So, bus from puno was basically a moving sauna! Woke up at some point in the night as was actually melting and the whole bus was steamed up! Then pulled into cusco bus station 4.15 in the morning and pitch black! Anyways organization that I am, had nothing booked, no map and no idea where I wanted to go. So went for the obvious option and had a nap in the bus station ;) then met a very nice old Peruvian couple who I chatted to for a while as they were hanging around so as not to wake their family up too early! Anyways there were telling me whereto visit and that I should hang around the bus station until it was light to leave! So about 6.30 I found me a reasonably age looking taxi and decided to go to the only place I had the address of! Te hostel advertised on the back of my bus ticket. But no worries mom it wasn't a total stab in the dark, I had heard of it before and knew people who'd stayed there! Luckily when I got there they had a room available though whilst thu could look after my stuff, couldn't go into my room till later on as was too early. So decided to go for a wander around cusco. Found some good mini pizza for breakfast and then wandered around plazas and markets for a bit before meeting up with Rosie and mom to go sort out my train tickets. Dunno if I've said before but had been trying to cancel my own as was gonna do a trek up to machu picchu instead. So off we all went down to the Peru rail office only to be told we had to go to the actual train station to sort it out as they only sell tickets there! Anyways got down there and I launch into my spiel bout how come it hasn't been sorted before, as we've been emailing them for 2 weeks and different people had called aswell only to be given different answers! Were told there was a lady who dealt with these issues so to speak with her, as shed be the one who wouldve received the emails. Turns out she'd replied like the day before but we hadn't got the reply as yet. She said it was no problem refunding the outbound ticket obvs minus small admin fee but there was an issue with the return ticket..... Turns out somehow Rosie had been allowed by the system to book the return ticket a month before the outbound one!!?! So we were told that ticket couldn't be refunded as it was in the past and obvs hadn't been cancelled a day in advance as was for end of April not may! Also, when we looked turned out rosies/her moms tickets were the same = panic!
So she says she see what she can do as hear things are like $60 each so that would be a lotta money to lose! So she emailed her boss up to ask if it would be possible to refund te tickets as it was obviously a mistake, because who would intentionally book their return train a month before their outbound one?! We were told we should get a reply later in the day and she'd give us a call. So start to head back into town but only get as far as the gate when the guard tells us we need To go back. Thankfully she'd got a reply saying we would get a full refund! Wooo so despite the mild heart attack it actually all worked out for the best! I didn't have to pay a cancellation fee for that ticket and Rosie/mom got a cheaper/earlier train when they rebooked for the right day!
Anyways they were doing a city tour so o spent next couple of hours wandering round tour agencies trying to find the best price for the jungle trek to machu picchu leaving the next day! Ended up basically following these two girls around as they were doing te same thing as me, so in the end started talking and we ended up going for the same agency. Once that was all sorted, went to the market to have a look around as hadn't bought me any alpaca souvenirs as yet, part from my amazing green hat! Managed to get a bag at a steal of £3! Also restrained myself from buying one of the more brightly colored ones as I figured the one I got is usable at home aswell! However wasn't quite so restrained when it came to my 'alpaca' jumper and couldn't resist going for possibly the most garish bright red one I could find! ;) none of that plain, sensible, nice looking crap for me! Lol
So then went back to sort out my stuff then had mini 'briefing' at tour agency later on to review what we were doing/ what we needed to take. Even though it kept changing depending on who you spoke to! Then met Rosie/mom for dinner before heading back for an earlyish night tho don't think managed to get to sleep till like 12 with the music and all the people in and out the room all te time!
Up early next morning as was being picked up between 7 and 7.30! Bit of a wide time frame and obvs being Peru was 7.40. Anyways then drove around for like another 1/2 hour picking up people, and turned out we were driving in circles as people before me had been picked up from the same place we went to an hour later! Lol Peruvian efficiency for you! Then went outside of town to pick up the bikes so that was another 1/2 hour. Then began several hours of serious bumpiness till was biking time! Tho we did get a short brake at this place where the water didn't work as the neighbors had switched it off, and it played an amazing selection of 80's music! Wooo
Not gonna lie, we all looked ridiculous once set up for biking in tons of layers and florescent orange jackets! Our guide 'jimmy jones' lol gave us our group name - cutchiwatos which means friends in Quechua apparently, then we were off! I think calling it biking it was really accurate as there was no need to pedal whatsoever! Still was fun and managed to pick up some pretty good speed untie way down, though kept passing through these mini rivers passing over the road, resulting in soaking shoes, legs and butt! 3 hours later we had the option to either continue in the mini van or carry on riding, but the road changed to like dirt and stones. Claro I chose to carry on riding as did basically all of our group. Was only another hour and still wasn't that hard just a lil painful on el culo! After that we got a short break then was another 45 mins in the van to the place we were staying the night and having lunch. All meals for this trip btw began with a form of soup and were followed by something with arroz y papas frites, mostly chicken! Was good food tho don't get me wrong! Afterwards we decided to play football on the cancha outside our hostel. Bowery after like 20 mins all the other groups came along to play aswell, so ended up with like 6 different teams on a rotation system and we carried on playing until it was actually impossible to see anymore! In last game at one point wasn't even aware the ball had come back onthe pitch! Lol
Had to be up again early the next morning for breakfast at 6.30 but all was good as it was pancake with banana and chocolate! :) then began te walking! Tho after like 30 mins we stopped so Jimmy could show us this grit thing, and he was like it's a good onset repellant and then proceeded to draw on our faces with it like war paint! Lol it was cutchiwatos go! Was quite a lot of walking till lunch like 5 hours but we got lots of regular breaks and Jimmy was really good in the sense he told us it was like 45 mons of the steep uphill when it only took 20! Stopped for lunch down in this little place in the middle of nowhere. We got a 30min nap in the hammocks before lunch and then another one afterwards aswell! Was great, tho meant it was seriously hard to get going aswell! It wasn't a particularly strenuous walk but it was just so hot that it made you tired! Then got to this one point where youhad to cross the river in this lil cable cart which you pulled on a rope from one side to the other. Could fit like tops 3 people in at once so took forever to cross as had to wait for previous group to get across and then we crossed with another group so had to wait for all of them aswell! Was pretty cool little cart tho! Then was only another like 20 mins to the hot springs by the river after tho had to climb over all these wet stones and being me managed to slip and whack my shin :( spent nice 45 mins soaking my feet in hot springs as couldn't be bothered to get changed. Then there was the option to either pay for a bus to the place we were staying or walk, which should only take an hour?! Totally went for the walking option! ;) as did another 6 people in the group! We decided maybe it wasn't the best option when we saw a van driving past us with jimmy sitting on the top of it! However as about 20 mins later it got pitch black, he was waiting further up. Was all uphill and at one point did this lol shortcut where actually couldn't see a thing! Anyways was knackered when reached hostel so nice cold shower had never felt so good. Tho we still had another 1.5 hours till dinner so passed the time with cards and beer. At dinner we had some new people who were joining our group as they were doing the 3 day tour, 4 Aussies and a Dutch girl. Then their guide was jimmys brother who looked so alike it was insane! Anyways after dinner Jimmy announced he was giving us a treat, and out came these enormous shots of 'inka' tequila, which is basically just a viler version of normal tequila! Lol after this we were all encouraged by Jimmy to head on to the local 'club'. Amazing that even in a tiny town in jungle they have two lil 'clubs'! So about half of us headed on over! Oh btw everywhere they played really cheesy old school music! So the bar had like a massive screen with traditional dancing on it but then was playing kinda Peruvian pop and dance music. Tho before I leave there are a few Peruvian songs I've heard in the clubs that I wanna bring home with me! ;)
Anyways aware that we had to get up early the next morning I headed back with one of the other girls like 12ish.
Next morning think some people were a little worse for wear, but it was alright as our group had all voted to do zip lining that morning instead of walking three hours! Got another chocolate and banana pancake for breakfast then we were off. Tho had to hang around for like hour ad half at zip lining place before we could start! Was good fun tho, but was a tad slow for my liking and really hurt! There were 6 Lines in total and the two longest ones were 400m so got really cool view as you were going along them! After got driven to the hideoelectrica where we had lunch. After that was another three hour walk along the train lines to aguas calientes(town at bottom of machu picchu). Had one surreal moment tho where these men stopped us along the line and said we had to be careful as there were bees up ahead. And further along u could see people running, swinging their jumpers above their heads! Anyways so we all covered up as best we could and set off. Then like 1
Min later all of a sudden you could hear buzzing and the guides shouted 'corre' and just started legging it up the tracks! Lol we must have looked so odd all sprinting along ewearig like all our clothes! Anyways luckily only one person got sung and wasn't that bad really, could only hear some of them! Eventually reached aguas calientes where over dinner we met our guide for machu picchu. But seriously every other word he said was 'guys' and half the time it was totally out of context like not needed at all! Anyways was relatively early night as had to get up real early next morning to walk up to machu picchu before it opened!
