A not so busy week

Hi guys,
In case you've been wondering why I've been so quiet this week it's mostly just because it's been a pretty quiet week. Except for the odd panic moment life here at Casa Pedro is fairly tame - and I mean that in the best possible way!

The main project of the week has been to freshen up the little apartment where Linda's dad used to stay. We moved everything out and before we knew it Muhammad - the husband of Fatna who's worked here for years - had the place painted. Unfortunately, while his speed painting was fairly impressive, it was also pretty messy. The last couple of days have been spent trying the chip, sand and scrub excess paint off of wooden beams, wooden furniture and tile floors. At least now its finished and the place is looking shiny and new ready for it's next inhabitants.

Although we never got round to buying any new plants I did spend some time preparing plant pots and flower beds just in case. Although weeding perhaps isn't the most exciting job but when its gloriously sunny and warmer than any Orkney summer it's great to have an excuse to be outside.

One of my specific jobs here last year had been looking after the donkey - feeding him, taking him out and cleaning out the pen. This year I got to keep the job - mostly I think cause the other helper, Mac, is just a little scared of the big guy. Normally Donkey is the perfect example of a good friendly donkey, but typically, the one day I decide to show Mac bow nice he is, he decided to act out.  After a good headbutt to the face and kick to the hand I finally got him tied up before he tried anything else but I think Mac will continue to keep his distance - oh well. Thankfully Donkey's aim wasn't great so he didn't do any damage to my hand but I have been left with a black eye that's now starting to look like very badly applied eye makeup.

Other than that there hasn't been too much going on here - I've had plenty of time to catch up on some emails and even spent a while yesterday just chilling out by the pool!
I had a chance to Skype the other half a couple of days ago which was nice since it's the first time I'm away myself for about a year.
Linda's son Dani arrived last night for a visit, having just arrived from Sweden. I think he's leaving again today but it's been nice to have a little catch up.
It's also been quite how people seem to have remembered me from last year - even the two mechanics who worked on the car last year remembered me!

Pictured below is my good friend Donkey...

Well I can't think of anything else to say so I guess I'll go find something useful to do.
Next time you hear from me I'll probably be either in Barcelona airport or CUZCO, PERU!! :D
Speak to you soon!

Sunny, sunny Spain!

Well I made it successfully through the next leg of the journey.
After a but uneventful trip I made it from Edinburgh to San Martin to rejoin Linda and Pedro at the hostel. For any new readers I spent about a month here last summer working in the the garden and had such a great time that I promised to return as soon as I would. So here I am.

The flight from Edinburgh was pretty smooth and apart from two screeching kids sitting opposite me it was a decent flight. At least the grandmother apologised about the noise...once she realised I was actually British and could understand her...
I spent the night in the airport and after a kind cleaning lady pointed out where the divider-less seats were I actually got a couple of hours sleep.
First thing in the morning I gt a bus into the city and the the direction of another kind local I made it to the bus station with plenty of time to spare!
Two buses later and I was in Olite - the nearest town to San Martin for the bus where Linda met me to take me 'home'.

The rest of the day was spent quietly pottering about, catching up with everyone and getting to know Linda's latest helper - Mac.

Friday came and it was like I'd never left. I grabbed some breakfast before getting to work checking up on the donkey, surveying what to do in the garden and reorganising my bag after it'd exploded over the room.

We also spent some time cleaning up a couple of disused rooms in preparation for an English immersion course that'll be running here soon.
Linda ran Mac and I into Olite for a couple of hours as they're having their fiestas at the moment so we hung out and listened to the music for a bit before heading back for lunch - couscous with vegetables - yum.

