Moving on again

Hi everyone,
I know I´m late....again but things have been pretty busy here! For those of you who don´t already know I´m down near Pamplona for the third summer in a row visiting my favourite Spanish family! Since it´s the hight of summer we´ve been fairly run off our feet so I´ve only just had time to write.

Last week was actually fairly easy in terms of work for a change. After waking up to find a message saying I could definitely head to Pamplona at the weekend I waited around until Isa´s sister got her out of bed early then set about helping her get sorted to go out. Her friends who had visited at the weekend wanted her to come over so she was out of the house by just after 10.30am so I spent my morning reading, watching some old episodes of House MD on my computer and thinking up some new knitting ideas for when I got home.
In the afternoon Marie appeared home reasonably early and we went off to find the new shoes I so desperately needed. We had to take Isa along which meant I knew we´d never manage to get the shoes sorted - and I was right - but it was a reasonable trip out at least. In the end I couldn´t find what I needed and settled for buying the (to me) slightly expensive shoes I´d seen after class the following day.

Wednesday Isa didn´t want to get up out of bed since she wanted to watch her cartoons and when I finally decided enough was enough she sulked and wouldn´t talk to me for over an hour leaving me to sit around and colour in the ´difficult´ pictures she wasn´t going to do. By that point the grandparents had arrived and it was almost lunch time so I got myself some food, checked my Spanish homework and headed out around 3.30pm to go to class. It wasn´t too bad for my final lesson. My normal teacher was still on holiday but the new one was talking a bit slower and I wasn´t already in a grump which helped. We got through a fair amount of work and after getting my shoes and going for a final wander through my favourite part of Bilbao I caught the metro back to the house.

guggenheim

As promised by Marie we went to the Guggenheim museum after we´d both finished work on Thursday. Isa had been at a friend´s again so I´d had a fairly easy day and after getting a quick bite to eat we set off. We had Isa with us which I wasn´t entirely sure about but she seemed fairly excited to go and see the ´flower puppy´ outside the entrance so off we went.

There was a great video exhibit by Kimsooja &Shahzia Sikander which had some really impressive imagery and the music was like a mix of sounds I´d heard in both India and Peru. We only got to stay for 10 minutes cause someone got bored but I´m definitely going to check them out online soon! There was an impressive steal instalment which took up half the building with maze like structures but we got in trouble cause Isa decided out run back out of one of the mazes and if she´d gone off in a different direction we might not have seen where she´d gone. 

The two main art exhibits were by Jeff Koons and Jean-Michel Basquait. I think the first appealed more to Isa with his metal ballon animals and refashioned old toys but I think I preferred the Basquait exhibit with his graffiti art and messages about colonialism, racisms, class struggles and things like that - it was also pretty cool to see the collection he did alongside Andy Warhol - someone I remember studying in school!

Unfortunately Isa thought it would be fun to break free from her mum and touch an exhibition piece which almost got us chucked out and then spent the last half hour deliberately messing around, making too much noise knowing she had to be quiet and generally trying to make us leave.

Friday was a pretty busy day. The grandparents showed up for a bit in the morning, and everyone was sitting with Isa watching TV so I used that time to get my back packed and ready to go. The parents arrived in the afternoon but no one seemed interested in getting their own things packed until the evening after dinner. They were off to China early in the morning so they had to get themselves organised too. We had a final family meal and after I was given the money back that I´d paid for my new shoes - the family wanted them to be a present from them which was really sweet!

on the road again

On saturday morning the housekeeper came and took me to the bus station since she´d offered the day before. I got the bus from Bilbao to Pamplona which was a nice trip although there seemed to be a lot of holiday traffic on the road. I grabbed a coffee and a pintxo in the bus station then caught the next bus down to Olite - the closest I could get to San Martin de Unx on the bus as far as I knew. 

Knowing it was lunch time and it would be really busy I decided I would just start walking and hitch to my friends hostel/restaurant instead of waiting to see if they could come and collect me. A nice couple who were here on holiday picked me up in no time and dropped me right at the door.

The afternoon was spent doing little jobs around the hostel and settling back into life in San Martin. 

Sunday was the busiest I´ve ever seen it here with every table full of families and groups wanting lunch. We spent most of the late afternoon recovering from such a busy session and chatted about the other people who´d come to stay, how their English course summer camp had gone and how our families were getting on before having an early night. 

gorgeous new dog

Yesterday I spent the morning out shopping with Pedro and his grandson which was an interesting experience - had to laugh at the fact he decided he wanted ice cream near the start of the trip and was still asking for it two hours later! We had quite a few people for lunch and there was less of us working in the kitchen but between me and Linda I think we actually worked through the orders and the service faster than we had the day before with more people! I guess it was just easier with less people getting under each others feet. 

This morning I helped clean the pool and prep some things for dinner then I set about writing this. We´ve got a couple of hours until people start coming for lunch but we have rooms to make up so I´m off to help with the laundry. 

I should be in Barcelona by the time I write my next piece but I don´t know how easy it will be for me to post off my tablet (now it´s getting old and slow) when I don´t have a computer or laptop to borrow!

Chat to you all again soon either way,

Ciao!

Animal Rescue

Hi everyone,
I know I´m late in posting but I didn´t get chance to get on the computer over the weekend to write. Think this will just be a short one since it´s been a busy day but I can tell you that I´ll be writing from somewhere different next time because my job ends on Friday. I´m planning on heading down towards the Pyrenees where it´s quieter and where I can do some walking anyway from the noisey towns and cities around here.

So after I finished writing on Sunday Adam (the older son) took me gokarting with his cousin and some friends. It´s not something I´ve actually done before so I was a little nervous to begin with but it was a lot of fun - even if I did get beat by a 12 year old,

DIdn´t crash too often

It was back to the usual routine on Monday with nothing particularly exciting happening although I did get to learn a little about the German health insurance system from my classmates which is always a handy thing to know a little something about.