Being me I opted for extra sleep so whilst the others left at 4, I got up at 4.25 and left at 4.40! Was pretty dark going up, lucky had my lil torch. But the path up is just like never ending stairs and u can't overtake people on them as not much room and can't see that well! Took just under an hour in total to get from the hostel up to machu picchu but seemed
Waaaaay longer at the time! So got up and joined the queue to get my stamp to go up waynu pichu and then get through the entrance where I met up with the rest of my group. When we arrived there was just like mist everywhere which created quite a cool effect! Tour was quite interesting, tho genuinely was about to kill him if he said 'guys' one more time! Lol then kinda wondered around for a bit before meeting up with some of the others to go up waynu pichu. Wasn't too bad as only took 35 mins, and the views from the top were spectacular! Was but harder coming down as was so steep in parts and by then pretty hot aswell! Had a bit more of a wander/rest before we started the hike up to the sun gate. It was now insanely hot and kinda ran outta water half way up! Think we did the round trip in 1 hour as we were so desperate to get out of te sun! Was at this point dying for a bottle of water however the only shop outside wanted
8sols for half a liter of water!! (£1.80) no way were we paying that so decided to struggle on! Also the bus back down was $8 which wasn't gonna pay even I'd had the money, so we chose to walk back down, which was sooo tiring. Got to the bottom and genuinely thought my legs were gonna give way at some point! Made it back and we all went out for pizza tho lady serving us was seriously useless and took forever to sort! Then was time to get the train back, tho unfortunately 4 people in our group had been givn a ridiculously later train at 9.30 (ours was at 6.45) and so had to wait. They tried to talk their way onto our train but couldn't get on! Anyways slept train ride which took us to ollantaytambo, some village in sacred valley. Like 300 people got off the train ad just had to find a someone out of the massive crowd who had your name on a sheet of paper! As I had booked with those two girls I was on the same bus back with then. Also slept those 2 hours back to cusco tho was still knackered when I arrived back at te hostel! Went straight to bed after a quick shower and change! Machu picchu was pretty cool and I hadn't thought it could live up to all the hype but defo did, and this is coming from someone who hates sightseeing and doesn't really appreciate culture! ;)
Had to get up early again next morning to sort my stuff out and get money before going to catch my flight. Unfortunately as I was on my way back, when I was passing through a crowd someone, I think, spat on me/tipped something down my neck and at te same time whacked into me. All in like 1 sec and before I realized what had happened they'd nicked my lil mp3 player. Luckily it was nothing important and it was hardly worth anything anyways, but stil was really annoying. All very efficient tho, impressed with how smoothly they've got it all planned out!
Anyways, made my flight fine tho had to hang around a while as was early then was off to Lima!
Monday 30 May 2011
Sunday 29 May 2011
Onwards to lake titicaca
Soo arrived in puno after the horrendous 6 hour bus journey, luckily didn't have to worry bout taxis or anything as Rosie had already arranged one for me as they were already at the hotel. Arrived at our hotel but Rosie and mom were still out on their tour so went for lil wander, but it was soooo cold! I was wearing a vest, two tops, a fleece, my hoodie and a hat - still cold! Anyways, when they got back we went for dinner which was basically pick a pizzeria! I ended up ordering a familiar size pizza as I was starving, though when it came the guy went to put it on the middle of the table and I was like, ummmm actually that's just for me! Lol
Next day we all had to get up early as I had my tour of lake titicaca and Rosie/mom were taking the morning bus to cusco. So off they went and I hopped in a mini van to head down to the port. Was quite chilly down there and also our guide started every sentence in Spanish with 'mis amigos' then repeated everything in English with 'well my friends' so had to listen to it twice! Was still knackered so slept the first like 40 mins to the Uros islands which are the Reed floating islands. Kinda disneyesque as you arrive and they sing to you. And it was cool but they were a lil surreal! I personally think once all the tourists leave they put their American clothing back on and hop on a motor boat to the main land! Then is another like 2.3/3 hours to taquile island, though to begin with the boats are super slow I think ours was like extra slow! Anyways decided to sit up top for the view so chatted to these two Peruvian ladies and this guy from japan, though he was half Italian. Taquile had awesome views and we had a good lunch there before walking across to the other side of the island to get the boat. Chatted to this old American guy who was telling me I should defo go to Vegas in the future tho need to find comp room! Lol him and his friend came out with some random things like 'do you have grafitti in England?' and 'have you ever played basketball in Mexico?' lol then was another 3 hours or so to get back to punk, tho slept most of it. Had to go back to hotel to sort out bus ticket which they'd got for me and check out. Then met the Japanese guy from tour for dinner cause he knew a place where you got a three course meal for 3.50 sold (75p?) lol admittedly it came into the restaurant through a hole in the wall but.... For that price ;) also was good thing i left puno that night as the policeman told us they were gonna be blocking the roads out of puno the next day! And now a week later it's still all blocked up and people who left like a day after me said there were proper riots and people were chucking rocks at the buses as they left! So that was my quick trip to lake titicaca! :) next stop was cusco via my 7 hour night bus due to arrive at 4.30 in the morning! Will tell u all about it in the next post! Almost up to date now! ;)
Next day we all had to get up early as I had my tour of lake titicaca and Rosie/mom were taking the morning bus to cusco. So off they went and I hopped in a mini van to head down to the port. Was quite chilly down there and also our guide started every sentence in Spanish with 'mis amigos' then repeated everything in English with 'well my friends' so had to listen to it twice! Was still knackered so slept the first like 40 mins to the Uros islands which are the Reed floating islands. Kinda disneyesque as you arrive and they sing to you. And it was cool but they were a lil surreal! I personally think once all the tourists leave they put their American clothing back on and hop on a motor boat to the main land! Then is another like 2.3/3 hours to taquile island, though to begin with the boats are super slow I think ours was like extra slow! Anyways decided to sit up top for the view so chatted to these two Peruvian ladies and this guy from japan, though he was half Italian. Taquile had awesome views and we had a good lunch there before walking across to the other side of the island to get the boat. Chatted to this old American guy who was telling me I should defo go to Vegas in the future tho need to find comp room! Lol him and his friend came out with some random things like 'do you have grafitti in England?' and 'have you ever played basketball in Mexico?' lol then was another 3 hours or so to get back to punk, tho slept most of it. Had to go back to hotel to sort out bus ticket which they'd got for me and check out. Then met the Japanese guy from tour for dinner cause he knew a place where you got a three course meal for 3.50 sold (75p?) lol admittedly it came into the restaurant through a hole in the wall but.... For that price ;) also was good thing i left puno that night as the policeman told us they were gonna be blocking the roads out of puno the next day! And now a week later it's still all blocked up and people who left like a day after me said there were proper riots and people were chucking rocks at the buses as they left! So that was my quick trip to lake titicaca! :) next stop was cusco via my 7 hour night bus due to arrive at 4.30 in the morning! Will tell u all about it in the next post! Almost up to date now! ;)
Quiero quedarme en Arequipa!
So last week in Arequipa! Got back from colca on the Monday evening, smelly and tired! Had to go back to the volunteer house as I'd left stuff there. Then there was wallet making planned for that evening so figured didn't make sense to go home before so just had a shower and changed there. We managed to make quite a lot of wallets though I had to leave about 9.30 to go home as I didn't have a key! Tuesday was the first day I was able to have a bit of a lie in , like my whole time there! Was still working at the school in the afternoons Tuesday till Thursday but once didn't have Spanish lessons any more in the morning giving me a lol bit of free time! So explored a lol more Arequipa and finally had the time to go the mercado San camilo which is this massive 3 story market. Made the mistake of going to the live animal floor, and couldn't coped with the smell however walked up the stairs to see a lady skinning what In my mind was a live guinea pig/rat! Ewwwww however did find some cool stuff there like 90p books so got Harry potter in spanish for an easy read, then 'cien anos de soledad' in Spanish aswell to read at some point with a dictionary! ;) was doing cancha this week as well so me and Caitlin amused ourselves by doing random races so hopping and u have to pick up all it team to like wheelbarrow races, but was fun. Am missing the school as had really got into it after 5 weeks and most ofthe kids were really cute, tho they all had their moments!
So Tuesday night a whole bunch of us went out after the meeting. Started as Uve proba already guessed at the happy hour bars ;) then we went in sear h of karaoke! Tho ended up in some random crummy Peruvian bar with a karaoke section, but all the songs were in Spanish and sounded the same! Lol
Then on Wednesday I had to move out of my house ad there were new people coming to stay, so I relocated to a hostel in the centre where Emma was also staying. Was really sad to leave my Peru mom, really glad I was lucky enough to have such a nice family who like included me in their events like Easter dinner/mothers day lunch! Went back tho Thursday to say another goodbye, chat a bit, give a lol present and get a photo with my Peru mom!
