Having been in darkest Peru for over a week now, I had hoped to see at least one of Paddington´s relatives, but have so far been disappointed. I have seen copious pots of ´mermelade´(jam to you and me), but not seen anyone make a sandwich of it and hide it under their hat. Nevermind - the end of 2008 brings a close to the 50th anniversary of the creation of Michael Bond´s famous character... check out http://www.paddingtonbear.com/ to see the celebrations that took place and an alternative board-game to the Credit Crunch Christmas (you will require a wellington boot, two slices of bread and a jar of marmalade)!When not searching for bears, I have had the pleasure of meeting various local peruvians of human-form through the latest volunteering this week. I have helped classes of varying ages (17-29) practise their English at the Inca Educa school (and have fielded various questions in Spanish regarding Harry Potter and Hogwarts, the local passion). Unfortunately they were also slightly disappointed to discover that I don´t know David Beckham.
In addition I spent some time in the Plaza de Armas helping a local called Freddy to practise his English so that he can fulfill his dream of moving to the USA and setting up his own business. Whiling away a few hours in the park together was a really interesting way to get to know each other, our different experiences and aspirations, and of course we both welcomed the chance to practise our language skills together.
Now all that remains to do is eat our last supper before we head off at 5am tomorrow morning to hike the Sacred Valley. Following this morning´s briefing with our guide José, we´re all set to put our best feet forward and wend our way through the mountains, arriving Machu Picchu on Christmas Eve.
So until Santa has been, it´s over and out for us... have a very Feliz Navidad everyone! (And Happy Birthday Paddington!)
No comments:
Post a Comment