Robert Nijhout in Peru

Ok, first of all I have to set something straight. Reading the previous entries of my blog you might think it's only fun 'n games over here. Sure! I have a lot of fun with Janneke and Peter from Fairmail, 'cause their just down right cool people. And I have a lot of fun dinners and parties with all the friends I've made here amongst the other volunteers ( Annick, Sasja, Michel, Sarah, Mariloe, Vincent, Jack, Jason, Neill, you all rock!) and some of the fine local peeps here ( Luis, (from the Tribu), David (who is our party guide and Spanish teacher) and Chicho, the wave shaking 'n cocktail making surf guru.).

But! I also have a lot of work here. Besides teaching, I'm here to restyle the whole Fairmail corporate identity. And that is a tough cookie, lemme tell you. Well...let's not. It would take to long.

Go to www.fairmail.info and it will all be clear.

But what I will tell you is that we are making progress. The logo is almost done. We're still tweaking it a little, but for the most part it's settled on that end.

Janneke and Peter came up with brilliant idea to double the function of the postcard. Can't tell you what it is yet, but I wish I could take credit for it. Which I won't.

Next step is to give shape to that idea and decide on colour themes, images, typography and what not. Hopefully we will have some results and of next week. We will have to thou, otherwise we'll have a big problem time wise.

But enough about that, I have to go and make meself ready for a party in Trujillo.

# posted by Robert Nijhout @ 08:41 0 comments

Woke up with a hang over, again! But this time I have to be sharp. My first spanish lesson is today.

Luckily my teacher David is a real cool guy. Who knows, after 6 weeks I might even speak some spanish.

# posted by Robert Nijhout @ 17:20 0 comments

Today I went to La Huaca de la Luna. A temple build by the Moche people some 2000 year B.C.

There's not much left of the place because it's build out of mud and clay. But it's still an impressive sight. I was hoping to see some wall art I could use in my work for FairMail. But most of it was damaged to much to really use.

To get to the Temple I had to go through Trujillo. The 3th largest city in Peru. What a dump! My god! Picture a poor city and you'll know what I mean.

Later this night I'll hang out with Luis and some other people in La Tribu.

# posted by Robert Nijhout @ 17:19 0 comments

Hhmmm.... my second morning in Huanchaco and already slightly hung over. I consider that a good thing. Yesterday was a nice evening. After dinner we went on to the beach ( like 30 meters from the front door ) where the kids from the shelter next door were making a camp fire. These were all ex- street kids ranging from age 10 to 14 and at first I thought they would be like sad little children who were angry at the world and grown up to fast for their own good. But it was quite the opposite. They were just like kids that age everywhere else in the world. Even more so. They were full of life and joy. Laughing, playing, jumping around and playing soccer. Maybe it was the sugar rush from the marsh mellows they we're roasting over the fire and the bubblegum lemonade but they we're like little lab-monkeys who just found the key to the candy store. It was a blast! The joy they got out of people just caring a little was heart warming. It was the little things that made them happy, like spinning them around and throwing them in the air a couple of times. Or showing them how to make drawings with a camera and a burning stick. It was so cool seeing the smiles on their faces when they discovered they could do that themselves. Kids that age in Holland would have been bored after 10 minutes and wonder where their Game Boy went. For me it was a culture shock in a good way.

After about a hour or two the kids went to bed and I went on further down the street to go and see a art exhibition in a bar called La Tribu. The local watering hole for the artistic and fun loving Peruvian. Initiator Luis is your typical free-spirited-seen-it-all-done-it-all-mellow-always-smiling, kind of guy. And quite the artist as well.

The artist of the hour was Paul. A painter about my age. A real talent. I was very tempted to buy some of his art, if only it was small enough to fit in my backpack.

Had some beer, had some coca tea, had some coca snacks, got drunk, went home. It was a good day.

That was yesterday, tonight Janneke ( of FairMail ) is having her birthday party at her home. A nice and cosy get together with some of her and Peters friends.

# posted by Robert Nijhout @ 17:17 0 comments