8 Agosto
    I’ve never before experienced so many emotions related to showering, but here I feel really anxious about how cold it is going to be, and also really excited because I am always so, so dirty and being clean sounds heavenly. I took one shower in the actual shower here, and have never been so cold in my life. Since then I’ve resorted to boiling a pot of water, and then dumping it into one of the plastic containers we have for doing laundry. I mix it with some cold tap water, and it is just large enough that I can put both my feet in, but not sit down. But it’s warm, and that is more wonderful than words can describe. By the time I’m done, the water is the tannish orange color of the dust that covers every surface in this world, but I feel reborn.
    I’m also learning a ton about what it’s actually like to work in communities. It’s frustrating! The community is incredibly closed. In some ways, the Peruvians who work with Yanapai are just as much outsiders as I am. They don’t have the same traditions or even language as the people here, and they definitely aren’t accepted as anything other than ‘them.’ The people here haven’t had a lot of education, especially the women, so trying to lecture to them really doesn’t work. They aren’t shy about talking over you or blatantly not paying attention. They also often learn the practices that Yanapai wants them to implement, but they don’t do them. It’s unclear exactly why, but they just have all these traditions that are really strong. And I just can’t relate to that.