So then Wednesday and Thursday night were just chilled and I hung out at the house with the others. Friday was my last day in Arequipa :( so spent re morning trying to get sorted, like had to buy my bus ticket for the next day to puno which was at 8 in the morning! Then somehow managed to lose $20 which obviously was not good! So wandering the streets looking a oil depressed bumped into ric and Phillipa who were on the way to supermercado to get the stuff for thatnights BBQ! (yes we were having a BBQ) so joined them and was good thing I did as ric had to leave early for his Spanish lesson and otherwise phillipa wouldve been left with all the stuff to take back sola and we bought a LOT of food! Anyways didn't go to school that afternoon so I could get all my stuff together and then was supposed to go help marlous start the cooking as obvs the others wouldn't be back to later after school! Anyways genius that I am when I was heading over to the house I thought I was being clever taking a different combi that went direct to the main road near te house! Only issue was it came out at the wrong end of the road! So there's me looking like a right iiot running up, and I mean up, avenida independencia being stated/laughed at by passers by. So all in all took a lot longer/ more energy than normal to get there! Still was a good hour before the others were due back so set out preparing my BBQ chicken then moved onto the veggies which I thought was quite funny as I can't cook nor do I eat veggies tho I ended up making the salad and grilled veg! Lol we ended u with masses of food was an awesome BBQ if I do say so myself tho ric had a few issues with starting the actual BBQ so I was cooling the veg inside. Then marlous made great cheesy garlic bread aswell! Wooo had small incident a lol later when we decided to flash fry the sausages etc inside before putting them on the BBQ. Sausages were thrown in a pan of oil and said oil ended up on my arm! :( needless to say I did my usual of jumping up and down shouting for a minute Before shoving my Arm under the tap! But all was fine after completely numbing my arm with several ice cubes! Lol and BBQ was awesome and was polished off with wine by the carton and spiced rum! :) then doctor li (another volunteer who's actually a doctor) found a burn gel pad thingy in the first aid kit. So we strapped that to my arm with an abundance of tape tho was so wet kept slipping so had to put more and more tape on it! Lol tho smelt really good like tea tree oil! Still hurt a lil so someone found me some nice green painkillers, tho only thing available to wash it down was cerveza! Lol proba didn't help. Anyways had some rum to finish so played couple rounds of I think spoons, tho can't really remember before heading out! Now claro regresamos a happy hour bars to begin with where we discovered we could request songs so on came lonely island! Lol now at this point I was carrying my shirt and jumper as had to take it home but didn't wanna get it wet however was cold and so not sure why but ended up wearing ric's jumper! So when we got into Deja vu went to put our stuff in lockers including my jumper and shirt. Then upstairs bumped into Carlos and Karin so stopped to chat a bit but then lost them again in the crowd! Anyways due to having early bus next morning didn't wana stay late, however not sure what happened as all of a sudden it was like 4.15! Lol then we couldn't find phillipa who had the number for the locker with our stuff! Eventually think ric found her and brought me my jumper, but somewhere in the process my denim shirt had disappeared! Not sure what happened to it but at that point was to tired to care knowing I had to be up again in a couple hours to take a 6 hour bus! So got back about 4.30 ish with a burnt arm, missing a shirt, 20 sols, $20, and the key for my padlock (no worries I had a spare). Not to mention only had 3 hours sleep before getting up to take the bus to puno! Lol needless to say I was not a happy bunny in the morning, was actually dying the bus ride there! But all in all was an awesome night to round off a great stay in arequipa! Defo missing all the people from Arequipa!
So Tuesday night a whole bunch of us went out after the meeting. Started as Uve proba already guessed at the happy hour bars ;) then we went in sear h of karaoke! Tho ended up in some random crummy Peruvian bar with a karaoke section, but all the songs were in Spanish and sounded the same! Lol
Then on Wednesday I had to move out of my house ad there were new people coming to stay, so I relocated to a hostel in the centre where Emma was also staying. Was really sad to leave my Peru mom, really glad I was lucky enough to have such a nice family who like included me in their events like Easter dinner/mothers day lunch! Went back tho Thursday to say another goodbye, chat a bit, give a lol present and get a photo with my Peru mom!
So then Wednesday and Thursday night were just chilled and I hung out at the house with the others. Friday was my last day in Arequipa :( so spent re morning trying to get sorted, like had to buy my bus ticket for the next day to puno which was at 8 in the morning! Then somehow managed to lose $20 which obviously was not good! So wandering the streets looking a oil depressed bumped into ric and Phillipa who were on the way to supermercado to get the stuff for thatnights BBQ! (yes we were having a BBQ) so joined them and was good thing I did as ric had to leave early for his Spanish lesson and otherwise phillipa wouldve been left with all the stuff to take back sola and we bought a LOT of food! Anyways didn't go to school that afternoon so I could get all my stuff together and then was supposed to go help marlous start the cooking as obvs the others wouldn't be back to later after school! Anyways genius that I am when I was heading over to the house I thought I was being clever taking a different combi that went direct to the main road near te house! Only issue was it came out at the wrong end of the road! So there's me looking like a right iiot running up, and I mean up, avenida independencia being stated/laughed at by passers by. So all in all took a lot longer/ more energy than normal to get there! Still was a good hour before the others were due back so set out preparing my BBQ chicken then moved onto the veggies which I thought was quite funny as I can't cook nor do I eat veggies tho I ended up making the salad and grilled veg! Lol we ended u with masses of food was an awesome BBQ if I do say so myself tho ric had a few issues with starting the actual BBQ so I was cooling the veg inside. Then marlous made great cheesy garlic bread aswell! Wooo had small incident a lol later when we decided to flash fry the sausages etc inside before putting them on the BBQ. Sausages were thrown in a pan of oil and said oil ended up on my arm! :( needless to say I did my usual of jumping up and down shouting for a minute Before shoving my Arm under the tap! But all was fine after completely numbing my arm with several ice cubes! Lol and BBQ was awesome and was polished off with wine by the carton and spiced rum! :) then doctor li (another volunteer who's actually a doctor) found a burn gel pad thingy in the first aid kit. So we strapped that to my arm with an abundance of tape tho was so wet kept slipping so had to put more and more tape on it! Lol tho smelt really good like tea tree oil! Still hurt a lil so someone found me some nice green painkillers, tho only thing available to wash it down was cerveza! Lol proba didn't help. Anyways had some rum to finish so played couple rounds of I think spoons, tho can't really remember before heading out! Now claro regresamos a happy hour bars to begin with where we discovered we could request songs so on came lonely island! Lol now at this point I was carrying my shirt and jumper as had to take it home but didn't wanna get it wet however was cold and so not sure why but ended up wearing ric's jumper! So when we got into Deja vu went to put our stuff in lockers including my jumper and shirt. Then upstairs bumped into Carlos and Karin so stopped to chat a bit but then lost them again in the crowd! Anyways due to having early bus next morning didn't wana stay late, however not sure what happened as all of a sudden it was like 4.15! Lol then we couldn't find phillipa who had the number for the locker with our stuff! Eventually think ric found her and brought me my jumper, but somewhere in the process my denim shirt had disappeared! Not sure what happened to it but at that point was to tired to care knowing I had to be up again in a couple hours to take a 6 hour bus! So got back about 4.30 ish with a burnt arm, missing a shirt, 20 sols, $20, and the key for my padlock (no worries I had a spare). Not to mention only had 3 hours sleep before getting up to take the bus to puno! Lol needless to say I was not a happy bunny in the morning, was actually dying the bus ride there! But all in all was an awesome night to round off a great stay in arequipa! Defo missing all the people from Arequipa!
Colca canyon
So at 2.45 my alarm goes off as a duck quaking and generally can't work out what it is to begin with, then as I remember, and get up to turn it off, the doorbell rings! And I'm just like mierda I am soo not ready to go. So grab all my stuff together and shove it all in my bag. Also had another bag of stuff I left behind at house, so just put it in someones room hoping it wouldn't get lost! Then phillipa hadn't heard her alarm. So was trying together ready aswell. Then all her stuff like fell outof her bag onto the stairs! Lol but we made it onto the bus only a couple minutes late! However the other like 6 peole we picked up were all really late so didn't actually leave Arequipa till like 4ish. Then was another 4 hours to the canyon on a freezing cold bus. Arrived in chivay for breakfast where it was soo cold and breakfast was such a joke. Bread and the most minuscule slices of ham and cheese (could basically see through them!) which we had to pay 4 sols for aswell! Then went to condor viewpoint tho didn't actually manage to get any pictures of condors! Then was another lil ride to where we were being dropped off to start the trek.
The first day was supposed to last 4 hours and be relatively easy, it lasted 5 and was insane! Like really steep downhill the really steep uphill, all the time up and down. Most ridiculous part was when we came to a bridge and guide was like yeh u can't actually cross it u have to climb this cliff instead! Needless to say, we all thought he was joking! But no, he was dead serious! So eventually we arrived at our hostel which did have an amazing view but we had been up for 12 hours so all anyone wanted to do was eat and go in the fabled hot springs! Lunch was like lentils with veg, an egg and rice so wasn't exactly something I like but was so hungry I ate it all anyways, and actually wasn't that bad!
Then we headed to the hotel hot springs which were actually just a tiny, dirty, Luke warm pool! By the time we got put we were freezing and had to walk all the way back up to our rooms. Then there was still like 2-3 hours left till dinner so we just had to chill to then but we got spaghetti for dinner which was pretty good tho in a massive portion!
Everyone went straiht to bed after dinner tho I woke up 2 hours later with the most excruciating stomach pains that I just couldn't shake so just spent the next two hours in the bathroom and walking around eventually got back to sleep tho when I woke everything hurt! Surprisingly we got pancakes for breakfast but I was still not feeling so great so couldn't actually eat it all! Left by 8 to begin the days walking. First 15 mins were so hard just going up really steep! And we continued upwards for the next 1.45 hours aswell before reaching the top of the hill. Everyone was seriously knackered by the top but there was still another 1.20 hour until lunchtime stop. We thought we did it in really good time, but our guide kept telling us we're really slow. Also lunch was like veggie heaven so wasn't too happy with that. Did buy myself a snickers and some Oreos tho, but unfortunately had already Eaten them a couple hours later! Was another 1.5 hours to the oasis after lunch all steep down until the end which was like vertical up! Also we were staying in the place with the smallest pool out of everywhere here! Arrived and managed to get in an hour of sunlight before that disappeared at 3.30! Also dinner was originally at 7.30 tho we managed to get it changed to 6.30 meaning only 3 hours hanging around as opposed to 4! Lol we did some yoga to try and stretch off everything, as we're all a lil stiff then just killed time till dinner with cards and reading!
