Yet another update from our hard working girls in Villa Maria, courtesy of Deborah Owen – thanks and keep up the good work!
After a manic first few days getting used to Villa Maria and attempting to impress at Domingos Familiares, we settled into the weekly routine. A record 3 film nights in one week (despite ropey starts in Japon due to ‘technical difficulties’), 3 brand new communities to visit and definitely at least 3 degrees hotter than last year. A million mangoes and avocadoes to keep us sane, and one amazing cake from Alejandro to remind us of the luxuries of home. We also receive the daily delights of cat droppings in the shower, and pranks from the kids while Alejandro chuckles and videos from afar – this house only has kids and big kids.
It was really nice to visit some more remote communities this week, that had not received help from Quest before. The look on the children’s faces when we told them we would take them swimming the following week was priceless, and it is also much more rewarding for us. For a change of pace, we helped paint the community centre with the local dance group, and cleaned up one of the pitches which was full of rubbish, glass and sharp rocks – fingers crossed when the community help paint it they will be proud of the space and keep it clean.
Our theme for Saturday’s fair was Olympic Games. A range of the official Olympic sports were played, including Sack Race, Cactus Hoopla and Beat the Goalie – undoubtedly more successful than all of London 2012. The evening’s entertainment began early with the help of Pilsner, after which shapes were thrown, songs were slaughtered and heads were hanging the following day. We decided to go for a quiet relaxing swim, free from drowning and incessant splashing from the kids. However, the dream has yet to be realized, as we found the pool absolutely heaving on weekends, with even less space to move than with the children.
Domingos Familiares was once again a success despite our ‘interesting’ performance, and was a complete family affair, with the children of Marta and Alejandro dressing up for the clown act. Finally, on Monday we had our first day off to Miraflores. We all fulfilled our cravings for Mcflurries, caught the rays on the beach and had our first taste of Pisco Sours. A nice break from Villa Maria, but we all returned home refreshed and ready for another week’s work.