The Marinara is a traditional folk dance of Peru (and perhaps other countries as well that I am not aware of). In all of Peru, the coastal city of Trujillo is the place to go to see the Marinara. As it is said there, "En Perú se nació Dios; en Trujillo se nació la Marinara." "God was born in Peru; and the Marinara in Trujillo." Every year Trujillo hosts a massive international marinara festival, drawing dancers from around the country and the world. We made the 4 hour trip to the coast with a large host family contingent and after several hours of waiting in line to get tickets, we were finally able to relax and enjoy an exciting show.
More pics and videos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/nathanhaft/MarineraFestival#
We already know that our town is not very big, but recently we learned that it is not that small either. Basically, most people have seen us around town and know that we are there to do volunteer work. That does not mean that they know we are a married couple. A few days ago, I was walking to the “gym” (think Soviet-era Eastern Bloc Arnold Schwarzenneggar gym…half the roof missing, a few aerobic machines without electricity, oil that leaks out of equipment on to your head, and occasionally a car will roll in as half the gym is transformed into a mechanic shop while you are working out) in my site and a mototaxi driver stopped on the street right next to me to ask if I wanted a ride to wherever I was headed. I thought he wanted to ask me about teaching English or something, but I accepted his mototaxi offer to be nice. Here’s how our conversation went:
Mototaxi Guy: [driving up to me as I walked] “Hey, where are you heading?”
Me: [surprised/startled] “Oh, uh, just walking to the gym.”
Mototaxi Guy: [trying to impress] “Want a ride? I can take you there.”
Me: “Oh no that’s OK, it’s close.” [only two blocks]
Mototaxi Guy: “Oh that’s OK, I can take you anyways.”
Me: [trying to be nice] “Well OK, sure.”
[1 minute later arriving at the “gym”]
Mototaxi Guy: “Are you an English teacher here?”
Me: “Well not really, I teach some English but I do work with the youth here.”
Mototaxi: “How come I never see you out on the weekends?”
Me: [confused] “What do you mean?”
Mototaxi: “If you want sometime, we can go out to the plaza on the weekend…”
And that’s how I got asked out on a date to go walk around the plaza on the weekend. He was disappointed to hear that the other gringo guy I always walk around with is actually my husband, but I’m sure we’ll all see each other around town and maybe even do a group hangout at the plaza one Friday.
Our last blog entry described our experience at the traveling circus which came to town.. The photos here show Milene's death-defying stunt as a she was chosen to stand completely still and watch knives thrown at her, clanging in the board behind her. She reassures us that the knives "weren't that sharp."
More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/nathanhaft/TravelingCircusComesToTown#
During the first several months of service in our town, a large part of our job was to perform what Peace Corps calls a "Community Diagnostic" whereby volunteers analyze the economic, political and social landscape of their sites through various information gathering activities. Some of these activities include interviews, surveys, attending town meetings, library research, informal conversations, and group activities. We put together a brief PowerPoint presentation of our town, which includes information on health, geography, history, economy, youth, etc. If you go through the presentation in the mode which shows "speaker notes" (under the "Action" tab at the bottom of the presentation) you will be able to understand the slides more easily since each slide is accompanied with commentary. We will soon be completing and publishing a more thorough version of the diagnostic in report format.
Hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about our site!
A few weeks ago the circus came to town. They set up their tent in the courtyard of the local high school. When a circus comes, generally it performs the same show night after night until the people stop paying to see it. There is no schedule. The show starts when there is a profitable amount of spectators in the stands, generally around 9 or 10pm. The tickets cost a little over 30 cents and the show lasts around two hours. According to people in town, this circus was not as good as some in the past which have included tricks with animals and more daring stunts. Nonetheless most of my friends went to see the show more than once. So I decided to go and check it out one night.
The whole experience seemed like a scene out of Europe when there were gypsies who traveled and put on shows. Everything was so rustic. I thought back to the two or three times I went to a circus in the US held at a huge sports stadium with fire and lights and audio systems. In comparison, the entire staff of this circus was made up of 7 people including the ticket seller. There were 7 main acts split up by clown acts. Three of the seven acts were some form of trapeze performance.
Half way into the show a woman came out and stood in front of a wooden board. Then a man threw knives that stuck in the board behind her. She stood in a few different formations and he threw the knives each time she moved. Then the clown asked for a representative from the audience. I thought to myself that anyone who would let a stranger throw knives at him or her in a traveling circus in Peru would have to be crazy. Well, before I could finish my thought the clown had spotted me since I was the only white person in an audience of about 50 people. He asked me to please come down to have knives thrown at me. I firmly said no, that I was not interested. However, this didn’t seem to mean anything to him as he pulled me by the shoulder to come down to the floor. I would have protested more, but something deep in my gut told me that it would be fine. So I proceeded to the wooden board to have the stranger throw knives at me in a traveling circus in Peru. The clown thanked me and announced to everyone in the audience that I had come from the US to demonstrate that in the US, we do not fear death.
I preface this anecdote with a quick cultural note: the term "gringo" is not derogatory here in Peru, as it may be perceived in the U.S. Here, people call each other by descriptive names that make it easy to identify who they are talking to or about. It is not uncommon to hear someone say affectionately, "hey gorda!" meaning "hey fatty!" The gorda would not be offended but rather might respond with a "hey gringito!" meaning "hey little white guy" and all would be happy and merry. So that being said, on to my anecdote...
Every day here seems to be a new story. Just yesterday I was doing some stretching out in the street, preparing for a jog, when a concerned neighbor began to yell "Oh no, he's going to fall over! The gringo´s going to fall! Watch out!" It sounded like a "timber!" shout. She thought that I was dizzy or perhaps tipsy from an all-night fiesta. Our host family, who is accustomed now to my running routine, had to explain to the neighbor that "No, it's ok, this is what they do in the U.S. They stretch like that and then go running for their health." I laughed at the situation and thought, "I should put that up on the blog."
There are three theories as to the origin of the name of our town. The first theory is that it comes from the Spanish word which refers to a type of marshy swamp land. Several areas in the lower part of our town fit this description. The second theory is that it comes from the name of an herb that was abundant in the valley for a long time. The herb was commonly used by medicine men for healing purposes. The third theory is that in the early era of Spanish colonization malaria was common throughout the valley. People who contracted malaria often suffered from fierce fits of shaking. The root word of our town name comes from the Spanish word meaning “to shake.” It is this third theory that is most commonly believed today to be the origin of the name.
Due to its unpleasant nature, there have been several occasions when certain citizen groups have tried to lead campaigns to change the town name. Interestingly in the 1960s, there was a group of citizens who led a newspaper campaign to change the name to Ciudad Presidente Kennedy, meaning President Kennedy City. The citizen group was reacting to a pro-communist mayor of our town at the time. By renaming the city, this group wanted to imply that the town was a land of democracy and freedom. However, due to the fact that the name was not native to Peru and Kennedy had little to due with the development of the town, the majority of citizens did not want to change the name. Of course, what makes this story even more interesting is that President Kennedy was the visionary and founder of Peace Corps. While our town wasn’t ready to accept Kennedy at the time, only a few decades later they have warmly welcomed his vision and taken in these two volunteers as one of their own.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent the Peace Corps or any United States government agency.
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