Bald Peruvian Dogs, phone booths and a surfing lesson

Yet another interesting form of transportation that I am now familiar with is the overnight sleeper bus.  These are a common mode of transport if you want to go a few hundred miles away for a few days.  You get on the bus at about 9 or 10 at night and it drives all night and you get off in the morning.  I was on an intermediately priced bus that had intermediate comforts.   It was hard to tell one city from the next and the driver made no announcements.  In other words, I wasn't able to sleep much because I had to keep asking others where we were so as not to miss my destination.  So, at 3AM I arrived in Mancora, a popular surfing spot not only with Peruvians but with the international crowd as well.  There is a big international pro surfing contest here every year.  Interestingly, this place is North of Chiclayo and warmer.  Recall, I´m south of the equator.

The sea was really warm and the waves are perfect for surfing.  Very nice asymmetrical left hand break with small to intermediate swells, perfect for a beginner.  I took an hour long surf lesson and was able to stand up on my second wave.  I continued to ride more waves, but I tired out soon since my back became very sore from paddling.  Since I´m out of my element in the heat and in the ocean my body and it´s abilities are undergoing a phase of reconditioning.  No splitboarding, bike riding or bouldering for YOU!

Below is a view of the beach at Mancora.  The buildings in the distance are mild mannered restaurants by day and brilliantly illuminated bumping discoteques by night.  The intensity of the sun here is like nothing I´ve ever felt.  I was totally drained after a few hours on the beach and in the water.

 Below is a photo of one of the nicer resorts in Mancora.  There are various levels of comfort available in this small town.  There is a serious international presence in this place that makes Chiclayo seem like an isolated, locals only sort of small town.  English speaking vendors, lots of offers for drugs, topless sunbathers, currency in Euros and Dollars as well as Soles (peruvian currency) among other things.

There are lots of dogs running around everywhere I go.  Below is a common sight.  No, this guy didn´t recieve a body wax job from a Brazilian spa, he is just a Perivian dog.  They have a tuft of hair on their head and on their tail but that´s all.  The first time I saw one of them I thought it was a sign of illness and neglect, but that is not the case.  For whatever reason, they were bread to have these characteristics.

Superheroes don´t despair there are still phone booths out there in the world for changing in, albeit with a little less privacy. Most everyone has a cell phone, never the less, I see these frequently on the street.  Many of them have international calling capabilities and instructions on how to use them.

 More photos of Mancora below.  Of course there is a street market along the Malecon.  This one had the best beads and jewelry that I have yet seen.  Really cheap amber and turquise that was definitely the real McCoy.  There are lots of vendors selling cheap junk, but there are also some bona fide artisans doing excellent work.

This week is Semana Santa and many people are off work.  We have two days off of school.  I have had many teaching experiences recently which I will relate soon.  I´ll get some photos of my family and of some of the teachers I work with and tell of few anecdotes about teaching physics and biology.  One thing I´ve learned is that it is completely normal here to have your biology lesson interrupted by the Friar who comes in and takes your class to the chapel in honor of holy week.

Ciao!

The school where I am a guest student teacher

 

 

Colegio San Agustin is a private, catholic school in Chiclayo, Peru.  It is located on the outside of town on the way to the beach.  It takes about 30 minutes for my mini-bus carpool to get me there.  Due to the tropical climate the school has an open design with few interior hallways.  There are two large plazas one for primary students and one for secondary.  There is no central heating or cooling system.  The building is mostly concrete with wooden doors and windows.  The students stay in the same classroom for the most part throughout the day.  It is the teachers that must move around to find the students.  Exactly the other way around from the way schools work in the U.S.  The teachers don't have a desk or personal work space.  Things are different here.

 

The organization of the grades is different that in the U.S.  Primary grades are counted from 1-6.  Upon entering the secondary grades, the numbers begin again at 1 and go through 5.  I'm not sure where the 1st year secondary students are, I haven't seen them.  Second  year students in  the secondary grades in Peru are equivalent to eighth graders in the U.S.  Third year students in secondary grades in Peru are therefore equivalent to 9th graders in the U.S.  Fourth year students here are equivalent to Sophomores in the U.S. Since Peruvian students are finished with secondary school after year five, they graduarte when they are the equivalent of Juniors in high school in the U.S.  Interestingly, the students start school when they are younger than U.S. students so my statements about being equivalent to U.S. grades is not exactly accurate. This means that secondary graduates are usually 16, sometimes 17, but never older than that.

