Hello folks,
Well it's been a week since I was last here so I'll give you an update on what I've been doing over the last week. I had my orientation/induction on Sunday with Patrick and two other volunteers that had arrived at the same time as me. Phoebe, a girl from Cambridge and a New Zealander called Lucy. Both are in there early 20's, very lovely and good fun so as we're the new kids in town we've been hanging out a fair bit checking out the town and finding our feet here.
In our orientation we went through all the do's and don'ts and risks associated with being in the schools and Arequipa itself. You have to keep your wits about you here and stay on your toes. It's normally pretty ok for guys but girls do have to be extra careful especially after dark as there have been quite a few incidents where girls have been followed or felt intimerdated when out on there own.
Patrick went in to a little more detail in regards to the school I'll be teaching in. It's around 2500metres above sea level high in the mountains, to give you an idea ben nevis is 1200metres high. Myself and an Australian girl called Jen that has been here for a month will be teaching a class of 8 children between the ages of 8 & 10 (levels 4 & 5) The children come from very poor deprived backgrounds and leave in shanty towns with there families, not in the centre where I leave, here it's a little safer. Many of the children are extremely vunerable as have experienced some form of abuse at home by either there family members or the people that live around them. The police don't police the shanty towns therefore these area are left to run themselves, crime is high and money is scarce. For these reason amongst other we have to be careful how we teach the kids, no raised voices when they're naughty, no promises of sweets or gifts for there families, ensuring we treat all the kids equally, no favourites or problematic ones avoided. Most of the children's parents have alcohol related issues which means drinking in the week is out as hangovers are a big no no.
I'll be leaving my host family at 7.30am walking to the Casa del Avila arriving here around 7.50am. All volunteers are picked up at 8am by bus and driven to our schools. There are three schools in total, we teach maths, english, spanish, art, history and sports to children ages between 4 and 12. The children are nowhere near as advanced as western children of the same age, some may have only started school recently however all are fluent in there language but may not be able to read or write very well.
Levels 4 & 5 are taught by the volunteers only (meaning no actual teachers are present as such) lucky for me Patrick, a guy called Gidian and Jen have worked with levels 4 & 5 for sometime so when I join them the week after next, I'll be able to see how they handle and teach them attempting to follow in there footsteps. The downside is that both Patrick and Gid leave the project in a month from now meaning it will be just Jen and I taking the classes. I'm sure we'll be fine, the word on the streets is that it's tough for the first few weeks but once the kids have accepted and gotten use to your ways it's good fun and very rewarding. Pat, Gid and Jen talk about the kids lots, Lennon is the class alpha male, he runs the show, has mad crazy eyes and although can be a handful he's a good kid at heart, they all are I'm told. The fact that they are actually in school is amazing in itself, most of the kids there age up in the mountains are out with there parents trying to make a few sols anyway they can. These kids have been reached and school for them is both exciting and interesting, far better than the towns they live in. The promise of a sticker at the end of the lesson will keep them working for a hour, if students have a particular good day or make a significant improvement with there homework for example they may get a couple of coloured pencils from us. If problematic kids fight or cause disruptions improve over a week they could get a magazine to read or colour in. I'm looking forward to getting into the school and up in the mountains, it'll be quite amazing I'm sure.
So, now on to my Spanish lessons.... in short it's bloody difficult learning a new language!! I started on Monday at 9am. My first teacher is a peruvian lady called Beatrice, she's alright but also very strict. She's known for being strict and many of the students have told me how difficult is can be working with her. She's the kind of teacher than if she could hit you on the back of the hand with a ruler I'm sure she would!
