Ancash and the really long FBT blog post

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz
Ancash

As you can see, Ancash really is better.

I really don’t even know where to begin.

It was time for Field Based Training (where we finally get to leave Lima to work in the field and see other volunteer's sites) for Peru 17 and Youth Development got split into three groups. My group got extremely lucky… we got ANCASH! Most of my group had been hearing other volunteers using the slogan “Ancash is better” whenever they would talk about this mystical place, and none of us really understood why- until we arrived in Huaraz. My group took a 7 hour bus ride on a “cama bus” which was more comfortable than first class on an airplane. I snoozed the whole way there. We arrived in Huaraz around 9am on Sunday morning.

Sunday

The first thing we got to do was check into the Cayesh Hostal- a Peace Corps favorite (which also became mine by the end of the week). The beds were comfortable and the water in the shower was HOT. It was my first hot shower since I landed in Peru.

After checking in we made our way to another staple to PCV’s in Ancash… California Café. This place is amazing. It had a travel book section, real coffee and amazing breakfast. It felt like you were almost sitting in a little café in America.

Once breakfast was over there was a PCV Panel. Current volunteers in Ancash sat and answered questions that we had.

John William, super volunteer and our FBT leader for the week, planned a “leisure scavenger hunt” for us around Huaraz. It consisted of going around asking basic questions to people in the streets.

Once the hunt was over my group headed back to the hostal for some hot showers and much needed sleep. The affects of the altitude were beginning to kick in.

Monday

We started off our day at 8 p.m. EN PUNTO ( without breakfast because John Williams doesn’t believe in it). The group took a combi to John William’s site called Jangas. It is only about a 40 minute ride from the capital city. It is a gorgeous site. My group (Britt and Jeff) had a session ready to teach English to the kids. Our topic was “food” (obviously, what else would I want to teach?) We played the game where we put English words on the board and the kids have to hit the word with a fly swatter-whoever hits it first wins the game. The prize was a lollipop but the kids had to say “I would like a (insert color) one”. We noticed after awhile the kids easily picked up single words of English, but it was really difficult to have them form a full phrase.

Teaching English in Jangas, Ancash

After, my group went to John William’s house to help cook lunch. Guess what we had for lunch?! CUY! Better known to those in the US of A as those cute little things you keep as pets and call them GUINEA PIGS. I walked in on Grandma Quechua ( John’s amazing grandma that only speaks Quechua) pulling the fur out of my soon to be lunch. I helped peel potatoes and learned a little Quechua while I was at it.

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz
Grandma Quechua killing the cuy

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz
Grandma Quechua, my best friend.

The cuy tasted like chicken. There really isn’t a ton of meat in cuy and I spent most of my time picking the little there was off the bone. However, it was delicious and I loved helping out Grandma Quechua. After lunch my group played some games with the youth of John William’s site. The altitude started really wearing on my body this day and I was extremely tired with a migraine by 5pm.

Tuesday

We made our way to Tumpa to visit another volunteers site. This was a really great and eye opening day. Tumpa was more campo than the other sites we had seen or heard about. Jeff, Britt and I had to teach the session of teeth brushing. We climbed a mile up a mountain to a tiny little building that would be the school we would be teaching in. The school was two very basic rooms. We did our “tag” dynamica and after we taught kids as old as 11 years old how to brush their teeth. Most of these kids didn’t even know how to hold the toothbrush. This is the part of the trip I will never forget. After our charla a lot of the kids had questions on how to keep their teeth clean.

The group in Tumpa

After, my group went to some thermal baths. They were… interesting. It was nice to be able to just relax, but I’m really not sure how clean these things were.

The Thermal Bath

Wednesday

 We made a long trip in a combi to the town of Caraz. In the morning our groups were separated and told to walk around the city and find the different resources. After, we regrouped and went to the market. Markets in Peru are always interesting. You can literally get lost in them and never come out.  The most interesting part is always the meat area, where you find dead animals just hanging around waiting to be bought and eaten. My favorite part of the market is always the fruit market. Peru has a million different types of fruit and it’s always fun to try them.

Cow head in the market, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Later, we went to visit the site of Elke called Amashca. It was one of my favorite sites.

Amashca, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

The mountain view from the colegio, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Elke and her girls, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

As you can see, the views are amazing. During this site visit we split into two groups: one did a socio drama about family relationships and my group did a charla on confianza and did a few trust falls.

Trust falls, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

After the charlas we had a serious volleyball tournament. My team was called “Los Payasos” (The Clowns). We made it to the championship game where we lost to “Chaufa.” There was some trash talking going on in Spanish that was absolutely hysterical. It went something like this

Kyle: Los payasos en la casa!!!!!!!!! (clowns in the house)

JW: Tu vas a comer chaufa en el hospital (you will be eating chaufa in the hospital)

Thursday

In the morning we visited Colleen’s site. It is called Huaylas. Colleen is in Peru 13 and is done with her service next week. We went up to the school and we were suppose to watch a video on Teen Pregnancy, however, when we got to the school there was no electricity. A day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. So instead of watching a movie… we made up our own socio drama. It was absolutely hysterical and as soon as I can upload the video we got of it I will post it on here. After we had a few discussion questions for the kids. It was hard to get them talking about anything, but by the end they were up presenting their answers.

The view from the colegio was amazing.

Ancash group!

Friday

This was also an amazing day. In the morning we took a combi up to a glacial lake. It was gorgeous. It is tradition in Ancash to do a naked glacial lake jump… lets just say Peru 17 has kept the tradition alive. Here are some pictures of the lake!

Glacial LAKE!

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

The boys, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

The roomies for FBT, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

I obviously fell off the rock, Photo Credit: Katy Halasz

Glacial Lake :)

 In the afternoon we went to Beth’s site. Here we worked with the project Beth and John William created. They were able to get college students from Huaraz to travel into site to work with the kids in Beth’s site. It is a college mentoring program and unbelievably sustainable. Both volunteers are doing a great job with this project. We spent the afternoon reading books to the kids and playing different games.

Reading to the kiddies

The whole gang!

Later that night I unfortunately had the opportunity to experience the less amazing side of Peru. I was robbed within minutes of sitting down at a restaurant. My whole bag, which contained money, a credit card and my cell phone, were gone in a blink of an eye. It was pretty upsetting, and the worst part is that the next day I looked in the black market in Huaraz and spotted my phone being sold. It’s pretty aggravating seeing your stolen goods for sale right in front of you.

Saturday

 In the morning I went with my tech trainer to the police office and filed a report. Filing police reports in Peru is not easy and most of the time you have to keep coming back to do it. Luckily my tech trainer was able to get them to write up my report right away. After, I met up with my group and toured different colleges in Huaraz with a group of youth health promoters that John William and his site mate Kyle formed.

Later that day we made a pot luck dinner with all the volunteers and celebrated a birthday in the hostel. Around 1030pm we boarded a bus back to Lima.

Overall, FBT was an awesome experience and I’m really glad my group went to Ancash. It really is an unbelievable place.

Peru 17-Ancash FBT :)

This week PERU 17 has off for the independence day of Peru “Fiestas Patrias” on both Thursday and Friday. The new president is being sworn in! THEN, next Wednesday… is the big day. SITE ASSIGNMENTS!

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

-Woodrow Wilson

-Brielle

PS: As you can see most of these pictures were taken by a friend of mine in Peru 17. They are pretty amazing! Katy Halasz, you are one hell of a photographer.