Claire's Care Package

Shout out to Claire for the care package(s), and my apologies to anyone in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area in search of sugarless gum. Claire beat you to it. But since she just moved across the country to the east coast, you can expect Costco will be back in-stock with your favorite brands soon.

I can’t wait for her next care package with a real Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich (I’d like the works). In exchange for the sandwich, you will receive one free snow removal service*.

* Offer only valid August 2013, and lasting to September 2013.     

Pancakes: the new apple pie.

Later I will write more about Sra. Betty at “El Gordo” (the restaurant where Roger works), but for now the key point is that Sra. Betty runs the restaurant, always offers me food, is well respected in the community and willing to help me (or any other person in need) whenever she can. So, when she asked me what I liked to eat in the United States, I was surprised when I heard myself blurt out “pancakes!”. Of all the dishes, that’s the first, and only, that came to mind at that very second. Sorry mom: somehow your prime rib didn't come to mind…. But it might have been for the better, as Betty and the wait staff had never heard of pancakes (or pan-kay-kays as they are translated to here). So I offered to make them for them.   We scheduled a Thursday night (mornings weren’t an option), and I went to Caraz that day to buy the ingredients (including bananas and chocolate). Then after the Thursday night football club, I showed up at the restaurant to show them how to make pancakes. I made a banana/pineapple syrup, and whipped out a big bowl of batter. As they typically are, the first few weren’t the best, but once I got the skillet right they came out pretty good. Peruvian’s are always super nice, but I think it’s safe to say the pancakes were a big hit. Not to be out done, Betty offered to make me a few after watching what I did, and it was soon obvious that she knows how to cook. Basically, she adapted what I was doing and made them into a folded stuffed pancake type dish. So the end result (which I ate 3 plates of), was a thinner pancaked that was cooked with a lid on until almost cooked through, then she’d add the chocolate, bananas, and syrup and fold the pancake over on itself, omelet-style. It was delicious.  There are no pictures of this event, as I had allowed the health post to barrow my camera for a couple of days; however, I’m sure there will be other pancake parties in the near future (and pictures will be taken).

Labor Day Week in Caraz (Part one)

It has been a mellow, but interesting week for me. Not my typical Labor Day week/weekend where I shake off the shock that another school year has started, and that summer has pretty much come to an end. Honestly, it doesn't even feel like I've had a summer this year (Something I didn't realize until I met up with a fellow volunteer who just returned from a wedding at Holland Lake Lodge in Montana, meaning she drove by my cabin/family... I could still smell the pine trees on her). Anyway, today is a vacation day for us volunteers (Labor Day), and I needed to come to the capital city, so I figured it would be a good time to update the ol' blog.

Soccer Game:
Entertainment and sporting events are few and far between in Yurocoto, so when there was soccer tourney (winners taking 1,000 S/.) held in town on Sunday, it wasn't surprising that Dina loaded up the kids (Jeferson, Jordan, and Brice) and took them to the game (just like any other soccer mom, minus the mini-van that has multiple DVD players). The games were kinda boring, as most of the players weren't very good; however, the walk home proved to be pretty scenic.

The soccer field.

Dina holding Jordan, with Jefferson.

Walking home from the game.

Jefferson running out ahead of us. Nevada Santa Cruz to the upper left.

Nevada Santa Cruz as seen from Yurocoto.

Jefferson

Visit to Casha Pampa:
Monday was a free day from school because Tuesday was a holiday ("Santa Rosa de Lima Day"). So I "aprovechar-ed" (took advantage of) the day to visit the 2 volunteers closest to me (Ali and Sara Jane). Both are environment volunteers, and both have super cool, small town sites. Sara Jane's site is the entrance to the Santa Cruz Trek (a popular 3-7 day through hike among the nevadas of the Corridellera Blanca). She works with the National Park, and has her own forest!!! In reality, she's in charge of planting 500 trees each year, and working on improving the park's management. I didn't get to see her trees, but I have time. In her spare moments, she works with the park guards (trying to teach them English), and started the hobby of weather tracking. Her family is super nice, which I confirmed through the following tests:

1: They were cooking and needed firewood for the fire, so being the manly man I think I am, I took the axe from her mom, and offered the cut the piece of wood she has started on. Little did I realize that Peruvian axes are little more than a glorified sledge hammers, and that Sara Jane's mom made chopping wood look easy. My first swing the axe bounced off the wood, and the wood rolled down the hill into the ditch (making the firewood significantly harder to light). I promptly gave the axe back to Sara Jane mom, and walked off in shame.

