A Busy Week

Hi guys, well im going to start off by firstly apologising for how long its taken me to update my blog BUT since we've had no internet in Azul Wasi i havn't been able to as the computers in the internet cafe won't let either me or rachel update it which is annoying! But im also going to apologise for the sheer length of this blog, its a week of stuff and its basically like my diary here so yh. The next installments will be once a week and I will just include the main events of that week so not to bore you guys.. So for those that get to the end of the blog Thanks for reading and for those that dont but still come on this page, thanks for increasing my view count LOL!!!

September 10th

The day I and Rachel had long been waiting for. When we were to go to Cusco and get MEAT. You hear that guys???? MEAT MEAT MEAT. After being without it for so long *if you don't count cubed cows spine as meat* we were absolutely feening for it. We purposely didn't get breakfast so not to ruin our appetite.

Rachel began the day with Skyping her youngest sister as it was her birthday so Rachel was automatically in a good mood after the call and I began it the same way *but at a different time of course* Skyping my family. It's weird, as I am able to speak to them via internet most days, whether it be via Facebook, Skype or email it doesn't allow me to get homesick. Funnily enough I’ve had longer conversations with my parents over Skype whilst I’ve been away then i generally did at home when it didn't involve some form of discussion or dispute LOL. It does always brighten up your day speaking to family and friends. EXCEPT when they decide to describe in EXTREME detail what they've been eating. To hear about all the meat, the chicken, the beef, the lamb the EVERYTHING, just makes my mouth water even thinking about it. It got to the point where I actually had a dream about Nandos' and that they built one in Oropesa. Oh that would seriously make me a happy woman that would. Gosh I need to get back on track; the topic of food can make me forget what I was actually writing about.

By around 12.oopm me and Rachel had left the orphanage and made our way to Oropesa town where we caught one of the 50 year old buses to Avenida El Sol, Cusco. Which generally takes just under an hour, which is different to what we were told by Project Trust, APPARENTLY it would take 30 minutes on the bus, but I mean who's counting? It was weird on the way to Cusco as we were travelling through Oropesa there were to white people that got on the bus. I and Rachel had to look twice at them then at each other then back at them again. You must all be thinking "why would that make you look twice?" WELL i will tell you why. Throughout the whole time since we have been in Oropesa we have not seen any other foreigners apart from ourselves. It just made us realize how much we stick out in the town, because I mean these guys REALLY stuck out.

We got off at the stop just after the Wanchaq market *which is where we got off last time* at this massive Inca fountain thing. It’s unbelievably colorful and so beautiful. This Brazilian couple asked us to take their picture and so we used this as an opportunity to get them to take our picture. As you can see below, aren’t me and Rachel ever so cool?

Next we went to find a post office to see how much everything would cost to send to the UK. We had to trek up this humungous road called Avenida El Sol. Its soooo long. For those that know where my house is and have travelled with me to my house from the nearest bus stop will know that it takes a lot for me to count a road as long but TRUST me, this was one heck of a walk. When we got to the middle of Avenida El Sol we found the main post office where we were told 5.50 Soles per letter. This is around £1.50 so we then went to find envelopes and birthday cards. We found the envelopes no problem but no birthday cards but as we still had a full day ahead *well we arrived around 2pm so not really a full day* we decided to go and find a Bembos which is the Peruvian equivalent of McDonalds. To find a Bembos took us ages but we finally found one and were ecstatic. Our mouths were watering as soon as we entered and we both ordered a Peruvian burger each. The burgers are cooked with PROPER meat; I’m not talking McDonald’s cow bum meat but proper meat. Grilled to perfection. Rachel’s burger included an array of different potatoes in it and mine included what i think was some sort of cheesy egg thing with like tiny chips. It was DELICOUS. We sat up on the top floor on this balcony, it was definitely a tight squeeze but well worth it. We destroyed the burgers in no time.

