The little girl on the kombi

As many of you know, I've been visiting an English institute here in Huancayo called ICPNA for the past couple of weeks. The majority of my time there has been spent visiting various classes for half an hour at a time and answering questions that the students have for me - which have ranged from the topic that there class is currently studying to American culture to how I feel about Perú. At first I expected these class sessions to simply serve the purpose of helping the students by letting them practice forming questions in English and listening to a native English speaker. However, I found that the many of the students had such poignant questions that I was really foced to think about my place as an American here in Perú, as well as what my opinion is on many issues, from immigration in the United States to pollution problems across the globe.

Yesterday was my last day visiting classes at ICPNA, but it provided for one of the most interesting and thought-provoking questions that I experienced during all of my visits. In one class a student asked me, "How do you feel here in Huancayo as someone who is visibly different than everyone else? How does it make you feel when people look at you because you are physically different?" Needless to say, that question really took me off guard...sure, I've been aware of the fact that I stick out like a sore thumb here in this city in the central Peruvian Andes, but I really hadn't expressed my feeling about that fact yet. So, it was a little tricky for me to come up with an answer on the spot in front of 20 or so Peruvian students. I don't exactly remember what I said, but all day today I've been thinking about that question and here is a quick reflection.

First off, this morning I had one of the most common experience here in Huancayo that makes me realize that people are noticing that I'm different - I was noticed on a kombi, a small van that serves as public transportation, on the way to work. Now, a lot of times I get a few looks from people here and there on kombis, especially when I'm standing, hunched over because of the low ceiling, and it obvious that I'm taller than your average Peruvian. But today I was noticed by a young child, from whom I receive the majority of the stares that I encounter on kombis. This morning there was a young girl, probably no older than 2 or 3, in the seat in front of me, and she kept looking at me for the majority of my 15 minute ride. A lot of times kids will stare at me a bit and then lose interest, but she had her eyes locked on mine with intense interest. After a while she was smiling and laughing as well, so I guess she wasn't afraid of me or anything. But as she was looking at me, I couldn't help but wonder what thoughts were probably going through her head. "Wow, that guy has really light skin, I've never seen blue eyes like that, why does he have so much hair on his face?" I wouldn't be surprised if she were thinking those things, because at the comedor where I'm working kids often vocalize some of those same observations or questions to me.

With experiences like the girl on the kombi, or any other strange look I get, or each time someone yells "gringo!" at me as I'm walking down the sidewalk, it is very clear to me that I'm in the minority here in Huancayo. At first it was a little bit hard for me to get used to this fact...in some situations it was easy to feel somewhat uncomfortable because of the fact that I stuck out so much. At first when I started thinking last night about how I get singled out at times here in Hyo, I started thinking that I might be able to relate to what minorities in the United States feel, but then I realized that there is one a very serious flaw in that reasoning - even though I am a minority in this city, I am part of a privileged minority. In the U.S. I am a white male and part of a privileged majority, here I am a still a white male and still privileged, even though I'm in the minority. This is a country with a strong machismo culture, and also a society that values lighter skinned people, so in both of those regards I receive benefit. As I hear people shouting "gringo" in my direction, I have to remember that it is not an insult towards me, but almost more of a compliment. A white male from the U.S. is someone that is often times looked up to. Many people have curious questions for me about my country...I am not approached in a hostile way or singled out in a prujudiced way.

After thinking today, I still don't exactly know how to answer that ICPNA student's question. When people look at me in an odd way, or I feel like I'm sticking out because I'm white, I don't exactly feel uncomfortable. I've gotten used to the fact that I am different, but it has been very easier for me to get used to that fact because people around me are not prejudiced against me because of my difference. I'm not sure what to do with the fact that I'm still a privileged as a white male here in Perú, as I would be in a majority of countries around the world. Right now I feel that all I can really do is get to know the people around me...answer questions that strangers might have about my home country, but also ask them about them and their home country. I want people to realize that I am just as curious about them and their culture as they are are about me and my culture. I'm not sure at this point what else I can do, but that seems to be the best approach right now to connecting with people here in Perú in a genuine, positive way and moving past our physical differences that may be so obvious.

