Chaos in Casma!

The school summer holidays in Peru happen during January and February, when kids head off on vacation or day trips with their families (if they can). At the Casa Hogar in Huaraz, however, the budget is tight and staff are few, so holidays don't really exist. Thanks to donations from people at home, we decided to take all 17 kids and some staff away for a day trip to the coast. We were able to cover all travel, food and rental costs. The closest coastal town to Huaraz is Casma, which doesn't seem too far on the map until you realise you have to climb over a mountain range or two to get there!

So, our adventure went as follows... Having been forewarned to be at the Casa Hogar at 4am on the dot, because the bus driver wouldn't wait if we were late, we headed down the street in the dark, to see the kids playing football and running about screaming outside the Home... classic Peru. But there also seemed to be plenty of people we didn't know: husbands and babies of ladies who work at the Casa Hogar and of course the bus driver's family. Apparently, we were hosting a day-trip to the sea for half of Huaraz! We realised that perhaps this was something that people didn't have the luxury of doing very often. Anyway, the bus arrived at 5am. So much for supposed punctuality, I've no idea why I expected he'd be there at 4! With all the kids and their bags loaded on, we set off for Casma, glad to finally be getting underway, or so we thought. But no, we stopped 2 mins later at the petrol station to fill up for the journey, better safe than sorry I guess. Once filled, we were at last ready to go....wrong again. The driver's key snapped in half in the ignition. So, there we sat for an hour and a half, in the petrol station, in the dark, with a bus full of sleepy kids. Meanwhile the driver disappeared off in a taxi to recover a spare key at home, and also probably to grab a cheeky breakfast, before returning to fix his old key. At long last, the bus pulled out of Huaraz two and a half hours after it should have, and we were on route to Casma.

The first hurdle when heading west from Huaraz is the extensive Cordillera Negra, the 4500m Andean mountain range with its many bends. Once at the top, we had to come down the other side, making a few toilet and breakfast stops. We also stopped in a square at midday near Casma for about 45 minutes for no obvious reason, other than to prolong the hot suffering of everyone onboard that bus. Finally, at 12.30pm, we arrived at Tortugas, an empty, stoney beach near Casma. Despite being told that there was a far superior beach closeby with golden sands by one of the other Home workers (thank you very much) the kids were delighted to have arrived and ran straight into the sea. Some of the ladies had packed 'marcianos' (a sweet, fruit-based snack) and 'chocho' (a mixture of corn, lemon juice and chillis) for everyone to feast on. The kids played, built rafts and swam about for over 3 hours. Great to see them just being kids and having fun.

The grand plan had been to shower at the beach where there were outdoor showers underneath huge wooden umbrellas. However, for some reason these showers were turned off between 2-4.30pm. Of course! So, dirty, salty and covered in sun cream, we all headed for the bus once again. But wait... the Home's 'directora' had spotted a few men driving their boat in circles around the bay. Nevermind the fact that we were due back in the town for lunch at 3.30 and it was already 3.15...she decided a much better idea would be to fit as many kids onto the boat as physically possible and embark on a tour of the bay and its resident pelicans...and she was right! So, off we all went back down to the sea again and, for 50p per person, climbed aboard this rickety boat. And we got soaked, but was great craic!

The bus later dropped us off at a small restaurant where everyone ate lunch at 4pm. After that, it's all a bit of a blurr. Some kids disappeared off to the nearby house of a Home worker's relative to shower, before meeting back in one of Casma's main squares in the evening. Given that water charges are based on a metre in Peru, this poor lady had 17 kids and some adults traipse through her bathroom one-by-one.

Sitting peacefully in the square as the sun went down, we waited as kids and workers filtered back in little groups, buying sweets and snacks from the stalls. At last, around 7.30pm, the bus driver, announced that he'd lost all patience and that it was time to leave. That was that then. We set off on the long, windy journey back to Huaraz through the dusty desert from whence we'd come. All was going well until we reached the dizzying heights of the Cordillera Negra once more, where a thick fog had descended. Going at 5mph over the mountain, by God's grace we finally arrived back in Huaraz after midnight. Completely exhausted, but so worth it to see how much the kids enjoyed themselves during the day. Thanks to all whose prayers and donations made this adventure possible.