Had to get up at 5 the last day to hike up 1000m before breakfast! Woooo our guide said in our condition we might make it up in 3 hours which is basically an invitation to beat that time (that's the averse ascent time).
managed to get up late again then was pitch black for first 30 mins of climbing. I did it in 2 hrs 10 mins ish tho so not that bad really! And view from top was awesome cause you could see just how far we'd gone! Breakfast again was a giant disappointment considering what we'd just done, two hollow bread rolls and a small fried egg was not sufficient. And I was deco feeling deprived as ate egg and had coffee for breakfast, due to absolute lack of alternatives and an inability to drink more boiling water on it's own! Lol however later that day we wentto the hot springs which were just amazing and so relaxing and then for this awesome buffet lunch where we all totally pigged out! Also saw a condor really close up on the way back when we stopped off at a view point!
Unfortunately we'd had several issues with our guide and parts of the trek over the three days so all had quite a few comments to leave. However the organization were really good about it and apologized profusely then actually refunded some of our money!
Soo that my friends was colca, and whilst we had some issues and it was seriously tiring, the canyon itself is spectacular!
The first day was supposed to last 4 hours and be relatively easy, it lasted 5 and was insane! Like really steep downhill the really steep uphill, all the time up and down. Most ridiculous part was when we came to a bridge and guide was like yeh u can't actually cross it u have to climb this cliff instead! Needless to say, we all thought he was joking! But no, he was dead serious! So eventually we arrived at our hostel which did have an amazing view but we had been up for 12 hours so all anyone wanted to do was eat and go in the fabled hot springs! Lunch was like lentils with veg, an egg and rice so wasn't exactly something I like but was so hungry I ate it all anyways, and actually wasn't that bad!
Then we headed to the hotel hot springs which were actually just a tiny, dirty, Luke warm pool! By the time we got put we were freezing and had to walk all the way back up to our rooms. Then there was still like 2-3 hours left till dinner so we just had to chill to then but we got spaghetti for dinner which was pretty good tho in a massive portion!
Everyone went straiht to bed after dinner tho I woke up 2 hours later with the most excruciating stomach pains that I just couldn't shake so just spent the next two hours in the bathroom and walking around eventually got back to sleep tho when I woke everything hurt! Surprisingly we got pancakes for breakfast but I was still not feeling so great so couldn't actually eat it all! Left by 8 to begin the days walking. First 15 mins were so hard just going up really steep! And we continued upwards for the next 1.45 hours aswell before reaching the top of the hill. Everyone was seriously knackered by the top but there was still another 1.20 hour until lunchtime stop. We thought we did it in really good time, but our guide kept telling us we're really slow. Also lunch was like veggie heaven so wasn't too happy with that. Did buy myself a snickers and some Oreos tho, but unfortunately had already Eaten them a couple hours later! Was another 1.5 hours to the oasis after lunch all steep down until the end which was like vertical up! Also we were staying in the place with the smallest pool out of everywhere here! Arrived and managed to get in an hour of sunlight before that disappeared at 3.30! Also dinner was originally at 7.30 tho we managed to get it changed to 6.30 meaning only 3 hours hanging around as opposed to 4! Lol we did some yoga to try and stretch off everything, as we're all a lil stiff then just killed time till dinner with cards and reading!
Had to get up at 5 the last day to hike up 1000m before breakfast! Woooo our guide said in our condition we might make it up in 3 hours which is basically an invitation to beat that time (that's the averse ascent time).
managed to get up late again then was pitch black for first 30 mins of climbing. I did it in 2 hrs 10 mins ish tho so not that bad really! And view from top was awesome cause you could see just how far we'd gone! Breakfast again was a giant disappointment considering what we'd just done, two hollow bread rolls and a small fried egg was not sufficient. And I was deco feeling deprived as ate egg and had coffee for breakfast, due to absolute lack of alternatives and an inability to drink more boiling water on it's own! Lol however later that day we wentto the hot springs which were just amazing and so relaxing and then for this awesome buffet lunch where we all totally pigged out! Also saw a condor really close up on the way back when we stopped off at a view point!
Unfortunately we'd had several issues with our guide and parts of the trek over the three days so all had quite a few comments to leave. However the organization were really good about it and apologized profusely then actually refunded some of our money!
Soo that my friends was colca, and whilst we had some issues and it was seriously tiring, the canyon itself is spectacular!
Where actually am I, and where did all my stuff go?!
So, as you can see my previous note to self has been super effective and I haven't left like a 3 week gap between updating the blog! Lol anyways due to the amount of updating to do I'm gonna split this up a lil so shall start where I left off with just under two weeks left to go in Arequipa!
So had a new teaching partner - phillipa starting in my class week. We decided to go for the more lax approach with regards to lesson planning, so kinda go with te flow! ;) Monday we did this marathon recap game from like everything from the previous 3 weeks. Was actually really nice to see the kids remembered basically everything! Then Monday night is my weekly dia de descansar so had a nice relaxed evening.Spanish lessons were still going strong, señora Maria thinks I'm a genius cause I understand all the poetry and stories we've been doing! Woo ;) Lol soo Tuesday all was same as usual and we had the team meeting in the evening. Seemed really long tho maybe as I was slowly drinking a bottle of super sweet wine and eating a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head! Lol then after we were cuttin up cartons for wallet making. They make and sell wallets to raise Money for the school/orphanage.So ended up going out with steph, marluse, rick and tiffany (other volunteers). We went to the bar with the 6 hour happy hour, where I had the same bartender again! Then went on to déjà vu which was pretty dead, tho we had good time neways! Anyways was soooo pissed and tired, and about 2.30 convinced rick to come home with me, as not living in the house I can never remember where it is taxi wise, plus didn't really wanna go back by myself. Anyways trying to open the doors to the house was ridiculous, as u have to turn them like 4 times and there's two doors! ;) just conked out on empty bed which had no sheets or anything, so was knda cold! The next morning had to be up and out by 8 to get home before my Spanish lesson! Got home at 8.30 so literally had the quickest shower ever, shovelled down a piece of bread and actually ran to my lesson! Anways then on wesnesdy night there was no way I could go out again as was so tired. ended up in town having dinner with tiffany and gustavo(guy she was giving English lesson to). lasagne wasn't that great but they had cheesy garlic bread so all was forgiven!
Then Thursday we decided to go out aswell, however karin was going out for drinks with carlos so she had the only available key! Bit she said she wasn't gonna be out later than 12 so I said I'd sleep over at the other house as in all likelihood wouldn't be back by then. anyways at house, everyone was either ill or tired! Did think we were never gonna head out but about 11ish me, tiffany and philipa decided that we might as well! Headed to our happy hour bars where I had my normal of tres Cuba libres para empezar! which were basically half glasses of rum! Lol anyways texted karin to findout where she was and found her in Swedish avenue with Carlos( another bar on San Francisco). We Felt kinda awkward when we arrived as it well looked like a date albeit the most awkward one ever! But there was a live band that weren't that bad so we actually stayed there for a while and had a few more drinks. In the meantime we were joined by one of carlos' friends. After a bit we moved to déjà vu. I seriously need to fix my dancing/singing as I mean I really can't dance but I do so anyways! ;) Also turns out being drunk is good for my Spanish as I apparently refused to speak in English all evening! ;) not sure y tho! Headed home like 2.30/2.45 with philipa as although karin was still out with te key, I had my stuff at the other house and obvs isn't good to go back by itself. Had some very nice toast when we got back tho! :)
anyways next morning had to get up and home again. Tho ended up leaving my home well late and so had to sprint to Spanish lessons leaving me completely out of breath! Had good last lesson with Carlos and Maria and both said I was a good student/ they'd enjoyed teaching me, so that was nice, cause despite it being a ridiculous amount I did enjoy my lessons and they defo helped!
Then stayed night again in the other house as had to get the bus to colca at 3 in the morning next day! Tho ended up playing cards and chatting with steph,rick and new girl Emma anyways so didn't go to bed till like 11.30. Tho got a bed with blankets this time and was actually pretty warm! Lol
Shall move to a new post now for colca to break it up a lil!
