June 17

We barely slept - or it felt like it when my alarm went off at 6am - as we hadn't got to sleep until after midnight. Being so tired, I decided to take a morning off work and sort out my life here. The first thing I did was take a much-needed shower. There is only cold water in the tap, but I boiled a pot of water and used a cup to pour it over myself. It was actually soooo nice!!! Then the washing which is no small task. Joyce was also home so together we carried the laundry in a basin up one flight of stairs to an outdoor sink. We put water in the sink with a little laundry powder and rubbed them to get them somewhat clean. Then a rinse and we carried them up another flight of stairs to hang them out on the roof of the complex.

Joyce does laundry

The terrible view

The puppy at the car wash is only a few weeks old and is soooo adorable

It was actually so nice and relaxing! Joyce and I talked about skiing and our experiences here in Peru. I then organised my stuff in my room and by then it was already basically work time! Alison arrived home and had a quick nap before we went to lunch at the restaurant. We had a delicious soup and then rice and meat and were in such a food coma walking to INABIF! We were, as always, late, but today was a special event for Fathers Day which is Sunday. All the kids' fathers were told to show up or face a fee of 20 soles. Still not a lot of the dads did come, and if the kid did have someone it was most often a grandad.
While waiting for the event to start I showed Roberto and a kid whose hands were so dry they were cracked and bleeding my one magic trick which is to make a coin disappear from one hand an appear in the other. I do this by throwing it while flipping my hands over which is surprisingly extremely difficult to notice. Everyone was hypnotized and loved it!
The event began with a game where the kids ran to give balloons to the dads and grandads for them sit on and pop. One poor grandad fell off his chair! Then there were music performances, more games, a little bit of food was handed out, and everyone was happy.

Dia del Padre celebrations at INABIF

Another day, another awesome hairstyle by the kids

After it finished in a huge dance some of the girls walked out to the plaza with us. On the way we played tag and ran screaming down the streets. I felt like a little kid again! When we arrived at the plaza one of the girls, Janet, asked us to braid her hair so we did our best although our skills are far below theirs.

Alison, me, Naomi, Janet, and her little sister Lizbet at the bottom

We walked back to our new home and the girls taught us some of their games. One is where you name a color and then try to tag someone before they find and touch something of that color, or another hard one is where you sit in a circle, sing a song and do a certain clapping routine, and then try not to be the first one to laugh. It was so fun and I didn't want them to go!
We went to the restaurant to watch Peru in the Copa America. They have been doing really well and even beat Peru which is the third time Brazil has been beaten at this stage in the entire history of its football team! Crazy! Today Peru was up against Colombia and the entire restaurant was packed with guys and beer. The atmosphere was awesome, and you knew all of Peru was united in watching this one game, that's how strong the culture of football is here.
At full time there were still no goals and it went to a penalty shoot-out with Peru losing to perfectly scoring Colombian team. The restaurant was devastated.

Peru plays Columbia and suffers a devastating defeat in penalty shootouts. This after they won against Brazil marking the third time in the history of Brazil's team that they have been knocked out in this round at the Copa America

After a delicious dinner of tamales we went with Katia and Uziel to the barrio San Juan where there was a festival celebrating the type of dance Katia and Uziel had taught us on our first night with them (Cumbria). The event turned out to be massive! The line to get in was an hour long but it was worth the wait. The music was awesome and we all had so much fun dancing! Uziel knew some friends there and we all united in a big group. We stayed towards the outside of the thousands of people as it was dangerous to go in, even where we were, we were careful to stay together. I danced with Uziel who said I danced like a gringo, but the best for a gringo, which was actually so nice! I like the dance which is like the salsa with lots of hip-swinging but there is more variety in the types of steps you can do.
Finally we took a taxi home. A night to remember!