Travels

Well, I have made one of my goals since I got to Peru to travel as much as possible.  The country is huge, and features jungle, high mountains and rugged coastlines.  2013 allowed me to travel a lot for work, and also enjoy the jungle raft race.  But, since 2014 began, I have tried to ramp up the traveling a bit, thanks to having saved a little during 2013, and a new friend in my life who loves traveling around Peru.  I wanted to share a bit of my travels since the year began. 

I have visited some Pre-Incan archaeological sites near Lima, including Pachacamac and Caral. Caral happens to be the oldest site in the western hemisphere, believed to predate even the pyramids of ancient Egypt. 

I also visited Tingo Maria National Park, in the mix between the jungle and mountains, at around 800m (reminded me a little of Panama). 

I also visited the Reserva Paisajistica Nor-Yauyos Cocha.  A beautiful park in the mountains which works to protect beautiful landscapes, but also promotes rural, community-based tourism in the numerous small towns within the park. 

I had some pretty great visitors from home, which gave us all the opportunity to visit Cusco and Machu Picchu.  It's maybe even more impressive than you might expect. 

And, of course, my work still allows me to travel up and down Peru's coasts and islands, work with fishermen and see the beautiful fauna. 

Updates, and time is running out

Yet again, I have not been keeping up with the blog as well. Work has changed a little.  We got a new boss at my government job, and we've had some bureaucratic issues, which have made things frustrating, and put one of my projects towards the back burner.  But, I have also transitioned to working with a small, Peruvian NGO part of my time.  So, I am now part-time working with the government, continuing on my projects, and part-time supporting this NGO that is starting a project working with fishermen on collaborative data collection.

I have still been traveling a lot.  Now I have two different jobs that let me travel up and down the coast.  But, also, taking more advantage of my weekends and vacation days to see as much of Peru as I can.

Well, I now have less than two months left in my time in Peru. I have had some good Peace Corps friends leave, and I am also coming to realize that I need to wrap things up, and that my return to the US is coming soon.  

Updates

Sorry, I realize that once again I have begun to fail on updating this blog.  I am not over half way through my time in Peru.
At work, I have mostly been staying busy working on the park master plan.  We held a big conference in December where we brought together representatives from all over Peru (well, the coastal region), to construct the park vision and co-management committee.

I have been able to travel some as well for work. Including visiting a few new sites in our network, I have also traveled to our highly visited tourist site in order to help during our high season (It is summer down here, remember).  I even participated when we brought a TV station down to shoot some promotional video about the islands (still waiting for it to premiere).

In my personal time, I have been able to host lots of friends, including a few friends visiting Peru from the US, and also different Peace Corps friends that occasionally come into Lima from the country.  I live in a nice central part of the city, and it's always nice to explore Lima and show people around.  I also enjoyed the Christmas season down here, including participating in a choir during a Christmas Cantata.

2014 looks to be busy.  The workshops for my main project on fisheries management in one of our sites with a fellow Peace Corps volunteers should start next month.  In addition to continued work on our master plan. Plus, my time is winding down and I still have so much of Peru to see!

Adventure of a Lifetime, I put the team on my back

Last weekend, I undertook the hardest physical challenge I've ever done, and also an amazing experience to spend time on the biggest river in the world.  My original goal going in had never been to win, I'd said that if our raft held up, I never entered the water against my will, and made it to the finish line, I would be happy.  I can report success on all three fronts.

I can hardly begin to describe the whole experience,  please skype, call, buy me a coffee sometime if you'd like to hear.  But, here are a few pointers and I few things I did during those days:

• Sat next to a lady who was flying for the first time, and I had to calm her nerves.  She still ended up throwing up. 
• Hired a man with a chainsaw in the Amazon rainforest
• Built a raft out of 8 balsa logs, rope and nails
• Put up and took down a little roof twice.  We decided the sunlight wasn´t as bad as the drag from the wind. 
• Saw Amazon river dolphins
• Got passed by boats moving some serious cargo
• Paddled for over 10 hours in one day, coming into the finish line at sunset
• Nightime yoga on the banks of the Amazon, where down dog led to some awesome star sightings. 
• Watching a moonrise over the Amazon
• Twice had to push raft, off the beach into the river, and once when we were stuck in the sand. One time a log rolled over my ankle and the other time I stepped into mud up to my knees.  Both times I ended up getting fired/told to sit the rest of it out. 
• Wore a pink mesh tank top for three days, proudly representing Atlantic Beach, NC
• Spent 24 hours a day with the same 3 people for 4+ days, and we are all still speaking to each other, though there might have been a few moments where we weren´t. Our conversation on the last day consisted mostly in what parts of our bodies hurt the most. 
• Sunburned my lips so badly they were swollen, like I had just injected some collagen. 
  

