Llegada a Cajamarca! (Arrival to Cajamarca)

Buen dia desde Cajamarca! Hello from Cajamarca!

24 hours of travel later and I have arrive in Cajamarca, the city that I will call my home for the next 11 weeks :) Travel went smoothly other than a delay here or a long layover there.  It is hard to believe that I only left Seattle yesterday.  The one perk was that on each of my flights I had an empty seat next to me!

I was picked up from the airport by my project director Becky and we took a taxi to staff house.  Taxis are very cheap here.  We were in the cab for about 15 minutes and it only cost us 10 soles.  Which is the equivalent of around $3.60.  After arriving at staff house, I took a much needed three hour nap and unpacked a little bit.  We are going to be very squished for the next few months.  There are three bedrooms.  One that is dedicated to the one male on the project and then two for females.  I really don't think we are all going to fit.  Other than that, staff house is very open.  There is a main living area with a couch and a bunch of chairs and a kitchen.  I think it will be very cozy for our time here.  Our landlord is very kind and she speaks very good english, I am pretty sure that she lived in the states for a time period.  She has two little boys that are very interested in what we are doing.

Staff house is located right across from the police head quarters in Cajamarca and from the main elementary school in the city.  I really haven't done a ton of exploring other than to walk to get some food and look for maps. The city is not as full of indigenous people as I would have thought and the streets are always crowded with people.

We start our project training tomorrow once the last two project supervisors arrive.  I am very glad that I got to have a day to relax before jumping into the project.

That is it for now! I think I am going to go take another nap :)

Packing for four months of travel... 

The view from the roof of my building!  

Cajamarca is larger than I expected!