We then went to the middle of the plaza de armas to sit and finish writing our letters, diaries etc. The sun was beaming and it was such a nice day. As we were walking towards the bench however we were walking across the grass and were told really rudely by some Peruvian man *well as far as my Spanish goes it was something along the lines of* "What do you think you are doing walking across the grass blah blah blah" We both ran off saying Lo Siento "I'm Sorry" and we were then told a 2nd time by the police NOT to walk on the grass. The funniest thing is that there was NO sign to say you can't walk on the grass, so how were we supposed to know? Anyway so we sat and began writing and were disturbed a million and one times by kids trying to sell us things, women trying to sell jewelry or men trying to sell their 1 soles painting. The funniest disturbance though was this guy asking if I wanted him to braid my hair???? I mean seriously, whilst my hair has grown since I've left home my hair is no more than a couple of inches on the top and a centimeter at most around the sides and the back. So how far was he really going to get braiding my hair? Silly man. Rachel was disturbed by this guy asking what the time was, so she gave him the time *although after she realized she gave him the wrong one* he lurked around for a bit then ran round the corner. I thought this was strange so I kept my eye on him. He was back in a matter of 5 minutes, standing around the fountain, then to the left of our bench a few meters away, then back to the middle of the fountain, then towards the bench again leaning on some lamppost. He was playing a game of hide and seek with himself around the fountain and then he came to ask Rachel what her name was in very bad Spanish and then as she said no he ran off again and was back with a friend. I found this all too dodgy and kept my eye on him till he left. My guess is that he was hoping she was going to check the time on her phone so that he could snatch it, which is a trick also used in London. Very weird.

After we had finished writing the letters I went on the lookout for birthday cards. You would think this would be easy seeing as though in England and especially London there is around 5 corner shops on every road each of them selling birthday cards of some sort. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOO in Cusco there was literally NO birthday cards what so ever. We went on a 2 hour goose chase for the cards *so those receiving the birthday cards feel privileged* and then went back to the post office to send them. It was there that we were told it was 5.50 soles to send a POSTCARD and to send a letter would cost 7.85 soles which is just under £2. It might sound cheap in English money terms and yes it is BUT if you think of it in relevance to our monthly wages its quite a lot of money. So it's made me realize i am not able to send everyone their letters at once *so those who gave me their addresses and haven’t received a letter in the next 10 days you WILL get one but give me time lads*. We were planning on going to get something to eat a restaurant next, I had Cuy *guinea pig* on my mind. So we headed back up to Plaza de armas and saw 2 parades. 1 of them was a safe sex parade where kids were protesting saying that they should include Sex Education in the school curriculum *as it is a catholic country they don't do sex ed* and then this other one where there were all these little kids with these lanterns following a truck with all these prom king and queens who were no older than 14 dressed in these sort've wedding dresses. By the time we arrived in Plaza de armas it was 6.20pm and we knew buses to Oropesa stopped at 8pm. Our director Alcides said he would pick us up from Cusco when we were done but we thought let’s call him before just to make sure he can get us so we don't end up stranded .So we did just that, but we were told it was too late for him to get us *since when was 6.20pm late? LOL* so we had to forget about the idea of fried Guinea pig and get the bus back. So we we were back on Avenida El Sol and stopped off in a snack bar where we both got some Empenadas and a smoothie and I also got myself a Carrot cake. Thinking it would be like the ones i have back in london I couldn't wait. But Alas it wasn't and i was disappointed, it was a nice cake but I knew I could make better and when you have such high expectations when they're let down you just don't feel up to finishing the dish.

We then went on another goose hunt for the bus stop, we eventually found it and with every bus coming past we were asking "oropesa" each saying no. Two men then came up to us and one of them was going to Oropesa so he said just wait with them and he'll let us know when the Oropesa bus comes. So we did and around 20 minutes later the bus came. Peruvian buses are nothing you've ever seen before. They seat maxium 20 and then around 30 people try and squeeze themself on the bus. I was wedged between these two fat peruvian women and their bums were absolutely MASSIVE I just couldn't move. And if i did try to move they gave me the death stare so I just stayed where I was. An hours journey later we had arrived in Oropesa and it was now pitch black. The road to azul Wasi has absolutley no street lamps as it is so secluded. With a walk of around 15 minutes it was a very funny and scary journey. Me and Rachel were like little school girls holding hands through the journey to give us strength LOL. I was kicking myself I didn't bring my trusty tesco's head torch. Along the way we were spooked out by our shadows, this guy in his Tuk-Tuk who drove up the road, drove back and then switched off his engine and his lights around 50 meters behind us. So we began to run LOL we let our imaginations get the better of us even though we knew we were in no danger. We then got to the house of the demon dogs and they were Barking their hearts out. These menacing barks and for me who is in no way scared of dogs I was actually shitting myself and picked up the largest rock i could find preparing to hurl it at the demon dogs head. There were 2 guarding the brick wall and one on the ground who kept trying to edge itself closer and closer. In the pitch dark its bloody scary, i fell down a small ditch trying to back away and then we fast walked down the road to safety. Two minutes later we were back at Azul Wasi and couldn't be more happy.

