Day 35: Madrid/London and home

Three hours of sleep and five films later (Harry Potter, Marley and Me, Black Swan, The King's Speech and Love and Other Drugs - I fell asleep halfway through The King's Speech, and the plane turned off the media a quarter of the way into Love and Other Drugs), we landed in Madrid. I got my rucksack, and got off the plane as soon as I could. I was fairly surprised that I wasn't sore or stiff, but I walked through security (I got frisked, joyous) and got to the gate just as the line was forming. There was enough time to buy some water and phone Mum (the price of water seemed extortionate - in Peru a bottle of water cost about 23p, here it cost about £1), before boarding the plane. I didn't mind not getting a window seat - I just read for the 2 and a half hour flight.

At 4.10pm local time, we landed in Gatwick. 20 minutes ahead of schedule! I got my rucksack, went through border control, then changed into clothes more appropriate for the rainy weather (typical! My travelling clothes tend to be an oversize penguin t-shirt and loose trousers, for the record). Soon I was waiting for my luggage to appear - and waiting. Soon it was clear that my cases weren't there, but I honestly didn't mind. I knew that they'd appear sooner or later, so I filled in a form (all 5 people who'd come from Lima were in the same situation, we assumed that since we'd arrived late in Madrid, the suitcases hadn't made the connection), then went through customs and into the arrivals area. And there was Mum - it was so wonderful to see her again after my month away. We hugged, then made our way to the car, where I'd tell her about my trip as we'd make our way back home, to where Dad and Christopher were waiting for me.

Day 34: Lima and goodbye

I felt quite sad that this would be my last day in Lima. I'd gotten used to being back in the house, to hearing the baker on his bike beeping his horn to sell his wares, to breathing in the humid air that fills me with childhood memories, to looking out of the window at the statue of the Virgin in the park, to watching TV with my grandparents. I got dressed quickly and joined them for breakfast. Then Tia Silvia told me the plan: she and Annabelle would be going with Tio Mañuco to a market (not much like the market in Huancayo, this reminded me more of the Sunday market we have at home) for their last-minute shopping, then he'd drop them off at the artesans' market. Then we'd have lunch, and take a taxi to the airport. Would I like to join them in the morning?

So we went - it was great to be able to see Tio Mañuco and Maria Gracia before we went home. And it was quite nice walking around the artesans' market, I spent most of the time mentally comparing prices (50 soles in Lima for a jumper, 35 soles in Huancayo for the same thing etc). One of the vendors mentioned that Annabelle and I were foreign, Tia said that we'd be heading back to Texas that afternoon. She later said that she comes up with a different story each time, I tend to stick with the same story (Martha the student from Miami. On a related note, sometimes people say that Mum and Tia Silvia don't seem like they're from Lima - Mum now says she's from Arequipa, and Tia that she's from Cajamarca. I guess the longer you spend living away from a place, the less you're seen as a person from that place by strangers).

We got a taxi back to the house, then Tia went with Tio Alejandro and Yessica to buy pollo a la brasa (I felt slightly guilty to be eating meat on Good Friday, since I'm supposed to be fasting) while Annabelle and I set the table (since there're so many of us in the house, it's not fair on Veronica to do everything for us, so we help out). Abuelo was feeling ill so he stayed in bed, but the rest of us shared the pollo a la brasa meal together. That was lovely.

The afternoon was a mad rush of packing - I'd nearly finished packing, but there were still a few last-minute items that needed to be squeezed in, and the suitcases needed weighing. Thankfully there were no issues there, and everything was packed. Then we discussed how we'd get a taxi: after many suggestions and a few disagreements, Yessica went out with Tia Silvia and Tio Alejandro to the main road to hail two taxis. The first one would take me and Tio, since my flight left first (40 mins before Tia and Annabelle - I thought this a little odd) - this arrived not long after, so Tio helped me put my cases in the car.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Mamamama and Abuelo. That was hard - who knows when I'll next see them? There's a quotation I often think of, that I saw in a Pokemon game: "'Goodbye' is the beginning of 'Hello'". That gets me through when I have to say goodbye to somebody.

Tio and I got to the airport with no hassle (he spent the trip talking politics with the taxi driver, I watched out of the window at Lima), then we got in the queue for my airline, and soon I bade godspeed to my suitcases as they disappeared out of sight. Tio and I saw Annabelle and Tia in their queue (I was with AirEuropa, they were with Iberia, hence different flights), then we went with Yessica to McDonalds. Tia and Annabelle joined us there, we chatted until my flight was called. Tia, Annabelle and I went through together - we said our goodbyes to Tio Alejandro and Yessica, then went through to customs. Usually I pay airport tax (about $35 or $40) at this point, but Tia explained to the guard that her ticket included airport tax, so he waved her through. Annabelle went with her - and I admit, so did I. I wasn't called back, so we carried on straight to security.

Ten minutes later, there we were in the lounge. I said bye to Tia and Annabelle, then went to my gate - the board announced the 7.40pm flight. 7.40pm? My flight was at 7.05pm... had I somehow missed it? I panicked a bit then - my watch said 6.30, so I should be okay... I asked at the desk, they assured me that it was the same flight, but it was a bit late. So why they didn't just put a sign saying 'Delayed' is beyond me. I wandered around a bit and found Tia and Annabelle in a cafe - we chatted a bit, then I checked the gate again. Nothing, so I went back and chatted some more. Then I went back - this time they were doing the last call, and people were in the line. So I sprinted back to Tia and Annabelle (not the easiest thing when you've a large rucksack on your back and are trying to not knock over other travellers), said goodbye to them, then ran back. Some minutes later, I was on the plane, and not long after that we took off. I had nobody next to me, so I stretched out a bit with my book and flicked through the films. Tia had given me earphones, so I spent the rest of the night watching film after film after film.

During my last trip, I thought a lot about my experience, and what had happened. This time, I thought a lot about my experience and what could happen in the future. Strange thoughts have been coming to me since I spoke with Sonia about the kids she worked with, thoughts about what I wanted to do. The best way I can describe my thoughts is that it was similar to falling in love for the first time - an awful lot of denial, a lot of what-ifs, a lot of doubts and uncertainty and reluctance to do anything, just in case feelings turned out to be something else. This felt completely different to falling in love, but my thoughts went down pretty much the same lines. Having talked to Mum and Tia Silvia a bit about this, I'm now considering working with projects like these - not just in the holidays, but as a career. I felt more 'real' there than I've ever done - I felt the same in 2009, but didn't think much on that then. There're still a lot of confusing thoughts in my head about this - what about my psychology degree, what about the life I'd imagined for myself in the UK? While I was in bed with fever a few weeks ago, I wrote a few things down in a notebook - most of them are doodles of cats in honeypots or story-characters dancing (my mind does strange things when I'm ill), but one page has written on it "At home it's about what the country can do for me. Over here, it's what I can do for the country." I don't want to forget that. I want to do more to help, whether it's with Makikita or with another organisation. A few friends laughed when I described the children as 'my kids' - but they are, I feel that they are in a way that I can't explain. I still need to think and talk a lot more about this, but this is where my thoughts are now. And where my thoughts were as I failed to fall asleep on the flight back home.

Day 33: Lima and the creative trio

The morning was a lazy one - we watched TV, did SuDoku, and went out to the park. I went out with Veronica briefly to the supermarket - there I bought the last-minute things I wanted to bring home, and a few things that I hadn't expected to buy but were too good to resist (e.g. 100% bee's honey - we saw it in a health shop, I couldn't help myself).

Then in the afternoon, Tia Gloria's friends Jessie and Carmen took me out for lonche - we chatted, reminisced about Tia, and laughed. That was good fun. Carmen gave me a notebook she'd designed herself, it's amazing - she's very creative. All three friends were creative - Jessie's a great cook, Carmen's a great artist, and Tia Gloria designed jewellery - they told me about their weekly trips to buy supplies followed by a pastry, that was lovely to hear about.

When I got back to the house, Abuelo and Mamamama were in bed, and Veronica was locking up. Silvia and Annabelle weren't around - they came in a bit later, saying that we'd been invited to dinner by Zari. First, though, we went to Church for the Maunday Thursday - unfortunately the Chruch was very crowded, and we ended up in a side-room watching the priest on a projector. The sound was terrible - Tia Silvia said she had huge trouble understanding what was being said, Annabelle and I didn't understand a word, so we left early and went straight to Zari's. She took us out for lomo saltado, it's a beef dish with rice and soy sauce. Even though I'm not a huge soy sauce fan, it tasted brilliant - I had a great evening.

When we got back to the house, I was still relatively awake, so I started my packing. Soon I was almost done, so I decided to finish the rest tomorrow.

Day 32: Lima and visiting

I was woken this morning by Tia Silvia saying that there was a phone call for me - I ran downstairs and chatted on the phone to Pilar, a good friend of my mum's. She came to pick me up at 10am and we went to a cafe in the Jesus Maria district - we laughed over juice and cake, thus passed a fun morning with her.

I got back to the house for lunch, then we watched more TV and did more SuDokus. At 4pm my aunts Rossi and Ruth were due to come over, so we went to the living room to wait. By 4.45 we wondered where they were, so Tia Silvia phoned - there was some misunderstanding in that they didn't think that they were to come over then, but Tia Ruth came over anyway. So we chatted, then watched the slideshow that Annabelle had made for Tia Gloria's Mass (the projector was broken in the church, so she couldn't show it in the end), then Ruth went home.

I went over to visit my mum's friend Rosanna, with whom I'd did work experience back in Year 9 (she teaches in a British school in Lima - many lessons are in English), and spent a while with her and her little children. Angelina and Gustavo are now 6 and 5, they're so sweet! We chatted, then played a game with the children while they ate - each person around the table had to sing a song, so they were treated to my rendition of 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary'. Lucky them?

When I got back to Mamamama's house (it's only a 3 minute walk to Rosanna's, she lives on the other side of the next-door park), I waited for my friend Fiorella to come over. She got a bit lost when she arrived in Pueblo Libre, but eventually she arrived with her aunt Norita - the three of us had gone to the rainforest two years ago with Nora's late sister Maye, and a Swedish volunteer called Emma. So we spent the rest of the evening reminiscing, laughing, chatting, and generally having a great time. Ah, it was lovely seeing Fiorella again - she's the daughter of the host family I stayed with in Huancayo two years ago, she's now studying in Lima and lives in Jesus Maria with her cousin. They had to leave eventually because Nora's mum was waiting for her back in Comas, which is about an hour's drive away, so we said our goodbyes, then I went up to bed.

