Nothing too exciting lately- just the usual madness. I went to a concert Saturday night that featured a group modeled after a cross between Ricky Martin and the Backstreet Boys. A line of men in tight white pants, t-shirts and blazers, and lots of choreographed pelvis shaking. Pretty painful, but entertaining. The local teens seemed to enjoy it. A couple pics to share with everyone- here is my host mom helping set the table for the delicious breakfast I made, and also a shot of my mom and me with her sobrino.

And here I am wearing my Cotting t-shirt, jumping off a rock on top of a mountain. Naturally.

We get busier and busier every day, and it isn't going to settle down any time soon. At the end of October we get to travel to rural sites with a few other volunteers to learn more about how to work with small communities. It will be nice to have a change of scenery for a week. And after that, there are the elections, of course, which we are all eagerly awaiting. I feel a bit guilty having such easy access to cable TV and internet, but it sure is nice to be able to follow the presidential race so easily. After Nov. 4th they can take away my technology and I swear I won't complain.

Life goes on here in Peru, and every day I feel a bit more prepared for what lies ahead. No, I haven´t gotten any better at washing my clothes, but everything else is coming along nicely. During our technical training, we have been learning about how to develop or manage waste management programs in small communities, starting with a diagnostic in order to decide whether we should dig personal landfills, or use a collection system (with carts pulled by donkeys, for example). Trying to manage recycling efficiently and effectively is also a huge part of our job. For more hands-on training, we go to the agrarian university near Lima every Saturday and have so far planted trays of lettuce to learn how to transplant seedlings properly, discussed different methods of effective organic gardening, and made compost heaps. Although 730 AM is a bit of an early start for a Saturday, the Agraria work is definitely one of the most interesting and engaging parts of training. I can´t wait to have a garden in my host community. We also get lots of training in personal safety (so mom and dad you can stop worrying), and of course, we have LOTS of Spanish classes.

Just to give you an idea of where I am, a map of Peru- my current local is just east of the city of Lima, which is located right about the middle of the coastline. The country is about 3 times the size of California, and as we learned yesterday in class, it is one of only 14 countries in the world that is considered an ecologically and geographically mega-diverse country. The coastline is almost entirely desert, the Andes mountains run vertically down the center of the country, and the eastern half is entirely rainforest. The population of the country is about 30 million, but almost a third of those people live in or around the city of Lima. The mountains and jungle are much less populated. I don´t know exactly where my site will be, but most likely in the central Andes region. Fingers crossed, because I would really like to be in a mountain site, even if it is a bit colder at 4,000 meters altitude.

The host family gets better and better every day- my host mother is a real riot- fiesty and independent, so we get along well. She tells me that I should be an ambassador after I finish the Peace Corps. We´ll see about that. At this point, I am really excited about 2 things: First, I made a delicious omelette for breakfast, which earned me big points with the mama. And 2nd, the rooster that has been waking me up every morning at 5AM is being served for lunch today. Hooray! Maybe now I´ll actually be able to sleep.