The ups and downs and all arounds (the condensed version)
Hi guys, its been so long since I’ve blogged and I’m sorry (if anyone outside of my family and PT actually read this hahah!), but I’ve written a lot of blogs I just haven’t got round to posting. By the time I remember I’ve written anything, the blog is so out of date that there was no point in posting it. I seem to only write them when I’m feeling really emotional or lonely.The first thing I’d like to say is that when I think about all the things I’ve achieved over the past two years of my life I’m amazed. How many other 17 or 18 year olds can say they’ve done what I have? I studied 4 A levels, worked Saturday and Sunday and fundraised £5000. In the A levels I came out with top grades against all odds (and everyone telling me I wouldn’t). I’ve made it 6,000 miles across the world and am currently living in an orphanage, working 10-12 hours a day with kids who have nothing. When I remember this I realise that what I’ve done and what I’m continuing to do is worthwhile and that I can’t go home.
The worst thing is I feel like nothing I ever do here is good enough. The unfriendliness of the directing staff is a constant slap in the face and I’m hoping that it’ll change and they’ll learn to appreciate us. It’s difficult because they formed a really close relationship with the previous volunteers and are constantly comparing us to them (and apparently finding us lacking). It’s upsetting because I don’t want to replace them, and I want to just say look, we’re different people. You have to accept that we’re going to be different. I don’t want to walk in their shadow this whole year with people looking down their noses at us because we aren’t them. I wish one of the directors would just say something, “thanks, I appreciate you’re so far from home. Thank you for working 10 hours a day with these kids. I appreciate that they can be really difficult.” I’m not saying they don’t appreciate it, they just always seem to find something wrong with it.
The other thing I find very tough is the no going out alone rule. I love Chloe to bits and she’s honestly become my best friend (even if when she’s drunk she blurts my secrets!) Most of you who know me will know that really I’m a very solitary person. Those of you who know me also know what an absolute cow I can be sometimes when I’m irritated, stressed or tired. Chloe just doesn’t deserve that behaviour from me. She’s so lovely and sweet and I don’t want to ruin our friendship over something I say when I’m annoyed that just isn’t her fault. I’m also conscious of the fact that with me Chloe will never gain any confidence because I constantly talk for her. I feel like such a douche in this respect. I’m also completely conscious of the fact that I actually don’t deserve to be friends with someone as great as Chloe. I feel completely inadequate in comparison to what an absolute martyr she is. Because of my solitary nature I am not used to having to listen to what anyone else says. I want to go out… I go out. I am not good at accommodating other people and I know that sometimes I’m wrong or out of order (hence why Chloe is a total martyr). Partnerships are difficult as anything and it upsets me to know that I’ve upset Chloe.
On the subject of partnerships, when I introduce Chlo as my partner it’s hilarious to see their reaction. Everyone’s like “OH, your PARTNER!” Like, my lesbian partner. We also share looks like a married couple, and know EXACTLY what it means. We were at Mancora this weekend, chatting with one of the barstaff who we’d met the last time and is actually such a lovely guy, and I just looked at her and raised my eyebrows and she was like “NO WAY, NOT AGAIN!” We of course wouldn’t tell him what the look meant; and I won’t tell you guys because I don’t think you’d want to know, but he got pretty pissed that we wouldn’t divulge. Although I think Chlo divulged every other one of my secrets soooo… Hahaha, but it was her birthday weekend so I think she’s under a general amnesty and I can’t be TOO much of a bitch about it.
