Festival de Shiran

Each Peruvian town has its own patron saint which is honored annually with a town festival. Shiran, which belongs to the district of Poroto, is celebrating their festival to honor “Senor de los Milagros” this week. I work in Shiran, so the school principal invited me to participate in the school’s mass yesterday morning. The students paraded through town and brought offerings of fresh produce to the local church where the priest delivered a sermon directed to the students.

One of the afternoon festivities involved a soccer game between various community organizations. One thing I love about Peruvian sporting activities is the opportunity it provides to bring the community together. There are organized sports teams composed of mother’s groups, the police station, the health post, and more.

Another awesome aspect of Peruvian festivals is the massive array of street food available. Sweet, salty, exotic, familiar… you name it, you can find it at a town festival. We sampled piccarones, which are fried dough rings with a molasses syrup, candy apples, roasted peanuts, and I strategically avoided the chicken feet and hearts. As the night continued more and more people began to fill the streets and eventually the band started to play and the dancing commenced.

The town festival continued throughout the weekend with a variety of events and spectacles for the community to participate in. My personal favorite was the Marinera dancing competition. Marinera is a traditional dance where the women wear beautiful flowing dresses, elabaorate jewelry, and extensive hair and makeup. The dance is intended to mirror the dancing of the Caballos de Paso, which are a certain breed of horses famous in the region of Trujillo for their fancy footwork. The Marinera is a beautiful dance to watch; there is a perfect interchange between the man and woman as they move their feet at amazing speeds. The dance competition featured participants as young as 5 years old, whose performances were quite impressive. The competition continued throughout the afternoon as couples were eliminated and eventually the queen of Marinera was named.

Later in the evening there was a procession dedicated to the patron saint, Senor de los Milagros. Citizens lined the streets holding candles and carrying an altar of the saint. Saya dancers led the procession, dressed in elaborate red and gold costumes. As we were watching my host mom was telling me an animated story about a previous town festival, when I see smoke rising from behind her head. I scream when I realize that someone standing behind her had caught her hair on fire. She’s about 5 feet tall, so the candles were right at her head level from other people’s hands. Luckily she managed to put it out, but it definitely burnt a solid section of her hair.

Continuing with the fire-related celebrations we continued to the Plaza de Armas where a mariachi band was serenading all those in attendance. In the center of the plaza there was a large tower constructed of thin wooden poles that resembled bamboo. Previously the tower had been about 5 stories tall, but when it was completed it was 10 stories high with a combination of pinwheels, poles, and other accessories attached. Without warning, the tower was lit on fire and each section featured a series of fireworks that set off a domino-type effect to the next story of the tower. We were standing about 10 feet away from this crazy firework castle, and everyone thought it was hilarious when I screamed and jumped back (but hey, at least I didn’t get my hair burnt off). In addition to the firework castle, mini hot air balloons illuminated by a small fire were also sent off into the sky.

Las Escuelas Peruanas

Showing off their voter ID Cards

My work in the schools has continued throughout the last several weeks, and there is always something to participate in. Recently the Shiran primaria had their school elections, which were conducted in an official manner, following the exact replica of Peruvian elections. The students were responsible for monitoring the election process and electing representatives to work in distinct themes within their school. Considering that democracy has only existed in Peru for about 30 years, there is still a significant amount of skepticism towards politics and the electoral process within the country. It seems like a valuable practice to involve young students in a form of politics from an early age to acclimate them to becoming actively engaged citizens. The students were extremely excited about their voter ID cards and the whole process in general.

Official voting boxes

I’ve started giving various English tests in each of my classes, so it’s been interesting to see how the students are progressing. Overall I’ve been impressed with the amount of information the students have retained; learning a language is such a long process, but you have to start somewhere. There is an obvious difference in the students who are genuinely interested in learning and those who have no desire to speak English, and the exam scores definitely illustrate the varying levels of interest. Two of my classes have over 35 students, which is just so many people. At times it can be difficult to maintain their attention, answer each student’s particular questions, and tailor the activities to the range of abilities. However, we’ve progressed pretty well and most of the students are respectful and participate. Once they grasp a concept, it’s fun to see how their level of participation changes. I’ve managed to get even the “toughest” guys in my classes to do their work and even play my ridiculous English learning games.

