Work, rest, play

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After the madness of Easter, Zack and I were happy to get back to our volunteer stint in Pisco and seeing as we had lost a few days of work over the festive break, we decided to extend our stay to make up for it. After over 4 months on the road, we were happy to be back in a normal daily routine and excited at the thought of staying in one place for 10 whole nights in a row, a record for us by far!

Zack was put back to work immediately, installing the entire pipe work for a new school, and laying the concrete floor for a home whilst fighting through a case of ‘Pisco Belly’. I alternated between helping out on jobs and helping in the office where I worked with some of the long term volunteers to implement some future planning ideas. I also got the chance to do my first bit of English teaching to some local students, an awesome experience which made me realise just how hard our language is and how stupid I must sound when I mess up the Spanish pronunciation.

After doing our first 9-5 working week in a long time, we were both absolutely shattered but Friday night came and we soon realised that the social atmosphere of PSF hit full steam on the weekends. This weekend we were in for a treat as it was..

ULTIMATE NINJA CHAMPIONSHIPS 

What the hell is ultimate ninja may you ask? Well its rather hard to describe without giving an in-person demonstration but try to picture this…a group of people (anywhere from sober to smashed) holding karate positions, standing in a circle, attempting to smack each others hands whilst making ninja noises with every movement. Oh, and of course it is ‘dress up’ themed too so I went as an 80’s Kylie Minogue and dressed Zack up as a medieval prince (although he was commonly mistaken as a Nun throughout the night). We competed poorly, neither of us making it to the finals but it was awesome fun none the less.

Saturday came and in a hungover blur, Zack and I had a knock on our door….THE BEAUTIFUL MISS MARY! The hilarious ‘Irish Lass’ that we travelled with in Patagonia (and seen numerous other times along our travels) had come to pay us one last visit before she headed back to the land of leprechauns. HURRAY! She arrived just in time for that afternoons paint ball tournament so her and I teamed up to kicks Zacks ass with paint balls (sadly…we failed) and for a night that involved teaching about 30 Peruvians how to do the YMCA, and swapping clothes with the opposite sex. FUN!

After saying a teary final farewell to Maz (see you Aus hun!), we finished up our finally few days at PSF and said more goodbyes to an awesome group of people and a beautiful community. We had extended our stay for as long as possible and it was time for us to get to Cusco for our last big South American highlight….MACCHU PICCHU!

P.S. If you would like to know more about the work of PSF or give them a helping hand, please check out their website…http://www.piscosinfronteras.org/

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