After four thousand three hundred and eighty four hours, thirty three minutes and a few seconds in South America, my flight home looms suddelnly into view. The hot Brazilian sun stifles the air as I sit, below the watchful gaze of Cristo Redentor, in an internet café almost identical to the one I first wrote from way back in Pisco. One last blog, one last sprite, and a final battle with keyboards set against the use of any punctuation. A sign on the wall tells me to smile - Jesus is filming me.
Argentina has been perhaps the highlight of our whole six weeks´ travelling. With friendly people, stunning scenery and enough meat to feed Hulk Hogan for a month, our fourth country along the way was one worth waiting for. In our 19 short days there, we managed to visit Salta, Mendoza, Córdoba, Buenos Aires and Puerto de Iguassu, in whixh places we went snowboarding, experienced the Argentine asado (the best form of barbeque ever invented), rode South America´s finest roller coaster, and got absolutely soaked to the bone underneath 700,000 litres of falling water per second.
And then came Brazil. Aside from being absolutely terrified of people who were talking a language very close to one I could understand, but which actually sounded like a bizarre mix between Spanish and Russian with a South African accent, I soon realised than I was gonna love Brazil. The variety of the landscapes - from quasi-English countryside, to a rainforest island boasting the best beaches I´ve ever seen, to the crammed city of Río de Janeiro - and the friendliness of the people, despite my inabilty to have a conversation with anyone, make for a country that I´m definitely sad to leave, and to which I´ll doubtless return.
But, as my time here draws to an end, I can´t deny that I´m looking forward to getting home. I´m gonna miss this continent, and those I´ve traversed it with (Luke, Fi and Hattie - you´re absolute ledgends :D) and yet, the lure of clean clothes and familiar surroundings is too hard to resist. From both the beggining and the end of the January River, I thank you all for following my progress throughout the last half a year, and my thanks go especially to those who have been praying for me and the team´s work. I´ll leave you with a Peruvian saying: "Never kick a cow in the tail." Take it from me, it´s sound advice.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Thursday, 24 July 2008
¡Buenos días! Okay, you're right. It's pretty much been two months since I last posted. What can I say? At least this one won't be boring....
I left you last time with a brief few words about the work we were doing in San Miguel. We did a lot of levelling ground in preparation for the centre to be built - the foundations of which we started shortly after my last entry. Worryingly, and against all our Sunday School training, we poured concrete into trenches a metre and a half down into nothing but loose sand. Let's just hope the rain refrains from coming tumbling down.
On the upside, the walls went up´pretty quickly, and our Maestro, Carlos (whom we dubbed C-Dog) even let us do some bricklaying. By the end of the project's 7 weeks, what turned out to be a children's play centre was not far off complete. Just a roof to go....
A week before we left, we were asked to attend the opening of the centre. Now, given that we hadn't even finished the walls yet, we were pretty confused by this. But, when we went down on the Friday evening and found the whole congregtion, the team from Paz y Esperanza, and half the community there for the cutting of the ribbon, it turned out that until C-Dog had completed his work, the church itself was to be home to the kids' work. In the meantime, services will be held outside, with only the shelter offered by bamboo-lattice walls and a tarpauline roof. The best thing was that all the toys (including a table football table :D) and games that had filled the Ludoteca had come from Paz y Esperanza, with our funding, were about 10 times better than those that any of us had played with as kids at Playschool or Sunday School. And no, I've no idea why our work rate slowed right down in the following week........
So, we're done. It was quite hard leaving San Miguel, especially Jesús and Maribel. But for me, it came at about the right time. I was pretty knackered, and well in need of a holiday. Which was lucky, 'cos that's exactly what we got.
After a 16 hour bus ride through (and up) the Andes, we woke up weary-eyed and with neck ache, looked out the window and saw Perú's ancient Inca capital, Cusco, nestled in the valley bellow. It was a beautiful city, and one I was glad to spend 10 days in. It's a pity a bus strike kept us there for 11.
We spent a few days acclimatising to the altitude before setting of on the 4-day/3-night trek up to Machu Picchu. We walked the Salkantay trail, which took us 4600m up, through a mountain pass and finally along a train line through the fringes of the Amazon Jungle. The scenery was unbelievable all the way, and we nearly froze to death only on one night. The comfort of the hostel at Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu, was very welcome, but even that couldn't make up for the town itself, I'm afraid. After 10 mins we were all sick of the overpriced, miniture and Peruvian version of Disneyland Paris. But nothing could take away from what lay in store the next day....
