Thoughts from Peru:
About ten times (ok only 3) a little bird that is in the northern part
of Peru in the coastal or maybe the foothills (nothing is called
foothill here) region has been mentioned, apparently it is a must see
for birders world wide. Every time it is mentioned I think of friends
visiting. Much too premature for any planning, I have not yet taken or
passed the various tests, especially the one in español. Let alone have
any idea where I will be working. All I know is that I will be in one of
six departments: Lambayeque (where the bird is, I think.), Amazonas
(not to be confused with the Amazon Jungle…as I was before I got here),
but this area is the headwaters of the Amazon River, Ancash, Lima, Junin
and Ica. No Peace Corps volunteer is sent to Cusco, it has plenty of
NGO’s working there. I was given a description of my site, but then we
were told to forget it as everything would change. But that is the Peace
Corps motto “be flexible.”
We have had three notable earthquakes
since I have been here, we must be due for a forth as the past couple of
weeks have been quiet. Two woke me up and the third was talked about.
People here talk about how hot it is, I just can answer, “Well, hot
for Chacalacayo.” This is a nice, peaceful community with some large
beautiful houses, of course the PCV’s don’t live in those houses, we are
supposed to be living in low middle income houses, mine clearly is. A
nice quiet loving family. The men (42, 24 and 19) work; the father as a
taxi cab driver and the older son as a conductor on combi’s (small
crowded buses) I am not sure what the 19 year-old does and the mother
sells something like Avon, takes care of me, something the Peace Corps
pays her for, cleans the house and makes the meals. I almost giggled
last Thursday when her dinner consisted of home made French fries, white
rice and cut up, sautéed hot dogs. She was tired of cooking for
everyone. She usually cooks very good meals, of course way too much
rice, half the plate is usually white rice, but she is learning to give
me less, vegetables (I am lucky to have a mom who fixes plenty of
vegetables) and some piece of meat, usually chicken.
The weather
here is cloudy with afternoon clearing, today it was rather clear and of
course I forgot my camera. There would have been some great shots of
the areas where houses are built just below obvious rock fall areas.
Lima apparently is heavily clouded this time of year. But on the down
side everything is very dusty, I feel sorry for the trees their leaves
are ineffective they are covered with so much dust. But the landscaping
is interesting. Many of the plants are exactly the same as Fresno
(Mulberry, verbena, palms, etc.) plus the addition of various
houseplants. Ficus very common here as a tree or a bush, and others that
I don’t know the correct names of but I will try rubber trees, are
really trees, hibiscus is everywhere along with boganvia. I guess it not
only rarely rains, but also it never freezes. Although, we have been
forewarned: with the el niño it may pour this year. The houses are not
built for rain. Most seem to be unfinished, like those in Palestine
waiting, perhaps, for future generations to live there, This house has
areas where only a piece of something has been placed over the top to
prevent dust or perhaps rain from entering. Last Saturday it did rain as
we were going to Lima, but not in Lima, and for less than 5 minutes.
About ten times (ok only 3) a little bird that is in the northern part of Peru in the coastal or maybe the foothills (nothing is called foothill here) region has been mentioned, apparently it is a must see for birders world wide. Every time it is mentioned I think of friends visiting. Much too premature for any planning, I have not yet taken or passed the various tests, especially the one in español. Let alone have any idea where I will be working. All I know is that I will be in one of six departments: Lambayeque (where the bird is, I think.), Amazonas (not to be confused with the Amazon Jungle…as I was before I got here), but this area is the headwaters of the Amazon River, Ancash, Lima, Junin and Ica. No Peace Corps volunteer is sent to Cusco, it has plenty of NGO’s working there. I was given a description of my site, but then we were told to forget it as everything would change. But that is the Peace Corps motto “be flexible.”
We have had three notable earthquakes since I have been here, we must be due for a forth as the past couple of weeks have been quiet. Two woke me up and the third was talked about.
People here talk about how hot it is, I just can answer, “Well, hot for Chacalacayo.” This is a nice, peaceful community with some large beautiful houses, of course the PCV’s don’t live in those houses, we are supposed to be living in low middle income houses, mine clearly is. A nice quiet loving family. The men (42, 24 and 19) work; the father as a taxi cab driver and the older son as a conductor on combi’s (small crowded buses) I am not sure what the 19 year-old does and the mother sells something like Avon, takes care of me, something the Peace Corps pays her for, cleans the house and makes the meals. I almost giggled last Thursday when her dinner consisted of home made French fries, white rice and cut up, sautéed hot dogs. She was tired of cooking for everyone. She usually cooks very good meals, of course way too much rice, half the plate is usually white rice, but she is learning to give me less, vegetables (I am lucky to have a mom who fixes plenty of vegetables) and some piece of meat, usually chicken.
The weather here is cloudy with afternoon clearing, today it was rather clear and of course I forgot my camera. There would have been some great shots of the areas where houses are built just below obvious rock fall areas.
Lima apparently is heavily clouded this time of year. But on the down side everything is very dusty, I feel sorry for the trees their leaves are ineffective they are covered with so much dust. But the landscaping is interesting. Many of the plants are exactly the same as Fresno (Mulberry, verbena, palms, etc.) plus the addition of various houseplants. Ficus very common here as a tree or a bush, and others that I don’t know the correct names of but I will try rubber trees, are really trees, hibiscus is everywhere along with boganvia. I guess it not only rarely rains, but also it never freezes. Although, we have been forewarned: with the el niño it may pour this year. The houses are not built for rain. Most seem to be unfinished, like those in Palestine waiting, perhaps, for future generations to live there, This house has areas where only a piece of something has been placed over the top to prevent dust or perhaps rain from entering. Last Saturday it did rain as we were going to Lima, but not in Lima, and for less than 5 minutes.
