Alex, my mom and I went to Fallen Angel wednesday night to show my mom the extraordinary restaurant - and it didn't let us down, as we had the best food ever combined with a glass of wine and a great dessert. Great goodbye-meal, as my mom was leaving on thursday morning.
We spent thursday in school doing workshop in the afternoon, Becky and I watching out for the Rainbow House kids in school because the substitute mother had something else to do. When we got back, we waited for Mary and her dad (that had been there since saturday) to get back from their trip to Machu Picchu, before we went to our favourite pizza plaze, Pizza Wasi, to have another goodbye-meal - for Andrea this time. She was leaving friday morning and seeing her say goodbye to all the kids was absolutely horrible - and it did not make me look forward to our last day!!!
After school we all went to Cusco to have our third goodbye-meal in a row - the last one leaving this week was Mary's dad, so we went out for dinner in Cusco and played some pool at Mushrooms, Mary's favourite going-out-place, and afterwards we went to have a lousy salsa lesson followed by a couple of hours discovering Cusco's nightlife yet another time.
The weekend was very relaxing - saturday we just chilled in the volunteer house, watching a couple of movies, and sunday we went for an amazing hike in the mountains - pictures are coming up!
I started monday measuring the weight and height of the oldest kids at the center in the first lesson - and got a chock to realize, when stepping on the weight myself, that I gained an annoying 4 kilos since I got here! Sooo, I just put myself on a two-day avocado diet starting today..
Yesterday Alex and I bought tickets from Lima to Guayaquil, May 1st - which means that we might be able to go to Galapagos! My dream is getting closer!
In the meantime, I am getting more and more sad, realizing that I had my second-last day in Chinchero today, we are going to the Rainbow House for the second-last time this afternoon, and that I will soon have to cry my eyes out because I'll be missing the center and all its people and animals like crazy once we're leaving....
Apr 13, 2010
Apr 8, 2010
After a great week in Ica, Nazca and Arequipa, it was back to work as usual. Its strange thinking we only have two weeks left at the center now and only 3 in peru. Trying to find a way to kill a weeks time in the end of april/beginning of may as AC is travelling to Galapagos. Planning on either staying in Cusco, Lima or La Paz. Anyone feel like coming out to visit either of these places???
Spent the day today doing what I do best, lying on the grass, occasionally telling some kid off, playing football and going to the park. I dont understand this school, I wish mine had been more like it. Morning started off with an hour and a half worth of baseball. Classes didnt seem more important apparently. Had a terrible day yesterday though, up in Chinchero. Started off with a girl tripping over my feet, faceplanting the pavement and breaking her nose. The next second, another girl ran into my legs, tripping over and hitting her head onto the ground, also bleeding alot. Not long after a third repeated the trick, and I looked in a bad situation when the teacher came running out with three loudly crying and bleeding kids lying next to me. What are the chances? Decided to stay clear of kids for the rest of the day, and today after this morning making another boy cry after accidentally tripping him over. I swear im usually good with kids.
Just a quick update this time, thanks for the comments. AND let me know if you wanna come visit during that week :-) Anyone is more than welcome, whether i know you or not.
Alex
Spent the day today doing what I do best, lying on the grass, occasionally telling some kid off, playing football and going to the park. I dont understand this school, I wish mine had been more like it. Morning started off with an hour and a half worth of baseball. Classes didnt seem more important apparently. Had a terrible day yesterday though, up in Chinchero. Started off with a girl tripping over my feet, faceplanting the pavement and breaking her nose. The next second, another girl ran into my legs, tripping over and hitting her head onto the ground, also bleeding alot. Not long after a third repeated the trick, and I looked in a bad situation when the teacher came running out with three loudly crying and bleeding kids lying next to me. What are the chances? Decided to stay clear of kids for the rest of the day, and today after this morning making another boy cry after accidentally tripping him over. I swear im usually good with kids.
Just a quick update this time, thanks for the comments. AND let me know if you wanna come visit during that week :-) Anyone is more than welcome, whether i know you or not.
