Hey everyone, Ian here, just thought I would give you an update.
Alrighty, where to begin...
It has been a while since I have let you all know what the hell has been going in my life but I have started to get everything together and I have found myself with a little time and the means to finally get online, hooray!
I am officially a real Peace Corps volunteer (with an awesome vest that makes me look legit). The Swearing In ceremony was pretty cool, everyone was dressed up to the nines, there were people from the embassy there, and all of the host families made it out. It was sad, saying goodbye to all of the great friends I had made as everyone went of in different directions to different parts of the country.
My official site (where I am going to be living and working for the next two years)
San Jacinto, Tumbes, Perú
is located in the far northern department of Tumbes about 40 minutes from the Ecuadorian frontera.
It is a medium sized town of about 4,500 people. It is also the district capital with 9 or so small caserillos (small towns) surrounding it.
Upon arriving to San Jacinto, I was greeted by a crowd of townsfolk. Everyone important was there, the mayor, the various municipality leaders, and about 50 elementary school students all holding signs saying "welcome to peru" and "thank you" and others. I ended having to give a short speech. Thank goodness I had written it down because I was incredibly nervous, but I made it through it more or less unscathed. The mayor seems smarmy, but is nice to me. After a nice rendition of the Peruvian national hymn, which I knew none of and just stood there awkwardly for, a talent show started.... A few high school girls sang songs, little kids sang songs, and it was a very interesting awkward time.
After the welcome ceremony I went to meet my new family for the first time. I was a little apprehensive because I think a host family can make or break the experience. Luckily I had nothing to worry about as my new family is very nice and caring. My mother's name is Juana, dad's name is Grover, and my brothers are Roosevelt and Robson, 16 and 18 respectively. Grover is a police officer in Tumbes and totally looks the part. It is definitely nice to have an in with the police department because if something happens, god forbid, I think he would be able to help me out quite a bit.
We have a pet dog that is huge and vicious,(and I can't pronounce it's name) but I think it is warming up to me, it is barking at me less and less now. Maybe soon I will get up the courage to pet it, probably a while though because it almost took off a fellow volunteers hand yesterday...
The weekend of my arrival happened to coincide with the biggest town festival of the year, the aniversario of the town. Needless to say the entire town was out in the square partying it up and I was out there with them. My brothers started off at about 4:30 pm and by that time the party was well underway. There were two bands and lots of cumbia music. It was all in all a pretty good time. I only made it to about 10 pm, because it was more or less my first night in San Jacinto and I was exhausted from the 20 hour bus ride that it took to get there, and also by that point I was intoxicated as we had been drinking for a good 5.5 hours.
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So, Tumbes...
Let me start off with, it's hot, really hot. The weather is easily the most talked about topic in my town / area. And all of the conversations consist of "It's hot out..." and I respond "yeah it is" and that's it, but no one here ever bores about talking about the weather, it is as if they are continually surprised by how hot it is even though they having been living here there whole life. It has definitely become a good conversation starter for me. Another small issue here is that they have a distinctly different accent than Limeños, I'm not sure what is it is that they do differently but it sounds like a completely different language and I can barely understand anything anybody says.
Secondly, I enjoy mangoes and hammocks, and I enjoy them even more when they are combined. Actually as I am writing this email/blog post, I am laying in a hammock in my back yard in the shade. Thank goodness, because my house is an oven. With the tin roof, my house heats up very fast and even with the extra large fan that I just bought, it is really too hot to spend any significant time inside during the day.
Mangoes are so cheap here a stranger gave me an entire bag today for no reason other than I had sat next to them as we were waiting for a taxi...
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The nature is beautiful here; During my site visit I went to Los Manglares, or the mangroves, with a couple of community partners and a fellow volunteer. For 5 soles, or $ 1.66, we had a 4 - 5 hour boat tour. It was very beautiful and interesting. We stopped at one point and made our way out to the beach where we swam for about an hour or so. I had inconveniently forgot to bring my bathing suit so I swam in my boxers, nothing like making a good first impression, oh well.
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Alright, Thanksgiving, thanksgiving was as good as it could be without be surrounded by family and old friends. We - the Tumbes crew, the 10 volunteers that are currently serving in the department of tumbes - all met up for a good old fashioned turkey dinner on the beach. We went to a beach town called Zorritos about 30 minutes away from me and spent the day chilling on the beach getting sunburned, playing in the waves bodysurfing and playing a little volleyball. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the event because I still don't feel comfortable bringing any thing of value into tumbes, so you will just have to take my word for it that it is more or less paradise.
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As for work to do here, there is plenty. Right now I am in the process of meeting with several different town leaders, and very soon I will be starting my community diagnostic in which I interview and learn about the community and try and help the community identify the problems and hopefully solutions that we want to work on over the next two years.
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Paz!
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