After work on Tuesday I tried playing Paddleball with the dad but considering I´d only played tennis and badminton before and it was much hotter than I was used to I think I lost quite spectacularly.
After a quick shower I joined the mum in taking Isa and her visiting cousin to the fun fair in the next town. Luckily Isa managed to get her cousin to go on most rides with her cause she wouldn´t go herself and I certainly wasn´t going to get myself stuck in one of the kids rides - I did that years ago and have no intention of repeating it!

Animal rescue

On wednesday I got a bit of a surprise in the morning when I found a hedgehog in a box in the kitchen! It turned out the dogs had tried to get it in the night and Marie had rescued it so I could release it when Isa was awake. The release went well although Isa stayed inside cause it was raining.
 I got into Bilbao for class a little early and bumped into a fellow classmate but it turned out he was having to cut his trip short and the lesson that day would be his last.
It also turned out the other two girls who´d joined the class were finishing that day too so we spent half the class translating a song and got a couple of class photos at the end.

Thursday was just the standard - work followed by reading/studying/seista until dinner so nothing really exciting there.

On friday Marie´s sister arrived with her husband to spend some time here before taking her son (Isa´s visiting cousin) back home. We had a nice meal together before I headed off for an early night. As far as I´m aware there was no pintxos night so I stayed home.

Not a whole lot happened on saturday. I was supposed to go with Marie to get some new shoes sorted out after my ´prefect´email pair was the complete wrong size (supposed to be an 8, the shoes say they´re a 7 but they´re definitely no bigger than a 6). I´ve been stuck sewing up my old shoes in the meantime but now they have holes in the soles which I can´t really fix. Unfortunately we ended up not going to the shops - not too sure why - so as of this post I´m still stuck with holey boots.

Good as new....

Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day - if a bit windy - so I decided to get out and spend some time just sitting out in the sun with a good book. Working my way through Lord of the Rings so its some good reading.
Isa´s friends came round for lunch so we spent a good deal of time getting the kids to all eat their food and after such a tiring day (or  not) I spent most the the rest of the day holed up in my room out of the way.

On to today. It´s not been the best of days today with tantrums and violent outbursts from the niña all morning (broken up by periods of just refusing to talk/play with me), followed by a new teacher for my Spanish class. Now there´s nothign actually wrong with the new teacher and it´s always good to learn from different people however I can´t quite understand why you´d give a beginner class to someone who only speaks a little bit of English; all made more difficult because her accent (from SE Spain) was so strong I could hardly understand anything - even when I knew the words she was saying.
On top of all this I seem unable to find any HelpX projects for my free week between work and my holiday with Courtney. I know it´s late in the game to be asking but the stream of ´no´s´and no replies has been a bit disheartening.

Just before everyone left!

On that note I need to get on with planning something different for that week so I´d best finish and post this.
Talk to you all soon though,
Ciao!

The Rain in Spain...

Hi everyone,
I´m starting to think Sunday´s a good day for posting since I tend not to have too much else on so I´ll probably stick to this day to share my latest adventures with you - not that I´ve got that much longer left before I finish this job!

On Monday I had my normal work schedule followed by Spanish class. We had a couple of new students joining us including another German student and a lass from Japan - it´s great to get such a mix although it´s a little funny now hearing the Cypriats disscusing things in Greek on one side and the Germans on the other while the rest of us stick to English and Spanish.
After class I met up with the regular Friday night pintxos group for dinner since one of the girls was going back to the US. We had a nice evening and I had a good laugh watching most folk struggle through the giant burgers on offer at the bar we ate at - literally the burger was about the size of the dinner plate and stood a good five inches high! I kept to a plate of chips since there were no other veggies to share one of these giant sandwiches with but I was happy enough with that.

Waiting next to this guy outside the Guggenheim for the rest of our group

Not a whole lot happened on Tuesday as I spent the majority of my work time just trying to get Isa to speak/play with me but I got a good amount of studying done in the afternoon and spent some time getting a few more things organised for Uni this year. I also had to order a new pair of shoes since my 4 year old baseball boots decided to split right around the back of the heel - typical that they waited unitl I was away to do this,

It seems Isa decided she was happy playing on Wednesday and we spent a good part of the morning playing and blowing bubbles in the garden while the cats tried to catch them - it´s days like this when I really enjoy my summer job,
By early afternoon the weather had changed so it was a rather cool walk to the metro for class. It turned out the two Cypriat girls were finishing their lessons that day so we said our goodbyes at the end an extra interesting lesson where we got to look at some other Spanish speaking countries in South America.
In the evening I had a phone call from the other half which was great but as always left  me missing home a little more than usual.

Bubbles in the garden 

Rain and a cold wind on thursday meant swimming lessons weren´t an option but since it would have been the teacher´s last day before he went off to study in Chile he came by for a quick visit and to say goodbye which was pretty nice of him.
My afternoon was spent doing some online research and starting to plan things for getting work when I get back to the UK in just over a month.

Friday was still a bit cold and damp and it seemed Isa´s mood corresponded to the weather for most of the morning. My knees were also pretty stiff from the change in weather so it was pretty quiet on both sides.
I spent a fair bit of time in the afternoon trying to repair my shoes until the new ones arrive - sewing through the canvas was easy enough but stiching onto the rubber edging was something I´d want to do again anytime soon - stabbed by self with the needle far too many times - however it seems to be holding ok.
Later in the afternoon everyone piled in the car, Chinese teacher and her kid included, and went to get a meal out. As the teacher was heading off on holiday at the weekend it was sort of a ´have a nice summer´ meal which was a nice idea. Unfortunately the ´restaurant´ of choice was a rather well known American fast food chain which I won´t eat in so I sat and waited while the kids ate until it was time to go and meet my friends for pintxos.
We had a good night out and after spending some time with one of the new girls in my class and another new student from Norway I rejoined the usual group. Seeing a couple of lads who clearly weren´t Spanish standing nearby one of the lasses decided to bring them into the group and I had to laugh when we dicovered they were actually from Newcastle! They stuck with us for the rest of the evening but when everyone else decided to head off to a club in the same direction as my metro station myself and the two geordies were apparently walking too fast and ended up losing the rest of the group - oops. Instead I went home as planned and the two lads headed off for food.