A very Good Friday

I can easily say that yesterday was probably the most interesting Good Friday that I've ever experienced - rivaling the one that I spent in Albuquerque, NM. I was told that Holy Week here in Huancayo would offer some interesting experiences and so far I haven't been disappointed. Yesterday, Hannah and I had planned a morning of hiking near my house, but I was awoken by my host-dad about 40 minutes before Hannah was supposed to get there and he told me we needed to leave to go to my host-mom's sisters house for breakfast. Well, that hadn't been my plan, but I really didn't have much of a choice, as it's pretty hard to change my host dad's mind sometimes. So, once Hannah got to our house, we went to my host mom's sisters house and had a late breakfast and then spent some time near the river close to her house. It wasn't the morning of hiking we had expected, but it was relaxing nonetheless.



Our day began to get a lot more interesting around 1 in the afternoon when we went downtown to meet Duane and his family and go to Cochas for a festival in honor of Holy Week. When we got to the small town, it was a much different scene from the last time I visited, which I've already written an entry about. Gone was the quiet, small-town atmosphere that I had witnessed before, replaced my the hustle and bustle of tourists streaming in from all over the region and even from places as far away as Lima. The soccer field that I had viewed the small town justice which I had written about from my last visit was now turned into a parking lot for all of the visitors. We walked towards the municipal building from the main street and entered into the 'feria' which was in a field behind the building. At first glance it was very much like the 4-H county fair every year in Goshen, though on a much smaller scale. There were small kids rides, a stage with traditional "Wanka" music and dancing, some booths selling arts and crafts, and tons of food stands...much of it fried in traditional fair fashion. After walking around for a while, we stopped at a booth to eat a late lunch...and were faced with some tough choices on what to eat. There was pachamanca, which is a traditional dish cooked in a hole in the ground with hot stones to do the cooking, grilled trout, or cuy...which americans would more commonly know simply as guinea pig. As we were sitting there trying to decide between these typical, traditional dishes, I couldn't help but think that it was similar to being at a MCC Relief Sale. Well, seeing as I hadn't tried cuy yet, that's what I had to order, as did Hannah. It wasn't too bad, though the meat was a little hard to get to, and there wasn't much of it, and there was a little guinea pig head looking up at me and a paw hanging off my plate as well. Nonetheless I enjoyed it, and it filled me up for the next mission of our day.

After the feria, we walked across to the other side of Cochas to hike up to the cross which I'd already been to, and have already written about. And again, the scene was much different. There were lots of people coming and going up the path to reach the summit and see the view of Huancayo as well as the view of the cross. Interestingly, the cross has been all lit up at night this week, it isn't normally, so that's been a sweet sight from my roof at night. At the top of the hill there were also lots of people selling small crafts and knick-knacks and also people evangelizing...even one person promoting vegetarianism. After enjoying the view and snapping a few pictures, we headed back down to Cochas and then back to Huancayo central.

When we got to the Plaza de Armas of Huancayo, we encountered another Good Friday tradition, which was much different than what we had seen in Cochas. We stumbled upon a procession that was going on - which was happening on the two streets on each side of the cathedral. On one street a large casket with a figure of Jesus...complete with windows on the side so you could see the body...was being carried towards Calle Real, the main strett in Huancayo, and on the other street a large figure of the Virgin Mary was being carried towards Real. When each of the processions got to Calle Real they paused for a moment before turning onto Real so that they were facing each other. "They're going to meet in the center of the block," a woman in front of us informed us. Sure enough, the two processions started marching towards each other and when Jesus and the Virgin Mary were face to face, each statue bowed to one another, and then the joined forces and took the procession down Calle Real towards the municipal building.

