Unos Eventos Misceláneos en Recap

1. The rainy season here is coming to an end (although you wouldn’t know it based on the past few days), and something in the air has clearly shifted. There’s a new energy around Chontabamba, or maybe I am only imagining one, but it tingles of spring and new beginnings and warns of the cruel, torpid heat of summer. I’ve been seeing hordes of baby calves gently chewing their cud around town, without care or fear for any curious pedestrians that try to pet them or wrangle them home (me, primarily). Something about the baby cows is inherently placid and gentle, and I’ve engaged in a few staring contests when they aren’t too busy frolicking through the green grass with the dragonflies and no-see-ums. Half the time I’m walking around I feel like I’ve entered a portal to a magical, bucolic, completely idyllic wonderland that feels so unaffected by the outside strife of the world. It’s true that for Chontabambinxs, our concerns are in the present. Days are routine, and sometimes feel stagnant and stifling, like the dust that rises up from the few streets in our town. As the rain abates, everything is rapidly being covered in this dust, and I’ve given up on trying to avoid it–I’ve also become a night-showerer. I’ll miss the rain when it goes, though. I’ve gotten used to falling asleep to the sound of it drumming against the roof. 

2. Around the COAR I’ve been seeing those giggly signs of springtime and youth too, as the students seem to have sprouted into couples overnight, and now spend every recess shyly walking around with their partners or fixedly avoiding them because they’re too nervous to acknowledge each others’ presence. It’s laughable how much they remind me of my middle-school crushes, before I really even wanted romance or love (or knew what it was), and so of course I tease them mercilessly about it all. While the classroom can sometimes drift into lethargy (either early in the mornings, or once the sun has gone down and dinner seems to be the only thing moving us forward in life), times in the courtyard with the kids always imbues me with a kind of effortless joy and happiness. I’ve had a few girls confide their “almost-something” relationships with me, and they somehow got me to teach them the word “situationship,” which might end up haunting them later on–it certainly haunts me. They love to titter and blush when I spot them with their crushes, and more than a few have shown me very elaborate love notes decorated with hearts, extravagant folds, and origami, where they profess their love for the partner they’ve been “seeing” for a little less than a month. Not least enjoyable is seeing that they adorn the cards with “I love you” in English, so I guess some of what we’re teaching is getting through to them, one way or another. A fellow teacher told me the other day that apparently they’ve even had to rearrange the bookcases in the school library just to discourage enthusiastic couples from hiding out behind them!

3. I’m very excited this for this week, as our friends and fellow ETAs Eliza and Isis are finally coming to visit us all the way from Huancavelica! Huancavelica is pura sierra, so they’re going to get a rude awakening with the heat and the bugs that are quotidian here. I can’t wait to show them around Oxa and Chonta, and we also have a friend’s birthday party this weekend to celebrate together, so our Friday-Sunday schedule is going to be insanely packed. My social calendar is slowly expanding as I meet new people–last week Aiden and I went to a parrillada hosted by some teachers, where they grilled up some trout and veggies for me, and where we started drinking around 4 and didn’t stop. Thanks to the extra-strong refrescos they pushed on us, the casual conversational parrillada soon devolved into karaoke, which devolved into Just Dance videos (Rasputin, for one), which devolved into shots of rum and dancing cumbia, which then devolved into zapoteo and música selvática. It was wonderful, although physically strenuous to keep up with all the drinking and dancing and eating. We shared our favorite karaoke songs–Aiden and I sang Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” for them, which the teachers liked, and then we discovered that “Hotel California” is apparently a very popular English song in Peru, although most of the teachers confessed not having a clue as to what it was about. We had a fun time trying to get them to guess based on the English words they knew (which were pretty much “hotel,” “california,” “sixty-nine,” and a few others). I now have an extensive catalogue of Peruvian/Hispanic karaoke songs in my repertoire for the next cookout, which I hope is soon!

4. I’ve been doing my fair share of dancing lately. The other night, a friend took me to a party/rave, where we stayed out dancing til 4 in the morning! It was a DJ set being held in this dance pavilion in the middle of a field right outside of Oxapampa, and we danced nonstop for hours–mostly to sets of Spanish rock, electronica, mixed pop, reggaetón, cumbia, salsa, and, inexplicably, some Elvis songs. My legs were so sore the next morning from all the stomping and dancing and twisting, but it was very worth it. I haven’t been finding too much time to go running between classes and teacher prep and going into town (and general laziness), but it seems Oxapampa will keep me in shape through dancing alone. 

5. Last Sunday, I rolled out of bed around 10, scarfed down a meager breakfast and a cup of coffee, and, stomach roiling with nerves, made my way down to the town square by the soccer stadium (which is just a large field with some bleachers, to be honest). The COAR girls’ soccer team was set to play at 11:30, and I was going to be joining them. Unfortunately, when I volunteered myself, I didn’t take into account the facts that I hadn’t played a real soccer game in about 8 years, and that I had absolutely no gear or equipment to my name. Thankfully, the girls, who were ecstatic to have me join them, fitted me out with some cleats, Peru-themed shin-guards, and socks, as well as a jersey so that I could start with them. I ambitiously volunteered myself as a forward, and then promptly spent most of the game running up and down like a midfielder, losing my breath and burning my scalp under the unwavering sun. I subbed out for the second half because I was so exhausted, but I really got into the spirit of things on the sidelines,

yelling and encouraging my teammates like I had played with them for years! At halftime, I brought out some mandarinas that I had planned to snack on, and handed them out to the girls as they came running off the field, red-faced and breathless. When the boys’ COAR team played an hour later, I bought some more clementines and did the same, upholding the tradition of eating orange slices after a match from my Rainbow Soccer days! Our girls team lost, unfortunately, 1-0, but we put up a good fight, and to be fair, we were playing up against women twice their age and a lot sturdier than us. I got knocked down at least two times, which was embarrassing, but I also got some elbows in when the refs weren’t looking, because they are not afraid to play aggressively here! But neither am I, so....I played again this Sunday, but at the more reasonable hour of 3:30, when it was considerably less sunny and the clouds rolled in because they knew I needed shade. We lost, again, but this time we lost 2-1, which I personally think points to progress. In terms of personal development, no one knocked me down this time, I lasted all the way into the second half, and I almost scored a goal. In summation, I have extremely high hopes for our 3rd match!