Making paella - that pan´s about 2 foot wide!

On Saturday there was a big paella festival in Getxo that Emma was going to with her friends and I was invited to come along with them. It looked pretty grey once again and was apparently only 22 degrees so I went out with jeans and a shirt. Typically the weather had totally changed by the time I got there and although I had a vest top under the shirt I could wear I was stuck with the jeans.
Now, I assumed the festival would be a bit like a mini local fair and while the main focus would be the paella competition there would also be the Spanish equivelant of best jam and cake bakes - I was totally wrong. Instead it seemed that groups of people had pitches spreading all over the field where they would cook their paellas on campfires while loud, drunk fiesta-goers roamed around to the sound or various stereos blasting out the latest and greatest tunes from Spain, the UK and the USA - not a single jam jar or potted plant in sight.
We had a good time and although I still find it a little odd to be hanging out with 17 year old Spanish kids we had a good laugh and we all got a bit of launguage practice in too.
We ended up eating out with Emma and Adam´s dad instead of at the fiesta since Emma´s boyfriend was doing the first proper meet-the-dad-day. The food was great with prawns and salad and such, and allow I proved I´m still hopeless at fish it was a really good meal and a nice break away from the heat of the afternoon sun.
My friends from class had planned on meeting me at the fiesta in the afternoon but ended up not coming so after a little more time hanging out with Emma and her friends they split off to find the fluorescent paint everyone seemed to be covered in while I walked back to Sopelana. By this point I´d gotten a bit burnt, not having expected the change of weather but it was a nice walk back along the coastal path.
That evening I had a good long chat with my friend Courtney back home - talked a little about what we´d do when she came out to meet me in Barcelona and after that I had an early night.

Today´s been pretty quiet so far since I´ve mostly been studying and reading.

Well that seems to be all for now anyway - I´m off to read a little more of my book.
I´ll be writing again soon but in the meantime just a little reminder to check out my Facebook page where I sell all the knitwear I make back home. There´s a load of items still for sale and available while I¨m away and I´m taking orders for new items for when I get back to the UK in September. The page is:
 https://www.facebook.com/driftinggipsyswoolcraft

Some of the items I make over on my Drifting Gipsy page

Thanks guys.
Ciao for now!

Home sweet home

Hi everyone,
well I did warn you all that I'd probably be a little late with this post but finally here it is!
I arrived back in Scotland on Thursday and made it to Orkney, after a lot of faffing about, on Sunday.

However when I left you guys I was still in Cusco so I'd better start back there.
After writing my last post I pretty much returned to the hostel and stayed in for the rest of the day. The only exception was when me and the new lass in my room ventured out in the rain for Chinese food. When we got back we found someone elses stuff in the room and after a tiny bit of suspicious snooping I discovered it belonged to my friend Jimena, who reappearred an hour or so later.
We ended up talking late into the night about recent goings on at VC, what had changed what people had been up to, and then what I'd been doing since I'd left. It was really great to be able to catch up again after being away for some time.

The following morning I ventured out to do my present shopping. I'd intentionally left it until the last minute so I didn't have to carry extra stuff right round Peru, and ended up spending the entire morning bargaining down prices and making deals with the local store owners - I think I actually did quite well and was really glad I managed the whole thing without using English once!
I stopped back at the hostel after to drop everything off before Jimena and I went up to the Meeting Place - my favourite Cusco café - to meet up with our friend Mike, the frog researcher who had been at VC earlier on in my trip.
We hung out and talked for a few hours before parting ways. Jimena had a meeting to go to and Mike had to get across town too. So I walked back to the hostel but not before stopping by one of the many cobblers on the street and ordering a new pair of boots. It's actually pretty cool because you can pick the style, main colour and pattern colours to make up a new pair of shoes and they can have them ready within 24 hours!

My favourite café in Cusco

That evening Jimena returned and we decided to head out for a proper final dinner. We invited Carlos, VC's science co-ordinator who was in town, and surprisingly he invited all the other staff who'd been at the same meeting. We all went to La Bodega's - a really nice Italian place and split I think four big pizzas between the group of eleven. It was a nice evening and another good opportunity to work on my Spanish.

Tuesday dawned and the weather was looking pretty promising - considering the lightening the night before I'd been a bit concerned about my flights that day. I stopped by the internet café to print out my boarding passes and check in but for some reason it wouldn't let me. Instead I decided I would just get to the airport early and sort everything out there.
I made lunch out of some spare food in a 'leftovers' box at the hostel and my shoes arrived round the same time - they were a little brighter than expected but they look pretty cool.

New shoes - something a little different

Around 4pm I said my goodbyes and left for the airport. When I arrived the woman at check-in offered to put me on an earlier flight so I actually only had about an hour to wait for my flight to Lima - perfect! From there I had a few hours to wait before my overnight flight to Miami but I spent most of it sitting writing and people watching.
I arrived in Miami around 7am after an uneventful flight but sat around the airport for a couple of hours before deciding to venture outside. I managed to get a bus down to Miami Beach then walked along the shore all the way to South Beach where I hung out for a while making the most of the sun. I ate the rest of my breakfast Subway sandwich for lunch and grabbed an ice coffee before setting off on my main mission in Miami - to find Miami Ink tattoo studio. It took me some time but I did find it and with lack of a better reason, wandered it to ask for directions back to the bus stop. The studio looked awesome inside although I didn't see any of it's well known members of staff around - maybe 1pm was a little early for them to be out and about!
Next I caught another bus to downtown Miami but I couldn't really figure out where I was going so eventually gave up on that little excursion and caught the metro back to the airport - a nice little adventure anyway, and much better than hanging around in the airport for twelve hour!

sneaky pic of Miami Ink tattoo studio!