Going to the touristy part of Cusco allowed me to realise how much I appreciate being in Oropesa. A small town where everyone knows everyone, me and rachel are the only foreigners, there are no beggers and we get no hassle. Unlike cusco where every 2 seconds you are asked if you want a picture, a massage, a manicure, a finger pupper blah blah blah absolutely anything and everything under the sun. We were home by around 8.30pm and went straight to the younger boys playing Chippies in the dining room. They are absolutely obsessed with this game and they have passed the Chippy bug onto me and Rachel. I bought myself 20 chippies for 2 Soles=50p and gave the boys 1 each and the rest for me. We had a long night of chippy playing and its the best chance to teach them english. We had Valerio saying "nothing" like a proper cockney lad from Oliver twist and Danny was saying "Wasteman" like he was "mandem from Hackney" loooool. It was absolutley hilarious. The nights get better and better as the days go on, they boys are all really opening up to us and our relationship with them strengthens day by day.

Now it was time to hit the hay as Saturday calls for some serious bedroom cleaning.









September 11th

Today I woke up late, well not really late i woke up around 8.40am where we usually wake up at 6.30am *well by we I mean Rachel and Rachel wakes me up at 7am for breakfast LOL*. I was still a bit wheezy this morning so sat in bed watching the 5th episode of Roots :) and Rachel went and hand washed her clothes. After the episode finished i got myself washed and dressed and played some chippies with Danny and Hernan. Played some more with the others and then me and Rachel began clearing out our bedroom so we can begin the serious cleaning. As it was a nice day Rachel went outside to write her diary and I used this time to better my Spanish by going through my spanish books looking for phrases I need to use around here like "don't be a sore loser" "you can't come in" "Be careful" "Your going to hurt yourself" etc etc etc, all phrases I've wanted to use numerous amounts of times but never knew the spanish to say it.

Then Rachel and I began to sand down the windows and as we were getting int the gist of it we were disturbed by the knock knock knocking of Carma Rosa saying "you must get ready, we're all going to Oropesa for lunch" Yayy goood food but boooo we weren't going to finish our cleaning. I got myself changed out of my shorts and into my leggins as they were obviously longer and far more acceptable and made sure I was looking Decent. Which for Oropesa standards doesn't take much, not being rude but it's not like in London where I feel the need to slap on a face full of make up just to drive to the corner shop LOL. Had a yummy lunch and Alcides joined us *the director*. Afterwards Alcides dissapeared and all the boys, Carma Rosa, Anastacia, Rachel and I stayed in the town square just messing about and taking in the surroundings. Around half an hour to an hour later Alcides reappeared in the mini bus. It was Volkswagen camper that scooby doo has except white and blue. This is the car I will end up driving here as Alcides has expressed that he would want another driver. The mini bus is sooooo funny, Rachel and I were joined in the mini bus by Dante, Neptali, Little Edwin, Big Edwin, Oscar and Bautista and obviously Alcides the driver. Rachel and I thought we were just getting driven back to Azul Wasi but yet again we were proved wrong as we went on this mammoth drive and found out that there is a river in Cusco/Oropesa!! We ended up at this small town which Alcides says for a town with 1000 people it is always silent. We stopped at this run down church where Alcides took our picture against the church. Back into the van we got and this time we ended up at the river bank where we all got out the van and played skimming the rocks and took some more pictures. It was so beautiful. 20 minutes later back in the van we got and this time ended up at another river bank where we realised the REAL reason everyone was on this treck, not just for me and Rachel to take pictures but to get flat rocks from the river bank like massive ones to make a pathway for the orphanage as the pathway has got extremely muddy. So we helped pack the van to the brim of rocks and headed back to Azul Wasi. Along the way Alcides stopped at a shop and got us all some coke and then some fat peruvians 1 man and 2 women asked if Alcides could drop them down the road. They had obviously had more Cervezas then they could handle and so they joined us in the van. Now we had: Alcides, L.Edwin, Neptali, Dante, Rachel, Me, Fat Peruvian Woman #1, Fat Peruvian Woman #2, Fat Peruvian Man #1, Bautista, Big Edwin and Oscar in the mini bus. The 3 peruvians were very drunk and you could literally smell the alcohol on them, Alcides dropped them off around 3 blocks down and they hobbled out of the mini bus, one woman almost knocking her head off the top. Very, Very funny. We then fnished our journey back to Azul Wasi and cleared all the rocks out of the van and got a start building the path way. Danita and Milan the two kids from next door then came over and we had a night full of playing hide and seek and this game where you tie a scarf round one persons eyes so they can't see, spin them around and then they have to find everyone else. Luckily i didnt have to be the blindfolded person and Rachel was the unlucky one to go first. It was very funny to watch as she tumbled over again and again as she couldn't find anyone.