As I’ve mentioned before, teen pregnancy is a huge issue in Poroto and sufficient sex education is lacking in the community. The Consejeras de Salud youth group that I’ve been working with has started giving educational sessions to their peers on a variety of different youth issues including sexuality, drug abuse, alcoholism, STDs, etc. I’ve been working with them to prepare these presentations and accompany them to the classes when they present. This week we’ve been giving our STD sessions, which has been interesting. The presentations were pretty graphic, including photos and descriptive explanations of the symptoms and consequences of STDs. Considering the sensitivity of the topic, I was pleasantly surprised the school was willing to allow us to present on such issues. I found that most of the teachers and staff were excited we were coming to discuss such issues. Honestly, I think everyone is getting to the point where they are sick and tired of seeing pregnant 15 year olds and realizing they need to be more realistic with their provision of sexual education. As you can imagine, controlling a class of 35+ young teenagers during a presentation that involves the proper use of a condom was a bit of a challenge, but all in all they were respectful and interested in the presentations. I definitely give the Consejeras de Salud credit for presenting a topic like this in front of their peers.

In addition to my English classes and educational sessions, I’m often invited to help in other classes and school activities. Recently I taught the second grade class how to make French Toast, which was quite a success. The secundaria second grade class is almost 40 kids, so it was a bit chaotic, but in a good way. We used a portable stove in the school, but ran out of gas about halfway through the process and they don’t sell gas in Poroto. Don’t worry though one of the students also drives mototaxis, so he volunteered to drive off to the next town to pick up some gas so we could continue our cooking lesson. I can’t imagine allowing a 13 year old to leave to drive a crazy motorcycle taxi to a nearby town in the middle of the school day, but the teacher didn’t seem to have any problem with it. Sure enough, he returned with gas in hand and we continued to prepare about 50 plates of French toast with our one tiny frying pan. The kids brought fresh bananas, strawberries, and honey, so they turned out quite well.

A Trip to Huayabito

Still dark, leaving Poroto

Huayabito

Poroto, with its 1200 citizens, is the main town of the district of Poroto. In the outlying areas there are 8 caserios, or small pueblos that belong to the same municipality. Generally the caserios have fewer resources, higher poverty rates, and are more isolated. Several of the caserios have their own primaria school, but limited other infrastructure. Today I had the opportunity to visit the furthest caserio from Poroto, Huayabito. Román, the orthodontist from the health post, as well as two women from a Peruvian NGO, Gladis and Kris, invited me to hike to Huayabito to accompany them on their monthly trip to monitor the progress of their health work. Huayabito is located slightly higher in the mountains outside of Poroto and there is no public transportation available. We left Poroto at 5:30am before the sun rose to begin our gradual ascent to Huayabito. The hike should take between 2 ½ and 3 hours, depending on how much you’re carrying and how quickly you walk. As we left Poroto the fog rested heavily on the surrounding mountains and the air was thick with the humidity of early morning. We were armed with water and snacks as well as backpacks filled with health materials. We began through the pineapple fields, singing songs in Spanish to get ourselves motivated.

Roman, armed with a bag filled with stool sample bottles

The two women from the Peruvian NGO. I always forget how tall I am.

We followed a narrow dirt road that winds through the surrounding fields and steep rock cliffs, and through the entire three hour hike we only passed two houses. I think my legs are about double the length of the Peruvians I was with, so I could scamper up the steep inclines without too much trouble. I really enjoyed the hike and the opportunity to hear more about the experiences and work that Gladis and Kris are doing in the region. Although some say Peruvians don’t have a developed sense of volunteerism, there are definitely those who have dedicated their lives to giving back to their community. For example, Gladis spent a year after finishing nursing school to work in a tiny village in the mountains of Peru completely isolated from the outside world. She worked as one of only three staff in the health post there, working 12 hour days and using mules as her main mode of transportation to travel to even smaller villages that were as far as 8 hours away. She now works in a variety of small caserios in the districts of Simbal and Poroto to help monitor health and sanitation practices on an extremely personal level. The hike passed quickly, and after more than 2 ½ hours of walking we could finally see the small caserios nestled between the fields and mountains in the distance.

