I said it was a work-in-progress, didn´t I?

Thank a friend for inadvertantly pointing out that I´d rather not have this be a whiney journal-esque blog.

My earlier rant (now deleted) was just about the frustrations of traveling and some insecurities about dealing with being here. I will still say:

1) Traveling may seem glamorous, but let me tell you, the getting-there part in the airport is absolutely crap.
2) Peruvian drivers are insane. I cannot stress that enough. Lines and signs are only suggestions, and no one listens to them. Remember there are 8 mil people here, too.
3) Peruvian spanish is very frustrating--it´s sloppy, mumbled, and ridicuously fast. Having just come from learning Spanish in Guatemala, I now genuinely notice a difference and realize I can hardly understand anyone here.

So here´s a description of what I´m actually doing here in Peru:

We’re going to the site of Cajamarquilla (just outside of Lima) daily, take a specific area, and then look at the walls there.
I get to measure them, take photos, and do a detailed evaluation of what its state is: graffiti, eroded base, insect damage, etc. There’s a set form and a key code with the abbreviations, so things seem orderly enough I should be fine. And this isn’t something they’ve done before, so everyone will be getting an explanation of how to do it and they might tweak things as we progress.

This will all be then entered into the computer and used for various things, the most interesting being:
1) teaching the conservation classes so students can identify deteriorations, and
2) picking out the most endangered areas of the sites so that restoration and conservation can be done there, etc. It’s actually going to be good practice for me; if I like their procedure, I could do it at my site and use the data when pleading for grant money.

Hmm, now that I´ve written it out, I think it sounds pretty good. Pictures of the site will follow tomorrow or Tuesday.

--Stacy