Around 8pm my flight left for Barcelona. I was a bit concerned since it left almost an hour late but luckily the pilot made up a lot of time and in the finish we were only ten minutes late. However it did mean quite a rush to get to my following flight as I had to change terminal by means of a ten minute bus ride, and I didn't have a very long layover in the first place. I arrived at the gate for my Edinburgh flight just as everyone was queuing up to board! Luckily that flight was a little late too.
Once in Edinburgh it was another made dash to try and see my friend Courtney before she had to get to uni. Fortunately I managed to convince her to have a friend record her lecture so she could hang out instead - I know, such a bad influence! We hung out at her flat for a couple of hours where she made me my first proper cup of tea in months and let me use her shower - what a lifesaver!!
It was absolutely freezing in Edinburgh and there was snow on the ground so we made sure to be doubly wrapped up warm before heading to the train station, though not before stopping by her local pub for an amazing veggie panini. The train to Aberdeen took around three hours but the other half was waiting on the platform for me which was great. After being away almost five months it was so good to see him again.
We got dinner in the food court of the main mall in Aberdeen before heading to our hotel for the night - apparently Aberdeen only has one hostel and it was almost the same price as a proper hotel room with all the trimmings!

food stop in Edinburgh - nom!

Friday was another big day as I was getting my new tattoo. We wandered down to the studio around 9am and spent the whole morning in there. It took about three hours and I still need to go back to get the shading and colouring done but it looks awesome so far!
The afternoon was mostly spent trying not to do too much, stocking up on some things from the shops and trying out a different place within the food court - one thing's for sure they have plenty of choice in there anyway.

New tattoo - in progress

On Saturday morning we got all our stuff together but as we were checking out we discovered that our boat back up to Orkney wasn't going to be stopping by Orkney at all - due to the weather it was going directly from Aberdeen up to Shetland - typical.
We decided we'd have to try and get up to Thurso to catch the short crossing ferry from there but it was too late to make the midday train. Instead we were stuck hanging around the centre with our bags until 3.30pm. Finally we got the train but had to change in Inverness and the Inverness to Thurso stretch took forever. It stopped off in every tiny little village so we didn't make it to Thurso until around 10.30pm. Luckily our friends had a spare room and put us up for a night and we successfully got the boat home on Sunday morning.

The final leg

So that's the trip at an end. I had the most amazing time, saw so many amazing sites, met some wonderful and inspiring people and learnt a great deal. Now though, despite the typical Scottish weather, it's just nice to be home.

Before I go here are some last minute tips if you find yourself travelling in Peru:

Do expect to wait an age for things like buses - Peruvian time is a very different concept to ours.

Don't take pictures with the 'traditional' women - unless you're happy paying for it.

Do eat the menu's in the local diners - it's good food and super cheap (not advised for veggies).

Don't  pay the first price for things in the market - bartering is a way of life in Peru.

Do go to Machu Picchu - despite the hype it's still one of the most amazing sights you can see!

Don't push yourself too hard when you first get to high altitude - it does have a serious effect.

Do work on your Spanish before you go - it's both necessary and worth it to be able to talk to the locals.

Peru - what an adventure!

Well I guess this will be my last post for a while but I already have some new travel plans in the pipeline so maybe it won't be too long until you here from me again on here. In the mean time I will be back to doing my knitting so if you want to keep hearing about what I'm up to check out my facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/driftinggipsyswoolcraft


In the mean time, if you're planning your own worldly adventure don't hesitate to contact me, maybe I can help out or give you some tips on how to make the most of your trip.
Until next time, Bye for now!

Back to square one

Hi everyone,
Shock, horror - I`m actually on time for the second week in a row!
Now as some of you already know I`m almost at the end of my trip - I`m now back in Cusco where my South American adventure first began and I`m waiting for my flight home in a couple of days. But before I go here`s a round up of the last week!

So after my last post I went out exploring with my latest travel buddie - an American guy on a short break from offshore work. We headed out to check out the market and had a traditional Peruvian breakfast - chinese rice for me and some sort of chicken rice dish for him - no joke, that`s a normal breakfast here and Chinese food is especially popular.

After pottering around at the hostel a bit longer and getting a quick nap to make up for the night bus we decided to walk up to a viewpoint across town we`d heard about. It took a while to find the path up to it but eventually we started our climb - which actually wasn`t too bad until the last stretch. At this point we`d also inadvertantly picked up a guide, a rather drunk old guy who insisted on showing us the way. We eventually got rid of him and made it up to the top of the hill with  a rather large white cross on top. There were some pretty awesome views from there right across the city but more amazingingly - the Cordillera Blanca - one of the biggest mountain ranges in the world. It was strange to think that just the day before we`d been in warm sunny Lima, with palm trees and surf beaches, and we were now looking across to beautiful snow capped mountains.
We hung out there a little while but very concious of the fact the clouds were coming down we headed off the hill and found a much nicer route down - a real road in fact...shame we hadn`t noticed it a few meters away on our way up the hill! We arrived back in the city centre just as the rain came on and ended up having to duck into a little local resturant for food and to wait out the worst of the rain. The rest of the evening - once we got back to the hostel was spent trying to stay warm and dry. We stayed in and watched a movie before calling it a night.

View from the viewpoint (mirador)

The following day we didn´t get up to a whole lot really, wandered around looking for somewhere to book a trip up onto the glacier, picked up some vegetables from the market and explored the town itself a little bit. Otherwise it was a pretty quiet day. The most interesting part of the day was probably trying to cook dinner that night. The hostel only had two rings on a gas stove or a BBQ which had been sitting in the rain. Eventually we succeeded in making our pasta but we decided not to try cooking there again - too much hassle and the`kitchen´ was outside and therefore pretty cold in the evening.

