Yanacoto Hike

Mike, Seth and I went on a hike in Yanacoto the other weekend. We accidentally ended up hiking in the dark without a headlamp, but the sunset was beautiful!

Beachin' it

Beautiful Beach!

After Field Based Training, we had our site visits, a regional meeting in Lambayeque and then went to the beach to see a penguin sanctuary. The penguin sanctuary was a little sad but the beach was beautiful and it was a perfect beach day. In Peru, beaches are surrounded by sand dunes as opposed to grass and trees. Soon to come, pictures of my site!

Little JellyFish!

Mesmerizing Tide.

Notice that the gap between our heights is less than usual! I'm on a slope...

A day at the Zoo!

During our Field Based Training we had the pleasure of visiting another volunteer, Tina,'s zoo.  They are currently in the process of switching from a full zoo to a bird sanctuary.  The first picture is of the bird that they are trying to breed, the Pava Aliblanca, for conservation purposes. One of the few mammals left at the facility is an adorable fox who used to be someone's pet. Playing with the fox really brought me back to my Mission: Wolf days. Really made me miss the wolves, especially McKinley!

Pava Aliblanca

Some cute parrots!

Some wild bats

Mike and the adorable fox

The fox and I! Is it terrible I want a fox?

Bosque de Pomac!

During our FBT (Field Based Training) we camped out in the Bosque de Pomac for a night. We made s'mores, grileld veggies, and made baked potatoes. We got to climb a Huaca, a monument from the ancient Sipan civiliation. In Chiclayo's (the capital of Lambayeque) museum you can see many artifacts from this civilization. I look forward to visiting Mike and doing to the museum! It is supposed to be Smithsonian quality! 

View of two of the Huacas

Black Vultures hanging out on a Huaca

View of the forest

One of the digs going on at the site

Chancay Part II

During our mini-FBT we visited Chancay's botadero (dump.) The botadero will soon be changed into a micro-relleno sanitario (land fill.) Botaderos are very common throughout Peru. The garbage trucks bring the garbage to the outskirts of town and dump at the site. In the botadero picture you can see the house of one of the families who live at the botadero to sort through the garbage for recycling and then burn the remnants. They are paid by another man who pays just slightly more than the Municipality to undercut the Municipality. The relleno will do wonders for Chancay and I hope that my site can one day have a relleno as well! After this we visited a beautiful lagoon where tons of water lettuce grows. In the photo you can see the interesting gradient of nature (lagoon), man (city), and nature (sand dune.) When you look at the third picture you see the sad reality that it is man (wasteland), nature (lagoon), man (city), and nature (sand dune.) The botadero next to this lagoon was used for over 20 years by Lima and it has formed a literal wasteland that is polluting this lagoon and the nearby ocean. The botadero was placed right near the ocean and when we went to the beach, the beach was coated in dead Muy-muys (sand crabs.)

Chancay's new botadero, soon to be relleno sanitario

The lagoon

The wasteland/lagoon

Literal wasteland

Mike and I at the beach!

Loma de Lachay

During training we went to Chancay Peru on our Mini-FBT (Miniature Field Based Training.) During our trip in Chancay we got to visit one of the most famous Lomas in all of Peru, the Loma de Lachay. Lomas are incredibly beautiful ecosystems where dew from the ocean is carried by the wind and deposited at the tops of sand dunes. The water then creates incredibly lush forests at the tops of the dunes for a few months out of the year. The rest of the year, the hill is completely dead. As you climb higher on the Loma, you see the correlation between of the amount of available water and lush forest. It was truly a beautiful site!

 

Small scorpion our park guide found!

Pretty unique rock formations are common in Lachay.

Obligatory boyfriend picture

You can see the Loma, the desert and the ocean in this picture if you look hard enough.

Brian and I planking

A Day in Junin!

 Mike and I went up to Junin with his host sister to pick up 3 dead lambs. His mom sells the lambs in her tienda in Chaclacayo. The trip was 6 hours there and 6 hours back. It was worth it! Junin was so beautiful and it was such a wonderful experience! We went up one of the most "adventurous" roads in the world. Most people get "soroche" (altitude sickness) going up the road because it goes to 4,818 m (15,807 ft) and it is also incredibly swervy. Fortunately neither of us got sick. It was a wonderful experience.

Host Families

 One of the best experiences about being in Peace Corps is living with Peruvian Host families. Here are a few photos of my little host brother and Mike's little host brother. More of my new host family will come!

Darwin Dancing-Mike's Host Brother

Mike with my host dog, notice what my dog is doing!

My host brother at the top of the Cerro

Darwin and Christian looking out at the neighborhood