chimbote smells like poverty.

it's not a fishy smell, like everyone claimed it would be. instead, it's a smell of poverty. it's a mix of trash flowing on the streets, rotten food, people who haven't taken showers for days, weeks, perhaps months?, dirty clothes, dirty houses, dirty everything... and of course, there is in fact a faint fishy smell. but one forgets about the smell quite quickly, or at least i did. it's become a part of me. i probably smell like the smell -in fact i'm sure i do. i smell like something, none-the-less.

the smell doesn't bother me, not after the first 12 hours anyway. and although the poverty is depressing, for some reason i just accept it. i don't stare at the poor sitting in the streets, or the dirt floors of hourses, or the unshowered children. it's just a natural part of this world known as chimbote. i don't mind when the sticky, stinky children run up to me shouting, "gringa!" and slap a dirty, slimy kiss on my cheek, or grasp my legs with their bodies. of course, the poverty disturbs me. no one should live in the poverty that these people live in. but they are so accepting to their position that it is hard for me to not be accepting to the position as well. unfortunately, this life has become so natural.

chimbote = children. there are children everywhere - playing in all the football/basketball courts, playing football in the streets, playing marbles in the streets, riding bicycles without seats. children are everywhere. i asked roel, my 18 year old belgium friend, if that is the case because they don't have school right now, or if there is just a surplus of children in this city. he said it's the latter. the majority of chimbote is old catholic, and old catholic = no condoms. when one wears a condom, they're killing a life. absitence is the only way. but in a city full of drugs and young people, abstinence just doesn't work out, therefore there is an excessive amount of children who are uncared for. a problem? yes, a huge problem that i wouldn't even know where to begin tackling.

it's crazy because the parish here does everything for these people. the clothes the children have on their back are because of the parish. the food they eat is most likely due to the parish. their parents receiving drug treatment at half-way houses is because of the parish. the hospitals. the soccer fields, the youth centers, the fruit trees in their yard - it's because of the parish. yet because of the parish, there are so many children being born into poverty. it just seems a bit backwards to me.

i've made chimbote sound like a depressing place - it in fact isn't though. there is so much beauty in this desert city. so many palm trees, a beautiful coast (if you ignore the highly polluted water), the centro de armas is beautiful, people are wonderful here, always shouting hellos from whereever they are. i love chimbote, poverty and all.

what have i been doing these past few days? well, i don't even really know myself. a huge array of things. wednesday, after my last blog, i received a walking tour to all the different buildings and projects of the parish which was quite interesting to see, and i met many different people, especially young men who have already provided me with wedding proposals and "i love yous" and i'm pretty sure they kissed my cheek a little more passionatly than what is appropriate... as well as my hand. at least 7 times each. but in any case, it was interesting to see all the different areas of the parish and to become more familiar with my neighborhood.

speaking of my neighborhood, i apparently live in the poorest of all the poor places in chimbote, which i find quite interesting because the house i live in is the only nice house, yet it's smack in this area. right in the middle of the crime. it doesn't make sense to me, and i don't really know why they live here. there is another city connected to chimbote called "nuevo chimbote" - it's kind of like coralville and iowa city, you can't tell the difference but they have different mayors. anyway, all the "rich" people live in neuvo chimbote, the poor in chimbote. the poorest in my area of chimbote. roel and my other AFS friends all live in nuevo chimbote because one) it's safer for gringos and 2) families can afford to keep them. so that got me thinking, why does my better off family live in this area? it's a question i don't have an answer to, but i'm glad they live here in any case.

back to my life: that night padre juan made us go to mass so he could introduce us to the community so the community would then watch out for us. apparently gringos get assulted here a lot, and if people don't know you're part of the parish then they don't care what happens to you and they'll just keep walking by, but if they recognize you, everyone will look out for you. i got home pretty late, extremely tired, and after dinner i fell asleep instantly.

thursday i went to work at 9, my scheduled time for each morning. first we (benjamin - my boss, scott, roel, andi) went over to centre matt talbot, the halfway house for men, and began working on the garden. after an hour, we headed off for a 1-2 mile hike to the river because it was apparently time for the men to have an outing. they're not allowed to leave the center, so every now and then they get a treat. the men of matt talbot are so kind and loving. they just love to talk to anyone, even if you don't understand half of what you say. and one specific man has specially taken interest in helping me learn spanish, which is quite nice. he's pretty understandable and loves to tell me stories of his family. he apparently has brother or sister living in the U.S. and they have 6 kids. he also draws and is constantly trying to get me to draw things with him.