In Spanish there's masculine and feminine words and hence ways of talking and writing, each verb have 5 conjucations to it, for example, if you say "I work" ou would say, yo trabajo, if you say, "you work" it's tu trabajas, if you say, "we work" it's nosotros trajamos, basically the work "work" changes depending on the personal pronoun.. I, you, he/she, we or they.. in short, it's a bloody nightmare and that's just the beginning. At the moment it's a bit like 1 step forwards and 2 steps back... Monday and tuesday I just didn't get it, or basically made very slow progress. I don't think I've ever really know what a verb is, or an adjective, or a personal pronoun for that matter, it's just not been my thing therefore I'm not only learning a new language but I've also had to learn what all the words mean and where they are to go in a sentence.
I really felt like I'd made a break through on Wednesday morning, I had done about 5 hours homework the night before, therefore I'd really put the effort in and worked my soaks off. I was pretty sure somethings were wrong and would need correcting but I had done my best and after just three days of Spanish I felt OK however on Thursday morning Beatrice was critical of the work I had done, impatient with me and acted like a first class bitch. She kept saying it's easy and not difficult, just look at it like this, or this, now in my opinion if someone is struggling with learning something the worst a teacher can do is tell her student that it's easy and not difficult. I swear to god I wanted to stab her in the friggin eye (sorry folks) anyway, after the first hour of my lesson I felt awful, all the hard work I had done felt like I'd done it for nothing. If it wasn't for being here to teach for GVI and maybe paying for the project I'd have told her to piss off and walked out. However, the good news is I didn't, she told me she wasn't trying to be mean or critical and that I shouldn't be so hard on myself. It was quite normal to be going forwards one minute and back the next. She also said that maybe the problem was with her, well amongst other things maybe it was... After my first 2 hour lesson with Beatrice I switch tables and work with Alan. Alan is 25, born and raised in Peru, a really nice bloke and we get on great. He has a completely different style of teaching to Beatrice, he's far more laid back, makes you feel comfortable and praises you for the correct answers you give. He's lessons are more language driven as his job is to get you speaking (Beatrice is more written as you might have gathered) Alan speaks mainly in Spanish throughout the lesson then if the student is unsure of what he is saying, he will repeat in English then normally again in Spanish. Now although the bitch is a bit of bitch, I think I'm going to stick with her, for all the crap she dishes out she really is an excellent teacher and I'm pleased to say my lesson with her on Friday was a good one. I had done another 5 or 6 hours study on the Thursday afternoon/evening and was determined to get it and go back to my lesson in a more positive frame of mind. With a little help from a friend but mainly my own new found understanding of Spanish! I was pretty sure my homework was better than OK for the first time. I got maybe 25 out of 30 phrases correct and was able to read back to her what I had written pretty well. Beatrice gave me great praise and said that in 5 days of learning a new language I really had done well. I was made up but obviously kept a lid on it... She now knows to put her broomstick and hard ruler away when she's with me and the fact that I have made progress is down to her strictness, the homework I've had the fact that I really do want to learn. She is known for being a difficult (but still a good) teacher so I guess there are pro's and con's to her style... Anyway enough of Spanish for a bit..
Right, what else, my host family... I'm staying with a Spanish lady and her husband, both are in there 60's and retired. They speak no English whatsoever so I really do have to put my limited Spanish into play as often as possible... my bedroom is hilarious, it's like your Nan's would have been in the 70's (if she liked a bit of sun and sangria in spain from time to time that is) it's full of 1960's spanish ornaments, silly little pictures and ornaments that have thick layers of dust on.. my clothes go in a glass fronted cabinet that I presume use to be in the dining room and home to glasses and more ornaments.. I have a bedside light that flickers from time to time and curtains that draw on an old pull chord that I think is going to snap any day now, the curtains close to within an inch of each other but no closer therefore letting in the bright sunshine at 6am every morning. The first night I stayed there I got into the room, Edith was the only one in the house at that time therefore I thought it was going to be just her and I for 3 months! that could have been a bit awkward at times! anyway, I unpack my bag drag my finger of the dusty doll house size shelves that are screwed in the wall, open a huge double fronted dark brown wooden wardrobe and I'm faced with an old doll, about 3ft tall, she's been propped up in the corner and her head tilted to one side.. she's dusty and a bit tatty and looks like she's been living in the wardrobe for some years... I slid the screaching wardrobe doors close as the words... nice doll, nice doll, nice doll quietly exit from my mouth... I've decided to put all my clothes in my glass fronted dining room cabinet/wardrobe now :)
My bed is harder than the Kray twins ever were and bumpier than the bubble man that was one that weird document a while back.. the first night I decided to drag the mattress onto the floor to see if it was the bed base or the mattress itself, sounds odd I know but the mattress looks quite new. Anyway, didn't help much so it's back on the bed frame again.
