What does it look like?
The following photos should answer this one! It's basically a 3-floor house, with CCS office, kitchen, dining-room, living-room, bedrooms, and roof terrace with washing machines and where we can have drinks and bonfire.
CCS house - now being painted green, but I prefer the yellow!
The dining-room, with select few
The following photos should answer this one! It's basically a 3-floor house, with CCS office, kitchen, dining-room, living-room, bedrooms, and roof terrace with washing machines and where we can have drinks and bonfire.
CCS house - now being painted green, but I prefer the yellow!
The dining-room, with select few
The living-room
On the roof, semi-inside
On the roof, outside
View from the roof
View from the roof
Another view from the roof
My room - no. 401
My room-mate, Gillian, in our room
Walter, one of the day doormen
Emerson, another day doorman
Emerson, another day doorman
Clever, day doorman and driver
Alejandro, our main driver, and the CCS van
Beatriz, who keeps the place lovely and clean
Vicki and Nieves, who help in the house
Gisela, who helps in the house too
Saul, part-time driver
Roberto, night doorman
If you want to see more, see also Phil's photos - link on right column - in the 'Around the Ayacucho house' folder.
What does it sound like?
Depending on the number of volunteers, it can be noisy or very quiet in terms of human chatter - at the moment it's too quiet, with only 6 of us rattling around! At times there has also been musical accompaniment - Matt used to whistle, Ian and Sarita played guitar ... and noise echoes up through the house via a central 'skylight' that goes from outside the kitchen on the ground floor (or 1st floor if you're speaking Peruvian Spanish) all the way up to the roof, on the 3rd floor (or 4th floor). It's a very effective way of spreading noise all the way round the house anyway, and this is fine as long as it's nice noise!
And then there are the bells. There's the front doorbell - this goes continually during the day, as the front door is kept locked and is opened by a doorman when people want to get back in. The other bell is Rudy's bell - this is rung at meal times (12.30 for lunch, 7.10 for dinner) - and whenever else Rudy can find an excuse to ring it, e.g. when there a van is leaving, talks are starting, Spanish lessons, etc... We hid it for a while as it was being used rather too keenly early in the morning, and we provided a set of pan pipes instead, but this didn't seem to catch on, so we eventually returned the bell - Rudy is the Programme Director afterall!
What does it sound like?
Depending on the number of volunteers, it can be noisy or very quiet in terms of human chatter - at the moment it's too quiet, with only 6 of us rattling around! At times there has also been musical accompaniment - Matt used to whistle, Ian and Sarita played guitar ... and noise echoes up through the house via a central 'skylight' that goes from outside the kitchen on the ground floor (or 1st floor if you're speaking Peruvian Spanish) all the way up to the roof, on the 3rd floor (or 4th floor). It's a very effective way of spreading noise all the way round the house anyway, and this is fine as long as it's nice noise!
And then there are the bells. There's the front doorbell - this goes continually during the day, as the front door is kept locked and is opened by a doorman when people want to get back in. The other bell is Rudy's bell - this is rung at meal times (12.30 for lunch, 7.10 for dinner) - and whenever else Rudy can find an excuse to ring it, e.g. when there a van is leaving, talks are starting, Spanish lessons, etc... We hid it for a while as it was being used rather too keenly early in the morning, and we provided a set of pan pipes instead, but this didn't seem to catch on, so we eventually returned the bell - Rudy is the Programme Director afterall!
Rudy, Programme Director, with his precious bell
During the day Rudy, Marisol and Trudi are at work in the office which is also in the house, so there's quite a buzz down on the ground floor. I'm in and out of the office a lot as we can use the computer for work and it's been busy especially since the Yanamilla School project has taken off - we've been phoning, printing off letters, etc. in the lunch hour, and it's been a bit manic - just like office life back at OUP!
Marisol, our lovely Programme Manager
Trudi, Programme Administrator and part-time hairdresser!
And there is plenty of noise from outside to keep us entertained, especially at night! First there are the dogs. There are a ridiculous number of dogs in Peru, with a disproportionate number of them living around our house, on adjoining and neighbouring rooves, and they so love to howl at night. The rooster also likes to join in, regardless of time - doesn't seem to know when dawn is! And then there's the music coming from various bars - sometimes all night, or so it seems - and the 'huayno' music is especially whiney! And then just when the music starts to calm down, the rubbish collectors get started with a particularly annoying tingly bell, from about 5 a.m!
