lima because it’s cleaner and less congested, plus I can get around so much easier. There are some cute places to eat and a few parks/plazas to hang out in. The hotel all the volunteers stay at when they come in is nice (with hot water, wireless, and a huge collection of books and movies of previous volunteers for us to enjoy). On Tuesday we had a counterpart day and our Peruvian socio-comunitarios came into the city to have a day of introductions to Peace Corps. My socio-comunitario intimidated me so much at first, he was all business and asked me right off the bat what I could do for him. His name is Manuel Lazo and I would guess that he’s about 60 years old? That could be way off though. He works for the municipalidad in my town and he also brought the president of one of the artisan groups that I’ll be working with. Throughout the week I came to realize how great and dedicated to his work he is. Working with him is one of the things I’m most excited about.
After the training day, I went to my site (about 40 minutes from the city) with this president (who is 8 months pregnant) to meet my host family. We got there at about 6 in the afternoon and the restaurant that my family owns was empty. I sat down with my new host mom, Rosaura Bolo and her 18 year old son Dixon and we got to know each other a little bit. She also has a daughter who is 22 but lives a couple hours from Lima and is never home. The house is really nice and new and is located on top of the restaurant. My host mom seemed so nervous that I wouldn’t like something so I tried to put her mind at ease. My room wasn’t finished yet so they’ll be putting a window and door in it by the time I return. Both would have been helpful the next morning when grandma and cousin walked past my room while I was changing and topless, but whatever. Like my family here in Lima, the extended family is huge at my site. I have already met a ton of them but have no idea how they are related or even what their names are. My site is about 70% fisherman and 20% farmers. There are rice fields nearby and chacras surrounding the community in the desert. During summer months, December-March, it can reach 120 degrees and the mosquitoes just chill on the sitting water of the rice fields before attacking at night. Want to come visit?
The next morning I had my meeting with the municipality where I addressed the mayor, governor, regidores, and todos presente. There is a hierarchy that you have to go through and acknowledge before you begin speaking. I was really nervous about this too considering I can’t speak, but luckily my site mate (Brett, an environment volunteer who has been there for 21 months so far) helped me write down the speech beforehand. It went really well and I continued to meet even more people who work in the municipality. I definitely got an overload of information over the next few days and I have no idea if I’m going to be able to get it all straight in the next two years. Brett knows everyone in the town and who they are and how they’re related. He’s been a great resource and a huge help and I’m really happy he’s going to be there for the first couple months while I’m trying to figure things out. He’s already pointed out so many things I need to be aware of that I never would have thought about.
So I finally know more about my job and what I’ll actually be working on for the next couple years! This has been a long time coming, so for those of you who continue to ask what I’m going to do, this paragraph is for you. I’m going to be working with four artisan groups to transform my site into the artisan capital of the province. Well, that’s the ultimate goal, but vamos a ver. One of the groups is located in my site, the district capital, while the others are in casarillos about 5 minutes away on a bike (I’m getting the bike of the volunteer I’m replacing). I met with all four groups over the course of my stay (and ate a different plate of food every time) and learned a little bit about their products. For the most part, they do weavings like table runners, belts for fishermen, backpacks, hair wraps, and embroidery for purses, etc. Some of the groups also work with sea shells and create sculptures with them. The first step in the process is going to be to think about who is actually going to buy the product. The groups are anywhere from 5-30 members, all women, and they vary in skill and organization. They sell their products mainly in local fairs and they all “need a market”. The women all see the advantage the extra income could bring to their families and my first impression was that the majority are ready and willing to get to know me and work. We all had a great time laughing at my attempts to make the “rr” sound and at my demonstration of the 3 slang words that I know in Spanish. I’m very lucky in that the ground floor has been laid for my work, but I get to do the rest and hopefully see results. I’ll be giving charlas and working with them on product selection and quality control. I hope to get all the groups going to more fairs and maybe even start a monthly fair at my site. Marketing will also be huge once we get a better idea of the products and customers and also a permanent venue for selling their products. I also know I’ll be teaching some English classes, playing volleyball with kids and women (giving lessons?), working on a project called PromoLibro where you can get books donated to the local library, and organizing at least one ALMA and VALOR (camps put on regionally by PCVs for young people). Besides that, I’ll be reading and exercising a lot, visiting the beach, studying Spanish, and travelling. At least that’s how I see my life. We all know that I’m going to be completely wrong.
On Friday we went to Sechura, the provincial capital, to take a look around since it’s only 30 minutes or so away. We went into the church there and got a tour. It was built in 1760 by the Spanish and actually has an underground tunnel that leads to the sea. The Spaniards would “donate gold to the church” and slip it through the passageway to the boats that were waiting to ship it to Spain. We also got to spend about an hour of the beautiful day on the roof of the building with great views of the desert, town, and ocean. Afterwards we went to a great little restaurant where I tried ceviche for the second time and loved it. Ceviche is a Peruvian specialty of raw fish that is actually cooked in lime juice. It tastes a lot better than it sounds trust me. There’s going to be a lot of seafood at my site which I’m really excited about – but I seriously have to acostumbrar to avoiding the bones… yikes.
Our site visits ended on Saturday in Piura. After I successfully got back to the city myself without looking stupid, we had meetings and shared stories. The Peru 9 group is on its way out so I bought a comforter and pillow from one of the girls who is leaving. It was definitely surreal to see them all getting their preparations in order after two years in Peru. They had definitely formed bonds and friendships with each other and the Peruvians they worked and lived with. They had a lot of advice to pass on and I know we were all grateful for it. We learned about the best karaoke and dessert places, the dating cycle all the girls go through, how to stay cool when it’s impossible, how much to pay for cabs, and who to go to when we need a haircut or dance lessons. Two years just seems so far away. I don’t think I’ll ever know as much as they do.
I was so excited to get back to Chaclacayo where I am now a combi pro and can get wherever I want relatively easily. I walked into my house to find my little brothers playing the card games “Spit” and “Spoons” that I taught them. I really wanted to teach them Euchre but that’s basically impossible to do in English and takes a lot of practice, let alone in Spanish. I gave my host mom the Natillas (like chocolate/caramel dip from Piura) that I brought back for them and we looked at pictures and talked about my trip. We ended the night practicing tongue twisters in both English and Spanish. Here’s my favorite Spanish one that I’m trying to memorize to take to site with me:
Paco peco
Chico rico
Le gritaba
Como loco
A su tio
Federico
Y este dije
Poco a poco
Paco peco
Poco pico

I tried to get them to say “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” and cried laughing at their attempts. Basically none of those sounds exist in Spanish. It felt so good to turn the tables!