The trip

Record of my adventures / food diary
Covering gap year travels and my year abroad in Mexico!
....And now also providing procrastination from my internship

Wednesday 20 July 2011

What Are the Chances

Was in Mariscal on Monday in the artesan market when i bumped into one of the girls who´d been in my group on the trek up to Machu Pichu! Seriously random!
Also, first let me say i really don´t like clowns, so when we were coming back from Mindo the other weekend and a drunken clown targeted the gringos on the bus, wasn´t impressed. Other than the drunk factor was memorable by lack of teeth and his peculiar attempts at english. Anyways, on way back from english today couldn´t believe it when guess who got on the bus! Out of all the buses in Quito, what are the chances he´d pick ours, again?!

Harry Potter, Shoes and Drinking

Sooo, turns out Harry Potter is a  whole lot more popular here than anticipated. The 3d showing wasn´t just sold out at midnight, but all day both in Spanish and English. Then when we tried to buy tickets for the 2d showing, couldn´t get them either. So overall a bit of a let down that we didnt make it to see Harry Potter, but no fear still gonna see it at some point, and probs will make it into the pirate dvd stores in a week so.... ;)
Also, finally go me some new trainers last week as my old ones are almost worn through on the sole and are split down the side! However, turns out what big feet mean is that its really hard to buy shoes! First time tried i just got laughed at and they didnt believe we were looking for shoes for me. They only had ones which looked like clown shoes on my feet! Eventually gave in to some ones that werent bad and more importantly fitted my feet.
Anyways, Thursday was my day to make the birthday cake for Emy. However, things went a little wrong from the start when i bought effectively sugared whipped cream from the supermarket instead of icing. Then when i got home, i put everything inside then went across the road to top-up my phone, only to return and realise i left my keys on the kitchen counter! So had to hang around a while outside till Mary came home! Also, due to expensive nature of cake ingredients here (more so than at home!) i gave in and for the first time ever bought a box mixture. So wasn´t sure how it was gonna turn out at all. But Elise (another volunteer) came over to help, and we decided that a nice bottle of rum would make it easier ;) Think there was something wrong with me though as rum smelt a little odd to me, but as long as i didn´t smell it before drinking, alls good! Cakes were cooking well though in testing the first one i ate a small hueco in the middle! ;) Hadn´t made it back to the supermarket so went ahead with using the cream for icing. Wanted to make the cake in the form of Maka Paka who´s Emy´s favourite cartoon character and is a greyish/brown colour. Unfortunately when trying to put a few drops of red food dye in, the lid fell off, and the whole thing fell in, turning the cream a pretty vivid shade of pink. So from that moment on it was going to be a Maka Paka rosada! As to begin with only had one cake tin and then couldn´t open the oven till that cake was done, was too late to decorate the cake by then so just put everything away for next day. Friday evening I spent decorating the cake which didn´t turn out too disastrously considering lack of normal cake making materials. Also, froze to death helping Edwin and friend collect and bring chairs to the house for the Baptism. Took a while to convince his friend that chocolate not cigarettes was what i wanted to warm up though!
Anyways, saturday morning was a more sorting stuff out, but then had some free time to go for my run and go down to the supermaxi. Felt a little bit underdressed considering they were wearing suits and dresses when we went to the church but when we got there I was better than some others who´d come in jeans. Church was quite cool looking inside as was decorated like a ship, i would assume ark? Also dunno if i´ve mentioned this but people here just love to honk their horns for no apparent reason. So as Grandad was driving us to the church, every like 20m he´d honk twice despite no-one being around? Anyways, Amy was pretty unco-operative and kept screaming and turning her head away when they tried to put the water on her, which was pretty funny tbh. Plus the priest kept going on about how important baptism is and what bad parents people are if they deprive their child or something like that, but seemed a litttle redundant considering we were there for a baptism?
Got back to the house about 6 or so, with all the guests but dinner wasn´t going to be ready for quite a while so i offed to get me a snack of salchipapas! Also, was a little awkward as seemed a room full of either couples of old people who all knew each other. So I played with all the little kids for a while to ease the boredom. Now let me put this out there that Ecuadorian parties are something else. The evening basically consisted on toma toma/ baile baile! At one point Edwin had me taking the shots round as he said he couldn´t do it as they kept giving drinks to him. So, I´d go round with the tray and everyone wants you to take a drink with them, so I´d come back with like 5 empty ones of my own, then have to go round again as i hadn´t had enbough for everyone the first time! They also thought it was hilarious to get me to dance, mostly cause i´d already said i suck at it. But i think i provided a fair amount of entertainment with my attempts ;) Not really sure when they went to bed, Mary said she sent people home a bit after 4, but I gave in at 3.30 at fell asleep, apparently with my light still on. Next morning no-one got up till 11 and there was a ton of empty rum bottles on the kitchen table. Made myself a nice breakfast though of leftover rice, cake, and some yoghurt.
Effectively took the rest of the day to clear up, and we all got a couple hours napping time aswell cause Edwin´s parents took Emy for the day. Then about 6.30ish got my new housemate Ross, surprise surprise also from the states, but he seems really nice and he speaks good spanish. Though Edwin was calling him arroz to begin with ;) Due to my not so great state, decided i couldn´t face the 10 hour bus ride to the beach so i ended up giving that a miss!
Monday was chilled and didn´t get up till 10.30. Then gave Ross a quick tour of the area, and in the afternoon we went into Mariscal and the artesan market there. Also picked up a few films on the way home. Watched Prince of Persia on Mon which wasn´t too bad then The Eagle yesterday, which was the biggest bromance ever. Wasn´t what i was expecting at all!
Then yesterday managed to not hear an alarm clock by my head for over two hours and only woke up at 9(when im supposed to be at the office) as Mary knocked on the door! Almost did the same today as overslept but Edwin knocked earlier around 8.20 so wasn´t late this time!
Our structure attempt for english seemed to be working but got told yesterday that they´re cutting teaching english and kinda combining it with the markets program to create a sorta summer school session for the market kids. Then this morning i went to actual summer school program as they were short a person to teach maths. I was told someone had already planned out the lessons so i just had to go through it with the kids, but their ability was seriously uinderestimated, not to mention within the age groups there was such a variety in ability which made it really hard to do anything. Had to totally abandon the plan and adlib. But think i have a better idea now of what they know and can hopefully sort something for next week. I think the other issue is that Americans have lower standards for Maths according to what they´re taught in school. But that´s just a thought ;)
Will tell you my plan for this weekend, though i change things all the time so you never know! On friday finally hoping to get to see the new Harry Potter considering was a bit of a fail last week! Then Saturday hhead to BaƱos until early Monday morning where we´re gonna head to Quilotoa where we can do a 4/5 hour hike (depending on sunlgiht) upto and around a crater with the cool lake inside. Then depending on money situation might to a downhill biking trip next thursday on Cotopaxi. Then next weekend is just Mitad del mundo, Otavalo again and some time in old town as haven´t actually done that yet! Then fly out of Quito 6am Monday 1st August!! Can´t believe where the times gone, I mean only got less than 2 weeks left till i leave!