2: At 4:00PM I began waiting for a cab back down to Yurocoto  (6S/.). At 5:30PM I felt like I was reliving the scene from the movie "The Jerk" where Steve Martin tries to hitch hike out of town to start his life in the real world. By 7:00 PM, I gave up all hope as every car I stopped was just heading to their home, no mas. 8:00 PM I found myself in Sara Jane's kitchen as they fed me, and we discussed the impending sleeping arrangements (Sara Jane was going to to sleep with her little host brother in his bed), luckily, a van drove by that was going to Caraz, and they were willing to take me with them. So I grunted and mumbled my thanks to the family, as ran out the door with my backpack.

Sara Jane's host mother preparing a cuy for lunch.

My first chop, and the start of the race to save the log from the ditch

Me proudly walking back with the log I saved from the ditch.

The sunset I caught while waiting for a cab.

The canyon over my head is the entrance to the park, and the start of the Santa Cruz trek.

To be continued...

Labor Day Week in Caraz (Part 2)

The Workfront:
Work was kinda slowed by school vacaciones (vacations) and government visits; however, I have had some successes. If you're ever in my neck of the woods on Thursdays at 4:00 PM, you'd be more than welcome to join the soccer club at the colegio in Yurocoto; however, be prepared to be smoked by little kids half your size, and a third your age. If soccer isn't your thing (I'm looking at those of you coming from 326 S. 20th), you might be able to join our Paso Adelante/Health Promoters group (Wednesdays and Fridays from 3-5). This is a group motivated kids looking to promote healthy life-styles in their community. On Friday we elected a junta directiva (group government), Alicia is our fearless president, and we held our first "Noche de Cine"/"Movie Night" this Sunday. The "Noche de Cine" featured a short Discovery film on climate change, and earned the group  S/. 5.20 towards future activities.

Director Florencio swearing in the Junta.

Cecilia receiving her certificate left by Christie.

Movie night.

"The toughest job you'll ever love" :
This is the recruiting slogan that is often thrown around by the Peace Corps, and I have to say that in some aspects, it is very true. Case in point: The time I spend trying teach Jefferson his letters and numbers (possibly the longest part of my day). He's high energy, seven years old, and knows how avoid doing work. Academically, he can correctly identify 3 of the 30 letters in the Spanish alphabet and his ability to recall number values is almost non-existent (however, he does have "A,E,I,O,U" and "1-10" memorized, but he doesn't know what they mean).

It's pretty frustrating when he comes home with homework requiring him to do multiple digit subtraction/addition, or reading comprehension questions, when he still needs to learn the basics. It's also frustrating when I try to teach him, and Dina (my host-mother) sits in the background trumpeting his "inability to learn" (she's too is just beginning to learn how to read). However, slowly but surely, it's starting to click. He's learning to spell his name*, and it's getting more popular (at least with the cousins) to spend time teaching Jefferson. One of my personal goals to have him reading by the end of my service (August 2013 doesn't seem like enough time).

Kathy, our cousin, reading to Jefferson in-front of my room.

* Jefferson and I started our educational journey together in the wrong direction. I spent good hour teaching him "J". We drew it, made it with our bodies, used a garden hose to walk the letter, and went on a scavenger hunt to find words that have the letter "J". Then when Roger come home from work, I boasted that Jefferson had learned the first letter of his name. Roger looked at me blankly and said, "Se escribe con Y"... yep, the kid spells it "Yeferson" (pronounced Jefferson). Oops, I guess "J" is just a bonus letter that we had to learn it sooner or later.






Trips to Caraz.
 With the school vacations, I was able to use the downtime to make a few trips to Caraz to make some copies, have a window made (63S/. including the metal, glass, and cement), and met up with the other Peru 17ers. All the trips were pretty uneventful, expect for the trip to the copy store, where I scared the life out of myself, 2 old ladies, and the young girl working at the store.

