Finally, after nearly 10 months of being in Peru, Hannah and I made it to Cusco to go and one of the wonders of the world – Machu Picchu! Cusco is a city which thrives on tourism. We could not escape just 10 seconds without being asked if we wanted to buy paintings, jewellery or have a massage! In the main Plaza de Armas there, it is very similar to Arequipa – a large cathedral, tourist markets and many restaurants. However if you walk about 10 minutes up a hill, you can find a much smarter, hippy area called San Blas which has some fantastic restaurants (including an English breakfast restaurant!) and many more individual stalls selling more unique tourist items and braiding hair. Hannah and I spent lots of time there, and I got talking to stall owners who were shocked by my use of Peruvian slang (my main phrase being “estoy aguja!” meaning i’m poor) to show that I wasn’t a standard tourist with loads of money, and they would either offer me some extreme discounts or we would just have a chat and they would teach me more slang!!! My Spanish has majorly improved!!!

Hannah and I decided that if we were going to visit Machu Picchu, then we definitely had to do the Inka Trail too as it is a once in a life time opportunity. The regular Inka Trail is 4 days walking and one day to visit the sight, however this was quite an expensive and time consuming option for us as we were taking time off work so we did the 2 day Inka Trail which involved being collected from our hostel at 4am and being driven for 1 and a half hours to a small town called Ollantaytambo where everyone goes to catch the train to Machu Picchu. We were only on the train for just over an hour though as we got off at a station called 104 kilometres to start walking. It was not what you would normally call a station as it literally stops in the middle of nowhere by a river…there was not even a platform, and trains do not stop there on the way back. No one else got off except for us and our tour guide Amil! Looking around, it was a lot more jungly than I thought it would be, and absolutely beautiful! We had 7 hours of walking, pretty much all uphill which I have to say I was dreading slightly (just the thought of being bright red in the face and sweaty) but surprisingly I found it fairly easy, and I would have been happy walking many hours more. Amil was a fantastic guide who taught me a bit of Quechua and practised Spanish with me, and we stopped at a few other Inkan sites on the way which was incredibly interesting, and all around, wild strawberries were growing which were so delicious! Coming up to our last hour of the trail, were some extremely steep steps which I’m not going to lie, were a lot tougher than the rest of the trail, but it lead up to the Sun Gate, which gives the most incredible view of the whole Machu Picchu site from a distance. The sun was also setting so we relaxed up there for a bit enjoying the views, before walking down hill for the first time for the last hour. It was so spectacular, I could have stayed there forever, but I had to wait until the morning when we would have the majority of the day to explore the site. We got a bus down to the local town, Aguas Calientes, where we settled into a hotel and I enjoyed an incredibly long hot shower and went straight to sleep after food as it was another early morning start – 4:30 am. We got into Machu Picchu at 6am where Amil took us around the site for 2 hours before he had to leave to go and vote as it was elections day in Peru for a new president. We were so lucky as not many people were visiting the site this day so it was very peaceful, and I found a quiet corner with the most fantastic views of the mountains in front of Machu Picchu surrounded by some brightly coloured tropical plants. Seeing as we arrived so early, we were there to see the sun rise which made the whole site absolutely magical. It is indescribable; everyone deserves the opportunity to visit it and I feel so lucky to have been able to go! This was a fantastic trip, and I met so many interesting people. I can’t wait to go back to Cusco in a couple of weeks for the Inti Raymi festival!

La Clinica!

