Yo soy un voluntario en Peru

So, as I said in my previous post, I am now working at Esperanza (meaning hope in spanish) orphanage in my grey IVHQ/Tarpuy Sonqo (the local charity) T-shirt. As a group of 11 volunteers on the orphanage programme we all get a 20min bus for 20p to our orphanages, which are all located in one block, leaving the house at 8 each morning to get there for 8.30. There is one other volunteer at my orphanage; Alyssa from New Zealand as it is fairly small due to there only being about 20 kids there, many of whom are very inactive.
On my first morning, I spent my time in the 'school' where the 4 most able kids go to sing songs, play instruments, at games and learn a little bit about weather and things. A lot of it is done with extravagant gestures and semi-sign language because one of the kids is deaf and another is partially deaf. There is Nataly who has Downs Syndrome and doesn't speak but laughs a lot which is absolutely adorable and she finds most things hilarious...however I also have to be a bit cautious as she likes to pull my hair and has a tendency to bite people or spit (I've had that in my face a couple of times now). Then there is Jose Carlos who has cerebral paulsey and can walk but he kind of floppily bumbles around and has to wear a heavy jacket thing to stop him from wobbling around too much but he looks like I could fall over at any moment - and often does - he cannot talk but manages to find alternative ways to communicate and it sure doesn't stop him being very cheeky! Danna cannot walk but is the most communicative, she repeats lots of the things that I say and can sing a long to songs and things like that. She also has the most adorable laugh and is very easy to make giggle and loves to have a cuddle and a kiss. Finally in the class there is Fatima, who I learned today has 'Cornelia Dr Lange Syndrome' which has some very distinctive features such as a monobrow, excess body hair (she has a moustache), small face, upturned nose and tiny hands. She doesn't speak, just occasionally groans, and is deaf but she can walk just with a slight wobble.
I spent a lot of time last week on the enclosed trampoline with Fatima lying under my legs and me using my now incredibly toned stomach muscles to bounce up and down with my bottom, soothing her and keeping her content whilst giving me a mini workout! I also toddled around behind Nataly stopping her from standing in the water fountain, shutting her fingers in windows, standing in wet paint and just generally making a mess!
Sunday was mothers day in most of the world (apart from the UK) and it is a massive thing in Peru, particularly at orphanages where the workers are the mamas! We performed 'twinkle twinkle little star' whilst wearing tinsel hats and waving sparkly, paper stars at 3 different orphanages for the mamas and some of the kids which they seemed to enjoy.
On Thursday we got the opportunity to dress up as clowns as Pablo, the resident Brazilian, is a clown who goes into children's hospitals back home so he roped us all in to join him in clowning around at the orphanage which he has been working at for the past 2 months. It was great fun putting the clown makeup on at the house and then catching the bus with multiple stares and funny looks from passers by. At first I thought the whole thing was going to be a flop because the first lot of kids we went to were very unresponsive but then we found some more interactive kids who found the clown thing hilarious and my inner chicken came out as I clucked around squawking in the children's laughing faces. That evening, a group of us went to play football in a local park with a few of the staff from one of the orphanages and a local man and his son which was great fun and reminded me just how awful I am at football...the ball in the face proved that!
At the weekend a group of 8 of us took a trip to Huacachina. This is a small, touristy hub of a village that is based around a beautiful oasis and surrounded by rolling, golden sand dunes
(just setting the scene, not rubbing it in or anything). It is a 4/5 hour bus journey south of Lima down the coast so is a pretty scenic route with sand dunes on one side and the sea on the other. We arrived at our classic travellers hostel, full of gringos (foreigners) all back packing around Peru and the rest of south america. It was a lovely, friendly, chilled atmosphere and got me really excited to start 'hard core' travelling in June! I was in a dorm with James, Cedelynne and Danielle who are volunteers with me too and then the others were in mixed dorms with other travellers. I spent the afternoon lounging around in a hammock in the 28° degree sunshine until 5 o'clock when we set off into the sand. The buggy that we were driven in is like a giant go-kart type thing and the driver was a complete mad man so it was basically like a massive rollercoaster with the added terror of the buggy potentially flipping over and a constant stream of sand in your eyes and mouth, especially when its wide open from screaming! We stopped at the top of a large slope and let her heart rates return to normal until they informed us, in extremely fast Spanish, that this was the slope we were going to be boarding down. I managed to go down the first slope on my feet although I did about half of it going backwards so ended up falling hard on my bum and rolling down the rest of the slope resulting in sand in every single crevice! The following slopes were all even steeper so I chose to descend them on my stomach on the board which was great fun but I made the mistake, the first time, of screaming with my mouth open, resulting in a mouthful of sand so I kept my mouth firmly shut after that. On the last slope, I was at the top with 3 British girls from Manchester uni (strange coincidence) and we were all absolutely terrified because it was a never ending hill and it was virtually dark but eventually we pulled ourselves together and plummeted to the bottom which was extremely fun and such an incredible adrenaline rush.
The following day, I attempted to climb one of the sand dunes but only made it half way up as even by 10.30am the sand was way too hot for my little flip-flopped feet to handle. We then went on a winery tour where we tasted delicious red and white sweet wines and shotted pisco (the local spirit) which was absolutely revolting - especially as they told us the best way to drink it is to swirl it around your mouth first, not a good idea - before getting the bus home in a mildly intoxicated state (hence I slept for the first hour). We made it home for Sunday night pizza night which was a lovely welcome back to life in Lima after the idyllic corner of the universe that is Huacachina.
Much love xxxx

