June 13 – June 21 was the wild ride experience of Field
Based Training (FBT). I traveled to the
coast of Lambayeque with seven other youth development
trainees and two of our trainers. I am so grateful to the awesome volunteers
currently working in Lambayeque who worked hard to make FBT a great learning
trip for us – especially our coordinator Erin. Below is a super long post chronicling our travels, work experiences, and,
most importantly, my lessons learned.
Traveling and First
Day in Chiclayo
Our training group made our way to Lima
(with a pit stop at the extravagant Jockey Plaza for American food, of course!)
to board the overnight bus from Lima
to Chiclayo – the capital city of Lambayeque . We had about a 12 hour bus ride that left at 7:30 so we arrived in Chiclayo
around 8 the next morning – bus-rested and ready to go! (Please note, bus-rested and well-rested are
two vastly differently things)
We were greeted at the bus station by our lovely host
Erin. Sunday we enjoyed a walking tour
of Chiclayo before a panel session
with current volunteers. I was super
impressed to have the opportunity to chat with something like 15 volunteers currently
serving in different areas of Lambayeque in different programs such as youth
development, business, and health.
Talking to current volunteers about their experiences, projects, and
sites is one of the most helpful parts of training. After hearing just as much advice as my brain
could handle, I headed with a group to eat lunch at a menu place.
So what’s menu (pronounced men-ew)? There are places in the communities here
called menu that have set menus they serve for lunch for only a few soles –
ranging, in my experience, from 3-7 soles – so we’re talking about a ton of
food for a couple dollars. This was my
first experience with menu. The first
course was a choice of sopa (soup) or Papa a La Huancaina (a popular dish here
made of potatoes covered in ahi amirarillo sauce). Then there were about 4-5 choices of main
dishes. I had sopa and arroz con pato
(rice with duck). It was really pretty
good and heaping portions.
Sunday we continued our travels 2 hours further to Olmos –
the city of Betty , a youth
volunteer, and her 2 MAC (environment
volunteers) site mates. We settled into our hostal in Olmos and prepared for
the work we would do in Betty’s site.
Olmos – Lambayeque – Peru
We stayed in Olmos for two days. We were able to see the market and plaza de
armas of el cuidad del limon (Olmos is super proud of it’s limes!) We also visited the Health Post were we met
Betty’s socio – the obstetrician – who shared experiences from the Pasos
Adelantes class.
Pasos is a Peace Corps curriculum for sex education with
teenagers that is used by many volunteers working for healthy youth and against
the nation-wide issue of teen pregnancy.
Our group also helped with Betty’s Damas Adelantes
classes. By volunteering in Peru
we are working in a machisimo culture.
Betty developed the Damas Adelantes program to work with teenagers on
combating some of the machisimo. I
worked with Scotney and Natalia – two other youth development trainees – on a
charla for a group of high school girls in the Damas Adelantes program on
critical thinking. Critical thinking is
something I have taken for granted through the education system of the
states. Critical thinking is inherently
valued in my culture and therefore naturally incorporated into the
curriculum. That is 100% not true in the
education system of Peru . The majority of all education is done lecture
style with an emphasis on correct answers and perfectly neat work rather than
on any creativity or individual ownership of the learning process. Therefore, critical thinking is an area of
need (and therefore an objective of the Peace Corps’ goals for youth
development) and something that must be specifically taught. Betty chose to begin her Damas Adelantes
program with lessons in critical thinking as critical thinking is needed to make
the connections and gain the understanding at the core of the Damas Adelantes
program.
And so – Betty graciously let us give a critical thinking
charla to her group. And with plenty of guidance from Betty, Scotney, Natalia
and I gave a charla on the difference between fact and opinion and why it is
important to differentiate between the two.
With a few mishaps, like running out of time and having one girl almost
faint during it, the charla went well and all members of the class seemed to
grasp the concept and enjoy the lesson.
I spent the majority of Tuesday in Olmos working on Spanish
and tutoring with Isabel – the wonderful language facilitator that accompanied
the trainee group to Lambeyeque. Other
groups gave charlas to Betty’s second group of Damas Adelantes girls. After charla-ing, we enjoyed a delicious
lunch at a fun, coastal restaurant where I had my first taste of the famous
seviche – a dish of fish that is chemically cooked by lime juice usually served
on a bed of platanos and camote (sweet potato).
After filling up, we headed back to the capital city of Chiclayo
to Hostal Amigos where we would stay for the remainder of the trip.
So Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we stayed in Chiclayo
but traveled by combi 30-60 minutes away to a different site each day.
Pimentel – Lambeyeque
– Peru
Wednesday we visited Ali’s site of Pimentel – a site on the
beach! With Ali, we visited the
municipality to hear from one of the psychologists about partnering with the
muni on projects, and then spent the majority of the day at the local
colegio. Some of the members of our
group gave charlas to secundaria classes which I got to observe. It was the first time I had observed other
trainees giving charlas so it was pretty cool to learn from them and see others
teach. We also all observed Ali’s Pasos
Adelantes class with two of her socios – a teacher and the obstetrician.