Up at 4am, the hardcore of the group ascended the 1600 steps up Old Mountain in half the estimate time, and waited at the top for our guide to catch up. Having met up with the others, our first view of the lost Inca fortress we breath-taking. The early morning mist that surrounded the nearby peaks, and the sheer size of the ruins themselves surpassed all my expectations. It was pretty amazing.
Oh, and you know that mountain you can see in the background of the classic postcard picture of Machu Picchu? The really steep, tall one? It's called WaynuPicchu, and we went up that too.
That was our last day together as a team; as soon as we got back to Cusco, at abot 9.30pm, the news broke that those not staying on would have to leave the next morning on a flight to Lima. Somethig about transport staff being unhappy with their wages. So, we stayed up pretty late and watched Tom Hanks in The Terminal, til we couldn´t stay up any longer. At the aiport, a fair few tears were shed. Not all from me though ;D
We later heard that not all the team made it back to the UK without being rushed to hospital for a jab in the backside.
But life goes on, and we didn't stay in Cusco for long. As soon as the strike had ended, the remaining 7 made our way down to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, and the highest in the world. Tim and I mountain biked the Death Road, managing not to die, although I wasn't far off round one of the corners. Wasting no time, we left La Paz on the second day after we'd arrived, and flew up to the North of Bolivia, to a cool little town called Rurrenebaque. From there we did a 3 day tour of the Pampas (flatlands). We saw monkeys, massive birds called Jabirus, pink dolphins and more crocodiles than you can throw a turtle at. We also swum in piranha- and crocodile-infested waters, with the dolphins, hunted Anaconda (not a whiff) and fished for our lunch on the last day. My catch of 9, which included 7 piranhas and a dog-fish (we'll ignore the sardine), equalled the total of our guide, Ronnie.
And wow, the Pampas is hot. I've never sweated as much in my life.
We also did a couple of hours trek in the Rainforest. W all managed a glimpse of some wild pigs before Tim scared them away, and the Parrots were awesome. But, alas, our time was short, so after a few more hours on the river, we flew back down to the home of Paceña (Bolivia's most popular beer) and then headed south to Uyuni. Having left Clare behind in the capital, we spent our last three days with Tim on a jeep tour of the highest desert in the world. The Salt Flats were stunning, and the mountain lagunas incredible. My personal favourite, Laguna Colorada, with its rich red colouring, was almost enough to make you forget the perishing cold. But not quite.
So, we're now in Chile, waiting for our bus to the Argentine city of Salta. It´s well expensive here, and weirdly European, so I'm looking forward to leaving on Friday. Still, a good opportunity to sleep lots, read more and even make a start on learning some Portuguese in preparation for Brasil. Assim, obrigado para a leitura, e veja-o logo!
I left you last time with a brief few words about the work we were doing in San Miguel. We did a lot of levelling ground in preparation for the centre to be built - the foundations of which we started shortly after my last entry. Worryingly, and against all our Sunday School training, we poured concrete into trenches a metre and a half down into nothing but loose sand. Let's just hope the rain refrains from coming tumbling down.
On the upside, the walls went up´pretty quickly, and our Maestro, Carlos (whom we dubbed C-Dog) even let us do some bricklaying. By the end of the project's 7 weeks, what turned out to be a children's play centre was not far off complete. Just a roof to go....
A week before we left, we were asked to attend the opening of the centre. Now, given that we hadn't even finished the walls yet, we were pretty confused by this. But, when we went down on the Friday evening and found the whole congregtion, the team from Paz y Esperanza, and half the community there for the cutting of the ribbon, it turned out that until C-Dog had completed his work, the church itself was to be home to the kids' work. In the meantime, services will be held outside, with only the shelter offered by bamboo-lattice walls and a tarpauline roof. The best thing was that all the toys (including a table football table :D) and games that had filled the Ludoteca had come from Paz y Esperanza, with our funding, were about 10 times better than those that any of us had played with as kids at Playschool or Sunday School. And no, I've no idea why our work rate slowed right down in the following week........
