Long overdue blog

Hey Everyone
Okay so I know it has been absolutely decades since I have written my blog, my reason being is that I have been given an essay to complete on “why is there persecution of the indigenous Andeans?” by Kent university for their admissions. For the first time since I wasn’t forced to do homework by my parent’s lol, I handed it in over 3 weeks early!!! It took a lot of work and research (which is hard when internet isn’t always available and internet cafes are a 30 minute walk away) but I got it done and was quite proud of the essay, so yh now I’m just waiting for the verdict and hoping for the best. I’m not going to bore you with details in the blog but break down what’s happened these past 2 months. I think my pictures will explain more than words anyways, I just hope the internet is quick enough for me to upload some lol!

November 17th-December 1st
Me and Rachel set off for La Paz, Bolivia in the evening. The bust journey was unbelievably eventful including an hour n a half walk up the cold puno mountains due to a miners strike, finding out I was an illegal immigrant in Peru for 2 months due to me not reading my passport properly and then having to pay my way out which left Rachel and I with no money and no ATM’s available until La Paz! Crazy journey but we arrived there in good nick, around 9 hours later than expected but we did. We met up with one of the other project trust volunteers Su (working in an orphanage in La Paz) and stayed in the volunteers apartment in one of their orphanages run by a German foundation named Arco Iris. We stayed there for 2 days then we (Me, rach, Tim, tobi, su and Alex) had a very hung over 17 hour bus journey to rurrenebuqeue, an Amazonian town in Bolivia. Whilst there we had 2 treks planned, 1 of them being in the jungle which was all about the plants and stuff of the jungle. That was more fun than it sounds, we got caught in between a rampage of wild boars (whom had a really pungent smell), and I got bitten by some black spider which for 10 minutes felt like my blood was burning LOL and saw some of the biggest bugs ever. It included trekking, swimming AND washing in the Amazon River which is very strong current (unfortunately tobi lost his new soap bar thanks to Alex lol). There was a lot of mosquitos however the next trek in the pampas we were warned it would be 10 times worse.
And they were not lying by any means! The pampas was a trek concentrating on the animals and I can honestly tell you that I have never seen so many mosquitos in my whole entire life. It was like attack of the mosquitos, and we were the victims. We saw so many amazing animals there, caymen, alligators, monkeys, some huge rat thing and caught a python. The pampas included boat trips, a trek for pythons and swimming with dolphins. By swimming with dolphins I mean swimming in an Amazonian river which had dolphins in it, I thought that it would be like at Disney land when you can grab onto their fins and use them as a surf board. Forgetting that this is wild life so when ever we tried to swim towards the pink water dolphins they just swam away haha! Ah well was an amazing experience.
Our last day in RUrrenebuque was spent soothing our millions of mosquito bites and in a roof top bar with a swimming pool, great cockatails and a million Israeli people in their twenties who have just finished their military service. The bar man (from Israel) couldn’t speak Spanish and only just about English, couldn’t understand my orders as according to him I have a very strong London accent loool!

This was seriously a once in a lifetime trip, although it cost an absolute shit load (realistically it didn’t but on my budget or should I say lack of it, it meant a call to daddy pleading for help). The pictures will explain to you the beauty of the jungle and the animals I saw but nothing can compare to it, you will only truly understand if you see from first hand experience.

December 24th-25th Christmas eve/day
Christmas eve was soooo cute, Alcides and all his family came round. We had a takeaway from the polleria, sat around a huge table, played Christmas songs, had a competition singing Christmas songs and the boys were handed a few small toys donated by a charity. It was literally only a wind up aeroplane but the boys played for hours and they still do now. Its amazing how grateful they are for a present which would be disregarded by the modern day English child. I know I would have, my Christmas lists at their age were filled with endless amounts of expensive toys which I would get bored of or break within a month.

Christmas day unfortnatley wasn’t as expected. We were told we were going to have a huge meal with turkey, cake, etc and go to mass in Cusco. However Alcides had to work in the evening so none of that happened. To make it worse my giardia had seemed to come back so I spent half they day with my head down the toilet. There were people who came over to give the boys presents, our friend sarah (American girl working on archaeology) came with her sister and her friend to give presents and letters from kids at the school they used to attend in the Wyoming, USA. It was followed by a game of American football which was fun. Christmas day was defo a day for homesickness, especially with the lack of Christmas dinner and the sickness. I know my christmas’s are never special, we have the usual presents, amazing food and eastenders Christmas special LOL, and everyones usually asleep at 6pm due to their full stomachs combined with one too many glasses of champagne but that’s my Christmas and I love it. It just shows how family orientated Christmas is which I took for granted, but im glad that ive spent it here with the boys. Me and Rachel bought all the boys watches, choosing ones specifically for their personalities and they loved them. They all wear them proudly now and its soo cute to see.

