Travellin around Chincha
Mariana Gledhill from Wellington, N.Z spent 7 months in Peru in 2005 doing voluntary work. She shares her experiences.
Hi
This will probably not be too long because the space bar on the keyboard i am using is painfully annoying. What have I been up to here? Well, I have been sick again. But I am better now and the doctors have finally found out what is giving me problems. It´s kinda gross so I dont want to say. However, I feel lucky that I am able to get medical treatment. A lot of people are not, even though it seems cheap to me compared to what is costs in NZ.
I have travelled a little… to Huacachina which is basically a lagoon in the middle of nowhere… a tourist resort. I went sandboarding and fell a lot. By the end of the session, I had sand in lots of places. I needed a shower when I got home (or rather a bathe… we don´t have a shower so I bathe from a bucket of water. It has taught me a lot… you dont need showers… However, I appreciate them more than ever now, believe me!). I hope to go to Nazca to see the lines soon. It´s about 4 hours away, lines in the desolate pampa. No one knows how they got there but they are hundreds of metres in length and wideness and some say it was aliens. I have been to Ica… not that amazing.
I went to La Centinela, a site of the Chincha people who lived in Chinca centuries ago. It was amazing. In a volitile land of quakes, the structure has stayed intact to a point. I went to Lima again and discovered this Chilean chain called Ripley… cheap clothes, pants for less than $10 and tops for about $4. Bargains everywhere.
My cousin from Lima raved about McDonalds and told me how I had to try it as she thought that it could not be in my country (some people think NZ lacks electricity, others ask if the state of NZ in the United States is near Texas. Others ask why we vote for Bush). She works there. I told her I had in in my country and didn´t like it much. My host sister did not want it either. You can get burgers for 2 soles, about 1/3 the price that are superior. Besides, there is a rumour that burgers contain dog meat. Keeping dogs here is a pastime akin to soccer.
Well, my work is going well. I am singing a solo at the mother´s day celebrations on Saturday. That is all Kris´s fault. We had this party where we all had to sing a song from our country. I sang parks for people´.´ Kris works at my work. He came here through AFS before and he loved it so much that he came back to work himself. He told everyone ´the gringa can sing.´ This gringa had been giving a lot of performances of ´My Heart Will Go On from Titanic. She is starting to hate that song a lot.
Teaching is coming along ok. Milagros is a girl who I help with maths. She likes me despite this. Calls me mum. She added two numbers together today without counting on her fingers. That is a milestone. Nayeli wants Kris and I to get married and adopt her. Well, that would be facinating. I mean I was warned about South Americans but a Belgium! I mean, why date a guy who lives 23 hours way including stopovers when you can date someone who lives 30 plus hours away?
Ok on that not, gotta go and practice my song… other song for Saturday (not Titanic)
Chau
Mariana
