Hey all :)
Today is election day here in Peru, so we're having a low key day...
We slept in till 8am had some breakfast, met for devotions and had a little time to settle ourselves.
It rained all of last night and most of the morning so leaving the pond house was quite an adventure... The water was almost at the level of our steppingstones which made things a little tricky, and parts of our path we're completely submerged in water, dirty water which makes it all the more hilarious when the dogs come running by and splash you head to toe! My toms became a wet casualty because I'm not sure they'll ever dry out, not to mention after breakfast, when I was headed back to the pond house to change into a more practical outfit, I fell off of our hop-Scotch stones that lead out to the pond house and sank three inches deep in mud... After washing them twice their still a dirty dingy brown :(
We went out to Ari's burgers for lunch, it's right on the Plaza de Armas. It was good nice to get out in the city a little, we had a pleasant lunch getting to know the group better, once we were back at El Jardin we started planning and going over the work schedule for the next day, our first day working on site. This group is really amazing their building bathrooms for the church, teaching children's bible school, and running a medical clinic all in four days... We're going to be pretty busy and have to be up at 5am tomorrow...
Elections... I mention earlier it was the presidential elections here today in Peru, the original elections were in April, today's is a run off between Keiko and Ollanta...
Reporting from Lima, Peru— Divided and tense, Peruvians voted for president Sunday in a neck-and-neck election between two controversial candidates, either of whom will be forced to lead a weak, troubled government.
The runoff pits Keiko Fujimori, the conservative 36-year-old daughter of an imprisoned former president serving time for corruption and organizing death-squad killings, against Ollanta Humala, a leftist former military man whose talk of redistributing wealth terrifies Peru's traditional elite.
Both have had to fight to overcome multiple negatives from their past and to build credibility before a skeptical and dispirited public. Many Peruvians expressed dismay at the choice and some considered deliberately nullifying their ballot. Voting is mandatory in Peru.
Opinion polls on Saturday, which by law could not be published so close to the election, showed Humala, who has steadily harped on the theme of corruption, creeping slightly past Fujimori, who had until then maintained a tiny lead. But they continued in a statistical tie, which was expected to prolong the count.
"We all have to go out and vote without fear, with confidence and hope, and with enough memory," Humala said Sunday before voting.
Peru has one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America, sustained for a decade or more by high prices for minerals and other commodities. Its richest citizens have become very rich, a bustling middle class has emerged in cities and poverty has been reduced at the national level to 30% of the population. But poverty is twice that in parts of the long-neglected Andean highlands and jungles that are the source of much of the exported wealth.- BBC international News
I'll let you know how it turns out...
We're about to go over the medical clinic stuff have some dinner and go to church at 7 pm so I better go and get some stuff sorted now... But I hope you all take care and that you're enjoying reading my blog
Location:Iquitos
No comments:
Post a Comment