I started my day, leaving the house at 5:30am having said I would translate for some visiting doctors from the States running a free clinic here in Peru. When I arrived however, there were many doctors and helpers who had unfortunately caught a nasty 24 hour vomiting virus and so my role to play was a lot bigger. I showed patients into a waiting area, organised their personal details and looked over their health problems. Anyone who was suffering from kidney problems, I would have to ask to take a urine sample if possible, and ask for a description of if they felt any burning, the colour of their urine etc. This was highly embarrassing, considering I had to ask this all in Spanish, where I have never had practice talking about medical conditions before! Also the lack of privacy in the free clinic (seeing as the amount of people who turned up was huge as normally these people cannot afford health care) meant that nothing was confidential.  After this, I would have to explain that they should be drinking at least 2 litres of water every day to improve the functioning of their kidneys.  As well as kidney problems, I would have to walk patients through a number of other problems they may be facing and simple tips on how to lead a healthier life. During the day, the clinic got busier and I ended up having to help take blood pressure readings, help elderly women take urine samples (not a fun job!), stopping an alcoholic from trying to peep through the curtains of various check ups the doctors would perform on patients, translating to doctors who didn’t understand Spanish, reassure people in the waiting room they would be seen to, and even helping children with their English homework! I have to say that bringing hand sanitiser with me is one of the best ideas I ever had, as some people were really dirty and looked and smelled like they hadn’t washed in weeks, and the clinic itself was in a dusty old shack. Out of the 300 people I helped, the majority had problems with their kidneys or severe back problems due to work induced injuries or carrying too heavy a load so I spent a lot of time explaining that drinking lots of liquids is extremely important and that when carrying something, they should be bending their knees and not just their back. There were some illnesses though, which were extremely upsetting to see…a 30year old with a brain tumour, a 50year old with both AIDs and herpes, babies with severe diahorrea (which here, many die from) and many very elderly people around 90 years old were coming to say that their bones were hurting which meant that they were finding it difficult to work. I realised that for many people, retirement doesn’t exist. I ended up doing a 9 hour shift with only a 20 minute break, but overall the whole day was extremely rewarding and is an experience I shall never forget. I learnt a great deal!

My Birthday:

I was expecting a really simple birthday, like a normal Saturday where I could play with the kids and hang out with friends, but I have to say the day was anything but normal! I woke up to Mum calling me at 7am as she got confused about the time difference! It was so lovely to speak to her however she was in Germany so it was just a really quick chat! I also got to talk to Dad and my little sister Jessie, which was absolutely lovely, and Hannah made me breakfast in bed!!!  When I left the house to go and see some of the kids, a girl called Jimena gave me a huge hug and then smashed eggs in my head while loads of other kids jumped out and chucked flour…a Peruvian birthday tradition I was NOT expecting!!! Hannah took me out to a really posh cake shop in the Plaza de Armas where we sat with cake and tea talking for ages which was fun, and then after I went to go and visit my friends Sarah and Juan who live 10 minutes up the road. They too had bought me cake which tasted heavenly and then they took me to “la reunion de los jovenes” which is a meeting that takes place every Saturday in church (it is basically an excuse to meet up with all your friends and play games or watch movies together as there is a huge amount of space there and comfy sofas!) When we arrived there weren’t many people there, but suddenly all the lights went out and everyone appeared holding a massive chocolate cake, singing, and they gave me flowers and a huge birthday card from everyone! It was such a fantastic surprise. Another Peruvian birthday tradition is that the birthday girl/boy has to take first bite of the cake and a friend has to hold out the cake to you, but they smashed it in my face, so overall it was an extremely messy birthday! They videoed the whole thing, so it will be a fantastic memory for when I return home! After the celebration, I met up with some more friends back in the Plaza de Armas. My friend Sarah spotted a group of boys playing love songs and dancing to raise money so she told them it was my birthday and they all made me dance with them…how embarrassing! After, we headed to a bar called Frogs where a couple of Latino Jazz/Ska bands were playing to dance and of course, more embarrassment followed as one of the singers called me on stage to dance with him so he could say happy birthday. I also had volunteers from Piura and Trujillo who came and found me to celebrate with me, so it was a fantastic day overall spent with all my Peruvian and English friends!

As well as visiting Edgar, I have been asked by many people if I would set up English lessons outside the aldea. I will start teaching at the local Jardín…for 4 to 5 year old kids for 2 hours a week, and am going to take part in teaching English to the members of a church that I go to here. I also have a few friends with English exams coming up at their Universities, so I guess I will be spending a lot of time with them! In June, some American doctors are coming to give free checkups to people around Peru, so I am going to be one of their translators…I’ll let you know how that goes! Knowing that my time here is running out also means that I am meeting up loads with friends, which is always great fun! I don’t know how I am going to say goodbye! And as for the kids…..I’m almost in tears thinking about it!

The main attraction of Iguazu is the fantastic waterfalls which are on both sides of the borders so require a minimum of 2 days full exploring. Our first day, we kept to the Argentinian side and got the local bus into the National Park. It was absolutely incredible. You start walking down paths through the jungle to arrive at many different viewpoints admiring the spectacular waterfalls. There were so many that everything around you looks so sparkly! Hannah and I also decided to take a speed boat onto the river where they drove straight into the falls. It was so much fun and we were completely drenched by it even though I was wearing a raincoat! As well as the falls and “La garganta del Diablo”, we saw these funny little animals called Coatíes. They looked a cross between a small bear and a racoon, which reminded me of my grandma as she absolutely loves badgers, which are about the same size as the coatis, who were roaming around our feet, trying to sniff us and steal any food we may have had!

