Back to school

My first week in Chiclayo has been a bit mental but heart warming.  When I arrived in Chiclayo, my new family met me at the station with a banner and hugs. We spent the rest of the day getting to know each other through broken English and Spanish followed by a walk along the beach they live only 2 minutes from.

My school that I work in welcomed me very warmly also and the presence of an english speaker goes down a treat with the primary children with whom I work.  Every class I walk into comes with its very own group of beaming peruvian children who want to know your name, age, place of birth, pets, favourite colour, favourite animal, duration in Peru and your neighbours name within the first 20 seconds of being in the room.  Their beaming faces inches from your own and their lacking understanding of personal space is at first daunting, but you feel like a VIP and obviously that's a nice feeling!  I have only been here a week and I am already met by many kids saying 'Hello Alice!' and 'Look it's Alice' followed by waving as I go between classes.  I love it!  


My family took me for 'Chifa' this week which is a mix of peruvian food and chinese food.  It makes a big change from my usual 'pollo con arroz' which I feel I have morning, noon and night at the moment. Let's just say it is a very good job that I like chicken and I like rice.

As a change to my normal 6am start, I woke up at 8:30am this morning and went to Mercado Modelo, a massive market consisting of almost 9000 shopkeepers selling everything from clothes to bugs used for 'medicinal purposes'.  The best thing about markets and the 'Soles' the currency in Peru is that you can get most things for a penny. This is particularly advantageous for me who wants to buy almost anything I can touch and sees it all as 'This is an adventure, I won't get this in the UK!'

I have also survived another week with the driving here.  It is like playing 'Chicken' every time that you cross the road or as I heard someone say today 'If you don't go for it, you will never cross'.  I must stick out like a sore thumb because taxi drivers instantly target me asking if I want to go anywhere and vendors call me 'reina' or 'bella' to lure me into buying their fruit or suspicious looking 'herbal' vials.

It has a been a long week and although I think I am finally getting used to the time difference, I am not quite used to the early mornings yet. That may take a little while longer.