Site Assignments - i.e. ¨Life is Calling, how far will you go ... to tweet¨

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay in writing (again).  By the time I get home from training most days, I have other things to do or simply can´t decide on what exactly to write about.  Last week we found out our site assignments and I will be spending the next two years in a town called Ferreñafe, which is located in the department of Lambayeque.  My next host family consists of 4 other people:

1. Dad - roughly 60ish years old, agrocultural engineer.
2. Mom - also roughly 60ish years old, clothing designer/worker
3. Brother - 35 years old, Biologist for a local non-profit (or so my paperwork says)
4. Sister - 23 years old, graphic designer. 

I will be one of two volunteers from the Peru 16´s MAC group that will be living in a ´small city´.  What that means is that whereas other volunteers will have approximately 300-1000 people in their villages, I will be living in a town of just under 32,000.  I will be working at a headquarters for SERNANP which is like the protected areas and environmental agency for Peru´s govenment.  I will be working alongside one of the bosses for the Bosque de Pomac which is a dry forest nearby my site.  (I apologize if I come back in ten days and change all this info, but as of right now I think I have the majority of that correct).  The good news is that I will be in an area with all the amenities and my boss for PC mentioned something about me using facebook and twitter to help SERNANP do outreach and whatnot.  I have very little idea what exactly I will be doing, but I´m hoping they aren´t counting on my superb spanish skills to do any sort of PR stuff - ¨queso taco arboles, apartamento salsa siempre¨ tweets SERNANP. 

This past weekend the environment group went to visit a place called Marcahuasi, which is just over 12,000 feet above sea level.  The views were gorgeous and the town we visited beforehand - San Pedro de Casta - was equally enjoyable.  Another trainee and myself taught a lesson about trees to some very receptive 3rd graders who were, in my opinion, more content to stare at my orange-haired face than learn anything about trees, lol.  Again, I have pictures, but the computer I am using is too slow to upload them.  300 or more to come once I get a good internet connection. 

I leave in just under an hour to go to Lima´s bus station where we will catch a roughly 12 hour bus ride to the capital of Lambayeque - Chiclayo.  We will be spending tomorrow night in a zoo, followed by another night in the Bosque de Pomac.  I´m very excited to see where I will be living for the next few years and meet my next host family. 

Well, there is a very impatient four year old who is rather tired of watching her pet gringo write in an alien language, so I must be going.  Love and miss you all.

Love,

Bobby

PS - thanks to all those who wrote me an e-mail in these past few weeks.  Always nice to hear from friends and family back home.