Wednesday, November 30, 2011

My busy month of November

Hello everyone,

I'll take a few minutes to update you on my life - a bit behind schedule, but that's okay (better late than never, right?). The beginning of November was pretty quiet in my life (although quite hectic everywhere around me - see my last blogpost to find out why). But once the first weekend passed, the rhythm of things picked up quite a bit.

On Tuesday, November 8th, I successfully completed my first solo trip in Peru: nothing big, but I went to Lima alone. I was let out of work a bit earlier in the afternoon so that I could catch my bus and get to Lima before the sun went down. The trip went very smoothly: I arrived in Lima shortly after 6pm and then took the bus straight away to Miraflores (the safest, cleanest, nicest part of Lima). When I got off the coach bus I was excited to be travelling alone again; I had forgotten the rush of how it feels. I mean, I carefully researched exactly where to go so I wouldn't look lost and would be efficient with my time, but it was nice to be independent and self sufficient. SUCH A GREAT FEELING. And I felt much safer this time in Lima. Probably because I know from where to where I was going and now I am familiar with the area, so it is not as scary. Also, my Spanish is much better than when I first got here (I kept thinking back at how much time had passed since the first time I did the trip from Lima to Huacho).

So I got to Miraflores and set off looking for a grocery store. I asked for some directions and found it no problem. Food in Lima is so expensive (at least compared to Huacho)! I felt like I was getting robbed at the grocery store, but I didn't have much of a choice. I took a taxi to the bed and breakfast (more than 2 times the price of a taxi in Huacho), but it was a safe taxi (taxi seguro) which has proper accreditation and some sort of fixed rate system. I got to the B&B safely so I can't complain.

The reason for this trip to Lima was actually to write three public service entrance exams with the Government of Canada. In September I applied for a few of the post-secondary recruitment positions, passed the first online multiple choice exam, and was now called to Lima to write three exams at the Canadian Embassy. Quite a jam packed day! I was not too stressed going into it and just hoping to do my best, and a few days ago I found out that I passed them all and am well above the cut-off mark. I think I have to wait a few more weeks to see if I move on to the next stage of the hiring process (an interview perhaps? I'm not quite sure what comes next), but at least things are on the move.

My solo trip back home to Huacho was comparable to my trip to Lima, except that I was so happy to get home and away from the big city. In Lima (or at least in Miraflores where I was staying) there were so many touristy restaurants and shops, people from all walks of life, busy-ness and noise. I have never been a big city person and I did not feel like I was in Peru (as I have come to know it). I enjoy the quiet little streets of Huacho, with typical criolla restaurants, and mototaxis zooming everywhere. So when Carlos and Itxel picked me up at the bus station I was overjoyed to see them and to know that I was home.

I barely had the time to get used to life in Huacho again before we set off on another trip to Lima (I got home on the Wednesday night and on the Friday morning at 6am we left again). This time Itxel, Carlos and I travelled together. Itxel and Carlos had a meeting with WUSC in Lima, and we were all going to spend the weekend doing some sightseeing together, so I tagged along for the ride and had some travel buddies this time.

Friday at the WUSC office was pretty relaxed. I sat in on the first part of the meetings and learned more about the UNITERRA program (another volunteer program run by WUSC and CECI), and then in the afternoon I spent time talking to Isabel (one of the WUSC employees who is super nice) about my upcoming trip to Tarapoto. For dinner, Itxel, Fernando and I found a pizza restaurant with an offer for free sangria, so we treated ourselves a little bit. Yummy!

The next day, Itxel, Fernando (another volunteer), and Juan (a WUSC coordinator) set off bright and early at 7am to go hiking. After taking two taxis and a bus, we were at the base of the mountain. We followed an agricultural route up through small villages and farmers' fields for about 4 hours to get to a beautiful waterfall.

Fernando, Juan, Itxel and I on our way up the mountain (in front of a field of cacti)

A lovely cactus flower

The Palacala waterfall
We had lunch while taking in the views, and then started our descend back to Surco (the town that we started from). Now this is where the unfortunate part comes in... so it was mid-November, and from November until about March is the rainy season in the mountains, yet coming from the dry, arid coast, I had forgotten this. Well, it didn't take long before it started raining (it rained a bit on our way up too), but not just raining - downpouring. And I was without rainjacket, and without rain protector for my backpack. Great. I think that for 2.5 hours of the 3 hour walk back down it was raining hard. At least I had a nice fleecy sweater so I didn't get too cold, but it was miserable. We took a bus back to Chosica (where Lima ends and the mountains really start) to grab a sandwich and some fresh fruit juice before heading back to Lima.

That night was nice and relaxing: after a warm shower, we went to a Persian restaurant that was recommended in my guidebook. Not only was it delicioussss, but also very nice to eat something a bit different from what we typically eat here (not that I am complaining about the food; Peruvian food is DELICIOUS). Afterwards, we met up with my friends Deua and Justina (also in INDEV from Waterloo) and we went out for drinks and then dancing. We were all pretty tired from a long day though and called it a night around 2 am... okay not bad, but not a crazy wild party, either.

On the Sunday morning Itxel and I took it easy, and while we were walking through Parque Kennedy (one of the main parks in Miraflores, a district in Lima) we stopped to check out paintings on display. I found one that I loved - for a price that I could not resist - and after bartering a bit, decided to buy the painting. My first piece of art for my future apartment :) It will be a nice reminder of my time here in Peru. We met up with Justina, Deua and her roommate for a delicious lunch at this cute little seafood restaurant, and then headed back to Huacho mid-afternoon. All in all, a successful trip (and we accomplished a lot! meetings, hiking, seeing friends, buying a painting!). I promise to takes pictures of my painting when I am back in Canada, but for now it is all wrapped up and protected so unfortunately you won't get to see it for a little bit.

So just when you think I've already had a busy month you would think it would quiet down a bit, no? Wrong! The next weekend I was off again, this time to Tarapoto. So now to explain. Sometime in October I found out that Juan Candia (my counterpart at EMAPA) would be travelling to Colombia for the last week of November for part of his master's (they were doing an exchange and taking classes in Bógota for a week). I jumped on the opportunity and asked Juan Escate (he works for WUSC) if I could use this time to go visit one of the other EMAPAs to learn about how things work there and see the differences between our EMAPA and another EMAPA. When I first arrived in Peru I was told that I would have the option to work for 4 months in Huacho and then 4 months either in Tacna (also on the coast, right next to Chile, so way in the south) or Tarapoto (north east of here, in the rainforest), but quickly decided that by the time I got installed and accustomed to things that if I moved, I wouldn't end up learning as much or contributing to the same extent. So I decided to stay in Huacho. But since Juan Candia was going to be away for a week and that I would not have much to do without him, I asked if I could go learn about EMAPA San Martín (located in Tarapoto), and it was approved! I had only 3 weeks to plan my trip, but luckily the WUSC staff suggested a few places to stay and booked my hotel for me, so it was manageable.

And with that, I will let you go. I'll dedicate an entire post to my 9-day stay in Tarapoto. I hope you've enjoyed reading, and that you'll come back to see what I did in Tarapoto, too!

Sheila

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