Veronica picked me up at 08.15. Andrew, another volunteer was in the car. Veronica showed me which bus to get each morning. Andrew and I went into the orphanage behind a locked gate and were mobbed by several children. The conditions are poor, some children have chickenpox, some lice, some have severe learning difficulties and need lots of attention. They only advised us to work till lunchtime as they said we would be tired and they were right. There appears to be basic resources, very few educational resources, just a broken skipping rope, some chalk and a few building bricks. We took the kids to the park and played some football with the older lads but with such a varying age range its difficult to keep them all occupied and they tend to wander off. Some kids are very affectionate and just need a hug, others are constantly attention seeking and mischeivious. There are some staff at the project but they seemed to stay in their office the whole time. Some of the girls caring for the babies when I arrived whom I thought were staff were orphans themselves. Its clear they need money to buy things for the project but Im not sure that the staff are that motivated enough to come with me to buy things, the language barrier is also a problem. Im not just going to give them money and I have concerns that there just isnt the right mindset in which case I may need to bring all the money home again. I´ll see how things pan out. There are 4 volunteers from New Zealand, 2 from Australia, 1 from USA and two of us from UK, but most leave over next few days so that by the end of next week there will only be three. We all went for lunch at 1. The kids were due to be fed but there was no gas so dont know what happened. I have the rest of the day free so will lounge in a cafe reading. and go back ´home´later. Wednesday, I may go across to Paraguay with another guy and also looking to go to the Iguazu Falls one weekend. We´´ll see what challenges tomorrow brings. Overall, I feel on day one its been an eye opener but I am quite pleased with what Ive done today. its certainly an experience.