Obviously this blog is generally used for my blogging about my time volunteering in Peru and my travels but after reading news stories, watching multiple youtube videos, speaking to friends and reading facebook updates and twitter I can officially say that LONDON HAS GONE MAD!!
I could understand the reasoning behind the initial PROTESTS by the family of Mark Duggan, family and friends just searching for answers, whilst Mark Duggan has been painted in two very different portraits by both the media and family people are forgetting that he was a father, a son, a fiancee and a friend to many. For that reason I feel that the protests of the family were necessary as from what I have heard their pleas have gone unanswered.
But what I CANNOT understand are the youths who have used the death of a man to start a riot through out London which has now spread like dominos throughout the rest of the UK. The rioters have tarnished the name of Mark Duggan and the fight of his family for answers. Not only that but thanks to these idiots the name of not only black youth, or youths of an ethnic minority but youths in general, OUR name has been tarnished due to a minority of idiots.
Do you not realise what you are doing is selfish, immoral and just plain wrong? Yes the goverment cut your EMA, yes the university rates have risen and as youth in the UK your voices, our voices go unheard yet are you forgetting what you do have? You DO have a roof over your head, you DO have free health care, you DO have free education and you CAN get an allowance if you are out of education and out of work, and who is this all provided by? THE GOVERMENT. And who funds the goverment? The every day working class citizen, your mum, your dad, your nan, your aunt, uncle, friend, cousin WHATEVER and going around destroying stores, destroying homes and destroying livelihoods which these working class people have created is not going to get you answers, the only thing it is going to get you is a jail sentence.
I´´ve been volunteering which young boys in Peru for a year who will laugh at what you are claiming to be a struggle and claiming to be a poverty stricken life. I´ve seen the tears of boys who just want their mum to love them, I´ve seen the scars of boys sent to work in gold mines and the psychological damage of boys who have had no one to provide them with ONE meal a day let alone a roof over their heads. This doesn´t just apply to teenage boys either, this applies to 5 year old boys. I´ve worked with boys who have been made to sell on the streets all day JUST to buy them a piece of bread, run away from their families to avoid daily beatings and even to the point where they have been SOLD by their neighbour to work in an illegal gold mine in the jungle and made to think that his parents done it to him. And do you know what? These boys still managed to look past a society that has shunned them, family that have caused them so much harm and do this all with a smile on their faces. To the boys this is all fuel which fires up their motiviation to make something of themselves, look passed what has happened in their past to provide for their future families.
What you are all doing has been and would be a LAST resort for these children, teenagers and youth here in Peru and in any other 3rd world country. If you rioted like this in a 3rd world country you wouldnt just get a slap on the wrist but you´d probably end up shot dead by the police. Don´t take advantage of the "hug a hoodie" approach David Cameron stupidly tried advertise before the police are forced to change their strategies.
So before you decide to step out of your house and grab a brick to throw through the nearest shop window, stop and think what you actually do have and how lucky you are to have what you have. It is already hard enough to get heard as a young person in the UK but you have made it 100 times harder for us and have made us all out to be senseless hoodlums, especially those coming from minorities.
The media need to stop giving attention to these thugs and start reporting on the good that we as youth do, for every thug on the roads screaming "F*ck the pigs" there are 100 other youths who are in university, working to make a living for themselves, volunteering, trying to help their communities, trying to change this streotype that is holding us all back. So STOP giving these idiots what they are craving, ATTENTION and give it where it is truly deserved.
Rant Over
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Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Travelling like a Rasta!
So Im sitting here writing this blog whilst everyone in the hostal is asleep as I have drunk too much Yerba Mate this evening and found out after a good 6 cups of it that it contains caffeine looool, so what better time to write a blog till now?
Travelling is such an amazing experiance and I am enjoying more or less every single minute of it, I am writing this blog from Cordoba, Argentina which is a place I have absolutely fallen in love with and Rach has as well, for what reason? I couldnt tell you, but we just love it here. We´re staying at a hostal called Baluch hostal and its the best hostal we´ve stayed at all year and is not the most expensive one either. Im not going to bore you with a day to day account of what Ive done since my last blog as you´ll get bored sh*t less lol. So I´ll write the main things which Ive done so far.....
