Juan told me Wednesday night that we had to get up early to get to the train station on time, so we got up at 6. Juan made us scrambled eggs, toast and tea. I had gathered all my bags by the door and when Blenda and Raymond came out to tell me goodbye, Raymond said Blenda should learn how to pack from me.
Juan and I took a taxi over to the bus station and checked in my bags. I had about an hour to wait, so Juan sat with me in the waiting area until it was time to board my bus. He gave me a big hug before he left me in the line to board the bus and said that I should come to visit him in Cancun when I go to Mexico.
I had chosen to sit in the front of the bus where there was a panoramic view, but it was right in the middle of a family, so I scooted back a row since I was just planning to sleep for awhile anyway. I was glad I did because the last half of the trip, the little boy was suffering from altitude sickness. I started to feel a little queasy too.
After the first two movies (I don’t know who picked the movies because they were all pretty random: Furry Vengeance, Prince of Persia, Hellboy, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua), they served lunch and then we played Bingo. Amidst a bunch of Peruvians, I actually won Bingo. They gave me a free ticket from Huancayo to Lima on Cruz Del Sur. When I told Tino later, he said that I was the only volunteer in 9 years to win Bingo.
When I got into the train station, there were several taxi drivers outside of the station asking me if I needed a taxi. Another man asked if I needed a hotel. I wasn’t sure if Tino was going to come because the bus arrived later than he had thought. I found a little pay phone and called the house. Shortly after, Tino arrived apologizing for being late.
When we got to the house, he gave me my key, showed me my room, and then sat down with me to talk and drink tea. He was happy that I spoke so much Spanish since the other volunteers spoke little to no Spanish. He told me some of the history of Tinkuy Peru and said that Tinkuy means meeting in Quechua, the native language of Peru. He also asked me if I could help with a web page to sell his art.
After we had talked awhile, the rest of the volunteers arrived from the school: Ilva and Emil, a couple from Iceland; Franci and Max, a couple from Germany; and Lauren, a girl from Canada. We talked a bit and then Ilva and Emil led us on a walk into town to check movie times and buy a few necessities. The town is hard to describe. One place on the internet said you would feel like you had gone into the Old West. In a way I did feel like a tumbleweed would roll down the street, but then we went into the mall and it looked like something you could go to in the US.
When we got back to the house, we sat down to eat rice, and omelette type dish, and bread. As always, we drank tea. After dinner, we talked some more, and Ilva, Emil, Lauren and I played a dice game called Farkle. Luck was on my side still and I won by a landslide.
I then wrote an email and figured out the Wifi situation with Tino. Electricity and Wifi are expensive, so he told me that he would prefer if I don’t use it after 10. Also I can’t use it at the same time as he uses the computer upstairs, so we will have to schedule around each other. It seems that a lot of things don’t work well at the same time, for instance, there is no hot water if more than one shower is in use at a time.
In the morning, Lauren and I will go with Tino to the school of Concepcion, which is a half an hour away. He said there are three classrooms there and he is going to cross his fingers and try to teach one of the classes. His English is very limited. After that we will come back for lunch and then go to his mountain school. This definitely is the start of an adventure!
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