the first!

Hola!

This is my first ever attempt of a blog.
So bear with me.

So far, I love Peru.
My first experience was with Lima, and because of that, I could easily forgive the fog, the drizzle, the cold and the bustle of big cities I am generally uncomfortable with.
However, the language isolation and the dislike of the bustle of the big re-entered...and the dreadful flu I contracted made my last four days kinda rotten.

But then....ILEFTANDCAMETOIQUITOS!
This city is awesome.
Although still a busy city, it's motos instead of cars, and there's sun, and it's along a lovely river called the "Amazon", and the people in this mighty jungle are absolutely lovely.

So...why am I here? - follow the money:
Money form CIDA (for international interns) is given to the Atlantic Council International Cooperation (ACIC), which then awards certain Canadian NGO's money for interns...groups such as CUSO! (www.cuso.org)
So I was hired as an intern for a Canadian CUSO volunteer (also known as a cooperant) in Peru...but why am I working with a Peruvian NGO?
That's CUSO's approach: this organization partners with pre-existing grassroots organizations in the developing world, for example, Asociacion KALLPA (http://www.kallpa.org.pe/Inicio.htm).
SO this is how I ended up here, in beautiful jungle city Iquitos, working with a totally rad Newfoundland chick (Stephy Stoker) (the aforementioned CUSO cooperant), who is working with a team of even radder Peruvian team of people, from KALLPA...whom I also get the pleasure to work with, in this lovely and colourful (and air-conditioned!) office, and offering whatever help I can in promoting community health projects in and around this city.

Right now my role remains a little undefined, and this seems to be ok for the moment. I still need to work up my comfort level with the spanish language (the accent here is like music!), as well as familiarizing myself with the city.
I'm going to trail around with Stephy for a bit, hopefully meet the youth group she and Jesus are working with, and practicepracticepractive mi espanol!


yis yeah
goes and has a feed I spose

C!

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