Claire takes on the world….

Well it had to happen eventually! After two summers of watching people getting sick and surviving without a scratch, I let my guard down and ate something I maybe shouldn’t have. That something is now the new flooring in my bathroom and the bathroom of the local school! On Wednesday we headed up into the sunshine in the Lima countryside and got some lunch. I learned a valuble lesson that day. That is, when you get a chicken that is floating in its own blood on your plate, you don’t simply ask for it to be cooked a little more, you run! I knew straight away after that meal that something was wrong. I was fine Thursday, even went out for another chicken and chips and polished it off with a few beers and a strawberry cheesecake. Friday morning, while engrossed in a ‘How one uses the exclamation mark’ class it suddenly hit me over the head! It felt like my stomach was at war with the rest of my body. I had to go around to all 10 students and glue a picture into their copy before I could run for it. Around student number 5 things really took a nose-dive and I couldn’t stand up straight. Luckily Lizbeth decided at that moment to be a helpful student and started handing me the correct page I needed to stick next which hurried things along a lot. When that was done I heard the ‘Creo’ shout and knew it was lunch. I ran to the staff toilets, redecorated it and apologised over and over to the principle while I skipped past her. I ran like a gazelle home. Trying to keep my strides long so as not to upset my stomach. When I got in the door of the house Kevin had a drawing he had to show me. I shuffled from foot to foot while he tried to find the page it was on. After giving him some sort of approving comment I jumped up the stairs and commenced two hours of clogging sinks. When I eventually emergered people went crazy calling other people trying to figure out what to do with the one passing out in her summer attire in winter. 5 year old Annel came up to feel my forehead and cheeks and told me I had a fever. Betty from Casa Del Niños somehow got the job of taking me on the twenty minute taxi ride to the clinic. Alredy I’ve seen a few reconstructions of my leap from the taxi on a busy road while I fled to throw up the sip of water I’d had. After various tests and a wonderful injection (never felt such instant relief) I was on my way. After a big grocery shop Thursday night, I was running low on cash had to choose which medicine to get between nausea pills, diahorrea pills and antibiotics. I managed 8 antibiotic pills, two diahorrea ones and a nausea pill.
So here I am sitting on my bed on what should be the first day of my week long vacation trying to keep down a bit of water. Michael is after heading to Puno and Cuzco for a week. I’d planned on going to the jungle for a few days to read the Harry Potter book in peace. Maybe it’s a sign that I shouldn’t go to the jungle on my own! I bought a cell phone for protection, have a few people I can ring if I get kidnapped! The plan now is to head to Paracas to see some animals next week if I’m ok.
Just realised the events of my last blog entry happened over two weeks ago. Wouldn’t want my granchildren thinking I did nothing for two weeks of my trip when they read this around 2055, so I´ll recap briefly.
Last Saturday we got two new recruits. Stephen and Jenny are from Belfast and have just finished their A Levels. They don’t have the address of this blog so I don’t have to say nice things, but dammit they’re cool! We’ve been taking little trips to restaurants to have a beer in the evenings. It’s weird to see them do the things we did a month ago, and a little cringe- worthy. Stephen will never hear the end of the head-butt incident. This ‘kissing everyone on the cheek thing’ takes a little getting used to, and rookies have been known to head-butt people. Stephen apparently did this to our Peruvian friend Kelly one night, and I can tell by her head movement when talking that she’s still telling people about it. Secretly, we are too! I remember I did it a few times when I first arrived but I won’t be telling him that.
They seem to be handling the Spanish better than we did. There’s not as many hand movements. Jenny occasionally makes the mistake of thinking I can translate. On Thursday I was busy hacking away at a chicken in one of the many, many chicken joints here. Kelly and Jenny were having a ‘Spanglish’ conversation when they ran into difficulty. I looked up from my chicken to find them both looking expectantly at me, awaiting the translation. After a few seconds the metaphorical penny seemed to drop and they both started laughing. I just went back to my chicken. Around the Casa Del I have been able to translate a few things. People seem to know what words to stick to around here. I was getting very confident until I went to the doctor´s surgery on Friday and hadn’t a clue what he was saying. I knew I was sick and I knew he’d make me better. So I went back to my smiling and nodding regime.
