My St. Louis Pen Pals

I've been writing to my goddaughter Libby's 4th grade class in St. Louis. I´ll have to type up their letters and post them because they are fabulous, but since it's already at my fingertips here is my response.


Dear Matt, Marcus, Libby, Jaime, Georges, Conner, Casey, Taylor, Amudha, and Nicole,

Thanks so much for your letters. They were fun to read and I enjoyed learning about all of you. Thanks for asking so many questions about Peru and Rinconada Llícuar. I love learning about new places and I hope that you do too.

I live with a very kind and welcoming family. The dad is named Martin Ruiz Saba, the mom is Dora Purizaca Tume, and Dora’s brother called Benito Purizaca Tume lives there too. Their children are Darwin Ruiz Purizaca, Pepe Ruiz Purizaca and Ingrid Ruiz Purizaca. Martin and Dora are both in their forties. Benito is 26, Darwin is 12, Pepe is 7, and Ingrid is 6. In Peru and in most countries where Spanish is spoken children get two last names, one from their mom and one from their dad. Everyone keeps these last names their whole lives.

My house is made of cement blocks and has a tin roof. I live with one of the wealthier families in town so they have a nicer house, but most of the houses are made of a reed that grows in the riverbeds. The reeds are placed side by side to make walls and then the walls are covered with mud that dries and hardens. Part of my house had a cement floor when I moved in three months ago, but most of the house had dirt floor. This week the family is pouring cement floors in two of the rooms. This will be great because it will help with the respiratory problems that sometimes come from the dusty floors.

Rinconada Llicuar is a very small town home to about 2800 people who live in about 550 houses where most people are farmers. They grow rice and Pima cotton. It’s on the edge of the desert, but they get water from a deep well to irrigate the fields. Other people are fishermen. Rinconada is about a half an hour from the Pacific Ocean where the fishermen work on big ships that catch anchovies.

The fishermen bring fresh fish everyday (not anchovies) and we almost always have fish for lunch or dinner. I love fish and my favorite Peruvian dish is called ceviche. It is made by cutting fresh fish into small pieces, and putting it into a kind of salad with onion, cilantro and a spicy pepper called ají. Then you put lime juice all over it. The acid from the lime juice makes the fish look like it was cooked, but it’s raw. Then you eat it with toasted corn kernels which are like big soft popcorn kernels that didn’t pop and fried plantains called chifles. Don’t worry if you don’t like raw fish. People also eat chicken and potatoes a lot in Peru. In Peru there are more varieties of potatoes than there are anywhere else in the world- I think it’s like 2000 different kinds. Peruvians also eat a lot of rice at lunch and dinner; they say that food is not a meal without rice.

Most Peruvians are poorer than most Americans and people have fewer things. Rinconada Llicuar has had electricity for about eight years now and most people do have electronics like televisions and radios. In my house we have electric lights, a television, a radio, a refrigerator, and a blender. Few families have refrigerators because they’re very expensive. We do not have running water all the time, only every other day for 3 hours, but most of the houses in town have a faucet that the family uses to fill big buckets and barrels with water. There are no large buildings and only a handful of two story houses in town.

Peru doesn’t have states, it has departments and Rinconada Llicuar is in the north in the department called Piura. The capital of the department is also called Piura. I travel about an hour and a half from Rinconada Llicuar to the city about once a week to buy groceries, go to the bank and the post office, and to visit with other Peace Corps volunteers.

All of northern Peru is very hot. In the summer it gets to more than 100 degrees on the hottest days, but the rest of the year the weather is sunny and warm and it doesn’t really get below 60 degrees. I like the weather very much; the sun makes me happy. Northern Peru is also very close to the equator so the sun is very strong and you can get sunburned very easily. It never snows here. People wear clothes appropriate for very hot weather, but that will protect them from the sun. Farmers wear long cotton pants, long-sleeved cotton shirts with collars, and baseball caps. They used to wear big straw hats, and some old men still do, but most of the men don’t wear straw hats anymore. Men wear flip-flops or sandals called yankees that are made of tire rubber. They’re called yankees because rubber tires in Spanish are called llantas and the words sound similarly. Women wear knee length cotton skirts and t-shirts and kids wear shorts and t-shirts unless they’re helping in the fields and then they wear pants. Everyone wears flip-flops unless they’re going to church or a party and then they put on sneakers or dressier sandals.

There are no llamas in northern Peru, but there are lots of them a little farther south and in the mountains. I have only seen llamas in a park near Lima, the capital of Peru. I do not have a llama sweater, but I hope to buy one in April when I go on a trip to Cuzco, a town in the mountains where llamas live. My favorite animal in Piura is the owl. We have big white owls that I think are beautiful. People also raise a lot of guinea pigs for food. They’re called cuy, but I haven’t tried them yet. I still think of them as pets.

I have never been to Brazil, but I have been to Paraguay and Ecuador which are also in South America. I have also never been to the rainforest, but the Amazon River starts in Peru. The Amazon River goes through the rainforest in Peru and Brazil. I am hoping to go and visit the source of the river before I leave Peru.

Peruvians love soccer and I have enjoyed learning to play since I have been here. I work with a group of women who want to learn more about healthy lifestyles and sometimes we play soccer together. I also go running in the rice fields in the mornings because it’s very beautiful watching the sun come up over the rice fields and I want to keep my heart and lungs healthy.

There are some dangers in Peru, like there are anywhere. Peru has earthquakes pretty often. They’re usually not very strong earthquakes, but you still have to be careful. We had a small one in my house last week. The walls shook for about two minutes and then it stopped. Also, when you travel you always have to be careful of robbers because dangerous people can tell that you’re not from wherever you are traveling and sometimes there are dangerous people who will try to grab your purse or wallet.

To join Peace Corps you apply, just like you’re applying to go to college or for a job. To go to Peace Corps first you have to go to college and then if you want to apply you have to write a resume, cover letter, and a few essays. You have to get letters of recommendation from your teachers and previous employers and then if Peace Corps thinks that you can do the job they call you for an interview. Then, if they like you in the interview you have medical checks and background checks, and if you pass all of the checks they will send you to another country to work for two years.

I like living in Peru very much and even though I haven’t lived here very long I have friends in Rinconada Llicuar and I’m friends with the other Peace Corps volunteers who live in towns near me. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I get back to the US. I would like to work for an international non-profit organization or USAID, the part of the government that manages international aid.

What do you want to do when you grow up?

I hope that I answered all of your questions and I hope to hear from you again soon.


Best wishes,

Ella