Well, this past weekend was a blast, with 6 GCers coming to the area to visit from all different corners of Peru. My favorite part was definitely the hike up to Laguna 69 in Huascaran National Park.  As I was able to download my photos from the weekend I decided to go to the extra effort and put them online for your enjoyment. Unfortunately it’s hard to manage my personal photo gallery on the road so I put the photos in a Facebook Album. So check it out and enjoy! The time here continues to fly by which is a little sad, but also means that I’m getting ever closer to Miami which is always a plus! Ok, gotta run, ciao!

hey everyone! sorry its been so long since I have had anything to say but I’m back! So my time in Las Zanjas has been interesting. Not as exciting as Marcos i must admit. I have been pretty sick this week some throwing up and stomach stuff. Ruth and Eric came to visit yesterday and so they gave me some pills. Turns out there have been 4 people in the hospital from our group so far, we have already broken the SST record! So I am working on recovering from that.
We did start the camp this week and things didn’t go as well as maybe we had hoped. First we didn’t get materials copied because we didn’t know that things weren’t open on Sunday so we had to wing it the rest of the week. And when we did end up making copies we only made 30 because we thought that would be enough but for the morning and afternoon groups we had more than 50 at times. so we have been feeling stressed and under prepared. We need to learn to work on Dominican time and realize that things don’t always happen when we think they are going to happen.
SO at this point in service I am doing a little bit of counting down (we have 26 days from today until Miami!) and lets just be honest I will be ready to be able to sit down to go to the bathroom again! But I am working on my Spanish and enjoying the cool rain and the great people! I hope you are all well and I will see some of you in 4 weeks!

Well, after all the excitement last week you would think that my life might settle down, but nope, that definitely did NOT happen. On Monday Bev & Dale (our GC group leaders) came to town to check in on us all, read our journals and visit our families. Tuesday they came to Caraz to see Rachel and my work/families/city and such. I ended up working about an hour and then spending the rest of the day showing them around, eating some awesome Peruvian desserts and recounting our experiences thus far. Then yesterday we hit the road bright an early for Huaraz where our whole area group got together for a last meal and meeting with Bev & Dale before they left. We found a great lil restaurant named Chilly Heaven where I got Indian curry Afterward Karen had to leave for work but the 5 of us that remained went to a hot springs about 15 min down the road. It was SO relaxing. Needless to say I am astounded that my next weekend is only a day away. The trip to the mountain lakes is still a go although now 5 or 6 people from other regions of Peru (Piura, Chimbote and Chancay) are traveling to the area to join us. Should be pretty crazy and real fun.

My other excitement this past week was some real conversation with folks outside of Peru. I got to call home for Father’s Day and it was great getting a little caught up with all the stateside happenings. Then Beth called my house and so I actually got to talk to her a while!! Yeah, distance stinks especially when access to technology isn’t always convenient. But getting to chat with her a while was a great relief. I just can’t wait for Miami! :-D Till next time, chiao!

Well, this past week has been pretty good. On Friday I went to Yuramarca with a group of CARE workers. The drive there lasted about an hour and a half, most of which was a dirt road through the Cañón del Pato, one of the most impressive cañons I’ve seen to date. The road includes 30+ tunnels cut out of solid rock and passes by a hydroelectric dam that provides most of the area’s power. Once in Yuramarca we had a meeting with the local lime and mango growers. Fortunately I’ve convinced the other workers that I really don’t know enough about any of these topics to help them present so I played my usual role which is to help serve snacks mid-meeting. After lunch we headed another half hour up the mountain to present to the atuna association. For those who don’t know atuna is a type of cactus fruit. The meeting finished up at around 6 pm, just in time to get in an awesome sunset.

Then Saturday I met up with Joel and Gabe to head to Huaraz. The six of us (Christina, Karen, Rachel, Gabe, Joel and I) spent the day shopping, eating, exploring and watching the US, Italy world cup game. It was real fun to see everyone again and to just relax together. That night we had been invited to go to a karaoke owned by Christina’s aunt. We were all pretty pumped, but when we showed up at the appointed time we found the lights were all out! After a minor panic we discovered that the side door was unlocked. Luckily here aunt was inside and she informed us that the karaoke didn’t open for another week, they had invited us there to do a photo shoot for the website they were making for the place! We were all a little surprised, but ended up having a blast striking poses and dancing as the uncle DJed. We finally headed out at 11pm, ready for supper (yeah, we hadn’t eaten yet). As the combis that take us home don’t run at that time of the night we we settled in at a Hostel run by another of Christina’s aunts (yeah, she has connections!). All in all it was an awesome trip!

Oh yeah, and this coming weekend I’m headed to the mountains. Joel’s dad is leading us six on a camping trip to lake Llanganuco, renouned for it’s blue-green waters. My first time hiking way up in the mountains! Score! Ok, I’ve gotta go, but I hope everyone is having a great time. Later!

