Bob Esponja and Pogs

I spent part of this afternoon watching “Bob Esponja” with my little brother Alan. I have to say that watching Sponge Bob Squarepants dubbed in Spanish was highly entertaining compared to the other Peruvian television I’ve been subjected to thus far. Soap operas are a big hit, as are eccentric talk shows that may include anything from clowns to people being shot at with paintball guns at close range. My host-dad is a big fan of “La familia Ingels,” otherwise known as “Little House on the Prairie.” It´s kind of like watching it with a constant play-by-play analysis because he seems to have every episode memorized.

Alan is a big fan of pogs. He has 76 of them, which I know because he made me count them. He tried to teach me how to play but I still don’t get it. Alan is 6 years old. As far as I concerned, it appears that you just through one pog at the other pog until the other pog flips over. If you’re Alan, you continue to do this for hours on end, day after day.

Last week I learned a bit more about where I might be heading for the next two years. I now know that I will either be in the dry forest or the cloud forest. I have an inkling that I’ll be heading to the dry forest because it seems that most of the available sites are there. Interestingly enough, I probably won’t be too far from where I did my independent study project in Ecuador. All of the environmental volunteers will be going to one of the following provinces which are all located in the northwest region of Peru: Tumbes, Piura, Cajamarca, La Libertad, or Lambayeque.

And finally, some intriguing facts about Peru:
- The potato originated in Peru. There are more than 3000 different varieties.
- The two deepest canons on earth are located in Peru: Cotahuasi and Colca.
- The largest river in the world, the Amazon River, originates in Peru.
- The highest navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca, is located in Peru at 3,812 m.
- Peru has more species of birds, orchids, butterflies, and fish than any other country. Peru has 1816 bird species, more than what is found on the continents of North America and Europe together. It contains the second largest diversity of primates and the 3 largest number of mammal species.
- Of the 107 different biomes that have been identified, Peru contains 84.