So I made it

Yes, I have officially arrived in Peru for the beginning of my 27 month service. My second night in Peru is about to draw to a close and as it turns out, our retreat villa has wifi. Go figure.

I figured I'd take this opportunity to update everyone on how things have been going.

It literally feels like weeks since I left. It's hard to explain, but time seems like a surreal concept ever since I left for orientation in D.C. on June 9th. I guess that's a good place to start.

So, on my flight from Atlanta to D.C., I was fortunate enough to be sitting across from two other Peace Corps volunteers from Georgia who were not only going to Peru, but were in my same Youth Development program. They quickly invited me to sit with them and the three of us became fast friends venting fears, anxieties and uncertainties. When we got to D.C., we met the 48 other Peace Corps in Peru volunteers representing a pretty impressive swath of the U.S.

I felt inclined initially to have a certain opinion about my fellow volunteers as it became rapidly apparent to me that I was likely one of the oldest, if not THE oldest person there, with a significant amount of them coming right out of college. Luckily, I can say after only two days of quality time spent with them, I've not only largely reversed my initial assessments, but am extremely impressed and humbled by some of their experiences. A good lesson to learn early on.

Orientation consisted of one day of multiple sessions geared at bonding us together as a group and addressing many of the questions and concerns a lot of us were feeling about our upcoming Peace Corps service. During the ice breaker portion at the beginning I quickly became known as "The Guy Who Had Only One Piece of Checked Luggage." (thanks mom!) Needless to say, orientation was cheesy at times and a little exhausting, but I see now the relevance of it in terms of building a support network once the trainers cut us loose. Also, Peace Corps gave us prepaid cards with $120 on them to recoup the cost of the taxi from the airport and additional expenses incurred. I utilized the funds for a nice meal and some wine with my good friends Honishka and Saralyn.

Friday morning we flew from D.C. to Miami and hauled ass to the next gate as our plane from Miami was leaving about 30 mins. after we landed due to a bit of a delay. Luckily, they were holding the flight for us. Apparently, leaving 51 passengers behind is frowned upon. We landed in Lima and walked through customs like kings in the diplomatic line, grabbed our bags and were quickly and easily guided through the remainder of customs checks. We were then promptly loaded onto two large buses and driven about an hour outside of Lima to our two-day retreat location somewhere just outside of Chaclacayo where everyone promptly retired for the night around 2 AM.

Today has consisted of multiple sessions to introduce us to the in-country Peace Corps workers who will be training us and providing us with security and medical assistance. First of all, I have to say, every single person we've met so far has been extremely ingratiating, but also freaking hilarious! They've also been plying us with excessive amounts of food and were accommodating of the vegetarians as well. Before dinner tonight I even managed to squeeze in a quick 3-3 game of soccer with a couple of the other volunteers.

Since landing I've felt extremely welcome and relaxed and am glad to finally be here. Of course, all of that will be put to the test tomorrow when I meet my host family who I will be staying with for the entire 10 weeks of training.

I'll leave you with some pics: the first one is of me and the Georgia girls, Katie and Kelly (from left to right), after we landed in Peru, a shot of my Peace Corps program peeps taking a break after a training session and a shot of the amazing retreat villa snuggled in between two giant mountains on both sides.