So, just as a quick update while I have a few minutes online - which I am realizing may be precious, especially in the first couple weeks here as I move in with my host family today - I wanted to relate a bizarre story from last week.
The two other new volunteers and I were discussing the history of the colegio where I will teach (Santa Cruz) when our discussion was interrupted by a six-year-oldish student. The student politely asked for permission to interrupt and it was granted. The little cute kid then proceeded to ask for a whip. The head of the school - a priest of the Santa Cruz order - kinda of looked at us and smiled and then asked the student what he needed it for. The kid replied that the teacher wanted to hit a student and that sounded reasonable enough to the director that he reached into his desk and pulled it out to give it to the student.
Apparently, corporal punishment down here is illegal, but.....
On another note, I have been recieving a whole lot of information on the people down here and the levels and statistics of poverty. I will go more in depth with this later, but just an interesting stat to throw out there: 70 % of the families in the area where we are living make less than 500 soles (about 3 soles to the dollar) per month. If you use an average of a family of four for this group, it means that the higher end of this group has a per capita per day income of around $1.25. A per capita per day income of $1 is extreme poverty - so these families aren´t starving, but they are struggling definitely to get by.
P.S. For photos, please check out my facebook page - and if you cannot get access to it, just email me and I will make sure you can.
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