The REAL Peruvian Experience Begins....

After ten weeks of constant stress and continous training my friends and I have finally become volunteers. Following our graduation ceremony we all shared laughs and cries as we began to realize that our weeks together were finally over. Although I thought I would be estatic to end Peace Corps training, a major part of me wanted to continue, due solely to the friendships I had made (which were being forced to end as we became volunteers) during the ten weeks of training. While I pride myself on my ability to stay calm and mentally tough, I could not have been more of an emotional train wreck. As I was saying goodbye to two of my good buddies (who I probably wont see for at least one year) I realized how close we had all become in such a short span of time. For 10 weeks we had endured the ups and downs of training and had managed to become blood brothers/members of a united wolf pack. Now like 7 year old spartan warriors we were being asked to prove ourselves out in the wild, better known as Peru...Hopefully like King Leonidus we will be able to conquer our fears (not to mention kill a wolf-300 reference) and feelings of loneliness on our quest to become successful PC volunteers.

Following our graduation and of course my emotional breakdown, the Piura volunteers and I took a bus ride that we would never forget. Although I thought I would have trouble sleeping due to my nerves, I never would have imagined that a 1 yr old baby (Devils son) would be the cause of my restlessness. Lets just say for three hours I was deciding which pillow would work best to suffocate this devil child... Hopefully the first hours of my service as a PC volunteer are not a precursor for the rest of my time here in Peru....

After spending two days in Piura City buying groceries and flea repellent, Megan and I (sitemate) finally set off to Sicchez, which would be our home for the next two years...Following our 7 hours bus ride into the sierra of Peru we arrived in Sicchez ready for our Peruvian experience to begin...

Although previous volunteers have told us that the first weeks start off really slow, my time in Sicchez has been nothing but fast paced. Not only have I met a majority of the town leaders but I have also met with floor contractors, who will hopefully finish putting concrete on my floors before Sicchez becomes overrun with rain and mud. In addition to meeting many "important" people in my town, I have had my fair shair of run-ins with the town drunks, whose drink of choice is Cunyaso, a cheap but deadly alcoholic beverage. Cunyaso, which I believe is made out of everclear, volcanic lava and baboons ass is the worst drink I have tasted in my life. While discussing U.S immigration policies with 5 Peruvians, I was forced to drink Cunyaso, which made me want to rip out my stomach and cry for my mom. Not only did it taste like acid but it also made me think that I had superpowers...which I definitely dont have...Following my last shot of Cunyaso I decided that I had enough jumping ability to cross over an entire draining canal, which separated the house from the street. However, just as the movie white man cant jump shows, my white ass cant jump even when I am charged up with an out of this world drink...


P.S. Yesterday was the first glimpse that I got of what Sicchez will look like in the raining season. Although my family told me that the rain was weak in comparison to the storms they recieve in March, I still got an idea of what my town will look like in the raining season...lets just say I am going to be doing alot of reading, writing and watching movies (1/3 of my town leaves during the raining season to visit family elsewhere)