an update

23/12/2009

Neat things that have happened lately:

Went to Arequipa, climbed a volcano, conquered the world´s deepest canyon on foot, saw an Incan mummy, ate some turkey. A solid week all-around.

Hung out in Lima. Had some meetings, got my teeth cleaned. Ate sushi. Watched football. Surfed.

Made nice with the jerks up the hill who play the music at 4AM by helping clean their water system and extracting a 2 meter-long mass of roots that was blocking the pipes.

Suited up in the first-ever Chalaco-Santo Domingo basketball challenge. Good luck next time, chumps.

Held meetings in two villages about upcoming composting-latrine projects. Weird enough to think about composting your crap no matter who you are, much less when you´ve been squatting over a hole in the ground your whole life.

It started raining. Rubber boots are in. As are played-out comments about the weather.

Was forced into giving my English students a “real” test. Results were devastating, and pretty much meaningless.

Was the “godfather” of the English students´ graduating class party. We went to mass, then we got down.

Tried several times to do a radio show on HIV/AIDS, a good three weeks after World AIDS Day. Didn´t work out, postponed til January. Which in Peru, would still be on time.

My 8-month-old dog knocked up a she-dog. I didn´t even know he had all the pieces in place. Good on ya, bud.

Helped out with a Christmas party, or chocolatada, for about 75 kids. I don´t know why fruitcake gets such a bad rap, cause I love that stuff.

Went to my buddy Hagan´s site, packed to the gills with his Christmas wish-list of: a hand-woven poncho, two bottles of specialty Chalaco sugar cane liquor, and two handmade stabbing knives called chavetas. Saw the Ecuadorean border. Neat.

Watched Frost/Nixon. Great movie.

Got a real nice wife-beater sunburn. Goes well with the mustache.

Decorated our Christmas tree with the family. Actually, it´s more like a branch they stuck in an old paint can.

Was informed of the most recent Mateo rumor in the villages: that I sometimes work with the government welfare program JUNTOS to try and fatten the kids up so I can steal them to work in the mines that I allegedly own.

Countdown to ´mer-kuh: 2 days.