Before arriving at PSF I had the idea of being healthly through heavy work, healthy eating, and getting a better grasp on the Spanish language. While the heavy lifting and healthy food are plentiful, Spanish is barely spoken when 50+ gringos from all over the world are put under the same roof. Everybody parties hard after work when beers are 2.50 Soles (about 1 dollar), and bottles of rum are about 12 Soles. Pisco is the national booze (disputed with Chili)- and from what I can gather it´s a clarified brandy wine made from grapes. Pretty tasty in a Pisco Sour- which is a splash of limon, Pisco, and a frothed raw egg white.
I walked through the gates at PSF during dinner time. For every meal we have a ¨hippy¨ or ¨monster¨ option (veggetarian or meat-eater), which is nice because the markets are pretty filthy places where meat is left out in the sun all day, adgitated by the occasional meat vedors´s flyswatter. Gotta get to the meat early if you´re looking to have healthy volunteers.
Pisco Sin Fronteras is the 3rd such NGO to work in Pisco under similar guidelines. In 2007 there was a massive Earthquake that demolished about 80% of the structures in the town. HandsOn- a well funded initial response organization out of the ´States- was first started and ran for a few months before Burners Without Borders took over. Throughout BWB´s time, there were tons of projects that were created around the idea of excavating rubble, building modular houses, and really whatever else any volunteer wanted to create.
One project that is still running strong is the Biodiesel program, where waste veggie oil is collected from local restaurants, transformed to Biodiesel, and given to locals to use as fuel. A fisherman uses our Biodiesel to run his boat, and in response he cooks a meal for us every now and then. The fire dept, which has some great trucks but no money to run them, buys our fuel for 1/2 the price of standard diesel, all in an effort to get the trucks out and running instead of sitting vacand while the fire alarm´s ringing.
For the past 3 years Pisco Sin Fronteras has been operating in the wake of Burners without Borders, mostly building modular houses but have recently moved towards community based projects- building earthquake resistant community centers and neighborhood parks. I feel that most of the work is still Gringos working ¨for¨ the people, as opposed to gringos working ¨with¨ the people, but I do agree that some of the projects are doing so much good in the communities here. Luditeca and Intercambio are the english language learning programs here that are so very very rewarding. I´ve never felt more lifted then when I see a smile on a child´s face after they learn a valuable life lesson like sportsmanship and teamwork, or the value of life and how not to throw rocks at animals.
