Gusanos

It's official: I can't get rid of my stomach problems. Speaking of the little devils last week, it's happened...I have worms! I know I shouldn't be excited about not being able to get rid of my constant stomach problems and the symptoms weren't all that comfortable (in fact, although I have a tendency to overshare at times, this is one of those times where I will keep to myself on how I found out), but back when I was a young lad in the US with dreams of being a Peace Corps volunteer running through my head, I just thought that that was what a PC volunteer was: Saving the world and getting worms. So...I'm halfway there to really being a PC volunteer! One down and one more to go. The PC doctor (whom I'm sure is sick of hearing from me by now) has already called in a prescription for me that I can go and pick up whenever I go into the city next.

The worms unfortunately weren't "big" enough of a problem to make me lose weight or win the 50 soles bet (Hmph!)--ie biggest worm out of your body gets 50 soles. However, it did cause me to eat like a Hellion and, in Peru, this is bad because my host family can't afford to feed two Katies. So I'm going to get the problem fixed ASAP. Oh! I don't have a picture of my wormies, but I did find something on the internet for y'all's enjoyment while you're eating lunch. This is an idea of what my gusano looks like. Bon appetit!

Huy...Una cosa mas

Oye. One more thing. My sister sent me this picture that was taken before I left. Aw...I miss home. Even in Peru, I've been hearing a lot about this swine flu. Please take care of yourselves, everyone.

La catarata en Cajabamba

Some pictures from my hike yesterday. Cajabamba has seven waterfalls...so one down and six more to go. This is only a 15 minute bus ride from my town and another hour or so walk. Everything was as green and pretty as it looked. (Another nerd reference: While hiking, I pretended that I was in "Jurassic Park." He he. The music just kept rolling in my head... But minus the dinosaurs and other scary spitting demon looking animals, of course.)

The only bad part about yesterday: Aerobics has done away with all the traction on my shoes. While crossing the river yesterday, I slipped on a rock and fell into the water! :(

La epoca de lluvia

It's rainy season here...and it's horrible! Everyday there is rain for an hour or two at anytime during the day or night. It reminds me of the rain on "Lost" (sorry, nerd reference). All of a sudden the sky just opens up and all hell breaks loose. When it isn't raining, then the weather is downright dreary and cold here--40's and 50's and damp. The picture here is of laundry day. Literally I just finished my wash when the rain just doused on everything I had just wrung out by hand.

Unfortunately, window panes are expensive so the wind just blows in all the time. (The worst is when you're showering.) We've talked about getting plastic for the windows, but I think my family is used to it so I'm doing my best to adjust, too. (And to not think of heaters or fireplaces or hot apple cider...Um...)

The good news is that I'm healthy again! Thank you for all the good wishes. Whatever it was, it was horrible and had me double over in pain for two days. Finally, the Peace Corps doctor prescribed some meds to me and everything ended well. I was kind of disappointed that nothing interesting came out though. We actually have a bet in the Peace Corps. Whoever poops out and sends in the biggest worm gets 50 soles! (And that money does come in handy here!) I know it's kind of gross and you're probably doing your best to keep your breakfast down, but the reality is that most of us will get worms during our service. And, if so, why not make a little money out of it? Well, I still have two more months until the year's up, but so far, nothing interesting yet. :(

More pleasant news is that listenership on the radio show has been picking up and I was offered more on-air time. (I declined, because this isn't my goal here in the Peace Corps. Yes, I still have dreams of making a difference blah blah blah.) But it's exciting nevertheless and it's helped me in my Spanish, too. My host family listens to it together and one of the other volunteers actually heard it while he was on a bus! Yay for Ka-tee on Radio Jhasiel noventa cuatro punto nueve....

La fiesta en San Marcos

In keeping up with the tradition of fiestas around here (and, boy, are there lots!), I went to the fiesta of a nearby town yesterday. Every town pretty much have their own fiestas that typically last a week or longer. Again, everything's shut down and you get to drink, eat, dance...and see lamas.

Estoy enferma... :(

Aw...I'm sick. I think I have a parasite in my tummy. (I say this because almost every volunteer has gotten sick with stomach problems and we've become pretty good at discussing our bodily functions and diagnosing it with the help of our Peace Corps physician.)

For the last day, I have not been able to keep anything down (I'll spare you the details, although we did have some pretty close calls running to the bathroom), ran a fever, got the chills, and haven't felt like eating. Being a Hui, this is rare for us. While other people "lose their appetite" from stress or whatever, I am quite the opposite and tend to eat more in times of stress, etc. As such, this is just a rare treat for me!

