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Published: October 29th 2007
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Pisco Vista
A beautiful setting in Pisco, Peru. I know it is a weird title to have for this blog but it is sort of an interesting story. Every five to 10 years, Peru wants to know how many people are living here so they literally do a door-to-door census. Peru picked a date (October 21st, 2007) and required everyone to stay in their homes for 10 hours from 8am to 6pm. People are also required to stay sober during this time. I went surfing at 5:30am with our friend Dave and returned to our apartment just before the deadline of 8am. I thought it was sort of funny when I saw several people going out to surf as we were getting out of the water. Were they going to follow the government's rules?
It did not turn out to be that strange of a day afterall. A very kind government official came to our apartment about 8:30am and asked us very general questions. About halfway into the 20 minute interview, she asked if we were Peruvian. Maybe my Spanish is better than I thought. :-) After the interview, she said that we were free to do what we wanted after about noon or so.
We are
getting into more of a routine down here in Peru. Melanie is goes into work at NMRCD (Naval Medical Research Center Detachment) about 4 days a week and I work on my Spanish. Melanie is still promising to give more detail about what she has been up to. She recently went on a short 4 day trip to Arequipa again to meet with people about one of her projects. For her other project, she will be going to Iquitos soon in the next few months so that should be interesting.
I recently participated in a volunteer opportunity that came up about 3 weeks ago called Un Techo Para Mi Pais (A Roof For My Country). It is an organization that started in Chile several years ago and recently it has spread to other countries in South America. Un Techo Para Mi Pais builds houses for areas of Peru that need them. The program has been concentrating on an area of Peru that was hit the hardest by the 8.0 earthquake in August 2007 - Pisco. Pisco is just about a 3-4 hour bus ride south of Lima.
There were about 200 people who went on this journey to
Pisco Earthquake Damage #1
Notice the Coleman tent that were donated to families after the earthquake. They are everywhere in Pisco. Pisco where about 95% were Peruvians. We were down there for only 3 full days, but I will have to say I have never worked harder in my life. The whole group was split into three smaller groups that went to 3 different areas about an hour from Pisco. Each of these smaller groups were divided into teams of four who would be building a house together. I know I do not have any experience doing this but it turned out to be quite interesting.
On the first day, a large truck would deliver all the pre-made house materials such as the walls, floors, and roofs. We would start working at about 9am each morning and work until 11pm with the help of small flashlights and candles. Each team of four made on average about 2-3 houses. I was amazed on how much work was required to make each house. We were told to bring our own food to eat during the days but the families we made the houses for would always cook us a hot meal. They were so kind. It sure was an incredible feeling to see their happiness after their houses were completed.
If
you are interested, check out the website at: www.untechoparamipais.org
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Rob Arnold
non-member comment
BIIIILLLLLLL BRAAAAAAWSKI!!!!!!!
Bill Mel, what a great time! Keep the updates coming! Bill Brawski once ate a live billy goat on a B.B.Q skewer while reading poetry to under privledged kids in Peru!!! Giddy UP! Go Deep! Rob.