Inca Kola

After the excitement of yesterday, basically all of our plans for today fell through. I guess that's just how it works sometimes. Instead, tomorrow we'll meet with the Peace Corps volunteers (it's their swearing-in ceremony, so conveniently everyone will be there) and a rep from USAID, the international development arm of the US government.

I'm ready to just go there, the meetings just make me increasingly antsy. However, the logistics of our tour are proving more difficult to arrange than we anticipated. We can get a ride down with Marco and Diego's friends. Roads and bridges are damaged and the president has stopped flights for volunteers into the area, so access is an issue. Once there, what's the best way to tour - vehicle (who will drive, what are roads like), motorbike (more autonomy, but cold and we can't carry much), or regular bike (my heart will essplode out of my chest)? We don't have anyone who can translate for us. We're not getting a consistent idea of how self-sufficient we need to be with regards to security, shelter, food, and water.

Today we stopped by the South American Explorers clubhouse. If you are planning a South America tour, sign up with these people! The clubhouse is an oasis with internet, coffee, cookies, gear and books for trade, and maps, travel and trip reports, and books for reference. The office in Miraflores in Lima is staffed by a friendly guy named Miles, who helped us find some great maps and let us know about ways to publicize and recruit volunteers, if we set up a project. He also connected us with a grassroots relief group, Yanapaysaki Cuero Peruano de Ayuda, which has just done an assessment of one of the areas that is not receiving much aid or media attention. I'm working on getting in touch with them; they have specific project ideas which HODR could easily support.

We printed quick tshirts, so that we have something to identify us when we tour. Does anyone have a good translation of "earthquake relief volunteer"? It doesn't need to be literal, just convey the general meaning. Right now, we have "voluntario de ayuda general para terremoto." I think it's too long and too literal. Help!

It's winter here right now, and it's kind of cold. Think of the damp chill of San Francisco. It's hard to imagine doing an entire deployment in pants, I've been spoiled by the Asian tropics! We took a break tonight and went to watch a movie. We watched "Fracture," which was subtitled, not dubbed over in Spanish. (It was nice to turn off my brain.) The theater was basically like any American theater, except front and center on the stage were two huge speakers which played the sound for the movie. "License to Wed" isn't out here yet, and the people in the theater laughed really hard at the trailer. Conversely, I feel it's completely cringe-inducing.

We even got popcorn and soda. You can buy giganto-ridiculous portions, just like in the states. Soda-wise, the people here guzzle Inca Kola, a fizzy, bright yellow concoction which smells like bubble gum and tastes like Extra Joss, for those of you who were in Indo or the Philippines. The flavor is kind of like bubble gum, but really, not as gross as that sounds.

Ok, time to sleep.

Momentum

What a difference a day makes! Today we met with the country director of the World Food Program, checked in with the US Embassy, got tshirts printed up, arranged a potential ride down to the area, and met with two friends with connections to local NGOs and the government, who are contacts of a HODR volunteer.

We're starting to get a better sense of what the situation is in the Ica region, where the earthquake caused the most damage. The government of Peru is heavily involved in the relief effort, almost (or some would argue already at) the point of micromanaging the coordination, and creating additional bottlenecks. In the OCHA SitReps themselves, there are obvious contradictions between the reports from the government and the UN's observations. That's why speaking with so many different people is valuable, we get the fullest sense of the situation as we can.

Dinner with Diego and Marco (the two friends) was the most fun and interesting part of the whole day. Both are native Limeños who went to school in the US; they're intelligent, socially aware, articulate, well-connected, and really generous with their time. We shared a long conversation about the current relief efforts, the Peruvian government, social perceptions of NGOs, cultural cues, and more. It's a dialogue we hope to continue in the next couple days; these little nuggets give us a cultural context for our entire experience. Dinner was also my first introduction to Peruvian food - it's really good. If we do end up having a volunteer project here, I am so excited about our food prospects.

Day 1

Tuesday was unproductive. Other than getting SIM cards for our phones, we honestly weren't able to do much. It takes time to get communication going, setting up meetings and learning more about the situation.

When I was in the wireless store next to our hotel, a woman overheard my conversation with the sales rep and jumped in, saying she had a house in Ica (confusingly, this is the name of the region, the province, and the city, but in this case she meant the city) where we could stay if we needed. She had just returned to her home in Lima a day ago, and was so appreciative of the "work" that I was doing and the "help" I was giving. Humbling, as I ... haven't done anything yet. Also an amazing level of generosity to extend to a complete stranger. However, it's not so different from what happened in the beginning in the Philippines as well. Sometimes HODR feels like a beautiful exercise in serendipity and humanity.

So, what exactly are we doing? After getting ourselves oriented and establishing communication (I don't know how we'd do this if we couldn't send text messages!), we research the situation and make contact with the coordinating agencies and other relevant organizations. Reliefweb.int is the main information clearinghouse; it lists constant updates from all of the agencies working in the area. The UN OCHA Situation Reports give the best general overview, and I scour the other postings to find out if NGOs are doing things that we could help with. Yay, intarwebs.

We're also figuring out transportation and logistics for when we go tour - no commercial flights to the area, roads and bridges damaged, where do we stay, how do we get around once we're there, do we need to be self-sufficient with food and water, etc. I'm also trying to learn Spanish. Que lastima.

Here I go, again

So. I realize that my last entry is when I left for the Philippines, last December. Oops.

The update: I'm in Peru! A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the central coast here on August 15, 2007, causing upwards of 500 deaths and flattening a 200+ mile stretch of cities and towns. HODR decided to deploy on Saturday, I flew from Honduras to Houston on Sunday (I was in Roatan for a two week holiday), and landed in Lima on Monday. What craziness!

After collecting our bags, Marc (operations director) and I zipped through Lima in a taxi, passing through a nondescript part of the city under a midnight veil. Suddenly, everything up ahead was dark - the Pacific ocean. I couldn't make everything out, but can only imagine how beautiful the cliffs and beach are during the day. (I'm still imagining. There's not going to be any sightseeing anytime soon.) One pedestrian crossing sign showed the silhouette of a person carrying a surfboard. Fun!

One interesting thing: the cliffside road fronting the ocean, had numerous signs saying that cellphone use is prohibited in that area. Wonder what that's all about.