10/09/2016
Post 1: Life in Chacrasana
I thought I would start my first post off talking about the 3 individuals who made sure I didn't die during my first three months in Perú, my host family. Peace Corps Perú requires us to stay with host families throughout PST (Pre-Service Training). It's a great opportunity to start working on the language and learn the values and nuances of Peruvian culture. I was placed in a community called Chacrasana. I was joined by four other volunteers. It is a very nice community only about 15 minutes away from the Training Center. I lived with a family that included my mom (Gregoria), my sister (Monica), and my niece (Marita). They had hosted volunteers before so right away they understood my issues with Spanish and were very patient with me. My sister is a nursing student at a university in Lima. She was busy studying and preparing for exams most of the time I was there. She worked extremely hard on all of her studies which was great to see. My niece was in secundaria (a mix between middle and high school) and was a great student. I would typically help her with her English homework. And then there's my mom. She was a force. She worked whatever odd jobs she could to make ends meet and was constantly in her very expansive garden. She had tons of vegetables and animals. She kept rabbits and guinea pigs in the back. We will talk about Peruvian meat options in a later post. :) She also made apple pie on the weekends for the neighbors which meant I got to enjoy apple pie for dessert four days a week. She was also a bomb cook. She made some amazing plates and I ate so well during my time there. Got to try some new things to get my stomach accustomed to the many varieties of food here. I loved just talking to her about her life. She had lost her husband in a traffic accident and had really had to work to make sure the family had food on the table and clothes on their back. She is such a hard worker and would do anything for you. I had so many great philosophical talks with her and she really became a confidant during training. She understood completely when I wanted to hang with friends or when I just wanted to sleep. She definitely taught me how caring the Peruvian people can be. This whole family welcomed me into their house with very open arms and showed me how truly amazing our host families are here. They are currently hosting a member of group 28 and I'm so happy this trainee gets to have the same experience I had.
One of my first pieces of shock was the water in the community. It is very typical that in Perú, water is not available all day. When I first arrived in Chacrasana we only had water from 5 am until 5 pm every day. Typically families had a tank on top of their house that would fill all day and give them water throughout the night, but my family did not have that. So from 5 pm until 5 am there was no running water in the house. It's amazing how your habits and even bodily functions (sorry to be a little gross, but real) change. Little did I know that it would be great practice for what was to come at my site. Another interesting part of Chacrasana was that it had a large and steep hill that went from the main highway to the community. I got some killer muscles off that hill. There was always the option to take a mototaxi up the hill, but I always refused, much to my fellow volunteers amusement. :) It was a great workout.
I've included photos below of my house and family. I truly enjoyed my time living here and couldn't have asked for a better start to my Peace Corps experience!
