Talara, Peru (Part 1)

This is where I'm living in South America. It's a town of roughly 50,000 people that runs on oil and fishing. It was mostly built by Americans during and after World War 2 (there was an American airbase here during the war, and most of the oil from Northern Peru flows through here - 62,000 barrels per day). It sits in a valley where several dry river beds come together, in one of the few coastal deserts anywhere in the world. It is always sunny here, and heading into South American spring it's about 20 degrees most days with intense winds blowing down off the hills (click on the pictures for high-res versions).

I share this apartment with Freddy, the other gringo teacher at my school.

View from my front window: :the road out of town climbs the hills behind these buildings (the one on the right with the
 electric fence under the windows is a private primary school).

My street in one of the nicer neighbourhoods of Talara.

My street. In the upper left you can see the gates of the only gated community in Talara, where I teach high school once
 a week. In the upper right, you can see the smokestacks of the refinery.

View from my roof up the hill toward Talara Alta, a poorer section of town. Volkswagens and Volkswagen knockoffs are
 popular here.

The view of Talara from my roof. The nicer neighbourhoods are arranged around parks and ours (Parque 54) is in the
 foreground. The grass is watered with fire hoses. In the top left you can see the cranes at the port and at the top right
 you can see the domes of the church on the main square. The tanks on the roofs are water tanks. Talara's has no source
 of fresh water and gets it from nearby towns, but it only comes every other day. People either build a water tank on their
 roof, or only have running water half the time.

The view of Parque 54 from my window. I'm lucky; most people in Talara don't get to have
trees outside their windows.

A cactus lovingly gardened in Parque 54.

Next: A visit to Punta Balcones, the western tip of South America.