Wednesday 2nd June
After kindergarten we went to lunch just off the main square and were sat out on the balcony. All these school boys started trying to make us come down and were smiling and waving at us, we were like your children go away!
It was Corpus Christi in the main square which is like a late Easter. A massive statue from each Church is carried from the church to the main square by a load of men. These Jesus´s are absolutely huge and look like they weigh a tonne, it was really hot and a lot of the guys were sweating and staggering, apparently they quite often get pissed on route though so that might have partly been the reason why. There were bands playing and dancing men and women, and loads of the men in Ukuku masks. We started taking photos of one of the Ukukus who then started showing off and grinding on the stick he carrying. Next minute he had grabbed Domenica and she was dancing in the middle of the parade with him!
Andy, who is the owner of McCoy and lives in England came out to Cusco this week and was with Jess when we went to meet her.
We went to Remar and did lots of skipping outside. I taught them the game where one person stands in the middle and swings the rope round and round and everyone has to jump it until there´s only one person left.
On the way home in plaza San Francisco which is just up the road, there was a massive food market where everyone was still celebrating Corpus Christi and getting drunk, they were eating the traditional meal of chicken, guinea pig, seaweed and fish eggs, (We didnt try any) and everyone looked wasted, One guy sneezed and fell backwards off his chair dropping his beer all down his front!
When we went to dinner tonight there was a magician going round the tables doing a little performance. We were like "oh no don´t look at him don´t make him come over" but he did, and he was insane! The magic was so good, i couldn´t get over it!
Thursday 3rd June
Went to Paucabamba with the Loki lot again, we arrived in this field and were given spades and axes and were literally told to dig up rocks. We were stood in the middle of this massive field like..."what?!"
We ended up doing a massive human chain collecting rocks from the top of the hill under the mountain and passing them down to the bottom. The Peruvian guy next to me kept going "Ah SPider!" so i´d nearly drop the rock.
Friday 4th June
There was a girl we hadn´t seen at Remar before today called Flavia, she´s so cute and looks so grubby. I had her on my shoulders once and after that she wouldn´t let me put her down.
Saturday 5th June
Went quadbiking today for Jess´s Birthday! It was so much fun. I had this massive quadbike called the "big bear" which had a huge engine! The guy who owned the place went infront on a motorbike and lead us all along these dirt tracks and cross country and through villages and things. At one point we reached this big field and i just revved off round it and everyone followed thinking it was part of the route! It was so good we got to go so fast!
When we were going round the track at one point me and Jess nearly came off the path! She took the corner wide so i followed her, but she skidded round and so did i, and instead of breaking i may have accelerated a bit into the back of her. When we stopped we were literally an inch away from the drop at the edge.
Afterwards we got to go in the pool at the place we got the quadbikes from but it was absolutely freezing so we weren´t in for very long!
That night we went for a posh meal at the Chi Cha restaurant and went out for Jess´s birthday. Laura and i were not feeling great though, and I was having massive stomach pains so we finished the night a bit early.
Sunday 6th June
None of us were feeling great today, I was still having the stomach pains and Domenica was getting them now too. We had a lazy day in Cusco and an early night.
Monday 7th June
Was still feeling ill so had to miss kindergarten and went to the doctors, it turns out the pains were caused by an ameoba i had picked up in Puno! Gross.
The place we went to dinner tonight had a really friendly waiter, he was so enthusiastic, he had curtains and every time he spoke he would nod his head and his curtains would flop all over the place, he kept getting our order wrong. When he asked us where we were from and we said England, he said "Toffee!" And he asked us a traditional dish, we told him fish and chips and he went "ahhh. I dont like it, but its traditional!" And smiled and nodded some more.
Tuesday 8th June
We are doing fruit and vegetables at the kindergarten so the year 3s learnt "banana" and coloured in a picture and the year 4s did "apple" drew it and stuck bits of red paper on it.
Played outside again at Remar and then came in and did colouring with the books and pencils Lara had bought them.
After Remar laura and i went to book tickets to Arequipa at the bus station for this weekend. We tried to find Alonzo who had offered us tickets with Terra lines, a really good company, for noly S/70, but having told us he was always there, he wasnt. We got pointed in the direction of his brother though but when we found him he was busy with customers so left, cause we didnt really know what he could help us with because he was with a different company. A few minutes later though he appeared behind us asking what we´d wanted, i think he thought we were after a date with his brother and ended up leaving without any tickets.
Wednesday 9th June
We are going to teach the year 4s the story of the very hungry caterpillar and create a big caterpillar to hang from their ceiling, so today we got each table to papier mache balloons. It was so messy, and i dont think they really understood why we were doing it, but they enjoyed themselves.
At Chinchero we are teaching them the weather and want to make a weather mobile so had them papier macheing balloons too!
Laura and I went to book tickets at the bus station for Arequipa, and Alonzo, who had offered us tickets with Terra Lines last time for S/70 had been lying, because it turns out Terra lines dont even do that journey! We booked it instead with Cruz del Sur.
Thursday 10th June
We had the year threes decorating butterflies we had drawn for them today, and the year 4s did another layer of papier mache all lesson.
After Remar we came back to get ready for Arequipa. When Heather left for the jungel she left some bags in our rooms, she was due back in Cusco tonight but we didnñt think we were going to catch her so we took her stuff to Mccoys for her to pick up. We were due at the bus station at 8, but were running laate and were just leaving Mccoys at that point when Heather appeared. We had a really quick chat with her but then had to rush off. Lara wasnt coming with us this weekened but was going to Macchu Pichu so we had to leave her which was really sad.
By the time we got in the taxi we were in a bit of a state because we were running so late and we were all screaming at the driver to drive faster, he was just dordelling along! We then got stopped by traffic lights and he started honking! Domenica was like "don´t honk when its a red light, but when you can drive, DRIVE!"
Then, having told us he new where he was going, he stopped to ask for directions! We were not happy. When we did pull up at the bus station though in hysterics, there was hardly anyone there and everything was very calm and quiet.
When we tried to get on the bus though, the guy checking our tickets asked for our passports, which we did not have because we werent leaving the country. He was like i need ID, you should never travel without your documents, we were like "we´re coming back!"·
When we got on the bus there was barely anyone on and we all got to spread out to have two seats each. We played bingo ( I embaressed myself because having completed a line i started shouting Bingo, but it turned out you needed all the numbers) and we got to watch a film. It turned out to be a pretty decent journey.
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Wednesday 26th May - Tuesday 1st June
Wednesday 26th May
Just Laura and I at Kindergarten this morning, it´s always harder work when there´s less of us, but we finished the tiger masks with the year 3s, cutting out the eye holes and attatching the string so they could wear them, although after all our work most of them weren´t keen on having them on their faces! The year 4s did the same but they absolutely loved them and were all chasing eachother round rouring. Unfortunately the year 5 teacher told us we wouldn´t be able to teach her class in the week, only on fridays, I think because she needs to do maths with them. It´s quite annoying because theyre the ones who are most responsive!
Thursday 27th May
We got a mini bus to Paucabamba with a group of people from Loki hostal and drove to a field where we were harvesting wheat. We were given these little metal sickle things and after a while it really hurt your back! Plus i kept losing focus and wacking myself in the shin, we managed to harvest the whole field though with half of us working from one end of the field and the rest at the other until we met in the middle.
Friday 28th May
Had kindergarten, the year 5s were a pain and kept standing on the tables for some reason, have grown so attached to some of the kids in there though!
We went to the bus station to try and book a bus to Arequipa where we would visit the Colca Canyon. This guy from terra lines ( a really good company) offered us a really good price on full cama (fully reclining) seats that night! We decided to do it, wrote down our passport numbers and everything when he came back and told us there were no spaces left. He then tried fobbing us off with some dodgy company but we weren´t feeling it, and it was already quite late so we wouldnt have had time to go back and pack.
Decided to go for a nice meal and cocktails to make up for it and Ashley, a girl we know, was out with a load of people because it was her birthday so we all went out together. The night finished fairly early though, and having just discovered the TV room in our hostal, we layered up (because the whole place is freezing) and flicked through hundreds of channels until we found ´Sex in the city the movie´, in English! It was soo nice to just sit and relax for once while we watched the film.
Saturday 29th May
Lara arrived today, the new girl we had been told would be joining us for a month. We went for a nice lunch with her and Jess and then took her round Cusco and showed her round the market and things. Lara had bought a load of magazines with her so over dinner we caught up on all the celebrity gossip wé´ve been missing out on.
Sunday 30th May
We´ve made friends with a guy called alex who sells fake designer sunglasses round the square, and today we finally agreed to buy a pair off him. I got some black raybans but when i went into the hostal i realised that one lens was way darker than the other one! I was going to hunt him down and swap them whether he liked it or not.
Lara went off on the City Tour that POD organises for you, while me Laura and Domenica caught a bus to go and meet Jevta in Ollantaytambo, a town about an hour and 20 minutes away. We drove out of the beaming sunshine into rain clouds. Ollantaytambo is tiny, theres not much going on there, Jevta said we might be able to catch the end of the bull fighting but it had already finished. He was coming back to Cusco for the week so at the end of the day we all planned to catch a bus back together, he had to say thankyou to his host family etc tho so by the time we left there were barely any buses because everyone heads to Cusco on a sunday night to work for the week.
We finally managed to bundle into this tiny mini bus thing, but then in Urubamba (the next town) they stopped and told us we had to change onto a new bus. However the bus depot was closed and there were no more buses leaving. We had to walk along the side of this road to find the town center, thumbing every vehicle that walked past. Even when we reached the centre, where hundreds of locals were also trying to hitch a ride, we were ignored by all the buses. Finally a little bus pulled over charging a ridiculous amount, and we eventually got back to Cusco.
Monday 31st May
For the Kindergarten we drew and wrote "good morning, afternoon, and night" on a piece of paper and got it photocopied for them all to colour in. We actually got to teach the year 5s today afterall, thankfully we´d photocopied way to many sheets so just did that with them because we had no lesson plan.
Went to Remar, an orphanage for about 30 kids, but its in a family home. We got to play outside on the street and did lots of skipping and stuff, it was really fun!
We had the pub quiz tonight and Jevta was running it with his charity. We managed to get a few answers out of him, Jess helped us and Rafael did too. We still didn´t win.
Afterwards we agreed to do this focus group thing. There were two people telling us about a place in Northern Peru called Cachimayo. They worked for this company, that is kind of like the Peruvian National Trust and they are trying to promote tourism in this area, it looked amazing! Plus we got a free drink, pudding and wooly hat!
Tueday 1st June
I took in finger puppets to the kindergarten that I had bought out from England. They were lots of little animans and we made them with the year 4s who absolutely loved them they were so sweet! The teacher was asking where she could buy more from. I was like "They´re from england, sorry!"
In our lunch break we bumped into Raymi our salsa teacher and booked a lesson with him for tonight.
Had a Spanish lesson in the afternoon learning irregular verbs which was confusing.
I got a text from Laura while i was there saying she had spoken to Alex about my glasses and i could swap them if i met him in the square at half 4. He wasnt there when i got there. Another day i´ll catch him!
Laura also saw Carlos in the square, our other salsa teacher and he told her that we had caused trouble. When we booked the lesson with Raymi, he thought we´d already booked it with Carlos and Carlos hadnt told him. Carlos showed Laura a text from him saying"you are a bad man, you are a liar" because he thought Carlos was keeping out lesson a secret from him!
