So much to say!!!

I am at an impasse to whether to describe to you what has happened inside of me these past couple of weeks, since I have not had the time to give you an earnest insight into that, or to describe the physical happenings that have been incredible. I suppose the solution is to give a little of both!!! So today I saw a plane flying over Arequipa, and it occurred to me that I have not seen too many of those, and thus that people do not travel all that much from here as compared to the number of planes we view departing from Chicago, Des Moines, and Atlanta where I was lucky enough to spend some time and of which there is one photo posted on my Yahoo account. It is quite poor here, with about 20% of the people having the wealth, and the rest living in near poverty. Thus our service, which starts tomorrow. Most of us will work in Alto Cayma, a place that began as a ¨tent community¨if I can use that terminology. Essentially a whole group of poorer people got together to pool what little money they had to form a self subsisting community consisting of agriculture, clothes production, and the construction of shelters. A Catholic priest by the name of Fr. Alex has since then taken the community under his wing and raising money in the US has successfully provided jobs for many of the people who live there through building a community Church complete with guest rooms for international volunteers, one of which is from Oregon, while others have come from North Carolina. I will likely work in construction of one of the various buildings in progress. One of these is a medical center, another a kitchen that provides for nearly 400 people daily. Two meals a day!!! It all somewhat intimidates me, but on another level this is what I have lived for. To help build community, and I cannot describe to you the satisfaction at having accomplished something as tangible as a tile floor, and I expect as a complete building!!! I know some of you are laughing, but it is true!

What transpired over the weekend. Well for one Alán García won the national elections over the nationalist Ollanta Humala. It was a sad day for Perú though as both candidates have multiple character and political flaws, every single Peruvian I spoke with described how they had to choose between two bad candidates. Everyone has to return to their city of origin to vote, and voting is obligatory. If you do not, you cannot cash checks or complete various other transactions, so everyone goes to receive the purple stain on their middle finger from the required fingerprinting that takes place. With so many travelers, we decided to hang around Arequipa, observing all the action surrounding the elections, and taking a tour on Saturday morning through the campiña or countryside surrounding the city. I tried to put up my pics, however not all of them would fit. I´ll find a way and update you later. A broad overview: horseriding was by far the most fun which we did at a Peruvian vacation spot called Molino de Sabandía, then we moved on to view the andenes or steppes of the farming Incan and pre-Incan tribes. Beautiful countryside, all of which we later viewed from the Mirador de Yanahuara, a tower very similar to the one situated over the Illinois and Iowa countryside at Elizabeth, IL. Our guide by the name of Ildora was wonderful, and for only $20USD a person, we had quite possibly the best tour of the trip thus far!!! In the future we hope to travel to Puno which lies on the banks of Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world as well as in the top three for both depth and surface area!!! Also, we hope to get to Arica, Chile just across the border from Tacna, Chile, photos of all of which will be soon to come!! Take care you all wherever you would be, let me know what you´re all up to!!!

All my best from Latinoamérica,
Tim