Crash

Riding home from Lomas late last night (10:30 or so) I witnessed a car accident. Nelson and I were in a combis (remember those are the little vans that take people around the city) and as it was approaching a stop (where several other combis´ and buses fight for curb side position to grab more passengers), I heard a very loud sound of tires screeching on pavement. Next, there was a bright light that shone through the side windows into the combis followed immediately by the passing of a dark object (car), very close to the van. I tried to keep my eyes on the car as it flew past, however, so was everyone else and my view was sporatically blocked. It appeared as though the car first swerved left into the median (we were on a highway/freeway) and then spun out of control as it moved back across all four lanes, hitting another car in the process. At this point I became a little bit panicked because I realized the duration of the events unfolding and just wanted to know what was happening. There were more loud crashes and finally we were again hit by the bright lights of the car. This time they were at a distance and were skewed, revealing that the car had flipped and was now on its hood and facing us many feet away. Nelson pointed out to me that the other car that had been hit had slid or spun to the right side of the road but was facing forward and still on its wheels. The car that had caused the accident was not so fortunate. As we slowly approached the vehicle I began to see that the car had indeed flipped and was now lying tilted somewhat forward (hood end) and towards the driver´s side. I also noticed that I was unable to see into any of the car windows. I didn´t think that they were tinted because they had a very strange metallic dust appearance to them and I was very confused by that. They also were not broken. Though the street was lit it was still very dark out at this time of the night and I thought I saw (and Nelson confirmed) a woman peering into an open back door of the upsiedown vehicle. I don´t know if she had just come from out of the car through that door, or was merely a witness of the wreck trying to help out (or possibly from the other car that was hit). At this point our combis was humming with nervous murmurs and from the back came shouts of "Avanza" (advance, or let´s go/get out of here). We rolled forward, still quite slowly, and eventually regained speed (though we never did move quite as fast as we had been before the wreck). Not five minutes later there was a fire truck roaring at full speed in the opposite direction. Two additional remarks about what happened that night:
First of all, about ten or fifteen minutes before the accident I had just finished saying a small, silent prayer about how grateful I was for being safe thus far in my travels.
Second, the way that I remember the events that unfolded with the accident is like watching a movie. I used to think that people sounded stupid or overly dramatic when they would say things like this but now I really understand what they mean. Remembering what happended is like watching one of those movies that is filmed with a hand held camera, where all of the action feels more chaotic and the lense zooms in and out of focus and the picture bounces all around. Every loud crash is more intense and seems to rattle your vision a little bit too.

On a lighter note, I was asked to teach English classes again last night even though Thursdays are supposed to be for the discussion of current events. The class was much smaller, about ten or so, because apparently the teacher of one of the schools had given a bunch of the other kids detention or something equivalent to that (that´s how I understood it anyway). This class was much more successful than the first, partly because it was my second time, the class size was smaller, and I could tell that everyone in the room wanted to learn (even my host dad Nelson)! It was a great experience and I am very excited to be going back tomorrow morning to play some basketball/volleyball/soccer with the JESHENI kids. I´ll try to get some pictures for the blog while I´m there too.

Weekend

Nelson and I didn´t go to Lomas on Saturday morning after all. The Jesheni kids were busy with other activities (work) and couldn´t be there. Eliza (my host mom) and Nelson (host dad) still went to work while I stayed at home and caught up on some sleep. Later in the afternoon Tanya (my host sister) arrived at the house and asked me if I wanted to go with her to pick up Eric (her amor). We met him at a mall in San Miguel and decided to go shop for a birthday gift for Nelson. We found a pretty nice sweater to buy for him and then we got a call that Nelson jr. was coming to meet us at the mall. We looked around some more, got some ice cream, and then left to pick up Eliza and Nelson from work. Once all six of us were packed into the car (plus all of the things we bought) we went out to a restaurant to celebrate Nelson´s birthday. Yesterday I went with Tanya and my host mom and dad to Port Callao here in Lima. It was a beautiful day because the sun came out and burned off almost all of the marine layer. The homes near the port were very beautiful and old looking. As we walked, Nelson told me stories about pirates that used to sack the port over and over again until one day an unnamed pastor took it upon himself to shoot and kill the leader of the pirates. The way this story was described made it sound like the pastor took aim at the pirate leader from the shore and essentially sniped him as he stood on his ship waiting in the port. It is known as the miracle of Santa Rosa because Santa Rosa went inside of a church close to the port to pray while most of the other townspeople fled to the mountains. The story says that she prayed that a miracle would occur and the pirates would leave once and for all. I guess it worked. Today I worked on some more articles for the Uniendo Manos folks and now I´m spending the rest of the day preparing for my first English class tomorrow in Lomas. I have never taught English before so I am a little nervous about it but I also think that it will be a lot of fun.

