Piura

This morning I returned to Vista Alegre after a 14 day trip to Piura. Piura is in north west Peru. There are 7 other volunteers from my training group who will be living in the same department. In total there are over 30 volunteers there. Most of the department is made up of desert which is really hot and dry. We spent the first couple days in the city of Piura and Chulucanas. We met with a number of current volunteers to get an idea of some of their projects. Most of the projects in that region dealt with ceramics and artisan associations. Some of the most famous pottery in Peru is from Chulucanas and La Encantada. They use a particular technique in which the pottery is smoked with mango leaves to give it its classic black look. It’s really pretty.
We then took a four hour bus ride to the more mountainous region where we visited two more volunteers. One is working on a pig farm project and the other with tourism. Their site was absolutely gorgeous. It was tucked in between lush, green mountains which reached to the clouds. There we also learned about the process of coffee production and helped to harvest some ripe beans. To celebrate the day, we prepared their traditional party drink, rampope. It consists of raw egg whites beat to a frothy consistency, raw egg yokes, sugar, vanilla and cañazo(their local moonshine made from sugarcane juice). The first sip was not bad, but we all struggled to tolerate the whole glass.(I might add that we all survived the ingestions of raw eggs…)
The next day we assisted another volunteer with the creation of a roof to cover a boulder with ancient hieroglyphics. It is apparently are pre-Incan art which the local farmers have found in their fields. We trekked through the mountainside to find stalks of bamboo to form the frame of the roof…navigating through endless webs of huge spiders.

After the field based training portion of the trip we returned to the city of Piura for another night. The next day was the most important day to date in our 10 weeks of training: sight visit. I was picked up in the morning by a representative of the municipality of Lalaquiz. Distance-wise, my sight is only about 80-90 miles from the city, however the last 40 miles is a “one lane” unpaved, mountain road. I’ve never experienced such a rugged off-road ride…crossing innumerable creeks and river beds. By pickup truck it took 3 hours to arrive at the sight. By bus is takes 5-6 hours.

I was greeted by the mayor and other officials of the municipality. The town, Tunal, where I will be living is quite small…approximately 200 people, but the district’s population is over 6,000. There are 26 cásarios, or small communities within district. I spent a few hrs chatting with the district leaders before visiting my house. I was ridiculously surprised to see that my house is far from rustic. I will be living with a family of 5…soon to be 6. The mother working in the health center and the father is a truck drive for the municipality. They have three adorable children. The oldest is a 10 yrs old boy and the other are 8 and 5 yr old girls. They apparently are fairly well off, having a functioning toilet, shower(no hot water), a computer, television and a washing machine-which is nearly unheard-of in the campo.

Anyway, I spent three days at the site, visiting a number of cásarios and getting to know the area and some of the community members. The town was just connected to an outside electrical source, so they now have 24 hr electricity for the first time. This, as you can imagine, is really changing life there.
I’ve got a number of photos to upload onto this blog, however I still can not get it to work, so if you’re interested in seeing some, I can e-mail them to you.

My home for two years

Today was the big one. We finally know where we will be living for the next two years. We had a ceremony this morning in which each trainee received a folder with his or her site details. I will be living in the far north of Peru in the department of Piura. Here is a quick profile of my community. All I can go on right now is the info in my packet. Next week I will be traveling to the site to visit and make housing arrangements. The details of the town and my job could very well be different.

Department: Piura
Providence Morropon
District: Laliquiz
Community: Tunal
Counterpart agency: Municipality of Tunal
Population: 6,112
Number of families: 1,523
Altitude: 3,189 feet
Ave temperature 23 degrees Celsius
Electricity: Most likely not in house
Internet: Closest is 2 hrs away by car
Telephone: 3 Public telephones
Cellular phone: no reception
Distance from Piura(closest major city): 6 hours by bus
Economic Activities: Coffee, Sugarcane, Maize, potatoes, oranges, limes livestock and more

My actual work will be determined in the first several months on site. There are many opportunities, and it looks as though I’ll be able to choose my endeavors. Some possibilities include: 1. Working with artisans-accounting practices, management, product design and marketing 2. Work to consolidate a group of artisan women into a small business 3. Promote ecotourism 4. Support the commercialization of products such as coffee, cocoa sugar etc 5. Support the quality control of a particular type of sugar produced in the area

I particularly requested an unstructured position so that I could have a bit more of a visionary role. From the way it looks, I got my wish. Apparently there was one other volunteer who spent a month there a couple years ago, but he left due to illness. So I’ll really be blazing my own trail. 60% of my class of business volunteers is replacing existing volunteers so I am fortunate to be the first one in my site.

To catch you up on a couple other activities:
On Friday I made my family chocolate chip cookies. I had a heck of a time trying to find the correct ingredients, but they turned out ok. My family loves them, despite the fact that neither brown sugar nor molasses can be found here.

On Sunday I went with a Peruvian friend of mine to a military “club” which is pretty much like a country club. Much of the military and their families go to the club each weekend. In the winter, which is right now, Lima is very cloudy and dreary so the people choose to come to Santa Eulalia where it is ALWAYS sunny!

Later that day I went to a horse race. It was nothing like those in the States. It took place in a very remote location on the side of a hill (which is really more like a mountain). The horses raced in groups of 3’s down the steep face of the hill. There were probably a couple thousand people who showed up for the event. It was pretty ridiculous. Surprisingly, only one person was thrown from his horse.

I’ve taken plenty of photos of my experiences so far, however I am still unable to load them onto this blog. I will continue to try…and of course I welcome any advice!!