Hi all, as I continue with my long awaited Peru series, I wanted to discuss the house dynamic. Living in a house with up to 24 other people at one time can get a bit hectic, especially when everyone is so different, culturally, emotionally, and otherwise. I’ll start with the people who live in the house and then start with the volunteers in the order I met them. I have also decided to not put every volunteer in (it was over 4 pages long) so here are a few highlights.
Lidia- The owner of the home we stayed in. She also runs the volunteer program in Lima. We didn’t really see her too much. On our first day, last day, and whenever she left and returned to the house
Lidia’s husband- He was sort of creepy and always touched the girls in a friendly (?) way but I hate being touched so no no.
Abu- Lidia’s mother. She lived on the first floor and would open the door for people if they came home later. She loves talking to the volunteers but she only speaks Spanish so it was a struggle for some of the volunteers.
Sole- The house chef. Sole speaks only spanish and always wears fun patterns on her clothes. Was always very supportive of my vegan needs and always made sure I had enough to eat
Carla + Rudy- They took us to placement every day and they were always there to answer questions we had
Marissa- The first person I met because we had connected on facebook through the IVHQ page. We were also on the same flight from Panama to Lima (she is from New York). She was there for 6 weeks, her boyfriend came for a weekend (yes flew to Peru for literally 2 days) and she ended up being kind of a bitch. More on that later.
Martina- The one who opened the door for us when we arrived at the volunteer house, and who also became one of my favorite people I met while in Peru. She is from Italy and is one of the funniest people I had ever met. I wished I had stayed longer mainly to spend time with her. I’ve already told her that when I study abroad I will make sure to visit her for a weekend.
Clara- 18 year old Clara, from Maryland, was one of my roommates. She had been living in Nepal helping with hikers and was now volunteering in Peru. She was such a sweet girl and I obtained a Maryland sweatshirt from her that she couldn’t fit anywhere, and I actually met up with her in Cusco.
Skylar- Originally from Texas (oh yes politics were an interesting subject) she had been to 3 countries in her gap year before starting at UT Austin. She has a sweet exterior but she, just like Marissa became pretty bitchy. But like I said, I’ll get to that later.
Annie- Annie was only here for a week, because that’s all she could get off from work. However, during her first week, Skylar, Marissa, Tresia, her and I spent most of our time together. She is also from New York and works at a hotel. She was super sweet from the time I did get to know her.
Tresia- There is so much to say about Tresia. She is a 30 year old dietician from South Africa and is one of the sweetest, kindest, most hilarious people I have never encountered. She was by far one of my favorite people I met in Peru and I can’t wait to give her a visit.
Paola- Another one of my roommates. She is from Cancun and is like so beautiful ??? She turned 20 while in Peru so we had a cute party for her and another girl. She makes phenomenal videos of her travels, I could watch them all day.
The Canadians- Shaunna, Maxine, Kalen, Natalia, Brittney, Kelsee- The 6 of them were here for college credit during the last 2 weeks I was volunteering. Natalie annoyed the shit out of me and all she ever talked about was Brazil (she’s never been), Kalen was like very very attractive, and Kelsee was (in my opinion) the nicest of them.
Sylvia- My final roommate. Sylvia, was also from Italy, and works for Revlon. She lives in Milan and while her English isn’t tremendous, she tried so hard and really improved during her two weeks. She told me that when I study abroad, her and I can roadtrip down to visit Martina.
Kandi- One of the kindest ladies I’ve ever met. Kandi is from Jamaica and she loved her coloring books. Her and I helped Malley (next) try to get over a conflict with her roommate (Ana) and the three of us bonded because of that.
Malley- Malley is from Michigan and I literally love her. We both hate Donald Trump and conservative assholes and the education system in America. She had a lot going on medically and took like 12 pills (not an exaggeration) each day and people got mad at her for it (why ????) which caused quite a bit of unneeded conflict in the house. She is going to a school in Chicago in the fall so hopefully I can see her a few times when I’m home.
Ana- Ana was from Canada (not part of the Canadians) and all she did was bitch about Malley. I’m one who can be down to talk shit on occasion, however, when you devote all of your time talking about how much you hate one person, it gets really obnoxious.
Okay, that was still most of the people I met, but a lot of people left a mark on me and I wanted to share who they are with you all.
Alicia
Living off Leesh 