Overall, I challenged myself, kept going even when I wanted to quit, was overwhelmed by natural beauty, and solidified three solid friendships as we supported each other.  

Inspiring Places

This is a bit of a shameless plus,  but I wrote a little piece on my protected area and sent it into the IUCN for inclusion in their "Inspiring Places" section, and we got published in this Friday's newsletter!

Here's the link to the webpage
IUCN Inspiring Places

And the website for Peru´s park service, highlighting the fact we were highlighted!
SERNANP

Guano

As stated, I work for the Guano Islands National Reserve System in Peru, a system of 33 sites previously (and still) used to produce guano.  I'm sure most of you are wondering what that even is....
Guano is dried bird droppings, and happens to be rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and the nutrients essential for fertilizer. During the 19th century, there was a huge demand for this stuff from the US and Europe and countries such as Peru were the biggest producers, and even fought a war with Chile over the islands because their guano was so valuable.  Peru's geography and climate means that it has lots of nesting seabirds, and the dry climate to preserve their droppings.  The invention of synthetics led to the end of Peru's guano "boom" years, but Peru still produces guano...now mostly for domestic use and for export since it qualifies as organic.  Peru's government has managed the islands for the last 100 years, monitoring the bird populations, and rotating harvest through the islands every 5-10 years.

When my bosses had to head out to some of the islands to supervise the end of the guano harvest (before breeding season starts), I jumped at the chance to see what this operation is actually like.

The process itself is interesting, and uses only human labor and no machines (besides an occasional truck). About 200 men (usually from the Andes) pick and shovel to break up the ground, sift the guano, and then bag it up. The bags will then get loaded on ships, and since the old docks from the boom years are not in conditions, so often they get sent down cables onto waiting barges.

It was interesting, because guano is clearly an important part of Peru's tradition that it wants to continue, but the operation is not particularly efficient or highly productive (they were very behind schedule), using traditional methods and facing a changing climate and declining bird populations.  It was also interesting to see the living and working conditions of the men that do this back-breaking labor.  At the meeting between my agency and Peru's agricultural agency (responsible for harvest), it also illustrated the problems, challenges, and conflicts between production and conservation, and Peru's efforts to show that guano harvesting can be a sustainable natural resource and activity.

Going out to meet the people

So the protected area I work for was created just 3 years ago.  The Reserve actually consists of 33 different sites, and is only the second marine protected area in Peru, so its a bit of a management challenge.

Currently we are in the first stages of writing the master park management plan. As part of that process, the staff needed to go out and meet the different stakeholders in the different communities, both to explain the protected area to them and also hear their concerns.  The park started this process in March and finished this week, holding 22 workshops along the entire coast of Peru, and in my time since I arrived in Peru, I've been able to join four of them.

The workshops usually include different local and regional authorities, NGOs and Universities, and local fishermen and tour operators.  The mix varies, with some mostly made up of local government, and our most recent being almost entirely fishermen.  Sometimes the meetings have been held in larger regional centers, and sometimes in small fishing villages.  We usually work to identify stakeholders, define the vision for the area, and then do some diagnostic activities about biodiversity, fishing, and tourism in the area.

It's been a good opportunity to hear from fishermen about the challenges they are facing, with the principle one being the industrial anchovy fishery.  While the 5 miles closest to the coastline are supposed to be reserved for artisanal fishermen, often the anchovy fleet is there, catching lots of other fish in their large nets and catching large quantities of this important forage fish that other species depend on. The fishermen also complain that local authorities and enforcement are largely absent.  It's frustrating to hear all their concerns and have to remind them that our jurisdiction is only over a small polygon drawn in the ocean.

Now our office is on to the next step, and I've been actively working to write of the workshop summaries and find ways to synthesize all of the data we've collected.