Alex
Apr 4, 2010
Vacaciones
Once again, sorry for the lack of updates - we've had a very busy easter holiday.
My mom arrived sunday morning, and I sent her to Urubamba because all of the volunteers were going on a Sacred Valley tour. I'd just got out of the hospital, so I was a little tired - good thing we were sitting in a bus most of the tour. We went to Chinchero and saw the ruins there, and then Ollantayambo - more ruins (basically all there is....). Had lunch in Urubamba where my mom joined for the last part of the tour, and we went to Pisac to check out more ruins and pre-inca stuff - we also saw a full rainbow, it was so pretty.
Monday Alex, and I went to Cusco to show my mom around (=shopping and Jack's!), before we met up with the others to jump on a bus to Ica. When we arrived tuesday morning we decided to go sandboarding - and that was a very, very good decision! We went on sort of a tour with a sandbuggy driving around in the desert, and by driving I mean insane driving - it was completely like a roller coaster! The driver chose some places for us to do sandboarding, an absolutely incredible experience. Either you lie down on your stomach or you try standing on the board on the way down - so cool.
The area was called Huacachina, a place with an incredible oasis in the middle of the desert, and we went back there wednesday morning before we took another two hour bumpy ride on a bus to Nazca to go see the Nazca lines. On the way there, however, we saw the outlook tower we were supposed to go to, and decided not to go back as the tower was tiny and far away....
We spend the day in Nazca just chilling on Plaza the Armas, playing cards, shopping a bit and getting an amazing banana split - and in the evening we took a night bus to Arequipa, where we were going to have another three days.
Arequipa is a great city - you can go river rafting, horseback riding, climb a volcano, do the Colca Canyon trek and lots of other stuff - wish we'd had more time there! We ended up going mountain biking down the volcano el Misty on our first day, a tour of four hours on a bike mostly downhill, but also uphill a couple of times. It was absolutely great - and, I discovered a new talent of mine - spitting stones from oranges!
We decided to do the one day Colca Canyon tour on our second day - which involves getting up at two in the morning, yay! However, it was a great experience - we saw 7 condors and met about a hundred llamas, and Becky and I even got to have an eagle sitting on our arm. Went to some thermal baths in the canyon as well, before we headed towards Arequipa again. We were so lucky as to have a bus with no heating system, and being 5000m above sea level in a could, bumpy bus is not exactly the most comfortable experience. On our way back, we had not only one tire, but two tires deciding to give up on the tough mountain roads. Only having one extra, we all had to get out of the bus and wait for a looooong time before moving on in a bus with one flat tire, feeling a bit like a cartoon figure in a bus more bumpy than ever. But yeah, we're in Peru, so what could we expect?
Becky, Alex and I went to the Point hostel in Arequipa for the night. We wanted to go out, but ended up staying at the crowded hostel seeing as it was easter week and all bars and clubs apparently were closed. We did have a good night anyway, as the Point is always stuffed with other backpackers looking for a good time.
Saturday we spent walking around in Arequipa, seeing the monastery - an entire town inside Arequipa where the nuns are still living, almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. We also went to see the only real cinema of Peru, but had to leave disappointed because the movies were all in Spanish. We ended up going to the best restaurant ever for dinner - a place called Zig Zag that had a recommendation in the Lonely Planet. We had a lot of peruvian specialties, for instance we tried the alpaca meat and the trout, but really great.
Saturday was the last day of our tour as we're having school tomorrow. I was quite tired due to my lack of sleep the last couple of days, so the 10 hour bus ride from Arequipa to Cusco was a very short ride for me - I fell asleep even before we started driving from the busstaion, and besides waking up a couple of times because of the freezing temperature of the bus, I slept till we entered the bus station.
Today the Plaza in Cusco is filled with people due to Easter break, and there are parades all over, which is quite interesting. Tomorrow we'll go back to scool - and I can't wait to see the kids again!
