Los Pueblos Olvidados/ The Forgotten Villages

Riding back from the school yesterday in the back of a red pick-up truck, I noticed again the piles of garbage that cover the ground in many parts of Piura. The 10 minute truck/moto ride back to the parish looks like this:



I have been perplexed by this, however, because I have also seen garbage trucks. And in the parish, we collect trash and recycling (bottles) in bins like in the U.S., leading me to believe that there is a garbage service.

So I asked Maria Gladis, one of the teachers riding in the truck with me, if there is a public garbage service. "Of course," she says. "The government has a garbage collection service".

So, what happened here? I ask. There is trash everrywhhheree.

She looks out at the dirt and the rocks and the trash. "Estamos en un pueblo olivdado," she says. We are in a forgotten village. "Hay muchos pueblos olvidados en el Peru".

There are many forgotten villages in Peru.  Indeed there are.

When I watch the kids play in the water polluted with fertilizer run-off, human waste, and trash, I have an uncontrollable urge to pull them out of the water.

But then I remember they live here. And the polluted river is closest thing they have to a playground.

But then there's other neighborhoods, 3 minutes away, that look like this: 

Thus I have begun my study of neighborhood politics.