So we come to the end!!!! As I write this I am back in the comfort of my room back in York. Four of the best months of my life are over, but with many memories lingering on. Here is the tale of my final few days in Peru.

Straight after writing my blog, I went to go watch the "grand classico", the big derby between Allianza Lima and Universitario at Harold's house.Despite an action-packed game (including what appeared to be a mini riot during half time), it ended in a 0-0 draw.

Saturday Night Fever

On the Saturday night a group of us went to a "traditional dance" display at a local community centre. The event was supposed to start at 5.30pm, but got continually pushed back, with the dancing not starting until about 7pm. At this point three girls, about 13 or 14, took to the dance floor area, dressed in traditional Peruvian clothing and danced for about five minutes. Then a band started playing traditional music whilst I got in line to get the dinner they had prepared for us. After a while of waiting around for some more dancing, some of us considered leaving, but were persuaded to stay after hearing that the next "act" was about to start. The next group were some younger boys and girls, also dressed traditionally, who danced somewhat less proficiently. After staying a little longer, most of us took our leave. For Amiria's last night a group of volunteers went to the local club for some live salsa music, but feeling absolutely shattered from work, I headed to bed.

Another Lazy Sunday

On my final Sunday I was planning to go back to the beach at Paracas, but on the morning I didn't really feel up for it so I hung around the School house all morning. Afterwards I went to the market to get some lunch. I got ingredients for a bacon sandwich, (which I was planning on making everyone for my last breakfast) and then headed back to the house to make. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching DVDs and playing some ping-pong at the school house, before moving over to the main house to enjoy a few beers by the fire.

On Monday I headed back to Guillermo's house to start work on the concrete footers for the brickwork. This entailed a morning of bringing wood over from the wood yard to the site using our trusty trike, then making form boards from the wood by nailing them together and fitting them in the right position. I made a few trips to and from the house o fetch tools, petrol and ice cream (ok that was just for me) for the project. After a delicious lunch, we set about pouring concrete. This entailed filling up wheelbarrows with concrete, then bucketing the concrete from the barrow into the forms. With only half of the footers prepared, we made short work of them, finishing in about an hour.

On the evening, straight after dinner we had an earthquake drill. This was made a little complicated by the fact we were in the middle of a power-cut. Nevertheless after TBC shouted "EARTHQUAKE" we all filed out to the lot around the corner from the house. Afterwards a few of us headed to the roof of the house to see the whole town in darkness. After waiting hopefully for all the lights to come on for a while, we headed back down for some more drinks by the fire.

The End is Nigh!!

Tuesday was my last full day at PSF, and so, wanting to see the job through to the end, I went back to finish the footers for Guillermo's house. This day's work was pretty similar, with the exception that some of the boards were already made, so it was just a case of taking them out and fitting them in the new position. After another delicious lunch (which included teaching our maestro Alex how to swear in English!), we started pouring again, this time just straight into buckets. Again after about an hour we finished and I headed back to start plotting my final breakfast.

After writing out a shopping list, Breige and I headed into the market to start gathering ingredients for my "final fling f*cking bueno full-english fry-up w/ fresas (strawberries)". After collecting ingredients, we headed back and put our stuff away.

On the evening, I went for my final football game with the tour guides. We went behind early, but just as we were about to make our comeback, we were hit by yet another power cut. Dejected, I headed back to the house after showering and getting drinks in, started a round of drinking games. After a late last night of merriment I headed to bed.

The Final Coundown

On my final day I woke early to make the fabled breakfast. On the menu was bacon (for those who got up early enough), fried eggs, fried bread, tomatoes, strawberries and orange juice. At the end of the morning meeting I gave my final, emotional goodbye speech, thanking everyone for their friendship and wishing everyone a good time at PSF. Straight after the meeting I was charged with training up my replacement as wood yard manager, taking her around the wood yard, and then showing her the wood yard manual on the computers. Next I started packing, which took a while, given the state of my room! After writing on a t-shirt with messages and hanging on the wall at the main house (a PSF tradition), I went to lunch before gathering my things and saying my final goodbyes to the people hanging around the yard.

I then hopped in a taxi to the cruce, where I caught a bus to Lima. After the four hour ride, I arrived and got into another taxi to find the hostel I was staying at. After a little trouble I arrived at my hostel at about 8 o'clock. After dropping off my bags and checking my e-mails, I settled in to watch Avatar on the hostel's DVD player, before heading for an early bed.

Lima Dreamer

I awoke early on the Thursday morning to explore the local area. After walking around shops, picking up a few souvenirs and heading down to the market, I got lunch at a KFC. After lunch I went to see a movie at the local cinema. Shortly after I went bed early in anticipation of my 7am flight.

On Friday I woke at an incredibly early 3.30am to get a taxi to the airport. The taxi was late, but I still had ample time to get through airport check-in. Having bought a few snacks, I headed to my gate and got on the flight. After a long flight to Miami, I bought some duty free and some more snacks before getting on my final flight to London Heathrow. A quick stop off in London, getting some breakfast and wandering around for a while, I headed to the coach station, where I got on my coach back to good old York.

And that's it! Four months spent, dozens of project participated in, hundreds of friends made, I return to England having had the time of my life. I'm so tempted to go back at some point, if it wasn't for money, responsibilities, family etc. I would have stayed there so much longer. But I take the spirit of PSF with me, and I know that there will always be a part of me in Pisco.

Tom xxxxxxxxxxxxx