Here are some pictures of a Peruvian hairless dog.  I think they're exclusive to Peru but I don't really care because they're ugly either way.

Me and Mario, one of the drivers for our program.  He takes us to our placements every day.  He's always fun to be around and he has a good time with everyone.   

This is the part of our group that went to help clean up the house.  We moved all the garbage out onto the street, some of which you can see at the bottom right, and within fifteen minutes someone came by to buy it.  It was interesting because other than some recyclable cans and bottles (which they do sell for money) I thought it was all useless, but apparently not

Workin

This is a picture of me, obviously, working at the house of an 'abuelito' named Nicklaus.  One of the sites that many of the volunteers work at is, more or less, a recreation center for senior citizens.  They provide food and activities for many people who would otherwise not have much to do.  Many of the older people in this area, Villa El Salvador, unwillingly moved down from the highlands during the 80's and 90's during the time of war and never quite fit in.  Many of them speak Quechua, which is a completely different language than spanish and they were never able to adapt or fit into their new environment.  The guy in the red shirt is the director of the senior citizen program and the other one is Nicklaus.  

Often times they will have extra projects or things for us to do outside of our normal jobs and this was one of those projects.  We basically just go to houses like this and help clean up decades worth of garbage and debris.  

A view of the coast in a part of Lima called Miraflores, a more touristy area.  Foggy day.

Doo doo doo...lookin out my back door....

This is one of the other volunteers, Tim and some of the kids.  A lot of the time they just want to hang on you and get as much attention as they can.

This is at the school, INABIF.  One of the kids, Elmer, playing on 'swingset.'  Behind him you can see the basketball court where we play a lot of the time.  The classrooms and other buildings are behind me here but I don't have any pictures of those yet!

So my fist week of working at the school is now over and although I am getting more and more comfortable everyday, there is still a lot to get used to.  My roommate, Scott, and I are going to have to start planning activities for the kids.  We talked to the principal last week and she said she wants us to teach English, sports, computers, and small business/marketing.  I'm not exactly sure how she wants us to go about teaching marketing or business to extremely poor kids but we'll try to come up with something.  The easiest thing to teach them will probably be english.  Many of the kids seem eager to learn the basics of English already so getting their attention for a few hours a week shouldn't be very hard.  We started teaching them basketball last week and they seemed to enjoy running around but they don't have a concept of many basic basketball principles so we'll keep trying.   The principal told us they have about 5 computers, only 2 or 3 that actually work though, and I think she wants us to teach them typing and other basic computer skills (although I'm not sure when the next time they'll be giving a PowerPoint presentation will be).  

I've been getting to know the city quite a bit more as well.  Last week some friends and I went to downtown Lima where they have a light/water/laser park.  It was basically an amusement park with huge, colored fountains, water tunnels, and displays that culminated in a laser/music/picture extravaganza.  I took a few pictures and hopefully I can get them on here.  There were quite a few locals and if I didn't look so Peruvian, I probably would have stood out.  After that we walked around the downtown area for a while before heading back to the house.  You have to take taxis everywhere so I'm having to get used to not having any sort of public transportation.  The former president, Fujimori (yes, the Peruvians have come so far as to elect a Japanese president, as is the global trend of electing minority officials), completely cut out (among other programs) public transportation and allowed the sale of used foreign cars in Peru.  I'm not sure if he imported them or if they were bought privately but Peru was basically flooded with old Asian cars that are now taxis.  I haven't had a chance yet to read up on the history of Fujimori but he is now on trial in Peru for numerous allegations (I heard he sent in his resignation from the presidency by fax while out of the country so I'm assuming he's not well-liked.)

This weekend I did quite a bit of exploring around the city, which was very good.  Friday night we went out for a night on the town in an area called Barranco.  It's basically an area filled with bars and 'discotecs.'  Saturday we walked around another area called Miraflores, which is very nice and a more upscale, touristy area.  I went back over there on Saturday night to hang out with a group of students that were here from Connecticut because it was their last night in the program.  Today is Sunday and I can't wait for the Cardinals game to start!!  I'm actually at a Starbucks because it has free wireless.  There's one other cafe I found with wireless but Starbucks is closer.  Well that's all for now folks....go CARDS!!  Sorry for not posting pictures but I'll get them up in the next week because I'm running out of time at the moment.

Al principio....

Today was my first full day in Lima and after a lot of traveling it was nice to see what my life will look like over the next few months. The flights yesterday all went very well even though I wasn´t able to sleep very much. Total flight time was about 16 hours so it was nice to get picked up at the airport and back to the volunteer house to relax. Actually, I wasn´t able to relax or settle in at all because upon my arrival, I had to go with some of the other volunteers to a bar and watch the Steelers v. Chargers game. I really didn´t care about that game I just wanted to see the Cardinals score!!! I am now looking forward to seeing the Cardinals to continue their dominance (save for the last half of the season) and win the nfc and super bowl!!

Anyways, the house I am staying at is very nice. It´s a house that can facilitate about 40 people and right now there are 23 volunteers. Rooms are basically dorm-style (bunkbeds, shared bathrooms, etc.) and I have one roommate, Scott, from Tampa, Florida. The house is located in a part of town called Surco which, so far, seems very nice and it´ll be nice to get more comfortable with the area as time goes on. I am working in an area called Villa El Salvador which is a very poor area and has historically been poverty stricken as well. I´ll write more about the area and program I will be working in after I have actually done some work there.

I am hoping to find a cafe or bar with wireless internet soon so it will be easier to post some pictures.