I have my own bathroom... it's about 3ft square, has a loo, sink and shower.. If I'm lucky I have warm water for about 4 minutes in the evening, that's if Edith hasn't used it all up in the day washing tea towels and dollies... We don't have hot water in the morning as the sun needs to heat the water for the house during the day...
Edith potters round the house singing and chatting to herself in Spanish, she laughs lots and has made me feel really welcome, even if we have no idea what we're saying to each other the language of smiles and laughs are getting us through just fine! it'll be so nice when I can start putting a few sentences together so we can have a conversation even if some pretty basic ones to start with..
Every night this past week I've had my dinner, got into my room, studied for a few hours then drifted off to the sound of dogs barking and beeping horns in the distance...
Last night about 15 of us had a bbq in the garden at the Casa... we made lovely salads (not quite as good as Jo & Ben's but still nice all the same :) we cooked more meat than we needed to and sat in the garden until about 9ish eating, drinking, chatting and telling stories, I told them the story about my horse riding nightmare when me, annice, jo, lou, gareth, emma c, shep and a few others went pony trekking for the day which ended up being like a a cross between the grand national and a horror movie... I also told them of the time I had ghostly experiences in my mates 700 year old cottage in Ashow when I experienced muchos paranormal activity in the early hours of the morning on night.. the pony trekking story had everyone in bits and the ghostly story as the night grow darker went down a treat... it set us all up for a great night ahead...
So that's for now, it's Saturday afternoon about 5ish, there's a few peeps knocking about here so we'll no doubt watch the sun go down in about an hour so then have a quiet one somewhere.. I never thought I'd say it but I'm actually looking forward to doing a bit more homework later, then more tomorrow.. mad eh..
To whoever is reading this, I hope that this finds you well and that all is good with you. Thanks for dropping by :)
xx
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Saturday 15th May
Well my evening out with the GVI team was a success! I made my way over to Casa de avilla to meet up with the team to head out for the evening. We walked to the main square through dusty roads and dimly lite alleyways. It was far busier round here than where I was on the first day. Again the people are friendly and although you have to keep on your toes you don't get the impression that you're going to get ripped off whicb is a relief.
After 15 minutes or so of walking we arrived at the restaurant where we were to eat. There was about 15 of us in total, myself and a south african girl named Lucy were the new kids in town. We were treated nicely and everyone made the effort to say hello and have a conversation with us. Patrick the team leader for GVI had already phoned ahead and told the restaurant that we were coming therefore the meals had already been choose and prepared for us, rice dices, lasagne, loads of cheese and potato based dishes! bread, cheese sticks, the food just kept on coming. I filled my face as usual and washed it down with a bottle of red wine that I shared with one of the other guys. It wasn't long before we were laughing, aminly at me asking loads of questions as you might expect! It was one of girls last day on the project so it was kind of a leaving do for her as much as a welcoming one for us as well. Madaline the girl that was leaving had been working at the school where I'll be going so I was able to quiz her a bit on what the school and kids were like. She told me the school has 70 children in it aged between 4 and 10. The kids are lovely as you might expect however they are kids so they will try there luck and of course be a bit cheeky i'm told. For the first two weeks I'll be working along side Patrick as his assistant getting settled in and learning the ropes. After that I'm on my own. I'll be teaching a class of 8 children aged between 8 & 9. I'll start in the morning at 08.30am, work through until 1pm, take an hour for lunch then in the afternoon from 2pm, the kids that want/need extra help stay behind until 3.30pm for extra tuition/help with there homework. It's daunting for me as you might expect but I'm here for a challenge and really can't wait to get going. Hopefully I'll be writing up my blog over the next couple of weeks saying that my spanish is coming along nicely and with a little help from the other volunteers my lesson planning will be OK as well. Anyway, back to the night out!