Day 31: Lima and Mass

When I woke up this morning, it felt as though I'd never left Lima, and I sleepily wondered if the last three weeks had been a dream. Then I got up and started my day.

The day was largely a calm one - we all had breakfast, then watched TV, then had lunch, then moved to the living room where I did some SuDoku. I admit it was hard to get used to this, having spent my time in Huancayo moving about and not being sat in one place for too long.

In the evening was the Mass held for my Tia Gloria, who'd died exactly one year ago. Tio Mañuco picked us up and took us to the church (Tia Silvia had given me a beautiful dress to wear, so I wore that with a jumper of hers and my 'ceilidh-dancing' shoes), then the Mass began. I did the first reading - I hadn't realised quite how long it was, and after what seemed like an age of trying to not trip over words, I reached the end. My cousin Maria Gracia read the psalm, then Tia Silvia read the petitions before Maria Gracia and I did the collection. It all went really well. At the end of Mass the priest blessed me and Maria Gracia when we went to take the collection to him, then we stood in the entrance of the church while family and friends lined up to speak to us. I admit that I recognised some faces but not others, and by the 40th "Thank you, Tia" I was getting a little tired. Still, it was lovely that my mum's friends came to pay their respects.

Tia Silvia, Annabelle and I got a lift back with Tia's friends, then a neighbour Srta. Christina came over to talk. An hour later she went home, so we said our goodnights and went to bed.

Day 30: Huancayo/Lima and family

I slept fairly badly, so I was quite glad when my alarm finally went off. I threw my last few things in my suitcase, then took my stuff downstairs and waited for Juliana. She arrived at 7am - it was hard saying bye to Hilda and Yesy, who's been like family for the last 3 and a half weeks. Then Juliana and I got in a taxi, and arrived ten minutes later at the street corner where the cars to Lima were. There was one leaving in two minutes' time, so we put my stuff in, then I said bye to Juliana - she'd been a mix of friend and aunt to me, so that was hard too. Then the car was full (two men, two women - I sat between the other woman and the door), and we set off.

This journey was slightly more eventful - as we drove through the mountains, when we reached 3800m above sea level, I got hit by altitude sickness. So... on the plus side, the view at that height was wonderful. On the minus side, we had to stop for a few minutes so my stomach could leave its mark on the roadside. One of the other passengers got me some herbs to smell, that helped a bit, and the driver cleaned me up with an alcoholic rag (I briefly wondered if the line of 'appropriate contact' was blurred here, but by this point I was past caring), then he gave me a bag to throw up in and we carried on.

Five hours and three more throw-ups after leaving Huancayo, we pulled up in Lima. Tio Alejandro was there to meet me - one of Tio Mañuco's workers drove us back to the house. It was lovely seeing the family again, and seeing Tia Silvia and Annabelle, who'd come over from London. After a wonderful shower (Hilda's 'hot water' was very temperamental, and more often than not was cold - Mamamama's shower was amazingly warm), we ate lunch - Tio Alejandro and Yessica had brought over pollo a la brasa for me. Then I stayed with Mamamama for the rest of the afternoon.

In the evening, Tia Silvia took me and Annabelle out to Lima - we took the city bus tour, that was a wonderful three hours seeing the sights of Lima by night. We stopped off for a snack in the Hotel Sheraton, I felt rather posh! Then we carried on our tour, which included walking over a bridge without breathing so that your wish would come true, driving past the Palace of Justice, and seeing the sea. I had a wonderful time. Then we went back - Abuelo was waiting for us, and invited us for panetonne. I was quite hungry so I had a little, then went straight to bed.

Day 29: Huancayo/Ingenio and packing

I got to Juliana's house just before 10, and once all of the other volunteers but John had turned up (he was staying in this morning), we and Juliana got a taxi to Ingenio. It's about 10 minutes further than Concepcion, so it was quite nice seeing the familiar scenery. We stopped off briefly at Concepcion for ice cream - there's a dairy farm there where they make ice cream with just the cream from the milk, so that was an interesting but nice taste.

When we arrived at Ingenio, we walked around a trout farm. I'd seen one before in La Merced two years ago, but this one was a lot larger, and the size of trout ranged from the eggs and babies to ones as long as my arm. I fed them some pieces of my ice cream cone, they jumped up crazily trying to eat them. Then we found a stall selling pure honey, so we got some free tasters. I bought a honey chocoteja there to see what that was like - a prune covered in honey with nuts floating it, coated in chocolate. Heaven - later on I realised that eating chocolate was probably a very foolish idea, but hopefully walking and drinking lots of water would stop there being any bad effects. We then walked around a restaurant which offered views of some natural springs - unfortunately the path was closed for wet season, but the little that we could see was spectacular. Then we went to the restaurant next door to eat trout. It was great laughing with the other volunteers - Jesse joked that we should form a band, our first hits being "Straight from the Cow" (re. the ice cream from earlier) and "Canchis Canchis", a quechua term which Juliana told us translates as 'Hanky Panky' (I can add that to my quechua vocab, which currently has about 5 words in it). Afterwards we got a taxi back to Huancayo.

John, Danny and I went to the market in the afternoon - the Huancavelica market is about 1km long, this time we walked to the very end. We saw artesanal goods, and nearer the end there were animals (1 guinea pig for 20 soles) and computer games - I had a look, and bought a few gifts before we turned back. Then I wandered to the internet cafe while John and Danny went back to their house, then walked about town for a little.

At about 6-ish I went back to Juliana's - she wasn't in at first, so I waited about in her kitchen until she got back. I watched some TV until Jesse and Jenny came over, then John and Danny, then we all went out for pollo a la brasa to ccelebrate my last night in Huancayo. Juliana paid for me - she said that it was a gift from her mum, who was too ill to come tonight. Nelly came along too, with her brother Mario and her nephew Miguel. Hilda and Yesy joined us there (Juan Jose was with his dad for the evening), I had a really lovely evening seeing everyone together. We took photos, and exchanged gifts - Juliana got me a typically-patterned bag, her mum had gotten me a typically-patterned purse, and Hilda gave me a wall-hanging with an image of Huancayo on it. That was really lovely, I wasn't expecting that! I gave Juliana a 'Royal Wedding' mug and some earrings for her mum; for Hilda and Yesy, Mum had packed chocolates. Those went down really well.

Soon it was 9pm, and it was time to say goodbye. Bye to Nelly and her family, who'd been my family last time. Bye to Jenny, Jesse, Danny and John, the new friends who I'd have to leave so soon. Juliana said that she'd come over tomorrow to take me to where the cars leave for Lima, so I took a taxi back with Hilda and Yesy.

The next hour was spent frantically trying to pack everything - I hadn't even begun packing beforehand, but I'm generally a fast packer. Soon my suitcase and rucksack were bursting, but the room was empty apart from my pyjamas, clothes for the next day, and the doll I'd named Jaiyo was sitting on the bed where he'd been that first day. I said goodbye to Juan Jose in case he wasn't up in the morning - I'd be leaving just before 7am - then went to bed myself, praying that the journey tomorrow would be a safe one.

Day 28: Huancayo/Concepcion and concert

In the morning I went to the hairdressers, and 3 hours later walked out with slightly shorter partly-curled hair (the curls have now fallen out, but such is life). I stopped by John and Danny's on the way back - Juliana was there too, so we chatted until midday. Then we three volunteers walked into town and I bought a watch, then got a bus back for lunch at Hilda's.

After lunch, we'd arranged to meet up outside Juliana's house to go to Concepcion. I asked Yesy if Juan Jose could come too, so he came along. Jesse didn't come in the end because he felt ill, so only five of us went. After waiting for a while on the streetcorner for the bus, we ended up catching a taxi. Juan Jose and I ended up squished in the front seat for the half hour drive to Concepcion, but there was at least some lovely mountain scenery out of the window.

When we got to Concepcion, we waited a while for another taxi, which took us up to where there was a giant statue of the Virgin Mary. It was absolutely beautiful, we walked around and climbed up to the top of the statue, coming out of the top of her head. From there the view of the mountains was just stunning. We climbed down and saw small figurines of a battle fought here when the Spaniards came, then took a taxi back to Huancayo.

In the evening I went with John and Danny to the internet cafe, then John stayed there a while longer while Danny and I went out for coffee and juice respectively (the fruit juice with beetroot tasted as good as ever). Then all of us volunteers went round to Juliana's, and from there walked to the Plaza de Armas. There was a concert there, protesting against the planned construction of a mine in the glacier Huaytapallana (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Salvemos-el-Huaytapallana/181917309322), so we stayed for a while to watch. After that Juliana took us to a pub where a live band sang in English - that was good fun. I had a drink containing pisco sour (a national type of alcohol), lemon and aniseed tea - even though there wasn't much pisco sour in the drink, it was strong enough to result in me going red and constantly swaying to the music. Then Danny, Juliana and I got a plate of yuca to share, that was great. We left about two hours later - by the time my taxi got back to Hilda's it was nearly midnight, so I locked up as quietly as I could and went straight to sleep.

Day 27: Huancayo and "God is love"

I woke up feeling quite sad that today would be the last time I'd be with my littlies. We had a wonderful day though - first we played with jigsaws, then wooden bricks, then some of them rushed up to show me their toys and give me hugs. Then after breakfast, some special visitors came and we sang songs about how God is love, then they collected up all the yellow toys in their classroom, then a yellow glove puppet told us that God loves us very much. Then we had our next lesson of the day, rectangles, and played matching games of all the shapes we'd learned that week. Then came lunch, and after that Jenny went to talk to some of the parents while we stayed in the dining room and watched the Teletubbies. I spent most of the time with at least one child on my lap, and I was quite sad when the day ended. Edwin and Jenny had made me a card, and inside were printed all of the children's names. That was lovely! Ah, I'll miss my littlies.

In the afternoon I met up with Jesse and Jenny, and we mentioned the possibility of going to Concepcion the next day. Then we went round to see Danny (John was out), and the four of us visited Parque de la Identitad. That was good fun. On the way back we stopped by the shopping centre so Danny could get money out, then took a taxi back to Juliana's. The taxi driver took us by a complete different route, and I wondered for a moment if he was going to rob us, then he tried to drop us off on a different streetcorner. So I told him no, and gave him directions as to exactly how to get to Juliana's from where we were. I very much hope that this doesn't happen to the new volunteers while they don't know their whereabouts so well!

