Day 218 4/2/12 First day in Peru

We woke up early today not sure of what time it was. It turn to be 3 am so we had a lie in until 7 then had a great breakfast .Real Peruvian food at last.
‘Green Soup’ which has lots of herbs and spaghetti. Michael was away from us with Rocio’s mum most of the time. He took to both her and Rocio’s sister Sonia straight away, immediately trusting them completely
Here he is with Rocio´s dad



and with mum



Mum learning to use a technical british baby sling




In the house we went up to the roof to take in the view of Lima. Never a pretty place I’m afraid but it was really good to be up there looking out a t a city built in a desert.
Afterwards we all went to the local market where Rocio played tourist and bob had his first taste of chica morada a sweet drink made of maize. Mum used the advanced baby sling for the first time instead of the traditional manta. She liked it but kept feeling that Mike was about to fall. Strange co s it looks so much safer to me than just a piece of cloth.
While in the market buying stuff Nephew Jean, sister Sonia and brother in law Neri suddenly came to find us. There was another great meeting like in the airport and little Jean, now not so little carried Rocio on his back.
After lunch we went to swim in the sea, in the pacific to be exact. This was exhilarating a great fun, like surfing without a board. Michael didn’t go in as it’s not too clean a beach and with far too rough waves. Rocio and I swam together sometimes submerged by the big waves.

Back in the house we spent the evening partying with Michael charming and sleeping alternatively and Bob learnt how to open beer Peruvian style without an opener.
And so we went to bed quite early getting ready to be up at 5 to be in the car on the way Huancayo at 6 as it’s important to get an early start out of Lima before the traffic jams,

Day 217 3/2/12 The longest day

The bus to Leeds was boring. Leeds bus station was very cold and we got there just in time to miss any hot food. The National Express to Heathrow was long and boring. We got to Heathrow well in time for our flight in fact there wasn’t anything open in the airport and we sat around feeling sorry for ourselves until Dad came to say goodbye. It was really good to see him although for myself I can say I was nearly too tired to do proper sentences. We checked in and started following the signs to get to our departure gate and by the time we got there, including the train journey between pasts of the terminal, we were some of the last ones to board. I’m so glad we didn’t stop for a coffee as I was dying to do.
To be honest I don’t remember much about the plane to Spain. I think I slept with my head on the folding tray in front most of the way. Michael made friends with everyone around him and for the first time we were surrounded mostly by Spanish speakers.
Madrid airport was big and shiny and had moving walkways to play on and looking back on it I think we were all a bit crazy by that point and we had quite a lot of fun just walking about and looking at things.



At one point we saw there was a big queue at our departure gate and so we joined it not wanting to be last on the plane. It looked like maybe 15 mins of queuing for final passport checks. It was only after we had been in the queue a few minutes that I read the departure gate info carefully which said Guayaquil, Ecuador! We were queuing for the wrong country. Ooops. After we got this sorted out and found our real gate we had our first piece of real Peruvian culture the “Preferencial” This is Peruvian custom and I think law that in any queue for anything people with a disability go straight to the front. A really fine custom I think. So we were almost first on the plane and got settled in for the long haul. And oh my god it was a long haul.



The Iberia plane seemed much more uncomfortable and boring than the KLM I have been on before and the staff were bloody rude.


It was one long, painful, boring time only made bearable by Michael’s ability to make friends instantly with strangers. I took to walking the aisles of the plane with Michael in his tiger suit and stopping whenever he got someone’s admiring attentions, which was very often. Then we could have a chat and play with Michael a bit and pass the time that way.



Eventually we landed in Lima and had some confusion about immigration forms and then found our bags and got out finally into Peru for real. It was wonderful to be met by Rocio’s mum and dad and nephew Jean. We were taken across the city to an uncle’s house and given food and drink and beer. Really a great welcoming. Michael loved all of this bit. He’s tired of boring times and very ready for some good socialising and that’s just what he got. He was passed around all he extended family and loved every minute. Suddenly, now we are in Peru, my little boy looks Peruvian again. To me he was born looking Peruvian but gradually turned very Jenkins over the 7 months in England but now surrounded by the other side of his family I see that side of him again

Day 216 02/02/12 On our way

Today we woke up at Sharron’s house, homeless exhausted and excited about going to Peru. We still had a lot of things to do and little time before we get on the bus a 5.30 this evening. We took over the living room with unpacking and repacking our bags trying to get them down to weight which we finally managed to do. I can hardly believe we have reduced our mountains of stuff to these two suitcases a baby bag and a laptop.
After a few last minute paperwork problems we did make it to the bus stop on time and we started our long long journey to another continent on a double decker bus to Leeds.

Day 215 1/02/12 Leaving Home

Today we left our flat and our life in Nottingham. It has all been much much harder than I thought it would be. We are exhausted and stressed out and we haven’t’ done a very good job of anything but we are out. We threw away so much stuff purely from lack of time to take it to a charity shop and still the car is so very rammed full that there is no room in the back to even fit in one more shoe. This is a horrible time for us really. We are barely hanging on and keeping going. I am so looking forward to being in Peru because I can’t see us getting much rest until then. Michael is doing his best to have a good time amongst all this chaos but he’s still suffering. We’ll make it up to him in Peru.

Day 214 31/01/12 Packing packing packing

Still more packing. We’re starting to see the end now but it’s been absolutely amazing how much we had to sort out. We are all going crazy now through lack of sleep and stress. Poor Michael is getting no attention and is quite upset all the time. I’m so sorry we didn’t as for our volunteer Mandy to come in these days when we really need her. Here’s our little boy sleeping on the floor in the middle of the chaos.

DAt 213 30/01/12 Packing again

More packing just like yesterday. We’re feeling so sorry for our boy but we are realising just how much we have left to do. The poor thing is getting very upset now from lack of attention.We worked until the early hours of the morning and got up early to start again today and it still looks like a huge amount left to sort out.

Day 212 29/01/12 Packing packing

We got seriously stuck in to the packing today, we pulled apart everything in the house and made huge piles of stuff to store and huge pile of stuff to throw away and too big piles of stuff to squash into the suitcases. It was a very boring day for poor Michael as he hardly got any attention at all. I kept finding his interesting things to look at but after a few hours of this he made it obvious the he wanted some real attention. Still we could only do the bare minimum for him before getting on with the packing. Here he is resting on the remains of the bed and playing with an umbrella that kept him happy for quite a while.