To all my friends and family out there … Merry Christmas! Miss you all more than you know. Today, the 24th, is what Peruvians call Buena Noche. It’ll start out with a visit to a religious image up in the mountains (I think, not 100% clear on that one), followed by a huge turkey dinner. We ended up killing the turkey of an extended family member, so the one in my back yard will live to see another day. At midnight, the little ones will open their gifts and we’ll have a chocolatada – hot chocolate and panettone, two things that are extremely popular this time of year. On Christmas Day, we’ll attend mass up in the mountains, followed by a community-wide fiesta full of food and dancing. I’ve been to a few different fiestas in Pueblo Libre, and they all follow the same chain of events: start around 2 or 3pm, have lunch (which is basically just one woman cooking chicken and potatoes for 100+ people), and hours of dancing huaino … check out this YouTube video to hear the music and see a bit of the dance!

Lots has happened in the past few weeks, while at the same time, not a lot has happened. I spend a lot of time just sitting next to my abuela or another family member, doing nothing. There is an art to doing nothing that is hard to come by in the U.S., where everything is go-go-go. To just sit there, in silence, just gazing into the distance, not fidgeting, is something I hadn’t been used to. While sometimes it can be awkward, other times it is beautiful.

Most days I wake up around 7, take a run or do a bit of yoga, then head to my aunt’s house down the road for breakfast. This is followed by either a meeting or just a visit to the colegio, municipality, or health post. All said and done, my day is usually over by 2pm, and after lunch is when the sitting and doing nothing commences. Every so often, the silence is interrupted by an old story or Quechua lesson from my abuela, or a play session with Miriela, my 6-year old host sis who I spend the most time with.

I’ve managed to set up a few things for after the holidays. For one, I’ll start collaborating with World Vision, who to my luck is very active here. They run the Agentes Comunitarias de Salud (ACS) program, which includes about 20-30 community members who visit the homes of mothers of kids under 1 year to make sure their vaccine schedule is up-to-date, they’re eating as nutritiously as possible, and more. During my time here, I hope to provide trainings and other support to the ACSs – in nutrition, anemia, breastfeeding practices, etc.

Two days ago, I went to the health post gift exchange Christmas party, which honestly did more for my work than any visit to the health center. I made friends with the doctors, nurses, and technicians from all of Pueblo Libre. There are 6 health posts in the district, the biggest of which is in my town of Catucancha. Many of the other health posts have only a few workers – a doctor, obstetrician, and a couple nurses, and are situated higher up in the mountains. Per usual at any get-together, we ate lunch, drank a few chelas, and ended up dancing huaino.

The school year here is flip-flopped, so summer has just begun and will last until the end of March. During this time, I’ll be working within vacaciones útiles – which is basically summer camp run by the municipality – where I hope to teach English and coach volleyball. From what I hear, vacaciones útiles will run M-F, 8am-noon or so. This is a convo I need to have with the mayor/muni, but that’ll have to wait until everyone is done with the holiday season.

On another note, I witnessed my first guinea pig massacre the other day. Massacre is an aggressive word, though I did watch my abuela cut the throats of about 8 guinea pigs, drain their blood, and dip their bodies in hot water to remove the fur. 2 hours later, I was eating fried guinea pig with a side of potatoes. It really isn’t too bad, though if I had to make one change, it would be to serve it without the head.

All in all, I feel as though I am where I’m meant to be. While the lack of a schedule and not much to do can start to feel like I have no real job, I’ve started to love the spontaneity of it all. And, I know that with time the work will develop. There is a word in Spanish that my trainers used all the time – confianza, or trust/confidence. Basically, there is really nothing I can do until I build relations with the teachers, health workers, and especially, the community members. And that means eating the guinea, attending the fiestas, and sitting silently with my abuela. I’m really excited for these next two days, to see the Navidad culture here. Their traditions run deep, and it’s beyond special that they are bringing me in as another family member to experience it all. Much love to all, and I hope everyone has the best holiday season!!

Bonus Photos from the past few weeks:

P.S. The header photo of this post is my town, Catucancha, from above. I live in one of the houses on the left, and to the right is the colegio, health center, and losa (concrete court) where all the fiestas happen.