Inca Kola
After the excitement of yesterday, basically all of our plans for today fell through. I guess that's just how it works sometimes. Instead, tomorrow we'll meet with the Peace Corps volunteers (it's their swearing-in ceremony, so conveniently everyone will be there) and a rep from USAID, the international development arm of the US government.
I'm ready to just go there, the meetings just make me increasingly antsy. However, the logistics of our tour are proving more difficult to arrange than we anticipated. We can get a ride down with Marco and Diego's friends. Roads and bridges are damaged and the president has stopped flights for volunteers into the area, so access is an issue. Once there, what's the best way to tour - vehicle (who will drive, what are roads like), motorbike (more autonomy, but cold and we can't carry much), or regular bike (my heart will essplode out of my chest)? We don't have anyone who can translate for us. We're not getting a consistent idea of how self-sufficient we need to be with regards to security, shelter, food, and water.
Today we stopped by the South American Explorers clubhouse. If you are planning a South America tour, sign up with these people! The clubhouse is an oasis with internet, coffee, cookies, gear and books for trade, and maps, travel and trip reports, and books for reference. The office in Miraflores in Lima is staffed by a friendly guy named Miles, who helped us find some great maps and let us know about ways to publicize and recruit volunteers, if we set up a project. He also connected us with a grassroots relief group, Yanapaysaki Cuero Peruano de Ayuda, which has just done an assessment of one of the areas that is not receiving much aid or media attention. I'm working on getting in touch with them; they have specific project ideas which HODR could easily support.
We printed quick tshirts, so that we have something to identify us when we tour. Does anyone have a good translation of "earthquake relief volunteer"? It doesn't need to be literal, just convey the general meaning. Right now, we have "voluntario de ayuda general para terremoto." I think it's too long and too literal. Help!
It's winter here right now, and it's kind of cold. Think of the damp chill of San Francisco. It's hard to imagine doing an entire deployment in pants, I've been spoiled by the Asian tropics! We took a break tonight and went to watch a movie. We watched "Fracture," which was subtitled, not dubbed over in Spanish. (It was nice to turn off my brain.) The theater was basically like any American theater, except front and center on the stage were two huge speakers which played the sound for the movie. "License to Wed" isn't out here yet, and the people in the theater laughed really hard at the trailer. Conversely, I feel it's completely cringe-inducing.
We even got popcorn and soda. You can buy giganto-ridiculous portions, just like in the states. Soda-wise, the people here guzzle Inca Kola, a fizzy, bright yellow concoction which smells like bubble gum and tastes like Extra Joss, for those of you who were in Indo or the Philippines. The flavor is kind of like bubble gum, but really, not as gross as that sounds.
Ok, time to sleep.
I'm ready to just go there, the meetings just make me increasingly antsy. However, the logistics of our tour are proving more difficult to arrange than we anticipated. We can get a ride down with Marco and Diego's friends. Roads and bridges are damaged and the president has stopped flights for volunteers into the area, so access is an issue. Once there, what's the best way to tour - vehicle (who will drive, what are roads like), motorbike (more autonomy, but cold and we can't carry much), or regular bike (my heart will essplode out of my chest)? We don't have anyone who can translate for us. We're not getting a consistent idea of how self-sufficient we need to be with regards to security, shelter, food, and water.
Today we stopped by the South American Explorers clubhouse. If you are planning a South America tour, sign up with these people! The clubhouse is an oasis with internet, coffee, cookies, gear and books for trade, and maps, travel and trip reports, and books for reference. The office in Miraflores in Lima is staffed by a friendly guy named Miles, who helped us find some great maps and let us know about ways to publicize and recruit volunteers, if we set up a project. He also connected us with a grassroots relief group, Yanapaysaki Cuero Peruano de Ayuda, which has just done an assessment of one of the areas that is not receiving much aid or media attention. I'm working on getting in touch with them; they have specific project ideas which HODR could easily support.
We printed quick tshirts, so that we have something to identify us when we tour. Does anyone have a good translation of "earthquake relief volunteer"? It doesn't need to be literal, just convey the general meaning. Right now, we have "voluntario de ayuda general para terremoto." I think it's too long and too literal. Help!
It's winter here right now, and it's kind of cold. Think of the damp chill of San Francisco. It's hard to imagine doing an entire deployment in pants, I've been spoiled by the Asian tropics! We took a break tonight and went to watch a movie. We watched "Fracture," which was subtitled, not dubbed over in Spanish. (It was nice to turn off my brain.) The theater was basically like any American theater, except front and center on the stage were two huge speakers which played the sound for the movie. "License to Wed" isn't out here yet, and the people in the theater laughed really hard at the trailer. Conversely, I feel it's completely cringe-inducing.
We even got popcorn and soda. You can buy giganto-ridiculous portions, just like in the states. Soda-wise, the people here guzzle Inca Kola, a fizzy, bright yellow concoction which smells like bubble gum and tastes like Extra Joss, for those of you who were in Indo or the Philippines. The flavor is kind of like bubble gum, but really, not as gross as that sounds.
Ok, time to sleep.
posted by Stefanie at 11:46 PM
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