When Juliana came back from work, the other volunteers went out to eat, and Juliana and I went to run some errands in town. Afterwards, the two of us went out for broaster chicken (kind-of like southern fried chicken?) before heading back to our houses. That was a fun evening.

Day 26: Huancayo and hail

Today's shape of the day was the triangle. And a very important shape it is. I found myself thinking about the Grand High Triangle Lover from Sesame Street (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l_sN0P89S4&feature=player_detailpage), and wondered what he'd think of today's activities. We pegged up triangles on a skipping rope, then drew triangles in red crayon and punched holes in them with dead biros. Then in the afternoon Juliana came to film me with the kids - we did jigsaws, played with trains, and one of the boys put a ring of toys around my neck and said that I was a princess. How we laughed!

I had lunch at Nelly's house - it was great seeing her and the maid Dina again, who I hadn't seen since I was there two years ago. We ate with Nelly's father, then we went up to the rooftop. It was so strange seeing the room where I'd stayed before. It was really sunny, so Nelly brought me up a chair, and I stayed there for a while soaking up the sun. Then Hector came back from his office, so I went to say hi to him. Two minutes later, we saw that it was raining, so Nelly and I dashed to collect the clothes from the rooftop. Two minutes after that, hailstones the size of my thumbnail were falling. It was quite remarkable to watch. I stayed there a while waiting for the two new volunteers who were due to arrive at Nelly's that afternoon - an hour after they were due to arrive, I gave up and wandered to the internet cafe.

In the evening I went to Juliana's house - there I chatted with John, a volunteer who arrived on Tuesday (Daniel and I met him briefly before we went to Hualhuas yesterday), then we went to pick up the volunteers from Nelly's house. They're a couple, Jesse and Jenny, so we chatted on the way back to Juliana's. There Juliana's mum made a dinner of causa and some fruit salad for us all - me, John, Jesse, Jenny, Oscar, Sonia, and a new volunteer called Danny who also arrived today. It was Sonia's last day - tomorrow she and Oscar are off to Huaraz, then she'll go home while Oscar comes back - so we said goodbye. I said goodbye to Oscar too, since he'll come back when I'm already in Lima. It was a great evening chatting, then we all went back to our houses.

Day 25: Huancayo/Hualhuas and squares

Today we learned about squares. Unlike circles, squares have four corners, and four sides. Pretty much the same games as yesterday were played - some of the younger ones brought up circles instead of squares, which wasn't surprising. Then came the children's task of ripping paper up into little squares, and I'd stick them inside a big square, one square per group. This was much more successful - my little group of five all wanted to stick on the squares themselves, so with the proviso that I'd be the only one putting glue on the paper, I had no issue with this. We were all very proud of our square. Then came lunch (a few tears, a few refusals to eat, a few threats to sit at the 2 year olds' table), then an afternoon of jumping, building houses (I'm the official house-builder and jump-facilitator), cutting nails, doing up shoelaces, and brushing hair and teeth. The children leave the playschool very clean.

In the afternoon Juliana had said that her friend Daniel would take me to Hualhuas, a place known for its wool products. So Daniel and I set off - it was great chatting to him, and I had a nice afternoon. It was about a 45 minute journey by bus, which took us into more rural areas - I saw some pigs and cows munching grass on a train track, and we were fairly close to the mountains when we got off the bus. We looked around the artesans' market, then found a place where they sold alpaca wool, then walked around the town square for a bit before heading back.

I'd arranged to go to the cinema with Yesy and Juan Jose in the evening, but when I got there half an hour late, they weren't there. I called Yesy, no reply. I wandered around the shopping centre for a while, eventually she called me while I was munching some KFC - she was inside the cinema now, a horror film was about to start, would I be joining them? I'm not the hugest fan of horror films, so I said I'd see them back at the house. I wandered about town for a little, bought some churros, then got on a bus to Juliana's (I'd left my shopping from Hualhuas there earlier). I chatted to her mum for a while, then Juliana and Nelly turned up, and the four of us chatted until it got dark. Juliana's mum made us a dessert of peaches in jelly, she says that during Holy Week it's custom to eat this dessert in her hometown of Tarma. Then when it was dark, I grabbed my shopping, then headed back to Hilda's.

Day 24. Huancayo and circles

This morning we learned about circles. Circles are round, like wheels, they have no corners. So the littlies played a game of finding circles in the room - a few of them got confused and brought over their books or toys, others decided that batting together two squares was good enough. Bless! Then they drew over a circle in crayon, then rolled up tissue paper into balls and gave them to me to glue onto the circles. Well, that was the plan - the result was mainly strips of paper being glued on, some of the littlies getting glue on their faces, and I ended up with some in my hair. I still don't quite know how that happened...

In the afternoon I went round Juliana's - we chatted for a while, then I helped her translate a few things, then she said that Nelly, the woman whose house I'd stayed in two years ago, was still in Huancayo. So of course, I went over to visit. It was lovely seeing her again! We chatted over grapes and coca tea, then I went with her as she ran some errands in town. Then back to the house for a 'lonche' (afternoon-tea?) of bread rolls and manjarblanco. We had a lovely time, and she invited me over for lunch on Thursday. Then I hopped on a bus back to Hilda's - I managed to miss my stop while the conductor was getting my change, so I ended up in another part of Pio Pata. Fairly interesting, I just crossed the road and took a bus in the other direction until I knew where I was and could walk back. I'll probably explore that other end of Pio Pata another day.

Day 23: Huancayo and my littlies

It was so wonderful seeing the littlies again, I'd missed them since Thursday! We crawled and jumped and coloured in and sorted toys into piles of yellow, green and blue. The day's activity was parts of the body - stretch the arm, wave the leg, show your middle finger (that one always makes me laugh). Ah, my littlies! After they ate their lunch, we went upstairs to the playground. Health and safety would have a field day here: concrete floor, relatively low wall. But the children were happy playing in the sun; chasing, going on the slide, on the seesaw (although little Allison fell off and cried).

After lunch, I did a bit of work at Juliana's, then internetted (I've somewhat given up on the idea of getting my coursework done here, it's kind of hard to concentrate on writing a report when there're trucks hurtling past every few seconds) then at 5pm met up with Mum's friend Doria. We had a great evening, We went for milkshake and cake in town (she invited me) and we chatted for a good hour and a half or so, until we saw it was getting dark. Then she put me on a bus, and I headed back to my house. I chatted for a while to Hilda's mum, who tells such wonderful long stories, then went for a relatively early night.

Day 22: Huancayo and elections

In a way it feels like I've been in Peru for less time than three weeks, and in a way it feels like I've been here for longer.

I went for a walk in the morning, just around town. It was fairly sunny, but I was still wrapped up warmly since I don't want to risk getting ill again. Then I met up with Yesy and Juliana for lunch in a seafood place - I dislike seafood as a rule, so I got ceviche (raw fish left to cook in lemon juice - it's quite nice, if very lemony). The three of us then went to visit Oscar and Sonia for a bit, then back to Juliana's to watch the prelim results of the presidential elections.

As Hilda later explained to me, voting closes at midday, and the results of the polls are shown at 4pm (not the actual results, although Yesy said that there's a very small margin of error). If nobody gets more than 50% of the vote, then a furhter election is held later on between the two most popular candidates. So... in early June, it'll come down to an election between Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13027410)

In the evening I went out with Juliana and her friend Daniel - we ate hot dog and chips - 'salchipapas', it's called over here. On a side note, did I mention how cheap food is here? A good plate of salchipapas (I couldn't finish them all) in a cafe in the shopping centre cost the equivalent of 1.75 pounds or so. After dinner, we saw Rio in the cinema, that was good fun. We smuggled in drinks (strictly speaking we can't bring in food from outside of the cinema - there are attendants to check bags for food and cameras, but so far I've been lucky), at one point in the film mine fizzed out of the bottle and the people in the neighbouring seats turned to stare - joyous... other than that, I really did have a great evening.

We came across Hilda and Yesy while trying to get a taxi back, so the five of us got a taxi together - Juliana and Daniel got off outside Oscar and Sonia's, then the rest of us made our way back to the house.

Day 21: Huancayo and a reverse-day

This morning I woke up just after 8, feeling ready to greet the world. I'm still on antibiotics for the next few days by order of Hilda and Mum (she rang twice yesterday when I texted her to say I was ill), so after breakfast I went out to the pharmacy to stock up on meds. For some reason most people here buy individual tablets, so I wasn't able to get a complete box, but I was able to get enough of everything except for paracetamol, and that I have in my first aid kit anyway. I ended up in a different area of town while searching for the pharmacy, on a side-note there I saw for the first time a statue of the Virgin Mary. I wonder if she's not venerated quite so much in Huancayo as in Lima? Or if their veneration is shown in other ways?

I got a call from Tio Alejandro's girlfriend Yessica, to say that she was in Huancayo, and would I like to have lunch with her? So after finishing my laundry and quickly checking my emails, I waited for her in the house. She called just after 12 to say that she was nearby and couldn't find the house - in all fairness you can't see it from the road - so I went outside, and saw her in a taxi by the park. It was great seeing her!

From there, the day was almost the opposite of my first Saturday in Huancayo back in 2009. We went to the Parque de Identidad, a beautiful park of statues and a favourite haunt of couples (we saw a newly-wed couple still in their dress and suit), where we saw some people in their costumes doing dances typical of the Jauja area. We climbed up a 'for children only' area, and the park keeper blew a whistle at us until we came down... Then we went to a small artesans' market in the park, where Yessica bought us both necklaces with our star signs on them (she's Virgo, I'm Sagittarius), and I bought a lovely jumper that I've been wanting for a fair while.

After that, we got in a taxi to her house - she lives about 5 minutes' walk from Nelly's house (Nelly being the head of the family I stayed with in 2009), and her house overlooks the orphanage where Oscar works, the one that I visited with Juliana. Such a small world! We had lunch with her mum, a really funny woman who insisted that I come back even after Yessica returns to Lima on Monday. Then Yessica took a short nap while I watched TV, then we went to the zoo by bus. The bus was quite small - I was reminded of Hilda's cactus, which is just outside the front door: it's bent over in a strange shape, with the top of it brushing against the ceiling of the porch area. Get rid of the spines and change the colour, and that's me on a bus. Many of the people who live in the mountains are short compared to me - Juliana's fairly tall here, and I'm easily another 2 inches taller than her. Occasionally I have to stoop down quite a bit to enter a doorway of some of the buildings here. I'm digressing, so I'll get back to the day with Yessica.

