Just when Juliet and I thought we had mastered the bizarre Peruvian public bus system, we arrive at the bus stop at our usual 8.10 and are still there at half past wondering if any busses are actually going to go to Ccorao, the village where our volunteering is. When we’d finally given up hope and were trying to attract the attention of the taxi drivers, who are normally beeping madly at us, a bus pulled up with Ccorao on the side and we hopped on and were off to work again.
When we arrived at school, the day started once again with songs round the circle before we split into classes. My class was doing geography today and learning all about the map of Peru and it’s different regions. After discussing the different foods from each region and the main cities within them, the children then learnt about be different music and dances from each region. The Independence Day of Peru is coming up where the children will have the opportunity to sing and dance to all different types of Peruvian music, so as well as learning the national anthem each morning in the circle time, they are also learning different dances and music, ready for the celebration.

At break time today, the children were clearly absolutely exhausted, it must be Friday, as they all sat on the grass in three huge lines, all drinking their milk and eating their cookies in a strangely quiet and relaxed manner. However once they were finished they gained their usual crazy selves and started running around and screaming once again. After break time, to Juliet and my surprise, it wasn’t class room time again, it was an even bigger break time with balls and hoops however this time, Juliet and I were supervising and the teachers were inside writing out homework for the children.
They went absolutely mad the minute that the teachers were inside and even tried to escape through the gate onto the main road, and Juliet and I were Ike sheep dogs rounding them all up! Once we’d sorted the attempted escape out, the children became more settled and all queued up in front of me while I held up rubber hoops for them to throw balls through.
The ridiculously long play time was up after two hours, Juliet and I were absolutely knackered, and the children in my class went inside for one more dance before it was home time for the weekend.

When we arrived back in Cusco, Juliet and I discovered the smallest but cutest little vegetarian restaurant, Presada. We’d heard about it before but had never been able to find it however we just happened to stumble across it while walking down the street. I had a delicious salad followed by a HUGE piece of banana and chocolate cake!

It was then time for our last Spanish lessons (this week has gone far too quickly!). After mine, I helped the teachers and Horti, our house mum, to decorate the school in the Peruvian flag colours of red and white, ready for Peruvian Independence Day in two weeks! We stuck bunting and ribbons and bows and flags everywhere!

Unfortunately at some point in all this havoc, I lost my beloved map (seriously I feel as if I’ve lost a part of me!) it had all of Juliet and my favourite places, restaurants, streets and shops marked on it and now I’ve lost it all! (So depressed)
After a quick dinner, we headed back to our house for a Friday night movie. We put my iPad on a make shift table/chair between our beds and fell asleep watching Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 2 – a perfect end to the week!

This morning when we woke up, we discovered that Juliet’s food basket had been infested by ants, and when she poured out her cereal and took a mouthful, she realised she was eating ants!! (So gross) so after a swift chucking away of the food, and then a huge bug spray, any killer spray, around the house, we headed to our normal dinner cafe for a freshly baked chocolate croissant. I have a new map today so we can start a fresh with drawing on our favourite places!

We’re now off to a chocolate making class, at the chocolate museum, and we’re both SO excited (as you can probably imagine) so I’ll let you all know how that goes in the next blog!!! (That’s if we don’t eat ourselves sick before… Hehe)