Correction

With regards to what I ate on Wednesday afternoon, the chanfanita dish is actually made with the lungs of the cow, not the stomach as I previously stated. There is another dish here called Cau Cau, which I ate last week, that is made with the cow´s stomach (and the dish really is pronounced cow cow). Of course at the time I was unaware of what I was eating and I did enjoy the cau cau (I don´t know if I will still like it if we eat it again though). So that´s it for the corrections with the Peruvian cuisine. For the most part, the food here is really good. There are a variety of different fruits and vegetables that I have never before seen or tasted and so it is a lot of fun getting to know some new flavors.

Yesterday Nelson and I left the office around 3:30 to go to Lomas. Two hours later we arrived and it was still light out. That was the first time I have seen Lomas during the day and as poor as it seemed on the first night I was there, yesterday I was able to see with more clarity the extreme poverty that exists there. We began by going to on of the schools that several of the Jesheni kids attend. There are two schools in Lomas and our objective yesterday was to speak with the teachers of one of these schools (I assume that we´ll probably do the same at the other school too). Our discussion was supposed to be about how we could support the teachers by talking with the Jesheni kids about what they learn, and the importance of being good students etc. Some of the kids in the group are a little rebellious which is affecting their ability to graduate on time and succeed in their studies (but there is a lot of hope for these kids because even though some are rebellious, they are the kind of youth that have an interest in getting better). Anyway, once we were inside the school grounds I was basically useless to our discussions. I stuck out a lot there and so a number of kids rushed over to me to start practicing the English that they are learning. I imagine that seeing a gringo is pretty rare and I was happy to be there so that they could practice. As far as the discussions with the professors went, I didn´t get the impression that there was a lot of success. They looked pretty busy with the students and everything was kind of chaotic anyway. We left the school and walked through the neighborhood which is sort of built along the side of a hill/mountain. Nelson told me that about eight years ago a group from Germany came to Lomas with a project to provide the town with running water. We climbed to the top of a hill where there was a great water tank and Nelson described to me that the Europeans had installed this tank as well as a system of pipes throughout the town. I noticed that each dwelling had a green cement structure outside with a little spiget on it (I am going to take pictures of all of this tomorrow morning when we return and then I will post them for you to see). Most of these spigets, and some of the cement structures, were broken. The idea was that the people of the town could tap this supply of running water whenever they wanted and only pay for whatever amount they used. I´m not sure how the tank would be replenished (it almost never rains here) but I assumed that the Europeans would refill the tank using the funds that people paid to have the water. Well that was eight years ago and now the project has been abandoned. There are broken PVC pipes laying on the ground (in some places you can see where the water lines ran). Next we visited the park where we will be planting trees and cleaning up the trash littered throughout the area. Nelson told me that six months ago the Jesheni kids had cleaned up this park and planted several trees and small plants. Several of these trees had died and there were some others that are on their way. These trees and plants are of course native to the area and require little water but still they are dying because they have no water at all (no one is watering them, even slightly). Others decide to uproot the plants just for the sake of destroying something. These were frustrating things to see because they demonstrated the failures of community projects. Oh and now the community receives water from a truck that drives around delivering it to big plastic barrels that sit outside of each home. I received one final descouraging sight. As Nelson and I climbed higher into the neighborhood, we came along the edge of a small rock valley that sloped the other way down away from the village. Piles and piles of trash littered the area below as well as some loosely held together wooden pigpens. The pigs were being fed this toxic garbage and there were kids down in the trash heaps working to sort through plastics, metals, cardboard, etc. Nelson told me that they work from eight in the morning until as late as ten at night only to make 4 soles. The garbage is sifted through and separated by the kids who often suffer from asthma and other respiratory illness due to the toxic chemicals and plastics. The people also eat the pork from the contaminated pigs living down there which adds to their maladies. After seeing all of this we returned to the small room where Jesheni meets to have a charla (discussion). We talked about current events (there was a strike, I think, of doctors or medical professionals) and at around 9 in the evening we left Lomas and returned home at about 10:30. Today I am resting. It´s my host dad´s birthday.

Lomas de Carabayllo

Last night I made my first trip into Lomas de Carabayllo (which I will from here on refer to as Lomas) with my host father to see the youth group there that I will be working with this year. We left the office here in Lima at about 5:30 in the evening and arrived in Lomas around 7:00. Once in Lomas we bought some fruit at a local open air market and then got inside of a micro that took us up a dark, winding hill which was the neighborhood. The place was simultaneously peaceful and eerie. There was very little light since there were no street lights; in fact there weren´t really even streets, just dirt roads. The air here felt cleaner and for the first time since I´ve been in Lima there was total silence. We approached a small building on the side of the road where a door was open and two boys were standing around talking. Nelson (my host dad) told me that this was the place and so I was introduced to Jefferson and someone else whose name I´ve already forgotten. The first room of the building is small and bare. The floor is cement and there is one light in the center of the ceiling. The walls are a blueish gray color. Behind this front room is another which likely used to be a kitchen. There are counter tops with a stereo sitting on one, and the same color of walls and same single light bulb in the ceiling. Outside of this kitchen room is what could be called a backyard area of sorts. It is enclosed by short walls and there is not much there except for earth and some rocks. The backyard is divided into two areas, one of which is enclosed with a ceiling so it is more like an outside room since the floor is still of earth. I think that I will be using this room at times to teach math and English to the kids on Tuesdays. On Thursdays we will be working upstairs (the staris are located outside of the building and I have not yet been up there). The name of the youth group is Jesheni (which stands for Juntos Estarémos por Siempre Hasta Encontrar Nuestros Ideales = Together we will be forever until we reach our ideas) and they operate a radio station that broadcasts on topics like environmental and human rights issues. Saturday mornings are fun days when the youth and I will play futbol and have other activities to do. There is a bosque seco (literally dry forest) nearby where we will be planting trees and trying to make the area more park like and beautiful for the community. I am excited about the time that I will spend in Lomas and the improvements that can be made. The youth are all really interested in improving their futures and that is what makes me the most sad about their current standards of living. We left Lomas at 9:30 and took three different buses to get back home. They were all packed tight but the last was packed so tightly that at one point my host father was halfway hanging out of the door.