DEATH ROAD
Death Road is one of my favourite things Ive done travelling, its in La Paz, Bolivia and was absolutely AWESOME!!!! Basically its called death road as it is or should I say WAS THE worlds most dangerous road when it was inuse due to the amount of deaths etc due to the seriously bad conditions of the road which was literally dirt and the huge drops and sharp turns. In 2006 the bolivian goverment built a new road so the death road is now out of use for cars and is just a place for travellers on the search of an Adrenaline rush which summed up me and Rach. We went with a really proffesional company called Xtreme Downhill and were kitted up in this black and orange biking gear, gloves, elbow pads, knee pads and full face helmet, I felt immensly cool in that get up and could totally imagine myself walking around Edgware station in it haha. You start off at 4,300 something meters high up the mountain on the in use road, before switching on the dirt road which we rode for around 40 kilometeres if Im right, we ended up at 1000 something meteres high and in the jungle. The bike ride is NOT a joke, you seriously have to keep every ounce of concentration in your body on the road, one wrong turn and your off the side of the road into the deep depths of the bolivian jungle. There were a few times when I lost slight control of my bike due to riding over a huge rock or something but thankfully got my control back again. I spent the whole ride f´ing and blinding and praying to God not to let me die and I made it down safely but not only safely, first... YHHHH BUDDY haha. Me and Rach have a really cool t-shirt for completing the ride which is now my bed time t-shirt.
POTOSI MINES
The Potosi mine tour was a very random yet interesting tour, which yet again is not one to be taken lightly. We went with a company called Real Deal (which I strongly recommend if your planning to do the mine tours) which is run by ex potosi miners who can all speak very good english incase you don´t know any spanish. We literally had to sign a declaration signing away any responsabilty to the company incase we get injured or die in the mines, that was a very reassuring thing to do just before we done it. Anyways the tour starts off going to a miners market where you can buy gifts for the miners which we´ll pass who´ll be working whilst we are inside the mines. Do you want to guess what I bought for 15 bolivianos (1 pound 50)? DYNAMITE!!! Potosi is probably the only place in the whole of south america where you can buy dynamite not only very cheaply but also so easily. We also bought some home made fags and coca leaves which the miners chew day in day out whilst working (many of them refuse to work without it) as it stops hunger pains and keeps you energized whilst working. We then headed off to a factory where they seperate all the minerals which are mined, and we saw pure gold!! I was so tempted to just shove it in the pockets of my gringa trousers haha. Then it was off to the mines, the mines were no joke, we had to climb on hands and knees, bend our backs at angles they should never be bent at and climb down extremely dangerous ladders as we passed through the levels of the mines. The most crazy thing was that the mines are all still in use and it is a source of income for the majority of the men of Potosi, we even saw a 17 year old boy working within the mines but heard stories from our Guide that he started working in the mines at the age of 7!!!!!!!!!! It is apparently illegal to work in the mines until the age of 18 but there has never been anyone to impose these laws there. The miners worship a weird devil like statue within the mines which we saw, they drink to this statue which actually has devil horns and leave offereings to it like coca leaves, fags and alcohol. Every week in June they sacrifice a llama at the beginning of the mining tunnel and spread its blood around it and bury its organs at the beginning as its meant to keep them safe in the mines apparently. I didnt quite understand it but the tradition has been going on for years so wasn´t about to question it. The mining tour was seriously interesting but a huge eye opener as to how much risk the miners take to put food on their table and to essentially keep their children in education as many wouldn´t even dream of having their children work in the mines like them.