When we got to salsa it was locked and Carlos wasnt there. Raymi turned up and seemed stressy and then Carlos arrived to let us in, it was really tense! After a bit of dancing though i think the tension cleared a bit.
Just Laura and I at Kindergarten this morning, it´s always harder work when there´s less of us, but we finished the tiger masks with the year 3s, cutting out the eye holes and attatching the string so they could wear them, although after all our work most of them weren´t keen on having them on their faces! The year 4s did the same but they absolutely loved them and were all chasing eachother round rouring. Unfortunately the year 5 teacher told us we wouldn´t be able to teach her class in the week, only on fridays, I think because she needs to do maths with them. It´s quite annoying because theyre the ones who are most responsive!
Thursday 27th May
We got a mini bus to Paucabamba with a group of people from Loki hostal and drove to a field where we were harvesting wheat. We were given these little metal sickle things and after a while it really hurt your back! Plus i kept losing focus and wacking myself in the shin, we managed to harvest the whole field though with half of us working from one end of the field and the rest at the other until we met in the middle.
Friday 28th May
Had kindergarten, the year 5s were a pain and kept standing on the tables for some reason, have grown so attached to some of the kids in there though!
We went to the bus station to try and book a bus to Arequipa where we would visit the Colca Canyon. This guy from terra lines ( a really good company) offered us a really good price on full cama (fully reclining) seats that night! We decided to do it, wrote down our passport numbers and everything when he came back and told us there were no spaces left. He then tried fobbing us off with some dodgy company but we weren´t feeling it, and it was already quite late so we wouldnt have had time to go back and pack.
Decided to go for a nice meal and cocktails to make up for it and Ashley, a girl we know, was out with a load of people because it was her birthday so we all went out together. The night finished fairly early though, and having just discovered the TV room in our hostal, we layered up (because the whole place is freezing) and flicked through hundreds of channels until we found ´Sex in the city the movie´, in English! It was soo nice to just sit and relax for once while we watched the film.
Saturday 29th May
Lara arrived today, the new girl we had been told would be joining us for a month. We went for a nice lunch with her and Jess and then took her round Cusco and showed her round the market and things. Lara had bought a load of magazines with her so over dinner we caught up on all the celebrity gossip wé´ve been missing out on.
Sunday 30th May
We´ve made friends with a guy called alex who sells fake designer sunglasses round the square, and today we finally agreed to buy a pair off him. I got some black raybans but when i went into the hostal i realised that one lens was way darker than the other one! I was going to hunt him down and swap them whether he liked it or not.
Lara went off on the City Tour that POD organises for you, while me Laura and Domenica caught a bus to go and meet Jevta in Ollantaytambo, a town about an hour and 20 minutes away. We drove out of the beaming sunshine into rain clouds. Ollantaytambo is tiny, theres not much going on there, Jevta said we might be able to catch the end of the bull fighting but it had already finished. He was coming back to Cusco for the week so at the end of the day we all planned to catch a bus back together, he had to say thankyou to his host family etc tho so by the time we left there were barely any buses because everyone heads to Cusco on a sunday night to work for the week.
We finally managed to bundle into this tiny mini bus thing, but then in Urubamba (the next town) they stopped and told us we had to change onto a new bus. However the bus depot was closed and there were no more buses leaving. We had to walk along the side of this road to find the town center, thumbing every vehicle that walked past. Even when we reached the centre, where hundreds of locals were also trying to hitch a ride, we were ignored by all the buses. Finally a little bus pulled over charging a ridiculous amount, and we eventually got back to Cusco.
Monday 31st May
For the Kindergarten we drew and wrote "good morning, afternoon, and night" on a piece of paper and got it photocopied for them all to colour in. We actually got to teach the year 5s today afterall, thankfully we´d photocopied way to many sheets so just did that with them because we had no lesson plan.
Went to Remar, an orphanage for about 30 kids, but its in a family home. We got to play outside on the street and did lots of skipping and stuff, it was really fun!
We had the pub quiz tonight and Jevta was running it with his charity. We managed to get a few answers out of him, Jess helped us and Rafael did too. We still didn´t win.
Afterwards we agreed to do this focus group thing. There were two people telling us about a place in Northern Peru called Cachimayo. They worked for this company, that is kind of like the Peruvian National Trust and they are trying to promote tourism in this area, it looked amazing! Plus we got a free drink, pudding and wooly hat!
Tueday 1st June
I took in finger puppets to the kindergarten that I had bought out from England. They were lots of little animans and we made them with the year 4s who absolutely loved them they were so sweet! The teacher was asking where she could buy more from. I was like "They´re from england, sorry!"
In our lunch break we bumped into Raymi our salsa teacher and booked a lesson with him for tonight.
Had a Spanish lesson in the afternoon learning irregular verbs which was confusing.
I got a text from Laura while i was there saying she had spoken to Alex about my glasses and i could swap them if i met him in the square at half 4. He wasnt there when i got there. Another day i´ll catch him!
Laura also saw Carlos in the square, our other salsa teacher and he told her that we had caused trouble. When we booked the lesson with Raymi, he thought we´d already booked it with Carlos and Carlos hadnt told him. Carlos showed Laura a text from him saying"you are a bad man, you are a liar" because he thought Carlos was keeping out lesson a secret from him!
When we got to salsa it was locked and Carlos wasnt there. Raymi turned up and seemed stressy and then Carlos arrived to let us in, it was really tense! After a bit of dancing though i think the tension cleared a bit.
Monday, 14 June 2010
Friday 20th May - Wednesday
Friday 20th May
Caught the night bus to Puno ready for our trip to Lake Titicaca!
Saturday 21st May
Friday morning we were met at the bus station by Fernando who was supposed to be giving us our return tickets back to Cusco for Sunday night. He didn´t have our bus tickets but tried to sell us a tour of the lake and set us up with a hostal for the night. We agreed to the hostal and he said he would give us our return tickets when he picked us up later to take us on our tour.
In the taxi we decided he was totally ripping us off so rang him when we arrived at the hostal and told him we didnt want it. He said he would drop our tickets off at some point that night.
We walked down to the pier and got a boat which took us to the floating island of Uros. It was really wierd, like walking on a big soft hay bale, its made of read like thing that are woven and layered on top of eachother. Its anchored down so they dont float all the way to shore. Families live on all the different islands, and we had a little talk then got to try on the traditional dress!
We then got back on the boat and travelled to Taquille, a non floating island. It was quite a long journey and we were so tired after our night bus so kept falling asleep. We looked round the island which was really pretty and had an amazing view of the lake, there was a place with loads of woven things, Heather was going to buy a wall hanging, which turned out to be a mans belt.
After a couple of hours we got the boat back again. We were sat on the top deck enjoying the sun when we saw some dark clouds approaching. We decided we would sit it out, and that because we´re english we can face any storm out here. We layered up and put on our waterproofs...it was absolutely freezing! One of the guys on the boat came and told us to go inside and we gave up pretty quickly. There was hardly any space, Me and Laura had to sit on the floor between everyones feet. The boat was rocking from side to side and because we were on the floor we couldnt see out the windows which probably made it worse. Thankfully none of us got sea sick, but were all trying desperately to stay awake.
We got back to the hostal and there were no return tickets from Fernando, the woman who owned the hostal rang him for us on the hostal phone and Domenica spoke to him. He said, "im very busy, i´ll drop them round later, umm 6,7,8" We went out for dinner, came back and still no tickets. The woman at the hostal said Fernando is a good man, and she will go with us tomorrow morning to meet him, but we had to go early for the bus to Copacabana, and did not trust that he woudl be there. We decided to go to the bus station to try an get the tickets ourselves, she said he would be there because work takes him away in the evenings a lot but we thought we could find the company counter and go through them.
When we got there though, we managed to track him down. He was not happy to see us. He was trying to send us away, saying he was busy, but we followed him. He finally agreed to get the tickets, but he told us to sit down and started to wander off, we diodnt trust him at all and Domenica was like "it´s alright thanks, we´ll just come with you!" He kept shouting at her "por favor, sit down!" but she kept following, finally he turned around and shouted " I will go home!"... Domenica was like..."but, what about our tickets"...
Eventually we got them and went back to the hostal, we were so tired we just collapsed into bed.
Sunday 23rd May
Got the bus to Copacabana and had to go through border control which was very exciting. We had been warned that the guards can be really horrible and take your money and things, so we all went along with our money hidden in our bras...they were really friendly!
Got a hostal for the night for 25 bolivianos (about two pounds fifty,) then caught a boat from the pier to Isla Del Sol. We got a tour round the island and got to see the temple of the sun, where inka sacrifices used to take place, and they use it still and sacrafice llamas.
We had Perejey, or king fish, for dinner which is a dish Copacabana is known for with fish from the lake...it was alright but pretty bony.
We went to collect our rucksacks from the hostal and the woman wasnt there,we started to panic because we were due to catch the bus home, even Heather was on her knees trying to pick the lock! with about 10 minutes she finally turned up and let us in.
Monday 24th May
Had a lazy day in Cusco and went out for a posh meal for Heather´s leaving do.
Tuesday 25th May
Said goodbye to Heather this morning who has gone off into the amazon! It´s really wierd now there´s only 3 of us.
Went to the kindergarten where they were having a fiesta! We all had cake and danced around a lot. The kids looked so cute because they´d all been sent in in their smart suits and dresses!
Had a spanish lesson in the afternoon and wrote down what felt like hundreds and hundreds of regular verbs.
Had salsa again tonight which was really fun!
Wednesday 26th May
Just Laura and I at kindergarten today because Domenica was ill. Was a horrible cloudy day, we had no energy and it was hard work with just the two of us. Got to finish off the tiger masks with all the kids though which looked great. Turned out the year 3s didn´t like wearing them, but the year 4s loved them!
Caught the night bus to Puno ready for our trip to Lake Titicaca!
Saturday 21st May
Friday morning we were met at the bus station by Fernando who was supposed to be giving us our return tickets back to Cusco for Sunday night. He didn´t have our bus tickets but tried to sell us a tour of the lake and set us up with a hostal for the night. We agreed to the hostal and he said he would give us our return tickets when he picked us up later to take us on our tour.
In the taxi we decided he was totally ripping us off so rang him when we arrived at the hostal and told him we didnt want it. He said he would drop our tickets off at some point that night.
We walked down to the pier and got a boat which took us to the floating island of Uros. It was really wierd, like walking on a big soft hay bale, its made of read like thing that are woven and layered on top of eachother. Its anchored down so they dont float all the way to shore. Families live on all the different islands, and we had a little talk then got to try on the traditional dress!
We then got back on the boat and travelled to Taquille, a non floating island. It was quite a long journey and we were so tired after our night bus so kept falling asleep. We looked round the island which was really pretty and had an amazing view of the lake, there was a place with loads of woven things, Heather was going to buy a wall hanging, which turned out to be a mans belt.
After a couple of hours we got the boat back again. We were sat on the top deck enjoying the sun when we saw some dark clouds approaching. We decided we would sit it out, and that because we´re english we can face any storm out here. We layered up and put on our waterproofs...it was absolutely freezing! One of the guys on the boat came and told us to go inside and we gave up pretty quickly. There was hardly any space, Me and Laura had to sit on the floor between everyones feet. The boat was rocking from side to side and because we were on the floor we couldnt see out the windows which probably made it worse. Thankfully none of us got sea sick, but were all trying desperately to stay awake.