The zoo's improved quite a bit since I was last here, in that the animals now have more room to walk and climb. There were some leopard-like felines the size of domestic felines, and I saw 'Paddington Bear' and thought of my uni friends. Then we went for anticuchos, Yessica told me afterwards that I'd just eaten heart (I'm almost glad I didn't know this before eating them, I'm not a huge fan of the idea of eating organs for some reason), followed by picarones (doughnut-shaped, but with a nicer taste) and a type of chicha typical of the mountains. I say that whis was a backwards day, in that in 2009 I went with the other volunteers to the zoo first, then to the park.

Yessica went with me in a taxi back to my house, where I called Juliana (I'd missed a call from her in the afternoon). She said that she was in the cinema - oops! On a side note, of the times I've been to the cinema in Peru, not once have I seen a 'Turn your phone off' advert, and many times someone has a phone conversation while I'm trying to watch the film. I'll give her a ring later, hopefully tomorrow we'll do something.

It's 7.30pm now, and I have ten minutes left before my time in the internet cafe runs out. It's a 3 minute walk to the internet cafe from Hilda's house, so I felt perfectly safe, even though it's dark now. I quite liked walking in the evening here: there's a small party outside a neighbour's house, with music and neighbours sitting around and lazily drinking. There're children playing ball games in the street, and mothers chatting in the park while their children chase each other. When I was in Lima when I was younger, Mum and I would often go to the park near my grandparents' house, sometimes with my cousins. There we'd play, or run, or I'd do handstands, and just enjoy breathing the night air, before praying at the statue of the Virgin before returning to the house. I thought about that as I watched the children play, and thought how much I enjoyed those evenings in the park.

Right, I'll pack up in a bit, then take my second dose of antibiotics before bed. I feel nearly-fine though, hopefully I'll keep recovering.

Day 20: Huancayo and bedbound

I couldn't get up this morning. I heard my alarm go off, but after turning it off I couldn't get up. At 8.15 Hilda came to check on me, I was able to get out of bed and open the door for her, but she took one look at me and sent me straight back to bed, and offered to ring Juliana to say that I couldn't work today. I just felt too ill.

I was able to get down for some bread and camomile tea, then went back to bed. When I woke up, Hilda had bought me some antibiotics from the pharmacist - an hour after taking them, I felt more alive, and I could speak again (my throat had packed up on me). I spent the rest of the day sleeping and doodling cats with wings, and reading and even trying to do some revision! At one point I was woken up by a band playing outside, while usually I love the music of that they play, today I just groaned and tried to get back to sleep. I ate about half of lunch, then slept some more until Hilda came with more medicines. 3 tablets cost about 1 pound in total - I had a flashback of being about 11 and having very bad sunburn, and Mum wishing that she'd thought to bring calamine lotion since many healthcare products are expensive in Peru - but they're really effective. By 7pm I felt almost fine, and stayed reading a little more until I fell asleep.

Day 19: Huancayo and radio

I spent most of the night awake, sneezing and hearing the dogs outside (I don't think I mentioned the dogs here - there are so many strays here, Sonia and I seriously wondered whether there are more dogs or internet cafes here). To that end, I wasn't feeling too great when I went to the playschool, but it was still a good day. The littlies were trying to get from one end of the room to the other using only two mats, the idea being that you lift up the first one and put it in front of the second one - many of them picked up the first mat and put it down in the same place, then just hopped between the two mats. Ahh!

In the afternoon I went into town with Juliana, we mainly just browsed. Then I went with her to her job at the radio station - it was fairly interesting seeing how the controls worked, and from where she gets her source material. Afterwards we went for pollo a la brasa - it was great chatting over a meal that we both love. Through the windows we could see the main square, and there were some concerts in honour of the forthcoming elections.

I'll quickly explain the elections over here, as I understand them. Each person returns to their hometown to vote for the individual they wish to be president, and of the other elects of that party, who they wish to be in congress. There're concerts and bands and many many flyers and billboards everywhere with the faces of the presidential and congress elects, Juliana said that by sponsoring concerts they hope to get in the votes of the young people. Mum told me that in Peru everyone is obliged to vote, otherwise they could be fined. I think that makes sense, since then the president should in theory represent what the people want. The elections are on Sunday 10th, so a lot of people will be coming back to Huancayo soon to vote.

After that I went straight back to the house, knitted a little more, then went to bed.

Day 18: Huancayo and research

Edwin was away for most of the morning, so it was just me and Jenny until just after lunch. So I got the oh-so-fun tasks of fetching stuff from the kitchen and emptying potties as well as playing and trying to get the littlies to eat. We played a matching-cards game - at one point Jenny's mobile rang and she took the call, so I stepped in with "Where is the partner of the hippo?" while fifteen 3 year olds were jumping out of their seats to show me. Bless them! Lunch was fairly normal . one boy cried because he didn't want to eat his caomte, so I mushed it into something vaguely resembling a cat, which helped a bit. Another girl cried because she didn't want her banana - I tried making it into shapes, singing, ignoring her, the aeroplane game - then she threw up. I felt quite bad then. Afterwards we went back to class, where I stuck in more worksheets while two of the girls 'helped' me until it was time for me to leave.

I was planning to go out to town with Juliana, so I left the house straight after lunch and went to the internet cafe first. I ended up spending all afternoon there, chatting and working and researching. Story short, there's a lot of poverty here, especially among families of disabled children (a cause very close to my heart) so I spent most of the afternoon researching the laws and statistics of the region. I was quite disappointed with how few useful things I could find. I stayed internetting until about 7pm, then gave up and went back to the house.

Day 17: Huancayo and playing games

This morning we raced to build towers and train tracks out of duplo, then we did our stretching exercises before lunch. Somehow I've unofficially become the one to wash the children's hands before lunch - it's fine until the children who claim that they can do it themselves come along. Cue about a minute with the soap, then much splashing of water - we all end up slightly wet. I just try to not laugh while hurrying the little ones. At lunchtime the teacher for the class of 2 year olds was ill, and only the aide was present, so I helped out there instead. The little ones just sat and munched their fruit - a few times the aide shouted at them for not eating fast enough, and a few of them cried. I missed my cheeky 3 year olds, plus I like how the teacher Jenny can convey authority without shouting. I felt bad for the 2 year olds. After lunch I stuck a few worksheets in the homework books (I asked Jenny what I could use to spread the glue with, she looked at me blankly, so I used my finger), then jumped on the bus back to the house.

In the afternoon I went with Juliana to the park again - this time after giving out the remaining sweets, Juliana went to talk to some of the helpers about renting out another building for the children who aren't supported by the large company. I stayed on the grass playing clapping games, running games, volleyball, and talking - I'd forgotten how many questions the children ask! Questions about my family, about the necklace I was wearing, about the scar on my wrist, about my hair, about my individual friends... it was great fun, though. I didn't want to leave when Juliana said that it was time to go! We stayed a while longer talking to the mother of three of the girls - her brother rented out a nearby house next to the park, she'd ask him if he'd be willing to let it to Juliana to use for the children. I hope that he says yes.

In the evening I went round Gustavo's again - I chatted to him and Michelle, and we went for pollo a la brasa. Then we saw the film 'Rango' - it's hilarious, so I didn't at all mind seeing it again. It was Michelle's last night in Huancayo, and she and Gustavo would be going back to Lima late that night, so I said my goodbyes and took the bus back to Hilda's.

Day 16: Huancayo and old faces

I was quite surprised to not feel at all sore this morning, since I don't often hike. I got on my bus, and a morning playing with the little ones was pretty much all that was needed to make me feel good again. We coloured in flowers, raced to put pegs on a washing line, counted to five using our fingers (when Jenny asked everyone to show their middle finger, I nearly burst out laughing at the sight of sixteen 3 and 4 year olds waving their middle fingers about), and sang the teapot song. I love the kids.

In the afternoon I went round Juliana's - she was surprised that I'd tired within an hour of hiking. Then we talked more, and I learned that when she did the hike, their tour guide had made sure that they kept together, and they'd gone along a near-flat road to the foot of the glacier, and only those who were really fit had gone on to climb. What we'd done was take a route that would've lef straight to the summit. She wasn't happy at all with the story I told of our tour, and I soon felt better about it.

Then we both got on a bus with a box of donations, and got off near the centre where I volunteered two years ago. We walked over to the park - then the children came. Children aged 8-16 came running from all directions - some of them I recognised from last time I was here! It was so wonderful seeing them (the centre's been taken over by a large company, so while the children get more help, the charity I'm with can't work there anymore) - we gave them some donations that one of the previous volunteers had brought, and the sweets that I'd brought. We could only stay a short while, then we headed back into town.

I got in touch with Michelle, my friend from back home who'd come with me last time - she's in Peru now, so we arranged to meet up. I turned up at the house I stayed in last time, where she is now (she's engaged to Gustavo, the son of the host family who became like a brother to me) - it was strange seeing her so far from home, strange to see Gustavo for the first time in 2 years, and strange to be in the house again! It was all great, though - we chatted, then went out for a meal (Burger King - it's about half the price as it is at home, and tastes the same) with Gustavo's grandfather. We had a great evening.

Day 15: Huancayo and a not-to-plan hike

All the signs pointed to a bad day. Being the superstitious person I am, I should've realised this and not been so disappointed when things turned out not-so-well.

Firstly, I'd had little sleep, and kept waking up every few hours. In the morning, I'd agreed to meet Sonia and Oscar at 7.40 outside a particular building - I got there at 7.50 due to leaving the house slightly late and having to wait for a bus. Then Oscar phoned - they were already at the tour agency building. So I started walking down that road - but I went the wrong way, and had to wait ten minutes for a taxi. Then Oscar phoned again - they were on the bus, waiting. Eventually I reached them, so I got on the bus. Still, it was another 30 minutes or so until we set off.

