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Published: October 15th 2008
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Welcome to Ecuador!!
Brian is so excited he can't keep his eyes open! Hola everyone!! Brian has been in Peru now for 3 weeks! Although I’ve been super busy with work since he’s been here, he’s been keeping himself busy as he’s beginning to write his 3rd paper for publication (he just recently published two papers about his research…Go, Brian!) But on Sundays we’ve been able to explore the Tumbes area a bit. Because I’ve been in Peru now for over 3 months, and my 90 day Tourist Visa is expiring, I needed to cross the Peru-Ecuador border to ‘renew’ my visa and get another 90 days here as a ‘tourist’. Right after Brian arrived in Peru we ventured to the border which is 20 km from Tumbes. Interestingly, this border is the least controlled border I’ve ever seen and we had to literally search for the Peru immigration office and then search again for the Ecuador immigration office (which Brian describes as a shack)…both immigration offices are nowhere near each other! No one seemed to care if people were crossing back and forth on the border with proper documentation or not…we had to ASK someone to please review our documentation and give us the proper stamps. Weird. The border is actually covered with
a huge market where everyone from Tumbes actually goes to get things they need since ‘getting things’ in Tumbes is difficult because it’s so small and remote.
Having Brian in Tumbes was quite an experience. This is mainly because tall Brian with his light hair and eyes looks nothing like the typical Peruvian, and Tumbes doesn’t see many non-Peruvians. Not many people in this area drive cars but instead take public transportation such as combis (usually Korean mini-vans with 15 plus people crammed into them), collectives (smaller cars which function the same as combis), or mototaxis (3-wheeled motorcycle carriage). I’ve been pretty used to using all of these to get around since I’ve been here, but it was a little difficult for Brian since he had trouble even fitting inside most times because he’s so much taller than everyone else. Most people inside always found it entertaining watching Brian fold himself into the vehicle. Once we were sitting inside a combi waiting for it to fill up and the money collector (a 12 year old kid) got out of the combi, walked over to the window where Brian sitting next to, and just stood there staring at Brian for about
5 minutes. The kid has probably rarely (if ever) seen a tall American guy with light eyes before…it was pretty hilarious - and awkward if your name is Brian.
The past few Saturdays at the Project where I work, has been the annual soccer tournament for soccer teams formed from the Project and other local companies in the Tumbes area. Because soccer (excuse me, I mean, futbol) is such a staple to the culture here, these soccer games are a big event. Everyone works until about 1pm (yes, in Peru there is a 6-day work week) and then gathers for yummy Peruvian food such as grilled plantains, fried rice, chicken, shrimp, potatoes, fresh passionfruit juice, and, of course, cerveza. This gave Brian some time to get to know some of the people that I work with and new friends that I’ve made here (although he usually communicated to them with hand motions because no one speaks English…but he seemed to get along quite well).
One advantage to living in the Northern coastal region of Peru is there is pretty easy access to beautiful, warm sunny beaches (with a combi ride anyways). We went to the beach twice, and once we
made a weekend out of it. We went to Mancora which is a surfer beach town in the department (state) just below the department of Tumbes called Piura. We stayed at a little beach bungalow for a night and spent the day at the beach. Although we were only away for one day, it was so nice to get away from Tumbes a bit (and away from work) and relax in the sunshine. Mancora is 1.5 hours away, and now since I know how to get there I will probably make trips there more often to get away and enjoy Peru a little (while thinking of all of you in the States enjoying the cold winter...hehe!).
Update on my project: Things are moving super slow, but the only person that seems to be stressed out about that is me. My boss, Dr. Bob Gilman a faculty member at Hopkins, tells me that this is ‘business as usual’ when trying to start a project in a developing country. Although he tells me this, I still feel like there are simple solutions to make things run smoother, faster, and more efficient here…but I am learning and understanding how I will do things
differently next time. I just finished hiring field workers to start field work within the next week or so, and we had two days of training on administering the questionnaire (which I’ve been tirelessly perfecting) and on how to do anthropometric measurements on kids. For those of you who don’t know, anthropometry simply includes measuring nutritional indicators on people. For example, measuring height, weight, mid-upper arm circumference (this measure is often used in developing countries because it’s easy and cheap), and also triceps skinfold thickness (to measure lean vs. fatty body mass).
Brian and I are actually writing this blog entry from Cusco…where we have been traveling around (vacationing) for the past few days, but will write about in our next blog entry. He leaves this coming Wednesday to head back to the States. I hope you all are well, and if you get a chance and want to update me on how you are, please don’t hesitate to write.
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angela
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parasailer
that was me parasailing in the background!