6. Here are the conclusions I’ve come to about my room, which is my safe haven. On the positive side, I’ve come to eagerly anticipate the rumbling sound of motorcycles passing on the street facing my bedroom window. Usually I hate how thin my walls are, and the fact that I can hear a rooster crowing at literally any hour of the day as if it were squawking in bed with me, but hearing the revving engines of the motorcycles is both comforting and familiar by now. I’m also incredibly nosy, so I love that my bedroom window looks out on to the street, so I can crane my neck at all sorts of angles to snoop on the people passing by and get a glimpse of their lives. On the flip side, however, are the flying ants. I hate them. The thing about flying ants here is that they are huge. So large. And they fly, obviously. But the worst part is how hard it is to kill them, and the fact that they magically appear out of nowhere. It’s really disconcerting, actually, how you could be lying in bed one minute watching Pretty Woman, and the next minute you’re frantically slapping your chancla on the covers, the floor, your bedside table, all in pursuit of a little bugger that seems to be immortal. I’ve made my peace with the tiny brown spiders that nest along the sloped ceiling above my pillow. But I will not suffer flying ants crawling into my sheets with me. 

7. I have been traumatized by seesaws. The other day, after a strenuous soccer game with the COAR girls, I biked out to the Rancho Victoria to meet up with Aiden, Ana, and another teacher, Melissa. We ate ice cream and chifles, and as the afternoon turned to dusk, we decided to go over to the playground–where I quickly dodged a near-death experience. Last time we had been at this playground, which includes a climbing wall made out of old tires, monkey bars, swings, and seesaws, I scampered around and tried out each one like I was 8 years old and not 22 going on 23. This time, exhausted from the soccer game, I decided to take it easy and start with the swings. There’s something so freeing about a swingset to me, and as I pumped my legs and caught air, I reveled in the fading afternoon light, the greenness of the mountains around me, the fresh breeze, and the golden undersides of the clouds. That’s when Ana and Melissa decided to try out the seesaw, and Aiden suggested we compete with them on the one next to them. Our seesaw was a long, orange-painted metal pole with two wooden seats on each end, and a wicket-shaped handlebar to hold onto. As I had little to no energy left in me, I let Aiden do the jumping, and soon I was dangling above the ground. What came next happened so quickly I’m surprised I registered it. I was laughing and warning Aiden that I felt like I was going to go flying at any moment, when he gave an extra-enthusiastic jump and I lurched forward, somersaulting the handlebar, and smacked my cheek against the orange metal body so hard I saw a white flash, and then I fell off and onto the ground, head over heels. Poor Aiden felt so bad, and though I was a bit shaken, I’m currently fine and not experiencing any permanent brain damage. Safe to say, though, that I will not be climbing on a seesaw anytime soon, and I now believe they are menaces to society. But! Based on my experience in Ecuador, this is not the first bump I have sustained, and it definitely won’t be the last. Something about Latin America seems to bring out the daredevil in me, and I love to throw myself into precarious situations, but rest assured, I now have a healthy wariness of all playground objects.

8. I am loving my cooking experiments in our wee kitchen these days. They don’t always go as anticipated, but I’ve become a bit more adventurous in my recipes, as I try to spice up the three different main dishes we eat each week: pasta, rice and legumes, or trout. I made mashed potatoes the other day for a dinner party we hosted, and it was a strenuous ordeal. I was of course trying to emulate my mother’s famous mashed potatoes, and while I didn’t quite achieve the flavor I was going for (I could not find my secret ingredient anywhere!), everyone seemed to love them. I did end up making enough to feed a small army, so Aiden and I have been frying up mashed potato pancakes for breakfast the past few days. I also made banana bread the other day, which was a staple when I lived in Pink House, but unfortunately I am still familiarizing myself with the gas oven we have, and it came out burnt on top and slightly raw in the middle. We ate it anyways, and I will be attempting again soon in pursuit of banana bread perfection. Other culinary adventures have been blueberry pancakes, which were a delicious success (I am now a pancake-flipping master), fettuccine alfredo, and mujaddara, a dish made of caramelized onions with rice and lentils flavored with turmeric, cinnamon, and paprika. I also made a rice bowl the other night with roasted sweet potatoes and carrots, which Aiden pronounced “my favorite meal you’ve made so far.” Aiden also does the cooking, especially on nights when I am too tired from work and even my cooking playlist can’t revive my energy. He’s made gnocchi from scratch the other day, and his specialty is trucha a la plancha.

9. That’s all for this week’s recap, but I have a special post coming up dedicated to urban legends and our first Peruvian dinner party, which we hosted Saturday night, so keep an eye out. As always, les echo de menos y siempre estoy pensando en ustedes!! 

Besos, Chels xx