Two exhausted travellers

After not sleeping so well last night, due to bizarre dreams, house mates who went out at 11 and came back at 3am, both times making a huge racket, and the once again absolutely rubbish Peruvian curtains that let every single tiny bit of light in as soon as the sun comes up, Juliet and I woke up earlier than normal, to get wifi in Basilica, our favourite cafe. We then headed to the bus stop to see what was in store for us today.
This time it was about 20 minutes before one of us busses showed up and today it was ‘Ricardo’ the bigger bus that was absolutely heaving to the brim. They assured us there was room and so along with about 5 other people at the bus stop, we crammed into the bus. There were 9 of us and two babies all squeezed into the doorway of the bus, winding up the twisty roads up the mountain to Ccorao… Boiling hot, unable to breath, both babies crying… You can imagine how Juliet and I felt when we finally arrived… RELIEF!
We were a little bit later than normal when we arrived at volunteering and the children were already in their classrooms waiting for their lessons to begin. Well all of them except the ones that we’d met on the walk from the bus stop who screamed AMIIIIGAAA as they ran up to us and held our hands in a long train as we all walked to El Jardin.
My job today was to get the millions of thin rolls of coloured paper that were in a box at the back of the class room, unroll them fold them up flat and then pile them up under some heavy books so that they get pressed flat. It wasn’t a hard job but soon my hands were stained with the colours of the paper and I found it more interesting mouthing answers to the children in the class so save them getting into trouble for not knowing the days of the week or the animals of Peru. When it was break time Juliet and I were both absolutely exhausted still and so found a spot in the sun to sit. We weren’t alone for long when soon we had a circle of children around us and on our laps. A lot of them just come and sit by us in groups and play there, it’s so sweet because they basically just want to be close but are happy enough getting on with their own games. Of course Sandra, my little niña, ran over and literally jumped into my lap – something she found hilarious and repeated several times before she got bored and started eating her orange (spilling juice all over me and my already filthy clothes). When the orange eating saga was finished, with some very skilled pip spitting (coming very close to Juliet, who was having trouble with her own child’s fruit juice) Sandra found a small ball and soon a game of catch had risen with Juliet and some other children eventually becoming involved by no choice of their own… Let’s just say throw isn’t their main skills! It was very fun, as it was a squishy ball so no matter how hard the children chucked the ball at each other, it bounced off arms, elbows, legs, even heads with no harm done.
Then it was back to paper folding, however one of the Peruvian animals that they’re learning about in class in the tortoise – which I have at home. So I stood up and told them all about Henry’s pet Tommy and how my family had decided to tie a balloon/ball to it’s back so that they don’t lose it in the garden. I went round each of the children showing them a picture of Tommy and his new coat, which they all found both hilarious and absolutely fascinating as they were seeing a real tortoise and not a cartoon picture.

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When school was over Juliet and I hopped on the bus with two of the little girls from El Kinder and their parents (this time a much nicer, smaller bus, where we had seats) and headed back to Cusco. For lunch we went to one of our usual cafés with a two courseMenu Del Dia and reliable wifi so that we could FaceTime our families.
The plan for the afternoon was to visit the Cathedral but after sitting outside of it most days and already knowing how spectacular it is, Juliet and I decided to give our cultural experience a miss, and headed to the Spanish school for our meeting with the head teacher. We needed to find out if I need to have had the Yellow Fever jab to enter into Equador, like some of the doctors in Europe seem to think, and whether Juliet can stay in our housing for extra nights. The answers were simple no and yes, however on my request more research is going into the Yellow fever mystery as I don’t want to be turned away at the Equador boarder!

Obviously this evening we’ve ended up in Basilica, and as we’re now probably their most loyal customers, they even re set the whole wifi just for me and Juliet. As a thank you, (to them or us we don’t know) we decided to try out two (yes two… Piggies) of their homemade cakes of the day – a strawberry cheesecake which was like rubber, looked delicious and tasted… Not so delicious; and a lemon tart which was actually lovely but by the time we got close to finishing it, both Juliet and I felt very ill (serves us right really).

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