After the excitement of the press launch on Thursday morning, Juana and Manuel had their first day sightseeing in London, which began with a boat trip from Tower Bridge to the London Eye taking in Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Juana mentioned just how busy she thinks London is and that visiting the sights of London was like a dream – in fact the whole trip has been. Later in the evening Juana and Manuel attended the launch of Ute Decker’s new Fairtrade and Fairmined gold collection. Juana was presented a silver ring from Ute and in return presented her with a scarf. Manuel’s only comment as he rolled his eyes was ‘women!’. Juana says she now feels like a princess with her beautiful new piece of jewellery – Reina de Bolivia!
On Friday morning we travelled to Cardiff to spend time discussing the new Fairtrade and Fairmined gold with local jewellers organised by Elen from Fair Trade Wales, who have been great hosts. Manuel really enjoyed explaining the work of miners in Peru to those in the meeting who had lots of questions about how gold is processed. After a wonderful lunch in Cardiff Bay we headed to Big Pit, a former coal mine. Juana and Manuel felt they learnt a lot from the visit and were struck that mining is hard work all over the world, but felt positive from what they saw that improvements were possible with the right investment and support. Later they met Jane Davidson, Minister for the Environment of the Welsh Assembly Government and asked her to support them in giving artisanal and small-scale miners a voice amongst international governments, whilst enjoying traditional Welsh cakes and tea. Having given his own Peruvian hat to a Welsh miner Manuel is now sporting a bright red Welsh cap!
On route to the mine we passed the coast – Juana has only seen the sea once when she stopped over in Lima on route to the UK, and was very excited as we drove past – we will make sure we have ice cream on the beach tomorrow. In the evening we visited Crickhowell for dinner in a traditional British pub originally built in the 16th century, where we tried local Welsh food and enjoyed a well deserved beer. Manuel really enjoyed being in such an old building.
After a very comfortable night at a local B&B and Juana and Manuel’s first ever English (Welsh) breakfast (which Manuel argued the potatoes and tomatoes were South American so it should be a Peruvian breakfast), we took in the beautiful scenery of the Brecon Beacons. Next was a visit to Tretower a 15th Century house and 12th century castle. Juana gave herself the title of Reina de Tretower and Manuel Principle (Prince) de Tretower. Our medieval experience including bow and arrows was followed by lunch at the home of Katrina and Jeremy Gass in Abergavenny along with other Fairtrade campaigners from the area. The Gass’ were great hosts who gave us homemade soup and cakes which Manuel and Juana really enjoyed. We also had the chance to talk about the work of miners in South America and for Juana and Manuel to decorate their own pieces of Fairtrade cotton bunting to add to the record-breaking attempt in forthcoming Fairtrade Fortnight. On our return to Cardiff for our London-bound train we stopped at the sea for photos and an ice-cream in the beautiful South Wales sunshine. Juana and Manuel are extremely grateful to all their new Welsh friends for being so welcoming.
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