Bienvenido a Perú

I spent July 18 to September 22, 2003 in Perú working with the Anglican Diocese of Perú.  It was a great experience!  Even though I thought I would work in the shanty towns of Lima and didn't, I enjoyed my experience and learned  a lot.  My task was to develop a new website for the Diocese of Perú.  In doing so, I was charged with familiarizing myself with the clergy and people of the Diocese.  Not only did I learn factual things about the Diocese, but I learned a lot about priesthood.  Some of you where lucky enough have read some of those reflections.

Perú is a 3rd-world country in South America.  Not many people in the UK and the US realize that Perú is still a 3rd-world country.  Over 50% of the population lives in poverty.  It's abject poverty like few, if any, of you have ever seen.  Houses are made from scraps of cardboard, plastic, or metal.  Sometimes they are made from estrella, which is woven leaves of something, I think onions.  Lima is a desert on the coast, not a lush green paradise like Hawaii, even though it falls within the Tropics.  Its winter, which is when I was there, is grey and cold and damp, but it refuses to rain, making it a desert climate.  I like cold grey weather, which is why I like the California coast.  But in Lima, with the lack of green lawns, trees, and flowers, and with high pollution, everything is dingy and depressing.  The fog rarely lifts enough to see either the mountains or the ocean.

Despite the environment, and despite the high crime and the fact that all the houses are behind fences and locked gates (even many of the houses in the shanty towns), the people, one-on-one, are the nicest people I've met in the world.  No one has ever been so hospitable as the Peruvian people are when you enter their home or visit them.  It's a great place.  I could share more, but you'd get bored.

This website serves simply as a photo gallery of my time in Perú.  As you go through the site, you will encounter a series of slideshows.  Most slideshows are 10 photos.  However, two slideshows are much bigger, and will take longer to load, especially if you are on dial-up.  I hope you enjoy the photos.  And please feel free to contact me.