13th and 14th October

---

Hello all,

No photos with this update - just blurb!!

Was at Wawa Wasi yesterday and today. We had a visit from another Wawa Wasi yesterday which was good - 16 kids in total!!

Bought wool yesterday (yes mum - I know you never thought you´d hear me say that!!) and started making pom poms to help them learn their colours. Have attached them to elastic so they can play with them too.

I made a frieze for them today to colour in. It was day and night in the mountains. One half of it had the sun with his hat on over the Andes (also taught them the song "The Sun Has Got His Hat On") and the other half had the moon over the Andes with Twinkling Stars (yes - you´ve got it - "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"). Took my flute along and played for them - the kids and Julia (Wawa Wasi Mama) loved it. Julia even managed some notes and wants me to teach her. Also taught them to play "Simon Says" and had them all stretching and bending which they enjoyed.

On a more serious note, was speaking to Julia (my Spanish is improving) and she was telling me that she lost both her parents as a result of the terrorism in Ayacucho during the Shining Path era. She´s 29 with three kids who have never met their grandparents. Thousands of people died in Ayacucho at the hands of either the Shining Path or the military who were sent in to resolve the problem. This is one of the main reasons for the large number of orphans and the extreme poverty in this area.

Julia and I were also talking about Christmas (Navidad en Espanol). The majority of Ayacuchans do not have Christmas trees as they cannot afford them. There is usually one big Christmas tree in the Plaza (main square) which they take their children to see. Presents are not exchanged (unaffordable) and if there are any spare Soles (Peruvian currency), they are used to buy clothes for the children (Ninos). Makes me realise how lucky I am - please spare a thought for the people here when Christmas comes around and we are opening presents and enjoying excessive amounts of food.

After work I went shopping. I needed to purchase some extra layers and a hat, scarf and gloves for my trekking expedition in the high Andes at the weekend. I bought a beutiful alpaca jumper for the equivalent of six pounds, and the alpaca (beautiful wool) hat, scarf and gloves were the grand total of approx three pounds. Trekking up to 14,000 feet with llamas to carry the equipment. Looking forward to seeing the beautiful countryside. Will post some photos with my next blog update. I also purchased a set of pan pipes. Haven´t tried them yet, but intend to master them before I get home.

After shopping I had my first salsa class and then another Spanish lesson. Now at the stage where I can pick up key words from the local people and working on my verbs. The kids at Wawa Wasi teach me a lot too. One of the most valuable lessons was where we learned commands for working with them, such as no fighting (No pelees), be quiet (callese), no spitting (no escupa).

More updates after my trekking at the weekend!

Lesley x

---

Comments

[Esther]

foreign languages
hi my dear lesley i recognise, your spanish is getting better and better, you are surly better in spanish than in swiss now, aren't you?? thanks for your news, i love reading from you¨