des

Well, another year older, another year closer to being a quarter of a centuary old. Thank you to all those that sent all the well wishes. And thanks mum for the new underwear! I had a really nice day filled with so much birthday cake. Cake for breakfast, cake for lunch and then cake for dinner. The kids got together and I received some sweet gifts of key rings and necklaces. Elvis took me out to my "missing home" restaurant where they cook the most succulent roast chicken, with roast potatoes, coliflour cheese, peas, gravy, the whole lot. DELICIOUS! We visited my favourite market where they make fresh juices for only S/ 2.50 per jug (That's about US$1) (BOOST eat your heart out!), we visited the Incan-Spanish church and lazed around on the green grass (I ... read more

Well, as is normal with time, it manages to just disappear without you even noticing it- 3 months have just flown by right before my eyes. It was amazing to check my Peruvian tourist card and realise that I had to make another dash to the border before the immigration police came hunting me down. Okay, well, actually, I don’t think those police actually exist, but it’s a US$20 fine for every day you stay in the country after your card expires: quite a hefty fine if you let the days accumulate. After the disastrous trip to the Chilean border last time, we opted to make for the Perú-Bolivia border, officially an 8-9 hour bus ride from Cusco: which was nothing at all in comparison to the torturous Cusco to Chile bus ride. Elvis quite surprisingly ... read more

Life for me here in Perú seems to have found a balance and routine. I can’t even imagine life back in Australia anymore (except for maybe the hot wonderful showers)- I’ve slipped into daily local life like I’ve been here all my life.. although my cooking skills are still left wanting… on Saturday mornings I sit out in the courtyard scrubbing clothes with my hands like I’ve known how to do it all my life: I’m filling up the buckets and cylinders on the days when we have water; I pick up the chickens with my bare hands when they escape from their house. Oh yes, we have chickens now, and they ALWAYS escape and they particularly like to escape and hide (and shit) under our bed…I sit out in the courtyard with the kids and ... read more

With my failings of being the perfect housewife, I was becoming quite bored sitting around doing pretty much nothing at all everyday. And so begun my quest in finding a suitable volunteer program. Admittedly I only went at it ½ heartedly, wrote a few emails of enquiries- nothing much serious. And it was because of this half heartedness that made it even more surprising when I received an offer from the largest Spanish school here in Cusco asking me if I’d like to do a work exchange, Monday to Friday, in exchange for four hours of group Spanish classes everyday and a few other bonuses on the side. I think it was my English writing babbling skills that scored me the position because it’s a bit of a public relations stint where I spend 4 hours ... read more

After much waiting and anticipation, the silicone had dried, the plumbing was complete and the bathroom was open. It’s brilliantly blue and white tiled with little feature tiles of fishies. We’ve water from 8-12 every second morning: so there is four fabulous hours of flushable toilet and after that we have to pour buckets of water down the toilet… but that doesn’t take too long to get use to. The men of the house spent a good day and a ½ connecting up our electric shower head- it was a very exciting time as we watched hot water pour freely… Little Dayana was already half naked ready to experience her first ever shower- it was a nice change to the usual kicking and screaming that comes with bath time. Come my turn to shower, the hot ... read more