We got back to the hostal and there were no return tickets from Fernando, the woman who owned the hostal rang him for us on the hostal phone and Domenica spoke to him. He said, "im very busy, i´ll drop them round later, umm 6,7,8" We went out for dinner, came back and still no tickets. The woman at the hostal said Fernando is a good man, and she will go with us tomorrow morning to meet him, but we had to go early for the bus to Copacabana, and did not trust that he woudl be there. We decided to go to the bus station to try an get the tickets ourselves, she said he would be there because work takes him away in the evenings a lot but we thought we could find the company counter and go through them.
When we got there though, we managed to track him down. He was not happy to see us. He was trying to send us away, saying he was busy, but we followed him. He finally agreed to get the tickets, but he told us to sit down and started to wander off, we diodnt trust him at all and Domenica was like "it´s alright thanks, we´ll just come with you!" He kept shouting at her "por favor, sit down!" but she kept following, finally he turned around and shouted " I will go home!"... Domenica was like..."but, what about our tickets"...
Eventually we got them and went back to the hostal, we were so tired we just collapsed into bed.
Sunday 23rd May
Got the bus to Copacabana and had to go through border control which was very exciting. We had been warned that the guards can be really horrible and take your money and things, so we all went along with our money hidden in our bras...they were really friendly!
Got a hostal for the night for 25 bolivianos (about two pounds fifty,) then caught a boat from the pier to Isla Del Sol. We got a tour round the island and got to see the temple of the sun, where inka sacrifices used to take place, and they use it still and sacrafice llamas.
We had Perejey, or king fish, for dinner which is a dish Copacabana is known for with fish from the lake...it was alright but pretty bony.
We went to collect our rucksacks from the hostal and the woman wasnt there,we started to panic because we were due to catch the bus home, even Heather was on her knees trying to pick the lock! with about 10 minutes she finally turned up and let us in.
Monday 24th May
Had a lazy day in Cusco and went out for a posh meal for Heather´s leaving do.
Tuesday 25th May
Said goodbye to Heather this morning who has gone off into the amazon! It´s really wierd now there´s only 3 of us.
Went to the kindergarten where they were having a fiesta! We all had cake and danced around a lot. The kids looked so cute because they´d all been sent in in their smart suits and dresses!
Had a spanish lesson in the afternoon and wrote down what felt like hundreds and hundreds of regular verbs.
Had salsa again tonight which was really fun!
Wednesday 26th May
Just Laura and I at kindergarten today because Domenica was ill. Was a horrible cloudy day, we had no energy and it was hard work with just the two of us. Got to finish off the tiger masks with all the kids though which looked great. Turned out the year 3s didn´t like wearing them, but the year 4s loved them!
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Monday 10th - Wenesday 19th May
Monday 10th - Tuesday 11th May
Was ill for both these days but went to the doctors. He poked my stomach loads and said that when he squeezed at the side it was "crunching" - gross. Have got loads of pills to take!
When i was waiting for Jess to take me to the clinic Rafael let me help him make sausages using the special machine...was probably the highlight of my two days!
On tuesday afternoon, we went to find this "greenhouse project" where we would be building a greenhouse in a school for educational purposes. We wondered round the area for a while, couldn´t find it so just ended up coming back.
Wednesday 12th April:
We had the morning off kindergarten due to teacher strikes, so had a big lie in then went and sat in the main square. There was a massive protest going on but it was one of the lamest things i´ve ever seen. They were all so unenthusiastic with their chants and banners, even the police guarding them were on their phones!
Had our usual class at Chinchero in the afternoon.
Went to cooking class and made "tallarin verde con Ocopa" It was this green pasta, with potato (of course) and a tonne of sauce.
Thurday 13th April:
There´s this new older boy at the kindergarten called Marco, he doesn´t go in any of the classes because the teacher said he´s "special" but we just think he´s got ADHD or something. They don´t teach him tho so he just wonders round aimlessly. He got really angry today and one of the teachers ended up fighting with him!
He started following us into the year 5 class but he just wants a bit of attention, so we chatted to him and gave him some work and he was much better, he´s really bright, but they just don´t have enough staff to support him.
Found an internet cafe and rang home for Dad´s birthday. I was hoping to burst into song singing "happy birthday" in spanish, but some peruvian guy answered the phone, so when i really did get through i was like...hello? It was really good to talk to everyone! I was gutted i was missing the birthday celebrations, and the cake! All cake out here is so rubbish and dry, nothing rises because of the altitutude so i guess they use loads of extra flour or something to try and make it rise.
We went shopping and i bought a few souvenirs and they we had salsa.
We really weren´t feeling it tonight and we had a different teacher called Raymi instead of Carlos who wasn´t as good.
Friday 14th May:
Had kindergarten this morning, we had the younger ones, colouring and decorating fish with balls of tissue paper and shiny paper (we´re doing animals at the moment) And the older ones drew and coloured their favourite pet. It was good fun today because they were all really well behaved. Was feeling much better today for the first time too.
After lunch we went and bought cake and loads of sweets to take to Chinchero because it´s Domenica´s birthday tomorrow. We saw jess and she told us this posh cake shop so we got a big chocolate cake. We bought some newspapers and wrapped up layers and layers of sweets for a game of pass the parcel. We were doing it in the taxi and every so often offered our driver a sweet. He never said no and when we got out we gave him a lolly.
We got to Chinchero before all the kids, so hid all the goodies and did a short grammar lesson with them, we sent them out for break and played volleyball with them, then when they came back in we had all the cake and the sweets out. We sang ´happy birthday´ and Leonor and Roxanna (2 of the kids mums) came in. It´s tradition to make the birthday person take a bite of their cake and then shove their face in it...which they did to Domenica. We played pass the parcel with forfeits and things, it was really fun! and the kids were so happy with all their sweets!
When we got home we booked paragliding for tomorrow!
Saturday 15th May - Domenica´s Birthday!
We got up at the usual time for paragliding! Me and Laura saw Domenica on the computer so ran up and shouted Happy Birthday at her! She jumped out of her skin!
We walked over to where we booked paragliding and waited there for a while for our bus. Heather went on a horse riding thing cause she didnt fancy paragliding. We got picked up by a mini bus and driven to Chinchero, then went off the road on this really bumpy dried mud track that was right on the edge of the mountain. We got their and our instructor (the only one in Cusco) Gave us a tow minute speech saying..."the weather is good, please be patient for your turn". That was it, no instructions or anything! He said the lightest person would fly first. That was Domenica, we were stood talking and she was like "im just going to text my sister amd ñet her know what im about to do" when the instructor said "ready lady, lets go." And literally she was in the air the next minute! It was about an hour from when she left and when the mini bus got back, and by that time the instructor said it was too windy to carry on and we had to wait.
2 of the guys in our groups decided they werent gunna wait so we all drove back down to the town (along that horrible mud path) to drop them off, then back up again. On the way up the driver suddenly pulled off into a field towards all these people harvesting and bought a massive sack of potatos off them. Our instructor and the driver had a couple of mugs of chi cha each (the alcoholic version) then we went back up the hill to where the other paragliders had made a watia (the natural dirt stoves) They cooked a tonne of potatos which we ate (although mine and Domenica´s kept having worms in) and then we were like. OK, are we going to fly or not, cause we needed to get back in the evening for domenica´s birthday celebrations.
Suddenly it was back on and Laura was in the air. She vanished behind the mountain and next thing she was trekking up the side of the hill with her massive seat on - the mini bus hadnt found them so they had to walk up!
Then it was my go, it was soo much fun! the take off wasnt that smooth cause for some reason the guy attatched to me was facing backwards so when we started running he fell over! but once we were up it was so good!
He did loads of turns which are really fun, their like the chair ride at funfairs, i kept screaming and was saying "can we do another turn!" then we just floated around for ages, the view was amazing! He kept saying "how are you lady? hows the view lady?" then he told me to hold on to the ropes and did a massive downward spiral! It was soo fun! i was screaming my head off! and when we landed i was like "that was so amazing" and he was saying "thankyou lady" and we shook hands and had a hug! It was very emotional.
The landing wasnt massively smooth cause we hit this dried mud field which stopped the seat from sliding along so we rocked forward and my legs got bent back, but i was too caught up in the moment to care....They were sore the next day though!
We went out to Indigo´s, this really nice thai restaurant with Jevta, then met Jess n Rafael at Mccoys. Jess let slip that we had a surprise for Domenica so gave her a brownie that she´d piped happy birthday on to distract her.
Then we bought in a big cake they´d bought her and took in all her presents. Jess fully shoved her face in the cake this time! We got her some frac (her favourite biscuits) a jar of "fanny" tuna, a bunch of flowers, a big bar of dairy milk (we havent had chocolate since weve been here) and a really nice silver bracelet. There were some other girls we know there too, Angela, Ashley and Tamara and we all played sambuka jenga and other drinking games. we had a lock in at Mccoys and were dancing on the tables and everything, and ended up having a massive food fight with the left over cake.
We went to a club and on route found raymi - our salsa teacher and he came dancing with us. We danced in their for hours and taught him the macarena when it came on. then went for a mcdonalds =S It was such a fun night!
Sunday 16th May:
Woke up and could not get back to sleep so eventually got up and skyped home, found out that Laura and Katia (my sisters) are definitely coming to visit me out here which is very exciting!!
Went for breakfast at bout 3 in the afternoon then did some shopping where i bought more souvenirs! Was impressed at how un-hungover i was.
Monday 17th May:
Laura and Katia have booked their flights - Woo!!
Had kindergarten, have fallen in love with Cynthia, one of the five year olds!
Had Chinchero in the afternoon, we´re not teaching there for the next two weeks cause Fiona, the independent volunteer is going to be there instead. We dont know yet if were taking on another project or not so told them wednesday might be our last day. There reaction was horrible cause they were all like "nooo" so we all decided we want to go back. I love playing volleyball with them in the break, although the ball we used today was rock hard!
Had the pub quiz tonight with Jevta and Lisa on our team, we came joint 2nd from last...or 3rd depending how you look at it. There were no brownies left but because we all ordered one the chef made them for us specially. They took ages but were fresh out the oven and gooey and yummy.
Tuesday 18th May:
Fiona came to the kindergarten with us today cause one of her placements has fallen through, and when we arrived all the kids were practising marching. They were over the other side of the road with music blaring out the speakers from the kindergarten. We helped them march, then had lessons as usual.
In our break, big marco was playing on the roundabout, somehow his shoe got stuck and as it turned his leg got twisted round. We freed him, but he was really upset because the material loopholes on his trainers had all ripped off. Domenica had her penknife so i punched new holes in his shoes and rethreaded the laces for him, he didn´t thank me, but i was proud of my handywork!
All the year 5s seemed to be crying today, i have no idea why.
Was meant to have a spanish lesson this afternoon but cause i´d cancelled mine last week (due to illness) they hadnt booked me back in. Its annoying cause its like a 20 minute walk there, but i just came back slowly looking in the shops on the way.
After, we met Jess and went to speak to the Jungle lady and booked our week in the Ámazon! Im so excited! They have a tame monkey called Paulo who comes on the trek and lives in the lodge with you!
