to DC!

This week I went to Puerto Chicama, about one hour and a half north of Trujillo, for an evening to enjoy some nice tranquil time at the beach to read. It was too warm to wear a jacket, but too windy to be comfortable with the shirt off, so not a perfect beach. Finished reading Catch 22, and started a few other books, one that I bought in spanish called The City and the Dogs.

We gave another little training and had about eight doubly confirmed people, with the most recent confirmation happening the very same day, but only two showed up. One of them was 20 minutes early and the other 45 mintues late. doh! The training went as well as it could go having only two people present. We taught them to seperate their personal money and their business money by assigning a fixed weekly income of what is necessary to cover their needs, and yo only pay tithing on that portion that they assigned to themselves as a personal wage. Previously they have either been paying tithing on all of their sales income or on the money that is left after paying their expenses of a sale and their families expenses.

So after all this talk of moving offices, it is finally officially happening this week. By this wednesday, the current office must be emptied. Monday and Tuesday we will be moving things in the back of a pickup truck out of the office, which is about a half hour drive away to the other side of the city. The office is in Miguel's house. Miguel's house is still being constructed and is pretty beat up in a dirty part of town. He has invited us to live at his new house with him for about 30 bucks a month, but it is far away from the city, and also very likely area to get robbed and my stuff stolen.

I will be moving my stuff to a small room in the same building. The room is full of junk and spiders ricght now, so that will also be my work for the next few days. As long as I am in this building I have access to internet, so I'll still be pretty connected. Once everything gets settled I will leave my laptop and everything that I have in my new room and take a bus ride to get to the office everyday. I like the ward and area that I am at so I would much rather commute than to move. Take care and hope everyone is well.


The view from the hostal.From my walk along the beach this morning. All these white birds are herons.

Happy Fourth!

I have had an incredible weekend here. The other intern here, Joel, and I went for a little trip this weekend. Last Thursday at about four we left to go to Chachapoyas, a city further in the mountains to the north, and arrived at 6 in the morning. We went with a tour group on Friday to go to some ruins called Kuelap. The civilization that built this fortress is pre-incan and supposedly had light skin. The fortress is about a thirty foot wall that is about a mile wide and has three tiny entrances. Pretty impressive to see in the middle of some awesome mountains.

Saturday we went with a group of Canadians to hike to the Gocta waterfall, which they say is the third tallest waterfall in the world. It was a 6 kilometer hike (4 miles?) one way, in a kind of humid mud, even though we are still pretty high in the mountains so it was somewhat difficult to breath. We swam near the bottom on the waterfall very briefly, but the water was so fresszing we could not stay long. That same nightwe rode to a different city Pedro Ruiz, and caught a bus to go to the city of Tarapoto, which is in the Amazon region.

We arrived in Tarapoto Sunday at 3 in the morning, a found a hostal to stay in until later. Once we woke up we went to a waterfall right outside of Tarapoto. The city is an amazing place a entirely different from Trujillo. Very tropical with only motorcycle tricylces to get people around. After swimming all around this waterfall, which was still cold but a lot more durable, we went back to the city and walked around exploring for a bit. We boarded a bus around 3 in the afternoon and arrived here in Trujillo just a few hours ago (about a 20 hour bus ride home). The buses are pretty nice, they recline a lot, but they play really stupid movies (early 90's action films) with the volume too high even after I ask them to turn it down, so it can be pretty terrible.

So this trip was almost cooler than going to Machu just because it was so out of the way that it was not touristy at all and we were with the locals the whole time. Not many of the roads were paved and none of the places we stayed had hot water and nothing seemed to be a trap to steal our money. Very natural and bueatiful places.
Here is the waterfall that we swam at near Tarapoto, very tropical.
That's me. I fell in.
Waterfall Gocta. Two tiers. We walked to the base at the very bottom.
A part of the wall of Kuelap with a few of the many llamas on the outside. I have many more fotos it just takes a long time to upload them. So ask me later. If you want. Or don't ask me later if you don't want to.

tribute to MJ

This week has been a fairly normal week. The best part must have been a workshop that Joel and I put on for a small group of six the micro-empresarios. We taught them about differentiating their business from that others and again how to keep track of their cash and how to make and analyze an income statement. Pretty fun stuff. Went very well, even though Miguel went off on vacation the day before and didn't come back until a few days later. The group that came had a great time and got really into some of the examples and side quizzes that I made for them.

One crazy thing about living here is the transportation. They have little vans and buses called combi's that have different routes and if you know which one to take can get just about anywhere for a single sol (33 cents). One person drives while the other opens and closes the van sliding door, shouts at people on the street to get more people on the van, and charges the passengers their fare. No two combi's are alike as they are all somewhat custom built with broken windows, no seat belts, and some of the seat/benches pretty wobbly. They go as fast as they can until the next obstacle causes them to slow down so it is a constant slow down or speed up. They also get as many people as possible on each combi. The maximum people I have counted in one that I have been in is 20, in a van a little bigger than the old purple dragon.

