Camp Valor/Fight!

This past weekend we held what is called Camp Valor. It’s a kind of retreat with all guys of about 14 or 15 years of age. The point of this camp is for the boys to bond with other boys from other towns in the valley as well as to bond with the male volunteers from the valley. The topics we covered at the camp were leadership, entrepreneurship, project design and organizational structure. In between each charla we played different games like dodgeball and crab soccer. It was actually very successful given our circumstances approaching the camp.

In addition, yesterday, Lari played Sibayo in the first round of the Copa Peru. This is basically the biggest cup of the year. Lari had already won 4-0 in Sibayo. Therefore, Sibayo would have to win at least by a score of 4-0 in Lari to just tie. It ended up being a 0-0 tie. However, at the end of the game the players from Sibayo were rather upset with the ref of the game. Practically the whole team surrounded the ref and were yelling at him. The refs tried to escaped the field and did but not before one of the Sibayo players kicked the ref in the butt pretty hard. After that, the team from Lari reentered the field and trash talking ensued. Then, one of the Sibayo players went after one of the Lari players. You must keep in mind that there are no police in town. Once this happened, all the fans from both teams entered the field and a rather large fight broke out. It was kind of scary, but ended up stopping on its own and somehow the Sibayo team made it out of Lari safely. Apparently it was the first time something like this had happened in Lari which I find hard to believe.

One Year in the books…14 months to go

One year in Peru!!! This is a bit premature given the fact that my one year mark will be tomorrow. However, I will not be able to make this post tomorrow so everyone will just have to settle for this post a day in advance. So, I thought I would look back a little on to what I remembered from one year ago. One year ago, to this day, I was still at what Peace Corps likes to call staging. It’s where you first get to meet all the other volunteers from your group. It almost feels like the beginning of some sort of reality show. It’s like how Road Rules and Real World name all of there groups, well we were named Peru 11. Upon arrival in Miami for staging it felt kind of like arriving at college freshman year. You really don’t know anyone and you don’t really know what to expect. Not knowing what to expect is kind of the charm of pre –Peace Corps Service. That first day in Miami you split up into those big groups to go out like you did freshman year of college and you make your first judgments about the people around you, most of which were probably untrue. Then, the staging portion begins the very next day with a full day of…what is Peace Corps, what are the goals, what is development, etc. After staging, you board a plane with everyone else and arrive in Peru at night time which is what the new volunteers will be doing today. As I remember, the ride from the airport to Huampani (a sort of resort outside of Lima) was interesting. Lima really looked like a poor place in the dark of the night. Once we arrived at Huampani, we were assigned rooms and finally got to rest. The whole excitement of the experience was what kept you sane during those days. That first week of Peace Corps was a great high, but then it starts settling in that you’re going to be in Peru for 2 years and 3 months!!! Plus, the house you stay in at training, in most cases, is a lot better than the house you will be in for 2 years.

Peace Corps is composed of many ups and downs. One year ago I was on a high. Right now, I’d have to say I’m in the middle. The reason Peace Corps is made up of so many ups and downs is because of the countless failures you face. Everyone arrives to Peace Corps service well aware of the failures to come. However, it remains rather difficult to put one’s head around just how many failures one will face. Up until this point, all of the main projects I have planned and tried to bring to fruition have pretty much failed which is rather hard to stomach again and again. However, many lessons are learned from such failures. One of which is that one really cannot change people by his self or herself. It takes a volunteer’s effort in addition to their community’s efforts. If the community does not provide the effort for the project, it will never reach its goals. Although one can beat his self or herself up over this fact, it really is not worth it. Many people have a problem accepting the fact that no matter how much one tries to change a person, if that person does not want to change, the person will never change no matter how much one tries. It is a simple fact of life but one that is hard to grasp. However, with the help of Peace Corps it’s one I have come to realize.

PS – A crying sheep outside my door all of last night…only in Peace Corps.

Some Argentina Fotos

cool pic
japanese garden
devil´s throat
rainbow
the smaller part of the falls

drying off after going under the waterfalls

cool pic

deep in thought

champagne on the bus..niceee
bocaaaa...we were there early given the empty seats

Argentina/Community Leadership/The wind again…

I recently made a trip to Argentina which was my first rather large vacation and my first outside of Peru. We spent the most time in Buenos Aires but also made it up to Iguazu Falls and made it across the river to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. These two side trips were definitely the coolest portions of the trip. Iguazu is one of those things that pictures really don’t do it justice. Colonia is just a really cool, picturesque town in Uruguay and is very easy to get to. There is a ferry that takes about an hour which runs everyday. However, you must buy your tickets in advance! The best way to get to Iguazu is by bus which is an 18 hour trip up and 18 hours back. This takes a lot of time but is totally worth it. As far as Buenos Aires is concerned, the nightlife is great, lots of restaurants with real pizza and pasta as well as the steakhouses. There’s also a really cool Japanese garden. Another must do is a Boca Juniors game if they are playing at home when you are there. That was really cool.

Back to real life. Once I got back from Argentina we partnered with an NGO from Arequipa called COPLAN and held a workshop on community leadership and teamwork. This will be the first workshop in a series of three. The partnership actually is a win win for both sides because COPLAN would never be able to coordinate something like this without us and we get access to having Peruvian young adults come to speak to the kids. The first workshop seemed to be a success. Hopefully all the kids continue to come.

Oh and the wind. A couple of days ago I woke up with a back pain which was connected to the movement of my head. Therefore, I figured it was because I slept incorrectly. Two days passed and I still had the pain. However, that day my host parents were going to harvest some potatoes and wanted me to come. I said no because of the back pain and of course they immediately were very worried. Everyone was telling me oh it must have been some bad air or the cold etc. Whatever, I’m not going to try to argue with them. I ended up getting some sort of plant which I cut open and rubbed the inside on my back. Then, at night my host mom made this woman come to do something. She through some plants on top of what looked like burning coal (it wasn’t) and then put the smoking bowl in my sleeping bag and made me take a breath of the smoke. Then, she put the bowl underneath my bed for a couple of minutes. Who knows what that was supposed to do. I do feel a little better today but I don’t think I’m going to give the smoking bowl the credit.