Well, as promised, here is the update, but it might be
shortish...
First, to put things into
perspective: I arrived in Lima on May 21st, so Friday marked one
month in Peru. We’re planning on being done in Junín on the 26th of
July, so today is right about halfway (not including the little bit of travel
I’m hoping to do after finishing). Technically we have five weeks of work left:
three of data collection and two of reading, analyzing and writing for our
final report.
Now, a recap of the past week or
so… Gosh, where to start. Maybe an update on our project…
Ok, so we’re still doing an
assessment of the understanding and perceptions of the effects of water
contamination on lives and livelihoods of the various communities here and
around the lake (what a mouthful!). We’re using several “tools” to conduct this
research – interviews with leaders in the community (each community has an
elected president as well as a mayor) and other prominent figures (the
Agricultural Agency in Junín, Director of the Hospital, Father of the Church,
etc); focus groups with members of the community; and random surveys (also of
community members). This sounds like a lot of work, and yes, it has been, but I
think we’re all pretty pleased with the progress we’ve made so far.
On Thursday the 13th, we
took a spin around the lake. This was to introduce ourselves to the various
community leaders and actually see the lake (since we hadn’t up until that
point). Like I mentioned – check out my photo site for pictures of the lake.
There are somewhere between 10-15 of these communities, depending on how you
define them, and I think we made it to 13, dropping off a letter, introducing
our project, and getting contact information of the community leaders in order
to get in touch with them again in the remaining weeks. Just about everyone we
talked to was very enthusiastic about meeting with us again and seemed eager to
help in any way he or she could, which was really encouraging. We set up
appointments with some of them, and others just gave us a week that might work,
so we’ll call them when the time gets closer.
Our project advisor came that
weekend and stayed for several days to help us out where we had questions and
make sure we’re on track. We showed him the lake on Monday and filled him in on
as much background of the project as we could. I found it especially helpful to
be able to talk things through with an outsider (and native English-speaker!)
to see what we’re doing well and what we need to take into account for future
research. Overall, I think he thought we were doing well, and he was able to
offer a lot of ideas for our work moving forward, and eventually, our report.
I’ve gotta give him big points – he came to Peru with no Spanish language
skills, and was a champ at handling the altitude (which is, as he would tell
you, pretty brutal for the first few days).
Whereas the first couple weeks were
a mix of developing interview/survey questions and trying to come up with an
overall plan of attack, the last week and a half or so sort of fell into a
pattern of actually acquiring information. We’ve done many interviews and
several focus groups; we’ve gone to several places around the lake and set up
many focus groups and interviews for the next couple weeks. Our work feels pretty
productive (even if I’m not patient with “la hora Peruana” – Peruvian time –
sometimes), and each interview or focus group feels much less intimidating than
the last (even though I usually am content to sit in the note-taker’s chair). It
isn’t uncommon for a community president to hand us a document or two about the
lake, frequently one that the provincial government doesn’t even have. In that
way, it feels a bit like sleuthing. Needless to say, we have (what feels like)
a TON of information. There will be
plenty to read and sift through in our final weeks.
This coming week will be similarly
busy. On Monday, we’ll go to the town 20km away since they’re having a sort of
fair/festival much of the week. We’re hoping to find people from many places
around the lake, and gunning for a good chunk of our surveys. Plus, there’s
supposed to be music and dancing and (hopefully) good food! Tuesday is the
“Feria Grande” (big market) in Junín, and I recently learned that they do sell almonds in Junín (even if they
are 3 almonds for 1 sol – exorbitant), so I’m hoping to find some of those as
well as the natural yogurt I’ve been hearing about from one of the guys who
also stays in the Parroquia (all the yogurt I’ve had so far has been incredibly
sweet and very thin, nothing like the thick, plain yogurt I eat so much of at
home!). On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we have interviews and focus groups
in various communities around the lake, sometimes two places in a day. I enjoy
keeping busy (to a certain extent), and seeing the other communities has been
really interesting. It is especially nice to climb into a truck when the sun is
out – I think that may be the warmest place I’ve been in Junín so far!
Next weekend, Janelle and I are
going to go back to Huancayo for a night so I can run (jog) the half-marathon
in Concepción. I don’t anticipate running fast or doing anything even close to
resembling racing, but I have participated in a race on every continent on
which I’ve spent any extended amount of time, so this will be a way to keep up
that trend. If, as in Italy, by some fluke, I finish within the top 5 women, I
guess I win money (though in Italy it was pancetta and salame)… so that
wouldn’t suck. I’m definitely not counting on it though! It should be a nice
break from Junín’s altitude and cold though – I only have to wear one pair of
pants and three layers on top in Huancayo!
Otherwise, running has definitely been
improving, slowly but surely. I made it 4 miles without stopping on Friday – I
was pretty stoked. With that said, it is slow
going, 2-3 minutes per mile slower than I’m used to at home, and boy do I
miss the Mississippi River Trails! I asked our advisor to bring my heart-rate
monitor when he came, so I’ve been able to use that along with my watch. I’d
never really used it in the States (since I worry much less there about pushing
myself too hard), but I’m learning a bit about the various zones and how much
harder my heart has to work here. (I found a website the other day that said
that at 4,105 meters above sea level, there is somewhere around 63% of the
oxygen that is available at sea level… that is crazy to me. It also means that once I get back to MN, there will
be roughly 150% of the oxygen I’ve gotten accustomed to up here…)
I believe I continue to get used to
the cold as well. I’ve been plenty warm at night (a hot water bottle full of
boiling water helps a lot). I think running helps a lot, to be honest. It’s
really hard to get up in the morning, but if there ever was a reason to get up,
it would be a run (followed by a hot drip-shower and a couple cups of coffee).
I am so thankful for my continued running health and lack of injuries
(shout-out to Run’n’Fun!).
What else? The food continues to be
very starch-heavy, but I’m eating less of what they prepare and finding more
fruits and vegetables (and non-meat protein) to supplement throughout the day.
I found my stomach is able to tolerate avocados again (thank goodness!) so I’ve
been buying those at the market. So delicious, nutritious and filling! It’s all
about compromise. I learned to knit, as I mentioned, and have actually made 4-5
inches of progress on a scarf. It’s certainly not professionally done, but
considering it’s my first knitting project, I’m pretty proud. It’ll be a nice
brainless activity for all the time we spend waiting around (which is a
considerable amount). Laundry continues to be painfully cold. Never take your
laundry machines for granted. Never.
I don’t think there’s much else to
report here, and it’s time for me to get my butt outside since the sun is out!
Hope all is well at home (or wherever), and I’ll write again soon.
Love from Peru,
-K
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