A new chapter is about to begin!

After months of waiting, I finally got my visa to the UK! I leave Peru on August 3rd (in less than a week, that is) and I'll live in East London, the borough of Hackney for a whole year. I will do volunteer work for a charity that works with adults who have learning disabilities and would like to be able to live independently. I'll live with a guy who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and my job will be to provide him help when cooking, shopping, cleaning, calling the ambulance if he gets a seizure and most importantly, I'll be a friend to him. He's due to move out and live on his own soon, which means someone else will live with me when he leaves.

I'm stoked about this opportunity! I have always wanted to live abroad for a while and do something to help others. I never thought I'd do charity work in London, though. It isn't everyday that you hear people from the 3rd world go to the 1st world to do charity/volunteer work. Besides that, I need a break from Peru for a while. I have the feeling I need to find myself and I find it hard to do it in my own country.

Getting a visa was much easier this time around. When I applied to go to Scotland, I was denied because I was missing one of the new requirements the Embassy had set not too long ago. I had all I needed this time and it only took one week to get the visa as opposed to 4 weeks as the Embassy had said it'd take. My family took the news very well (even Mom, which is hard to believe) and everything else has worked out just fine.

Please pray for safety as I live in a foreign country for a year and pray for the people I'll be interacting with. I'll try to blog as much as I cam when in London.

How many more strikes will it take?

Last time these bus and taxi drivers said they were going on a strike, they did not. So much for all the fuss they made about going on a 48-hour strike. They were all working that day unlike the week before when they didn't and havoc was created. I thought they finally understood they could strike all they want and not being able to change the laws. Now I'm eating my words.

It seems like the goverment has raised the amount of violation tickets for causing accidents and the bus companies, of course, didn't like that. They're trying to have a meeting with the Mayor of Lima to discuss why they're raising the amount of money to be paid. The strike is supposed to begin today for 48 hours. The question is, will they really strike like they did the first time or will they not, like the second time? We shall see.

I personally think this is embarrasing. Instead of striking, they should abide by the law and avoid getting tickets. Period.

Shocking news.

For those of you who have never been to the city of Cuzco (the province where Machu Picchu is), there is a very good, traditional and affordable store called Cafe Allyu in the smack dab downtown area of the city. Now, Cuzco is a very historical city. It's the city where the Incas lived and from there they ruled over their kingdom and just like Lima, it was conquered by the Spanish who also settled there. A lot has been preserved (like the ancient ruins and buildings) although a few things are starting to change.

There is a Mc Donald's in the downtown area, but it's not imposing and it doesn't look like one of the Mc Donald's in the States or in Lima. In fact it's got a "Cuzco" style to it. Seemingly, the Catholic church owns some of the property and real state in the downtown area of Cuzco, the location where Cafe Allyu is being one of their many properties. The Archbishop is kicking the owners of this traditional and affordable coffee shop because they got a very juicy offer from someone else. The offer was that this new coffee shop would pay a higher rent amount and give the church 10% of their sales. The owners of Cafe Allyu cannot beat this offer so now they're turning the keys in.

Who is going to take Cafe Allyu's place, might you ask. None other than.........................(drumroll)............................Starbucks!!!!!!!! Gag. It seems like the Catholic church gives squat about tradition when it comes to money (harsh statement, I know). I guess they don't care that a place like Starbucks is present in the historical Plaza in Cuzco. Now, I don't have anything against Starbucks, and I'm not against "modernization", but having a Starbucks in the midst of such antient place is a little too much. Starbucks is already all over the world and the last place it should be in is Cuzco.

Opinions?

And they're going on yet another strike!

Seemingly, a one-day strike wasn't enough. So this time they're going on a 3-day strike!! If you didn't read my previous post, then let me tell you what they're striking for: they don't want to get tickets. That's right. They want to keep on breaking the law and not pay the consequences of their wrongdoings.

It seems like the bus companies are now protesting along with some kind of group/association who's "mission" is to defend the rights of workers. Apparently these people, whoever they are or whoever they think they are, also feel that the police issuing tickets is an abuse. In other words, enforcing the law is an abuse. One of the bus companies will operate normally but that doesn't mean that it'll be safe to get on the bus (over 100 protestors were arrested last week) or that there will be enough transportation for the millions of people who take the famous combis and buses here.

In light of this situation, President Alan Garcia has promised to give some money to those drivers who decide to operate on July 7th, 8th and 9th. The whopping amount of money is (drumroll) 20 Soles!!!! Per day? Wrong! For all three days. At least the government is doing something to encourage bus drivers to go to work. In the end, if they don't go to work, they don't get paid. And it isn't like they make a lot of money. Driving for hours in a city like Lima, picking up passengers and dropping them off at pretty much every stop is quite stressful. President Alan Garcia has also announced that public employees will be allowed to come to work at least 2 hours late and private companies should allow their employees to also be 2 hours late due to the lack of transportation. It has also been said that employers could reimburse their employees the amount of money they spend to get to work (taxis and operating buses tend to overcharge). This is the employer's decision, notwithstanding.

The upshot of this whole thing is just chaos, mayhem, and a headache. I have friends who live quite a way from the office where we work and some of them can't get to work because of the strike and thus they don't get paid for the day. Not much will be accomplished by just going on a strike and I hope the police won't stop enforcing the law because of this. Now it's time to do one of the things I hate the most: shaving!