Saturday June 25th

We didn't wake up until about 10 this morning and after a light breakfast where Uziel and I had a passionate discussion about whether New Zealand or Peru was a better country, we went out to a BBQ hosted by one of Uziel's friends, Carlos (who we had met at the rock concert). However, we discovered that the BBQ was not at 11 as planned, because the meat had not arrived. Instead it would be at 4 which meant we could not go because Joyce's flight was at 5, and Katia and Uziel could not go as they had to work.

The Mirador (white building), high above Ayacucho

Why are all the posters here of white people?

We went to the restaurant for lunch and were treated to a real delicacy, a river fish that comes with the head and all on your plate! Katia grossed us out by eating the eyes! Alison tried to eat one but spat it out on the floor - yikes!

We ate a whole fish, Katia ate the eyes!

Last meal as a family

Joyce had to go and pack but Katia and Uziel were off to work so had to say goodbye! Joyce started to cry, and everyone started to cry and it was awful. Even though we've only known each other for three weeks we've barely spent three hours apart and we've all come to rely on each other so much.

Bye Joyce

As a final act Joyce threw her old white Vans over a telephone wire. Seriously, that  is actually really hard to do! We spent about 15 minutes trying and failing.

We got to the airport about an hour and half early which was way too long for the one counter airport. After five minutes she had checked in and all that was left was to had to pass by the one security worker to the one waiting lounge. Instead we went upstairs to the one coffee shop. Joyce got a cookie, Alison tea, and I got a coffee.

We managed not to cry until we were standing at the security gate but then Alison began to cry, and then Joyce, and then even I was crying. Just as Joyce went past the security worker, her Spanish teacher showed up, flushed from rushing. They could only wave goodbye through the window - will they ever see each other again?

Us and Ana-Luisa, Joyce's tutor

We went upstairs and watched Joyce board the plane. The music in the airport was literally the saddest music ever which was awful! What are we going to do without Joyce? We also talked to the Spanish teacher who will miss Joyce too. She told us she sometimes volunteers to visit remote villages to bring supplies to them, and some of them speak only Quetua - so cool!

We headed back on the bus with heavy hearts and recognition of the growing distance between us and Joyce. Now we can't stop noticing, and dreading, how close Alison and I are to leaving ourselves.

Friday June 24

Today I woke up pretty late and by the time I had eaten breakfast and gotten ready it was basically time to go but I decided to take a quick shower too. To make it even faster I didn't bother boiling any water and braved the antarctic waters. The worst part was getting in but after that it wasn't terrible. The bathroom is also not at all private but Uziel did make a shower curtain yesterday which makes me feel a little better.

Took out the braids from yesterday ah!

Sausage or solidified cough syrup? They're the same color...

We went to INABIF, arriving late as always. Today some girls showed us a game they had come up with using a large piece of rope. It's basically like Chinese jump rope except that instead of only having the rope around your feet you slowly move it up to your knees, waist, shoulders, neck, head, and then hold it above your head. At first you have to jump in and out of the ropes, then swing your legs up to catch them rhythmically, then use your mouth to weave over and under them, and then use your arms to go in and out clapping. It's amazing how inventive kids are, they really don't need fancy toys they can have fun with just about anything! There was also a seminar on drugs which is apparently a problem here.

We play some ridiculously hard jumping string game - it's amazing what kids can come up with with just some string

Last night Alison and I helped Uziel make colorful flags on a string for an event today. It had been hard work as there were ten giant sheets of plastic that we had to fold, cut, and staple onto strings. We did so many that my arm is actually sore from stapling. It was fun though as we got to sit and talk while doing it.

Putting up our handmade banderas

Today after INABIF we walked two doors down to the Ministry of Culture where we helped string the banners in preparation for an arts fair Uziel would be taking part in. Stringing them up I was reminded of how tall I am here as I could reach a lot of the places the others couldn't. It's weird being this tall, I feel like people are a little intimidated by me - especially the guys - and I feel a little awkward and strange as well. It's going to be weird to go back to America and be normal-sized again too though!

Uziel showed up and we all went to lunch together. He showed us where he grew up in Lima and I ate much I thought I would die of a stomach explosion but felt I couldn't be rude and not eat the food again!

We were late to INABIF of course. I helped one kid with his math homework but he was a really difficult kid to teach, not willing to think through the problem and just waiting for you to do it for him.

We left INABIF late and went to the Ministry of Culture where the fair was about to begin. It was in a long, narrow plaza and there was a tent for food and plastic chairs in a circle around an area designated as the stage, with a big white screen behind it. There was also a botanic cactus garden behind the tent that Alison and I had checked out at lunch. There are lots of different kinds of cactus - who knew?!

Alison gets dwarfed by a cactus

And another one

So many types

While we were exploring the garden two kids from INABIF squeezed through the thin fence and Melany fell into a cactus! We spent a long time trying to get the spikes out of her jacket with marginal success. They also showed us how to pick the fruit of one cactus, which was incredibly sour, and also how you could throw the seeds of another cactus, that looked more like a tree, up into it's tangle of branches and watch as it bounced around, like the game at our local mini-golf where you put a ball in at the top and it bounces down off an array of pegs until maybe it goes into a hole at the bottom, but usually not.

Some kids from INABIF climbed through the fence and showed us around

They showed us how to eat the purple things

Cactus without spines

Melany fell into a cactus! Yikes!

You can throw the seeds of this cactus into its branches and they'll rattle around and pop out somewhere random!

At the fair, Jose, from two weeks ago on the motorcycle, came up to us. Seriously, he's been trying to find us for two weeks! He even went to our other house but apparently Rudy yelled at him - yikes! Jose said he wanted to practice his English, and that he grew up in Lima. He told us he is 18, though he hadn't wanted to tell us how young he was at first as he thought we were much older. Everyone here thinks we are older because of our height. Then he told us he was born in 1996 and we told him he couldn't be 18 then! He looked confused then realised he was 19 but hadn't celebrated his last birthday. Seriously, how can you not know how old you are? Especially if you're only 19!