Wednesday 13 July 2011

A Weekend of Awesome Eating

So this weekend like 15 of us went to this place called Mindo which isnt that far out of Quito only 2 hours or so. It´s a tiny little town and could easily walk the whole thing in 20mins! Anyways, after getting settled into the hostal we went to this place called Chocolarte for lunch where they have these amazing chocolate brownies. Also had a cheese toastie and a banana milkshake to go with it. Then we had to rush back as we were late for getting picked upt o go ziplining. There were either 12/13 lines and was really cool views. Plus you got to go upside down, or they´d bounce the line up and down with you on it or you could go with a guide and do like superman or something!
After this we were going to go on a coffee tour that lonely planet recommended as having the best coffee in Ecuador. However, surprise surprise LP was wrong again and the coffee place was actually shut down. So we ended up back at the same place we had lunch for a demonstration on how he makes some of his chocolate, we got to help peel and grind the cocoa and then were served a fondue with a massive fruit bowl and biscuits :) Was seriously good! Then decided to wash that down at the juice bar next door, I had passion fruit juice. Spent a while chilling in the hostal before it was time for dinner. There was another chocolate place next door that did cocoa/caramel beer, so we gave that a try and wasn´t too bad though don´t think i´d have the cocoa one again! Dinner was massive pizzas that were sooo good. And after a small walk to ease the digestion  we just hung out at the hostal for the night.
Next morning, started with breakfast at a new place, so eggs, bread, milk, juice ad a banana milkshake. Seem to currently be eating a lot of eggs and think they´re growing on me! ;) Also, wandering around town, me and Elise, found these Quad bikes you could rent out for $10 an hour. So we were totally set to do that only to be shot down by the fact you had to have either your driving license or original passport. I lost my license and we all only take copies of our passports with us on trips! So there went that idea. Instead some of us went tubing. They had all these rubber tubes tied together to make a giant one and then down the river we went. It was unbelievably cold to begin with but after a minute or two you kinda numbed out and it was just really fun. Our guide was like a sppiderman, leaping from rocks to push us around and jumping from side to side!
Anyways, after a nice warm shower we still had a while left before the bus home so there was only 1 thing to do..... eat lunch! ;) Me, Nik and Alex ended up at a little more expensive place as we couldn´t get over how good the food smelled! I had a grilled chicken sandwich with fries. Then for desert the others came back and we had these awesome warm chocolate brownies with ice-cream!
On top of all the food, ended up spending more money as it was such a great place to get some more gifts aswell! lol
Luckily, when i got home there was spaguetti waiting for me and then i got pizza the next day for breakfast so my family had obviously got the memo about my weekend of eating! Then to round it all off we did a pot luck at the volunteer house, by we I mean those who live there plus me. Anyways, ended up with soooo much good food. Amy made this amazing spicy pasta, Megan did an egg dish with veggies and potatoes, Jon made the most amazing potato annd cheese tacos, I did some cheesy garlic bread and Nik made guacamole! The others had also got cake and ice-cream for desert though after dinner we had to wat a couple hours before we could eat anything else! And that rounded off the weekend of awesome eating! :)
Yesterday, Me and Nik spent the morning planning the english lessons annd trying to give it some form of structure. Anyways, we had the most successful lesson in the afternoon to date so think it was worth it. We had full attention for 99% of the time which is basically unheard of, and they actually participated in the activities aswell! whoop
Also, helped Danny do the posters to promote the summer lessons which start next week; I get to teach maths (which i have been missing! ;)
So, today off wiith couple others to buy our tickets for the Harry Potter premiere tomorrow, theres like 15/20 of us going to see it at midnight, in english! :) excited!!!!

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Camping in Cotopaxi

So Saturday we chilled in Mariscal for a while in the morning where I bumped into some of the others who were looking to rent equipment to go camping at cotopaxi, which is the second higest volcano in Ecuador and surrounded by a nationa park. Sounded pretty cool so decided to join them even though they were going next morning and ment missing the tennis (though turns out wasn´t much to miss by looks of things!).
Then me and Erin went over to the volunteer house where Amy had made these awesome enchiladas and rice. Was a little spicy but seriously good! Just hung out there with the others for a couple hours and watched some Dexter :) Anyways figured bit after 8 ought to head home as Erin wanted to see the family and get photos etc as Friday family night was not a success. They weren´t home when we got back so assumed they´d just popped out for a while. We´d got some rum for the occassion so decided to start on that. But several hours and half a bottle of rum later they still weren´t back. Even tried texting them though they didnt respond. Round bout midnight in rolls a rather drunk Edwin with Marie and Emy in tow. Rest of night went downhill from there as the rum gradually disappeared and Edwin became harder and harder to translate! Unfortunately ended in Edwin and Marie having a massive shouing match at like 2 in the morning across the house. And couldn´t go to bed still as had to wait up for Erin to leave as she was getting picked up at 3am!
Needless to say, was bordering on dying next morning having to get up at 8 to meet my friend at the trole station at 8.30 to go get the bus to the town near Cotopaxi. But couple hours later, lot of water and some bread things were looking up and the bus to Latacunga only took 1 1/2 hours as opposed to the expected 2 :) The others had gone the previous night somewhere else and were meeting us at Latacunga. Unfortunately they got lost so we had to wait like an hour and a bit but gave a nice break to have a nap. Then when they arrived, it turned out Thomas´friend who lives here was giving us all a lift though it meant fitting 8 people into a car which was a teeeny bit squished! Also people had to hide everytime we went near police as even here, in town can´t do that!
Arrived at the entrance to the park only to be informed as we were foreigners we couldn´t be trusted to enter the park ourselves, we were allowed to stay in by ourselves but not allowed to go along the straight road with no detours minus a guide. AKA a giant scam to rip off the gringos. Unfortunately having no choice we had to pay the guide to come with us where he drove us like 20 mins to this ´laguna´more like overly flooded grass, though still pretty, then another 5 mins to the campsite. Toms friend didn´t have enough gas (petrol in real english) to make it up to the car park we wanted to go so left to get more whilst we set up camp. Was actually quite a big 5 man tent and easily accomodated the 6 of us. Anyways, the car park is part way up the volcano and then you can hike another hour up to the refuge which is where people who are going to summit it spend some time acclimatising. We could seriously feel the altitude going  up and whilst it didn´t look that far was really hard and were walking on a kinda sandy/rubbly surface meaning every step you took you kinda sank and slided back a bit!
Was totally worth it once we got to the top with the awesome view especially of the sunset. Would have been cool to reach the snow but that was quite a bit higher and the refuge is already at 4,180m or so. Also is insanely expensive to summit it as have to have a guide and all the equipment to do so! Having taken so long to get up, literally took 5 mins to run back down!
Was kinda chilly by time we got back to tent and said goodbye to toms friends who´d been so nice and helpful. Also couldn´t light little gas burner outside so had to do so in the tent to boil water for our ´pot noodles´. Also made some hot chocolate and I had my speakers and ipod so had some music aswell. Then Tom and Vida got a fire going outside aswell. Only issues swhen we went back inside the tent with our $3 bottle of watermelon vodka. Vida like paniked at every noise outside and grabbed my arm spilling my vodka everywhere, then when emily went outside to the toilet, she started screaming there was a cow outside - which im still certain there wasnt - causing more spillage. Then to top it off someone scared vida with a noise outside and she like dived across the tent with another cup of vodka, so had to clear that all up. Then i think we were probs in sleeping bags by 10/10.30! I didnt sleep too bad though kept waking up from the cold every now and then. When we woke up was tipping it down though so after eating our cereal, more hot chocolate and some bread, packed up and were set to go. Had originally planned to walk out the park down to the Panamericana(highway) which was a 5/6 hour walk. But after an hour in the poring rain, not being able to actually see the scenery or anything, managed to hitch a lift from a passing man in his truck who took us all the way to where we could catch the bus back to Quito.
Kinda was tired so just slept and read for the rest of the evening then went to bed early as i was up at 6.45 for our morning exercise hoy, which was harder than usual!
Anyways, Cotopaxi was really cool looking was only a shame we didn´t get a chance to do some actual hiking though was really glad we made it up to the refuge as liek i said the view was awesome!!

