¡Bienvenidos!

Welcome to my first blog ever! Fitting that it is also my first night ever in Chulucanas, Perú. Lacie, Britt  (my community members) and I flew from Lima to Piura this morning with Hannah and Shannon (2 of the 3 directors of the Augustinian Volunteer program). Then we gathered our 500 pounds of luggage...a rough estimate...and were driven to our new home, Chulucanas. Not too much to say about this small city quite yet, so let's start with a recap of the last 10 days.

I flew into Philadelphia, where the AV program is based, on January 17th and spent the first few days in Ocean City, NJ for our international AV orientation. There were six of us volunteers...3 going to Perú and 3 going to South Africa...along with all three directors. Those days were fairly relaxing and gave us a chance to get to know each other better and figure out the logistical differences between what we all heard with the domestic volunteers back at the general orientation in August and what we would be experiencing as the international side of the program. The days passed slowly but it was a nice transition into the pace of life in South America. On the 21st we flew into Lima and were picked up by a man named Joel, who I now joke is our best friend in Perú. He started out as our driver, cooked meals for us when no one else was there to cook, translated complicated and fast Spanish into slow and simple Spanish, and just this morning traded emails with us so we could become friends on Facebook. We stayed at the Augustinian house of hospitality outside Lima in the district of Chorrillos, where we were spoiled compared to what is to come in the next eleven months. We had two working bathrooms with hot water, a television, breakfast waiting for us every morning, and a gated community where we could walk to the beach from our house. The only thing lacking was a translator.

On most of my other trips to Spanish-speaking countries I could get by in conversation with my own knowledge of the language, but I always had a translator to rely on as back-up...which I still had to do quite often. This time, Britt, Lacie and I have had to just pool all of our knowledge together and make the best of what we know. Sometimes we can have two hour long conversations on the beach and other times we can barely order three slices of pizza. Our confusion in cases like this, along with misused words and unconjugated verbs, are common sources of laughter on both sides of the language barrier. Albert, who is, like Joel, a former seminarian staying at the house of hospitality, was trying to teach me some slang. He was trying to tell me that "Wha? No?" is a common way of saying "What?" or "Again?" instead of "Que?" in Chulucanas. I proceeded to combine them too quickly, saying "Whano" which sounded like "guano," essentially meaning animal poop. Oops.

Our time in Lima was mostly spent exploring different parts of the city and getting our Peruvian ID cards for the year. Our first day we went to the center of the city, walking around La Plaza de las Armas where the president's house is, napping on the grass of La Plaza de San Martín, admiring a few churches, and trying to find authentic Peruvian food. The next day we were more successful finding good food in MiraFlores, the beautiful beach district we visited after the five and a half hour process of getting our ID cards (we were definitely on Peruvian time that morning). Nonetheless, we had a great afternoon eating fried yucca, ceviche, and arroz con pollo, and wandering around El Parque del Amor and what we had thought were the indian markets. Luckily, we also discovered how much the three of us all love ice cream and sitting around just people-watching. The next day we went to the beach which was just a few blocks from our house in Chorrillos. Joel advised us to get some sun but not to really go in the water because the waves are so strong. All three of us having lived near beaches, we politely said thank you to the warning and went on our way. We should really listed to Joel more often. Lacie and her bathing suit top got pulled down by a ridiculously strong wave returning from the shore, and later all of us and our belongings were engulfed by a wave that far surpassed what we thought to be the safety zone. Britt's iPhone is currently in a bag of rice hoping to be revived. That night we also visited El Parque de Aguas which is the park with the most fountains in the world. On our last day we went into Barranco, a touristy town with great views of the cliffs and the ocean. We wandered aimlessly (as we seem to do best) and escaped from the intense sun with some milkshakes de fresas, which are more like strawberry smoothies. When we returned, we went to a very intimate Mass with a family that had just arrived to stay at the house as well, and then had dinner together, which typically lasts hours here. We ended the night with a walk to the beach and a long talk including laughter and plans for the future with Joel, Albert, and the two sons from the family, Martín and Cesar.

It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the new friends we have just met, but I know that the best is yet to come! From the abdominal workouts and tears that have so far accompanied our laughter, I know that my friendships with Britt and Lacie are only going to get better, and our community is only going to grow stronger. I can't wait to get to know Chulucanas and the people I will be serving with here!

Missing everyone back home!