Before I hopped on the flight to Lima, I attended a Peace Corps staging event in Washington DC. This seven-hour long orientation served as a means for all of the volunteers to meet each other, understand the Peace Corps standards and regulations, and learn a bit about the country in which we’d be serving, Peru. Luckily for us, several returned volunteers attended our staging in order to describe their Peruvian life. Each one had a completely different story, and at first it seemed difficult to draw comparisons between the volunteer that served in the dry, lowland Sierra and the northern rainforest. However, there was one general point of consensus among all the Peace Corps alumni: serving in Peru is like winning the lottery.
What does it mean to win the Peace Corps lottery? Well, the
Peace Corps sends volunteers all over the world. Sometimes the land is
absolutely gorgeous, but the people are distant and shy. Other times volunteers
find that the locals go to extraordinary lengths to be friendly, but they have
to suffer through two years of bad food. In general, there is usually at least
one thing that goes wrong and you find yourself with difficult weather,
landscape, food, or people. Not in Peru. As each volunteer professed over and
over again, you will never find a friendlier group of people, a more diverse
and beautiful country, more delicious and rich food and a more temperate climate
than in Peru. Frankly, this seemed way too good to be true, but I decided to
reserve my judgment until I passed a couple of days in my service country. Now
that I’ve been here almost a week, do I agree with the advice that was given to
me? Do I feel like I’ve got the winning lottery ticket?
Absolutely.
When I arrived in Peru, I spend my first night just outside of Lima and then traveled to Chaclacayo, which will be my home for the next three months. Lying one hour outside of the capital, Chaclacayo is a small town surrounded by low-lying, dusty mountains. It’s springtime here, so it never gets above 80ºF, and drops to 50ºF at night, making most days temperate and relatively cool. There are lots of small restaurants, parks, and blooming azalea bushes that are intermingled with cacti, palm trees, and locust trees too. While I haven’t been able to venture out into the main downtown area yet, I’ve found that everyone is very friendly and chatty, none more so than my host family.
Let me just say this loud and clear: I ADORE my host family! My host mom, María, was the one I met first since she greeted me at the Peace Corps training site. I was immediately struck by how warmhearted and friendly she was, and all of my fears of a fast-speaking, grouchy homestay family washed away during our taxi ride to our neighborhood, Yanacoto. As I talked more with María, I learned that she is in her sixties, she works as a house cleaner and serves as a volunteer in the night watch during the week, and loves soap operas. When we arrived to our new home, I got to meet my host father, Francisco, who works as a handyman and is also in his sixties. I swear this man knows everything. He is always reading a newspaper or a book and, with barely any provocation at all, will launch into full discussions concerning Catholicism, Peruvian politics, local district disputes, and economics. He is also convinced that he’s going to teach me the names of every single kind of Peruvian potato. Note: there are around 2,000 kinds of potatoes here in Peru. Good luck, Francisco. I also have three siblings. José is the oldest and is in his mid-thirties. I have yet to meet him since he works in a train office a couple of towns over. He has a wife, Lydia, and the two are happily married. Angelo is the second oldest and is 32 years old. He works with trains as well and serves on the night shift, where he services all the electric trains and conducts security maintenance. He is extremely friendly and chatty and loves to make jokes. Finally, there’s Pamela, my host sister. She’s the same age as me and works on the weekends as a cook and caterer for large social events. Like me, she loves to cook and watch movies and is really excited to have a host sister. Last night we took a combi, a small public bus, to Chosica, a larger neighborhood with more shopping. We played arcade games, watched dancers practicing in the park, and window shopped as she gave me a tour of the various monuments and historical buildings of the area. Last but not least, I have pets! Chi chi, our cat, lives in the house and still hasn’t warmed up to me quite yet. The same cannot be said of our two dogs, Bella, a cocker spaniel, and Cory, a six-month-old lab mix. They live on the roof outside and love me to pieces. Two days ago I left the house early to do some exercise. Yanacoto is located on the side of a mountain, so the roads are steep switchbacks and there are lots of tall staircases around town. To get some cardio into my routine, I left the house a bit early to jog up and down the bright yellow staircase located on our street. Seeing that I was gone, Bella and Cory broke out of their pen and began to search for me. As I came racing down the stairs, I saw them both waiting for me at the bottom, ecstatic that they had sniffed me out. I couldn’t convince them to go back home, so they just exercised with me. Thanks to my family, I am really feeling at home here. They have gone out of their way to make me feel comfortable, insisting that I call them “mom” and “dad.” They’ve also given me free reign of the kitchen and have little to no restrictions about leaving the house. “Lyndsey, we need a photo of you to hang next to the pictures of our kids!” Sounds like a winning lottery ticket to me!
Aside from my family, I’m starting to love and get the hang
of my daily Peruvian schedule. Every day I wake up at 5:30 for some exercise,
shower, and have breakfast and watch the morning news with my family. Then I
head down a MONSTER hill to get to the bus stop. When a custer, a type of
public bus, whizzes by, I shout and haggle with the cobrador, who collects the
fare and distributes the tickets, until we agree on a price to get me into La
Banderia. When I arrive, I walk a couple of blocks to the Peace Corps training
complex and have class from 8:00-5:00. The schedule varies, but most of the
time I start off with a four-hour-long language class. My class is small and
only has four other students, all of whom are women. Our instructor, Sheila,
leads us in the lessons is great about keeping us all animated and focused.
Language classes in the Peace Corps are not as structured as those of a high
school and university. There are rarely any concrete grammar lessons. Instead,
most of our sessions focus on practical application. We practice conversation,
navigate through mock social situations, and do other various hands-on
activities. Some days of the week, we even have class within a homestay family
as opposed to the training complex. I also attend sessions regarding security
in Peru, stress-management, life as a Peace Corps volunteer, and Peruvian
culture and history. Normally every day ends with a health training session,
where I learn about various health needs and resources in Peru. Once the
classes are over, I am able to have a bit of free time. However, it starts
getting dark at 6:00 here, so I usually head home quickly to spend time with my
family and complete my assignments. Every day I’m just plowed with work, and
when I go to bed I feel exhausted and brain dead. However, I’m learning quickly
and don’t regret a single minute.
Well, that’s a brief overview of my life so far. I’m hoping to snap some photos soon, so with any luck those will be posted somewhere soon. Also, I should update some of my contact information:
Lyndsey Gray
Cuerpo de PazCalle Los Cedros 647, Chaclacayo
Lima 8 – Peru
South America
This is the address of the training facility. Any letters or packages should be sent there since it’ll be easier to pick up. Now about packages – if you’re going to send me something, it should be in a padded envelope, not a box. Medicine, baked goods, peanut butter, and candy are strongly discouraged due to customs checks. Also, things should be declared as a gift (in Spanish, un ”regalo”) and sent via USPS only.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them in a
comment or email them to me. I’d love to hear from you, though I can’t promise
a prompt response. Thanks so much for all of your support! Talk to you soon or,
as they say here in Peru, ¡chaufa!
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