So yeah Chlo’s birthday was pretty great. I felt completely inadequately prepared to be the only one she was to share probably her most momentous birthday with (18). I also HATE present buying. Like I literally broke out into a cold sweat when I went out to buy her presents. I almost had a panic attack in the middle of the Plaza del Sol which could have gone down really well. I ended up just getting her perfume, some jewellery and sunglasses, and a notebook. She writes a journal so I wanted to get her something she would keep forever and remember me by. I wrote her a little message in it too. I also bought ingredients which the master chef that is Esmelda whipped up into a stellar cake. Though, the piece de resistance(es?) were the cards I got my boys from casa 2 to make, and several of the girls from casa 7 and my own card. My “card” was an A3 piece of card covered in photos, and in the middle a massive message from me telling Chlo how awesome she is and how glad I’m here with her. On the back I’d asked loads of the tias and directing staff to write her messages. I also decorated our house with stuff Chlo’s mum sent me (thank you Heather!) and casa 5. The cake was a surprise until about mid morning when Angel (the director) came over and said happy birthday, and said “we’ll do the cake later,” so that surprise was nice and ruined! However I gathered all the kids in the Gazebo in front of our house (with the promise of cake – even getting the girls from casa 4 out from their dinners!) to sing her happy birthday. The cake went a fair way round the kids, and everyone that sang happy birthday got a slice. Seeing as it was Halloween we also did bobbing for apples with my boys from casa 2, and Chlo’s girls from casa 4. We even got the psychologist bobbing haha, which was funny. Anyway, I threw out sweets for the kids after the cake too, which got a bit violent I must admit. It was so sweet to get everyone to sing happy birthday. I wish I was at the Aldea for my birthday, I would love to celebrate with the kids; however it’s less than a week before we go back home in August, so we’ll probably be in Lima. Me and Chlo kept it a quiet one and went out for Pizza, and they gave us a free brownie desert because it was Chlo’s birthday. We were so stuffed as well, and had to force it down to be polite haha. We properly celebrated with a long weekend at Mancora last weekend – the less said about THAT the better – and yeah. So I think I did well… Ish?
I’m constantly surprised by how much progress I’ve made over the last nearly 3 months. It’s such a boost when you do something that you can’t have ever imagined doing at the start. My confidence with the kids has grown the more I get to know them, and now I can say that I know how to keep their attention for more than 20 minutes – with toddlers this is SO difficult! – which I thought would never happen. We’ve discovered the “what floats” game, which they love and do NOT get tired of, although they do always end up a bit grubby after looking for new and exciting things to lob in the water. Carlitos, the cheeky little monkey always manages to find the biggest rock and drop it in from higher than his head. I’m pretty sure that health and safety experts would have a fit at a two year old having any kind of control over as deadly a weapon as a fist sized rock! They also LOVE collecting things. I wish I was that easily occupied finding leaves! They get their little fists full of leaves, then will not relinquish them.
I also love spending one on one time with the kids. In the morning we take all the chicitos to the park, and on the afternoons where we’re in the baby casa I take either Andrea or Camilla to the park. It’s such a nice way to get some space from the madness of the boys and just chill. Andrea is content to just wander about or cuddle with me in the grass. She, like me is very solitary and independent but very, very cautious. She has a lot of common sense for a not-yet-two year old who can’t speak. That’s the most intriguing thing about her; I think she chooses not to speak. Its also funny how absolutely scared the older boys are of her; she scares me too. When you see her arm bent back ready to give you a whack you know you’re in trouble haha. With Camilla it’s a lot more drunken-like waddling around. I try not to freak out every time she goes near any hard surface, but I always imagine the worst. What if she trips right now and falls back on that block of concrete, or bit of pavement? What if she hits herself in the face with the swing? But the tias are massively protective of her and she doesn’t get much time outside of her playpen, which she needs. She needs to explore and get bruises and scrapes to learn NOT to do those things. I obviously would never say that to the tias, who are very preoccupied about the kids safety, and I’m not saying that I don’t worry, but you’ve got to let kids explore on their own. They’re completely accountable for anything that happens to them, so they’re very, very cautious; but also because of genuine care and lack of funds at the Aldea for emergency care. So I obviously keep a close eye on them.
