Gettin' to See the Real Peru!!!

So we just got back earlier today from our Field Based Training in Cajamarca. I was in a group with three other volunteers, our tour guides were a 3rd year volunteer Devina, and our language instructor Pablo. We traveled up to Cajamarca, a department in the north of Peru in the area called the sierra, it's pretty high in the andes, I think we topped out at higher than 3,000 meters while driving between towns. It's the rainy season up there so we got to see rain for the first time in our time here in Peru.....actually there might have been a lil' too much rain. Us future volunteers weren't all that well prepared and were wandering around fields of mud wearing our running shoes and chacos. Would have been more fun if I had a pair of rubber boots that everyone around there were wearing, but I just got laughed at when I asked if they had size 48 (they use the funky european sizing down here). During our week long adventure we build a latrine, a wood burning kitchen, helped turn a field of grass into a garden, and gave classes to children about self esteem and STD's. The second was quite awkward because it was...a talk about STD's with 14-15 year old kids....and it was in spanish. Wasn't able to field the questions quite as well as the other people in the group but I think we the job done pretty well. Saw some beautiful scenery, rode some wild buses on muddy roads along side some big cliffs, and most importantly got to see what life is like for the actual volunteers that are already working here in Peru. We were able to visit the sites of three different volunteers and were actually able to spend the night with two of them. It was also great to get outside of the training center near lima and have a break from the grind of classes.

After all the fun stuff out and about in the field....most of us still don't know where we'll be working for the next two years. We will find out this thursday and I hope I'll be able to work up in cajamarca in the area that we just got back from visiting. The week after next we will be traveling again, this time individually to our actual sites. This'll probably be pretty awkward, to the peruvians of my future community I'll be this funny looking, abnormally tall gringo that can't speak well but is coming to live with them. During my visit to my site there's not too much to do beyond meet the family I'll be living with for the next two years and meet people in the community that will be important to know to get projects off the ground and what not, just an exercise in making connections.

That's pretty much it for now, we're all getting quite excited about getting out into the field and doing some actual work, and this next week of class in going to be awfully boring compared to our travels in Peru, slowly but surely we're getting down with this training stuff.