A Lovely Weekend

We have begun to discover that there aren't many activities for small children in Cusco, especially compared to the plethora of groups and leisure options for under 5s in the UK. There are some lovely parks, but February is turning out to be very wet with very heavy showers and impressive storms - Daniel thinks the thunder is much better here than in England! However, there was glorious sunshine over the weekend. On Saturday, after a lazy start, we visited some friends in their new apartment. We then did battle at El Molina, a huge market that we constantly get lost in, and bought a few bits, successfully(ish) bartering. Swimming is really hard in Cusco, as there aren't many pools. We stumbled upon a hotel close to us that has an outdoor unheated pool and they said we could pay to use this. It is great - clean and in a lovely setting - you can see some photos here. The main drawback is that it is not heated and was freezing! Sophia happily slept in her buggy, but the rest of us braved it. It was good fun, if a little chilly.

On Sunday, we went to the much anticipated Senor Carbon for lunch. We have had great things about it and it is about 2 minutes walk from the house. Daniel has been desperate to go as it has a soft play area. The place is pretty amazing. For the equivalent of £10, you can eat as much as you like and the food is great. It is not for vegetarians, however, as they bring out loads and loads of meat to the table on huge spits, and you can just keep eating, as beautifully demonstrated by Neil - and Daniel. I looked on enviously as I ate my chicken and chips; as my appetite was still returning at that point, I decided to opt out of the all you can eat option - silly me. Although cheap by UK standards, it is pricey for Peru, so will be a rare - but much anticipated treat. Here are a few photos of the lunch - please note that the meat on display was one of the smaller offerings!






We finished the weekend by going to our church. Each week we can chat to people a little more, and this week, i followed the sermon for the first time, helped by the PowerPoint! Daniel looks forward to going each week and takes his ukulele. It is lovely there.

And as the days pass, we are getting into more of a routine and getting more used to the altitude, meaning that we (me in particular) have more energy to do activities with the kids, despite the rain. Today, me and the kids made a camp in the lounge and made pizza bread for tea - nothing special, but it felt like home.