Friday 1 July 2011

Keeping Up to Date

Sooo, staying on top of things this week.
Forgot to mention that aswell as tidying my rrom on Monday , partially from boredom, I also decided to cut my hair as it was starting to annoy me. Given that it usually gets cut like tops every 6 weeks and hadn´t been cut inlike 3 months.... not good. On the other hand, didn´t have enough money to spare to get a haircut so decided to do it myself! Gotta say given i can´t see the back of my head and i did it with my penknife, I think the result wasn´t too appaling ;) Cut like 2 inches off the back as that was what was really getting to me.
Yesterday we went out again though there was only like 7 of us and my friend from Peru, Phillipa, whose currently in Quito. Were gonna have an earlyish night but as usual didn´t really work out annd got home about 3, after goinng back to that same burger place as last week. As a result i was less than happy asbout getting up this morning with like 5 hours of sleep, but did it anyways annd market wasn´t that bad today actually!
Though there was some confusion later on as they made us all go back to the office for some meeting only to be told when we arrived we were gonna have it after lunch instead, so had 50 mins to get home, eat and get back. Considering it´s a 15 min walk to get home was a lil pushed for time! Back at office and they were still waiting onpeople so i went ahead to english classes with the other 2 volunteers (only 3 at the mo!). However got on the bus to realise i lost my nice new sunglasses, though 2 weeks life span isn´t too bad, and then bus took like 50 mins to get where we were going so only had under hour with the kidfs. tThen inside we couldnt even get into the classroom as is locked and the security man had disappeared. So had to play outside and only got into the room for the last 20 mins!
Anyways, hoping things perk up, as planning to spend the evening as family time, as Erin´s last night, though i´m not sure they´re overly keen on it, or even aware of our plans, as Marie really seems to0 have gone off Erin recently, though Erin asures me that Marie never liked her! ;)
Then tomorrow is probs another chilled day, then we´re hacving an enchilada party at the volunteer house. Sunday morning is of course Wimbledon finals, so I shall be finding myself a large t.v to watch it upon! (yes i did plan my weeken partially around that) Then either Sunday or Monday think gonna head to Mindo with a few others where they´ve supposedly got this really cool ziplining! Should be fun :)

Thursday 30 June 2011

Mas photos - Up to Machu Picchu

View when you first arrive

Along the jungle trek

Postcard shot

Awesome rocks

Our group just before we started the downhill ride

Mist coming over the mountains at Machu Picchu

I love Monkeys!!!

On top of the world - Waynu Picchu which overlooks Machu  Picchu (Massive drop behind me)

Walking along the river bed

Mysterious Mist ;)

Little pull yourself along cable car to cross the river

View from above Machu Picchu

Exercise and Shopping

So feeling better on Wednesday was back to the markets as usual! Also officially got to start on the whole teaching english thing, though more accurate would be spending an hour and half entertaining some kids and making sure they dont run off anywhere! So Wednesday evening we went and played basketball after work which was seriously tiring as we were doing 5 a side but using the whole court, and as usual we were feeling the altitude a bit. Then there were quite a few people leaving this weekend just goone so Thursday we all went out. This included Monica and Byron who run the charity and whose house is the volunteer home. Everyone had a pretty awesome time, and came off a little worse for wear, mostly due to the large pitchers and fishbowls we got for free! lol Then turned out that at about 2 Monica and Byron had gone to pick up one of the new volunteers from the airport in a taxi, but still pretty out of it, anyways Monica like fell asleep half way through the ride, then when they got back to the house, two people were sitting locked outside and a taxi with the others had just arrved back and they had to support one of the others into the house!
So come Friday morning we were a couple volunteers down ;) Nevertheless had enough to play football in the evening, though i came off a little worse having ended up in goal for some time!
Saturday like all of us, 21, went to Otavalo, which is this massive market a couple hours out of Quito where people come from all over to sell their things. Got some good bargains and did me some present shopping. Though had to also buy a giant duffle bag as my new hand luggage otherwise i won´t be getting all that stuff home! lol Have to say though my best buy of the day came as we were leaving and were passing this cake shop where i got an awesome strawberry tart for $1! It was one of those ones with the kinda custardy fillings and the bottom was chocolate lined aswell! :)
Sunday was a bit more of a chilled day and we headed into Mariscal to the artesan market there for a lil more shopping then went to this Mexican restaurant for lunch which was pretty good. Then spent the afteroon chilling in the center in a coffee shop called Chocolate republic that had all these free samples to try ;)
Also went up to the ´Panicillo´or something like that which is this viewpoint in the middle of Quito, up a massive hill and has this giiant angel statue up top. Anyways got a taxi up there and asked him to wait as we were told it´s really dangerous to walk down. So had a wander around and i discovered all these new modes on my camera which entertained me for a while. However, when we went back our taxi man had abandoned us and there weren´t any other taxis or anything around. Asked the most unhelpful tourist police man who said to just wait as we shouldn´t walk down. Had to wait like 30 mins for one to turn up, and was pretty windy up there!
So then Monday was another chilled day, debated going somewhere but instead just lounged and caught up on some Wimbledon for a while. Also actually tidied my room to such an effect that when Edwin came home he asked me what had happened, and didn´t believe me that i´d done it myself! He even called Marie to show her aswell ;)
Then past couple days have been all normal at the markets and am still doing ´teaching englsh´inthe afternoons, which on Tuesday disolved into facepainting then bodypainting. I came off slightly better after telling a kid ´touch me and die´when they came at me again with the paintbrushes. On the other hand Nik and Elise had both their arms completely coated in paint! Kids seemed to enjoy it though and it definately made the time go quicker! Then this morning I found my new favorite niƱo who just smiles, jumps up and down and holds your hand, doesn´t really seem to talk/be able to, he just says ´mira´every now and then!
Also, have been keeping up with the exercise/runnning though we´ve now progressed to this like exerciise video which is actually really hard. So i´ve been up and over at the other house by 7 every morning for our little sessions! Though we had the perfect spot up on the roof, we got kicked off as apparently someone below us complained! Anyways, hopefully this whole running at altitude thing will improve my fitness :)
Then tonight we´re going out again as it´s technically Erin´s last night, as we´re having family time tomorrow night and she leaves like 3am on Sunday morning! Planing repeat of last week ;)