First thing next morning Josh set out to try and sort out something for us to do that day. It turned out we couldn`t get to the glacier due to protests nearby and we couldn`t go on an earlier tour since we had a friend from Lima expected to arrive on the bus at some point that morning.
He returned around 8.40am with our friend in tow since he`d found her at the bus station. He`d managed to set up a trip up onto the Cordillera Negra instead with a `guide`to leave at 10am so we grabbed some breakfast then waited for him to appear.
Now this guy wasn`t what you would expect as a guide - he smelled kinda bad, his clothes and shoes didn`t fit and he bought a bottle of beer to drink on the way but he did the job. We arrived to the bottom of the hill and started our 3 hour hike. It was pretty difficult being at such high altitude - around 4500m but the views from the top were spectacular.
Back at the bottom and after a quick bus back to the town Lena and I grabbed some tea while Josh got rid of the guide. We also went to try and find something to do together the following day since Josh was headed back to Lima but we had more issues with the guides and decided to try again later in the afternoon.
Eventually we managed to book a trip up to Laguna 69 for ourselves and two other girls from our hostel Elma and Nana.

hiking in the Cordillera Negra!

At 5am the following morning we were up and ready to go. Our bus collected us around 5.20am and set off for the national park. After a short breakfast stop we arrived to the start of our hike at around 8.30am and set off up the hill. Although the first big section was pretty flat the altitude made it feel like we were already heading straight up. It was a weird feeling, being out of breathe walking across the flat valley floor but it was so much worse once we started heading up! It took around 3 and a half hours to make the 7km hike up to he lake but it was worth it! We saw some spectacular views across to Peru´s biggest mountain and around the lake itself.
Although it snowed on and off on the way there it cleared in time for me and a couple of other stragglers to make it to the lake. We didn`t hang around long due to the weather turning again and instead headed back down the mountain - a considerably easier walk heading down!
We made it back to the hostel around 5 and after sorting out a few admin things such as my bus the following day we got some food and settled for an early night.

A large lake on our way to Laguna 69

On thursday morning I got a bus back to Lima. It left around 9.30am and was actually a fairly pleasant bus trip although the lack of air conditioning was a bit of an issue - a silly thing to complain about in South America I know but it was hot! We arrived in Lima around 5pm bus because of traffic it took me until almost 7pm to get backthe the Dragonfly hostel!
After a much needed shower, some food from the hostels BBQ and a beer I was feeling much better. The lads who work there were planning to go to a local indie-rock gig and invited me along. It ended up just being two of us going but the gig was really good. The bar felt more like a converted old house with the band area down in the basement. The music was great and it was nice to go somewhere a bit more local since the area the hostel is in is very much a touristy area!
After the gig we ended up back at the hostel for a couple more drinks and ended up staying up until somewhere round 6am hanging out and talking up on the roof. What a bad influence those lads are (joking - in case any of them read these haha).

Friday morning was very quiet and I spent most of it working through a few big mugs of coffee. Around lunch time I was off again and heading for my next bus - all the way to Cusco this time!
The bus journey took 22 hours although thankfully I`d thought ahead and booked one of the fancy seat in the downstairs part of the bus - the seats reclined to 160', each seat had it`s own private TV screen and headphones and for once there was plenty of leg room. I was also pretty lucky with the person sitting next to me - a nice trainee accountant from Ireland who didn`t snore and was decent to chat to.

At Laguna 69!

I arrived in Cusco around midday yesterday and after settling back into Estrellita - my go to Cusco hostel - I headed out to the Meeting Place - an American run cafe with great burgers, milkshakes and amazing waffles!!
Surprisingly while I was sat there my frined Rachel walked in! She`s an intern with the school for field studies and was supposed to be heading back to Villa Carmen except the road was blocked so she was back in Cusco for the day with her parents!
I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around with them and swapping news from the last month before heading back to my hostel.
There I found a couple who were offering up there extra rice pudding so I got a nice filling meal there and some tea before heading to bed in the otherwise empty dorm room!

Well I´d best get on - I haven´t really done anything else today and it`s half way through the afternoon!
I think I´m going to write one more post once I get home although it might be a couple of days late. But speak to you all again soon!!
Ciao

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Hi everyone,
late as usual but once again it´s been a jam packed week. Plus by the time I arrived at my hostel last night it was a little late to be writing.
So, this is likely to be pretty long but hopefully it´ll be worth the read.

After writing my last post I pretty much spent my time making sure I had everything together, getting some food and saying a few goodbyes to my new friends. I had to get to the Peruhop office for around 8pm. For those of you who haven´t yet heard of Peruhop despite all my mentions they´re a great hop-on-hop-off bus company that goes between some of the most important places within Peru - it´s great value and the guides are awesome.
I got on the bus with a small group of other backpackers and we all settled down for about a 9 hour overnight bus journey.

The bus arrived in Puno very early on Monday morning but after only a short breakfast we were off again. We were all booked onto the Floating islands tour, where we got a boat out on to Lake Titicaca and explored these really cool islands made out of reeds. We spent the whole day out there checking out a number of the islands before returning to Puno. It was actually timed really well because as soon as we made it off the boat it started raining and didn´t stop of at least a couple of hours.
We met back up with our guide after dinner then it was back on the bus.
By this point I´d gotten talking to a couple of Canadian travellers -mother and son- and decided to book into the same hostel as them.

floating islands in Puno

One more night bus later and we all arrived in Arequipa - the 2nd biggest city in Peru. The three of us staying at Marlon´s house were dropped off and after a bit of sitting around headed out for breakfast while we waited for our rooms to be ready - it was still early after all. Considering we´d just done two night buses we spent a good part of the morning chilling out and catching up on some sleep before joining up with a free walking tour on the afternoon, The tour was great, the guide was funny, and we got to see quite a large part of the city. However we did find out that to visit the well known convent there would cost us each 40 soles, and decided to pass.
The tour went on quite a bit longer than expected so aferwards we just headed back to our hostel for food and an early night.

