Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Life After Work

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about what Dallin and I do after we are done working. The regular workday here in Peru goes from about 9:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night. Somedays we are working the entire day, while other days we are able to get off earlier and spend the day doing some different things. So what do we do when we're not working?

Chili's Friday Special!
Dine Out
Well usually the first thing we do is we go out and eat. We don't have our own kitchen, so we have
spent the last few months finding our favorite places to dine out. These include american food places like Papa Johns, Chili's and Gringo Loco (a hamburger joint owned by a texan, great burgers!). It also includes a few peruvian restaurants where we can get some of our favorite dishes like aji de gallina, lomo saltado, sandwiches and pollo a la brasa.

Go Exploring
When we first got to Trujillo we spent a lot of our free time exploring. We went out to see some of the big markets where we could by inexpensive souvenirs or just walk through downtown trujillo checking out the old buildings and parks that are scattered around.

Movies
In Trujillo there are three different movie theaters and Dallin and I have seen a movie each of them. We watched Star Trek and Man of Steel in Spanish and then just last week we watched Now You See Me in English with Spanish subtitles. The movies were great but I definitely get lost sometimes while watching a movie in Spanish.

Adriano's 7th Birthday Party!

Hang Out with Friends
Dallin and I have been able to make a lot of new friends by attending a local church here in Trujillo. Everyone we have met have been super kind to us and we have always been invited to attend different activities and many other things. So far we have gone to two birthday parties, a game night, played soccer and volleyball, made american pancakes, and gone to a bonfire. Spending time with our friends here in Peru has been a great way to get to know and see peruvian culture at its finest!



Netflix and Monopoly
Also since its winter here and it gets dark around 6:30 to 7 p.m. there are a quite a few nights where we don't really feel like exploring or getting out to much. So instead we have become good friends Netflix. In Peru Netflix even has a different variety of shows and movies to watch and one of our most recent series that we have gotten into is Community. Also, if we don't feel like watching Netflix, we have borrowed Monopoly from some friends.

Oh P.S. Jacque had her baby!!

Monday, July 15, 2013

A Typical Business Visit

Last Wednesday, we had a long and productive visit with Jeanette who raises cattle to sell the milk. This gave us the idea to give all you readers a better idea of what we do when we visit the current projects. I will describe a typical business visit.

Preparation: Before we make any visit, we take a few minutes in the office to determine what our goals are for the visit. After we have defined our goals, we ensure we have everything we need to take with us. This could include blank reports, a computer, or materials from a previous visit.

Evaluation: After greeting the person, one of the first things we do is talk about their past performance related to reports or other documents they have given us. Usually the people don't really have a good idea of how they are doing financially so we take their documented numbers and organize them to help them see how their money is being used (or made). We deliver this report during the visit.

Mentoring: When we deliver our reports, we give our interpretation of how we think their business is doing. At this time we also give them suggestions on how we think they could improve or better use their resources. We also love listening to them and learning more about their business and why they think some ideas would work and others would not. We learn just as much or more from each project as they do from us.

Improvement: After we take the time to hash things out, we usually end up with some great ideas to implement in the future. Sometimes the clients will make suggestions on how we can improve the format of our reports (like in the case of Jeanette) or we come up with new ideas for their reports or operations. We then set up a return appointment to check up on the new ideas.

Time has flown by for us here in Peru. We only have three weeks left, and we can't believe how much we have done and how much there is left. We've tried to stay busy with current projects and second time loan prospects as we continue to wait for the final decision on first time loan applicants this year.

Monday, July 8, 2013

There and Back Again

This past week Dallin and I spent a total of 62 hours on buses and 12 hours in layovers in order to visit Cusco and Machu Picchu. You may be asking yourself, "Why didn't you just take a plane?" Well the bus was significantly cheaper and we wanted to save money for souvenirs. You may also be asking yourself, "Was it worth it?" Absolutely!! I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Cusco - Outside of the Chocolate Museum

Machu Picchu



Dallin's Armrest
Yeah I get air...
The two of us celebrating Dallin's B-Day!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Funny Moments While Waiting

After our busy week with students and faculty, we now await the decisions to be made on which plans will be funded. During this time, we have been helping Elena and Jacqueline on whatever projects they are currently working on. Because of this, I have decided to write a couple funny experiences we've had.

1. One morning this past week, we needed to make a trip to the Mall to do some due diligence. The trip was relatively unproductive, but we were able to get some information. On our way out of the mall, we decided to hail a taxi to take us home. This is always a chore outside the mall, because due to the amount of foot traffic, there is high volume of taxis on the road - each hoping to score their next customer. So one has to walk among the various autos negotiating until finding the right fit. Well, our second try gave us a decent price. The driver was a young man of mid-twenties driving a silver mid-sized Sudan. On the way back to our office, he was driving somewhat erratically, trying to accelerate very quickly and pass cars with very little space. Repeatedly, he would accelerate quickly, only to brake just as fast when he realized he wouldn't make the tiny gaps. It wasn't until near the end of the ride that I was leaning on the left rear door, that I noticed something near the steering wheel. Could is possibly be...? Yes, in fact, it was an opened beer can! I chuckled in disbelief and hoped we would make it back ok. I should mention here that I never saw the guy actually take any drinks, and it is possible the can could have been empty from before, or acting as a coin jar... who knows? Luckily, we arrived safely where I mentioned the item to Douglas and Elena. Good thing we can just laugh about it.

2. Kitty corner to our house is a three story building that houses a popular restaurant. Many times as we are walking by in the evening, I notice how many cars are parked on the street, and the number of people eating inside. I often asked myself, "What is this restaurant? The food has got to be so good to constantly be packed like this. We should come here to try it out." Well, finally on Thursday, we made the decision to walk the twenty yards and enter the popular establishment. As per usual, the place was so crowded, there weren't any open tables on the second or first floor (we tried upstairs first). So we approached the counter and asked the woman working there if there were any open tables and if we could see the menu. She responded by saying that they only served one thing -- Platters of Mollejitas. I was shocked. I didn't know what to say, so we said thank you and walked out. When we were out of earshot, I let loose to Douglas my disbelief. Not three weeks earlier, I had ordered my first plate of Mollejitas out of curiosity, not knowing what it was. One bite ensured me never wanting to eat it again. Yet we still didn't know what it was. A quick search on the internet informed us that Mollejita refers to a popular Peruvian dish of chopped chicken gizzard, "an organ found in the digestive track of [chickens]...constructed of thick, muscular walls is used for grinding up food; often rocks are instrumental in this process." How was it possible this upscale restaurant near our house served only one dish of chicken gizzard and consistently attracted numerous clients? It's just one of those cultural differences.