SALAR DE UYUNI, UYUNI, BOLVIA
The Salt flats of Uyuni are normally done on a 3 day tour but due to the most random fall of snow a week or 2 before much of the normal route was closed off as there were still 2 jeeps lost in the snow somewhere, its the most snow that had fallen in decades and had even covered the desert of chile! Instead we done a day tour of the Salar and it was beautiful, we randomly bumped into 5 of the other Project Trust Peru girls whilst we were there so got a lot of pictures together, even more randomley two of the girls on our tour were Project Trust volunteers from Chile! Project trust really is taking over the world!!! The salt flats are the biggest in the world stretching for god knows how many killometres, it was very cool and yes I did lick the floor to test it all wasn´t a big white lie and it was extremely salty. I got some really cool photos that day which I will upload at some point when I can be bothered. The actual town of Uyuni I hated, it was just horrible and I got food poisening which meant I was throwing up the whole 10 hour train journey to Villazon (Bolivian border town to Argentina).
SALTA
Salta was a pretty town but our time spent there was made what it is by the fact we spent it with the 5 other Peru Project Trust girls who we met up with in Uyuni, we all stayed at the same hostal so it was a very fun time, we didnt actually do an awful lot there, we had a taste of argentinian night life which wasnt all that great as the busiest club started playing rock music and the bar man mixed our beer with some mint liqour which felt like a chore to drink as it was such a horrible concoxtion. We got a cable car up this mountain and got a really nice view of Salta but the absolute most immense thing we done in Salta was go out for STEEEEEEAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!! Ive never eaten so much meat in my life and I swear to god I was suffering from meat sweats by the end of the meal haha. We ordered shoulder meat, stomach meat and rib meat which each came with a huge serving and we were all stuffed by the end with enough meat to take home in a doggy bag for a breakfast sandwhich! The whole time I was eating the steak I was thinking about my Dad and how much he would have absolutely loved this, don´t worry dear father I ate enough for the both of us lol.
CORDOBA
Cordoba as I have said there isn´t a huge amount to do here but the vibe of the city is really nice, I would be happy enough to spend my whole time here in Argentina in this exact hostal. We went to the Che Guaverea museum here which is basically his old family vacation house which has been converted into a museum. If you don´t know who he is, bow your head in shame and type him into google, I´m not going to leave a huge paragraph explaining his life to you guys, sorry.
THE REST OF TRAVELLING
Tomorrow or really I should say today in about 2 hours, me and rach will be taking a 6 hour bus to Rosario which funnily enough counts as a short bus journey for us, from there we will stay 4 days or something before heading off to Buenos Aires to explore there. From Buenos Aires we are taking a crazy 3 day bus back to Lima, that will be fun.. NART! When we bought the bus ticket in Lima the ticket seemed unbelievably expensive but after seeing how expensive buses are here in Argentina it looks like we may have even potentially SAVED money going with Cruz del Sur.
I honestly do love travelling, I dont like living out of a suitcase but I enjoy the fact we see something new everyday and meet some really amazing people. I hate how expensive travelling is, travelling on a budget is very hard in Argentina as everything is so expensive, me and Rach have literally succumbed to spending around $2 on a meal MAX, so general just spend our time eating sandwhiches or pasta as luckily enough the hostals in Argentina have kitchens so we dont have to spend our money in expensive resteraunts. We have also had to change our original plans of going to Iguazu falls as to go there would cost $200 just for a bus itself not including enterance fees or hostal stays whilst we are there, and seeing as though we were only planning on spending 3 days there and my depleating bank balance we decided not to go there and try and stretch our money further elsewhere which seems like a very good idea, We´ve seen so much already we would just be spoiling ourselves going to see Iguazu falls.
Travelling has made me into a Rasta man, with my jamaica flag gringa trousers and my newly bought Mate cup which I will now be proudly taking with me everywhere like a typical argentinian. I must tell you all when I return to the UK I will be doing the same thing but it is NOT drugs, it looks like a bong but its only tea which you drink with a metal straw loool.
Im gonna end this long blog now and the next one I write should be in Buenos Aires. 25 days till Im home eeeek, thats just another whole blog in itself my thoughts and feelings on that, so I´ll give it a rest there haha.
