¡Gracias por la Comida!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home! Another Thanksgiving away from the family and I`m starting to wonder if I really like my Aunt`s cooking, haha, don`t ever tell her I said that. Actually, with the help of two other Americans we made Thanksgiving dinner for 15 people on Wednesday night. It was awesome! We had carrots, green beans, stuffing, mango chutney, corn bread, mashed potatoes, roasted chickens and gravy. We did our best for being in Peru with a two-burner stove and a crappy oven.

I've moved into my own amazing little room, with two huge windows, where I have all the peace and quiet in the world (except for the pigs in the yard, the rooster`s call at 4:30am and that little boy that walks around at the crack of dawn honking a bicycle horn selling whoknowswhat). It`s great for studying español, coloring, journaling, reading, sleeping, etc. It is a bit like site would have been except I`m accross the hall from other volunteers so lonliness is nothing to worry about. And I can take all the freezing cold showers I want. Bucket baths in Guinea felt great, except that I had to stand in my dungeon of a bathroom with my headlamp on. Now I have a nice bathroom and a real shower but the water is ccccchhhhhiiiillllllyyyy.

Work at the orphanage is different than anything I´ve ever done before. There are three groups of children: the Lupes (5 handicapped children), the Pequeños (5 little boys), and the Grandes (everyone else). Each day I am assigned to work with one of the 3 groups from either 6-1 in the morning or 2-8 in the afternoon. The orphanage is staffed with full-time Señoritas who tell me what to do and hopefully I understand them and do it correctly. It`s getting easier as I'm getting to know what needs to be done, getting to know the kids and the Señoritas, and improving my Spanish. Still, I often have to get them to repeat what they want me to do several times before I figure it out.

There is a very high turnover rate of volunteers and it shows among the staff and kids. They are used to new faces and used to old ones leaving. They know not to get too attached to you because soon there will be someone else in your place. It`s hard for me to get used to this. It`s different than the daycare in Asheville or preschool in Prague. Those kids go home to their parents at the end of the day. The difference is these kids live there, they are eachothers family and they have to put a guard up with the voluteers or they will be depressed when someone they were close to leaves. Despite their difficulties, they are adorable, happy and fun. Some of them were climbing all over me from the moment they met me. Others, I have yet to win over, but I`ve got confidence in my abilities.

The other day I was reading from my journal about Guinea. Being in another under-developed country so soon is really giving me an interesting perspective. Ayacucho is a fairly big city in Peru, and one of the poorest. I haven`t experienced villagois life but so far it is amazing how much more these people have than Guineans. Specifically, I was reading about the time my neighborhood caught a theif and a mob brought the boy down to the police in the middle of the night. That would never happen here. Guinea is so wild and unpredictable. Here they have a paved pedestrian walks downtown! Guinea barely had paved roads for the cars. There are internet cafe`s all over the city. You can buy almost anything you need (except peanut butter), as opposed to Guinea where you need to stock up in Conakry. There is ice cream everywhere!

Laying in bed and reading about my time in Guinea, I found myself taking my pen and writing GUINEA on the back of my hand. I`m not sure why, but I think it was because I wanted to make sure I don`t forget. I`m sure I won`t, but I guess just in case I`ll make a point to remember once in a while.

Anyways, I`m in a place right now where I need to make some decisions. Do I want to reenroll in the Peace Corps, now, which probably won´t happen until as early as the summer, or do I want to start thinking about going back to school and starting a career? Should I look for a job in South America? Who knows? Let me know if you`ve got any ideas for me. In the meantime, enough of all this internet.

¡Besos y Hasta Luego!

¡Estoy en Ayacucho!

¡Hola Amigos! It´s good to be squatting over a latrine again!

I have arrived and am settling into my new home and volunteer position in Ayacucho, Peru. It is absolutely beautiful here. I took a day bus Sunday from Lima so I could see the countryside. The road comes upon Ayacucho from above. It was around 6pm and getting dark so the city lights were scattered all down the mountainsides. It was really spectacular.

After a freezing cold shower Monday morning, I taxied to the Casa where I will be volunteering and was introduced to the other volunteers. Everyone is really nice. There are quite a few French people here so I´m getting along really well between French, English and Spanish.

Within a few hours of arriving I went hiking with a Scottish guy and a Beligian girl. We walked from the casa only for about an hour and a half up the mountain and we came to this amazing clearing. There was a little pueblo, and some dogs, and the most spectacular views I´ve seen in a while.

The volunteer house is a communal living situation where we take turns cooking dinners and cleaning. I´m sharing a room temporarily with a Welsh girl and I´m hoping to move into my own room by the end of the week. Everyone is a traveler and has interesting tales and tips.

Certain things make me feel right at home as if I were still in Guinea. Theres plenty of rice and sauce and potatoes and the people are very nice and helpful. The homes and roads are rundown. There are stray dogs everywhere. In general however, Ayacucho is much more well-off than Guinea. There´s electricity and running water, for example. That means refrigerators! There´s also a bus system we can take into the city center for 50 centimos or around 18 cents. There aren´t any moto taxi´s but there are these tiny little moto-car things that zip people around.

I start working at the orphanage on Thursday. I´ll have a schedule where I will work either the morning or the afternoon/evening 6 days a week. Everyone seems to enjoy the work though it´s tiring. I´m excited for the challenge.

I´m pretty connected here. There is a payphone attached to the house so I´ll get that number out and there are a few internet places nearby, so I´ll be in touch.

Besos!

Buenos Dias!

I meant to write before I left North Carolina, but now I´m already in Peru. I woke up on a bench at the Lima airport this morning and was like, how did I get here? And then I remembered that I bought a ticket. And then I questioned my sanity. In one month I´ve traveled from the poorest parts of West Africa to the beautiful fall colors of Western North Carolina and now I´m in Peru. If you had told me this was where I would be 5 months ago I never would have believed you. I guess life takes unexpected turns sometimes.

So far, there is nothing exciting to report about Lima. I only glimpsed snippets from the taxi on the way to my hostel. The hostel is very nice. Theres a sweet rooftop cafe and theres barely anyone here which is excellent. I saw the Pacific Ocean! That felt weird because I am at virtually the same line of longitude here than I was in Asheville. In fact, still on EST. Also, I saw a Pizza Hut and a Chile´s so already this is looking like a step up. Also, that was my first non bush taxi, taxi ride in a while.

Being home was being able to eat cheese until my belly ached, stream tv series´ from the internet, swap stories with friends like I never left, dance in front of the stage at a Sound Tribe show, buy Ben and Jerry´s and Dr. Pepper at Ingles, marvel at Walmart, wrestle with all the pups, Barnes and Noble with Mom, beers with Dad, play with the kiddies at the Church, etc. It was exactly what I needed.

And now I´m parasite free and in Peru. I´m headed to an orphanage in a mountain town called Ayacucho. I can´t wait. I´ve got energy. It feels good to be on my own. To be quiet. To soak it all in.

So far I can´t understand a word anyone says to me in Spanish but I do manage to stutter out strings of vocabulary enough to communicate, though I´m pretty sure I told my taxi driver ¨lets go to el bano,¨ instead of ¨I have to go to el bano.¨ Well, I´ve got nothing but time to study.

Thanks for reading. More soon. Hasta Luego.