Week 4 "Brett´s Style¨"

I'm writing this blog late because I could not make it to town on Sunday. Apparently when you eat the food in Peru, it is possible to get some parasites in your GI tract and feel really terrible for a while. I had stomach problems for a few days, took some charcoal, but they still did not go away. After a couple of days I got a fever and felt just horrible the whole day. A nurse that graduated from Southern last year thought that I have some parasites and prescribed some metrodinazole. After resting all day Sunday and taking the day off Monday, I feel a lot better.

This past week was pretty much full of the same slave labor that I do every day. On Monday we went to work on cleaning the sugar cane field in the rain with our machetes. My back felt pretty terrible from bending over all day, but you always feel accomplished after cleaning weeds down to the dirt with a long, metal blade in your right hand. Tuesday we went back to work finishing the fence that surrounds 38. We finally arrived to the end of our property which ends at a town called Yierbas Buenas. This town is full of farmers that grown coca leaves and sell them to people that may use them to make cocaine. When we first arrived there to dig holes for the fence, I saw people carrying out like 10 huge bags full of coca leaves and spread them out on a dirt field to dry in the sun. There were so many leaves everywhere. I asked the guy if I could have some because apparently the mountain people chew on them for energy or something. The guy said i could have some after they dried but never ended up fulfilling his promise. Apparently we have some at 38 if i ever decide to try it.

The rest of the week was pretty much full of the same work. We had to clear a two meter circle around lemon trees so the weeds don't choke them out. It's hotter than satan´s house out there and the humidity is so unbelievable. The peruvians are so fast at machetting, i think they can clear my lawn faster than a lawn mower. They wonder why we use machines in the U.S. when you can "have a good sweat using a machete". I told him that's because Americans are lazy, ha ha. But the work out here really does require a machete more than a machine. The weeds are just way too thick for any week whacker or lawn mower to handle.

The weekend was pretty much full of the same, opening up with friday night vespers at santa elvita. I have to lead out vespers every friday day with another labor manual worker named Dane. Saturday I always lead out the youth sabbath school. It's hard to get those kids to talk about anything. I just have to keep blabbering away with my infantile spanish and try to get them to answer just any questions. I´m gonna have to figure something out. Sunday was a horrible day of sickness. They finally played soccer at 38 with people from yierbas buenas and campo verde, and i couldn't even play.

Monday was a pretty chill day. I took the day off from work and ended up just doing sudoku all day long. It was pretty relaxing. At night, a couple of the girls wanted to go to the tent meetings that were happening where Julie is at and they needed a male companion. I was free so i ended up going with them (plus i wanted to see Julie). We had a pretty interesting ride on the way down there. We ended up taking the van from campo all the way to pullcalpa. On the way we picked up a drunk guy that got on and sat next to one of the girls. He started to smell her hair and act super weird. Luckily, the guy in charge of the van made the guy sit in the back of the bus away from her. That made me feel better because i didn't really want to try to make the guy move myself. Close to arriving the pullcalpa, the owner was starting to collect money for the ride on the way down. Well, of course the drunk guy didn't want to pay. He started causing a fuss, another passager started to get frustrated with the guy asking why he would get on and not expect to pay. Some words were exchanged between the drunk and the other passager, one the phrases ended up offending the passenger and he slapped the drunk. Now, the drunk guy must have been in his 30s or 40s and the other guy is like 60 or so. Well, the drunk guy started swinging and punching the passenger and they started fighting. I let them fight for about 5 seconds before I decided to step in and take control of the situtation. I jumped up and grabbed the drunk guy and threw him against his seat and yelled at his to leave the bus. I think this startled his a lot, but he still didn't want to leave and still tried to fight. So this time I grabbed his and started to choke him a little to really show him that I was serious and told him he had 5 seconds to leave the bus or there would be trouble. I stated to count to five while dragging the man by his arms out of the bus. By the time I counted to five, I dragged him out the bus and threw him to the side of the road. I bent down and asked the guy if he was ok and told him that I was sorry but he left me no choice. I really felt bad for the guy, but i had to protect the girls I was with and the women and children on the bus. I didn't want the guy to pull a knife or anything, so I made sure to take control with some force and make him leave. After I got back on the bus, the owner said I had a lot of strength, ha ha. I guess in peru I do because everyone is like 5 feet tall. I´m a giant here and seem to intimidate pretty much everyone, everywhere I go.

This week was interesting but I'm sure the next will be full of fun stories as well, haha. Until next time. Adios.