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Published: December 9th 2005
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Pizza at Ninos
From the left: Lesley, Terri, Adam, Caitlin, Wendy, Susan and Vicki Buenos Dias everyone,
After my thrilling night last night, it was a fairly routine day. Vicki and I were at the orphanage again for around 8.30am this morning.
The kids are still pretty sick with some sort of bug. Day started (as usual) by folding a huge pile of nappies, and then breakfast. It was boiled eggs for breakfast today. I tried to feed three kids - Fernando, Rosario and Jorge, none of whom would eat a single thing for me. This is the first time that this has happened, and I appreciate that they have upset tummies, but it still left me feeling pretty inadequate - especially as one of the sisters then managed to persuade Fernando to finish his when I couldn´t!!
After breakfast we played with the kids for a while and got some of them off to sleep. They were definitely all a good deal narkier than usual!!
Lunch was the usual soup followed by some sort of milky dessert. I had Jorge, who ate half of the main course and scoffed the dessert as per usual. Nobody ever told me that in order to feed any child older than roughly 6 months with a spoon, you have to:
1) Be ambidextrous - I can´t manage very well when they twist around to my left as I´m right handed!!
2) Start the process with at least three alternative strategies to persuade them that the food is delicious and they should eat it all up!! This includes pretending to eat it yourself and feigning delight at the thought!!
3) Have a strong stomach - why does baby food always smell sooooo disgusting??
4) Be capable of pulling the most horrific faces to make them laugh enough to open their mouths so you can get the spoon in!!
5) Wear a boiler suit in order to avoid having entire platefuls of food spilled over you!
Jorge has developed an incredible way of clamping his teeth on the spoon. He then kind of sucks the spoonful of food through the gap in his teeth to assess whether or not he is partial to it. If not, there is no way you´ll get anything else in there. If so, he opens his wide mouth and lets you shovel it in - hence the reason we usually manage half of the main course and all of the dessert!!
Having said all that I really do enjoy it very much, but my normal day job is a breeze in comparison!! Hat off to all my friends who are mums -you should have all these skills recognised on your CVs!!
After lunch Vicki and I wandered into town. I had a parcel to post for Karen, and we were also confirming our flights etc for Saturday morning. Flight confirmation was very easy at Aero Condor and LC Busre - they basically just looked at the tickets and said "Si, Si"!!
I´m also planning to ship my things to Lima by bus tomorrow as I won´t have enough time at the airport on Saturday to leave my big sports bag in left luggage. Don´t want to take it travelling with me - intend to travel as lightly as possible. We also stopped in at the bus office to check that I can do this. Sending my bag to the last hotel we will stay in on 17 December prior to my departure from Lima airport to the States on the 18th. Have to have my bag ready for shipping tomorrow, so will be packing tonight!!
Terri and Caitlin are leaving tomorrow for a four day trip to Machu Picchu. They get back on Monday, so today is the last day I´ll have with them. It´s amazing how quickly you adapt to all the people coming and going in the house!!
Wewentout for dinner tonight to say godbye to Terri and Caitlin. Had a nice meal at Ninos (amazing veggie pizza!!). Headed home afterwards as the girls have an early start in the morning. On the way home we were harrassed by a very drunk Peruvian guy - well dressed in his mid 30´s. He followed Terrri and I home saying "bonita" and "amore". Not only that, he also took every opportunity he could to grab a hold of us which definitely wasn´t pleasant!! I just pushed him away and firmly repeated "No gracias!!" Terri had an empty plastic water bottle which she whacked him with. We ducked into MG´s shop before the house for refuge. MG, his wife and the locals in the shop were great. MG´s wife ran to the house and got the door guards for us. When the guy realised he wasn´t getting anywhere, he soon disappeared.
Caitlin was in MG´s shop on the internet having walked up the road with Vicki ahead of the rest of us. The drunk guy had also tried it on with her and she punched him-go girl!! Caitlin is a trained kick boxer and won´t take any nonsense!!
Guess this is the price you pay for being a gringa in an area of the country where there aren´t very many tourists!! Not a pleasant experience, but can laugh about it now!! Was a rotten end to what had been a great night!!
Tomorrow is a national holiday in Peru - celebration of the immaculate virgin (I think). On Friday, it is a local Ayacuchan holiday - a celebration of the achievement of independence from the Spanish at the battle of Ayacucho (remember the blog entry with the photo of the white memorial monument towards the start of my time here??). Richard, Alfredo and Chris have invited us to go dancing with them on Friday night, as part of the celebrations, so will have a chance at some traditional dancing (as opposed to the conga!!) before I leave. Will need to be an early night though as I need to be at the airport 5.50am Saturday morning!!
Was thinking today about all the things I´ll miss here and the list is huge, some of it includes:
The view of the Andes from the window of my room and from the roof every day;
Amazing sunsets over the mountains;
All the kids that I have worked with, especially Ernesto, Karina, Rufina, Jorge and Anita Karina (now Tracey!!);
All my fellow volunteer friends (especially Vicki and Wendy);
The wonderful local people I´ve met and made friends with;
The staff in the CCS house and the drivers;
Nice hot weather;
Reading on the roof whilst doing my washing;
Pisco sours and chocolate caliente con Baileys in gringo plaza;
The local markets;
Crazy traffic systems and moto taxis;
The wonderful local pipe and guitar music;
The incredible manana attitude and lifestyle in Ayacucho;
Amazing thunderstorms over the mountains..................and lots more!!
Only have 2 more full days here as I write this - absolutely not ready to leave yet!!
Caio for now!!
Lesley x
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