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Week 2 in Quito and Quick Trip to the Coast

So weeks here go by pretty quickly as have Mondays off and then last week took Friday off aswell to head to the beach. Still was working with the kids in the markets and am actually learning the words to the millions songs we do now through sheer repitition, which i imagine is how the kids do it aswell!
This weeks colour was red, so instead of sticking paper onto a fruit, the little ones were painting their apples red! And actually tons of little kids with paint really wasnt as disastrous as you might think! Then the middle ones were completing shapes and colouring them in certain colours, whilst the oldest ones had to write 3 words out beginning with certain letters that they sometimes confuse, like B and V. Also, there was one girl who must´ve been about 8 who couldn´t wirte but hadn´t said anything so when she first gave me her sheet, witht he first couple she´d filled out, i asked her what it said, and she couldn´t tell me. So I was like, you wrote this yeh? so you must know what it says, but she just refused to talk and went back to her friend. So started watchign them and they would huddle over the paper whilst her friend wrote the answers for her! At first I thought she just didn´t want to do it, and it wasn´t till i asked her if she could write that she actually said anything! So we settled on i´d write it for her and then she´d copy it out aswell.
Then on thursday afternoon i was supposed to be switching to teaching english in the afternoons, but they had a meeting about it that afternoon, so went along with Tim and Rachel, only for us to be told it´d been cancelled just the person who knew hadn´t told anyone! lol So got the afternoon off effectively, so went into mariscal to find my friend (from Arequipa) who´d just arrived in Quito.
Got back home about 8ish and the other people I was going to the beach had already gone as the plan was i´d meet them there, but got a call saying they´d missed the bus and next one wasn´t till 11.45 so figured might aswell go with them!  But went home first to sort stuf and have dinner. Though ended up finishing like 3/4 bottle of Ron with Marie/Edwin whilst waiting as we all decided we´d had long days! lol
It´s a 7hour bus ride to the beach we went to - Atacames. I found it alright as basically just slept the whole thing though apparently the others said it was really hot due to lack of windows and was an appaling driver along a windy road! Glad i missed that ;)
Arrived at like 7 in the morning so got one of these little mototaxis down to the beach, there was only 4 of us (Me, Erin, Megan and R.C)  so we all fit in one. Wandered for a while finding a hotel then headed to the beach to chill for a while. I gave in to buying sunglasses for $5 as was basics impossible to sit on bewach without them! lol Got me some nice Ray-Ban´s ;)
After couple hours on beach reached boredom so we went on an hour boat ride for another $5 just for something to do, and got to see some of the other beaches nearby and a giant rock covered in birds!
Everyone was still knackered so after that and some lunch we hung in the room for a while. Again boredom kicked in so we decided to have a few drinks to pass the time and then headed to a bar after bout 6ish. Were way too early for any kindof happy hour, but our bar tender was definately off in the head as we paid $5 for 4 cocktails all worth $4/5 each? lol Had a really random night, and went for some amazing pizza run by this old italian guy whos been living here for like 20 years. Then erin said she was jkinda tired so we dropped her back off at the room then went back out.
Tested out a ton of the bars, went for like an hour walk on the beach, rented out one of those mototaxis for half hour, our driver was awesome he even took photos of us with an imaginary camera! lol and we think we made it up to like 60 before he slowed down and started doing donuts! Also saw these amazing street dancers performing in one of the bars aswell, o and did karaoke in some random lil place, don´t think we were overly well received! lol
Next morning we didn´t leave until just before we had to check out like at 11.30. Then just went for breakfast and then got a mototaxi to the buses to check times(actually ended up being same driver as previous night, what are the chances!) lol But when we got there there was a bus leaving in like 15 mins so we just decided to get on that one! Luckily this one had A/C though had the weirdest, most appaling selection of films. As we were coming into Quito though we passed an accident where like the front on a lorry had crashed into a building and was half sitting inside! Got back to Quito in the evening and had a quick dinner before going home as the famnily weren´t expecting us back till Sunday plus they were at a wedding anyways so we assumed they´d still be out.
Now, I´m a pretty heavy sleeper as most of you probably know so it takes quite a lot to wake me up. Anyways, about 3.15 in the morning I woke up and was just like wtf is that noise, there was lights on and singing and just noise. Took a little while for me to suss that the family had brought some of the party home with them and they must have all been totally wasted! They had a guitar and were clapping, shouting and singing seriously loud! lol Anyways i was told they went to bed maybe around 5/5.30 but i fell asleep so not sure. Anyways, next morning, Edwin was still blatently drunk as he wandered into Erin´s room at like 9 looking for lost shoes, then just sat in a chair for a couple minutes going ohhh my head. Then came to look for these mystery shoes in my room (he told me later that what had happened is someone had gone round hiding other peoples shoes! lol) Marie on the other hand was just in pain and had a seriously bad hangover, so wasnt in the best of moods! They were kinda funny as she was obviously annoyed at him for still being drunk and he also managed to lose the key to his wardrobe with all his clothes in! lol As it was fathers day we attempted going out for lunch but no-one was really hungry so just came back and chilled at the house.
Round about this time I started feeling ill and have been dying of a fever, headache and sore tummy hasta today! But masses of sleep and t.v watching with a litre of ice cream was a sure fire cure! ;) So yeah having not left the house really since sunday minus a few quick outings, not much to report! But will let you know how the rest of the week goes!