Our tour guide, Reese, spoke of numerology, of spirituality - I initially liked him, since I'm really interested in that sort of thing. We stopped off at a shop to buy bananas and coca leaves (I was reminded of a t-shirt that I got when I was 16, translated it said "The Coca Leaf is NOT a Drug") to help with the altitude. Then came our first hurdle - the bus got stuck in some mud. Even when we all got out, it wouldn't budge. Some locals came along with a spade to dig the bus out, but even then it could only go backwards. 20 minutes later, Reese came and gave us two options, either we could return to Huancayo, or we could take a different route up to the top of the glacier. This would take 4 hours each way. He then added that if we took this route, we could come back to the bus more easily. This made me agree - a 2 hour hike would be difficult, a 4 hour one impossible, but if there was the option of returning, then I was up for trying.

So we walked - Reese had said that we'd all walk together, but he set off quickly while we 11 hikers stretched out over about a half-mile of road. We walked up the road, then into some countryside, then past a trout fishery, then up into the mountains. It was getting relatively steep, and I started to feel ill - I'm not great with altitude change. Then we crossed a river, then struggled through marshland, and scrambled up a few rocks, then climbed up a hill. About an hour in, after many short rests, sweets, coca leaves, puffs of my asthma inhaler and some energy drink, I had trouble breathing, and soon I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep this up for another 3 hours. By this point i'd fallen right to the back of the group - Oscar and Sonia waited for me, and when I reached them we saw that I couldn't keep going. So Sonia went to fetch Reese. Ten minutes later neither she nor Reese had returned, so Oscar went to have a look.

So there I was, sitting alone on the mountain side, overcome with exhaustion. I've had my fair share of lonely times, but with not even a cow or sheep in view, the five minutes I spent alone on a mountain ranked among the most lonely.

Eventually Reese turned up, he spoke to me for a bit, admitted that it was a tough hike, and said that he'd get the group to come back and we'd go back. I argued that that wasn't fair, he said that the group would travel together. So he went back to fetch them, and soon we were back together. We went back the way we came, then when we crossed the river, Reese had another suggestion. It would take the same amount of time, he said, to take another route around the mountain to a town, as to go back to the bus. He took my rucksack for me, said that I should take as many rests as needed, and tell him if I needed to stop - then he walked off as quickly as before.

I spent most of the walk up - not around, up - the mountain with a Peruvian-American called Charlie, he was good about me needing to rest every few minutes. The views must've been stunning, but to be honest I was too busy trying to walk without collapsing. I'd have taken photos, but my camera was in my bag which Reese had, and he was long gone. At one point I realised that my inhaler was in the bag too, and panicked a little. Eventually after an hour, we reached the top of the mountain - this had involved more climbing and stomping through marshland, which I can just about do when I feel fine, and can barely manage when I'm exhausted. We walked a little along the top of the mountain, and finally began the descent. We could see the other hikers, and Reese was about a half-mile in front of us - so much for the group staying together. My breathing eased up on the descent, and fifteen minutes later I was almost back to normal.

The walk down the mountain was quite fun - Charlie and I talked in English and Spanish, the views were stunning (I wished then that I'd had my camera) - patches of sun hitting the mountains, streams trickling down the mountainside, little clay houses, children helping their mothers collect the corn from the fields, a youngster hauling in a batch of fish with a small net, a herd of llamas walking past us while their owner brandished a stick at them - it was quite good. A few times we got confused when we came to a fork in the road and had to ask locals which way the young people had gone, and a few times we had to walk right by the edge of the cliffs when a truck went past, but other then that the next hour and a half passed quite smoothly. By this point I was quite hot though, since I'd wrapped up warm expecting to be on a glacier.

4 hours after we'd set off, we got back to the bus - by this point the patch of mud it had been stuck in had become part of a mudslide - we could see the mud streaming down the hill off the side of the cliff - and at one point we had to move out the way of a falling rock. That was quite exciting, if a little nerve-wracking! Then finally, I was back in the bus. I felt exhausted, rotten that I hadn't been able to complete the original hike, and worse that the rest of the group had had to change plans too. And quite angry with Reese - I almost wish I'd told him that.

Half of the group got off the bus in Huancayo, the rest of us carried on to a restaurant. The proptions were absolutely enormous - Sonia and I shared an individual trout dish, and there were leftovers. There was a live band playing, Charlie gave them a message to read out, welcoming us the foreigners to Peru. I felt almost embarrassed.

At about 5pm we got back to Huancayo - I stayed in town a little longer, then took a taxi back to my house - Juliana says that the safest taxis are 242424 and 212121, so I had to wait a while until a 242424 came along. Then after a quick email-check, I went back to Hilda's house, munched a little on bread, then fell asleep almost straightaway, still not feeling too great about the day. At least I tried, though.

Day 14: Huancayo and a bright sunshiny day

The sun was shining, the clouds were drifting softly over the mountains, so I decided to go for a walk. I walked into the centre of town, then decided to walk a bit further to the shopping centre. I spent the morning wandering around, enjoying an ice cream while walking in the sun. Then I walked back in time for lunch. On the way back, a gentleman stopped me, and ranted about one of the president elects. He then asked me who I'd vote for, I said I didn't know, he ranted some more and spoke highly of another candidate, and said that everyone should vote for that person, didn't I agree? I just said that I didn't know, he ranted some more, then shook my hand and kept on walking. I walked back to my house feeling slightly dazed.

In the afternoon I went to Juliana's house - she's feeling a lot better now. I did a bit of admin stuff, then Oscar and Sonia turned up, and we discussed plans for tomorrow. They're thinking of going to the glacier Huaytapallana - Juliana says it's a 2 hour hike each way, and the glacier looks absolutely beautiful. We talked it over, and we agreed that we'd all go tomorrow.

So... I've packed my rucksack with energy drinks and bread rolls, and I've borrowed Juliana's hat and gloves, and I have all my warm clothes. Hopefully tomorrow'll be a good hike.

Day 13: Huancayo and much red paint

Juliana had said that this would be the last day she'd take me to the playschool, and after that I'd have to take the bus by myself. So at 8am, I waited. And waited some more. At 8.15 I went to wait outside since it was sunny, then at 8.25 I walked to the corner where we take the bus and waited some more. Eventually she called at half 8 - she was ill with flu, could I go and come back on my own? So I waited some more on the street corner until a bus came by - it ignored me. So did the second bus, even when I stuck my arm out. When the third bus came I stepped a little into the street so it had to stop - and finally I managed to get to the playschool just after 9.

Today we worked by rolling on mats, and jumping and crawling on cushions. Then we painted pictures of apples red - somehow the little ones ended up with paint in their hair (even getting it off their hands was a challenge), and I got paint up my arm (Hilda later worried that a cat had scratched me). At one point some the little ones noticed the scar on my wrist and asked how I got it - I told them that I'd been in an accident while playing in the road, even though my mum had told me to not play in the road, so for this reason they should always listen to their mothers (the truth is that I broke my arm while on my skateboard, but that seemed a bit less exciting). Then came lunch - by the end there were three children who hadn't finished, so Jenny asked me to stay with them. When they'd finished, we made our way to the classroom, then two of them ran the other way up the stairs. Joyous. A few minutes later they got bored and came down, then we went back to class, where I read a book about trains and planes until it was time for me to go.

In the afternoon after lunch, I did some laundry, then knitted in the sun. Then knitted downstairs. Then just knitted in the kitchen. I was tempted to go out, but the weather was on-off rain and sun, so I just stayed in. I went to the internet for a bit, then in the evening went to the park with Yesy and Juan Jose. The presidential elections are in a week's time, so there's lots going on, and one of the congress elects was talking in the park. We watched for a bit to see if anything else would happen (there've been concerts and parades and typical dances in honour of the elections), but when it was clear that nothing else would happen, we went back to the house.

Day 12: Huancayo and feral children

This morning, the children had fish soup for breakfast - very few of them needed encouragement to eat, which was great to see! When we got back to class, I was given the honour of holding up a clown face with holes in the eyes and mouth, while the children aimed balls through the holes. I'm glad in a way that their aim tended to be off by a long shot: consequently few of the balls managed to hit me! After that was more playtime (i.e. tying shawls and putting baby dolls in them, pretending to eat the girl who was hiding in the toy oven while she squealed with laughter, telling the little ones that we don't hit our friends, etc etc), then came work of drawing over jagged lines, then cutting along different jagged lines - today I truly learned that 3 year olds have very very short attention spans, and a few times their eyes were watching the windows while their pencils went straight off the paper and onto the table. Bless them. We stayed in the classroom for lunch - one girl was very stubborn and refused to eat her fruit, so I tried the aeroplane trick - it didn't work. I then found something that did make her open her mouth: the theme from 'Jaws'. Goodness knows why that came in my head, but she opened her mouth and finished her fruit eventually. We live and learn.

In the afternoon after a lunch of lamb steak with potato and rice, Hilda and I went to town and bought wool and knitting needles. I'm trying to take up knitting again (bearing in mind I've given up a fair few times, to say the least), hopefully this time I'll stick with it for a while longer. We met one of Hilda's friends on the bus back to the house, and she later came round with knitting annuals from the 80's to lend to me - some of the patterns seem quite nice, others I could tell were before my time (writing that, I feel almost old!). The rest of the evening was spent with Hilda teaching me and Yesy, then over some bread and milk I kept going, and soon it was 10pm, the latest I've been awake while in Huancayo (apart from when we volunteers went to see 127 Hours), and I had to stop and sleep at that point.

On the bus back to my house, Juliana told me that she'd been to observe Sonia at work - she does physio on children too ill to leave their houses. Juliana said that many of the children she'd seen were practically feral, neglected by their parents and consequently not growing well. One boy, she said, had been locked in a dark room for much of his life. Couldn't the government do something, I asked? They could give help and assistance to the families, such as Sonia being there. But the children still lived in the same house? Couldn't they live somewhere else? Only if the parents were ill or dead, came the answer, otherwise it was the parents' responsibility to raise their children. I nearly cried at hearing that. Can this change? How?

Day 11: Huancayo and rabbit/chicken dances

The little ones were celebrating birthdays today. After their breakfast (some eat faster when they're spoonfed, others insist on feeding themselves, some are so stubborn that I make noises - they laugh, mouth opens, food goes in, they chew), we all went back to class, then all the other classes joined us - there were the babies in their high chairs, and the other two younger classes and their teachers joined us. There were five children celebrating their birthdays that week, so the morning was full of games and songs and jumping like rabbits and watching the parents of the birthday-children dance like chickens - we all laughed at that. Then there was a piñata, and finally the cake - I went mad with my camera while two of the little ones clung to me (taking photos while your elbow is being grasped by a 3 year old boy is not the easiest thing, I learned today!). Then it was time for lunch, and everyone went back to their own classes to eat, then Juliana came to pick me up - I was quite sad to leave!

