One month in

22/09/10

Hola!

It has been a while for us with contact to the world beyond Peru, I am very sorry that this is about 2 weeks after the last post… Excuses: The internet here at Azul Wasi has been replaced by a satellite dish for the TV and the internet café in Oropesa is unreliable, either closed or not working when we have been down (three times!). There has been a water strike so for some reason it was closed then, plus the elections coming up (October 3^rd) means it is really busy whenever we can get in. Hopefully this will make it into cyberspace though J I am on Tanya’s netbook while she has a shower. I miss everyone lots and hope September in England is going well - new years at school and sixth-form, Uni, gap years, work etc all good? Let me know! And congratulations to Lisa Compas on the driving test too!

Soooo, I cannot keep up with Tanya’s blogs, she writes it as a diary each night on here whereas I have a paper one so what will follow is a more condensed version which kind of turns into just copying out of my diary further down.

 I reckon the best day to start with would be Saturday 11^th September. Whenever Alcides comes it feels a little bit like Christmas. Something always good happens, the food is better in every way and sometimes we get fizzy drinks or fruit. I got up late (8!) this day and did some clothes washing with the boys and Anastasia. Afterwards, Tanya and I cleared out our room and started sanding the window frames and washing the panes. In true Alcides fashion, a little voice appeared at the door and said “Todos a la plaza ahora, Alcides esta esperando’ – everyone to the plaza now, Alcides is waiting. The plaza is a 20 minute walk away, and with the boys and CR it gets extended to 30 minutes, plus another 10 for the grooming that goes on before we leave. The boys all change their clothes, stick their head under the cold water tap and brush in a parting, shine their shoes and hide their chippies (a semi-banned game depending on Alcides’ mood). After the walk/run to the plaza we sat on the church steps which were littered with pretty confetti due to a wedding the evening before and then found Alcides in the “restaurant”. It is a back room in an outbuilding at somebody’s house off the plaza, and the food is really good. This is the second time we have been since we got here, the first being when I ran into the door and got a nosebleed. Today I was much more cautious. One amazing chicken broth (herbs, carrots, lump of chicken, potatoes, onions, some other unrecognisable vegetables. Ivan ate everything, it appeared that he even ate the bones…) and some pretty good homemade weak iced tea later we were back outside on the church steps and Alcides had disappeared. Before he had left he asked if Tanya or I knew the river which we didn’t. Another 20 minutes later an ancient blue and white VW turned up and six of the boys, plus me and Tanya, climbed in. So with Alcides, little Edwin, Neptali in the front, me, Dante and big Edwin in the middle, and Oscar, Bautista and Tanya on the back row we set off for the river, working along and down the valley in the opposite direction from Cusco, so towards Urcos and eventually Puno. It was fine but a bit cramped, we did not move at anything more than 50kph, which actually felt not too slow on the Peruvian roads. When we picked up some fuel (surprisingly expensive here) we stopped behind a truck carrying everything you could ever imagine including 2 women, a baby and a goat sitting on top of it all, a miniature dusty colourful jumble sale and food market rolled into one. At another point Alcides spoke to some policemen in fast Quechua and all the boys laughed. No idea… Alcides said they were there for “control”. Just after that incident we hooked over a red rickety bridge with strange planks of wood lain lengthways across it, and followed the track along a river through but higher up through the mountains till the tiny town of Caicay (apparently 1000 people according to Alcides). Alcides insisted on taking a photograph of Tanya and I by a nice church before we backtracked to the red bridge again. On this side of it you could see a huge red CocaCola advertisement. It was such a strange, beautiful and deserted place for an expensive advert!

