Moyobamba, Peru

Moyobamba, Peru

Nov. 7, 2010

In this entry I have to careful about what I say about my Spain friends.  They can understand enough words to put some sentences together but I will say they love ketchup and mayonnaise on almost everything.  It’s impressive.

Life in Moyobamba has been going very well so far.  There is not much that I can complain about.  Besides the same things like trying to find a good cup of coffee proves to be very difficult.  I have pretty much given up on enjoying a good beer.  The last time I had a beer, which was a month ago, I could hardly finish it because it was too sweet for me.  But there are some things here that I absolutely love.  Like Papa Rellena, they take a baked potato, mash it up, then they put it back into the form of a potato but before that they place meet and some seasoning in it.  Then after that they cover it with flower then they slightly fry the outside of it.  It is amazing.  There are plenty of other dishes and juices that I love here also. 

I enjoyed watching the World Series games here, in Spanish.  It made me feel not so far away from home.  And it is very difficult trying to explain the rules of baseball to my host brother.  But I think I got him hooked on baseball.  When I go back to Lima I am going to try and find a wiffle ball set so we can play baseball here.  I have been playing a little pool here but it’s a little different compared to the states.  The pockets here are a lot smaller so you really have to make a perfect shot.  There are hot springs here so we all go once in a while after a long day of work.  A couple of times I have been to some natural springs.  The water is fresh and cold, very pleasant on a hot day but the natural springs are about 30-40 minutes away.  I'm still waiting for my friend to bring me to the coffee factory to try some coffee that they grow here.  

I have been attending a small church here and some times I will go with my host mom to her church.  The small church that I have been attending has less than 15 people who go.  It is a young church.  I also help out with the youth group here and there.  Since the church is so young they can’t afford a nice place, the roof of the church is hardly a roof when it rains (it has many holes).  A couple of times they had to end the service early because of heavy rains that seem to appear at any time.  One time heavy winds came ripping through Moyobamba and almost ripped the roof right off.  I have never seen so many people leave a building so fast. 

The rains here remind me a lot of the afternoon showers in Florida.  One time I was walking back to the office and we literally got dumped on.  The rain seemed to come from every direction.  The moto taxi had to stop because he couldn’t see anything.  He stopped about a half a block away from the office so I decided to sprint to the office.  That was a mistake because no one else was at the office yet so it was locked.  In the end we returned home to change clothes because it looked like we just jumped into a pool with all our clothes on.       

Work is going well but there isn’t too much that I can do here yet.  Everyone is finishing up on their projects so in December they will decide what projects they want to do for the next 6 months or more.  I will be given the opportunity to choose my own research project/case study to complete for my time here.  I am very excited about that.  I am hoping to do something that involves social and economic aspects that are directly affected by the health of the ecosystems here.

If we are in the office I am usually studying or reading articles in Spanish.  When we go out into the campo about once a week or more.  I really enjoy going out into the campo because it gives me an opportunity to see the different side of Peru.  We have been going out to talk to students in there schools which is always fun.  One time, when I walked into a classroom all the students stood up.  I had never seen or witnessed that before.  It was kind of awkward for me.  I just walked to the back of the classroom as fast as I could.

We not only teach them and show them the importance of their environment and how the actions they take either affect them in positive or negative way but we show them what they can do and how they can help.  We have showed farmers and students how to make traps for the Broca. The Broca has caused a huge problem for the coffee farmers because it destroys the quality of the coffee bean so then they are not able to sell it on the international market.  We have also showed students proper farming techniques for planting seeds on hills by building a “compass” that allows them to follow plain levels on a hill so help prevent soil erosion.  There are many problems here that people in Moyobamba face: deforestation, soil erosion, not being able to sell their coffee harvest, water shortage, and the list goes on.  I just wish that people that don’t care about protecting their environment or using it sustainably would be able to see the cause and effect of their actions and how the environment directly affects the livelihood of so many people.

Over all I can say that I am used to the life here now.  My room is finally looking more like a room.  I printed out some pictures to put on my wall.  I traded my big mirror to Laura for a chair to read in.  I made a huge calendar to take up space on one of my walls.  I’m slowly getting back into running but I will always miss the trails and lakes in Minnesota.  Spanish, who knows, some days I feel I am learning a lot or getting better but other days I feel that I have not learned anything.  I will be heading back to Lima for Thanksgiving.  I plan on spending a couple of hours in the airport because they have a starbucks and dunkin donuts.  I am excited for the thanksgiving dinner but thanksgiving wont be the same without my family and home.

I hope everyone is doing well.

James