Vidal

I lived in the district (county) of Santiago, which is made up of 46 small communities that were spread all over the place…some sites were within walking or biking distance, but may were miles away. I was fortunate enough to have a very supportive municipality and mayor who agreed to have the municipality truck take me where I needed to go when I need to go there. The driver of the municipality truck during my service was Vidal, who was one of the most important people during my service. Not only did he work eight hours a day or more transporting municipal personnel around, but he always volunteered to take me to whatever community I needed after the work day was complete. Without fail, he would show up at the desired time on the dot, take me to the community, wait with me when people were running late, wait while I had whatever meeting was on the schedule and then drive me back home afterward. We usually didn’t get back to Santiago until 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. most nights of the week. Working with Vidal was always a pleasure because he was dependable, and we always had great conversations about Peruvian history, American culture, politics, and Peruvian culture. None of my projects or work would have been possible without Vidal’s dedication, patience and time. Thank you Vidal!