To break up our trip and not see the waterfalls all at once, the next day we decided to take a day trip to Paraguay, seeing as we were so close to the border. We hadn’t really researched our trip beforehand but there were regular and extremely cheap buses getting there so we got to La Ciudad del Este in only an hour. I could not believe the differences between Paraguay and Argentina. Paraguay is obviously a lot more laid back on crossing the border as I didn’t have my passport stamped or checked at all…i entered illegally…..! When we arrived at the bus terminal, I immediately felt unsafe as we were surrounded by poverty. There were lots of street children begging and there was a whole street filled with homes made from rubbish and dustbin bags shaped into tents and surrounded by garbage. I was shocked at how many children there were, playing in the rubbish and dirt, and many were naked as they could not afford clothes. Fue horrible! It was such ashame to see all this and feel so unable to help. Paraguay doesn’t have any tourism so there were not even any tourists (barring myself and Hannah) to give them any money. The bus terminal was located in the middle of nowhere and unfortunately Hannah and I had no idea where to go so we decided to jump in a taxi to get taken to the city centre. The horrible man took advantage of us and dumped us in a local dodgy market and demanded an extreme amount of money from us which we decided was best just to give so we were safe. The markets were extremely dangerous and everyone kept staring at us and our bags, as if at any minute they wuld rob us, so we decided to get out of their as quick as possible! We walked as far away as possible and finally found another taxi, where we asked to get taken to the centre one more time so we were giving Paraguay one more chance. We arrived finally, and it was as if the city was completely deserted. We did not feel safe walking about by ourselves so hid in Burger King for an hour, trying to decide what to do. In the end, we felt so unsafe we went straight back to Argentina. It was only a short trip to Paraguay, but I got a really good insight to poverty without tourism to help. It was the worst I have seen in my 8 months of being here!

The following day, we decided to go to the Brazilian side of the falls. Although this side has many less falls to see, the most spectacular of all of them called “La garganta del Diablo” , is on both sides so we were able to walk right up to it on all levels of the fall. The weather was brilliantly sunny this day, so there were amazing rainbows too. This side, although has incredible views of some of the waterfalls, is more accented on showing off the jungle too with various paths you could walk down to spot pumas, toucans and other wildlife. Of course this cost extra money which we couldn’t afford, so we took our own path, walking alongside more Coatíes and millions of butterflies. It was beautiful! And we seemed to be lucky as there weren’t so many tourists the day we went so everything was very peaceful and relaxing. I had been going on about wanting to see a Toucan for ages and finally got to see one at the end of the day too. Unbelievable!!!

We had one more full day left to spend in Argentina, so in the morning, we headed to a local wildlife refuge, where animals that have been rescued from trafficking were kept or animals with injuries. We saw a beautiful jungle cat, toucans, crocodiles, coatíes and other types of incredible birds were kept. It was fantastic, as they try and make the cages look invisible and they are all kept outside, surrounded by the jungle. It was a fantastic project to see, run mainly by volunteers! After this, we headed to the edge of the Argentinean border where you can get a great view of the river and of Brazil and Paraguay too! We stayed there for a couple of hours hanging out, listening to the street kids singing and playing the guitar. If i lived in Puerto Iguazu, I reckon I would spend a lot of time there relaxing and taking a picnic there!!! We also spent a lot of time roaming Puerto Iguazu, where we were staying. It’s a lovely hippy town focused on tourists travelling to see the waterfalls, so there were lots of restaurants and souvenir shops (however poverty was still visible on the edge of town with basic shack houses!) On our last night, Dad gave me a bit of money to buy a steak at a nice restaurant. Everyone says they have the best steak in the world there….I definitely agree! It was fantastic!

My last half an hour in Argentina was spent in a bakery, getting breakfast. Unfortunately Hannah watched a boy about 7 years old getting told by a woman with a baby to steal food for them. I couldn’t let it happen as when he entered he looked so scared so I gave him the food I bought which he looked extremely grateful for and walked off. 10 minutes later, he came back with a different woman shouting at him to get back in the bakery and steal something. Again, I felt I had to help this kid and gave him all my change, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the woman. She was still determined he had to steal. Everything I did to help was not going to stop the kid from having to steal. I never saw the outcome but I hope he is ok.

Overall I had a fantastic trip. It amazed me how even though we only crossed over to each border by no more than an hour, each country has extreme differences. I enjoyed Argentina so much I really hope I get a chance to come back and explore more of the country!

