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Expat Tales

Name: Ben Eastwood

Date of Birth: 8th June 1975

 

When did you leave Australia? 2002

 

Where are you living and working now? Cajamarca – North Peru

What is your job title? Owner and Entrepreneur – Socio Adventures 

 

Tell us what you did before you left Australia? I was an environmental engineer in a coal mine in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

 

 I initially came to South America to climb mountains; I climbed ten peaks in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. While I was in Peru I came to Cajamarca to visit a friend and then decided to travel to a remote area further north for a while. I got talking to a local girl at the bus station, it turned out we were both going to the same place and she invited me to come and stay with her family.

 

After spending a week with her family I saw a problem with how they cooked and wanted to try and solve it for them. The women cook on an open fire in a small hut with no chimney; it’s very smoky and dangerous for their health. Cooking fire smoke is one of the biggest killers in developing countries and I wanted to help. I decided to try and build them a good old Aussie barbeque instead.  

 

I went with the father of house and his horse and we walked for three hours to the nearest town to get a hotplate, a bag of cement, and corrugated iron. We then made a new stove out of rocks, mud and cement.

 

When we lit the first fire in the stove the whole family ran outside to watch the smoke come out of the chimney, they couldn’t believe there was no smoke inside the house anymore.

 

When the people in the community saw the stove, they all wanted one in their own house. I got worried as I couldn’t finance another 200 stoves, so I went

travelling for 6 months and thought up a way to help get more stoves built, by setting up my tour company where travellers can come on a “Stove trek” and build a stove for a Peruvian family.

 

What were your first impressions of Peru? I thought it was just organised chaos, but somehow things do seem to happen. So many people are struggling to get by and yet they don’t complain, even though they would be justified to do so. Plenty of people don’t have 2 soles to rub together but they still really enjoy life.

 

What is the reaction to you as an Australian in your field of work? Setting up a business was difficult as the legal systems here are so slow and a lot of things don’t really work, but the local people were very encouraging. There aren’t many other Australians in Cajamarca and being a foreigner was a real positive.

 

What do you miss about Australia? I miss my family and I really miss the Australian sense of humour, there isn’t much sarcasm in the humour here. Also I miss chocolate; the Peruvian stuff isn’t up to scratch.

 

What don’t you miss?  I don’t miss the materialistic lifestyle, the importance people in Australia can place on having the biggest house and the nicest car.

 

What is the vegemite of the area: It would have to be Manca Blanca – it’s a sweet caramel spread for bread, toast, cakes – they use it all the time.

 

What is the most unusual thing you’ve eaten over there? Guinea Pig and I loved it. It’s a real delicacy here, the head is the really special bit and you get to eat the brains. It felt awkward initially eating something that is a pet at home but after a while you get used to it, and sometimes it can be the only meat around.

 

I actually just won a block of land in the middle of the desert of Peru! The local chamber of commerce held a raffle and I won 160 square metres of land in the middle of one of the driest deserts in the world, I’m still trying to work out what to do with it!

 

How long do you intend to stay over there? Probably another 3 – 5 years. I have made a commitment to this particular community that I won’t leave until every household has an Aussie barbeque of their own.