Humitas and Mid-Terms!

Meet Panuelo! An absolutely adorable puppy that I met this week! It was really hard not to be able to pet him, but the risk of fleas was just too great!

This last week I learned how to make Humitas in one of my communities.  Humitas are essentially mini Tamales that have quesillo, or homemade cheese in the inside.  Here are step by step instructions on how to make humitas J Enjoy

 First you have to take the kernels off the corn in order to grind them up! You keep the corn husks to fold the corn up in later.

 The grinding process is a lot harder than it looks, partially because the corn was dry and because their hand crank had been in the family for quite a few years! 

After we had completed crushing all the corn, we had a bucket of corn mush!  We added salt, sugar and milk till we had a smooth mixture, that still wasn't too wet. 

In the meantime, I learned how to make homemade cheese.  We essentially just boiled milk till it curdled and then we pulled out and strained the clumps.  They call it quesillo, but I would equate it to queso fresco if you have ever had that. 

 Once we had the mix all ready, we set out on making the hundreds of humitas! First step, is a little dollop of corn, leaving an indent in the center.

 Next you add your quesillo in the indent... 

 ...you fold up one side, then fold the top down... 

 ...then you do your final tucks and folds and you have an humita!

 In order to cook the humitas, you steam them for about half an hour.  They corn comes out really moist and my host family preferred to eat them with Aji, aka spicy peppers! 

That's it for now! I had a pretty good week on route last week! We are already at the middle of the summer, so we did mid-term evaluations with our volunteers last week.  It was actually quite hard to give constructive feedback on all aspects of the projects! 

Other than making humitas in San Ignacio, my week included picking golden berries and going to the river in Chorro Blanco, playing soccer as always in Illuca and spending quality time at the school campamentos in La Manzanilla!  

We ended the week with a capacitación (training) with our volunteers and the local youth.  This week we discussed creative expression so we had lots of fun doing arts and crafts and a photography scavenger hunt! 

Playing a bit of Catch-up!

Wow! I am sorry to say that it has been way too long since I last posted! The past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind and now this week we are already at the half way point and gearing up for mid-term evaluations with the volunteers.

Two weeks ago on route was pretty worry free :) other than a few volunteers dealing with minor fleas and a few community misunderstandings to work out, there was nothing out of the ordinary.  My communities have all decided on their CBIP project and are now working on filling out the action plan to get the project rolling! In one of my communities, they were hosting a soccer tournament for a community holiday.  I played with the two other volunteers on Friday evening and I won the game by scoring the game winning goal! Friday evening the prize was 50 soles, about the equivalent of 18 US dollars; however, the prize the next day was a BULL! A full on, horns and all, tons of meat BULL!  Needless to say, the community really wanted to win the bull and when the host mom found out that I had to leave early the next morning she was furious.  She attempted to tell me that I was going to make the Illuca team lose because I wouldn't be there to play.  She even attempted to call Becky, my project director, to try and get permission for me to stay and play! ... I snuck out the next morning bright and early and I doubt she was very happy with me.

 Hanging out at the soccer tournament with one of my volunteers and their host siblings!

 Extracurricular camps in San Ignacio! 

 Extracurricular Camps in La Manzanilla! 

The still breathtaking view from La Manzanilla/Illuca!

The weekend of the 28th and 29th we had our second Capacitación with the local youth and our volunteers. During this Capacitación (pretty much a fancy word for a training) we covered generalizations and the harm that they can cause.  We also covered diversity and the generalizations that come as a result of diversity.  It was really interesting and rewarding to see some of the Peruvian AMIGOS volunteers beginning to open up and express themselves.  A common problem that we face in the Andes is that the people tend to be a little more reserved and it can take more work to get them to open up and come out of their shell.  After the Capacitación we brought all of our volunteers back to Cajamarca for the night in order to get ready for their Enseña Perú shadow experience.  That night all 55 of our volunteers stayed in the same hostel and were reunited for the first time in two weeks.  It was amazing to see all of them proudly sharing aspects of their communities with their peers.  After route dinners (which included a Menú and ice cream sundaes for my route!) the supervisors tucked the volunteers in and got cranking in order to have everything organized for the Enseña Perú shadow experience overnight the next morning! (I think we all got a restful two hours of sleep that night!)