We carried on the road leading from Cusco to what we now know is the Rio (river) Urubamba. It was soooooooo beautiful – craggy mountains in all different colours, settlements, herders, random standing trucks selling fruit. The strong rays from the sun shot into the valley picking out more colours. We stopped at two different parts of the river to pick up stones to staunch the mud between the kitchen and the outside sinks at Azul Wasi, which was getting really bad and squelchy despite no rain since we arrived. I was surprised the VW van could actually move with these rocks in the bottom and in the boot. Our knees were up by our ears there were so many under our feet. Halfway home Neptali called into a roadside store and we got some Coca-cola, which spilt everywhere, and we sat for a bit. Suddenly an ENORMOUS fat Peruvian man opened the door and little Edwin nearly fell out. He chucked some coins at Alcides, who tried so protest but the man laughed and climbed in, followed by 2 fat Peruvian ladies, giggling and squawking to themselves. “Demasiado cerveza”(too much beer) Alcides said, and we carried on. I had NO idea how we were going to move with all of us and the rocks: three of the boys were in the boot sitting between the rocks and the ceiling, the 3 fat Peruvians, me and Tanya, Alcides, then another three Azul Wasi boys squeezed in the front and the middle. We spilt a lot more Cocacola and then were off, being overtaken by everything. We dropped the 3 fatties in Huaychanchay (or something similarly named) and headed home, passing a wedding in Oropesa on the way back and picking up Milan and Danita’s Mum. Once back we unloaded the rocks. Alcides said it wasn’t enough so some of the boys and a few replacements went back immediately for more, but it was dark and cold so Tanya and I decided to give the second trip a miss.

The next morning we woke up to find Alcides, his wife, son, daughter and Alcides’ work friend had all stayed the night. Breakfast was amazing (second only to pancakes we get occasionally) and consisted of potatoes, butter,  coffee and Oropesa bread. There were flowers in the dining room and warm orange squash which was weird but fine - they have to boil the water. I mentioned to Alcides that Tanya and I were volunteering in the nursery the next day, he said that was fine but to beware of Sonia, the profesora, who always asks for money despite government funding higher than the school per child. We also found the KITTENS that day! Yeah! Homer and Shakira welcome to Azul Wasi. They have adopted Ivan, who is kindly yet without choice lending them his jumper basket. Finally Tanya and I finished our bedrooms and put out the fabrics we bought in Cusco. It feels a lot more like home for the year now. In the evening Anastasia came to our room which was fine until she started asking how much our things cost, what it would cost in England etc. We are just saying “it was a present” or “ no idea!” or really playing it down. It’s very unnerving, it isn’t like we have tonnes of really expensive stuff and she never sees my iPod but the difference between us is clear - she only had a light put in her room recently.

Monday 13^th September

Today was my first day at the jardin (nursery). Tanya was really ill in the night so I ventured it alone. It was majorly hectic, 5 minutes after arriving I had pen all up my arm so the prospect of 3 and a half more hours more did not make me smile. I counted 47 under 6 year olds and two women running it. I got lots of “myyyy gringa”, “no, MY gringa!” and their Spanish was unbelievably hard to pick out. Carmen Rosa was unusually quiet. At Azul Wasi she competes with 11 boys to be heard so she can yell, scream and pack a good punch. Here though she kept herself to herself. The day starts with the national anthem and flag bearing, making me realised I really do not know Britains… we never sing it! These children sing it at the top of their lungs every day, ending with shouting “Viva Peru!” Then there was a mini-exercise class, followed by a break time so lots of messy food brought out from mochilas (ruck-sacs). I don’t think the parents realise that a yoghurt is the worst thing you could send your child to nursery with. Afterwards was “class” which was lots of dot-to-dot sheets and colouring in, plus some rice pudding with a cracker stuck in it served by a lovely old woman who only spoke Quechua. We didn’t have enough spoons though so lots of fighting broke out. The girls plaits and boy’s combed-in partings are non-existent by this point. After it had all finished I walked Carmen Rosa and Milan home, both veeeery slow walkers. Tanya was asleep so I went for lunch in the dining hut thing with the boys. Half way through two ladies dressed in blue were walking up from Oropesa over the fields and all the boys seemed to be really scared – “vacunas” they kept saying. I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about till the boys starting poking my arms… the ladies were coming to inject the boys?? Apparently they had needles and wanted money to immunise everyone against a new Peruvian disease… yeah right. I was not having one! No way! I was scared now too, they were getting closer and their bags looked brimming with packets. Prophet went out and said no thanks and they went away without harming anyone so all fine and a nice anti-climax. That afternoon Tanya and I went to the internet café with the three Azul Wasi dogs in tow, it was pretty busy inside and I felt really sick. It is a tiny stuffy room with one small door and about 10 computers and lots of smelly teenagers playing online war games.

