Peru Tuesday, April 18th

Hola,

This evening we toured the city center, which is the main square (plaza de Armes). We tried Pisco Sours, which is Peru's cultural drink, they are sour, but have a taste all of there own, and oh, so  very good (considering myself and those who know me, I love sweet drinks)! It is a drink in which you only need to drink very few (1 or 2) as they are one powerful drink!

I will apologize ahead of time for typo's as this a spanish keyboard and not all things are in the same place as ours (I can see those with who I work with probably were cringing with the amount typos., I myself even cringed etc..) Oops, but I am on vacation..hehe.

Hot today, 80 degrees, which seems a lot hotter as you are closer to the sun (high altitude), but there also is a nice breeze.

It is amazing to see the things that HBI and others have done and the progress that they have made! They have a long ways to go, but you can see the progress that has been made.

Today, we visited 2 sisters, Olga and Edith. Olga and Edith are in their 80's, they are the sweetest things. They love to sing and sang for us (have beautiful voices) and they love the company. Edith broke her hip and is bedridden and her sister, Edith sits by her side and takes care of her. They are provided food through Father Alex's feeding program (which we would call Meals on Wheels). It also feeds 700 people a day. On Saturday and Sunday when the food pantry is open, the food they would normally receive through Father Alex's feeding program is usually closed, as they are providing food to the others at the food pantry, so this means with the elderly people like Edith and Olga, that are unable to travel, which most usually have to walk long distances up and down dusty, gravel/sand like roads are unable to, so they do not eat and go with out food, as they have no means to get it and either are to sick or old to cook or get food, neighbors sometimes if able try to provide them with some food if they are able.

Most Peruvian homes are roughly 12x12 and made of white volcanic rock, which is hand carved into square blocks. They have tin roofs, which are held down with rock so they do not blow away. There is usually 4 to 6 people (kids, adults) that live in each house and they only have 1 bed to share. Mos homes have no water, electricity, or plumbing. The water has to be boiled so when they go down to the public spigget to get water and bring it back it has to be boiled before they can drink or use it, which usually done from a small propane stove or small fire in, which they build and is discouraged. There are very few trees to shelter them from the sun, lots of cactus plants.

I hope you enjoy reading and stayed tuned for more from Peru! Buenas Noches, Linda Chapple