lunes, 14 de enero de 2008

It Has Been a While

So I should start with New Year's. There are a couple of traditions here that are very different than in the States. First of yellow is to be worn like St. Patty's day green. But for the least you need to ware yellow underware. On the day of I went looking. I did find some, but not my style of choice. They were nothing short of a banana hammock. To top it off they were brand name, by this I mean they were Stripper brand. I wish I was joking. I was strickly a boxer man before I came here, and some how in my first five months I have moved on to thongs. Somehow I do not think this was part of the cultural assimilation the Peace Corps was planning on. The soncond custom is to eat twelve grapes on the strike of midnight. The grapes have seeds in they, but when you are drinking quite possibly the cheapest bottle of champane in the world seeds are a welcome change of taste. The last and probably my favortie custon is the burning of a life size hey filled doll. I had some friends who the doll was made in to G.W. (not by thier choice), and others who the doll look strangly similar to them. I burned one with much less character. It did seem to turn heads though. I get stared at although I had three eyes and was a car wreck victum all of the time so it did not come to me with much suprise. But when that doll was on fire and gringos were the ones who set flame it was quite the spectacle. The night went well and I had a good tranquil b-day to follow. The next week was a bit troubling though.
I will write this to warn all of you that worry about me on the regular. Do not worry more so do to these next stories. They are a bit strange, but I am not scared myself.
The day I got into town after my birthday I was met with some starteling news. My neigbor had been murdered. The stroy goes that he was a natorious wife beater. His wife finally called it quits the day after christmas. Domestic violence is the most popular crime here in Peru, but there is no system to punish or stop it. She left her home and went with her children to Chiclayo. Around New Year's her husband fed up with the whole deal went to find her. It was not hard she was at her family's house there. He tried to get physical with her once again, but this time in front of her brothers and father. As you might of guessed they did not stand for it. They proceded to stab him to death. This is the troubling part. They are not being charged with anything. Vigilanty government is very accepted here, but it gets worse. They did not want the body there so they cut it up into small pieces and sent it back here to my town.
Now I am not too bothered by this. I am very against domestic violence and think that with out a better form of govenment this thing is bound to happen. I mean c'mon trying to beat your wife in front of her family. I do not think his punishment was completly deserve, but it is what it is.
That very same night my family was robbed. Not like what you would think in the US. Who ever stole from us snuck on to our property and stole a goat. It is a shame because at my house we give so many things for free to people in the community, and in reality they were stealing from an 86 year old woman. Shamful in my opinion.
The last story I think is boarderline funny now that it is after the fact. I lent my power cord to my computer to my site mate in expectations I would get it back the next day. She left town for the day and did not get back until 8 at night. So I was not expecting to have to ride home at night, therefore did not have my headlamp. I was about half a kilometer from my house when I noticed that a mototaxi was approching, but at an increadibly slow rate. As it got closer I decided the driver ws probebly good and drunk. My suspitions were later confirmed. As the it got with in 30 meter I noticed we were about to have a problem. He was on my side of the road. At about 10 meters I figured I better turn because this guy was not going to. So I did. A second or two after me he turned. I slammed on my brakes as he cutme off to get to his side of the road. He finally hit his brakes about five meters after he passed me. He got out and proceded to yell at me, "Where are you from", (he did not know I was not Peruvian at this point) "What are you doing on my side of the road." I was still stopped in the road in the same place I had stopped originally. On my side of the road. I was actually really mad and felt that maybe if I hit him it would knock some sense into hi. I did not and once again swallowed my pride and admitted it was my fault (you have to lower your self to amazingly low levels sometimes). He told me that if it was not for god himself I would be dead. I told him he should go drink some more and pray becasue God loves getting prayers from those who so greatfully let people like my self by even though they have made great errors. At this point he realized that I was white. His attitude changed immediatly. He was all of a sudden really nice and admitted that he could of been at fault also. I quickly bid him ado and was on my way. As I left I notices the house who we were in front of thought we were robbing him. So he chased down the other man. I proceded to my house. This is where things get a little harry. I looked up and realized that a giant sugarcane semi truck was coming down this barley one lane road. I got off my bike and moved off the road. As it got closer it became evedent I was not going to have enough room to fit with the truck. I fell over into the thorn bush (on purpose). as my luck would have it a piece of cane came racking though the bush above me as the truck passed. I got up went home and came to a really important conclusion. They country here and the country in the US are very different.
As far as my work is conserned things are going very slow. My projects have been put on hold due to sure layziness. I am meeting new important people daily. Which does not serve much good right now, but will pay off big in the coming months when I go to start my large projects.
I will write next week with some pics and hopefully news about my Mapi mundial and my garden.