We arrived in Huanchaco in the evening and met our senora who will be living with. Her name is Wilma and she’s nice, but she’s a little nosy and likes to tell Kim how to cook stuff which I think drives Kim crazy. Initially she tried to overcharge us too, but we got that sorted out amicably and I think things are pretty good now. We’re paying a little over $6 per day for our own small apartment. Some small hostals are cheaper, but we have our own kitchen, even if we’re sharing it with Wilma until she gets hers fixed, which I suspect might be never, partly because she likes the excuse to interact with us and partly because it takes longer to get things done here. I’ll give you and example of Peruvian time: someone says to meet at 7pm for a party, and I show up at 7:20 thinking I’ll arrive fashionably late and I’m the first person. Nobody else shows up until 7:45. It’s similar to Spain, but here they don’t do siesta. Shops just close kinda randomly and you have to check back later.
The first day we just walked around town to get the feel of the place which didn’t take too long. We met with the volunteer coordinators of Otra Cosa, Juany, who is Peruvian, and her husband Peter, who is British. After getting our volunteer assignments setup, I started working the next day with a cool, 24 year old guy named David who runs the Espaanglisch school. I spent the first day working on the electrical system in the school which consisted of cutting wire with my tiny keychain letterman scissors, running it over bamboo in the ceiling, and hacking together a replacement fuse.
The electric and water systems here aren’t very modern in most places. Water is only available from 7am to about 2pm since it’s a desert climate, but most places have big water tanks so they can store water for the evening. The water also isn’t drinkable. We even tried to sanitize it with our steripen but it still tasted terrible. It’s a little better after boiling it, but we’re just buying drinking water and boiling most of the other stuff we use. Also showers can be interesting since there aren’t separate pipes for hot and cold water. There’s an electric water heater in the bathroom that we have to turn on and let heat for about 15 minutes before showering. If you wait too long you’ll burn and if you don’t wait long enough it’s fricking freezing. You can’t really adjust the tempurature too easily.
As far as internet goes there’s lots of internet cafes, but high speed internet in the home is pretty rare. Heck, even the high speed internet in the cafes isn’t all that high speed. The connection I’m on now feels only about as twice as fast as a modem. If you want something that even approaches DSL speed in the US it looks like it will cost about $100 a month. That’s a LOT here. I think a large part of the problem is that there’s a monopoly on telephone service here through Telefonica. I thought the telecom companies back home were bad. Anyway, for web browsing and email it’s fine, but I can’t download new episodes of The Office or easily work on my web pages. We’re trying to get some photos uploaded too, but we might have to be more selective with what we upload considering how long it takes.
We haven’t had any trouble yet, but people keep telling us to keep careful about getting our stuff stolen. Unemployment is very high. I don’t think they really know how high since a lot of people have ‘jobs’ that mostly consist of selling stuff on the street. The Espaanglisch school sadly had a bunch of stuff stolen from them including books and I think desks. In Wilma’s house there’s an outside door that we have to lock that has to deadbolts in addition to locking behind you everytime and you need keys to get in or out. Between the outside door there’s a courtyard and then two inside doors that also lock behind you and have additional locks. To get everything locked or unlocked you have to turn the key three times. I feel like I have OCD every time I leave or enter.
Anyway, I’m teaching a few classes to very beginners, so it’s good that I know Spanish since I’m having to speak a lot of it to explain things. One class is mostly 11-12 year olds and the other seems to be 16-17 year old kids. They’re learning introductions, numbers, the alphabet, etc. I’m also working on designing a web page for the school to attract more volunteers, so check out espaanglisch.com in a week or so and there should be something there. I’ve also filled in for one conversational class which was fun because there all I have to do is speak English since the students are more advanced. Kim came too and the students took us around Trujillo and told us about it, so we essentially got free, English speaking, local tour guides.
The weather has been a little disappointing since it’s been cold. I’ve had to wear the warmest clothes I brought already. Everyone keeps saying it’s not normal. Oh well. Kim got sick too so she was a little miserable for a few days but is feeling much better now. She attributes the feeling better to going out to a dance club until 5 in the morning. What a cure, eh? Today we also had our first surf lesson. I had a blast, and boy did it wear me out. Kim and I were both catching waves. It was cold out, but we were fine in the water with our wet suits. I’m hoping to continue surfing everyday from here on out. We’ll see how well that goes.
So far it’s been a great experience and I’m sure time will pass quickly once we settle in, even if the pace of life is slower. It’s hard for me to believe that Kim and I still have 6 months or more in South America, but all the volunteers who have been here for a while say it will fly by. Doesn’t it always