Halfway home

I spent a week in Lima on my return from the USA, and at long last succeeded in getting all the paperwork together and presenting myself at the university office when they were open.  So now it is over to them - it will probably be a long wait but at least I’ve finished my task for now.

I made the most of being at sea level to do some thinking and planning about how to approach the next few weeks in Abancay.  I realised that the language and the culture and the altitude all combine to have quite a paralysing effect on my body and my brain - both of which need to work properly for me to be effective!  Both of these things do slowly get better, but it takes a while to feel more normal.  So I have tried to set some more realistic expectations this time but also got some planning done while my brain is working properly!

I also met another English girl! (We’re quite a rare species here).  She is here short term and after another couple of weeks of Spanish will be going to Curahuasi (the mission hospital an hour and a half from Abancay).  It’ll be lovely to have her close by - but meanwhile we’ve also enjoyed a weekend off in Lima, and joined some tourists on a boat trip to visit sea lions.  We also (excitingly) saw a penguin, although I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to be able to show it to you, but here are some other photos - it was a beautiful day.