Hello from Chulucanas

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Part 2
Julie and I survived yet another travel experience. We took a 15 hour bus ride from Lima to Chulucanas (while we were on the bus, there was apparently a ridiculously strong earthquake, but we didnt feel anything). We arrived without a scratch and miraculously fit our hundreds of pounds of luggage into two moto-taxies (which are motorcyles with a little two seater attached to the back) to arrive at our home for the next 9 months. The place is interesting. We each have our own room. The hallways however, dont have any ceilings, so if it rains, we get wet on the way to the bathroom. Oh and we have no running water after 9 pm, so we gotta brush our teeth and try to finish peeing before then. The toilet does work, but the sink doesnt...ewww.

We live with two sisters and one psychotic dog with a serious attitude and some territorial issues. He is obsessed with one of the sisters, but hates the other one, so it makes for some interesting dynamics in the house. He also barks like a madman and has marked his territory right next to my bedroom door. No one seems to mind though, so i figure as long as hes not peeing on or in the door, i should be grateful. The floors in the house and actually the sidewalks outside are SO SLIPPERY, so jule and i are constantly laughing at each other barely saving ourselves from wiping out. So far, weve just been meeting people and visiting the different locations where we could possibly be working. We met the other US volunteers--they seem nice, but we havent really gotten much chance to get to know them. We also met a group of people our age who run the youth programs in the parish here. They are really friendly and actually are throwing a little fiesta for us on saturday. They are looking forward to seeing how we dance--boy are they in for a surprise.
Oh and yesterday, we went to the campo, which is desert land outside the city, with an awesome view of the mountains and its poorer there. Also, thats where the farming is and there are lots of animals there. In fact, we encountered our first very angry dog (other than the one we live with). This one chased our mototaxi and tried to chew off the drivers leg as we drove through the riverbed, which doesnt actually have any water in it cause it hasnt rained here in a year (other than once the other night). We also had to get off the mototaxi once and help the driver push it cause it got stuck in the sand (that was also in the middle of the dry riverbed--talk about things you never think youll do).
At the house we were visiting in the campo, the family was very friendly and super accomodating. They were really poor, but they brought out huge bowls of a bean soup they had made for us. We felt really bad, not wanting to deprive them of the food they probably needed to eat that night, but apparently it would have been rude for us to refuse, so even though we had just stuffed our faces at lunch, we both ate the entire bowl. Now, were not supposed to eat much stuff outside of the house cause we have to boil and purify all the water and wash all the food with iodine, but we ate the whole bowl, so there was some serious pooping going on last night. Well, since our time at the internet cafe is running out, we figure poop is a good note to end on, so we will leave with all our love and wonderful thoughts of us with the runs and the nuns.
End part 2

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