So, we're done. It was quite hard leaving San Miguel, especially Jesús and Maribel. But for me, it came at about the right time. I was pretty knackered, and well in need of a holiday. Which was lucky, 'cos that's exactly what we got.
After a 16 hour bus ride through (and up) the Andes, we woke up weary-eyed and with neck ache, looked out the window and saw Perú's ancient Inca capital, Cusco, nestled in the valley bellow. It was a beautiful city, and one I was glad to spend 10 days in. It's a pity a bus strike kept us there for 11.
We spent a few days acclimatising to the altitude before setting of on the 4-day/3-night trek up to Machu Picchu. We walked the Salkantay trail, which took us 4600m up, through a mountain pass and finally along a train line through the fringes of the Amazon Jungle. The scenery was unbelievable all the way, and we nearly froze to death only on one night. The comfort of the hostel at Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu, was very welcome, but even that couldn't make up for the town itself, I'm afraid. After 10 mins we were all sick of the overpriced, miniture and Peruvian version of Disneyland Paris. But nothing could take away from what lay in store the next day....
Up at 4am, the hardcore of the group ascended the 1600 steps up Old Mountain in half the estimate time, and waited at the top for our guide to catch up. Having met up with the others, our first view of the lost Inca fortress we breath-taking. The early morning mist that surrounded the nearby peaks, and the sheer size of the ruins themselves surpassed all my expectations. It was pretty amazing.
Oh, and you know that mountain you can see in the background of the classic postcard picture of Machu Picchu? The really steep, tall one? It's called WaynuPicchu, and we went up that too.
That was our last day together as a team; as soon as we got back to Cusco, at abot 9.30pm, the news broke that those not staying on would have to leave the next morning on a flight to Lima. Somethig about transport staff being unhappy with their wages. So, we stayed up pretty late and watched Tom Hanks in The Terminal, til we couldn´t stay up any longer. At the aiport, a fair few tears were shed. Not all from me though ;D
We later heard that not all the team made it back to the UK without being rushed to hospital for a jab in the backside.
But life goes on, and we didn't stay in Cusco for long. As soon as the strike had ended, the remaining 7 made our way down to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, and the highest in the world. Tim and I mountain biked the Death Road, managing not to die, although I wasn't far off round one of the corners. Wasting no time, we left La Paz on the second day after we'd arrived, and flew up to the North of Bolivia, to a cool little town called Rurrenebaque. From there we did a 3 day tour of the Pampas (flatlands). We saw monkeys, massive birds called Jabirus, pink dolphins and more crocodiles than you can throw a turtle at. We also swum in piranha- and crocodile-infested waters, with the dolphins, hunted Anaconda (not a whiff) and fished for our lunch on the last day. My catch of 9, which included 7 piranhas and a dog-fish (we'll ignore the sardine), equalled the total of our guide, Ronnie.
And wow, the Pampas is hot. I've never sweated as much in my life.
We also did a couple of hours trek in the Rainforest. W all managed a glimpse of some wild pigs before Tim scared them away, and the Parrots were awesome. But, alas, our time was short, so after a few more hours on the river, we flew back down to the home of Paceña (Bolivia's most popular beer) and then headed south to Uyuni. Having left Clare behind in the capital, we spent our last three days with Tim on a jeep tour of the highest desert in the world. The Salt Flats were stunning, and the mountain lagunas incredible. My personal favourite, Laguna Colorada, with its rich red colouring, was almost enough to make you forget the perishing cold. But not quite.
So, we're now in Chile, waiting for our bus to the Argentine city of Salta. It´s well expensive here, and weirdly European, so I'm looking forward to leaving on Friday. Still, a good opportunity to sleep lots, read more and even make a start on learning some Portuguese in preparation for Brasil. Assim, obrigado para a leitura, e veja-o logo!
Sunday, 1 June 2008
San Miguel
3 weeks into our new project, and one year older, I´m back in a small booth with kids playing gory computer games next to me. We got up early this morning to fill our new, sandy trenches with concrete, only to find that due to a power cut in the district, there was nothing we could do. We`ll have to hope that the trench walls will hold together for anothert day, or we`ll have a lot of digging to do tomorrow.