After lunch of causa (cold chicken and veg mixed with mayonnaise, in between two slabs of mashed potato), I stayed near the house - Juliana had told me that there wasn't really anything for me to do this week. I whittled away the time thinking about my project report, reading a little, then deciding that answering emails might be more interesting (I'm not the greatest student in this respect...).

When I got back, Juan Jose and I went to the cinema. Juliana'd suggested we all go, but when we got there Juliana phoned to say that she was just too busy to come. At this point I ran out of credit, and couldn't take up her suggestion to ring Oscar and Sonia and see if they wanted to come. In the end it was just me and Juan Jose - we had a great time watching Rango, laughing and munching popcorn, and by the time we got home just after 9, we were friends.

Day 10: Huancayo and Jazmin Class

I had an early breakfast, then Juliana came to pick me up just before 8. She came with me on the bus to the playschool (my class, Jazmin Class, are 3-4 year olds) - she'll show me how to take the bus this week, then from next week I'm on my own.

I'll take a short pause here to describe the bus service as I've experienced it. There are no bus stops or timetables, at least not in the small towns. You wait at a specific corner for a bus to turn up, and ask the conductor (usually a young man or woman) if the bus goes the way you're going. Then in the bus, you're either lucky enough to get a front-facing seat, or you get a rear-facing seat (it's a nightmare trying to hang on while the bus speeds down the road, or goes uphill), or you stand up with your head brushing the ceiling, and holding on to the rail - I'm always conscious of the doors of the bus being open all the time, so I hold on extra tightly. The conductor jumps in and out of the bus, sometimes while the bus is moving (I'm in awe), and hangs out of the door and shouts the bus's destination. Still, for 70 centimos each way (about 16p?), I won't complain!

When we got to the playschool, there were only three children there - the rest came in gradually through the next half hour. Sasha was leaving today, so the teacher Jenny was making a card for her, and all the children had their hands painted yellow (I got to help, and met most of the children through handprints) and pressed them on the card. I thought that was lovely! Sasha was really touched. Then the children got in their 'trains' to go to the dining room, then we sang songs and prayed, then the children received their potato breakfast - I spent most of the time cutting up the potato into smaller bits and trying to coax the children to eat. Some of them are so cute when they're stubborn! Then we went back to class and played (I got to help making a house, tying shawls with dolls in them so that the girls could be like their mothers with their babies, and sometimes just jumping with the little ones), then there was a 'lesson' where Jenny and the other teacher Edwin led the children in making tiny balls from pieces of crepe paper, then putting them in bottles and letting the children blow into the bottles with straws to make the balls fly. Naturally a lot of the children got bored, or started pinching each other's paper - I just ended up smiling as I separated the squabbling children. After that, there was lunch - back to the dining room for songs, a prayer, then food. The children all brought their own lunch, then commenced much peeling of oranges (I feel okay, hopefully I'm not contact allergic), mashing of sweet potatoes, spoon-feeding of the stubbornest ones, and much coaxing and soothing tears and endless toilet trips. It took a fair while for most of the children to finish their lunch! We went back to the classroom after that for more playing, and Jenny read 'The Ugly Duckling' to those who listened, then the parents started turning up to collect their children. Juliana turned up not long after, so I said goodbye to the children and to Jenny and Edwin, then Juliana and I took the bus back. Ah, what a fun but tiring morning!

I met Hilda's mother at lunch (she's living with us for a while now - she alternates one month between Hilda and Hilda's sister), she's very talkative and very forgetful - thrice she asked me where I was from, and twice if I was Peruvian. I like her. It was quite nice seeing Hilda, her mother and Yesy at the same table, the three generations of women together. We chatted over soup, then over rice and potato and chicken (most dishes here consist of rice and potato on the same plate), then I hung about for a bit searching for my keys (I couldn't find them when I got back to the house after the nursery - Yesy had to unlock my room for me to have a look in there, and sure enough there they were next to my hairbrush) and petting cats, then I headed over to Juliana's.

The afternoon was a quiet one - there was nothing for me to do! So I stayed at Juliana's house watching Shrek 3, then I went to the internet for a bit. By the time I left, it was chucking it down and there was lightning - I practically ran back to Juliana's, and was grateful more than ever for my raincoat which has a permanent home in my bag. When I got there, I chatted to her her mother for a bit, then Juliana came back from work, then the other volunteers turned up. Juliana bought us pollo a la brasa as a goodbye-party for Sasha, then we hung about chatting until it was time to go. Juliana ordered me a taxi, but 15 minutes later it still hadn't turned up, so I ended up taking the bus back.

It was about 9 by the time I got off the bus, still relatively safe, but all the same I ran back to Hilda's house (and got slightly wheezy, thank goodness for asthma inhalers). By this time I wanted nothing more than to sleep, so after a quick hello to Hilda, I went to bed.

Day 9: Huancayo and children's songs

Juliana took me to two places this morning. The first was the playschool where Sasha volunteers - this is hidden away in the market place, so you have to walk through the stalls and among piles of rotting fruit at the back of the market to get there. At this point you reach some stairs, and upstairs there's the playschool (the building's quite nice once you get inside) divided into age groups. Sasha's with the 3-4 year olds, so we went to watch for a bit. The children are so adorable! They played for a bit, then they were made to get into lines and, like a train, go to the dining room where they'd get their free breakfast after a few songs. It was so lovely to watch! And a little strange hearing the children's songs, some of which I'd heard when I was little.

Afterwards, Juliana took me to the orphanage again - there we waited for Gonzalez, and chatted to two ofthe boys. One of them, Victor, is 24, and strictly speaking has left by now, but since he has learning difficulties he's kept on to work in the garden. Juliana explained that once the boys reached 18, there was no more help for them from the government - the orphanage does what they can to help, for example they're supporting the boy who paints in considering university, and they let Victor work there. When Gonzalez arrived, he took us to the school 15 minutes away where the boys and some of the local children go - the school is currently in the form of long tables and chairs, with canvas sheeting separating each year group. They're hoping to move into a new building in July, but until then this is all they can get. Juliana then said that this week we'll take over the notebooks and pencils that people have donated. It was quite inspiring to see the children doing their work, though, despite not being in a proper building.

I went back for a lunch of potatoes, rice and chicken in a yellow-pepper sauce (Hilda did tell me the name, but I can't remember it right now), then after a quick spell in the internet cafe (there's one opposite the supermarket which has skype, so I haunt this one now) I went back to Juliana's house. We went into town and met up with Sasha, and went with her as she bought storybooks and dolls for the playschool, then Juliana went to work and Sasha and I went back. I stayed at Juliana's a while longer talking to her mum, who's very sweet (I'd only met her briefly on my last visit), and sharpening pencils to give as donations (I thought that the youngsters would refer sharpened pencils). Soon I saw that it was getting dark, so I took a bus back - I stayed for a while talking to Hilda over a cup of coca tea, then I went straight to bed.

Juliana and I now have a plan as to what I'll do: starting tomorrow, in the mornings I'll go to the playschool (Sasha leaves us on Wednesday morning, so I'll take over from her) and in the afternoon I'll be a general dogsbody, helping Juliana with admin stuff such as sorting out the donations. This should be good!

Day 8: Huancayo/Ahuac and eating cuy again

This morning I got to Juliana's house at 9.30am - we plus the other volunteers Oscar, Sasha and Sonia would be taking a day trip! We waited for a bus, then after a while gave up and took a taxi (taxis pass every two seconds here, if that) to Chupaca, about twenty minutes outside of Huancayo. From there we took a second cab to Ahuac, where our day would begin. We were dropped off next to some steps, and we climbed - for about twenty minutes or so we climbed, taking in the view of the fields and the mountains and cows and small houses. It was quite a sunny day, so the view was gorgeous. At the top of the steps (about 50m higher than our starting point) was our destination: the ruins of Arwaturo. The name's Quechua for 'burned bones' - Juliana explained that burned bones were found in the ruins, and that the ruins were supposedly used for food storage and as a watchtower. We stayed there a while, walking round the ruins, then lay in the sun - Sasha regretted that we hadn't brought a picnic lunch with us, it was that sort of day.

We walked back down the steps, then through some very soggy and marhy ground to the lake, where we waited for a cab. A man came up to us and gave us some drink made from corn - I think it was slightly alcoholic, and he looked delighted to have visitors from so far away. We then took a cab back to Chupaca (at one point a peasant and her daughter jumped in the boot - the lady looked at us, smiled, and said delightedly "Gringos!"), and from there a bus to a restaurant near Huancayo. Juliana said that it did really good food - I ended up eating pachamanca (meat cooked in a ground oven) with pork and cuy (guinea pig). It tasted great :) We were also served humitas (Sasha compared them to corndough - I can't stand humitas, Oscar was happy to take them off my hands). So that was a great lunch.

When we got back, I went with Sonia and Sasha to the weekly market - it's over 1km long, so we only managed to see a fraction of the stalls! I couldn't find much that I liked though, so I'll have another look next week, or maybe go to the artesans' market in town. It was wonderful browsing though. After that, Sasha and I did a bit more shopping in the town centre (I had a quick look in the artesans' market, but I was running low on money by this time), then we headed back. I hung about for a while at Juliana's, then walked back to Hilda's house.

I only stayed up a short while - Yesy's friend was visiting, so we all chatted for a while, then i started to get tired and took an early-ish night.

Day 7: Huancayo and beetroot juice

When I woke up this morning, I really didn't feel like getting up. I just wanted to stay in bed. So I slept some more, then woke up and slept more, then woke up and lay in bed for what seemed like ages, trying to get myself out of bed. Eventually I felt guilty that Hilda would be waiting with my breakfast, so I got up and got dressed. Then I looked at the time - 8.45am. and here I was thinking that it must be at least 10am.

After a breakfast of bread rolls and eggs, I stayed in the house for a bit, then helped Hilda make lunch - she taught me how to make a bolognese sauce, I hope that Hilda can keep teaching me.