Take care, god bless, peace love and harmony and all that jazz
Simply signed, simply compas
Tan xxxxxxxxxx
Travelling is such an amazing experiance and I am enjoying more or less every single minute of it, I am writing this blog from Cordoba, Argentina which is a place I have absolutely fallen in love with and Rach has as well, for what reason? I couldnt tell you, but we just love it here. We´re staying at a hostal called Baluch hostal and its the best hostal we´ve stayed at all year and is not the most expensive one either. Im not going to bore you with a day to day account of what Ive done since my last blog as you´ll get bored sh*t less lol. So I´ll write the main things which Ive done so far.....
DEATH ROAD
Death Road is one of my favourite things Ive done travelling, its in La Paz, Bolivia and was absolutely AWESOME!!!! Basically its called death road as it is or should I say WAS THE worlds most dangerous road when it was inuse due to the amount of deaths etc due to the seriously bad conditions of the road which was literally dirt and the huge drops and sharp turns. In 2006 the bolivian goverment built a new road so the death road is now out of use for cars and is just a place for travellers on the search of an Adrenaline rush which summed up me and Rach. We went with a really proffesional company called Xtreme Downhill and were kitted up in this black and orange biking gear, gloves, elbow pads, knee pads and full face helmet, I felt immensly cool in that get up and could totally imagine myself walking around Edgware station in it haha. You start off at 4,300 something meters high up the mountain on the in use road, before switching on the dirt road which we rode for around 40 kilometeres if Im right, we ended up at 1000 something meteres high and in the jungle. The bike ride is NOT a joke, you seriously have to keep every ounce of concentration in your body on the road, one wrong turn and your off the side of the road into the deep depths of the bolivian jungle. There were a few times when I lost slight control of my bike due to riding over a huge rock or something but thankfully got my control back again. I spent the whole ride f´ing and blinding and praying to God not to let me die and I made it down safely but not only safely, first... YHHHH BUDDY haha. Me and Rach have a really cool t-shirt for completing the ride which is now my bed time t-shirt.
POTOSI MINES
The Potosi mine tour was a very random yet interesting tour, which yet again is not one to be taken lightly. We went with a company called Real Deal (which I strongly recommend if your planning to do the mine tours) which is run by ex potosi miners who can all speak very good english incase you don´t know any spanish. We literally had to sign a declaration signing away any responsabilty to the company incase we get injured or die in the mines, that was a very reassuring thing to do just before we done it. Anyways the tour starts off going to a miners market where you can buy gifts for the miners which we´ll pass who´ll be working whilst we are inside the mines. Do you want to guess what I bought for 15 bolivianos (1 pound 50)? DYNAMITE!!! Potosi is probably the only place in the whole of south america where you can buy dynamite not only very cheaply but also so easily. We also bought some home made fags and coca leaves which the miners chew day in day out whilst working (many of them refuse to work without it) as it stops hunger pains and keeps you energized whilst working. We then headed off to a factory where they seperate all the minerals which are mined, and we saw pure gold!! I was so tempted to just shove it in the pockets of my gringa trousers haha. Then it was off to the mines, the mines were no joke, we had to climb on hands and knees, bend our backs at angles they should never be bent at and climb down extremely dangerous ladders as we passed through the levels of the mines. The most crazy thing was that the mines are all still in use and it is a source of income for the majority of the men of Potosi, we even saw a 17 year old boy working within the mines but heard stories from our Guide that he started working in the mines at the age of 7!!!!!!!!!! It is apparently illegal to work in the mines until the age of 18 but there has never been anyone to impose these laws there. The miners worship a weird devil like statue within the mines which we saw, they drink to this statue which actually has devil horns and leave offereings to it like coca leaves, fags and alcohol. Every week in June they sacrifice a llama at the beginning of the mining tunnel and spread its blood around it and bury its organs at the beginning as its meant to keep them safe in the mines apparently. I didnt quite understand it but the tradition has been going on for years so wasn´t about to question it. The mining tour was seriously interesting but a huge eye opener as to how much risk the miners take to put food on their table and to essentially keep their children in education as many wouldn´t even dream of having their children work in the mines like them.