So had a new teaching partner - phillipa starting in my class week. We decided to go for the more lax approach with regards to lesson planning, so kinda go with te flow! ;) Monday we did this marathon recap game from like everything from the previous 3 weeks. Was actually really nice to see the kids remembered basically everything! Then Monday night is my weekly dia de descansar so had a nice relaxed evening.Spanish lessons were still going strong, señora Maria thinks I'm a genius cause I understand all the poetry and stories we've been doing! Woo ;) Lol soo Tuesday all was same as usual and we had the team meeting in the evening. Seemed really long tho maybe as I was slowly drinking a bottle of super sweet wine and eating a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head! Lol then after we were cuttin up cartons for wallet making. They make and sell wallets to raise Money for the school/orphanage.So ended up going out with steph, marluse, rick and tiffany (other volunteers). We went to the bar with the 6 hour happy hour, where I had the same bartender again! Then went on to déjà vu which was pretty dead, tho we had good time neways! Anyways was soooo pissed and tired, and about 2.30 convinced rick to come home with me, as not living in the house I can never remember where it is taxi wise, plus didn't really wanna go back by myself. Anyways trying to open the doors to the house was ridiculous, as u have to turn them like 4 times and there's two doors! ;) just conked out on empty bed which had no sheets or anything, so was knda cold! The next morning had to be up and out by 8 to get home before my Spanish lesson! Got home at 8.30 so literally had the quickest shower ever, shovelled down a piece of bread and actually ran to my lesson! Anways then on wesnesdy night there was no way I could go out again as was so tired. ended up in town having dinner with tiffany and gustavo(guy she was giving English lesson to). lasagne wasn't that great but they had cheesy garlic bread so all was forgiven!
Then Thursday we decided to go out aswell, however karin was going out for drinks with carlos so she had the only available key! Bit she said she wasn't gonna be out later than 12 so I said I'd sleep over at the other house as in all likelihood wouldn't be back by then. anyways at house, everyone was either ill or tired! Did think we were never gonna head out but about 11ish me, tiffany and philipa decided that we might as well! Headed to our happy hour bars where I had my normal of tres Cuba libres para empezar! which were basically half glasses of rum! Lol anyways texted karin to findout where she was and found her in Swedish avenue with Carlos( another bar on San Francisco). We Felt kinda awkward when we arrived as it well looked like a date albeit the most awkward one ever! But there was a live band that weren't that bad so we actually stayed there for a while and had a few more drinks. In the meantime we were joined by one of carlos' friends. After a bit we moved to déjà vu. I seriously need to fix my dancing/singing as I mean I really can't dance but I do so anyways! ;) Also turns out being drunk is good for my Spanish as I apparently refused to speak in English all evening! ;) not sure y tho! Headed home like 2.30/2.45 with philipa as although karin was still out with te key, I had my stuff at the other house and obvs isn't good to go back by itself. Had some very nice toast when we got back tho! :)
anyways next morning had to get up and home again. Tho ended up leaving my home well late and so had to sprint to Spanish lessons leaving me completely out of breath! Had good last lesson with Carlos and Maria and both said I was a good student/ they'd enjoyed teaching me, so that was nice, cause despite it being a ridiculous amount I did enjoy my lessons and they defo helped!
Then stayed night again in the other house as had to get the bus to colca at 3 in the morning next day! Tho ended up playing cards and chatting with steph,rick and new girl Emma anyways so didn't go to bed till like 11.30. Tho got a bed with blankets this time and was actually pretty warm! Lol
Shall move to a new post now for colca to break it up a lil!
Monday 9 May 2011
Note to self
That is a ridiculously long update!
Resolution: attempt to update a lil more often!
P.s I have got some photos on facebook though am aware that doesn't help some of you, so will try and add some to the blog in near future! :)
Resolution: attempt to update a lil more often!
P.s I have got some photos on facebook though am aware that doesn't help some of you, so will try and add some to the blog in near future! :)
Sleep deprivation and una bebida mas
Sooo, I know I've said this every week so far but this week seemed even busier than the last! ;) hence the delay in updating the blog. And to repeat the disclaimer things will probably be in an illogical order due to doing this on my iPod - not the easiest of tasks!
Anwyas, This week there were road works all up the main road which meant tons of traffic and seriously overcrowded combis . Also they only work during day and take like a 3 hour gap to descansar! Lol so they did half the road last week and are currently working on the other half now! But was so crowded that on Tuesday some of the volunteers actually couldn't get ona combi to the school! Also I had bad combi luck this week as was practically being hugged for one journey by some smelly gordita and then was sitting next to a really fat guy another day. Then to top it off was having a nice nap one day then woke up as I started hearing like shouting, and for first minute or two couldn't work out where t was coming from, only to subsequently realize that some crazy had sat next to me, and was busy talking in this insanely loud voice with such gems as "que sabes del amor? El amor es solo un juego" (what do u know of love? Love is only a game!) lol
Spanish lessons continue, having stuck them out for 3 weeks figured might as well do the last week aswell! Got my two teachers, Maria and Carlos, dunno if I've mentioned before but very different teaching styles. Señora Maria does lots of exercises but it's good to review all the grammar and we're looking at poetry and stories at the mo so is quite interesting! Carlos on the other hand basics we just talk for most of the time and then do like a reading on economy/families or sumtin. He has some interesting if maybe inappropriate jokes though and am defo expanding my vocal in our lessons! ;)
School was good this week, me and Isabel were 'in charge' of cancha time and we got some new equipment this week, so skipping ropes, hula hoops and more balls. So we made like a circuit with different activites, tho when it was Romero split for basketball and football, most of the kids just wanted to play with the new stuff! Also on Friday we made mothers day cards as it was yesterday in Peru. Tho we reviewed family at the beginning of the lesson as it suddenly occurred to us that some of the kids may not have a mom, really makes u think as isn't something you'd cosider at home! Thankfully they all did! And so I also made a card for my arequipenan mom! :) also quite a few people left over the weekend, including the girl I was teaching with, Isabel. So one of the new girls who aeries last week, philipa, is doing my class with me. Tho today was a lil bad as I forgot to do a lesson plan as I fell asleep yesterday! Lol so we played games reviewing all the stuff we'd done in tue past few weeks, and was actually really nice to see that they remembered it all!
Anyways, as usual Monday was my day de descansar so just chilled in the evening. Then Tuesday is the meeting at the volunteer house so we went straight there from school. Jess had made Mexican for dinner which was really good plus cocktails with tuna fruit(very nice orange fruit nothing like tuna!) then Wednesday we all went out for a meal in the evening so think there were 20 of us! Lol we picked somewhere on the plaza dr armas as u can sit upstairs and it overlooks the plaza. Obvs with such a big group all the people are wanting u to go into their restaurant! Prices kept getting lower with free pisco sours being thrown in! In end we settled for one place tho regretted it a lil when we got upstairs and te other place looked way nicer! But turned out to be not that bad and tbh it was 10sols for the set menu of a strter, main and drink (like £2.20?) on the other hand it took forever for food to come so we filled in the time with drinks. Also he messed up the food order a lil as there was 1 less starter than people so his solution was it's ok I'll just bring another avocado! Lol anwyas after the meal we decided to head out for a drink tho with so Manu of us anywhere we went we kinda took over. Eventually settled in a Irish hostel bar! Had pretty old school but decent music if a lil loud! Anyways got home earlyish bout 12.50? Tho it's the getting up by 8 that is killing me! ;) so thurday night was movie night again! So caught a combi over to the house, tho was greeted with displeasure as I wasn't pizza. The doorbell rang like 3 more times aswell before it was pizza at the door! Lol was a lil on the small side for my taste but pizzas pizza! Also was a romcom this time so much better! I'd already seen part of the film on theplane over but turns out I'd missed quite a lot of the beginning! Was pretty good tho - life as we know it. But also meant didn't get home till just before 12. Then on Friday I decided to sleep over at the house as we were getting up early to go to the salt flats on Saturday morning! Anyways as I was arriving some of the others were off wine shopping so I added my order! Anyways we Had a pretty jokes evening and got to bed relatively early like 12 again! Then was up at 7.30 Saturday morning as we were being picked up at 8 from the house. 7 of us went (me, Isabel, mariella, Gemma, Jess, elke and natta) me and natta had volunteered to sit in the back of the truck which really wasn't that bad as there was a reasonable amount of space! However we had been told it'd be like 2 hours to get there not 4! We ten spent another hour driving around what in reality was a lake with lil patches of salt! However there were llamas, alpacas and flamingos there! I said o didn't mind staying in back for return journey as it hadn't been that bad going up! Rookie error u go like three times as fast downhill and by the time we got down I was seriously bruised and minorly concussed aswell from whacking my head on the roof/window so many times! Whilst it wasn't that good in the sense of really not what we had been expecting, it was a nice day out from the city.
