I´m going to the hot mangroves of Piura!

I am going to Piura ! It´s in Northern Perú, relatively close to Ecuador. I was the second to last trainee to find out my site. By the time I was standing next to the environment director waiting for the magic words, my pulse was kicking at full speed due to a restless night of anticipation, a quick cup of chugged coffee and built up anxiety over being sent to Lima or somewhere cold. The first thing he said to me was, ¨Carolyn will be working with mangroves...¨ and I started jumping up and down like a ridiculous little bunny and gave him a gigantic hug before even knowing my department. It turns out that I´ll be within running distance of Prima, which is definitely a plus! The other people who will be with me in my department are also very cool. The people I´ll be around are very important, so I am definitely satisfied.

So I´ll be about 1 hour from the ocean, which isn´t bad because I´ll be 20 minutes away from mangroves, which are a critical habitat in a marine ecosystem. It´s where little fish and sea creatures grow up and hide from predators. Mangroves are also important to prevent erosion or flooding. I´ll actually be working with a municipal government on a protected area of these mangroves! There are many different stakeholders that I will have the opportunity to work with, and many options open to me. Plus, there is a big international mangrove conference coming up in January that I can work on right away. I´ll let you know more about it after I visit my site. Tonight I´ll be visiting the cold mountains but later I´ll be going to my actual site! Kudos to my director for really knowing what I would´ve wanted. He pretty much satisfied almost everything I said I wanted.

Sorry, Dad, I´m about 14-17 hours away by bus. But there´s an airport nearby!

Wish me luck!