We left the restaurant after a couple of hours and went to a couple of bars, most are playing music and have a lively atmosphere. You can buy 4 rum and cokes for 12 sols which works out to be about £3 total. At these prices it's wasn't long before I was grinning like a cheshire cat and telling the other volunteers about the things I like doing, festivals, singing, the odd moonwalk when I feel very happy and hanging out with my pals back home.
We ended up in a bar/club towards the end of the evening, it had a couple of large bars, a dance floor and a kareoke room which had a large screen on the wall and around 80 seats/tables. The room was packed, mainly with Peruvians and the odd western scattered around. I can assure you I didn't know this place had a kareoke bar I promise... however! old habits die hard so I stuck my name down and sang the kinks you really got me going, it was about the only one I recognized on the sheet! for a moment I was a bit nervous that the words were going to come up on the screen in Spanish as all the other songs sang were! Lucky for me it didn't, it was in english however I had to wait for about 12 songs to be sang before mine came up and even then I had asked the guy if he had forgotten about me, in truth I don't think the peruvians were too keen having people from the UK sing, I don't blame them to be fair, get a bunch of wronguns in there from the UK and it really does change the atmosphere.. as it was I snag my song and made a few peruvian fans while I was at it :) a group of us after the song went next door and danced for an hour or so before heading home. I had to get a taxi back to my hotel and to be fair I had no idea where it was, lucky for me some of the guys were able to explain where it was from the limited information I could give them. It was around 4am by the time I got back to my hotel... I woke the next day with a stinking hangover, just about made breakfast before getting back to my room and crashing out until around 2pm... the hotel was having some work done on it so between 9am and 2pm there was banging, drilling, talking, dogs barking and doors banging, not the best sounds to try and sooth my head to but at least I was able to lie down drink water and attempt to rid myself of my rum and coke hangover..
So it's Sunday morning now and I'm just about to start my orientation/induction so time I got a move on..
Later folks xx
After 15 minutes or so of walking we arrived at the restaurant where we were to eat. There was about 15 of us in total, myself and a south african girl named Lucy were the new kids in town. We were treated nicely and everyone made the effort to say hello and have a conversation with us. Patrick the team leader for GVI had already phoned ahead and told the restaurant that we were coming therefore the meals had already been choose and prepared for us, rice dices, lasagne, loads of cheese and potato based dishes! bread, cheese sticks, the food just kept on coming. I filled my face as usual and washed it down with a bottle of red wine that I shared with one of the other guys. It wasn't long before we were laughing, aminly at me asking loads of questions as you might expect! It was one of girls last day on the project so it was kind of a leaving do for her as much as a welcoming one for us as well. Madaline the girl that was leaving had been working at the school where I'll be going so I was able to quiz her a bit on what the school and kids were like. She told me the school has 70 children in it aged between 4 and 10. The kids are lovely as you might expect however they are kids so they will try there luck and of course be a bit cheeky i'm told. For the first two weeks I'll be working along side Patrick as his assistant getting settled in and learning the ropes. After that I'm on my own. I'll be teaching a class of 8 children aged between 8 & 9. I'll start in the morning at 08.30am, work through until 1pm, take an hour for lunch then in the afternoon from 2pm, the kids that want/need extra help stay behind until 3.30pm for extra tuition/help with there homework. It's daunting for me as you might expect but I'm here for a challenge and really can't wait to get going. Hopefully I'll be writing up my blog over the next couple of weeks saying that my spanish is coming along nicely and with a little help from the other volunteers my lesson planning will be OK as well. Anyway, back to the night out!
