11/03/06 (Day 52): We are going to Ancash!!!

Hey world - We are pretty much sitting on top of it all right now. A town called Musho, located amongst the world's highest tropical mountain range, awaits our arrival. You will have to Google Earth it, baby!! We will be there next week and in the capital city, Huaraz.

Here are some more links so you can see what it looks like... and maybe get excited about joining us for a hike or two!!! And if you can't find Musho on Google Earth, you might try Mancos - this is the town located just down off the hill from Musho.

http://www.cuscotravel.net/peru/ancash.htm
http://www.perucontact.com/turismo/en_tour/Climbing-the-Huascaran-22.html
http://www.amazingperu.com/peru/peru_tours/peru_climbing_and_trekking/climbing_huascaran_mountain.asp
http://www.alpineascents.com/peru.asp
http://www.chavintours.com.pe/

A note from Libby's journal...

Musho, Ancash it is! We depart 11pm on Sunday evening on a MovilTours omnibus -- bound once again for Huaraz, the capital city of Ancash, for a week of meeting our community, our counterparts, and our new host families. So much is still unknown, but I certainly feel more at ease -- especially because we will be spending the next two years at hte base of Huascaran and the Cordillera Blanca, the highest tropical mountain range int he world. I'll be working with the local health post working to improve nutrition, hygience and prenatal care amongst Musho and the five surrounding little towns. Benj will be working on a GEF/TWB project in reforestation and human wildlife conflict.
Today was exhausting to, mentally at least. Around 10:30am we were summoned to Misti our favorite open air classroom. Balloons marked with each of our names decorated the countertop and one-by-one we were called up by our APCDs. Instructed to pop the balloon and seek out the paper strip with our name and site printed on it, each aspirante (trainee) then read aloud the name of their department, received a folder of introductory information and proceeded to stand by the map of each respective department. This successfully split is into new cohorts where we compared site details and exact locations. Benj and I will be at 3020 meters above sea level, 1.5 hours north of Huaraz, in a 100% rural community that has permanent electricity and water and excellent cellular service, around which 1800 community members dwell. We're unsure still about our host family... either we'll have a small room in a house where we have to walk to a letrine located on another of the family's properties, or we'll have a big room with a flush toilet downstairs. Should be quite the trip!"