Hey everyone!

So, things that seemed weird when I first got to my humble site of La Venta no longer surprise me. For instance, finding a hair in every meal. Yesterday, while building a pour-flush bathroom for a family in my site, a 5 year old child, in first grade, came home from school and watched us build this bathroom. Which is what all kids do, but then he started critiquing our mortar and building techniques. He collected all of the fallen mortar and but it back in the mix, and even added the right amount of water to the mix so it wouldnt dry. Amazing!! He's 5 years old! At 5, I could bearly tie my shoes, let alone tell adults their bricks are too wet for the mortar. He even knew the name of all the tools we used. And was this weird to me? My response to the whole thing was to tell him he missed some mortar on the ground over there. Weird.

Just as a funny commentary, here is a conversation I had this morning with my friend Kate, another WATSAN Peace Corps Volunteer, planning a leadership camp we are hosting in a few days, about how much I amazed myself in how adapted I am to my surroundings...

"Kate! Guess what I did this morning that was SUPER peruvian and sush a campo(country) thing to do!"

"Did you....poop in the chacra (asparagus fields)"

"haha! No. But close."

"Did you.....pee facing the street?"

"haha! No bottley functions, but its just as peruvian. I washed my peace corps vest with shampoo because there was no more detergent."

"Oh Teigan. You've gone too far."

Just another reason that I am not doing a third year for peace corps. Apparently, to some, I have gone too far.

Happy travels!

Teigan

PS. The picture is another classic peruvian thing, collecting the oranges with a coat hanger on a long stick from the tree in front of my house! Soooo gooood!