Professional Peruvian Volunteer

"It's easy to know what you want to say, but not to say it." - Mario Vargas Llosa

I started work on Friday. There wasn't much easing into things. One day of fun and to the office. This was nothing like working with BioItzá in Guatemala. They speak a lot of Spanish and they speak it fast.

My new desk. At least 1 person laughed at me when I took this picture.

Thankfully, I already had two days of speaking Spanish at home to prep me. I found that I could understand basically all of what people were saying to me, but I definitely initially had some trouble responding in kind.

So far everyone I have met has been great. I definitely need to get  use to the cheek-kissing as a hello. A few awkward moments when someone went in for one and I was unprepared.

My office-mate is a Belgian ex-pat who was in Peru with his wife on a spouse visa (she's an engineer so she could find work instantaneously). Apparently Peru is as bad as the US and as a spouse, you cannot work in Peru. So let me tell you from hearing about his travails, it's been hard for him to get a work visa.

Working hard

He's already shown me his favorite lunch places around. It is apparently cheaper to buy a real lunch than to try to go out and buy a sandwich. Almost everywhere has set lunch menu that costs between 6 and 9 soles that includes a fresh juice, appetizer, entree, and dessert. But more on that later. There will be an entry on food.

I had a meeting with Hugo where he gave me a run down of what I would be doing in more detail. In a very short form, the Peruvian government is preparing to implement an initiative to pay people to not cut down trees (there's more to it, but that will hold you over), and to do so they created a bunch of new institutions. These institutions are pretty untested and it's not clear they are actually representing the right people and that they have the capacity to do what they are supposed to. So I am going to help them design a study to assess: (1) how transparent and participatory they are, (2) effective the measures they have in place are to ensure no harm, and (3) if their conflict-resolution mechanisms work. So...a little intimidating.

To cap it off, I am giving presentation to the Ecosystems team this Friday. In Spanish. So...more intimidating. But this is good for me, right?

So I can't wait until Saturday, both so my presentation will be over, and because I'll be moving into a place in the actual city! (To be clear, there is Lima the district which is in Lima the Province, which is in Lima the region. All of which is distinct from Metropolitan Lima - what you would call the city of Lima - which is generally agreed to be 30 or so of the 43 districts in the Province.)

I still have not decided on a place (I am going to see the current first choice tomorrow!), but I will definitely know by the 1st, which is when I should be moving in somewhere. And then, bye-bye 1.5-2 hour daily commute each way, hello spare time. (I honestly have never appreciated Embarq more. Lima only has 1 real BRT line and it works beautifully. The city needs at least 10 more lines. And definitely extending throughout the province.)

It may be a long trip, but at least Chaclacayo is sunny!

Once I'm in the city, you guys will get more exciting updates when I actually post pictures of fun places I have visited, including the city's world-renown museum. And I definitely plan on visiting the Pre-Colombian pyramid that is just hanging out in the middle of San Isidro. Just imagine driving through the Lima equivalent of Georgetown and BOOM! Pyramid.

So exciting.