We left the restaurant after a couple of hours and went to a couple of bars, most are playing music and have a lively atmosphere. You can buy 4 rum and cokes for 12 sols which works out to be about £3 total. At these prices it's wasn't long before I was grinning like a cheshire cat and telling the other volunteers about the things I like doing, festivals, singing, the odd moonwalk when I feel very happy and hanging out with my pals back home.
We ended up in a bar/club towards the end of the evening, it had a couple of large bars, a dance floor and a kareoke room which had a large screen on the wall and around 80 seats/tables. The room was packed, mainly with Peruvians and the odd western scattered around. I can assure you I didn't know this place had a kareoke bar I promise... however! old habits die hard so I stuck my name down and sang the kinks you really got me going, it was about the only one I recognized on the sheet! for a moment I was a bit nervous that the words were going to come up on the screen in Spanish as all the other songs sang were! Lucky for me it didn't, it was in english however I had to wait for about 12 songs to be sang before mine came up and even then I had asked the guy if he had forgotten about me, in truth I don't think the peruvians were too keen having people from the UK sing, I don't blame them to be fair, get a bunch of wronguns in there from the UK and it really does change the atmosphere.. as it was I snag my song and made a few peruvian fans while I was at it :) a group of us after the song went next door and danced for an hour or so before heading home. I had to get a taxi back to my hotel and to be fair I had no idea where it was, lucky for me some of the guys were able to explain where it was from the limited information I could give them. It was around 4am by the time I got back to my hotel... I woke the next day with a stinking hangover, just about made breakfast before getting back to my room and crashing out until around 2pm... the hotel was having some work done on it so between 9am and 2pm there was banging, drilling, talking, dogs barking and doors banging, not the best sounds to try and sooth my head to but at least I was able to lie down drink water and attempt to rid myself of my rum and coke hangover..
So it's Sunday morning now and I'm just about to start my orientation/induction so time I got a move on..
Later folks xx
Friday, 14 May 2010
Friday 14th May, 2010
My first day in Peru!
I got up around 8.30am and went downstairs for breakfast, scrambled eggs and ham with warm homemade bread. A coffee that would wake up sleeping beauty and an orange juice that would make Edwin Collins happy.
After breakfast I came back to my room, checked and sent a few messages and headed out for my first look at Arequipa. I left the hotel and walked towards the main road, the streets are clean but are a wash with cracks and missing slabs, your up there own ass heath and safety officer would went there knickers round here. The cars, taxi's and vans communicate by beeping horns at each other and the drivers and people shout to each other as go by. To say I feel like a tourist would be an understating, but with my shoulders back and my head held high I didn't feel to intimerdated by it all.
Turning onto the main road I was faced with a enormous snow capped volcano and although miles away (around 25miles to the top from where I was standing) it's extremely imposing and keeps a watchful eye over the city of Arequipa. I walked up the road with the volcano directly in front of my me, my thought was to get to the bottom of it ideally.
Because Arequipa is so high a short walk leaves you out of breath, I stopped at a shop, not like the one you get at the end of your road in the UK, but a dusty dark one that accomodates the locals not the traveller, but all the same with a smile or two and some basic one word Spanish I came out with a cornetto that I think was about 12 months out of date and a bottle of water that although hadn't had it's seal broke tasted like it came out of the comfort Inn's bathroom at room 422 in Dudley. The cornetto was pretty rank as well, the wafer was that chewy it was if I was chewing a wet plaster that had been scooped up from the bottom of a childrens paddling pool... tasty eh..
I carried on walking up the long road towards the volcano, small shops spradically pop out either side of you almost when you're on top of them, women and men work along with roadside going about there everyday business. One women was gutting fish, men sweep the streets and many sit in the shade talking a rest from the midday sun.