Wednesday got off to a fairly slow start since we all still needed to catch up on some rest. Once we got going though we wandered around away from the centre of the city and found some lovely parks. We also discovered a little convent tucked away where you normally wouldn´t find it. This one might have been smaller but only cost 5 soles so in we went. It also contained a pretty cool collection of Amazonian artifacts and an amazing library full of books from the 16-18th century!
After finishing up there we found a cheap local place to eat before heading up to the market to find something to cook for dinner. There´s a great market in Arequipa where everything is clean and organised and people are much less likely to beckon you over to their stall by shouting about their wares until you agree to buy something.
On our way back from the market we decided to stop and look into one of the small local museums (not much to see) and grab some coffee then look around the cathedral which was pretty impressive. They had a collection of some of the jewellery worn by the priest back in the day, including a crown covered in diamonds and emeralds weighing around 5kg! We had a guide who was great at explaining all the finer details within the cathedral but I couldn´t help but laugh at the fact she addressed the group as ´misters´, as in; "if you walk this way misters"...pretty funny at the time anyway.
By the time we got back all we had the energy for was food then bed,

3am on Thursday and it was time to go. Still half alseep we stumbled into a small bus and set off for the Colca Canyon. At around 6am we stopped for breakfast before pressing on again. By the time 8am arrived we were finally awake and just in time for us to make our big stop. We were there to see the Andean Condor leaving it´s nest to find food for the day, Their are very specific times when you can see them hence the really early start but it was so worth it! These beautiful birds have a wingspan of about 3m and look magestic gliding around on the air currents.
Eventually they left and so did we, them to find food - us to drive further along the canyon. We drove to the village at the end of the road to pick up some people who´d been hiking in the canyon before turning round to go back to Arequipa.
On the way we made a few stops and view points, little road side stores and towards the end some hot springs. They were a little artificial (they´d basically built a swimming pool around the spring) but it was still nice to sit and chill in there for a little while before getting back on the bus.
One more food stop then it was back to the city to reflect on what an awesome day we´d had.

Andean Condor in Colca Canyon

After another long day we had a bit of a slow morning, wandering round some of the craft markets and enjoying some really good ice cream. In the afternoon Josh and I went to do a bit more exploring while his mam chilled at the hostel. After as great stir fry we went back out but this time to get a few drinks. It was a fun night outand I got try try a few cocktail style drinks I otherwise probably wouldn´t have looked at so pretty good in all.

The late night was probably a bad choice since we had an early bus to get on saturday morning but I slept well on the bus so I didn´t really notice. We got all the way to Ica where we dropped off some people who wanted to get a flight over the lines. The rest of us stayed on the bus and went to a viewing tower to see a couple of the lines for free from there. They were pretty cool, we got to see the tree and a pair of hands. There´s a lot of uncertain history with the lines but either way they´re still super impressive. A couple of hours later we arrived in Huacachina - the only desert oasis in South America. It´s an interesting place environmentally but there was only a couple of streets and not much to do except relax or party - as was demonstrated at the hostel I stayed at - the party was still going some time after 5am the morning after.

Nazcar lines

On Sunday morning I sat and ate what food I had left (having assumed food in the oasis would be expensive) but it was fine - nothing wrong with avacado sandwiches for breakfast. I spent some time reading and having a little look around before settling down by the hostel pool for a little while.
At around midday, once the group was back together, we all went off for a free Pisco tour, where it was explained how they make Pisco, and what different types there are. They had 3 mains types - wine, spirit, and creams.
After that tour it was back to the hostel to get organised for sandbuggies and sandboarding! A group of 8 of us jumped into the buggy and were taken up into the sanddunes by a crazy driver who seemed determined to make us fly. Fortunately that was all part of the fun and the vehicle was kitted out with belts, rollcage, etc. The sandboarding was equally awesome. You could lie down or sand on the board going down the dunes; I stuck to lying down but it was still awesome! We stayed around until almost sunset before heading back down into the oasis and getting back on the bus.
It only took us about two hours to drive to Paracas - our next destination.
Upon arrival we quickly got settled into our hostel then went out with the group for some great pizza. Unfortunately I probably didn´t get to enjoy it fully but that´s just because I was so tired I was half sleeping at the table.

Sand buggy in Huacachina

So today - almost finished - we had a farily early start as we were going on a boat tour at 8am. We all met up before hand and made our way to the boat. Our trip took us out to the Ballestas Islands - a diverse group of islands sometimes referred to as a Poor Man´s Galápagos. On the way we saw dolphins and at the islands we got to see sealions, penguins, pelicans and some other amazing bird life! The tour only lasted 2 hours but we saw so many awesome things.
We got back to the hostel and hung out for a little while before going on to our next little excursion - a trip into the national reserve where we got to see some amazing views across the desert like terrain and see where it meets the ocean.

Sealions in Paracas

Well since the tour I´ve been spending my time trying to write this - not easy when the computer doesn´t want to cooperate. Now I think I´m going to go hang out by the pool.

Speak to you all again soon though!

Machu Picchu!!

Hi everyone,
a day late again I know but I only got back from Machu Picchu last night!!

So this whole week has been pretty jam packed and I don´t have that much time online but I´ll do my best!
After I finished writing my last blog post we all went up to Saqsaywaman - an archaeological site just above the city of Cusco. It was pretty impressive seeing the size of the structures and had an amazing view over the city. We stayed up there until it started getting dark, admiring the view before heading back to the city for Indian food in this great place Jimena and I found last time I was in Cusco.

Saqsaywaman - funny name I know

The following day we had some errands to run first like buying our ticket for MP and organising Heather´s friends Haley and Charlie´s flights, but after that we took a bus out to the Sacred Valley. After a quick bit of food and a look around the market we got a lift up to the top of the valley and from there we went exploring.
The ruins at Pisac were again really impressive. It was great cause we got to walk all the way along the ridge looking at dozen of ruins along the way, and bonus, we were practically the only people there!
After about a 10km walk we arrived back in the village of Pisac where we started and got a quick snack before catching a bus back to Cusco.
We found a nice little pizza place and decided to stay out a while after, resulting in a trip to one of the local nightclubs where we got in for free and met our friend Carlos from Villa Carmen.