My mom arrived sunday morning, and I sent her to Urubamba because all of the volunteers were going on a Sacred Valley tour. I'd just got out of the hospital, so I was a little tired - good thing we were sitting in a bus most of the tour. We went to Chinchero and saw the ruins there, and then Ollantayambo - more ruins (basically all there is....). Had lunch in Urubamba where my mom joined for the last part of the tour, and we went to Pisac to check out more ruins and pre-inca stuff - we also saw a full rainbow, it was so pretty.
Monday Alex, and I went to Cusco to show my mom around (=shopping and Jack's!), before we met up with the others to jump on a bus to Ica. When we arrived tuesday morning we decided to go sandboarding - and that was a very, very good decision! We went on sort of a tour with a sandbuggy driving around in the desert, and by driving I mean insane driving - it was completely like a roller coaster! The driver chose some places for us to do sandboarding, an absolutely incredible experience. Either you lie down on your stomach or you try standing on the board on the way down - so cool.
The area was called Huacachina, a place with an incredible oasis in the middle of the desert, and we went back there wednesday morning before we took another two hour bumpy ride on a bus to Nazca to go see the Nazca lines. On the way there, however, we saw the outlook tower we were supposed to go to, and decided not to go back as the tower was tiny and far away....
We spend the day in Nazca just chilling on Plaza the Armas, playing cards, shopping a bit and getting an amazing banana split - and in the evening we took a night bus to Arequipa, where we were going to have another three days.
Arequipa is a great city - you can go river rafting, horseback riding, climb a volcano, do the Colca Canyon trek and lots of other stuff - wish we'd had more time there! We ended up going mountain biking down the volcano el Misty on our first day, a tour of four hours on a bike mostly downhill, but also uphill a couple of times. It was absolutely great - and, I discovered a new talent of mine - spitting stones from oranges!
We decided to do the one day Colca Canyon tour on our second day - which involves getting up at two in the morning, yay! However, it was a great experience - we saw 7 condors and met about a hundred llamas, and Becky and I even got to have an eagle sitting on our arm. Went to some thermal baths in the canyon as well, before we headed towards Arequipa again. We were so lucky as to have a bus with no heating system, and being 5000m above sea level in a could, bumpy bus is not exactly the most comfortable experience. On our way back, we had not only one tire, but two tires deciding to give up on the tough mountain roads. Only having one extra, we all had to get out of the bus and wait for a looooong time before moving on in a bus with one flat tire, feeling a bit like a cartoon figure in a bus more bumpy than ever. But yeah, we're in Peru, so what could we expect?
Becky, Alex and I went to the Point hostel in Arequipa for the night. We wanted to go out, but ended up staying at the crowded hostel seeing as it was easter week and all bars and clubs apparently were closed. We did have a good night anyway, as the Point is always stuffed with other backpackers looking for a good time.
Saturday we spent walking around in Arequipa, seeing the monastery - an entire town inside Arequipa where the nuns are still living, almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. We also went to see the only real cinema of Peru, but had to leave disappointed because the movies were all in Spanish. We ended up going to the best restaurant ever for dinner - a place called Zig Zag that had a recommendation in the Lonely Planet. We had a lot of peruvian specialties, for instance we tried the alpaca meat and the trout, but really great.
Saturday was the last day of our tour as we're having school tomorrow. I was quite tired due to my lack of sleep the last couple of days, so the 10 hour bus ride from Arequipa to Cusco was a very short ride for me - I fell asleep even before we started driving from the busstaion, and besides waking up a couple of times because of the freezing temperature of the bus, I slept till we entered the bus station.
Today the Plaza in Cusco is filled with people due to Easter break, and there are parades all over, which is quite interesting. Tomorrow we'll go back to scool - and I can't wait to see the kids again!
Mar 27, 2010
Busy week
Sorry for the lack of updates, but with the CIS group being here, it has been quite a busy week. The day CIS got here, the areas water decided to call it quits and we were left without running water for 48 hours. With a new group of 20 CIS people in the building, the lack of toilets quickly became a problem and we had to stay away from the house as much as possible for our own sakes. These are just some of the conditions we have to just take with a pinch of salt and move on from. Also had the electricity die on us a few days ago, so its been a tough week to get through.