House Visits

We arrived in Huayabito in just under 3 hours, greeted by the students at the primaria school as well as a myriad of farm animals. Huayabito is composed of about 80-100 citizens and only around 20 homes. The school was recently reconstructed, and it’s beautiful yellow paint and shiny floors are a definite point of pride for the community. There is no communication available in Huayabito and no public transportation, so it is definitely an isolated community. There is one teacher for the school who travels from Trujillo to Poroto each day and then uses a motorcycle to travel to Huayabito. Additionally, there is only a primaria school for children ages 5-13, so students living in Huaybito generally abandon their studies to work after completing their primaria level education.

One of the friendly animals of Huayabito

We began our day by weighing each student at the school to track their basic health statistics. We then continued our hike to visit the homes of each of the 19 families with whom Gladis is working. Most of the homes were separated from each other by small rivers, fields, and hills, so trekking around to each of the houses was pretty exhausting. However, it was a really neat experience to meet each of the families and see their living conditions. Goats, chickens, turkeys, kittens, dogs, donkeys, cows, guinea pigs, and pigs were running around unrestrained in every yard, and women were hard at work around the home with babies slung around their back while little children played at their feet. Gladis was checking the progress of latrine construction with each family as well as instructing mothers how to collect stool samples from their children to bring to the meeting later that afternoon to test for intestinal diseases. Clean water can be difficult to access in Huayabito, and families are not accustomed to many sanitary habits, so many children have parasites and diarrhea, which is a leading cause of illness and even death in those under 5. We hiked through cornfields, across rivers, up cliffs, and through fields to arrive at each of the homes in the community. After several more hours of hiking and home visits we headed back to the center of the town to enjoy a lunch with one of the local senoras. We were all starving, so we thoroughly enjoyed the rice, beans, yucca, and dried deer meat.

Precious children

After lunch we attended a meeting with the families and then began our journey home. The hike home was much faster because it was a continual decline, but we kept tripping down the slippery rock short-cuts. Roman was extremely concerned I was going to fall and anytime he heard my feet slip he screamed ¨CUIDADO, KELSI! ¨ He also drilled me about my first aid knowledge and what I would do if he fell and cracked his head open, etc. Roman is hilarious, and his stories could entertain me for hours on end, so before I knew it we were back in Poroto. We arrived after 6pm and literally were walking for at least 8 hours combined, but it was by far one of my favorite days here so far.

Heading back after a long, awesome day

A Day in the Life

Explaining my daily routine can be a difficult task, considering every day is quite distinct. A lot of what I’m doing now is exploring the town and beginning to settle into some introductory work. However, I thought it would be fun to go through a “typical” day to help you better understand what my life looks like here in Poroto.

6:30am: Good morning! It’s time to wake up and get ready for school. I have breakfast, which consists of a giant bowl of chicken soup, avena (which is sweet really watery oatmeal) and bread, or occasionally eggs with bread. I usually also have coffee that is toasted with cinnamon but I don’t think actually has caffeine, but it’s really delicious.

Formation at the Main School in Poroto

7:30: I head to the local school, which is about 3 minutes from my house. I am greeted by dozens of primaria students and hang out while I wait for the secundaria students to finish formation, which is a bizarre military type line-up where the students receive announcements before school starts. I go to the teacher’s room, say good morning, and accompany the English teacher to their classroom. The English teachers don’t actually speak any English, but are conducting English classes to complete their hours. Therefore I have pretty free reign over what I teach. Most of the upper level students can formulate written sentences based on examples but have no idea how to pronounce English words, form their own sentences, or create any sort of significant dialogue. I’ve been starting with basics and trying to encourage the students to be more creative and use their new vocabulary by participating in class activities. Most are painfully shy when it comes to speaking out loud in English, but with practice they’re improving. We’ve currently been learning verbs and how to form the present progressive tense, so we’ve played various games including charades. At first the kids would just stand in the front of the room and stare at their classmates when they had a verb to act out, but now they’re much more engaged and even acted out “I am dancing” which was a pretty big development.