We then had another soup for dinner which was quite nice they topped it with like fried potatoes which were basically chips but i could really have just had the chips to be honest. Sometimes with the soup i think they put some sort of thickener in it which looks really grainy and doesn't actually taste nice. I'm contemplating buying seasoning for Azul Wasi as you can literally have plain old water but add some seasoning and you've got a slap up 5 * meal. I would really like to cook a meal once in a while for everyone at Azul Wasi as those that know me know that i have my way in the kitchen. But the kitchen here is pretty filthy, there's tonnes of flys and it doesn't smell too good so I don't think i could picture myself staying in there for more then the 30 seconds it takes for me to put my tea bag in the bin in there.

Time for bed now anyway, me and Rachel are going to watch a film and eat a packet of Oreo's we bought from Cusco yesterday. Yum Yum Yum

Hasta Luego Bitches
Simply Signed,
Simply Compas

September 13th

Alcides, his wife and son all stayed over tonight, for the first time since we have been here they actually slept over. We had the most immense breakfast ever, instead of the usual bread and tea we had Potatoes, peruvian cheese and some bread. Was very very very nice and very filling. However It did feel weird though that they had two separate tables. One table was with the boys, Anastacia, Carman rosa and Anarita. The other table was Alcide’s family, their family friend and rachel and I. Anastacia and Anarita were basically serving our table and I Didn’t like that at all. I don’t want them to feel like we are above them, and this divide of tables definetley made it seem that way.

After breakfast Rachel and I begun clearing out our room in preperation for cleaning the 5 inch thick culmination of mud and gunk from the floor which has obviously built up since the beginning of this Azul Wasi opening. Then it was time for lunch! Lunch today was also a massive feast, we had lamb which was a nice surprise, we were also served some like orange juice mixture and as they have to boil water to drink as the water is contaminated the orange juice was warm and reminded me of the hot ribena I have at home *By the way anyone reading this, I absolutley MISS ribena, so if any of you kind folk would kindly care to send some over cough cough lol*. At lunch Rachel told Alcides about us working at the nursery and he said it’s a great idea however we should be wary of the teacher Sonia asking for money for things such as colours, paints etc and if she does ask for anything just tell her that we are only here to give you our time and not money, the government already give you enough of that.
After lunch I went to go to Ivan and the other boys room to see what they were doing and as we walked in low and behold we found out there was KITTENS along with the mum. Ivan explained that the mum had given birth to them last night and that there was orginally 3 kittens but the runt died which was a tabby colour just like the mum. Of the 2 kittens that lived, one was black and the other was tabby and white which rachel said looked exactley like her cat Bella from home. They didn’t know the sex of the kittens yet so I done the honors, as after seeing a million and one kittens come from my nans home *she fosters cats/kittens for the cats protection* I would count myself as somewhat of a cat specialist by now lol. And there it was the black kitten was a boy and the tabby and white was a girl. Ivan said they don’t have a name yet and that we should name them. This then lead to strong thoughts of what the name should be from both me and rachel, we decided I would name the black one and rachel the tabby and white.

The best news is yet to come though guys. ME AND RACHEL FINISHED OUR ROOM!

WOOOOOOOO. The floor was now clean *well as clean as we could get it with buckets of water and an old broom. Rachel sewed the curtains onto the rope we were using as I went around hammering the nails where needed. I felt like bob the builder for a day which was funny.

