I am a shamefully spoiled, spoiled girl

Ah, how nice it is to know that I don´t have to travel in the next few weeks...I must say though, the buses that I took were all quite comfortable. Peace Corps even treated us to first-class seats on the 11-hr trip back to Lima. The suede seats were more spacious than first-class seats on airplanes. Even more impressive, the chicken and rice dinner they served us was tasty AND there was soap and toilet paper in the bathroom all 4 times I went.

Talking to the other volunteers, I realize that my experience is completely different from everyone else´s experience. Some trainees are in towns of a few hundred people. As such, a handful of them were received with a huge party thrown on their behalf that the entire town attended. Some had a big reception that featured the mayor and they had to give a speech as well. Others had people knocking on their windows to say hi. My reception was definitely tame -- almost nonexistent -- compared to those festivities. I guess it doesn´t make me like my site less, but I do hope that in the future, I´ll find warm people behind the scrap metal doors of my town. Before coming to Perú, I definitely envisioned being overwhelmed with the town´s hospitality. So it was strange to eat my meals either alone watching cheesy telenovelas, or with the three (bored, they wanted dancing) Cuban doctors that came to provide free medical consultations. I figure that it´s just the formality that I´ll break down later when I move in. Some trainees think that people in my town are just scared of me, since I´m the first American in town, although they undoubtedly all think I´m Chinese or Japanese.

Also, as I suspected, I have a much nicer house than most people, maybe because I´m working for the municipality. Most people I believe have latrines (squat pseudo-toilets!) that are shared with everyone in town. One volunteer even clogged her town´s latrine up already! Some people need to dig holes and cover it up again, like a cat. Some people only have water a few hours a week. Some people live hours away from the capital city and don´t have easy public transportation options into town. I´m about 40 minutes away and there are mototaxis lined up outside my doorstep. Piura, the City, is really nice and modern. They have great food, both Peruvian and American (I still have to look for Indian and Thai, however). It´s also clean and it seems safe.

Another reason why I´m spoiled: I have free internet access. The municipality recently built a complex with an auditorium, library and internet center. Apparently, the alcalde (mayor) told my host sister who works there that whenever I come, I can use the computers for free, rather than the 1 sole per hour rate. They are very advanced, fast computers.

I AM excited to have my settling-in allowance, which is a sizeable allowance. I´m going to buy a bed. They loaned me the brother´s during my visit...they´re kicking him out of his room and moving me in, but I´m going to buy my own bed. I also plan on buying shelves, pretty artisan tapestries, a nice reading chair, pretty candles (there were blackouts), lights (there was no light at night except there´s a streetlight right outside my window), a boombox, maybe a little gas stove so I can cook in peace, picture frames for the walls, and I might paint them after a few months if I feel that I´ll be staying for a while. The nearby town of Catacaos is a tourist hotspot because there are a lot of artisans that make ceramic pottery, straw hats and furniture, and silver and gold jewelery. Anyway, I´m excited to create my own living space, and have the money to do it! Ooh, I am so spoiled. And I am not thrilled about it. Especially because poverty exists in my community. What I had been hoping to do was to live like the people I would be targeting with my work. Well, maybe after a year, I´ll move to the municipality´s fishing village. I´m sure I won´t have two bathrooms and a tiled room there! AND I´ll be right next to the ocean.

At the very least, I am comforted by the fact that I should (hopefully) be extremely busy. I have a lot of ideas on building up the ecotourism infrastructure that my counterpart is excited about, but it will all take time. We´ll see.