March- Ciudad de los ninos, Shakira Concert, VISA run

One of the reasons I love going to work, my baby Fransisco aka Panchito (Hermana lauras son)

Yet another blog by the ever so amazing Tanya LOL, I've been putting off this blog due to laziness and general lack of time but I NEED to do it now or will forever with hold important information from my blog readers :)

Also if your wondering what my accomodation is like, this is like luxery, we have hot water and a roof that doesn't leak AND a set of keys each eeeeek amazing no? LOL
Heres my bed


So as you all know I am currently working in my new orphanage called Ciudad de los ninos, in San Juan de Miraflores. Rachel and I have been put into different pavilliones to work in, Rachel is working in Ninos Jesus with 29 3-7 year olds and I am working in Sonrisa Fransiscana which is a house of 38 7-10 year olds, and yes you HAVE to be absolutely crazy to work in my house.


One of rachels boys Anderson who is also one of my favourites Gerrados brother

The days are structured something like this
5.50am-Wake Up
6.10am-Go and set up for breakfast
6.45am- Wash up breakfast cups and jugs
7am- Get the boys ready for school, make sure they all have their books, school uniform, sweep and mop the floors in the pavillion
7.45am- Walk the boys to school (which is actually on site but open to the public too)
8am- Go to morning church (if i haven't came up with an excuse by that time to get out of it -Its not like the fun evening church-)
9am to 1.25pm- Break to sleep, use the internet, go to the shops etc
10am-11.30am Tuesdays and Thursdays- English lesson for 9 of the Hermanas (woman who run each pavillion)
1.30pm- Set up for lunch, serve soup, pour drinks
2pm- Wash up every single piece of cutlery grrrr
2.20pm to 5pm- Go back to pavillion and help the boys with the homework, fold up the boys clothes, bed sheets etc if we've had a big load from the lavandaria
5pm- Shower time which involves handing out the boys their underwear and socks, making sure they have a blob of shampoo on their heads for their shower and usually involves a hell of a lot of dancing nakedness
6pm- Finish up with homework/put on the TV to keep them amused
6.15pm- Set up for dinner
6.30pm- Dinner time
6.45pm- Wash up dinner plates, cups, cutlery etc
7pm- Church with the boys which involves a lot of dancing, singing and hand clapping to the man up stairs *senor dios*
7.30pm- Go back to the pavillion and get boys ready for bead
7.45pm- Take all the boys dirty washing to the lavandaria, count every piece of clothing and right it down in the book
8pm- Either go straight back home after doing the washing or go back if they need some help or if its awkward to get away lol.
9pm- By this time im hopefully in my room or trying to leave the pavillion


Me and Jhamil

Then its the same routine every day except for weekends when between 3pm-5pm Saturday and Sunday the majority of the parents of the children who live in ciudad de los ninos come and visit them. Obviously there are some circumstances where there are either no parents, they live too far away or they have been banned from seeing their children, it is all dependent on whether hermano hugo permits them to visit which involves going to meetings on becoming a better parent.

The boys in my orphanage are all lovely, some of them are a lot nicer than others, some are a handful but the majority are just really nice kids, very cheeky but all be it very nice. I must admit I do have some favourites, one of them being Ivan who is from Puno which is an andean town on the border of Bolivia. His mother is dead and his dad lives in Puno with his brother which is over a day via bus away, so you can understand that his dad doesn't come for the weekend visits. When it is these visits he becomes really clingy to me and I take him to get a little treat or something, and he sits with me and says Im his mum for the day which is really cute. Another favourite is Gerrado who is just a hilarious boy and very very smart at that, I love helping him with his homework because he gets it done so quickly. Then their is Elias-Kevin who sleeps a hell of a lot, he is very cuddly, i remember i was helping him with his homework and i turned to help another boy and I then felt something heavy on my boob. I turned around to find it wasn't a cheeky grope from one of the boys but Elias's head as he had fallen fast asleep. A boy who I have actually suprisingly got really close to is William who is the oldest in the pavillion, and who can be the naughtiest. He is very cheeky (asking questions which he knows the question to such as "What is semen" LOL!) but he is SO intellegent and asks so many questions. I sit next to him at lunch which is probably how I've gotten so close to him and we have some crazy convos, sometimes very indepth. Like today he was asking me about the goverment in the UK, is there many poor people, how do the goverment deal with poor people etc. Why have I came to peru, what was the other orpahange like blah blah blah the list goes on but i really like him. Whenever a boy is rude to me or something he always feels the need to say something to them or threaten them (Which im telling him to stop doing lol), and as the oldest of the house they actually listen to him.


