Life's Happenings

A few quick highlights. To being, I have to give a quick shout out to Marcelle, my roommate, for saving my life on Friday night and therefore allowing me to continue writing (and breathing). I was choking on a piece of delicious quiche that actually prevented me from breathing, and Marcelle was sitting next to me and quickly jumped up and gave me the Heimlich maneuver (no joke) and out popped the quiche. So, in case anyone was wondering, the Heimlich really does work. It also really pays to live with a nurse.

We also had our first earthquake tremor on Saturday morning! At first I thought it was just a truck going down the road, but it was a pretty serious vibration so I jumped out of bed and asked the other girls and they said it was an earthquake. So that was pretty exciting. No worries though, it was really small and no damage or anything.

Also the big news here in Chimbote is the relocation of the Progresso market. It is the market that we have always shopped at and probably the largest and cheapest in Chimbote. The problem was that people just kind of set up shop and filled the streets of the Progresso neighborhood. So the city has been trying to relocate it to 3 different areas, but many of the sellers would not be able to move to the new location because they don’t actually have permits. Well, this weekend marked the official move and they brought in almost 2,000 police from surrounding areas to enforce the removal of all the vendors from Progresso. I’m not sure all what happened yesterday but there was violence and forced removal, maybe even a few deaths. Today there was a huge demonstration/march through the streets that I saw go by the church. I would guess there were over 2,000 people marching in the demonstration. I tried to buy a newspaper today but they were all sold out everywhere I went. It seems like a mixed response, but most of the people here are pretty upset about the city’s actions and new policies with the vendors. I’ll try and get more information in the coming days. I heard there will be a strong police presence here for the coming 15 days. We also have to find a new market to shop at and the prices will be more expensive…

Last Thursday and Friday I was invited to a small town about and hour outside Chimbote called Rinconada to play flute with the choir there for the kick off to their patron festival. My friend Roger who plays guitar and has been teaching me some Peruvian songs on my flute is helping them out for the 2 weeks of festivities and masses. It was the first time I left Chimbote since arriving and it was such a great trip, to be in the campo (rural area / countryside) and breath fresh air and see new places. I was also really proud of myself because I traveled by myself and didn’t get lost! The best part was on Friday when Padre Wilmer (who is the only priest for 20 communities!) took me around to visit many of the rural villages. It was so beautiful to be in the open environment with mountains, and plants, and rivers. I was humbled by the hospitality of the people who offered food wherever we stopped. Padre said that often the people don’t have any money, but at least they have food, and they were so willing to share whatever they had. It was a day in the Latin America I had initially fallen in love with in Central America, and I’m so grateful for the experience. I came home with a huge bag full of fresh strawberries that I helped pick as well as a new fruit called picay (?) and a liter of milk straight from the cow that I watched get milked. It was probably the best day I’ve had so far here in Peru and I could feel the spirit of the divine so present in the surrounding nature and in the people.




































Paz y Bien