The short story is: when I pulled my leather binder from my backpack (which had been sitting on my bedroom floor), I found a scorpion staring up at me. I stifled a scream typical of a 3 year old girl, and threw the binder with the arthropod across the room, scaring the old ladies (who I assume figured the gringo was nuts or had more scorpions with him). Once I regained my composure, I calmly walked across the room, stepped on it, and then turned to the girl and ask for 20 copies (costing 50 centimos). However, no one else was ready to continue with the day, until they lectured me on the various poisonous animals in Peru, and how I need to be more careful since I live in the campo. Almost a half an hour later, the lesson was learned (I now check my shoes on 15 minute intervals). There are no scorpion pics, but here are some of the 17ers.

Peru 17 (Ancash) together on my turf of Caraz.

Peru 17 Ancash.

The heads of  Peru 17 Ancash.

Food poisoning
Speaking of poisonous things, stay away from my host-mom's soup. This is something that dawned on me as I spend Saturday night performing an ab workout that would make Tony Horton cry. Those of you looking to get your beach body in 8 hours, and feel like crap, just do what I did.


Eat bad soup for both lunch and dinner, then wake up 10:00PM and hold an inner-debate with yourself about whether or not you want to make a night-time trip to the latrine. 10:15 PM perform your first wind sprint to the latrine. Then every hour after that, re-run your sprint to the driveway, lunge into the puking position on all fours, heave, and then crawl up the hill to the latrine, hoping the whole way that: a) there is still toilet paper left; b) there are no spiders or scorpions laying in you path; and c) Some higher power will smite you and end the misery. Continue this until you finally fall asleep at 6:30am, to be soon awoken by Huanyo music being blared by your host-father at 7:00am. (I also awoke expecting to share similar war stories with the family, but the only thing they told me was that my body needs to become accustom to the food here in Peru. Not what I was looking for).

There's always an upside, and in my illness induced haze, I do remember thinking two positive things: 1) Usually volunteers want to quit the most when they are sick; however, it barely crossed my mind (minus missing a flushing toilet and a cold ceramic floor to pass out on); and 2, At 3:00am in the campo there are copious amounts of (bastante) stars, making me real glad I was still alive (well, barely alive).

Shower Video

So as promised, here is a follow up video of the shower Roger made using recycled materials. The key features being the latrine platform and the Keiko for President banner. Imagine having John McCain grinning at you every time you showered.

I promise this video is "G" rated:

Shower Video

Odds and Ends

Minor Quake During School:

During my second day at site, while the health post was giving an all day charla, there was a 6.6 earthquake in northern Peru. We felt the trembles, and all calmly walked outside to wait for a few minutes. It was interesting to see the school's reaction, and it gave me a moment to discuss planning for emergencies. No injuries, and just one small crack in the school's ceiling. No picture is  available due it it being a charla and kinda a serious deal. 

Walking to School with Jefferson

Jefferson has a hard time reading, writing and doing math; so needless to say, he also has a hard time going to school. However, he seems to like the attention he gets when he goes with his big brother. Here's Jefferson and I on our way to school. 

Cuy Being Born

When cuy are born there are two possible reactions (depending on your current hemisphere). Either it is: "Awe, look at the cute baby guinea pigs!", or "Yes, more food!". Due to my current location, these are future Cuy Picantes. Side note: My host mom is buying some rabbits this week. Ol' MacDonald has nothing on Dina.

Pasos Group

Shout out (again) to Christie for hooking me up with this group of kids and the school director. They are youths (hence the youth development program) that have completed a 3 month long after school course addressing sexual, physical, and mental health (ie. self-esteem, family planning, safe sex, effects of drugs, etc.). Now they are with me, and are health promoters ( they are going go into classes to talk to their peers about the same stuff). They are a bunch of characters who are fun to work with, and something most volunteers don't find until the end of their service. Another big huray for Christie (who is probably currently  dancing the tango and drinking mate with a underwear model/professional soccer player, as she travels for the next two and half months,seeing Argentina and Brazil. Christie, if you're reading this, remember what you learned while teaching Pasos). 

Going Pro

For a guy who found it nearly impossible to set up his office answering machines at work last year, it seems almost comical that I now have business cards AND a stamp! I'm more pumped about the stamp. Now when the mayor or the school director stamps some formal document for me, I can re-stamp it and yell "You can't triple stamp a double stamp!"