As the procession moved on I decided to wander around downtown a bit. I walked ahead of the procession, which was moving very slowly, and admired the "alfombras," or carpets, which had been laid out on the road in the path of the procession. These alfombras were actually made of flower petals or colored sawdust, and they each formed pictures that represented the organizations that put each one together. I also walked along a side street where there have been food vendors lined up all week selling other traditional foods like "picarones," fried doughnut-esque delicasies, and "ponche de mani," a drink made of peanuts, milk and other spices and flavorings. Also all around downtown there were individuals selling "wa-wa" bread...wa-wa is Quechua for baby and the bread is a sweet bread with dried fruit and sesame seeds that is in the shape of a baby and represents the baby Jesus. I've actually eaten three of them this week, though to be honest I think they look a little more like an owl than a baby.

After a while walking around I decided to go into the cathedral, which was a very interesting experience. From the front of the cathedral all the way to the door there was a line waiting to touch a figure of Jesus set up on the stage. There were also many people sitting and praying, or standing at different figures around the side of the church praying and offering a candle. Inside the cathedral there was a very tranquil, calm feeling, especially compared to outside the cathedral. When I walked outside I was immediately struck by the difference in sound. There were kids shouting and playing with balloons, people were selling wa-wa bread or other foods, souveniers from Huancayo, and crosses and boquets of flowers made with palm leaves. Outside there was a very festive atmosphere and it also seemed to be a great opportunity for many people to make some money. Interestingly, I saw more baby carriages that night than I have in all my time in Huancayo (normally women carry their babies on their backs using a traditional large fabric as a type of sling/backpack), but they were being used to carry various things like hats, scarfs, or wa-wa bread that was to be sold.

Needless to say, the scene downtown on Friday night was very interesting and a very stark contrast to the festival in Cochas. It was interesting to see how the customs in each place celebrated the religious aspect of the holiday as well as many traditional parts of the local culture. As I said earlier, this was maybe the most interesting Good Friday that I've yet experienced...and today, Easter, was interesting as well. I won't go into much detail describing it, but just say that I went downtown early to see another procession of Jesus and the Virgin and then attended a mass before going to the evangelical church later that I've been attending here in Huancayo. Today it was interesting to see the difference between the Catholic and Evangelical traditions.

I could write a lot more about the past few days, but I think my description of Good Friday should be sufficient for now. I can't believe that I have less than two weeks left here in Huancayo, the time as really flown by. This week I have a full five days of work ahead of me, and I'll be trying to finish up my final project as well. Hannah and I are also trying to plan a trip to the jungle to visit two other GC students next weekend, so I'll keep you posted on what our plans are for that. I'll update you all again soon, and Happy Easter!

Holy Week!

Hey everybody, Sorry for the week-long, or so, delay in posting a new entry. I've been pretty busy the past little while and didn't have the time to sit down and write. But the first thing I have to tell you about a little adventure I took this past weekend.
On Sunday, Hannah and I traveled with my family to a couple of touristic sites near Huancayo.

The first place we went to, which was really interesting, was a historic convent here in the mountains called Santa Rosa de Ocopa. Unfortunately I don't remember a lot of the information that the tour guide gave us, but I can tell you a few things. The convent was opened up during the colonial days of Perú, and was influential in spreading Catholicism throughout Perú, especially in the jungle. Monks would take trips into the wilderness to meet with native peoples and evangelize, as well as "Peruvianize". In those days the borders of countries here in South America were hazy, so the monks would promote Peruvian culture to the people they met in hopes that those areas would be claimed for Perú instead of Brasil or other countries. At the convent there are a lot of interesting artifacts from those expeditions, including wild animals that the monks brought back, art from the trips, items used in the expeditions, and other artifacts. In addition to these things, and a lot of great artwork, the convent itself is a very beautiful place. There are several very nice courtyards and the cathedral itself is beautiful as well. We were fortunate enough to visit the choir loft as well, were the monk who gave us a tour let Hannah and I try out the old foot pump-powered organ.