Adventuring in Pisac

Wednesday morning got off to a bit of a slow start after the late night and even once we were up and about it took us forever to find breakfast - my favourite place was closed for New Year and it took us an extra 20 minutes wandering about to find anything else. After all that effort we decided to head back to the hostel and hang out there for a while, though we dropped Heather off at the internet cafe en route.
After a couple of hours there Haley and Charlie decided to head to Qorikancha - an interesting Inkan temple/Spanish Convent - and Heather showed up with Blair just in time to join them. I stayed behind having already visited but hung out with some new friends in the hostel instead.
That lead to me missing out on meeting the group for dinner because more and more hostel people appeared and suddenly it was party central. There were quite a few people staying for the New Year including a crowd of cyclists and a couple of guys with motorbikes and we had an awesome time hanging out. There was a great couple from Devon who I loved talking to and I´m kind of sad I didn´t get their contact details before they left.
Anyway, we took a break to go get Chinese food and all stayed up for the fireworks at midnight. At that point folk started splitting off to go to bed but a small group of us decided to walk up to the house of one of the bikers who actually lives in Cusco. It was an awful walk but we had a great time with the guy and I enjoyed hanging out with the 5 dogs he had there too!
At some point we headed back down to the plaza but it was really expensive to get in anywhere so we eventually decided to call it a night.

New Year´s day, as expected got off to a pretty slow start, we´d only really finished breakfast at the time we were supposed to check out. We also had another food fiasco, when the ´reasonable´looking place we found took our order once, waited almost an hour, double checked the order, then still hadn´t served us almost 45 minutes after that. For the first time for all of us we walked out without getting our food. However shortly after we found a really nice place with short serving time, nice atmosphere, and great food!
About two minutes after walking out of the restaurant we got caught in an awful hail storm, which left rivers running through the streets and all our shoes! We gave up our idea of a walk and tried to find coffee but had no luck there either and ended up back at the hostel cold and empty handed.
After sitting around there for a while we decided to finalise our Machu Picchu plans. Heather, Blair and I decided we would travel by buses and walking, while Haley and Charlie decided to get the train the following morning for Charlie´s birthday.
At 8pm our group headed for the bus. which left around 9pm and arrived in Santa Maria around 2am. From there we got a taxi to Santa Teresa arriving around 3am. Since we didn´t want to hike the rail line in the dark we found a clean spot in the Plaza and settled down for a couple of hours rest.

Walking in to Aguas Calientes

In the morning it was up first thing (since I doubt we would have been allowed to sleep in the plaza much later) and we got a collectivo to the Hydroelectric station. From there it was a two hour walk along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. It was a pretty nice walk and we made good time. We also found a pretty reasonable hostel when we got to the town which had been a bit of a concern.
We waited for Haley and Charlie to arrive before getting food, exploring and running a few errands - like getting snacks for the big day.
By the time we´d finished getting organised it was time for food again, which we followed up with a couple of drinks in this really cool reggae bar we found. Unfortunately the guy had never even heard of Bunny and the Wailers but the place had a great vibe and we got to chill out and play a couple of games of pool before bed.

At the Sun Gate

The big day. We didn´t get up as early as planned but it didn´t really matter. After coffee we caught the bus up to the entrance and without wasting too much time we hiked straight up to the Sun Gate. What an amazing view! I remember very distinctly as a little kid, I was 9 years old and at a regular Girls Brigade night, we were asked what our big dream was for when we grew up, I instantly said travel and when prompted answered that I most wanted to go to Peru, especially to see Machu Picchu. It was a very surreal, and quite an emotional experience the 11 years later, I was finally there.
We spent a good half hour just sitting looking out at the view before walking back down to do the real exploring. It´s impossible to really describe how much of an amazing place it is, the location, sheer size and magnificence of it all. Instead you´ll just have to check out the pictures and try to imagine for yourself. We spent some time wandering around the site until the rain and hunger finally won out.
Seeing the lines to get a bus back down we decided to chance it and walk back down the mountain instead. It was only about 2km using the steps or 6km on the road but it was pretty steep either way.
Back in Aguas we half crawled our way into the first food place we found - a pizza place with an offer of cheap food and free drink. After consuming 3 family sized pizzas between the 5 of us we plodded back up to our hostel, were I had to quickly gather my things.
Everyone else was staying an extra night but I had to come back to Cusco early as a have a bus to catch down to Lake Titicaca tonight.I decided to treat myself and catch the train which was pretty cool. I was seated next to this 12 year old Columbian kid who´s family were sitting opposite. As soon as they realised I spoke English they told their son to practice his English with me. I didn´t mind though, I learnt a lot about Columbia on that train, and for 12 years old he knew a surprising amount about a number of topics - including Columbian political history!
By the time we all arrived back in Cusco I was told to come and visit them when I make it to Columbia in the future and I was actually gifted a little something for spending my time talking to the kid - that part was a bit weird to be honest but I wasn´t going to refuse.

Machu Picchu!

Anyway, I got back to the hostel last night and have spent most of the day catching up on errands, chilling out and drinking to drink enough tea to drown the cough I can´t seem to get rid of.
Now though I´d better go, must get some food and get everything charged before Lake Titicaca tomorrow!!!

ciao

OOOPS!!

Hi everyone,

Firstly, sorry the text has a weird white highlight, I've spent about an hour trying to fix it but it won't go away! 

I know I'm late in posting again but the weather has made it pretty difficult to maintain power/internet around here all week. I'll be lucky if this even posts!

So Monday was just an ordinary day, went to collect a water sample from the River Pilcopata, worked on updating the VC bird species list and checking that all the latin names were correct, and started working on a VC notice board so everyone could be kept up to date with the going's on here. 

We also had a new volunteer show up from Australia (originally South Africa). 