Side Note: The quote on the bottom is a 'tip of the hat' to Christie (the volunteer I'm replacing). It's a quote she painted on the bottom of her world map at the market in Caraz (painting a world map is must for all youth volunteers). Now, every time I go to the market, I see her map with this quote, and think about what she's done for me. She stuck around to show me the community before she left (not mandatory), and set me up REAL well. Thanks to her, I have a ton of work to do (a good thing), with a lot a involved people. 

Home Improvements with Roger

Roger is the life blood of my host-family, and I'm pretty sure he never sleeps. He is always the first one up, and the last one to bed. And besides possibly being a machine, he's great mix between Bob Vila and MacGyver. He scavenges and ensembles with the best I've seen. Pat and Jill better hope this Roger never moves on to C st, because they'd have some serious building competition (and Roger would just use the stuff from the 'free box')*.   Case in point the shower he built for the gringo (me), for under 10 dollars. The process is too complicated for me to describe (I just tried, but deleted it), but let me tell you the material list.

Bought:

2 -6' tubes of 3/4'' PVC Pipe.

1 - On/Off Valve

1- Plastic rain spout for a gardening bucket

Scavenged:

1- Old cement platform form a latrine

12- Bricks

5- Wooden poles

1- Long strip of plastic painter's tarp

1- Plastic presidential campaign banner (Kieko Fujimori, who lost earlier this spring)

2- Small pieces of metal roofing

1- Black cloth mesh used for building cuy and rabbit coops.

Here's a picture and a video will soon be made:

Additional Shower Notes:

Roger wants to use the metal roofing and more tubing to make it a solar shower. He's talking about installing a second valve connected to tubing, which will be snaked across the metal roofing material, and heated by the sun... should work.

Dina and Roger both took their first showers the day after he put it in. Jefferson is afraid of the falling water. They've never bathed this way before (they're use to doing the bucket bath thing), so it funny to hear them talk about the showering experience. I guess I've always taken that for granted.

Roger is talking about building me another shower closer to my door, so I don't have to walk the whole 25 feet across the drive way. Either he thinks I'm the laziest person ever, or he really enjoyed the project; you take your pick.

* The major inside joke for the Seeley Lakers is because the cabin has been on my mind since I'm missing Karen's Wedding. Good luck Karen and Dave.

Swearing In

Before anything, I have a new mailing address since I am now an official volunteer! See the updated page with the new mailing info.

So finally after 10 weeks of training, I'm now a Peace Corps Volunteer for Peru 17, and Peru 17 was the first group since Peru 4 (2004) to have all of the aspirantes (aspiring volunteer trainees) to make it to swearing in day.
The ceremonies were nice (one on Thursday to thank the host families, and one on Friday to actually swear in).

Friday was the big event, with the US Ambassador headlining. There were nice speeches and some formalities. But in the end it was a little sad, as it sunk in that you and your friends from training aren't going to be together any more, and that in less than 24 hours were all going to spread with the wind to random places all over the country (with some facing a 23 hour bus ride to their sites, mine is only 8 hours). It was also sad having to say good by to the Hinajosa Family. They treated me really well in Yanacoto, and I was hard to express my appreciation. My departing gift was 4 framed pictures of the 4 aspirantantes they had their homes, with a note from each thanking them. Gregoria loved it.

Now I'm off to Ancash for the next 730 days of my life.

Me with Gregoria and Gloria at Swearing In Day

Gregoria and I

The Oath of a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The families of Yanacoto saying good bye to their respective kids. I'm wearing a black cowboy hat that Don Poncho gave to me (For Black Beauty and when I dance at weddings).

(Also blog posts and emails may be less frequent for the next few weeks as I figure out my new site and where to find internet).

Brice's 2011 Parade of Homes

Not counting tents, cars, and forest service cabins, I can still easily say that I've called 5 different places "home" this last year. Let's take a look back at the various roofs over my head:

Anchorage, Alaska:
 If Adam is ever able to fix up one of his few Honda 90s to be either amphibious, or capable of flight, it would take him nearly 6,200 miles (as the motorcycle flies) to get to the start of this parade of homes: Anchorage, AK.

The place in Anchorage was a great little apartment, with awesome Chinese landlords, and CrAzy neighbors. It was a steal of a deal for two good looking, outdoors orientated, (occasionally) dog loving, school district employees, in search of something close to work, and where they could stable a 1970's red tandem bicycle. It was also the epicenter of my feverish reading of Peace Corps blogs and PC application status checking.