 

One of the plazas is lined with Palm trees.  Secondary students and primary students share all the same facilities: cafeteria, recreation areas, library and sports fields.  The recreation areas are in the plazas and are used twice each day when there are scheduled breaks for all students.  The boys of course play futbol at any opportunity.  The girls gather is small groups to talk and hang out.  Its interesting to see all the age groups in the same spaces. 

The school is organized as a small campus.  There are outlying buildings for athletic teams to use.  These include a gymnasium, a coloseum and a swimming pool with grandstand.  Below is a photo of the coloseum.  In addition, there is a soccer field and pista, or running track made of sand.

Local markets and plazas

 

This past weekend I went to the neighboring town of Lambayeque to see a few museums and a local market. I utilized another interesting mode of transport, the" colectivo" .  These are essentially long distance taxis that  you share with other passengers to reduce the cost.  I'm not sure how they get organized but there are certain street corners and garages that you go to where these things congregate.  You simply holler out what city you want to go to and look around to see if any of the drivers take notice.  As soon as you get over to the car other folks have congregated and are also getting in.  It cost me 45 cents to take a 30 minute car ride with three other people.  Great!  Of course, I'd like to get a bike.....see below. 

 

The markets here are very colorful, busy and odoriferous, you might say smelly.  I'm sure that many of you are familiar with this style of marketplace.  The variety of items and authenticity of Peruvian culture is exactly what I was looking for when I signed up to come down here.   The first photo is of the shop of a herbal healer or cuarandero.  I've heard they have many ancient remedies that include psychoactive cacti.  I would assume that they also have medicinal mushrooms but I haven't looked into it.   

 

 

 

 

 

I've been trying to figure out the bike shops and have learned a few things. Below you will see a photo of one of the better bikes I've seen. Bike riding around here is going to be tough.. It's really dusty and when it rains it is a serious disaster with mud and flooded streets. Of course, out on the road you are on your own. There is very little respect given to anything other than a tractor-trailor or loaded dump truck.

Every city also has a Plaza de Armas or central square. They are know as Zocalos in Mexico. There will be a statue of The Virgin or a war hero surrounded by beautiful gardens. Without fail a huge Catholic Church is across the street.  They are a charming central gathering spot.  Despite some of the dilapidated infrastrucutre that I've seen, there is always a well manicured Plaza de Armas not far away.

 

More later on the school where I'm trying to figure out how to teach.  It's going very well.  The teachers and students are psyched to have me around and are not at all concerned about the difference in language.

 

Dietary and cultural "adjustments"

During my first weekend here the Arrascue's took me to see both sets of grandmothers and aunts.  In Latin American cultures families stick together.  Aunts and grandmothers and other family members my live together and are visited regularly.  They do a good job of feeding the rest of the family and other visitors.

I can't seem to get enough Peruvian coffee and am drinking it at all opportunitiesSo I had a few cups with "lunch" which is at 9:30PM over at grandmothers house
This prevented me  from getting to sleep until something like 4 AM.  Of course this means that I overslept my "combi" pick-up time.  This is my ride to school in the morning that was pre-arranged. Eliana, my adoptive mother, made arrangements with the combi because she is an insider and very thoughtful about my needs and level of comfort.  So, I totally overslept and the combi is on the street honking its horn, this is what they do.  I'm trying to put my pants on and....well.....I have an "accident" as a result of eating lots of new, uncooked, rich, forgein food.  This is not a big problem, but it required a clean up and a change of clothes.  All the while the combi is honking its horn and my family members are yelling for me. It was a....moment....but it seemed to last for a long time.