April was a fantastic month! My Mum came to Peru for just over 2 weeks so minus her trip to Puno and Cusco, I got to spend loads of time with her. When I met her at the airport, we both looked like idiots as we both broke down crying! I couldn’t believe I was getting a hug from her after being in Peru for almost 8 months! We had a fantastic time together, where I showed her around Arequipa and did all the touristy things I hadn’t had a chance to do so far, such as Santa Catalina. I know that Hannah and I stick out as “Gringas” here, but I have never felt like such a tourist before in my life. I felt like I was seeing Peru from a new perspective as I was visiting Mum and Gav in their nice hotel, getting great food and buying loads of souvenirs…I was almost oblivious to the poverty I had been used to seeing before they arrived! I know see how easy it is to be a tourist, as fantastic services are set up for them, yet how unreal it is!

I took Mum to the aldea to visit all the kids and get to know the Tías which was a fantastic day. Mum had various new toys to give to all the kids such as skipping ropes, packs of cards, balloons, chocolates and elastic for french skipping so we spent all day playing with them and giving them loads of hugs which they always appreciate. I also spent most of the day trying to get Mum to adopt them all, but unfortunately I know it is impossible.

The last few days they spent in Arequipa, I took them to the Colca Canyon! I organised for us to take a trip the first thing in the morning to the Cruz del Condor where we had a man who lives in Chivay (the main tourist town), take us to various little villages on the way to watch people dancing the traditional dance huititi, we met loads of school children who I got to talk to about their life in the Colca Canyon and now my spanish has improved so dramatically, I was able to discuss indepth with the man about the current elections for a new president, who he voted for, why and what he thinks the future will be like for Peru. The trip, although I had been before, gave me a new insight to living in the Colca Canyon, and I was able to talk to many of the local people! Although we only spent a day there, we got to see so much, and finish the day in the hot springs!!!

Saying goodbye to Mum was incredibly hard as I was getting used to being looked after again, having decent food and having Mum worry about me everytime we went home in the evenings back to the aldea! We all went to Lima together as the same day they were going home, Hannah and I had organised a trip to Iguazu, in Argentina, so we all had our seperate flights to take. Seeing as our flight was first, it was once again me saying goodbye to her…similar to the day I left for Peru. I guess in the long run it was easier that way as I knew I was going to continue having a fantastic time on my trip coming up. It was still hard though!

Recently, I have also decided to study here in my free time. I signed myself up for french classes which I absolutely love and have made new friends! The other day, I felt extremely Peruvian as I worked in the aldea in the morning with a tía, and then greeted the kids back from school who ran and gave me huge hugs, calling me their sister! After, I went straight to my french class by combi -the cheapest mode of transport that only peruvians seem to understand how to catch. After my french class, I went out for a typical meal with my friends from class in a restaurant which looks like a dirty shack. There were french tourists standing outside clearly thinking ‘is it worth going in this grubby shack and risk getting diahorrea all for a peruvian experience’ but as soon as I walked in they decided to give it a try! Seeing as menus don’t exist there and you have to know what you want to order, I helped the tourists out – in french(!) by recommending some food and then ordering for them in spanish!!! It was so exciting. After this meal, I said goodbye to my french friends and waited in the plaza to meet a couple of other friends and go to their house. I bought some biscuits from a local stall where some german tourists where standing trying to decide which biscuits to choose. They asked me which ones were the best and if I had tried any… I said I had pretty much tried all of them as I live here and pointed to the ones that were best (peruvian sweets are all pretty rubbish!) The german tourists were amazed I live here and then asked me to recommend things to do here. I felt so at home!!! After spending time with some friends at their house, we spent the rest of the evening finding my friends from church and chilling out on sofas talking to them! I barely spoke a word of english all day except “ok”!!!

