Salvador & Matthia on the carousel in Cieneguilla

Reyna, the girl who helps around the house here, came back from a few weeks in Cajamarca today.
This is a big relief as her stand-in hasn’t turned up for the past two days. Reyna also helps Esther’s Mum get around and looks after the house when we are all out.
Her daughter Martha who is about the same age as Salvador has returned in slim-line form, which is good because she was a bit too chubby.
Martha and Salvador became re-acquainted very quickly as our charming little chap tested their relationship with a friendly poke in the eye.
Ceci, Camillo & Matthia collected us at 10am and we set off for Cieneguilla. There were a mere seven of us in the car, nothing compared with the thirteen we saw spilling out of a taxi last week. It was a cramped and hot journey nonetheless, broken up by stops for mosquito repellent and rubber rings for the two boys.
We weaved through the mountains on the outskirts of Lima where the scenery is brown and unexciting.
Cieneguilla though is a little oasis of a village, filled with places to eat and adventure playgrounds.
We ended up at the ‘Country House of the Miner’ a surprisingly themed restaurant cum playground. Mining is big in Peru but this is the first time I have seen it used as the backdrop for a pleasure park. I looked in vain for a mosaic of Arthur Scargill’s face at the bottom of the swimming pool and there was no topiary in the shape of Sir Ian MacGregor’s head either. In fact it was all a bit strange. I would have thought a mining themed place would have had some antique implements, maybe a Davy lamp or two and some helmets or whatever. Everything at the ‘Country House of the Miner’ was modern, covered in dust like everything in Lima, but certainly late 20th or even 21st century vintage. As Camillo and I played pool I looked at the peculiar display of miners lamps around the horrifically slanting table and found that they were made by a company in Manchester. Small world, odd world. Totally in keeping with the mining theme was a small group of cages containing a couple of monkeys, some parrots and a macaw, all of them obligatory for any Peruvian business aimed at children.
I don’t know what it is about me but I must have some sort of ape attraction because ever since I was young almost every monkey I look at in a zoo seems ‘extra’ pleased to see me.
One of the little devils today laid his rather large trump card on the table as soon as looking at me, bringing back unfortunate memories of a chimpanzee at London Zoo thirty years ago whose frenzied ‘itching’ up against the glass fascinated me.
Salvador preferred the more wholesome activities in the pool and on the carousel.
This most certainly was not a day for birding but Cieneguilla is a great spot for many species typical to the Lima area.
A lovely Bananaquit crawled through the bushes near the obscene monkey and I saw a pair of House Sparrows that made me think of England.
If it hadn’t been for the heat, dust, mountains and mosquitos we could have been at Coate Water.
We finally gave in to said mosquitos at 5pm as they swarmed in clouds around us threatening to spoil our lovely day out.
We stopped at the roadside on the way back for Picarones (sort of doughnut rings that you dip in honey) and some repulsive Chicha Morada.
Matthia is growing up to be a lovely boy, it’s a shame that at the moment we seem destined to see him just once a year as they all return to Italy on Tuesday.