7: 20 AM - Meet others at Plaza at. 12 of us pile into truck, 7 in the truck, 5 in the flatbed. Uncomfortable drive to the Mangrove Sanctuary. Tired and squished in backseat. Left leg asleep. I wish I was.
8: 15 AM - Arrive at Algarrobo guardpost. Mill around. Tired still but waking up. Left leg too.
8:45 AM - Erik, Peruvian colleague in charge of Tourism, tells me about cultural poverty. He says the poverty here on the coast is not the same as the poverty in the Andes and in the jungle. Here near the mangroves and coast, these people have it easy. They live on 15 soles (less than 3 dollars) a day. In the Andes and the jungle, the people live on 1 or 2 soles (50 cents) a day. Here, the luxury of living near such a productive environment like the mangroves means that people can go fishing for a few hours and haul 60 soles worth of fish, allowing them to spend 45 soles on booze and waste the rest of their day drinking it.
We did see some 15 year olds boozing on our way here. And it's before 9 AM.
According to Erik, this is one of the obstacles holding Peru and Latin America back. This is a country and continent whose abundance in resources has led to stalled development. Hmmmm...logical. Unsure if I agree.
He says the people need education, so they can stop mindlessly following stagnant cultural examples.
I tell him I agree. I tell him as best as I can that I've seen people whose parents pay for their university, party every day and drop out because the worse that can happen isn't that bad and so they don't see the incentive in working hard and getting a degree. Meanwhile, some people work part-time to support their tuition and come out with flying colors. And then there's everyone in between. He tells me a joke about Henry Ford's son. I think of Paris Hilton as a representative example of the child of a millionaire.
9:30 AM - I am finally wide awake. People from the different associations start to file in.
In total, 30 people come to take part in the workshop. 4 women. I follow the guy in the cowboy hat around for a while. He's got a great toothless smile that I didn't get a shot of.
10:10 AM - Everyone stands up and introduces themselves. Dante, colleague in charge of Environment, explains the importance of the mangroves and why we are here today. Surrounding the mangrove reserve is dry forest, an important ecosystem. Many of these people are land owners, farmers whose land around the mangroves provides a buffer against the contamination from human activity.
These are not the people who waste their money on booze. Their dollars come from the hard labour of farming within uncooperative crops in a harsh environment.
People listen intently, man in cowboy hat included. They seem really interested.
11 AM - Refreshments are served. Spilled pop means a party for ants, lined up like gazelles and giraffes at an African watering hole.
I mercilessly kill one ant to see what other ants will make of it. There is temporary chaos and I lose track of the body. Drinking of 'Real Kola' continues, humans and ants together. No 'Real Kola Lite' here. Orange, sugary, carbonated deliciousness. Not short on sugar.
11:15 AM - The meeting continues. The people are broken up into their respective associations. First task of the day is to make a map of all the land of which they have ownership of. In other words, arts and crafts. They break out the color markers, scissors, pencils, rulers. Fun is cowboy hats, drawing things and group work.
12:20 PM - Under the great Algarrobo tree for which this guard post was named, people present their maps and biggest problems with farming in this dry area without water.
The main problem for most of them is irrigation. There are only a few months per year where they can grow anything and the crops are fruits with roots deep enough to survive throughout the dry season. Most of the year between March and September is unproductive and people want a complimentary source of income. Digging a well and irrigation would cost a lot. MEDA wants to incorporate these ideas to help with reverting area to dry forest.1:15 PM - Lunch is served. It is food.
Afterwards, people resume the arts and craft session with maps of their ideal farms in 5 years time. Before and after depicted below.
3 PM - Last task of the day is more drawing. People draw a map of actors, people or organisations they are involved in.
The day winds down. Closing ceremony, group picture and lots of applause and laughs. It's a happy time. Click on the picture and try to find me, I blend right in.
I'll send a postcard to the first person who can point me out, regardless of whether I know you or not. Seriously, anyone, answer in the comments.
4 PM - The heat of the day is dissipating. Participants collect their travel stipend and then pile into their trucks to leave. Dogs bark and chase as the wheels kick up dust.
4:10 PM - I check on the ants at Lake Real Kola. All gone. I assume even they left happy.
6 comments:
Sorry, el chino, but your sister got to the comments before anyone else and could point with her eyes closed to the grinning guy in green holding the MEDA sign.
You can kind of see Cowboy smiling in a profile-side sort of way in one of your pics, which made my day, as did your other post and its funny and apt observations about cultural adjustment.
Yay -- now we get a second postcard from you from Peru!
Grammatically speaking, it's just chino.
Figures you'd be first. You might be the only person who visits regularly.
I was hoping maybe you hadn't received the first postcard and I could be sneaky. Oh well, second one is in the mail, metaphorically.
Hey don't say that!!I do check ur blog once a week and show the pics to my colleagues, im so proud that i have a friend who's actually doing something meaningful in Peru!Ur blog puts a smile on my face when im locked up in a tiny meeting room doing auditing work till midnite!!And i could spot u too in that pic, so do i get a postcard too??haha
Wow, thanks Shawna. Yes, for sure I'll send you a postcard. Email me your address.
Man, I've been collecting postcards since I was 10. And I recommend your blog on my blog. That's a lot of respect shown by a guy who doesn't have this much respect for a lot of people.
I need to see the countryside in the rest of Cameroon. Here in the South, poverty is like what you describe near the mangroves, worst case is not that bad, well maybe until you get sick. The ones I met are almost done selling the tropical wood that's in their backyard, but even if they have nothing they'll manage because avocado, mango and a couple of other things grow like weeds. And I don't mean......
Postcard. Please. I thought I'd send you some when you have a reliable address - one that's not in the third world. Mail from #88 -> #47 (GDP PPP) => lower success rates. 88 & 47, not THAT bad actually, I just realized.
bullshit.
thought so, no way.
per capita they're #135 and #84.
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