(copying this out of my journal, so it's written in the present)

Today has been a long day... but quite an experience!

Rocio arrived at my apartment just before noon. After a quick errand we then to a taxi to the district of Santa Anita, about 20 mins away. There we met up with Alex and a new friend (to me), Josue. Josue is a good friend of Alex and they have been working together for a number of years with various community service type projects.

From Santa Anita we took another taxi for about an hour to the town of Chosica. Chosica is a beautiful place known for its year-round warm temperatures and numerous pools/waterparks/resorts.

Here in Chosica we at lunch while waiting for Rocio's co-worker, Saul, to arrive with the truck. I ate a wonderful dish called Pollo a la Brasa. It's basically rotisserie grilled chicken with various (AWESOME) Peruvian spices. Very good!!

Soon Saul arrived and we all packed into the small Toyota 4x4 and headed for the hills! The road wasn't too bad at first, probably a bit above normal Peruvian standards actually... but then we turned...

The sign said San Damián... one of our destinations. The road was more like a small alley, barely big enough for the truck. After a couple of seemingly random turns I laid eyes on the road that would take us up into the Peruvian Andes.

Gravel. Dirt. Rocks. Boulders... this should be fun... how long until we get to our first stop? 3 hours? On this road? Definitely fun... :-)

This road was not for the faint of heart. It's steep, one lane, and the surface doesn't give a lot of comfort with regards to traction. Almost every corner of any significance was a switchback taking us ever higher into the mountains and on just about every switchback stood one or more small crosses, inscribed with the names of those who'd lost their lives on the road. In one place there were 6. We only saw/passed two other cars on the first leg. Good thing, my nerves couldn't have handled much more side by side passing!

We stopped numerous times to take photos along the rugged countryside. We saw a huge condor perched on a rock and we saw a fox scamper across the road in front of us, both disappearing before anyone could capture them on camera.

And we kept going up and up and up. The Andes are incredible. No matter where you are it seems there is always somewhere higher you could be.

We passed through one small village, stopping of course to take a few photos. We only saw a handful of people in town. Most of them would have been out in the fields working. I wonder how often they see a Gringo like me in their community. Judging by the long looks, I'm guessing not that often. :-)

From there we pushed on to our first destination, Tupicocha, where Rocio and Saul's NGO, IDMA, has been working for some time.

On the outskirts of town we picked up a young girl walking. Saul seemed to know her. She rode the rest of the way into town in the bed of the truck and we began making our way through the narrow streets. Soon we stopped, the girl went on her way and I was told that we were at the store that contained the only public telephone in the entire village (1 phone!). Rocio wanted to make a call to her office so she knocked on the closed/locked door. After a couple minutes with no answer we moved on. Apparently it was pretty normal for the store owner not to be there, making the phone available for only a couple hours per day.

Our next stop was the home of Carlos, the President of the community's youth organization with which IDMA works closely. He was summoned from inside by about a solid minute of Raul blasting the truck's horn (another common activity in Peru). After a few minutes of conversation we got the keys to the youth 'building' from Carlos and then headed for the town plaza.

No matter how big or small the town in Peru, there is always a Plaza. I love this. Generally, you'll find a nice park of varying size, lots of kids playing and the municipal buildings.

The latter is what we were after. Saul disappeared inside and after a couple minutes his voice came booming over a loudspeaker, broadcasting to the entire village. Rocio explained that this was the only way they really had to get information out everyone. Saul was announcing a meeting for the young people of the village as part of their program, in about an hours time (6:30pm).

After the announcement we made our way back to the youth building to open up. Really it's just a small (roughly 50x25') room with a few chairs, a desk and a whiteboard.

As is the Peruvian custom, we got started about an hour late. :-) After brief introductions Alex and Josue were invited to share some of their experiences in working with young people in other regions and some of the programs they've put on. Strong emphasis was placed on community and individual development. Alex had brought along a slideshow as well which the kids seem to enjoy. Not surprising considering many of were him and others dressed up as clowns doing skits! After Alex and Josue finished up, we had a little cafecito and pan, another common occurrence here in Peru.

By this time it was about 9pm or so, maybe a bit later. It was getting cold and we still had to continue on to San Damián, another 2 hours down the road, where we would be sleeping that night.

Back into the truck and back on the road, another passenger in the back. Had we not been driving on to San Damián, the young man we gave a lift to would have had to walk 30mins or more in the pitch black to his house! Crazy.

Anyway, we continued on... winding and bumping our way deeper into the mountains. After about 30 minutes we came to a sign that said Welcome to San Damian. We could see the lights of the pueblo just a little off in the distance.

Make that a LONG waaay off. It took us another HOUR to get to San Damian!

Finally we pulled into the tiny village, exhausted, and parked the truck. Saul shot off a couple of blasts on the horn (yes at 11+pm in a tiny mountain village) to try to summon Esperanza, who was supposed to be letting us into the building where we were sleeping. No luck, so Saul went off to search for her.

Meanwhile, the rest of us got out and stretched a bit. After about 5 hours total in that truck, my limbs were feeling pretty tired!

Finally Esperanza showed up with the key to the building and the keys to our rooms. The accommodations are pretty basic. Each room has 3 beds, but there were enough rooms so that Rocio, Saul and myself got our own. Alex and Josue have to share. The bed is pretty hard... I hope I'm able to get a decent nights sleep.

I've finally started to notice the altitude. We're at about 3200m or so (10,500 ft). That, coupled with the fact that Rocio says this building is haunted (the whole village is apparently built on top of an old cemetery of some sort) should make for an interesting night.

Lights out...