Tuesday 14^th:

Today was my second day at the jardin, Tanya was feeling much better yayyyy!! so came too. Carmen Rosa was dressed very smartly in an oversized pink dress and red silk cardigan. She was ready 15 minutes early, despite the water cutting out this morning. We set off after being given an apple each from Prophet and met Milan on the way up. When we got there, there were hardly any children (well 10ish, a few parents and a baby) compared to the day before. We sat down and soon a girl walked in who made CR look very ordinary! She was wearing what looked like a cowgirl outfit entirely covered in sequins and beads. It was a shiny mustardy green colour, gleaming in the sun, boots covered as well and everything. Next to us another girl was having her hair plaited when her elder brother added yellow and orange tassels to the end and took her off to get changed. She came back wearing a yellow and orange highly ornate outfit and hat with a massive feather in it. More and more arrived, all literally dazzling. I was wearing H&M dress, my best here after seeing CR, and felt so plain! The boys wore black trousers covered on the front on beads and feathers of every colour, a white shirt and a red waistcoat, again completely beaded on the front. Some had beaded hats with fringed of beads going into their eyes and multi-coloured Incan flag ribbons trailing down their backs and sides.

Over the next hour all sorts of different costumes and outfitted children arrived. I felt sorry for Carmen Rosa though. It became clear they were representing different portions of society – the first girls were the wealthy ones, and the boys I described were the medium wealth men. The really wealthy boys were the priests (only one) or in suits. The priest looked like a very shiny fried egg, with gold, yellow and white plate things hanging from his shoulders and a huge hat. The medium girls wore embroidered white shirts, multi-coloured skirts and handerchiefs and had the most beautiful hats of all. They were like plates on their heads, covered in beads and ribbons, plus more ribbons trailing down their backs to their knees. The poor level boys had floppy grey or brown hats, chequered shirts, black trousers, odd shoes, bottles with sweets or small stones tied to their waists which rattled when they danced, and lots of shells attached to the sashes they wore. Some wore masks as well of really ugly faces with huge noses and gawping mouths, or knitted eyes of fluorescent colours. They had the best dance later though. Next we were blessed in the church (amazing itself, lots of gilt gold) - not coming from a religious family I had no idea what to do with all the hand signs, sitting, kneeling, eyes closed/open and ended up standing or sitting a minute after everyone else when Tanya gave me a nudge as I still had my eyes closed. I liked the parable stories though of the sheep the priest was telling and at least I could understand it. The children then processed around the village square with firecrackers going off every now and again, scaring the dogs wild. We then went to the hall and there were five dances, which were good, the children loved doing them, but it took AGES to set up with the chairs being moved all over the place, different people trying to take control, parents adjusting their child’s outfit, eating blah etc it must have taken a good forty minutes to set up alone!

Carmen Rosa started off by saying she would dance all five dances but at the first one she was pulled off by a teacher and sat at the side. I felt really angry! Just because she couldn’t afford the dresses and hats the other girls had. It knocked her confidence hugely and she didn’t dance despite mine and Tanya’s efforts to get her up again. Milan was a star though and was even chosen for a biblical reading thing, which happened between each of the dances. He was also really good in the dance of the fruits which was hilarious. They all had a drawing of a piece of fruit taped to their front. He looked really happy and proud of himself. We left after the dances. That lunchtime, back at Azul Wasi, Tanya said she definitely saw chicken feet in the soup. In the afternoon I played with the boys and CR. The evening was horrible, dark windy and very, very cold so we went to bed at 7.50!!

Wednesday 15^th September 2010:

Another awesome day. We headed down to the internet café mid-morning, having bizarrely caught a ride with two policemen. One had a really high voice so I couldn’t work out what he was saying. Tanya had been dreaming of a lift to Oropesa on the way out of Azul Wasi so got the gist of what they were saying much quicker than I did! They dropped us off outside the jardin and we carried on walking to the plaza. There was a lot of noise, which was unusual, and then a lot of wolfwhistling. Megarly embarrassed I was up for bypassing the plaza completely but Tanya just laughed and pulled me across. On the church steps the entire school was waving banners and flags and messages on cardboard. There must have been about 400 children, all from Oropesa, Tipon and a couple of the outer districts of Cusco, San Jeronimo mainly. It was a sort of eco protest about the environment, saying “save the trees, clean the water” etc. The noise stopped as the school band began, drums, flutes, whistles and trumpets, so Tanya and I stayed to watch. They started parading around the plaza so we followed a bit and Dante, one of the Azul Wasi boys, came over and said why not come back to the school with the march? So we did. Everyone was staring at us, the gringas that we are. I have never felt so embarrassed; we must have really stuck out, like when you see gringas in Cusco. It felt like how being a celebrity must feel - we got hugs, handshakes, kisses, more stares after stares after stares. Very bizarre!! We saw Ivan and Bautista at the school gate but stayed with Dante. There was a clown in the playground doing some pretty minimal stuff with fire, and unbelievably, was asking the children for money. We stood right at the back as I only had about 5 sol on me for the internet café and something to eat later that I didn’t much fancy passing up.

