COS

The Peace Corps lexicon is chock full of acronyms – PCT, PCV, APCD FBT, IST. But, none hold as much meaning as COS – Close of Service. So, it was a time of excitement, sadness, relief and a bit of nostalgia when the 50 remaining members of Peru 18 gathered near our old training center for one last time. We were 63 when we arrived two years ago, full of hope and not-knowing – an average rate of atrophy for Peace Corps service.

So many of the tribe, I’d not seen in the whole time of service. Others were more familiar – though a sense of family bound us the whole time and Facebook had provided glimpses of what the others were up to. It was a time for official de-briefing and making suggestions for future group, one of which – Peru 22 – would be landing at the Lima airport in just a few days.

Medical and dental exams came first, including blood, bodily fluid and solid. One last check to ensure that the Corps was sending us home no worse for the wear. We learned about job searching, health care, re-integrating into US society, fiscal and transportation considerations. And we talked and shared tales of our time apart – tales of triumph, stories of disaster, fables of frustration and failure. Some had flourished over the two years and done wonderful projects. Some of the younger ones didn’t seem so young anymore – an air of accomplishment and maturity enveloped them. Others had done little more than survive or consumed huge quantities of movies and seasons of Breaking Bad.

The facility was a lovely resort on the Rimac River. The food and service were outstanding and the hot water VERY hot. There was even a swimming pool, where some of the braver PCVs swam laps. Each program presented a video homage to the 2 years – a clever mix of humor and poignancy. The Water & Sanitation crew shared our final reports and made suggestions for future groups. And all too quickly, it was over. The bus returned Peru 18 to Lima, for 10 more weeks of clean-up / follow-up in our sites.

There was a huge party in Miraflores that night, which I did not attend. I had another, far more delightful, mission to attend.