Holidays

I will stop making promises to update more frequently because I always have to follow them with excuses for failing to follow through. My excuse this time is the holidays, and I´m sure others were busy as well.

The weekend before Christmas I travelled south to Sullana to visit some friends. Sullana is a large city, but I didn´t see another Gringo (white-skinned tourist) the whole time. As a 6´4¨ male with brown hair, blue eyes, and European ancestry, I´m not often in the minority. This eye-opening trip did a good bit for my empathy.

For our fiesta in the school, I had the honor of being Papa Noel and handing out gifts from Samaritan´s Purse to all the children. This incredible opportunity has undoubtably been the highlight of my time in Peru. I laughed when they introduced me as ¨Papa Noel, from the United States!¨ I tried to explain afterwards that the real Santa lives in the North Pole, but for some reason they didn´t believe me. The website for the school is here: http://www.amneyoperu.org/ and if you look hard enough, you can find photos of me in a puffy red suit and snowy white beard.

Christmas Eve was celebrated very simply with some friends over egg nog (which Peruvians think they invented) and cheviche (which they did). Of course, Christmas is not the same without Granny´s warm hugs and Nashville´s cool weather, but hopefully next year I will appreciate them that much more.

On New Years, an American friend had a small get-together where I was able to speak in English and debate our next president´s political policies. I returned home that morning skeptical of my friend´s fiscal/social opinions but overwhelmingly thankful for my natural-born citizenship in the United States.

At our Christmas party, I found out the school would not open again until March- I never realized that summer vacation in Peru is January and February. I am constantly surprised at these insignificant deviations in tradition. For example, when I learned to dial 215 in case of emergency, I was baffled, but then I realized, ¨Why 911?¨ I´m slowly dismantling my assumption that the world operates on our watch and learning that so many things are arbitrary products of culture.

To stay busy, I scored a job in a yoga resort/hotel. I work as a waiter for breakfast and dinner (a few hours a day) in exchange for gourmet food, yoga classes, nominal pay, and interaction with hippies from around the world. Next week we are hosting a Bhuddist monk to run one of our yoga workshops.

I love my job but I haven´t forgotten my priorities. Starting Monday, a friend and I are opening the school for the summer to let kids work in the garden, do crafts, and give the parents some time to themselves. I can´t wait.

Mancora

My blog is ten days behind but my life is moving along at lightning speed. The restaurant closed because the owner wasn´t making enough money for all the time and stress that it was causing her. It was sad on the last day when I discovered that some of my co-workers didn´t have email addresses or phone numbers. Seriously.

However, I´ve filled my time with teaching English and reading books. I have two students that I teach for an hour everyday. They are so excited/motivated to learn. All of the money from my classes goes towards food, which is delicious, plentiful and inexpensive. I spend any free time reading. These last two weeks I´ve finished The Varieties of Religious Experience, The Audacity of Hope, Genesis-Deuteronomy, and half of The Brothers Karamozov.

I still have Spanish lessons from the same teacher even though the restaurant closed. She said my questions and insights improved her teaching style, so she was willing to continue the lessons free of charge. Of course, everyday for me is a free Spanish lesson. Sometimes I feel like I live in the Spanish channel. I can´t remember the last converstion I had in English, and locals are always willing to help me with the finer points of grammar and pronunciation.

Overall, I´ve enjoyed settling down, getting into a routine, and learning the names of my favorite venders in the market. Mancora is located in the second driest desert in the world and at the exact point on the coast of South America where the warm water from the North joins the cold current running along the shore of Peru and Argentina.

This combination, along bannanas that cost a nickel and loafs of bread for fifty cents, attracts a huge number of surfers and surfer trinket-makers (hippies) during the summer months (November-February). The locals and tourist give the town a nice ¨take it easy¨ feel. Basically, Mancora is the perfect place to relax, visit the beach, and enjoy a good book.

Volunteering at the school is going well. The kids are beginning to trust me and I enjoy giving piggy back rides, hunting for tickle spots, and sharing snacks. I found another place to volunteer in the afternoon for a few hours. It´s located in the poorest part of town, the Quebrada (in Spanish this means failure). Currently I´m helping with crafts but I want to start teaching them English and begin a garden to teach them about ecology.

I always say this but I am having a good time, making friends, and gaining so much wisdom. I have heard that some people check this blog everday, so hopefully from now on I´ll update more often with shorter posts.

Thanks

If nothing else, my time in Peru has made me more thankful. I realize now more than ever how indebted I am to the family, friends, pastors and teachers who shaped my character in ways I can never fully appreciate. To borrow a Chuck Palahniuk cliche: ¨Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I’ve ever known.¨

My Thanksgiving was spent, in typical pilgram-style, on the beach with a bowl of fruit salad. It´s Mango season in Peru. Thanksgiving is obviously not a Peruvian holiday, so school and work were both open last Thursday.

The school is challenging my in ways I never expected. My work with the mentally and physically handicapped is teaching me patience, humility, and a myriad of other virtues. I am thankful that I can tie my shoes, say my own name, and walk in a straight line.

