Lima and the project

Surprise, surprise! Anna did not update her blog for a while. Well I have plenty of excuses- A) I have been busy doing tourist-y things; B) High altitude makes Anna sleepy, around 9 pm I am usually done for; C) I am very impacient when it comes to Peruvian, slow WI-FI.

Nevertheless, it truly has been a fun ten days… Nicole and I managed to in Lima- see a parade of different costumes from the barrios of Lima, take a bike tour of Miraflores (the upscale neighborhood where I dream of one day living as a fancy diplomat-still have many options of careers, why not put Peruvian elite as one?), went to the best museum ever- the Larco Museum- de verdad the best- the collection of Pre-columbian ceramics and Incan gold and silver was so magnificent that I took 60 plus pictures of the displays (as well as the flowers on the outside terrace- where my wedding will be held if I become a fancy diplomat).

In Lima, I also met with the Lima-based project coordinator as well as the birding agency partner for the ecotourism project I have and will be working on this summer. Super excited in meeting with the community members; however, so much work needs to be done- first of all, what the f- am I going to be doing all summer? I have a detailed outline of my work- goals specified by myself and other staff. However, after talking to each person separately I found that so much work needs to be done- first, each person within this partnership envisions different objectives for the same ecotourism project. Additionally a full survey of community members has yet to be conducted in gathering the information of what they think/ want from such a project. Some much baseline information is needed to make sure that all involved parties are on the same page (ugh this is sounding a bit like a program evaluation). I guess that my main responsibility is to gather information about the community members as well as the municipality; gathering info sounds like it should be easy, as there are only 102 people in total in both communities the project is to serve, but as an outsider I must be culturally sensitive. Machismo is still quite strong in these rural communities- women are not allowed to sit with the men or speak during community meetings- but I was told that I should not have a problem with the men and talking about the project. Actually the Lima-based project coordinator Norma is a super feminista and really wants to empower the women of the community…. All right! Ok that’s all I have in mean right now as I sit in my hostel room curled up in my sleeping bag- darn it gets cold here in Cuzco. Next time I will write about my thoughts of Machu Piccu and other Incan ruins. Check out my pictures on the facebook. Ciao!