The next morning we had our vols up and ready to roll by 4:30 am in order to get on our Combi's out to the Enseña Perú schools.  Enseña Perú is the equivalent of Teach for America, they have college graduates live and teach in a new area for two years.  We worked in groups of 3-9 with the PEP's (fancy term for teachers) from the organization.  We specifically organized the groups so that no partnerships were together and so that the volunteers were with supervisors that were not their own. The community that I was placed in was absolutely freezing! I was very glad in that moment that I always carry extra clothes with me because I walked around most of the day with three jackets, two pairs of pants and a hat on... I felt like a bit of a marshmallow!

In the morning, the volunteers were in the classrooms with the PEP's (teachers) observing their lesson style and attempting to learn some new strategies for the extracurricular activities that they lead daily in community.  In the afternoon, the volunteers were responsible for leading an extracurricular activity for the kids at the school.  For my school that meant they were working with a group of 60 kids, between the ages of 5 and 14.  I feel like they did an amazing job! I was really proud of the AMIGOS volunteers that day!

 The whole school at San Pedro de Combayo! 

 My new vols for the weekend!

 The volunteers addressing the formation in the morning! 

We did a relay race with the students! They loved it :) 

 Drawing diversity flowers! 

 The volunteers observing one of the PEP's classes!

After some exciting rounds of spoons with the PEPS, we all went to bed early because it was practically too cold to not be in our sleeping bags.  We got up early the next morning and brought all of our volunteers back to Cajamarca before getting them back out to community that same day! 

The first week in July we only had an abbreviated route since we did the shadow experience during the first few days.  This means that we only spent two nights in community and visited two communities.  I went out to San Pablo and visited San Ignacio and Chorro Blanco.  San Ignacio is doing well! The girls hosted their extracurricular activities then when we returned to the host families house we found out that they were harvesting honey, so the house was swarming with very angry bees! Needless to say we hung out on the hill above the house for an hour or so waiting for the bees to disperse. We got to eat the honey directly off the hive and it was so delicious... probably some of the best honey I have ever had! Chorro Blanco is also doing well.  They have gotten into some of the Telenovelas so I always know where to find them when I get into community.  They also got to ride a horse and I watched some of the community women dying the yarn that they had spun! All in all in a was a great short week on route!

 We got back into Cajamarca for a long weekend and geared up for the Fourth of July party that we hosted at our house!  We invited about 60 people over and I think throughout the night we had around 50 of those people filter through the house! We made hamburgers, BBQ pulled chicken, pasta salad, potato salad, fruit salad, a bunch of yummy appetizers and ice cream sundaes with brownies for dessert! It was a great way to celebrate the fourth, and we ended with a dance party and sparklers on the roof!

Amanda and I at the Fourth of July Party! 

 AMIGOS and PEP's! 

Our staff plus our landlady :) 

After our lovely, more relaxing than normal weekend, I am back out on route this morning! Hope everyone is doing well! I can hardly believe that in less than a month the volunteers will be back home in the states and we will be doing all of our project closeout work! Time really does fly when you are having fun! xoxo miss you all!

Route Week One!

 Last week I went out to visit my volunteers for the first time in community.  During the first two days I was in the San Marcos region visiting my first two communities.  This is the region that I have to walk approximately three hours up a hill in order to reach my volunteers. However, the walk does offer some spectacular views! 

 My first community, La Manzanilla, has decided that they want to build a community library as their Community Based Initiative Project (CBIP).  Each community during the course of the summer is going to complete a CBIP, and they have approximately $500 to complete the project.  Other examples of projects include community eating areas, soccer goals for the schools, soccer tournaments, silverware for the community, etc. 

