And so the next part of the adventure begins. At about midday Becky leaves Cusco and heads to the airport leaving me alone in an internet cafe continuing the mammoth task of uploading my 669 photos to flickr on the worlds slowest computers (photos to blog coming soon!!) When the time is right, I collect my bag and catch a taxi to the bus station where I manage to navigate myself to the right bus (without the help of the ticket agent who chose to pretend he couldn't speak perfect english). Once on the bus I soon realise this is no tourist bus and instead I am the only 'gringo' aboard (and as a special treat I am seated next to the toilet.) The local passengers that follow come bearing bags so big that if they were on a Ryan Air flight, they'd have no choice but to pay for extra luggage. Then comes along my 'seat mate' who seems like a lovely little local woman (also bearing several large bags.) She puts all her bags in the overhead compartment apart from one item... The worlds largest loaf of bread (i'm talking the size of a 4x4 tyre) which instead she chooses to put next to our feet, pretty much halving our leg room. What comes next was completely unexpected... my new pal starts weeping uncontrollably at what I think is due to her departure from her partner to who she waves at, also uncontrollably, as the bus leaves the station. I try and offer her comforting looks but they don't seem to work and the weeping continues. To add to the drama, we then have our first toilet goer (it turns out the toilet door is not sound proof) and to top it all off some preaching starts. As a tactic to attract peoples attention, the preacher gives everyone, apart from me, sweets to accompany his surmon (bit gutted at this as I was very much in the mood for a strawberry bonbon but at least my sweet deprivation meant that I didn't have to tip him). Before long we stop to fill up on petrol and some food sellers board the bus and what does the woman next to me (who has now stopped crying) buy? TWO MORE LOAVES OF BREAD!!! I know Peruvians like their carbs but this is just extreme.

Anyway, after being dropped off at the side of the road, I eventually end up at the volunteer house in Pisco and shown to my bed. The whole arrival was pretty overwhelming due to the 70 new names I had to attempt to remember and the realisation of the impact these 70 people and the thousands before them were having. In august 2007, a 9.1 earthquake hit Pisco killing 600 people, leaving 40,000 homeless and destroying 80% of the city which had previously been a tourist hub. A lot of people here feel completely abandoned by the government who claimed the earthquake only reached 7.9 on the richter scale to avoid having to provide aid (as they would have if the earthquake hit 8.0). I've seen some footage of the earthquake and some of the scenes are unbelievable. The church roof collapsed leaving almost 300 people, who were seeking safety, dead and there were just lines of deceased in the main plaza waiting to be identified. Everyones lives were changed that day but the voluteer organisation (Pisco Sin Fronteras aka PSF) are doing a great job at helping people rebuild their lives. Despite being viewed by some locals as a group of convicts sent to Pisco to do their community service (the tattoos and dreadlocks don't exactly help that image...) PSF run various projects including modular home builds, a hospital build, running a day care centre for kids, rebuilding a school canteen and teaching English to locals. During my first week I worked in the PSF yard which is called bollyWOOD (get it) and in no time had mastered how to make windows, doors and modular wall panels (and was even allowed to make such items unsupervised!! Who would have thought it!!) During my first day in Bollywood I made my first real friend in a 44 year old man called Buddha who is covered in tattoos, a former porn star and who has without a doubt sampled all illegal drugs there are to sample. You may not think Buddha was a great catch but he is now a reformed man who lives for improving peoples lives (legally) and we had several a chat about positivity and outlooks on life. Thrown in to the convo of course though where all the possible sexual innuendos you could think of when when making windows and doors... screwing, drilling and hammering... hmmm.

Despite the devastation thats hit it, lots of Pisco has been rebuilt and there are now several restaurants, a few bars and an awesome market where you can buy anything and everything or super cheap prices. There is also a little old woman called Fabiola who lives round the corner from the volunteer house and has clocked on to the fact that she has 70 hungry and thirsty gringos living in a nearby vicinity so has turned her front room into a tuck shop. For 5 soles (which is just over £1) you can buy a big bottle of beer and homemade cake... glorious.

We work 9-5 during the week and half a day on Saturday and often there is something going on in the evenings during the week. One girl held a wine tasting event in order to raise some money for the project she was working on. There was also a Communist themed party held by a Ukrainian in order to celebrate Ukraines independence. The party boasted the moto 'If you dont wear red, you don't get fed' and involved several free vodka shots (as well as a meal that I'm pretty sure was cooked with alcohol rather than oil...)

After a weeks work, we used the weekend to visit the local Islas Ballestas, islands famous for its wildlife, predominately in the form of birds, penguins and sea lions. The penguins were cute, not sure I can say the same for the sea lions...So basically an awesome first week at PSF. Great people, food, location, parties and cake. I can see why people come here for 2 weeks and stay for 5 months...