SALAR DE UYUNI, UYUNI, BOLVIA
The Salt flats of Uyuni are normally done on a 3 day tour but due to the most random fall of snow a week or 2 before much of the normal route was closed off as there were still 2 jeeps lost in the snow somewhere, its the most snow that had fallen in decades and had even covered the desert of chile! Instead we done a day tour of the Salar and it was beautiful, we randomly bumped into 5 of the other Project Trust Peru girls whilst we were there so got a lot of pictures together, even more randomley two of the girls on our tour were Project Trust volunteers from Chile! Project trust really is taking over the world!!! The salt flats are the biggest in the world stretching for god knows how many killometres, it was very cool and yes I did lick the floor to test it all wasn´t a big white lie and it was extremely salty. I got some really cool photos that day which I will upload at some point when I can be bothered. The actual town of Uyuni I hated, it was just horrible and I got food poisening which meant I was throwing up the whole 10 hour train journey to Villazon (Bolivian border town to Argentina).
SALTA
Salta was a pretty town but our time spent there was made what it is by the fact we spent it with the 5 other Peru Project Trust girls who we met up with in Uyuni, we all stayed at the same hostal so it was a very fun time, we didnt actually do an awful lot there, we had a taste of argentinian night life which wasnt all that great as the busiest club started playing rock music and the bar man mixed our beer with some mint liqour which felt like a chore to drink as it was such a horrible concoxtion. We got a cable car up this mountain and got a really nice view of Salta but the absolute most immense thing we done in Salta was go out for STEEEEEEAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!! Ive never eaten so much meat in my life and I swear to god I was suffering from meat sweats by the end of the meal haha. We ordered shoulder meat, stomach meat and rib meat which each came with a huge serving and we were all stuffed by the end with enough meat to take home in a doggy bag for a breakfast sandwhich! The whole time I was eating the steak I was thinking about my Dad and how much he would have absolutely loved this, don´t worry dear father I ate enough for the both of us lol.
CORDOBA
Cordoba as I have said there isn´t a huge amount to do here but the vibe of the city is really nice, I would be happy enough to spend my whole time here in Argentina in this exact hostal. We went to the Che Guaverea museum here which is basically his old family vacation house which has been converted into a museum. If you don´t know who he is, bow your head in shame and type him into google, I´m not going to leave a huge paragraph explaining his life to you guys, sorry.
THE REST OF TRAVELLING
Tomorrow or really I should say today in about 2 hours, me and rach will be taking a 6 hour bus to Rosario which funnily enough counts as a short bus journey for us, from there we will stay 4 days or something before heading off to Buenos Aires to explore there. From Buenos Aires we are taking a crazy 3 day bus back to Lima, that will be fun.. NART! When we bought the bus ticket in Lima the ticket seemed unbelievably expensive but after seeing how expensive buses are here in Argentina it looks like we may have even potentially SAVED money going with Cruz del Sur.
I honestly do love travelling, I dont like living out of a suitcase but I enjoy the fact we see something new everyday and meet some really amazing people. I hate how expensive travelling is, travelling on a budget is very hard in Argentina as everything is so expensive, me and Rach have literally succumbed to spending around $2 on a meal MAX, so general just spend our time eating sandwhiches or pasta as luckily enough the hostals in Argentina have kitchens so we dont have to spend our money in expensive resteraunts. We have also had to change our original plans of going to Iguazu falls as to go there would cost $200 just for a bus itself not including enterance fees or hostal stays whilst we are there, and seeing as though we were only planning on spending 3 days there and my depleating bank balance we decided not to go there and try and stretch our money further elsewhere which seems like a very good idea, We´ve seen so much already we would just be spoiling ourselves going to see Iguazu falls.
Travelling has made me into a Rasta man, with my jamaica flag gringa trousers and my newly bought Mate cup which I will now be proudly taking with me everywhere like a typical argentinian. I must tell you all when I return to the UK I will be doing the same thing but it is NOT drugs, it looks like a bong but its only tea which you drink with a metal straw loool.
Im gonna end this long blog now and the next one I write should be in Buenos Aires. 25 days till Im home eeeek, thats just another whole blog in itself my thoughts and feelings on that, so I´ll give it a rest there haha.
