Melissa and Katrina Hit the Gym (The Humans, Not The Pigs.)

Hello again from Huanuco! Katrina and I are sitting on our beds blogging while listening to the sounds of pig snores, which, surprisingly, is new for the two of us.

Anyway—let’s recap the week, shall we? Our twist for the week was that Jimmy was home. Jimmy, 24, is one of Orlando and Carolina’s sons. He shares a room with his brother Antonio at the house, but spends a lot of time travelling for work. His schedule seems fairly unpredictable, but with some good fortune he got to spend most of the week relaxing with the family in Huancachupa.

This would be the giant popcorn we destroyed. 

Actually—I should probably clarify that. I’m convinced that nobody in Orlando and Carolina’s family truly knows what the word “relax” means. For example, Carolina works six days a week, then spends a majority of her day off washing the family’s clothes in the river, working around the house and serving up a mean Sunday dinner. Like mother, like son, Jimmy isn’t a fan of relaxing either. One day off work, he spent hours upon hours digging a giant hole in the backyard, just to have another place to burn trash. And it wasn’t long before he felt compelled to make a few trips to local gyms and luckily Katrina and I were able to tag along.

Going to the gym in Huanuco like none of the gyms I’ve experienced before. First, I’ve visited three different gyms here and none of the them had more than two working pieces of cardio equipment; the gyms all primarily centered around weightlifting. Second, the gyms all have free personal trainers that follow you around and tell you what to do. At the first gym we went to, the trainer very bluntly told Katrina and I that we were overweight and if we signed up for his program, he could help us lose some of our belly fat. Why thank you my good sir—but my belly fat and I are on a budget. Moving on—perhaps the most glorious part of gyms here are that they’re more… relaxed. At the second gym we went to, someone brought their Scottie dog with them, and between sets I very happily petted it (amidst people staring at me like I was crazy.) In the end, Katrina and I were both happy to get back into a workout routine; although I do have to say, having jello legs makes the Hill of Death a very interesting experience.

The river on a busy laundry day.

Another highlight of the week is that the two piggies that live in our backyard finally got names: Melissa and Katrina. At first, I was slightly offended at having a pig named after me, but I have to admit that I love the pigs. My favorite part of our mornings here is when Carolina finishes cleaning out the pig pen and we get to chase Melissa and Katrina around the yard until they run into their pen. Another delightful part of having the pigs is that twice a day, I wander over to their pen, stick my hand inside and get what I call “nose kisses” from Melissa. I love it when she touches my hand with her little nose and wiggles her tail and snorts! Sometimes Pom Pom sneaks up behind me while I’m doing this, and barks and snaps at the pigs until they’re mortified. I don’t know why, but Pom Pom highly delights in torturing the pigs.

Thursday, Katrina and I did something we’ve been planning since we arrived in Huanuco: we saw the movie Catching Fire. We trekked to the local mall and shamelessly bought the biggest popcorn the theatre offered to split between the two of us. The movie was dubbed in Spanish, so we didn’t necessarily understand every word, but we both left the theatre incredibly happy (and jammed full of popcorn.)

After the movies, the weekend came upon us quickly. Saturday morning, Katrina and I went “swimming” in the river with Eynor and Fabrizio. I say swimming loosely because we’d had a particularly rainy week and the current in the river was so strong that it took everything you had just to stand in it without falling over. The horrifying part of this is that neither Eynor nor Fabrizio are very strong swimmers, so Katrina and I spent most of our time trying to make sure nobody washed down river. In the process, Katrina and I both got ourselves washed downstream and we have a few scrapes to prove it. All the same, our river adventure was still fun and I’m hoping we’ll do it again, on a day with a little calmer water.

Fabrizio, Eynor and the hand turkeys.

When Sunday fell upon us we were confronted with a slight problem: our preacher, Jimmy, had to leave on business. Luckily, Orlando stepped up to the plate and took over preaching. Katrina and I had a few of our own things planned for the service. First, we led an activity making hand turkeys to share a little bit of American Thanksgiving with the Peruvians. Second, we played Kum Bai Ya on our flutes. I should note that I haven’t played the flute since I was in eighth grade, so it was a bit rough; but when it comes to World Service Corps in Peru, you never quite know what you’ll find yourself doing. Every week I do something that I wouldn’t consider myself an “expert” at, but every week I get through it and life goes on. I keep telling Katrina that by the time I leave here, I will have no shame left in me.

