Main path through Chipaota
Having left for Peru almost a week ago, I’d like to take an opportunity to update everyone on the present situation in Chipaota:
First off, I’m Ben, and I’m new as a volunteer with Nourish on their international project. Four volunteers left in late May for Chipaota, Peru, with our volunteer Jonathan returning now as I arrive. As I slowly acclimate to the life that the other three have called “home” for well over a month, I realize that life is nothing as I expected…
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean from Miraflores
The four cities where I’ve stayed in the last week have shown me the wide variety of living situations that life in Peru encompasses. Lima, the capital and city with the international airport, is a huge, bustling metropolis atop a cliff with a breath-taking
Another view from Miraflores, a suburb in Lima
view of the Pacific Ocean. For nearly two days I take in sights and grow accustomed to Peruvian culture, walking around my small suburb and watching in amazement at the hundreds gathered downtown to watch the World Cup finals on a massive outdoor TV.
Plaza de Armas in downtown Lima
Main lobby of our hotel in Tarapoto
From Lima, I travel by plane to the closest city to Chipaota with an airport: Tarapoto. The rest of the group graciously meets me here and shows me around the small city full of “bodegas” (convenience stores), “boticas” (pharmacies), small shops and restaurants. They fervently gather “rare” supplies like cereal, spices and produce from the store, foretelling things to come…
Street in Chazuta
From Tarapoto, the drive to the next city, Chazuta, is a challenge. The road is under construction for the majority of the day, and we wait ‘til evening to traverse it. I try to take in gorgeous scenery as we rattle around in the hired driver’s small car, dipping through streams and narrowly missing construction vehicles and other cars. Once in Chazuta, I quickly learn that life here will take some adaptation. I learn to forsake amenities and choose from the limited selection in a city with limited internet and frequent power and water outages. Meanwhile, the other volunteers are eager to show me everything about their life: when to wash clothes, where to get water when the tap isn’t running, how to save every “sol” (Peruvian currency, about 2.8 per dollar) on dinner…
Boat ride to Chipaota from Chazuta
And then there’s Chipaota. Compared to the other three, this one is by far the smallest. Barely a town, the area is really just a home away from home for most; as their “chacras” (farms) are hours away, they come down mostly for educational and social purposes. Accessible from Chazuta via a 40 minute boat ride, Chipaota greets the rare visitor with a steep climb and a beaten path that cuts through the scattered houses. My first day in the community coincides with a day of hard labor; the broom-making work group has recently bought a plot of communal land for their business, and they start work surrounding it with a fence.
Another look at Chipaota, looking towards river
While chopping at the vegetation with a machete, I get a glimpse of how things work in Chipaota. The other volunteers remark that the turnout today is a good day; it is often difficult to gather all the people of a group due to other commitments, etc. And such is life in Chipaota. We’ve come mainly to help two groups foster in their respective businesses, one in making brooms from Piassaba fibers and another in making artisan crafts like baskets. But as much as we’d like to simply come and tell them the best way to do things, we can’t. We struggle to be accepting to the fact that things here go at their own pace; their culture is not one to simply accept drastic changes so quickly. Community members see their life and economy on the farm as first to the communal business, not realizing its economic implications. With less than a month left, we look towards writing realistic objectives and means of accomplishing them, including helping to set up a factory and machine for the broom-making group, creating a business strategy for the artisans, and coordinating some sort of waste disposal to fix the problem of litter strewn on the streets.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned here in Peru, it’s that life has its challenges. As one of four motivated volunteers ready to meet them, I’m eager to see what awaits us in the coming weeks.
