Lesley D

Hi Folks, Now back in cold, wet Scotland. Flight home was relatively uneventful - everything went well. I sat beside a lovely Peruvian girl and her two year old daughter, Kassimee, on the way home. Kassimee and I had great fun chatting and playing games in Spanish, and she slept all night. Her mum (Brenda) was lovely too. I said my goodbyes to Fiona from our group in Amsterdam and arrived back in Glasgow at 4pm - straight back to wild wind and rain. I had said to my mum to go to the football and not come to meet me. Got a cab and headed straight home. Was just on the verge of wondering why I had come home when I received a royal welcome from my two cats (Chuckie and Galway) who were absolutely ... read more

Hola from the Jungle, Today is Thursday 24 January - my second last day in Peru. Today was a pretty incredible day!! Was up v early again and out of the hotel at 6am. After a moto taxi trip across Iquitos to the harbour, we stood at the edge of the Amazon and washed the Vine Trust's 'Amazon Hope 2' sail up the river towards us. The VT support Scripture Union Peru in their work with the street boys and also with their medical work. Part of the medical support included provision of two ships (Amazon Hope 1 & 2) built in Scotland and sailed across to Peru. The ships sail up the Amazon river with a team of qualified medical volunteers and provide medical support to people who live in the remote villages further up ... read more

Hi Folks, Up v early (6am) this morning for a flight on a very small plane - Vicki - it was the wee tiney LC Busre plane. We were headed back up into the mountains again to visit another SU Girasoles sight called Kusi near the village of Huaraz in the Ancash area. The Ancash area is close to the area called the Cordillera Blanca in Peru - the only area in the Andes where you will find snow on the mountains. It comprises a range of mountains all in excess of 20,000 feet. Needless to say, that during the time I was there, I never saw the mountain from the land as it was constantly shrouded in cloud. The only time I got to see it was on the flight back out when we saw ... read more

Hola todos amigos, Today I´m covering Sunday 20 January. We stayed overnight in the hotel in Ica (Hotel Real) where Anna and I had the leaky loo. On Sunday morning we were given the option of either attending Church with Marcos (one of the SU workers in the Ica region) or going sandboarding. As most of you will know, I did the sandboarding in Ica back in 2005 with Vicki and some of the CCS gang. Given that I´m an old hat at it (I didn´t manage once down a dune without falling over and resorted to coming down with my belly on the board) I decided to give it a miss - I really just didn´t want to show anyone up ;-) Instead, Fiona, Albert, Ken and I went to Church with Marcos. Maria, a ... read more

Hi Folks, Today I´m covering Friday 18 January. We headed out in the morning from Lima to Kawai, a spot close to Ica where SU have a Girasoles home for boys. The morning was pretty much taken up by the trip in the minibus and I must confess that I slept most of the way!! We were joined on the trip by Marty Clark, the lovely wife of Paul who General Director of Scripture Union Peru, and their grandaughter Phoebe. Kawai is right on the Pacific beach, a beautiful spot. It comprises a large plot of land, which includes space for SU and school camps, the Girasoles home for the boys, and private bungalows which are leased by SU for income generation. We were staying in these bungalows, which contained two bunks each and a bathroom. ... read more