The funny thing is that Peruvians have heard about our cases of swine flu in the US. So whenever you show a cough or two, people tend to back away from you and then start lecturing you about "la gripe," ie, swine flu. When I told my host mom that I was going to miss dinner and go to bed last night, she asked me if I had "la gripe." To add insult to injury, since I haven't done laundy in a while, the bed bugs are back and I am once again covered in bites. :( This is definitely the part that I enjoy least as a volunteer in a developing country.

P.S. Sidenote: My host sister just brought back the game, Twister, from the city and asked if I wanted to play. Anyone else think that: Twister + deadly Peruvian stomach problems = BAD IDEA!!?

Los castillos no son mis amigos

Last night was a night of fireworks, more beer, and more dancing on the streets. Let me just take a moment to emphasize that fireworks are not my friends here! They could not be more dangerous! After everytime, I'm always relieved that my eyeballs are still intact.

The fireworks here are strapped onto a wooden pole and after they're lit with someone's cigarette butt, they go twirling around at full speed while people stand right below it.

Now I'm smart, I close my eyes and try to have a human shield in front of me at all times. But last night was not a success, the darn thing landed on my bare foot and then I had a heck of a time trying to douse it out.

Meanwhile, my host mother, sweet little lady that she is, always try to push me forward to see them so that I don't miss the action. Well, after almost coming home with only one foot, she became my personal Operation Human Shield. Luckily for her though, both her feet are still intact.

La corrida

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit, but this week was our town's fiesta. Fiestas are a BIG thing here. The whole town gets shut down--really, no one works, except for the restaurants and store owners--just so people can drink, dance on the street, and then pass out until the morning after.

We started the festivities last Friday with fireworks, dancing on the streets, etc. but really, people actually started celebrating way before that. It was the festivities before the festivities. Anyways, I still have two more days of fiesta left and I'll be glad when it's over. I can't keep up with all the drinking and dancing that lasts until dawn. However, I have been taking advantage of the amazing activities, such as the food competition, the bull fight (seen here), watching traditional Peruvian dances, the cuy competitions, Peruvian concerts, etc.

Here was my first bull fight. Did you know that bull fights are really violent? They actually stab the bull early on to weaken it so that the matador doesn't get hurt (picture 2). And then eventually they kill it (picture 1) and drag it off. All this while people are cheering and yelling. PETA would never allow this in the states!

Platos tipicos

So this is the eating portion of our fiesta. It's actually a competition to see who can make the best dish. So the Peruvians come out just to show off their finest. I don't know if you can tell by the first photo, but there is actually a line of food, about 30 plates in total.

And let see if you can guess who was one of the judges of this fine event...ME!!!! (He he. See previous blogs about my bad ass celebrity status. Um hmm...) Yep, that's right, little ol' me who knows nothing about traditional Peruvian food but I've watched enough Food Network to make my way down the line and grill the Peruvian women about their dishes. Despite almost busting a seam in my pants afterwards, you'll be happy to know that I tried out every single dish.

Unfortunately, typical dishes in Peru usually consists of cuy...like a mountain of it. I must have tried out almost 15 different types of cuy dishes. This was bad for the girl who had so far refrained from eating cuy because she just couldn't stand the thought of eating their cute little furry selves. But yet here I was. Photo 4 is an example of the type of cuy that I ate. (Ugh...shudder) and, then afterwards in Peruvian custom, you're supposed to wash your cuy down with this homemade liquor of chicha (picture 3) made of fermented spit. (Yep, I did that, too, for quite a few cups...an afternoon of guinea pig eating and getting drunk off homemade liquor.) There actually was a group of audience on the stands who were watching us throughout this whole thing so I didn't want to offend by refusing Peruvian formalities.

Anyways, picture 2 was eventually the winner. She made this fried cuy dish that was seasoned just perfectly and, see, I'm actually eating it! But after this, I think no more cuy for quite a while. Afterwards, I walked by the cuy cages and, with my full belly, just couldn't look those little guys in the eyes.

Rey Cuy!

This is the cuy (guinea pig) contest. The man shown in the photo is the judge and a cuy doctor so he went down the line in order to inspect the cuyes. Ultimately, a King Cuy is crowned with a robe and everything. I, unfortunately, had to leave and wasn't able to stay for that part. But some of these cuyes were huge and weighed more than 7 pounds each!