I woke up and had some sweet bread delivered fresh from the Sierra from the families who live in the surrounding mountains and sell their baked goods here in Poroto on the weekends. Partnered with my host mom´s delicious roasted coffee with cinnamon, I was quite happy.



The highlight of my day today was my adventure with Don Willi, a grandfather-like figure here in Poroto who is the president of the Junta Directiva, which is sort of like a powerful town council. I was sitting outside my host family´s store playing with our two adorable puppies when Don Willi came up to me with a megaphone and asked if I would join him on an advetnure. I agreed, so we hopped in a mototaxi armed with a paintbucket and brushes and whizzed to the closest caserio, Shiran.



The Junta Directiva recently completed a huge water project that created a system of tubes that are now underground and transport fresh potable water to the town of Poroto and a few surrounding homes. This project was completed only a few days ago, so the town is trying to organize a meeting to discuss it. In order to advertise the town meeting, Don Willi and I walked up and down the streets of Shiran with the megaphone and blasting siren as he announced the upcoming meeting. He seems to be a pretty well-loved community member, so people smiled and promised to be in attendance as we paraded around town. I felt like a walking advertisement with my paintbrush and bucket proudly in hand. After we ensured everyone was informed about tomorrow´s meeting he wanted to show me their meeting so we continued through the sugar cane fields to the site of the water consilidation tank and underground tubes. It was a pretty impressive project, especially considering it was not funded through the municipality. He compared the system to the water Shiran uses, which is essentially a creek that runs into the water tanks. Considering the cows and other livestock around, I´m sure plenty of their remains seep into the water, so I´m personally quite glad that Porto´s water now flows through underground tubes. Don Willi is extremely animated, so talking with him provided me with lots of insight about his perception of Poroto and the dynamics of the town.



After we traipsed around the fields for awhile, I helped paint the cement water tank as Don Willi told me about his life in Poroto, studies in Trujillo, and work throughout Peru. When we finished we went back to Shiran and I met his sister, who is my host dad´s mother (everyone seems to be related in some way or another in this town). We chatted and shared some snacks until it got dark and then continued back along the road to Poroto, continuing to advise the households along the way about the water meeting with our obnoxious siren and megaphone. The road between Shiran and Poroto is sparsely populated, so in between announcements he explained some of Poroto´s history and politics. The upcoming elections seem to dominated the town, and with 9 candidates for mayor, the town is filled with posters, pamphlets, t-shirts, and even bottle openers advertising different candidates. Don Willi raised an interesting point- there are 9 candiates in this small town but only 4 candidates for the elections in Lima where millions of voters will participate.



When we returned from our little expedition I took a tour of the local church with Alexandra, my host sister, and climbed up the bell tower where we could see all the happenings of the town below. Poroto always seems to be pretty happening, and there are always people in the plaza and loud music coming from the streets.