December 31st-1st January – NEW YEARS DAY
New years eve me, Rachel and Maritza (friend who owns the cake shop) headed off to cusco for a night out. We met up with Sarah and had an indian buffet (YUM) then off to some bars where I got to drink my favourite ever drink MOJITO, got a few shots then attempted to get in the club, only to find out it was 100 sole entry when usually its free so we thought pissssss offff and stayed in the square. Due to the alititude and the fact me and Rachel hadn’t drunk much alcohol for 4 months, it didn’t take long for us both to be tipsy and at 12am we done the tradition of running around the plaza de armas screaming at the top of our lungs and lost everyone that we were with LOL! It was actually really funny, what made the night funnier was that me and Rachel went out in dresses (me without tights but with long sleeves, Rachel with tights but with no sleeves) and when we got to the plaza we saw people in their coats, scarves and wooly hats. What a contrast from the UK when you see women in literally next to nothing strolling the streets in the snow haha. Ahh Well. Was a fun night and thanks to the addition of alcohol Rachel and I were able to have a good sleep.

That’s the only MAIN events I can think of to be honest but ill give you a quick run down on whats been happening in Azul Wasi. When we came back from Bolivia the profe was still here, before new years he went off for a 3 month break with his family but was going to come back. Rachel and I were worrying hugely as whilst he was useless and a waste of space it was another adult about, the cook Anastacia was going back to her town for a month so it was to be me and Rachel to look after the boys. Luckily Alcides had actually got a new profe around 10 days later, this time a woman. We get on with her really well and have been able to do English classes etc which have been successful. The beginning of January we were met with yet another lack of essentials including food and gas. We even had to cook on breeze blocks which was crazy, searching for wood in the trenches. Project Trust came down to visit for 2 days on the 16th and 17th January. They had meetings with Alcides, took us out for a meal and all that, it was really lovely to see them. They had a lot of encouraging words for us, not letting us forget that this is a very hard project, with all the problems the boys have, the fact we live on site, right next to boys rooms and the remoteness. They were blown away by the beautifulness of the location, just as we were when we first arrived, being here so long has made me forget. OH YH!! Before I forget, Rachel and I have moved into a smaller room, basically we have got two new boys jose carlos (8) and Franco (6) who arrived a week or so ago, the younger boys room was too small to fit more beds in and our room could easily fit enough. We said to Alcides if he wanted to use the room he could, but thought we would get some sort of notice. Only to find out that the same day the boys came, he asked us to help us try and organize where to put the boys only to realise his real hint was for us to move bedrooms that day and that exact minute. The room isn’t actually that bad, its not like our old room which we had painted and filled in all the holes and defo has its problems. There are NO electrical sockets, the doors broken with no lock so we have to climb in through the window to get into our room, the window above my bed doesn’t shut so when it rains I get real wet. Good news is we don’t live above the ducks any more and when it rains it doesn’t come through the roof AS MUCH as the other room. So it has it plus sides I guess, but I must admit I was pretty pissed off when we first moved lol. Ah well, you learn to deal with what you have ey?


ERMMMMMM, I can’t actually think of much else to tell you to be honest, if I remember anything then I will write it in another blog. Once again sorry for the lateness of the blog, I promise to get back into the routine. Andddddddddddddddddd its my birthday on Tuesday 25th January, turning 19 here is weird, I havnt really told anyone about it unless they ask. There doesn’t seem to be much reason to make a big deal out of a birthday here as the boys don’t have a big deal out of theres, I mean why should my birthday be a bigger deal then theres? Rachel and I are planning on going out on the weekend or something to stay in cusco for the night and get something nice to eat and have a few mojitos lol.

Thanks for everyone who has been supporting me through this adventure, it really means a lot to me and for everyone who has written it is such an uplifting thing! No matter how silly the things written in the letters are (Trust me I have had some silly ones lol)

Love you all, god bless and take care
Simply Signed, Simply Compas
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