Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Bad Days and Good Days

So my last blog reported on me having another bad day and another bad conversation about the frustrations of development work in developing countries. BUT the next day, was one of the best I've had at site. I spent most of the day with community members, some good friends, some old friends and I'm laughed a lot yesterday. I'm thankful that the time between good days and bad days is decreasing. I still wonder if I'm helping or hindering the process, but I believe that's a normal question. And for the time being, I can deal with the ambiguity of it all.

I received a call this morning from the community phone. We don't have phone lines in our houses. We just have on community phone where everyone receives there calls. Oh! And we don't have cell service either. So I received a call from the Peace Corps office in Lima telling me that my APCD will not be coming to visit my sites. Allegedly the sierra (the mountains - where I live at 10,000 feet) has received more rain this year than normal. Roads are washed out and travel has become very difficult. Also to make travel even more difficult, there is what seems to be a strike of Agricultural workers. They are blocking road ways in protest and some people have even been killed - probably accidents. But that's the reality of strikes in Peru. I bring this up, partly for everyone to understand the realities of life over here, and partly because one of my closest friends in coming to visit me in a couple of weeks. I'm really hoping the strike will reach an agreement or I will be unable to get to Lima to pick her up. The last time we spoke, on the phone, all she said was "Yeah there are things I want to do, but mostly I just want to hang out with you. So please just get here. That's all I'm asking." And because of the rains...it's hard to fly. And because of the strike...it's hard to get anywhere on land. Here's hoping two weeks solves the problem.

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