I walk on the streets of Trujillo and people wave at me, big smiles: “Hello, hello”. I walk in the seaside resort of Huanchaco and people stop me to have pictures taken with me, big smiles. I walk on the pile of dust, dirt and refuse that the inhabitants of Alto Trujillo call their home and people smile and wave at me, bigger smiles. Is it the result of my 1.35 USD haircut? (yes, I paid one dollar and 35 cents for a haircut and I even got a chocolate bar included in the price) I don’t think so… Peruvians are very friendly and gringos are still rather rare and exotic in this part of the country. Almost everything that is gringo is cool: the clothes, the cars, the movies and even me it turns out. Good thing that the people that stop me to have pictures taken when I walk past with my board and wetsuit haven’t seen me “surfing” or they would probably punch me in the face. Gringo music is not all that popular, samba, cumbia, reggaeton and merengue are still the local favorites.
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of watching the Longboard World Cup Tour in Huanchaco and the local boy Clemente “Piccolo” won the contest and the World Cup Qualifier. The fans went crazy with joy and there was even more noise, dancing and music than usual. On Sunday my friend Billy and I went to the food shelter that is run by Margarita’s family (wonderful people that own the Muchik surf school) in Las Lomas (a poor neighborhood close to Huanchaco). Billy and I held a small presentation on nutrition and helped prepare the food for the children. The food shelter is in its early stages and right now it offers the children a healthy meal every Sunday and a “values” class, but they want to start free classes in English and other topics to help the kids attain a better education, which will hopefully give them the chance to access opportunities their parents never had.
Great things have been happening around here! New volunteers arrived at the Espaanglisch house. Ruwan arrived from England and Michelle arrived from the US. Ruwan is my new room mate and he is a top notch guy. Michelle is also very nice and I think the three of us make a pretty good team.
The USDA Summer camp has started and we are teaching two English classes a day, four times a week. The classes take place in the barrios of Alto Trujillo and El Milagro. These are two very poor neighborhoods in the Eastern outskirts of Trujillo. The “homes” are often nothing more than a couple of bricks and plastic boards, there is no sewage. Stray dogs (as Michelle pointed out some of the dogs look like the nasty creatures in Aliens, except that the creatures from the movie don't have rabies), waste of all sorts and dust dominate the surroundings. This doesn’t prevent the people from smiling at us when we show up with our USDA blue volunteer vests. The children are amazing. They are eager to learn and WANT us to give them homework. I was almost moved to tears when at the end of our classes 10 children came to embrace me. They all want to hold hands with me. The girls kiss my cheek when they leave, the boys prefer to “gimme five” or hug me. They all shout “profesor, profesor” to grab my attention.
The poorest neighborhoods in town have names such as “La Esperanza” (Hope), El Milagro (the miracle), El Porvenir (the future). I guess that this is supposed to instill hope in the hearts of the local populace. Hey! Cheer up; you live in a shack that has no sewage, running water, doors or windows in a place that has an inspiring name. Not amusing.
February 5th
Things are moving at a very rapid pace. So fast that I haven’t had time to update my travel blog. The week end was not as quiet as I had hoped. Another volunteer arrived, Anjana from New York. We went to a goodbye party yesterday night. The party was held in honor of an outbound volunteer and it was in a house of a friend of hers. The house was right in front of a restaurant called Roky’s. There are two pretty large, kitschy dinosaurs in front of the restaurant. I have to try and take pictures of it ASAP. The party itself was in the inner courtyard/garden and there was an impressive temple in honor of the Virgin Mary. Religious icons are almost as popular as football players in the taxis, combis and micros. "I love Jesus" stickers are the absolute favorite, but minute Virgin Mary statues are a very close second.
Today Ruwan and I went to see how USDA sets up the food shelters. The concept is quite interesting. The organization provides a very small weekly budget and the local communities have to organize the cooking and distribution of the food. USDA then supervises the “comedores” to make sure that they are truly providing a community service and working well. The groups charge a minimal amount of money which gets put into a common vault and used to expand other community based activities. I quite like the way this whole project is set up because there is a minimal involvement of the NGO, the true responsibility lies within the hands of the community. We returned to Trujillo and took our combi to Huanchaco. Surfed and played beach volley until the sun went down.
Sunday 6th
Went to the comedor in Las Lomas with Billy. As I have already mentioned the comedor is managed by the Huamanchumo family, who also run the surf shop where Margarita Huamanchumo conveniently lets me store my board. The project is still at the very beginning, but the Huamanchumo family has a BIG heart and are slowly expanding the program. Next Sunday I will teach a geography class. Should be fun.
After the hard work in the kitchen, Billy and I went for a well deserved surf in small long left-handers. The surf was amazing. After the surf we played volleyball with Ruwan, Michelle, Anjana, David (espaanglisch), Carla, Tereza (USDA), Billy, his neighbor Amber from Alaska and a family that is taking Spanish classes from David. The sunset was absolutely amazing and after that we had a Pollo a la brasa (roast chicken). I slept like a baby despite the cuys squeaking, combis honking and ever present blaring salsa music.
Feb 7th
Today I was very proud of myself as I taught a hard class, in a warm class room with many wonderful but hyperactive children and I somehow managed to teach them colors and keep them under control.
During the break I organized races for the children and bought them water. At the Alan Garcia Market in Alto Trujillo people stared at me as if I were an alien. I don’t think they had ever seen a living gringo specimen before. The break between classes is the hardest moment, the kids are full of energy and us teachers are all exhausted. A good trick to prevent total anarchy is to sing songs. Big favorites are the Sandia Song (watermelon song) and the Perequita Song (parrot song). Fortunately Rodrigo, one of the cool USDA volunteers who teaches math, is also a master at singing the aforementioned sedative songs. Who needs Ritalin when you can sing the Sandia-Song? The children are absolutely adorable, I could pack them all in my suitcase and bring them home with me.
Now if you will kindly excuse me I need to get some grocery shopping done. After that I have to prepare an English conversation class and an Italian class.
