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.