Into The Jungle....

Hey, umm wrote this last week but kinda forgot to press post, soooo read as if was added last week! ;)
So got up early Saturday morning, after having spent the previous evening having a few tragos with the fam! ;) And playing some cards aswell obvs.
Had to get a trole bus to the main bus terminal and then we had like 5 mins to buy tickets and run and find the bus as we decided to just get the next one leaving! Btw there were  of us who went in the end. Anyways, is a really pretty ride to Tena, having said that being 5 1/2 hours I did sleep the majority of it!
Arrived in pouring rain, so went and got us some lunch at ´happy pollo´! :) Was actually pretty good though not really big enough. Then by the time we´d finished thankfully it had finished raining so we headed into town to find somewhere to stay and after trying a few places, settled on a nicish one where we could all fit in one room, that was down by the river. Next up was to find a tour agency for the next day. Some people wanted to do more trekking and others wanted to do less and maybe go see some other things, so we settled on a half day trek followed by lunch and then heading to some waterfalls. We were really glad in the end that we chose the company we did as it was run by this really nice couple and everything was awesome. It cost us $35 for the day which was a lil less than the average. So we rolled up to the office at 8 the next morning and were picked up in the truck and driven to their jungle lodge (which is actually also their house, and if we´d known we couldve spent the night there aswell!) But was a really nice drive as was heading more into the jungle about an hour out of Tena. This house also had its own swimming pool which was pretty damn cool! So get there and get given our wellies to go walking in, and the guy also brings out two really cute monkeys that live around the house, and then not so great lil baby tarantulas :( Luckily they couldn´t find the ones that are supposed to be as big as the boots we were wearing! They also had these two really ugly dogs, though they were kinda cute at the same time! lol
Anyways, we got 3 1/2 hours of trekking, which included several explanations of medical properties of plants/trees we were passing which was quite interesting. Then we got given like a mini lunch of snadwiches, apples and biscuits. Also highlight was getting to swing on this massive vine like something outta Tarzan! Was totally awesome! ;) Was lil surreal like being there and thinking wow this is the amazon, but the views were pretty insane!
Then we had lunch back at the jungle house and had half an hour to then chill in the pool before heading out again towards the waterfalls. Also got to stop off in this town we passed through where they have ´monkey beach´and anyone who knows me is aware of my love of monkeys so that was awesome as there were so many of them there, and they´re really clever how they nick food off people, and we could totally see this one monkey eyeing up this guys cigar! lol Anyways then was only another 10 mins or so to the beginning of the walk to the mini waterfalls. Took maybe 30/45 mins to get up there but was really cool. We got to like jump off the rocks into the pool at the bottom and you could get behind the waterfall aswell! Was an amazing day all in all. Then we all decided to ride out back on the way home in the truck so got a better view of everything.
Then totally random, as we were riding into town, I saw this bus and then like double took, and was like Ć­s there a dog riding the roof?´lol and we were just all like how did it actually get up there?!
So yeh we got back maybe around 6 and were all pretty knackered by then. So just kinda chilled, checked buses for next day then wennt back to out pizza restaurant for dinner. Lady told us it´d be a 20 min wait, but considering night before had taken an hour and this night was even busier we figured it might be a while longer! lol
Also, there are street dogs here everywhere and when me and Tim went back to the hostel to get water before dinner, one of them like pushed passed us and made it into the hostel. Then everyone was like shouting at us to get it out whilst they all hid inside and stared out the windows! So finally got it out and then like the owner guy properly kicked it as it left and then started chucking rocks at it which seemed a lil extreme! Then this same stupid dog followed us into the restaurant before it got kicked out, then was waiting for us afterwards and followed us when we went to buy snacks. So then we were like well theres no way we can let it in again as it was still following us as we went back to the hostel, so Tim volunteered to carry on walking and got it to follow him whilst we all sprinted inside then slammed the gate closed. Dog realising what had happened was like jumping up against the gate so i had to lock it to make sure it didnt push it open.Eventually Tim also managed to escape crazy dog and get inside aswell!
Anyways, next morning went to nice little cafe next door for breakfast where they had these awesome stuffed pancakes with banana and chocolate! mmm :) Then we had planned to visit this ´park´in the town where they apparently had lots of animals, etc. However we were told that as theres no bridge to get there, u have to shout accross to the island, hope someone hears you and then rows across in a canoe to take you there. Unfortunately it seemed no-one heard us! So we ended up taking a bus home around 10.30 and got back home around 5ish or so Monday afternoon.
Was a really cool weekend trip as didn´t think i´d get to the jungle, and even though was a little shorter than ideal, was really fun! :)

