A light hearted post

To the diligent and interested alike, I apologise for leaving it a little longer since my last entry. Nothing has happened, and I am still fighting fit, I have just been a little busy. Who would have guessed, I can actually busy myself in a country that has the work speed of a snail…but believe me, it has been hard to find enough things to do.

I have signed up for more Spanish lessons. My original classes ran out a few weeks back, and since then I had been trying to catch up on everything I had been ‘taught’ and teach myself new things as well. Its actually a lot harder than I expected, so for those people who have ever completed an extramural paper at university, I commend you. So, like I said, I signed up for more Spanish classes, for a few more weeks. I only booked in until the 21st of September, because I have decided to shorten my stay here in Huancayo. Soon after then I will travel north, up the coast and have a bit of a holiday. There is some good surf spots (which I don’t know what I am going to do with!!), places to hire dirt bikes for a day and ride anywhere desired, and many many museums, some of which I might visit. The brag of the south in Machu Picchu doesn’t interest me for whatever reason. There are some mean things to do on the way down, though I figure it criminal if I start traveling towards the lost city itself, and don’t see it, so its just safer to go in completely the other direction.

Last weekened all the volunteers went to Paka Lake. Its pretty much just like any other lake anyone has seen before, so I’m not too sure why we spent an hour and a half in the bus to get there. Still, a friend and I made a day of it, and we created a list of things that we don’t see all to often here. Words in English, a bald Peruvian, a live Llama, a man carrying a baby, someone wearing flip flops, those kind of things. Each ‘object’ had a certain amount of points attached to it, and there was a bonus section that involved a single dare to the other person for triple points. I dared her to jump in the lake, which she didn’t. She dared me to eat the head of the fish she ordered for lunch, which I did. Eyes, bones and teeth- kind of gross, but hey, when in Rome…or ahh, Peru. I ended up winning pretty comfortably after that, and the prize was a DVD, which cut off five minutes from the end, so I still don’t know what happened to Batman. Possibly one of the most frustrating things in the world, especially as we started watching it at 1am one morning.

That Saturday night we (being the volunteers) went out for a dance. Phil, still being the only white guy in all of Huancayo was on temporary boyfriend should the girls need an escape from someone. I don’t know if I did what I was meant to, was too busy dancing with Peruvians, and breaking the circles that kept forming. It was honestly one of the greatest Saturday nights I have ever had, all without a drop of beer (for those who are still convinced that only alcohol creates fun). We left in good time, and I chatted with my taxi driver in spanish the whole way home which was great.

Although this may only tickle my humour (I don’t even know what that means!) I am the ‘sucio’ one at the Aldea, the orphanage. Because I don’t wear my best clothes there, and pretty much never wash, the mothers have made an effort to show me how to wash my clothes. Washing by hand is hard, and my clothes never come out washed, though I don’t rarely care. I guess because the kids don’t have a lot, what they do have is well cared for. Therefore when I rub my grubby hands on my shirt to clean them, everyone gasps. When I turn up in my jeans that have holes across both knees, the mothers squirm. I guess its probably a bad thing, though right now there is humour in it…and having washing lessons with the kids is just another way to bond with them. Speaking of bonding, I have been doing that a lot recently. I used to spend from 9-1pm each day at Aldea. That grew to 10-4. Which grew to 10-6, five days a week. Now, im there in most moments I don’t have a Spanish class. Spent the whole weekend with the kids, and on Saturday, took a bunch of them out on an excursion. One of the most priceless things I have ever seen was seeing their faces glued to the windows as we simply drove through town. That’s when it hit me that I can leave whenever I want, though these kids cant. When I leave each day, they stay behind. When I arrive each day, they are already there. It has been school holidays the last 2 weeks, and so I have made an effort to spend as much time with them as possible, because they get home from school at 2pm each day, and I wont get to see them as much from now on.

Today I start the volleyball court that I will be building. I met an old couple from Wanganui, just near Palmy who asked me to do it, and have given me 500 Soles for its completion. I have spent some time over the last few days surveying the area, and planning it out in my mind. Although with a digger, it might take an hour to complete and level the ground, I estimate completion within a week. Hopefully I can work on it in the morning, and then spend time with the kids when they arrive home from school.

With joy in my heart, I can honestly talk of the difference I am making. Its been hard work, and though I may have always been making some kind of change, now it is tangible. Now it is noticeable. Now, I have received my payment in full.