In the last blog, I wrote about how a boy called Egdar was leaving our aldea and getting transferred to a different one. The day he left was really hard as he did not want to leave and I was so upset that I would not be there for him anymore. I promised him I would visit, gave him some photos of our aldea, of us and his friends and gave him a little bit of money for an emergency and all my contact details. After a million hugs, he left and I just burst into tears. I decided I wouldn’t visit him for a month just so that he could settle into his new aldea, but couldn’t wait to see him again so just yesterday I got a taxi to an area called Don Bosco, only 10 minutes away from the Plaza de Armas. Unfortunatley the idiot whose was driving me had pointed out the wrong place for me to enter, so after asking about 5 different people where it was and how to get there, I realised that he was staying in a small area for boarders in a MASSIVE boys school….you can imagine how intimidating that was for me to enter and then keep asking people directions to be able to find him. Edgar wasn’t expecting my visit so the look on his face to find I was there was amazing to see and he ran straight over and gave me the biggest hug! He was particularly happy when I gave him a massive pack of biscuits!!! We were talking about how he was finding this new aldea and he said it was ok, equal to the others he has been in but I could tell he was begginning to well up in tears about how much he misses our aldea. Our aldea feels like a home whereas the other just feels like….well I don’t know, it wasn’t very nice.  I did meet his friend Jorge Luis so I am glad he seems to have settled in. He gave me a tour of the aldea and the school so I saw where he sleeps – a big room squished full of beds, no privacy,the bathroom had no doors so everyone can see everything and the kitchen is a huge area similar to a school dining hall. For those of you who have read Madeline (a children’s book about a french orphan, it was exactly like that!) He did however show me a nice area on the roof of the aldea which I think he and the other boys use as an escape. The views are pretty amazing so we spent quite a bit of time watching a football game going on in the school field when I suddenly spotted my friend Marvin from my french class playing…what a coinscidence. He explained after, that there is a big tournament going on at Don Bosco so his and other teams are visiting to play. So I went down to watch the boys playing while talking to Edgar. I was so happy to see Edgar. He told me they are trying to track down his dad, and have now found out his name is Mateo (Matthew in english!) and are searching for him. I think the issue is though that he doesn’t want to be found. They can’t find any links on his mum – they think she is dead.
I also spoke with his social worker who is glad someone is now visiting him. She has been a little bit worried that his school work has gone down since starting at their aldea but hopefully it will pik up now that he knows I will keep visiting him. She was lovely and said any day I want to visit, I can and that especially Saturdays are good and that I can take him out if I want to…I’m thinking I might take him to the cinema! I want to try and visit him 2 times a month. I miss him already!!!  Anyway, that was my trip…I’m glad I have raised his spirits and been able to give him something to look forward to from a slightly difficult situation he is now living in.

Recently, the majority of the kids in the aldea have had chickenpox! Hannah and I have been very worried about catching it as we are constantly surrounded by these kids and some were extremely cheeky and wanted extra hugs and then saying “I’m going to contaminate you!” Casa 4 in particular had it the worse as every single kid had chickenpox at the same time and the tía kept leaving with many excuses, meaning I would have to step in and look after them, not just during the day but sometimes during the night too which left me absolutely exhausted. This carried on for almost a month so it was only when Project Trust came to visit us that I realised I had been over working myself!

Project Trust’s visit was fantastic. Although the Director had me worried, saying I had to prepare a presentation for them (just the night before) and tidy our whole house for inspection, when they arrived they were not expecting anything. They told us they were going to treat us for the day and all we had to do was show them around the aldea and introduce them to the kids! They treated us for 2 amazing meals (wildly expensive to Hannah and I but when we calculated it up, amounted to £10 each!) and invited us to loads of mojitos in La Plaza De Armas!!! They also bought us a magazine and a bar of Galaxy from home so we were thrilled!

Apart from this, at the aldea we have had about 7 kids leaving this month, unfortunately the majority of which no one told us they were leaving so we didn’t get to say goodbye. I am finding it quite hard when the kids leave as although I am absolutely thrilled that they are being adopted or get to return home to their families, during the time they spend here, I get quite attached to them as I spend so much time with them. There were 3 kids in particular who I still miss in particular – A brother and sister who really helped me settle in to the aldea and helped me massively with my Spanish. They also bought me a present at Christmas using all their pocket money saying I was the best tía they ever had. It brought me to tears! The third kid was a boy called Hector. He moved into the aldea just a few weeks after I first arrived so I helped him get over his homesickness and whenever he felt sad about not being with his mum and dad he talked to me as he knows I don’t have my family here with me either. In a way, you could say that we were each other’s life support machine here which is funny seeing as he is a 9 year old boy but now he is gone. I have spoken to the director about how I would like to know when the kids leave but still nothing has changed. I think he has so much on his mind he just forgets. Also the kid who I am most attached to here is Edgar who is 12 years old. Since confiding in me about why he is in the aldea (he has no idea who is parents are or where they are and does not have other family. He has been transferred to 3 different aldeas in his life) he says I am his only family and keeps asking me to adopt him. I would absolutely love to but it is impossible! Luckily I found out in advance that he is leaving the aldea to be transferred to another aldea on the 1st March which is all boys so he will have more friends, however if I hadn’t have known I would have been heartbroken! I am going to try my best to keep in touch with him by setting him up an email account so that we can email each other and I am going to try and visit him in the other aldea whilst I am still here.

