hard labour and a head full of brick dust... I´m in Pisco now to help out with the earthquake clear up. I arrived at the end of last week and had my first taste of rubble... literally! There is so much dust here you can´t help but end up with mouths full of it. The 4 hour drive here from lima was an incredible sobering experience. As I got further down the coast the damage and destruction became more and more apparent as we passed through towns effected by the disaster. I was a little overwhelmed at my first sight of Pisco and found it hard to imagine how terrifying an experience the earthquake must have been... and how incredible it is that the people here are getting along and functioning as a community again after they´ve lost so much. I´m working with an organisation called Hands on Disaster Response (www.hodr.org). The project here is really well organised and there´s a really great group of volunteers. We´re sent off in groups to help out with what ever needs doing in Pisco and the surrounding areas. There´s a lot of rubble clearance as you can imagine... the level of destruction that the earthquake caused is quite incredible and it stands to reason that the poorest people are the worst affected, most of which living in houses made with mud bricks which don´t stand a chance against and earthquake of that strength. The project is also building temporary structures living and for local schools. Tomorrow I´m going to help out with one of the kids projects. Play games and keep them occupied. I´ll write more soon but for now I can say that I´m so glad I came here and I can already tell it´s going to be a highlight of my trip and an incredible experience... if an extremely humbling one.