I then had a couple hours to go home, shower and rest before I headed back over to the v house as we were going out for dinner but I couldn't have a key so decided to sleep there for the night otra vez. Anyways headed over and we decided to go to plaza de armas agin but to the place we hadn't picked on Wednesday, though there were only 9 of is this time! Was only 5 sols more but was really good, I had this massive bowlof what was supposedly chicken soup but didn't taste asi, garlic bread and trucha a la plancha! Then went for ice cream round the corner for desert! Had best combo ever of like chocolate cookie ice cream and mango! If uve never tried mango ad chocolate ice cream together before ur seriously missing out! Lol
So, after the ice cream half of the group went home as were tired/traveling next day, but me, Isabel, phillipa and Tiffany decided to go out as tiffany only arrived last week and really wanted to go out, so we said we didn't mind going out but me ad isabel were like we don't wanna go out for long, just one drink really...... Well 5 1/2 hours and muchos drinks later things hadn't really gone according to plan! Lol we'd started in this one bar with a happy hour from 6-12! (don't think they'd quite got the concept of happy HOUR) Lol but we chose it as it had pretty good music tho deteriorated a lil once the dj started! Problem may have been that It didn't make economical sense to buy single drinks wen was same price to buy three! Lol anyways headed onto Deja vu' after, seemed a lil empty to begin with bit that quickly changed, also was playing way better music than last eeek! Saw some people who'd we'd met the week before there aswell so got a chance to practice my somewhat slurred Spanish ;) anyways, managed to get a taxi home after a lil walking and avoiding the dodgy taxis. Unfortunately only had just over 5 hours sleep as had to get up to head home across town as was going for mothers daylunch with the fam! Only thing was all my clothes like properly reeked of smoke and I can't stand that smell, so did seriously contemplate going home in my pyjamas, however being the blatantly pbvious ones which are covered in monkeys, decided even I couldn't face the combi ride home being ridiculed by randomers! Only had time at home to quickly breakfast, shower, change and spend 5 mins feeling sorry for myself before it was time to go! It was me, karin, Peru mom and her daughter. Tho we stopped off to pick up her mother from her home meaning there were 4 of us in the back of the taxi which is like the size of a KA! Also turned out we weren't going straight to lunch, we were going to church first! This trip I'm going more to church than I normally do in a whole year! Lol also there were no seats in the church and I genuinely just wanted to curl up and die! ;) so afterwards we headed over to her sisters house for lunch which was takeaway chicken and chips and then this awesome meringue cake for desert! Soooo tired at this point was struggling to not fall asleep at the table, tho luckily her daughter had gone out too night before so was tired aswll meaning we headed home by 4. Tho not before we'd looked at pictures from the royal wedding, analysing the outfits and just generally mocking the ridiculous array of hats! At home whilst the others went o descansar I fell asleep on the couch ad didn't wake up till like 7. Then went back to sleep at 8.30! Which is wht I had no lesson plan today!
Today though was laundry day, as have just been wearing everything and just washing underwear! Lol but had run out od clothes plus there were the ones where I couldn't get rid of the smoke smell! However didn't entirely think it through as I genuinely took like ecryhing to the laundrette and told the lady this is all my clothing, please dear god don't shrink it! ;) also realised I have like no socks, dunno where they've gone so had to bit some more today! But yeh only had like a pair of shorts and long sleeved top left so was kinda cold today! Bit cam go collect it tomorrow at lunch, tho dunno what I can wear in the morning! Lol also 8 kilos of washing is knda expensive like £10 dunno of this was the best option but Peru mom vouched for it Nd think it is more important I don't shrink all my clothing! ;)
Think that's gotta be everything! Won't be able to update again till either Friday or Tuesday as I'm going to colca canyon fr the weekend, tho tbh proba won't be Friday! ;)
Also can't believe this is week 4 in Arequipa! Dunno where the times going I only have under two weeks left! :( to through in a bit of my new grammar, si tuviera mas tiempo, me gustaria quedarme aca! ;)
Anwyas, This week there were road works all up the main road which meant tons of traffic and seriously overcrowded combis . Also they only work during day and take like a 3 hour gap to descansar! Lol so they did half the road last week and are currently working on the other half now! But was so crowded that on Tuesday some of the volunteers actually couldn't get ona combi to the school! Also I had bad combi luck this week as was practically being hugged for one journey by some smelly gordita and then was sitting next to a really fat guy another day. Then to top it off was having a nice nap one day then woke up as I started hearing like shouting, and for first minute or two couldn't work out where t was coming from, only to subsequently realize that some crazy had sat next to me, and was busy talking in this insanely loud voice with such gems as "que sabes del amor? El amor es solo un juego" (what do u know of love? Love is only a game!) lol
Spanish lessons continue, having stuck them out for 3 weeks figured might as well do the last week aswell! Got my two teachers, Maria and Carlos, dunno if I've mentioned before but very different teaching styles. Señora Maria does lots of exercises but it's good to review all the grammar and we're looking at poetry and stories at the mo so is quite interesting! Carlos on the other hand basics we just talk for most of the time and then do like a reading on economy/families or sumtin. He has some interesting if maybe inappropriate jokes though and am defo expanding my vocal in our lessons! ;)
School was good this week, me and Isabel were 'in charge' of cancha time and we got some new equipment this week, so skipping ropes, hula hoops and more balls. So we made like a circuit with different activites, tho when it was Romero split for basketball and football, most of the kids just wanted to play with the new stuff! Also on Friday we made mothers day cards as it was yesterday in Peru. Tho we reviewed family at the beginning of the lesson as it suddenly occurred to us that some of the kids may not have a mom, really makes u think as isn't something you'd cosider at home! Thankfully they all did! And so I also made a card for my arequipenan mom! :) also quite a few people left over the weekend, including the girl I was teaching with, Isabel. So one of the new girls who aeries last week, philipa, is doing my class with me. Tho today was a lil bad as I forgot to do a lesson plan as I fell asleep yesterday! Lol so we played games reviewing all the stuff we'd done in tue past few weeks, and was actually really nice to see that they remembered it all!
Anyways, as usual Monday was my day de descansar so just chilled in the evening. Then Tuesday is the meeting at the volunteer house so we went straight there from school. Jess had made Mexican for dinner which was really good plus cocktails with tuna fruit(very nice orange fruit nothing like tuna!) then Wednesday we all went out for a meal in the evening so think there were 20 of us! Lol we picked somewhere on the plaza dr armas as u can sit upstairs and it overlooks the plaza. Obvs with such a big group all the people are wanting u to go into their restaurant! Prices kept getting lower with free pisco sours being thrown in! In end we settled for one place tho regretted it a lil when we got upstairs and te other place looked way nicer! But turned out to be not that bad and tbh it was 10sols for the set menu of a strter, main and drink (like £2.20?) on the other hand it took forever for food to come so we filled in the time with drinks. Also he messed up the food order a lil as there was 1 less starter than people so his solution was it's ok I'll just bring another avocado! Lol anwyas after the meal we decided to head out for a drink tho with so Manu of us anywhere we went we kinda took over. Eventually settled in a Irish hostel bar! Had pretty old school but decent music if a lil loud! Anyways got home earlyish bout 12.50? Tho it's the getting up by 8 that is killing me! ;) so thurday night was movie night again! So caught a combi over to the house, tho was greeted with displeasure as I wasn't pizza. The doorbell rang like 3 more times aswell before it was pizza at the door! Lol was a lil on the small side for my taste but pizzas pizza! Also was a romcom this time so much better! I'd already seen part of the film on theplane over but turns out I'd missed quite a lot of the beginning! Was pretty good tho - life as we know it. But also meant didn't get home till just before 12. Then on Friday I decided to sleep over at the house as we were getting up early to go to the salt flats on Saturday morning! Anyways as I was arriving some of the others were off wine shopping so I added my order! Anyways we Had a pretty jokes evening and got to bed relatively early like 12 again! Then was up at 7.30 Saturday morning as we were being picked up at 8 from the house. 7 of us went (me, Isabel, mariella, Gemma, Jess, elke and natta) me and natta had volunteered to sit in the back of the truck which really wasn't that bad as there was a reasonable amount of space! However we had been told it'd be like 2 hours to get there not 4! We ten spent another hour driving around what in reality was a lake with lil patches of salt! However there were llamas, alpacas and flamingos there! I said o didn't mind staying in back for return journey as it hadn't been that bad going up! Rookie error u go like three times as fast downhill and by the time we got down I was seriously bruised and minorly concussed aswell from whacking my head on the roof/window so many times! Whilst it wasn't that good in the sense of really not what we had been expecting, it was a nice day out from the city.
I then had a couple hours to go home, shower and rest before I headed back over to the v house as we were going out for dinner but I couldn't have a key so decided to sleep there for the night otra vez. Anyways headed over and we decided to go to plaza de armas agin but to the place we hadn't picked on Wednesday, though there were only 9 of is this time! Was only 5 sols more but was really good, I had this massive bowlof what was supposedly chicken soup but didn't taste asi, garlic bread and trucha a la plancha! Then went for ice cream round the corner for desert! Had best combo ever of like chocolate cookie ice cream and mango! If uve never tried mango ad chocolate ice cream together before ur seriously missing out! Lol
So, after the ice cream half of the group went home as were tired/traveling next day, but me, Isabel, phillipa and Tiffany decided to go out as tiffany only arrived last week and really wanted to go out, so we said we didn't mind going out but me ad isabel were like we don't wanna go out for long, just one drink really...... Well 5 1/2 hours and muchos drinks later things hadn't really gone according to plan! Lol we'd started in this one bar with a happy hour from 6-12! (don't think they'd quite got the concept of happy HOUR) Lol but we chose it as it had pretty good music tho deteriorated a lil once the dj started! Problem may have been that It didn't make economical sense to buy single drinks wen was same price to buy three! Lol anyways headed onto Deja vu' after, seemed a lil empty to begin with bit that quickly changed, also was playing way better music than last eeek! Saw some people who'd we'd met the week before there aswell so got a chance to practice my somewhat slurred Spanish ;) anyways, managed to get a taxi home after a lil walking and avoiding the dodgy taxis. Unfortunately only had just over 5 hours sleep as had to get up to head home across town as was going for mothers daylunch with the fam! Only thing was all my clothes like properly reeked of smoke and I can't stand that smell, so did seriously contemplate going home in my pyjamas, however being the blatantly pbvious ones which are covered in monkeys, decided even I couldn't face the combi ride home being ridiculed by randomers! Only had time at home to quickly breakfast, shower, change and spend 5 mins feeling sorry for myself before it was time to go! It was me, karin, Peru mom and her daughter. Tho we stopped off to pick up her mother from her home meaning there were 4 of us in the back of the taxi which is like the size of a KA! Also turned out we weren't going straight to lunch, we were going to church first! This trip I'm going more to church than I normally do in a whole year! Lol also there were no seats in the church and I genuinely just wanted to curl up and die! ;) so afterwards we headed over to her sisters house for lunch which was takeaway chicken and chips and then this awesome meringue cake for desert! Soooo tired at this point was struggling to not fall asleep at the table, tho luckily her daughter had gone out too night before so was tired aswll meaning we headed home by 4. Tho not before we'd looked at pictures from the royal wedding, analysing the outfits and just generally mocking the ridiculous array of hats! At home whilst the others went o descansar I fell asleep on the couch ad didn't wake up till like 7. Then went back to sleep at 8.30! Which is wht I had no lesson plan today!
