Bienvenidos a Peru!

At some point I will have to learn how to type accents and upside down exclamation points. For now, though, just know that I am in Peru and I am safe!

After a day of introductory meetings in DC and a night in a hotel, we flew to Peru, arriving around 9 pm last night. From the airport we all went to a retreat center where I am currently attempting to use some very slow wireless internet. The journey was interesting--our buses got in an accident and did not show up, so we got in a bunch of vans instead. My driver got separated from the group, which did not really surprise me in the slightest--driving here is intense, I would never want to try it. People backing up on the highways, cutting eachother off, etc. Eventually we made it safe and sound, but it was about 2:30 in the morning. I am still pretty exhausted. Hopefully tonight I can get a good night's sleep before meeting my host family tomorrow morning.

When I woke up this morning, I finally got to see the view--it's pretty but very different than I expected. The town we are in (Cha... will fill in the blank later!) is about 40 minutes or so outside Lima and very dry. We're surrounded by mountains entirely of sand. I feel like I'm in a giant sandbox, stuck in a hole some kid dug. I will have post some photos at some point.

We had meetings all day, although a lot more down time than I was expecting. I learned all about Peruvian money (soles), who to call if I get sick/ got a giant first aid kit and mosquito net, learned more about what Water and Sanitation Volunteers (WatSan for short) actually do, etc. We've been very well fed, too--breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner coming soon!