Work at the center has been particularly focused on the home visits these past 2 weeks, especially since there are 2 new cases in one of the towns the center sends volunteers to. After being introduced to these 2 new families, one of which has a lovely 15-year-old girl that has only advanced to the second grade level, due to an illness she contracted when she was 8. I´m going to be working with her on increasing her independence with activities of daily living (booyah occupational therapy at it´s best!) and also trying to teach her some new skills such as sewing (booyah all those years in 4-H and also muchas gracias to the family that donated the portable sewing machine before I left for Perú!) The second family I met only briefly, and given the long walk to their house through a somewhat questionable section of town, they agreed on coming to the house of one of the already existing home visits, for a group session. But it was also determined that the best time for them was for me to come in the afternoons, so after checking with all of the families that this was ok with the rest of them, it was decided I would visit in the afternoon instead of the morning for the two days each week that I come. Well, no one thought to mention to me the change in weather that occurs every day in the early afternoon. I arrived the first day after changing the schedule all around, and thought I had taken the wrong bus...the town was completely unrecognizable! Given its location up in the hills with nothing really around it in the way of protection from the elements, it is quite calm in the mornings as the sun rises and gently warms the town. However, once it passes noon, clouds roll in, the temperature drops significantly, the wind starts to pick up and there is so much dirt and sand in the air that the people of the town that were wearing shorts and t-shirts earlier in the day have changed into long pants and sweaters and are walking around with scarves over their faces by the time 1:00 rolls around!! The family that we had changed the schedule around for hadn´t even ventured out for the group session due to the weather and were unlikely to do so in the future, so after again checking with all the families, home visits have now resumed their normal schedule...calm, tranquil mornings 2 days a week.
We also had a pretty significant event here in Máncora with the kids at the center...every year the town holds an outdoor exposition along the main road and invites all the schools to set up a table to display either something that they have been working on or that they develop specifically for this exposition. An event slightly akin to what I would refer to as a science fair from my elementary school days. The center´s project was "How to make natural perfume," and also had set up different craft items the kids had done in the past as well as a huge panel of photos and 
descriptions of all the activities that the center does during the year. Really good networking and marketing opportunity as well! Anyway, two of the children from the morning classes (the little ones) had been recruited to demonstrate the making of the perfume, and after spending a whole hour the day before practicing, they showed up the next morning raring to go! I have never witnessed 2 more natural salesmen...it´s like they were born to work the cologne counters at Macy´s!! We continuously had a crowd around our table, mostly people wanting to buy the different crafts the kids had done. And when the judges approached, the two selling wonders put on their best demonstration ever! The center won first place and are now eligible to compete in the regional competition!! I was so proud!!
We had to celebrate, not only doing so well in the exposition, but also due to the celebration of spring or "celebración de primavera," so we planned a fieldtrip to the beach! Now you might be wondering how this would be a treat for these kids, since they live at the beach, but for some reason, they don´t go to the beach and play like we would expect them to, usually because their parents don´t ever have time to go with them due to working 2 or 3 jobs. So we loaded about 15 kids and 5 adults into a large pick-up truck (for those familiar with my 
African blog entries, think back to the death ride described during my trips to the Tanzanian Maasai lands)...see picture. However, this ride was much nicer, given the road was paved all the way. We headed up the road a bit to Punta Sal, which I have also described in earlier entries, being what I think is Perú´s nicest beach, where I saw my first sunset over the Pacific with whales jumping out of the water and have seen whales on every subsequent visit there (see picture)! We spent the day digging in the sand, splashing in the waves, playing volleyball and frisbee, and dancing when a one-man band came 
strolling up the beach. I even accidentally showed the kids how to do an Irish jig, as the sand was so hot that I was hopping around like crazy!! I taught some of them how to make drip castles out of the wet sand and we ate the most delicious lunch of fresh ceviche and arroz con carne y pollo which some of the mothers had prepared. It was a blast and the kids had such a great time!
The kids at the center that come in the afternoons have also been getting a special treat as some volunteers with another organization that has projects here in Máncora have started coming in once a week to do a drum circle! The drums consist of wooden boxes that you sit on to play, pounding out rhythms of salsa, merengue, even "We Will Rock You"!! The kids absolutely love it, and I have been amazed to watch them each week, especially the kids with hearing difficulties, who go bananas because it´s definitely loud enough for them to be able to participate normally instead of usually not hearing what´s going on. I have also discovered that we have some talented little dancers amidst the group, every one of them getting up and shaking their hips like professional salsa dancers. Again I say, these Peruvians were born to salsa!!Another project that has been developing at the center is the recycling initiative previous volunteers had started with a few of the boys that attend. Currently, we have 7 eager chicos that we have participating in the program. Their job is to collect disgarded plastic bottles, metal, and glass around town and in their neighborhoods, then bring them to the center, where we go once a week with them to the recycling center, where the bags are weighed and the boys receive money based on how many kilos they have. Some examples of the boys participating...one 15-year-old was involved in a mototaxi accident when he was only 8, and as a result suffered a traumatic brain injury, having no short-term memory now, as well as being very impulsive and is unable to plan very far ahead. His goal is to buy a television for his family, but every time he earns any money, he spends it right away on soda and snacks (as do most of the boys involved in the project), so that´s where the volunteers come in. The volunteers keep track of the money each boy earns and saves it for them in what we have endearingly termed "El Banco de los
Voluntarios"! Another participant is a 35-year-old veteran of the center, with a diagnosis of mental retardation, who is now pretty independent with his recycling collection, however is a hoarder, and needs someone to go with him every now and then to turn in what he has collected. Last week we went to his house after he repeatedly kept telling us that he didn´t have any bottles to turn in...only to find a mountain of plastic in one corner of his backyard piled up against the fence!! We filled up 7 large potato sacks...see picture of some of the boys with him and his collection! It´s a wonderful program and works on so many different things...not only life skills for the participants but also environmental conservation and keeping their town litter free.