CIS has been working all week on building a house on the school grounds for Fernando and have gotten surprisingly far with an almost completed house standing as proof. None of them were picky and got straight down to work with mixing cement, carrying blocks and painting bits and pieces all over. Was very cool to see, and it was equally fun to show them around the school. The volunteers almost got a weeks break as the kids were more excited to see 15 blonde young kids walking around their school, not surprisingly. Unfortunately, a few of them were hit by salmonella and guardia, resulting in doctors visits and hospital visits too. As a matter of fact, every single volunteer, including myself, were hit with guardia (parasites). This being our cusco weekend, its a shame our medication says no drinking. AC has unfortunately, unlucky as she is, been hit with more than just the guardia and is now, again, hospitalized with a fun mix of salmonella, guardia and amoeba. She is doing well considering the circumstances, though and plans to leave already later today. She did however miss out on a Cusco city tour yesterday.
Found out just 2 days ago that next week there will be no school at all. Easter is massive down here, and celebrations go on for weeks. Either way, we plan to use the time to travel to Arequipa and Ica to see volcanoes and go sandsurfing, as well as the Nazca lines. Will come back and update more frequently,
Alex
CIS has been working all week on building a house on the school grounds for Fernando and have gotten surprisingly far with an almost completed house standing as proof. None of them were picky and got straight down to work with mixing cement, carrying blocks and painting bits and pieces all over. Was very cool to see, and it was equally fun to show them around the school. The volunteers almost got a weeks break as the kids were more excited to see 15 blonde young kids walking around their school, not surprisingly. Unfortunately, a few of them were hit by salmonella and guardia, resulting in doctors visits and hospital visits too. As a matter of fact, every single volunteer, including myself, were hit with guardia (parasites). This being our cusco weekend, its a shame our medication says no drinking. AC has unfortunately, unlucky as she is, been hit with more than just the guardia and is now, again, hospitalized with a fun mix of salmonella, guardia and amoeba. She is doing well considering the circumstances, though and plans to leave already later today. She did however miss out on a Cusco city tour yesterday.
Found out just 2 days ago that next week there will be no school at all. Easter is massive down here, and celebrations go on for weeks. Either way, we plan to use the time to travel to Arequipa and Ica to see volcanoes and go sandsurfing, as well as the Nazca lines. Will come back and update more frequently,
Alex
Mar 20, 2010
New volunteers, Rainbow House and Cusco night out
Wednesday we went to pick up a new volunteer, Andrea, in the airport. Went back and gave her the grand tour of Urubamba, and since it was Sct. Patricks day, Mary had decided to cook for all of us, and it was really great. It was also wednesday, night for going out in Urubamba, so of course we ended up at Tequila Bar.
Thursday there was no school, because there was a strike in town, so Alex and I went to help out Mel with some pictures for the Rainbow House. We went to the Rainbow House later as well, and helped the kids with their homework and watched some of Avatar in Spanish. Interesting...
Friday was spent preparing a song with the kids that they are supposed to be singing for the CIS people. After school we went to Cusco to go out. Checked in at the hotel and went to have dinner at Fallen Angel, the most amazing place in Cusco - the tables are bath tubs with fish covered by glass, and there are couches and puffs and funny light. Best place ever! The food was amazing as well.
Afterwards we went to a place called Mushrooms at Plaza de Armas, where we had a couple of drinks - we had been going out a bit early, so we decided to spice things up and make a race of who could finish a beer first. I won by far!
We went to have some salsa lessons after playing some pool, good fun. Then we decided to go barhopping for some free drinks - and I had the weirdest experience ever. I litterally had three people pulling my right arm and four pulling my left - all of them from different clubs, promising us two, three or four free drinks each if we just came to their club. So we did manage to get tipsy and have a great night out in Cusco without psending too much money.
