updates on various things

1. The research:
I'm at the point of handing in my first/ revised versions of IRBs to 3 different ethics committees. However I just got an email that the hospital where I plan to do my study, Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo (picture of Santa Rosa, the ID ward I'll be working in, at right), is partaking in a national doctor's strike. I'm not sure what this means, exactly, for me, but I will doubtless waste 3 hours going all the way there and back on tuesday for naught. In other news, I have managed to stump not 1 but 2 statisticians at the National Institutes of Health with pleas to help me with my sample size calculations. Despite our best efforts, no progress has been made. I think I may have to simplify and retool. One thing I have learned is that sample size precision is an illusion. If you calculate a number based on A, B, and C, where A-C are numbers you've had to make up out of thin air for lack of better data, what are the odds that your answer will be true? Are you a betting man?

2. The amazon trip.
Have just come back from a few beers at Juanito's with Colin and David Moore. Dr. Moore filled our head with hard-won wisdom from last year's race. Amongst the best: the support boat and the coast guard leave in the morning and you don't seem them till you arrive at the landing site at night (which is unmarked). there are no maps or signs . . . at various fork points, you will have to guess. Make a hard left and paddle upriver when you get to Iquitos because otherwise you will shoot right past and miss the city.

Very reassuring. However the summary feeling is that it will be: 1) total chaos, 2) total annhiliation by the local teams who have what we call "experience" making rafts, paddling them, and navigating the amazon, and 3) a lot of fun. Have I mentioned that the British contingent may be bringing someone tabloid-worthy? Odd, odd, odd. The good news is apparently there are few mosquitos on the Amazon itself, and the piranhas mostly stick to the tributaries, so my odds of getting eaten or catching malaria are low. Always a bonus.

Btw, Juanito's is a bar disguised as a bodega general store (see pic I found online). Best bar in Lima, so far. Many Limeños agree. I'll have to take pics. It's got beer and a few tapas and is so relaxed it's insane. I love it. We met a guy who David knew who is one of the LimaKids coaches, really excited for his 12 and under team to hopefully make tourney finals next weekend. Oh, and apparently he happens to be a successful businessman, but he's very charmingly worked up about this kid, who he is training to be a goalie, who takes it very hard when a goal is scored on him. Best bit: the dress code is, to be honest, sloppy. Any more and you are overdressed. Barranco (our hood) rocks.

There is an amazing culture, from what I can tell, of little bodegas all over the city serve as little bars/ gossip centers at night. All the men go to play cards, the women catch up there. Very multipurpose and very cool.

3. Spanish
Having learned my spanish the way that native speakers do when they are two years old, with zero formal training whatsoever, I have a freakish combination of a good accent, decent vocabulary, and random, startling gaps. For example, I just learned the alphabet three weeks ago. Who knew that the spanish did the "greek i" thing for "y" just like the french? I'm also looking for an intermediate level but well-written Spanish book to read. Any suggestions? And though I did get this suggestion many times, no, paulo coelho is brazilian, and did not write in Spanish. He's quite good, though, we can agree there.

Roger, over and out.

ps. if you have not yet donated to LimaKids and still want to, there is time! David said that he's been thrilled with the response. We haven't quite met the goal that we set, though, so please do contribute - even if you think it's very little it goes a long way here. These kids are orphans or living on the streetand for these kids the soccer team is the first time they are doing something "normal" kids do. Also LimaKids is working on a project to help overcome some of the obstacles to getting these kids healthcare, since many of these kids are undocumented and therefore can't access proper care . . . We (and they) really appreciate the support