Originally I thought the center was a daycare, but nominally it´s a school. We don´t teach classes like Math or Reading, but we try to work on practical skills like how to brush your teeth or knit. The hope is that these kids (there are about 12 of them) will someday be somewhat self-sufficient.

I work for a few hours a night at a vegetarian restraunt in town. In exchange I get free Spanish lessons and comida gratis. It gets me out of the house and I get to meet interesting characters like the professional online poker player from Germany, or the Berkely grad who is globe-trotting to collect library cards.

I´m no longer living with Skip and Rain. They had another friend (Columbia) who needed a place to stay so I moved in with a professor in the local school. I have my own room and bath (for about $40/month) and I get unlimited Spanish practice.

My Spanish is coming along well. I´ve heard that stressful situations increase the speed of language learning, and I can personally confirm that this is true. Volunteering with a dozen, special needs kids who don´t know English and working in a restraunt owned by an Austrian woman who enjoys conjugating command forms have taught me Spanish faster than you can say ¨Hola.¨

When I´m not volunteering or working, I run on the beach, read novels, or go to the market and find new fruits. There are several down here that there are no words for in English, literally and metaphorically. Time is running away from me and I´m exactly where I´m supposed to be.

Gnarly

As I've been reminded, I haven't updated in a while and it's time for a new post.  Mostly this has been out of my control. However, I've always thought living life is much more enjoyable/important than writing about or taking pictures of it.

Our week of non-violence activities went extraordinarily well. My kids even decided to do a skit for the others in the program highlighting the dangers of drug use. Afterwards, they explained steps to keep friends and family substance free. Go kids.

Last weekend we went on our 4-day trek to Machu Picchu. Highlights include biking down the Andes, picking mangoes, playing soccer with local Peruvians, subsequent humiliation, and getting to know the others on the trip. Out of the 10 of us, we represented 6/7 continents. I now have friends in Peru, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, South Africa, Israel, and Australia.

However, it was quite disappointing to shuffle my sore, sun-burnt body through the line to the entrance of the great Incan citadel amidst crowds of Americans with ipods, "hiking sticks", grande lattes, and borderline imperialist mentalities. (There's a train-bus service that brings you to the doorstep.)

I suppose this should be expected at one of the world's most popular tourist spots, but it's disheartening when we blatantly ignore other cultures/customs. I understand the American reputation around the world. In fact, others on my trip admitted that when a local reprimanded them, they would reply, "I'm American!"

After returning from the trip, I decided to leave Cusco and the program I was with in hopes of finding a place that genuinely needed my help. The orphanage's nifty website and English-speaking staff attracted volunteers from all around the globe. Too many, honestly.

I hope I don't lose any man-points for this, but at the end of the night I still had "leftover love", and it made me uncomfortable. I took a year off to make a difference (however small) and get outside my mental and physical comfort zones. I felt like I couldn't do that in the "gringo capital of South America."

38 hours in buses and I ended up in Mancora, a gorgeous city on the Northern coast of Peru. After a series of fortunate events, I'm living with two surfer-dudes (Skip & Rain) in a house overlooking the small town. I started work yesterday in a daycare for special needs children. I'm the only volunteer at the time. (Volunteers are hard to find during the holiday season.)

I'm planning on being here until the wind blows me somewhere else. My help is needed. The fruit is cheap. I can't complain.

Cusco

This first week has been packed and I don't expect the next six months to be any different. I left home exactly one week ago and I've learned so much since then. I can't wait to see what will happen next.

I finally realized I was leaving when I was seated on the plane to Lima and didn't understand any of the conversations around me. Fortunately, the man seated beside me was a aviation mechanic who spoke English fluently. He was in the US to get his FAA license and he gave me advice on everything from how to barter with cab drivers to which seat on the plane is best (the very back).

I arrived in Lima at 4:00 am and it took me about an hour to get through customs. For some reason, I assumed that the customs officers would speak English, but this was not the case. I also learned that they do not appreciate "no comprendo" but I made it though with points and grunts.

I had to get from the airport to the bus station to catch a ride to Cusco. Long story short, I ended up getting mugged. This is unusual, but as a 6'4'' gringo hauling a duffel and a mandolin, I was quite an easy target. Anyway, it was just money and (shameless plug) Wachovia agreed to a full refund.

The bus ride from Lima -> Cusco took 22 hours but luckily I was seated next to a fellow gringo. When I discovered he was from France I briefly considered hiding my LIVESTRONG bracelet. The ride was not bad, I got to see the real Peru (the 40% in poverty) and 11,000 ft elevation gain up the Andes provided plenty of breathtaking views.

I arrived on Thursday just in time to help make Halloween costumes. On Friday, we took the kids reverse trick-or-treating. We paraded them around the historic Plaza de Armas and instructed them to give out candy to adults. Of course, they were rewarded with a party afterwards.

This weekend I explored the city and started learning Spanish. November 15 is Peru's national day of peace so we are teaching the kids this week about aspects of nonviolence. I'm teaching the oldest group of kids (11-13) about crimes related to drug and alcohol abuse. It's encouraging how they are so eager to lean.

Take care of yourselves in the States and please vote if you haven't already. Authority increases with apathy.