Take two
HOLA!
Well I wrote a massive beautiful blogette of a piece, pressed 'save and publish' but only the title survived. A bit bummed out, I tried to remember all that I had written, tried again but the same thing happened. :( So then I decided to go home.
Two days later and here we go again, only this time I am typing straight onto Tanya's laptop, will save onto a USB and put on the web when I next get a chance. I will also try and put up some photos!
So Peru is fantastic, amazing, wonderful, brilliant. There are not enough adjectives. I have just got back from taking Carmen Rosa to 'jardineria' (nursery) with Anastasia and Oscar. We saw a donkey being herded, nigh impossible, a massive digger run over a poor little dog (I nearly screamed, the digger was FAR too big for the small Oropesa roads ): I don't know what happened to the mess, we just carried on walking), the new sports centre's football team running around with the mountainous backdrop, 4 year olds walking themselves miles to school (Carmen Rosa is a lucky girl), people working in the fields - walking, watering, herding, sowing, ploughing with tractors that look like they will fall apart in fifteen minutes time. The ladies dressed traditionally here far outweigh those dressed in jeans and t-shirts. I have my hair plaited and try to fit in but am just so tall! Anastasia only just comes up to my shoulder when wearing her huge straw bowling hat. The jardineria is constructed of a large metal fence with green gates and gaudy cartoons. Inside is a toilet block, a classroom and possibly thousands of knee-high tykes who pull at your watch, hair, glasses, shoes, talking at once in singsong voices at soprano decibels. Two ladies run it, one takes money at the gate and sells fruit and biscuits which the mothers have to buy for their children's breaktime snack. The other is a teacher and much more friendly. The classroom is dressed up for Spring with more cartoons, wall murals - typical classroomy decor. I can definitly start on Monday, they asked if I could start today!, so I am really looking forwards to getting stuck in, but not wearing anything slightly removable!
Tanya and I have been in Peru for two weeks now, and time has shot by. The weather has improved since we have been at Azul Wasi, the other day I had a LUKEWARM shower (my second in 11 days...) but had to pay the price with a small electric shock. Tanya was not so lucky, she said she kept waiting for it to get a little warmer but it didn't, and then 'no agua, amiga' ended the shower completely. The tank had broken. To fix the tank three boys (Dante, Oscar and Hernan) climb a rickety ladder to a level concrete stand, heave up the ladder and balance it on this stand to the next stand. Two boys then hold the ladder while the third climbs higher. It looks terrifying, I was helping 7-year-old Valereo who had dropped an entire box of bird seed into the mud and wanted to recollect as much as possible, and had my fingers crossed they would not fall off.
I had to use the immodium yesterday for the first time! Actually quite exciting, now I'm on a real gap yah. I don't want to repeat the experience though... once is enough. Today we are headed for Cusco, possibly to see the Koricancha Temple and Santa Domingo: "The combined sacred sites of Koricancha (also spelled Qoricancha or Qorickancha) and Santo Domingo in Cusco vividly illustrate ancient Andean culture's collision with Western Europe. The temple of one culture sits atop and encloses the other. The extraordinarily crafted Temple of the Sun (Templo del Sol) at Koricancha was the most sumptuous temple in the Inca Empire. Some 4,000 priests and their attendants once lived within its confines. Koricancha also served as the main astronomical observatory for the Incas." Yah, I really hope we can go, it costs 3 sol, so about 70p and is on our way into the centre of town! We are going to post letters and track down some post, and explore the city a bit while the boys are at school. [Tanya just had a luke warm shower, hurrah! They do have solar powered ones stored somewhere, but the problem with Azul Wasi is that when short term volunteers come and set up these things they do not teach them prooperly how to use it, make the things easy to use or, worst of all, actually finish the job. When they promised a whole new building with lights, electricity, a roof, sometimes all they leave is a wall. This is only due to over-amibitious targets in their three weeks work. Another problem that we are finding with short term volunteers is that they give a lot of stuff, for example at the nursery today one child asked me if I was going to buy something for all of them. I would love to but we are not on that kind of budget. I have a year of time and love to give them but not a weeks worth of sweets or toys :( Makes me feel bad! Which is ridiculous but they have such big brown eyes.]
