Finally the day arrived that we drove to Ciudad de Dios to meet the community we would be working alongside for 8 weeks. It was exciting, mostly due to the fact that we had been sitting around for what seemed like forever in Peru not doing what we came there to do. Don't get me wrong, I loved exploring and getting up with my roommates who insisted on 3-mile-long runs in the morning but I was slightly anxious to get to the dang Ciudad already!
When we arrived we were immediately greeted mobbed by the children and a ridiculous amount of stray dogs. They were fascinated with us (dogs included), and we were fascinated by them... their bare feet, dirty faces, huge smiles, and their sugar cane snacks.
So stinking cute, right?
All of the houses in ciudad were built by hand from adobe bricks ("dictionary defines these as: a natural building material made from sand, clay, water and some kind of fibrous or organic material (sticks, straw and/or manure), which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun"), and they had one water spicket in the middle of the town "plaza". For a squatter community though, they were fairly lucky in that they had their own schoolhouse with latrines (well, holes in the ground), and an organized layout of houses throughout the area. That day we met community members and played soccer with the kids. Lots of people talked to me in Spanish because, hey if you come to Peru you better know some Spanish right? Yeaaaa..I just nodded because I had absolutely no clue what they were saying to me. It was embarassing at first but after a while I got used to speaking in broken sentences and only being able to understand the general gist of what was said to me (and repeated over and over).
Adobe bricks waiting to be turned into a house
My initial reactions to Ciudad de Dios were... well I'm not sure. I think it was so overwhelming I forgot to take note of everything I was thinking and feeling. I do remember thinking that Ciudad de Dios was a lot nicer with a lot more houses than I had imagined. To say they had completely different lives than us would be the understatement of the year, and I found myself observing without processing more than anything.
We had been told before going there that some countries and people do not take kindly to Americans coming in a "fixing" things for them, so we should be prepared in case that was true there. If they felt that way, they certainly didn't show it. Everyone was extremely excited to have us there and eager to help in any way possible. That included digging trenches alongside us with shovels that looked like they were made for 5 year olds. Despite the size of their shovels (and themselves for that matter. Peruvians are some small peoples! I felt at home), they put my shoveling skills, or lack therof, to shame. In fact I frequently found myself being laughed at because of the sheer number of breaks I needed to not keel over and pass out. That's another thing I learned on this trip... I am fairly weak and my body does not take to manual labor very well. so 8 weeks of digging trenches in peru? piece of cake....
I couldn't resist one more picture of my favorite little boy
Sidenote: I have found in both of my spanish-speaking country experiences that the children are the most fun and interesting to talk to. Mostly because they patiently teach you the language and understand if you don't conjugate verbs correctly or use the right pronouns. Yes, they laugh, but I would laugh too if I listened to someone speak English as bad as I spoke Spanish. Is that mean? When I flip it around it seems means. Oh well, the teasing didn't bother me. Not even when our housekeeper's son would ask me to read the newspaper because he (along with everyone else) thought my pronunciation was hilarious. Haha let's all watch Brianne butcher the Spanish language and laugh at her while she does it! Yup, didn't bother me one bit.
This post is archived under
Adobe Bricks,
Ciudad de Dios,
Peru
