First few weeks in Satipo

Hey there! Well my internship is going well so far- I may have posted already, but I work at a fair-trade coffee/cocoa company called the Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Satipo Ltda. (say that 5 times fast!), mostly working on translation work, but other random jobs, too. Over the next few months hopefully I can see Cuzco, Machu Picchu and some other cities around Peru, including some indigenous towns- we'll see!

Anyway, Peru is really well known for being diverse in almost every aspect-there are lots of varieties of foods, animals and plants (for instance I think I read something about there being 2,000 types of potato?!) and with the conquest and globalization their cuisine is really dynamic...so I'm hoping to get to experience that as well! There are also different foods that are specific to this region, like the Lúcuma, which is a popular ice cream flavor that comes from a plant native to here (kind-of vanilla tasting)-not to mention that the rest of the fruit here is amazing and so cheap! I had a pineapple juice the other day that I think was about 50 cents and it was HUGE! So that's fun :)

Anyway, just letting you know I'm doing well, enjoying my job and especially the family I live with- I live with Mariana (my host-mom) and her 4 kids, Blanca (whom I work with) Liz (who has a daughter who is 4 and also lives with us, she's very cute and sweet) María Isabel (whom they call Chavez because I guess its easier to pronounce, and has nothing to do with Hugo or Jorge Chavez like I thought before hahaha) and Brandon, the youngest. So we're a nice big group!

Ok, here are some pictures (the best part, of course, haha): a hen and her baby chicks that live with us (aren't they cute?); some delicious desserts-torta helada ("frozen cake"- its cake inside a gelatin mold, yummy!) papaya juice and other juice native to Peru (that I can't remember the name of, but it's sweet!) and "torta de la selva" ("Jungle cake"- delicious chocolate cake that I couldn't eat fast enough haha); workers sorting mounds of coffee beans at the cooperativa (you should smell the coffee roasting area-delicious!); the HUGE pineapple juice I told you about, and caihua rellena (kai-wah ray-yay-nah), this sort-of pepper-like vegetable stuffed with chicken and vegetables, and white rice. Ok thanks for readin' and talk to ya soon!

Rach :)