The Queen of Carnival attacked by dogs

This coming Thursday will be exactly 6 months since coming to Peru. Which means I am officially a Peruvian resident! I even have a residency card to prove it!

A lot of things, both good and bad have happened. It is not always easy, but I'm glad to be here. And, like many have said already, I will definitely be a stronger person for living these experiences.

DOG ATTACK

This is a Peruvian hairless dog. They are really ugly. And I got attacked by 8 of them yesterday. We stayed at this eccentric hostel on the beach this weekend for a meeting and the owner has about 10 of these, in Doberman-pincer size. Yesterday morning, as I reached the main part of the hostel on a walk from our cabin that was off set from the main area, the entire pack of dogs saw me from about 50 yards away and broke into a dead sprint, barking, snarling, growling and snapping. I ran forward to grab a big stick I saw lying on the ground, but they were too fast. I knew that if I reached down for the stick, they would connect with me there and surely attack my face. I stood, and with only my sandals in hand, and as they formed a circle around me, I swung and yelled and defended myself as best I could. The snapping, barking, jumping circle of dogs backed down for a brief second and I thought I had scared them enough to stop, but then from behind another jumped and another scratched, the other's barked, and one bit me. On my butt. (Lucky for me, I've got a little extra padding now from all the rice we eat!) But, after that bite I was afraid, for a minute, that they were going to take me down and tear me to pieces. I was really scared. The owner heard me screaming and came running. Fortunately he was able to shoo them off.

All these dogs have their vaccinations and shots. The owner gave me stuff to clean the wounds, which, thank God, were only superficial. And he compensated our room and food. But it sure was frightening and unfortunate because there are no laws regarding dogs here. In the states I could sue him and have his entire estate, surely. But this is Peru. And nothing works here like it does back home.

They say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. That overcoming suffering produces exponential growth. Well, at the rate I'm going, surely I will be Super-woman once I'm done in Peru. Right now I feel like I'd rather not, that I would just like to be a happy, carefree, PCV. But I guess God has other things in store for me. I do believe that at the least he has kept me safe, because things could've been much worse.

QUEEN FOR A DAY

Our town celebrates Carnival, which is like Mardi Gras but very different. February 14th was the day we celebrated and there were 2 Queens already elected with rumors of a 3rd. I had no idea who it would be and wasn't too interested. On the morning of, I went to the health center to help decorate the truck to make the float. When I arrived they asked me why I was not dressed, where my dress was? I was slightly confused, especially among all the excitement and it all happening in Spanish. Eventually, they told me that I was the 3rd queen of carnival! So, I ran home and got ready. It was really fun. I did have to make a speech (ugh!) but we danced all afternoon and had a blast.

TRADITIONS OF CARNIVAL

The day before carnival, the men decided to break a hole in the cement in the plaza to put up this "branch". Well, it's as big as a regular tree, and didn't make much sense to us that they were trying to lift it themselves. Finally they brought the truck around to help and Chris and I offered our assistance, still not believing they would be able to stand it up. but sure enough, they got that thing up after several tries and kept it in place with rocks and sticks. The tradition is to decorate it with bottles, bowls, food, etc and after each dance people take a swing at with an ax. The person who fells the tree is in charge of throwing the party next year. I obviously didn't swing very hard when it was my turn to chop, as I'm not interested in hosting the next party.

...THEN THE POWDER STARTED FLYING...

The other tradition of Carnival is to throw powder on each other. In some cities they throw water. In others it is paint, water, and really anything you can find. Luckily, we just throw powder (or more like rub/slap it in eachothers faces) but it gets pretty brutal. I even lost a contact lens! It's so funny...we get all dressed up and pretty, just to end up looking like this, with dough forming in our hair, elbows, and clothes! But it sure was fun!