As for this week, we’re already off to a running start. All of the dogs got new flea baths today, Katrina and I both tried our hand at hair dye in Peru and we have big plans to try to tickle the pigs this week—I’ll explain the significance of that later. Until then, Happy early Thanksgiving and eat some turkey for me! 

Living in a Man's World

Things are finally back to normal in Huanuco! I have a bit of a cold coming on, which Carolina insists is from the dogs (she has valid reason—two of the dogs here have a cold.) Her new thing to do is to tell me I can only touch the dogs with a stick, “no mas.” I’ve started getting scolded when someone catches me cuddling up to a dog, but I think everyone also realizes that trying to keep me away from the dogs is a lost cause. The evolving compromise is that I, alongside the 7 and 11 year old, have to prove that I’ve washed my hands before dinner. Fair enough.

Sling Shotting: It´s harder than it looks.

Anyway, with our strength back to normal, Katrina and I spent last week getting back into our routine: teaching English classes, getting ready for church activities and spending time with the family. It was an easy week for me, because I didn’t have any responsibilities for the service, so I ended up spending quite a bit of time with the family.

My family time in Huanuco is quite different than my family time in the States. The biggest difference is that Carolina and Orlando’s family is male dominated. I come from a family with three girls and one boy; in this family, there’s five boys and one girl. Thus, I’m not accustomed to toilet seats being up, someone being shirtless at all times, and accidentally walking up on someone peeing in the backyard. At the same time, I’m somewhat in my element: because there are very few feminine bones in my body.

For example: Eynor’s favorite activity is practicing with his sling shot in the backyard. Generally, this is not the most girly of activities, but Katrina and I have jumped on board with sling shot practice.  Eynor has one sling shot that is more, Bart Simpson style, with a stick attached, and another other sling shot that’s just a piece of elastic. The latter one is a little harder to work and often results in you launching a rock at your own finger. While I have to admit Katrina and I are far from experts, I can at least say I won Sunday’s pre-church milk can killing competition.

The milk cans (aka our targets.) Notice that we haven´t hit any.

Moving on, Katrina and I have hit our one month mark in Huanuco. We celebrated, by trekking to the mall and eating some burgers at Bembos, a Peruvian fast food spot equivalent to Diary Queen. We also stopped by Radio Shack (turns out they have those in Peru) to get a surge protector. Electronics in Peru use more watts than electronics in the States and energy comes in bursts. Thus, after a month in Huanuco, Katrina’s computer cord burnt up and she had to wait week before we could find her a new one. While we were at the mall, we also had to stock up on bottled water. Between the two of us, Katrina and I drink about 2.5 liters of bottled water a day, which means we need to stock up on water as often as we can. This may sound easy, but remember last week’s post about the Hill of Death? Carrying five liters of water up the Hill of Death is enough to make anyone sweat.

Friday night, a crowd of us gathered for a church planning meeting, where we dished out service responsibilities. Katrina and I weren’t sure whether delegating out duties would go well or not, but Sunday we had the highest attendance we’ve had since coming to Huanuco.

Activities started with a few hours of volleyball with the kids, then we all filed into Orlando and Carolina’s living room for the service. We ended up having to bring in more chairs from the kitchen, which was a welcome dilemma. Jimmy presided, and I got my first taste of what church in Huanuco is like when we aren’t here. Jimmy pretty much radiates energy everywhere he goes and church was no exception. He led a lot of interactive activities where he would say things like, “Who saves us?” and the audience would yell, “Jesus!”

Katrina trying her hand at the sling shot.

After Jimmy warmed up the crowd, his grandfather Antonio led us in a few songs. I’m not sure why, but music has been a bit of a struggle in Huanuco. We struggle to find the rhythm, the beat and to sing remotely on pitch. Generally, songs here have been a bit freestyle, where you just hope that everyone finishes singing at the same time. It’s an art we’re going to need to perfect a bit more before Katrina and I lead a campfire next week.

Moving on, Katrina preached and once more we encountered the intimidating experience where someone interrupts the person preaching to add their insight. When you think about it—it’s a great way to go about church. In all of my teaching classes in college the professors warned us against standing up front and lecturing all day; so why do it in church? When it comes to preaching, it’s still a slightly intimidating idea, leading a discussion about a scripture and you can’t help but think things might get a little heated—but it’s an idea worth trying. Anyway, Katrina handled the situation with grace, the service wrapped up nicely and everyone went on their way.