Tonight though however me and Rachel were made to feel very awkward. Anastacia *the cook and mum to carmen rosa, danny & wilmer* knocked on our door relatively late and sort of let her self in and closed the door behind her once we opened the door. Even though me and rachel were obviously getting ready for bed. She sat her self down and begun asking the cost of everything in our room. Its not the first time that she has done it either, Anastacia is definetley someone who I will be keeping my eye on whilst we are here.

September 13th

Today rachel and I planned to go the the Jardine *nursery* however I was up the majority of last night throwing up and such with a very bad stomach so I wasn’t well enough to go. I just stayed in bed the majority of the day so not much to tell here guys unless you want toilet information which im sure you wouldn’t haha.

September 14th

Today I felt better and my sleep wasn’t as interupted as the previous night so felt well enough to start a day at the jardine with Rachel. Carmen rosa was dressed in her pretty little pink dress and her clashing red jumper thing and immensly shiny shoes. Im sure if you stared at them in sun light you would get blinded, they were THAT shiny. For once Carmen Rosa was early and so we left after anastacia and Carmen rosa as we weren’t quite ready yet.

We walked up to the Hardine with milan the realy nice boy from next door who comes over often, he’s only about 6 or 7 years old and is very cute. Once we got to the Jardine it was very quiet and rachel said that over half of the kdis were missing. It was obviously some sort of festival today as they had a massive picture of jesus up and had candles lit up all around the picture. So we were waiting, along with Leon and Ceshan the dogs who followed us YET AGAIN and wouldn’t leave the Jardine. Carmen rosa is so so so quiet at nursery, which shocked me because she is so loud at Azul Wasi and you feel like screaming “shut up” every 5 minutes when she is around LOL. Her voice literally echoes from one side of azul wasi to the other. Milan never surprised me though as he was his loud self and was playing with all his friends whilst carmen rosa was sat by herself in the shade. It was actually really sad to watch. Slowly all the other kids began to fill the nursery, the majority all dressed in “typical peruvian” fiesta outfits. There was a huge rainbow of colours walking through the doors, millions of sequins sewn onto dresses, shirts, skirts and hats. The outfits the little girls were wearing looked more like cow girl outfits and looked like they should be doing the hokey cokey not a peruvian dance. Some of the dresses were SO short as well, they were proper dressed up some even with make up and none of them older then 7 years old. It was a peadophiles paradise to put it nicely. When the kids all came in their outfits you could definetley tell who were the wealthier ones in the class as these were the kids dressed head to toe in peruvian outfits.

We then all went to the church and listened to a service by the priest. The majority of which I didn’t really understand LOL, with only around 2 weeks of being here my spanish isn’t that good yet. We got blessed at the end though which was really nice. When it came to the part of the service when you do the “father, the son and the holy spirit” rachel had no clue what to do with her hands and just sort of flung them in every direction and it made me giggle *in my head of course not out loud In the church*.

After church we went to the other main hall in the plaza to watch the kids performance. In true peruvian manana manana fashion it took 40 minutes to start, ceshan was still with us which was very annoying even though we tried our best to leave him outside. It was time for the first dance and carmen rosa got up to go and do it although for some reason she was told to come back and not this dance. I asked why she wasn’t dancing and she said she will be dancing in a later dance. Milan was a star and performed 2 dances with the other kids, after his performance he looked in mine and rachels direction and gave us a massive thumbs up which was cute. Carmen rosa never ended up dancing that day, it was all really sad, she seemed really depleated and when we asked why she won’t dance she just said she was bad at dancing and didn’t like it. It makes me wonder what the teacher actually said to carmen rosa to make her go into such a depressive mood.
After the kids performance of peruvian dances *which wasn’t really dances but more like a train wreck with kids bumping into eachother from all different directions. I guess this is how my mum felt watching my endless performances through out nursery, infants and junior school lol, but then again not the same because rachel and I weren’t watching one of our own children perform* everyone went back to the Jardine, they were serving a special lunch as it was some sort of festival however you had to pay and we had no money on us. Also we had carmen rosa with us and not even trying to be harsh we weren’t going to pay for her even if we did have the money, not because it was overly expensive either but if you buy one thing the demands will be endless. I had a feeling anastacia told carmen rosa to hold out and see I we would pay for her as even after we told we we had no money she was still waiting saying not to go home yet.

