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There is so much to say...

First of all, I must thank you all for helping me come here. If you have followed this blog, you've noticed the tendancies toward the negative. It is time to write of all else and the things found here that I lacked back home.

Shall we begin with some confessions?

Here I wear familiar green khakis paired with a similarly colored fleece stolen from an old college friend. Everyday a different T-shirt donned underneath and some sneakers when there is field work to be done. I have learned to leave the $330 Mephisto walking shoes at home on most days for fear of damaging their soft leather in dusty Carabayllo. In my pocket, a copy of my passport and no more than S/. 10 in coin.

I live with two other volunteers, Collin and Chloë, in a posh apartment in a posh neighborhood. We have 3 1/2 bothrooms to share between us, leather couches and wordly cable on a decent sized flat-screen television. I sleep in a decent twin bed, the bottom bunk of a half-empty bunk bed. The sheets and towels are changed weekly and we find fresh fruit bounty in the kitchen and dinner in tupperware stored in the fridge.

In this context, at 7a.m. daily, I am driven in a van to plough through outbound Lima traffic until I arrive at the office at about 8a.m.

My entry into the district of Carabayllo is always welcomed by a large and dirty sign reading: "Bienvenidos a Carabayllo: Distrito Histórico y Ecológico." Carabayllo is 184 years old and one of the first settlements in colonial Perú. That hidden fact vouches for the "Histórico" portion of the sign. Supposedly, at some earlier point in time, the valleys of Carabayllo were littered with green. People here farmed land and those from outside noticed its green. Little now in the landscape I know vouches for "Ecológico."

I work in Salud Infantil, Child Health. My position has not crystallized yet but I'm beginning to carve my own way. I help solve quadratic equations and tell stories to 6-18 year olds. I also walk though the dirt in San Gabriel and 28 de Julio, two settlements that did not exist 15 years ago, and visit the sick.

In my first week, I freaked at the prospect of having to teach kids everyday and was fascinated when meeting a woman on her bed, legs bloated with water, face gaunt with death. That strange feeling persists now.

This is the place I longed to be. I may not be able to teach Valeria how to solve for x or to save Karina's life, but I can most certainly try. I have much help from the folks down here and I can learn from many others who've come before: Danny, Katie, Melissa, Fiona, Francisco, Anjuli, Sonya and Paul. And of course I have all of you: Elaine, Mimi, Pekok, Nunu, the boys and the girls.

Stay tuned for more....