After only 3.5 hours of sleep, I awoke to my battery powered travel alarm clock - yay REI! I woke feeling like I was back in my bed in Ecuador. It felt so familiar and culturally similar. This was probably due to my lack of sleep and complete deliriousness, but it felt comfortable. It smells the same, looks the same in terms of cars, urban planning, architecture, agriculture, etc. The noises were the same as I opened my window and heard the city waking up and t...

After lunch with the YMCA Peru, we invited a guest lecturer to come in and speak with us about identity and the indigenous populations in Peru. He is a professor and researcher and just published another book on the topic. We thought the Y of Peru staff would leave while he presented, but they stuck around to listen. This added a complex dynamic. There are 76 ethnicities and 16 different dialects in Peru. There are Andian-Indigenous (those who live in the Ande...

In the Houston airport for our layover. Doing repeated head counts because I'm leading this group of adults to another country. I actually prefer kids because they are easier to wrangle. I feel like adults should be able to navigate themselves through an airport so I have less patience for them. =) 14 of us total. Some extoverts and some introverts, so it will be a delicate balance. Excited and nervous. Watching the Buffalo game as long as I can before I need to ...

Hi Everyone! Sunday - travel day. Lima is on Eastern time and we will land there around 11pm. I am flying to Houston first to meet the rest of the group. The flight from Houston to Lima is 6.5 hours long! Monday - We will do some training for the group Monday morning to get them acclimated to the culture. Then the CEO of the Lima Y will meet with us to tell us about the Lima Y programs. We will then meet with the Vice-Minister of Multiculturalism of the country...

I got a huge jamba in the airport for Nina. Great breakfast to start the long day. up at 6am and don't land until 11pm. They showed "Step Up Revolution" on the plane. Don't worry Dana I didn't watch it without you. I sat next to a couple of guys who flew helicopters for a private international oil rigging company. One was from Seattle and the other from South Africa. They have no college education but went to commercial chopper school and now get sent on miss...