yesterday afternoon, mark and i hopped on a bus with carlos - heading to a very, very small caserío outside of Chongoyape called Tablazos. all of carlos’s extened family lives there - and this weekend they were celebrating the town’s anniversary.
after a late lunch, we headed to the cock ring, to witness me and mark’s very first cock fights! they fight for (i think) 8 minutes or so - and if one of the cock’s kills the other within the timeframe, he is the winner. the fighting itself is very beautiful - it looks as if they are dancing with each other (with the occasional peck). of course, if or when one of them dies, it is more than triste. we had our drinking circle going - and every time i glanced over at mark, his face was lit up with the biggest 5 year old child’s smile!
after the fights, we headed over to where the band was playing. around our large drinking circle, we had interesting conversations as the beer was passed around and around and around… then we hit the dance floor!
mark hit it off with the guys from the band, and he was given their cymbals to play. his smile went from ear to ear, as he marched around the stage and dance floor banging them together! (video below)
towards the end of the night, mark was talking with one of the trumpet players from the band, and they called me over. the trumpet player lived in another caserío - not too far from Tablazos - and they had a peace corps volunteer in his town a few years before. he went on and on saying, “i just want to thank you - so much - for sacrificing two years of your life to help us. you left your family, your friends, everything - to live alone in a foreign place just to help others. and from the bottom of my heart… i really cannot thank you enough.”
wow.
this was the first time i had EVER been thanked - or even acknowledged - for my reasons for being here. i told him i wanted to cry!
when the night was over, mark and i walked arm-in-arm back to the house together, discussing the rare “thank-you” we received. at this point, i was crying. i mean, we go through each day of our service - doing the best that we can - not even expecting anyone to notice what we have given up to do this work that we are doing.
but, when somebody does - that, alone, is rewarding enough to make me feel as if i am making a difference.