As I reached the top of the road, a dead end that lead to a sheer drop meaning I could no more, a front of me was a shanty town, make shift houses made up of metals, woods and stones. No two windows were the same, all odd shapes and sizes that wold have been salvaged and made the most of. Dogs ran around, more than likely strays but some just kicked out for the day whilst there owners were out working. I sat on a rock and took out my spanish phrase book, A4 pages of Spanish to english translation and started to work my way through what was my first lesson of the day! the dogs were barking and small groups of people sat on the floor in the shade from the sun. Down to my right was a group of men, maybe 6. I could hear them shouting at each other and to the passers by but didn't think too much of them. After a few minutes I heard a whack, looked to my right and one of them had been punched and had hit the ground. I think I stared for about 5 seconds in there direction before I thought it best I look back at my papers and give the impression that, it wasn't my business, I'm just going about my business like they were theres. The guy that had presumably whacked the other walked away casually, the other just stood around as if nothing had happened.
My spanish papers are pretty easy, Sientate - sit down, Levantate, stand up, Escucha, listen! I'm getting ther with it, the daunting thing is actually putting it into practice. It's one thing memorising the words and phrases, but when you attempt them in public you get a familiar Spanish response that throws you out a you end looking slightly puzzled and go back to broken one word english.
I stayed on the rock learning my Spanish for a couple of hours. Dogs run around barking at each other and hanging out in little packs, they run up to each other, bark a bit more, then run away. There don't cross there boundaries as such, I watched the same group of dogs do this 2 or 3 times today. A pack of 2 run up barking to a pack of 3 on the other side of the road. Neither pack will go that extra step and cross the line, that I've seen yet anyway.
I walked back down the road eventually as had started to feel a bit peckish. I walked passed a couple of, what I would call rooms with just a few small tables in side. I'd gone passed a couple before I went into one of them, Puedo Sientate por favor? (can i sit down please?) Si was the reply, the lady spoke to me in spanish, I have no idea what she said. No entieno, I don't understand. I gesticulated that I was wanted to eat and sat down. I didn't get asked what I wanted but in maybe a minute I had a cold flat glass of coke put in front of me and a bowl of soup. it's lucky I'm not a fussy eater so I whacked it down with no questions asked, it had veg, potatoes and chicken in it, very tasty. Just before I'd finished the soup the lady put another dish in front of me, a piece of steak, rice and salad. The steak certainly wasn't rib eye judging by the bits of bone I had to take out of my mouth as I ate it but it was good food and I certainly didn't complain. My bill was 3.45 sols, when you think 20sols is around £4 it's pretty dam cheap. I paid for my meal and carried on my journey back to the La Gruta Hotel where I'm staying.
It was a good day. I'm now in my hotel room, typing this up. It's 4pm here and around 10pm in the UK. Now I've got to get ready, head off in a cab to meet the GVI team and I've been told were off out for the evening, drinks and meal. The guy who picked me up from the airport yesterday said to come and meet us and that it was likely I wouldn't remember much about friday night on the Saturday morning therefore I'm thinking I might just fit in after all... fingers crossed ;0)
Catch you soon folks - hasta luego xx
I got up around 8.30am and went downstairs for breakfast, scrambled eggs and ham with warm homemade bread. A coffee that would wake up sleeping beauty and an orange juice that would make Edwin Collins happy.
After breakfast I came back to my room, checked and sent a few messages and headed out for my first look at Arequipa. I left the hotel and walked towards the main road, the streets are clean but are a wash with cracks and missing slabs, your up there own ass heath and safety officer would went there knickers round here. The cars, taxi's and vans communicate by beeping horns at each other and the drivers and people shout to each other as go by. To say I feel like a tourist would be an understating, but with my shoulders back and my head held high I didn't feel to intimerdated by it all.
Turning onto the main road I was faced with a enormous snow capped volcano and although miles away (around 25miles to the top from where I was standing) it's extremely imposing and keeps a watchful eye over the city of Arequipa. I walked up the road with the volcano directly in front of my me, my thought was to get to the bottom of it ideally.