We also get lots of fireworks in Ayacucho, for no particular reason as far as I can tell, and they go off at regular intervals at night. And there are lots of parades and processions, cars with loud speakers advertising all sorts - people like to make plenty of noise outside, that's for sure.
And my favourite noise is the buzz of the moto taxis - these are silly little 3-wheeler vehicles - smaller than a 2CV, that take you around the city for 1 sol (aout 20p) a journey, though you can only get to within 2 blocks of the main square, for some odd reason. Gillian described the moto taxi journey as like sitting on the back of a washing machine while it's on full spin - fairly accurate description! Others have described them as sewing machines ...
What does it taste like?
Well I can't say that I've tasted anything other than the food in the house, but I can tell you about the food! Paulina is our cook, and she produces a good variety of pretty healthy food - and it's great being cooked for every day!!
Well I can't say that I've tasted anything other than the food in the house, but I can tell you about the food! Paulina is our cook, and she produces a good variety of pretty healthy food - and it's great being cooked for every day!!
Paulina, our cook, in the kitchen
Breakfast is standard yoghurt, cereals, bread rolls (like mini pitta breads), and occasionally we get scrambled eggs or cooked apples for a treat. Lunch and dinner are always a cooked main dish, followed by fruit. There's rather too much chicken and rice though, and this can get a bit tedious if we get it twice on the same day, but chicken is cheap here and from the amount of chicken restaurants I've seen, I guess the amount we eat is pretty typical for Ayacucho! And I'd been expecting to eat a lot more potatoes, given that there are thousands of varieties here, but we do get different coloured ones from time to time, or yucca sometimes. The fruit is very healthy, and we get a good variety - I don't even know what some of the fruit is in English! At the moment mangoes are in season so we get a lot of those.
And then we can help ourselves to bread, cheese, ham, etc. - and if anyone feels the urge to do some cooking of their own, that's fine too! And there's tea and coffee available at any time. We're all getting a taste for coca tea - it helps bad stomachs and altitude sickness - though we'll have to stop drinking it 2 weeks before if we want to ensure that we'd get through a drugs test without it testing positive! And I didn't realise that there were coca leaves in Coca-Cola until I came here - how embarrassing is that?! Though I wasn't the only one! And there's also botttled water available on every floor - all very well organised.
What does it smell like?
And then we can help ourselves to bread, cheese, ham, etc. - and if anyone feels the urge to do some cooking of their own, that's fine too! And there's tea and coffee available at any time. We're all getting a taste for coca tea - it helps bad stomachs and altitude sickness - though we'll have to stop drinking it 2 weeks before if we want to ensure that we'd get through a drugs test without it testing positive! And I didn't realise that there were coca leaves in Coca-Cola until I came here - how embarrassing is that?! Though I wasn't the only one! And there's also botttled water available on every floor - all very well organised.
What does it smell like?
There are mainly good smells! The house is kept very clean by Beatriz, and so it generally smells very wholesome. And there are often lovely cooking smells wafting out of the kitchen and all the way up the 'sky-light' to my room - my favourites are (but not all together) - garlic, cooked apples, and chocolate when Phil makes chocolate crepes ...
And the only bad smell is occasionally from the drains, particularly bad in my bathroom on a wet day! They've tried to repair the problem but for some reason it's not possible to do any more about it up on the top floor. Roof views are fab, but the smell from the drains sometimes makes me wish I was on a lower floor ...
What does it feel like?
What does it feel like?
Not sure what to put here ... well, the beds are cosy; most of the floors are tiled, so clean and cool; the shower is usually nice and hot, though I have had the occasional cold one when it's been busy; there can be a draft from the 'sky-light' in the evenings, but as it's summer here, it never really gets very cold. Overall it all feels very comfortable and homey!
2 comments:
WOW Hazel! I feel like I'm there!
Kellyxx
Coca tea sounds good. Are you going to bring any back? (I could probably get arrested just for asking that question!) Incidentally, I replied to your email, but to the address you gave just before you left.
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