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

Cajamarca, Peru

In my previous letter  called City Streets ,

I realize I forgot to say just where that city street was in Peru!Pete and I were traveling in the Andea mountains, which all South Americans refer to as the Sierra.We were up 9000 feet ,the weather was cool and wet,and we were staying in a  hotel on the edge of a city if 225,000 people, Cajamarca.

The last ruler of the Inca,Atahualpa, was captured there by the Spanish conquerors,held ransom as Atahualpa promised two rooms full of silver and one of gold in exchange for his freedom ,which  gold and silver started arriving on the backs of burros from all over his empire.After the Spaniards had their precious metals they killed Atahualpa anyway.Your reasoning will be as good as mine.The only remaining  structure of the Inca that was left standing in the area is the stone building,approx 24 feet by 32 feet ,  that was  once filled with gold  and twice with silver.

We were staying in the suburb of Banos del Inca,which means baths of the Inca, because of the hot mineral water that gushes from the ground at 72 C, and provides a lot of heat and comfort to all who have been there to enjoy it, including Atahualpa and Pete and I. 

While in Cajamarca we explored other archaeological sites, including these burial niches,pictures below, carved into a hillside,as a final resting place for some  folks who lived in the area a thousand + years ago.  .The hillside looked over a fertile valley, with a small river flowing through .One very interesting thing to me is the amount of evidence still remaining of people who lived in SA for thousands of years .Stone structures have survived the weather ,just as the Adobe city,Chan Chan , next to our apartment has survived because of the dry climate.

 I will include a few pictures of what remains from a moment in history.  The pictures are out of order--  drat that tablet and its user!           mom/Debbie

City Sidewalks

A young woman on a microbus,public transportation, was shocked when I told her many Canadians do not produce any food at their homes. Even in the very middle of the city I heard roosters crowing today! Our hotel is on the edge of the city. Cows ,sheep, pigs, chickens abound everywhere.This hotel yard has a pen with cuy and rabbits, and the lamb that was eating the grass next to the table where we eat breakfast, is now ready for consumption and it's hide is stretched to dry under the outside stairs!

Picture one is the start of our day today. We are off for an adventure and always find the best ones occur when we walk! Watch your step. At the end of a day checking out historical sites and a swim in thermal baths, we were accompanied by food on the hoof returning home.The burro did not seem to be accompanied by any person but seemed to know where he was going, of course he was walking along with friends.The sticks on his back, once dry will be used for a cooking fire. No need for the city to cut the grass along this sidewalk. Vehicles and animals tolerated each other. Pictures 2 and 3. If you look carefully at picture 4 the woman is sitting on a bucket and milking the cows. A child\grandchild is patiently waiting.

Mom/Debbie

To market, to market

Friends:

Here are a few pics. The first is of a hamburg stand. Actually, we have not found it open yet,  but over near the "fruit lady",  her daughter sets up a grill on the sidewalk and sells hamburgs. They are bigger around than we make them in US and Canada. There is a thin pattie of ground beef, deep fried, with a deep fried egg on top, and french fries,  on top of that. They are boiled in oil in a time blackened wok over a gas burner.  Then comes some lettuce and tomato and a bit of chopped cilantro in fresh lime juice, then with the topping of your choice. My choice is Ahi which is a mustard like sauce made fresh with habanero peppers. That whole beautiful masterpiece costs a mere 3 soles. 

(1 sole is about .45 cents) I don't get them often: only when I need a lube job and am feeling low in cholesterol and trans-fats. 

When we go on a "fresh fruit run",  we go to see the "fruit lady". She has a little fruit shop in the front of her house shown in picture 2 & 3. The open door leads back to a space where a few chickens are kept, some young turkeys and a couple pens of cuy ( pronounced coo-ee or guinea pigs). In this house, as in many, the living quarters for people and critters are very close. The rooms are dark and cave like and ,she keeps a pot cooking over a small wood fire in the small courtyard just through that rear door. She is a single parent.We always buy our fruit from her, and clean it well when we get it home. 

As you walk through the neighborhoods you often hear roosters crowing, as a lot of people keep a few chickens. The last picture is of a small tienda, or store across the street from the fruit lady where more fruit and a lot of vegetables are sold, as well as meat which is displayed in the open and side by side. The chicken was probably running around earlier that morning, and this vendor uses a cleave to cut the fresh meat on a well used wooden cutting board, puts the meat in a bag on the scale with her bare hands,takes money for the sale with same unwashed, but  maybe wiped on her apron, hands,  and carries on . Business is brisk.

On the table are a few of our purchases from the fruit lady and the pineapple came from the vendor on the street from the back of his moto. The mangos, oranges bananas, peaches and pineapple would have cost about 12 soles.  We consume a lot more fresh fruit than hamburgers.