As for this week, Katrina and I are planning a few things so we can teach the Peruvians a little about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is really the first big, family holiday that Katrina and I are missing while in Peru, but it’s exciting to be able to share a few aspects of the day with the people here.  Until then, eat some turkey for me! 

Soy Milk, Interpretive Dance and The Hill of Death

It’s a rainy day in Huanuco, and I have secretly smuggled a very wet Oso into the living room with me so he can dry off for a bit—don’t tell! Whenever the dogs are doing something naughty they immediately run to me for shelter and it makes it very obvious that I reinforce their bad habits (going inside the house, eating dinner scraps, jumping up, etc.)

Anyway, last week was a bit of a blur because I still had to spend nearly the whole week in bed. While my fever subsided, my stomach issues seemed to intensify. It was a struggle to eat, an even greater struggle to keep anything in my body for more than 10 minutes and the stomach cramping was fairly constant. By the end of the week, a small fever began showing its face again, so yesterday we went back to the clinic.

No sick week pics--here´s one from the concert last week

By this point, I had already called World Service Corps’ insurance to ask about my problems and they informed me I had “travelers’ diarrhea” and didn’t need to action until I had symptoms for over 10 days. I was less than thrilled with the diagnosis (since I was well aware I was both a traveler AND had diarrhea—and also prefer to call the sickness Montezuma’s Revenge.) Anyway, with this weariness in mine, Orlando and I trekked off to a new clinic. We waited for hours, only for the doctor to look at me for two minutes and diagnose travelers’ diarrhea once more. Needless to say, I was frustrated. Regardless, the doctor asked for a stool sample, so I once again got to play the charming game of “What can I eat that will very quickly give me horrible diarrhea?” The answer, in case you’re wondering, was soy milk. 

So after waiting in the clinic from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., we finally got back in with the doctor, he looked at the results of the stool sample and said I was “abundant” with bacteria and had a strong infection. I got new meds and I’ve already started the regiment, and I pray that this time does the trick. Living in Huancachupa and being sick simply don’t go well together. 

An example: Huancachupa is on top of a hill. To get anywhere, you have to go down the hill and take a bus or moto taxi into town. You can follow the road down the hill and it will take you 25 minutes, then the bus takes 35 minutes—so it’s an hour to get anywhere. Then there’s the short cut. If you brave it, the short cut gets you down the hill in 15 minutes—thus you have the chance of getting somewhere in under an hour. The issue? The shortcut begins with a corn field where angry dogs try to bite you—don’t’ worry, if you pretend you’re going to throw rocks at them, they back off. After the angry dogs begins a rock trail straight downwards, that Katrina and I have fallen down multiple times. Generally, I walk down it slower than everyone else and like a newborn calf, but it’s about the only way to keep myself from falling. The only thing more glorious than going down the rock trail is going up it on the way home— scaling the rocky death trail. Did I mention sometimes we do this after dark? By the time I get to the top, I always feel like I need to work out more and go on a diet. Getting back to the point—this trail while you’re sick and weak—not my cup of tea. Lately, I’ve just told people, “I’ll meet you at the house—it’s going to take me a while.” 

No sick week pics--here´s us during our first week at the mall!

Moving on to happier things, most of the family is well now. Antonio, Orlando, and Eynor are in perfect health. Katrina is at about 95%. Carolina and I seem to be the only ones lagging behind, but I’m hoping the medicine will give me the edge I need now. In our ragged state, we didn’t get to have any bible studies last week and we only managed one English class, but this week we’re getting back on track. 

Sunday we had the service intended for the Sunday before. I presided and Orlando preached. We even had a very unique Communion—animal crackers and water—but you make do with what you have. Another “unique” part of the service came from Eynor. I asked Eynor to share something a few weeks ago and he told me he’d be sharing an “interpretive dance.” Welp—when the service rolled around, it turned out his interpretive dance was to a song about a father asking God to protect his son. The interpretive dance? It was Eynor pretending to be the father, and spending three full minuets physically abusing Fabrizio (the son). After three full minuets of child abuse, Fabrizio delivered the moral of the story: “Never leave the house without your parents permission.” It didn’t’ really apply to the theme of “Respond to Grace” (at least I hope not…) but it did wake everyone up. I might use more caution next time I ask an 11 year old boy to share something for church. 