Friday 10 June 2011

Quito

So having arrived Saturday night, I basically just went straight to bed and didn´t wake up till 12 hours later! So in the morning went for a walk with Edwin, Emy and Erin (House dad, lil 2 year old and housemate) (lol all start with E! ;)
Anyways, so he showed us around a bit, where important things were, then went down to the massive mall. And i really mean massive, it´s insanely huge and has like every shop you could think of! So we wandered around there for a while, then went to the internet cafe across the road from the house, which is amazinng as is really clean, great computers/equipment and roughly seems to work out about 1cence a minute!
Then we were due back at the house at 2 for lunch. The way it´s set out is you enter through one gate but then there´s two houses, ours and the parents/grandparents. Anyways, so we go into theirs and sitting round the table is like 20 family members as it turned out it was someones birthday! Wasn´t expectiong that and they all turn to look and greet the gringas. Lunch was potato salad, chicken and an unidentifiable meat. I thought it was maybe beef, though slightly strange tasting and really chewy/stringy. Anyways, the rule of thumb here, is f it looks odd, tastes odd and you don´t know what it is..... you DON´T ask. Unfortunately my housemate wasnt aware of this and mentioned how much she liked the chicken and then politely enquired as to what the other meat might be ....
....it was a tongue :( hell of a lot harder to stomache after that! lol
So once lunch is over they bring out the massivest cake ever, then all the stuff gets moved to the edge of the room, out comes the boom box, on goes the music, ands its time to bailar! ;) So after an eventful afternoon, returned home to descansar.
Monday morning was our official orientation and a chance to meet all the other volunteers. So is about a 15 min walk to the office and currently there are about 24 volunteers, so quite a few. Anyways, noone actually works on Mondays but every other monday theres a meeting at 10 in the office which everyone goes to, although some people weren´t yet back from their weekend trip. So met people, got told what  we were getting ourselves into and what roughly was the setup for the week. So basically in the mornings, except for the one or two who have spanish lessons then, everyone goes to the markets. Basically we go to different markets everyday, and do activiities/games etc with the kids there who have to go to work with their parents. Then in afternoons some people teach english or have spanish lessons and tghe rest work in the markets again. At the mo i´m all day markets though am hoping to change this to teaching or something as my short attention span is having issues with the repetitiveness. But is still really funn and you can see that the kids really enjoy it aswell which is what counts. Also we were told that a lot of them have really hard lives at home ad are beaten or abused so they get a lot out of these sessions which kind of just give them a break from it all.
So that´s how the days go, and then we´re back arounnd 5/5.30 depending how far away market is. Or like on Wednesday we run the session in a local park.
Quito has nice view in sense its surrounded by all these hills and then where we live in the south looks slightly more run down, though has an amazing bus system and these massive modern malls! then theres the centro historico which is more kinds colonial looking buildings, then theres the north which is more modern.
So in the evenings, we´ve done a little exploring/playing games with Emy. Then on Tuesday it was Byron(guy who set up charity) ´s birthday. So we went over to the volunteer house for a mini fiesta. Then on Wednesday we played cards with the fam, and i think i may have found someone as competitive as i am in the form of my host dad! lol Then last night we went out to Mariscal, which is like the touristy disctrict in the north, and it looked like it couldve been anywhere in the world! But there were like 22 of us so everywhere we went people were trying to convince us to go to their bar/club. Went home relatively early tho, like 1 after some nuggets ad chips! ;)
Today, we only had a half day as there wasn´t market this afternoon. So just been chilling really in the amazing internet cafe, as being so amazing this is the only time i can get a computer as come 5 its packed all evening! lol
Then tomorrow there´s a group of us heading to the jungle for the weekend, so that should be cool, and I´ll let you know how it is!
But for now, all seems good, having a nice time (especially after I discovered i can sit on the roof with my music and watch the world go by!) and our family is soooo nice, not to mention their daughter is the cutest thing in the world. Every time we walk through the door its ´hola amigas´ then she like follows us around saying amigas amigas! Plus shes easily amused by like everything! ;) Though her favorite tv show is this awful cartoon called maka paka, the title character being like this grey blob with donut rings as ears and on the top of its head, then like the weirdest thing is when it goes to bed at the end of the show it curls up hugging a giant rock! lol but im gonna be here for her birthday so thinking of buying a massive piƱata and filling it with sweets etc! as think that would be entertaining ;)

Rubbish Buses

So bus didn´t arrive in Mancora till 12, so only 1/2 hour late is pretty good going for here methinks! However, turns out my cheaper bus didn´t have A/C so just had to open all the windows. Also was basically just locals, and two canadian girls aswell! Anyways, takes about 2 hours to reach the Peruvian ´check-out´point where you get your stamp to say you´ve left peru. This border crossing is considered one of the most dangerous in South America just due to it´s weird setout. Cause after you check out of Peru you drive through a tiny town across a like 10m bridge and your then technically in Ecuador and have to drive through another little town before reaching the Ecuadoriann ´sign-in´office. So there´s this big stretch of no-mans land as ur officially stamped out of Peru but not stamped in to Ecuador yet! I just thought it was ridculous as after we crossed the tiny 10m bridge into an identical looking town, the guy next to me was like this is ecuador.
So then we arrive at the Ecuador office and there´s just all these people sitting around outside as it transpires that their ´system´doesn´t actually open till 3am, and we arrived at 2.20! Was seriously hot hanging around and also was just so tired, i just wanted to go to sleep! And even though we started queing at 3, they didn´t start stamping people for a good nother 20mins. So then  by the time we leave there it´s almost 4! So arrive in Guayaquil at 8.30 in the morning. They have this massive bus terminal which is more like a shopping mall combined whƧith a bus station. Was tired though so just got the next bus to Quito which was at 9.
However this one again had no A/C and was full of locals! At onne poinnt on the journey we passed a thermometer which happily informed me it was 39c! Also my window did not open! Now this journey typically takes 8 hours, at a stretch 9 on a bad day..... we arrived in Quito 11 hours later! Was not impressed! Only good thing was we stopped for lunch like 4 hours in at some random roadside restaurant.
So, was supposed to arrive in Quito like 5 in the afternoon, didnt get in till 8! :(
Bus terminal in Quito is really nice though, really nnew and looks more like an airport! Anyways, took me a lil while to work out how to phone to say I was here and could someone please pick me up! But about 45 mins later I got picked up by my new Ecuadorian family! I had thought I´d be living in the volunteer house but turns out I was with a family instead, though they live onnly 2 blocks from the volunteer house!
The couple have a reallly cute 2 year old, and also someones dad lives with us aswell. Then more parents/grandparents live next door. Not really sure exactly the relation yet as have met so many family I get confused. There´s also another girl in the same house who´s from the states, though is 33. However she doesn´t speak any spanish so was rather relieved to discover I do as they don´t speak english! lol
Anyways so after 20 hours of travelling on buses, I made it to Quito!

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Chillin in Mancora

So did genuinely spend the next two days just chilling on the beach! Did have lil mishap when went for a swim in the sea, then fell asleep on the beach only to wake up with like a glowing red tummy! lol however i blame it on the malaria medicine i´m sporadically taking as it says the main side effect is an exaggerated reaction to the sun! Thursday night was Karaloki so was basically a bunch of drunk people murdering previously awesome songs! So sat in the bar with other people from my dorm, had a few drinks and made fun of the terrible singing! ;) Even though I´m on a money saving spree figured should have couple drinks as officially the ´dry law´kicked in on Friday(they´re not allowed to drink the two days before the elections). Having said that lying on beach next day, never been offered so many beers in my life! Apparently it´s shouldn´t sell in stores and can´t be drunk in public!
But found a couple more good meals around and had me some more Ceviche aswell :)
Had to hang around on Friday will late as bus wasn´t due till 11.30, but gave me some more beach time and all in all was nice to have a couple days of nothingness. Though defo couldn´t have stayed there for ages, like I think there was this one guy there who´d been there for 6 months?!

