Brittany McGee

Last Sunday, I was introduced to Cesar.

Cesar, an elderly, single man with grown daughters in the States (Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico – okay, the States and US territories to be exact), has been a friend of the Olmos area Peace Corps volunteers for quite some time. A Peru 18 MAC (environment) volunteer met him in town and kept her puppy at his house.

Every now and again, the volunteers will call him up and set a date to make lunch at his house in the campo. After hearing about these lunches, I was more than excited to participate!

I met up with Kathryn, a MAC volunteer in Sincape, in the square and Cesar quickly found us, despite an on-going parade to celebrate one of the high school’s anniversaries. I found him to be charming, endearing, and in many ways grandfatherly. Despite not eating breakfast, he was energetic and excited. He gave us money to wander the market and buy whatever ingredients we needed to cook, while he waited patiently near his truck.

Kathryn and I navigated the crowded market, finding chicken, eggs, vegetables and fruits for our lunch. Brittany, a MAC volunteer in La Estancia, planned to make an Italian Pasta Salad, and Kathryn had planned to make a chocolate cake. At the last minute, I decided to make deviled eggs.

We hurried back to Cesar’s truck and headed off to the gas station, where we bought ice cream, drank lemonade, and ate cookies. Cesar insisted on buying multiple types of beverages, and kept asking if we needed anything else. He also kept insisting we eat more, as he had not eaten breakfast. After 15 minutes in the gas station store, we were ready to go.

We drove northeast on the highway, probably 10 minutes, before turning onto a dirt road that would take us through a few caserios and finally to Cesar’s land in the caserio of Cruz Blanco.  Cesar has had his farmland for a while, and it’s quite spacious. Right now, he’s renting some of it out and it looks like a pretty well put together operation.

We drove a bit more down a private dirt road that leads to his house and finally stopped at a charming, one-story home. There’s a porch, wrapping around the front half of the house. To the left, there is the kitchen. The right, a separate entrance for the bedrooms and bathroom. The house has many windows, relying on natural light to fill the small rooms. It’s quaint, but at the same time very elegant, well kept.

We put our belongings down on the outside table, under the shade of the porch roof and make small talk. Cesar had to take care of some business with the farmland, so we begin to gather our ingredients to prepare them while we wait for Brittany. After walking from her site through the chacra, Brittany arrives and the cooking continues.

As we’re done preparing the food, Cesar tells us he has to leave for a bit, and of course offers to pick up more food and beverages. We decided to wait to eat until he comes back, though we’re all fairly hungry. It’s probably 1:30/2PM by this point. To occupy our time, we explored the land a bit and visit the cows, who are apparently new. Spending the last 15 years in Texas, I’ve seen cows, fairly close up too, but I was still surprised by how large these cows were.

After collecting limes, we made our way back to the house, where Brittany made toast with fresh strawberries for a snack. Soon, Cesar was back at the house and we feasted. Despite always being served more than enough food, and knowing how much I can eat, I ate as if I had been starving for days. I hadn’t been craving food from the States, and have been enjoying most of my meals while here, but something prompted me to eat two plate fulls of pasta salad, a deviled egg, a slice of chocolate cake and a heaping serving of strawberries.

After all of us felt pleasantly plump, and Cesar was done complimenting us on the food, he drove us back to town. I opted to make the 10 minute walk from the square to my house rather than have him drop me off at my front door. After indulging, I figured the least I could do was to walk it off.