After lunch, I went to visit Juliana - none of the other volunteers were there yet, so I chatted to Juliana for a while and used her computer - I now have some free space on my camera, so I'll take more photos. Sasha dropped by, then she had her Spanish lesson. Juliana came by a little later, and asked if she could use the office for a while, so I sat in the living room, where Sasha and her teacher were. I just sat there looking through photo albums - ahh, the memories...

Juliana and Sasha finished at about the same time - Sasha went out into town, and Juliana and I went with her friend Daniel to get some supper. I had a hamburger and a huge glass of juice - pineapple, papaya... and beetroot. I hate beetroot (I only learned that it had beetroot after we'd ordered), but this juice tasted really really good. It was great!

I was quite tired by this point, so I just went back to Hilda's - the whole family was out (they were at the wedding of one of Yesy's friends), so I played with cats a bit, then read before going to sleep.

Day 6: Huancayo and a notebook-hunt

I'd set my alarm for half 7 this morning, but found myself wide awake at about 6.45. I certainly never wake this early at home! I felt a bit grimy from the car journey yesterday, so I thought I'd have a shower. Hilda showed me where it was and how to use it, so I had a nice shower (apart from when I twice got large static shocks from the tap). Then I wrapped myself in my towels, put on my sandals, opened the door - and there sat a dog and six cats, staring up at me, while I was dripping wet and wrapped just in a towel. We blinked at each other, then I walked fairly awkwardly to my room while they continued to sit, watching me. That was slightly odd...

After a breakfast of bread and milk, Hilda showed me where the nearby internet cafe was, so I stayed there a while phoning Mum and checking my emails. Then Hilda showed me how to use the washing machine, and soon my clothes were clean and hanging on the line. Unfortunately it's not terribly sunny here - it's very cloudy, so the sun and rain come and go - but since it's very dry, the clothes were done quite soon.

Juliana picked me up at half ten, and we went to the office first to drop off the other donations I'd brought with me - there hadn't been enough room in my rucksack yesterday to bring them all! We went to the nearby orphanage first - there I met the program coordinator, Gonzalez, since the director was away. He seems very friendly, the plan is that Juliana'll bring me here on Monday and we'll take it from there. The orphanage is for boys aged 10-18 - I met a 16 year old who's very talented at painted, and very courteous - and as long as the director isn't there, I should be able to stay. When I asked why, Gonzalez explained that the director is very strict with volunteers, making sure that they work for no less than a month (I'll only be here 24 days more), and that they first have blood tests (and apparently medical exams of mental health, said Juliana? I wonder if I mistranslated, though) to make sure that they don't bring in contagious diseases. While I don't object to a blood test (though I find it a little odd), it's more the being here for less than a month thing. Still, we'll see how things go on Monday.

After that, I went with Juliana to the centre of town to buy notebooks - she explained that a new school for streetchildren has been set up, however the children can't afford to buy their own equipment - she went on to say that it's not uncommon here for families to have ten or more children, and while there's just about enough for food, money for uniforms and books and pencils and travel to the school (some children have to come in from different parts of town) is a luxury. So we browsed, but didn't decide on any just yet - Juliana wanted to buy each child at least one notebook, but that would've come to about 400 soles in most of the shops we went into, so we're continuing to browse.

I went back to Hilda's for a lunch of soup and corn, followed by Papas Huancaina (potatoes in a yellow sauce - Hilda later said that it was made from yellow peppers), then some jelly. I could barely eat half of each plate - this happened to me last time I was here, Mum reckoned that it's probably the effects of the altitude and the new food when I spoke to her. Yesy came home for lunch too - there we talked about London, about university, about her job as a blood analysist in a lab. She could only stay half an hour, since she needed to return to work, which was 15 minutes away.

I spent the first part of the afternoon reading, then Juliana picked me up and we continued notebook-browsing in town. It felt quite strange, walking through the town, recognising bits and pieces of it and finding that I could remember where certain places where. It's quite dry (apart from a few puddles when it rains, and even those dry up quickly), but still fairly warm - the barometer in the Plaza de Armas (town square) said that it was about 23C when we passed it, which felt about right. The people here are a mix - there're beggars on the street, there're those who play instruments or sell biscuits in the street for money, there're those dressed in stereotypical clothing (women with plaits and hats, and shawls of traditionally patterned wool), there're those dressed in typical shop-bought clothes who carry their babies in patterned shawls on their backs, and there're those dressed like me. Many of the people in Huancayo are quite dark, and there's quite a range - I'm very very pale in comparison, but I've seen a few people who look just a tiny bit darker than me, and there're plenty in between. One glance at me and one could tell that I'm not from here - I might just be able to pass for someone from Lima, where there're more pale people, until I speak. A couple of people asked me where I was from, I always say Miami. My aunt suggested this to me on one of my earliest trips to Peru: for Peruvian people to move to Miami and live their lives there, isn't too uncommon a thing. To go to Europe, furthermore to England, shows that the family is very very rich. To come from England back to Peru, denotes even more wealth, and those with wealth are the best to rob. I don't particularly want to be robbed, hence I say I'm from Miami (when I was younger, I was taught to stay silent in Peruvian taxis and buses for the same reason). As for sometimes giving a different name when I talk to people I meet briefly on my travels, I find it quite fun to come up with a new story about myself. I sometimes do this while at home, too - if someone talks to me on the bus then I'll change my name and a few things about myself (I remember once 'being' Carla from Wimbledon studying sociology). I think it's quite fun. I'm digressing here.

Juliana and I took the bus back to the office (we sat opposite a 3 year old playing with pieces of wool, talking to herself and looking up at us as if for confirmation of what she'd said every now and then - she was absolutely adorable), then she went to work at the radio station (she has a talk show every evening) while I went to an internet cafe and skyped. When I'd finished, I tried to enter the volunteer residence - Juliana had given me the key earlier - but couldn't get it in. Odd. I wandered about a bit and drifted into another internet cafe (there're very many of them here - from the house I'm in to the volunteer house, which is a twenty minute walk, I got as far as about 20 before losing count) until Juliana got back. She then told me that it's a fairly stiff lock, and I had to really push the key in to get it in the lock. Eventually I got the hang of it, and we went inside.

Oscar, the volunteer from Sheffield, was there - he and the other volunteers were going to the cinema that evening, would I like to go? After a quick call to Hilda, the plan was set - we'd wait until Sasha got back to her house and pick her up, then meet Sonia at the cinema. So Oscar and I watched House for a bit (boxsets are incredibly cheap here), then went to the house where Sasha's staying to collect her. She's in the same house I was in last time, I'll stop by another day to see the family. When we got to the cinema, I met Sonia for the first time - she's from Cornwall and lives in the 'new' residence - and we also met up with Miguel, a cousin of the family I was with last time, who I'd met briefly before. It was nice to catch up with him, and he told me about what the rest of the family were up to.

After some discussion over film (Sasha and Sonia don't speak much Spanish, so they wanted something that wasn't dubbed), we went for 127 Hours - for 9 soles each, we thought that this was really good. The popcorn and drinks, at 6.50 each (we each had Inka Kola, and shared a giant bucket between the five of us), cost almost as much as the film did! So we settled down to watch the film. Sasha and I are squeamish, and spent quite a bit of the film covering our eyes. By then end, I have to say that it was a good film, but I was still a bit shaken. We got a taxi back afterwards - we dropped off Miguel and Sasha first, then I was dropped off before Oscar and Sonia went back. It was about 11.15pm by this time - Hilda was waiting for me, which was lovely, so we talked a tiny bit and then went to bed.

There, in the dark with just my thoughts and still a bit shaken from the film, I started feeling a bit homesick. What was I doing, alone in this country, away from much of what I know and love? Then, I reasoned, I am safe here: there're Juliana and Hilda watching over me in Huancayo, and I have my grandparents and uncles and aunts in Lima. And I can send an email or phone call back home pretty much when I like. And there was nothing stopping me from going back to Lima, or indeed to London if I wanted to - but I didn't want to. I wanted to stay here, and see the children, and be 'Miss Catty' to them. I didn't want to go home just yet. I still felt a little anxious, so I tried to settle down to sleep, knowing that I'd feel much better in the morning.

Day 5: Lima/Huancayo and cats

Today I woke up at 6am, excited but somewhat nervous about travelling. For one thing, I'd be completely on my own in a car full of strangers, travelling along roads where cars overtake at 100kph, while I could instead just stay in Lima safe with my grandparents. That though lasted about 3 seconds - I love my grandparents dearly, but I'd come to Peru on a different mission. So after some last-minute packing of nightgown and forgotten socks (I think there's still one hiding under the bed...), I had breakfast with Mamamama and Abuelo. Tio Alejandro turned up just as we were about to eat, saying that we had to hurry, so I wolfed down my bread and juice, said loving goodbyes to my grandparents, then we went with Veronica to get a taxi. Once Tio and I were in the taxi, Veronica said goodbye and went back.

I'll take a short break to write briefly about what I've encountered regarding taxis. Normally there are no complete seatbelts, or the rules regarding them are very relaxed (I was surprised when the driver insisted we put our belts on). There is little regard for other drivers - while Peru drives on the right, taxis overtake each other and drive in the left lane like nobody's business. Many drivers have a small figurine or picture of Jesus or Mary, I sometimes find myself praying for a safe journey. I think it sums it up when Tio suggested a different route, and the taxi driver asked "Do you want the quick route, or the safe route?"

After about 20 minutes, there we were at the bus station in Lima. Instead of taking a bus like last time to Huancayo, I'd be taking a 'collectivo', a car with four other passengers. Tio and the driver squeezed my bags into the boot, then I sat in the back beside two old ladies, and behind a young man who spent the whole journey listening to his music. Then at about 8.20am, I said goodbye to Tio, and we were on our way.

The journey was, thankfully, uneventful - I watched the landscape change as we drove further out of Lima, from urban housing to shanty towns to fields to mountains, and could feel my ears popping and my breathing change as we steadily went higher. At one point I dozed, and woke up when we stopped briefly for a toilet break in La Oroya. Other than that, I read my book, and politely answered the ladies' questions about me (I'm Marta, I'm from Miami, yes it is very sunny there, I'm visiting my aunt and uncle in Huancayo. I usually make up a story when I travel.)

