Cultural research is part of being here too!

Dear Luci and M,



Went to a great market this morning and took in the sights including this adorable little girl!



And of course no trip would be complete without...



...potentially dangerous food from a roadside stand.

Don't worry it wasn't all fun and games, there was work too!



And my favorite quote of the day...

Enough Said!

No, seriously this is work!

But where else can you get your picture taken with life size rainbow condoms that randomly get up and walk around...really. Can you think of another place?



There are these great displays all over the place, including a recreated shanty shack with pictures and stories.







ok, so back to work. This is a very serious shot of me making a really profound and important point.



Did I mention there were a lot of people here?



That's pretty much how it feels in the middle of these rows of posters. No, they were not all there looking at mine, but some did glance as they went by! Seriously it was really good. I feel lucky to have been able to participate.

I'll try and photo more tomorrow to post before heading back to the US.

See you soon!

Love,

Kik

Really, I am working

Dear Luci and M,

The opening plenary session was great. There was a 22 year old young woman who spoke in front of this crowd passionately and articulately about HIV and youth. The courage and poise she showed was amazing. Imagine these chairs full...it's a lot of people!!!





So two posters Monday and two today. Kimberly is here from Zambia and has been a great help with getting the posters up, minding one or two while I run back and forth. She even got pictures of people actually asking me questions about them!!! (here you go Mom, see I really am working :)



And here I am with Kimberly in front of today's posters.



More later, off to dinner with some colleagues.

Love,

Kik

Greetings from someplace other than Africa...or Haiti

Dear Luci and M,

Hola from Mexico. The word of the week is overwhelming. Flying in was just the beginning. For about a full half hour we were over Mexico City (just a small part of it). Shimmering copper and sliver lights spread out forever looking like a carpet of jewels on the ground only broken by dark patches. Little mountains with these lights wrapped around them in all directions. With visibility of about 5 miles, you can still see the glow going on past the horizon. I have never seen anything so vast that was man made from the air. Such a different feeling than flying over the Sahara. It's quite beautiful from the air. The city itself is actually quite lovely, the parts I have seen. There are little parks and gardens dappling the downtown, which you have plenty of time to see on the way to the conference venue and back due to the wonderfully congested traffic. One of the conference goers traveling with us actually got off the bus last evening, did a little shopping and got back on with plenty of time to spare before we started moving again. It was great.

It is easy to see how this is the largest city in the world. 20 million people is really hard to fathom in one area actually. There are about 1 million in Kabera slums in Kenya and I was awestruck by the expanse of tin roofs woven together there for days as well.

There are an additional 22,000 people here just for the International AIDS Conference. Part two of overwhelming. Really just an ice cube melting in an ocean, but in the venue itself, holy cow. There are people from everywhere doing amazing things. It's humbling to say the least, and encouraging to see so many people dedicated to this effort. It's really part scientific conference part Mardi Gras! There have been a number of "spontaneous" demonstrations for lots of things, housing for people living with AIDS, changes in guidelines, and simply celebrations of life.



There is great coverage on the web from lots of organizations, pod casts of great talks, pictures. Check it out from the main conference page http://www.aids2008.org/

Wish you could see this. The global village is full of activist organizations from all over the world. Some of the bravest people I've seen around. The talks have been great and I've gotten to see some folks I hadn't seen in quite some time.

Really a motivational week!

All for now. Love, Kik