Something Very Disgusting

Something very disgusting happened to me today. Now before i tell you, i just want to make it clear that I don't have a light stomach...I've seen some pretty god awful stuff when working at the school, and have been pretty okay with it so far.,

Like the time, for example, a grade 1 girl vomited over all her books, then into a bucket, then the teacher throwing the vomit bucket outside, then a pack of wild dogs eating the vomit from the bucket.

Or another time, when i caught an kindergarden kid urinating outside the classroom.

Or, perhaps, the time when i threw my pear core in the big, only to discover 5 minutes later that another kinder kid was chewing on it.

So yes, i thought i'd seen it all. That is until today, when some kinder kids were playing with A DEAD 1 DAY OLD PUPPY, it's head flopping from side to side as they threw it to each other. Apparently one of the girls had taken the initiative to put one of the puppies from home, born today, inside her pocket for show and tell. It even still had the umbilical cord attached to its belly! Of course the only sensible way to deal with it, was for Laura to walk around with it all day in her arms, before burying it on the side of the school, only to be dug up and played with by more kids.

I think it's time to move on from this school. Very, very disturbed.

More Peruvian Food.

Had last meal with Dad, Tess and Mada at a typical Peruvian dining hall, La Cecilia. Not only was it probably the biggest restaurant i've ever seen, but our meal was accompanied by a band of mexican musicians dressed in sombreros and traditional mexican attire. Moving back home tonight for just one more week in Arequipa.

The ensemble

Me, Mada and Tess

In Good Care.

Dad.

Just came back from fantastic steak restaurant at Zigzag, celebrating dad's last night here.

Trio of Pisco Sours

Triology of meats

Enjoying the Sangria

Wednesday night took dad to meet my host family, which i presumed would just be a casual visit to meet Martha (my host mum) and her daughters/granddaughters. Turns out there was champagne, hors d'oeuvres and a private concert from the girls, Geraldine and Melanie.

My host family - Martha and her 2 grandchildren, Melanie and Geraldine

Geraldine - 8yrs - and Martha

Melanie - 6yrs - performing violin

Thursday i took the day off school to hang out and show dad around. Went to a few museums, as well as San Camillo market. Lunch was at a traditional peruvian place close to my house, called La Nueva Palonino. A LOT of pretty tasty food. Had a little sisesta in the afternoon, followed by a yum bowl of soup at one of my favourite Moroccan restaurants, and some hot tea with Janine, Gideon and Patrick.

La Nueva Palonino

Yesterday dad joined me at school. Unfortunately our teacher had told us Thursday afternoon that she wasn't going to be at school. No reason, just no show. So we had an extra hour to plan, along with an hour of english, art and sport. I think dad enjoyed it though, and he was great with the kids. They were particularly fascinated by his height and his shiny bald head.

Cindy

Playing snakes and ladders, using english words for colours

Tess and I playing hangman before recess

Making teddy bears for Art

Juan David

Teddy's made by our grade 1+2 class

Washing hands at recess

After school, Gideon, Dad and myself went home to bake some brownies for the BBQ, which were actually quite a success at our weekly Friday night dinner with the other volunteers.

Making brownies with Martha and Gideon

Always so animated..

Today was spent on a bus tour followed by another market run, and some Chifa chicken soup. (A mixture of Chinese and Peruvian... very tasty) Tomorrow we're going for good, local peruvian food that are followed by some sort of traditional show. Haven't been yet, but should be good.

Me and dad on the tour

Yanahuara viewpoint

An old friend..

Too Many Stray Molly's

All i can say right now, seeing all these damn stray dogs, is that i miss Molly. A lot.

*picture courtesy of dad

Good day!

Had a really good day at school today. Break through with teaching maths! Kids actually got excited when i tried teaching them how to count. Woohoo!

Plus, dad arrived this morning, 3 days early. Thank-you Icelandic volanic ash! Enjoying his company, as well as the free meals and comfortable hotel room. Very close to school bus pickup, looking forward to the extra 30min sleep in tomorrow..

A Weekend in Puno

Puno city

Janine and Madaline going down a giant slide

Tess, Madaline and myself in Puno

Went on a tour Saturday to Lake Titicaca, to see the floating artificial islands of Uros along with the natural island Taquile. Awoke 6am for a full day boat ride, starting first at Uros to check out Inca culture. Felt it was very touristy and contrived, making the whole experience a little socially akward. Nonetheless i still bought an Inca jacket and some jewerelly, so it wasn´t too bad.