Hola Peru

Hola hola!
You will be pleased to know that I have safely arrived in sunny Lima. I apologise for the delayed blog post, it now being a week since I arrived, I have just been very busy and there is always someone to talk to.
My first experience of Lima was a late pick up from the airport so I had to fend off the taxi drivers who swarmed round me like flies to offer me a ride, but thankfully mine did eventually turn up! There are about 20 others living in the volunteer house in the San Miguel district in an outer neighbourhood of the Peruvian capital, Lima. There is a large mix of nationalities in the house, with the majority at the moment being Canadian (some of whom are french-canadian), a couple of Americans, a Swiss girl, 3 Ozzie's, a kiwi, 3 other Brits, and Pablo who is Brazil and speaks only Portuguese and broken Spanish with the odd English word thrown in - it is very entertaining trying to communicate with him, most of it is done through acting out and large arm gestures. I am in a room with 3 Canadians, 2 of whom came together with 3 others and have just completed teaching college and are doing this as there 2 week placement.
Most of the people in the house arrived at the same time as j did and so we are all learning together. Our first (long) weekend was spent settling in, getting to know each other and exploring Lima and its bars. My first night was one of the girls last night so I was dragged out to a bar in the trendy barranco district and eventually flopped into bed at 3am - 9am UK time, having landed at 5am the previous morning. On Friday we went down to the beach after lunch and spent the afternoon filling our bikinis with sand from the violent waves and incredibly strong undertow before going out for more drinks in barranco with a bit of added dancing and conversing (in Spanish) with the locals. I am one of the few people who can actually speak and understand Spanish here which is great for me because it means I am getting to use it all the time and can already feel myself improving...although getting used to the speed and accent of the Peruvian language is slightly harder!
Saturday was a more cultural day where we visited the sites of central Lima. There is the beautiful Plaza de Armas which is the central square that has a palace and large cathedral in it. We wandered around various Inca markets with beautiful, multicoloured, woven handicrafts that I found very hard to resist. We also visited the St Francisco Cathedral which is home to the catacombs of Lima where 25,000 people were buried under the church, beneath the saint in which they followed. What is pretty eery walking around and seeing the assorted arm, leg and pelvis bones scattered around and particularly when we reached the section with piles upon piles of skulls. In the middle of the Lima there is a large hill with the cross of St Cristobel on the top do we caught a bus up to find stunning views over the whole of Lima. It was particularly interesting to see the more slummy areas of Lima, piled on top of each other, from above. The taxi journey home was a brilliant experience too; we managed to squeeze 7 of us into a 4 seater taxi with 4 across the back, 1 lying across, and 2 in the front next to the driver...it was a squish but we managed!
On Sunday I visited the plaza of San Miguel where we found a super market and a nice restaurant for lunch. We also bought bus tickets to Huacachina (where i am now) where there are enormous sand dunes to board down! Monday was our first day with a routine although it still wasn't a proper 'working' day as er started by having orientation where we were told all the rules which we had already learned or broken over the weekend and explained about our daily life. After lunch we were allocated our orphanages and taken to them to be shown around. I have been places in an orphanage for special needs babies, aged 0 to 5 who are all very cute but pretty severely disabled. Other volunteers are at other homes including
a special needs one for kids 6-18, an adult special needs home and an able babies home.
We then returned back to the house and collapsed in an exhausted heap until a delicious Peruvian dinner (we get 3 amazing meals a day, all Peruvian apart from brekky) from which we were re-energised enough yo play card games and heads up late into the night!
I am having the best time so far and the other volunteers are all so lovely. It is really interesting to get to know people from other countries so well, even if it does mean I'm picking up a slight Canadian twang and a start referring to the bathroom, trash and pop and have my accent repeatedly taken the mick of!
Lots of love to all back home xxxx