I feel particularly close to Camilla because I think she identifies me really closely with her mother. I feel so blessed that a little thing would trust me so much and so freely; I sometimes wonder if how I feel about her could be half of what it feels like to be a mother. One day, I just laid down in the bed with her and we stared into each other’s eyes, whilst I stroked her belly and forehead until she drifted off. She also called me mama a few times (for definite), and now I’m not sure if she’s calling me Lana or mama… We took her for her vaccinations with her mum the other day too, and she was in her mothers arms and I was sitting down… well, she leaned away from her and reached out to me. I felt so terrible for her poor mother, who is a lovely girl (she’s the same age as me), because I know she loves her little girl, and she cried to Angelika that she’s going to forget her. It actually broke my heart to take her from her mother because she started crying. I honestly felt so wretched for the love I felt for her daughter. It’s not the sweet girl’s fault that her boyfriend and Camilla’s dad bit her; her culpability only lies in not reporting it. And who would? She knew her baby would get taken away from her. She’s really sweet too, and I feel absolutely horrendous about the whole situation. I mean look at me, some foreigner who’s come to help in Peru, who has nice clothes and obviously has more money has as good as stolen her child from her.
Two of our favourites also left this month. Paolo went off back to live with his grandma (poor woman). She's nearly 60 and Paolo is a RIGHT handful haha! I miss him sometimes, but he was definitely the ring leader of all the trouble, so it's a lot quieter now. It feels like he took about three children with him. But who's going to call me Chibola now? I miss him saying "EH, CHIBOLA!" when he came home from school. Oh well, he's going to have a better life with his gran. Now Jess has also left, which is really sad because she is such a special girl, and the only one who can feed her or do anything for her is Paquita. Paquita was so distraught, because she's the one who got Jess all the help she needed really. Jess wasn't able to move anything but her eyes when she came... and now she can walk only holding onto a pinky! She's gone back to an orphanage closer to her mum where there aren't any specialist doctors to help with her care. It's really sad because Jess could be a normal girl; I just hope that they see that and encourage her.
I will carry on taking the advice of my good family friend Glenys… I’ll enjoy the ups and downs because before I know it, I’ll be back in frosty, rainy old blighty. Even if it’s tough at the moment I’ll look back on this year of my life (hopefully) and say that I did well, and maybe helped some people who haven’t ever had anything, or the hope of anything in their life, and maybe inspired them and given them something that will help them later on.
Well this is a long one...
This is covering like 3 weeks of stuff… so it’s a long one! But there´s pictures, so that´s cool, right?! Click them to make them big!Yo, whats up? I’ve not blogged in a long time, and I’m really really sorry. It’s been a lazy few weeks in times of spare time, because I’ve been spending longer hours at the casas, and it’s also getting hotter. It’s officially spring (I think)… So yeah it’s pretty roasting. Some of the tias were talking about the heat in summer and I’m absolutely dreading it haha! So a lot to say about the last few weeks… Here´s a few photos just to get you in the peru zone though, where we´re living etc.
Our little Casa (artistically done can I just say...)
My picture wall, looking very bare!
Inside our pretty little house, drying the washing.
Made me and Chlo matching door signs. I am such a good partner!
Firstly... I had a rough week where I really wanted to go home. It had a lot to do with the fact of it being my dad’s birthday, and it made me really miss my own little casa, back in sunny (ha!) Hertfordshire. I really miss my family, although this first month has slipped by and I’m just avoiding thinking about them really. Being separated by a hemisphere really puts things into perspective about life back home and you realise who your friends really are and who matters. When I was at my lowest it wasn’t the people I would have expected to help me out, and fortify me. It’s really been clarified when you compare my room with Chlo’s. On my wall are pictures of my family, some pictures I asked Lauren to print for me, and one card from Jenny. Chlo has about 10 or 11 cards, and one of her friends has written her letters to open every month. Sigh. I can’t wait to get some letters and pictures to put up on my wall, but I don’t think they’ll be from who I expect! Also would people please, please remember they can email me at Lana.mayp@gmail.com. It’s not helped by the fact Chlo overheard the tias bitching about us, and I’ve heard a few snide comments, obviously thinking I wouldn’t overhear. Grrrr. It made me wonder what I’m actually doing here. I’m obviously no help at all, and I don’t exactly see the point other than me being a burden. Well, the kids make up for it.
(left to right) Carlitos, David and Emiliano
Me swinging Carlitos about. Think this is a pretty cool photo, ngl.
Standard Emiliano at meal time
Carlitos being his usual cute self.