Today though was laundry day, as have just been wearing everything and just washing underwear! Lol but had run out od clothes plus there were the ones where I couldn't get rid of the smoke smell! However didn't entirely think it through as I genuinely took like ecryhing to the laundrette and told the lady this is all my clothing, please dear god don't shrink it! ;) also realised I have like no socks, dunno where they've gone so had to bit some more today! But yeh only had like a pair of shorts and long sleeved top left so was kinda cold today! Bit cam go collect it tomorrow at lunch, tho dunno what I can wear in the morning! Lol also 8 kilos of washing is knda expensive like £10 dunno of this was the best option but Peru mom vouched for it Nd think it is more important I don't shrink all my clothing! ;)
Think that's gotta be everything! Won't be able to update again till either Friday or Tuesday as I'm going to colca canyon fr the weekend, tho tbh proba won't be Friday! ;)
Also can't believe this is week 4 in Arequipa! Dunno where the times going I only have under two weeks left! :( to through in a bit of my new grammar, si tuviera mas tiempo, me gustaria quedarme aca! ;)
Monday 2 May 2011
What Not To Eat...
Sooo, another really busy week means That I haven't had the time to sit down and update the blog so here goes. Bear in mind this may also be really random ordering as I tend to put things in when I remember them even if they don't really fit in at said point! ;)
So, weekdays were basics same format during the day with Spanish lessons in the morning and then working in the school in the afternoon. I think my Spanish is improving and the school is good aswell.
Anways, as the title may suggest the main happening in the week centered around food! (u may at this point be thinking so what's new but this was different) so I think my stomach had got used to the safety foods of bread, peanut butter, fruit, biscuits and empanadas and when I decided to break the mould I think it may have been a bit of an overload from te staples! Lol
So on Tuesday we had the volunteer meeting as usual at the house. Every week someone cooks the meal an then we just split the cost at the end. So on Tuesday it was like a stir fry rice with chicken which was really good! Then on Wednesday we went out to tacos y tequila Which pretty much says what it is on the label, though I actually had this massive burrito and 'bolas de la revolucion' simply for the name. After this we also decided to go get ice cream somewhere else in centro! So this marked the beginning of stomach pains when I returned home that night. Wasn't feeling great all night and the next day aswell. Also one of the others who'd come out with us was I'll aswell so thinking maybe something I ate or the combination?! But felt a lil better by evening so went back with the others to their house for movie night. However the bakery had run out of empanadas and couldn't be bothered to walk back to other food shops so settled for 2 apple pies and a massive chunk of chocolate cake washed down with like a litter and half of inka kola. Needless to say this was not the greatest plan just cause I had momentarily felt a lil better. But stuck it out a while as I was waiting for the popcorn(which somehow took an hour to make?) before we started the movie. However with the movie being black swan (utter ****/just plain creepy to those who haven't yet had the misfortune to see it) I headed back early like 10ish?
So by Friday I actually felt like someone was twisting my insides. My Spanish teacher told me I'd basics just eaten a succession of things I shouldn't combine and then stuff I shouldn't eat when u have a dodgy tummy, so she recommended some pills and flat coke. Pharmacy decided to give me different pills but they temporarily relieved the pan enough for me to go out Friday night! (was ill last weekend so no way was gonna stay in otra vez) anyways tummy is still randomly paining me but have been running about a lot and just generally ignoring it so all shall be well! :) not moving away from food to te rest of the week!
So yeh week was pretty busy. We also had new people start at the school in Monday and then at Spanish classes two of the people finished on Friday! Also I have decided I am like perfect combo height as I don't have to stoop! Lol tho today we had a short combo so had serious crick in my neck by the time we got off! O yeh and I think on Monday there was this appallingly bad guitar playing man who got on the cpmbi and proceeded tonplay and sing horrifically! We're pretty sure it was only like two lines on a loop as well! Anyways I think he took the crowds hint as didn't ask for a penny before getting off, suppose it's one of the few places where the audience can't run away! ;)
Yeh so like I said wnt out Friday night and I think like pretty much all of us did. However, had a bit of a disastrous start to the evening! I went home after school to dump stuff and get a key for the house to let myself back in later, also went and got something for dinner. So the plan was to head over to the house to meet up with everyone for predrinks. Anyways set off like about 8.30 to walk to centro as like halves price of taxi plus I wanted to change some money. However, no idea how but somehow got lost ? Now those who know me should be aware whilst I have a terrible sense of direction I only need to go somewhere once to remember the route so really not sure what happened there but ended up in like the china town of Arequipa, and needless to say that made me te only gringo in sight! Also when I asked people where I was I soon realized that was a stupid question as it didn't actually help me!
Also they only pointed vaguely in a direction when I enquired as to the whereabouts of the plaza de armas so am thinking musta been witw far out! Also on top of that none of the taxis were free, only the dodgy unknown ones. Anyways by some miracle an hour later I ended up in a part of town I knew and headed back to centro. However to top everything off I realized at this point I had lost the adress of the house! So headed to the bar we were gonna go to first, but ten realized also didn't know where that one was! Lol so went and sat on a bench in the plaza de armas like a right lil tramp with my plastic bag with it's vodka n coke. (I had actually planned not really to drink as was a lil ill but..? ;)
Anwyas like 15 mins later I hear my name being shouted and by another stroke of luck one of the other volunteers is there! Can't say how grateful I was to find her and her friend! Anyways, she also doesn't live at the house and so had arranged to meet them at 10 in plaza de armas but no one had turned up! Also in case ur thinking why not just call them - no numbers between the three of us! Anywyas went back to bar they were supposed to be in but still no sign of then so we decided to go somewhere else. Ended up in some club where u had to pay to get in. Also had heard it was a salsa club and thought that meant that was just the kinda music it played, but no, it meant todos could dance like really well, plus they only played like 6 songs on loop! But was massive ad we decided to stay there for an hour or so as had paid to get in. Sent her frend home like at 12.30 (she had a curfew) then went back to that same bar where they were supposed to be and lo and behold they were finally there, just turns out they'd kinda waited a while at the house thinking maybe we were just a lil late and then hadn't really realized the time! Anyways hung out there a while a then headed over to the main club 'deja vu' which was just insanely packed and can't really describe what the music was like but eveypne wasnhaving a great time so... :) tho once the band finessed the music didn't really improve till like 2.30? When it started to play stuff we actually knew! Lol anyways we had plans for next day so weren't out too late, think got to bed like 3.30/4?
So, was up again like at 10 as was meeting some others in centro(elke,mariela and Isabel) to go visit the monastery which was like a lil city in itself. Was kinda expensive to get in (relative) so we decided to take our time Nd spent like 3hours going round and had lung there too. I just liked all the different colours though turned out if u lent on the walls they dyed u whatever colour they were! Lol
After headed over to where I live and ended up having a very south American evening, jks we had kfc and went to see Thor 3D in English with Spanish subtitles! Was nice tho.
Then yesterday was up really early again like 5.50 as we wanted to go to the petroglyphs (pictures on stones) bit they're 3 hours away by bus. However by a series of unfortunate events I was 5 mins late for the bus so we missed the 7.30 an had to wait for the 9 one instead! Oops only three of us had decided to go (me, mariela and Isabel) as some others wanted to go with a guide or just thought we'd get lost! Anyways I slept the journey there and we arrived in the lovely town of corire who's centro commercial is like 4 stores? ;) anyways we found a taxi that was willing to take us to the petroglyphs and hang around for 1 1/2 hours whilst we wandered around. Ita a good thing we chose to get a taxi as would have totally got lost trying to walk there! Anyways it's basics up a hill in the desert in the middle of nowhere. We were the ONLY people there! But was interesting and spent the time taking random photos and view was awesome if slightly surreal. Tho we decided judging by the quality of some pictures they're probs a hoax and all ye peruvians are thinking ha look at the gringos paying money to go see a bunch of rocks! ;) but was a nice day out and got out of the city tho was seriously hot!went back to corire and were gonna eat there but being a Sunday there really wasn't much open nor really much at all! Also there was a bus leaving for Arequipa as we arrived so got on that. Bus people laughed at us as we had travelled 3 hours there and spent 2hours 15 mins in the place! But we saw what we wanted to so all was good! Also slept way back tho woke up at one point when it looked like we were gonna fall down the mountain as there are no barriers and the road just drops down off the side! Lol had nice dinner back in Arequipa, am currently eating s lot of chicken but alls good! Also refused to pay 5sol for the taxi back from bus station as journey is only 4 sols so argued until he lowered the price! Lol only like 20/25p but was the principle that he was trig to overcharge us! ;)
So what else is there to tell you? (assuming u haven't stopped reading by this point in the ramblings) there's anther girl staying at my house who's also havig lessons at the Spanish school. She's from Austria and 22, obvs her English is perfect and from what she's told me I think her Spanish must e pretty good too tho haven't heard her speak yet so who knows? Seems nice enough tho didn't wanna come out with us on fri and have been out all weekend so havent really had time to speak to her! Also everything here seems to be cooked in masses of salt! Ooh may have mentioned this before but tried queso helado and was really good tho insanely sweet like evryrhong here I suppose! Tho not actually made from cheese as name may suggest merely made in similar manner! Also there are two really cute lil dogs at the Spanish school called chester and suzie(tho more commonly sucia due to her general state of dirtiness!) . They're really friendly though a bit stupid as they're constantly running in circles an never listen to what they're told! Today almost didn't recognise them as they had a bath over the weekend! Lol
So I think thats everything u need to know and shall update again when I have time so probs next week again! ;)
So, weekdays were basics same format during the day with Spanish lessons in the morning and then working in the school in the afternoon. I think my Spanish is improving and the school is good aswell.