Because Arequipa is so high a short walk leaves you out of breath, I stopped at a shop, not like the one you get at the end of your road in the UK, but a dusty dark one that accomodates the locals not the traveller, but all the same with a smile or two and some basic one word Spanish I came out with a cornetto that I think was about 12 months out of date and a bottle of water that although hadn't had it's seal broke tasted like it came out of the comfort Inn's bathroom at room 422 in Dudley. The cornetto was pretty rank as well, the wafer was that chewy it was if I was chewing a wet plaster that had been scooped up from the bottom of a childrens paddling pool... tasty eh..
I carried on walking up the long road towards the volcano, small shops spradically pop out either side of you almost when you're on top of them, women and men work along with roadside going about there everyday business. One women was gutting fish, men sweep the streets and many sit in the shade talking a rest from the midday sun.
As I reached the top of the road, a dead end that lead to a sheer drop meaning I could no more, a front of me was a shanty town, make shift houses made up of metals, woods and stones. No two windows were the same, all odd shapes and sizes that wold have been salvaged and made the most of. Dogs ran around, more than likely strays but some just kicked out for the day whilst there owners were out working. I sat on a rock and took out my spanish phrase book, A4 pages of Spanish to english translation and started to work my way through what was my first lesson of the day! the dogs were barking and small groups of people sat on the floor in the shade from the sun. Down to my right was a group of men, maybe 6. I could hear them shouting at each other and to the passers by but didn't think too much of them. After a few minutes I heard a whack, looked to my right and one of them had been punched and had hit the ground. I think I stared for about 5 seconds in there direction before I thought it best I look back at my papers and give the impression that, it wasn't my business, I'm just going about my business like they were theres. The guy that had presumably whacked the other walked away casually, the other just stood around as if nothing had happened.
My spanish papers are pretty easy, Sientate - sit down, Levantate, stand up, Escucha, listen! I'm getting ther with it, the daunting thing is actually putting it into practice. It's one thing memorising the words and phrases, but when you attempt them in public you get a familiar Spanish response that throws you out a you end looking slightly puzzled and go back to broken one word english.
I stayed on the rock learning my Spanish for a couple of hours. Dogs run around barking at each other and hanging out in little packs, they run up to each other, bark a bit more, then run away. There don't cross there boundaries as such, I watched the same group of dogs do this 2 or 3 times today. A pack of 2 run up barking to a pack of 3 on the other side of the road. Neither pack will go that extra step and cross the line, that I've seen yet anyway.
I walked back down the road eventually as had started to feel a bit peckish. I walked passed a couple of, what I would call rooms with just a few small tables in side. I'd gone passed a couple before I went into one of them, Puedo Sientate por favor? (can i sit down please?) Si was the reply, the lady spoke to me in spanish, I have no idea what she said. No entieno, I don't understand. I gesticulated that I was wanted to eat and sat down. I didn't get asked what I wanted but in maybe a minute I had a cold flat glass of coke put in front of me and a bowl of soup. it's lucky I'm not a fussy eater so I whacked it down with no questions asked, it had veg, potatoes and chicken in it, very tasty. Just before I'd finished the soup the lady put another dish in front of me, a piece of steak, rice and salad. The steak certainly wasn't rib eye judging by the bits of bone I had to take out of my mouth as I ate it but it was good food and I certainly didn't complain. My bill was 3.45 sols, when you think 20sols is around £4 it's pretty dam cheap. I paid for my meal and carried on my journey back to the La Gruta Hotel where I'm staying.
It was a good day. I'm now in my hotel room, typing this up. It's 4pm here and around 10pm in the UK. Now I've got to get ready, head off in a cab to meet the GVI team and I've been told were off out for the evening, drinks and meal. The guy who picked me up from the airport yesterday said to come and meet us and that it was likely I wouldn't remember much about friday night on the Saturday morning therefore I'm thinking I might just fit in after all... fingers crossed ;0)
Catch you soon folks - hasta luego xx
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