Blogging Brother Brian

It has been awhile since I posted, sorry. I have been rather busy this past month wrapping up my stay here in Peru. What an amazing 10 months it has been. I am not sure where the time has gone, after Christmas it went so fast. I leave tonight on an overnight return flight the USA.

This past month, I spent an amazing week in Otuzco, Peru, this is where the Marianists have a radio station, pastoral formation center and civil society organization that works with protecting the human rights of the campesinos. I really enjoyed my stay, will upload the photos soon. I also was interviewed on the radio and if I can figure out how to upload the sound file, will share that with you as well.

I have had a number of good-bye celebrations, all really wonderful gatherings. The brothers hosted a BBQ on Saturday and the Institute had a potluck lunch yesterday. I am looking forward to seeing my family and fellow brothers in the Province of the USA. Lots of exciting things coming up for me. I was approved a few weeks ago to profess my perpetual vows in the Society of Mary, in other words I am staying put for life with the Marianists. I am very excited about the celebration, it will be in October. I will also be starting a new job at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. It will be in the Pastoral department with a focus on social justice programing and the promotion of Catholic Social Teaching. I am looking forward to this new ministerial challenge and to living in San Antonio (it is a beautiful city, hot in the summer, thank goodness for AC).

I will continue blogging once back in the USA. I hope to be more regular with my postings. Please pray for my safe travels this evening. Know you are in my thoughts and prayers. Hope to share more about the impact of this year in upcoming postings. Un abrazo!

Wow!!!! What a trip it was. I spent nine days exploring the Southern part of Peru. I have now experience the three major ecological zones of Peru, the coast, the mountains and the jungle. This country contains more species of animals and planets than any other on the planet. It truly is an amazing place. I can’t say enough about the Amazon jungle and its immensity. It teems with life, it is a true witness to God’s creation. Cusco and Machu Picchu were also an amazing experience. The history of the Incas and their development is fascinating. I took tons of photos and have posted some to flicker. Click on one of the photos on the right to be taken to the site and check them all out.

This week has been a little crazy in Lima. Peru is hosting the APEC meetings this year, there are two major meetings, one in May and the other in October. The May meeting was yesterday and today. There are heads of state from 40 nations in Latin America and Europe. They are looking at issues of poverty and climate change. This has meant a bit of a headache in terms of traffic. Lots of streets closed for security purposes. They did declare yesterday and today as holidays and so there have been less people out and about, but still a bit of nightmare.

I leave this evening for Otuzco. I will spend the week at our Pastoral formation center there in the mountains of La Libertad, a province in the northern part of the country. I am looking forward to my time there. Once I return to Lima next Friday, I will have just about two weeks left here in Peru before returning to the USA. Wow, how time flies. Know of my thoughts and prayers for you all. Please keep me in your prayer.

I leave in the morning for 4 days in the Amazon jungle and 5 days in Cusco/Machu Picchu (the ancient capital of the Inca Empire). I am very excited about the trip. I will take lots of pictures. Any will keep a journal along the way and post some things when I get back. Pray for my safe passage and that I will experience the wonders of God’s creation in new and unimaginable ways during this journey. Know I carry you with me as I make the sacred trek to Machu Picchu. Peace be with you all!

One thing I hoped to share more through my blog was some of the day to day realities of Peru. I realize I was not very successful at this, although it was a good idea. So better late than never, I thought I would share some of the things I find strikingly different or challenging from the developed world or what some may call the over developed world.

Graffiti is a big problem in Callao, were I work and until recently lived. Young teens with free time and gang members tend to spray paint any blank or freshly painted wall. Sometimes with gang symbols and messages, but more than not with the initials of their favorite futbol (soccer) team. In the case of Callao, that would be the Sports Boys. Many people take precautions to avoid this happening to their house or business. One way to protect your structure is to use ceramic title on the front of your building, either the paint won’t stick or it is easy to clean off. SOOO… when I recently saw a local municipality within Callao advertising a Graffiti workshop for teens during the summer holidays I thought to myself what absolutely ridiculous idea considering the problem that they face. I guess one way to look at it is if we can’t stop them we should at least teach them how to create beautiful graffiti. Who knows, still remains a mystery to me.

There was an article a few weeks ago in one of the papers that highlighted the major transportation challenges that are faced by the citizens of Lima. It is estimated that Limeñians will spend 4.5 years of their life in a combi or micro (small van or bus). That is a long time!!! The average commute per day is about 2 hours. Transportation is extremely disorganized and can be a bit overwhelming when coming from the USA where for the most part our public transportation is fairly orderly. The result is a bunch of buses and small vans on the same route racing from point A to Point B and trying to pick up as many riders along the way as possible. Occasionally they will stop and let someone off, but it is more like a pause (LOL). It also means that there are literally thousands of buses and vans on the roads, making traffic a nightmare and I haven’t even begin to imagine what it is doing to the air quality. I know that it is poor, but not sure how poor. Don’t forget there are hundreds of thousands of taxis on the streets everyday as well.

Lima really needs a metro or light-rail system. There is a half built rail system that was started during the first Garcia administration nearly 20 years ago. Supposedly they are to finish seven more stations and begin the operation of this system but who knows when that will be. In the last year or so they built a road system that runs north - south that will be used exclusively by large buses to transport passengers, but the project still needs stations (beyond the gigantic underground station that is being built in the center of downtown) and they have yet to purchase the buses, so who knows when this will be complete and last I read they were arguing over the financing of the project. As long as the owners of the private transportation companies can pass a few bucks of those in Congress, the future of orderly public transportation remains bleak.

So your wondering what is the commonality between graffiti and transportation. Well I think it is the frustration I and so many others experience at the lack of the ability to do critical reflection on the needs of the population of Lima and Peru in general. If we find graffiti to be unsightly why do we sponsor workshops to promote it’s use? If we believe that orderly and efficient public transportation is a critical need of this city, then why not solve this issue? Unfortunately the simple answer to my questions is… Money! The status quo remains because people are greedy.

My trip… I postponed my trip to the jungle and Machu Picchu until this coming Sunday. I will spend four days in the province of Madre de Dios (the Amazon jungle) and then on to Cusco where I will spend five days, with part of the time at Machu Picchu. Looking forward to it and promise lots of photos upon my return. Pray for my safe journey.

You might remember at the end of February I traveled by train to Huancayo, Peru, in the Central Andes. While on the train a Peruvian television program (Domingo Al Día) was filming a report about the train trip. Guess what??? Yep, I made into the video. Really I wasn’t trying… it just happened. The links to the YouTube videos are below. Wasn’t able to get them embedded directly into my blog. I am mostly in the second video, about 50 seconds in and then again toward end. We sure did have fun, as the videos indicate. Enjoy!

Part 1 - Tren a Huancayo

Part 2 - Tren a Huancayo

To learn more about this amazing trip on the Ferrocarril Central Andino