Seeing as it it summer here (although it is the rainy season at the moment!), we went to one of the 2 beaches in Arequipa called Mollendo. It was extremely popular- the most crowded beach I have ever been on however the sea was wonderful. Even though it was just as cold as the English coastline, it had gigantic waves, excellent for surfing and body boarding! Unfortunately Hannah wasn’t brave enough to get in above the ankle before running out again! Now I want to go to the other beach called Camana as apparently it is a cleaner, more beautiful beach and more suitable for swimming!

It has been weird to think that Christmas has come here as it is just so hot! It has been reaching 40 degrees everyday as here in Peru it is summer time! This means that the kids now have their long summer holidays as well as Christmas. Unfortunately it also meant that their last week of school was filled up with exams so it is great to see that finally they are stress free!

We didn’t know what to expect this Christmas as not only do they have very different traditions here, but living in the aldea, we did not know if the children would receive presents or even believe in Father Christmas.  However there have been many people visiting the aldea such as university students, a local German school called Max Uhler and charities that have organised activities for the kids such as hiring clowns, having parties and organising theatre productions. My favourite one almost brought me to tears as a group of university students came to the aldea and each person was partnered with one of the children for the day. Each university student “angel” bought their child a large Christmas present such as a remote control car or a Barbie and in return the child made them a Christmas card and played with their angel for a few hours. Their presents were presented to each kid by Father Christmas where the younger ones could sit on his knee and give a hug to their angel to say thanks. At the end they also presented the aldea with some clothes for the kids and a DVD player so that the kids can now watch movies together! They were all so excited (probably because the whole day was filled with sweets and chocolate milk too!)

Christmas is slightly different here. Rather than celebrating first thing in the morning on the 25^th, all the kids were allowed to play outside up until 12am when millions of fireworks were set off surrounding the aldea and all the kids were allowed to run about with sparklers and firecrackers. It was the most spectacular display I have ever seen! During this the Director of the aldea came round to all the staff and gave us champagne and a Panatoni baked by the bakery next door! After this they celebrated by eating turkey and rice and the kids are allowed to stay up all night and play. I was forced by the older kids to tell horror stories – not the easiest thing to do in Spanish – but in this case I think not having the best Spanish actually helped as it made the stories scarier!

The next day – the 25^th – was very uneventful. The Tías did not let the kids outside to play as they had to rest after their exciting evening and nothing was celebrated to it left Hannah and I feeling quite homesick as that was it…Christmas was over – just a few hours on the evening of the 24^th. Hannah and I started the morning off opening a few presents we got ourselves. Hannah got me a duvet – the best present ever as I will finally be able to enjoy sleeping. I got Hannah a Peruvian bag, something to put her jewellery in and a memory book which we can have fun making together. We also got sent a few presents we got sent by our family but it was not quite the same as we did not get to open them with them or spend the day with family and a huge Christmas roast. We did get to call our family though and have a nice chat. Also as a present from dad, he paid for a hotel room to get the use of a TV with American channels and a hot shower. This really cheered us up – especially me as my Auntie gave me a load of nice shower stuff to use (I love smelling delicious!) Dad also paid for us to get a big Christmas meal to try and replicate Christmas as much as possible for us but there is no denying that it was extremely different! By the evening, we had invited 2 of our friends from America – Sarah and Juan, to watch TV with us and then go to a local bar to enjoy the huge Christmas tree just outside it!

New Year’s Eve was the next thing we were looking forward to. We again arranged to meet up with Sarah and Juan and go to a Salsa club to try and learn Salsa however as soon as we got into the centre, I started to feel extremely nauseous and ended up throwing up my whole stomach! We were trying to work out what caused it but it was either food poisoning or due to dirty water. Anyway for the rest of the evening I couldn’t even keep water down so Hannah had to take me home at 11pm and I was stuck in the bathroom the first 15mins into the New Year suffering with both being sick and from diahorrea. It is now the 5^th of January and I am still not better but at least can keep water down. A friend of ours here has recommended a doctor who I could visit if I am still not better in a few days but I think I am slowly recovering, just need another days rest!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a better New Year than I did! Xx

I said I would write about our first trip away from the aldea with just the two of us! I was really proud as I organised all of it! We travelled to Puno which is a town right beside Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian border next to Bolivia. It took us 5 hours by coach, which was unbearable as I was desperate for the toilet and for some reason could not open the door. As soon as I spotted someone coming out of it an hour and a half later I was running down the coach like a mad woman only to find there was a massive window so if we drove past anybody they would see everything! Luckily we were in the desert so I only watched a herd of llamas running beside the coach-an extremely surreal experience. Unfortunately for Hannah she was not so lucky as we pulled up by a local town only to find people staring at her!!!

