La Bicicleta

I figure I´ll start this post off on a high note since this particular topic has been on my mind a great deal recently. One thing I´ve learned over the course of my first week of training is that we talk about poop a lot. A lot. From percentages of previous Peace Corps volunteers who have crapped their pants (apparently, the number is between 70% and 95% depending on which person you ask) to an illustrated number scale of poops ranging from 1, meaning totally solid and healthy, to 7, meaning totally liquid and, well... We also started a pool where everyone puts in 2 soles (Peruvian dollars) and whoever is the last one to crap their pants gets the pool. When the (hilarious) Peruvian male doctor for our team asked me what happens when I don´t take lactaid pills, I told him I get diarrhea. He then smiled and said, ¨Yeah, well, you´re going to get diarrhea anyway, so…¨ It would seem that everyone in the Peace Corps has the same appreciation for the comedic value of a good poop joke that I do.

And speaking of number 7, that´s where I´ve been since about Monday of this week.

Yeah. I said I´d be starting this post off on a high note.

After consuming a delicious and (seemingly) nutritious smoothie composed of pineapple, papaya and carrots from an outdoor market on Monday night (first mistake), I woke up in the middle of the night to intense stomach pain resulting in me yucking my guts twice in the toilet, which is thankfully attached to my room. Since then, I´ve been riding the 7 train about 5 to 10 times a day. Only here, the slang word for ¨diarrhea¨ is ¨la bicicleta,¨ so I´ve been riding ¨la bicicleta numero siete™.¨ After informing the doctor that I was the first casualty, he walked into our next training session and said ¨We have our first case of diarrhea, if they want to stand up,¨at which point I stood up and took a bow to much applause from the other Peace Corps volunteers and staff. Like I said, my kind of sense of humor.

After consulting with the doctor again yesterday, he told me to take some antibiotics we had been given during our orientation retreat over the weekend and to check back in with him on Monday. I started the meds yesterday and as of today, I´m well on my way back up to a number 1. YAY!

Moving on…

When last I wrote, I was at the orientation retreat and the following day I would meet my host family. After a brief van ride from the orientation facility, we were transported to a beautiful training facility in Santa Eulalia that was originally intended to be a dance institute. It was here that I met my host family, or should I say, host dad, Alfredo. He came by himself because his wife and daughter were at home waiting for me, and he enveloped me in a huge hug when we were introduced. I immediately felt comfortable around him. He put my luggage into his car and drove me the 2 mins. to his house easily within walking distance to my training center. I then met his wife, Janet, and daughter, Andrea. I´ll have more pics of them later. Long story short, they´ve been absolutely incredible in all aspects of helping me acclimate to Perú.

Janet and Alfredo have been cooking me delicious veggie foods and even bought me lactose free milk for my cereal. Their house is amazing! They have a beautiful backyard with a pool, pet peacocks, toucans and an adorable little Shitzhu puppy named Petisa and a freaking avocado tree in their backyard, a fact I was extremely excited about at first, but apparently they´re everywhere and I´m a little done with avocados just about now. My room is on the bottom floor of the hotel that is attached to their house and that Janet´s brother runs. On my first day, Alfredo heard me say that I loved soccer and promptly drove me up into the mountains to watch a soccer game on a field cut into the side of a mountain (absolutely amazing!). Of course, I didn´t have my camera, so those pics will have to wait until the next game.

Most of my week is completely packed with training at the center and then I return home for a late dinner and an early bedtime (because I´m exhausted). The weather here is usually a little chilly in the morning and late afternoon with some warm sunshine from about 10 am to 3 pm. There´s apparently never rain. It just doesn´t happen here.

I have to say, I´m not sure what I was expecting, but the training we´re receiving from the Peace Corps staff has been absolutely incredible. I feel like I´ve learned a whole semester´s worth of stuff in just a week and I don´t feel (too) overwhelmed.

Last night, I went out for the first time with some of the other volunteers and several Peruano hermanos to a karaoke spot in Chosica where I got the singing started with Bryan Adams´ ¨Everything I Do, I Do It For You,¨ and Toto´s ¨Africa,¨ much to the amusement of my fellow volunteers and their hermanos. Today, I needed a little alone time to process the last week, so I did a little rock climbing up the mountain behind our house. The weather was incredible! It felt like summer. Tomorrow, we´re going to Lima to celebrate Father´s Day with Alfredo´s dad and, (hopefully) to try some ceviche!

More pics to come. I´ll try to update a little more often so these aren´t so long everytime. Love you guys!



Santa Eulalia Training Center





Santa Eulalia Training Center





Santa Eulalia Training Center



Avocado Tree in Santa Eulalia Training Center



Santa Eulalia Training Center, Language Center



Santa Eulalia Training Center, Trainee Common Area

Santa Eulalia Training Center, Front Door



My Room (that´s right, it´s pink)



My Bathroom (or as I now know it, ¨My 2nd Bedroom¨)



My Blanket (It says ¨Fairy princesses make all your dreams come true.¨)




My View Every Morning



Looking at the door to my room. My family´s house is to the right. (note the avocado tree)



My living room



My dining room

My Kitchen

Pet Peacock (they like to look at themselves in the window glass)

Bebe

Don´t worry, I´m not naked. Just catching some rays.

Perú just had presidential elections and the politicians put their ads in the mountains.