So I have been behind on blogs because there has been a lot going on. Things are going pretty great here, but I think I’m starting to emerge out of the ‘honeymoon’ phase, as PC calls it. This is basically the time where the changes are fresh a new and therefore exciting for the sake of being different. I think the next phase is where things start to get a little complicated, so I hope I’m ready.
Now Christmas is over, and I’m getting ready for New Years. I’m trying to decide if I want to stay in site or head out to Piura. I would like to not necessarily be here in site because there are a lot of drunks around anyway, and I think New Years will have even more borrachos around… yay. Although it can be a little funny at times to see drunk men passed out in the middle of the street, it shouldn’t be something common, right? Maybe this is just my conservative US mentality that thinks this is sad and maybe this is one example of how my perspective on things will change. But I need to ask: do I want to change? I’ll leave that as is for now because that’s something very long and complicated (and boring).
But to catch up on what I’ve been doing, here’s a few things with pictures to show you some of what my site looks like. The first couple weeks I was mainly just getting to know people, set up my room, and organize some ideas. I got to meet a couple of the engineers working on the new water treatment plant that is almost done being built. Currently, there is pretty much no treatment of the town’s water of which the source is a nearby river that is already highly contaminated. I’ve heard different
accounts of if there is even chlorination that is being carried out (but I think not). The water from the tap in Santo Domingo is visibly dirty and does not have odor but definitely has particles. I have also recently found out from a water test in October that there is a fecal coliform count of 102 fcu /100ml....cfu = colony forming units (Although coliforms are not hazardous to people’s health, this measure is used as an indicator for other types of contaminants in the water. I don’t know for sure the acceptable level in the US, but I believe this level should be somewhere below 1. I’ll get back to you on that (Kelly?). It seems that most people boil their water and/or use other in-house treatment methods like ceramic filters. I will look more into this when I conduct my surveys next month. Getting back to the engineers, they have been great in explaining things to me slowly so that I understand in Spanish and clearly. They have been great friends as well. Good contacts to have in Peru. At times, they have probably thought that I am an idiot, but have been nice to me anyways. I’m impressed at the workmanship on the system considering the absence of machinery. 
Also, I got to sit in on some ‘educative sessions’ (formerly known as Charlas) that Sasha gave in Environmental Health and I also gave a couple little educative sessions to a 6th grade class and a kindergarten class. Pretty much all I did in the kindergarten class was talk about how cool water is and that I thought it looked better without trash in it. I’m not sure if this is effective to talk to kids of this age about the importance of water, but I sure had fun drawing pictures of rivers and rain and coloring with them. Just kidding, I think that above getting to know these cute kids, they got something out of it.
Fun and exciting news: I finally got to eat cuy! The counterpart of Sasha, my site mate, invited us to eat cuy (guinea pig) with her family. Sasha actually had the honor of killing a couple of the cuyes. She’s pretty tough. It was good the way it was made for us; similar to chicken. Supposedly it contains a lot protein and very little cholesterol. I didn’t really like the head of the cuy (see pics). It has a different flavor.
Now Christmas is over, and I’m getting ready for New Years. I’m trying to decide if I want to stay in site or head out to Piura. I would like to not necessarily be here in site because there are a lot of drunks around anyway, and I think New Years will have even more borrachos around… yay. Although it can be a little funny at times to see drunk men passed out in the middle of the street, it shouldn’t be something common, right? Maybe this is just my conservative US mentality that thinks this is sad and maybe this is one example of how my perspective on things will change. But I need to ask: do I want to change? I’ll leave that as is for now because that’s something very long and complicated (and boring).
But to catch up on what I’ve been doing, here’s a few things with pictures to show you some of what my site looks like. The first couple weeks I was mainly just getting to know people, set up my room, and organize some ideas. I got to meet a couple of the engineers working on the new water treatment plant that is almost done being built. Currently, there is pretty much no treatment of the town’s water of which the source is a nearby river that is already highly contaminated. I’ve heard different
accounts of if there is even chlorination that is being carried out (but I think not). The water from the tap in Santo Domingo is visibly dirty and does not have odor but definitely has particles. I have also recently found out from a water test in October that there is a fecal coliform count of 102 fcu /100ml....cfu = colony forming units (Although coliforms are not hazardous to people’s health, this measure is used as an indicator for other types of contaminants in the water. I don’t know for sure the acceptable level in the US, but I believe this level should be somewhere below 1. I’ll get back to you on that (Kelly?). It seems that most people boil their water and/or use other in-house treatment methods like ceramic filters. I will look more into this when I conduct my surveys next month. Getting back to the engineers, they have been great in explaining things to me slowly so that I understand in Spanish and clearly. They have been great friends as well. Good contacts to have in Peru. At times, they have probably thought that I am an idiot, but have been nice to me anyways. I’m impressed at the workmanship on the system considering the absence of machinery. 
Also, I got to sit in on some ‘educative sessions’ (formerly known as Charlas) that Sasha gave in Environmental Health and I also gave a couple little educative sessions to a 6th grade class and a kindergarten class. Pretty much all I did in the kindergarten class was talk about how cool water is and that I thought it looked better without trash in it. I’m not sure if this is effective to talk to kids of this age about the importance of water, but I sure had fun drawing pictures of rivers and rain and coloring with them. Just kidding, I think that above getting to know these cute kids, they got something out of it.
Fun and exciting news: I finally got to eat cuy! The counterpart of Sasha, my site mate, invited us to eat cuy (guinea pig) with her family. Sasha actually had the honor of killing a couple of the cuyes. She’s pretty tough. It was good the way it was made for us; similar to chicken. Supposedly it contains a lot protein and very little cholesterol. I didn’t really like the head of the cuy (see pics). It has a different flavor. Well thanks for those of you who read my blog. I hope you are enjoying it. If you want to hear about something specific, feel free to email me or comment. I’m actually getting on answering your suggestions Sonya. See next blog. Life has changed so much for me, and I am now realizing that I am taking for granted those changes from my ‘normal’ life I the states. I don’t realize what is strange anymore; as I told my mother ‘Not much here surprises me anymore.’ Oh yeah… that reminds me of a quick story. Because of the new water system, many of the streets are being dug up to put and remove pipeline. For this reason, there are huge holes in the street and the other day I saw a donkey fall into one loaded with wood. It was crazy and I wanted to take a picture, but I felt it was a little inappropriate for some reason at the time. Poor donkey. This was right before I saw two bulls fighting on the street. Random yeah? Hasta luego!
1 comment:
Guinea pig--boy, better you than me. You are so great to be trying all these things--chicken??? seriously???
Nina
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