We came home for lunch at azul wasi instead and tried chicken foot soup which wasn’t too bad however I didn’t have the guts to eat an actual chicken foot just as yet. Spent the rest of the afternoon with the boys and in “Crazy gap year” fashion Rachel and I were in bed and asleep by 7.50pm LOL.



September 15th

Today rachel and I had planned to go the school with the boys, however all the boys had already left, we planned to catch up through the short cut however after seeing the massive ditch we were expected to jump over, we retreated back to azul wasi.

Instead we thought, hey since we’re ready lets go to the internet café. So we began our walk and at the top there was a police jeep and they offered us a lift to the plaza which was excellent as it meant the dogs couldn’t follow us. In oropesa I got a “Gloria” juice, passion fruit flavour and it has now become my favourite drink. It reminds me of rubicon back home but is the peruvian version. As we were walking through the plaza we saw hundreds of school children from the school all our boys go to. As we begun walking they all begun wolf whisteling Rachel. The ironic thing is the machismo attitude we were warned about has never been from men but from boys who still have yet to have hit puberty. Rachel got really embaressed so I suggested watching their parade from the side and see if any of our boys were there. They were protesting about the enviroment and water contamination and such. As they were making their walk around the plaza rachel and I walked down a bit to have another look If we could see any of our boys and low and behold Dante ran out. He asked why we didn’t come in the morning and we expained why so he said “why don’t you come now”. Rachel and I looked at eachother and just said “sure”. So we followed dante and he had all his school friends like wolf whisteling and saying things along the line of “oooooooooo look at Dante picking up 2 gringas”. We made it through to the school and there was to be a performance by a clown. The clown was terrible though and attempted some sort of fire tricks which ended in him almost burning off his moustache. What happened next did surprise me though, he went around with a hat asking the kids for money for his performance. Very odd.

We then had a meeting with the secretary and the head and we received our timetables for the next day!! We decided on working Wednesdays and Thursdays at the school which should be interesting.

I completeley lost my appetite today and didn’t eat anything, out of all bugs to get whilst your away a stomach bug is not the one you want to have. Definatley not fun!! Our afternoon/evening today consisted of painting a sign for our door, watching the simpsons movie in my room with the boys and then helping wilmer with his homework. And by helping I mean trying and failing to help. It was Maths and it was disgustingly hard, he is a 12 year old boy and doing maths which wouldn’t look out of place in an A level exam.

September16th
Today was our first day of school!!! As we walked through the school gates Ivan was holding onto me as if to show me off as “his gringa” it made me laugh. We were followed by the immensly annoying azul wasi dogs. The three of them. Its bad enough that we are gringas yet alone the fact that we had 3 rabid dogs with us. Not fun I must say. Our first class begun with a class of kids aged 15 and over, we introduced ourselves in english, saying who we are, where we’re from, what we studied and what our hobbys are. This became the general lesson plan for all the classes. This class were all really nice, asking if I could show them dancing and stuff which then ended up in them asking for lessons LOL! The next class we were told was all boys and were all from broken homes, had no parents etc and so were all naughty. It was quite daunting walking into a class after being told that but the class ended up fine. Low and behold 2 azul wasi boys were in there, Bautista and little edwin but they were all behaved for us however not so much for the teacher. The next class we had was full of a mixture of demon children, all rude and cheeky. This one boy had some infactuation with Rachel, taking pictures of her on his phone etc. Although its not the kind of love you’d be like awwwww, he was crude and just plain cheeky trying to put up a show for his classmates. Thank god that class was only for an hour though and then it was off to the next. This class was a mixture of kids aged 13 and 14. Filled with giggling girls and cheeky boys, however these were actually quite fun. They were all curious to find out about our familys etc and life back in London. This class there was one boy who had an infactuation with me, taking pictures on his wind up camera LOL. Quite a short little stubby boy, but he was really funny and gave me a lot of laughs. I got the girls in the class to sing justin beiber in spanish and engish and then show me some peruvian dancing in return for me showing them dancing. All very funny. The most surreal thing about the day however was the fact that they have not seen a mixed race person before, they think that I am black and for them to think that if they saw half my friends and even my dad they would be shocked! I got a lot of attention that day for my short curly hair and my colour of my skin. I thought previously hmm they might think I am peruvian but boy was I wrong LOL! It became obvious today that I stick out like a sore thumb but you know what? Im fine with it. Its not as though they are rascist or anything, just more unaware. It’s not something that I should be dwelling on anyway; once they know me properly my skin colour will be a thing of the past!