Following our work, we were able to see the beach for the
first time in Peru ! However, we did not stay long or get too
close as the wind was blowing the Peruvian winter air making it a little too
cold to fully enjoy – but we saw the beach none-the-less.
Also noteworthy for the day – I had my first REAL
Diet Coke since arriving in Peru . Peru ,
for some unknown reason, does not have Diet Coke. Instead, Coca-Cola Zero is sometimes
available and considered to by the same (which it is not, just so we are
clear). But in the city of Pimentel ,
there is actual, real Diet Coke. Which I
happily enjoyed in honor of my mother’s birthday, which so appropriately fell
on the same day as I found the Diet Coke treasure – so Happy Birthday, Mama!
Zaña – Lambayeque – Peru
Thursday we spent the day visiting Zach’s site of Zaña – a
city with a lot of history. We began the
day with a walking tour and a visit to Zach’s health post where we once again
heard from the psychologists on partnering with health posts on projects. We visited the Museo Afro-Peruano – located
in Zaña because of the African influence in the community. It was really an interesting experience to
see similarities and differences between what I know of the African culture in America
and now Peru . In Zaña, we enjoyed the customary large and
delicious lunch prepared by Zach’s host mother.
Following lunch, we gave charlas at a local public
colegio. This charla was one I’d like to
forget happened so I’ll leave it at that.
Let’s just say I won’t be jumping into any more classrooms anytime soon
before I have improved the Spanish and established a relationship with the group
I will be teaching. We enjoyed seeing some of the ruins in Zaña before heading
back towards Chiclayo .
Back in Chiclayo ,
I went with Scotney and DD, our tech trainer Ana Maria and some other
volunteers to the large Plaza Real (like a big mall) for a fashion show. A current business volunteer had worked with
her community to organize a great fashion show exhibiting the beautiful
embroidery work of her local artisans.
It was really cool to see how so many of the volunteers serving in
Lambayeque in different sectors came to Chiclayo
to support her project. Even a Cuerpo de
Paz staff member (the great Luis Lee) who happened to be doing site visits in
Lambayeque came out to support. It is
great to feel there will be support for my projects as I move away from the
group and into our more isolated sites.
Patapo – Lambayeque –
Peru
Friday we visited Patapo – Cayce’s site. The day started out quickly with charlas at a
local colegio. Cayce had organized a day
around the theme of women’s empowerment.
This started with me and the other trainees giving charlas to students
about important women in Peru ’s
history and in our lives and other trainees giving charlas on discrimination
and women’s empowerment. Following our
charlas, we participated in a futbol game Cayce organized for all the girls to
play while the boys had to hang out around the field and watch. It was pretty cool to see the girls get in
there and play (something they rarely have the opportunity to do since the boys
take it over) while the boys watched in frustration (and sometimes
amusement).
Also in Patapo, we met with the alcalde (mayor) and worked
with the local youth group to begin work on a mural as part of the Accion
Poetica movement in Lambayeque.
Saturday we stayed in the capital city of Chiclayo
– La Cuidad de la Amistad (The City of Friendship). We began the day leading sessions at the institute
of English Chiclayo . The teachers were part of a program of the
United States Embassy.
Teaching English was a really neat experience for me for a
few reasons. For one, I am working to
learn Spanish and have daily frustrations along the way so it was neat to
connect with Peruvians working to learn English experiencing similar
difficulties. Also, we hear and see a
lot of examples of disengaged teachers – specifically English teachers – in our
training. It was humbling and inspiring
to work with a group of such dedicated teachers who had passion to learn
English and better teach their students.
I know I and some of the other trainees have interest in working with
the English teaching institutes in our capital cities when we get to site after
this experience.
In the afternoon we visited the Museo Tumbas Reales del
Senor Sipan. Senor Sipan is a mummy of
the Mochican culture found in Lambayeque.
The Mochican culture ruled the area during the early hundredsAD. As a person who enjoys the ambiance and
knowledge of museums, I really enjoyed seeing the artifacts, culture, and rich
history included in the museum and all of Lambayeque.
Following our trip to the museum, I picked up a quick
present for my host family (the King Kong sweet that Lambayeque is famous for)
and headed to the bus station for another 12 hour bus ride to return to Lima .
After a long week of traveling it was nice to return home to
my neighborhood of 3 de Octubre in Chaclacayo and my host family. The past week put two things into perspective
–
One, I am so excited to learn what my site is and where I
will be living for the next 2 years.
Two, I will miss Chaclacayo, my first host family, and the
comforts of the training center as we finish training and begin our work as
Peace Corps Volunteers.
Overall, I came back energized to continue improving upon my
ever-growing Spanglish, finish training to begin my work, and thankful for my
host family here.
And, of course, I need to share my two biggest lessons of
the trip:
With the crazy drivers of Peru
and specifically Chiclayo – ALWAYS
CROSS WITH CONFIDENCE
And at the end of each day – put your hands in the air and
remind yourself – I WON TODAY
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