The 2009 Pacasmayo Marathon

I just returned from Pacasmayo, a funky costal town known for its world-class surfing and fantastic ceviche, where I ran a 10K alongside fellow PCVs, Peruvian nationals and international visitors. It was a great way to celebrate the 4th of July

 weekend and the passing of my 1 year in-country mark. 

Training for the 10K was almost impossible, living at 10,000 feet in a rural farming town with no paved roads, b

ut I was looking for a challenge, and figured that if I survived 1 year in the Peace Corps, I could survive a 10K. I was right!

Sunday morning was cool and overcast - Winter in Peru. I gathered with about 150 runners at the starting point and off we went at 8:30am on a challenging concrete, dirt, gravel and sand course. 

The physical challenge was exhilarating, hitting different types of terrain, taking in some spectacular Pacific Ocean views, and running farther than I'd ever ran before.

 

I thought about the past year.... how far I'd come and how much my life has changed. I've met the most incredible people and built life-long friendships. That gave me energy to keep running. I thought about my loving and supporting family, all congregated together in Massachusetts celebrating the 4th of July, and felt the good vibes they were sending me while my feet hit the ground, one foot in front of the other. 

When I hit the 5K turn around point I smiled, laughed and choked 

up for a second, realizing that this is exactly where I am in my Peace Corps service, embarking on the 2nd half. I finished the course in 63 minutes happy, sweaty and was greeted by cheers and applause by a crowd of friends and strangers. It was a fantastic experience. I feel fit, grounded, loved, and I'm thirsty for more of this life I'm living.*

Visit the Pacasmayo Marathon Website at http://www.maratoninternacionaldepacasmayo.com/index.html

 

Dad's visit! And other tales.

My amazing Dad was just in Ancash for a quick weekend visit. We had a cuy feast with my host family in Tumpa, a picnic at the glacial Laguna Llanganuco, strolled through the outdoor markets, and indulged in a spa session in Huaraz. 

He also accompanied me to my "hair salon" where I got an ob

noxiously short hair cut (they shaved my neck!) for 5 soles... you get what you pay for, I guess! We had a blast, and I was sad to see him go. One lesson of the weekend was that it is SO EASY to visit Peru, even for a long weekend! Flight prices are super low and fly direct from JFK. Just saying...

Just before Dad was here, my counterpart Feliciana and I attended a Peace Corps conference in Chiclayo called Project Design and Management. We designed a project called Escuelas Saludables, or Healthy Schools, that we will implement in 

Tumpa over the next 6 months. The main objectives are to train student health promoters to educate their peers on healthy hygiene and nutrition practices, to make the school a greener place by planting more vegetable and flower gardens, to educate the students and teachers on environmental protection, to construct a micro-landfill to bury the school's trash instead of burning it, and to install large jugs of drinkable water in every classroom to keep those kids hydrated and parasite-free! I'll also work in the lower school on a self-esteem workshop with a motivated teacher over the next 6 months. It will be fun and refreshing to work with the little guys. So I'll start those projects right when I get back from an unexpected trip to Lima...

One of the major frustrations of my experience has been getting sick. The beginning of my service was characterized by unending gastro-problems. Besides the constant diarrhea and vomiting, I was treated for giardia and bacterial infections. In Canada, giardia is more commonly known as "Beaver Fever," because the hikers drink from seemingly pristine lakes, and unknowingly consume Beaver feces. The side effects aren't fun. But lately, it's been sinus infection after sinus infection.  Being sick in Peru is so much more inconvenient than in the States. It means I loose a lot of time being out of site, which is a bummer. So I'm heading to Lima to see a specialist so I can return to site in good health and focus on my projects! 

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! As always, sending you lots of Peruvian love.

Stories about Site

I've been in Peru for almost one year now, so I think a few reflections are appropriate. This experience is like nothing I imagined in my wildest dreams and at once everything I hoped for. The sun is shining in Ancash, and Tumpa has come alive again. As a Youth Development volunteer, I seek to work with a "triangle of support" in the community, which consists of the school, the health post, and the municipality. I've worked intensively with both the school and health post, but the municipality is another story...

Before I was invited into the community, Tumpa believed that Peace Corps was the CIA or some sort of spy organization. After years of site development on Peace Corps' end and with much convincing from Feli, the nurse at the health post and my lovely community partner, Tumpa ultimately decided to invite Peace Corps to work in the community. But the CIA sentiments still remained.

One unpleasant manifestation of those sentiments came in mid-January of this year, when I was invited to a town meeting only to be kicked out because some community members were still unsure and wary of my role in Tumpa.