Me (being a bitch) and winding Paolo up. He actually started crying, but I still thought it was funny...
Carlitos´s brilliant facial expression!
On the note of the kids, they really do make up for it, like a lot. My new fave is Carlitos (don’t tell anyone though). He’s really quiet and seems really shy, but when he comes out of his shell he’s such a character! It’s brilliant. He has this little strut and this face he pulls, and then he also has this one song he sings, which goes “oh oh oh, yeah uh yeah uh yeah!” So comical! What makes it even better is seeing him with his big brother Josue (who is only 5). They were found on the street together a few months ago, and Josue used to find the food for his, well he must have been a little younger than 2 year old brother. The only way they know how old they are and their names is because of him. They aren’t 100% on their ages, but they did it by weight. Although I think Josue must be older than only 5, because he’s remarkably grown up. But I suppose living on the street and providing for your baby brother brings that side out of you. Josue still looks out for him all the time, it’s actually the most touching thing. Then there’s Leonardo… and honestly, I just love that little boy. He’s a proper cuddler, and he gives the best ones! Proper squeezes the life out of you, like he doesn’t ever want you to let go. I pretended to be a baby once to wind him up and now he’s like “tu el bebito, si?” Every moment he gets to ask haha. That’s alter ego no. 2, my main one is the “lobo” or the wolf… where I gobble up naughty children haha, and just chase them around a bit. It’s quite fun if I’m honest… That’s not all about the boys but I’ve gone on enough about them.
So onto the little girls… We got a new little baby, she’s such a sweet heart, and so chubby and cuddly, shame doctor says no cuddles! No… really, the doctor said we can’t keep cuddling her because she’ll get too accustomed to them. It’s sad because she cries a lot, and it must have been hard for her, being brought into a house full of noisy kids and people she didn’t know and just being left in her cot a lot of the time. When the head honcho tia (who is the only one who really enforces the rule) isn’t about I give her a big cuddle. When she came she had two horrible cuts on her face.. her dad gave them to her. Her mum came in the next day to drop off some clothes for her, and apparently she was really young, much younger than me. Paquita said she didn’t even seem upset at all, which is weird. But I’m sure Camilla will have a better life here, and will most certainly be adopted. Then theres Andrea… she’s so temperamental, it’s hilarious. She is soooo precocious, but that can be excused, she’s only about one and a half or so I think… She doesn’t talk at all and does the, being all cute and innocent then wacking one of the others really hard thing well. Oh my god and feeding her… I swear to god, she just picks and chooses when she’s going to be difficult for the banter. I was trying to feed her a banana and she threw such a fit she ended up covered in the bloody stuff. I honestly almost screamed at her. Sometimes it’s so difficult not to lose your temper when they’re being difficult. She actually spat banana at me, which pissed me off so much because I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to wash that skirt after wearing it only once, and don’t call me skanky, hand washing is a bitch.
Me and the new little baby, Camilla.
Way too proud of this drawing hahahah!
Babba Camilla and I (again)
On the note of the psychologist, I actually think he’s alright and quite funny. He pops by to see the kids every so often, although today haha, he did make a really awkward comment. He was like “that skirt really suits you”… and honestly, it was a knee length floaty black skirt, my mums actually, and yeah… not particularly attractive or anything! Then he went on to tell me that my top suited me too, and that he liked the spots. I just laughed and shouted to chloe across the way, with the kids in the park and told her, then turned round and said “But thanks.” Haha, sooooooo awkward, but I maintain the hope it was with the purest of intentions that he said that.
Hmmm… oh and me and Chlo went to the local night club… called Bongoes the other day. It was fun, what I can remember of it. The security guards were taking the piss out of me for a while though haha. Oh well, it was a rough week, and I blame it on the jugs of beer being on offer for 8 soles… like 2 pounds, which is pretty good (and Chlo not liking beer). Anyway, it felt good to let loose for once. I had fun, although me and Chlo didn’t make any new friends, and I’m pretty sure the “dj” was actually an iTunes playlist, but it was pretty good! I got well and truly bongoed, and felt that a weight had been lifted off me. We’re planning on going up to Mancora next week (which is apparently amazing and wicked fun), and I’m trying to think of something awesome to do for her 18th, which is really difficult! If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!