September 17th

Last night I had one of the worst night’s sleeps since I got here. I’ve had a really bad stomach bug for the past week and last night was definitely its worst episode. I threw up on numerous occasions and just couldn’t sleep. When I finally did get to sleep it must’ve been around 4am or something and I woke up sometime around 8-9am. Rachel didn’t wake me up for breakfast as I obviously wasn’t going to eat anything or was in any state to wake up at the normal 6.30am.
I lay in bed till 10.45am and decided it was time for me to get up and have my WEEKLY shower. LOL yes weekly shower. If I heard this when I was still in the UK I would be moaning out of my ass, and to be honest at the beginning I slightly was. But I’ve got used to it now so it’s not such a big deal. After my shower I was feeling a lot better actually. I told Rachel and Rachel said her stomach hasn’t been at its best today either. So we don’t just stay in all day we decided to carry on with our initial plans to go to Tipon around 5 minutes from Oropesa on the bus to get some Guinea pig to eat. After around 3 weeks of being in Peru I think it’s about time that we ate it. We decided to eat it in Tipon as when we were at the school the kids all said that Tipon was the best place for guinea pig and we weren’t disappointed. It was definetley the local’s choice. On our journey there we bumped into two girls in one of our English classes and they directed us to where we had to go and walked with us which were nice, it just shows the school is definitely going to be a good thing.

Once in Tipon the first restaurant we were recommended was closed so we went to the “Rancho” and ordered ourselves a guinea pig meal to share for the equivalent of £7. It came out cooked and ready in no time, stuffed with herbs. After taking pictures with the guinea pig *LOL yes we took pictures with our food, wouldn’t you?* the waitress cut up the guinea pig, first the head, the front legs and back legs. And then cut it in half. We also had a massive plate of noodles, this jacket potatoes and a vegetable stuffed bell pepper which was mixed with some sort of peanut sauce. I got stuck right into the guinea pig and took a huge bite out of the leg. It was actually nice, the skin is really thick and quite greasy but the meat was good. Rachel wasn’t up to eating more than one leg so I done it for the both of us and attacked the rest of the guinea pig. Rachel didn’t help the fact we were eating something that was running around this morning by naming her old friends guinea pigs as we were eating LOL.

After eating we made our way back to Oropesa as we were planning on going to watch Dante’s football match in Cusco. He said to be back at Azul Wasi by 3pm and it was only 2.10pm so we would make the walk back to Azul Wasi in good time. However as we were around 5 minutes from Azul Wasi we see Dante in the car with Alcides already on his way!!! So I guess we weren’t going to watch the match then LOL. So we went back to Azul Wasi and then Big Edwin and Hernan immediately wet me with the hose as they were watering the garden.
COMMENCE BATTLE. Rachel and I ran into our bedroom, got two massive empty bottles, filled them up with water and our plan went into action. We surrounded Hernan and the younger boys and completely soaked them. This then led to an hour long water fight, which was incredibly funny and lasted for over an hour. There was not one person who took part that wasn’t soaked. Even Anastacia played and showed her fun side. The war ended when we all got incredibly cold and we all got changed and had dinner. Rachel and I sat and watched a movie in our room, which by both of us watching the film I mean I watched around 40 minutes until I fell asleep, Rachel soldiered through and watched the whole 2 hours haha.