After visiting the convent were ventured off to another interesting touristic site - Ingenio, a small village that is home to one of the largest trout hatcheries in the area. As we drove up the small road to the fish hatchery, we suddenly came upon a strip of restaurants lining both sides of the road. It was fairly difficult to pass through this area, as there were young people on both sides of our car trying to entice us to come eat the delicious fish that they were ready to prepare for us at their restaurant. Fortunately for them, we hadn't eaten lunch yet and stop at one of the first restaurants that we saw. We ate grilled trout with corn on the cob (the Peruvian version is much different than in the states, it's a different kind of corn with really big kernels) and rice. Needless to say, it was delicious, and afterwards we were all very full, and very ready to visit the fish hatchery and see where the trout that we had just eaten came from.

I had never actually visited a fish hatchery, so it was interesting to see the process. We saw everything from real small fish to some of the biggest trout I'd ever seen. Dad, you would have been drooling over these fish - they were rainbows too. Plus, this fish hatchery is nestled right in between two mountains, so the views were amazing. The weather was perfect that day too, the sky was a deep blue with those big fluffy clouds that you can't quite get anywhere else but in the mountains. After the fish hatchery, we headed back to Huancayo, but Sunday was a very relaxing day and I felt all prepared on Monday to go back to work.

This week I only had to work three days, as today and tomorrow the comedor is closed due to Holy Week. But the three days I did work were really fun, and probably the best that I've had at work so far. First off, as I travel to work each morning I feel really content in where I'm working. Once I get to the neighborhood where my job is I have to walk about five minutes or so, but usually during that walk I get at least half a dozen people who tell me good morning, some who know me, some who don't. My favorite hellos come from some of the young kids who know me from the comedor. Sometimes as I walk, not paying attention, I'll hear a little voice shout from across the road, "Hola hermano Christopher!" (Hi brother Christopher!), and that always makes for a good start to my day. It's good to know that people, especially kids, in the community recognize me and Hannah and are happy to have us there. Our work at the comedor is still going well, although it is hard to keep kids interested in our little English lessons. Nonetheless, we get a few kids to come for each lesson and have continued teaching them some basic things. What has become the most fun though is just playing with the kids - playing soccer or volleyball, swinging little three year olds in circles, or amazing kids by showing them the old I-can-pull-off-half-of-my-thumb trick. In just a week and a half I feel like I've gotten to know these kids pretty well, and hopefully in the next two weeks I'll get to know them even better.

Right now our professor Duane and his family are in Huancayo visiting me and Hannah, so today we spent some time with them. We took a short tour of a few villages surrounding Huancayo which are well known for artisan work. One had carved gourds, one textiles and the last one silver jewelry. In each town we were given a short demonstration of some of the work and then got to shop a bit and look at all of the artwork, which was really impressive. Although the tour was a little touristy, it was nice to see what some of the local artwork is like. After our trip we had a late lunch wtih Duane and his family in definitely the nicest restaurant I've been to here in Huancayo, which was a nice break. And once again, I had trout...I'm gonna take advantage to the abundance while I can.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to Cochas Chico, just outside of Huancayo (a small town I visited once before and wrote an entry about earlier), to visit a festival in honor of Holy Week. It will be fun to see what some of the local traditions are, and hopefully eat some local food, like "pachamanca," a big dish of potatoes, meat and peas that is cooked underground using hot stones. Tomorrow mornign Hannah and I are also planning on doing some hiking to a nearby touristic site called "torre torre," which means "tower tower," a cool geological site that has natural rock formations that look like, you guessed it...towers. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures there. Speaking of pictures, sorry I don't have any for this blog...it's a slow process to upload photos here at internet cafés, and sometimes I just don't want to take the time.

Well, I don't have a whole lot else to say. I hope that the rest of my Easter weekend goes well...I don't really know what plans are in store, but I've learned that sometimes it's just more fun to now know what to expect. I hope that all of you have a good holiday weekend, and I'll give you another update soon.

