Pitty's aventure in Lima

So life in Peru has finally started!

The wait since leaving KES has been a nice break. Especially with Clare being pregnant and being able to spend some quality time together.

As you fly into Lima, any preconceived ideas of a beautiful idyll are shattered as you see the first of the millions of shanty huts. For a geographer teaching about shanty towns is a yearly occurrance but no matter how many times you teach about Rochina or Edith Gardens, you cannot prepare yourself for the level of poverty that these people experience.

Then on your drive from the airport, the industry of this city pops out at you. This is why there is none left in Birmingham - its all here!

Then comes the driving. A six car pile up was taken as a usual occurrance but still I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the driving is. Compared to Santiago or Cairo, these drivers are pretty good. Its bit like Birmingham on a Friday evening but with crappier cars, more cutting up and thousands of horns tooting continuosly.

The hotel that Markham kindly provide is also pretty good. The wi-fi means that Skype is available from the second I got here and so the thousands of miles away from loved ones can be dissolved and almost forgotten about as you chat over the laptop and see each other via the nifty invention that is a webcam.

Then comes nice Lima. On the flip side of the coin (a Nuevo Sol coin) from the shantys and poverty is the richness!!! The Mira Flores area is where the school is located and this is an elite area of teh city. The shopping centre is built into the cliff face overlooking the Pacific and the gardens and perpetually watered in order for the elite (us) to forget just how arid this country is. The policemen greet you at every street corner. The security guards wish you buenos dias at every opportunity and you are made to feel very special.

Then comes your invite to Bibby's beach house. The deputy head: teaching and learning has a beautiful beach house that he kindly invited the new recruits to ; and so pisco sours, beers and tumblers of red wine whilst eating huge steaks (that can still be heard mooing) were copiously ingested.

The staff seem a good bunch and were fountains of advice about the school, the city, settling in and helping with Clare and bambino Pitty. The trepidations and doubts start to wash away as the sound of the waves of the Pacific ocean provide a soundtrack for a great start to life in Lima.

The Colin Bibby calls us to the deck to watch the sun set. We stand watching as the sun slinks behind the mid ocean stacks and slowly sinks down into the Pacific.

The setting may have been beautiful but not having Clare to share this sight with soon brings back the distance that Skype had dissolved.

This blog will hopefully be a regular update of life in this new city. I hope to have the time to keep it up and help people at home to share in this adventure that myself and shortly Clare plus one will be having on the other side of the world.

Adios