We got up saturday morning to have breakfast at Jack's (of course!!!), and to head of to some markets. Alex and Mary went back to Urubamba after about half an hour of shopping, and Becky, Andrea and I stayed in Cusco to buy ourselves some gringo shirts...
The CIS people have arrived, and we'll be 8 people in the volunteer house and the students living next door, so it's going to be busy there!
Thursday there was no school, because there was a strike in town, so Alex and I went to help out Mel with some pictures for the Rainbow House. We went to the Rainbow House later as well, and helped the kids with their homework and watched some of Avatar in Spanish. Interesting...
Friday was spent preparing a song with the kids that they are supposed to be singing for the CIS people. After school we went to Cusco to go out. Checked in at the hotel and went to have dinner at Fallen Angel, the most amazing place in Cusco - the tables are bath tubs with fish covered by glass, and there are couches and puffs and funny light. Best place ever! The food was amazing as well.
Afterwards we went to a place called Mushrooms at Plaza de Armas, where we had a couple of drinks - we had been going out a bit early, so we decided to spice things up and make a race of who could finish a beer first. I won by far!
We went to have some salsa lessons after playing some pool, good fun. Then we decided to go barhopping for some free drinks - and I had the weirdest experience ever. I litterally had three people pulling my right arm and four pulling my left - all of them from different clubs, promising us two, three or four free drinks each if we just came to their club. So we did manage to get tipsy and have a great night out in Cusco without psending too much money.
We got up saturday morning to have breakfast at Jack's (of course!!!), and to head of to some markets. Alex and Mary went back to Urubamba after about half an hour of shopping, and Becky, Andrea and I stayed in Cusco to buy ourselves some gringo shirts...
The CIS people have arrived, and we'll be 8 people in the volunteer house and the students living next door, so it's going to be busy there!
Mar 16, 2010
Marco's birthday and Chinchero
Another update!
Marco's birthday yesterday went really well. After school, Alex and I went to buy him a present - a schoolbag, a cap and a volleyball. And, because we thought he ought to have a piece of his favourite cake, one of those as well. Ended up giving about 80kr in total.
We went to dance with the kids because Marco wanted to listen to his favourite song "te amo", so we played "stopdans" a couple of times. Good fun!
When we finished playing, it was time for some cake - the substitute mother had made a massive cake for all of us. We had to give Marco his presents first, though. His face turned into one massive smile when he saw the piece of cake we'd brought him, and was about to get up and thank all of us, when we told him we had more. Seeing the bag, he was almost smiling to much to be able to say "gracias profes", and was about to get up again when we told him to open the bag and wee what was inside - the volleyball and the cap. He thanked us all like a million times and wore the cap and the bag immediately. It was amazing to see how happy a 15-year old boy can get when having a 80kr birthday present - at home, he probably would have been asking where in the bag his iPod was...
This morning I went to Chinchero with Becky and Mary. Got there at 9 and waited an hour and a half before any kids showed up - apparently the kids couldn't get to school because of the rain, imagine how that would be at home... :D
Becky and Mary helped out with class, and I went with Iris and Miguel to Proyecta de Vida. We went to visit some families whose kids were at school. In Chinchero, the outreach project is about teaching the parents how to improve their lives and the lives of their children. They've been going to the houses before and told the parents to make their houses better, and if they improved, the would get some food from Kiya Survivors. The first house we visited was the house of a boy called Carlos, who lives alone with his mother and grandmother because his dad left them. They have no toilet and share a tiny room with a stove and two beds. However, the mother had made a great effort to improve the house, so she got some pasta, breakfast and milk, and she was so happy.
Afterwards we went to the house of Alex and Martin, two little boys attending the school in Chinchero. They have two sisters attending a regular school, and they all sleep in the same bed with their mother. Imagine 5 people in a bed for 1! Their dad left them for another woman long time ago, and so Alex, about 7 I'd think, is the man of the house, in charge of everything with the house and the bit of farming they have.
However, the mother was not home, probably because she had heard the car coming and left because she didn't want to talk to Iris since the house looked the same as last time they were there.