Playing Hangman with family names

9:30: Sometimes I have another English class at the same school, or I’ll help out in a classroom doing other little things such as charlas on nutrition and making fruit salad, helping with crafts, or just hanging out with the kids. I’ve also started a series of sessions about teen issues for the students who will be graduating in December, so one day a week I give a session about drugs/alcohol, peer pressure, etc.

Autoestima Session

Other days I head to a caserio school to give either English lessons or a values/self-esteem workshop. I’ve been using my bike to travel to and from the caserio schools, so I roll up my pants, throw by bag over my shoulder, and pedal off to school. These students are younger, so they get really excited when I roll up on my bike and I’m greeted by shouts of “SENORITA KELSI!” When I teach at the caserio in Mochal it is a more rural environment so students in 1^st-3^rd grade are in one classroom and students in 4^th-6^th grade are in another classroom. When I come to teach English they all pile in one room and we learn about colors, numbers, and other basic English lessons. It can be quite a challenge to teach such a wide age range of students, but these kids are the most interested and well-behaved so I really enjoy it. Because they’re young they’re more likely to participate in my games and activities too, so we’ve played tag, hangman, and other games incorporating English words. Last week I taught family words, so at the end of the lesson I showed them pictures of my family from home which I labeled father, sister, brother, mother, grandmother, cousin, friend, etc. I don’t think I’ve seen them remember the words for anything so quickly. As I continued through the pictures I would point at Abby and hear a chorus of “SISTER!” or at James and hear “BROTHER!” My family and friends are now famous among my little students.

1:00: Lunch Time! I live in a menú restaurant, which means there are about 3 options every day for a fixed price. The most common options are fried chicken, duck, or lamb served with rice, lentils or beans, and a salad that consists of a piece of lettuce. Luckily I can make my own plate so I can skip the rice and fill up a plate with extra salad. Sometimes we have other crazy options, some of which are really good and some of which I could definitely do without- for example, chicken stomach. I eat with whoever happens to be in the restaurant at the time; sometimes my host sisters but more often some random police officer, community member, or myself.

The Plaza where I spend lots of time

1:45: I hang out for awhile. Sit in the plaza and enjoy the sunshine, work on my community diagnostic, read, etc. Whenever I’m outside I’m surrounded by lots of small children who are constantly asking how you say their names in English. I can only tell them so many times that Javier doesn’t exactly translate to English, just like Kelsi doesn’t really translate to Spanish. However, they’re easily entertained and the questions they ask keep me laughing.

3:00: Sometimes I have afternoon meetings to attend; parents assemblies at the schools, interviews with community members, meetings at the health post, etc. I’ve also been actively involved in a teen health promoter’s group called “Consejeros de Salud,” which works to promote healthy lifestyles among their peers. A Peruvian NGO called Ceprocut works with this group, so I’ve been coordinating with their representative to take part in this organization and help with workshops and activities the group is planning. Other days I will go by the health post and see what’s new there. Everyone at the health post is great and I’m always greeted with a warm welcome when I go by. I’ll chat with the doctors and nurses and see if there’s anything I can help out with. Right now I’m still learning a lot about the community and they have a lot of valuable information to share. Sometimes in the afternoons I’ll help kids with their homework or go for a mini adventure of some sort.

