23 Months To Go!

No, we´re not really counting down the months….yet J Brian and I are doing great and are lucky to live in a very peaceful and beautiful place. We are 2 hrs from the nearest internet and 8 hrs from our p.o. box, hence our lack of communication to all of our loved ones. First off, a little about our home and family. We live in an adobe house (NOT the adobe of New Mexico) made of thick mud bricks with a corregated steel roof topped off with tiles. The floors are dirt and the kitchen ¨stove¨ is made of mud and steel parts. They use wood collected from their fields for cooking fuel. We live with two pigs, a donkey, about 15 chickens, lots of spiders, fleas, flying beetles, hummingbirds, and an assortment of beautiful moths. When I say live with, I mean that these are essentially our roommates. The divide between home and ¨outside¨ is pretty non-existent. (Hey, speaking of donkeys, does anyone know if that sound they make that sounds like they are choking/hyperventilating/crying is analogous to the bark of a dog or meow of a cat? I insist that this is their natural sound and Brian thinks they´re clearing their throat). Our room has no windows and thus it is very easy to sleep until noon thinking that it´s still midnight.
Our family is amazing. Truly. They give us so much love and take really good care of us. Sometimes they look out for us too much. Brian and I were a little sick for a few days and we weren´t allowed to wear shorts, get wet, or drink/eat anything cold. But drinking a ton of beer was okay. They are very cute. At this point, the grandma cooks all of our meals and runs the household. The wife teaches early childhood education and the husband is the caretaker of the elementary school. There are two nephews our age who grow peanuts and work lots of labor jobs around town. The little girl is very sweet and never complains when asked to help out. Brian asked her if she could live without electricity her whole life and she looked at him as if he was asking if she could count to 3. OF COURSE! Her relatives live without it just up the hill, and she knows how to use an iron powered by hot coals. She rocks!! They all like to joke around a lot (a Peruvian trait) and give us hugs. And they love to listen to music, albeit at about 100 decibles (another Peruvian trait).
Let´s see….food: Well, we´re in the city right now to buy our own gas stove so that we can supplement our diet and share more with our family. But that said, the food´s pretty good here. Lots of white rice, almost every meal and the biggest portion of every plate. But we eat lentils, beans, carrot/beet/potato salads, and a KILLER soup with wheat that Ang´s dad would LOVE. About 5 bananas a day is the norm, but they rarely eat them raw. Green ones are boiled and don´t taste like much and the others are fried – deeeelicious!! And a ton of whatever fruit is in season. Nobody uses chemicals on their fields, so we have a large supply of organic tropical fruits: bananas, avocadoes, mangoes, oranges, papayas, and a bunch I never heard of before coming here. This month is the month of mangoes, and we eat about 5 per day each straight from the fields. The fields aren´t really fields, they are mountainy hills with trees and other crops. Very green and cultivated. As I wrote in earlier blogs, the principal crops are organic coffee and unrefined sugar, but they also grow peanuts, rice at the valley floor, beans, and potatoes and wheat a little higher up.
Parties….they party – a lot. Everyone sits in chairs around the perimeter of the room while music pumps at maximum volume (no joke – it kind of hurts). Drinking always starts with a shared toast (¨brindis¨). Then one glass is passed around with the liquor; you pour your share, pass the bottle, drink your share, and pass the glass. People get up to dance but when the song is over you have to go back to your seat. There isn´t any mingling. And guys have to ask girls to dance. But I have to say, the dancing is lots of fun but not what you think ¨latin¨ dancing looks like. Peruvian cumbia is pretty low on the passion scale. Very subdued. You just kind of step back and forth – just right for Brian (and you too, Dad!!) The people who give the party have the responsibility for feeding everyone, usually not until after midnight. And they ALWAYS go until 6 am. We haven´t been able to finish one out yet.
People here are extremely generous and hospitable. We are always offered coffee and food when we visit people´s homes and every single person in town always has a big smile for us. They pride themselves on their sense of unity and friendship here. And they are very curious about the U.S. We tell them all about you guys back home!! And although a ¨we are poor¨ mentality is very pervasive in the minds of many in the countryside, they have a lot of hope for their future here in Sicchez. Our town has a strong, organized, and dedicated leadership. I am in awe of their energy and motivation to better their quality of life.
Brian and I have been keeping ourselves pretty busy. We have to do a baseline study (¨diagnostic¨) of the community in the first 6 months, which basically means collecting a lot of data and trying to differentiate our heads from our asses. In truth, it´s not easy leaving all of you guys and the successful lives we have in the U.S. Lot´s of things feel confusing, we get lonely, we miss every fiber of every one of you, we wish it´d snow (it never will), it´s hard to make friends, and learning a new language is more of a bitch than it seems. Don´t believe those who say ¨immersion¨ speeds up the process. They´re probably right but qualitatively they´re wrong! That said, we are happy deep down. The leaders in the community invite us to a ton of meetings; we´ve talked with NGO´s, the mayor, grassroots organizations, and lots of community members. They really make us feel included and they really want our help. When we´re bored we hang out at the health post or just walk around and talk to different folks. It´ll take some time to earn some ¨confianza¨ (trust) and just sitting with different people on their porch is a form of work for us. As of now, it looks like our main activities here will be centered around nutrition education (including gardens and cooking classes) and waste management. They don´t produce a lot of non-organic waste here, but what they do produce they burn. It feels great to have our own schedule and the flexibility to approach our work without bosses or ¨systems¨ (read: DPS) hanging over our heads all of the time. And we exercise every day, so don´t forget to come climbing here Daryn, Ken, and Dave!!!
Right now we´re in what they call the ¨winter¨ (rainy season). It´s only beginning, but it rains every day in the afternoon. We are told it becomes torrential in the coming months. Not a whole lot happens here during the rainy season, even the schools are on vacation. During this time, Brian and I are teaching English classes: one for adults and one for kids. Just about everyone has asked us for them. Christmas was pretty mellow, we ate a meal together, but no presents are generally given except maybe one to the kid. They like to have ¨chocolotadas¨ where they drink hot cocoa and eat fruit cake. The Christmas pictures are from the chocolatada at the health center. Such good, nice people. New Years was a classic Peruvian party at our house with extended family.
Oh yeah, a couple of questions for all of you out there: 1) The egg yolks here are all off to one side when you hard-boil them (we made deviled eggs). Are yours too, Anya? We thought maybe it´s because they´re farm-fresh?? 2) We´re in the southern hemisphere, barely, but why can we still see Orion and the big dipper (Krista)??
Well, another update in a month or so. We wish you all the best and think of you every day. Don´t forget to let us know your travel plans, I know that all of you are going to visit us….right?!?