Azul Wasi is situated half an hour South East from Cusco by bus (an amazing experience in itself, full of smelly locals, clean locals, children who should be at school, a scarily young driver, chickens, four chairs worth of loo roll), just outside the village of Oropesa. Oropesa is either a small town or a large village. I used to think of it as a sleepy town until this morning. There are two plazas, an old one and a new one. The old one is very derelict and just surrounded by houses. We have to pass it to get to the new plaza and it is dog territory, not so great when we have the three Azul Wasi dogs following us, up for fighting or raping anything in sight. We carry stones, (or rocks). The seconda plaza is well looked after, there are sometimes hoses watering the grass and palm trees, people sit on the five benches. Surrounding it are mainly houses but also a couple of general stores, a mini-market (like 3 stalls), a chemist (where I tried to ask for a razor for Jasmin and got some really weird looks. It was only after we got outside that I realised I had asked for something to take the skin "piel" not hair "pelo" off your legs...), a restaurant and an internet cafe run by a really nice lady called Nancy. The is also a ferreria and a cake shop down some other streets. Near the ferreria (like a DIY shop) people just dump massive piles of stones and rocks and sand for cement. You literally have to climb over them to get down the streets! The tuktuks can't get past, they sit for a while then turn around and backtrack. We are starting to get integrated into Oropesa - there is a perv named Harry-like-Harry-Potter who runs a general store off the main plaza who we know to avoid, he gets a bit kissy and you have to run away quick but otherwise everyone is nice. Marisol, her sister (who I can't catch the name of and don't want to ask AGAIN) and her sister's baby Jeremy Roderiguez are really lovely and run a great general shop (veg, fizzy drinks, sweets, hundreds of potatoes, soap). The ladies in the torta shop are hilarious and tried to teach me Quechua last time I went with Jasmin but just laughed at my rubbish pronunciation and forgetfulness of each word within five minutes. It is soooooo hard!
To get to Azul Wasi from Oropesa you ahve to follow a track out of the town/village back towards Cusco (but just further up the side of the mountain) for fifteen minutes, passing a hamlet, lots of fields with people working, some scary dogs, take a left fork, past lots of cactuses till the "track" merely becomes a mass of rubble and stones, very muddy after a rainy night or afternoon. The mountains are incredible. On a clear night you can see all the way to Cusco, it's light shining out from the bowl it sits in , at the other end of the valley. In the day time they tower over the main road from Cusco (that we can see from Azul Wasi) and the scattered houses and villages along it. The road would continue onto Urcos, then head south down to Bolivia, past Puno. Talking of which, we have made really good friends with little Danita and Milan from next door. Danita is 10 and loves dancing (especially to Beyonce) - I can have quite good conversations with her now, she talks a lot! She was saying the other say about where she has been in Peru, her Grandma lives in Puno, near Lake Titcaca, and there is apparently a huge market. Her family stayed on the floating islands on the Lake! Her brother Milan is 5 and very shy until you give him some sugar (he came to Jasmin's leaving fiesta) when he does cartwheels till he falls over, then starts again. He was at the jardineria this morning!
Since we have only been here less than two weeks, all we can do with the boys at the moment is form relationships where they trust us and know we are here for them. Once this has been built we can try and instigate ideas and get them involved in our enthusiasm. We have learnt their games, are playing football and role play regularly, eat with them three times a day and try to help out as much as we can. It is hard to get close to them, they are all so self-sufficient having lived on the streets themselves they know how to look after themselves and take care of one another - Dani and Wilmer (two brothers) move to sleep in the same bed each night. Tomorrow we will help them finish their illustrations in paint on the outside of the new building - Jasmin wanted the building to be theirs in a way, something they can be proud of and this seems to be working. Last night Wilmer spent a good half an hour cleaning the floor to perfection. They do not do jobs by half. The next thing we hope to do is get them to draw a picture or write something about their future aspirations to put up in the new building, where they can see them in the morning and at night when they eat. As time progresses we will see how we can help, start English classes maybe, or Tanya I'm sure will get themdancing (they are reluctant at the moment!).
