Hola amigos! We have arrived in Peru!
So we have finally made it to Peru. After around 24 hours of travelling we got to Lima where we were met by Charlie and Jorge who took us to get mobiles and have lunch. The next day we got to Trujillo airport which is tiny - the baggage pickup place is only the size of my kitchen and dining room in Scotland combined. We were picked up by one of the tias who then proceeded to take us on a trip round the city where we kept on dropping off and picking up a couple of the girls and some guy for unexplained reasons, stopping halfway though to jumpstart someone´s car. We finally got going to the aldea which is right out of the city next to sugar cane plantations and in amongst huge mountains. At the aldea we were put in separate houses and ate lunch (rice and beans with fried egg - Mum, Dad, Lorna - you should be proud of me considering i dont like beans or egg but actually its the nicest thing ive eaten since ive been here). The days since then have been spent just playing with the kids until we get a bit more used to the routine and get to know the kids before we start activities on Monday.
On Thursday we went to a festival at the kids´school where they had all made Chinese lanterns out of recycled rubbish and we went on a walk round the area round the school which was all just adorable. We were a bit confused at the start but got used to it...at the moment we´re learning to just go with the flow, ask questions if we want to know more but not to expect to understand the reply!
Yesterday we helped blow up balloons and cut out letters of the kids´names who have August birthdays for the monthly birthday party which is held on the last Friday of every month. We asked and were told that the fiesta was at 2 oclock. 2 o´clock came and went, we assumed it might be at 3 or maybe 4 instead but no, at 6 o´clock I was in casa 5 which is where I´ve been eating this week and all the boys seemed to be disappearing somwhere, eventually Juan Carlos said I was to go with him to the fiesta which was a relief and I was really looking forward to it. So we went to the salon (assembly room/library/communal area type thing) and after a bit of waiting some of the older girls did a dance to gangnam style, 4 kids did the egg and spoon race, and then musical chairs. I then got dragged up to have purple foam things put in my hair and then had to do a catwalk down the middle of all the kids which was hilarious. We were all given sweets and chocolate etc and there were 2 piñatas full of even more sweets which the kids got showered with since they were standing underneath them. It was all complete madness to me, kids running everywhere and making a racket but the tias didnt seem to mind and the kids were enjoying themselves.
Another thing I should mention is that it´s surprisingly cold. When we wake up at 6am it´s freezing but it normally warms up at around 10-11 and stays warm until 4pm-ish when it starts to get dark. Mind you, it is winter here so it should get warmer!
There are 10 casas in total but a few of them are empty. We live in casa 3 and the kids are always wanting to get in - they come and knock at our door and say they want to draw and paint but they´re not allowed in because they apparently always steal your things...I´m trying to be very careful with my camera because every time they see it they shout "camará, camará!" and want to have it.
I´m loving it here and I´m getting used to the language and South American dialect. I understand way more than I thought I would and I have no idea how the previous volunteers coped with no Spanish whatsoever. The aldea is so beautiful and the children and tias are all lovely. I´m struggling with names at the moment but so far I know names of all the boys in casa 5 plus a few others I´ve been playing with!
Thanks for reading, apologies for the lack of photos but I forgot the cable for my camera so next week hopefully!!
Ciao, Heather
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