There are also taxi's everywhere that are constantly honling to get people's attention to see if they are desirous to get a ride from them. They have the same driving habits as the combi's, except they usually turn the music up a little more so you can't here a thing. There are few cars on the street besides Combis and Taxis. There are very few stop signs or traffic lights, so every intersection they just slow down a bit and start honking to warn anyone else off that might be coming. They will go on any side of the road to pass whoever they can, and people are constantly playing frogger to cross the road, except it is harder than forgger because none of the cars are going in a straight line. This makes everything kind of frightening at first, and then slightly amusing. I have come to enjoy it and actually feel somewhat safe, due to the fact that the only people on the road are people that know what they are doing and are always super attentive to the road, pulling over anytime their cell phone rings to talk.

We left work early last wednesday to go to the beach and I just read and sat on the beach for w while which was pretty nice. Even though it is winter here, when the sun comes out it can in the 80's and feels pretty nice. It is normally slightly overcast with some kind of mist/haze in the 60's or 70's during the day and gets cool enough to wear a light jacket in the evenings.

I finished Sinclair's "The Jungle" this week and have now read through all the books that I have brought (besides Jackie's marketing textbook). I have read Working Towards Zion, Robinson Crusoe, and Crime and Punishment. I think I liked Robinson Crusoe the most, but they have all been eye opening in different ways. Robinson Crusoe was really fun a had some interesting insights on life and taking a step back to look at the life and what we really need to survive. How society we lives in shapes us to a certain extent. Crime and Punishment was pretty dark but I am always very impressed at the thoughts and the depth of the characters. They seem very real and dealing with true events and struggles in the mind. Working Towards Zion and the Jungle both help me to realize the failings of capitalism and how our society is trying, but still far from a perfect society. Pretty interesting stuff.
A view from the wrouf. Every house is different and touching the neighbors on both sides. and on top and below.A tipical tico taxi. pretty dinky.

Happy Father Day

The internet was finally cut out this morning so I am writing this on my laptop to save on my USB and post on the internet later when I go to a locutorio (internet café). This weekend I went to Chan Chan again, went to the beach of Huanchaco and gave surfing another try. That was pretty fun, but the waves were pretty unpredictable and irregular. I didn’t get up on my feet yet, but I did body board a number of waves on the surf board.

I went to a concert of Annette Moreno last night at the football stadium here in Trujillo. That was pretty exciting. She is a Christian singer from LA and her bass guitar and drummer are completely white from CA without speaking a lick of Spanish. The concert was pretty small, with the corner of the stadium only about half full of mostly women. All the girls there knew the words to every song and sang quite a bit. We were expecting the music to be quite cheesy, but some of the stuff turned out to be not that bad.

The Silva family (next door) usually makes all my meals for me, but they have been in Lima for a while to go to the temple, and more recently they have been in Chiclayo visiting some friends and family. This means I have been able to eat out for every meal and I am getting much more acquainted with the nearby restaurants. I usually eat breakfast at a little shop just down the street. For 2 soles ($.67) I can get two little vanilla sweet cake slices and a large glass of fruit smoothie made of pineapple, papaya, and a few other little local fruits that I don’t know the names of, but the drink is like a fresh odwalla. A great breakfast.

For lunch I have been trying out a number of places, but Joel and I have picked a favorite which is about a four minute walk. For 4-5 soles ($1.33-1.66) I can get as an appetizer either a large soup bowl or potato slices with a yellow cream, and for the main meal fish, lomo saltado, fried chicken, pork, steak, and a few other little things that are always served with quite a bit of rice and possibly beans. I will usually pay an extra sole for a cold coke out of a glass bottle to go along with the meal. Very delicious and I have never left not completely full. Lunch is the big meal here and everybody usually fills themselves completely up for lunch at about one o’clock and then waits to eat dinner until about 7 or 8. Other lunches that I have had at other places are the incredible ceviche (fresh raw fish soaked in aji spice and lime juice- better than sushi), cabrito (goat), pollo a la braza (rotisserie chicken), fried fish (the entire thing), and every other combination of chicken that you could ever think of. I think I average an entire chicken every 3-4 days here.

For dinner I have preferred something a little lighter, as lunch is usually pretty heavy on the stomach. A few breads and fruits will usually suffice. I can get 8 little mini bananas, which have this sweet taste, for 34 cents from the street venders that walk around on the street selling their fruit. It only costs another 33 cents to get 8-10 little bread roles which are pretty basic and friendly to the stomach.

Some of the deserts are the best here. I have discovered a treat here called picarones, which are very similar to scones, but so much better. It is dough fried in grease and served with a honey/syrup mixture, but tastes so sweet and good. We found a lady that sells them every night in the park outside our house so I will probably be eating that more and more in the next weeks while I still live in this location. The other treats are churros, which are long fried dough balls, coated in sugar, but with a caramel like substance in the middle. They are also very delicious at any time in the evening.

I don’t know how I will break it to the Silvas, but I do like eating out more often than eating in their home. The food is a little better for the same price and I can eat when I want instead of always waiting or eating when I am not hungry.

