If you want to send anything bigger than a letter, please use a Jiffy Bag because anything else is unlikely to get through the Peruvian postal system.
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| Area Office Where We Work |
Having not lived in Lima at this time of year, I didn’t realize just how hot & humid it would be - & we are now coming to the end of Summer! In our apartment we have 4 fans that we use from time to time, especially when we go to bed. For the first part of the night, it’s too hot even for the sheet. The humidity plays havoc with my hair, making it go straight. On Sundays, when I’ve spent time with my tongs giving a curl to my very straight hair, after an hour there’s hardly any curl left - what a pain! In our office there is air conditioning, which others like really cold. So we go out in the beautifully kept grounds, to eat our lunch in the sun & warm up.
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| One Of Our Vigilantes |
The population of Peru is about 29 million with 9 million of them living in the capital, Lima. We are very fortunate to live in a nice part of Lima, that is safer than most. We, like many other areas, have viligantes, who provide a 24/7 cover for the roads nearby. They ride around on their bikes, stand & chat, or sit in their chairs in the shade of a tree. Some of them are armed, but I don’t think ours are. The crime rate has reduced considerably since they started working here.
Our apartment is two blocks from the front of the Lima Temple
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| Our Apartment (top floor) |
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| View Of Lima Temple From Our Apartment |
This has several advantages:-
- It looks beautiful, especially when floodlit at night, & is only 5 mins walk away.
- It means the people around here are used to members & missionaries coming & going. We always have to wear our distinctive black name badges, which also give the name of the church. We feel safe with them on because people recognize us as belonging to the Church, or at least not just as ‘wealthy’ tourists. They also remind us that we are representatives of the Church.
- It’s a great landmark because the spires can be seen from a distance, whether in a car or on foot & we know we’re nearly home.
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| Lima Temple |
For the last 2 months, Lima, & I’m sure every city in Peru, was full of large hoardings about the Election, which was held on Sunday 10th. There were no public meetings allowed, i.e. church, in case it prevents Peruvians from voting. Any who didn’t vote are fined. I think ten were running for the position of President. Two were chosen, & in a month the country will vote for one of them. The members here are very concerned about the outcome, & what will happen to them!
Brian noticed that the Peruvians don’t grow very tall. Many women are under five feet tall. But does their hair grow faster? That could explain why there are so many hairdressers around. Most of the locals have jet black glossy hair, which looks beautiful.
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| Typical Housing, North Lima |
Each Friday we go to the Lima North and West Missions, about a 45 minute drive. This takes us past shanty towns that have been thrown up on the hillside. No electricity or running water, & the only way to access the houses is by the yellow stairs, installed by instructions of a previous President. The people come to Lima from the countryside, thinking they can get a job. When that doesn’t happen they can’t afford to go home & end up living in a shack on the hillside. It’s sad that there is still so much poverty after my absence of 34 years. We hope to have a photo showing shanty towns with the yellow stairs for our next installment.
The traffic is just horrendous, there don’t appear to be any laws, except to stop at a red light, and then not always! Roundabouts are the worst, where people change lane & cut across each other all the time. Fortunately missionaries don’t drive, we either walk, take a bus, taxi or have a driver – Graciela. She takes us to the various Missions, or to visit a sick missionary in hospital. On our P day (when we are free to do our own thing), we can pay her to take us to the shops, etc. I’m happy to sit in the back so I don’t get such a good view of the many near misses.
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| A Typical Crowded Bus |
The buses here are a rite of passage. You can’t say you’ve visited Peru, till you’ve been on a bus. They are usually crammed full, no matter the size of the bus & the little ‘çonductor’ is often hanging half out of the door. We live half an hours walk from the Area Office where we work. We catch the bus if it’s mid-day & therefore too hot to walk, but prefer to walk early morning & evening.
Another rite of passage for us was to visit the Inca Market where they sell a host of things from jewelry, beautiful Inca clothes & rugs, furniture, & twin-sets of about 30 different colours. Very useful to have a matching cardigan to keep me warm in the air conditioned office.
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| Buying Clothes At An Inca Market |
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| We Buy Our Fruit & Veg From This Member (next to Jane) |
The dustmen come every day, for us it’s about 7pm at night, they ring a bell, & the two men on the back jump off & run like crazy to pick up the carrier bags of rubbish (= trash or garbage if you’re American) & throw it into the dustcart before going on to the next area. We also get Donofrio (ice cream) sellers who cycle round sounding their horn, & various other people who shout out to persuade people to buy their food.
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Jane & The Area President Celebrate Their Cumplianos
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By far the best thing about our Mission here, is the people, especially those we work with, both Latinos & Americanos. They are so helpful, caring & friendly & have definitely made our first month here as good as it has been. In our next installment we'll tell you about our work.