Four and a half relatively short hours later, there we were in Huancayo. Rather than being dropped off at a bus station, as I'd originally thought, we were just dropped off on a street corner. I tried to call Juliana, the program director, but no luck. I texted her to tell her where I was, she texted back to say that she was in a taxi. So I waited. One of the ladies waited with me, since she was worried that my bags would be stolen (I'm so much paler than most people over here, anyone can tell that I'm not local, and foreigners are often rich). After 15 minutes she said that she had to go, so I waited a while on my own. I wasn't worried though, I knew that Juliana would come. I was slightly anxious about my bags, but I was opposite a bank, so I reasoned that I could wait in there more safely. Just as I considered this, a taxi drew up and Juliana came out. It was wonderful to see her again! She was so apologetic, she's been taking a volunteer to the bus station to go home just as she got my text, and came as quickly as she could, and her phone had run out of credit so she couldn't call me back. It didn't matter, I was just glad that she was there.

A few minutes later, we got out of the taxi, in a small quiet neighbourhood, and we rang the doorbell of the house where I'd be staying. I'd chosen to stay with a family, since then I'd get meals, have more opportunity to practise Spanish, and learn more about the culture.

The family with whom I'm staying seem lovely. Hilda is about 60 years old, very friendly, she told me to treat her as I would my mum, and her home as if it were my own. Her daughter Yesenia (Yesy) looks about 30 or so, I only met her briefly since she was on her way to collect her son from school. I later met her son, Juan-Jose, who's 12 years old. The family have a dog called Caramelo, two birds in a cage, and nine cats. I first saw two, then another, and when I asked Hilda how many she had, she said nine. Wow. It's a good thing that I like cats!

Hilda gave me some coca tea to help with adjusting to the altitude (I feel okay, though), then we had lunch of chicken soup, then some fish and chips and rice, and some corn on the cob that her sister had grown in her field, washed down with maracuya (passionfruit) juice. It was wonderful. Afterward I went to rest and unpack for a while, then Juliana came to take me to the office. There I gave her the donations - she's certain that the children who loved them (to all readers who donated, thanks so much! I'll put some pictures up when I get back to the UK, since I don't have my card reader here) - then I paid for my lodging, then she took me to the new volunteer house. She showed me around, then we went and bought cake before returning to the office. While munching on cake, I met two of the other volunteers - Sasha's from the US, and is staying with the family I stayed with last time (I'd have stayed with them again, but since most of them now live in Lima, I wanted to see what staying with another family would be like. I'll be sure to visit them, though!), and Oscar's from Sheffield. I gave him his ipod (he'd been robbed in Lima, his mum wanted to send him a new ipod, so she sent it to my parents' address and I brought it with me, since that would be more reliable than airmail), then we all chatted, then Juliana and I took a bus back to my new house.

I stayed a while talking with Hilda and Yesy (Juan-Jose was in his room - his room's right next to mine), then some visitors came over with their little girl. She has the exact same facial features and mannerisms as the character Karen from Outnumbered, she was adorable and made us all laugh. We all had some tea and bread rolls, then at about half 8 I started feeling tired, so I went upstairs to read for a bit before bed. I have a room on the second floor to myself, between Juan Jose's room and Yesy's room. There was a dool on the bed when I arrived, Hilda joked that he was my roommate. He's now sitting on a table in the corner of the room, in my mind I've named him Jaiyo.

I phoned Tia China for her birthday, it was lovely to speak to her. I phoned the house in Lima and my mum to say that I'd arrived safely, that I was with the family, and that I was happy. I'm really glad to be here again, I'm sure things will go well. I can't wait to see the children soon!

Day 4: Lima and birthday

Today was Tio Mañuco's birthday. I woke up at 6.30, had a shower, then joined Mamamama for True Breakfast (see previous post). We watched some TV, chatted some more, I Skyped a few friends while she watched TV, and so passed a pleasant morning. Abuelo stayed home, and invited us for pollo a la brasa for lunch. I went out with Veronica to the nearby supermarket, Metro, to buy some - I do like watching the rows of chickens on mechanical spits, plus it was nice to walk for a bit. We passed Zari on the way and catted for a little, before she went back to the salon and we carried on to the shop. We passed some nuns wearing brown on the way out, and Veronica told me about how she'd like to be a nun - who knew?

When we got back, Tio Mañuco and Tio Alejandro were both there, along with Tia Marite - I gave Mañuco his birthday present, and we all ate some birthday cake. The cakes in the pastelerias over here tend to be very ornately decorated, full of flavour, and melt in the mouth. Unfortunately, since they're made without preservatives, it's quite difficult to bring an edible one back to the UK! We munched on cake, drank Inka Kola (the national fizzy drink - it's yellow and tastes kind-of sweet, but not sickly), and Abuelo let me have a small bt of wine. Then Mañuco and Marite had to go home, and the rest of us ate our pollo a la brasa. 'twas wonderful.

We stayed in during the afternoon - Mamamama's holistic therapist came to do some reflexology on her feet (I do a little on her hands, but since I'm not trained I don't know how much good that does), then afterwards we sat in the house. At one point I realised that I needed to change my money from dollars to the local currency, Nuevo Sol (1 sol, 2 soles, half a sol is 50 centimos just as half a pound is 50 pence). 1 dollar is 2.75 soles, I learned today, so since 1 pound is 1.62 dollars, 1 pound is about 4.45 soles. That makes sense. Anyway, so I went with Veronica to change my money into soles, so I should be okay now. I'll stop by the supermarket in Huancayo to get some change, though, to make things easier.

We got back, and I had leftover pollo a la brasa and cake, while Mamamama and Abuelo had soup. Then we watched a bit of TV, and my grandparents went to bed.

It's 7.45pm now, and I'm staying in tonight. After rounding off this blog entry I'll pack my bags for tomorrow, then read a bit before sleeping. I hope I don't leave anything important behind! I'm really looking forward to Huancayo - while I've loved spending this time with my grandparents, I'm looking forward to seeing Juliana the program director again, and meeting the host family, and seeing the mountains - and above all, seeing the children. I really have missed them.

Day 3: Lima and the true breakfast

For breakfast this morning, there was what I like to think of as True Bread and True Milk. True Bread consists of little bread rolls, so soft that it feels like I'm eating clouds, no preservatives, and a tiny bit of butter is all that's needed for that perfect taste. True Milk is evaporated milk, topped up with boiling water - warm, creamy, full of flavour. I was in heaven.

It was quite sunny, so Mamamama and I stayed indoors. We watched TV, chatted on the sofa, I did some light reflexology on her hands. Tio Mañuco came over with Tia Marite at one point, but they only stayed a short while. Lunch was a starter of yuca, which is like a tastier version of potato, then there was rice and potato and chicken, followed by jelly and a drink of chicha morada (it's a sweet purple drink, I can't think of anything to compare it to). When Abuelo came back in the aftenoon, Veronica took me to visit Zari, a very dear family friend who lives nearby. Unfortunately she was busy working when we called by - she runs a hairdressing salon - but we managed to chat for a few minutes. Then I phoned Tia Juanita - I think she's coming over tomorrow - and Tia China and Tia Dora, I'll most likely see them when I come back from Huancayo.

In the evening, Tio Alejandro took me out for pollo a la brasa. Read: 'best meal in the world'. A specially prepared chicken, cooked over a spit, served with chips and salad. It was wonderful, then we went for a short walk to digest before heading back to the house. By this point it was coming up to 11pm - we got back to the house, I read for a little, then went to bed.

When we got back from Zari, I noticed that my arm was itching and there was a slight bump - I imagine an insect found me tasty. I'm getting a slight cold too - Abuelo and Mamamama have had colds for a few days, I think I'm catching it off them. Hopefully it'll go soon, but at least I don't have to worry now about being too ill to fly, which was my main worry when I started getting the sniffles back in Coventry. I'm sure it'll pass in a day or two.

Day 2: Lima and family

I woke up this morning at 7am, to the sun giving the room a soft glow, and the sound of the panadero on his bike, beeping his horn and selling bread. After getting changed, Veronica the maid came to fetch me for breakfast. It was great to see her again. Abuelo and Mamamama were already downstairs, so we ate breakfast of fruit, toasted bread, and juice. After that, Mamamama and I went out with Veronica to the park and around the block, stopping at my favourite statue of the Virgin for a short prayer (there's a lot of veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary here).

When we got back, Tio Alejandro stopped by for a bit before heading off to the university where he lectures. Then I went on the computer for a while, watched novelas with Mamamama (kind of like TV soaps, but more romantic and dramatic), and did a few logic puzzles. It's nice having company while I do my puzzles - Mamamama watches her TV, I puzzle away in the chair next to her: it's brilliant. Mum phoned at one point, it was great speaking to her - it felt a little strange to speak English, though!

Lunch arrived sometime after - every day the food is ordered from a menu, and delivered. I had salad with rice and lentils (I do love lentils) followed by jelly, washed down with cold Hierba Luisa tea. Simply lovely. The rest of the afternoon passed watching TV and puzzling. My uncle Mañuco and my cousin Alvaro stopped by for a while - Alvaro's grown a lot (he's about the same age and height as Christopher), it was quite fun talking to him. Tio Mañuco stayed for a while talking to me and Mamamama, then he and Alvaro went back, and we stayed watching TV. Abuelo came back home in the afternoon, then the three of us had dinner (Veronica made me some pasta) and watched a game show where players had to manually push a car, have their hair cut, and pop balloons by putting them between a man and woman and thrusting. Very bizarre.

Just before 7pm, Tio Alejandro came to take me out. His girlfriend Jessica originally planned to join us, but she phoned to say that she was exhausted after a reunion earlier in the evening, and would be going straight home. We went to Plaza San Miguel, a nearby plaza with many shops - we wandered around, I mentally compared prices (I saw some cushion stuffing for 4 soles, roughly 1 pound, if I have some space in my suitcase I'll try and remember to buy some), and Tio and I played with the ipads in the Apple store. We bought a sim card for my phone - there was a bit of hassle since I had to first register the card, which involved giving the operator my passport number since I don't have a DNI number (a DNI card is an ID card). Eventually we got it working though, and now I have a working phone to use in Peru. Then Tio and I stopped off in the Zugatti ice cream parlour - Mum and I had a tradition of going there whenever we were in the Plaza. It was wonderful having lucuma ice cream again - I love lucuma, it's kind of like peach, unfortunately I don't think we have it back in the UK.

Tio took me back to my grandparent's house at 10pm, by which point I was absolutely exhausted and wanted nothing more but to sleep. So that is exactly what I did.