Our service visits end with a visit to the land of Afro-Peruvians, Chincha. We got to the church where Dietrich and Jesse are working on construction projects. Their first project was to destroy a cistern, dig a hole for a new one hole and put in a new cistern. Their latest project is builing a wall around the perimeter of some recently acquired land. This land has been filled in with filler, which is basically trash with dirt on top. They spend their days trenching through plastic bags and they've only busted the water line once, even though it runs right through through the trench they are trying to dig. They've gotten to know their fellow co-workers fairly well, engaging in interesting conversations and debates.

After work we went to their host-family's home where we had a delicious lunch and sat around telling stories of adventures at home, including tremors and their 14 year old host- brother. The maid at the home calls them the good bad boys, bad boys like the song that former SSTers Asher and Nelson taught the family.

After dinner the students took us to the lively and crowded market where we waded our way through thousands of stalls from everything to vegetables, brooms, fabric and chicken kidneys. We were looking for figs. Jesse and Dietrich had enjoyed the figs they had earlier that they wanted to buy some for their family and bring it home, but we kept getting the response that it is too early yet for figs. While an older gentleman tried to tell us to be careful in sign language we heard someone yelling Jesse's name. One of the students at the church/school where they work called out Jesse's name, wanting to know when they are going to play soccer at the school again. The child from the school was accompanying his mother at her stall in the market. We walked home the long way, through the neighborhoods of empty lots, where houses once stood before the earthquake. Since most people didn't have official deeds or land ownership was questionable it has been hard to get aid to rebuild their home. Many people are living in small quarters of those whose homes still stand. Very little aid organizations still work in Chincha. Reconstruction is slow.