Me and Chlo prepping for Bongoes (not bongoed at all here)
Too many things to say, to little time.
So, over the last week since I blogged, I´ve got to know the kids, tias and Chloe, my partner, a lot better. This weekend I´ll be uploading some photos that we´ve taken, and I can´t wait to show you guys where I´m living and working. It´s really quite a good deal if I´m honest. I went on a cheeky cleaning spree last night after hand washing all my clothes, I don´t know what came over me. I didn´t realise I was such a little domestic goddess. Our bathroom is now spick and span, the floors are all clean - I even cleaned the loo and made a solution for the leak using my pen knife and an empty water bottle. At that moment I felt like Bear Grylls would have been proud haha! Chloe just stared at me like wtf is this bitch doing, she crazyyyy. I wouldn´t even let her clean anything! The annoying thing about clothes here as well though, is even things you would normally wear 2 or 3 times, like jeans (jumpers not so much) get smelly after one wear because of the heat, sweat and dust. Which means I´ve done my third lot of washing over the last few weeks. I quite enjoy it though. It makes me feel all independent hah!The timetable we got was decent, although we have to be in Casa 5, for breakfast by 7.30, which means showering in the COLD water, with the equally chilly morning air surrounding us. I lasted a solid 5 minutes in there this morning before having to get out. We stay in with the little babbas in casa 5 on tuesday and thursdays all day, and the other days we stay until lunch, then have a lunch break (which i´m on now) then go off to casa 4 (the young girls and a few older ones - who all have nits. I got warned about this after the first visit, so the nit comb is coming out tonight, yay!) and casa 2 (the young boys who are rather too cheeky!). We´ve been charged with doing English lessons with them, but they´re already doing their actual homework from SCHOOL haha! Oh well. It´ll be fun next time, I´m sure. Me and Chloe alternate, her going to Casa 4 twice, and me to Casa 2 twice. The boys make me laugh even if they do try and look up my skirt (shorts are always worn) and steal a cheeky grope in the guise of a hug. SERIOUSLY, THEY´RE LIKE 8+... whatttt? Weird!
So the mildly offendedness of the tia who cooks has carried on. They think that I just don´t like meat, which is true, it grosses me out ridiculously, but also more on a moral basis. So I ended up just being like LOOK, my dad´s a buddhist yeah, so I don´t eat meat. They understood it in terms of that, but still. I´m still living on rice and bread, and I have been looking forward to the weekend and getting my hands on some veggies all week. I´m so sick of rice and it´s only our second week. I´m probs going to be starved by the end of this. On that note as well, I´m definitely putting on weight at the minute, what with the only food being carbs really. I think the kids from Casa 5 are on an especially carb intensive diet as well, to help them put on weight because a lot of them came here under nourished. They keep a real eye on their weight, and Emiliano is especially worrying. He eats his food, but slowly. He´s three though, and the size of maybe a 1 1/2, 2 year old. He also doesn´t talk much, and when he does, he speaks like a two year old, barely intelligible. He doesn´t seem to be putting much weight on. On the plus side, he´s in the process of being adopted. His new parents seem really nice. He´ll be their only child too, which means he´ll get all the attention (which he´ll love haha!).
I am also craving exercise. All I do is walk from my casa to casa 5, to casa 4 or 2, and in the evening across the road and back. I was hoping to be able to run SOMEWHERE, but I do not relish the idea of running around los Algorobbos (or more or less spelt like that haha), and even the NAME sounds dodgy. I also don´t want to run around the compound particularly because I would defo just get stared at the whole time. I´m going to come back from my gap year helping orphans fat. Oh the irony!
Everyone here is so lovely, I´m enjoying my time so much. Señor Angel and his wife Señora Luz, the directors, are both so kind. They said in our meeting about our timetable ´we´re your mum and dad and the rest of the staff are your aunts and uncles whilst your here.´ And I know that it´s really all true, they all constantly worry about me and Chloe´s safety when leaving the Aldea, it´s so sweet.