anyway, we got to the river and jumped in, after all we are living in a desert with sand all around - i don't think i would ever hessitate to jump in a river, even if it does come all the way down from the moutains and must be highly contaminated. the current swept us away and we had a wild river adventure for about 15 minutes until we landed in an area of about 1-2 feet of water. the current was still strong, but here we could stand up. they then informed us that we were going to play a game where one would throw the ball and we would all have to dodge. if the ball hit you then you'd become "it" and would try to hit someone else. it was great fun dodging in a strong current river for an hour, but apparently not fun enough because all the men decided we were going to play football americana. (did i mention i was the only woman in this group? that seems to be a commen theme for me around here.) anyway, we played football for an hour or so, and little me even made a few goals against these strong peruvian men, and roel, an extremely TALL belgium. around noon we left the river and made the sandy trek back into the city.

after a cold shower, lunch, and a nice siesta, scott and i went back to work, which actually didn't amount to much. benjamin wanted us to burn a cd, so for about an hour we attempted to figureout how to burn this disc. then a peruvian computer technician came in and informed us that the computer was just too hold. so then we sat their for an hour, chit chatting with different people, attempting to learn spanish, and then benjamin told us we were finished.

roel had invited us our with his friends in the evening, so scott and i jumped into a collectivo (a kombi car - same concept of a kombi, but instead of a van, it's a car. yeah... pretty crazy), and we headed to the centro de armas, or city center. there we met roel, along with 2 other girls from belgium, another from austria, and their peruvian AFS leader. all spoke extremely good and rapid spanish.. it was crazy. i'm extremely envious of their abilities, but they've been here anywhere from 5-7 months, so i suppose they've had quite a bit more practice than i. we went out to a restaurant, ordered deserts and milkshakes, and then went to a karoke bar where the belgium and austria girl loved to sing songs in english at this spanish karoke bar. what a mix of worlds.

friday morning father padre kidnapped scott and i from benjamin and took us to Tancay with him, an area about 45 minutes from chimbote, basically little houses made from essentially nothing on huge sand dunes. we met with an italian priest who is apparently wanting to build up a community of houses but needs water and is asking support from the parish. it was hard to figure out what was going on in the meeting, and finally a peruvian boy came in and asked scott and i if we wanted a tour of the farm, so of course we accepted and off we went to look at the guinea pigs, cows, horses, rabbits, donkeys, etc.

we had our lovely siesta time from noon-3, and then went back to benjamin's office. benjamin took us then to the center of chimbote where we met roel and were informed we'd be asking businesses for donations for the youth programs in the parish. we wondered about a lot, got some free uniforms, gave people a few forms, ate some cake... this is basically work here. it's laid back and we don't really know what is going on. i have no idea what help i served in being there. i couldn't talk - i just watched. i ate some cake. i attempted to chat to benjamin and roel in spanish. i sat in front of the ocean for 30 min. and looked at it's beauty. but for some reason, benjamin wants us to come along, and tells us what great help we are even though we know we don't do a thing.

it was great to see more of chimbote though - to see how a non-tourist city in peru actually opporates. i loved walking through the markets and stores, just watching and taking it all in, like a baby. i got home early friday night, around 7, and sat in the living room chatting with my sisters. i've discovered more about my family - apparently i have 4 sisters. the oldest is 39 and she is the one married to a german and who lives in germany but is here for a few months. then there is my other sister, who is 31. i haven't met her yet and she apparently works in lima during the week and comes home on weekends. thenthere is my other sister, who i personally like the most, and i think she is 28 or 29. and finally there is my sister of the same age - 20. unfortunately i can't remember any of their names, but at least i've figured out they exist. then i have my mother, who is adorable and loving. and again my grandpa who everyone morning shouts, "hola gringa! como estas?" and my grandma who doesn't say much but is quite cute and smiles often. then apparently the brother of my mother lives in our house, along with his wife, and the 2 little boys belong to him, so i'm glad i sorted out that mystery.

tonight we're having a birthday party at my house for my dad, who i still don't believe is married to my mother. they told me to prepare myself for a lot of dancing, eating, and drinking - so i suppose that's what i'm doing right now. then tomorrow i'm going to besike beach with roel and his other AFS friends, which i'm pretty excited for -minus the fact that they speak spanish so well - because when am i not excited to spend the day at the beach?

i need to head out and do some laundry. all this morning i worked on the garden at matt talbot. i shoveled so much dirt i got 2 blisters that popped (dad, you would be so proud. remember my pathetic ability of shoveling the snow? well, i believe i have improved). anyway, because of the whole garden business, i am disgustingly dirty from shoveling mierda (poop) and dirt all morning, not to mention how much i sweated. it was a great time though and i loved attempting to talk to them, as always. but alas, i shall go back to my home and see what other adventures i can find myself in.