I'd obtained permission to attend the meeting from the President of Tumpa, with the intention to present my summer vacation work plan to all the parents so they could register their children.
I put on my traditional dress, left my house, and walked to the Plaza, confident and hopeful that this municipality meeting with the parents would be a breakthrough in my Peace Corps service. I arrived to the Plaza and was waved over by a group of Tumpesinas, traditional dress, toothy smiles and all. We sat and chatted, and then the President of the community started by reading of the agenda for the meeting, with "Words from Sophie Dila, Peace Corps Volunteer," ringing in at #3. That's when things got interesting. One man interrupted by objecting to my presence for fear that I would "llevar los jovenes," or "take the children" from the town.
I froze.
A debate erupted. Town members, including the Justice of the Peace and my host Grandfather spoke out loudly in my defense, while others I did not recognize theorized - lets just say negatively - about my role as a PCV in Tumpa. I was asked to leave the meeting by the President. "The Walk of Shame" took on a whole new meeting that day.

Five months later, things are looking up. 

I organized a community clean-up for Earth Day where all the students took 1 hour to pick up trash off the streets of Tumpa. 

I've finally met the Mayor and he invited me to the next private municipality meeting where I will formally get to know the leaders of Tumpa and invite them to participate in my Improved Kitchen project. The Improved Kitchens will minimize smoke, making a healthier home. Many community members have approached me expressing interest in the project, and the Mayor thinks it's a great idea. So the "triangle of support" seems to be materializing.

My teen social theater group is going well, and I'm working in the Primary school with the little guys on a self-esteem workshop called Quien Soy Yo? or Who am I? 

I spent a weekend in Lima - woo hoo! - so that the previous trainers of the Youth Development In-Service Training called "How to Form a Teen Social Theater Group" could pass the torch to me and Alex, another Peru 11er. In September, Alex and I will train our Peru 11 Youth Development Group on this theme.

And this is about 9 months into site, 1 year in Peru... so my reflection here is that things moooveee slooowwwlyyyy. My levels of patience have exponentially increased, and I've learned to take one day at a time, being sure to celebrate the smallest of victories.

So there you go, a few stories about site. 

Hiking in Anca$h

One of the reasons that Ancash is Better is because of its eco-tourism. Ancash is home to Huascaran, the largest tropical snow-capped mountain in the world, hundreds of glacial lakes, amazing rock climbing, white-water rafting, and of course, the Andes mountains. During this beautiful dry season, I've been enjoying Ancash to the fullest, going on beautiful hikes around Tumpa with my site mate Rabbit and exploring the Callejon de Huaylas with Ancash volunteers. 

*May was the month of beautiful hikes* 

Erica and Callie invited me and a few of other volunteers to participate in an environ

mental clean-up of Santa Cruz trek, one of the most famous, challenging and beautiful in all of Ancash. We left early in the morning with about 100 Peruvian arieros, or donkey drivers part of the local tourist committee. With our backpacks full of water, snacks, and sweaters, we were ready to brave the the cold Andean night. We spent the day hiking uphill, taking pictures and videos, and catching glimpses of the snowcaps from beh

ind the clouds. We arrived to camp by sunset, set up our tents despite the garua - the cold drizzle, and shared a warm dinner of rice and beef stew with the arieros. The drizzle cleared the next morning and we took off to reach the top of the trek. After getting a little off-trail and fording a couple of bone-chilling r

ivers, we made it to the turn around point and were rewarded by a spectacular view of an enormous snowcapped mountain. And the naked glacial lake jumps are a blast.

Every now and then, Ancash volunteers like to have destination regional meetings. We had the last one at the top of the 69 trek - a short but challenging day hike at 4600 meters. W

e had a great time hiking up together and when we reached the top we stripped down, kept tradition alive, and jumped into the ice cold laguna. 

As a New Englander, of course I miss the beach, the seafood, and the costal lifesty

le. But I've become much more of an outdoorsy person since living in Peru, and have grown a true appreciation for the mountain life. 

La Lluvia

"Those who journey can easily understand,
the more they see the more they'll learn,
the more that they will be.
So this I swear to you, and this I swear to me,
I'll never rest till I've seen all I can see.
No, I'll never rest till I've seen all i can see."
-Brendan James

I've survived my first rainy season in the Andes. Although it's still raining, the sunlight is in sight at the end of this proverbial rainy tunnel. Over the past few months, I've been visited by my parents, who both came up to my site and met my Peruvian family. My trips with my parents were amazing and refreshing. I found complete peace on my jungle trip with my Dad. And apart from luxing-out in a beautiful beach bungalo in the North of Peru, the real highlight of my mom's trip was when she camp up to Llanganuco Laguna with some friends and me, and captured the kodak moment that was us jumping into that glacial lake in the nude. It was hard to see my parents go, but that's the sacrifice.

*Posing in our Ancashina mantas before the big jump*

I also spent two weeks in Huaraz learning Quechua, the language of the Incas with about 10 other Ancashino volunteers. Although I did learn a good base of the language, we did manage to behave like teenagers during our classes - defacing each others notebooks, etc. I have no idea how I'm going to survive going back to school after Peace Corps. Focusing is something I just can't...