The afternoon was pretty quiet with us mostly chilling out for the siesta time but in the evening we got changed into out fiesta clothes - the traditional red and white - and headed back to Olite. They had the young bullocks out in the street getting them excited for the bull run. It was a bit confusing to be honest since they would bring one animal out for 5 minutes to win it up then stick it back inside and get another one. After about an hour of this they finally got them all out to run through the street but it was quite a bit smaller then Tafalla. One the plus side - by not bringing them into the ring and taunting them hat way the animals did seem a bit calmer in general.
Next came the dancing. Everybody and by everybody I mean lots of the girls and the occasional boy plus a few older couples - gathered together under the pavilion to dance to some traditional music. From our spot on top of one of the bull-barriers it looked pretty impressive. The kids are obviously taught the dances at  young age and everybody was keeping time and moving together - laughing and joking as they went.
By the time this had finished it was around 10p and the people were disappearing - obviously heading off to find food. We took that as our cue to leave and after a quick call to linda it was home to bed.

This morning has been a semi-productive one at least. I did some research into what plants to get for the garden again (since last years ones died) and I cleared the dead plants out of the pots so they'll be ready for the next attempt at growing in them...see how long they last this time!
Linda's grandson is staying at the moment which is nice since they don't get to see him often. He's about 2 now so it's kinda cool seeing him try to learn new words, though he did decide this morning that it would be fun to throw the calculator around outside - oops.

The photo is of me, Pedro, Linda and Rex just before I left last year

Well that's another post done. I'm off to grab a coffee then it's back to work in the garden!
Speak to you all again soon! :)

Back on the road

Hi everyone!
So for those of you who don't already know that's me already on the road.

I got the ferry down from Orkney on Friday night and arrived in Edinburgh Saturday morning to meet Courtney.

On Saturday we mostly hung out at her apartment while some guys from Sky came to sort her TV then went in search of food. After wandering about for  a while we finally decided on a local Indian place with proper Indian food - not that British-Indian stuff you normally get! We had a quite night after that after a long day.

Sunday got off to a slow start but once we finally got going we headed over to her uni so Courtney could get a head start on coursework while I scrounged some internet time.  By the time w'd finished it was getting on so we headed back into town. I needed to pick up a couple of last minute things for Peru so we ticked a couple of other things off my to do list there before dinner. we headed for a place called La Favorita over the road from Courtney's flat. The food was amazing; we both got a small pasta starter each followed by a split pizza and a caramel fudge sundae - so good!

On Monday Courtney had to go to uni so I hung out in the apartment for the morning before heading in to town. I didn't get much done to be honest but I did have a nice time sitting in Waterstones for a while reading with tea and a fruit scone until the rain passed.
Courtney and I met up again, along with her flatmate Ellie, and we went out for dinner with their friends to a Japanese place across town - the food was pretty good but couldn't quite beat the Italian from the night before.

Yesterday was spent up any loose ends before my flight today so I was sorting things like money exchange as well as seeing some different parts of the city. I met up with another best mate - Rhona - who'd come across from Stirling for the evening. We had dinner and happened to end up in Tron, a bar that does karaoke on Tuesday's . With that offer we got Courtney to come out and we had a good time chilling. They both got a bit of singing in while I played cameraman - which suited me fine!

So my flight is today which means I've spent the morning milling about watching TV and getting packed up again. Now to finish up and grab some food before thinking about heading to the airport!
Speak to you all again from Spain! :)

The return of the Gipsy

Welcome back everyone!!!
And hi to any new readers!

So it's been quite some time since I last posted anything to this blog - a whole year in fact - but that's because I've not been on the road much. However as of Friday I'll be off on another new adventure.

I'm going to be making a couple of stops in Edinburgh and Spain but my big trip will see me flying out to Peru at the start of October. Now for those of you who don't know, Peru has always been that on country that I've always dreamed of visiting - even back as a scrawny little kid in combats - so the fact I have the opportunity to make this trip is just amazing and I can't wait to get out there and see the place in real life.
And to top it off, while I'm there are I'm mostly going to be working at a Biological research center right out in the Amazon rainforest - dream come true!

I'm going to be away about 4 months so of course I'll also be sure to go across to Machu Picchu and hopefully a couple of other important sites over there - so let me know if you have any 'must see' suggestions!

In the mean time I've pretty much got most of my paper work printed and I've already checked into my flight from Edinburgh to Barcelona, so I guess I'd better get started on packing!!

Speak to you all soon - and don't worry - I'll hopefully be showing you some amazing travel photos very, very soon!