Take care, god bless, peace love and harmony and all that jazz
Simply signed, simply compas
Tan xxxxxxxxxx
Monday, 4 July 2011
Brazil, last month of work and first few days of travel!
I'm getting really lazy with the blog writing at the moment, I can blame around 85% of it on lack of time but the other 15% of it is just plain old laziness. It's been a while since I have written a blog almost a month to be exact and this will most probably be the last one for another month as in 2 days I will be leaving to start my travelling with Ms.Rachel C Young for 7 weeks around South America eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.
I should most definitely start with rounding up my trip of Brazil, I will try and summarise the majority but knowing me I will blab on a bit but here it goes. I left for Brazil on May 31st via Panama with COPA airlines and it all in all took I think around 10 hours mas o menos. I had stomach butterflies the WHOLE time I was flying due to my high levels of anxiety at the thought of seeing my dad after practically 10 months. Just my luck I arrived in Brazil and my bag along with another 30 peoples bags were 'lost' which means I was an hour late for leaving the arrivals, stressed due to my lack of a bag and anxious at the thought of seeing my dad, not a great combination. As I was taking my very nervous walk down the arrivals walk way I was looking around and there I saw him, my dad!!! I didn't know how I would react to this but it ended up being one of those soppy film moments. I ran and jumped on my dad in tears, it was so strange seeing him again but such a great feeling. My great Auntie Celita also met me at the airport and I haven't seen her for I think 15 years maybe less maybe more but long enough for me to forget what she looked like. And she is soooooo cute, so small but still with her pertruding latina bum (I can see where my little sister lisa gets hers from now lol).
I spent 9 days in total in Brazil, we stayed at my aunts house in Caju, Rio de Janeiro. It was a very working class area which meant everything was generally pretty cheap around there. My aunt has a small apartment but with two bedrooms so me and my dad got a bed which was nice, there was no hot water ( which I am now accustomed to thanks to Oropesa) and very very tasty coffee throughout the day as my aunt seems to have a bit of an obsession but who wouldn't when its Brazillian coffee? Whilst in Brazil we visited the Suger loaf mountains, the statue of christ, markets, a zoo and me and my dad went off to a small beach town called Paraty a 4 hour bus journey from rio. I have absolutely fallen in love with Brazil, the people, the climate, the culture, the language (which i think sounds like spanish meerkats on drugs) and the music. I think that Brazil will have to be one of the destinations of my study abroad year in univeristy. I especially loved Brazil because it was so family orientated, I got to know my auntie quite well even with the language barriers - she can't speak english/spanish only french/portuguese so she spoke to me in french/portuguese which I understood thank god- and It was so nice being with my Dad. I got to know so many things about my Dad which I don't think I would've had the opportunity to find out would it have not been for this holiday.
Here's some pictures for you to have a look at from my trip ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I came back from Brazil and went straight back to work and got right back into the routine so it felt like I had never had a break at all lol. The time from Brazil passed unbelievably quickly, filled with fathers day celebrations, enjoying the last few weeks with my boys and just making the most out of my last few weeks at ciudad de los ninos. I had spent the last month teaching around 14 of my boys a dance routine for a performance on the 17th July which im so sad I wont be there to watch but after training them hard for a month solidly dancing every day Im they will do amazingly!!!!
Leaving ciudad de los ninos was incredibly hard and I left in tears. If I thought I would be crying this time last year I would probably have laughed at myself but Peru has just made me into an emotional wreck!!! I seriously hated saying goodbye to the boys, giving them all hugs and kisses goodbye left me in tears and I was suprised (But somewhat happy in a weird way) that 3 of the boys were crying at me leaving, it was Jhamyr, Luis and Jesus who are all my Sonrisa dancers and boys who I spend the most time with. Jesus has just became my hijito, the love of my life and his cheeky nature literally reminded him so much of myself, Jhamyr is one of the dancers who just came so much more confident through dance and I sat next to him on my table at lunch so always had some funny conversations, Luis is one of the boys who I helped through grieving for his grandfather who passed away, he started to call me tia (aunty) and I was just really sad to say goodbye to everyone. Rachel and I were suprised with a huge party the day before we left and it was SO lovely. We had some crazy dancing, pinatas and everything, It´s really nice to know how appreciated we were at CIudad de los ninos.