September 18th
Today is my older sister Natalie’s 21st birthday. As we don’t have the internet in the orphanage anymore (we found out today that it wasn’t lost, Alcides the director took it home as the bill hadn’t been paid) so I wanted to send a birthday e-card or at least speak over Facebook on her birthday. So I and Rachel walked 30 minutes to the Oropesa plaza to use the internet café. Only to find out that the café is actually shut all weekend. That was immensely annoying. It was bad enough that I wasn’t able to Skype my sister as I would have liked to but the fact I couldn’t even have some form of conversation with her on her birthday was really annoying. Missing birthdays is definitely something that makes you feel homesick; I’ve missed two birthdays of people I am close to since being here, 1 being my sister Natalie. It’s ashamed that I wasn’t able to spend her 21st with her, but obviously I have to remind myself why I am here and that there will be many decades of birthdays left for me to be there. Anyways so Natalie if you’re reading this *which you should of course be doing, this is your new bible LOL* HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATS!!
After taking the walk back from the plaza to Azul Wasi, the boys were all doing their chores so I decided to get some blog writing done. Since I’ve been ill I must admit I haven’t been keeping up to date with my blog so there may be some missing gaps in terms of days etc. Alcides came over for lunch today. It started with normal soup and then the main was rice, tomatoes & onion salad and then what looked like an omellete with chips. YUM was my first thought. Then as I started to eat the “omellete” there was something in the center. From first look I thought it was fish so continued eating it. Although the texture and taste definitely wasn’t anything like fish. It was only when Rachel asked what it was when I decided to stop eating it. It was Cow intestine LOL! It had all the things on it that look like taste bud. I abruptly stopped eating it. And noticed Ivan stuffing his bit into his pocket and giving half to Big Edwin; I asked him if he liked it he said no. So this became our little table joke and as soon as I had my opportunity I too wrapped it in tissue and stuffed it in my pocket. Rachel got away easy by giving hers to Little Edwin. Let’s just hope Alcides doesn’t think Rachel finished her plate happily and makes this meal a regular occurrence at Azul Wasi.
After lunch Alcides began sorting through the cabinets and stuff. It was here that I and Rachel were able to find out a lot more about the boys as we were given the task of sorting through files. Of the current boys there were not many files describing how they got here. However there was a file on a boy who had left Azul Wasi, a letter from the authorities I think saying that he was abandoned and homeless, they couldn’t find his mother and his grandparents did not have enough money to care for him. We also found another letter stating the date that little Edwin came to Azul Wasi. There were birth certificates, letters of acceptance to the local school and school reports. To see that all these street kids were achieving grades no lower than B’s and mostly all A’s is something to be proud of.
Sorting through things we found lots of old photos, of previous volunteers who had also stayed for a year and there are a lot of fond memories. What sort’ve surprised me though was the amount of equipment that Azul Wasi had been given by past volunteers that had been forgotten about. There were hundreds of pencils, colouring pencils, paper, notebooks, books everything. Even PSP games of which I’m guessing was given along with a Sony PSP. This helped me to come to the conclusion that Azul Wasi is not an orphanage which is in need of short term volunteers or gifts of arts and crafts etc. They are in desperate need of guidance in making them self-sustainable, long term volunteers to help implement ideas and rather than materialistic gifts such as: washing machines, computers (they now have 4, only 2 are in use), Laptops (they were given these by some organization but they were sold for money), arts and crafts etc. give them things such as Cement, bricks, a trip to the sea (most of the boys have never seen a sea before). Things that will leave a lasting impression. It’s very easy for short term volunteers to come and bring the obvious gifts, and In no way am I taking away from work that they have done. But it’s almost as though they compensate for the time they are unable to give them by giving the boys gifts they think they need. There is definitely a lack in communication here with Azul Wasi and other charities. Short term volunteers can come here with big dreams which obviously you would have, but their dreams for Azul Wasi are too big for the time they have here and so there are unfinished projects here.
Anyhoooooooo enough of that, after we finished sorting we found out that the ROOOSTER IS GOING. No more “cock-a-f*cking-Doodling-Doos” *mind my language LoL* at all hours of the morning and night. It’s also sad to see the guinea pigs and rabbits going soon as well. This is due to the fact that the season for breeding etc. is over, the conditions that they live in are not ones good for breeding and so Alcides has come to the decision to sell them off which to be honest is fair enough. And so Rachel and I are going to begin working on the organic farming and start growing some crops.
We then went to play with Hernan, Ivan, Valerio, Wilmer and Danny. Hernan had a little motorcycle toy thing which we then turned into an obstacle course of flailing arms across the dining table to see if you could get it across the table without it being blocked. We ended up playing this game for around 2 hours. It’s funny how imagination can stretch what would seem to be a boring game into a massive obstacle course of fun :D.

Rachel hasn’t been feeling well at all tonight with a case of the bad stomach. It seems as though once one of us is over an illness another gets it. So after dinner we both went straight to bed. It’s funny though, when I had the stomach bug I completely lost my appetite and didn’t eat hardly anything for the better part of the week, however Rachel still has her appetite which I guess is a good sign.

Anyways I need to get some sleep. And by sleep I mean I am bored of writing this now and want to watch Family guy LOL. So good bye for now as my Nan and granddad would say. Until Tomorrow