September 24, 2005

Hello family and friends!

I thought I'd write about the sounds of living in our house in Alto Trujillo.  But first, some people have asked for more details about what our house looks like, so click here to see that AND photos of our new guard dog/puppy, a cross between a german shepherd and a siberian husky.

First of all, Alto Trujillo is noisy!  Particularly in comparison to living in Jerome.  The roosters start crowing LOUDLY at 5 am, seemingly taking breaths in unison, then squaking again. Then the vendors come and everyone makes his or her own unique sound.  My favorite is the bread lady (who comes at 6 am to our door).  I frequently greet her in my pajamas. She walks around honking a horn that I think she took off a child's bicycle.

The garbage collectors bang a pipe, making a hollow clanging sound.  They don't have a regular schedule. Everyone has their trash ready all the time and we rush out our doors when we hear them, draging our trash behind us. They travel quickly, so those who aren't "johnny on the spot" get to keep their trash until the next pickup, whenever that may be.  It's not an option to leave our trash on the curb, because there is no curb!

The guy selling papayas, oranges, etc., proclaims his presence with a loud-speaker that sounds like a SWAT team preparing to break through the windows.  Or at least that's what I thought the first time I heard him.  The guy selling fish does the same thing.

You can always hear music playing from somewhere and the sound of the people walking through the streets.  The buses and colectivos (passager-sized cars that drive routes) zoom noisily on the roads. Dogs bark all the time, which comforts us all, because dogs are the first line of defense against robbers. Many people have multiple dogs.  First, there is the "roof dog" who serves as the early warning system when someone approaches the front door (all roofs are flat since it almost never rains here and the dogs just live up there).  Most people have several dogs confined to their compound who roam around outside the house.  A few even have dogs inside for the when the robbers penetrate the other defense systems.

Noticeably absent is the sound of sirens.  Emergency vehicles don't come up our way.  

We travel to Lima (8 hour bus trip) on Sunday the 24th, to get Hannah's documents granting  her permission to live in Peru.  We did that once before to get Ralph's and my documents.  It involves standing in lots of long lines and plenty of patience.  Barring a national transportation strike (which is supposed to happen on Monday), we'll be back in Alto Trujillo mid-week.

Have a great week!  Let us continue to pray for one another and the poor of the world.

Ralph and Theresa May