PERU
My week in Peru is now halfway over. It’s been amazing so far, almost too much for words. I got in to Lima on Saturday night and a taxi was waiting for me and one of the other girls on the trip and took us straight to our hostel. The rest of the group got to Lima Saturday night too, and we spent Sunday walking around Lima, exploring and drinking and eating. We took this siiick 10 hour overnight bus ride to Trujillo, the seats laid all the way back and it was really comfy, but some guy was snoring the row behind me so I had trouble sleeping…oh well. On Monday morning we arrived in Trujillo and we went to the place we’re staying here. Then we went to Nuevo Jerusalen, the slum we’re working in. We’ve been there before and after lunch each day , collecting health data and giving presentations on healthy eating and recycling, composting, and not burning trash. I’ve never been anywhere like it, or seen poverty like that. Not to be cliche, but it’s definitely really eye opening. Their houses are all made of thatched straw, tin, and cardboard, with dirt floors. They don’t have bathrooms in their houses, and they have a limited amount of water they can have each week. The children are SO cute and they love jumping all over us and playing with us, even if some of our spanish is limited. The poverty in the area is so obvious on the children, though…their clothes are filthy and some of them have worn the same thing every day we’ve seen them. But they’re still just so generally happy to be around us, and they LOVE having their pictures taken. Being here so far has made me really want to continue doing international development. We’re heading to Augaillpampa tomorrow until Friday afternoon and I’m pretty excited to be heading up into the mountains and seeing some more of Peru.