Finally getting busy...real busy

Today was my third day of work at the comedor in San Martin here in Huancayo. Here is a quick recap of what a day at the comedor looks like for Hannah and I. We arrive at around 9:30 am or so and teach a short English lesson to around 4 or 5 young kids. So far we've be studying really basic things - the alphabet, numbers, greetings, introductions, etc. The English teaching is going well so far, but it's pretty slow. Right now the hardest part is teaching pronunciation - it isn't until you learn another language or try to teach English that you learn how messy the pronunciation can be. At 11 am, there are around 30 kids or so that come for lunch, before they head off to school for the afternoon. During this time, Hannah and I help serve food, and also just sit and chat with the kids. Sometimes those conversations go great, sometimes they drag on a bit. At noon we have a bit of a break and eat a lunch of our own, and then at 1 pm, another 30 or so kids come for lunch, having just finished their morning session of school. These kids usually have a lot more energy than the morning kids, and have provided for some very interesting conversation. They hang out until about 2:30 pm or so, which is when Hannah and I teach, or at least try to teach, another English lesson to this second group of kids. The afternoon group has been a lot tougher to teach to, as they are all excited about having the afternoon off, and usually there are other kids outside playing, enticing them to ask their gringo professors to cut the English lesson short. Our time at the comedor definitely has lulls, between being real slow, to beaing kind of hectic, but all in all it's been really fun so far. The kids are really cute, and having work, especially the English lessons, is a nice switch from the severe lack of activity that we suffered last week.

In addition to the work at the comedor, we have set up another activity here in Huancayo. Hannah and I are going to visit ICPNA, an English learning institute where Hannah's host brother studies, to visit classes and help out with conversation exercises. Hannah and I kind of expected to just visit a couple of times, but yesterday we went to speak with an administrator about a schedule, and we commited to visiting a total of six days, with about three hours each visit. During each three hour block, we'll visit six classrooms and speak to the kids and answer questions that they present to us in English. That's quite a bit of time that we have commited, but I am excited about visiting the school, it will be a good look into what I will hopefully be doing after graduation from GC. I have also decided to profile ICPNA for my final project, so the more time I spend there the better. I'll also be conducting some interviews with teachers and students if it all gets planned out right.

With work and ICPNA visits, which start tomorrow, I will be pretty busy for the next three and a half weeks. But, I should still have time to do some other fun things. This Sunday Hannah and I are planning to take a trip to a nearby mountain with various members of our host families, an excusion that we are both really excited about. Next week our professors will also be visiting us, and the picked a good time to come - Holy Week. Apparently there are some strong traditions in Huancayo during that time, and we should get to participate, or at least watch, some festivities.

Well, right now I don't have much more to tell you all, the previous paragraphs sum up my last few days. This weekend and following week I'll try to get some more pictures taken and posted so that you can all see what a typical day in my life here in Huancayo is like. Hope that all is well wherever you are reading this from...and thanks for reading.

A week of doing nothing that provided some interesting experiences

Well, since I didn't have any work this past week, I had a lot of free time. Overall it was a little bit boring, but Hannah and I were able to do some interesting sight-seeing type things here in Huancayo. We went to the Plaza de Armas, or the main square, on Monday, as well as a pretty interesting artisan's market. On Tuesday we also went to the local zoo, which was a little depressing to be honest. I don't think the animals were too happy; they had some pretty sub-par living conditions. Wednesday and Thursday didn't offer much activity, but I did find a track that I can run on just a few blocks from my house - hopefully I can take advantage of the altitude and get in shape here.

It wasn't until Friday that I had definitely the most interesting experience so far in my time in Hyo., and one of the most interesting in all my time in Perú. My host dad informed me that he was going to take me to Cochas, a small village on the outskirts of Hyo., on Friday afternoon. Since I didn't have anything to do, I eagerly joined. I was especially enthusiastic because he told me that we might do a little hiking up in the mountains...something I haven't done enough of so far here.

