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.