We´ staying in two houses of people from the church - 6 girls in one with Irini, and the guys next door with Maribel and Jesús. Yep, I´m living with Jesus. We´re much more cramped than we had been back in Tupac, and we only have water for one hour a day, but we´re also a lot less isolated from the community than were before. Last week I spent a whole morning with Tim talking to a neighbour, Miguel (not the eponymous Saint of his area of town, but a great guy nonetheless) who fought the Shining Path in the Peruvian jungle. Some almost unreal stories. It´s pretty cool to be living with a family, too, and Mary´s insanely speedy Spanish is great practice :) The kids are way too noisy though....
So, I last left you before our team holiday, which promised to give us a fairly comprehensive tour of the south of Perú. In fact, we spent 60 hours out of our 180 (for the slow ones among you, that´s a third) on buses. But it was definitely worth it. Our first destination, Arequipa, was a beautiful city, surrounded by snow-caps and even a volcano. From there we ventured yet higher up into the Andes, before descending the world´s second deepest canyon. True, it just looks like a really high valley, but I´m told it´s a canyon, and I´m gonna believe that. Either way, our night at a small lodge at the bottom of the deceptively named geographical feature was both incredible and very short. The stars were, due to almost zero light pollution, the clearest I´ve ever seen them; however, we were hiking again be 3.15 in the morning. To see the sun rise over the mountains from half way up one side was stunning.
After a largely uneventful trip to Bolivia, we took a boat trip out onto Lake Titicaca (which is ridiculously enormous) and visited some `floating islands´. Made entirely from roots and dried reeds, these islands continually threatened to give way under foot. Unfortunately, though, no one fell in.
Back on the outskirts of Pisco, and still within throwing distance of the Panámericana highway (which, if you follow it all the way, will take you from northern Venezuela to southern Chile) our home is now San Miguel. The work is pretty much the same as it was at the last project, but this time we´re working towards a Community Centre. More rubble to move, more ground to level, more holes to dig; this time, however, the ample available sand turns slow periods of no work into sand-castle competitions, followed by target practice with big rocks. Good times.
So, I once again hope that you are all well, and look forward to hearing from you. And thanks so much for all your birthday messages and cards (and even a present! ;D). I´ll do my best to reply to them all........
We´ staying in two houses of people from the church - 6 girls in one with Irini, and the guys next door with Maribel and Jesús. Yep, I´m living with Jesus. We´re much more cramped than we had been back in Tupac, and we only have water for one hour a day, but we´re also a lot less isolated from the community than were before. Last week I spent a whole morning with Tim talking to a neighbour, Miguel (not the eponymous Saint of his area of town, but a great guy nonetheless) who fought the Shining Path in the Peruvian jungle. Some almost unreal stories. It´s pretty cool to be living with a family, too, and Mary´s insanely speedy Spanish is great practice :) The kids are way too noisy though....
So, I last left you before our team holiday, which promised to give us a fairly comprehensive tour of the south of Perú. In fact, we spent 60 hours out of our 180 (for the slow ones among you, that´s a third) on buses. But it was definitely worth it. Our first destination, Arequipa, was a beautiful city, surrounded by snow-caps and even a volcano. From there we ventured yet higher up into the Andes, before descending the world´s second deepest canyon. True, it just looks like a really high valley, but I´m told it´s a canyon, and I´m gonna believe that. Either way, our night at a small lodge at the bottom of the deceptively named geographical feature was both incredible and very short. The stars were, due to almost zero light pollution, the clearest I´ve ever seen them; however, we were hiking again be 3.15 in the morning. To see the sun rise over the mountains from half way up one side was stunning.
After a largely uneventful trip to Bolivia, we took a boat trip out onto Lake Titicaca (which is ridiculously enormous) and visited some `floating islands´. Made entirely from roots and dried reeds, these islands continually threatened to give way under foot. Unfortunately, though, no one fell in.
Back on the outskirts of Pisco, and still within throwing distance of the Panámericana highway (which, if you follow it all the way, will take you from northern Venezuela to southern Chile) our home is now San Miguel. The work is pretty much the same as it was at the last project, but this time we´re working towards a Community Centre. More rubble to move, more ground to level, more holes to dig; this time, however, the ample available sand turns slow periods of no work into sand-castle competitions, followed by target practice with big rocks. Good times.
So, I once again hope that you are all well, and look forward to hearing from you. And thanks so much for all your birthday messages and cards (and even a present! ;D). I´ll do my best to reply to them all........