So, we got on a micro-bus and headed up towards the foothills of the mountains just beyond our house. It probably took half an hour or so, but we arrived in Cochas Chicas (which means small Cochas, guess there's also a big Cochas further down the road), which is a quaint mountain community. Here's a picture of me standing in the main road of Cochas Chicas:

So, before we starting our little hike, my host dad took me to a friend's house, somebody that he knows through church. I didn't really know what to expect, I don't usually, but when I got there, I realized that this old guy has a little shop where he make guitars and other instruments. The guy was really nice, and pretty funny, and we spent a little while chatting about his guitars and what not. This is me and the guy, and one of his guitars:

This guy, I wish I remembered his name, also carves masks out of wood, which are pretty cool. My host dad took this picture of me posing with one of the masks:

So, anyway, after chatting with this guy for a while, we headed out, and went onwards with our hike. I didn't realize it, but we were actually going to hike up to a small peak that overlooks Hyo. and also has a large cross on top of it. I had seen the cross from below in the city, so I was pretty excited to go check it out. Apparently this spot is a pretty popular place for tourists to go to during Holy Week, kind of like a pilgramage. I was a little disappointed by the paved path, but the view at the top was worth it. After a short hike, we reached the top where we were greeted by this great view of Hyo.:

So, we were at the top enjoying the view, when we heard a voice on a loudspeaker from Cochas behind us. We turned and listend for a bit, but I couldn't really make out what was being said as the Spanish was a little jarbled due to the loudspeaker. But, my host dad summarized what was being said for me and it went a little something like this, ¨There was some theft taking place in the village earlier, we caught the theive, and now we're going to give him his punishment. Everyone meet in the field in the center of town.¨

¨Wait a minute, what?¨I thought. ¨What exactly are they going to do to this guy?¨ I asked my dad, and he wasn't exactly sure, but he said that they might give the guy some lashings or something. At that point, I was pretty intruiged, and as I looked down below sure enough, people were starting to gather in the field. So, my host dad and I started the trek back down so we could watch this event. Here is a picture of the crowd from above during our walk down:

When we got down to the crowd, there were several people in the circle, one guy, who I assumed to be the theif becuase he didn't look to happy, some town elders, and six police officers from Hyo. When we got there the police officers and the elders were discussing what exactly to do with the captured criminal. One police officer began talking loudly, saying that they could take him to the city and keep him there. But as he said that, there was an outrage from the crowd, obviously they didn't want that. My host dad explained that sometimes when the police take criminals from small communities, the crminals just bribe the police to let them go. So then it was a town elder's turn to talk. He began talking about how the village has their own customs, traditions and rules. At that point I saw one guy holding what looked like a wound-up whip behind his back - I guess that was the tradition that the town elder was talking about. For about 10 or 15 more minutes the police and the elders bantered back and forth, with lots of input from the 200 or so people forming a circle around them.

Finally it was decided, the thief would receive three lashings. This police looked a little bit concerned, but seemed to be mostly worried about keeping the crowd in check - ¨Take his shirt off!!¨ a few observers were shouting. So, the thief got down on his knees, and one of the town elders grabbed the whip and unwound it. I couldn't quite believe that I was going to watch this take place. But the elder didn't get right to the deed, first he began giving a lecture. He lectured the young man about the mistake he had made and how he needed to be careful with his life. He also took the opportunity to tell the children of the crowd to take this man as an example - they didn't want to end up like them, did they? After a bit of lecturing, he wound up and gave the first lashing. Then a bit more lecturing, another lashing, some final words, and the final lashing. To be honest, the lashing didn't look particularly hard, but I'm sure they still hurt. A few crowds people were shouting for them to be harder. Nonetheless, seeing this rural village take justice into their own hands was a really interesting experience. It showed me first hand how strong-willed many Peruvians really are.

By the way, if any of you are wondering why there aren't any other pictures to correspond to this story, I was the only 'gringo' in the crowd and didn't want to stick out even more by taking pictures. And I didn't know how they'd all react if I did - I surely didn't want to be the next person in the center of the circle.