We left Ciudad on July 1st and caught a 17 hour bus to Arequipa in the south of peru, we spent the first day just looking around the plaza, seeing all the sites like the museum which holds Juanita the ice mummy, a girl who was sacrificed to the inca goods around 500 years ago and was found perfectley preserved in ice in an arequipan mountain and is now in a arequipan museum for a few months a year and the rest of the year is being probed by scientists all over the world. We also booked the Colca Canyon trek for the next day at 3am so had an earlyish night to prepare ourself for the 2 day trek ahead of us.
Colca Canyon was actually amazing, it reminded me so much of the beauty of oropesa but was so untouched, natural and just immense. Anyone who knows me would know that treking isn´t really my idea of fun, i mean put on a dance beat and I´ll be dancing for hours but walking doesnt scream my attention in any way or form, Rachel on the other hand is a born treker, camper and just everything outdoorsey so I sucked up my hate of treking and done it with Rach. To be honest the walk DOWN wasn´t too bad, we had a really cool and knowledgable guide called chiqui so we had some really good conversations which made the time past quicker, but it was just anything and everything up hill which KILLED me, I literally wished for an elevator to just get me to where we needed to be at times. We walked for a total of just under 8 hours the first day and walked through all these small towns where the only mode of transport was donkeys or walking, and then finished the day in the oasis at the bottom of the Canyon which was amazing. It had swimming pools and everything, all be it freezing but after 8 hours walking it was just what we needed. The stars were so bright as there was no electricity and it was just so perfect.. I took the smart option after my suffering of going up hill the day before and got a Mule up the mountain as the walk in the morning was purely up hill, it was usually s/60 but I got it for s/30 due to my charm and the fact I gave him my headtorch LOL. It was really fun going up on the mule, I thought I would fall off the mule at times as it took tight turns around the mountains and my butt now seriously hurts but it was fun. I met all the other guys including rach who had trekked up the mountain in the plaza where we had breakfast. Today we went to the hotsprings which were amazinggggg after the walking, i wsa basically a swimming pool with the heat of 39 degrees and ooooooo it was heaven!!!!
Okay so I need to go and shower now as Rachel and I are getting a bus to Puno tonight to see Lake titicaca. We are slowly but surely learning how to budget a bit better as our first few days haven´t exactly been what I would call cheap but its all a learning curve, we are keeping our budgeting books which includes writing down something as small as a s/1 inca cola to the s/105 colca canyon trek.
I´m not sure how well I will keep up with my blog whilst travelling but I will ATTEMPT to keep up with it, but not keeping any promises.
Only a few weeks till Im home now and Im shitting myself, there are so many things going through my mind that I wont dare to bore you with but I can´t wait to be with my family again but at the same time can´t imagine saying goodbye to Peru :( .
Goodbye for now and until I can be bothered to write another blog. see you all soon!!!!!
Tanya xxxxx
has passed scarily quickly and now I am left with 2 days left of work and 7 weeks of travelling to look forward to. Im not looking forward to leaving here at all, I already know that the tears are going to be streaming heavily from my eyes for hours on end, leaving some of these boys who I have became so close to is going to be SO hard. I'm welling up even thinking about it now.
I should most definitely start with rounding up my trip of Brazil, I will try and summarise the majority but knowing me I will blab on a bit but here it goes. I left for Brazil on May 31st via Panama with COPA airlines and it all in all took I think around 10 hours mas o menos. I had stomach butterflies the WHOLE time I was flying due to my high levels of anxiety at the thought of seeing my dad after practically 10 months. Just my luck I arrived in Brazil and my bag along with another 30 peoples bags were 'lost' which means I was an hour late for leaving the arrivals, stressed due to my lack of a bag and anxious at the thought of seeing my dad, not a great combination. As I was taking my very nervous walk down the arrivals walk way I was looking around and there I saw him, my dad!!! I didn't know how I would react to this but it ended up being one of those soppy film moments. I ran and jumped on my dad in tears, it was so strange seeing him again but such a great feeling. My great Auntie Celita also met me at the airport and I haven't seen her for I think 15 years maybe less maybe more but long enough for me to forget what she looked like. And she is soooooo cute, so small but still with her pertruding latina bum (I can see where my little sister lisa gets hers from now lol).