Friday, 2 May 2008
The Belated Third Entry
So, first off: I apologise for a distinct lack of communication for a good few weeks now. We don´t really get a lot of time to use the internet, so e-mails and (I´m afraid to say) facebook sometimes have to take priority. Plus, the connection here is about 0.003 bits per minute dial-up, so my patience often doesn´t strecth far enough to bother. But here is, I hope, an entry which is worth the wait.
I said last time that we were having to wait for materials and concrete mixers in order to take the project any further; it was the morning of Thursday 17th that the wait was finally ended. Working together with the whole church (even the elderly women of the congregation were carrying bags of rubble) we filled in the prepared trenches with concrete and hardcore, under the direction of a man in a big hat. It was great to see the Peruvians getting involved - it really felt like it was their kitchen being built, not ours. And since then, sombrero man (whose name I have recently discovered to be Máximo :D) and his eternally smiling friend have been able to build almost all of the walls, while we´re back digging again round the corner. I´m gonna miss my Columbian-made picaxe. I´m not gonna miss fixing it every 11 minutes.
We´ve had some more great days at the beach, although I seem unable to spend a day sunbathing without suffering some sort of injury. No, I haven´t been sunburnt again, but - I kid you not - last time I managed to get bitten on the temples by a stray Alsatian. I would say "don´t be alarmed", but you probably should be. It didn´t break the skin, though. I´ll let you know if I start foaming at the mouth.
A few weeks ago, we walked up the hill from the top of which a Río-esque statue of Jesus overlooks the district. From the summit the view was stunning, gradually changing from sea in the distance to desert on the eastern side, with town, suburbs and even some farmland in between. Continuing on down the hill, we met some ladies in a field of Alfalfa, who gave us some fruit and sugar cane, even letting us do some harvesting.
Last Thursday we were back in the countryside, as we visited another project of the charity we´re working with here, Paz y Esperanza. In the sparse community of Cabeza de Toro (which I had visited a month before) the architect-come-translator-come-incredible-goatee-wearer, Jaime Mok, is currently constructing an ambitious two story community centre out of bamboo. Developed specifically to be able to ¨danse with earthquakes¨, Jaime´s totally new style of building is a very positive step forwards for the local people, and it was brilliant to see how it worked. Oh, and the Peruvian Air Force swung through in a convoy of buses which kept getting stuck in the mud. Bizarre, and almost absurdly shambolic.
In sharp contrast to the rural life of the cotton fields, less than 24 hours later we found ourselves in the middle of downtown Lima. Having been given Friday and Saturday off, we decided to spend two days in the capital, which we hadn´t seen since our first night and half-morning in Perú. Charlie and I managed to see a lot of the city, including the heavily guarded presidential palace at the Plaza de Armas, the bright blue national football stadium and the brown exterior of the national museum, unfortunately closed til July. We stayed in the Miraflores area of town - one of the richest districts in Lima, and home to the very European and astronomically expensive Larcomar shopping centre. All the way accross the world, and we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. But this one had an amazing sea view.
Beck in Pisco, winter has set in, and the ominously menacing cloud which rolled in from the ocean at dusk yesterday seems to have brought woolly hats and scarves with it. Church in the evening now looks like a meeting of Eskimos, as out from behind balaclavas the Peruvians call us crazy for enjoying the cool breeze in T-shirts. The mosquitos donçt care about the temperature, though: I think I´m gonna scratch my right ankle away completely.
And so, we near the end of our time in Tupac Amaru Inca. This Sunday we leave for Arequipa, a city further inland and in the arms of the Andes. After a trek down the enormous Colca Canyon, we´ll head to Puno in the south and spend a few days at Lake Titicaca, crossing over into Bolivia to renew our Visas. If I don´t get another chance before our next project, I´ll write again from San Miguel. Adios, amigos, and don´t be with bicycles (local slang for having a stomach upset). Take care, and keep your e-mails coming!
I said last time that we were having to wait for materials and concrete mixers in order to take the project any further; it was the morning of Thursday 17th that the wait was finally ended. Working together with the whole church (even the elderly women of the congregation were carrying bags of rubble) we filled in the prepared trenches with concrete and hardcore, under the direction of a man in a big hat. It was great to see the Peruvians getting involved - it really felt like it was their kitchen being built, not ours. And since then, sombrero man (whose name I have recently discovered to be Máximo :D) and his eternally smiling friend have been able to build almost all of the walls, while we´re back digging again round the corner. I´m gonna miss my Columbian-made picaxe. I´m not gonna miss fixing it every 11 minutes.