We had salsa tonight and werent that excited cause we knew we had Raymi again. I think Domenicá´s birthday night broke the ice though cause he was really talkative! We had such a fun lesson and learnt all these snazzy spins. He partnered us aswell which he hasnt done before, and stopped telling us which move would be next, which he normally does. It was so much fun, and he just kept talking to us for ages at the end. I was proud of how much i could actually understand , even though i couldn´t respond that well.
Wednesday 19th May:
The kindergarten were doing marching practise again when we arrived. We took in paper plates which we drew tiger faces on and got them to paint, we´re going to make them into masks.
It was Heather´s last day so she took in a montage of photos and marshmallows for all the kids. When we went to leave the teacher said "15 minutes please" and all the kids came and sat on their chairs outside and the teachers did a goodbye thing for heather. They gave her a cake that said "happy travel" on it and a card that all the kids had put a finger print in next to their names. Then they sang "Happy Birthday"...i think its the only english song they knew...
Went to Chincero where heather gave out more photos and sweets, the pictures were meant for the wall but they all wanted to take them home. Fiorella took us all to the side one by one and gave us a little present, i got a pair of earrings she had made! We had a bit of a lesson, then just messed around cause it was heathers last day, and our last for 2 weeks, which feels like ages!
Then one of the women came and told us the weaving centre was open, so we went over to Leonor´s house and saw all the stuff they had woven...and spent lots of money. But when we went to leave they gave us each a little gift, a small purse Leonor had woven and a little keyring Roxanna had made! It was really sweet, and we felt bad because we know how long they take to make, and how they need to sell them to make money! They said it was a thankyou for teaching their kids English.
Got back and booked out lake Titicaca trip for this weekend (Ahh!) then went to cooking class. I was excited cause it looked like a massive plate of veg with chicken. But all the veg had been drowned in Vinegar, i just couldnt eat it. I tried to eat as much as i could but my pile just seemed to be never ending. Then the others dumped their food on my plate when my back was turned and i just gave up.
We went back and ate some of the cake the kindergarten had given Heather.
Was ill for both these days but went to the doctors. He poked my stomach loads and said that when he squeezed at the side it was "crunching" - gross. Have got loads of pills to take!
When i was waiting for Jess to take me to the clinic Rafael let me help him make sausages using the special machine...was probably the highlight of my two days!
On tuesday afternoon, we went to find this "greenhouse project" where we would be building a greenhouse in a school for educational purposes. We wondered round the area for a while, couldn´t find it so just ended up coming back.
Wednesday 12th April:
We had the morning off kindergarten due to teacher strikes, so had a big lie in then went and sat in the main square. There was a massive protest going on but it was one of the lamest things i´ve ever seen. They were all so unenthusiastic with their chants and banners, even the police guarding them were on their phones!
Had our usual class at Chinchero in the afternoon.
Went to cooking class and made "tallarin verde con Ocopa" It was this green pasta, with potato (of course) and a tonne of sauce.
Thurday 13th April:
There´s this new older boy at the kindergarten called Marco, he doesn´t go in any of the classes because the teacher said he´s "special" but we just think he´s got ADHD or something. They don´t teach him tho so he just wonders round aimlessly. He got really angry today and one of the teachers ended up fighting with him!
He started following us into the year 5 class but he just wants a bit of attention, so we chatted to him and gave him some work and he was much better, he´s really bright, but they just don´t have enough staff to support him.
Found an internet cafe and rang home for Dad´s birthday. I was hoping to burst into song singing "happy birthday" in spanish, but some peruvian guy answered the phone, so when i really did get through i was like...hello? It was really good to talk to everyone! I was gutted i was missing the birthday celebrations, and the cake! All cake out here is so rubbish and dry, nothing rises because of the altitutude so i guess they use loads of extra flour or something to try and make it rise.
We went shopping and i bought a few souvenirs and they we had salsa.
We really weren´t feeling it tonight and we had a different teacher called Raymi instead of Carlos who wasn´t as good.
Friday 14th May:
Had kindergarten this morning, we had the younger ones, colouring and decorating fish with balls of tissue paper and shiny paper (we´re doing animals at the moment) And the older ones drew and coloured their favourite pet. It was good fun today because they were all really well behaved. Was feeling much better today for the first time too.
After lunch we went and bought cake and loads of sweets to take to Chinchero because it´s Domenica´s birthday tomorrow. We saw jess and she told us this posh cake shop so we got a big chocolate cake. We bought some newspapers and wrapped up layers and layers of sweets for a game of pass the parcel. We were doing it in the taxi and every so often offered our driver a sweet. He never said no and when we got out we gave him a lolly.
We got to Chinchero before all the kids, so hid all the goodies and did a short grammar lesson with them, we sent them out for break and played volleyball with them, then when they came back in we had all the cake and the sweets out. We sang ´happy birthday´ and Leonor and Roxanna (2 of the kids mums) came in. It´s tradition to make the birthday person take a bite of their cake and then shove their face in it...which they did to Domenica. We played pass the parcel with forfeits and things, it was really fun! and the kids were so happy with all their sweets!
When we got home we booked paragliding for tomorrow!
Saturday 15th May - Domenica´s Birthday!
We got up at the usual time for paragliding! Me and Laura saw Domenica on the computer so ran up and shouted Happy Birthday at her! She jumped out of her skin!
We walked over to where we booked paragliding and waited there for a while for our bus. Heather went on a horse riding thing cause she didnt fancy paragliding. We got picked up by a mini bus and driven to Chinchero, then went off the road on this really bumpy dried mud track that was right on the edge of the mountain. We got their and our instructor (the only one in Cusco) Gave us a tow minute speech saying..."the weather is good, please be patient for your turn". That was it, no instructions or anything! He said the lightest person would fly first. That was Domenica, we were stood talking and she was like "im just going to text my sister amd ñet her know what im about to do" when the instructor said "ready lady, lets go." And literally she was in the air the next minute! It was about an hour from when she left and when the mini bus got back, and by that time the instructor said it was too windy to carry on and we had to wait.
2 of the guys in our groups decided they werent gunna wait so we all drove back down to the town (along that horrible mud path) to drop them off, then back up again. On the way up the driver suddenly pulled off into a field towards all these people harvesting and bought a massive sack of potatos off them. Our instructor and the driver had a couple of mugs of chi cha each (the alcoholic version) then we went back up the hill to where the other paragliders had made a watia (the natural dirt stoves) They cooked a tonne of potatos which we ate (although mine and Domenica´s kept having worms in) and then we were like. OK, are we going to fly or not, cause we needed to get back in the evening for domenica´s birthday celebrations.
Suddenly it was back on and Laura was in the air. She vanished behind the mountain and next thing she was trekking up the side of the hill with her massive seat on - the mini bus hadnt found them so they had to walk up!
Then it was my go, it was soo much fun! the take off wasnt that smooth cause for some reason the guy attatched to me was facing backwards so when we started running he fell over! but once we were up it was so good!
He did loads of turns which are really fun, their like the chair ride at funfairs, i kept screaming and was saying "can we do another turn!" then we just floated around for ages, the view was amazing! He kept saying "how are you lady? hows the view lady?" then he told me to hold on to the ropes and did a massive downward spiral! It was soo fun! i was screaming my head off! and when we landed i was like "that was so amazing" and he was saying "thankyou lady" and we shook hands and had a hug! It was very emotional.
The landing wasnt massively smooth cause we hit this dried mud field which stopped the seat from sliding along so we rocked forward and my legs got bent back, but i was too caught up in the moment to care....They were sore the next day though!
We went out to Indigo´s, this really nice thai restaurant with Jevta, then met Jess n Rafael at Mccoys. Jess let slip that we had a surprise for Domenica so gave her a brownie that she´d piped happy birthday on to distract her.
Then we bought in a big cake they´d bought her and took in all her presents. Jess fully shoved her face in the cake this time! We got her some frac (her favourite biscuits) a jar of "fanny" tuna, a bunch of flowers, a big bar of dairy milk (we havent had chocolate since weve been here) and a really nice silver bracelet. There were some other girls we know there too, Angela, Ashley and Tamara and we all played sambuka jenga and other drinking games. we had a lock in at Mccoys and were dancing on the tables and everything, and ended up having a massive food fight with the left over cake.
We went to a club and on route found raymi - our salsa teacher and he came dancing with us. We danced in their for hours and taught him the macarena when it came on. then went for a mcdonalds =S It was such a fun night!
Sunday 16th May:
Woke up and could not get back to sleep so eventually got up and skyped home, found out that Laura and Katia (my sisters) are definitely coming to visit me out here which is very exciting!!
Went for breakfast at bout 3 in the afternoon then did some shopping where i bought more souvenirs! Was impressed at how un-hungover i was.
Monday 17th May:
Laura and Katia have booked their flights - Woo!!
Had kindergarten, have fallen in love with Cynthia, one of the five year olds!
Had Chinchero in the afternoon, we´re not teaching there for the next two weeks cause Fiona, the independent volunteer is going to be there instead. We dont know yet if were taking on another project or not so told them wednesday might be our last day. There reaction was horrible cause they were all like "nooo" so we all decided we want to go back. I love playing volleyball with them in the break, although the ball we used today was rock hard!
Had the pub quiz tonight with Jevta and Lisa on our team, we came joint 2nd from last...or 3rd depending how you look at it. There were no brownies left but because we all ordered one the chef made them for us specially. They took ages but were fresh out the oven and gooey and yummy.
Tuesday 18th May:
Fiona came to the kindergarten with us today cause one of her placements has fallen through, and when we arrived all the kids were practising marching. They were over the other side of the road with music blaring out the speakers from the kindergarten. We helped them march, then had lessons as usual.
In our break, big marco was playing on the roundabout, somehow his shoe got stuck and as it turned his leg got twisted round. We freed him, but he was really upset because the material loopholes on his trainers had all ripped off. Domenica had her penknife so i punched new holes in his shoes and rethreaded the laces for him, he didn´t thank me, but i was proud of my handywork!
All the year 5s seemed to be crying today, i have no idea why.
Was meant to have a spanish lesson this afternoon but cause i´d cancelled mine last week (due to illness) they hadnt booked me back in. Its annoying cause its like a 20 minute walk there, but i just came back slowly looking in the shops on the way.
After, we met Jess and went to speak to the Jungle lady and booked our week in the Ámazon! Im so excited! They have a tame monkey called Paulo who comes on the trek and lives in the lodge with you!
We had salsa tonight and werent that excited cause we knew we had Raymi again. I think Domenicá´s birthday night broke the ice though cause he was really talkative! We had such a fun lesson and learnt all these snazzy spins. He partnered us aswell which he hasnt done before, and stopped telling us which move would be next, which he normally does. It was so much fun, and he just kept talking to us for ages at the end. I was proud of how much i could actually understand , even though i couldn´t respond that well.
Wednesday 19th May:
The kindergarten were doing marching practise again when we arrived. We took in paper plates which we drew tiger faces on and got them to paint, we´re going to make them into masks.
It was Heather´s last day so she took in a montage of photos and marshmallows for all the kids. When we went to leave the teacher said "15 minutes please" and all the kids came and sat on their chairs outside and the teachers did a goodbye thing for heather. They gave her a cake that said "happy travel" on it and a card that all the kids had put a finger print in next to their names. Then they sang "Happy Birthday"...i think its the only english song they knew...
Went to Chincero where heather gave out more photos and sweets, the pictures were meant for the wall but they all wanted to take them home. Fiorella took us all to the side one by one and gave us a little present, i got a pair of earrings she had made! We had a bit of a lesson, then just messed around cause it was heathers last day, and our last for 2 weeks, which feels like ages!
