First Week

It´s been quite the week. First of all I apologize for spelling words wrong, my spell-check is in Spanish and I can't seem to fix it. One of the most surprising things about Peru is the amount of bugs we eat! It's a lot like the Lion King. Below is a picture of dinner.

Figure 1: Dinner. Thumb size for comparison.

Just kidding! Judging by it's colors, that bug looks like it would taste like me dieing. I did think it was cool that I found such a huge bug though. Pertaining to the picture, it is important to note that I have big hands.

Have you ever stood in a river, about waist high, and the water is strong enough that you almost can't hold your footing? I kind of had that experience earlier this week, which I will explain in the next few paragraphs. I´m volunteering in a kindergarten for children who are 2-5 years old. I can´t really remember being that old but the kids are semi out of control, which, I imagine, is how young Carl was. The children are great! whenever I do anything, they laugh at me.

The first time I met the 5 year old kindergarten class, they rushed me like it was black Friday. Luckily it's hard to get trampled to death by 25 screaming children. Apparently the children just wanted to give me a large impromptu group hug, which I imagine was a lot more fulfilling than a 50% off television set. Who knows though? I never liked shopping.

My first days here I visited the shanty towns. They are built into the hills where there is no electricity of running water. I made the picture large so it was easier to see everything.

Figure 2: Houses built from cardboard, scrap metal, and wood. The poverty continues for some distance in all directions.

The disparity between wealth and poverty is much more obvious here than in India. In India, everyone seemed poor. Here, there is a wall on top of the hills pictured above. Because of the view, there are ten million dollar houses on the other side of the hill. I find it somewhat sad that literally within a 300 foot distance, one man make millions of dollars a year, and his neighbor makes less than $5000 per year.

I also spent Saturday asking people for money to help kids with cleft palates seen below.

Figure 3: My collection box and the picture I pointed at before demanding money.

I didn't speak much Spanish and could pretty much only tell people, "help me" and, "thank you". I tried to make up for my lack of Spanish using smiles and shamelessness. It seemed to work pretty well because I collected more money than many of the volunteers.

I was touched by the amount of people who are willing to give in Peru. In the US, I would have raised more money, but less people would have been willing to give. The people in Peru aren't as well off as in the US, but many more are willing to part ways with the little money they have. I believe this is an important lesson for me to learn, that there is more to life than being financially well-off.

Afterwards, everyone was pretty impressed by my money collecting skills, so I decided to impress them even more using my intimate knowledge of Spanish. I told everyone I made so much money because I was the, "Magic Gringo". Unfortunately, when I talk, 'mágico' sounds a lot like 'México'. Everyone was super confused about what a, "Mexican Gringo" was, and why a Mexican would be so terrible at Spanish. I was confused why everyone kept asking if I was from Mexico.

Anyways, sorry for the long post. For the next time I write, I'm going to try to get a picture of the family I'm staying with, the people I hang out with, and maybe the places I work. I miss you all.