Good Morning from Ayacucho

We finally arrived in Ayacucho on Sunday after a 7 hour weather delay in Lima.  GeGe had already been to the airport once so we agreed that we would take a taxi to her house.  The Carmen Alto neighborhood where she lives is high up on the edge of town with beautiful views of the city.  Once we arrived GeGe got in the taxi with us and took us to our apartment.  It is attached to a house owned by a woman from Scotland.  We have a little living room and kitchen area with two couches, a small fridge, stove, sink and all the essentials for cooking.  We have one bedroom.  GeGe was nice enough to buy another bed so there are two.  In the bedroom is a very large shower (with hot water) and then a seperate room with a toilet and sink. The city was without power when we arrived.  They shut down power every few months for maintenance.  GeGe helped us shop for some water, bread, cheese, fruit, and candles.  After getting up at 3:00AM in Lima we were exhausted.  We ate a bit and were asleep by 7:30.  We slept for 10 hours and woke up feeling much better and to electricity.  We met GeGe down at her place at 10:00.  She rents out two floors of a house.  The bottom floor is all for the school.  The second floor has her bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, along with 2 classrooms.  The owners of the house seem very kind and are in integral part of GeGe's life here.  After spending a few hours there (no students yet), we left to go to the main market in the neighborhood.  There were many different stalls with produce, cheese and eggs.  We bought eggs, cheese, olives, cucumber, tomatoes, and lemons for around $2.  We stopped by another little store for bread and water.  We came home and used the gas stove for the first time.  We made scrambled eggs and then a salad of tomato and cucumber which we stuffed in the pita type bread.  It was delicious.  We are happy to have more control over what we eat.
We went back to the school at 2:00 to meet the teachers and staff.  GeGe has the program down to an art. The children each receive 1 hour of instruction, then time for homework help, and some playtime.  They each leave with a sandwich and piece of fruit.  The younger kids are there from 2:15- 5:15 or so.  Then the older kids arrive until 6:20.  They receive English and math instruction.  Yesterday we read a story to the different groups, helped with homework and observed in some of the classes.  We will use this week to better understand the program and work with GeGe to find how we can be most useful.  GeGe will leave on Monday and be gone until early August.
The kids are adorable and just like kids anywhere.  We recieved a lot of hugs and kisses yesterday and already know that it will be sad saying good-bye.  GeGe is a fixture in the neighborhood and everyone seems to know here.  We have seen very few (no) tourists here.  GeGe said that there are other Europeans here but only one couple from the US.
After work yesterday we got on a bus with GeGe and went into town.  We had a wonderful dinner at a second floor restaurant overlooking the main plaza.  It was beautiful.  A very large dinner cost us each about $8 including popcorn on the table, our actual dinner and 2 drinks.
After dinner went went to two grocery stores to get some basics.  We bought pasta, brown rice, sliced bread, jam, a big bottle of guanabana yogurt drink, toilet paper, quinoa, tea, coffee, pepper, mustard, and granola.  Most of our produce, cheese and fresh bread we will buy here in Carmen Alto.  We took the last bus home which was stuffed with people in every available space.  We were carrying some heavy groceries so that was a bit painful since we were standing and you have to use one hand to hold on.  We were happy to get back to our place and again we slept for 10 hours which really surprised us.
We got up and used the frying pan to fry some toast.  We had toast and cheese, some oranges and apples and a glass of the yogurt drink.  We are still in our pajamas at almost noon.  We can tell that we are still adjusting because we are tired.  Lucky for us we don't have to be at the school until 2:00.  I have not been taking pictures here yet since we know we will have time.  Eventually I will post some I promise.
We hope for those of you at home that the 4th of July was wonderful.  We miss you all.  Besitos!