Hands On Disaster Relief in Pisco

While I was at my hostel in Lima, I met a girl who had just come back from volunteering in Pisco, the area that was devastated by a huge earthquake the day I arrived to South America. The organization and the work they are doing in Pisco sounded amazing and I decided that I had to go down and lend a hand.

There are about 50 volunteers in Pisco right now with HODR and we all live in a big volunteer house (which actually used to be a restaurant). They rebuilt the walls after the quake and added a couple of showers. I actually sleep in a property across the street which they just added. It´s basically a gutted out building with bunks. We make our own breakfast, but they provide eggs, bread, and oatmeal. And they provide lunch and dinner for us. We have a nightly meeting around the fire after dinner to discuss the projects that are being worked on and what we have coming up. It´s a wonderful experience and a wonderful organization and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.

Getting ready to get started with a hard days work. Most of the jobs right now are clearing rubble and debris and knocking down unsafe buildings and walls so that people can move out of the refugee camps and back to their lots. Once the lot is cleared, the next step is to help them set up modular homes or tents.Salvation Army refugee camp where we eat lunch when we are working in Pisco center. Although, we don´t get too much rest because the kids come in and jump all over us!On Friday, we did a beach clean up project in conjunction with some of the kids from a local school. To our surprise, the coast guard showed up with t-shirts for the kids. They were so excited!

The other day I had my first day at one of the Ludotecas. These are areas sponsored by Unicef that provide toys and a place for the children in the refugee camps to come and play.

Another volunteer, "Jolly," horsing around.

Playing memory. The beat me.

They were given a whole set of new toys in the afternoon which they were so excited about!

Ghost Town, Peru

So the Sunday that I was in Lima, was the day of the big Censo Nacional (National Census). What was that I heard you murmur? "What´s the big deal?" Well, in South America EVERYTHING is a big deal. First of all, no one is allowed to leave their house from 7am-6pm on the day of the Censo. They have to sit and wait for a census person to come to the house and read the questions in person. What did this mean for Sarah? Complete and utter boredom. Hmmm, I´m hungry, let me go out and buy some food. Oh, wait, all the supermarkets and restaurants are closed because everyone is stuck in their house. Well, let me catch a bus to Centro Lima and walk around. Oh, wait. No buses. No drivers. Alright, I´ll just walk to the park and find a nice Limeño to chat with. Oh yeah, there are no people at the park...there are no people anywhere.

Come on Peru. Do we really need to imprison everyone for a day? There has to be a way to incorporate mail, e-file, census stations, something...

The eerily deserted streets of a city usually bustling with 9 million people. Is that a tumbleweed that just rolled by? It was really bizarre because the only people walking around outside were tourists! For the first time, the gringos were in the majority!Even the casinos were empty...and the Peruvians LOVE their casinos.

In other news, the day before the Censo I went to visit a family that my friend Joan has known for more than 20 years (Joan is graciously watching my CRAZY cat while I am away).

With Zulma and Rosa
They have three awesome dogs, so I had a lot of fun there!
The Dogs´ House:MyHouse:
Do we notice any similarities between the living arrangements? This is when you know it is time to change hostels!
View of Lima from Comas, the neighborhood outside of Central Lima where they live.
Baby Luis Angel. SO cute!


Ok, this is their VERY cool dog Alaska demonstrating what she does whenever you ask her "what do you want?" (In Spanish, of course!)

Crazy Twitchers & Swimming with the Seal Lions!

First, I would like to announce, that after spending two days in the 9-bunk closet at Stop and Drop Hostal, I have changed to a fabulous hostal, the Flying Dog. Which is the same price and includes breakfast at the restaurant next door!Sign in my new hostal:

Pisco is Peruvian.

The long-standing pisco duel between Peru and Chile continues...

As my time in Lima was coming to an end, I decided to sign up to go swimming with the sea lions at Isla Palmino.

But before I can get to the sea lions, I have to talk about the Twitchers.

WARNING: The following material is for mature audiences only. To view, you must be at least 18 years of age, or accompanied by an adult or legal guardian.

