¿estás acostumbrada?

This morning I found myself sweeping my dirt floor. That’s right, sweeping dirt. As I was sweeping, I had to avoid the pile of potatoes that sits in the corner of my room. The pile has been there since I moved in. I’m not sure what all those potatoes are doing there, but I plan on leaving them alone until my family tells me what to do. I then walked out of my room and banged my head on the 5 foot door. All of the Peruvians easily fit under the doors here. I, on the other hand, have several bruises on my head.

At least once a day, someone in Julcán asks me “¿Estás acostumbrada a Julcán?” Are you accustomed to Julcán yet? I tell them “si, más o menos.” I am trying my hardest to get used to all of the differences in lifestyle here. Here are just some of the things I am adjusting to:

PAPAS- potatoes potatoes potatoes. For those of you who don’t know, Peru is the international capital of potatoes in the world. Julcán, my district, is the 2nd biggest potato producer in the country. Everyone in my town is a potato farmer. With not much money, they even get paid in potatoes. In the center of the main plaza, there is a statue of tools used for potato farming. No meal is complete without potatoes. Now, potatoes actually used to be one of my favorite foods, but now that I have had them in access, they are far from my favorite. The other day Jason Chris and I were riding a bus joking about how many potatoes there are here. As we were talking, a woman walked on the bus and handed out boiled potatoes to everyone.

My family sent me some Kraft macaroni and cheese from back home, after hearing me talk of meals consisting of only potatoes. I made it for my family. Guess what? They served it with potatoes.

AGUA- I don’t have running water. Water comes to the houses only twice a week, and only for 15 minutes early in the morning. (Only this week, it didn’t come at all…). It is a pretty big hassle; not only for me personally, but I find it to be a huge obstacle when I tell people here the importance of hygiene and washing hands when we don’t have water to do so.

CABRERO- There are often decapitated goats hanging in my house. They LOVE to eat goat head here. For every special occasion, goat head is served. Its considered a delicacy (kind of like a big juicy steak in the states). My host mom has a business on Sundays where she serves all things goat head. I watch her on Saturday afternoons as she brings home 8 freshly killed goat heads and cuts them apart and cleans them (that is, if there is water). It’s about a 6 hour process. The following day at 6 in the morning, at least 50 people come over to eat goat head soup, or goat head with (surprise surprise) potatoes.

CUY- In addition to the delicious goat head, guinea pig is considered even more of a delicacy. Apparently it tastes like chicken? The other day I went to Jason’s house for lunch. As I pushed around the food on my plate, trying to gulp down some bites, I felt something crawling at my feet. I looked down and saw five or six guinea pigs running around on the kitchen floor. People raise the guinea pigs in their homes so that they can be fresh when it comes time to eat them. (Luckily, what I was eating for lunch was just potatoes; guinea pig was for dinner, which I unfortunately missed).

GRINGA- I am trying my best to fit in here. I bought myself a poncho, I’m working on my Julcanera accent and slang, and learning the customs of Julcán. But no matter what I do, I’ll be the tall white girl who talks funny. As mentioned above, the short doors have taken some getting used to. But other than the doors, being a tall white girl is not necessarily a negative thing. In fact, I sort of feel like a celebrity here because everyone knows me. People who I can’t remember meeting yell out my name as I walk by. I definitely feel respected and welcomed as the new gringa in town. But it is certainly a weird feeling to be a minority.

navidad

On Christmas Eve, we ate our Christmas dinner at midnight, as is Peruvian tradition. It included panettone (fruit cake-like... pretty gross in my opinion, but the Peruvians LOVE it) and hot chocolate. After dinner, we danced until about 4 in the morning. We woke up for breakfast, which also consisted of panettone and chocolate. After lunch with the entire extended family (including panettone and chocolate), we continued to dance for hours.

huayno

Huayno is the traditional dance of the sierra of Peru. I don’t really know how to describe it, there’s a lot of, waving a handkerchief, and hollering involved. I’m trying my best to learn how to dance huayno. We had a little dance party at our house with my grandmother, sister, and some neighborhood girls. While the pictures are nice, I hope that this demonstrative video, thanks to my grandmother Abuelita Felicita, will show you all what Huayno is all about.

shoot de fashion

My entire family is obsessed with my digital camera. They think it is the greatest thing ever. The other day, my three sisters and I went out for a walk. They told me to bring the camera. I didn’t realize their intentions at first, but we ended up having a full out photo shoot. I realize that probably most of you reading this blog have your own digital cameras. To me, and probably you all, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. But to Yisenia, Aurora, and Lily, seeing pictures of themselves is something they are not used to at all. It was great to be able to share it with them.

Here are some of the results of the photo shoot.

famila

Here are some pictures of my family. Two of my sisters, Aurora Marisol (28) and Yisenia (19) study in Trujillo (4 hours away), but are home for the holidays. Clever (27), my brother works as a potato farmer. Lily (24) is a nurse technician who works at the health post where I work. My host father José, is occasionally at home, but usually working as a beer distributor in Trujillo. My host mother, Palomira stays at home as a housewife. Her mother, Felicita lives next door. She also has eight brothers and sisters, six of which are our neighbors. I haven’t quite yet figured out all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins, but soon enough I’ll have all of the relatives straightened out.