Looking ahead, Katrina and I are just trying to get back on track. Being sick for a week hurt us—when you only get eight weeks here, it stinks to lose one. But little by little, we’ll get back to where we need to be. Until then!

Sickness in Peru: Take Four

Welp—we’ve survived another week in Huanuco; this one, with quite a few more curve balls.

Last Monday began my personal mission called Operation Dog Wash. I found some relatively cheap flea shampoo at a local store and we finally had running water at the house. One after another, Eynor and I captured each dog, threw them in a tub of water, suds them up, then, somehow, held them still for eight minutes while the suds set in. During our wait time, I discovered a new past times Garrpata killing.

Eynor and our Jack-o-Lantern!

From what I can tell, a garrapata is basically a tick, and since we live in the countryside, they’re plentiful. One by one, Eynor would pull garrapata after garrapata out of the dogs ears and it was my job to crush them with a rock. Pom Pom was easily the garrapata queen, with the three biggest ones I’ve ever seen, and a mountain of small ones.

Eventually, we got all the dogs washed except Oso—because we knew bathing him just wasn’t feasible without multiple dog bites. The highlight of the day was certainly watching Eynor drag 65 pound Lucky across the yard for his bath.

Tuesday was Katrina and I’s first day teaching English class on Hunin street, which is down in the city of Huanuco. Hunin is where a few of Orlando’s relatives live. Many times that we’re there, Orlando’s mother is there and though I have a hard time understanding what she says most of the time, I can usually pick up the word “Gringita.” (Which basically means white girl) Our first class had a variety of age groups—everywhere from about 5 years old to 12 years old. Needless to say, it was a challenge to make a lesson plan that worked for everyone in the room, but considering the odds, I think we did pretty well.

Wednesday we celebrated Halloween with Jimmy, Eynor and Fabriscio. Everyone in Peru has heard of Halloween, but nobody seems to understand what it is or how it’s celebrated. For example, more than one person asked us if the meaning of the word “Halloween” was “Hello Devil” because apparently that’s what the English teachers have been teaching. Anyway, we bought the last pumpkin in Plaza Vea, carved it, put a candle inside and roasted the seeds. We also bobbed for apples, ate some gummy vampire fangs and ended the night with a scary movie. A pretty good Halloween, if I do say so myself.

The Marcos Witt concert!

Now, the reason we celebrated Halloween a day early is because Thursday we went to a concert by a Christian singer named Marcos Witt. In true Peru-style, the concert started more than three hours late, during which time Katrina and I sampled: a hotdog on a stick, a hamburger, popcorn and picarones. Once the concert finally started, they removed the gate keeping us peons with the cheap seats back and, naturally, everyone ran forward to join the fray of concert goers. Many people climbed on their chairs in order to see, which was ironic, because Katrina and I were preparing for

last weekend’s service about the story of Zaccaheus. At the end of the day, it was a good concert, despite the waiting, and we went home pretty satisfied. Definitely worth the $7 ticket.

Saturday, Katrina and I went swimming for the second time since arriving in Huanuco. The climate is so warm here, it’s perfect for swimming, but somehow we’ve managed to only go swim on cold days. Regardless, Katrina and I took Eynor and Fabriscio to the pool, swam around a bit, then headed home with some groceries to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner on Sunday.

Mohada: Not the most lady like dog. 

Sunday began on a good note-- Eynor and I ran into town to pick up a few last ingredients. Eynor and I were the first people at the local grocery store, Metro, which apparently means you’re really special. They had me cut a giant ribbon, take a picture, shake hands, and then walk through an isle of clapping employees. While it was fairly embarrassing, it was also pretty hilarious and we got a free baguette out of the affair. And this is about when the ominous stomach cramps began. Things went downhill quickly—by 4 p.m. a fever hit me and it became event I wasn’t going to be able to preside later that night. One by one, whatever the sickness is, began taking out the family, second was Katrina, next Eynor, then Carolina. By now, everyone has had a little run-in with it—although I was the only one who managed to have a high fever the entire time.

Luckily both Jimmy and Antonio studied nursing and they were saints, staying up with me throughout two nights and helping me cool down with wet towels. By far the most embarrassing part of the affair was when Antonio had to give me a shot in my butt—but at this point, I’d let go of any pride I was hanging onto. Eventually, Katrina and I made it to the clinic today, got some medicine and more shots and we’re on the mend. I’m incredibly thankful to say I haven’t had a fever all day, which has felt magnificent.