We´ve had some more great days at the beach, although I seem unable to spend a day sunbathing without suffering some sort of injury. No, I haven´t been sunburnt again, but - I kid you not - last time I managed to get bitten on the temples by a stray Alsatian. I would say "don´t be alarmed", but you probably should be. It didn´t break the skin, though. I´ll let you know if I start foaming at the mouth.
A few weeks ago, we walked up the hill from the top of which a Río-esque statue of Jesus overlooks the district. From the summit the view was stunning, gradually changing from sea in the distance to desert on the eastern side, with town, suburbs and even some farmland in between. Continuing on down the hill, we met some ladies in a field of Alfalfa, who gave us some fruit and sugar cane, even letting us do some harvesting.
Last Thursday we were back in the countryside, as we visited another project of the charity we´re working with here, Paz y Esperanza. In the sparse community of Cabeza de Toro (which I had visited a month before) the architect-come-translator-come-incredible-goatee-wearer, Jaime Mok, is currently constructing an ambitious two story community centre out of bamboo. Developed specifically to be able to ¨danse with earthquakes¨, Jaime´s totally new style of building is a very positive step forwards for the local people, and it was brilliant to see how it worked. Oh, and the Peruvian Air Force swung through in a convoy of buses which kept getting stuck in the mud. Bizarre, and almost absurdly shambolic.
In sharp contrast to the rural life of the cotton fields, less than 24 hours later we found ourselves in the middle of downtown Lima. Having been given Friday and Saturday off, we decided to spend two days in the capital, which we hadn´t seen since our first night and half-morning in Perú. Charlie and I managed to see a lot of the city, including the heavily guarded presidential palace at the Plaza de Armas, the bright blue national football stadium and the brown exterior of the national museum, unfortunately closed til July. We stayed in the Miraflores area of town - one of the richest districts in Lima, and home to the very European and astronomically expensive Larcomar shopping centre. All the way accross the world, and we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. But this one had an amazing sea view.
Beck in Pisco, winter has set in, and the ominously menacing cloud which rolled in from the ocean at dusk yesterday seems to have brought woolly hats and scarves with it. Church in the evening now looks like a meeting of Eskimos, as out from behind balaclavas the Peruvians call us crazy for enjoying the cool breeze in T-shirts. The mosquitos donçt care about the temperature, though: I think I´m gonna scratch my right ankle away completely.
And so, we near the end of our time in Tupac Amaru Inca. This Sunday we leave for Arequipa, a city further inland and in the arms of the Andes. After a trek down the enormous Colca Canyon, we´ll head to Puno in the south and spend a few days at Lake Titicaca, crossing over into Bolivia to renew our Visas. If I don´t get another chance before our next project, I´ll write again from San Miguel. Adios, amigos, and don´t be with bicycles (local slang for having a stomach upset). Take care, and keep your e-mails coming!
Monday, 14 April 2008
I´m back in my booth and I´ve got my sprite again, but this time I´m wearing jeans. Over the last few weeks it has become clear that a South American winter means that it is a lot colder at night, while retaining the intense heat of midday. It´s pretty much the perfect climate - although I still managed to get myself quite badly burnt a few weekends ago when we spent the whole day at a nearby beach called Yumaque. I hadn´t before realised that sunburn could give you swollen feet for 3 days.........
So, we´ve been here a month now and we´re pretty settled. We´ve not been able to do as much work as I would like, but our progress is, nevertheless, marked. We´re ready to concrete the foundations of the kitchens, having dug the trenches and made all the steel supports; it´s just a matter of when we can get concrete mixers in. The recent high demand for the machines is enouraging though: people are clearly startng to rebuild. We´ve also done quite a bit of removing rubble, as well as building the perimeter fence of the church compound.