Puno itself is not a pretty town. Despite loads of tourism to visit the Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca, it is extremely poor, with loads of half built houses where people could only afford to build one floor with bricks and thats it. Many of these have been abandoned. We were lucky enough to find a brand new hotel which had discount prices for its opening, so Hannah and I really enjoyed a good nights sleep with DUVETS(!!!) and a TV! First thing in the morning we took a tour to the Uros Islands which were absolutely amazing. They are made out of just over 50 tiny islands big enough to fit about 2 families on each, so we visited one of them where we met the families and I bought a pack of sweets for the little kids (they were thrilled!). We got a demonstration of how the Islands are made and how the local people make a living. They make amazing crafts and jewelry, a lot made from the local reed used to help the islands float. As well as this they also eat the reed as a snack, which we got to try. I have to say it is not as nice as a galaxy chocolate bar. They have local boats made out of reed too which are amazing crafted with Lions heads on either side. As a joke, the locals call them Mercedes Benz! We took one of these boats to a slightly larger island which had a school on it, but they don’t have space for classrooms so instead all the kids gather on boats and surround the school while the teacher stands on the island for everyone to see. Unfortunately it is expensive so many kids do not get an education.

After returning back from the Uros Islands, we had about an hours free time before we had to leave again on another tour to see some tombs at the top of the town (4000m above sea level at one point!) which were built by the Incas. Although fascinating, we were both absolutely exhausted and had had too much sun. We came back looking like lobsters, even though I had used factor 80 on my face. I think the water fight I had with one of the locals on the island must have rubbed it off. I forgot to mention I also got to try on typical outfits – huge long and extremely heavy skirts in the brightest colours with a waist jacket, also extremely brightly coloured!

The next morning we got up extremely early to get a bus to La Paz but unfortunately it was full so we had to wait until 2pm to get another bus in the 40 degree heat. Whats more, when we finally got on the coach and were almost in Bolivia, climbing a steep hill, it ran out of brake fluid so the coach began rolling backwards. The driver got all of us off the coach but it was yet another delay meaning we didn’t reach La Paz until 10pm instead of the intended 2pm! We also had another issue that we had no bolivian money as we were hoping to be able to withdraw money when we got there but found that part of our journey had to be done in a small speed boat crossing the lake for 10 mins which would have only cost about 10 pence but we had 0 money! Luckily some german toursits said they would pay for us! Also we were panicking because we hadn’t booked a hotel, so to have to find one at that time at night without a guide book was daunting, but luckily we met a swiss couple who helped us out and let us go with them as they hadn’t booked a hotel either but did have somewhere in mind. They really looked after us in La Paz which was great and made sure we knew what we were doing and since then we have kept in contact with them! La Paz is an extremely mixed city. It was a mix between the wealthy working in the city and the extremely poor trying to earn a living by begging or selling whatever they can in the various markets. It is also extremeley hilly and steep meaning getting to places could be quite a challenge or exhausting. There is also not that many things to do as tourists unless you have more time and money to travel slightly outside the city. Our hotel was located right next to the witches market which sells just about everythig, the most shocking being dead,dried baby llama foetuses which smelled repulsive! Apparently they are lucky to hang up in your house or crush into a powder to make tea for healing various illnesses. Anyway for the time Hannah and I were there we spent most of our time looking and buying a major amount of presents for Christmas in the witches markets and we also met up with 2 of the volunteers from Project Trust twice who have a project working with street children there. It was great to exchange stories and see what other people are experiencing!

The last leg of our journey was spent in Copacabana, the Lake Titicaca town on the Bolivian side which was absolutely beautiful. It was a fantastic beach town with access to the largest island on Lake Titicaca called the Isle of Sol. We were staying in a fantastic beach style hostel filled with hammocks which was extremeley relaxing and we took a trip to the Island but unfortunately I think that a ixture of altitude sickness and sea sickness affected Hannah who felt miserable all day and then was violently sick. I felt awful as we couldn’t return until the end of the day so I had to leave her in a restaurant while I went off taking photos for the both of us and bought her a necklace which a girl on the island had made herself to cheer her up. Although it was an amazing experience for me, by the time we got back to the hotel, I realised how relieved Hannah was to have a bed she could recover in.

