In the Beginning......................

Well Hello, to all of you sitting in your centrally heated homes with the nice warm shag pile under your little tootsies and that nice cup of tea in front of you or that glass of vino if its you Emer !! A marathon journey that ended almost 24 hors later in the town of Ayacucho, which is to be my home for the next 3 weeks.

I arrived at the city of Lima population 9 million who I might add were all out on the streets that night took my 5 kg bag off the conveyor...... just kidding my 3 bags and hoped to jaysus that en route to, my hotel that I was not going to be mugged . The vehicle I was travelling in was possibly as young as 30 years .

Anywaty after 5 hours kip I headed back to the aeropuerto where I met with some of the people I was going to be living with for the next 3 weeks. couple of Canadians , English and Americans a Scot and mise the token paddy. We piled on to a weenchy little propelled plane and headed off high up over the Andes only to arrive i Ayacucho at 7 am . The tarmac had more cracks in it than a 500 hundred year old Inca and the terminal was, well a room !

We loaded into "trucks" and headed for the "Gringo house" . Jaws were a hanging as we drove through the streets... nothing could have prepared us for what we saw, there were some roads but a lot of pure mud tracks no pavements and drivers appearing to have no idea which side of the road they were meant to be on . Women in traditional peruvian costumes flocked the streets and many kids , looking extremely grubby in very shabby clothing .

much sleep later city tour, lectures on what to do and what not to do spanish classes I wondered would I get time at all to even make a phone call in the next 3 weeks , and now by day 3 I will be lucky, maybe at 5 am !! Anyway we were all assigned our work places and proceeded into the trucks for a tour of same , one girl is working at a soup kitchen which is basically a hovel that , have to go internet cafe closing , to be continued,,,,,, God knows when