Flooding

Kids & Mike:

As you know, we are back from our trip to Cajamarca. We were there for a week. We planned to go from there to Chiclayo. However, after 3 days of diarrhea, we decided to head back to Trujillo instead. A combination of something I ate, plus maybe altitude could have done it. We didn't let it stop us from going places and seeing things, but it didn't add to the enjoyment. Plus, almost every day ended with a rainstorm. We decided it might be nice to just relax in our comfortable digs in Trujillo and get ready for the next 6 month stint in the temple. 

There is lots of flooding around  Trujillo and some parts are inaccessible. Things are OK in and around the temple. Debbie had to cancel an appt. she had in California (part of Trujillo) this morning because no taxi would go there. The guard at the gate told her there was also flooding in Huanchaco.  It rained here again last night. We get almost daily rain and at times hard. It is expected to last in Trujillo for another week, and in the mountains where much of the Trujillo flood water is coming from, for another month. This is the most rain this area has seen in 50 years. This place is normally a desert. Cactus grows everywhere.  Also, this summer is the warmest it has been in about the same time. It is all being driven by an El Nino system in the Pacific. The only good thing about it is that the ocean is delightfully warm for swimming in.We will go there this afternoon.

Some roads are a real mess. It seems that they just put a thin layer of asphalt on top of dirt when making roads in Trujillo.   When the dirt under the roads gets wet, it turns to muck and the vehicles break through the asphalt making some very large potholes in what was once firm pavement. And, of course, in a place where it doesn't rain they have never installed storm sewers in the streets. 

There are a lot of very dirty taxis going around, and some very bad looking roads. There is a lot of mud. In places where the water has dried the dirt is getting kicked up in clouds of dust. In California on Saturday we saw taxi drivers wearing dust masks, and went through flooded areas to get there. It was not deep, but it was very messy and the roads were badly damaged. In some of the poorer areas, people have built with adobe. We have seen some adobe walls that are not doing well with the water. Some have collapsed. Many homes have been swept away and thousands are now homeless. 

At the mall, most all of the businesses have a row of sandbags in front of the doorways, or ready to place when they leave. Some businesses are closed and we saw one where they just used caulking to seal the door shut. 

I believe that traffic at the temple will be rather light for the next month or so. For some people, getting here will be a problem, and many may be pre-occupied with the problems the water has created. Plaza del Armes was/is  flooded as is la Majorista and many other parts of the city. Actually, we just learned that the temple will be remain until Friday. It was supposed to open tomorrow.  That will give us an extra 4 days of vacation. Travel out of Trujillo is restricted North and South because of road closures, so that means we will be staying put, other than walking in the farmlands and along the beach.

If you go to You Tube and search flooding, Trujillo, Peru, you will find all sorts of videos posted. Most of it done by amateurs, but you will get a good idea of what is going on here. 

When we went to Cajamarca, we saw lots of mud and rock slides on the winding road into the mountains on the way up as well as back that the bus had to skirt around, and we went through some very heavy rainfall. One rock slide we had to wait while a road crew cleared. The road was narrow, and they make the cuts too steep and close to the edge of the road, and the mountain sides are of a very loose and crumbly rock mixed with mud. The road crews were just going from one mess to the next continually. There is no ditch for a rock slide to go into. When it comes down, it is on the road.

On the way up to Cajamarca we had rock slides, then a whole village showed up near a bridge blocking the road in a protest over a proposed mine, and then a cattle truck that overturned on the way down with a load of bulls aboard. They were in a tandem trailer behind the truck. Half the bulls slid down a hillside and the other half were wandering around in a daze. They must have shifted going around a hair pin turn. That took 2 hours before they figured how to get the trailer out of the road so vehicles could pass.  Our bus "broke down" before getting to Cajamarca, or so we were told. I think it ran out of diesel fuel. A 7 hour bus ride got turned into an 11 hour ride. It was all interesting. 

There are lots of interesting pictures to share, once I get Oscar to move them from the camera to the computer. 

Love, Dad/Peter