La Suncuya
Welcome to La Suncuya! I made a map of my community and the houses I have visited, so I thought I would share.
Sorry this may be weirdly formatted. I don't have the best internet access.
Some basics: I moved to La Suncuya on October 3, and I will be here for two years living with a family that now has swelled to twelve including myself. The family includes Andrés (host dad), Lidia (host mom), Isabel (26), Denis (21), Doris (20) Walter (19), Olvin (15), Edwin (13), Nayely (10), and Brian (3), as well as papá Pancho (Lidia’s father) who just came and may be here for a few months and Cornelio (25) who I think is a cousin. It is ridiculously hot, and will only get hotter in the months to come.
I spend most mornings visiting houses and meeting people for the census, come home for lunch and a nap, spend the afternoon reading, and the evening watching cartoons or playing cards or making bracelets. I have read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Doll Bones, Neverwhere, and the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Harry Potter books since getting here twenty days ago. It’s not that I am particularly antisocial, nor that I am avoiding work, it’s just that there is a lot of siesta time when it is just too hot to do anything other than swing in the hammock or chat over popsicles. Once summer is in full swing, most afternoons will be spent in the Torola river, and evidently many nights will be spent camped out on its banks.
Food primarily consists of rice, beans, eggs and avocado, with the occasional lettuce and tomato salad and deer meat when they can catch one. I make my own breakfast and snacks (almost all of which include peanut butter), though I think shortly I may start making my own dinners as well. I put up my mosquito net and still get tiny gnats swarming my computer screen at night, which is pretty much the only time I use my computer because it is just too hot during the day.
I spend most mornings visiting houses for the community census. So far the most fun I have had with my ADESCO guide visiting houses was with Don Porfirio, though I can tell that Don Andrés (my host dad) is the most trusted by the people here. Don Felix basically said nothing at all, which made house visits quick, but awkward because people don’t know me and he did nothing to explain why we were visiting and why they should talk to us. I really like talking and visiting houses with Ahurelio, my community guide, because he seems the most motivated to get the ADESCO involved in projects and get the community behind us, and he is part of the younger generation so he can bridge the gap too. The problem is that he is almost never around because he works driving a mototaxi every day. Mostly I’m working on getting to know people, though, so having a different guide every day is a good thing.
The ADESCO drafted a letter asking the mayor for cement and labor to put down cement at the school where they just finished putting up a covered section outside so the kids can play in the shade and perhaps do activities outside as well. Evidently the woman who owns the land next door to the school is trying to make the school cut off part of the awning they put up because it goes over the fence on to her land. I liked Andrés’ response to her ridiculous demand - Algunos de nosotros quejamos pero no colaboramos - which translates to “some of us complain but don’t help.” Never a truer word spoken. The mayor approved the cement, which is awesome, so sometime next week we may have a cement schoolyard for the kids. On Thursday my guide didn’t show up so I spent the morning at home and in the afternoon we went to a special service with the Pentecostal congregation. They were meeting (at a house with a sound system set up) to give thanks for the miraculous recovery of niña Irma, who was deathly ill. She was sent home to spend her final days with her family, and her health miraculously started to improve. That is, at least, what I understood from the story interjected between songs and praises during the service. It was three hours long. I am not making a habit of attending services, that’s for sure.
Also, Edwin (one of the kids in my house) started selling bracelets for a quarter. Yay economic development! It’s certainly not anything more than a little spending money, but it still makes me happy that he thought to sell them. Now if only I can convince him to sell them for 50 cents and save a quarter each time to buy more thread, it could actually be a successful little business. Last week I had a very eventful house visit day that started with our closest neighbors, a sweet old couple getting ready to head out to go fishing. The old couple live across the way, and after a crazy rainstorm it was incredibly muddy so we had to take a big roundabout route to get to the house, but we made it unscathed. Our second house was down the ravine, one that we had visited earlier and heard voices, but once we got to the house no one was home. The path to the house was impossibly muddy, and we got held up when I stepped in mud up to my knee. It was like quicksand that just kept pulling me further in, and I only escaped by slipping out of my shoe as Andrés pulled me upwards. I really wish I had a camera at that moment, because it felt so completely ridiculous, and it was even funnier because Andrés so matter-of-factly pulled me out and we continued on without another thought. The good thing about having so many streams to cross is that we pretty quickly reached a stream and I could wash myself and my shoes before presenting myself to the next family.