A teacher then took us down to the director of the second upper half of the school (13-17 year olds) called Rosanna. She was really nice, but the conversation was so vague! What subjects? Which days? What subjects again? How about Monday? Oh no yep, you said you were at the jardin on Monday. Which days again? Round and round in circles we went till it was decided we were going to help with sports, English, art and science projects (the recycling stuff) on Wednesdays and Thursdays (as that is when most of the English classes are). Needn’t have bothered as we had the complete same conversation with the next boss up, the director of the whole school, and then again with him the next morning at 8am. He had the first laptop I have seen out here, but also the biggest gaping holes in his office ceiling! With the meeting tomorrow morning pencilled in we were off. Once out of the school gates we couldn’t stop laughing, it had all been so surreal. I got something to eat and we finally made it to the internet café. In the evening we felt a bit arty, Tanya drew a sign for the door and I made a red/green circle with feathers saying when the boys can knock on it. It has since fallen off in the wind though… We also helped Wilmer with his homework, or at least tried. His maths work, and he is only 13, was sooooo hard! I tried 3 times! Impossible. The English was a tad easier ;)

16^th September 2010:

Wahhhh terrible nights sleep, the cockerel is more than a joke, I hate it soooo much. Then the light and noise wakes me up at 5.45am. No wonder we are going to sleep so early. Most of it has to be done before 2am as that is when the cockerel starts and then you know your sleep time is up. He lives RIGHT below us, when he flaps his wings it sounds like he is going to fly up through the floorboards. Anyway, we had pancakes for breakfast which was the best thing ever. I hope they appear more frequently. We walked behind Bautista and Wilmer for our first day of school eeeek, I was pretty nervous I have to say. The dogs followed us and were a real nuisance throughout the day so next time they can definitely stay here. We had our little meeting with the director and met the English teacher, who’s English left a lot to be desired. It was so bad it was much easier to talk in Spanish! We got lots more stares and reactions from the children. The first class was really lovely, interested and keen to learn. We started off introducing ourselves and then began group work, asking them simple questions in English, like name, age, where are you from? Then just talked in Spanish about music, food and other cultural differences. The lessons are 2 hours long but it went very quickly. It seems that English is as hard for them as Quechua is for me! Throughout the day I learnt some more, in return for English phrases, such as “What is your name?” which is “Iyman sutiki?” the words for year, day, month, sun, moon and various parts of the body: I can say nose, eyes, mouth, ears, face, knee blah blah. It isn’t getting any easier though! I can also count to 10 off by heart (u’, iskai, kinsai, dawa, pisca, soqkta, k’anchi, pusaq, esquon, chunka. The apostrophes sound like a click with your tongue) and say a thousand, warunkh. They really struggle with ‘ay’ sounds in English, so Rachel becomes Ratchel. Tanya becomes Tania, like Tan-ee-a with an extra syllable! The second class was completely boys (including Bautista and little Edwin from Azul Wasi) between the ages of 13 and 16 (big range) and though they did not listen to the teacher at all, they were actually really keen to learn. Tanya and I had to stand at the front at the end and say the numbers to sixty while they copied each one. If you changed the intonation slightly they followed too! So we had some low numbers and high numbers to mix it up a bit. Fun. The next class were really cheeky, taking pictures on their phones and making crude comments, and it was a mix of girls and boys so you’d think the class before would have been worse but they weren’t. It was still fine though, and they were only one hour long and then it was break. We each bought a little plastic plate of food for 50 centimos which had rice and vegetables and peas, pretty good for 12.5p. We had two more classes after break, both English, which were fine, not as good as the first one but not as bad as the third. In the final class the girls loved Justin Beiber and the Jonas Brothers. We also met Neptali’s girlfriend Marielena (Neptali is an Azul Wasi chico) who was really lovely! Hopefully she will come to Azul Wasi a bit more?? Not sure. We came back to lunch and afterwards I helped little 7 year old Dani cover his science books in clear plastic, not so easy in this wind but by the third they were looking pretty good! I also talked to Bautista about Azul Wasi. It was built in 2006, so not that long ago, but the land was bought in 2002 and it took 4 years to raise the funds to build the buildings. Tanya was really ill at dinner. I thought she had gone to the other end of the dining area thing but after 20 minutes looked over to see if she was coming back as she’d left her tea and bread but alas non, she was stationed head over the loo ready to throw up L the food has really affected us and as most of you well know, I am not a fussy eater at all! Some days you have just no appetite and can’t even think about lunch without retching, then on other days you are starving. Diarrhoea is a down factor too L It is great to get to Cusco for a proper meal once in a while. Hopefully our stomachs will soon adjust; there is nothing wrong really as they cook it well and proper so it isn’t food poisoning though the kitchen is dirty. Just making sure we get enough fluids and supplement with Oropesan bread and fruit and biscuits whenever we go down.

