The city of the eternal Spring

What do you picture when you hear the slogan, "Trujillo, the city of the eternal Spring?" Do you picture children splashing in rain puddles? Or flowers finally stretching their petals after a long, cold Winter? Or do you picture laying out on a patch of grass as the sun finally melts away the last bit of cold in your toes?

All of those images of Trujillo wrong; it has been freezing here.

We have discovered "the city of the eternal Spring" is just an advertising ploy made by Trujillo's PR team during a brainstorming session of ways to convince tourists to visit. Word to the wise, if you do decide to come and visit, don't be fooled by the slogan and bring a coat.

We also said goodbye to Cesar this week, he finished his job with DanPer. It was great working with Cesar, as he was a major help to us during these first couple of weeks. We will miss him and wish him the best.

On another note, it is compelling to observe the city of Trujillo from a business perspective. Being here has given us the chance to see firsthand the many complications that come up when starting a business. In our day to day lives we witness so many businesses each tackling their own issues. What a learning experience.

Felipe -- Internet cafe: Believe it or not, we had a fun excuse to play video games this week. We went to Felipe's to help set up the Playstations and to teach him and Raquel how they worked.... and to shamelessly waste some time on a glowing screen. The neighborhood kids watched us set up with the excitement that usually only comes during Christmas time.  Clearly kids will be prospective customers for Felipe. It is exciting that he and Raquel will be able to get going on their internet business next week if all goes well.

Gloria -- Restaurant: We have some big news -- drum roll please -- Gloria started her business this week! However as it often happens with business owners during their first week, she ran into some roadblocks. She is providing food to DanPer workers at a nearby farm. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication one day and she ended up making too many meals. She seems worried, but Elena says bumps this early on in the road are to be expected and she is optimistic that everything will smooth out. 

We have made some visits to some schools recently. The first visit was in a small farming town with no paved roads and burros for transportation. Elena had to use the phone at a school, so we followed her inside the gates to find school kids on their lunch break. It was your typical school scene, until one little boy noticed us. He walked up to us staring with his mouth agape -- he was fascinated by the way we looked. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by school kids staring at us, too shy to interact. Luckily Brad broke the uncomfortable moment by giving everyone high fives. We entered that school that day as normal people and we left feeling like rock stars.

More recently, we made some visits to three different schools with Elena and representative for Ensena Pera, Teach Peru. She was telling us that Peru is ranked as the worst country in South America when it comes to education. So, DanPer is looking to start a partnership with the organization to help improve education in the communities where they farm. Each school had it's unique issues: not enough classroom space, not enough teachers and overall, not enough learning opportunities. Despite the schools' difficulties, one has agreed to let us come in and help teach English to the kids once a week.