Work aside, it´s just been great just getting to know people and practise my Spanish, as well as taking every opportunity to see and do as much as we can. The people at the church are quite protective of us, which is understandable but sometimes quite stifling. Still, we´ve had some awesome ´team days´: we went sandboarding at the desert oasis of Huacachina, and watched the Sun go down over the sand from the top of the highest dune we could find, and this Saturday we had an absolute treat at las Islas Ballestas. These islands were described to us as Peru´s Galápagos, but I reckon the Poor-Man´s Isle of White is probably a more fitting title. After you´ve seen a hoard of roaring sealions on a beach and a cliff face veiled with Chilean boobies, you really start to look forward for everything else you´re gonna see. But that was, I´m afraid, all there was. Just more of the same around a really large island. At least you can go bowling in Cowes.
Once again I hope everybody is well back home. I really appreciate all your emails and facebook messages - keep them coming! :D I´ll wave adios for now and try to post again as soon as I can. And remember: you may start the day wearing trainers, but that doesn´t mean you don´t need to put sun cream on your feet when you take them off.
So, we´ve been here a month now and we´re pretty settled. We´ve not been able to do as much work as I would like, but our progress is, nevertheless, marked. We´re ready to concrete the foundations of the kitchens, having dug the trenches and made all the steel supports; it´s just a matter of when we can get concrete mixers in. The recent high demand for the machines is enouraging though: people are clearly startng to rebuild. We´ve also done quite a bit of removing rubble, as well as building the perimeter fence of the church compound.
Work aside, it´s just been great just getting to know people and practise my Spanish, as well as taking every opportunity to see and do as much as we can. The people at the church are quite protective of us, which is understandable but sometimes quite stifling. Still, we´ve had some awesome ´team days´: we went sandboarding at the desert oasis of Huacachina, and watched the Sun go down over the sand from the top of the highest dune we could find, and this Saturday we had an absolute treat at las Islas Ballestas. These islands were described to us as Peru´s Galápagos, but I reckon the Poor-Man´s Isle of White is probably a more fitting title. After you´ve seen a hoard of roaring sealions on a beach and a cliff face veiled with Chilean boobies, you really start to look forward for everything else you´re gonna see. But that was, I´m afraid, all there was. Just more of the same around a really large island. At least you can go bowling in Cowes.
Once again I hope everybody is well back home. I really appreciate all your emails and facebook messages - keep them coming! :D I´ll wave adios for now and try to post again as soon as I can. And remember: you may start the day wearing trainers, but that doesn´t mean you don´t need to put sun cream on your feet when you take them off.
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
La Primera Semana
¡Hola! I´m not sure how much time I´m gonna get to write this, so I´ll be as succint yet comprehensive as I can. I am right at this moment sitting in a plywood booth of a Piscan internet ´café´, sipping through a straw a 20p bottle of sprite. And for the first time this side of the atlantic, I´m enjoying the benefit of an overhead fan. Ah, the luxury.
But, let´s begin back on your side of the pond. The flight to Madrid was relatively uneventful, but after a long delay in Spain, we spent a pretty darned uncomfortable 12 hours on our LAN flight to Lima. My language skills received a baptism of fire as my neighbour in flight, Juan, a guy of my age and of both Peruvian and Spanish decent, almost immediately struck up conversation. Juan spoke only three words of English.
After spending the night at a hostel in the Free Town district of Lima, we made the journey south and arrived at Pisco Tuesday evening. After the stunning and far-reaching citiscape of Lima, where we saw very little evidence of last year´s Earthquake, this more southern town was a very different picture. With few or no buildings fully intact, and with not a single second story to be seen, the district we´re staying in is confirmation that the estimates of 80% damage to the city were probably very close to the mark. In the city entre, the Plaza de Armas offers a glimpse of the city may have looked this time last year; I wouldn´t dismiss a comparison to a typical Spanish town. However, the remains of the central Cathedral provide a stark contrast to the almost pristine squar. And as our guide David, one of the happiest men I´ve ever met, showed us around on Wednesday, the extent of the destruction was quite unbelievable. I´ll try to upload some photos when I can.
The people here are brilliant. They´re so friendly and welcoming, and it really is amazing to feel such warmth from people you´ve only just met. Unfortunately, we´ve pretty much all been ill (at on end of the other), but our English stomachs are slowly hardening to the Peruvian comida. As feared, the food has turned out to be undelightfully bland, but it´s not too bad. Porridge without oats, warm jelly that smells like Christmas and a potato puree resembling Smash are becoming as normal for us as the constant, unfightable layer of sweat which only a shower can stave off for even a few minutes.
