the madness of week one

First a pic of day 1 in peru: here's catherine and I on the Larco Mar pier in Miraflores.
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Well boys and girls it's been a madcap, slapdash sort of week so far. I'm 90% of the way to having an apartment to live in (supposed to sign a lease tonight), 90% of the way towards having my very first cat, and have figured out, mostly, how to get combis home from most places. How did all this happen? Well we now know what the roundabout near where we live, where all the combis go, is called. Ovalo Higreta (or something that sounds like that). This is NOT, of course, what it's called on the map (too simple). This was a major advance. And as for the cat (kitten), well he was rescued off the street by a french girl named Berengere who made it her moral obligation to find a home for the cat before she left for Argentina (today). So I'm going to meet said cat today and hopefully take him (90% chance he's male, they think) home today. Of course, once I get him I need to find a vet, make sure he gets shots and doesn't have feline leukemia, etc. Any name suggestions? He's a latino cat, so suggest appropriately. In terms of the flat, I don't want to jinx it so more after a lease is signed.

But of course, what about the global health stuff, you ask? Coming, slowly. Going to the lab today to learn more about the tb stuff they do there.

Finally, I should mention a most entertaining moment the other day where I had to reassure our cab driver that my bills were in fact, real. He thought one coin too light, one bill too folded and missing the stamp that grocery stores sometimes put on bills. He was distraught, poor thing. A very odd experience to convince someone that folds on bills are normal.

Coming soon . . . video of the combis.