All of the subsequent houses were up the next ridge, so we had a hike straight uphill surrounded by harvested corn to houses down paths obscured by trees and dense undergrowth that seemed to spring into being as we approached and disappear into the forest as soon as we turned our backs. The path was slippery with moss-covered rocks and mini-streams, mud and sand, but no more mishaps interrupted our visits. After Andrés tried to play with a puppy at one of the houses, I broached the subject of my puppy, and he said I could bring her! There might be another puppy in a few months as well, since Andrés asked for a puppy from the next litter from one of the dogs in town. Evidently the last two dogs they had died within five days of each other, one ate a toad and the other was run over by a truck. I suppose part of puppy training will be no toad-eating. Where’s that in my dog training guide? Upon our return home around noon after a lunch of rice and beans and lettuce and tomatoes and the ever-present tortillas I demolished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Until I read Good Omens I had never picked up one of his books. I like his style and his crazy imagination because I can never tell what’s coming next or when the rules will be turned on their head. The bad guys are frighteningly dark and the good guys are just as lost as the reader. I am thoroughly enjoying them, and may or may not be avoiding reading about Julius Caesar by reading more fantasy.
I also milked cows with my host brother. The nice thing is that they are corralled right next to the house so it wasn’t a hike to get there, but I am slow enough that the cows get impatient with me. I figure that with some more practice I may be able to get a good thick jet of milk out on a regular basis, rather than the thin stream I achieved on my first try. My host brother is incredibly patient and had the grace not to laugh, though I could see him grinning with the rest of my host family as they watched my feeble attempts. I’m going to try to make it a weekly endeavor so that soon I will be able to hold my own.
On Halloween I had my general assembly, and Kai (the volunteer who lives closest to me) surprised me at my house in the morning. I showed him the river and my host family reverted to their normal silence in the face of strangers. I can tell they liked him though, because they asked me when was the soonest time we could go visit his site.
Five of the Peace Corps staff showed up for to see my site and give their support during the general assembly. I think it went pretty well, and I had a pretty good turnout, though the normal non-participation prevailed throughout. I have a lot of work to do with the community, long before we can even look at problems like a lack of potable water, letrines, and a bridge. For a start, I need people to participate and take leadership roles. Somehow I became the scribe for the ADESCO when they replaced a member of the council, since too few of them know how to write. Yet another thing that needs work in my community. At least I will be busy.
I spend most mornings visiting houses and meeting people for the census, come home for lunch and a nap, spend the afternoon reading, and the evening watching cartoons or playing cards or making bracelets. I have read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Doll Bones, Neverwhere, and the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Harry Potter books since getting here twenty days ago. It’s not that I am particularly antisocial, nor that I am avoiding work, it’s just that there is a lot of siesta time when it is just too hot to do anything other than swing in the hammock or chat over popsicles. Once summer is in full swing, most afternoons will be spent in the Torola river, and evidently many nights will be spent camped out on its banks.
Food primarily consists of rice, beans, eggs and avocado, with the occasional lettuce and tomato salad and deer meat when they can catch one. I make my own breakfast and snacks (almost all of which include peanut butter), though I think shortly I may start making my own dinners as well. I put up my mosquito net and still get tiny gnats swarming my computer screen at night, which is pretty much the only time I use my computer because it is just too hot during the day.
I spend most mornings visiting houses for the community census. So far the most fun I have had with my ADESCO guide visiting houses was with Don Porfirio, though I can tell that Don Andrés (my host dad) is the most trusted by the people here. Don Felix basically said nothing at all, which made house visits quick, but awkward because people don’t know me and he did nothing to explain why we were visiting and why they should talk to us. I really like talking and visiting houses with Ahurelio, my community guide, because he seems the most motivated to get the ADESCO involved in projects and get the community behind us, and he is part of the younger generation so he can bridge the gap too. The problem is that he is almost never around because he works driving a mototaxi every day. Mostly I’m working on getting to know people, though, so having a different guide every day is a good thing.
