Time to get started. The trip down was a three part process of streamlining. Keith and Kristen travelled to Blue Hill for a final push as shutting down the house for the winter. Fingers-crossed that the house holds up well without heat or attention. They dropped Donna and me at the airport early Sunday morning, November 1st, Finados, for our flight to Fort Lauderdale. Jim and Jean Madonna treated us to an enormous dinner. The next morning Donna and I took the Tri-Rail to the Miami Aerport, worth the ride even if you don't need to take a flight. The train drops you next to a people mover that does the final leg. Donna waved as I passed through security. Very sad.

The flight down was fine. I met a chemical engineer from Houston (a Colombian by birth) and learned about his work.

We were greeted at the airport by Peace Corps staff and some current volunteers. The training director is a Doctor of Public Health, so I pumped him for interesting challenges here.  They loaded us in a van and off to the hotel.

The drive from the airport was very revealing. It's a long haul on a multi-lane highway with all kinds of users, including walking, motor rickshaws, buses, cars, trucks, motorcycles and pretty challenging even with light holiday traffic. I'm looking at it with planner's eyes. It's been a long time since I traveled in South America and the challenge of consumer society that is not adequately prepared to manage the resulting waste stream is evident. There's a lot of litter, rivers choked with trash, failed drainage systems, patch work infrastructure but also frequent oases of successful businesses or residential development. Perhaps the most ubiquitous problem from a first impression are the cheap plastic shopping bags. Eliminate them and you would have a dramatic impact on the peri-urban landscape. Of course there's more, but that looks like low-hanging fruit. 

Two volunteers joined us for the evening. We stopped at a money changing shop to pick up some local currency. The current exchange rate is a jaw dropping 2,800 Colombian, with the Peso recovering value from it's low in August of over 3,000 per US dollar.

We walked several blocks to great food stand that features fresh fruit juices and Colombian sandwiches. I have tree tomato Juice and an arepa de huevo - a kind of hard-boiled egg in a bun. Both were great. 

Tomorrow we begin about two weeks of training before we move to our assigned villages. I think they will assess our various strengths and decide how these align with the opportunities where we are assigned.