Jen in Peru: Winter sets in...

May so far has been a bumpy ride. Obviously, the Mothers' Day holiday and the weeks leading up to it was a hard time for many of the kids at the albergue. I think it was a difficult time for the volunteers and staff members as well, especially because everyone at the albergue seems to be getting sick these days. The same illnesses keep getting passed around from person to person until they've made their way back to where they started from before anyone has enough time to fully recover. This has definitely been the case for us in Kinder.

Maricielo came in to class with a runny nose and a cough three weeks ago, and despite the abundant hand washing and germ-x use at my insistance, after about 24 hours, both Jhon and I had the same bug, and eventually Jose Luis got it too. Our symptoms seemed to be getting better, but then returned and worsened over the course of two weeks. After three doctor visits and an unsuccessful round of antibiotics, decongestants, and cough medicine, I was finally diagnosed with Strep Throat and am now feeling a lot better after being treated for it.

Perhaps everyone's getting sick has something to do with the changing of seasons. After a very long and warm summer, the days are quickly growing shorter, cloudier, and colder as winter makes its grand entrance into the Southern Hemisphere. Granted, in Trujillo very "cold" weather means a high of 68, and a low of 60, but the lack of sunlight mixed with the humidity from the Pacific Ocean and the strong winds from the desert behind the albergue do seem to make it feel significantly colder here. One interesting thing I've learned lately is that, according to the average Peruvian, you can get sick from any one of the following five reasons: You either
A) eat too many "cold" foods, such as apples or oranges,
B) do not eat enough "warm" foods, like cookies or buttered bread,
C) drink too much water outside of meal times,
D) drink any beverage colder than room temperature--if you put ice in your soda, you're DEFINITELY asking to getting sick--, or
E) go outside without long-sleeves and a "chompa" (sweater/jacket) when the temperature drops to anything below 80 degrees.

As logical as these well-known Peruvian "facts" may sound, I still maintain that the most probable cause of our recent increase in illness is the simple change in weather and the kids' lack of drugs and good personal hygiene habits. But, what do I know, I'm just another crazy American who drinks her milk cold and doesn't put on a jacket to go outside when it's 70 degrees...

Despite these minor setbacks, a lot of good things are going on here on this month. My students in kinder class seem to be soaking up and retaining a lot of information. Jhon and Maricielo have become a lot more obedient than they were at the beginning of the year, and are talking more and more each day. (Jose Luis still has yet to say much of anything other than the sound "mehhhh," but at least he's decreased the amount of non-food objects he eats in class every day.) Several weeks of frustrating potty training work with Jhon have finally paid off, as he is now using a "basin," rather than a diaper. I am so proud of him, and he is pretty excited too to be more like the big kids, especially his in-class role model, Maricielo.

Last Thursday was John, one of the other volunteers,' birthday, and we celebrated it with a surprise party in La Campiña of Moche. "Campiña" is the Spanish word for "countryside," and here it is used to describe a particular area in Moche, a small suberb of Trujillo very close to where we live, that was originally founded by the Mochican indians, the same native group that created the great Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol. Several of the volunteers, both past and present, are friends with a Mochican man named Javier, who was kind enough to let us have the party at his house in Moche. Javier has his own pottery studio, where he works hard to make traditional Mochican ceramics using the exact same processes and techniques that have been used by his ancestors for hundreds of years. Javier and his (many) brothers are all musicians, and they enjoy keeping their culture alive by playing the music of their ancestors using traditional hand-made Mochican instruments.

When we arrived at Javier's, he greeted us by blowing in a giant conch shell, which he told us was the traditional way for a Mochican to welcome new guests. Then he shared some of his homemade chicha with us, and his brothers walked out of their house playing clay horns, the ends of which had been lit on fire for special effects. They played their traditional music and sang for John and the rest of us for about forty-five minutes. They even let a couple of us play some of the instruments with them. Afterward, we went with them to the restaurant next door where we enjoyed a tasty meal and an evening of Peruvian music and dance. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery early on in the evening, but I did manage to record a short video clip of one of the first songs the Caimanes brothers played, with Lori joining them to dance for her husband John. Caimanes Brothers video

Javier's Peruvian Hairless Dog, "Con Hache"

Three of the Caimanes brothers playing their dragon horns

The flaming dragon horns again, this time without a flash

Lori joins the Caimanes

A couple of the kids had birthdays this month as well. Jose Luis, the youngest of the whole albergue, finally turned two yesterday, so we're going to have to have a little celebration for him in kinder class tomorrow. (Hopefully this will help them get better at remembering the number 2.)
On May 8th, Enrique turned nine and to celebrate Elizabeth, Susanna, and I took him out for a hamburger, ice cream, and a trip to the park. Normally when we take one of the kids on a birthday outing they get to choose one friend to come with them, but at Enrique's request, we made an exception this time so that he could bring both his friend Aldair and Maricielo, his 2-year-old sister. The three of them all had a great time!