I´m writing from San Clemente, Sechura, Piura. I arrived Sunday morning in Piura City, the capital city of the department (think State). Piura was beautiful, warm, and welcoming. I dont know the exact population, but it is a fairly large city with a department store, 3 large supermarkets, a mall, and movie theater. I got to see Inception (great movie, by the way) for less than 3 dollars! I´ll probably be going there every 2 weeks to catch up with other volunteers, eat delicious ice cream, and shop at a real supermarket... that sells peanut butter!!!
However, the best part of Piura is the hostel that has hot water, great water pressure, wireless internet, and the best peace corps library known to man. The library has some awesome reads and I cant wait to get started. The peace corps library is typical of all capital cities. It is a place where peace corps volunteers exchange books. You might not know this yet, but whereas they say our job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the typical Peace Corps volunteer has plenty of free time on her hands. I was told to bring many, many books. I opted for the technologically brilliant option and brought my Kindle, a very special birthday gift from my dear Leeward. In the weeks leading up to my departure, I downloaded 87 books to my Kindle. Ive been hoarding them and havent read even one, knowing that I would be desperate for them once I arrived at site. BUT now i have the peace corps library!!!
Anyway, back to business. On Monday, I arrived at my site. San Clemente is a darling little town... all 6 blocks of it. The population size is only 2000 people. There is one restaurant, no grocery stores or markets, and some of the kindest people I´ve ever met. Tuesday morning, there was a celebration held in my honor at the town hall. They had announced my arrival on the radio, over the town´s loudspeaker, and the town bulletin board. They sat me out in front of everyone. The mayor, school principal, town doctor, and the director of the soup kitchen all spoke in my honor. I was then asked to give a speech... in front of the whole town. It went well... I almost peed myself out of nervousness. Then, the kids dance group performed 2 dances. Afterward, the whole town was treated to a sandwich and some nasty purple corn drink. After a two hour nap, I was then escorted by two 10 year olds on a tour of the town.
I cant wait to start working with everyone. The kids are the most welcoming, of course. They just cant wait to play with me. Ive already been asked to teach english, hold a homework hour, plan the Day of the Childhood, and hold youth group 3 times a week. There is a lot of work to be done here. I´ve only been here 3 days and I already the adults are telling me about all the problems that need to be worked on: HIV prevention, teen pregnancy, malnutrition in children, slef esteem in children, goal achievement, leadership, etc...
Today was another crazy day. I was told to be at the town hall at 11 am with virtually no explanation. I was then taken to nearby Sechura, the district capital. Sechura is 20 minutes from my site and much, much larger. Melissa, one of my fellow trainees is placed in Sechura. We will probably be doing plenty of work together. The city council of sechura invited me to Melissa´s ceremony. I was also greeted within the ceremony, presented with two books about the province of Sechura, and fed a typical peruvian lunch of escabeche de pescado. On that plate lay every kind of starch you can think of: corn, sweet potato, mashed potato, rice, yucca, and banana... oh and a piece of fish. Next we were taken on a tour of all the special places in and around the city of sechura (Sechuranos are very proud people and I love that) with staff from the city hall. We started with a museum depicting the history of Sechura, followed by the beach (lovely!!!), then a huge, unexplainable sand dune in the middle of the desert, about 4 miles from the coast. The sand is beautiful and fine, just like beach sand, but the location just doesnt make sense. We climbed to the top, which was quite a challenge. Then we slid down. Now comes the crazy part. as you slide down, there is a rumble that come up from the sand that sounds like a plan is taking off. NOt to mention, there is a rumbling under your butt. The weight of all that sand shifting at once makes it seem like you are inside a drum! The next place we went to was a kind of zoo, with animals from all over Piura. There we were interviewed to be on National Public Access Peru!!! I´m going to be on TV tomorrow! AHHHH
My site is just beautiful and I´m so excited to be here. I thought it would be more like a desert, because SEchura is known for being a hot, dusty desert. However, apparently San Clemente is located in a valley and it looks more like San Diego. There are grass, plants, and trees everywhere. It is not as hot as I expected either, although this season is considered winter. The temperature right now ranges between 65 and 80... quite pleasant really. I´m so pleased to be living so close to the beach as well. I thought it was an hour away because of the information I recieved, but the beach is really only like 20 to 30 minutes from my site. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS
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