Update:
August 8, 2003
Subject: Dirty Girl
Well hello everyone! Sorry it has
been a long time since my last update. Life in the countryside
of Peru has been pretty busy lately. In the month of
July I went to a little town in the Cordillera Negra
(I know that doesn't mean much to most of you. It is
one of the mountain ranges in Peru. I live in the valley
between the 2 mountain ranges: Cordillera Negra and
Cordillera Blanca). Anyway, the town is called Cotaparaco.
I went with Manuela my health promoter for the town's
fiestas. It was really cold and I didn't get much sleep,
not because of the cold because I was pretty warm sleeping
on a cot with sheep skins and a sleeping bag, but because
of the rats running around above my head. I am by no
means afraid of rats but you still just worry that while
you are asleep they will fall down on top of you and
scratch up your face. But I survived rat-free.
But I do have a typical Peace Corps
story from Cotaparaco for all you folks . After relaying
this story to my boss his comment was "Now that's
when you know you are in the Peace Corps." His
other comment was "Wow, you're a great health volunteer!"
Anyway, so as I said, it was the town's fiestas. Everyone
was continually getting plastered and dancing the night
away. Meanwhile Manuela, her sister Cesilia who had
come from Chile, a guy whose nickname was Dollar (Cesilia's
first love), myself and Manuela's other sister Rosalia
were all sitting around outside in the freezing cold
and pitch black (the town has no electricity) sharing
some beer (I only had a couple of sips because of the
cold). Well not too much of a big deal, right? Well
let me add in a little background information. Rosalia
is a typical "campesina"...she has 2 teeth
(literally), 13 children (literally) and that night
she was carrying her youngest on her back. To me at
that moment that was weird enough. But it got even weirder
when she turned around and began to throw up right next
to me! Here is this 40 some year old woman who has 2
teeth and 13 children, 1 of which was on her back, out
in the freezing cold drinking beer and throwing up.
Keep in mind she is still breast-feeding her baby boy
who I had mistakenly thought was a girl. It wasn't so
much the pink hat or the dress he had on, it was the
braid in his hair. Anyway, who knows where her other
12 kids were but her husband was surely off getting
hammered himself. So that was Cotaparaco.
The day after my trip to Cotaparaco
I went to Chiquian to help another health volunteer
Silvia with some nutrition talks at the local school.
In Chiquian there is another mountain range called the
Huayhuash which is even more beautiful than the Cordillera
Blanca. Nothing crazy happened there... just work.
Well upon my return from Chiquian
I came back to my town Santa Rosa to find that Manuela
had decided to leave her husband. She took everything...
the 3 kids, the 3 cows, the 4 chickens, the 1 pig, etc.,
leaving the 1 husband, 1 dog and 1 cat. She was tired
of her husband coming home drunk and yelling and hitting
her. He is a nice guy though. So now, my best friend
and the little girls that I love have left my town.
Luckily they aren't too far away. So her husband comes
to my house one night drunk and crying about missing
his little girls. Yeah, so that's why they say Peace
Corps is a 24 hour job 7 days a week. Just add family
counselor to the list of things that I do!
In the meantime 5 of the other
health volunteers and I have been creating a play about
a "dirty girl" called Mariquita Cochinita.
We are going to present the play in each of our towns.
I have the main part of Mariquita Cochinita. Yep, I
play the DIRTY GIRL!!!!! Whooo Hoooo. So that will be
interesting.
Here are just a couple of records
that I thought I would share with all of you:
1) Number of S's (arachnids) seen in my house in the
moth of July.............29!!!!!!!!!
2) Number of days without bathing.......OK, I know this
is gross but I'm in the Peace Corps...........10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe there is a reason I am playing the "dirty
girl"!
3) Number of Huayno concerts that I've been to......OK
probably doesn't mean much to most of you, just keep
in mind that Huayno is the preferred music of the poor
mountain Peruvians, which by the way is the most hideous
music you've ever heard..... 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4) Number of chickens in my backyard that like to poop
on my toilet..............4!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5) Number of times I've been forced to dance the Huayno
with sloppy drunk campesina women at parties....also
keep in mind that each Huayno song lasts about 10-15
minutes long ........6!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6) Number of times I've been told that someone was trying
to steal the family pig during the night ...... 3!!!!!!!
7) Number of times I was told that my bacterial eye
infection was caused by AIR.......10!!!
8) Number of times I got sick after eating at the fair
.......3!!!!!!!!!!
Well that's enough of that. So
here are some interesting comments/myths that I have
heard this past month:
1) Did you know that when you have the hiccups it means
that you are growing or either you can tell when you
are growing because you get the hiccups! ... WHAT?!?!?!
2) Did you know that if you eat a lime or an orange
that it will make your period stop.... Oh!!! Really?!?!?!??
3) Response to when I asked why the cop car sitting
outside my house flashing his lights and sounding his
horn all night long did not go down the road a bit where
there are no houses.....It's because they are scared!
WHAT? They are the freaking police. There are 2 of them,
trained, with guns in a cop car! What are they scared
of?.... The TERRORISTS..... that is why the cops won't
park at night just down the road because the terrorists
could attack them from the woods with guns and bombs.
*As funny as this comment sounds it is really true.
The SHINING PATH guerilla group of Peru is still alive
and well and operating in Peru, although I do highly
doubt they are in Santa Rosa at this time. But my family
did tell me that a man was killed by terrorists 5 minutes
down the road a couple of years ago.
Riddle:
You have one 40 oz bottle of beer, one small plastic
cup, and six thirsty people. What do you do?................................................................................................................
Well you would do it Peruvian style.
First stand in a circle. Then someone (man or woman)
opens the bottle of beer with their teeth (by the way
everyone has gold or silver teeth here, if they have
teeth at all). Then the person pours a small amount
of beer into the cup, nods at the next person, passes
the bottle, drinks the beer and pours the foam/backwash
onto the ground/floor and then passes the cup. The next
person receives the cup, pours some beer into the cup,
nods at the next person, passes the bottle to the next
person, drinks the beer from the cup, pours the foam/backwash
out of the cup onto the ground/floor, etc, etc, etc.
Once that bottle is gone they go find another bottle
to share. GERMS ANYONE!!!!
Well hope everyone is doing well.
I'm okay. We did receive some bad news from Peace Corps
though. Our Ambassador in Peru, John Dawson, died last
Friday night after a short fight with Pancreatic Cancer.
He was a great supporter of Peace Corps and had been
a very generous host. It is weird because we just saw
him in May when we had lunch with him in his mansion
and President Toledo. He had even invited us back for
a pool party in November to celebrate Thanksgiving.
It is really sad.
Anyway, I miss you guys a lot and
think of you often. Please keep my brother Tommy in
your prayers. He is still in Baghdad.
Love,
Jenny
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