Me and Chlo are getting on really well too, she´s come out of her shell so much, and is actually the funniest person! PT matched us up well there. She´s also RIDICULOUSLY well prepared, like literally has EVERYTHING we could ever need, even the things I said I would get hahah, which I did by the way... I can´t imagine doing this without her, we´re already getting on so well, and share those secret little friend raised eye brows or facial expressions that only the other person knows what they mean haha.
Anyway... better get back to the Aldea and have a shower and change, it´s my turn with the boys casa today. It´s so hot, I can´t wait to put on some trousers... :(
Big loveeeeee xxxxxxx
Piura week one!
So me and Chloe arrived at our project last tuesday evening. This week has been pretty chilled, I´m quite excited to get a timetable sorted on monday though, I must say! So yeah... so much to say about this week! First things first... the flight up... I dunno if you guys have heard of the ´mañana mañana´culture? It basically means ´tomorrow tomorrow´, and tells you something about South American time keeping. Well that also applies with their flights. The flight left nearly an hour late, which was awkward because we were being met at the airport. We were like... Shall we ring them? We were a bit too scared to haha! As well, turns out my hand luggage is a bit too big for a national flight, which I found out as I was going to board the plane! Not funny. The woman at the boarding gate stuck a sticker on it and was like, leave it by the plane and tell the stewardess! WHAT?! She explained it would be put below and I was like ´OH MY GOD IT HAS ALL MY UNDERWEAR IN THERE!!´ And the second thought was about anti malarials. It would be SUCH a massive pain in the arse if I lost those, and a massive waste of NINETY QUID. Seriously, a months worth of Mallarone costs that. Thanks for that suggestion PT! Would rather have had some hallucinations. They sound WAY more fun. Anyway, you can probably imagine how happy I was when I saw it being brought out of the luggage hold! So we rocked up at our project to the 25th anniversary celebrations. So we were largely ignored, but introduced to the Director and Directora, who are both lovely and sweet. Their daughter is also a sweetheart and showed us our room and stuff. The psychologist introduced us over the microphone which was awkward. I think the kids were too excited with their treat of a KFC kidsmeal, complete with chips, nuggets and Inca Kola / Coke. Suffice to say we didn´t get one (I really wanted one, even though I would have totally donated my nuggets to the children).The second day (wednesday) the celebrations carried on, and we met the kids in casa 5, where we eat all our meals. These are the youngest kids in the Aldea, ranging from about 1 1/2 to 5. They´re all such sweethearts. Cheeky... but sweethearts. Meal time is a MASSIVE ordeal though. Honestly, the kids just DON´T EAT. I somehow always end up feeding Emilliano... who just doesn´t eat. He fell asleep the first time I fed him hahaha. The next time he screamed for a solid half hour... So yeah PT, good choice sending me! I swear he´s so cute but also some sort of Devil child. I also let the tias know I was a veggie, and they were cool with it, although I think the cook was offended that I didn´t eat her food... eek! Well, I ate her rice and boiled potato thing. I basically eat rice, bread and potato. I need some veggies in my life though!
Our living quarters... WELL! I will get you guys some photos at some point but OH MY GOD, when we first got here me and Chloe were a little scared, but after a good clean they weren´t nearly so bad. It´s actually quite nice, and my bed is massively comfy. The ordeal putting my mozzie net up on the first night was just ridiculous. It was hot, and sweaty and I was like HOW DOES THIS PIECE OF SHIT WORK!?!?!?!?!? And yeah so me and Chloe are never going to be builders, hahah! We went into town to get a couple of things today from the market for our little casita. We got hangers and a cup to put our toothbrushes in. It doesn´t sound like much but it was fun! I´m sure loads of you are going through the same thing prepping for uni etc.