One of my running routes

5:00: At this time the sun has usually calmed down enough for me to go on a run. I pretty much have two choices for my running route- the first starts with a long winding downhill but that means I have to return uphill. It’s a pretty road with sugar cane fields, farmers harvesting their crops, and little children sitting on the side of the road. However, if I go this way there are more dogs (as well as sheep and donkeys) that can present some problems. Also, if the farmers are burning their fields (which is quite common) I have to try to dodge ashes and smoke fumes. }

Really good for the lungs

The other direction has more mototaxis that I have to dodge but fewer dogs. I also have to enter the main road, which can be a little treacherous. I change it up, but no matter which way I go there are lots of people along the way who like to yell out to me. Running isn’t common here, so people always have some sort of comment to make. They’re pretty used to me by now and accustomed to the fact that I pass by several times per week. Slowly people are learning my name, so in addition to shouts of “la gringita” I also hear “Kelsi!” Sometimes I can convince some of the teenagers to come with me on my run, which tends to turn into a run/walk/cross the river/visit my neighbor/pick some fruit. However, some of the girls are pretty interested so I can go on a “real” run with them. Lately my host sister has been riding my bike alongside me while I run, sometimes with a friend on the handlebars. She thinks it’s funny when we go downhill and she can easily whiz by me, but it’s not as funny as we’re coming back up the hill.

Alexandra biking

6:30: I reluctantly throw myself into the cold shower. Sometimes we have running water, other times I have to use a bucket of water. There have been several occasions where I’ve undressed and jumped in the shower only to realize there is absolutely no water; that’s always fun.

7:30: Dinner time. I always have tea or coffee and sometimes leftovers from lunch, bread with condiments, or whatever else is around.

8:30: Sometimes I hang out for awhile, but I usually head to my bedroom and read, watch a movie on my laptop, make good use of our free RPM minutes and talk to another volunteer, or otherwise entertain myself until I feel like going to bed.

Laundry Time

During the weekend there’s a wide variety of activities I may participate in, none of which compare to a typical weekend in America, but that’s to be expected. If I’m in my capital city for a night that’s a different story, but if I’m at site some of the highlights of a weekend may include hiking through the fields/river with some teenagers, attending a birthday party or other social event, hanging out with the “cake lady” who brings her sweets from Trujillo to sell in Poroto, going on a bike ride around the caserios, sitting in the sun, and doing laundry. Laundry is quite a process, and I swear to never complain about doing laundry with a washing machine again. First of all, I have a terrible habit of waiting until I have a huge mound of laundry waiting to be done, so laundry is at least a 3 hour procedure. Last time I did laundry I was really sunburn by the time it was finished. First, I have to find a time of day where we actually have water, which sometimes can only be before 9am and after 6pm. Second, I fill up a giant tub of water and let all of my clothes soak with some laundry detergent. Next, I get the wooden plank and scrub brush and get busy. This takes forever, and I think my clothes are slowly disintegrating. After the clothes are soapy and brushed they have to be wrung out and rinsed off, then wrung out again. This is much harder than it sounds, or maybe I just have weak wrists. After the first time I did a big load of laundry, I will embarrassingly admit that my wrists were really sore the next day. Anyway, after everything is ready I hang it up on the line, our wall, piles of empty cajas of beer, or whatever else I can find. I just have to be careful not to use the line that is reserved for the drying of animal skins. I’m not really sure how clean my clothes are after I complete this process, but it’s quite an experience.

Feliz Cumpleanos

Peruvian birthdays are a lot of fun and have certain traditions that make them quite unique. This past week was full of birthdays among girls in the youth group, so we celebrated throughout the week. Flor’s birthday kicked off the celebratory week so we enjoyed the sunshine and heat that has recently increased here in Poroto and went to a nearby swimming pool. Poroto has several tourist centers that have swimming pools, dance floors, restaurants, and sports fields that charge a minimal fee to enter, so we took advantage of the good weather and I accompanied the girls from the youth group to celebrate her birthday at one of the local centers.