Then one of the women came and told us the weaving centre was open, so we went over to Leonor´s house and saw all the stuff they had woven...and spent lots of money. But when we went to leave they gave us each a little gift, a small purse Leonor had woven and a little keyring Roxanna had made! It was really sweet, and we felt bad because we know how long they take to make, and how they need to sell them to make money! They said it was a thankyou for teaching their kids English.
Got back and booked out lake Titicaca trip for this weekend (Ahh!) then went to cooking class. I was excited cause it looked like a massive plate of veg with chicken. But all the veg had been drowned in Vinegar, i just couldnt eat it. I tried to eat as much as i could but my pile just seemed to be never ending. Then the others dumped their food on my plate when my back was turned and i just gave up.
We went back and ate some of the cake the kindergarten had given Heather.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Monday 3rd May - Saturday 8th May
Monday 3rd May;
Had a massive lie in after our very long weekend then went to Chincero in the afternoon where there was a little festival going on in the street. It was the festival of the cross which lasted sunday to monday. We taught the lesson but when we heard the music start we went out to have a look. 
The guys were wearing these really freaky masks and they grabbed Domenica and made her dance in the street with them, Nisett the younger girl we teach got really scared and started crying cause the people with the masks came in the garden and were trying to get Fiorella who was hidden in the outdoor toilet and throwing water at them out the window.
The guys were wearing these really freaky masks and they grabbed Domenica and made her dance in the street with them, Nisett the younger girl we teach got really scared and started crying cause the people with the masks came in the garden and were trying to get Fiorella who was hidden in the outdoor toilet and throwing water at them out the window.Tuesday 4th May;
In the kindergarten this morning, as soon as the year 5 teacher left the class they all came running over to us wanting to be picked up. They were rubbish for the whole lesson, really distracted, then at the end they all wanted to be picked up again, its so tiring, and theres a boy called sebastian who is a lot heavier than the rest of them, who also insisted on being picked up.
Had my first spanish lesson back at the school, i have a new teacher who is really scary and kept saying i should know the stuff already that she´s teaching me. she set me loads of homework!
Got back and got ready for salsa, we had a different teacher this week and instead of just dancing infront of the mirror he danced with us which was really fun. its so much more tiring than i expected but i love it! i want to do it every night!
Afterwards we went for a well deserved all you can eat indian buffet! ;)
Afterwards we went for a well deserved all you can eat indian buffet! ;)
Its mothers day this sunday in peru so we went and bought loads of card and made 60 mothers day cards for the kids to colour in at the kindergarten tomorrow. Domenica designed a "mother" shape which we drew on the front of every card, and then i did bubble writing saying "happy mother´s day" in all the year 3 and 4 cards, and laura did the writing in dot to dot for the year fives to join for themselves. it took ages!
Wednesday 5th May;
It was so worth doing the cards last night, all the kids were kept busy the whole lesson and we didnt have to sing at them once. The director of the school saw some of them at the end and looked well impressed!
Had Chincero in the afternoon, unfortunately only 3 of them turned up, but it was good cause we got to really help them individually. We always let them have a break and we were playing with them on the road. When we asked them what the game we were playing was called it translated as "kill people" it was really funny though and basically involved throwing a ball at each other.
Went to cooking class where we make Ricotta Rellena, which is basically the same as last week, but instead of stuffing potato with meat you stuff ricottas. I was unlucky and had two REALLY spicy ones, i thought my head was going to explode, but i just ate the inside.
Thursday 6th May;
We met jess in the morning then went and got a bus with a load of other volunteers to this village that was completely destroyed by the floods. All of their crops were ruined so this company called "mysmallhelp" are building a massive cuy farm for the villagers to start earning money again. It is a long term project, ea
ch family will be given 9 female guinie pigs and a male, and apparently they reproduce every 62 days. Each guiniepig would bring the family about 25 soles. and when they get the corn replanted it will be an additional income on top of that.
ch family will be given 9 female guinie pigs and a male, and apparently they reproduce every 62 days. Each guiniepig would bring the family about 25 soles. and when they get the corn replanted it will be an additional income on top of that.We were told we were going to build mud bricks for the surrouding wall, but a lot of work needed to be done before hand. We basically ended up digging a massive pile of dirt and seperating the dirt from the rocks, it sounds rubbish but was really good fun, but it was sooo hot! To say thankyou the villagers provided us with lunch, freshly caught trout from the lake which was probably the best fish ivé ever had!
That evening after dinner we met Jess and Rafeal for Mojitos, it was two for 15soles in happy hour and mixed with the altitude it gets you drunk very quickly. There was a band playing cheesy english music, we asked them to play salsa and just as we were leaving they started to play Gloria Gaynor "i will survive and we all went mental!" Went to a few places after this, we had a really good night.
Friday 7th May;
Went for a fry up in the morning, which made us all feel a lot better, although we were exhausted.
Went to Chincero in the afternoon, Nicola (the old POD volunteer) used to work there, so she turned up at the end to see the kids. After the lesson we stayed over night at Roxanna´s house. (where we teach the lessons) We had our first Coca tea, which doesnt really taste of much, and she made us a really nice beef caserole kind of thing, and then this really wierd gloopy drink for afters. We were given a mug of it and ate it with a spoon which took ages, it was made of maize and was like a purple colour and thick like medicine. It was nice though.
Saturday 8th May;
We went to bed quite early cause we were so tired then got up early to meet the kids who took us on a walk. We walked for about an hour then met Roxanna and Leonor who gave us a weaving lesson, it was soo hard! Even when i new what i was doing i kept making mistakes cause its really hard to count the threads. We stopped for a traditional Peruvian lunch. We made an oven out of blocks of dirt and burnt loads of dry wood in there, when it was ready we broke the wood down into ashes, chucked in a tonne of potatos and then collapsed the oven on top of it.
When we were waiting for the food this massive pile of potatos was bought out which you just peel with you fingers and eat like apples. We had fresh trout again with the potatos and salad. After, we had chi cha, which is a traditional peruvian drink made from fermented corn. The corn is chewed and spat into the drink when being made, so we were basically drinking alcoholic spit.
We went back to weaving and Roxanna´s mum, who is quite scary and always talks to us in Kechuan, came over with a bottle of clear liquid and a plastic cup. She gave it to Domenica and the other women told her to shot it, we all thought it was water. It wasnt. We think it was the alcohol that goes in to chi cha but it was really strong. We think Roxannas mum was drunk cause she had cup after cup of chi cha, then kept downing these shots.
Monday 26th - Sunday 2nd May
Monday 26th April:
Went to the pub quiz tonight and met Nicola , a past POD volunteer and a couple of her friends, we joined teams and won by a mile and got a free bottle of wine! :D
Tuesday 27th April:
Had kindergarten as usual in the morning and are trying to teach the kids body parts, were bringing in "head, shoulders, knees and toes" although at the moment they just stand and watch us do it, then say "again again!" when we´ve stopped.
Had our first salsa lesson tonight! it was so much fun, us lot were learning the 5 "basico" steps at the front, while jess and rafael were doing all this fancy stuff in the background.
Wednesday 28th April:
After, we went to a police station, we went out into a courtyard in the back where they had lunch and played for ages, but the tour was so pointless cause we literally walked in a line through an office, waved hello to the policemen then walked out the door at the other end!
Went to the pub quiz tonight and met Nicola , a past POD volunteer and a couple of her friends, we joined teams and won by a mile and got a free bottle of wine! :D
Tuesday 27th April:
Had kindergarten as usual in the morning and are trying to teach the kids body parts, were bringing in "head, shoulders, knees and toes" although at the moment they just stand and watch us do it, then say "again again!" when we´ve stopped.Had our first salsa lesson tonight! it was so much fun, us lot were learning the 5 "basico" steps at the front, while jess and rafael were doing all this fancy stuff in the background.
Wednesday 28th April:
Arrived at the kindergarten this morning and all of the kids were lined up in the courtyard for another school trip!
We all had a designated year group again, I had the year 4s, who had a rope to hold on to to keep them all together, but it was a bit short so they kept tripping over each other! We walked all through a market with the kids, pointing out different fruit and veg etc, then we went to a fire station. All the children were fine and enjoyed hearing the alarm and everything, but suddenly there was a real emergency, we were completely in the way and loads of the kids got freaked out and started crying. A couple of kids got to go down the firemans pole and in the fire truck.
(the year 4 class)
After, we went to a police station, we went out into a courtyard in the back where they had lunch and played for ages, but the tour was so pointless cause we literally walked in a line through an office, waved hello to the policemen then walked out the door at the other end!Had chincero in the afternoon again, Heather is starting to do grammar with them, then after a break we had them doing role play, buying fruit from a stall.
Had cooking tonight and made Papa Rellena. We had to seperate loads of mash into balls, then after that we had to flatten them out again, which seemed kind of pointless, to then stuff it with this mince stuff, then theyre rolled in flour and fried, they were actually pretty good.
Thursday 29th April
Had the kindergarten in the morning and the afternoon off, jess helped us plan our chincero lesson for tomorrow.
Friday 30th April:
Jess came into the kindergarten this morning and organised it so that we´re working a lot more, because before we kept having to sit round in between lessons. It meant we had a tiring morning of an hour in year 3s hour in year 4 and about half an hour in year 5s. Its hard teaching 3 year olds english for that long!
Went to San Pedro market to buy fruit for Chincero, we had a hole in a box and the kids had to stick their hand in and guess in english what fruit it was, we stuck a cup of jelly in there as well.
(The juice stands at San Pedro Market)
We looked round quickly for half an hour and got some photos when it wasnt packed with tourists, and went and met our tour guide. We had a two hour tour, then after a quick break we climbed Wayna Picchu, we were looking at the mountain all day, and its so steep we just didnt understand how you were meant to get up. There are really steep and narrow staircases, but sometimes you have to properly climb the steps are so big. People kept passing us on the way down which was scary cause it was so narrow and a massive drop on one side. The climb was among all the trees and at times it felt like we were in the jungle.
When we got to the top we stayed there for ages, we sat on the edge just looking at the view and taking pictures and stuff. By the time we decided to leave, everyone else had gone and we had it to ourself. When we were up there we decided to
(The girls stuck in the Cave)
Packed my bag for macchu pitchu , 6am start :S and i´ve started to get a cold.
Saturday 1st May:
Got picked up by two guys, (who arrived early!) and took us to the station,. we got given all our tickets for macchu pitchu then put onto a bus which took about three hours and drove us to Cusco station. We boarded "peru rail" which took us to "Aguas Calientes" the town before macchu pitchu. We looked round the market for there a bit, went to get some lunch and by the time we came out it was absolutely pouring it down with rain. We went back to the hostel and sat in our room playing games like eye spy to pass the time. There is literally nothing to do in aguas calientes, apparently there are some hot springs but we had no idea where to look and it was raining too much anyway. Met our tour guide this evening ro tomorrow who told us when to meet him etc.
Sunday 2nd May:
Got up at quater past four and made it to the bus stop for half past, we were 11th in the queue! We wanted to get there early so we could get tickets for wayna pichu, the mountain overlooking machu pitchu, and they have a limited number of tickets. The bus left at 5:30 and we got there at 6, there was a queue of people already there who had spent the night in the hotel next door, but when we walked in, its so big it felt totally empty!