All for now! We're off to Cusco yeahhhhhhh
Lots of loveeee xxxxx
Well I wrote a massive beautiful blogette of a piece, pressed 'save and publish' but only the title survived. A bit bummed out, I tried to remember all that I had written, tried again but the same thing happened. :( So then I decided to go home.
Two days later and here we go again, only this time I am typing straight onto Tanya's laptop, will save onto a USB and put on the web when I next get a chance. I will also try and put up some photos!
So Peru is fantastic, amazing, wonderful, brilliant. There are not enough adjectives. I have just got back from taking Carmen Rosa to 'jardineria' (nursery) with Anastasia and Oscar. We saw a donkey being herded, nigh impossible, a massive digger run over a poor little dog (I nearly screamed, the digger was FAR too big for the small Oropesa roads ): I don't know what happened to the mess, we just carried on walking), the new sports centre's football team running around with the mountainous backdrop, 4 year olds walking themselves miles to school (Carmen Rosa is a lucky girl), people working in the fields - walking, watering, herding, sowing, ploughing with tractors that look like they will fall apart in fifteen minutes time. The ladies dressed traditionally here far outweigh those dressed in jeans and t-shirts. I have my hair plaited and try to fit in but am just so tall! Anastasia only just comes up to my shoulder when wearing her huge straw bowling hat. The jardineria is constructed of a large metal fence with green gates and gaudy cartoons. Inside is a toilet block, a classroom and possibly thousands of knee-high tykes who pull at your watch, hair, glasses, shoes, talking at once in singsong voices at soprano decibels. Two ladies run it, one takes money at the gate and sells fruit and biscuits which the mothers have to buy for their children's breaktime snack. The other is a teacher and much more friendly. The classroom is dressed up for Spring with more cartoons, wall murals - typical classroomy decor. I can definitly start on Monday, they asked if I could start today!, so I am really looking forwards to getting stuck in, but not wearing anything slightly removable!
Tanya and I have been in Peru for two weeks now, and time has shot by. The weather has improved since we have been at Azul Wasi, the other day I had a LUKEWARM shower (my second in 11 days...) but had to pay the price with a small electric shock. Tanya was not so lucky, she said she kept waiting for it to get a little warmer but it didn't, and then 'no agua, amiga' ended the shower completely. The tank had broken. To fix the tank three boys (Dante, Oscar and Hernan) climb a rickety ladder to a level concrete stand, heave up the ladder and balance it on this stand to the next stand. Two boys then hold the ladder while the third climbs higher. It looks terrifying, I was helping 7-year-old Valereo who had dropped an entire box of bird seed into the mud and wanted to recollect as much as possible, and had my fingers crossed they would not fall off.
I had to use the immodium yesterday for the first time! Actually quite exciting, now I'm on a real gap yah. I don't want to repeat the experience though... once is enough. Today we are headed for Cusco, possibly to see the Koricancha Temple and Santa Domingo: "The combined sacred sites of Koricancha (also spelled Qoricancha or Qorickancha) and Santo Domingo in Cusco vividly illustrate ancient Andean culture's collision with Western Europe. The temple of one culture sits atop and encloses the other. The extraordinarily crafted Temple of the Sun (Templo del Sol) at Koricancha was the most sumptuous temple in the Inca Empire. Some 4,000 priests and their attendants once lived within its confines. Koricancha also served as the main astronomical observatory for the Incas." Yah, I really hope we can go, it costs 3 sol, so about 70p and is on our way into the centre of town! We are going to post letters and track down some post, and explore the city a bit while the boys are at school. [Tanya just had a luke warm shower, hurrah! They do have solar powered ones stored somewhere, but the problem with Azul Wasi is that when short term volunteers come and set up these things they do not teach them prooperly how to use it, make the things easy to use or, worst of all, actually finish the job. When they promised a whole new building with lights, electricity, a roof, sometimes all they leave is a wall. This is only due to over-amibitious targets in their three weeks work. Another problem that we are finding with short term volunteers is that they give a lot of stuff, for example at the nursery today one child asked me if I was going to buy something for all of them. I would love to but we are not on that kind of budget. I have a year of time and love to give them but not a weeks worth of sweets or toys :( Makes me feel bad! Which is ridiculous but they have such big brown eyes.]