*A little mid-Quechua-class yoga...*

School has started again in Tumpa, which means that my work life has been much more productive and exciting. Although the full school transition has yet to occur (we're still missing a couple teachers), I've initiated a couple promising projects. The Ministry of Education in Peru has identified the student's reading comprehension as being one of the greatest weaknesses in education right now. Thus, the school librarian and I are working on a Library Expansion project. Through local community fundraising a Peace Corps fund, Lidia and I will purchase books of fiction and non-fiction in Spanish, English and Quechua for the students. We'll fill up the library and start some reading groups with the goal of increasing reading comprehension among students in Tumpa. I also started a Youth Social Theater Group, and we had our first performance this week! It totally brought me back to my acting days at GFA. We prepared a play about Tuberculosis and the kids performed in front of their entire school on World Tuberculosis Prevention Day. The play was followed by a parade around town. It's great to see campo kids animated and enthusiastic. This friday, I'll start tutoring English to the most outstanding English students at Tumpa's high school. So I've got some interesting and dynamic projects going, which is just the motivation I need to survive the final weeks of the rain.
Enjoy the pictures, keep in touch, and keep the packages coming!


*Play practice at the health center*

*The whole theater group, post-show, with their Tuberculosis banner getting ready for the parade*

New Photo Albums of the Rainy Season

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2144301&id=7403642&l=e59e47c4ba

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2144318&id=7403642&l=acae448bc6

Lots of love.

New Year Reflections

It’s already the end of January. I think back to one year ago – I was in Ketchum, Idaho breathing in the crisp mountain air and catching edges on the ski slopes of Baldy Mountain alongside best friend and surrogate sister Peyton. I remember a particular early-morning ski run we took on the mountain. It was an absolutely freezing and devastatingly beautiful morning. Peyton had taken the morning off of her job, and bundled up together on that windy mountain, we began to soak in the reality that I’d be leaving soon to some unknown destination to volunteer in the Peace Corps and that these last moments were truly precious. I knew then that my life was about to change dramatically. I could never have imagined the ways.

I’m coming up on another birthday, and thinking back over this last year, I think it’s actually been the best one yet. I celebrated my last birthday on the slopes with my mom in Idaho. We celebrated quietly with close friends that evening. I received my Peace Corps invitation to serve in Peru that same week. The next couple of months were spent saying way too many goodbyes to brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, friends, cities, neighborhoods, and towns. On June 4th, I took an early morning flight to Miami and was the first trainee to arrive to an extravagant hotel, the site of my Peace Corps orientation. That day 38 strangers flew into Miami from all parts of the country with all sorts of reasons for making this decision to join the Peace Corps. We all knew that day when we got on the plane that we were making a sacrifice – leaving loved ones and all that is familiar behind us and choosing the unknown for our futures. It sounds absolutely crazy, now, thinking about it, but it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. This has been the wildest and most awakening year of my life. Believe me, it has not been easy. I have hit roadblocks. I’ve shed some tears. I truly know what it means to be homesick now. I have missed my life back home. But the high moments have far outweighed the low ones, and for me, if it were easy, it wouldn’t be fun.

In 2008 I cut off a foot of my hair, skied my heart out, surfed in Santa Cruz, went to AU graduation, said farewell to Glover Park, played Kings with high school friends, planned my 5 year high school reunion, ate my last lobster, felt the family love, got on the plane, started a blog, visited Ancash for the first time, swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer, ate my first guinea pig, voted for Barack Obama, found cell phone service just outside my adobe kitchen window, conquered my fear of spiders (well, almost), forgot just how good a hot shower feels, taught Peruvian kids how to sing in English, made pancakes with my host sister, celebrated Christmas with my host family, rang in the New Year with my Peace Corps family, went running at 10,000 ft, splashed in giant puddles with my rain boots, jumped in a glacial lake naked, channeled my inner child, and felt truly and wildly alive.

In 2009, I’ll do more yoga, read more books, obsess over the Obama Presidency, work and play with lots of adorable kids, learn Quechua, dance Huaino, and attempt to make the most of all this. And believe me, I’ll be missing you all the while. But I think it’ll be worth it. *

Christmas in the Andes

I'll let my pictures tell the story this time...

Posing in front of the Health Center's Christmas tree, the only one in town!

Christmas dinner - noodle soup, guinea pig and potatoes.

Host mom and me standing outside our house.
I guess I've got a hand-on-the-hip thing going this holiday season.

Juan Carlos, my host brother, catching dinner

Dinner!
I survived the holiday in my site.
These ducks were not so lucky.

Family and neighbors toasting Christmas.

Maria, my host sister, loving her Little Mermaid light-up pen that my mother sent.

My windowsill full of holiday cards and Christmas decorations.

This is my kitchen window. This is where I get my calls.

And it certainly is a room with view.

Happy Holidays!