FBT

It’s been awhile since I last posted. Mostly because of the fact that I was in field based training for the past week. So let me break down the last week for you as there was a lot that happened.

Day 1

We left on Saturday on a pretty nice bus. It was pretty like riding in a plane in first class. Also, the seats reclined almost to a bed state which was pretty awesome. We got dinner and breakfast and got to watch some movies. One stipulation on the bus was that you couldn’t poop in the bathroom. This meant that in order to poo you would have to ask the bus driver to pull over. Unfortunately, one volunteer pooed in the bus, I won’t mention names, but this clogged the toilet for people that had to pee. I ended up holding my pee for possibly 4 hours. It was pretty bad. In addition, the roads were horrible so it was almost like a terrimoto (earthquake). We got into Cajamarca city around midday and spent an hour in the plaza de armas. Cajamarca was a pretty sweet town. We then had to take a combi for 2.5 hours to another town. Then, take a taxis thing to San Miguel for another 2 hours. By the time we reached San Miguel, we had been traveling for 23 hours. WOOOO. That night we had a fogata (campfire) which was pretty cool. When you’re out in the campo you can pretty much just do a campfire wherever you want. PS San Miguel is about 9,000 or 10,000 ft above sea level…pretty sweet.

Day 2

Teaching started today. We went to the institute and of course no one was ready on time. Eventually we had an introduction where the sub-directora introduced us all. Then, we got to say like what are names were and our profession. Class started after that. The first day we taught the students about entrepreneurship and how to be an entrepreneur. It was pretty cool and I think we got the trust of the kids right away b/c my groups language level was pretty good. I found that I didn’t speak tooo much the first day. I’m not sure why but I would remedy that in the days to come. Another volunteer and I also went and played football that day which was lots of fun. A good way to bond with the students. That night we had our first meal at the wonderous Polloria (Chicken store I guess you would call it). It was a huge piece of chicken and fries for 5 soles (aka $1.50 or so, yes if you are planning on visiting me in peru you will be living the high life).

Day 3

Today we went over Market and Feasibility Analysis. It went well and then we took the students out to the market to inquire about their potential mini businesses they would start. I don’t remember too much else about this day. I think I took a nap in the middle of the day haha.

Day 4

Today we taught Accounting, Finance, Marketing, and how to write a little business plan. The students then were taken to the “bank” to apply for a loan. It was pretty cool. The students were really excited about getting a loan and starting on their businesses. After that was done, Kevin and I tried hiking up this mountain on the side of the town. However, the mountain was lacking a defined path. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many hitchhikers and just plain old crap on my pants before. We climbed over barbed wire and through mazes of pricklies to get some good pics. For a moment we didn’t think we were going to be able to find a way back. However, we found what we think was a river bed and followed it down haha. It was quite the adventure. At night, one group from another class had a showing of Titanic. The entry was free but they sold popcorn and some other stuff to make money. Around 300 people from the town came out for it. It was really awesome and the group made around 80 or 90 soles from it. One of our groups was out making picarones which are like fried bread.

Day 5

Today was THE day. I think all of us were worried that our groups weren’t going to make enough money to pay back the loans. Most of the groups set up shop in the plaza de armas to sell their food. Oh yea, ps, peruvians love to sell food. They like to do what they already know, which was how to make food. It worked out though. Everyone paid back their loans and one of our groups made the most money, 106 soles. That’s pretty impressive for one day when some people make like 14 soles a day or so. Once the money was returned we had a closing ceremony where we handed out certificates to the students for completing the course. The students were really excited to receive those. Two other volunteers sang a song for the students entitled “Estamos llenos” (We’re full). Obviously, because of all the food we ate. It was really funny and fitting. That night the students made another fogata for us and also we had a dance at the school. The dance was fun but a little weird because the girls don’t look in your eyes when you dance with them because if they do it signifies that they want a little more to do with you haah (ps the girls were like in their 20s so it isn’t weird to dance with them haha).

Day 6

We left to go to Trujillo in the morning. We arrived in the evening in Trujillo and went out to a discoteca at night. Oh yea, on the bus ride to Trujillo there was a baby pig across the aisle from me. Only in peru haha.

Day 7

We got to talk to some volunteers in the Trujillo area and got to go surfing in Huanchaco which is like 15 minutes from Trujillo. Peru has some of the best surfing in the world and if you come visit you can experience it!! Haha. It was lots of fun but definitely difficult. After the beach we returned to lima. A couple of us stayed and watched the new Batman which was AMAZING GO SEE IT.

So that was my week in a nutshell. Definitely lots of fun and good times had by all. It reassured me that I wanted to go to the mountains. In fact I just had my last one-on-one with my boss about my preferences for a site.

I WILL NOT KNOW MY SITE UNTIL AUGUST 1

Just wanted to say that out loud so everyone knew haha. Anyways, that’s all, everything is going well and as that I am back I will be making more frequent posts. Hasta pronto.