Day 3

Sleep is still a little patchy. I think it may have a lot to do with the fact that temperatures, in the evening, drop to sub zero, and there is no heating in the room. I have three huge covers made of animal fur, which keep me warm. But if I have to get out of bed in the middle of the night it feels like I have just walked into a pool of ice. The bottle of water I have in the room couldn't be any colder if you put it in the fridge. Fabio and I wake up 8ish and have breakfast with Luis and Martha. We eat scrambled eggs, and bread with delicious home-made apricot jam. Have never tasted anything like it. I tell them that they could make a fortune off it in England.

After breakfast we head into San Francisco and meet Cynthia. She is 20 years old and has been working on the streets for years. Despite her hardship it is easy to see she is a pretty girl. That is not the case for most of them. I met a woman yesterday who was 31 but could easily pass for 55. Men in their late 20s look like they are in their 40s. Children in their early teens look 20s. The streets make them age very fast. I still haven't found stats on their life expectancy but if they look like this in their 30s I can't imagine it to be very long. But Cynthia, despite the scars along her cheek, despite the stains across her hands and face, despite the weathered look in her eyes, has still retained beauty. The interview with her was tough to manage as several lustrabotas stood behind, constantly scoping out our equipment. So I had to keep one eye on the kit and one on the interview. One boy started picking up rocks and hurling them into the air while another kept picking up sticks and swinging them around. It can be frustrating at times but it is hard to get too angry with them. If I were in their shoes I'd probably be doing the same. But somehow we managed.

Cynthia talked to us about how she got started as a lustrabota, and of the discrimination she faces on a daily basis from those who look down on her. And she spoke of her 2 year old son, who lives with her grandmother. She rarely gets to see him. Her hope for him is that he will end up having a life better than her own, that he will go to school, get educated, and have a good job. We are hoping to take her to visit him on Tuesday. Tomorrow she is playing in a championship futbol game. We have been invited to come watch her play.

After Cynthia we interviewed Ines again with her family. Her husband had a very painful wound on the left side of his face, the result of a beating he received earlier. He could barely open his eyes. While we spoke to them her children drank little cartons of juice. They'd race around, fall, cry, then pick themselves up and dust themselves off. Whether they wanted to or not they have had to learn to self-soothe. They have no choice really. The plan is to meet Ines and her family again on Wednesday. So the schedule is starting to look set.

After filming we bought some flowers for Martha as it's her birthday today. She put out a really impressive spread feeding about 12, 15 people. One of her sons was sporting the England shirt we bought him as a gift. Shame it couldn't help them against Germany.