Full Circles

Over a year ago, I was on site visit, exploring Tantará for the first time.  I met a woman named Fidela on her way to milk her cows.  She invited me to come with her, and I spent about an hour chatting with her in her corral.  Little did I know that Fidela would later become my host mom.

Fidela's cows, 2012

Exactly a year after swearing in as a Volunteer, I found myself in that same corral with Fidela. 

Fidela's cows, 2013

The plan was to cut the horns of the cattle, but it is preceded by a ceremony, in which they thanked Pacha Mama for the health of their cattle and everyone was invited to share a cup of pisco. 

Then they cut the cows’ horns, branded them, and put ribbons in their ears.

After, we went back to the house to eat lunch, and found a surprise.

A brand-new baby sheep!

It is amazing how fast a year in site has gone by.  And I am incredibly thankful to have the wonderful host family that I do. 

The following week, I also held the final class of the year with my adolescents.  They are a small group of students who have taken a few hours out of their afternoon every few weeks to come and learn about healthy lifestyles, including self esteem, decision making, sexual and reproductive health, alcohol and drugs, and planning for the future. 

Self-esteem game

Discrimination activity

HIV activity

Learning to put condoms on bananas

I am so so so proud of them, and excited for next year when they will help me teach their peers.  

Graduation!

This year I have tons to be thankful for.  I have a great family, both in Peru and back home.  I have shockingly wonderful friends.  I have survived one year in site, and I have people who are excited to continue to work together next year.  And I got to spend Thanksgiving Day with a fantastic group of PCVs.

The perfect Thanksgiving dinner

As I come out of my post-Thanksgiving food coma, I am ready and motivated to get back to site to wrap up the year before I head home for Christmas!

Puente Colgante

This is the puente colgante, or “hanging bridge”.  It connects the neighboring districts of Tantará and Huamatambo.  There is now a road that connects the two, and a truck that travels that road twice a week.  The most direct route by foot, however, is through the fields, past the cows, and over the bridge.  Every year, on the same day, the communities of Tantará and Huamatambo go down to the river and do maintenance on the bridge. 

Yesterday, I was walking back to Tantará after spending 3 days in Huamatambo.  I work with 10 families in Huamatambo, and visit about once a month.  The walk between the districts takes me a little less than 2 hours, and besides the occasional incredibly scary dog, it is a relatively uneventful walk.  Except when I get to the bridge.  As soon as I take my first step to cross, my stress level spikes.  Reminding myself to breathe, I take one very careful step after another, focusing on where I place my feet instead of the rushing water beneath.   At a certain point, the bridge tends to swing, most likely when I am hugging one side to avoid the place where the wood has broken.  Once across, I spend a few moments calming my breathing before starting the long climb up the valley.  This bridge makes me nervous.  Yesterday, however, I had a revelation.  I was halfway across when I realized that I cross the same bridge every month, and it has yet to break beneath my feet.  In fact, despite the swaying, the wood has a quite sturdy feel to it. 

In my particular area, it is easy to see modernization grabbing hold.  In Tantará almost no one wears traditional dress anymore.  In Huamatambo there is more, but still mostly among older women.  Both communities used to speak Quechua, yet the current generation is not learning it like their parents did.  Many families choose to sell what they grow in the field in exchange for packaged noodles brought up from the coast.  It can be sad and frustrating seeing the scraps of lost traditions being buried by televisions and cell phones. 

As I paused in my moment of tranquility during what is normally a mildly traumatic experience, I found comfort in the fact that this bridge is still here.  For countless years these two communities have come together to ensure that it stays standing, and thus far they have succeeded.  It is comforting to know that amongst all the change, both good and bad, there are still some things that stay the same.  The old lady on the corner will always stop me to ask detailed health questions in Quechua, my host mom will always offer me tea and soup before bed, and the bridge will always terrify me but I will always make it safely across.  Once on solid ground and staring up and the daunting mountain I was about to climb, I made a mental note to go help on the day they fix the bridge this coming year.  Besides obviously wanting to be apart of the tradition, maybe if I help maintain the bridge, I won’t be as nervous to cross it. 

Alma Micuy

November 1st this year was not just a candy-hangover day.  It was All Saint's Day.

All Saint's Day is the day that the souls of dead loved ones come back to visit their families.  In preparation, families cook all their favorite foods.

Friday morning, the house turned into a well oiled, food-making machine.

The butcher shop...

was next to the kitchen...

and out back is where I spent most of the day turning wheat into flour.

(remember when flour came in bags?)

For two days, we made various dishes in enormous quantities.  Every time one was finished, we all took a break to eat a little.

We cooked,

we ate,

Mazamorra de Calabaza

Arroz con Carne 

Duraznos (peaches)

we cooked some more,

and then some of us got tired and took a nap.

In the middle of the day on Saturday, we took a break to go to the cemetery.  All the graves were elaborately decorated with flowers, with family members huddled around, drinking and spending time with their loved ones.

By Saturday evening, the table was filled to the brim with a variety of food.

The sweet

The salty

The priest came and blessed the food,

And then we ate enough to make Thanksgiving jealous.

(but don't worry, Thanksgiving, it was just a warm-up).

Overall, it was a great way to spend some time with my host family, and wind down after a few weeks of work.

Speaking of work, the video-a-day idea was absolutely not mine, and I probably won't continue to do it, but I thought it was a nice way to document what a few weeks in site look like for me.