This results in the combi driver being highly stressed because she has many other pick-ups to attend to.  The van is filled with school kids all going to the first day of school.  Well the situation is kind of stressed since we are late and everyone knows it.  Their is a range of ages, mostly gradeshcool.  Next thing I know one of the students vomits on himself and then partially in a plastic bag. ( At least I wasn't the only one with a gastrointestinal upset.)  The combi driver is at the ready with cleaning materials and is actually really good about dealing with this.  All the while she was taking calls on two cell phones and driving on a interstate-ish road, honking the horn.  She is actually passing the two phones back and forth with her assistant, the "cobradron".  The horn thing is hilarious because since everyone is doing it nobody listens to anyone else.  It's like subatomic particles annihilating one another and becoming a photon.  the "photon" is just a bunch of noise.

Well the driver gets to school on time because she is highly skilled and doesn't listen to anyone elses horn.  This means she yields right of way to nobody!  Well I feel bad and apologize and promise to be on time the next day and give her a monetary tip above the fare that I owed.  Since this was the first day I was supposed to pay for the whole month.  Since this was a substantial sum, I paid for a month's worth of rides, it was a substantial tip.  Well, this actually made the situation worse because in Peru a tip is seen as a clear indication that tip giver thinks they are of a higher social class than the recipient.  I of course was oblivious to this custom and was simply trying to be a good and repentant customer.  My adoptive brother, Sebastian age 15, filled me in on this.  The combi that drives the students to school is NOT like the other combis.  It is very nice and the driver is very professional.  The driver is doing well with this business.  My gratuity was something of an insult.  So tomorrow our transaction will be completed and I'll get the change.  I have to be careful with this in the future.

Anyway, so went the first hour of my first day.  It was Awesome!

Be careful what you wish for.....

I wanted to do something different than the average student teaching experience, you know, go somewhere else where they do things differently so as to provide some contrast and perspective.  Well, here I am, in Chiclayo, Peru and yes there are a few things that are different. The language, the food, the weather, my living arrangement and my daily routine.  That's a good start.  Things are really different, but I'm up to it.  This is going to be fun!

Upon arrival I was met by the director of secondary academics, he is kind of like a principal as far as I can tell.  In addition, I was met by a catholic priest who is the director of the school overall.  The practice and study of the Catholic faith is an integral part of the student experience if they want it to be.  It's not required.  This is a private school, but apparently not a parochial school as we know it.

These administrators took me to my host family's house.  They live in a suburb of Chiclayo.  It is hot and dusty here; something like 90 deg. during the day and 70 deg. at night.  The host family is very generous and are delighted to have an American teacher staying with them.  They have a son in the school where I will be teaching.  They have given me my own room and a private bath.  Their house is very comfortable.  Today they fed me ceviche made with octopus, scallops, shrimp and peppers.  The food here is fantastic!  Ceviche is not cooked, rather it is cured in citrus and vinegar, I think. 

Everyone rides taxis to get around town.  They have been described variously as "dangerous", "safe" and "I'm not sure".  Some are cars and some are three-wheeled motorcycles.  Another common way to get around is a "combi".  This is a co-op van driven by someone who is familiar to you.  To me they look like any old van on the street but if you look close you will see certain language on the van identifying it and its route.  It's a cool idea since these vans travel short routes and carry a few of your friends to work or school.  I took one to school and was amazed at how many there were.  Effectively, this group of vans functions as a fleet of school busses in the morning and the evening.  During the day they are elsewhere around town doing other regular pick-ups and drop-offs.  You kind of have to be an insider to know which combi to take.  At the moment I am not an insider.

I have been downtown to see the central markets and have walked around the neighborhood a little bit.  As you can imagine the streets are extremely confusing to a new guy that is used to street signs and other indications of location.  I did manage to find a bike shop, however, the bikes are what I would describe as "recreational mountain bikes".  They are the throw away kind in the U.S. if something breaks because they don't really have interchangable parts.  I've seen lots of "single speeders" around town.  These aren't the cool kids with custom horizontal drop-outs in the rear and sweet looking crank sets with shiny disc breaks.  Rather, this is what you do when your derailleur breaks on on a mountain bike while you are on the trail and you can't fix it.  The locals are making do with what they have.

Too long of a story already.  I'll get a camera and post a photo soon.  Ciao!