I volunteered to bake a cake with the girls to help celebrate the other birthdays, but finding a place to bake a cake was more complicated than I anticipated. After purchasing the ingredients we wondered around the town in search of an oven we could use. Most people cook over firewood or on a stove top, so an oven can be difficult to find. The panaderia (bread store) had turned off their ovens for the day and the electricity wasn’t functioning until later in the afternoon, but we finally found a location to bake our cake. Unfortunately, the cake wasn’t the most beautiful creation in the world because it stuck to the bottom of the pan, but we had fun baking it together. We brought the cake to the youth group meeting and of course no one had plates or forks, so we ate the crumbling cake off of toilet paper squares, which was just a huge disaster. However, although it wasn’t a very pretty cake it was quite delicious. I love the way they sing Happy Birthday in Spanish- they always begin by singing in English (with their awesome accents) and then clap their hands and quickly transition to a much more upbeat rendition in Spanish. Following the birthday song everyone lines up to give hugs to the birthday girl/boy.

After our meeting we were walking up the hill to town when I hear something whiz by and smack Beatriz, the birthday girl, in the head. I look over and she has raw egg dripping down her back. Apparently throwing eggs is a birthday tradition that I didn’t know about. Before the night was over at least three more eggs were thrown at Beatriz and I think we all got splashed in the process. Beatriz’s family invited me to join their birthday celebration in the evening, so we all headed to her house which is located in one of the close caserios. Her 10 year old brother was the only boy in attendance so he happily traded dancing partners throughout the night as we showed off our dance moves. As the night progressed we all offered “palabras” or toasts to Beatriz, and I was the lucky one to begin, which was kind of entertaining. Throughout the evening the house was filled with good smells as her mom and aunts were busily preparing mountains of food. Before long we were given heaping plates of rice, potatoes, and cuy (guinea pig), which is reserved for special occasions. I still can’t honestly say I love guinea pig, but it’s definitely part of the cultural experience.

In the Dark

To preface this little story let me begin by explaining that we haven’t had electricity in Poroto for the last three days.

I’ve been biking to and from the caserio schools where I teach, which is both fun and convenient. However, the return trip from the school in Mochal is a pretty long hill and I’m usually coming back from this school at the hottest part of the day dressed in semi-presentable clothes so needless to say I’m a little bit of a mess by the time I reach Poroto. I’m still trying to convince all the women in town that when my cheeks turn pink I’m not sunburn, I’m just hot. Anyway, yesterday on my way home from teaching someone comes running up to me on my bike and asks to talk to me for a minute. At this point I’m breathing kind of hard and a little bit sweaty, so I reluctantly unstrap my awesome helmet and try to piece together a Spanish conversation which can be difficult when I’m frazzled. Basically, this guy is trying to form a youth group dedicated to promoting the culture of Peru and wants me to help him. Now, this sounds like an interesting opportunity but at this point I don’t really know who this guy is or exactly what he’s trying to tell me, but I agree to help, mostly because I want to get out of the sun and stop sweating.

Later this evening I am coming back from a run (also sweating and pink-faced), and the same guy is waiting outside my house to talk to me. He explains that he wants to send out invitations regarding the formation of the youth group to the parents in town. However, there are no lights or electricity so he explains that he’ll have to write them all out. He asks if I would be willing to help him and I hesitantly agree. At this point the entire town is pitch-dark because there is no electricity, so he explains we’ll have to walk the 45 minutes to the closest caserio where there are lights in one of the comedores populares (soup kitchens). At this point, the last thing I want to do is walk on a windy road in the pitch dark with some stranger, but my community partner had him contact me and my host dad seemed to know him, so I figured I would be fine. We continue on to the caserio, guided only by the light of the moon as we narrowly dodge potholes and other obstacles along the way. Finally we arrive at the comedor popular where there is light and start to write out our invitations. In true Peruvian fashion, he insists that the invitations are very formal, and thus require a substantial amount of writing. We continue to write 40 page long invitations by hand, which takes way longer than it sounds. When we finally finish we hike back to Poroto in the dark. At this point I am so ready to get out of my running clothes, shower, and go to bed, but my new friend insists we have some dinner. Despite my objections that the restaurant is closed, my host mom brings out saltines and tea into the empty, dark room and illuminates our table with a candle. So, to finish off my bizarre night I was forced to eat a candle-light dinner alone with my new friend.