In Trujillo there are two parallel economies. The mall is very modern, clean, expensive, and North American in appearance.  There are always lots of people there, but I suspect it accounts for a very small percentage of overall purchases of food and other items.  However, the mall is surrounded by neighborhoods that are definitely not mimicking North America. Shops are tiny, and in the front rooms of houses on the street, and on motorized and pedal powered carts, and in mercado's (farmer's markets). The portable shops are on every street corner and in between. To shop for groceries, most people only need to go down the street a few steps to get their food from their neighbors at a fraction of the cost of the supermarket at the mall.  Actually, as I think about it, maybe the mall is not representative of a parallel economy but an anomoly. 

The Majorista is a large market area that has much more than food and is worthy of a separate entry. Hermalinda is bigger yet and is where all the vendors go to purchase supplies in crates. We have not been there yet, but are planning to go tomorrow with a  senior Peruvian missionarie couple who live in the apt next to us.

Peter

Our Backyard

Ruins, desert, and farmland, camposinos(farmers), families,  all incredibly interesting. We spend many hours walking in this area for exercise. A great beach is 15 minutes away by bus. It is all becoming a part of us and we are starting to become a familiar part of it.   mom

Keep on Truckin'

Friends:

I am fond of my little 3 cylinder, 1989, Japanese mini truck. It does everything I need a truck to do at minimum of expense. However,  Peruvians in Trujillo take "light trucking" to a whole new meaning. There are a lot of small trucks powered by  small motorcycle engines. They are actually quite sturdy and seem to carry heavy loads at times. For those not able to afford a truck with an engine there are a lot of trucks that are bicycle powered. Some of them are quite ancient. A lot of them are equipped as portable fruit stands, or selling fresh baked bread, pick up and delivery, garbage collection and a host of other things.  

This collection of pictures might give the impression that this is the main mode of transport.  Far from it. There are all kinds of vehicles from old to new clogging the main roads, weaving in and out and changing lanes constantly, with one hand on the wheel and the other on the horn. Driving in Trujillo is not for the faint hearted. In spite of the fact that they cut each other off  and honk continually there is no road rage. Meanwhile, the lightweights just go along at their own pace as though they were the only ones on the road and let the cars and buses look out for them, and they do. 

Most people don't have any kind of vehicle. As a result, most of the cars on the road are taxis. The last picture is of a Huanchaco bus. It is our favorite. Like all buses, it is colorfully painted. It gets us to the ocean at Huanchaco, where we will go tomorrow to spend a few hours body surfing, and relaxing under a rented umbrella, reading while listening to the surf.  Mondays are our free days, and going to the ocean seems to be becoming a routine. The nice thing about the Huanchaco bus, aside from the low cost,  is that there is one every 3 minutes. Seriously . Amazingly, they are all mostly full. Also amazing is that neither Debbie or I have been allowed to stand. These people are so polite that it is embarrassing. They readily give their seats to any old people or women. Good manners, like good food, seem to be a tradition that all embrace. We are falling in love with Peru and Peruvians. 

Peter & Debbie

The nieghbourhood

Friends:

We find the area where we live to be very interesting. The pictures here are of places we can get to in 15-30 minutes on foot.  We walk as much as possible. 

The main street on which the temple is located is noisy and busy so as fast as we can, we cut up side streets that get us where we want to go by going parallel to the main street, or we go back into the farmlands or ruins of Chan Chan.  We love the cultural contrasts between Canada and here. 

Most people have to live very frugally, so that affects everything from housing to transportation as well as food and lifestyle. In contrast, we North Americans live embarrassingly extravagant lifestyles. Since American culture is exported from Hollywood in great quantities all over the world, everybody here assumes that all North Americans are rich. In comparison, we definitely are. Never-the-less, people are generally very happy, proving the old saying that "Money can not buy happiness".  

The first picture is from the top of a mound of what was probably an adobe building in Chan Chan. It looks across irrigated fields toward the foot hills of the Andes. Second is an irrigation dam. Some dams are just piles of rags, sticks and stones to control flow in lesser streams. The third is a couple grazing sheep on stubble in  field that was harvested recently. #4 is actually right in the city along a route that we take to the mall, one block over from the main street.  Cows are grazing on corn stubble. The "farmer" takes his cows home every night. #5, people have harvested some corn stalks with a machete and are carrying them home to feed animals that live in or near the city.  It seems that a lot of corn is grown not for corn but stalks for feed, the cobs are small and the stalks very tall,  and harvested a bit at a time by hand. The last 4 pictures are taken along that same route that I mentioned before to go to the mall.  Note the use of red brick and cement in building. Mostly the buildings are covered with stucco on the side facing the street, sooner or later. It appears that some wait many years for stucco and paint. Parts not facing the street may never see stucco.  In the last picture, Debbie is negotiating for a pineapple and some mangoes with a street vendor .There are a lot of those moto trucks around. They sometimes haul amazing cargos. 

I don't know how many pictures I can put in one email, but I am probably close to, or over the maximum. Will have to do a part 2 on the neighborhood sometime. 

Love, Peter & Debbie