Jenny has bowled the place over with her vegitarianism. It’s just not a concept here. Almost every restaurant seems to have chicken in the title. Especially down the local mall. We went there for lunch one day and only the Pizza Hut out of the 15 or so restaurants in the food court had a vegitarian meal. In work, one of the psychologists seemed to be studying her one day over lunch, trying to figure out why someone wouldn’t eat meat. So she’s the ‘different’ one around here, the only blonde and vegitarian in the village.
During out last weekend as a ‘twosome’, myself and Michael went on another ‘paseo’. Paseo seems to be the word for trip or excursion or something. This time it was with the Casa Hogar kids, the eight small people we live with. We headed into the centre of Lima. Pigeon feeding is a big thing here and Kevin seems to have a thing for terrifying the little things. At every pigeon hang-out, there’s someone selling food for them. The kids each got a bag and went nuts with it. When the food was gone, they just chased the pigeons away, upsetting the food seller lady, so we had to move on. We went to a naval museum and I didn’t even try to understand the tour person. She seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere and I just couldn’t keep up. I had Kevin with me most of the time (we each had one kid) and stopping him spitting at antiques was a full time job!
We went to visit a few churches. No one seems bothered by the fact that mass was on. We still strolled all around even up as far as the altar talking and pointing at things. Most of the local people were saying their own prayers over at the sides of the church. Although Peru is very religious,it’s not institutionalized. The people here don’t see why they need a priest between them and God so mass isn’t a big thing here.
After that,we had a picnic of apples, mandarins and popcorn and headed for the train. Along the way we spotted a celebrity (there was supposed to be a photo of Barney here….). The train was just a small novelty one. Luckily I had been left with the picnic
basket and was seated away from the group with Cielo. By the end of the short train ride we had significantly reduced the amount of left over food that had to be carried home. We just wanted to make life easier for the people carrying it.
Sunday I woke up unsure of where I was going. I was wrecked after getting up at 3am to meet the new arrivals in the airport and we stayed up until about 8am talking. I was told I was going to some sort of festival with ‘all the kids’. So I asked Liselith and Kevin what this trip was about. They reminded me that Sunday is family day in Casa Hogar so there was no way anyone would organise a trip for them on a Sunday. Hate when they make me feel stupid….
So I hopped on the bus and saw Michael sitting there among about 20 kids dressed in colourful traditional Peruvian clothes. I recognised one or two of them from the Casa Del Niños and when I asked Elsa, the co-ordinator, where she got them I’m pretty sure she said ‘just from around’. We arrived at what I knew was the church I had gone to on my first weekend in Peru with no roof. I did some mingling and talking and discovered we were at a fundraiser for the church. There was a make-shift bar, food, loud music and game where you gave one Solee for a mystery prize. A little kid got the bottle of champagne I’d been eyeing up but I won …… a thing. For the first time on this blog I’ve no idea how to describe something. It had white netting and pink ribbon and was in the shape of a bell. I presumed it was a hat but by the reaction I got I knew I had had another social screw up. Turns out it’s a decoration for a 15th birthday party, the big one in Peru. I kept it for the upcoming Baptism.
The food was as good as I was expecting. Hate to be mean but I’ve learned that where red meat is concerned here it’s best to run. I later discovered it’s beef heart we’ve been eating. I noticed at this church fete that the adults were being served before the kids. Now usually I would let a child eat before me but I thought I could make it work to both of our advantages. The little ones didn’t know they were being fed on this trip so I turned to the one next to me and acted all ‘I love children’ and offered her one of my heart scewers. She was delighted to get it and shared it with her friends. I was just handing her my second one (I had three) when she copped on to the fact that they were getting fed too. I decided to try honesty for once and told Elsa I just couldn’t eat it. She found some people who gladly ate my meat and I went and filled up on cakes.
I stood at the bar for a bit with my Inca Cola and the men there said something about my eyes so I quickly salsa-ed on past them over to the dance area. The kids we’d brought were the entertainment for the afternoon. I made a video of it which I might actually try upload here. But I’ll more than likely fail.
That was supposed to sum that last two weeks, but it seems I’ve only talked about two days. Monday to Saturday I just work work work. Like a little beaver I am. I’m now in the creche type area in Casa Del Niños and I must say I like working with the really little ones. I had an awkward moment the other day when one of the social workers happened upon me sitting in the bucket swing thing being pushed by a kid. After some nervous laughing I jumped and gave her a kind of ‘she made me do it’ look. Other than that I think been doing ok!