It was so amazing, and the clouds were lower than us which was really cool. It was so quiet, and felt like we had it to ourself.
We looked round quickly for half an hour and got some photos when it wasnt packed with tourists, and went and met our tour guide. We had a two hour tour, then after a quick break we climbed Wayna Picchu, we were looking at the mountain all day, and its so steep we just didnt understand how you were meant to get up. There are really steep and narrow staircases, but sometimes you have to properly climb the steps are so big. People kept passing us on the way down which was scary cause it was so narrow and a massive drop on one side. The climb was among all the trees and at times it felt like we were in the jungle.
When we got to the top we stayed there for ages, we sat on the edge just looking at the view and taking pictures and stuff. By the time we decided to leave, everyone else had gone and we had it to ourself. When we were up there we decided to
climb to a higher point, but we had to go through a tiny cave to get there, it would have been fine but we all had massive rucksacks on making it nearly impossible. Then you climb up a wooden ladder and literally just stand on a big old rock at the top.
(The girls stuck in the Cave)We came down the mountain and i had left my hand bag with ipod and stuff in at a bag place. When i got it back i opened up my bag and my ipod wasnt in it! i was about to panic but looked up and the guy in charge of the stuff had been sat there listening to it all morning! my battery had gone from full to half! I would have killed him if i wasnt so relieved.
By the time we got down 
it was about half 2, and machu picchu was basically empty again! it was really wierd.
it was about half 2, and machu picchu was basically empty again! it was really wierd.(The massive mountain in the background is the one we climbed!)
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Monday 19th - Sunday 25th April
Mondaÿ 19th;
Had our last Spanish lesson this morning. Had a quiet afternoon and planned our first ever lesson for the kindergarten. We were all being indecisive about which placement to do, so Jess is sending us all to the kindergarten in the morning, and the disabled centre in the afternoon.
Tuesday 20th;
Jess came with us in the morning to the Kindergarten and helped us teach the first two classes of 3 and 4 year olds, and we did the 5 year olds by ourselves, we taught them all "my name is" and a song for learning the colours red, yellow, green and blue.
In the afternoon we went to the disabled home which was a lot harder than any of us remembered. We took the kids outside to play, and it was really hard work, because a lot of the kids in wheelchairs want to practise walking, but you end up taking all their weight so its really exhausting. Its hard aswell because a lot of them cant communicate with you, so you dont know whether they are enjoying whatever you are doing or not.
Wednesday 21st;
Taught at the kindergarten without any help from jess today. It was really good fun. The three year olds are hard, because theyre very shy and dont often respond to what you are teaching them. They´re all really sweet though, and there is this boy called Evert in the 4 year old class, who had a little plaster on his head and just grins all the time!
Were meant to go to chincherro this afternoon, but roxanna, who runs it, wasnt around so we had the afternoon off again.
We all sat in the Plaza de armas in the sun, and then these two guys tried to "subtly" take a photo of us, but we saw them and covered our faces and told them it would cost 1 dollar per picture.
Domenica had to buy a pot for a stool sample at the pharmacy and it was one of the funniest things i´ve ever seen. We were told the word for pot was "potty" but when we got there noone had a clue what we were saying. There were about three pharmacists trying to help us. Domenica drew a pot, they asked what for, she said "for the bathroom" and they came back with tampons. She ended up drawing a cartoon poo with steam lines and everything, next to the pot and they finally understood what she was saying.
Went to the spanish school for cooking this evening, made "causa rellena" which is a layer of mash potato, a layer of chicken, a layer of mash, a layer of guacamole a layer of mash and a layer of egg, peppers, chives and olives. We were given a massive slab of it, the first few mouth-fulls are actually alright, but thats it, it is then just potato overload, and the teachers put a tonne of salt in it too!
We had to drop in to McCoys to see Jess after, but then ended up playing card games for hours, everyone got very competetive and we were all screaming at each other by the end of it.
Thursday 22nd;
Had the kindergarten again this morning and were teaching the kids happy and sad, and sung "if your happy and you know it". They love it when you sing songs and always make you do it again and again, even though most of them dont join in.
We went to see another project this afternoon which is like an afterschool club for kids. There were quite a few other volunteers there too. It was in a really poor area of cusco but the centre was really nice. They do lots of crafts and volleyball, every tuesday they do a sports day, and the organiser runs groups for the mums because she thinks its good for them to be involved, when we were there they were making dolls, which they are constantly improving to one day sell.
I really liked it, but unfortunately they only had space for one volunteer and she wants someone who speaks good spanish to teach english to the older girls.
Friday 23rd ;
Went to the kindergarten this morning, knocked on the gate and this woman was suddenly there talking to us, we turned around and realised there was a coach full of all the kids. We got on and as we walked up the bus there were about 4 kids per every two seats and they were all jumping up and down. All the seats were taken so we just had to shove them along and sit next to them. We asked the teachers where we were going and they just said "to play".
After about a 40 minute journey we pulled up to some random fields and got out. We were each allocated a group, me and heather had the three year olds. We were walking along this dusty road and the teachers didnt seem to know where we were going and kept changing direction. At one point we were in the middle of a railway track when the teachers changed their minds, so we were all stood on the track.
Finally we found the right patch and after the kids had a snack we played on the field. One of the girls was crouched on the floor when a sheep came from no where and head butted her. I grabbed her and moved her out the way and then the sheep started chasing her, so me and the other teachers had to rugby tackle this sheep. Finally the owner came and took it back.
After lunch, i was playing football with Domenica and the year fives, one of the boys chased the ball over to a wall, and fell down a hidden ditch, all we could see was his arm and the top of his head! We pulled him out by his arm and thankfully all he said was his thumb hurt, although he did seem a bit dazed.
That aftrernoon we went to Chinchero where we met the kids we would be teaching. There is one seven year old, then about 7 others ages 12 to 15. We walked into the village with them and played games like I spy, and WHats the time mr wolf, just so we could see how good their english is...Its really good, which is a bit scary.
We hailed a taxi back and its another windy mountain road and laura was on a ridiculous fold down chair so was flying all over the place on each corner. The driver tried to drop is on the outskirts of Cusco but we refused to get out so he drove us right to the centre.
In the evening we went to Chi Cha, a gourmet restaurant opened by a famous peruvian chef. (the meal was on POD). I had guinue pig ravioli, which was really good, and basically tasted like duck, and then an amazing chocolate crepe for pudding, Plus some very good cocktails.
After we went to a place that played traditional peruvian music. It was a band with a guitarist, drummer, keyboard player, bassist and then someone playing pan pipes. The audience were doing this wierd stampy dance to it.
Then we went to a club with a band playing salsa, and Jess and Rafael did some salsa dancing which was really cool, but not long after it just started playing regular club music, we stayed there a bit, went somewhere else and then went home. Rafael stroked a dog before going off in his taxi and it followed us all the way back to the hostel.
Saturday 24th.
Went to the supermarket with Jess and bought loads of food for a picnic, we met Rafael who had picked up their dog and his mums dog (Sheep and Pepino) and we got the bus to this town where a big lagoon is. In the floods, the river and the lagoon joined in the middle and completely destroyed the houses in the town because they are all made from mud brick. Loads of the houses had collapsed in the middle, so all the residents are living in tents supplied by USAid.
We walked round to the lagoon and hired pedalos, me laura and jess were in one with Sheep. In the floods, one of the floating reed beds had drifted in to the shore and was blocking the entrance into the lagoon, so all these boys in swimming trunks were trying to seperate the reeds with padals. Finally we got out, and it was really wavy, there was only one person pedalling per boat (me in ours) and it was such hard work. When we got out we realised that our steering wasnt even working! The other boat was fine and they just sailed back in to shore, but we had to get back by going round and round in circles. By the time we got back the reeds had closed in again so we had to wait for the boys to clear a path for us. We had our picnic which included grenadias, which are like passion fruit, theyre really good! Then carried on round the lagoon.
We decided to get a taxi back because it was easier than finding a bus again. Laura got in the boot with some bloke and there were four of us crushed in the middle and rafael and the dogs in the front. When the guy left i got in the boot with laura and it was actually really comfy, i nearly fell asleep lying in there.
Sunday 25th April
We went white water rafting today! It was so fun! The boats held 6 people, there were us 4 girls and all the boys were being told to split between the boats. These two guys got in the front of ours, they were really wierd and kept telling us they were drunk and were pretending to be sick, thankfully they got swapped into a different boat and we got these two normal english guys instead. We had to start paddling, and then our guide made me swap with one of the blokes so i was in the front, at first i was really scared but then it turned out to be the best spot. We all managed to avoid falling in , although when we had stopped one of the guys from the other boats pulled laura in backwards. We had to do this thing, where the guide had out boat facing some rapids and we all had to jump to the front, so the nose of the boat went under, we all got absolutely drenched and i swallowed so much water!
Had our last Spanish lesson this morning. Had a quiet afternoon and planned our first ever lesson for the kindergarten. We were all being indecisive about which placement to do, so Jess is sending us all to the kindergarten in the morning, and the disabled centre in the afternoon.
Tuesday 20th;
Jess came with us in the morning to the Kindergarten and helped us teach the first two classes of 3 and 4 year olds, and we did the 5 year olds by ourselves, we taught them all "my name is" and a song for learning the colours red, yellow, green and blue.
In the afternoon we went to the disabled home which was a lot harder than any of us remembered. We took the kids outside to play, and it was really hard work, because a lot of the kids in wheelchairs want to practise walking, but you end up taking all their weight so its really exhausting. Its hard aswell because a lot of them cant communicate with you, so you dont know whether they are enjoying whatever you are doing or not.
Wednesday 21st;
Taught at the kindergarten without any help from jess today. It was really good fun. The three year olds are hard, because theyre very shy and dont often respond to what you are teaching them. They´re all really sweet though, and there is this boy called Evert in the 4 year old class, who had a little plaster on his head and just grins all the time!
Were meant to go to chincherro this afternoon, but roxanna, who runs it, wasnt around so we had the afternoon off again.
We all sat in the Plaza de armas in the sun, and then these two guys tried to "subtly" take a photo of us, but we saw them and covered our faces and told them it would cost 1 dollar per picture.
Domenica had to buy a pot for a stool sample at the pharmacy and it was one of the funniest things i´ve ever seen. We were told the word for pot was "potty" but when we got there noone had a clue what we were saying. There were about three pharmacists trying to help us. Domenica drew a pot, they asked what for, she said "for the bathroom" and they came back with tampons. She ended up drawing a cartoon poo with steam lines and everything, next to the pot and they finally understood what she was saying.
Went to the spanish school for cooking this evening, made "causa rellena" which is a layer of mash potato, a layer of chicken, a layer of mash, a layer of guacamole a layer of mash and a layer of egg, peppers, chives and olives. We were given a massive slab of it, the first few mouth-fulls are actually alright, but thats it, it is then just potato overload, and the teachers put a tonne of salt in it too!
We had to drop in to McCoys to see Jess after, but then ended up playing card games for hours, everyone got very competetive and we were all screaming at each other by the end of it.
Thursday 22nd;
Had the kindergarten again this morning and were teaching the kids happy and sad, and sung "if your happy and you know it". They love it when you sing songs and always make you do it again and again, even though most of them dont join in.
