Exciting update about my future home!

OK, OK, OK so I shouldn`t get too excited because I might not get placed here. On Tuesday, I heard through the grapevine that there`s going to be a ¨marine biology¨ site in Ica, which is a department (the equivalent of a US state but geographically large in comparison) south of Lima. According to the rumor, there are FIVE of us who will be placed there...I get excited but don`t know if I`d want to work with four other people. Also, I had been thinking that I would like to be placed in Tumbes, the department that is about a 16 hr bus ride away from Lima. But I wanted to go there because it`s the most tropical site and has a protected area of mangroves, although being placed there does not mean that I`d definitely be working to protect the mangroves. Plus, it`s just a rumor. Then yesterday, I heard that the rumor started from the country director, so it sounds a little more ligit. The director of the environment program tried to brush it off yesterday, so it`s still just a rumor. Now today, we had two guest speakers from USAID (US government`s international development aid agency). They talked about a marine reserve in Ica called Paracas National Marine Reserve, which is Perú`s only marine protected area. It`s also Peru`s third hottest tourist destination because of its great abundance and diversity of marine wildlife. There are seals, sea turtles and loveable birds including the Humboldt penguin!! There are islands off of this reserve called Islas Ballestas which are Perú`s version of the Galapagos Islands because it has so many special endemic species (not found anywhere else in the world). So this is cool but I`m still thinking, ¨well, Tumbes might be sweet as well.¨ Next, some man discussed a whole Pisco-Paracas case study. It turns out that there are artisanal fisheries near the coast and commercial fisheries further out in deeper waters. And then there is the fish meal, steel, mussel and shellfish farms and yes, GAS industry crowding the area and polluting this marine reserve. There is a whole slew of problems and conflicts and challenges with a lot at stake, which means that I REALLY want to go there. The other plus is that my mom says she won`t visit me if I`m 16 hours away from Lima by bus. Even if you come through Ecuador it`s that long because the road winds through the mountains. However, Ica is 3-4 hours away from Lima by bus. I can`t get my hopes up yet, but I don`t see how I can`t get placed here since I`m one of the few in my group who has an interest in the ocean and has experience with marine protected areas. There are some other people interested as well, but I think I stand a good chance. Anyway, I`ll obviously keep everyone updated! I hope my explanation was clear.

On a different subject, yesterday was a wonderful field day. First, we went to a school that serves communities that were created through ¨invasions.¨ This means that it`s a young community and that poor people coming from other parts of Perú migrated here to find a job. They just sort of ¨invaded¨ an empty plot of desert for their new home. And they`re still really poor. In fact, the government doesn`t even issue many of them a national identification card, which is necessary in order to get a formal job, start a banking account, take out a loan, vote and everything that comes with being a citizen. We worked with a group of youth there aged 13 - 17. They are being developed by an NGO to be leaders in their community and to take pride in their environment, essentially getting them to feel that they belong. It`s hard to care about your environment if you dont`feel like it`s your home. It`s interesting to work with kids whose only options in the future are illicit jobs. How the drug business couldn`t be tempting to them, I don`t know. Hopefully the program does the trick and they can advocate successfully for governmental recognition, or at least get a respectable job. When we were working with them, we did not know about these things, only that they were poor. They`re just normal kids, more respectful to us and each other than most American teenagers, in fact.

Then, we drove further out and did a 2.5 hr hike! It was through a mountainous area that looked like Ireland to me because it was really rocky but had greenery...short green stubs and a small yellow flower here or there. It`s a tourist destination for Limeños because Lima has zero amount of greenery. Furthermore, it`s also the only successful example in Perú of a community organizing itself to protect an area from environmental damage and manages the area itself. The community works together to train guides, farm snails that they sell to France and more. After finallly getting out into nature, we met in small groups with community members. My group talked about the micro-enterprises the community started and tried to come up with suggestions for how to improve its functioning. It was a really amazing and inspiring conversation. They were all women and so sweet. They got excited because one of us broke out the little knit cap she`s sewing for her host sister`s new baby. One of the women went back to her house so she could finish the little pom pom on top, although she never actually got around to doing it. Anyway, we got back 3.5 hrs after we were supposed to, but all was well as all is well right now...chao...