With that in mind I shall just press on.
In some ways it feels as though I have been here much longer than 8 weeks because I can't imagine not being here but at the same time I feel like 8 weeks has flown by. If time keeps going like this I'll be home before I can blink.
It's been a bit difficult of late because we can't really talk to people. Before I came here I had been saying to anyone who would listen that I was going to work in an orphanage in Peru for a year and when they would ask if I could speak Spanish I would say 'oh not yet' dismissively as if it wouldn´t be an issue. As it turns out not speaking Spanish is a pain in the neck as it means we can't really do as much as we wanted to yet or talk to many people. There's also a very laid back culture here known as the 'mañana mañana' culture (literally meaning 'tomorrow, tomorrow') so combined with the language barrier this has made it somewhat of a challenge trying to get a timetable up and running. In fact the mañana, mañana thing is so prominent that we have taken to just assuming that people will be late and so far we haven't been disappointed. 8am classes nearly always start at 9am or just whenever the teacher arrives. No one seems to mind though so who are we to judge? We've gotten so used to this that we often say things like 'Well they said they'd be here at 9 so they'll probably be here about half past'.
That being said we are trying very hard to learn spanish so we can do more to help. So far I can say things like, 'put that down', 'be careful' and 'Pedro pablo is not a toy!'. Pedro Pablo being the 7 month old baby who the other children like to fight over. They don't quite seem to understand the idea that you can't just pull on a baby's hair to get his attention.
Unfortunately this is not good enough Spanish to understand what's going on in the aldea and we often just stumble upon events and end up standing there awkwardly, unsure as to what on earth is going on. Still, it's all very exciting and we've met lots of new people and seen lots of things. In truth it's possible that we have been told what's occuring but that we've just misunderstood. Sometimes people will tell us something and we nod wisely as if we understand and then wander off whilst frantically trying to look up words we remembered in the dictionary. It's all quite amusing really. We're optimistic, however, that one day we'll know in advance what is going on and be able to understand what's being said. Here's hoping. We're also hopeful that one day we will be able to understand enough to watch the kids programmes in the mornings because so far I don't get any of that either. I'm particularly looking forward to Sesame Street and Kim Possible.
We can decipher some things though. For example there was mass breakout from the aldea a couple of weeks ago! Well when I say mass breakout I mean 4 boys escaped and ran away. It was in the paper and everything. Very exciting! As it happens it was only mentioned to us in passing a couple of days after it happened and 3 of the boys are safely back so it appeared to be approached with the same laid back attitude as I mentioned earlier. Also considering there are 24 security guards I'm not 100% sure how they failed to notice 4 teenage boys climb the wall of the aldea and scarper off... but never mind.
We've done quite a lot already actually and we've tried to explore a bit of the local area.
We've been to Catacaos, the local arts town with a daily market. You know the sort - tables of useless tat and rubbish jewellery. I loved it. I've also been one to he attracted by pointless things in don't really need. This market was unique, however, as it offered a wide range of taxidermy. There were rows of creepy dead things with other creepy dead things in their mouths. Needless to say I didn't feel inclined to buy any of that.
Catacaos market...
It was here we had our first attempt at bartering when Cass wanted to buy a bracelet. I was of little help to her as I panicked and just pretended to be looking at another stall while she tried to knock a sol of the price. Maybe next time I won't be so spineless/pathetic.
We had a nice time there though and we actually felt confident enough to order ourselves some lunch in catacaos. This confidence was short lived though as Cassie accidentally ordered a fried swimming pool when she said piscina (swimming pool) instead of pescado (fish). We were met with very confused looks from the waiter so we quickly ordered chicken which was the only thing we knew. Not quite as adventurous perhaps but maybe next time we'll say the right word.
We were also invited to Tia Angelica's house for her husband Luis' birthday party. This was an interesting night as we actually got more attention from the guests than Luis did which was odd because it wasn't our party. It was a bit daunting having a whole room of strangers staring at us and saying things we didn't understand. The language barrier became less of an issue later on in the evening because in Peru people dance at parties. It was really nice actually because I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen in England, but over here it's a common occurrence.
Well learned some salsa from Luis' uncles which was hilarious because when I say we learned them what I really mean is we embarrassed ourselves spectacularly in front of a room of strangers. I was naff but we had fun.
Cass and I at Tia Angelica´s...
We also figured that since we are in a significantly warmer country than england for a whole year than we take a trip to the beach. So we went to the nearest beach town called Colan. This was an interesting trip as when we arrived there was literally no one around. The place was deserted and there was loads of dodgy looking shacks . It looked like the start of an episode of CSI and I half expected to find a dead body hidden somewhere. Still, we were not deterred and set off along the beach looking for signs of life. Eventually we did find people but they were walking along the beach in what I would describe as winter clothes (granted it is winter here but it was still infinitely warmer than what I'm used to). Eventually we also found a nice lodge place and had dinner and they let us sit at the pool they had there. Looking back on it that sounds silly as we were at the beach and chose to sit around the pool. But still, it was relaxing and lovely and very warm.
We did have a minor fright when thought we had missed the last bus home but it turned out fine and we didn't get stranded in a deserted town.
Us at the beach...
This is what the creepy deserted shacks looked like...
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