Lakes, laughter (or not) and llorar a mares

The end of my placement in Chiclayo is rapidly approaching. This means a few things

-      1. I am nearly half way through my time in Peru

-      2. I need to plan my time accordingly so I can see who and what I want before leaving

-      3. I need to start thinking about what I need to ditch from my clothes so that I don’t get charged at the bus station again because my bags are too heavy

My friend was ill last weekend so (hopefully) she is coming this weekend.  So to fill my now empty time last weekend, I spent Saturday doing nothing but wash my hair and watch Titanic (which was bliss) and on Sunday my family and I went to a lake which was pretty and had hammocks. Obviously a bonus.  On this day I realised that although my Spanish is (VERY slowly) improving, French seems to have gone altogether.  The woman who owned the restaurant was French but her Spanish was impeccable which obviously made me incredibly envious.  The problem was I couldn’t think of a word to say to her in French – I couldn’t even remember how to say ‘Where are you from in France?’ All that came to mind was ‘Bonjour!’ and ‘How the hell have you studied French for so long and can’t remember one of the simplest questions you have even been taught?!’ It seemed ridiculous to me that every time I thought of what I could say my brain instantly threw some Spanish words into the mix.  Hopefully it will come back – preferably before I go to France to work…

Monday was one of the first times I have really felt homesick.  And for anyone who knows me, when I am not happy, I AM NOT HAPPY. Nothing seemed to cheer me up except lying on my bed with the Paddington Bear my Gran knitted me and a teddy my boyfriend won me at a festival a few years ago and my parents on Facetime. I also went for a run on the beach which surprisingly made me feel better. Although I was obviously something to behold as every Peruvian individual I went past seemed to stop what they were doing to watch me prance past.  I obviously looked English because nobody Peruvian would be stupid enough to run in this ‘cold weather’.  But after all of that, a nice shower and soup (YES SOUP NOT RICE) got me back to feeling myself and to top it off, I got my nails painted by my Peruvian sister before bed.  Winner.

On Tuesday, Miss Gigi and her husband Juan Carlos took Sophie and I to the cinema to see ‘American made’ with Tom Cruise in it.  In Spanish. Without subtitles.  It is an experience and I am pretty sure I understood about 70% of it – although throughout the final section of the movie I was a bit confused and therefore couldn’t join in with the laughing at jokes in the cinema by everyone BUT me.  But it was an experience and a good film so overall positive. 

I have been booking more flights to go gallivanting again – this time to Bolivia! The main reason I am going is because I have to leave the country after being only given 90 days at the Peruvian border when returning from Ecuador. But there is much to do while I am there like the Salt flats as well as Lake Titicaca (no laughing at the name) and the wonderful sounding attraction called ‘Death Road’ which includes mountain biking and a pretty high chance of death (hence the name). I will not be doing this though because my mum made me promise I wouldn’t do it. So I promised I won’t. Probably.  In order to get into Bolivia, I have to have the yellow fever vaccine which I am intending to get tomorrow – apparently it doesn’t hurt – I beg to differ. 

So another week has passed, I am still fine and I am still learning Spanish (and making blank faces regularly when someone speaks particularly quick to me) I am trying new things (like the orange banana above) and taking photos of my classes because I am proud of them. The ones above were planting seeds in cups and although I did a lot of it they were all really happy and that is what matters.

Until next time, Ciao.