Exploring the Chacras of Poroto

As I was leaving the health post today I ran into one of my favorite families in town who immediately invited me to join them on a trip to their chacra. Today was an exceptionally beautiful day in Poroto; the sky was crystal blue and the weather was perfect. We climbed up the steep paths through the fields of pineapple, stopping to pick the ripest fruit. Our trek began with a stop at the sweet lemon tree, and considering I’m probably a foot taller than both the mother and daughter I was with, I was elected to swing the 12 foot stick at the tree in hopes of knocking down some fruit. Despite my lacking coordination, we were able to collect enough to appease our appetite for the moment. We continued to eat fresh bananas, avocado, and arrived at the guaba trees. The fields here are built into the steep cerros, so the guaba trees lean precariously over steep cliffs. Before I could turn around, Josy climbed up to the top of the tree and began knocking off the thickest guaba fruits from the tall branches. Meanwhile, I tried to collect the falling fruit without getting knocked on the head or slipping down the side of the mountain. We continued to hike through the chacra and ended at the top where we visited with the men harvesting corn and rode on the donkey around the field. We sat around on logs, talking and laughing as we contemplated my dating prospects here in Poroto. As we were talking we watched a tiny woman walk through the field with a pack of wood on her back that easily doubled her size, to which the senora said, “…and that is why you don’t marry a Porotino.” Point well taken. Before long the sun was setting and we had to find our way down the narrow steep pathways with the light of the moon. We were almost back when I turn around and see the senora tumbling down next to me. I thought for sure she was going to hurt herself, but luckily she started laughing hysterically.

Peruvian Politics

Peruvian local elections have dominated the focus of Poroto for the last several weeks. For the district of Poroto, which has about 2500 eligible voters, there were 9 candidates for the position of alcalde, which is more or less the equivalent of a mayor. The district has been filled with campaign posters and paraphernalia, looped track campaign jingles tied to pop songs played at a deafening volume, and pick-up trucks plastered with the candidates’ face. Additionally, the entire exteriors of houses within the district are painted with campaign propaganda and the candidates’ names are scrawled into the rock and dust high in the surrounding cerros. Emotions are running high as family ties and alliances are formed and broken. Nearly everyone has a strong opinion regarding the elections, and with so many candidates who each have 5 regidores who represent their campaign, the majority of the population has invested heavily in one political party.

This past week each candidate had an assigned night to conduct their political rally. The rallies featured the guest appearance of regional politicians from the same party, dancing, freebies, bands, impassioned speeches, and general partying. The plaza was filled with activity and noise late into the night all week. Various smells wafted through town as those with an entrepreneurial mind took advantage of the events and sold anticucho (chicken hearts) on a stick, corn on the cob, piccarones (fried doughnuts with honey), and more. I accepted an anticucho before I realized what it was and can now say it isn’t my favorite Peruvian street food. My house, which is really a restaurant, is located right on the plaza so I couldn’t escape the excitement and noise all week. At one point my bedroom door was literally shaking at 12am as blasting music continued well into the night.

The past two days have been almost eerily silent following the chaos of political campaigning of the last week. Campaigning and alcohol are banned for the weekend prior to the elections, so I was quite excited for the break from the chaos. Yesterday was the actual election, so the town was filled with citizens of the district who traveled in from local caserios or from their work/studies in Trujillo. Yesterday morning I accompanied some of the youth around town to conduct interviews with the candidates. They formed their own questions about the elections, issues of corruption, future plans for the district of Poroto, and the youth related goals of each candidate. I was impressed with their bold questions and interesting insight regarding the electoral process and candidates in their town.