We went to see another project this afternoon which is like an afterschool club for kids. There were quite a few other volunteers there too. It was in a really poor area of cusco but the centre was really nice. They do lots of crafts and volleyball, every tuesday they do a sports day, and the organiser runs groups for the mums because she thinks its good for them to be involved, when we were there they were making dolls, which they are constantly improving to one day sell.
I really liked it, but unfortunately they only had space for one volunteer and she wants someone who speaks good spanish to teach english to the older girls.
Friday 23rd ;
Went to the kindergarten this morning, knocked on the gate and this woman was suddenly there talking to us, we turned around and realised there was a coach full of all the kids. We got on and as we walked up the bus there were about 4 kids per every two seats and they were all jumping up and down. All the seats were taken so we just had to shove them along and sit next to them. We asked the teachers where we were going and they just said "to play".
After about a 40 minute journey we pulled up to some random fields and got out. We were each allocated a group, me and heather had the three year olds. We were walking along this dusty road and the teachers didnt seem to know where we were going and kept changing direction. At one point we were in the middle of a railway track when the teachers changed their minds, so we were all stood on the track.
Finally we found the right patch and after the kids had a snack we played on the field. One of the girls was crouched on the floor when a sheep came from no where and head butted her. I grabbed her and moved her out the way and then the sheep started chasing her, so me and the other teachers had to rugby tackle this sheep. Finally the owner came and took it back.
After lunch, i was playing football with Domenica and the year fives, one of the boys chased the ball over to a wall, and fell down a hidden ditch, all we could see was his arm and the top of his head! We pulled him out by his arm and thankfully all he said was his thumb hurt, although he did seem a bit dazed.
That aftrernoon we went to Chinchero where we met the kids we would be teaching. There is one seven year old, then about 7 others ages 12 to 15. We walked into the village with them and played games like I spy, and WHats the time mr wolf, just so we could see how good their english is...Its really good, which is a bit scary.
We hailed a taxi back and its another windy mountain road and laura was on a ridiculous fold down chair so was flying all over the place on each corner. The driver tried to drop is on the outskirts of Cusco but we refused to get out so he drove us right to the centre.
In the evening we went to Chi Cha, a gourmet restaurant opened by a famous peruvian chef. (the meal was on POD). I had guinue pig ravioli, which was really good, and basically tasted like duck, and then an amazing chocolate crepe for pudding, Plus some very good cocktails.
After we went to a place that played traditional peruvian music. It was a band with a guitarist, drummer, keyboard player, bassist and then someone playing pan pipes. The audience were doing this wierd stampy dance to it.
Then we went to a club with a band playing salsa, and Jess and Rafael did some salsa dancing which was really cool, but not long after it just started playing regular club music, we stayed there a bit, went somewhere else and then went home. Rafael stroked a dog before going off in his taxi and it followed us all the way back to the hostel.
Saturday 24th.
Went to the supermarket with Jess and bought loads of food for a picnic, we met Rafael who had picked up their dog and his mums dog (Sheep and Pepino) and we got the bus to this town where a big lagoon is. In the floods, the river and the lagoon joined in the middle and completely destroyed the houses in the town because they are all made from mud brick. Loads of the houses had collapsed in the middle, so all the residents are living in tents supplied by USAid.
We walked round to the lagoon and hired pedalos, me laura and jess were in one with Sheep. In the floods, one of the floating reed beds had drifted in to the shore and was blocking the entrance into the lagoon, so all these boys in swimming trunks were trying to seperate the reeds with padals. Finally we got out, and it was really wavy, there was only one person pedalling per boat (me in ours) and it was such hard work. When we got out we realised that our steering wasnt even working! The other boat was fine and they just sailed back in to shore, but we had to get back by going round and round in circles. By the time we got back the reeds had closed in again so we had to wait for the boys to clear a path for us. We had our picnic which included grenadias, which are like passion fruit, theyre really good! Then carried on round the lagoon.
We decided to get a taxi back because it was easier than finding a bus again. Laura got in the boot with some bloke and there were four of us crushed in the middle and rafael and the dogs in the front. When the guy left i got in the boot with laura and it was actually really comfy, i nearly fell asleep lying in there.
Sunday 25th April
We went white water rafting today! It was so fun! The boats held 6 people, there were us 4 girls and all the boys were being told to split between the boats. These two guys got in the front of ours, they were really wierd and kept telling us they were drunk and were pretending to be sick, thankfully they got swapped into a different boat and we got these two normal english guys instead. We had to start paddling, and then our guide made me swap with one of the blokes so i was in the front, at first i was really scared but then it turned out to be the best spot. We all managed to avoid falling in , although when we had stopped one of the guys from the other boats pulled laura in backwards. We had to do this thing, where the guide had out boat facing some rapids and we all had to jump to the front, so the nose of the boat went under, we all got absolutely drenched and i swallowed so much water!
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Tuesday 13th - Sunday 18th April
Have been having our four hour spanish lessons every morning and have finally reached the weekend so got to have a lie in this morning! On wednesday in spanish my teacher took me to a big indoor market where my teacher bought me "tamal" which is sweetcorn, mushed up and sweetened with a raisin in the middle and shaped back into its husk. It´s really nice and tasted like cake!
In the afternoon we went to a kindergarten with three classes of three, four and five year olds. At this place the children only ever get taught english by volunteers and havent had any for a while. I dont know how easy it will be to teach kids that young, but i might give it a go!
Then we went to an orphanage which is run in a family home. The older kids are around in the morning while the little ones are at school, then they go in the afternoons. If we worked here it would be in the afternoon with the younger ones because apparently the older ones just get on with it really. We would have to play with the kids and help with homework. It was really nice and homely, and the kids are taught to clean up after themselves and wash their own clothes so they are quite well disciplined. The woman who runs the home has two of her own children there. I was holding the cutest baby there called Yessica. She would cry a bit then suddenly fall asleep, she was so cute!
On Wednesday evening we went to our first cooking class where we made Lomo Saltado, which is basically peppers onions tomato and beef cooked together then mixed with chips, with rice, and bread sauce...so a lot of carbs! It was really nice though! That night Domenica´s cousin was in Cusco so we met up with him and his friends and went to a bar called "Mushrooms". Me and Laura got mojitos, then remembering all the advice not to have drinks with ice, decided we´d drink them really quickly before it could melt. That, mixed with the altitude meant it went straight to our heads! It turns out that place uses boiled water anyway so the ice is perfectly safe!
Thursday: Had spanish again, me and my grammar teacher couldn´t stop laughing because she was spelling out words for me to write and I kept getting them wrong because when she says, P, B, V, and D they all sound the same so i kept writing it wrong!
Went to Chincerro this afternoon where we were taken to a traditional weaving centre which has been built specifically for tourists. Chincherro is known for having a big market but because everyone sells the same thing it is hard for anyone to make a sale. The weaving place is set up for tourists to go in and experience the whole process, and to buy genuine alpaca products, rather than the fake ones sold on the market. There is a potential project for us in Chinchero to teach english to, i think, the children of the woman weavers. Later on in the project we can live with a family here too! Out the back of the centre there were loads of Llamas which they are going to use for thier demonstrations. We were scared they were going to spit so kept running away when we were trying to get a picture, then a woman came out and just grabbed it by the neck and was like "they dont spit." The building was nearly complete and they put terocotta bulls on the roof when they finish building it for luck.
On the journey home we jumped on a bus, which was like a coach and had to stand on the aisle and cling on. The route was all down the side of the mountain so was very windy, and we kept hitting speed bumps. A guy wanted to squeeze past so we had to lean right over the other people sat down, i looked up and Laura´s bum was about a centimeter away from this guys face, she only realised when i put my hand there to stop her hitting him, then i was crying with laughter and couldnt stop, and it made it even harder to cling on to the bus and keep my balance.
Friday:
In my practical lesson this morning i was sat with my teacher Nayut by the fountain in the Plaza de armas when this guy in hideous red trousers and a multi coloured ¨hello Kitty¨ shirt, came a long with a camera crew, he lay down on the steps infront of us and started filming an introduction over and over. A massive crowd started to gather and this was all going on right infront of us, he started talking to members of the audience then suddenly was sat next to me asking me questions! i was asking my teacher for help and she just kept laughing so i just sat there going "No entiendo espanol" then he asked where i was from so i told him, then he was asking if my eyes were natural or contact lenses and pulled up my eyebrow to open my eye really wide! It was so embaressing i just sat laughing the whole time. It turns out he is a presenter on morning time tv in Peru. When they stopped filming and i saw the director pointing in our direction i was like "Nayut, Vamos!" and grabbed our stuff and ran off.
Went to the Real Mccoys that night for Rafael´s birthday. It was really wierd, everyone just sits in a circle, then when more people join, they join the circle. We were meant to be going salsa dancing afterwards but the party was meant to start at 8, and peruvians always turn up at least 2 hours after the start time, and noone wanted to go dancing afterwards so we just headed back. We are determined to go one night this week!
Saturday:
Finally got to have a lie in and had my first warm shower! Went for a late breakfast of a massive pancake filled with fruit and ice cream! it was so good, then went for a wander round the big under cover market, where i bought a (fake) alpaca hoody.
Sundaÿ:
Another early start to go on the Sacred Valley tour, we thought it would be a few hours but took from 8 in the morning till 6:30 pm! We visited Ccorao where there was a little market and loads more llamas. Then we went to pisac and were given a tour round the Inka ruins and looked at another market. We then went to Ollantaytambo to see more ruins and finally Chinchero. We had a tour guide so its quite interesting, but we kept laughing cause he would leave massive pauses for dramatic effect and we were all just stood there like...what do we do, then he´d start talking again. In chincherro we saw a different weaving place where they gave us a demonstration and showed us the different plants they used to make different colours. To make red they use this grey beetle which they literally crush and it comes out bright red, and she put it on as lipstick and said it lasts "24 hours and is kiss proof"
We also saw the Urubamba river which is the main river in Cusco, and i think is the one we are due to go white water rafting down next weekend.
We went to a restaurant last night where we got two starters a main and a drink all for 15 soles! thats about 4 pounds!
In the afternoon we went to a kindergarten with three classes of three, four and five year olds. At this place the children only ever get taught english by volunteers and havent had any for a while. I dont know how easy it will be to teach kids that young, but i might give it a go!
Then we went to an orphanage which is run in a family home. The older kids are around in the morning while the little ones are at school, then they go in the afternoons. If we worked here it would be in the afternoon with the younger ones because apparently the older ones just get on with it really. We would have to play with the kids and help with homework. It was really nice and homely, and the kids are taught to clean up after themselves and wash their own clothes so they are quite well disciplined. The woman who runs the home has two of her own children there. I was holding the cutest baby there called Yessica. She would cry a bit then suddenly fall asleep, she was so cute!
On Wednesday evening we went to our first cooking class where we made Lomo Saltado, which is basically peppers onions tomato and beef cooked together then mixed with chips, with rice, and bread sauce...so a lot of carbs! It was really nice though! That night Domenica´s cousin was in Cusco so we met up with him and his friends and went to a bar called "Mushrooms". Me and Laura got mojitos, then remembering all the advice not to have drinks with ice, decided we´d drink them really quickly before it could melt. That, mixed with the altitude meant it went straight to our heads! It turns out that place uses boiled water anyway so the ice is perfectly safe!
Thursday: Had spanish again, me and my grammar teacher couldn´t stop laughing because she was spelling out words for me to write and I kept getting them wrong because when she says, P, B, V, and D they all sound the same so i kept writing it wrong!
