Subject: Hello from Peru Date:

Wednesday, January 19, 2000 12:23 PM

Hello everyone! This is going to be a short message, because I can't really figure out the keyboard, and it costs per minute...

First day - made it! What a day too. After flying all day, made it safely to Lima, and past the customs, met Fr David and Susan, who are both really witty, love to laugh, are smokers (tsk, tsk! Father David .. Reg's note) who inform me that we're going to drive all night, rather than spend the night in Lima.

Should have taken us seven hours to get to Moro, but at 3:40 in the morning, the traffic police stop us to ask us for help to pull a car out of the sand. Looked like he was trying to evade the highway toll by going around in his truck. Spent an hour trying to get the traffic police and then his truck (both were stuck) out of the ditch!

Kept driving. Had fried fish and rice for breakfast. It's amazing. The coast is totally sculpted sand mountains. It shocks me, but apparently it never rains down here, and although it feels like Vancouver, since the mountains are so close. And higher! One would think there'd be snow. Let alone vegetation. But that comes in strips - fertile crescents.

Lima was a cement city, amazingly lit up, we're talking lampposts on the corner of every building. And that smell... brought me back to Africa. It's amazing, I remembered being in Africa, different events, but I'd forgotten how life seems to move at a different pace, a different excitement (very evident at the 4 am escapade) not nearly so controlled.

The towns north of Lima (Moro is about 400 km north) were much more beautiful.

So now I'm in Moro. Beautiful priest's residence that Fr. David inherited from some other priests. Hot day. Went to sleep to the sound of a local bar playing loud music!

Anyway, I should go.... perhaps (after giving you all my canada.com address) it would be best if you wrote me at Fr David's address

frdavid@bitnet.com.pe

Anyway, love you all

Melanie

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