One US dollar is almost exactly 3 soles. It cost about three soles to get a taxi ride to most places not too far from here, or 2-3 soles to get any movie on DVD. Costs ten soles for a movie at the theater (the same films here as the US). The most expensive meals at the nice restaurants are 12-15 soles. We went to one of the nicest restaurants the other day, Pizza Hut, and had one of the best meals I’ve had in a while, tasted the exact same as America, for 14 soles. Ten soles for a t-shirt, or a little more for other little souvenirs. I paid 20 soles for the concert last night. Trujillo is known for their good quality shoes made here and sold for a great price, so I’ll probably invest in some nice shoes sometime in the near future. Everything is generally a bit cheaper, but it does add up pretty quick so I don’t know if I’m really spending any less money than I normally would.

The concert of Annette Moreno. Classic.Joel and I at Huanchaco Beach

The view from our restaurant of Huanchaco beach where we swam and had some great cevicheDuring the day visiting a few people and making friends along the way.

The last week has been pretty exciting, as usual. A new intern, Joel, has arrived and it has been fun to get around with him and see how much I have already learned since I got here.

Work has continually been changing here. The office is planning to move to Miguel's house, the only other employee of Eagle Condor here in Trujillo, in mid-July. I think Eagle C has made a huge mistake laying off my neighbor presidente Silva, instead of the other worker here. We are no longer giving any loans out to people until more start to pay back what we have loaned them. It is almost a 50% pay back rate right now, which is terrible.

I have continued to prepare classes as well for the monthly trainings in how to budget and keep better track of expenses. Because of this lay-off, all the programs here have also been suspended. We were planning on starting a class o business management mid-june, which I have been preparing many slides and presentations for, but now the class will not likely start until the end of August, which means some one else will be teaching with my slides. That is acceptable, but kind of dissapointing. The good thing about this change is that I have been asked to prepare an evaluation of the company and I have prepared it, while being reasonable and uplifting, but at the same time very direct about what the issues that I have seen that are hindering this NGO.

I also submitted a few paged paper on what should happen to get interns with good experience, as Miguel said that he wished all interns had a specialty and a knowledge of something business oriented, like I do in Accounting. He does not want to receive any more interns that do not have business classes and experience. The report that I submitted was sent to the chairman of the NGO in Salt Lake and he said that he liked it and was going to start carrying out the process that I outlined in the paper. It is fun to be able to suggest change and see it become implemented.

We were present at an open house thing at a stake center for a job/ employment training workshop. It was fun to talk to all the people and tell them what we do, but we can't give them loans anymore, just some basic training of how to carry out their business. Below are some fun pictures of the last week.
My favorite location to hang out and read- the techo. The view in this picture doesn't do it justice.
Joel and I went to a little beach town called Puerto Chicama this weekend to see a few of his friends traveling here from California and to surf a little here on the longest lefty wave in the entire world.
Here is the longest left wave(wave that falls to the left, better for goofy footed surfers) in the world. I rented a board a went out for a bit but the current again carried me to some big rocks and I bloodied my knuckles and foot a bit. Nothing serious though- no worries. This was the weather for the weekend, overcast, windy, and slightly misting most of the time. Familiar beach weather?
Our hostal- "el Hombre" that we stayed at for the night.

machu pikachu

So stace and I just got back from some amazing places. Nothing more to say.

The main event.

The mountain Whuaynapicchu- which only 400 get to climb each day. or maybe each year. We were number 346 and 347. We climbed it basically only because we saw a line and really wanted to get in it.

Ollantaytambo

City of Quzco-topia. A utah-like desert with an Italia/Spain theme.

Plaza de Armas. We would only last about 30 seconds until the next vender came and tried to sell hats and paintings that each one had personally made, even though each one was the exact same as the previous person.

Sabado

Yesterday I went to two new areas that are quite nice. First we went to Chan Chan. I went with three other BYU interns that are here in Trujillo, all three of them working with orphanages around and outside of town. These ruins are only partly uncovered to this day and much is still unknown about this Mochica society that was conquered by the Incas. We then went to a small beach in a town called Huanchaco were we went swimming in the fairly cold water. There were a few pretty big waves further out, but we stayed and played in some smaller waves.


Huanchaco BeachNatural spring in the middle of the Chan Chan temple

Fishes and pelicans carved into the wall swimming and flying north.
Squirrels and waves, they worshipped the sea apparently
The only entrance and exit to the entire temple area.

My work is continuing to go well. This week I presented what I have been working on to my co-workers and they were all quite impressed. A new concept that I taught that they are now teaching as well and inviting me to go teach other people is the importance of keeping personal finances and business finances completely seperate, assigning yourself a salary and paying tithing on that, while keeping the rest of the earnings within the business to invest or do other things. I guess that wasn't quite fully understood before.

I am starting to realize that this next weekend Stacey arrives so I have a lot more planning to do this week to get all of that arranged, but that should be fun and I am excited to see stace and show her around here a bit and go exploring to other areas.

The food is still very good, and although I had some stomach trouble with too much sausage that I ate on Monday, things are returning to normal. I'll try to come up with some themes for future posts; like transportation, construction of Trujillo buildings, health, streets, the family I live with, etc. Any suggestions? Take care!