Tuesday was a little less ordinary. Everything was going fine at the beginning of the morning, until it came to sampling. I was trying to transfer some Formal (formaldehyde solution) into a smaller container to use that day, but because it had one of those caps with only a tiny hole it was taking forever to get any into the other bottle. I had a bit of an impatient moment and tried squeezing the bottle harder, while holding it up to see how full the small bottle was getting. Next thing I know the cap bursts off, formal is spilling everywhere and I can't see. I manage to shout to Heather before the fumes start effecting my throat and in no time at all we piled into the truck and made a hasty dash to the hospital - luckily only a couple of minutes away and fairly quiet. After a lot of cleaning out, a shower and change (cause the stuff was so strong the doctor was starting to feel bad), an IV drip (anti-inflammatory since I got some in my throat) and a whole lot of water I finally got to go back to VC, with a cream thing to put on three time a day. So all in all no lasting damage but I'll definitely be being more careful next time I decided to play with the chemistry set!

Couldn't help but laugh at myself for managing to throw chemicals in my own face

Wednesday was mostly spent recovering quietly in my room and pointedly avoiding all chemicals/things I could fall over/ anything else I could injure myself with. One thing we did do was organise our VC secret santa game. I was meant to go out sampling to make up for missing it the day before but someone had taken the truck elsewhere and we couldn't find it until it was too late.

By the time thursday came around it was absolutely chucking it down but we finally managed to get the truck, and I was in super-careful mode so we finally got out to collect our water sample from the other river for the week. Normally it takes about 15-20 minutes because we're testing part of the sample on site but the weather was so bad we grabbed what we needed then dashed back to VC so I could do my titration experiment there instead. I got a fair bit of studying done in the afternoon and on the evening a small group of us went to the high school graduation party in Pilcopata, since we've done so much work with the community and kids there. It did mean we had to go formal but luckily I managed to borrow a dress and apparently didn't scrub up too badly. The celebration was pretty fun although it didn't finish until around 3am! I also got to try guinea pig there for the first time - I don't know what I expected but it didn't taste all that different to rabbit, just a lot stronger. 

One of the rivers where we go sampling

Friday morning was mostly spent studying/sleeping but on the afternoon we went down to town to buy our secret santa presents. I was given the name of one of the older locals here who works in agriculture. I don't know him that well but I think I got a useful - yet general - enough present that he should like it - we'll find out tomorrow when he gets it. 

I was also 'dragged' out for my first proper night out in the discos in Pilcopata. It actually wasn't really all that bad, we mostly all stuck together and danced in a group although the last hour or so was mostly spent with me trying not to step on any toes while being taught some proper latin dancing, including the cumbia. 

After yet another late night I pretty much did nothing on Saturday, but then again I think everyone else was equally as tired so we all had a rather quiet, sleepy day. Our newest volunteer also left today to go back to Cusco. It's a shame cause she had been planning on staying longer but things just didn't quite work out here. 

Yesterday got off to a pretty slow start but we did all take a trip out to Patria to visit a friend's restaurant which was fun, and the food was amazing. On the off chance any of you ever end up in that busy little village you have to eat at La Rustica! 

The team enjoying a great meal at La Rustica

 Well I guess I should get back to work now, went sampling (successfully) today and after a lot of time not doing much proper work the samples are starting to build up. 

Also next time I speak to you all it will probably be from Cusco, as I'm leaving VC on boxing day. Hopefully I'll have something different to talk about by then! 

Chat soon everyone!!

Festival Fun

Hi everyone,
A bit late once again I know but I just managed to get the next textbooks for my course and got a little distracted with that yesterday!

So in case any of you wondered about last weeks festival it was pretty cool, there was a lot of traditional dances all done in really elaborate costumes, plenty of music and, as you would expect at any festival, the alcohol was certainly flowing. Although I only stuck around for a little while it was really cool to see plus it gave us all an opportunity to snack on some great  Picarones (kind of like sweet potato doughnuts)!

Local dancing

On Tuesday our numbers were once again whittled down when Jimena, Rachel and Dan left. Jimena is coming back to continue her research in January but the others are either going back home or getting back on the road. So that brings our number (minus admin/management/'workers') down to 3. There is a new volunteer supposed to be showing up today but it's so quite around here now!

Rachel, Ricardo and Heather enjoying the festival

Unfortunately there's still very little to do around here. We were given a list of jobs we could work on but a lot of the things listed are just filler jobs which don't really have us jumping with excitment.

One thing we did do this week was go out to help clear a new trail on the other side of the river. We got the boat across early in the morning and a couple of us were quite looking forward to the expected slow pace that comes with hacking routes through the rainforest. However the route was actually pretty heavy going and the machete-ers weren't exactly hanging around. Although I thought it would be fine my knee started to protest pretty early on and, for once, i decided to do the sensible thing and turn back. This did leave me with the predicament of being stuck back on the river bank until they returned - 4 hours later - with no book/journal/other interesting thing to do but eventually, after gaining a good few dozen bug bites plus a burnt face, and losing an earring and


my water bottle (which decided to disappear down the river) the rest of the team finally showed up.

The little friend I made down by the river - got within 3 feet of me

The next mission was to actually get back over the river. The boat wasn't showing up and after about an hour and a half it was decided that we would have to use a different, less powerful boat, which meant getting further upriver so it could reach us and get back without struggling to get back upstream. So after a good half an hour of fast, difficult, trail-less scrambling we finally made it to where the boat could get us and we managed to get back to VC. Unfortunately my knee's still not great so I've been having to take it easy this last few days.

For the rest of my time in VC I'm going to be totally taking over with collecting and processing the water samples needed for the larvae project which is kinda cool, especially using a couple of little chemistry techniques I haven't used since high school. It's going well so far although it's only a couple of times a week.

In other news I got to work planning the rest of my time in Peru since I'll be leaving VC in under 20 days and leaving Peru in just over 40. So far I'm making sure to visit quite a few important sites between Cusco and Lima though I have a few days extra to either plan out or leave free to see what happens. I'm kind of disappointed as I was hoping to make the trip with a friend on his motorbike but with my knee being a cause for concern it wouldn't be a good idea - but maybe next time!

Well that's all I have for you guys this time, probably should get working on some of these water samples now!

Ciao