Azul Wasi is situated half an hour South East from Cusco by bus (an amazing experience in itself, full of smelly locals, clean locals, children who should be at school, a scarily young driver, chickens, four chairs worth of loo roll), just outside the village of Oropesa. Oropesa is either a small town or a large village. I used to think of it as a sleepy town until this morning. There are two plazas, an old one and a new one. The old one is very derelict and just surrounded by houses. We have to pass it to get to the new plaza and it is dog territory, not so great when we have the three Azul Wasi dogs following us, up for fighting or raping anything in sight. We carry stones, (or rocks). The seconda plaza is well looked after, there are sometimes hoses watering the grass and palm trees, people sit on the five benches. Surrounding it are mainly houses but also a couple of general stores, a mini-market (like 3 stalls), a chemist (where I tried to ask for a razor for Jasmin and got some really weird looks. It was only after we got outside that I realised I had asked for something to take the skin "piel" not hair "pelo" off your legs...), a restaurant and an internet cafe run by a really nice lady called Nancy. The is also a ferreria and a cake shop down some other streets. Near the ferreria (like a DIY shop) people just dump massive piles of stones and rocks and sand for cement. You literally have to climb over them to get down the streets! The tuktuks can't get past, they sit for a while then turn around and backtrack. We are starting to get integrated into Oropesa - there is a perv named Harry-like-Harry-Potter who runs a general store off the main plaza who we know to avoid, he gets a bit kissy and you have to run away quick but otherwise everyone is nice. Marisol, her sister (who I can't catch the name of and don't want to ask AGAIN) and her sister's baby Jeremy Roderiguez are really lovely and run a great general shop (veg, fizzy drinks, sweets, hundreds of potatoes, soap). The ladies in the torta shop are hilarious and tried to teach me Quechua last time I went with Jasmin but just laughed at my rubbish pronunciation and forgetfulness of each word within five minutes. It is soooooo hard!
To get to Azul Wasi from Oropesa you ahve to follow a track out of the town/village back towards Cusco (but just further up the side of the mountain) for fifteen minutes, passing a hamlet, lots of fields with people working, some scary dogs, take a left fork, past lots of cactuses till the "track" merely becomes a mass of rubble and stones, very muddy after a rainy night or afternoon. The mountains are incredible. On a clear night you can see all the way to Cusco, it's light shining out from the bowl it sits in , at the other end of the valley. In the day time they tower over the main road from Cusco (that we can see from Azul Wasi) and the scattered houses and villages along it. The road would continue onto Urcos, then head south down to Bolivia, past Puno. Talking of which, we have made really good friends with little Danita and Milan from next door. Danita is 10 and loves dancing (especially to Beyonce) - I can have quite good conversations with her now, she talks a lot! She was saying the other say about where she has been in Peru, her Grandma lives in Puno, near Lake Titcaca, and there is apparently a huge market. Her family stayed on the floating islands on the Lake! Her brother Milan is 5 and very shy until you give him some sugar (he came to Jasmin's leaving fiesta) when he does cartwheels till he falls over, then starts again. He was at the jardineria this morning!
Since we have only been here less than two weeks, all we can do with the boys at the moment is form relationships where they trust us and know we are here for them. Once this has been built we can try and instigate ideas and get them involved in our enthusiasm. We have learnt their games, are playing football and role play regularly, eat with them three times a day and try to help out as much as we can. It is hard to get close to them, they are all so self-sufficient having lived on the streets themselves they know how to look after themselves and take care of one another - Dani and Wilmer (two brothers) move to sleep in the same bed each night. Tomorrow we will help them finish their illustrations in paint on the outside of the new building - Jasmin wanted the building to be theirs in a way, something they can be proud of and this seems to be working. Last night Wilmer spent a good half an hour cleaning the floor to perfection. They do not do jobs by half. The next thing we hope to do is get them to draw a picture or write something about their future aspirations to put up in the new building, where they can see them in the morning and at night when they eat. As time progresses we will see how we can help, start English classes maybe, or Tanya I'm sure will get themdancing (they are reluctant at the moment!).
All for now! We're off to Cusco yeahhhhhhh
Lots of loveeee xxxxx
posted by Rachel at
09:41
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