The ADESCO drafted a letter asking the mayor for cement and labor to put down cement at the school where they just finished putting up a covered section outside so the kids can play in the shade and perhaps do activities outside as well. Evidently the woman who owns the land next door to the school is trying to make the school cut off part of the awning they put up because it goes over the fence on to her land. I liked Andrés’ response to her ridiculous demand - Algunos de nosotros quejamos pero no colaboramos - which translates to “some of us complain but don’t help.” Never a truer word spoken. The mayor approved the cement, which is awesome, so sometime next week we may have a cement schoolyard for the kids. On Thursday my guide didn’t show up so I spent the morning at home and in the afternoon we went to a special service with the Pentecostal congregation. They were meeting (at a house with a sound system set up) to give thanks for the miraculous recovery of niña Irma, who was deathly ill. She was sent home to spend her final days with her family, and her health miraculously started to improve. That is, at least, what I understood from the story interjected between songs and praises during the service. It was three hours long. I am not making a habit of attending services, that’s for sure.
Also, Edwin (one of the kids in my house) started selling bracelets for a quarter. Yay economic development! It’s certainly not anything more than a little spending money, but it still makes me happy that he thought to sell them. Now if only I can convince him to sell them for 50 cents and save a quarter each time to buy more thread, it could actually be a successful little business. Last week I had a very eventful house visit day that started with our closest neighbors, a sweet old couple getting ready to head out to go fishing. The old couple live across the way, and after a crazy rainstorm it was incredibly muddy so we had to take a big roundabout route to get to the house, but we made it unscathed. Our second house was down the ravine, one that we had visited earlier and heard voices, but once we got to the house no one was home. The path to the house was impossibly muddy, and we got held up when I stepped in mud up to my knee. It was like quicksand that just kept pulling me further in, and I only escaped by slipping out of my shoe as Andrés pulled me upwards. I really wish I had a camera at that moment, because it felt so completely ridiculous, and it was even funnier because Andrés so matter-of-factly pulled me out and we continued on without another thought. The good thing about having so many streams to cross is that we pretty quickly reached a stream and I could wash myself and my shoes before presenting myself to the next family.
All of the subsequent houses were up the next ridge, so we had a hike straight uphill surrounded by harvested corn to houses down paths obscured by trees and dense undergrowth that seemed to spring into being as we approached and disappear into the forest as soon as we turned our backs. The path was slippery with moss-covered rocks and mini-streams, mud and sand, but no more mishaps interrupted our visits. After Andrés tried to play with a puppy at one of the houses, I broached the subject of my puppy, and he said I could bring her! There might be another puppy in a few months as well, since Andrés asked for a puppy from the next litter from one of the dogs in town. Evidently the last two dogs they had died within five days of each other, one ate a toad and the other was run over by a truck. I suppose part of puppy training will be no toad-eating. Where’s that in my dog training guide? Upon our return home around noon after a lunch of rice and beans and lettuce and tomatoes and the ever-present tortillas I demolished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Until I read Good Omens I had never picked up one of his books. I like his style and his crazy imagination because I can never tell what’s coming next or when the rules will be turned on their head. The bad guys are frighteningly dark and the good guys are just as lost as the reader. I am thoroughly enjoying them, and may or may not be avoiding reading about Julius Caesar by reading more fantasy.
I also milked cows with my host brother. The nice thing is that they are corralled right next to the house so it wasn’t a hike to get there, but I am slow enough that the cows get impatient with me. I figure that with some more practice I may be able to get a good thick jet of milk out on a regular basis, rather than the thin stream I achieved on my first try. My host brother is incredibly patient and had the grace not to laugh, though I could see him grinning with the rest of my host family as they watched my feeble attempts. I’m going to try to make it a weekly endeavor so that soon I will be able to hold my own.
On Halloween I had my general assembly, and Kai (the volunteer who lives closest to me) surprised me at my house in the morning. I showed him the river and my host family reverted to their normal silence in the face of strangers. I can tell they liked him though, because they asked me when was the soonest time we could go visit his site.
Five of the Peace Corps staff showed up for to see my site and give their support during the general assembly. I think it went pretty well, and I had a pretty good turnout, though the normal non-participation prevailed throughout. I have a lot of work to do with the community, long before we can even look at problems like a lack of potable water, letrines, and a bridge. For a start, I need people to participate and take leadership roles. Somehow I became the scribe for the ADESCO when they replaced a member of the council, since too few of them know how to write. Yet another thing that needs work in my community. At least I will be busy.
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