Friday 3 June 2011

Machu Picchu Take 2

It has been pointed out to maybe that perhaps I spend a little too long rambling about food and random thoughts than what I have actually seen. In particular I received a compaint that having visited somewhere like Machu Picchu, I am supposed to write something more than Ć­t was awesom´, which it was bt the way ;) So here goes....
Gates to Machu Picchu only open at 6, so at that point there´s already a queue miles long, but luckily having walked up we were all relatively near to the front! Whilst we were unable to make it up for sunrise, once through the entrance there is a lookout point over the valley which was all coated in mist so could mostly only see the tops of the mountains, but created a spectacular backdrop with the blue/pink morning sky coming through the clouds. Up a small path and round a corner is where you see actual Machu Picchu. Truth be told being me I wasn´t expecting to much as ruins/museums etc don´t really impress me! ;) But you come round the corner and it kind of appears out of the mist and is one of the coolest things ever. It´s a lot larger than I had imagined and everywhere is surrounded by these tall mountains kinda eerily floating on the clouds.
Anyways, we started our tour and get given a brief overview of the history, then our first stop is the sun temple. Known for being the ´best stonework´or put together building there as the sun god was the most important to the incas. There are I think 80 rooms in Machu Picchu or houses? Anyways, we went to the chief house next, which incidentally is the only one there with a toilet! Meaning ensuite hole in the floor ;) But apparently only the king inca man was deemed important enough to have a toilet or himself and his family. We went to a couple more viewpoint, where we were given some more of the story. After this we had free time to wander around. Probably mentioned this in original post, but toilets are outside and so had to go all the way back to the entrance to use them! Anyways, chilled for a while taking in the view and people watching (excellent hobby), from the first place we´d entered as it´s slightly elevated so you get a really good view from there. At this point the mist had all cleared and the sun had come out making it really quite warm!
After a bit I met up with some of the others to go up Waynu Pichu. From the top you could see all of Machu Picchu and also the path we´d climbed up that morning which looked a lot more impressive when you could see it! Though probably would´ve been a lot harder too if I could have seen it going up! Spent some time at the top resting and taking it all in before heading back down.
We then headed over to the house above the ruins from where you can take the typical ´postcard´shot. Also gave us a bit more of a rest as had just got hotter and hotter as the day went on.
Next we decided to tackle the sun gate. That´s where the people who do the actualy Inka Trail arrive to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu! Walk up there was seriously hard due to heat and lack of water! And arriving at the top gave you a rewarding view, but not as special having already seen the exact same thing from the other side at Waynu Pichu! However was worth the walk as is part of the whole experience.
Anyways, that was my day at Machu Picchu, which was awesome ;) and I hope that´s an improvement on the last attempt, and that those who wanted it feel they now have a better idea of how it is! :) Will also add pics of Machu Picchu when I get the chance but there´s actually tons of them so will put all on facebook then like last time a selection up here!

Thursday 2 June 2011

Photos!



Having been told so much about the fabled In ´n´Out by Uncle David, had to give it a go before I left!

On our trek by the Hollywood sign

In front of said Hollywood sign

Sandboarding/Dune Buggying in Huacachina

Huacachina from above, really is that small!

Nazca Lines Mirador, would show you pictures of lines but can´t really see them or tell what they are, so this seemed more interesting! ;)

Last day at school before Semana Santa so one of the volunteers dressed up in Bunny Costume!

Some of the kids at cancha time, with Misti in background

Me, Isabel and Mariella on our trip to the petroglyphs

Salt flats which had cool view as you can see but was really large lake with miniature pile of salt!

Flamingos at the salt flat

Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

Me, at end of three days hiking at top of canyon

Our group at the top, at the end of the trek

Still colca!

Me with the amazingly cute perritos at the spanish school, Suzie and Chester

The school: ´Magical World of English´ lol

Cancha time wheelbarrow races

Me with my peru mom!

Plaza de armas in Arequipa, with millions of stupid palomas and managed to take the photo like only time fountain wasn´t on!

All the volunteers at the school

Last night in Arequipa when I managed to lose like everything but miraculously still had my camera when I got home!

Not sure how I didn´t lose that camera!
So, thats a very brief selection of photos up until when i left Arequipa! When I have more time I´ll add more from then and also rest of trip so far! Anyways, enjoy :)

