Huancayo Hotels
|
  | |  |
Deepest Darkest Peru
Entry 46 of 52 | show all | print this entry |
|
This place is poor. I mean really poor. Its in the mountains about 7 hours from the capital Lima, so its really really cold at night and the sun is blisteringly hot in the day!!! Its a city of 360,000 people, and there is not a single nice car here and not any hint of western culture what so ever. They don't even have coke (I mean what kind of country doesn't have coca cola?), they have there own drink called Inca cola, which is yellow... (and actually doesn't taste anything like coke!)
The food here is interesting to say the least, So I'm really really struggling with that the most. I know I'm just about the most fussiest person in the world but I don't think there are many people that consider ´Guinne pig´ to be a really special meal... Its the national dish here and also really expensive!?!. The other day I was walking past a kinda shop thing in the street where a woman was cooking sheep's heads with a blow torch. I mean who the fuck is gonna eat that? The meat here is what can only be described as really poor quality, so I'm currently living on a diet of rice, potatoes, crisps and biscuits, and in the evening I go to the best most exclusive restaurant here and dine with the ´rich families´ and government ministers, which luckily happens to be a Chinese restaurant where I spent the princely sum of 3.5 pounds for a full on meal with a beer!
The work is great though and makes up of the lack of good food... I start work at 9am each morning and go to one of the poorest areas here, where they have no water or waste or anything, and I teach English to kids in the street, for an hour... Then after that, I go to another school, which the charity set up a few years ago and I teach English again to a class of 12 kids aged from 7-11, who I have to say are so fucking naughty its unbelievable. And trying to control them in Spanish is fun to say the least.... Then after I cant take anymore, I go home to the family I live with for a lunch of goats testicles and slops, Then at 3pm I have 2 hours of Spanish lessons, and then after them at 5.30 I teach a class of teenagers English for and hour and a half... sometimes I help out with the charity after the lessons too because their English is pretty bad, like responding to emails from say American newspapers about the charity or to people who wish to donate money, which makes it all a bit more interesting!
Then after my fine dining in the evening I eventually make it home, at around 9 or 10 and then pass out absolutely exhausted ready to be woken up at 6am every morning with sun rise, the barking stray dogs and the fucking ringing bells in the market below my window!!! Oh my god the fucking ringing bells... why why why?
So as you can see, its pretty tough going here... But really worth while... This morning I opened a school, and cut the ribbon and everything!!! I'm almost famous around here now... Especially as I am 3feet taller than every single person here... Its like being famous walking down the street, everybody and I mean everybody stops and stares at me like its Tom Cruise in crawley high street or something!!!
A couple of days ago, we invited one of little boys from the street outside (who sells little ice creams for 2p a go, to support his family) into the charity office and brought him new clothes, and then I took him to a shop and brought him some new trainers... Bearing in mind this little kid is 6 years old... He doesn't go to school, he has shoes with holes in, he works every day in the street with no friends and no food and he never has anything to smile about... Well, Ive never seen anyone so happy and excited when he was trying the shoes on in the shop... To be honest I had to hold back the tears there and then. its just really sad... I actually think it was his first time in a car also... Its really hard to explain, but when we have so much in england, its really hard to appreciate how much that could have changed his life... The first time he has ever had a pair of new shoes... it was a big day for him. pretty humbling for me too... the sad thing is we haven't seen him since. Well at least he smiled for a bit...
Oh yeah, water.... in this city, they turn the water OFF between 1pm and 3am, so you have to have a shower in the morning, when the day is the coldest and there seriously is not hot water. Its almost a torture to have a shower, hence I'm ashamed to say I don't exactly shower everyday!!! to be honest its makes no difference cause all the roads here are dust tracks so the second you step out your house, your dirty, and half the road goes up your nose, so a shower seems pointless anyway...
This week has been the week from hell! I found out earlier in the week that if I want to go to Bolivia then I have to have a yellow fever injection, like i needed for Brazil and like I also need if I actually want to be let back into the UK!?!... You would think it would be easy to get a YF injection in a country which counts the amazon jungle as part of its countryside... well normally yes, except there is a health service strike here at the moment, and when I say strike, I don't mean they stay at home drinking cups of tea, eating chocolate penguins watching loose women, Oh no no..I mean these doctors, nurses oh and teachers as well... (i.e. the people responsible for the future of the country, the children) take to the streets and throw rocks and bricks at police in full riot gear who in turn, spray bullets and tear gas at them! trust me I know, cause I nearly got caught in one the other day! looked like a fucking war zone...!
Anyway, I digress... So long story short after going to 4 different clinics and hospitals, I finally found a corrupt administrator (in a hospital with dirt and blood splattered all up the walls in the waiting room), who excepted my bribe of 4.5pounds and agreed to give me a vaccination in 2 days... anyway this was Monday, and on Wednesday I finally had my YF injection, and trust me, I must have asked and checked about a thousand times that the needle was ´´Brand Spanking New´´ and not just pulled out the arse of some picket line gunshot victim!!!
I'm literally counting the days now... Yesterday was a public holiday here so Ive only got 5 working days left before I head for the dizzy heights of Machu Picchu. So cant wait to get out of here. Its been so so fucking hard... rewarding, but hard.
So yeah, thats my life at the moment. Not exactly luxury, but then it was never going to be. The people here are the friendliest Ive seen in the world, and for some strange reason, I kinda like it here, so its not all bad.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Peru or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
13 votes 