Cowboy  and I sharing a meal.

Missoula, MT:
A place I haven't really thought of home for almost the last decade. However, it is my home town, and the place that I'm slated to return to in August 18, 2013 (barring any meltdowns related to 2012 Mayan Calendar). Zoo-town is a nice place, with an unbelievable reputation, and they might have a football team too.

I'm looking forward to seeing Missoula again one day (but it can wait).

Mom and Dad right before my last meal in Missoula.

My home.

Look at Mt. Jumbo from my house.

Seeley Lake, MT:
My preferred home. It's home to many great outdoor adventures, and other fun activities. This place is also home to countless fond memories and great people (notable memories including: boating, fishing trips, skunks, starting my Alaska journey, family time, games, and night time bike rides).

Ever since elementary school, at the end of every summer (usually in late September) I always found myself melancholy as I reflected on the summer as things were being stored for winter. This year was no different, except for summer was only a few days long, ended in June, and stuff was just being brought out (a bummer, that was quickly plowed over by the my trip to Peru).

The cabin with stuff still put away for winter.

Last photo taken by me from the cabin.

Yanacoto, Peru:
Not my first choice to live, but also not the worst place to live. A very arid community 30 K east of Lima, Peru. While not necessarily Club Med, it definitely has what I needed: a great Peruvian Family to help me acustombarme (get adjusted to/accustom to) Peru and the Peace Corps.

The Hinajosa Family is what makes Yanacoto. They've treated me like a long-lost memeber of the family since day one. And thanks to them, the culture shock and homesickness never sets in for too long. However, in addition to the Hinajosas, Yanacoto has sports the probably the highest amount of amazingly nice and tolerant people (per capita). A few examples: Andria's family (random kid wearing a Griz sweatshirt that gets hunted down, and interrupted during family lunch by a mumbling gringo with a camera), the multiple mototaxista that wave to me every time I walk up or down the hill; heck, even the little gangsters in the community are nice.

Here is a video of the mansion I've live in the last 10 weeks:

Yanacoto Home Video

Yurocoto, Peru:
The final resting point for that dart tossed at the map on March 25th, 2010 (see application time line). It's hard to think that Yurocoto is "the place". I think back to all that daydreaming I did after I submitted my PC application (will I be on some tropical island, or in the highlands of South East Asia, or Sub Saharan Africa...), and to think that I finally know what my home for the next two years looks like, is just mind blowing for me. To think that somewhere between Africa and Asia (all were possibilities since I put "Anywhere" on the application), I landed in Yurocoto, Peru; and finally know what it looks like.

It's too early for me to really describe it, since I was only there for 4 days, but here is a video of my home.

My home in Yurocoto

AND here are some pictures from my site visit:

9th week of Training: Site Visit


There surely will be more information to come with time.

Fresh Clothes

Ever wonder what the Whirlpool washer does after you hit the start button? Me neither. But just in case you ever do, or ever want to go "back to basics", watch this video of Gregoria telling me how to hand wash my clothes.

Gregoria: "Brice are your going to wash your clothes?"


Unfortunately, my follow up video of me explaining the process in English refuses to upload, so you just have to imagine that she making sure I do it right. If you understand Spanish, or took Spanish in high school (Que hora es?!) then you probably caught the process: get the clothes wet, soap 'em up, scrub them if they are durable, rinse them 4 time until there is not soap or dirt in the water, hang them up inside out. That's the basics, but in reality, if Gregoria's watching you... you make you sure do it the way she taught you. Turn out the pockets, scrub the insides, shake out the wrinkles, etc; or else, she'll take the clothes from you and do it herself (kinda degrading).

Teaching gringos (first Peter, then Ian, then Laura, and now Brice), has been a time honored pass-time for Gregoria and her Peace Corps kids. She prides herself knowing that none of her kids are going to starve or look crusty when living in the campo (rural parts) of Peru. For me, it was a rite of passage to have my jeans pass the Gregoria test (they didn't smell like dirt or soap, and I remembered to hang them inside-out).

To sum it all up, hand washing clothes can be good. With it's mindless labor and nostalgic (shout out to Mariah) feel, I don't mind it. However, it is a pain to have to set aside one hour a week, and plan to not have certain clothes for 1-3 days (drying time depending on the sun). For now, it's too early to tell if this will be something I continue to do after Peace Corps, but don't be surprised if you see me at Vann's Appliances when I return. 

