Peru Tuesday 4/20/10 by: Linda Chapple

Buenos Dias (Good Morning)!

Finally arrived on Sunday, a long day/night but well woth it! We are staying at the misson house in Alto Cayma, Peru and surrounded by 3 volcanic mountains, Chiquian, Misty, and Picchu (all in active, Whew!!) What a beautiful site to see, Misty actually has snow at the top. On day one, we took a local tour of the villages and stopped and had lunch and experienced different cultural foods, yummm, very good! The people are very friendly and welcoming! The poverty here in comparison to what we experience in our country does not even compare, A good days wages would be around $5-7 dollars for the day, there are no set hours they basically work until the work is done. Most homes do not have electricity or drink water/running water, they also do not have heat. We also toured the local clinic for the people in the area, they come from great distances, the cost is 3 soles ($1 Amercian dollar) because they cannot afford the cost of national insurance, most Perivians do not have insurance. They are dogs every where, you could throw a stone and not miss one. The dogs here are treated very poorly, they are kicked, stones thrown at them etc/.they are not considered household pets. You are considered to carry stones with you when you are out and about and if the dogs see the stones they will not bother you. You see commericals on TV (at home), etc., but to actually experience the cuiture and the poverty in Peru (or any 3 world country) dioes not even compare to experience and well worth the travel to get here and an awesome learning experience, let alone a huge eye opener that everyone should try and experience if the opportunity would arrise, I would highly recommend it! I will try and send pictures on my next blog! Stayed tuned for more daily blogs! Even though they say the temperture is like our September it gets very hot during the day, but around 3-4 the temperature begins to drop around 10 or more degrees and in the evening gets to around 30 degrees.

 

I could go on and on, but I think I have gabbered enough for now and will write later tonight, plus it is breakfast!! We have a wonderful cook name Veronica (vero).. she is the sweatest thing and cooks awesome!

 

Adios, Linda