Copa Grande

Ask and ye shall receive, when it rains it pours, pick your poison....after tracking down folks I unintentionally stood up my first week here, I managed to schedule a full week of site visits. It was a brutal schedule, up at 5am everyday enduring hours of bumpy truck rides on steep, scary roads up through high altitude peaks, but I saw quite a bit of the valley and all the sites on my short list. Of course, I ended up choosing to stay in one of the first villages I met: Copa Grande. For those in the know, it is a short walk from Vicos, a well-known village due to a 30-year Cornell anthropology project. It is known mostly for its in-fighting and general discord. Fortunately, Copa is nearly its opposite.

The impending move is very exciting, and not a little bit scary. I have not yet laid eyes on my specific living situation, but I know that there will be no electricity or running water though there is cell phone reception. Crazy world.

In the last few weeks I've managed to add some new friends to my local family just in time to celebrate one of my favorite holidays: Halloween. It is still a new holiday here, so the costumes are quite basic (if you can even find something for an adult) and they don't quite get the play on social commentary angle that is so prevalent in Athens. One friend wants to go as a potato! I thought briefly about going as a typical Peruvian party girl but figured that nobody wouldn't think I was dressed up at all! Not to mention it would attract some attention that thus far I've been able to avoid for the most part. What officially shut down the plan though was that I tried on the obligatory tight pants yesterday and while N. was surprised to find that I had a body and kept telling me how good my badonkadonk looked, I absolutely could not stop laughing at myself. So now I'm thinking about going as a construction worker....

I met some of the new additions when marching with Copa Grande in a small health demonstration (informative in nature) and fortunately they live nearby for the next handful of months while they carry out their year of rural medical service. There is talk of a group house in a nearby town where I could crash on occasion....bless them! Meanwhile they are regaling me with tales of their adventures in the valley and laughing with me about how many potatoes I am going to eat in the next 10 months (a LOT). I'm just holding out for choclo (corn) season because I can eat corn all day (unlike boiled potatoes with no salt, sauce, butter or anything to choke it down with)...they start harvesting in March and I already cannot wait.

I'll be sending good vibes up north on Tuesday although will be blissfully (or painfully) unaware of the outcome until I am back in range for a few hours next weekend to pick up B., one of my committee members and an academic rockstar who is coming to check out my field site and make nice with the natives. Until then, eat some macaroni and cheese for me...