Lunch with men in suits

Every once in a while some group of important people will pull Peace Corps volunteers out of their campo and set them at fancy table to eat with people in suits. No one ever tells us in advance what we´re really getting into, but I believe that it is solely for their own entertainment, ¨Oh, dahling, tell me again the story about how you had a rat in your bed! Oh ha ha, you are simply killing me.¨ This is a tale of one such event in my experience.

Friday I get a call from one of the assistants in the Peace Corps office. Apparently the chargé d´ Affaires (acting ambassador) of the United States is coming through the region on Tuesday and he would like some Peace Corps company at a luncheon. She tells me that my boss has recommended me (and many others, I assumed) for the role. The dress is formal. That is ALL the information I am given.

Monday I receive an invitation in my email that says only ¨AMCHAM Luncheon¨ and the name of the hotel in Santiago. ¨AMCHAM?¨ I ponder, then I Google it. ¨American Chamber of Commerce. Interesting… So where does the ambassador fit into all of this?¨ These are the puzzles I am paid to solve in order top complete my mission in the United States Peace Corps. This is apparently why I am going to be so sought after by employers come May, because I don´t need a lot of direction to figure things out…and in some cases, I don´t receive any.

So Tuesday I get my hair dried, (I have no electricity in my house, plus it costs only $4 for a wash and dry, man I am going to miss it here when I go!) put on the best clothes I can borrow and head to Santiago. One of my best friends here was also invited, so at least we can be clueless together. In the cab on the way to the hotel I fill her in on the details of the mission that I have picked up - Codewords AMCHAM, chargé d´ Affaires etc.

Arriving at the conference room in the super fancy Gran Almirante Hotel and Casino we are surrounded by old men in suits and find that we are the only two volunteers on the list, invited by the American Embassy. And yet again we think, ¨Well, this should certainly be interesting.¨ Not recognizing anyone I take a strawberry juice in champagne glass and we begin strategizing our seating. We don´t want to sit front and center but only the antisocial choose the back tables with so many seats available. We had just decided on a safe one in the middle with women at it when two men popped into our fields of view. ¨Are you from the Peace Corps?¨ they asked enthusiastically. ¨Come with us!¨ We were lead to the lead table, front and center to sit with the incredibly fun and interesting staff of the American Embassy and the ambassador´s very well traveled wife. What followed was interesting conversation, a deliciously luxurious lunch and in the middle of his speech (impressively delivered in Spanish) on the economy of the United States and the development of Commerce in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the ambassador (former Peace Corps volunteer, Costa Rica) stopped to recognize the two of us and lead the room in a round of applause for our work. Another highlight was sitting next to the speechwriter and getting to read along and learn new vocabulary such as Producto Interno Bruto (Gross Domestic Product) and Inversionistas (Investors)!

You never know where you´ll end up when you join the Peace Corps! What fun!