In other news, salsa lessons continue, thankfully improving this past week as I was ready to throw in the towel two weeks ago...my hips and shoulders just refuse to move certain ways that I think Peruvians come out of the womb doing...it seems so easy for them! I have also learned the dance to the local 
music that is forever playing on the radio here, as the band is from Máncora! Surfing is also going fabulously well...I have 3 lessons under my belt, and as of my last lesson, I have been deemed ready to head out on my own to practice!! It was THE best feeling paddling, catching, and standing up on the last wave of my most recent lesson...all by myself!! The waves were a little bigger with each lesson, and I couldn´t help but gawk at the little kids out running the waves with me this last time...they were absolutely amazing!! I have attached a picture where the wave is actually bigger than the chiquitita surfing it! I do have to say I am so thankful that I am done with blood thinning medication, as I usually have a whole host of new cuts and bruises after each time out in the water!Last weekend was rather eventful as well due to the unfortunate situation that the other volunteer here became quite sick with a high fever among other things and decided to go to the 24-hour emergency clinic. After spending the night there and the next day, receiving IV´s and having to give so many samples of various things we lost track, she was allowed to go home on medicine to treat the trifecta of illnesses...the Máncora hat trick as we now refer to it. In addition to a parasite she acquired (which happens to most visitors to Máncora), there was also an intestinal infection and some other infection. As I sat with her for several periods while she was at the clinic, I couldn´t help but remember what it was like to be in the hospital in a foreign country, so I was only too glad to be able to pay forward what the other volunteers in Africa had been and done for me. I´m happy to report she is much better now and after recuperating this week, she is ready to head back to teaching English at one of the primary schools here, especially since another volunteer is arriving Monday to help with the same project.
In related news of the goings-on in Máncora, I have now joined the ranks of those that were only supposed to be here a certain period of time and have surpassed that by a long shot, as I had to buy more sunscreen. Now, I know this doesn´t really sound like news to most of you, but if you´ll remember in one of my earlier entries, I described my absolute horror as I saw the outrageous price of the same bottle of sunscreen I had purchased back home for only $5. When I was packing to come here, I thought one bottle would surely be enough for 5 weeks, thinking I would even have some left over. I have eeked out the last possible drop from said bottle however, and given the strength of the sun here and the amount of sunny days (basically every day), I definitely needed to buy more. I think I might have been moping as I walked to the store, even though I had spent several days scouring every possible place that sold the magic substance that is worth gold around here to the tourists, just to find the best price. So I have now paid $15 for a 10-ounce bottle of sunscreen, that will probably be my most expensive souvenir, and one that I will keep even when I have emptied it, also because the label is all in Spanish!
Máncora continues to be new and exciting every week, with the events as of late. We had a minor terremoto, or sismo, here 2 weeks ago. I apparently slept right through it, as when I came down for breakfast the next morning, I was immediately asked by my host family if I had felt the earthquake. I listened as they described how everything was shaking around 11:30 the night before, and later heard as the other volunteer described the same thing happening at her hostel. Later we found out the epicenter was somewhere in Ecuador, registering around a 5.2 I believe. Guess I have built up a pretty high noise tolerance given the major highway is right outside my hostel! We also had a power outage this past week, the most significant one as the whole town was out. As I walked home from the center as the sun was setting, I noticed the street lights that usually light my way were not on, and I entered my hostel to find a candle on every flat surface available, immediately being handed a lit one to be taken up to my room. After dinner (the gas stove still worked), I parked myself in a chair outside the hostel, which is usually so noisy with all the traffic and music from various stores and restaurants along the strip, not to mention very bright with all the lights coming from aforementioned places of business. However on this night, it was so wonderfully quiet and so dark that as I craned my neck back to look up at the sky, I could see the most amazing array of stars out over the ocean...there were so many!! It was so beautiful that I tried to soak it all in, which I´m glad I did, as the power came back on about 8:30 that night, along with the music and lights. I was glad to have the town back that I have become accustomed to, but it was so very nice to have a moment of reprieve and see another side of the place I have been living in the past 2 months!
