It's difficult to explain to someone why you would want to move your family to a foreign country. Especially when you drop the m-bomb (missionary). I wonder what goes on in their head. Do they think I'm a Western Imperialist trying to plant a Republican colony in foreign soil? Who knows. Over the next week or so, I'll be writing some posts and including some pictures in an attempt to explain why it is we are considering moving to Peru to do mission work.



In the Andes it is high and it is cold. The human body is not accustomed to this environment, and so the tourists are advised to chew Coca leaves or eat Coca candy.



I hope I don't have to take any drug tests soon. If breathing in the Andes is hard, making a living is apparently close to impossible. For this reason, the ancestors of the Incas move to the cities. Arequipa is one of these cities.



The reason why Arequipa, Peru is called "The White City" is contested. Maybe it's because the city's most prominent architecture is made out of white volcanic rock.



Others claim that a colonial era census revealed the city to be populated mostly by white Europeans. Either way, the name tells the same story of oppression. Either way, this man, a warrior of the highlands in another life, hews giant volcanic stones from a cliff face with a car axel.



He does this all day, and if he works efficiently, he can make ten of these blocks which will sell for 30 cents a piece. That's three dollars a day when the price is right. When he has time, he will find a piece of land and build a short stone wall.



The purpose of this wall is to claim the patch of dirt it encloses as his own. Over the years, he might take some of the blocks he makes and build a house.



It is estimated that 45% of the people of Arequipa (a city of well over a million people) live like this. This house will be his life's work. He will proudly leave it to his children when he dies. If his children can afford it, they will rent his body a burial plot. The rent is up in 25 years, so if they don't pay up, his body will be exhumed and cremated.



His children will band together with their neighbors and begin petitioning the government to recognize their patch of dirt as a legitimate neighborhood. The city might do this, and might begin offering their neighborhood services like electricity and telephone. If they dig their own ditches, the government might even lay pipe for water.



After another generation or two, this neighborhood might transform into something different.



So what does a gringo like me have to do with the urbanization of southern Peru? Stay tuned to find out...