Yesterday a few of us went to a clinic for one of the team to give a stool sample, expecting nothing more than a really dull day of sitting around in an overcrowded waiting room. But the ever-chirpy David was determined that we would have at least some fun. So, on our way back down the coast, he suddenly veered off from the road and took us straight out East into the desert. In what could easily have been an episode of Algunas Madres los Tienen (Frank Spencer, how I love you) I attempted to hold onto a bag of eggs in the back of the van as David treated us to his rally driving skills. Needless to say, there were a few breakages. After passing the most isolated battery chicken farms I´ve ever seen, we passed into endless fields of cotton. The sand gave way to a green and white landscape, and in the town of Cabeza de Toro we visited David´s home. Almost entirely destroyed, it was reduced to a single room, yet was still home to 5 people. The resilience of David´s family was amazing, though not remarkable; everyone here is in the same position, and it´s pretty cool to see people just picking themselves up and carrying on, and it´s even better to be able to help. But more on that next time.
Alas, my time is up. I hope at least that this post reads cohesively, and and best that it has been a good introduction to our time here. Do check out the team post on latinlink.org (you´ll have to follow a few links to get there). I hope everyone is well, and to hear from you all soon. As Juan would say: Orange, are and seatbelt.
But, let´s begin back on your side of the pond. The flight to Madrid was relatively uneventful, but after a long delay in Spain, we spent a pretty darned uncomfortable 12 hours on our LAN flight to Lima. My language skills received a baptism of fire as my neighbour in flight, Juan, a guy of my age and of both Peruvian and Spanish decent, almost immediately struck up conversation. Juan spoke only three words of English.
After spending the night at a hostel in the Free Town district of Lima, we made the journey south and arrived at Pisco Tuesday evening. After the stunning and far-reaching citiscape of Lima, where we saw very little evidence of last year´s Earthquake, this more southern town was a very different picture. With few or no buildings fully intact, and with not a single second story to be seen, the district we´re staying in is confirmation that the estimates of 80% damage to the city were probably very close to the mark. In the city entre, the Plaza de Armas offers a glimpse of the city may have looked this time last year; I wouldn´t dismiss a comparison to a typical Spanish town. However, the remains of the central Cathedral provide a stark contrast to the almost pristine squar. And as our guide David, one of the happiest men I´ve ever met, showed us around on Wednesday, the extent of the destruction was quite unbelievable. I´ll try to upload some photos when I can.
The people here are brilliant. They´re so friendly and welcoming, and it really is amazing to feel such warmth from people you´ve only just met. Unfortunately, we´ve pretty much all been ill (at on end of the other), but our English stomachs are slowly hardening to the Peruvian comida. As feared, the food has turned out to be undelightfully bland, but it´s not too bad. Porridge without oats, warm jelly that smells like Christmas and a potato puree resembling Smash are becoming as normal for us as the constant, unfightable layer of sweat which only a shower can stave off for even a few minutes.
Yesterday a few of us went to a clinic for one of the team to give a stool sample, expecting nothing more than a really dull day of sitting around in an overcrowded waiting room. But the ever-chirpy David was determined that we would have at least some fun. So, on our way back down the coast, he suddenly veered off from the road and took us straight out East into the desert. In what could easily have been an episode of Algunas Madres los Tienen (Frank Spencer, how I love you) I attempted to hold onto a bag of eggs in the back of the van as David treated us to his rally driving skills. Needless to say, there were a few breakages. After passing the most isolated battery chicken farms I´ve ever seen, we passed into endless fields of cotton. The sand gave way to a green and white landscape, and in the town of Cabeza de Toro we visited David´s home. Almost entirely destroyed, it was reduced to a single room, yet was still home to 5 people. The resilience of David´s family was amazing, though not remarkable; everyone here is in the same position, and it´s pretty cool to see people just picking themselves up and carrying on, and it´s even better to be able to help. But more on that next time.
Alas, my time is up. I hope at least that this post reads cohesively, and and best that it has been a good introduction to our time here. Do check out the team post on latinlink.org (you´ll have to follow a few links to get there). I hope everyone is well, and to hear from you all soon. As Juan would say: Orange, are and seatbelt.
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