March Madness

So it’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog, but I’ve been busy lately. This month has been filled with events where I’ve been away from my site. March has been a month a majority of the volunteers have been looking forward to because it ended our 3 month probation period where now PCV’s of Peru 12 can now go on legal vacations. We also just got done with our “Reconnect” where all the volunteers of my group got together in a beach town in the northern coast of Peru to give presentations of their sites, and to have fun.

Seeing everybody two weeks ago was awesome. The three days were filled with presentations, really bad haircuts, surfing, and a beach full of sunburnt gringos. The trip started with me and a couple of volunteers going to Chaclacayo to visit our host families during pre-service training. It has been a while since I’ve talked to them, but it was a great visit. Everybody is doing well, and they were surprised with the amount of weight I lost and the length of my hair. I also was surprised with the news that my old host sister is getting married in May, which means May will be a month of weddings since I already am going to one that month in the states.

After the visit, we went to Pacasmayo where our “Reconnect” was located. This was the first time I went north of Lima, so it was very exciting for me. Pacasmayo is a pretty cool beach town, which is surprisingly empty and lacking of tourists. Me and another volunteer were talking about how we have to judge all beach towns with a grain of salt since nothing here really compares to Cali or Hawaii. It was great seeing everybody again, and hearing all the new stories. We had a very enjoyable 4 days. I finally got the chance to surf out here (if you love lefts, you have to come to Peru), got a ridiculous haircut along w/ 3 other volunteers, and got second in our 3rd campeonato of RPS.

After saying our goodbyes, we went back to our sites. For me, and the other volunteers located in Lima and Ica, this meant going back to site for a couple days to unload and pack again to attend a 3 day workshop on Behavior Change. I just got back from this a couple days ago, and in a couple days from now, all WATSAN volunteers will be going back to Lurin to attend a workshop with their community partners on designing projects.

Being away from site for these long periods of time is a bit weird because it always takes a bit of time to adjust. I pretty much spent my time, checking mail, washing clothes, and sleeping. Travelling takes a toll, and I haven’t even taken a vacation day yet. Another weird thing about being a volunteer is that you don’t have that 9-5 that everyone else has. Our work day is however we make it. This means working nights and weekends when people usually aren’t working to going away for long periods of time.

So now, we are all in this transition period. Our diagnostic of our community should be coming to an end, and now we should be preparing ourselves to working on our projects which will hopefully be able to help our communities in a sustainable way.
That’s about it for me. I hope everyone is enjoying the NCAA tourney at home and enjoying the madness. I did get to see a couple games while I was in Lima, but it isn’t the same, especially because I haven’t watched any NCAA games this year, which also explains how busted my bracket is right now. I miss everyone at home, and hopefully I’ll hear from you soon. Enjoy the pictures of my ridiculous mullet. Take care and cuidense.