Bienvenidos Monseñor Pedro Connors.

The people of this area gave a fantastic welcome to Bishop Peter Connors over the weekend in the form of two concerts...
On Saturday they came from all sections of the Parish boundaries to sing, dance, wave their specially made banners and flags and they even managed to coax some old members of the audience to get up and dance!

The concert began with the singing of the Himno Nacional, the Nathional Anthem of Peru. Each group had a representative standing out the front.

We had two renditions of the Marinera, a traditional courting dance.

The children in their traditional costumes performed a variety of dances. The colours on display are amazing as were the children themselves.

We were presented with fruit ‘necklaces’ and then invited to test the hamstrings once again. The necklaces and hamstrings both survived.

The choir performed the final item. The white haired lady on the right is Maria and she is a fantastic cook. She is presently conducting extremely successful cooking courses for single mothers from the Motupe/Montenegro area.

After Mass on Sunday the Bishop witnessed more traditional dances, equally as colourful and lively as the day before.

First the nervous preparations…

Then the performances began.

This lady’s dress was unbelievable, not only did she take her place in the Offertory Procession but she also danced solo for all at the end of the day.

Whatever happened to Bishop Peter Connors?

Bishop Peter Connors, the Bishop of our Ballarat Diocese, is presently visiting the area and staying with Father Mick McKinnon. You may have noticed that his official title in Peru is Monseñor Pedro Connors. For all back home have no fear he has not been demoted from Bishop to Monsignor!
Marion and I reminded Bishop Peter that this time last year we were talking to him in Mildura during the welcoming the Youth Cross and Icon to Victoria and that we had planned to ‘catch up’ in Lima in 2008. Well the year has flown by and here we are all together again! However, as the pictures below show it has been rather difficult to keep track of his hectic weekend, hence we may pose the age old question –“Whatever happened to Monseñor Pedro Connors?”
On Friday… well he was seen outside the Interbank in Centro Lima having ‘refreshed’ his wallet!

He was also seen in the Lima’s Plaza de Armas inspecting the Cathedral as well as the Curia offices of Juan Luis Cipriani, the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima.

He was also seen in the Santo Domingo Monastery, Lima, visiting the tombs of both Santa Rosa de Lima and San Martin de Porres.

On Saturday… he was well and truly seen on the welcoming banner erected at the Motupe Parish Centre as the crowd slowly gathered and got organised for the big day. The performers for the day came in all ages and colours.

He was not seen on the official welcoming dais!

He was seen making his way through the guard of honour formed by the children from the various Parish centres.

He was seen with Padre Miguel in the Motupe Parish Church, Capilla Nuestra Señora de La Paz, for a welcoming Liturgy.

He was definitely seen leaving the Church accompanied by some of the younger members of the community. Don’t you love the home made Aussie flags?

He was seen during the presentation ceremony.

He was seen in a final group photo Saturday afternoon including Padre Miguel, Senora Marion and Hermana Margaret.

On Sunday… he was seen preparing for the big community Mass at the Jicamarca Parish Church, Capilla Santísima Trinidad.

He was seen anointing the newly Baptised members of the community.

He was seen accepting the gifts from community members in their traditional dress at the Offertory Procession.

He was seen delivering the final message, with the assistance of Padre Miguel McKinnon.

He was seen outside Padre Miguel’s house farewelling the people after Mass.

And he was seen in a final group photo with Hermana Marie, Hermana Jacinta and the people of Valle Sagrado.

Where we live, an excellent map of Lima.