The next day, I visited Illuca and the first thing that I did in this community was sit down on a still moist pile of cow dung.  I also only had one pair of pants with me so it was very lovely wearing the same pants for next day or so…

  On the bright side, Illuca had one of the most beautiful sunsets that I have ever seen.  My volunteers and I went on a walk in the evening and the fields of purple and white bean flowers, with the sun setting on the mountains in the background was incredible. I wish the picture could actually do the view justice! 

After spending a few hours in Cajamarca, I made my way out to my next region, San Pablo.  To reach my first community, San Ignasio, I got off my bus and then had to make my way down a corn field for about half an hour before reaching the host families house.  It was quite the adventure and I may have taken out a few corn stalks on the way! 

A national delicacy in Peru is guinea pig, also known as Cuy.  I have yet to eat it, but some of my fellow supervisors have and supposedly it is like tough, dark meat chicken.  I will probably end up eating it at some point! 

My final community is Chorro Blanco.  This is probably one of my favorite communities to visit.  The trio partnership is a dream team and they are already holding great after school extracurricular activities and immersing themselves into the community.  

I am about to leave for another week on route this morning! Sorry I can't update more often but between the amount of time I am out in the campo (in community) and then all of the paperwork on the weekend, I am finding myself very pressed for time! Miss you all! 

You should send me letters if you feel like it :) This is my shameless plug! 

My address is: 

Attn: AMIGOS "Katie Chale"

Plan International - Cajamarca

Jirón Progreso D-12

Urbanización Cajamarca

Distrito Cajamarca - Provincia Cajamarca

Peru

The Best of Both Worlds!

The vols have arrived!! All of my time in Peru so far has led up to this moment.  Earlier in the week all of the supervisors planned briefing.  This included making pages and pages of facilitation guides, buying 50 kilos of mandarine oranges and bananas and 480 packets of cookies!

Briefing was a crazy few days that included a lot of coffee and very little sleep! We had a lot of material to cover and very little time! I think we have a very good group of volunteers and I am very excited to see what they accomplish this summer.

We also had to make the partnerships for the summer so there was one night that we were up until 4:30 making sure everyone had an appropriate community and partnership for the summer.

I head out to route for the first time to visit the volunteers tomorrow, so sorry for the short blog post. But know that everything is okay.  Here a few pictures for you to enjoy :)

My route! They are in 4 different communities throughout the two regions. They named our route "The Best of Both Worlds" because I work in two different regions! 

 The whole group of 56 volunteers!

San Pablo, one of my regional hubs!! 

I Survived Project Survey!

It is hard to believe that I have already been in Perú for more than two weeks.  I have been so insanely busy, now is the first time that I have been able to sit down and blog in ten days!

            Last week, from Tuesday to Saturday I was on project survey.  During that time I went to my four host communities and spent the night in each in order to get to know the host families and collect information for my volunteers.  Some example information that we collect is emergency contact information, community details, information about the schools, etc.  My first two communities are out in the San Marcos region, which is about an hour and a half combi (15 passenger van) ride.  Once I got to San Marcos I then had to walk about 3 hours uphill to reach my first community.  I will be doing this walk weekly from here on out.  The views make the walk worth it, but the blisters were rough.  I have never seen mountains and rolling hills so vast before.  My first community is called Illuca.  There are two host families in this community.  The first one owns a little store and has 7 kids.  That Vol is in for a lot of soccer and games with all the little kids.  The second host family is a woman, her husband and their two little girls.  They are absolutely adorable. 

