The Gringa Show

Hello there! 3 weeks since my last post and I’ve been busy busy busy. I teach 3 hours a week in the schools on themes such as alcoholism, communication, drug addiction, and family violence. I attend a baking club with 4 teenage girls. I’ve been teaching 2 English classes, 3 nights a week with kids ages 3-14. The kids really enjoy it and always come back. By now, they all know my name; I can’t walk outside without getting a mini parade following me. The little girls love to hold my hands and play with my hair. The women around town now recognize me and typical of Peruvian culture, we always greet each other with a Buenos dias, Buenas tardes, or buenas tardes.

Elections are being held October 3 and I cannot freaking wait for them to be over. Because our town is so small, we don’t have a newspaper, but instead, 6 loudspeakers are set up at the edges and center of town. These loudspeakers start around 5:45 am and continue off and on throughout the day. When it’s not election season, the loudspeakers are used to make announcements about town meetings, the various sales and specials at the tiendas (stores), talks and seminars, and fundraising lunches (families will make lunch and sell them to the community to raise money for family member with medical problems, etc…). During election season, those hated loudspeakers blare with political propaganda from the various political candidates for hours. Loud, obnoxious, and they interrupt my naps. I hate them. HATE is the word. That coupled with the ridiculously loud radio and TV in my house, I’ve come to realize that Peruvians do not appreciate the value of silence. When anyone else is in this little house, something is always blaring. I cherish my quiet, alone time.

I went to my capital city of Piura this weekend. We have the choice to come and relax and see other volunteers twice a month. I've already eaten a cheese burger and a brownie today :) The food at my site consists of differing variations of rice, chicken fish, potatoes, and some veggies. No cheese, no coffee, no pizza, and very few options. I just spent a large portion of my monthly salary on snacks to bring back to my site, like roasted peanuts, golden raisins, gummy bears, and (SCORE!!!!) granola bars and (OMG!!!) Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix- yes I paid the equivalent of $6 for that bag lol. But totally worthy it because sometimes you just really need to feel good in a strange environment, and nothing does that more than food.

Yesterday I went to to visit my fellow volunteer Juliane in her site of La Paccha. Her family was incredibly warm and welcoming. Much like every other Peruvian I know, they offered me everything in their kitchen, the most comfortable chair in the house, and sent me off with a snack, a big hug, and an invitation to come back whenever I want: “this house is your house and you are part of our family.” I always feel so blessed when I leave a Peruvian household.

Anyway, so the whole family and I went off to the Agua Marina concert, a famous Peruvian cumbia band. About 2000 people were present, but we were the only blond women and the only women over 5’5”. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but it seems wherever we go, we get what Peace Corps calls “star power.” We stick out like sore thumbs, and the attention can be overwhelming at times. The Agua Marina concert was the perfect example of this: 2 American girls spotted dancing at the edge of the crowd, near the stage. Band members invite the “girls from the United States” onto the stage... over the loud speakers. 2 American girls approach the stage apprehensively (what the heck are we going to have to do up there???). Agua Marina begins a song and urges them to dance “manos por arriba, arriba… por abajo, abajo.” Yes, 2 blushing American girls go with the flow and dance (more than a little uncomfortably) on stage in front of 2000 people. THEN, it becomes apparent that these 2 American girls are participating in a dance contest. 2 Peruvian girls are invited up to show the Americans “how it’s done” and booty shake their scantily-clad booties all over the place. The Americans looked like church girls up there on stage with their shuffling feet and barely moving hips. They rushed down from the stage after the contest (clearly having lost) only to have a crowd rush them to take pictures.

Projects are popping up all over the place. As I mentioned before, I’ve been running 4-5 per week since I arrived. People stared at me like I had 14 heads. Those who had never seen it would approach me and question me if I was actually running (rumors fly around this little town). I invited people numerous times to accompany me but no one took me seriously. The mayor also commented on my running and proposed a community run. We sent out the announcement over those hated loud speakers and over 25 women came that Saturday morning at 6 am. After the 30 minute run, I asked them if they’d like to do it again. The overwhelming response was “YES! Every day!” I was more that a little surprised but it seems many of the women in town want to get healthy and lose weight. I had noted that one of the more obvious health problems in the town is obesity, so I quickly jumped on this opportunity and offered to provide nutrition talks with tips on losing weight. We’re also going to try a Biggest Loser Competition.

For nearly 2 weeks, between 12-15 women, teenage girls, and kids run 4 days a week at 5:45 am. I gave the first nutrition talk on Saturday and it was a huge success, though I was saddened when I realized most of these women had never heard of the most basic nutrition facts, like how many calories should be consumed per day, or how the body uses food. Even the food pyramid was new to a few of them. I asked the women what has been the hardest thing to adapt and they told me it was getting their kids to eat vegetables. Peruvians eat very few veggies, eating mostly rice, potatoes, corn, and meat. One woman in particular said that her kids didn’t want to eat their broccoli until her 10 year old daughter said, “Senorita Libby says broccoli is good so it must be!” and they all ate their broccoli. How incredible is that?!

I’m really excited because this seems like this will be a sustainable project and can really make a difference in their lives. The running not only gets them moving and gets them healthy, but it gives these women something for themselves. So many of them sacrifice everything to their children and husbands and have nothing that makes them feel good. I can already tell a difference in the way they feel about themselves. They are proud! Part of Youth Development Goal #1 is promoting self-esteem and healthy lifestyle. I’ve only been here a month but I can see this is exactly the kind of work I’ve always wanted to do and I’m feeling very motivated and happy.

A few announcements:

My host mom is 5 weeks pregnant and we are all super thrilled. Lee is coming for Christmas and I’m literally counting the days (92). I got really sick one day and my host mom blamed it on the kitten that I had played with the day before. Peruvians think that cats are relatively evil creatures and never touch them. They think their fur has the ability to make you violently ill, even going as far as to believe that breathing too much of it could make you stop breathing. But that doesn’t stop me from running after every cat I see and playing with it. They gawk at me. That gringa girl and her crazy antics.

I miss home a lot. I’m missing all of you and I would greatly appreciate it if you got on Skype more often. My name is libbysml. Much love,

Libby