Went to Chincerro this afternoon where we were taken to a traditional weaving centre which has been built specifically for tourists. Chincherro is known for having a big market but because everyone sells the same thing it is hard for anyone to make a sale. The weaving place is set up for tourists to go in and experience the whole process, and to buy genuine alpaca products, rather than the fake ones sold on the market. There is a potential project for us in Chinchero to teach english to, i think, the children of the woman weavers. Later on in the project we can live with a family here too! Out the back of the centre there were loads of Llamas which they are going to use for thier demonstrations. We were scared they were going to spit so kept running away when we were trying to get a picture, then a woman came out and just grabbed it by the neck and was like "they dont spit." The building was nearly complete and they put terocotta bulls on the roof when they finish building it for luck.
On the journey home we jumped on a bus, which was like a coach and had to stand on the aisle and cling on. The route was all down the side of the mountain so was very windy, and we kept hitting speed bumps. A guy wanted to squeeze past so we had to lean right over the other people sat down, i looked up and Laura´s bum was about a centimeter away from this guys face, she only realised when i put my hand there to stop her hitting him, then i was crying with laughter and couldnt stop, and it made it even harder to cling on to the bus and keep my balance.
Friday:
In my practical lesson this morning i was sat with my teacher Nayut by the fountain in the Plaza de armas when this guy in hideous red trousers and a multi coloured ¨hello Kitty¨ shirt, came a long with a camera crew, he lay down on the steps infront of us and started filming an introduction over and over. A massive crowd started to gather and this was all going on right infront of us, he started talking to members of the audience then suddenly was sat next to me asking me questions! i was asking my teacher for help and she just kept laughing so i just sat there going "No entiendo espanol" then he asked where i was from so i told him, then he was asking if my eyes were natural or contact lenses and pulled up my eyebrow to open my eye really wide! It was so embaressing i just sat laughing the whole time. It turns out he is a presenter on morning time tv in Peru. When they stopped filming and i saw the director pointing in our direction i was like "Nayut, Vamos!" and grabbed our stuff and ran off.
Went to the Real Mccoys that night for Rafael´s birthday. It was really wierd, everyone just sits in a circle, then when more people join, they join the circle. We were meant to be going salsa dancing afterwards but the party was meant to start at 8, and peruvians always turn up at least 2 hours after the start time, and noone wanted to go dancing afterwards so we just headed back. We are determined to go one night this week!
Saturday:
Finally got to have a lie in and had my first warm shower! Went for a late breakfast of a massive pancake filled with fruit and ice cream! it was so good, then went for a wander round the big under cover market, where i bought a (fake) alpaca hoody.
Sundaÿ:
Another early start to go on the Sacred Valley tour, we thought it would be a few hours but took from 8 in the morning till 6:30 pm! We visited Ccorao where there was a little market and loads more llamas. Then we went to pisac and were given a tour round the Inka ruins and looked at another market. We then went to Ollantaytambo to see more ruins and finally Chinchero. We had a tour guide so its quite interesting, but we kept laughing cause he would leave massive pauses for dramatic effect and we were all just stood there like...what do we do, then he´d start talking again. In chincherro we saw a different weaving place where they gave us a demonstration and showed us the different plants they used to make different colours. To make red they use this grey beetle which they literally crush and it comes out bright red, and she put it on as lipstick and said it lasts "24 hours and is kiss proof"
We also saw the Urubamba river which is the main river in Cusco, and i think is the one we are due to go white water rafting down next weekend.
We went to a restaurant last night where we got two starters a main and a drink all for 15 soles! thats about 4 pounds!
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Tuesday 13th (again)
We just had a look around three possible placements. The first was a home for disabled children, young ones aged about 3 to 12. Some are orphans ,some have parents who cant cope. I thought id find it completely daunting and upsetting but i loved it. A lot of the children are in wheel chairs or have downsyndrome and other mental disabilities, but one of the boys wheeled over and reached for my hand and pointed outside, so we took him out to play, then lots of the others joined. I really think i´ll choose that one for the mornings.
Then we went to a home which has tiny kids who get looked after while their mothers sell things on the street, unfortunately we dont get to work with them because they are adorable, we just played with them till the owner was ready to show us round. Upstairs were three different classes with different age groups roughly years 3, 5 and 6. The older ones gasped when we walked in they were that excited! We would teach them english and serve the dinner. It is based in a very poor part of cusco and a lot of them sleep over there and sometimes, if for example one of their fathers is ill, the mother is allowed to sleep their with the kids. This one was also very tempting!
The last place was an orphanage for older disabled children aged about 12 and up, unfortunately they had just sat down for a meal time (they have 5 a day) so we couldnt really interact with them, but this place was a bit more unnerving, i think because there are so many of them and there much bigger. There are a lot of staff here and it would be more a case of helping the adults than playing with the kids. The young ones seem to appreciate the attention more aswell. In this one its got a strict routine, 5 meals a day, brush their teeth after every meal, bath and in their pyjamas after the fourth meal then dinner and bed. They sleep early because they´re up at 5!!
We have three more places to look round tomorrow and then another one the next day, so lots of decisions to be made!
Also had my first bus experience, that was exciting, they literally pile you in, they have people standing in the middle holding the bar like a tube. One boy sits sliding the door open at any potential customer, and the driver shouts the stops as you approach them and you have to respond if you want him to pull over!
I promise i haven´t actually spent that much time on the computer, i just thought id make the most of my free hour, and the free, free hotel computer!
Then we went to a home which has tiny kids who get looked after while their mothers sell things on the street, unfortunately we dont get to work with them because they are adorable, we just played with them till the owner was ready to show us round. Upstairs were three different classes with different age groups roughly years 3, 5 and 6. The older ones gasped when we walked in they were that excited! We would teach them english and serve the dinner. It is based in a very poor part of cusco and a lot of them sleep over there and sometimes, if for example one of their fathers is ill, the mother is allowed to sleep their with the kids. This one was also very tempting!
The last place was an orphanage for older disabled children aged about 12 and up, unfortunately they had just sat down for a meal time (they have 5 a day) so we couldnt really interact with them, but this place was a bit more unnerving, i think because there are so many of them and there much bigger. There are a lot of staff here and it would be more a case of helping the adults than playing with the kids. The young ones seem to appreciate the attention more aswell. In this one its got a strict routine, 5 meals a day, brush their teeth after every meal, bath and in their pyjamas after the fourth meal then dinner and bed. They sleep early because they´re up at 5!!
We have three more places to look round tomorrow and then another one the next day, so lots of decisions to be made!
Also had my first bus experience, that was exciting, they literally pile you in, they have people standing in the middle holding the bar like a tube. One boy sits sliding the door open at any potential customer, and the driver shouts the stops as you approach them and you have to respond if you want him to pull over!
I promise i haven´t actually spent that much time on the computer, i just thought id make the most of my free hour, and the free, free hotel computer!
Tuesday 13th April
We all went to bed on sunday at 8 oclock, were hoping for a lie in but all woke up at 6 and couldnt get back to sleep because of the time difference! We got up and walked around Cuzco to see what was about and then were taken to the spanish school. It is called fair play and all the teachers are single women who used to live in poverty but have been trained to teach english.
In the afternoon we went on a city tour which we thought would be about an hour on the bus, but we were gone for about 6 hours and visited the "golden cathedral" the cathedral in the main square, saqsaywaman (yes it sounds a lot like sexy woman) which are some inka sacrafice spots, and q´enco. a cave where the incas used to make mummies!
Its horrible cause it gets dark here at about 6, so we came home in the dark, but we went to the Real MÇcoy for dinner and a pub quiz! It was full of english and american people.
Started our spanish lessons this morning at 8! four hours in one go! 2 hours doing grammar, then we swap teachers and wonder round the streets for 2 hours doing more talking stuff. My grammar teacher speaks literally no english which is hard work, but good. and my other teacher took me to a little peruvian cafe where i tried my first traditional dish...im just hoping its going to stay down.
We´re going to meet jess in a bit to be shown round the first few placements!
Oh and my luggage safely arrived at the hostal yesterday, such a relief!
In the afternoon we went on a city tour which we thought would be about an hour on the bus, but we were gone for about 6 hours and visited the "golden cathedral" the cathedral in the main square, saqsaywaman (yes it sounds a lot like sexy woman) which are some inka sacrafice spots, and q´enco. a cave where the incas used to make mummies!
Its horrible cause it gets dark here at about 6, so we came home in the dark, but we went to the Real MÇcoy for dinner and a pub quiz! It was full of english and american people.
Started our spanish lessons this morning at 8! four hours in one go! 2 hours doing grammar, then we swap teachers and wonder round the streets for 2 hours doing more talking stuff. My grammar teacher speaks literally no english which is hard work, but good. and my other teacher took me to a little peruvian cafe where i tried my first traditional dish...im just hoping its going to stay down.
We´re going to meet jess in a bit to be shown round the first few placements!
Oh and my luggage safely arrived at the hostal yesterday, such a relief!
Sunday, 11 April 2010
1st day in Peru
I arrived in Lima at 5.30 this morning, only to find that my luggage had been left at Heathrow...Not a great start to the trip! I met the other girls at Lima airport and for the final leg of the flight i got upgraded to Business class which was nice! they must have been making it up to me for leaving my luggage behind! The view flying over Peru was amazing and Cusco is much bigger than i imagined, and so spread out.
We got picked up from the airport at about 11.30 and taken to our hotel by Jess, who is the coordinator for the company out here. We went for lunch in "Jack´s cafe" which is run by an australian couple, and afterwards walked out in to a massive parade! It was amazing, a big band playing music, which i can still hear now and lots of adults and children dressed in amazing costumes, colourful dresses that twirl out when they spin. And for some reason lots of the boys are dressed as gorilla like things with scary faces.
There are these scary white knitted masks called "ukuku" which people are wearing and selling on the street.
I´ve been offered soo many massages and pedicures on the street that its already getting annoying!!
When we first arrived it was raining, then during the parade and still now is bright sunshine!
We are just going to relax for the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow we are booked on to a tour of the city in the morning. Then we are going to find out about starting spanish classes etc. and talk about what different projects are available to work on.
Jess showed us the bars where there are free salsa classes every night! We´re excited about that!
Hopefully my luggage will be delivered to the hostel tomorrow, i can´t wait for a change of clothes!
We got picked up from the airport at about 11.30 and taken to our hotel by Jess, who is the coordinator for the company out here. We went for lunch in "Jack´s cafe" which is run by an australian couple, and afterwards walked out in to a massive parade! It was amazing, a big band playing music, which i can still hear now and lots of adults and children dressed in amazing costumes, colourful dresses that twirl out when they spin. And for some reason lots of the boys are dressed as gorilla like things with scary faces.
There are these scary white knitted masks called "ukuku" which people are wearing and selling on the street.
I´ve been offered soo many massages and pedicures on the street that its already getting annoying!!
When we first arrived it was raining, then during the parade and still now is bright sunshine!
We are just going to relax for the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow we are booked on to a tour of the city in the morning. Then we are going to find out about starting spanish classes etc. and talk about what different projects are available to work on.
Jess showed us the bars where there are free salsa classes every night! We´re excited about that!
Hopefully my luggage will be delivered to the hostel tomorrow, i can´t wait for a change of clothes!
Friday, 2 April 2010
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