bienvenidos a peru......por fin!!!!!!

Hola por fin!!!!

So sorry for the extremely late post! we´ve only just managed to get on the net for a good enough time to write and it´s a good job because the last couple of days since we arrived have been absolutely crazy and there is so much to tell....where to start!!

Hm...Heathrow airport at 8.30am, after a mad rush and a really emotional goodbye, becky and me were finally on our own and on our way to Peru..well Miami! Although, we still got stopped at customs cause Becky forgot to take her deodrant etc out before we got through in typical becky style lol! We were short of time so as soon as we got in, we grabbed some water and got on our lovely planes without many problems. The plane was AMAZING!!!!!! but the novelty of having films etc in front of our seat wore of quickly and so we ended up changing the language settings a hundred times instead!!! The annoying thing was, the plane was an hour late setting of which left us practically no time in Miami for a decent change over....to cut a long story short there was lots of worrying, stress, and panic, in nikibecky fashion, and we nearly missed our flight...although looking back it seems so funny!

Thinking everything was to go smoothly from then on, we relaxed and slept..only to find that luck didnt follow us that far...Becky´s luggage didnt arrive..! Miraculously, we got things sorted and after more stress, we were exhausted and jetlagged, ready to go meet Maria Silva. We went out in arrivals, only to be met by a sea of people, all waiting for someone or other and then finally we saw Maria Silva, holding up a big poster....ah bienvendos

Maria Silva introduced us to Vilmer, the dad of the family who she lives with..he´s peruvian. She went of with Becky to deal with the final luggage business and i went back with Vilmer to the car, and got pushed straight into spanish speaking..which was great! Maria Silva is German, but has lived in England and can speak perfect english and also perfect Spanish now (as she lives in peru, but also had her high school education in spain!) We arrived to her casita, and got introduced to the rest of the family, watching some loca telenovela on the tv. they were all so friendly, and being greeted with a kiss on the cheek and a little hug is so lovely and ice'breaking..she told us to make ourselves at home which we found easy to do. Then Vilmers nephew came in, called Wagner (hm some funny names here..we ended up callin him waggy!) and was too shy to give us un besito which he got stick for!..later we found out he loves to salsa dance and listens to regaetton..good coincidence!! We stayed up a couple more hours talking to everyone, watching silly soaps and finally our jetlag got the better of us and we crashed!! (we never managed to get a shower either as although they were lucky enough to have a hot water boiler..it was scolding!!!!!)

The next day, we woke up after a good nights sleep..but still pretty all over the place. we were hoping to get becky´s luggage today (turns out it was due to the short changeover time, they couldn´t get all the luggage on the plane..but it was in lima finally). the family were chilling out in front of the tv again, so we joined them after a breakfast of fresh bread mm! Four films later, we were still hoping to get the luggage so later on we could go to the refuge. However..the luggage never arrived at our door and after many phone calls and deliberations..we decided to stay another night!! In some ways, it was really frustrating, but the lack of luggage ended up working to our advantage as we had a lovely evening. We couldn´t go into Lima as it was too late, so Wagner gave me a salsa class (!) and we played with Vilmer´s two children, Milagros who is 3 and Santiago who is 2...tan dulces! Was a really fun evening and i feel like we built a lot of bonds with the family that night. Managed to get on the internet that night also, just to check mail etc but we kind of ended up introducing Wagmar to facebook (ahem..becky) and he spent about 3 hours looking at every single one of Beckys photos to her surprise and dismay lol!!! Jugadora is the only word that could spring to his mind!!!

The next day..monday.. was probably the best day. Maria Silva let us spend the morning in the infant school, that she help set up next door to her house and in the afternoon we spent it at the primary school up the road. I think the only way to describe this day is eye opening, as cheesy as it may sound. It was so interesting to participate in the classes and help out, see the differences between the schools over here to those in England, and the way the kids behaved..so many little things! After lunch, we had our first peruvian bus experience with Wagner...! my god, the buses are crazy over here and so bumpy, we had to hold on to each other for our lives lol! but it was good fun..and they played regaetton in them too! I know so many people and guide books who say Lima isn´t the best capital in the world, neither the most attractive...but maybe it was because we went with a local who knew the place well, that made a difference, or i don´t know..something else..but I really liked it! OK there´s no denying it´s not attractive, but it seems to have such a good ambience to it..! After wondering the city streets and squabbling in spanish over sim cards, he took us to the centro comercial and we went for a big exploration. It was the most simplest thing, with solely shops and other things to see, but we ended up having such a laugh and a great time nonetheless! And the churros were delicious!!!

Once we had returned home, Becky´s suitcases had arrived!!!!!!!!!!! Although, I think we were kind of disappointed at that point as we didn´t want to leave! We could have gone that night, but their hospitality and generosity was overwhelming and we didnt want to just leave so suddenly. Although we got an early night that night, we made the most of the next morning until Karina picked us up for the refuge........infact Wagmar´s cousin, Beto (who was nineteen, had grey eyes and was quite hot..although becky is currently disagreeing as she preferred waggy LOL!) came and spoke to us...turns out he´s also a salsa dancer (probably like the majority of peru lol) and a regaetton singer...nice! our confidence in spanish had really picked up by then. Karina finally came, and I surprisingly felt really sad to say bye to Maria Silva and Vilmer´s family but we were feeling ready to finally go to the refuge..the whole point of the trip..and a new adventure in itself.

I´ve spent about an hour writing this all up and the kid´s have nearly finished their homework so I´m running out of time, but I will get on as soon as possible to tell you all about this verrrry different life style! Everything´s fine here nonetheless and I hope you are all well. Am missing you all so much so take care and lots and lots of love.......mucho amor!
p.s we have finally showered!
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