Anways, as the title may suggest the main happening in the week centered around food! (u may at this point be thinking so what's new but this was different) so I think my stomach had got used to the safety foods of bread, peanut butter, fruit, biscuits and empanadas and when I decided to break the mould I think it may have been a bit of an overload from te staples! Lol
So on Tuesday we had the volunteer meeting as usual at the house. Every week someone cooks the meal an then we just split the cost at the end. So on Tuesday it was like a stir fry rice with chicken which was really good! Then on Wednesday we went out to tacos y tequila Which pretty much says what it is on the label, though I actually had this massive burrito and 'bolas de la revolucion' simply for the name. After this we also decided to go get ice cream somewhere else in centro! So this marked the beginning of stomach pains when I returned home that night. Wasn't feeling great all night and the next day aswell. Also one of the others who'd come out with us was I'll aswell so thinking maybe something I ate or the combination?! But felt a lil better by evening so went back with the others to their house for movie night. However the bakery had run out of empanadas and couldn't be bothered to walk back to other food shops so settled for 2 apple pies and a massive chunk of chocolate cake washed down with like a litter and half of inka kola. Needless to say this was not the greatest plan just cause I had momentarily felt a lil better. But stuck it out a while as I was waiting for the popcorn(which somehow took an hour to make?) before we started the movie. However with the movie being black swan (utter ****/just plain creepy to those who haven't yet had the misfortune to see it) I headed back early like 10ish?
So by Friday I actually felt like someone was twisting my insides. My Spanish teacher told me I'd basics just eaten a succession of things I shouldn't combine and then stuff I shouldn't eat when u have a dodgy tummy, so she recommended some pills and flat coke. Pharmacy decided to give me different pills but they temporarily relieved the pan enough for me to go out Friday night! (was ill last weekend so no way was gonna stay in otra vez) anyways tummy is still randomly paining me but have been running about a lot and just generally ignoring it so all shall be well! :) not moving away from food to te rest of the week!
So yeh week was pretty busy. We also had new people start at the school in Monday and then at Spanish classes two of the people finished on Friday! Also I have decided I am like perfect combo height as I don't have to stoop! Lol tho today we had a short combo so had serious crick in my neck by the time we got off! O yeh and I think on Monday there was this appallingly bad guitar playing man who got on the cpmbi and proceeded tonplay and sing horrifically! We're pretty sure it was only like two lines on a loop as well! Anyways I think he took the crowds hint as didn't ask for a penny before getting off, suppose it's one of the few places where the audience can't run away! ;)
Yeh so like I said wnt out Friday night and I think like pretty much all of us did. However, had a bit of a disastrous start to the evening! I went home after school to dump stuff and get a key for the house to let myself back in later, also went and got something for dinner. So the plan was to head over to the house to meet up with everyone for predrinks. Anyways set off like about 8.30 to walk to centro as like halves price of taxi plus I wanted to change some money. However, no idea how but somehow got lost ? Now those who know me should be aware whilst I have a terrible sense of direction I only need to go somewhere once to remember the route so really not sure what happened there but ended up in like the china town of Arequipa, and needless to say that made me te only gringo in sight! Also when I asked people where I was I soon realized that was a stupid question as it didn't actually help me!
Also they only pointed vaguely in a direction when I enquired as to the whereabouts of the plaza de armas so am thinking musta been witw far out! Also on top of that none of the taxis were free, only the dodgy unknown ones. Anyways by some miracle an hour later I ended up in a part of town I knew and headed back to centro. However to top everything off I realized at this point I had lost the adress of the house! So headed to the bar we were gonna go to first, but ten realized also didn't know where that one was! Lol so went and sat on a bench in the plaza de armas like a right lil tramp with my plastic bag with it's vodka n coke. (I had actually planned not really to drink as was a lil ill but..? ;)
Anwyas like 15 mins later I hear my name being shouted and by another stroke of luck one of the other volunteers is there! Can't say how grateful I was to find her and her friend! Anyways, she also doesn't live at the house and so had arranged to meet them at 10 in plaza de armas but no one had turned up! Also in case ur thinking why not just call them - no numbers between the three of us! Anywyas went back to bar they were supposed to be in but still no sign of then so we decided to go somewhere else. Ended up in some club where u had to pay to get in. Also had heard it was a salsa club and thought that meant that was just the kinda music it played, but no, it meant todos could dance like really well, plus they only played like 6 songs on loop! But was massive ad we decided to stay there for an hour or so as had paid to get in. Sent her frend home like at 12.30 (she had a curfew) then went back to that same bar where they were supposed to be and lo and behold they were finally there, just turns out they'd kinda waited a while at the house thinking maybe we were just a lil late and then hadn't really realized the time! Anyways hung out there a while a then headed over to the main club 'deja vu' which was just insanely packed and can't really describe what the music was like but eveypne wasnhaving a great time so... :) tho once the band finessed the music didn't really improve till like 2.30? When it started to play stuff we actually knew! Lol anyways we had plans for next day so weren't out too late, think got to bed like 3.30/4?
So, was up again like at 10 as was meeting some others in centro(elke,mariela and Isabel) to go visit the monastery which was like a lil city in itself. Was kinda expensive to get in (relative) so we decided to take our time Nd spent like 3hours going round and had lung there too. I just liked all the different colours though turned out if u lent on the walls they dyed u whatever colour they were! Lol
After headed over to where I live and ended up having a very south American evening, jks we had kfc and went to see Thor 3D in English with Spanish subtitles! Was nice tho.
Then yesterday was up really early again like 5.50 as we wanted to go to the petroglyphs (pictures on stones) bit they're 3 hours away by bus. However by a series of unfortunate events I was 5 mins late for the bus so we missed the 7.30 an had to wait for the 9 one instead! Oops only three of us had decided to go (me, mariela and Isabel) as some others wanted to go with a guide or just thought we'd get lost! Anyways I slept the journey there and we arrived in the lovely town of corire who's centro commercial is like 4 stores? ;) anyways we found a taxi that was willing to take us to the petroglyphs and hang around for 1 1/2 hours whilst we wandered around. Ita a good thing we chose to get a taxi as would have totally got lost trying to walk there! Anyways it's basics up a hill in the desert in the middle of nowhere. We were the ONLY people there! But was interesting and spent the time taking random photos and view was awesome if slightly surreal. Tho we decided judging by the quality of some pictures they're probs a hoax and all ye peruvians are thinking ha look at the gringos paying money to go see a bunch of rocks! ;) but was a nice day out and got out of the city tho was seriously hot!went back to corire and were gonna eat there but being a Sunday there really wasn't much open nor really much at all! Also there was a bus leaving for Arequipa as we arrived so got on that. Bus people laughed at us as we had travelled 3 hours there and spent 2hours 15 mins in the place! But we saw what we wanted to so all was good! Also slept way back tho woke up at one point when it looked like we were gonna fall down the mountain as there are no barriers and the road just drops down off the side! Lol had nice dinner back in Arequipa, am currently eating s lot of chicken but alls good! Also refused to pay 5sol for the taxi back from bus station as journey is only 4 sols so argued until he lowered the price! Lol only like 20/25p but was the principle that he was trig to overcharge us! ;)
So what else is there to tell you? (assuming u haven't stopped reading by this point in the ramblings) there's anther girl staying at my house who's also havig lessons at the Spanish school. She's from Austria and 22, obvs her English is perfect and from what she's told me I think her Spanish must e pretty good too tho haven't heard her speak yet so who knows? Seems nice enough tho didn't wanna come out with us on fri and have been out all weekend so havent really had time to speak to her! Also everything here seems to be cooked in masses of salt! Ooh may have mentioned this before but tried queso helado and was really good tho insanely sweet like evryrhong here I suppose! Tho not actually made from cheese as name may suggest merely made in similar manner! Also there are two really cute lil dogs at the Spanish school called chester and suzie(tho more commonly sucia due to her general state of dirtiness!) . They're really friendly though a bit stupid as they're constantly running in circles an never listen to what they're told! Today almost didn't recognise them as they had a bath over the weekend! Lol
So I think thats everything u need to know and shall update again when I have time so probs next week again! ;)
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