We went back to Chinchero, dropped Iris off and then I went back to Urubamba with Miguel. It's a 40 minute drive from Chinchero to Urubamba, and I thought it was going to be boring sitting in the car with the driver and PE teacher of the school, but I actually managed to have a bit of a conversation with him in Spanish. AND! I got to drive the van!!!!!! I drove from about ten minutes outside Urubamba on the small mountain roads that leads to the town, in a van with breaks that do not work properly and where it is almost impossible to change gears. It was so funny though, and when we got into Urubamba, Miguel spotted the police and told me to stop, 'cause I didn't have my license with me. Good thing I just managed to pull over and switch places with Miguel, wouldn't have liked to be caught by peruvian police...
Tomorrow a new volunteer is arriving, and we'll be 5 in the house. It'll be great! Alex is missing some male company though, so he¡s looking forward to the arrival of CIS.
Marco's birthday yesterday went really well. After school, Alex and I went to buy him a present - a schoolbag, a cap and a volleyball. And, because we thought he ought to have a piece of his favourite cake, one of those as well. Ended up giving about 80kr in total.
We went to dance with the kids because Marco wanted to listen to his favourite song "te amo", so we played "stopdans" a couple of times. Good fun!
When we finished playing, it was time for some cake - the substitute mother had made a massive cake for all of us. We had to give Marco his presents first, though. His face turned into one massive smile when he saw the piece of cake we'd brought him, and was about to get up and thank all of us, when we told him we had more. Seeing the bag, he was almost smiling to much to be able to say "gracias profes", and was about to get up again when we told him to open the bag and wee what was inside - the volleyball and the cap. He thanked us all like a million times and wore the cap and the bag immediately. It was amazing to see how happy a 15-year old boy can get when having a 80kr birthday present - at home, he probably would have been asking where in the bag his iPod was...
This morning I went to Chinchero with Becky and Mary. Got there at 9 and waited an hour and a half before any kids showed up - apparently the kids couldn't get to school because of the rain, imagine how that would be at home... :D
Becky and Mary helped out with class, and I went with Iris and Miguel to Proyecta de Vida. We went to visit some families whose kids were at school. In Chinchero, the outreach project is about teaching the parents how to improve their lives and the lives of their children. They've been going to the houses before and told the parents to make their houses better, and if they improved, the would get some food from Kiya Survivors. The first house we visited was the house of a boy called Carlos, who lives alone with his mother and grandmother because his dad left them. They have no toilet and share a tiny room with a stove and two beds. However, the mother had made a great effort to improve the house, so she got some pasta, breakfast and milk, and she was so happy.
Afterwards we went to the house of Alex and Martin, two little boys attending the school in Chinchero. They have two sisters attending a regular school, and they all sleep in the same bed with their mother. Imagine 5 people in a bed for 1! Their dad left them for another woman long time ago, and so Alex, about 7 I'd think, is the man of the house, in charge of everything with the house and the bit of farming they have.
However, the mother was not home, probably because she had heard the car coming and left because she didn't want to talk to Iris since the house looked the same as last time they were there.
We went back to Chinchero, dropped Iris off and then I went back to Urubamba with Miguel. It's a 40 minute drive from Chinchero to Urubamba, and I thought it was going to be boring sitting in the car with the driver and PE teacher of the school, but I actually managed to have a bit of a conversation with him in Spanish. AND! I got to drive the van!!!!!! I drove from about ten minutes outside Urubamba on the small mountain roads that leads to the town, in a van with breaks that do not work properly and where it is almost impossible to change gears. It was so funny though, and when we got into Urubamba, Miguel spotted the police and told me to stop, 'cause I didn't have my license with me. Good thing I just managed to pull over and switch places with Miguel, wouldn't have liked to be caught by peruvian police...
Tomorrow a new volunteer is arriving, and we'll be 5 in the house. It'll be great! Alex is missing some male company though, so he¡s looking forward to the arrival of CIS.
Mar 15, 2010
A little extra..
