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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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| The kids love Alison |
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!
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| 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.
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| Sidewalks? |
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| View from the Mirador |
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| The Mirador |
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| Ayacucho |
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!
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| Three against one and we still lost! |
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.
