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Cajamarca City, Cajamarca.
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It has been a week since Carnaval and I still have paint on me. In the words of Kelsey Goering.. you win Carnaval, you win.
Carnaval is the start of celebrations up til Ash Wednesday. It can be compared to the celebrations of Mardi Gras. The best of the parties is in the department of Peru called Cajamarca.
I arrived in Cajamarca at about 5:30am from an overnight bus from Piura. I got off the bus and immediately ran into volunteers from other groups. Also, it was COLD when I got off the bus in Cajamarca. It was nice to finally have a climate other than sticky, disgusting and hot. When I had left Piura it had been a week of LOWS of 95 degrees. It was hard to even pack for this weather as I was standing in my room almost naked and still sweating. I couldn't imagine wearing jeans and long sleeved clothing.
Carnaval started and there was no avoiding the water or the paint. Most volunteer woke up on Friday morning really early not sure when the festivities were going to start. While we were waiting, many volunteers took their positions on the balconies with super soakers and started spraying innocent passerbys. There is no getting angry about getting soaked with water when you're in Cajamarca for Carnaval. This is what you signed up for. So suck it up and start shooting back.
Saturday was one of the best experiences I have had in Perú especially because the celebration is very Peruvian. Volunteers took to the streets armed with buckets of paint, water balloons and super soakers. I was covered from head to toe by the end and SOME people decided to use oil base paint which meant it wasn't easy to get it off my body or out of my hair. I currently still have random spots of paint on my legs and arms. It was, however, one of the coolest days to be a part of. People were waiting on the roofs of their houses to pour water down on us. Families were opening their doors to let us refill our super soakers. The giving nature of Peruvians was apparent all day.
The rest of the vacation was spent being prepared to be soaked as soon as you left the hostel. It was really nice being able to hang out with volunteers from different programs and groups from all over Perú.
So, now, I'm back in Piura and school is right around the corner. I will be starting a Pasos Adelante group (health promoters group) for the youth and I'll be teaching different things during tutoria in the high school. While this is going on I'm going to start working on developing a youth center in my municipality's biblioteca (library) which needs a little bit of work.
We are about to enter the hottest month in Piura. Yikes. Also, it has been raining in my site turning everything to mud and molding things up in my room. I'm hoping this rainy season passes sooner than later. My birthday fast approaches (for those of you who forgot it's on the 23rd) and right after that I'll be going to my favorite place in Perú for more training. ANCASH!
And last but not least- us Piura volunteers need YOUR HELP to run a camp for young boys! Each volunteer brings one or two boys from their site to a leadership camp put on by Peace Corps. However, we need donations to make this happen. So if any of you could donate that would be great and please send this out to family and friends that you think would be interested in helping.
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=527-086
I also would really like to congratulate my alma mater for raising 10.6 million dollars for kids with cancer. Penn State's reputation has been through a lot this past year year, but I'm so happy that those terrible things did not affect the kids at Hershey Medical Center. I have 10.6 million reasons to smile and I'm so proud of all of those who were involved. A shout out to Adam Parisi, Kevin Turk, Anthony Tufano and Sean Golden for standing for 46 hours straight. I got to watch most of Sunday morning on the Live Stream and was able to watch the total revealed. I am very proud to be a Nittany Lion. We ALWAYS will be. FTK!
I apologize for the lack of blogging. I had a broken computer for about a month and I haven't been able to upload pictures. I am now back up and running. The following are pictures from other volunteers during Carnaval. I'll be uploading videos as soon as I can. ENJOY! (Because I know you all love pictures so much)
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The very green hills of Cajamarca
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| Pretty church off the Plaza in Cajamarca City, Cajamarca |
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| Plaza |
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| Sierran woman selling things in Cajamarca |
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| I love these women. |
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| Parade Day |
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Peace Corps Volunteers bullying with water on their balcony.
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The paint wars begin.
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| Peace Corps Volunteers covered in PAINT :) Happy Carnaval! |
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Richard made the trip all the way from AREQUIPA :)
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| Ali all painted up. |
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| Inside picture of the hostel we all stayed at |
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| A cleaned-up Lucas Stellar |
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| The only picture of me all weekend. Thank you Ali. |
"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art (write or draw or build or sing or LIVE as only YOU can) and somewhere in the next year I hope you surprise yourself. " - Neil Gaiman
Until next time,
Brielle
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