Peru

The weekends are generally pretty laid back and fun. During the days you can do whatever you feel like. We will usually go out either Friday or Saturday. Some weekends we go out both days and rarely on Thursday or Sunday too. There is little nightlife unless it is Friday or Saturday, and the latter is usually the better of the two days.

Like almost everything else in Peru, the fun starts late. Bars don’t usually get crowded until around 11:00 or 12:00. Also, they stay open indefinitely, which is real cool. There is usually always still a decent sized crowd at the bars at 6 a.m., which is generally when we head home.

Also cool is that there is live music everywhere you go, which is maybe the best part. There’s a lot of cumbia, which I am not a huge fan of. There’s also a lot of what I would describe as Afro-Brazilian-Amerindian-esque music, which sounds very decent.

I like the dancing here better than in the states – none of that mindless grinding to crappy pop and rap. Everybody here has rhythm except for me, of course. The beer isn’t great. You can get 4 different types of beer in Huancayo, the best of which I still consider mediocre. But the mixed drinks and pisco are good.

All of the volunteers have been real cool so far. This is a little blurb about them, I guess.

Jonee, from Chicago, is the ringleader of this whole operation. She strives to make sure the volunteers have the best experience possible. Also, she knows everybody in Huancayo. Every time you go somewhere with her she runs into people she knows. She knows people of all types, from prominence to everyday Huancayans. She also works for a TV station doing interviews, coverages of events, and other random stuff. Her bit is entitled “Gringa in Huancayo”.

Dani, born and raised in Huancayo, is Jonee’s fiancée. He also lives at the house and assists the NGO. He plays bass in a band that performs every Friday and Saturday night at the best club in Huancayo.

Laura, from London, is just finished the British equivalent of high school. Across the pond, they get a year break in between high school and college. So, this is what she’s doing. She has been here for quite awhile and assists Jonee with the running of the NGO. When she goes back to the UK, she will attend the University of Oxford (the best university in the UK, for those that don’t know). One of the smartest 18 year olds I’ve met.

Anna, from the state of Washington, has also been here for a while and assists Jonee. She is a pretty veteraned hippy and has had quite an interesting life. I get along with her wonderfully. She’s taught me a bunch of useful stuff for the imminent road trip I am planning. Unfortunately, she has had GI problems for the past 6 months. She recently got diagnosed with Giardiasis and E. Coli, if I’m remembering correctly.

Ingrid, from Paraguay, arrived in Huancayo the same day I did. She’s a cool girl. Currently going to Smith College in Massachusetts. She left Huancayo to go back to Paraguay a few days ago.

Three girls from San Francisco arrived about a week ago. Three more people from Portland arrived this morning. The house is going to get way crowded.

There are several traditional remedies that the natives of Huancayo will suggest. Ill list a few now – pretty much the ones I remember.

If you are having GI tract problems, there are two things you can do:
1) Drink the piss of a baby pig.
2) If you don’t like that option you can smoke a cigar and blow the smoke down your clothes. That supposedly helps

If you have an affliction and nobody knows what’s wrong with you there is an answer! Have somebody take a guinea pig and rub it all over your body. It then “mysteriously” dies. I think they simply strangle the beast. Once the deed is done, you can cut open the guinea pig – in an autopsy like fashion – to determine what is wrong with the sick person.

I usually don’t eat breakfast anymore. Everyday, breakfasts consist of bread. There’s usually butter and jam too. Very light and banal. Also, we drink a lot of tea here. Tea for breakfast, dinner, and in between. Coca tea is huge in Peru, which is cool because its delicious and unavailable in the U.S.

We have a cook that prepares all of our lunches and dinners. She also washes the dishes, which is cool. Her cooking is pretty good, but it’s all the same – rice, potatoes, or pasta. I swear that 90% of a Peruvian’s diet is carbs. For lunch we have some sort of soup, with potatoes, rice, pasta, or any combination of the three. Then, we get a plate of food, which ALWAYS has rice and usually has potatoes. There’s usually a small piece of chicken as well. If it’s not the rice/potatoes combination it is a plate of pasta. Dinner is pretty much the same thing as lunch except without the soup. I’m so fucking sick of rice and potatoes.

They don’t eat vegetables. Every once in awhile we get an orange or banana with our lunch. Chinese food is huge here. There are a lot of Chinese restaurants and Chinese style dishes. Oh, also every meal comes with this hot sauce that you can use to your own liking. None of the dishes are spicy, but there is always the option of making them spicy.

I’ve also eaten some traditional dishes, pachamanka being one of them. Basically, they dig a hole in the ground, put some coals in it, put some dirt over the coals, wrap up the food, throw it in the hole and cover it. Your food cooks in an oven in the earth for several hours. There are three types of meat you can get – pig, sheep, and chicken. The meal comes with potatoes, beans (that I don’t like very much), and this cornbread stuff (that is really good).

Another traditional delicacy of Huancayo is guinea pigs (Cuy is Spanish). Jonee’s boyfriend’s mom cooks the best guinea pigs, so they say. We went over her house one day and she bought two fresh, live guinea pigs, just for us. We watched the whole process. She does a prayer before the slaughtering (of which I got some pretty gory pictures). Then guts, prepares and fries them. The meal was served with rice and potatoes (of course). There was also this delicious red sauce that masked the flavor of most of the meal. The guinea pig meat by itself tasted fishy, almost like salmon. It is a lot of work for very little meat.

Not much really happened this week. It was pretty boring and I felt real unaccomplished by the end of it. Monday was some big holiday and everything was closed. Didn’t do anything.

Tuesday was a nationwide strike. The government wanted to make a law that said there is only allowed 4 people in a taxicab and as many people as there are seats in the busses. Although it might be a little bit safer, it would pose serious economic hardships to both the transportation companies and the people. For the strike, all of the roads (highways and local) were closed. If you drove a car you would get rocks thrown at you. It was impossible to get anywhere except by walking. Didn’t do anything.

Wednesday I went to Fransisca Mayer with the other volunteers. Played with the kids. We are going to paint this big mural on the wall in the kitchen. One artistically minded volunteer is going to outline the portrait. We will help the kids do the rest. So, we got dimensions and ideas from the kids about what they want to see on the wall.

Thursday and Friday I had the cold. Didn’t do anything. All in all a pretty dull and shitty week.