have a good break little ladies

Five little buddies hang out the windows of the new classroom.

"No jodas."

Some fifth graders check out what Papa Incio's Nissan's got under the hood. Carmen Rosa brandishes a YHB frisbee care of Mr. Soles.

DuckDuckGoose with our number 1 trouble-maker, Jorge. Mike seems distracted.

Simon, Marlene's youngest, was a constant presence around the construction.

Maria, Modesta, and Mirta: David's third-grade reading machine. Playing checkers while some SOLAC folks bum around in the afternoon.

About the cutest thing I can imagine. This slide is usually pretty boring.

Goodbyes and chupetines to all, even Mariela.

making that roof happen

Roofing. We had no role in wooden framing. This is skilled labor, so we watched.

Building a roof of concrete requires a lot of wheelbarrows and shovels. Uncoordinated gringos are optional.

After a healthy wait, concrete made its way to the roof. The sun was setting, but they got the job done in one evening.

unos retratos

A popular subject, seeing as how we spent about 1000 hours/week together.

The Jefecito with Gloria, his one true love. He likes a larger brand of German lady.

Chopa snaps one of his lovely ladyfriend Natalia in Lima's "wildlife refuge." I realize that the background is out of focus, but it looks like grass and a car.

Chopa looks on intently, while Luke seems somewhat less interested. Standard.

Mr. Quinzio and his ladies. You have to appreciate his school spirit.

Fatima's dog, Chica, that was since given away. She had a peeing problem.

a paseo in lima

Another procession downtown means many a lady-dancer and creepy gringo.

Cruising down the expressway north-east out of the city towards the Panamericana. This is also the back way out to the school ("back" because you have to pay a toll).

Five hundred buses heading away from my favorite church in Pueblo Libre. The cobrador next to the "A" is definitely taking advantage of the light with a stretch.

Chopa and Juan, aka LatinGoodman, tinker with Gloria when she threw a tantrum on the highway one afternoon. You can just make out some happy faces in the glass.

A man sleeping in the mid-afternoon between Abancay and the Palace of Justice, downtown. I think the Cristal bottles next to him might have played a roll in this nap.

A couple selling jewelry and little trinkets in Parque Kennedy in the evening.

One of the many downtown bus terminals. A group is ready to head out around lunchtime.

Creepy graffiti and a municipal garbage collector just off Abancay.

Hilltop settlement overlooking Lima's main fruit market in San Luis. Nice traffic pattern.

The Mexicans work on their documentary on a bridge overlooking the Via-Expresa, right by Polvos Azules.

qosqo

Altiplano coming out of the sacred valley towards Chinchero. They grow hundreds of kinds of corn and potatoes around here.

The church in Chinchero, about 30 minutes outside of Cusco. The church is beautiful, but the site has been mainly converted into a market for Andean arts.

Water flowing next to the plaza mayor. You would never know it, but I was standing in a group of 50 tourists. Standard.

One of the many narrow streets leading out of Cusco into the surrounding hills. We walked this one until it ended near San Cristobal, then took a trail to Cristo.

Had to take it...everyone else did.

The Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco the day before the Fiestas Patrias took over for independence day.

Twerpy pops in Pisaq, enjoying a rare moment away from the white masses.

Pops leads the queue of gringos walking through Machu Picchu, trying to keep up with Grupo Julio (follow the orange flag).
A small army of tourists overlooking the ruins at Machu Picchu. The towers don't actually glow, but a cheap scanner can light them up.

This guy managed to isolate himself on the terraces overlooking Aguas Calientes and the railroad to Ollantaytambo.

a taste of alto peru

One of the younger students eyes me from inside the library. This was taken before the second round of construction began in June.

Livia grates some carrots while Marlene tends to the stove. This was the bottleneck of our whole operations, except when Marlene did it.

Mirta, my third-grade girlfriend on the left, and her niece posed for a few portraits. I don't know how the background managed to get so white, initially underexposed or something.

This bus ride was cute enough to bring tears to my eyes. We took the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders to the Peruvian navel museum, a long ride. They watched a dubbed-over Lion King, screaming when Scar dropped Mufasa into the stampede. These two young ladies are checking out the girl behind them in the aisle seat, Tahlia, who is something of an instigator.

This sums up the ride home in the combi after a long day. It's really crowded, and everyone passes out for about an hour. It definitely looks like Mike is headed in that direction.

bbc comes to town

El Jefe meets Dan, the Lima stringer for the BBC, at a demonstration by the Lucha Contra el Racismo. This interview would blossom into a beautiful relationship where they pour wine down each other's throats.

So this photo has about 1000 flaws. What gets me though, is how the workers blend perfectly into the background. And I wish that F-ing wheelbarrow wasn't there.

Dan and his translator spent about an hour interviewing this kid's family for a report on child labor. He mostly rolled around with his sisters.

Paula, the translator, meets her lawyer by the brick factory. Still unclear to me why this meeting went down right then and there.