            After spending a night in Illuca, I made my way back down the hill to my second community, La Manzanilla.  In La Manzanilla, there are also two host families.  Both families have 16 year old girls that will hopefully be very involved this summer.  That night in La Manzanilla the community had a small mass and celebration to mark the building of their high school.  After mass they served coffee and tamales.  I think the coffee had more sugar than coffee in it, but the tamales were absolutely amazing!  The other thing that was absolutely amazing were the stars! They are by far my favorite part of the campo.  Since there are no city lights, it seems like you can see every star in the sky! 

            The next morning I woke up early to start heading back to my staff house city, Cajamarca.  However, as I was walking to the bus stop, I got a phone call from my project director saying that I wasn’t allowed to come back to the city because there were peaceful protests.  In the Cajamarca region of Peru there is a controversy on mining.  A large mining company has been present in Peru since the mid 90’s.  The issue is very complex but a lot of Peruvians do not like the mines because they are contaminating water and the environment.  Instead of heading back to Cajamarca I instead went into San Marcos for a few hours and waited at our partner agencies office until I was cleared to come back into the city. 

            Once back in Cajamarca, I did a quick hour turn around and got back on a Combi to the San Pablo region, where my last two communities are.  I stayed in a hotel that night with two members of senior staff because it was dark by the time I got there.  The following morning I made my way out to Chorro Blanco, my third community.  This community is very based in agriculture and when I arrived, everyone was in the fields harvesting their goldenberries.  I went tromping through the fields in order to find my host families and have them sign their contracts.  I really like Chorro Blanco, it actually might be one of my favorite communities so far!

            After spending a few hours in Chorro Blanco, I made my way to a neighboring community where there is a health clinic that I wanted to go visit.  The clinic was closed, so I waited there for a few hours while my assistant project director came to pick me up in a cab in order to get to my next community.  When she showed up, she was in a little mototaxi, which is essentially a little cart with a motorcycle as its engine.  It was quite a bumpy hour ride to my community, and my cot even fell out once.  Ahhhhh!!!

            Unfortunately, San Ignasio, which is my last community didn’t get set up completely because no one showed up to our meeting when we were supposed to be establishing host families.  Therefore, I made my way back to Chorro Blanco where I spent the night.  While I was there I learned how to spin yarn out of sheep’s wool.  I was really horrible at it but the old lady who taught me was very patient. 

            The next morning I made my way back to Cajamarca early in the day and then we had a training with Enseña Peru that day.  They taught us about lesson planning and we went over our community based initiative projects with them. 

            Since then I have been spending most of my time working on paperwork and trying to rest up after survey! It is hard to believe that the little volunteers arrive tomorrow and we start briefing!

 During my walk to my first community! 

 A beautiful valley by one of my communities

 The older lady who tried to teach me how to spin yarn! 

An absolutely adorable host family member! 

Baños del Inca

Today we had the day off from training and it was WONDERFUL! This morning, my project director made us homemade chocolate banana pancakes that we delicious! After, we all rested at staff house reading and catching up on communication back home.  

Around 11:00, we headed out to visited the Ventanillas de Otuzco which are ancient ruins.  They are tombs that have slowly been excavated.  It was nice to get out of Cajamarca for a little bit and see a few new views!

Here are the six supervisors on the trip! So far we all get along very well, and are working well together!

After a quick lunch back home, we headed out to the Baños del Inca.  The Baños are a nature hot spring, where water comes out at 71 degrees C, which is the equivalent of about 130 degrees F.  At the Baños there are hundreds of private bathrooms with large tubs in them for bathing (don't worry, they bleach them between each person).  We all had our private baths for about an hour and it was wonderful to relax.  It was also the first time that I have taken a warm shower/bath since I left the states a week ago.  

Our glamour pose at the Baños.  My project director likes to take awkward family photos.  

A sample plate at a Menu.  This is fried trout that came fresh from Cajamarca served with rice and potatoes.  

Tomorrow, I have one more day to relax and decompress before I head out to community for the first time on Tuesday!  We also have to start planning briefing for when the volunteers arrive on the 11th of June! It is hard to believe how quickly May came and went!