So, that was my most interesting experience of last week. This weekend my host family also did a bit of hiking, and today we went to a really cool big open air market in downtown Hyo. It was kind of like the Shipshawana flea market, if any of you are familiar with that, but even bigger. And they were selling baby chickens 3 for 1 sol, a sol by the way is worth about 30 cents US.

Tomorrow is a big day for me, I'll finally be starting work. I will be working in a comedor, or community kitchen, in an area of town called San Martin. As far as I know I will be working alongside Hannah, and we'll be helping a little bit with food and what not, but our main work will be teaching some basic English classes to young kids. To be honest, I'm somewhat nervous for that - we don't have any supplies and neither of us have taught like this before. But, teaching English is my major, so I am pretty excited about it. As soon as I have some good stories from work, I'll be back with another post.

Service time...though not up to much service so far

As most of you probably knew from my last post, last Tuesday I traveled to Huancayo, Perú, where I will be spending the "service" portion of my SST experience. However, as of now, I've yet to actually do any service work. It was originally planned that Hannah, my fellow SSTer here in Hyo., and I would be working at "comedors" or community kitchens here in the city. I thought the plan was to work at preparing and serving food, or helping with kids at the comedors. But, when I got in last week, I asked my host dad what the plan was for my work, and he knew about as much as I did. We spoke with the local pastor's wife, and Hannah's host mom, and found out that we should start work this Monday. However, last night we went over to Hannah's family's house, and found out that, in fact, it would be another week, on Monday the 10th, that we would be beginning our work. I'm still not positive what we will be doing, but it is possible that we may also begin some English classes for young kids at the comedor.

So, since I haven't started my service yet, I've just had a lot of free time to hang out. I've been doing a lot of reading at home, but haven't yet been able to explore the city too much, because I still don't completely know the transportation system. I have had a couple of highlights in my first weekend here in the city.

On Saturday, I went to the nicest park in Huancayo, Parque de la Identidad Wanka (Park of the Wanka Identity, Wanka is the local pre-Hispanic culture) and took some pictures. It is a pretty cool park, that took several years to build, and it definitely a bright spot in the city. The first few pictures in the post are from that visit. After the park, we went to the house of my host mom's sister, Olga, where we had a traditional dish called "pachamanca." It was a really good mix of chicken, beef, potatoes, and green beans, but it was definitely a lot to eat. After eating, we went down to the river that Olga lives near and just sort of hung out and enjoyed the local scenery. In the evening after Olga's house I went downtown with my host parents, Kim and Ruth, and my host dad's cousin, Misial, who also lives with us. We explored the main plaza of Huancayo a little bit and also visited a local artisan's market. Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery at the Parque de la Identidad, so I don't have any pictures of the rest of the day.

After a full of on Saturday, we got up bright and early on Sunday and went to the local market downtown. We left at about 6:30 am and went to buy rice, fruit, and some other necessary foods. It was amazing how the market is set up - there are small stalls all over the place selling various things, or specialized products like fruit. The market went on for several streets and was pretty packed with people, but my host dad told me that later in the day it would be about five times as busy. When we got home from the market, I made breakfast for my host family - American style pancakes - which they seemed to enjoy. After eating we went to church and then met some of my host dad's family for "parilladas" which is kind of like a Peruvian barbecue. After eating we also played some volleyball, which is a pretty popular local pastime. As I mentioned before, we also went to Hannah's host family's house for a little bit last night as well.

All in all, it was a pretty busy weekend, though my weekdays haven't been quite so eventful. I've been spending most of my time kind of lounging around our small apartment, but I think this week I'll be trying to get most of my work done on my final project, since I don't have to work all week. I'm sure I'll also be doing lots of reading, I just started Catcher in the Rye, and I'll probably get through that pretty quick. Anyway, I'll keep you updated on what I'm up to and I'll let you know what exactly my service work is, just as soon as I start it.