Today I stayed home and finished a translation for The Joining Hands Network Peru here in Lima which is closely connected to El Dia del Pueblo. The translated article will go on their web page. Nelson went into the office late in the morning but said that I could work from home and rest all day. It has been nice because my host brother (also Nelson) and I have had time to hang out now since he did not have classes today. One thing I could have done without today is what we had for lunch. It was cow stomach with potatos and rice. I finally had to stop eating it and say that I couldn´t continue because it was so nauseating. My host brother was happy about this I think because he hates it too and now maybe we can use that as an excuse never to have it again while I´m here (majority usually rules in this family so now with Tanya we out number the parents, plus I´m the guest). Haha! By the way the dish was called Chanfanita and if you ever go to Peru, I wouldn´t recommend it.

Chosica

I´ll begin this post by giving you the short version of everything that happened over the past week and a half (orientation here in Lima). Well, first we went to some ruins called Pachacamác which were pretty interesting. They were built sometime between 1100 and 1500 AD I think. That was our first trip that took us outside of the districts where I am living and working in Lima and it was nice to get to see more of the city (and the ocean too). The next morning we were introduced to the folks at Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope) NGO through a game of futbol. It was pretty intense (two of the three male YAVs were injured on this day) and the games were faster since they were played on cement courts (smaller than regular fields). Sunday morning the YAVs plus our site coordinator Debbie and her husband attended church at the Iglesia IEP (its a type of church that seems pretty similar to Presbyterian). Monday through Thursday we had Peruvian culture and history classes in the mornings and in the afternoons we listened to testimonies from some of the leaders of the various organizations we are working with here in Peru. One afternoon we visited a couple of different groups of women artisans in Chorrillos outsied of Lima. There they were crafting many of the items sold through the Fair Trade organization. Friday was our last day of school here in Lima so we took a field trip to the Museo Nacional to visit their exhibit on the twenty years of internal violence that took place between 1980 and 2000 here in Peru. It was horrifying to see some of the events that unfolded as a result of both the actions of the government as well as those of the two main terrorist groups opperating in Peru at the time (Shining Path and Tupac Amaru). Saturday was our last day together before the six of us split up and began our work. We met at Debbie and Harry´s apartment for lunch and some conversation, then later the five of us YAVs (Alex had a wedding in his host family to attend) plus Debbie travelled to Comas (a northern district of Lima) where we participated in an event somewhat similar to Westminster´s version of a WW (Westminster Wednesday). There were songs and games and snacks and we got to know some of the youth of this church where Alex will be working as a youth pastor. Sunday, yesterday, Lynn and Sean left for the provinces (Huanuco and Huancayo respectively). I went with my family to a town called Chosica where my host mother´s parents live and where she is originally from. It was her birthday and she has eight brothers and sisters so of course there was a lot of family there. Chosica is a nice place, it was the first time I saw the sun for more than an hour or two straight (Chosica is east of Lima about an hour or so). We ate goat and boiled yucca root and then watched the futbol game in the afternoon. It was a game between two college teams that are big rivals here (similar to watching an Iowa v Iowa State game at home) and of course different memebers of the family supported differnt teams and were trying to get me to side with their team. There was also an open air market in Chosica where my host father took me to try several new fruits and vegetables that I have never before eaten. Today I had my first day of work and El Dia Del Pueblo. I translated a news story about an earthquake so that it can be posted to the web and read in English.

Roosters

The six of us YAVs arrived in Lima late Tuesday night the 2nd of September. We were warmly welcomed by our host families and site coordinator Debbie Horn. We fit ourselves into my family´s Nissan pickup truck and on the ride to my new house I got to know my new family: my father Nelson, mother Eliza, sister Tanya, and brother Nelson jr. I talked some awhile longer with the family and tried some Peruvian candy when we arrived at the house. They told me that Peruvians are known for loving sweets. It was getting late (around 1:30 am) so I went to bed. The next morning I was awoke early to an unexpected sound. There was barely a trace of light coming through the window when I heard several roosters crowing! I have since gotten used to them and am able to sleep through their noise.