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!