Training and Turtles

A couple weeks ago I headed to northern Peru for a week of water and sanitation training with the other watsan volunteers. The training itself was informative but, due to a plethora of power point presentations, made for some long days. One of the cooler parts of training was going into the mountains to check out a gravity-fed water system (as opposed to a system that pumps subterranean water up). My site in Independencia is flat and dry, and NOT green. As you can see from the photo below, my training location was just the opposite.





I learned some things, but mostly it was nice to see some PCVs I hadn't seen since I first got to Peru. Days were full with training, but once dismissed we took full advantage of our free time. Had enough people to play some 5-on-5 basketball - a real rarity in this country.




Found and drank some Peruvian micro-brew, a surprising but pleasant discovery in a country that has a limited variety of beers (the dark was good, but the wheat was kind of funky).



Visited some pretty massive ruins left behind by the advanced and pre-Incan Moche civilization.



Also, I made a point to visit the beaches of northern Peru and play with some turtles at my hostel. Surfing is big on the country's northern coast, but I didn't attempt to get on a board this visit.



Finally, just for kicks, I included a picture of Josh Love (we call him José Amor here) and a guinea pig, to share with everyone a beautiful mustache and a traditional Peruvian dish. No, we did not eat the cuy (COO-ee). Yes, Josh won the mustache contest.