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Up the coast we go

So landed in Lima after a pleasant little flight with a nice snack box containg ritz crackers, wafers and a chocolate! On arrival though realized wasn't sure what i was doing as had planned to take bus that evening on to Trujillo, but that wasn't till 11pm and it was only 1, and more to the point wasn't actually booked as yet! Lol what a surprise
Anyways, decided I could go chill with Rosie/mom at their hotel as they were spending the night in Lima, only issue being how to get there, all the taxis wanted something ridiculous like 40/45 sols to go the 30/40 mins into miraflores district (like a tenner!) so decided the cheaper option would be to find a local bus! Only issue was had no idea where to get one and no idea where they went! Took a while to find my way out of the airport as like all the exits said 'cars only', but eventually found my way to the main road. Next problem was didn't know what they needed to say and more importanty did know which side of the bypass to stand on! After a while of wandering looking lost, some lady helped me out, chatted away to me, got me on the right bus, and told the man to tell me where to get off! Very helpful so I gave her 5sols for her help! Tool ages to get where I was going on the bus but only cost me 2sols so was totally worth the hassle! Lol got to their hotel to dump my stuff then we went out for lunch. Had ceviche for starters, cheesy garlic bread and a mahoosive pizza! Along with 2 liters of beer between us and complimentary pisco sours! Was a really good meal and rosies mom very kindly treated us to it as she was flying home the next day!
Then spent next couple hours chilling, going round some markets and sorting my bus ticket for later that night to Trujillo. Bus was at 11pm but ended up doing well as was right at front if bus so could stretch out my legs and then there was noone next to me so instead myself out and had quite a comfy nights sleep!
Arrived at 8 In the morning to Trujillo but as was only 5 blocks from plaza de armas decided was good idea to walk to the hotel! Weeeel, I found the plaza no problems then got myself seriously lost looking for the hotel! Eventually stopped to ask a policeman who informed me it was 4 Nicole back in the direction I'd just come from! Fml anyways also questioned me as to where I was staying as apparently wasn't a main tourist road! So he decided to accompany me there just in case. Very nice policeman, chatted away the whole time and turns out had travelled a lot aswell! So made it to where we're staying which is kinda a B and B. However we weren't actually due till that evening but lady was very nice and let me have the room early so I cold unpack, chill and shower! Ended up just having a really lazy day kinda wandering around, had a great but massive lunch and went to the market which is like shoe central! Also had another interesting skype convo with mom and dad on the iPod, where I can see and hear them but they can't see or hear me so I have to type all my replies - takes a while. Anyways, had a brainwace that if I just bought a microphone I could attach it to my iPod and it would e skype ready! Unforunately, in my excitement I didn't check it was suitable when I picked one, so was £3 down the drain! Hmph gonna try again some time in future! Then rosies flight got in late last night, so we went to find a bite to eat/drink but there was like nowhere as was a Sunday and the final debate for the elections was on aswell, so just came back to room and chilled there.
So, next day, we went to the fabled chan chan! Had meant to get up early but no surprises that hadn't happened! Also as previous day was a Sunday, hadn't been able to find a tour and so did it via public transport. Now, lil heads up here, lonely planet is kinda deceiving with it's map of chan chan, as it gives the impression everything together in one place, which is so not the case! So, local bus drops us off at side of road next to a giant sign saying 'chan chan' and there's a guide man there who says it's 15 mins walk down the dirt track. Gotta say, pretty damn hot out there! Arrive at 'tourist stopping' where u can buy the entrance tickets and are immediately latched onto by some lady guide. However, she doesn't speak very good English and Rosie doesn't speak Spanish, so that plus the fact she wanted 25sols each meant we went for option 2: guide book! So, straight to the point, totally didn't get the hype bout chan chan. Was just a bunch of dirt walls and all the cool patterns had signs next to them saying replicas! Sooo, yeh? But the entrance ticket gives u entry to four places: the palace(where we were then), 2 'huacas' and the museum. Well had done te palace and the museum was closed for some reason so decided we ought to at least do one huaca. We picked the one that the guide book said was the most beautiful of the sites. So, back on another combi in the direction of town, and fare man tells us where to get off. Anyways, walk a few blocks and can't find it so head back to the park near main road. Reconsulting the map when some Peruvian lady comes up to us and is like you must be careful with your bags or someone will steal them as this isn't a good neighbourhood! But she showed us where to go and it's just this mini pyramid that's half fallen down, in te middle of this dodgy area, surrounded by a wall and gate! Lol and from the top, I say top but not actually high up, you can see the local shopping mall! At this point we decided we were all chanchanned out and to head to local beach town for the afternoon. Really tranquilo lil town which is supposedly famous for the surf. Had an interesting lunch at nice restaurant overlooking the beach then went for a wander round town, still really hot. Headed back to Trujillo after a while to sort stuff and chill a bit. Then decided we wanted to go and see a film, so went to local cinema, and really wanted to see new pirates of the Caribbean but that was the only one showing dubbed instead of with subtitles! So went to see hangover 2 instead, named 'que paso Ayer?' en espanol! Movie wasn't till later so had a bit of time to kill so went to this chicken place for dinner for surprise chicken ad chips! Lol anyways as usual I asked for mine without salad, and so their solution to no salad was to double everything else on plate, so ended up with the most massive portion ever! Hardly gonna complain bout extra food now am i? ;) Then there seemed to be an unusual amount of people in the street so followed the noise to the plaza de armas to find a giant ollanta concert. I am aware you´re probably not up to date on your Peruvian politics, shame on you, but the second round of elections are just coming  up and are basically between Ollanta and Keiko. Tho everyone i speak to says its just voting for the lesser evil, Cancer or Aids! Anyways, was like a mini carnival with a stage, singing, people selling food. Then people had ollanta tshirts and these massive banners aswell. Gotta say if they did politics like this back home it´d probably interest a lot more young people! Well, the obligatory voting rule might help aswell ;) Had to leave the ollanta fest to go see the film tho, and wasn´t sure how it was gonna be as is kinda hard in my opinion to do a sequel to the hangover! However, was awesome, really funny, possibly more so than the first one. Headed back after the film and were followed for a while by the fastest moving procession ever! (They´d moved on from Ollanta fest in centro and were heading out).
So, yesterday we really had to get up early again to get the bus onwards, however again that didnt work out! Was up at 8, but by time we got everything sorted, went to supermarket etc didnt manage to get the bus till 11! and even then we arrived like 3 mins before it left! Also, judging by looks and comments we got, apparentl not a very gringo bus! So, this bus took us 3 1/2 miles up the coast to a town called chiclayo where we wanted to find another bus up to mancora! Unfortunately when we arrived it wasnt that easy so i left rosie with the stuff and went round alll the bus companies trying to find a bus up to mancora. However, the majority only went to Piura which is still 2 - 3 hours out of Mancora, and the only ones that went direct arrived some stupid hour in the morning and I was told it wasnt very safe, so that was kinda out! Anyways, arrived back to our stuff to discover a little surprise...... Rosie had decided she no longer wantd to go to Mancora, and if I didn´t mind was gonna catch the bus back to Lima that night! So kinda bit of a shock to the system, but we said our goodbyes and i got on the next bus heading to Piura, cause her bus back to Lima wasn´t till 8. Another 3 hours and arrived in Piura, with no idea how i ws supposed to get to Mancora! That issue was soon rsolved when i stepped out of the bus station and was accosted by people offering me a seat in a minivan to Mancora. Got stuck between two touts, but eventually went with the one who argued better, simply because she said they were waiting to fill up the van, which meant there were other people there - safety in numbers and all that jazz. Tho she went a bit overboard as even after I´d chosen her she was like the other guy was gonna steal all your luggage etc! Anyways, she wasnt kidding about filling the van up and we didnt leave for another hour once the van was well and truly stuffed to capacity! Was almost dying at this point of being squished in van and hadnt even left as yet! So was another 2 1/2 hours before i finally arrived in Mancora. Managed to sleep a bit of the way, but our driver was appaling and at one point actually woke up to find us on the wrong side of the road, trying to overtake a lorry and failing miserably with a truck coming the other way! At this point one of the ladies told him to slow down and take care before he killed us all! lol So arrived safely at hostel after 14 hours, 2 buses and a crummy minivan at 1 in the morning! Tho hostel is more like a mini resort in looks! Anyways was completely knackered so just went to bed and didnt get up till 11.30 this morning, which is still early by my standards, but is one of my few lie ins on this whole trip so far! Met up with Marlous (one of the volunteers for Arequipa) who was staying here, tho left this evening, and chilled by the pool for a while before heading out to find out about buses to Quito. Didn´t really do much today as had a bit of a headache so just really chilled, slept, watched movies and read a book all day! lol not really sure what to do with myself as am unused to so much free time! Is great here though not sure how i´ll last 2/3 more days of lazing! need something to do! lol anyways thats about all so far, tho now im on top of this gonna try and keep it that way! judging from past probs won´t happen tho i genuinely mean it ;) Also is seriously hot here when the sun is out, tho today was a bit cloudy making it a lil chilly!
Photos to follow soon! Promise :)