|
Dear friends,
it took quite a while to send out this first sign that we are still alive and kicking. We have arrived here perfectly and feel pretty much at home already.
After sitting in planes for 19 hours, we spent the first night in Lima, in a guesthouse of the jesuits. We didn't see much of Lima because we right away went to bed. The next morning we continued to fly to Chiclayo where we were picked up by Gaizko, the marketing manager of Radio Marañón. With his jeep we took a small tour through the city before we started the 5 hour drive over the Andes into the "sauna" Jaén. It's boiling hot here. Everybody here is eagerly waiting for the rain because the sun is extraordinary hot right now.
The first few days the radio paid for a hotel room. Since we arrived on a weekend it took a bit longer to find a place to live. On the other hand the term "weekend" doesn't really exist here. Sunday afternoon seems to be the only quiet time. At any other time the shops are open and life is as busy as always. Talking about busy: the streets are filled with so called "mototaxis" which is some kind of motorized riksha (how is that spelled?) or like a crossing between a motorcycle and a Hollywood couch. :-) Gaizko very fittingly compared it to a swarm of mosquitos. It's hard to describe how they speed through town. But everybody is using them - because of the heat and the burning sun. One trip costs 1 sol which is about US $0.30.
Saturday we took a look at a house for rent and Monday we signed the
contract. It's size is about 70 mē with a huge (but unfortunately hard to
use) entrance hall, a large kitchen, a relatively large bedroom (which can
be locked separately and is the most secure part of the house) and a really
nice garden of about the same size; with orange and lemon trees, one
coconut tree and rose bushes. It's too bad we don't know how to tell yet
when the fruits are eatable. We have tried one coconut, but it didn't
taste right yet. It probably still contained too much milk.
The whole house is relatively simple, e.g. shower and bathroom are in the garden. But we do have running water (most of the time) with enough preasure to take a shower. And we've got electricity (Jaén has its own hydro-electric plant) and even a phone line, but we decided that the fees are too expensive for us. There is a brick wall surrounding the garden with broken glass on top to keep out the uninvited (which seems to be a common sport here). Unfortunately this doesn't help at all against the many cucarachas (=cockroaches).
Of course the house was totally empty which was a small problem for us. The rent is already monthly US $100 which seems to be a lot for south america, but according to our helpful colleagues it was the cheapest solution for us. Alternatively we could have rented a single room. But then we would have had to go out to eat every day which would render more expensive in the end. Jaén is surprisingly expensive.
But we were lucky and personally got to know the bishop who had lots of furniture for us. Until the end of last year there was a house for religious voluntaries. Since it was pretty old they started to build a new one which won't be done before january, though. Since there is no use for the furniture from the old house the - really very friendly - bishop gave us all we wanted: even a complete kitchen including a gas stove and a fridge.
A few basic things are still missing, e.g. silverware and chairs. And we had to buy a bed (which wasn't cheap: US $160).
In the meantime we already have tried cooking. Pasta and canned sardines for lunch, rice with peas for dinner. Originally we wanted to have corn with it, but how in the world do you get the hard things eatable??? We have tried cooking them for half an hour. Maybe next time we'll try with oil in a pan. We might get popcorn which wouldn't be too bad either. :-) (Sidenote while proofreading: it worked!)
In the restaurants the serve mainly chicken or fish with rice. But on the street markets you can buy almost any vegetable that we know from Germany. But a lot more different kinds of potatos and rice. It will take us a while to try out everything. And there is lots of fruit too.
While moving in and carrying the furniture lots of people from the radio helped. And when we saw that everything was pretty dirty (because unused for almost a year) they started cleaning as well! Homero (vice-director of the radio) and his wife helped us until late at night. Soon a very nice woman from the neighborhood and her daughter came and started washing dishes.
In the radio they are very friendly also. Everybody started talking with us right away, but we didn't understand half of it. But it's getting better gradually. We are trying hard and the others, too. :-)
There is lots of work for us. After the first few days we haven't seen (and understood) all, but we know already that we won't get bored.
Andy already has revived the first printer (it was out of ink), has found out that a PC doesn't work anymore because the transformator is broken and just started taking two more PCs apart. They are urgently needed in the studio but seem to have never really been fully functioning. At the moment everything has to be controlled manually again. What causes lots of the problems for the PCs is the sand which is nearly everywhere.
Heidi got "her own office" today. It's a small room in the administration building. Gaizko told us that in the 24 years old radio there practically existed no organized administration for the last 8 years. Lucha, who has been in charge for a long time, somehow organizes everything, but there is no structured and organized controlling of projects.
It will take quite a while for both of us until we really can start our work here. First we have to watch, get to know the contexts and learn a lot (most important of all: Castellano!). It's a big challenge for us, to keep up with the expectations of the people here.
A few days have passed in the meantime. Yesterday, sunday, Paco - the director of Radio Marañón - took us on a trip into the surroundings of Jaén. With the jeep we climbed the mountains over bumpy streets up to 2400m. We had a wonderful view over the countryside and even saw the river Marañón. But we also got to know the negative aspects: the farmers are burning down huge parts of the woods to gain pastures for their sheep and cows. They haven't recognized yet that this will lead to a big problem of erosion. They are also risking the water supply of Jaén. The radio constantly tries to explain this to the farmers, and supposedly this has already lead to a decrease of the number of fires.
In the evening we drove to the Rio Marañón (the beach of Jaén :-). At end of summer (=dry period) the river is very small and calm. (a bit like the Isar in Munich). We are told that at the end of november the raining season will start, at the latest. Then the river will rise and be much more powerful. On the way down there we saw rice fields in all stages, mango and papaya trees, banana, coffee and cocoa plants and of course lots of coconut palms. On the way back in the dark (at 6:30pm it's pitch-black) we could easily see the fires in the mountains. Awful to see how the people ruin their own future.
These are our first impressions of the life on another continent. We have seen so much in these few days that it's impossible to ban everything on paper (or on screen ;-). Take a look at the attached pictures. Some of them speak for themselves.
"Muchos abrazos en la distancia" and don't forget us. (-:
Love
Heidi und Andy.
PS: As always, if one of you prefers not to get (thus large) letters from us, but doesn't tell us about it, it's his own fault. :-) The same is true for address changes.
| back |