Niños de calle

Or street children in English.

Yesterday I was having a little contemplative sit in the sun in one of the very lovely squares that exist in Cusco. Inevitably that means that a slow trickle of people will approach you to sell something. It's quite a gentle sales technique, you say "No, gracias" and on the whole they leave you alone. The children tend to be more hard core and ask why you don't want to buy, the other day a girl selling finger puppets said "Why not" and I said "Because I'm too big". A minute later she was back "But you could buy one as a present!"

However, yesterday was Sunday morning and lots of the tourists were off visiting the local markets in outlying villages, so it's a slow sales time. A boy approached me and asked if I wanted postcards, I said no and he didn't ask why not. He sat down and asked me where I was from (this is also quite common with people who want to practise their English doing the same), so I told him England and he then checked a load of English facts with me - capital city is London, prime minister is Tony Blair - is he a good prime minister - currency is pounds. Did I live in London, no I live in Southampton next to the sea. He thought that the sea must be really nice, a good place for thinking, I think he was around 12 or 13.

So I asked him where he lives. He lives in an institution for street children, he goes to school there and has to pay something towards it and buy his own clothes and shoes. His mother lives in a pueblo (village or small town) in the countryside but can't afford to feed the family so he came to the city (this is a reasonably common story for street children). He is going to school for another year or so and one day he would like to go to university, it is possible to go to public university part time and work to pay your way. He asked me if I believed in God and I said no and he said that he did but sometimes he found it hard to understand the reasons for things.

He wasn't self pitying but he knows he has a tough life and that in other countries it would be different. So I bought some postcards because I wanted to give him money but it was better all round that it was a commercial transaction. Then he asked if he could ask a question. Of course I said yes. He wondered if I had some old shoes that I didn't need, his feet were visible through the sides of his shoes. Unfortunately I don't as I only have sandals and walking boots with me, but I wish I had. So we said goodbye and I wished him luck and off we went to our very different lives.

50% of this country lives in poverty (UN definition less than $1 a day to live on per person) and the longer I am here the more I recognise that the only real difference between people in developing countries and the wealthy nations is an accident of birth.