January 28, 2001

Warmest greetings to everyone from Chimbote, Peru!

Well, I got to Peru the Thursday before last and I have already had a wonderful time. I arrived in Lima, the capital which has about 10 million residents.

Thankfully, the brothers had already set up all my paperwork and I was able to get my residence permit quickly. The lines at the immigration place were incredibly long, as Peruvians wait for days to get their passports. Many of them enter into a lottery for a visa the the US where they dream of going. The unemployment rate in Lima is really high and the wages are very low.

Lima is a real modern city that has some very wealthy areas. It is surrounded by "pueblos jovenes" or "young towns" where Peruvians of Indian descent have come down from the western mountains and settled in the desert hills around Lima. These poor people come in huge groups and "invade" private land. Then slowly throughout the years they develop the area and turn their bamboo stick shacks into cement houses. After a few years they are able to get electricity and running water that is available a few hours out of the week. If they have the money they build tanks that hold water for the rest of the week. Many of these areas don't have a garbage collector that come on a regular basis so they dump there trash on the road or in their neighbors back yard. Amazingly, these poverty stricken barrios eventually progress to become thriving lower class communities.

After getting a look at Lima I took a trip to Moyobamba which is a small city in the hills of the Peruvian jungle. We had to fly to Tarapoto which is the nearest city with an airport, then we took a car to Moyobamba. The trip is 3 hours through an unpaved winding dirt road that has a million potholes. You buy a seat in the car and wait until the rest of the seats are bought by other travelers (which can take a few hours). The most interesting part was when the driver turns around and tells you to hide all your money because the last time he did the trip bandits created a roadblock and robbed him and his passengers on both legs of a roundtrip. So I stick my wallet in my boot and mourn the probable loss of my camera. But thanks to the intercession of Our Lady we are spared the calamity.

While we are on the road bouncing like a pogo stick, we see people of all ages walking down in the fields with a big sack of fire wood they have collected from a long days work. They range from 5 year old boys to 60 year old men and women who affix the bag to their foreheads to help them carry it. Their houses are made of bamboo and other reeds or adobe bricks. Sometimes they are lucky to have a water spigot a few kilometers walk from their houses. The most amazing part about is the joy on most of the faces of the villagers. We visited the brothers' house in Moyobamba where another volunteer ministers to some street kids that shine shoes. He takes them on long hikes and tries to get to steer them away from drugs or theft.

After we got back from the jungle we went to Lima again and then took a bus trip up to Chimbote, a city on the northern coast of Peru. The city was one of the biggest fishing ports in the world before it was struck by an earthquake in the 1970. Walking around town you get the smell of the fish being processed in the factories. As you might guess the smell is pretty bad, but to the people the smell means money coming into the town. The brothers run a high school here with a reputation as the best school in town. The kids in the school range from very poor to wealthy.

It seems I will be doing part of my work as a helper to the Religious Ed department. The department is in charge of teaching the faith, organizing the retreats for the students as well as the 2 hours of social service the juniors and seniors are required to do each week. The other work will be split between parish catechetical work, volunteering at the Missionaries of Charity house for disabled/retarded kids and adults, and visiting the prisoners at the local jail.

I apologize for the length of the email, and I hope to update you in a few weeks. Meanwhile I send my prayers to the St. Mary's crowd in CS and all my Corps buddies.

In Christ the Savior,

Gerardo

p.s. My phone number and address is:

Phone: 011-51-44-310-289

The best time to reach me is in the evening but keep in mind that we are one hour ahead here (the same as eastern time).

Mailing Address:

Gerardo Garcia
Hermanos Cristianos
Apartado 66 Correo Central
Nuevo Chimbote, Peru