Despite the long days training continues to pass quickly; I can’t believe I’ve been here for a month. We’ve learned so much about hypothetical situations and details about Peru, I’m incredibly excited to get out there and experience it for myself. We have Field Based Training next week, and I will be going to Cajamarca, which is supposed to be a beautiful mountainous region up North. Everyone will be traveling throughout Peru to see different volunteer sites and conduct some hands-on practice, which will be awesome.

We have new language groups for the second half of training, and we went to Chacrasana today for our classes, which is one of the neighboring communities where a lot of my friends live. Chacrasana is divided into 2 sections, the formalized lower section which has electricity, water, and lights, and the “invasion” section, which is not legally recognized and does not have these amenities. Evidently, many communities built into the small dusty mountains outside of Lima started as “invasion” towns. When people move from the mountains or jungle into the more urban areas of Peru, they often do not have housing or resources to provide for themselves.
Because of this, they’ll look for uninhabited land and begin constructing make-shift shelters. The small Cerros (mountains) around Chaclacayo are high, dusty, and rocky, so few people live in the highest sections. However, many neighborhoods are built into the lower sections of the mountains where many of the other Peace Corps trainees are staying. Above these areas several smaller communities are beginning to develop illegally on un-owned land, which has created significant tension between those who paid for their land and amenities and those who are essentially “invading” space and sometimes stealing lines for electric or lights.

After a substantial amount of time, politicians will sometimes formally recognize these communities and even provide basic amenities as part of their campaigning. In fact, many of the existing communities in the area began as invasion towns but now function as legally owned and recognized districts. Especially during the era of terrorism, many rural Peruvians were forcibly relocated out of their homes and migrated to more urban areas into temporary housing and invasion cities.