Yesterday I stayed in Piura longer than expected. I bought copies of Ice Age I and The Little Mermaid. Hopefully I can get my computer hooked up to the internet tomorrow so I can download the DVD driver or whatever it is...I tried doing that today very unsuccessfully, and it made my afternoon suck bad. Anyhow, the reason why I stayed in Piura was to try getting in touch with the doctor who is coordinating the free eye surgeries. I needed to arrange an appointment for the patients from my town. However, he was so busy, his staff kept on telling me to call back in less time than it takes me to get home (I can´t call him from my cell phone)...so I stuck around and had dinner with Cactus. When I hopped onto the combi back home, my host sister, "Reina", happened to be on there already. She was on her cell phone with our other host sister, who told us to go buy bread. So we got off, taking advantage of our opportune meeting. Being in Piura alone at night is not a great idea for females. It was actually my first time running around Piura with anyone from my host family, so it was one of those uneventful moments that are just incomprehensibly pleasant. For the next morning´s breakfast, we bought bread that was still hot, as well as cold cuts and yogurt. We ate almost everything in the front seats on the combi while we were waiting for it to fill up and depart. Meanwhile, the cobrador (the guy who collects money and hustles) slowly wiped the windshield just to stare at us maniacally, giving us something to laugh about as we played with the radio finding good salsa music. As we left Piura, "Hotel California" came on the radio, and we sang what we could along with the driver next to us.

Today, on the other hand, was stressful. Besides trying to coordinate the multitude of activities and projects I´m working on right now so they won´t fall apart (quite possible), a mayor and a regidora from a neighboring town popped into the Municipality to ask me to do a series of talks for youth and separate ones for women on self-esteem and other topics related to a healthy and happy life. I really wanted to decline, but I couldn´t bring myself to say no. My counterpart who happened to be there didn´t help because he indirectly pressured me to accept. And somehow I just can´t say: "No, I don´t care about your youth or your women. They can continue having babies at 13 and falling victim to alcoholism for all I care. Go back to your damned town choking with extreme poverty." Not like I will make much of an impact if this is going to be a short-term project, but I really like doing this type of work - the type that touches on people´s lives. Yet there is so much work to be done in my District, and so many people here that I will never get the opportunity to work with, that I feel guilty working elsewhere. And for such a long project! My counterpart suggested I do something until November, but I was like NO, 3 months, twice a month. I am still pretty opposed to the idea because the development model of Peace Corps is that you live where you work...we will lose that element of trust and friendship by "contracting" me this way. I will be an outsider, and won´t be as effective. My strategy to compromise the situation is that I will repeat the program in my own District, and perhaps towards at the end bring both groups together for an exchange of experiences discussion. Let´s just hope that the group I get will be interested, and I will enjoy myself.

Ahhhhhh, too much stuff going on. I am spreading myself too thin.