This bandwagon is out of control!

I was walking to the bus stop to catch a ride to Chosica to get my haircut (3.50 S/. = $1.20), when I saw this:

This is Andrias, a fellow resident of Yanacoto, and the president of the "Griz Nation-Peru". Fortunately his mom was nice enough to let me interrupt their family's lunch to hold this quick interview:

Peruvian Griz Fan Interviews

Here is the transcription:

Brice: "Hello, Andrias."
Andrias: "Hello."
B: "I'm here with Andrias, and he has a sweater for the Grizzlies, the University of Montana. And... How did you get that sweater?"
A: "My aunt brought it to me."
B: "Ah, your aunt. Are you a fan of the Grizzlies?"
A: "She just brought it to me."
B: "Do you know Marc Mariani?"
A: (Blank look)
B: "Well Marc Mariani is a player for the Grizzlies... and I met him before he was a Blue Pony. Do you know what a Blue Pony is?"
A: (Shakes his head no).
B: "Me neither, but he's famous. Thank you very much for showing me you sweater. Do you have any words for the people of the United States?"
A: "It's cool." (referring to the sweatshirt).
B: "Cool, thanks a lot. Good bye."

Love in Yanacoto

Peace Corps has three broad goals, the last two have to do with an intercambio (exchange) of cultures (learning Peru's and sharing America's Culture/Sharing Peru's culture with America). So, when a kid in the neighborhood Felix (aka Cuervo = Crow) professed his love to Amanda* through the use of a giant mural, I was surprised that she didn't like it. I think I'd be flattered (a feeling a sense of accomplishment), but I guess could be a little embarrassing to have to walk past this everyday on your way to, and from, training.

* Amanda and Yanacoto is an interesting side story... There are 3 Amandas in our group, one has fluent Spanish, and this one had little to none. Typically the people who have higher language skills are placed in Yanacoto (being 45 minutes away from the training site), while those just starting to learn Spanish are more sheltered in Santa Eulalia (where the training site is). Due to a mix up, this Amanda (with little Spanish skills) was placed in Yanacoto and has done a pretty great job of fending for herself. (It must have been love that brought them together).

Huancayo, Peru

A wedding in Huancayo is like no other in Peru; unfortunately, I didn't get to see the it. However, I got to see the family reunion prior to the weeding and celebrate the Santiagos with the families... so I was happy.


Santiagos:
Santiagos are specific only to Huancayo, and only at this time of year. They are best described as family parades around the city, set the music of a hired orchestra, to celebrate the farm animals. It seems to have everything that the people hold dear, all wrapped up into one package (Music, family, dancing, parades, beer, and paying respect to Pacha Mama or Mother Earth).

Basically, what happens is the family holds a family reunion (and party) for 2 or more families at a house. Each family dresses in the typical Sierra clothing, with the men of each family wearing a specific color of pants, hat, and tie. The families also each hire an orchestra. At the start of the party, the head of the each family presents each other family with a gift and gives a small speech (the gift to our family was a huge stack of beers).

Then after each family has received their gifts and given the speeches. The families take turns dancing. When the orchestra of one family is playing, that family dances. When the other orchestras are playing they sit, talk, and eat.

Then when the family is revved up and really excited (read into that statement), they take the show on the road, parading around the block as they dance to their orchestra marching behind them.

This is a family that was Santiago-ing when arrived into Huancayo.

Note the matching outfits sported by the men to show their family connections.

Family Reunion:
Having just missed the Neary Family Reunion in South Dakota, I felt a little sheepish walking into the Hinojosa Family Reunion and introducing myself as Brice Hinojosa Corts, but what can you do... you're in Peru. The whole deal started off like any other big family gathering, but then slowly picked up speed. However, to best describe this event, its best I lay down in two phases Day Time vs. Night Time. The change in the two phases was not due to the sun and the moon, it was more due to the drinking circles. Drinking circles? Allow me to explain:

----Side Bar On Drinking Circles----

In Peru, alcohol is very present and drinking (mainly beer) is a very common way to celebrate; however, with drinking, there are other factors involved. One aspect is alcohol as a gesture of respect or love. In the countryside, money and gifts are not common, but beer and food is. So, if you were to enter into a home, almost surely the woman will offer you a big plate of food. And and if your walking down the street or at a party, almost always a man will offer you some beer. To turn down the food or refuse the drink (no matter how full, sick, or tired you are) would be the equivalent to refusing to shake someone's hand when they offer it to you ( there always ways to say no... it's just something you can too often).

