A hot day in Cusco

Its Sunday afternoon and I'v just walked from the house to the college. Very hot here today. Am glad I'm not doing the Inca Trail this year; I dont think I could manage it. In fact I wonder how on earth I coped last year.

First of all today apologies to Khue for spelling her name wrong, even though I knew the correct spelling. I just wrote it as its pronounced, so now you all know a little Vietnamese. Khue's dad was one of the "boatpeople" and its a hell of a story she tells about his experiences. She joined him in USA along with rest of the family when she was 12 and she now lives in Seattle. She is a real nice person and has been a pleasure to get to know. She lives in Seattle, which funnily enough is one of the few cities in USA that I've been to. Khue is volunteering in an orphanage in Cusco.

Before Khue and I went out last night we decided to take some food the the kids at Policia de la Familia. When we got there the boys had been joined by two girls, a 7 year old and a teenager. There was some kind of panic on so we agreed to stay with the children so that Gabriella could go out for an hour to do some stuff some place. Khue spent the hour with the wee girl on her lap, comforting her, as she cried for her mammy constantly. The other girl cried too and was looking for comforting. One of the older boys was very good to her and she got by. The food was devoured with gusto. Fernando was ok and tried to sleep, which is a bit difficult with all the commotion and broken windows. Gabriella eventually returned and we left. The kids were all then allowed to go down stairs to the reception area and watch TV. We were so tired we had to give up on going anywhere and went home.

This morning I took some food up for them at 10.00 am. This is not expensive. I bought bread for all of them, which is very different and much better than the stuff one buys in Edinburgh best shops, yoghurts and apples, all for 7 soles , which is about $2.00 or a quid. So it hardly makes much difference to my finances if I take them some grub every day, especially as I,m so well fed at home. The food is greatly appreciated by the kids, especially those teenagers, they pounce on me when I get in, but can be made to take it easy and conduct themselves in an orderly british queue kind of way.

Of course I immediately realised that Fernando was not around as he usually jumps all over me. He had done a runner earlier in the morning and who can blame him. Gd knows what goes on in that head of his. I wont say much about it except that he was "captured" and brought back not long after. Poor chap didnt have the savvy to go much distance from the police station or maybe he was too frightened to. Needless to say he was in a seriusly distressed condition and hiting out in his anger. I wont go into the details its all too much. He eventually calmed down and had his bread and yoghurt and gave me a big cuddle. He listened to some beatles musica and was quite calm and content by the time I left at midday. The police had brought a TV to the room for them to watch and he was enjoying cartoons. I left him being looked after by Francisco who is a bit older and more sensitive than the ther boys who can be a bit cruel sometimes, though unknowingly I think. Francisco wrote out some poems which he was copying from a book and gave to me. Will have to ask Claudia to translate the bits that I cant, which is most of it.

Today we had beef stew for lunch, with yuca, zapallo, zamaoria and repollo. Huge serving and then we have dinner later. We hepe to go to a bar/restaurant with folk music tonight, if we can get in without buying a meal.

Chao