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.