Aniversario de Vice y Peru

Where have I been? What have I been doing? Good question.
I sat down to write this blog that was originally going to be about Vice’s anniversary celebration. However, I’m realizing that it actually took place over a month ago! Where has all the time gone?
On June 15th Vice celebrated its 90th anniversary as a town. There are anniversaries for everything here, organizations, events, and biggest of all, towns. This year being the 90th anniversary was kind of a big deal.
We started off the week with the “Clausura” or closing ceremony of the computer class I had been teaching. For the past two months I had been working with about 50 women to teach them basic computer skills. Some of them started without knowing how to use a mouse and ended up being able to write basic documents on Microsoft Word. I have to say it was one of the most rewarding things I’ve done since I’ve been here… everyone was just so thankful and willing to learn. It was a great experience. At the ceremony we recognized their achievements and gave them a certificate for their participation. The mayor and regidor in charge of the program attended as well. There were marching competitions where all the school participated and marched by the judges. Here the army uses the march that the Nazis used so all the school kids in their uniforms were kicking up their legs as high as they could go… it was pretty impressive. There was a beauty pageant to and we had a Miss Vice, Miss Tourism and Miss Simpatia (roughly translated into Friendliness haha). They had to model an evening gown and also, interestingly, an outfit made of natural or recycled materials to raise awareness for the environment. The night before the big day there was a Serenata, a type of talent show that local and national artists performed at. There were singers, comedians, traditional dances, speeches, etc. Of course when the comedian got up on the stage he called me up there with him and made me reenact a “Titanic” love scene in which I was Rose and the computer guy from the municipality was Jack and we had to blow kisses at each other. The town loved it. So after that we were waiting for midnight for the fireworks and the best performer of the night to bring in Vice’s anniversary and what happens? The power goes out as the singer is being introduced. So typical. But the fireworks were awesome and at midnight everyone went around congratulating each other on their anniversary.
The next day there was a HUGE parade that all the organizations participated in. I walked with my computer class (in matching navy blue pants and white blouses), with the artisans, and also the Municipality’s Sports Club. Afterward there was a free lunch with dancing in the coliseum and we stayed out there until we were too tired to continue drinking and dancing. We ended the celebration the next day with GRUPO 5 in Vice. Grupo 5 is the best Cumbia group in Peru and they ate dinner at my family’s restaurant before the show so I got to meet them! The rest of the concert/dance they gave me shout outs and I also got a free CD! My host cousin from Lima came up to go to the concert so I went with her and another volunteer who had come to visit. We maybe had a little too much fun…
The next day I had to get up super early to go to Camp VALOR, which is a leadership camp for boys that we put on that weekend. It was a lot of fun and great to see the boys interacting with one another. There were speakers on health, careers, professionalism, respect, self-esteem, and more. At the end of the camp we had another talent show in which all the girl volunteers performed a dance to the World Cup song. Definitely a hit.
Speaking of the World Cup, it was a huge deal here. I watched a ton of the games beginning to end and all of us volunteers got together for a couple of the US games. For one of them I was with my training group at In Service Training in Huanchaco (a beach town close to Trujillo, about 6 hours from Piura) and we could not focus on the speaker. Another time I was in Huaraz (the capital city of the department of Ancash in the Andes) watching the Netherlands game with an extremely excited Dutch guy with a huge nose. We went to Ancash to celebrate the 4th of July with our fellow Americans and had a great time. The department is ideal for trekking and there are beautiful mountains and glacier lakes and tons of tourists. However, Jessica and I were completely lazy and spent the days we were there in American-like cafes drinking coffee and eating the first bagels we’d had in over a year. Can you blame us? We did go horse back riding at one point which was about the extent of our adventure. We’ve already vowed to go back and actually go see some of those lakes…
Since then I’ve been getting down to business with the Artisans. We’ve started another computer class and they are starting to pick up on the information pretty quickly. The formalization of the association is almost complete; if the president goes to the notary to sign the Acta tomorrow, it will just be 8 more days until it’s approved by Registros Publicos and then it’s on to SUNAT (Peruvian IRS) to register and get receipts. SO CLOSE!! We are getting support from Savia – Peru, an oil company that works in Vice. They are providing 6 months of training and a designer for the women who weave. They are teaching them how to use the sewing and cutting machines and their products will be amazing when they’re finished so I’m really excited. I have also been working on a Community Banking project and am currently working with three different groups so that the members can have more access to saving and credit. Besides that, I am working on a grant proposal to get funding to upgrade the artisans’ local to a shop for their products and also to print tags, business cards, and brochures for them. I’m definitely staying busy, but the luxury of the job is that I can take a morning off, like today, to write a blog entry in my room while listening to Lady Gaga.
It’s winter time here and it’s actually been getting kind of cold! If the sun comes out during the day it’s still warm and I can wear a short sleeved shirt with flip flops, but at night I wear layers and layers of clothes! I also have quite the cold… In February I never would have believed this weather possible. Sra. Rosa told me that it doesn’t usually get below 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 degrees Fahrenheit) but it’s been getting down to 14 degrees (57.2 F)!
Anyway, that’s the update on my life… I went through a very serious homesick period for about a week or 2 after getting back from Huaraz and I seriously broke down for the first time since I’ve been here. I just felt like I wasn’t making a difference and that if I were to leave now, no one would notice. I’ve gotten over it now and have been trying to make even more of an effort with my Peruvian counterparts and family. Going to the Peru 11ers’ despedida last week really put things into perspective… I have one more year here to do something useful and I intend to use it.
Sorry for the long absence and this scatterbrained post, thanks as always for following!
Con cariño,
Estefany