Finally, The Journey Begins

Well, this is the moment that I have been waiting for...getting out of training and into my site! I am feeling pretty tranquil despite all the changes that just happened. It was very sad leaving the crew. Even though we didn´t all grow to become the best of buddies, we all got used to seeing each other every day and having 31 other people to vent to or squeal to or just talk to in a comfortable tongue.

We ¨swore-in¨ on Friday, December 2nd. The second-in-command from the US Embassy office was present and had us repeat the oath after her. Maybe we should´ve read over the oath beforehand because she said the really long sentences without pause. I´m pretty positive I didn´t say half the oath just because I had no idea what it was, and I wasn´t the only one confused. We sounded pretty terrible. Anyway, that made it all seem anti-climatic.

After taking more pictures than I did on my graduation from Michigan, we parted from our host families with much fewer tears than expected, and then got our drink on. We arrived in Lima after getting mooned at least 3 times by fellow volunteers in other buses. We wreaked havoc in the hostel, especially after we started to get our CELL PHONES. Yes, you enter Peace Corps with romantic thoughts of not wanting internet or cell phone, but after 10 weeks of training, you leave all that idealism behind. BTW, incoming international calls are free for me on my cute little Nokia phone that can double as a flashlight. I can also call any Volunteer or any staff member for free since we´re all on the Peruvian equivalent of the Verizon ¨In Plan¨. We´ve already used it for those silly ridiculous reasons, like finding each other in Piura´s gigantic market even though we would´ve found each other after 2 minutes of searching, and calling each other from different departments to tell someone we found yogurt lollipops in the supermarket.

Our last night together, we of course went out to have some fun. Everyone else´s enthusiasm died down pretty quickly however, because everyone had been up packing really late, and drinking early means getting tired early. Well, I was a trooper and was one of the last to leave. That meant I got to experience the most bizarre bar sighting ever. On my way to the restroom around 3AM, this white American woman gets in my face. She is about 45-years old, all smiles, short and fat, wearing a feathery faux-fur overcoat despite being in a hot bar, makeup neatly arranged on her sweaty dark face, circular wire-rimmed glasses, short and crazy hair. ¨Do you speak Spanish?!¨ she yells to me, gripping my arm tightly. ¨Great, I´d like you to meet Armando.¨ Then I see Armando. He is wearing a black velvet costume with red velvet trimmings more appropriate on the stage of a Shakespearean play. Looking down, I see bubble shorts that end in black leggings. What the hell is this, I´m thinking. ¨Armando just became a lawyer. He is very, very smart and he is a very nice boy. He is also (she bend in closer to tell me this juicy secret)...very, very rich. His father is the head of the police of Perú. He needs someone to accompany him. Talk to him!¨ Then I get thrust closer to my real life Bill and Ted´s Excellent Adventure experience. I can´t get the thought out of my head that went like ¨oh, this is what the Incas must have felt when the Spanish conquistadores arrived to their tropical climate in full body armor.¨ Anyhow, I was way to scared of Armando and the rest of his newly minted lawyer buddies/Shakespeare cavalry to entertain him beyond a few sentences. Me and another Piura friend left pretty soon after, hauling back two incredibly drunk girls with us and one incredibly drunk guy. A classic ending to training.

Anyhow, from our group, Perú 6, the new volunteers who will live in Piura include 5 girls, 0 boys...3 in health, 2 of us in environment. Yesterday and the day before, we went on the most grown-up shopping trip of my life...we bought mattresses and bed sheets and tupperware. I still need to buy a bed frame and a nice pillow.

Prima (health) lives very close to me and my counterpart gave her a ride home yesterday when he picked me up in the Municipality truck, even though it was out of the way. She is living in very impoverished conditions, although she does have a toilet rather than a latrine or nothing at all. As we entered her town, we were enveloped in smoke that came from the trash burning in the ditches. Prima told me that was also the community ¨toilet.¨ There are no paved roads and donkeys everywhere. My counterpart commented to me as we left her, ¨she has a lot of work to do. That´s a very poor area.¨ I responded by pointing out the eager crowd of smiling kids that gathered around us as we dropped her off and the warmth of her host mother as she welcomed me to return. ¨That warmth makes living in harsh conditions worth more than living in luxury,¨ I responded. He agreed.

Today I accompanied my counterpart to three different meetings in which I was pretty much useless and just sat there, listening. I guess I don´t so much mind but I do wish I understood more of what was going on. I´m sure it´ll get better...we´re coordinating a 2-day workshop on Valuing International Environmental Goods and Services of Protected Areas and Ecosystems. We have someone from the Economics Department of the University of Piura coming as well as someone from the governmental branch in charge of protected areas. That´s all fine but I can´t wait to get my hands dirty with something less academic that targets community members rather than the professional community of Piura. I´ll just have to be patient...well, I better go. I have a lot of people to meet!!