Hola from the campo! Ok well im not in the campo right now, im in San Juan but i do live in the campo… so an update. I am living with a grandparent couple who are raiseing a 14 year old girl her name is Rossi and they are pretty nice but you know, really old and blind and in their own world. I WISH WISH WISH i would have broght the solar shower with me!!! i have a latrine that i have to use. I take bucket showers from the rain water and i have a hole in the ground to do my thing that an array of bugs and animals crwal out of. SO there are a few ajustments i have had to make as far as my living standerds goñ. so it will be interetsing to see how the next 5 weeks work out. I will be working with a camp that starts a week from today, and as far as i know there hasn´t been any planning for it yet. so i will be excited to see how it works out. I would really love your prayers for peace and understanding while im here so that i can feel at home with this new way of life. I will keep you posted as much as i can but who knows how offten i will get into San Juan. Oh on the plus side its sooo much cooler here! i actually wore long sleeves yesterday!! SO thats great! alright i hope you are all well and i will be seeing some of you in about 5 weeks! Love You!!

Hi all, it’s official, I’m safe and sound in Caraz, my home for the next 5 weeks. Getting here involved a 7 hour overnight bus ride which ended up being much less of a hassle than it at first sounds. I rode with the 5 others that are in the same area as I in a double decker bus and after settling in drifted to sleep watching a movie about Trujillo’s rule in the DR (a nice reminder of Beth ). Rachel and I then continued in a cramped, cold combi and arrived at our houses in Caraz about 9am.

The jobs that it looks like I will be dong are slightly different than what I initially expected, but should be a good fit I feel. I will be designing a program (and database) for local Cuy farmers to track their animals and profits (should be a fun challenge), I will be helping in some way with a local english school, and I will be helping with a CARE international program to help local farmers organize and form cooperatives. The main thing I am nervous about is that some of the guys with CARE have asked me to speak a bit about organization and leadership, and while I know a little about those topics I’m no expert, not to mention that I’m not exactly sure how I would do with public speeches in spanish! But I’ll get that figured out as time goes by. Oh yeah, and I love being overseas during the world cup! Ok, I’m off to explore Caraz a bit, catch you all later!

Today we had our service orientation and last time as a group. And during this orientation we got the information about our families, what job we will be doing and where we will be living. And all along here I thought (and so did my leaders and the girl going with me) that I would be in the city. BUT alas, i AM in the campo to everyones surprise! (I think it was Bruce and Paula’s comment that jinxed me!) But i will be living and working in Las Zanjas which is a campo 20 minutes outside of San Juan. SO needless to say that information shook me up a bit and now I’m am a LITTLE more apprehensive than i was before. I am sure it will be great, just need to get my mind in that gear now!!! SO keep on praying for me,that i will adjust and have a wonderful time. Im sure it will be amazing!! Just thought i would let you all know, that i get to experience the campo!! YAY!

So I get the pleasure of being in the city a day longer than Marcos does. I head to my service location in San Juan on Friday. It took a while to actually get my service location, but I am getting pretty pumped about my new change in location. I will be working with a Peace Corps worker in the CITY (yeah thats right, no campo for me ;-)) of San Juan. I am also going with another girl from my SST group named Heather. We will be working with a day camp for kids teaching nutrition and stuff like that. I am pretty scared about meeting a new family and getting used to that again (now that i know my city family so well) but I am really looking forward to it!! And just so every one knows we are offically (today) hlaf way through our 3 months of SST (not that I’m counting down the days until I see Marcos or anything!) So thats exciting! I will let you all know more when i do! I hope all is well with you all and keep the prayers up for Marcos and I as we leave our families who have been amazing and get to know a new place!! Talk to you again in San Juan!

My bus leaves tonight at 11pm. I’ll be getting in to Caraz, Peru at around 8am tomorrow morning to meet my new family, see my new town and start a whole new experience. As closure to my time in Lima I’d like to impart something I found absolutely hilarious. Something I didn’t consider when coming here is that every movie title would be translated as well. This is often confusing and makes finding what you want a bit tricky sometimes. The translation I love the most was for the movie The Sound of Music. The spanish translation: The Rebellious Nun! Ok, talk to you all from Caraz!

The days have been flying by as I prepare to leave Lima and head to my service assignment. I’ll be headed to the Caraz, a town in Peru’s highland. I’m going to really miss my family here in Lima as I’ve had a blast exploring the city with my brother Samuel, playing cards with my siblings, overloading on my mom’s amazing Peruvian cooking and on the whole just loving the amazing hospitality and acceptance that I’ve found with my family here. I can only hope that my new family is half as great! I will also really miss the chances I’ve had to hang out with the whole group from GC. Getting to know everyone here on SST has also been wonderful. I am excited about Caraz tho. It’s in the area known as the Cordillera Blanca which happens to be the home of Peru’s tallest peak, hopefully just the place to get in some great outdoors adventures. I will be in the same town as Rachel and not too far from Joel, Gabe, Karen or Christina. We’re hoping to be able to organize a weekend outing or two as a group. Also, my work, creating video and powerpoints for a local organization, sounds quite interesting and should hopefully keep me plenty busy.

Before I sign out, just remember to keep Peru in your prayers. Today were the 2nd round of national elections and it appears that Alan Garcia is going to be the next President of Peru. Presidential transitions are always a lil tough, especially when the vote is so closely divided. Thanks!