17^th September

7.40am: Today we were both feeling pretty rubbish and had already planned in a day at Azul Wasi as had been out at the jardin and school the last four days in a row. I am sitting next to Anastasia flicking through a SHE magazine from England and she keeps asking “Qué costa en tú pais?” (how much in your country?) so the normal. I wouldn’t have brought it out if I’d known she wanted to chat, there are much better neutral conversation topics than money, fashion, shampoo, dresses, celebs blah. Breakfast was not bread today but rice, Tanya was really ill last night and had to get up lots L can’t have been nice poor her, it’s so cold outside.

6pm: Well we went to Tipon in the end, about a five minute bus ride away. On the way to Oropesa (by foot) we passed Alcides in a crazy red beetle with yellow flames painted on the side of it. Not what you expect from the calm mid-fifties year old Peruvian but he is full of surprises. Tipon has an archeological Incan site and is part of a national park but you have to pay 70 sols all in one go to see it on Cusco’s botelo turistico, which lasts for two days and covers all nearby Incan ruins and pre-Incan ruins except of course Machu Picchu. At the school, however, the children had been saying that Tipon does the best guinea pig in the district. Not really feeling up to an Azul Wasi carbohydrate packed lunch, and the fact that we have been here three weeks without trying it (a month would be criminal!) we set off in search of guinea pig, in particular Cuyeria Yuly, a recommended specialist restaurant. When we got to Tipon there were millions of Cuyerias! Virtually every house! The village straddles the main road from Cusco to Puno and is basically one up towards Cusco than Oropesa. Yuly was shut so we tried Rancho. For seven quid Tanya and I decided to share, not having much of an appetite (i.e. no appetite) and after a few minutes a whole guinea pig came out on a plate, completely browned! You could still make out it’s wee teeth and paws. I felt very nostalgic for Beth’s Patch, Hagrid, Magic Flash, Honey all part of my childhood but yeah, food is food and this was not just food it was meat. I managed a leg, it was pretty good! Neither of us fancied the heart or kidneys though, we’re two woossy girls when it comes down to it. We were on our way back, in time to go support Dante at his football amistoso (friendly) at 3 when Alcides and Dante drove by with a few others I couldn’t make out in the back. It was only 2.25pm and Dante definitely said they wouldn’t be LEAVING till 3. Margh, next time. We were going to make a banner and everything, be the embarrassing big sisters he doesn’t have (that I can do an impression of quite well *cough, Chloe’s prom*). Instead we carried on back home and Tanya somehow managed to get into a bit of a waterfight with the younger boys, particularly Hernan, Valerio, Dani and Ivan. I cannot leave a PT partner on her own so the fight began, with Anastasia getting involved and guarding the taps for us! It ended promptly after an hour when everyone was soaking and the water ran out. The boys were pretty clever and found some plastic sheeting when we had all the buckets captive. They then hid (lots of little buildings at Azul Wasi so quite easy to hide!) and ran out and tripped you up. I ended up pouring the water all over myself and they ran off, cackling with bucket in hand. There is a well too, plus a very long hose pipe so it got muddy. I had a shower (and e-shock) afterwards and it was verging on being described as ‘hot’ till the water ran out as it was only what was left in the pipes from the day! A very good Friday J

