Pisco Sin Fronteras

This past weekend we drove down the Panamerican Highway to the town of Pisco, located about 3 hours south of Lima.

Pisco has long been a poor town. It gets its name from the fact that it is a shipping port for pisco, an alcohol made from grapes that is the basis of the wonderful Peruvian invention, the pisco sour. In August 2007, Pisco and surrounding towns were devasted by a huge earthquake, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale that lasted several minutes. Much of the town, ranging from the cathedral to schools and homes was flattened. Many people died, including those gathered in the cathedral for evening mass. Following the earthquake, there was a huge Tsunami (Pisco is on the coast) which covered parts of the town in 1-2 meters of water.

Like New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast in the US following Hurricane Katrina, there was an initial outpouring of money, attention, and volunteer help in Pisco. But the political and bureaucratic conditions are such that very little progress has been made. Two years later, women still recover from childbirth in big tents, that serve as a hospital. Children go to school only half the day, and some use shelters that were built as temporary units because the schools have not been rebuilt.

Many of the nonprofit organizations have left. But a group called Pisco Sin Fronteras remains. This is where Jeremy is doing volunteer work for a few months, laying bricks, pouring cement, and making friends with fellow volunteers. It is a good organization, which manages to do much with very few resources. Their's is an interesting story and I invite you to look them up: http://www.piscosinfronteras.org/

Here is Jeremy with two fellow volunteers. They are on the Plaza del Armas (central square) in front of the cathedral, which was heavily damaged during the quake.

I've tried to load this photo twice. For some reason it's loading sideways, though the original is in the right direction. So you'll just have to tilt your head, I guess. Anyway, we caught up with each other for lunch in Paracas on Sunday. Jeremy had spent the night camping with fellow volunteers in the Paracas natural reserve. Britt, Addison, and I splurged and stayed at our favorite plush getaway, the Paracas Hilton - a world away from the scene in Pisco.

This is the garden/courtyard (such as it is) in the Pisco Sin Fronteras building. The t-shirts say a lot about the feelings and good will of the people who pass through to help.

Another Pisco Sin Fronteras still life. They do much with little. The truck's lights don't work. To go uphill the passengers have to jump out of the back and push. But it gets them to the worksites.

Here is the entrance to one of the Pisco Sin Fronteras buildings. It's mainly composed of rooms with bunkbeds for volunteers. They can house up to 50 volunteers at a time. The building was previously a day care center and primary school.

Here is a street in Pisco with houses that have been repaired. The streets were originally all paved, but the pavement was destroyed by the tidal wave that followed the quake. Most rebuilt houses are one story and have rebar sticking out the roof, in the hope that some day there will be bricks and mortar to add a second story. Many people have not been able to rebuild their homes. So they live with relatives or in vast shantytowns of shacks made of sticks and recycled junk. The government has built walls in front of the shantytowns so that they are less obvious from main roads. The director of Pisco Sin Fronteras equates his work with the story of the Three Little Pigs - saying his goal is to help people move from the houses of straw and sticks to the ones made of bricks. Plumbing and electricity may come later. It's about as uncertain as the rebar sticking out from the first floors.