They provided a box lunch, chicken, rice, a cake and pop. I endured 2 full-length English movies and lots of cartoons, and so 9 hrs later we arrived at Huancayo. (Attitude 3260m/11,300 ft) What happened to the 6-7 hrs ride???

Part II

Arrangements were made to stay with a host family. $45.00 a week and a promise that most of it would go to the host family. Fourth lesson (don’t pay up front, or pay directly to the host family.)

The family was waiting for me, with eager smiles.

The host family’s house was very nice and clean. Host mother was concerned about altitude sickness, and made sure I drank cocoa tea with a wonderful meal, that I could not eat after that joyous bus ride, (did I mention the bumps and the hairpin turns that sent you moving on your seat, or the cold, and my husband laughed at me when I packed a hat and mittens) Her cooking was wonderful, I soon learned.

They spoke no English and I knew a few words in Spanish that I could say to make myself seem important. I learned to understand more that speak, and after two weeks, dictionaries and hand signals were seen and heard in that house.

Another wretched bed and altitude sickness in middle of night persuaded me to take liquid gravol. Worked marvelous. (At that altitude, I was tired and had to pace myself, however, I walked 5 miles a day.) Tepid-water showers were common and I was lucky to live with a family that at least had a shower. (I had brought Baby wipes, and used them for 3 days, then the fourth day I took a 2 min, shower.) Woman from the placement organization met me at the house to tell me things about their organization.  She told me that they had another place for me to help out at besides the children in the slums. I said O.K. (fifth lesson, too eager to help out, you may be taken advantage of) and we walked to the first place I would teach at. Wonderful smell of diesel everywhere, the air was blue. Annoying persistent honking horns and loud motors penetrated my head. Smelly, putrid smell everywhere. They had a unique practice of getting rid of their garage though. During the night, garbage was dumped, and then tame and not so tame dogs fought and peed over it, yummy! I quickly found out what the other putrid smell was. Human waste. When some people needed to do their daily constitution, they just squatted. There was no shame or hiding. People were living on the banks of the condemned river, cardboard, tin, paper, plastic, whatever they could find to make a square to call a house. Anything with two legs had no right of way on the streets, the trucks and carts did. Beasts of burden were not donkeys, but were the people pulling and pushing massive amounts of vegetables & fruits to their corners to sell.

Please come in and teach. Teach what?? With what? A chalkboard was provided. I won the prize for thinking on my feet. They were working on language and pronunciation skills. I didn’t mind helping out by volunteering. (Sixth lesson, giving too much creates a ‘gimme’ attitude) However, one week later, I was asked to give some more free lessons to people who could not afford to pay. I said yes, only to find out a week later, that all these people were being charged for the lessons and were told that I was receiving the monies. I quit and taught those people in their homes after that. I walked the streets and found 20 odd organizations teaching English, and one was offered paying jobs.

I was told that we would go by taxi to the slums to meet the children, after teaching the adults. I of course paid for the taxi. I would be on my own the next day, I was told. I could take a taxi every day for 3 soles/1.50 U.S. one way or take the bus for 20 cents. “Just take the big yellow bus that is on this street,” however, I found out that there were a lot of yellow buses. I learned fast. At first the bus driver could not believe that I wanted to get off at the slums. They started to recognize me after a week. Walking around was the quickest way to become familiar with the city. The buses were always crowded, and people stared at me, don’t know why, could have been the funny Canadian hat. It was winter there. It was 9 degrees in the house in the mornings and evenings. The school was a room off someone’s house, given for free. It was a 12 by 12 cement leaky room with one broken window, shards in tact, and no bathroom to use.

There were 10 children the first day, which grew to 50 children ranging in ages of 5 years to 12 years. Two young men came to help out and to learn also. They spoke no English. These assistants were grown men, who delighted in coloring, learning how to say the letters and words and loved making things with the play dough I made. The children were so eager to learn. I taught the English alphabet and we made a craft from paper for every letter. I supplied my own materials, such as paper/scissors and glue and all the photocopying. I asked for glue after we ran out from, but it was suggested that I go buy some, as well as hints at other items they could sure use. I took the bait and helped out some more.

The children were dirty, smelly, some were better cleaned than others, but with no or little water or power and living in squalor, it was amazing how clean most of them were. But children are children and liked to hug and cheek kiss. (custom). I used tea tree oil on my hair everyday; lice don’t like tea tree oil. They loved the stickers that were given out at the end of the 2 hours of school. Pencil crayons were a hit and screams of joy were heard every time I brought them out to color their craft. It was wonderful. They would await my arrival by the bus stop and would run up to me and could not wait to begin the lessons. I numbered rocks with the alphabet and numbers. They loved playing with the puzzles and other games I brought. I may not have taught any lasting lessons, but I brought joy to those children for six weeks.

Many varieties of fruit and vegetables were grown there. Much of the produce came from ancient (heritage) seeds. The corn eaten was big, hard and crunchy, and used daily in soup. Hundreds of vendors - selling everything. You could buy all kinds of meat and all the goodies that go with it, like the eyeballs, the tongue, even whole heads of cows, you get the picture. Guinea pig was raised (meat was stringy and soft) and you could have picked which one you would like to have eaten, the cute little brown one or the black one. I liked the taste. Real estate was expensive there and every bit of the land was used in the lots, which resulted in condominium style adjoining walls for most neighbors. All had high brick walls surrounding the houses for security. Some families had animals, which were kept in the courtyard during the night and brought out to graze on what grass could be found during the day. Families of sister/brothers/ wives/husbands/Grandparents all lived in the same house. Yes, screams of fighting and of laughter were commonly heard.

After six weeks of volunteering, I left to go see the sights of Peru. I will return. I have invitations to return to visit the friends I made.

I am off to Cambodia this summer for eight weeks, with more knowledge and more lessons to learn. I have a few contacts, via the internet, but I will make no commitments to any one organizations. Other then that, it is the same as Peru, there are many schools that will accept my free help to teach English. I will pay directly to the family I stay with and no middleman.

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