Chubby Bunny

“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender who you are for what you could become.”

Last week was an adventure! I can’t believe I’ve been here in Peru for 3 whole weeks. It feels like I’ve been here forever, I feel so comfortable here and except for the fact that I still have to work on practicing Spanish every day, life is great! I feel like I got to experience a little bit of everything this past week. One day, I was going running with Natalie and Katie and as we were leaving the Aldea, one of the older girls handed me a sol and asked me to get her something from the bodega. So as we were coming back from running we stopped at the bodega and I grab some Chezetos which are like Cheetos. When we reach the Aldea, I hand the bag to the Tia who looks at me with a confused look and says I was supposed to get soap for washing clothes. Apparently they don’t ask for soap they ask for the brand name of the soap, which is where the problem was because I knew the word for soap but I just assumed she meant Chezetos when she asked me to buy something because it sounded similar. Needless to say House 1 had a good laugh on my behalf.

Lucho and Youli, gorditos! (the chubby toddlers)

This week I ate at house 2 with all the younger boys which was really fun! We had cow intestines this week; it’s hard to describe how it tastes. It’s rubbery and doesn’t really have that much of a flavor, I wouldn’t recommend it to those with a weak stomach. I got to play Monopoly with a paper board on which there were pictures of random people on the properties. One of the little boys, Miguel, said that 3 of the girls on the board are his novias, which is quite an accomplishment at 7 years old haha. I blame Justin Beiber.

Friday there was a fiesta for the children who had birthdays in January. There was a piñata, pepto bismal looking jello, sheep and lots of dancing! Earlier in the day there was a roast with a sheep, rumor has it that the sheep came from our very own Aldea. You see there are these four random sheep that walk around the Aldea and to be honest they don’t really do much, they keep the grass trimmed I guess but that’s about it. The kids are always saying they are going to eat one and it seems they finally might have. Only three have been spotted recently but I’ll keep you posted on their whereabouts! Also, for those of you who think all I do is play I’ll have you know I do actually teach valuable lessons like how to make a fish face! This little girl is named Flor and she picked up how to do fish lips in a matter of minutes and now does it every time someone says Pescado!

Pescado face :)

Oh the weekend how I love thee. This week our weekend adventure began with our combi stalling and turning off every couple minutes until we finally made it to a gas station 20 minutes after it started having troubles. Our next step was to find some Pizza since we were all craving a little taste from home and it was amazing! I’ll never take it for granted ever again. Step three was going to see a Peruvian band play which was really fun! Saturday we went to Hunchaco again..yep just another day at the beach! Where I had the most amazing fruit slushie, made with real fruit (and I mean not from a can that just says real in fine print but like legitimately blended from a fresh pineapple). Here’s a picture of the sunset for those of you who need something happy to look at!

Sunset at Hunchaco with Katie, Natalie, and Julia

Ps. the leprosy on my legs has all but disappeared!

Sandy Feet and Legs to Eat

You know this is Peru when you eat enough rice in a week to feed a small village in Africa- Allie

This week went by so fast. We were able to do a lot of activities with the kids like swimming, teaching English, and playing sports. We started playing basketball which I’m really happy about because that’s my favorite! And of course we played soccer; somehow it’s always a daily occurrence. We also started running this week. We run outside the Aldea and even at like 8 am when we run its so humid that you feel like you aren’t breathing anything in, even though you’re inhaling like you’re having an asthma attack. We get quite a few weird looks too, not too many people here run for fun or exercise, I guess that’s just a Utah thing.

I also learned a very important lesson this week, bug spray was on the list of things to bring for a reason! I had been bitten by a few bugs the first week I was at the Aldea but last Tuesday was the beginning of an all out bug attack. I guess the bugs like my sweet blood because I banked like 150 bites on my legs this past week. And for those of you who think I’m over exaggerating look at the picture, we counted them and it was around that number. Luckily they stopped itching about Friday to be replaced by swelling. I don’t think I remember what my real ankles looked like…hopefully they will come back someday. Needless to say I bought a lot more bug spray.

