In the span of less than a week, my Peace Corps life has converted itself into a completely different beast.
Right before Halloween, I left my site of two years to move to the city of Huaraz. I said goodbye to glacial-water showers, constant electricity outages, lack of internet and cell phone, and my window-less cave that I called my room. Once in Huaraz, my ears no longer heard the constant jabbering of Quechua, nor the clucking chickens, cock-a-doodle-doing roosters, braying donkeys, squealing guinea pigs, barking dogs, meowing cats, and crying children. I put on my pineapple costume and enjoyed my first weekend as a city resident with a Halloween celebration and good-bye party. I said goodbye to my dearest friends of whom they had completed their two years and were ready to move on. I, on the other hand, didn’t feel I had absorbed everything I could have, and decided to embark on another year with Peace Corps. My duties as a third year volunteer seemed simple: act as the liaison between the Huascaran National Park and the other PC volunteers. In fact, I have no official title since Huaraz already has 2 PC Leaders who deal with the administrative aspect, develop potential sites for volunteers, and work out issues between volunteers and host families or community counterparts. With none of that to worry about, I headed to the National Park office to see how I might help. Figuring I’d have nothing to do for the first month while I oriented myself, I strolled in and found myself to be the main event. I was formally introduced at the Park’s monthly staff meeting, and presented with my own work space and access to all the books, materials, and human resources that the Park has to offer.
That afternoon, I sat down and pored over a 33-page scientific document that I was asked to translate from Spanish to English. Not too bad, this would keep me busy for a few weeks.
A few hours into my tedious task, someone from the Park asked if I wanted to help put out a forest fire. Seriously?
Two hours later, I was up in the mountains wearing a yellow firefighter’s jumpsuit and attacking flames with leafy branches. A farmer had been burning his field to get rid of the residual organics when it got out of hand and it spread up the mountain, destroying a 2-year forestation project that one of my fellow Park staff had worked on.
Although it was terrible that acres of Park land were going up in flames, it was incredible that I was part of the 8-person crew responsible for putting it out.
I have to constantly remind myself that I’m a Peace Corps volunteer. I have the coolest assignment in the world.