My story begins as I board the boat for my tour, filled with anticipation and excitment about swimming with the sea lions. I pay no attention to what looks like a typical group of camera-toting-large-brim-hat-wearing European tourists. But soon I start to notice something is wrong, very wrong...

Immediately, this guide pops out of nowhere with an electronic GPS and starts pointing out birds left and right. "Peruvian Boobies, 2:00. Comorant, 12:00. Pelican, 6:00." Suddenly, binoculars are being whipped around left and right. Everyone is talking about things I don´t understand like, "I think that is a Petrel Pelecanoides garnotii." And responding with, "NO! They have a darker back and are only found 35 nautical miles off shore!"

I start panicking. Oh my god! Did I get on the wrong tour? Where are the sea lions? Why am I not hearing about what the sea lions like to eat or why there are 6500 of them flopping around the little island we are supposedly heading to? Something...anything about the sea lions.

While I am pondering this, some bird is annouced to be flying at 4:00 and suddenly lenses that should only be carried by photojournalists for National Geographic are being whipped out of the large-brim-hat-wearing-tourists´ back packs.

Alright. Am I being Punked? Someone just pulled out a tripod on the boat. I´m definately being Punked.

I decide that I need to take action before I am abducted by this crazy group of bird-watchers, or worse, chopped up and thrown into the ocean in an attempt to attract some new meat-eating birds for viewing.

I decide to try to make contact with the one carrying the smallest camera.

ME: "Umm, excuse me, is this the sea lion tour?"

SMALL CAMERA FEMALE: Confusion

ME: "Are you all together?"

SMALL CAMERA FEMALE: "Yes, we are from Britain. We are on a 17 day bird-watching tour of Peru."

ME: "And is that your group´s personal guide?" I motion to the guy with the GPS.

SMALL CAMERA FEMALE: "Yes!"

It is at this point that I notice the REAL guide for what is NORMALLY the sea lion tour cowering in the rear of the boat.

Anyway, we chat for a bit and she talks a little bit about bird-watching which includes a mention of "twitchers," who are apparently the most fanatical bird watchers. I guess they travel the world and study weather and migratory patterns so that they can spot as many rare birds as possible. Why? I have no idea...maybe the twitcher with the biggest list at the end of his life gets bragging rights. Anyway, she insists that none of THEM are twitchers. Yet, the whole time on the boat, lists are being made and names of birds are being checked off.

I am frightened by this crazy subculture of bird watchers. When I tell them I find it bizarre how they don´t even really care to watch the birds, only spot them for one second and cross them off some list, I am met with the response that I am more of a bird watcher then. from this point on, I decide to sit quietly until we reach the sea lions, go for my swim, and then sit quietly out of sight on the way home. But I am secretly pondering how I am going to make a horror movie titled, Twitchers: The Kill of the Chase.

An excerpt from Wikipedia:

"Twitching" is a British term used to mean "the pursuit of a previously located rare bird". The end goal of twitching is often to accumulate species on one's lists. Some birders engage in competition with one another to accumulate the most prolific species list.

In the United Kingdom there exists a particular twitchers' vocabulary which is surprisingly well-developed and potentially confusing to the uninitiated. In the UK for example, "dipping" is the act of missing a rare bird you attempted to see, "gripped off" is how you feel when other twitchers see a particular bird but you did not, "suppression" is the act of concealing news or location of a rare bird from other twitchers, and a "dude" is someone who is uneducated or ill-informed about rare birds. Similar vocabularies have developed in other countries where twitching is popular.

The extent of my bird watching!PerlicansOK, now onto the main event. The sea lions! This is the little island of Palomino which is COMPLETELY covered in sea lions!! See all those little specks? The fishy smell that comes off this island is suffocating!! And all the lions are barking and making noise...it is so LOUD!Getting closer...Wet suit on and ready to jump into the cold water!
Ok. I´m in. Now time to swim closer!

This had to be the most bizarre experience of my life. But it was fabulous! They are splashing all around you and whipping you with their tail. Some of them just sit and poke their head out of the water and stare at you. Others flop around barking really loudly!