Some of my boys singing at the front of church

I think I made the assumption before I came here that as the boys are in such a huge organization that is so well run there problems are not as bad as the boys in azul wasi. But boy was I wrong, I mean their problems all vary between single parent families, young mums (one boys mum is 20 and he's 8), neglect and harm. Its very different hearing the stories of the boys and actually seeing them for yourself. One of the boys (who I will not name) went home to his family on Salida saturday (one saturday every 3 weeks the boys go home to spend a night with their families) and came back with bruises all over his back and a mark on his arm which he later told us was when his mum wrapped a cord around his arm and yanked it. It actually shocked me how someone can just be so bloody cruel. Ciudad de los ninos dealt with it well and the boys mum was called in for a meeting with the director, my house hermanas and social services. The police have put her back onto a list of people to look into for child abuse and she is now banned for coming back to Ciuadad de los ninos and to see her son. This happened last week and today my heart sank when I saw him starting at the door in silence, i asked him whats wrong and he said "My mum isn't going to come is she" to which I said "no" and he almost started crying. So I picked him up and ran him round the room in my arms which put a smile on his face, and bought him some biscuits and a lolly pop to take his mind off it a bit (even though he originally said he didn't want anything) but yh its really sad. I've realised I'm a big softie and Peru has actually made me into an emotional wreck by the way, so my "hard girl" imagine is well and truley in the bin hahaha.

So thats Ciuduad de los ninos for you, you will hear a lot more about it in the next few blogs.

As I may or may not have written in one of my previous blogs is that we were promised Shakira concert tickets by the head of the British Embassy Mr.Charles Fyfe and Rachel and I were absolutely shocked when he actually came through with the promise. And a day before the concert we went to pick up our FREE tickets which were PLATINUM!!!! We went yesterday and OMG the concert was ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN AMAZING. The openening acts were Train "Hey Soul Sister" and Ziggy Marley, I loved ziggy marley he was there with his huge entorage who were obviously high on weed backing it up on stage, Train was boring and ran out of his own songs to sing so sang Rihannas "Umberella". Shakira FINALLY came on at 10pm (We were there since 6pm) and she was AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. The phrase of the day was "Would you turn lesbian for Shakira" and after that concert the answer is "ohhh yhhh" LOL (For those that take what I say too seriosuly, I love my men haha). She is an absolutely amazing performer and we had amazing spaces, it was standing and we were pretty close :).

You can see from the pics below.








All in all it was an amazing night and a definite highlight of my gapyear which ended in a McDonalds meal loool, as every goodnight in London ends.

So this brings me to today which is Saturday 26th March. Tomorrow I am going to embark on a 26 hour bus journey with the recommended tour company Cruz Del Sur to Guayaquill, Ecuador for my visa run with Rach. We'll be going to stay in Ecuador for 2/3 days (not long :( ) But then will head off to Mancora, which is a beach town in the North of Peru for a few days of sun, sea, sand and ALCOHOL LOL. Hopefully we'll see 2 of the Peru volunteer girls their too :) . So I shall be back with a blog when I am back.

Also incase any of you didn't know i have the BEST NEWS EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

I AM SEEING MY DAD IN EXACTLEY 2 MONTHS AND 5 DAYS EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!
Basically I had been hinting since before I even came to Peru that me being here would be a perfect opportunity for us to go to Brazil and visit my great Auntie from my dads side who we havn't seen for easily around 12 years maybe more. After his repeating laugh at my hints I didn't ever think he would come. Then the other week he dropped the bomb that he might actually come out. Then in true Felix Compas fashion he booked his ticket the next week and I shall be flying to Brazil on May 31st to see him and my aunt. I am soooo excited and I am sure he is reading this now but I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU!!! I don't know how i will react when I see my dad, I mean i wouldn't have seen him in the flesh for over 9 months! ahhhh
Anyway daddy i love you :)

Thanks again for reading the blog guys, don't be shy to send me a letter though lads, I do enjoy recieving them.
Love y'all
Tan xx