18.09.2010

Today we were served up an awesome omlettety type thing, salad, rice and chips. All fine. I thought “hmm okay well save the best till last” and began to tackle the mountain of rice. Tanya next to me said “hey, what’s this fish, I don’t recognise it?’ and as soon as I put a bit of the omelette in my mouth I knew it was not fish, eugh even writing this makes me feel so ill, it was like chewy slime, and seemed to get bigger in my mouth not smaller. I kept it in there for a while, trying to answer Alcides’ questions and nod aghast at the tale of how the police station where he works in Cusco had been robbed in the night without letting up that anything was wrong but quickly got it back on the plate and covered with rice. Tanya was having second thoughts and found some napkin for hers. I asked little Edwin what it was, having just seen Ivan stuff his in his trouser pockets with a grimace, and Edwin said he loved it, it was a mixture of cows pancreas and intestines (on further inspection you could see the villi), so when Alcides wasn’t looking Edwin got the rest of my omelette and had a massive grin on his face. I reeeeeally didn’t fancy the chips or rice then but pushed them down anyway, it was a long time till dinner. The thing is that in England we are so fussy with our meat. If it isn’t the chicken breast or lamb chops it is always pretty good! Here, when it is around, you can get given a hunk of spine and just chew off the meat you can, or some weird knee joint or who knows what, they eat the whole of the animal and sometimes, I cannot, not matter how hard I try, eat it. I know it is a good and character building experience but then I don’t fancy the rest of the meal, and I certainly can’t take any more omelette this week. The salad that has recently been appearing is so so so so good though and refreshing, despite the fact it comes from a tin. It goes well with my stomach unlike the rest.

After lunch was a good old-fashioned clear out. We sorted through two cabinets of stuff (lots of colouring pencils, junk, playing cards, bibles, paperwork and initially reassuring first aid till the use-by date on everything was 2003 and the packets were open! Some was fine though.) I found the paperwork really interesting and it shed a lot of light for us on the boys who live here and where they come from. We also got a glimpse of the boys school reports, complete As with a smattering of Bs but no less. These are intelligent, hardworking young people who really try their best! There were lots more of official handing-over-of-care-type documents, original birth certificates of the boys, everything. This morning we tried to go to the internet café but it is shut at the weekends it seems - Monday then. Milan and Danita’s Dad is building a washing machine area out of breeze blocks and cement next to the cow shed. The air at the moment is really smokey, the farmers are burning down the fields as the rainy season starts in October.

19^th September 2010:

Wow today is not a good day. By 8am I had been sick 4 times and couldn’t keep water down, just retching. Today Alcides will sell the guinea pigs as they aren’t producing and the climate now is bad for them (and APPARENTLY the cockerel is going for the chop soon YES YES YES YES EYSSSSS YES YES EYS EYSE SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!) I would have loved to have gone with him, they were going to the other side of the Rio Urubamba so would have been a chance to see the area a bit more. He said that if we were still ill when he got back we’d take a trip to the hospital. I have no energy, and keep dreaming of Mum’s cooking: fajitas, roast dinners, lasagne, tuna pasta, curry, salmon, Chloe’s homemade burgers, Iona’s cookies, Dad’s enchiladas mannnnnn please anything but more of the soup that precedes every meal here! And no more meat! Pizza?!?!? Wahhhhh wahhhh. Oh well, I am fine apart from the stomach, everyone here is understanding, they have clearly seen it before. I am not going to hospital three weeks into the year, that is ridiculous, it will pass when I get everything out of my system as that is what my body is clearly telling me. Anastasia abides by coca tea so will give that a go this evening maybe.

20^th September 2010:

7am: LUNES, today things are much better, I have no food in my body at all apart from a bread roll last night and a bread roll this morning and lots of coca tea. It does work. Today we are vamos-ing to Cusco for a McDonalds (I don’t care, my nonchalant snobbiness counts for nothing over here when you need food you got to go get food) and who knows what else. No jardin because the post officebox for Oropesa is only open on a Monday and in Cusco. Mum has sent some pillowcases and some chocolate so off to see if we can track it down. Will report back later. Ciao.