Speaking about bugs, so Allie and Izzy bought this cock roach killing powder which we placed strategically in our house and so far we’ve had far fewer cock roaches and other bugs. The stuff is called apocalypse and apparently it kills cock roaches instantly and keeps killing them for weeks so we aren’t sure if it just doesn’t work on some right away and they suffer for a long time or how exactly they keep dying weeks later. 

On Friday I came to the Castillos again and I got to meet the three other girls from BYU Natalie, Katie, and Julia. They seem like a lot of fun so I’m excited to get to know them better! Friday night we played sports with the young adults in the ward here. Apparently Americans are supposed to be good at volleyball or at least that’s the belief here but seeing as how we got creamed, I would say that myth has been busted. Saturday we went to Hunchaco which was amazing. It’s so pretty there and I can’t wait to see some surfing competitions. The Pacific Ocean is really cold even in January, which is summer here so I would expect it to be warmer. Yea sorry everyone in Provo but I get to spend this semester on the beach while you’re stuck in the snow!! 

My other sister here...Wendy! At Hunchaco

Forgetful

Dear readers,
     I am sorry to disappoint you but I will not be posting anything from my adventures last week. I have a blog typed up but I forgot the disk and cord to connect my camera to the computer so I can't add any pictures. Now I could post it anyways but it would lose it's effect without pictures. Don't worry next week I will post two new blogs and you can see the beach at Hunchaco, the three other volunteers that just arrived this weekend, and a picture of my legs, which shouldn't be viewed by those with a weak stomach...they were attacked by bugs last week. Anyways, I love you all. Have a great week!

Hola Peru!

Peru has many freaks…no no fruits (in Spanish)- Hermana Castillo

So for those of you who were wondering I did make it to Peru…finally. Getting there included a few unexpected moments such as setting off some new machine at the airport. Apparently the lotion I used that morning has an ingredient in it that can be used to make TNT. So I was escorted through security with my own personal guard and patted down on every inch of my body, I’m not exaggerating it was literally every inch of me and yes it was awkward for those of you want to know. Then my flight got delayed by 2 hours to the Newark airport which would have made me miss my connecting flight to Lima so I was redirected to a different flight. The first leg included a ride on a rickety little plane to Cleveland on which I met a guy who is a songwriter/recorder. The next leg of my trip was from Cleveland to Houston and I think the airport felt bad about redirecting me or at least I’m going to look at it like that because I ended up sitting in first class. I felt a little bit out of place with everyone else being middle aged men dressed in suits or professional looking clothing whereas I was a 20 year old girl wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Needless to say I felt rather sophisticated sitting up there with their huge thrones, drinks in actual glass cups, food on real plates, real food in general, and random hot towels that I still don’t understand the point of. Then finally, the last leg of my journey to Peru involved a six hour flight from Houston to Peru…so overall the time I spent flying wasn’t more than 12 hours! Still, I was relieved to step off the plane and get started on my adventure.

The next day I boarded a bus to Trujillo which was about 8 hours long. And let me tell you that bus was amazing! It had huge reclining chairs and I mean fully reclining not the stingy halfsie stuff in planes. There were also footrests that folded out that were padded, thick blankets, little pillows, and food! Finally, I arrived at the Aldea( the orphanage I’m interning at). That first day no one there spoke English, the other two interns from Europe weren’t back from vacation yet and so I spent the time trying to use my minimal Spanish skills. The kids are so great! Since that first day they’ve been trying to help me understand more by talking slower and pointing out what they mean. I am living in Casa 3 at the Aldea it’s for all the interns. It has a little kitchen, living room, two bathrooms, and four bedrooms. It is very homey feeling which I like. I would have to say the one negative aspect though is the fact that my toilet has no toilet seat, apparently none of the casas have them, maybe I’ll ask for one for my birthday haha. The next day I got to meet the two interns from Europe, Allie and Izzy. It was so good to be able to talk in full sentences and feel like I was making sense! We are starting to teach the kids English next week and crafts and maybe cooking. I’m excited but I’ve come to realize how important it is for me to improve my Spanish so I can talk to these kids and not only that but have meaningful conversations with them.