The fair

The show began with a puppet show act which Alison and I thought was Katia and Uziel's act until we saw them walk in - whoops! In fact, their act turned out to be more like a play with only three people. It was a version of Little Red Riding Hood and was really good even though the only props were a chair, a basket, and a sock! At the end of the show were some short films like an animated short about the Bolivian water crisis.

The performance - Katia and another girl

After the festival we went to meet up with Joyce and her Spanish teacher for a farewell dinner - her flight out is tomorrow! We went to a restaurant called El Nino which does barbequed meat. It was good but a lot of meat for me. The Spanish teacher and her boyfriend were the total opposite of Katia and Uziel - tall and skinny they both got fruit salads and talked quietly, while Katia and Uziel (both short and stocky) got chicken and fries and spent most of the time laughing and joking.

After dinner the two couple and us three musketeers went to find a discoteca. The first place we tried was completely deserted, it was only 10pm and here the party doesn't start until 1. The second place, which you supposedly had to pay to get in but they let us in free based on our superstar gringo status, was also kind of slow so we forked out three soles to get into HOT, the discoteca we had scouted out with Nicole weeks earlier. The girls didn't pay to get in - sweet! I really enjoy the Latin music and the dancing and we ended up dancing with two of Uziel's friends - my guy was shorter than me!

Thursday June 23

Alison and I decided to go to INABIF this morning as well as this afternoon. I am definitely on the mend and had a full breakfast of bread, cheese, and yoghurt. We talked to Uziel a little about politics - he does not like monopolies, and apparently Peru fought on the right side in WWII! I find my Spanish is great for the day-to-day stuff but if I start needing a deeper level of meaning and comprehension I'm really shaky! I was trying to explain New Zealand's role in WWII and it's relationship to the Queen - both tricky topics.

The kids love Alison

There are far less children at INABIF in the morning and we spent a lot of time playing with Roberto and I even tried to get him to read a little bit. He seemed to kind of get it which was encouraging but his attention span is non-existent. Studying and learning are skills you have to work hard to acquire and without proper support and education society dooms kids like Roberto to never getting the level of proficiency required for an adequate job. Instead he is destined to not dream, and take some low level job. It's heartbreaking to think it might already be too late for him, once kids become accustomed to the freedom and easy lifestyle of the streets compared to school it's hard to convince them that they should give it all up for some dream. I feel that education must be what fuels ambition and dreams.

We ate lunch at the restaurant with Joyce and I feel that we haven't been finishing the food there very often and that it was important to do so this time. I stuffed myself to the point of throwing up but still could not get the last few bites down. Seriously, how do people here eat this much??

Back at INABIF (by mototaxi since we could barely move after eating so much) and lots of girls were braiding hair this afternoon. Alison and I joined them, the kids really like braiding Alison's blonde hair! I learned how to do one style where you braid the hair normally but then slide two strands up over the third until they're scrunched at the top. Pretty cool!

Today's hairstyle thanks to the INABIF salon

Max asked me to bring him something from the US when I come back and I tried to pretend I didn't have my phone as it was already low on battery from the morning, but Max saw right through that, pointing at my pocket and saying "Yes you do". So I had to give it to him - that kid is so smart! Also kids are soooo fascinated by our phones here, all day long it's "Presto me tu cellular!" Mostly they use snapchat which has fun filters like dog ears or devil eyes that you can put on yourself. Another popular feature is face swap.

After work Alison and I walked back to the restaurant to meet Katia. Katia suggested we go to the big white cross and arches that overlook the city. We walked quite a way, then took a mototaxi the rest of the way. The arches were amazing and as the sun set Alison and I took some amazing pictures in the arches. We all admired the sheer size of Ayacucho and tried to pick out our tiny house from the thousands of little dots.

Sidewalks?

View from the Mirador

The Mirador

While we were up there another guy started talking to us in English! People LOVE talking to us even if they only know the most basic English. His name is Luis and he a college student from Lima studying tourism. For this he had lived many months in the US, in Boston, California, and had also travelled around to Las Vegas and other cities. Not a bad degree to take when your homework is to travel around and be a tourist! We also laughed a lot about how hard it is to learn a language. He can't say beach without it sounding like bitch and we can't say perro or carro right. We also laughed about how everyone wants us to translate the most random objects into the other language.

Ayacucho

Uziel arrived and we walked around a little more before heading back. We couldn't find a bus so started walking but it was a cold night, and then the bus passed us without stopping! We all ran after it down the steep street and caught it at the next corner. We all crammed into the already overstuffed bus and headed home. The sun sets at about 5:30 so it was already dark as it was after 7pm.

At the plaza another party was going on, again for a school. All the students were out in the street and dancing and there were fireworks as well as a person running around with a bull-shaped firework framework on his head, chasing after people with exploding fireworks!

Three against one and we still lost!

Alison and I ran to check it out and it was awesome, but when we came back Katia and Uziel were gone! It was like when you are little and you lose your parents! Alison and I waited for a while in the place we last saw them, then headed back to the restaurant - our next planned meeting spot. They weren't there either! So we sat on the stoop for some minutes feeling very alone and sad before we walked to the corner and saw them walking up! We hugged and went back to the restaurant which Uziel unlocked so we saw the whole family. We didn't stay long though as we still had our dinner to cook and we had learned how long that took with two burners!

This time we had the routine down and even added breadcrumbs to the patties (well, crushed saltines which aren't quite the same....) which we had forgotten last time. The meal was good and everyone enjoyed it.