Drinking circles are custom here in Peru. If generally involves: a bunch of beers, one cup, and a circle of people standing around the beers. Everyone shares the same cup, and every one drinks the same beer until it's gone. Here's the basic set up: One person invites the other join the drinking circle (sign of respect) by offering them the bottle and the cup. That person opens the bottle and pours as much as he wants into the cup. Then he passes the bottle to next person in the circle. While that person holds the bottle, the first person drinks his cup of beer and the dumps out the foam on the ground. Then passes the cup to the person holding the bottle, starting the process over. The cup and bottle travels around the circle until all the beer is gone. It's pretty simple minus a few side rules... such as:

1. If a woman is to your side, you must serve her first, wait until she's done before you serve yourself. If there are more than one women to you side, you must serve them all before you drink. (Be a gentleman)
2. A women is never expected to hold the bottle (Don't pass her it).
3. It's insulting to pour another man a beer (because that's what you do for the ladies).

(I broke all the rules, but thankfully Frank was there to tell me what to do).

---- Back to the Phases of the Family Reunion ---

During the day, the reunion seemed pretty normal. The kids ran around, while the individual families mingled and ate outside (we ate Pachamanga). Each family was dressed in their specific colors and circled up to receive the presents form the other families. After the speeches, the family dug into the stack of beers while waiting for their orchestra to start playing. People were pretty curious about the big white guy with the camera (Gregoria's new son), but were generally too shy to approach me or make eye contact. However, one aunt did grab me before I could leave with Frank and Danny(we were going to walk around a little) to dance with the family.

Me Dancing

After my dance ("Nobody puts baby in the corner"), Frank, Danny and I left to see more of Huancayo.

When we came back, we observed the impact of the drinking circles and noted that the family sized had doubled. There was no timidly asking Gregoria who I was. It seems like I talked to everyone, and was even sung to by Gregoria and my host Aunt (some song about a guy being unfaithful and a liar. Go figure, because I requested Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline). I think videos speak for themselves.

Day Time Video Link

Night Time Video Link


The Wedding (which I didn't get to see):
 The Wedding was on Domingo (Sunday), so Frank, Danny, and I couldn't make it. We needed to return home that day, for work and school on the next. However, I know I missed a unique opportunity. Wedding in the Huancayo area are like no other, as they have their own traditions. Luckily my host-dad filmed it all and I was able it at home (and maybe someday upload the film here). What makes it so unique, is the gift giving process. Here's how it works. After all of the normal wedding stuff we are use to in the states, and everyone gets a chance to dance with the bride and groom, then the gift giving process starts. The bride and groom sit at a table and everyone leave. Then the orchestra starts playing music, the bride's family (about 30-40 people) parades in (just like above during the Santiagos) carrying gifts of food. Tons of fruits, cheese, and few pigs and chickens (live). Then the grooms family (30-40 people) comes in doing the same. Then they all dance. Then the process starts over, with everyone leaving, but the brides family parades in carrying furniture and other household items (Beds, tables, pots, pans, etc.). Then the groom's family does the same with their gifts. Then they all dance. Then they leave, and the next parade session, is the crazy one. The families march in with money in their hats (tucked in the bands of their hats) as gifts. The people go crazy for this and there is all kinds of yelling and excitement (this couple received 8,400 S/.). Then they all dance. Then the last parade, everyone carries in beer. Lots and lots of beer, too much to describe (Gregoria kept repeating how "there was SO much beer that each person got his or her OWN bottle, AND there was still beer left over". Getting you own bottle is kinda rare here... see the drinking circle section above). 

Just to recap, because there are a lot words above:
2 Parades, one with each family. 4 categories (Food, Furniture, Cash, and Beers).


Finally, I know this was along post, but I've also included a link to a picture album. There are few stories that I didn't mention (scenic drive over, having to dance on the tour bus) that kinda covered in the captions. Enjoy.

Huancayo Fotos

This is also just a random video I took in Huancayo. 

Video of the kids catching the ducks.