My room!

The Living room

Outside at the Aldea!

                Friday, the Castillo’s came to pick me up from the Aldea. They are the LDS family that I am staying with on the weekends. They are the nicest family I’ve ever met and their house is gorgeous! The house has 5 floors, 4 enclosed and the roof is open like all the houses in Trujillo. When the other three girls from BYU get here we get the whole 3^rd floor which is its own mini apartment! The oldest daughter Wendy speaks English and we are trying to help each other learn the other language, which should help me out a lot. Yesterday, aka Saturday I went to a party for Carolina, the mother, because it was her 50^th birthday! I think I want to celebrate all my birthdays in Peru because it was a lot fun! At one point in the party there were two guys dressed up as jokers, sort of I don’t know how else to describe them, one on stilts and the other with an inflated suit and they: handed out balloons to wave around, gave out random presents like huge ties or ridiculous hats or eye masks, made confetti fall from the sky and made everyone dance for an hour straight without ever stopping. I felt less out of place than I had all week, well except for when I was with the girls from Europe, but even then I was asked to take pictures with everyone and called Brittany Spears following which I was asked to sing something in English in front of everyone. Yea it’s hard to blend in when you are like a foot taller than everyone and you have blonde hair.

Mi hermana Candy y yo!

My Peruvian mom, family, and the joker people

                I know this is super long…but in all fairness my other blogs probably won’t be this long I just had a lot happen this past week and a half with all the different transitions. So I’m going to end by saying some of my first impressions of Peru in no order of importance or relevance. I love all of the colors here and having music playing everywhere you go, it makes it feel so much more life-like. I feel like every time I get in a car I could die at any given moment…people weave in and out randomly without using signals or even looking. I really like most of the food although I could do without the lime on the lettuce. There seems to be some huge obsession for Justin Beiber here and all the kids know how to sing his songs in English although I’m sure they don’t know what they mean. Futbol really is something that never gets old here, we get roped into playing it at least once a day at the Aldea, not that I’d say I care by any means its exercise after all! The people are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, they don’t care when I ramble off Spanish that probably doesn’t make any grammatical sense. Goat isn’t actually that bad, we ate it at the Aldea the other day and maybe I’ll even come home liking fish because we had that too and you can’t refuse to eat it or leave anything on your plate or else it is viewed as you not liking the cooking. Oh and finally, the weather!! I think I could live in Trujillo forever..I know its summer here but still it’s perfect, it’s not too hot and there’s always a slight breeze. Well, sorry if I bored you but that’s my life in a nutshell here in Peru! I’ll write more next week hopefully. Until then know that I love you all and while you’re at it, why don’t you tell me something you love about where you are right now! There has to be at least one thing, even for you Taylor!

Oh, the places you'll go!

Today is your day. You're off to great places. You're off and away! - Dr. Suess

Tomorrow's the day! Yep, unlike the normal end of my Christmas breaks this year I will be heading to a different country for Winter semester. I'll be spending 3 months in Peru working at an orphanage called The Aldea which is 30 minutes outside of Trujillo. And the best part...ok there are lots of best parts but one in particular that I am especially grateful for is that it's summer there!! I'm excited but nervous mostly for the language barrier seeing as I don't speak spanish very well but I'll just have to practice that. I'm excited to get to know the kids , experience a new culture, and hopefully learn how to surf! The last week I'm there I get to go tour some of Peru's hot spots..here are some pictures so you can preview what I might get the opportunity to see!

Machu Picchu: an ancient Inca City

Hunchaco Beach Trujillo, Peru

Trujillo is known for it's colonial architecture

Chan Chan ruins

The Jungle!

I'll try to post updates about the kids I'm working with, interesting/awkward stories (which will probably happen like everyday with the language and all that), and some pictures of course! I hope everyone has a great semester and I'll see you in April! 

Love always, 

         Carrie Ann