Evening: Yes the McDonalds was good. Tanya and I have much bigger eyes than our stomachs though! I started off buying a grande Big Mac and planning on getting something with chicken and bacon (McPollo) for the way home but could hardly manage the first burger. Feel pretty good now! Full at least! And I think it will stay down. I did go back for a McFlurry J At least it is a safe, fresh start for the belly. Before the traitorous to Peru MaccyDs we went to the post office and I asked for the post to Oropesa. We were sent round to a smaller desk on the other side of the building and they said nope, it all goes straight to Oropesa. My heart sank, WHERE is the post office in Oropesa? Azul Wasi doesn’t get any post but I can understand, it is ages out of the town. Then she said, well you may as well try upstairs. So we went through to her side of the desk and she sent us through some back labyrinthine corridors, up one floor and tried the first door. A lady kindly typed my name in the system after checking my ID (passport) that the Lonely Planet guide said I’d have to show to collect post, and the computer froze. There cannot be many Rachel Youngs in Cusco! A man behind us was looking at the shelves and pulled out a parcel with R. Young on the front and pronounced it out loud to the room saying “Erray Yohng?” and I was like YES that’s me!!!! And that’s Mum’s writing! (All in English though so got a funny few looks and explained.) So yippeeeeee I have a parcel from England, the letters and notes inside were amazing and so is the chocolate but best of all the pillow case groups together my blankets and table top covers into a more manageable, less static (you can see the sparks!) sleeping instrument. Hurrah.  Tanya has a huge shoebox on its way that is in Lima at the moment so we know it’s in the country. Post is more exciting than I could have thought!

We bought the boys and ourselves some DVDs in Wanchaq. For 2 sol each, so 50p, they cannot be legal and have about seven films per disc. The boys were ecstatic for the Naruto, and we have saved the rest to give on a rainy day, plus there are a few birthdays coming up. I bought some wool in Wanchaq also, for a pound I got all different colours (seven in total) and that evening asked Anastasia to help me make one of the bracelets she makes. It was much harder than it looked and I started off with white and red, the Peruvian flag! It doesn’t look too bad but a bit wobbly in places. When she had gone (and I thanked her profusely, she insisted on staying till I had finished the whole bracelet which was kind but I didn’t understand why. I have been able to get a bit closer to Anastasia recently, as my Spanish improves and she has talked a bit about the past of Azul Wasi and the boys, her own past and Alcides, or so I thought it was friendship…) I started making one for Tanya with red, white and black but made the string waaaaaaay too long!

21.09.2010

Today we went to Oropesa to try the internet but it was shut, we are guessing due to the strikes so will be tomorrow as well. We bought some comforting fruit juice (Tanya got passion fruit and I grabbed some Mango) and stormed back. No internet for over a week? Nah it is pretty cool really, I suppose. Back here we did lots of jobs like covering the cement pile in bigger stones so the wind and rain won’t blow it away, collecting and smashing more rocks, cleaning. Both feeling bad stomachey, I didn’t have the chicken at lunch but Tanya did so we shall see, a brave experiment on her part. Dreaming of a Nandos… In the afternoon we painted with the boys some more on the outside of the eating building (dining room? You could call it). The pictures are looking really good but definitely have a Naruto influence! Tanya helped Valerio with his red rabbit which successfully looks really normal apart from it’s green teeth… Thanks to Wilmer. Afterwards a massive game of ‘hide-Rachel’s-flip-flops,-pretend-to-cut-them-up-and-wee-on-them’ commenced. They didn’t, they wouldn’t dare. Tanya held their bedroom hostage, stealing chippies till they gave the shoes back or I found them but the stand-off was huge. Wilmer was definitely ring leader, the one we thought at the beginning to be the quietest! After an eventual truce we played football with Dante, Oscar, little Edwin and Wilmer. Dante is very, very good! He wants to be a professional. We have nothing to teach them, I reckon Azul Wasi could run for Peru’s Brazil 2014 Copa Mundo team. After bread and tea dinner, due to the freezing cold and howling winds the darkness brings here, Tanya and I were wrapped up ready for sleep by half seven, our new all-time early record so just slept and turned my iPod on when the cockerel began at 2.

22.09.2010

Ay ay ay I think I have overdone the diarrhoea tablets (I have hardly taken any though!) as things have taken a turn in the opposite direction. Will keep you posted ;) you love it really, my gap year dietry complaints. Today we had a BIG CLEAN of our clothes, a shower, swept the floor etc etc. Lunch was fine, got my fingers crossed it won’t reappear, I have no appetite though. I can’t wait till the internet tomorrow. Knaan’s waving flag is singing out over the valley. The boys are all pretty content with watching Naruto and a bit of gardening, This strike has worked out well for them with two days off school.

Sorry this is sooooooooo long, congratulations if you have made it this far, it won't happen again! Yesterday (today is 26/09/10) was Dani's birthday and we celebrated with chicken, potatoes and... an APPLE PIE which was amazing! This weekend has been really good, we are feeling much much better now and ready for a week of jardin and school ahead. 

Abrazos and besos xxxxxxxxx