Later, some of the high school girls were having a “cuyada” to raise money for their graduation. Cuys are guinea pigs, so a “cuyada” is a fundraiser where an organization cooks and sells massive quantities of guinea pig platters. This is a common practice here in Peru- “pollada” (chicken parties), “cevichada” (ceviche parties), etc. are used to raise money for a particular cause whether it be to support a school event, a construction project, a field trip, or even a family in need. After attending many Peruvian meetings I’ve realized that “polladas” are the most popular solution to any small-scale economic crisis. I spent the afternoon delivering guinea pigs with the girls, which was actually a lot of fun.

The elections continued throughout the day and I couldn’t help but laugh when people proudly indicated they had voted by flashing their middle finger with a dark purple ink stain. I’m hoping the gesture wasn’t intentional. Voting is obligatory in Peru, so all those who are registered in Poroto were in town. The results of the elections were scheduled to be announced at 7pm, so the entire community was crowded outside of the school where the votes were being tallied. Of course, the results weren’t announced until after 10pm, but the response was quite epic. The members of the winning party and their supporters rushed the streets waving flags and blasting their campaign jingle. Fireworks were immediately set off, and the new alcalde entered on the shoulders of his supporters in a mosh-pit like scene. He delivered a brief speech and all those from his party began dancing in the streets and buying endless cajas of beer. The entire political and electoral process has been quite an experience, but I’m certainly glad the campaigns are over until the Presidential elections commence next year.

Noche Cultural

This evening there was a “Noche Cultural” in Laredo that featured dances from different youth groups in and around Laredo. Youth from Ian’s town were performing, so I decided to go and see how the event was organized and enjoy some traditional Peruvian dances. We were transported on a combi with the youth from Ian’s town, and I don’t think it’s possible for me to explain how loud the ride was. Kids were literally piled on top of each other screaming and yelling about anything and everything you can imagine. Although there was lots of waiting around for the event to begin, it was neat to see the youth perform a variety of traditional dances.

All the regions of Peru were represented, including the jungle, mountains, and coast, and each dance number featured a corresponding elaborate costume. I’m frequently asked what kinds of dances are popular in the US, and I never know how to answer. Everyone in Peru knows how to dance to several traditional dances and dancing is a necessity at any social event, so everyone is confused when I can’t explain a popular American dance. The “Noche Cultural” continued well into the night as the music progressed from the beautiful Marinera to Reggatone, which is basically just Spanish rap. It was freezing, so after awhile Ian and I decided to stop acting like grandparents and join in the dancing.

Showing off our awesome blue and pink manicures.

Today I was invited to join the high school on their field trip to the “Mirador” which is a country-club like compound with a look-out area, small zoo, swimming pools, activity fields, and a dance floor. Although I tend to assume a field-trip is educational, the location was definitely constructed for pure enjoyment. However, it was a really beautiful place, spacious and pretty with a lot of choices for entertainment. It was a good opportunity to hang out with kids and get to know the teachers on a more personal level. Top of the mirador!

On another note, I am consistently entertained by botched English phrases and pronunciations. When I was doing homework with a group of girls the other night one of them asked me to check their English notebook. The first sentence I read was, “We to eat flesh in the restaurant.” I started laughing and explained that not only should it be “We eat or are eating” but I certainly hope you aren’t a group of cannibals. Apparently their dictionary listed “carne” as flesh instead of meat. I can only imagine how many times per day I make some ridiculous mistake with my Spanish that goes uncorrected.

This evening there was a “Noche Cultural” in Laredo that featured dances from different youth groups in the region. Youth from Ian’s town were performing, so I decided to go and see how the event was organized and enjoy some traditional Peruvian dances. We were transported on a combi with the youth from Ian’s town, and I don’t think it’s possible for me to explain how loud the ride was. Kids were literally piled on top of each other screaming and yelling about anything and everything you can imagine. Although there was lots of waiting around for the event to begin, it was neat to see the youth perform a variety of dances from different regions of Peru. Their costumes were quite elaborate, and they were excited to share their performances with us. As I noted in an earlier post, there was also lots of noise and balloons, as are typical at any sort of Peruvian event. It was quite chilly as the night progressed, so eventually Ian and I decided we should stop being grandparents and dance along with the kids, if for no other reason than to stay warm.