I know Alex just wrote here, but I feel like I have to tell you guys about friday and monday.
Friday, I went to Proyecta de Vida ("life project") with Iris, our social worker, Miguel, our driver, and Mary, another volunteer. We went to visit the families of some of the kids that are not attending school and ask them why they're not coming.
We first went to Javier's house, a 17-year old boy with downs syndrome. His parents couldn't really give us a reason for him not being in school, but apparently they had a lot of problems in the family - the dad, 68, having trouble with his hearing, and the mother, 64, having severe back problems. They had 9 kids, and 2 of them died. Having a kid with downs syndrome on top of it cannot be very pleasant. Iris told the parents to visit a clinic to get a hearing aid for the dad and some physiotherapi for the mother, but they seemed very sceptical. She also told them to get a health insurance and to give her a copy of it - very strict lady, she is!
Afterwards we drove to a nearby town called Ollantaytambo to visit Jose Alberto. His mother works in a restaurant and might let her go soon because of the lack of tourism in Ollantaytambo. His dad is currently in a hospital in Cusco because he's got cancer - another very sad case that really made me appreciate the life I live!
Today has been a very interesting day - I was sitting in Mel's office when a 16-year old girl comes in - apparently she was waiting for Eli to come talk to her. She starts crying and tells me that yesterday her mother hit her on her thigh and pulled her hair, and that she was in pain. It was quite strange not knowing what to do, seeing as I am not used to speak to 16-year old girls about their problems with their mothers in Spanish, but I think I managed to make her feel a bit better. Eli comes in, and I walk off to help with Inicial. After about 10 minutes though, Eli wanted me to come to the office again to take pictures of the girls bruises. She had two huge bruises on her thigh, and when Eli told her that we were taking photos of it to have proof, she told her not to talk to her mother, 'cause she would get mad at her and hit her again. She couldn't explain why her mother hit her either. Quite a different experience compared to what I'm used to!
I'll find out what the school's going to do about her mother... In the meantime, we'll go celebrate Marco's birthday at the Rainbow House.
Friday, I went to Proyecta de Vida ("life project") with Iris, our social worker, Miguel, our driver, and Mary, another volunteer. We went to visit the families of some of the kids that are not attending school and ask them why they're not coming.
We first went to Javier's house, a 17-year old boy with downs syndrome. His parents couldn't really give us a reason for him not being in school, but apparently they had a lot of problems in the family - the dad, 68, having trouble with his hearing, and the mother, 64, having severe back problems. They had 9 kids, and 2 of them died. Having a kid with downs syndrome on top of it cannot be very pleasant. Iris told the parents to visit a clinic to get a hearing aid for the dad and some physiotherapi for the mother, but they seemed very sceptical. She also told them to get a health insurance and to give her a copy of it - very strict lady, she is!
Afterwards we drove to a nearby town called Ollantaytambo to visit Jose Alberto. His mother works in a restaurant and might let her go soon because of the lack of tourism in Ollantaytambo. His dad is currently in a hospital in Cusco because he's got cancer - another very sad case that really made me appreciate the life I live!
Today has been a very interesting day - I was sitting in Mel's office when a 16-year old girl comes in - apparently she was waiting for Eli to come talk to her. She starts crying and tells me that yesterday her mother hit her on her thigh and pulled her hair, and that she was in pain. It was quite strange not knowing what to do, seeing as I am not used to speak to 16-year old girls about their problems with their mothers in Spanish, but I think I managed to make her feel a bit better. Eli comes in, and I walk off to help with Inicial. After about 10 minutes though, Eli wanted me to come to the office again to take pictures of the girls bruises. She had two huge bruises on her thigh, and when Eli told her that we were taking photos of it to have proof, she told her not to talk to her mother, 'cause she would get mad at her and hit her again. She couldn't explain why her mother hit her either. Quite a different experience compared to what I'm used to!
I'll find out what the school's going to do about her mother... In the meantime, we'll go celebrate Marco's birthday at the Rainbow House.
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