So me and Chlo´s first visit to town was good. One of the Tias took us in a motor taxi, which must be the best form of transportation ever haha. It´s like a motorbike rickshaw. We stopped, looked round the market and then we got a normal taxi into town. The town is pretty, with a big cathedral and a cute little park. We had dinner at a pizzaria, which was like s./ 50 for a pizza, two cocktails and garlic bread... WHICH IS FIFTEEN QUID. It was really nice as well. Although they didn´t sell beer which i´d been craving. It was a bit scary going back, as EVERYONE had been like, be really careful with taxis... and the taxi driver got lost on the way back! Me and Chloe thought we were going to be kidnapped or something haha. I keep everything of note down my sock / in my bra though, so hopefully if we did get held up I wouldn´t lose too much money or anything I really needed. We also are really careful not to take out anything valuable or that´s attractive to thieves. To tell you the truth I´m a bit too scared to take pictures outside of the Aldea!
Anyway... that´s about it! See you laters alligators! Message me on FB if you want a chat or something, dunno! Besos xxxxxxx
Hey from Peru
Whats up guys? I arrived in Peru at like... 7 local time yesterday. We´vejust been jamming in the hostel at the minute until me and Chloe leave for Piura later today. There´s been so much drama already,
which was pretty terrible for some people (Tom hahahaha).
DAY 1: AIRPORT DRAMA AND BEYOND... First, some of the girls, Connie and Pascal ended up only getting
their Visa stamped in for 30 days. Which is obviously ridiculously
inconvenient, what with us being in the country for 12 months... So we
ended up having to stand around for ages waiting for the change to 180
days (the maximum amount of days, you have to leave and re enter the
country to get it again). And when I say we, I mean me Connie and
Pascal, with me acting as official translator. I blame Connie´s beaut
Scottish accent haha! That wasn´t sarcasm, she has a lovely Scottish accent which may have confused the poor customs lady. Anyway, there was that. Then we went through to see everyone else at baggage reclaim, where they´d got all of our stuff for us, only to see that Tom didn´t have his. Apparently it´s still in Madrid. Luckily, Tom and his partner Bryn don´t go off to their project in Cuzco until the end of the week, so hopefully he should get it back in time. So we went off with Gabby, our country rep to the hostel. We did a little exploring, changed some money and had some breakfast. I also tried Inca Kola for the first time. It´s pretty lush, ridiculously sweet, and almost like Dandelion and Burdock. We all got phones, then went to Gabby´s office at the British Embassy in Lima to get our travel arrangements for today. Nearly all the girls were off at like 3 this morning to get their plane! I got well and truly woken up this morning. I´m kind of sad to see them go, I won´t see them for about another three months :( Then it was Jess and Jenny off to Lima, and then lastly me and Chloe are leaving for the airport at 3, for our 6 o´clock flight. That only leaves Bryn and Tom here in the hostel haha, as they have to wait for the current volunteers to leave their project before they can go to it.
THE MEAT DILEMMA... So, as most of you know I´ve been a veggie all my life. I´ve been trying and trying to eat meat, but it´s been really hard for me to do. I´m trying to eat chicken at the minute, which is easier than beef or anything I think. I´m going to try and eat it as much as possible I think, but it´s just so obsolete... I don´t see the hype about taste... In fact I think it detracts from the taste, because instead of lots of flavours and different texture like I have in veggie stuff to make up for protein and like... content, you just have chunks of meat. I genuinely find the idea of eating something that was once a conscious, living thing, and is now DEAD absolutely disgusting. Oh well... we´ll see once we get to the Aldea.
MY DUTIES AS OFFICIAL TRANSLATOR... Being 1/2 of the 2 people that can speak spanish out of the group at the minute really has it´s down sides. As I am loud and confident with people I know, the group seemed to think it was ok to make ME do all the talking in official situations. I don´t know if you´ve ever entered an embassy before yeah, but you have to go through security checks. And explain why we were there and everything. And when I say ´we´, I actually mean me. It was mortifyingly embarassing and I´m never going to forgive any of them. The moment they´re profficient in Spanish is the moment I shut up.
Aldea Infantil San Miguel
Asentamiento Humano
'Los Algarrobos', 5ta etapa
Piura
Peru
& My email is:
LANA.MAYP@GMAIL.COM
Until the next time amigos xxxxxxxxxx
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