The next morning we had to leave extremely early gain to catch a bus back to Arequipa. It took about 9 hours in total, and when we got back to the aldea, I had not realised how much I missed the kids. They all ran up to us to give us loads of hugs and tell us how much they missed us and never to leave again. I am going to feel heartbroken when I have to leave Arequipa for good. We were also flooded with calles from our Peruvian friends saying they missed us and when could we meet up with them. We both felt really appreciated!!!

A summary of the last few weeks is that we have been going out with our friends more and more and now it feels like we have known them for ages! There has been a masquerade hen party we went to, watching my friend Chorri play football, out to El Turko (best restaurant ever!) and there is a new shopping mall here which is really big which we have been exploring. I’m thrilled as they sell duvets so Hannah has said she will buy me one for christmas!!!

In the aldea, there have also been a few more kid’s birthdays which we have celebrated including the oldest girl who turned 17. Hannah and I also organised a Halloween party for the kids where we bought some really cool decorations including a pumpkin which was hugely popular, a Michael Jackson CD so they could dance to Thriller and a million sweets (all which got eaten in 5mins!) Overall that was a great night and after I went to Church with my friends as they had organised staying the night there and watching scary movies all night…it did include a massive pillow fight seeing as there were about 25 of us! Also the church is located in the most perfect location as 2 of its walls in the main room are windows and so we get an incredible view of the whole of Arequipa and the volcanoes and watching the sun rise was something I will never forget!

The 1st November was called ‘El día del muertes’ -the day of the dead, where people here celebrate the deaths of loved ones by having a huge party in the cemetary…you find people dancing on graves, hiring live music and bringing all the food they think the dead enjoyed! As well as this a children’s fair opened, there were millions of stalls cooking guinea pig for the special occasion and the amount of flowers being sold was incredible! Why don’t we celebrate this in england???

I also organised a trip to Lake Titicaca and then to La paz so we could renew our visas but that will be written in a new post as I have to go and help the Tías chop a million vegetables up now for the kids! I will aim to do that within the next few days. Chau! Xxx

We usually have lunch with the tías and then run to collect the naughty kids from the Jardín at 12:30 (this journey is the worst as the kids are usually tired and hungry!), drop them off at the aldea and then go back to collect another kid from a special needs school 10 mins away. We then get until 3pm off to have a shower (as hot water only comes on for about 2 hours a day between 12-2pm) and relax a bit before playing with the kids who have finished their homework until 5pm. From 5pm we have free time to meet up with friends or do what we want to do however sometimes a tía may need to leave the aldea for a few hours so I end up volunteering to look after the house, supervise homework, give them food and play with them.

It is at weekends where we are starting to organise extracurricular activities as some of the tías do not like letting the kids out to play during weekdays when they have school the next day however we have not had to set up these clubs yet as the director thought we might struggle with our Spanish to actually teach if we started straight away. My communication has improved by miles since I started here but am still nowhere near fluent however the kids seem to understand me! Seeing as Halloween is coming up, Hannah and I are organising some art classes to make and decorate some scary masks and decorations which we are then going to use at a Halloween party I am organising…I’m so excited!

The longer I am spending in the aldea, I am gradually learning some stories of why the kids are here. The majority of the kids are not actually orphans but were abused by their family. One little girl who is only 3 years old was beaten badly and then abandoned. You would never know as she is so happy except she has a big scar on her forehead which gives it away. How could anyone do that to a child? Also another girl here who is now 15 has been living in the aldea for 4 years as before she was being beaten up by her parents and sexually abused by another man and one day she couldn’t stand it any longer and stabbed him in the stomach. I just can’t believe she has had to face that in her life! We have also had 2 new kids here who were also being beaten by their mother and the other day she turned up drunk outside the aldea banging on the gates, demanding to be let in. We had to hide the kids so that they were unaware of what was happening.

On a slightly happier note, yesterday was one of the boys Alex’s birthday so in the evening we held a birthday party for him in our house and one of his friends made him the most incredible birthday cake which we smashed his face into…pictures will come shortly!!!! It was also Jose’s birthday but we decided we would have a party for him tonight instead so the celebrations are spread out longer!

I hope everyone is well! Let me know if I have missed out something you want to know. Happy birthday Leigh for the other day! Xxxxxxxxx