At about 10am travelled 3hrs on the boat to the island Taquile for some good old Peruvian lunch, and to see some ruins. It was a much better trip, solely because it felt more natural and genuine. Got back an hour ago, resting at the moment but ready to go out for some dinner, drinks and live music. (Which they seem to have a lot of here)

On the way to Isle Usoro

Dressed in traditional Inca clothing in floating islands of Usoro

Isle Tequile

Sewing

Boat ride back - Lake Titicaca

Hiking up Isle Tequile

Yesterday was as exciting as the last. Got up at about 8.30am and was just hanging out in the hostel with Tess (the other 2 had left earlier that morning to go do some more lesson planning) when we started up conversation with one of the staff members. One thing led to another, and before we knew it we were on a bus with Erica (she was working part time at the hostel while studying english and tourism) on our way to see some archaelogical sites. We took 2 buses to finally arrive at Cutimbo, were we saw old inca ruins of sacred towers, used as tombs for inca government officials and other important members. You can probably liken them to the pyramids you would find in Mexico or Egypt, in the respect that the deceased were wrapped in clothes (i.e. mummified) and buried in the towers along with other goods. (Food, jewerelly etc) Because the sites were so untouched by tourists, we actually got to climb inside the tombs to check out the interior. It was amazing how the structure had sustained for so long, solely because the stones looked very unbalanced and unstable. The ruins were also based at the top of a mountain, which we took about 30 - 40mins to climb up... tough work!

Tess and I standing in front of the entrance sign to Cutimbo

Yes, we hiked up that to get to the towers. High altitude, veeery good exercise!

Deserted wasteland at Catimbo

The towers

The 'tour' went for about 4 hours, and really helped with my spanish! (and i'm guessing, Erica's english) When we finally got back to the hostel, Tess and i quickly picked up our bags and headed to the bus station for a 6hr ride back to Arequipa. Of course there were more complications with the bus, that being a blown tyre, but nonetheless we got back safe and sound by about 9pm.

Lake Titicaca

Went on a tour today to Lake Titicaca, to see the floating artificial islands of Uros along with the natural island Taquile. Awoke 6am for a full day boat ride, starting first at Uros to check out Inca culture. Felt it was very touristy and contrived, making the whole experience a little socially akward. Nonetheless i still bought an Inca jacket and some jewerelly, so it wasn´t too bad.

At about 10am travelled 3hrs on the boat to the island Taquile for some good old Peruvian lunch, and to see some ruins. It was a much better trip, solely because it felt more natural and genuine. Got back an hour ago, resting at the moment but ready to go out for some dinner, drinks and live music. (Which they seem to have a lot of here)

How Not to Get to Puno

Had a very rough night. Left for Puno to check out the Islands in Lake Titicaca at about 6pm. After about 5 1/2hrs on the bus, the director announced that we had arrived. Without question, the four of us - Tess, Janine, Madeleine and myself - got off the bus and caught a cab to our hostel. The driver insisted he knew where The Point Hostel was (don´t judge, it´s not as seedy as you might have presumed) and off we went. After a few minutes however, the driver started advertising other hotels we could stay at, and eventually Janine had the intelligence to ask where we were. And no, we were, in fact, not in Puno.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

So basically this stranger taxi driver took us to some other buses that were headed for Puno, which we boarded without resistance. (At this point it was about 12.30am and we were cold and exhuasted) Finally we reached our destination about an hour later, then caught another cab to our hostel.

Never again will I get off a bus without checking the destination. Never.

Have to Stop Taking Pictures of the Kids

Sitting on the rooftop of Casa De Avila hotel, waiting for others to go out for dinner to celebrate Carli's last night. (i.e. pizza and sangria)

View in front of me
The view in front of me

Decided kids at school are just too cute. I think i'm averaging on at least one round of photos a day. You can see why...

Me and beautiful Adelit, a grade 1 girl in my class

Playing at lunchtime

Trapped in our own classroom, trying to have a few mins to ourselves. Obviously not working..

The adorable (and slightly evil) Carolina

In other news, going to Lake Titicaca this weekend with Madeleine, Tess and Janine. Looking forward to the break, as school was tough this week. Decided to take private tutes with 2 or 3 kids who have a lot of learning difficulties. Only here for 3 more weeks though, so finding it hard to come to terms with how little i can do. Plus there's a huge language barrier, so it's a very slow process. Nonetheless i'm excited to be moving on to the Guatemalan project in early June. I'm thinking it will be a very different experience..

P.S. Noticed that there are strangely quite a few dogs that like to hang out on rooftops. I have proof too!