Don't forget to click on this map if you wish to see an enlarged version.
This is an excellent map because it gives you a really good impression of the layout of Lima and the surrounding rocky landforms – the mountains! These mountains are basically the foothills of the Andes and they come that close to the coast line for most of Peru.
We live at the very top of the San Juan de Lurigancho valley, virtually on the edge of this map. This area is also called Canto Grande. By the way the surrounding sides are just as steep as the map suggests.
You will notice a small green area on Av. Independencia at the head of this valley, that is about the position of the big Metro shopping complex we visit for those little ‘extra special things’, such as fresh meat, toiletries and the occasional bottle of drinkable wine! It is approximately nine kilometres from our bus stop to Metro. While it is another nine to ten kilometres beyond the top of the map to visit the people in Valle Sagrado, a very new and rapidly developing area – they even got lights up the middle of their only access road two weeks ago! And when the authorities delivered all the extra poles for the houses the women had to collect them and then carry them to their homes!
It is thought that about one million people live in this particular valley, while the population of Lima is estimated to be nine million. Fifty years ago Lima was eight hundred thousand people and surrounded by cotton and corn fields and then the “campisino” invasion became a reality, the farmers migrating from the mountains into the city. Supposedly for the better life!
A local bus will get us into Lima Centro in about one hour while the bus journey to the airport in the bottom left of the map could take one and a half to two hours depending on the route and speed!
Miraflores, by the ocean, is one of the classy areas of Lima and contains both residential and commercial sections. A great place for tourists and you can also be reasonably sure that the locals would not even know that Canto Grande exists!
Just near Lima Centro you can see La Victoria, reputedly an extremely dangerous area yet it contains literally thousands of small retail outlets. You can just about buy anything in La Victoria, if you still have your wallet!

The children enjoyed the big day!

The new roof on the community centre was as equally exciting for the children as it was for the adults, well for some of them anyway. It was just all too much for a few of the younger ones, however, they all enjoyed the handouts!

Building report - 23rd September.

A big day in the life of the new comedor, the “techo” or roof is poured. Almost two months to the day after the grader attacked the Pedregal Alto site Marion and I witnessed the pouring of the roof, great excitement for all, especially the locals. It gives their lives an enormous amount of excitement and expectation.
When I arrived by taxi in the morning I passed the truck towing the cement mixer broken down half way up the valley, a great start to the day! Felix, our foreman, did not seem at all worried because they still had not quite finished all the conduits for the electric wiring and some other men were even building the ramp for them to get up onto the roof top.
You can see how all the reinforcing steel is firmly wired together both vertically and horizontally; this technique is employed to lessen the damage which could be caused by earthquakes.

The mixer and truck finally arrived in a cloud of dust being towed by a length of the good old number eight fencing wire! In fact the towing vehicle looked almost as bad as the “towee”! Nevertheless, and much to the glee of all, they had made the final ascent!

All the lads began to get ready for action; they changed into their old clothes, used plastic bags for socks, old cement bags for shin guards and wads of paper as shoulder pads. Obviously they had done this before and knew all the precautions. Another interesting point was the fact that quite a few blessed themselves before getting stuck into the task.

The mixer with its unique fuel tank fired up and tin after tin of wet cement was filled and carried up the ramp to the roof top. You just stand there and contemplate the Occupational Health and Safety implications!

They literally worked nonstop firstly filling the stairs at the rear of the building and then all the trenches crisscrossing the roof top until – the cement mixer ran out of fuel! And guess what; they had forgotten to bring extra “grifo”.

Everybody took a break to enjoy another one of Marion’s banana cakes while some poor unfortunate “inspected” the roof work so far, I wonder what he knew anyway? Meanwhile the mixer man trudged down the valley to fill his plastic bottle, thank heavens Mick was driving up and was able to give him a lift to the petrol station – and more than likely pay for the fuel!

With a new supply of fuel they were back into the job of pouring the final five centimetre layer over the entire roof area. Initially I thought that this would take ages, however, it was not the case. It was finished in just over an hour and a half.

Then the most important blessing ceremony took place. Firstly Felix had to climb the ladder and hang a cross decorated with flowers and a bottle of champagne from the newly completed roof.

Then the honour of smashing the bottle fell to Marion. I would not dare to mention the number of tries it took her or even the size of the final rock she chose!

A great day for all, celebrated in style with the dispensing of champagne by Maritza, Rebecca and Marion. I do think that some of the workers were more interested in getting home.
What happens now? If the sun keeps shining all the timber work could be dismantled within twenty days and in the meantime they make sure to keep the top damp to avoid cracking.