I am a sober pirate grandma

Yesterday we had a Halloween party at a trainee`s house. I was a pirate, of course. First, I went with Borracha and Prima to a pre-party of pasta-making and spiked milkshake-making. It`s so strange to watch 8-year old kids taste alcoholic beverages and dance around with drunk 20-something year olds. In the U.S., that would make a mother faint and call the police. Despite an initial cultural shock, I had fun. After some crazy dancing for the love of fun and good music, we went to the actual party. Any sort of buzz I felt was ruined by my mom-like instincts trying to prevent Peruvian strangers from getting too cozy with my drunk gringa sisters dressed all cute and sexy with their bare legs and shoulders. Finally, we arrived at the party and there was a bonfire...and ingredients for s`mores. I had about 4 or 5! Yummmmm...I think I eat more sweets here than in the States just because I feel that they`re not readily available. I had a good time but felt really old even though I am one of the younger trainees here. But never fear, I had my share of dancing, taking pictures, good conversations...and gossiping, haha. Finally, we were able to herd the crowd into a taxi home and I went to bed the latest ever while here: 2:20AM. Yup, late for grandma!

To backtrack a little and touch on a topic a little more serious, on Thursday, the environment group went to barrios (small towns) outside of Chincha. Chincha is in the department of Ica, which is where I wanted my site to be (I`m not so sure now because my best friends here are going way north to Piura and Lambayeque). Chincha is famous for its relatively high concentration of Afro-Peruvians. They are the descendants of Africans who were brought over as -- what else -- slaves. I was hoping to see some of their traditional dance, but we didn`t have time for it, but did have some traditional food. The meal consisted of green noodles with a red (tomato?) sauce with potatoes and pork. I picked out the potatoes and thoroughly enjoyed my noodles. I drank the too-sweet purple chicha, which is a Peruvian drink made of corn. There are many types of chicha, and some are alcoholic and some are not.

Anyway, in the morning we were introduced to a succesful waste collection system that was started by a community NGO. They collect garbage, recyclables and organic waste on separate days. We helped them separate the recycling materials, create compost from the organic waste and learned about a used clothing store they established in the town to provide funds for the program. Thanks to this program, there is much less trash in the rivers and on the streets. There is much more community pride for a clean town. Plus, they are on their way to making a profit because they can make money by taking recyclables to Lima. The compost is used in townspeople`s gardens. It might actually turn out to be a site for one of us. In the afternoon, we went to ¨Campo de los Niños,¨ which I`m pretty sure is an actual site. Basically, an NGO is trying to get 1% of Peru`s children to be responsible for decision-making about a piece of land with the purpose of fostering strong moral values that will consequently ingrain them with an appreciation for the environment. This site used to be a piece of land with trash strewn all about. The children drew pictures of how they wanted the land to look, picked the best ideas, and went to work. Now there are fútbol (soccer) fields, a playground, a peaceful room made of bamboo for meetings, gardens of corn, flowers and alfalfa, an incipient mini-zoo for forest animals, and cages where they breed cuy (guinea pigs, which Peruvians eat) and rabbits. In the future, they may be able to provide more food for these children of poor farmers and fishers. After being guided around the ¨Campo¨ by our young guides, and with each group followed by 20-30 other animated children, we played games with all 150 or so of them in the adjacent schoolhouse. One little girl decided to attach herself to me, and she became my little companion who held my hand and dragged me everywhere. It was great to see the kids running around and doing whatever they wanted to do. They were so spirited and happy. By the time we left, 30 kids kissed each of us goodbye on the right cheek, the customary way of saying hello and goodbye. On our four-hour bus ride home, we passed through majestic desert dunes on our right and the beautiful Pacific Ocean on our left with the sun setting elegantly above. If I were assigned to be there, I think I would be content.