Day 1.5

So, yesterday we moved into our very spacious and cute room (which is really hard to take a picture of due to angling, so sorry about that, and sorry about the mess too, moving in is a process, ya know). My bed is the far one! The room gets really chilly, but the bed and some thick socks have been doing a good job of keeping me warm at night!

And here's a picture of the backyard

The house is three stories, with the school on the bottom, GeGe and school on the second floor, and the family whose house it is on the third floor and another little upper area. Our room is on the third floor, and we even have our own bathroom! So great!

Anyway, yesterday, we took some naps, and then we got ready for school! The teachers got there, so I got to meet them, and then the kids all got there! They are pretty darn adorable. First and second grade had class first, so we observed those classes. Then, there was movie time because Friday is a fun day, and that was neat watching the kids watch the movie. After that, the kids got their snacks and headed home. We hung out for awhile longer with the teachers and staff, and they're all really cool people. Then, they left; we ate a quick snacky dinner; and we headed to get some much-needed sleep!

This morning, we woke up around nine, which felt like lots of sleep. We had some beautifully hot showers, and ate a little breakfast, and then we went to the market! On the way, we ran into GeGe, who was hanging out with some neighborhood kids on a quest for bread. So, she was able to join us on our little adventure! We stocked up on produce and bread and lentils and potatoes (!) and then walked back up the little hill home.

We spent a few hours there, during which we had a yummy lunch of pita bread type stuff that is typical here all filled up with cucumbers and avocados, and then, right as we were about to leave, a woman who works at the school and was friends with my mom last summer showed up with her adorable, chubsy little baby! Such a sweetie. Anyway, after they chatted for awhile, we set out to the mirador- a neat lookout point over all of Ayacucho that is right by our house!

And here's me and mom right in front of it! (It was windy, hence her hair in my face)

Then, we started the trek down to the center! So many stairs! But it was really neat getting to see some of the city.

Once we got to the bottom, we wandered around the central plaza area for awhile, glancing in the different shops and stopping by to visit a few of GeGe's friends. The plaza itself is beautiful, with a little park, and a statue of Sucre (the general during the battle of Ayacucho that determined the independence of Latin America- according to my understanding anyway, you may wanna fact check on that), and the view of all of the buildings up in the hills is great! You can even see the mirador up on the hill from whence we had come (but not in this picture because I didn't take a good one of that... my bad)

Then, we went to this nice restaurant where all of the tourists hang out, just for fun, and we met up with another American who works here and is friends with my mom and GeGe. This young lady, Amanda, works with the women in the prison here to teach them how to make jewelry so that they can earn a living and support themselves. It's a pretty incredible project! Dinner was good. They had a vegan noodle and vegetable dish, so that made me pretty glad! Then, we went to the grocery store down the street to grab some stuff that we can't buy at the store and market up here. Luckily, we didn't have to walk back up, and we caught a taxi right to our front door. It was a pretty great day overall. I'm a big fan of Ayacucho thus far!