It dawned on me today while strolling with Kelly, my Peruvian buddy, that I have forgotten to mention the cool people who are making our stay here all the more fun. So I thought I’d give them a little shout out.

First we met Richie. Richard Montenegro is the son of Ana, a woman who works with us here in Casa Hogar. He just quit his job to record his album. He was a teacher but controlling the kids was straining his voice, so now he`s a recording artist. He said he’s going to help us out with Spanish which would be great. Shouldn’t be too hard for a guy who speaks Spanish, English, French and Italian. He has one of his songs translated into 63 languages. It’s a project he’s started and it looks amazing. He has a book with all the different versions of his song written in it. I’m translating it into Irish at the moment. He asked Michael to duet with him on his album. Mike’s been entertaining people all over the place here. They can’t understand why I won’t sing a little something for them. I’m sure after a few bars, with my voice, they’d understand alright!

Another cool person I’ve met here is Kelly. I first got to know her at the theatre festival two weeks ago. On Sunday she really bowled me over with her hospitality. It really makes you think about how foreign people are treated in Ireland.

She invited me out for bowling with her friends. Michael had already accepted an invitation to go to a concert at a local school. We had planned to meet outside the Casa Del Niños at midday. I happened to finish up my phone calls earlier than expected, so I got there a little early. I had forgotten people live in the Casa and the woman of the house, Penny, came out to see why I was sitting on her front door step. I quickly apologised and said ”I’m just waiting for my friend”. She asked me who my friend was but in my confusion I forgot what “Quien” means and said 12 o clock instead of Kelly. When Kelly arrived at 12 on the button she was mortified that she’d made me wait. She later told her mother and her boyfriend about the ‘unfortunate’ incident, they were both shocked, I hadn’t even thought twice about it.

Her mother welcomed me into their home. I made as much conversation as I could, thankfully Kelly was there most of the time for translation purposes. Her mother is a sewing teacher and had made me a little purse. I couldn’t believe she’d made it for me, (must get my mother to start making things for my friends when they visit!).
I was terribly nervous about lunch. I had decided that no matter what was put in front of me, I was going to devour it. I had not eaten all day, figured being hungry would help. But I was pleasantly surprised. We had chicken and savory rice, which was absolutely delicious. I was pretty sure eating Kelly’s leftover wasn’t the polite thing to do so I worked away on dessert, which I had brought in an attempt to equal their niceness. I ate with Kelly, her mother and her two younger sisters. During dinner I got invited to one of the sisters, Emily’s baptism. I’m not sure how old Emily is but she was well able to invite me to her own Baptism. That’s on July 21st, which is our week off so my travelling plans have been put back a bit to go wet Emily’s head.

After lunch we met Kelly’s boyfriend, Adrian, and headed into town. I had one more of my social ‘screw ups’ when my foot got tangled in a lady’s foot on the bus and I fell out the door into Adrian’s arms! Luckily Kelly saw the funny side. We met up with four of Kelly’s cousins and then, when walking through a mall bumped into one of the cousin’s friends, Katy. In true Peruvian style Katy shut up the shop she was working in to join us for the afternoon. I presumed she was just popping out on her lunch hour and had to shut up because she was the only one working. But no, she stayed with us all day!

We went for another lunch. And the 7 of them couldn’t comprehend why I wasn’t hungry! Even Kelly ate again. I absolutely couldn’t, so as I type this there is a quarter chicken sitting next to me in a box. The menu was gringa friendly and had photos of all the meals. They were all squares of different types of meat. But one caught my eye. There was no denying that it was a rodent. It had a body, two legs and a two arms. I asked Adrian and he said that yes, it was indeed a guinea pig. They asked if I wanted to order it and I tried to think of a way to explain how a former hamster owner could not eat a guinea pig!
All I could think of to say was “This, in Irlanda, amigo”. All conversations stopped and they all looked at the one who had just called a rodent a friend. I said something like how in Peru dogs are friends, in Ireland guinea pigs are friends. Not entirely true but it got the message across.

I’ve discovered that bowling is thee best way to get to know the names of a group. After looking at the names on a screen for an hour I finally got them all, but can’t recite them right now. It was a close game, only about 5 points between first and last place. I missed about 15 minutes of the game trying to get some drinks in. Efficiency is not a big thing here. I’m blaming that 15 minutes for me not winning. It was cool little place with the Pussycat Dolls blaring and floresent lights.

We strolled the streets for a while after that. I felt I had to work off the food I’d been eating all day. We came upon one of the cousins from Raul’s apartment. I wasn’t too sure what was going on until he pulled out a deck of cards. I was hoping and praying it wasn’t poker, as I have never been able to grasp that. But what ensued what the most fun card game I’ve ever had. You know it’s been a good game when my bloody finger is only one of the many injuries, and my hamstring is aching!

It was a game I’d played at home, people pass cards around until you get four of one type. But the added Peruvian element was that there were 7 spoons in the middle. When someone gets 4 of the same card they had to shout “Chancho”. At this everyone dropped their cards, let go of their common sense and lunged at the table. At one stage the leg of the table came off. People were dashing all over the room to get a spoon; if someone managed to get two they’d fling one as far as they could. The name of the game was almost changed to “Chinchewy” to accomodate me since I kept getting the word wrong. It’s hard to think when you’re jumping out of your chair after a plastic spoon.

Katy got through the whole hour long game without losing once. She is just one of those uber cool people. She never got violent or crazy like some of us, just gracefully and speedily got the spoon. She impressed me earlier with her nonchalant, “Ok, I’ll just close up the shop” attitude. She won bowling and then crushed us all at cards. I’m mad I didn’t get all of their email addresses. Hopefully I’ll see some of them at the Baptism.

To make me feel at home this game, and another one was played in English. Everyone made an effort to speak English and all the numbers were said in English. I would have loved to have said, “Actually if you don’t mind, could we do this in Irish? I prefer that language”, but I figured they were putting themselves out enough. All day, everytime a seat became available on a bus, everyone looked at me and wouldn’t let me not take it. They wouldn’t let me pay for the buses and everytime we went to a new place or even on to a new street, someone made sure to tell me all about it.

Peru was definitely a good choice to start my travels in. Just wish I could take all these people with me!

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