"Borrowed" from Tara's Blog...

This is an excerpt from Gracias a journal kept by priest Henri Nouwen when he worked in Peru. I could very much relate to this passage and wanted to include it to shed some better articulated insight to my own experience…


Sunday February 21, 1983
More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time and freedom to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.

Cooking with Gladdis

Me, Gladdis and Junior - Peruvians don't really know how to take pictures

I first ate at Gladdis' restaurant, La Cincuentita, in February with the Castros. From that moment on it became my favorite place to eat out in Chulucanas. So much so in fact that when the doctors from Johns Hopkins came for the Pediatric Campaign, I took them all out to have some authentic Chulucanan cuisine there. I spent the night running around being the waitress and helping Gladdis take the food to the right people. Gladdis and I became good friends and at the end of the night I asked her if one day she would teach me how to cook the amazing food she prepared for her customers. A few weeks later I went over on a Saturday and learned how to make all kinds of delicious Peruvian food.

Tamales! After grinding the raw ingredients you wrap them up tight in the corn husk.

Boiling the tamales over an open, wood fire

Gladdis...and a rooster chillin under the table that stared at me all through lunch.

Carne seca drying in the sun. After it dries you throw it on top of hot coals (hey carcinogens) and then pound it with a rock.

Adding the liquified sauce to the pot for the turkey.

Mmm turkey!

Not only that, but I had a wonderful time getting to know her and her family (Mr. Campos and Junior, her VERY energetic son) and the friends she employs to help with all the cooking. Her and her oldest friend started out just 2 year ago selling chifles and  now sell chifles, tamales, turkey, duck, noodles, majada de yuca and de platano, and carne seca. She has 12 brothers and sisters, and 3 kids with 1  on the way. Her family is from Km 50 (about 15 or 20 mins away) and she uses her ONE day off a MONTH to go visit them. She invited me into her home like a sister; she fed me lunch with several servings of juice, explained every step of the cooking process for each thing very thoroughly,  and sent me home with a huge portion of majada de yuca and a big piece of turkey...which ended up being the liver...we think. An even nicer gesture because Peruvians pay good money for that.

Junior, hunting for cuy (pronounces q-wee)!

He looks so cute and innocent here...but he isn't. He is like 145 children rolled into one.

Spending the afternoon cooking with Gladdis was definitely one of the best experiences I have had here. It's times like these that remind me why I am here and how I fell so hard and so fast for Chulucanas and the people here. After battling some homesickness recently, it is so refreshing to have an experience like this that makes me so thankful to be here for another 3 months :)

Junior wanted a pic with his mom's "barriga" (stomach) which is currently the home of his baby sister.

Paz y amor,
Dani

The Marinera

The Marinera is also known as The National Dance of Peru. It is representative of courtship and has gotten a lot of recognition recently as one of the most prominent traditional dances in Peru (there are lots of traditional folk here that really span the gamut). The kids in this video are the Miss and Mr Chulucanas Marinera Champions of 2011. In my next post (when I get my act together/am not sick with a cold) I will be telling you about the Johns Hopkins pediatric campaign that we just spend the last week and a half translating for. In the meantime, enjoy!