On that note—I should probably get some rest. Hopefully by the time I write again my stomach will have decided to stop hating me!

The Huanuco Lifestyle

Hello again from Huanuco!

I’m typing this on the roof, trying to get some color on my hopelessly pale legs, and the puppies Hueso and Pom Pom have taken the liberty of wrestling and biting each other right next to me/on top of my right leg. So it goes.

So Katrina and I have completed our first week without Wilfredo in Huanuco. We’re starting to settle into a routine, though we still have a few kinks to work out. Regardless, here’s about what the schedule looks like:

Showing a little love for Huanuco!

Mondays – Thursdays we teach an English class to some of the local children. While we’ve been trying to spread the word, it hasn’t really taken off too much yet—right now we have three students: Eynor, Carolina and Orlando’s son, Fabricio, Carolina’s nephew that lives with us, and Estefanie, one of the neighbors. Teaching has been fun, and I love hearing the phrases that stick with people. For example, Eynor’s favorite phrase is, “A big window.”

Last week, Katrina and I found ourselves spending a majority of our time with Fabricio (7) and Eynor (11). Typically, we pick the boys up from school around 2 p.m., take a combi home with them, help them finish their homework, teach them English, then either play cards or watch a movie with them until dinner (which is generally around 8:30 p.m. here.) They’re good kids, but it has been an adjustment for Katrina and I. The other night, Fabricio cried for over an hour because Eynor wouldn’t pass him the sugar at dinner. Interestingly enough, the form of discipline to finally make Fabricio stop crying was Carolina giving him a cold shower. I’v e never seen someone use that tactic before, but it was effective.

Thursday and Friday last weekend, Carolina stayed home from work to do a few chores around the house and that gave us some time to chat with her. We did another load of hand washed laundry, this time in the comfort of the backyard, and chatted about her childhood and her escaping from a difficult life. Her honesty, matter-of-fact thinking, and everything she has overcome were touching to hear, even with our struggles across the language barrier.

(From left) Eynor, Orlando, Fabrisio and I on a little walk!

Friday and Saturday, Katrina and I got our first taste of some of the troubles the Huanaco congregation has. Friday, Katrina and I waited over two hours for our first leadership meeting to start. By the time everyone showed up for the meeting, we’d trekked off to an internet café to wait it out. When we finally got the meeting started, we actually didn’t get anything planned for the rest of the month, just confirmed what our daily routine is.

Saturday night, Katrina and I prepared to teach our first bible study class, but unfortunately nobody showed up. A few times since coming to Callao we’ve had the predicament of—if nobody outside of the family shows up to church, should you still have the activity? Or just go home? There’s a scripture in Matthew that says wherever two or more people are gathered, Christ is there—and that would incline me to say we should go ahead and have church—but sometimes, it’s hard. When everyone in the family has spent their entire day working, I know they don’t necessarily want to jump straight into a bible study, especially if they’re the only one there. It’s an issue Katrina and I will continue to experiment around with.

The backyard at Orlando´s--dogs and chickens not included.

Sunday was my first time preaching in Huanuco. I was hoping to have a little more time before I had to preach here, but mid-way through the week Katrina and I realized nobody had planned anything for the weekend’s church activities and stepped up to the plate. Preaching here is a unique experience. Because church is held in Orlando’s living room people get a bit comfy—and there was at least two people sleeping during my sermon. There were about 15 people in the room, and at least four of them were children, which meant there was also a healthy amount of whispering and side conversation. While all of this could have been upsetting, there was one person in the room who was continually making eye contact, nodding their head and listening—and for this, it’s all worth it. I know preaching isn’t about ME and if I feel satisfied with it—but it still feels nice to know that one person was listening to you. Katrina presided Sunday and had a few struggles of her own; presiding means your basically the ring leader, and I was like the main attraction (I’d like to think of myself as the lion); however more than a few times there as a—for lack of a better description—power struggle during the service. While Katrina had her plans for events, more than once someone stepped in and tried to lead the service in a different direction.

Looking ahead—I’m presiding this weekend, and that does give me a bit of anxiety for what may be in store for me; however, like I said, leadership in the church isn’t about me—it’s about the church and finding a way to help everyone get what they need from the church activities. With that on my plate, a concert coming up this week, and a few Halloween plans, it looks to be another busy week. Until then, saludos from Huanuco!