The Posh Corps

So I sign up for the Peace Corps and they assign me to…paradise? I found myself sunbathing on a smooth, warm stone in the middle of lush Amazonia, surrounded by the sound of the swift-running river on all sides, later seeing two wild red macaws soar overhead. Talk about a tough post.

My house, to make up for it all, is actually only one room, and it does need a bit of work before I can live there, but in the mean time I’m staying in a very comfortable guesthouse with a kitchen sink, 24-7 electricity, and a shower, which has been very welcome.

The flight to Diitabiki in a Cessna was the most exciting plane ride I can remember, and I’ve been on a few. I sat just behind the pilot, so I could see out of the front of the plane as well as all the instruments. At one point the clouds seemed to fly by (I think they were flying, actually), and I saw that we were cruising at over 160 knots. This Cessna peaked at 172. The pilot, however, knew what he was doing. We took a very sharp U-turn almost immediately after we passed the landing strip and touched ground purposefully but smoothly.