I spent 9 days in total in Brazil, we stayed at my aunts house in Caju, Rio de Janeiro. It was a very working class area which meant everything was generally pretty cheap around there. My aunt has a small apartment but with two bedrooms so me and my dad got a bed which was nice, there was no hot water ( which I am now accustomed to thanks to Oropesa) and very very tasty coffee throughout the day as my aunt seems to have a bit of an obsession but who wouldn't when its Brazillian coffee? Whilst in Brazil we visited the Suger loaf mountains, the statue of christ, markets, a zoo and me and my dad went off to a small beach town called Paraty a 4 hour bus journey from rio. I have absolutely fallen in love with Brazil, the people, the climate, the culture, the language (which i think sounds like spanish meerkats on drugs) and the music. I think that Brazil will have to be one of the destinations of my study abroad year in univeristy. I especially loved Brazil because it was so family orientated, I got to know my auntie quite well even with the language barriers - she can't speak english/spanish only french/portuguese so she spoke to me in french/portuguese which I understood thank god- and It was so nice being with my Dad. I got to know so many things about my Dad which I don't think I would've had the opportunity to find out would it have not been for this holiday.
I came back from Brazil and went straight back to work and got right back into the routine so it felt like I had never had a break at all lol. The time from Brazil passed unbelievably quickly, filled with fathers day celebrations, enjoying the last few weeks with my boys and just making the most out of my last few weeks at ciudad de los ninos. I had spent the last month teaching around 14 of my boys a dance routine for a performance on the 17th July which im so sad I wont be there to watch but after training them hard for a month solidly dancing every day Im they will do amazingly!!!!
Leaving ciudad de los ninos was incredibly hard and I left in tears. If I thought I would be crying this time last year I would probably have laughed at myself but Peru has just made me into an emotional wreck!!! I seriously hated saying goodbye to the boys, giving them all hugs and kisses goodbye left me in tears and I was suprised (But somewhat happy in a weird way) that 3 of the boys were crying at me leaving, it was Jhamyr, Luis and Jesus who are all my Sonrisa dancers and boys who I spend the most time with. Jesus has just became my hijito, the love of my life and his cheeky nature literally reminded him so much of myself, Jhamyr is one of the dancers who just came so much more confident through dance and I sat next to him on my table at lunch so always had some funny conversations, Luis is one of the boys who I helped through grieving for his grandfather who passed away, he started to call me tia (aunty) and I was just really sad to say goodbye to everyone. Rachel and I were suprised with a huge party the day before we left and it was SO lovely. We had some crazy dancing, pinatas and everything, It´s really nice to know how appreciated we were at CIudad de los ninos.
We left Ciudad on July 1st and caught a 17 hour bus to Arequipa in the south of peru, we spent the first day just looking around the plaza, seeing all the sites like the museum which holds Juanita the ice mummy, a girl who was sacrificed to the inca goods around 500 years ago and was found perfectley preserved in ice in an arequipan mountain and is now in a arequipan museum for a few months a year and the rest of the year is being probed by scientists all over the world. We also booked the Colca Canyon trek for the next day at 3am so had an earlyish night to prepare ourself for the 2 day trek ahead of us.
Colca Canyon was actually amazing, it reminded me so much of the beauty of oropesa but was so untouched, natural and just immense. Anyone who knows me would know that treking isn´t really my idea of fun, i mean put on a dance beat and I´ll be dancing for hours but walking doesnt scream my attention in any way or form, Rachel on the other hand is a born treker, camper and just everything outdoorsey so I sucked up my hate of treking and done it with Rach. To be honest the walk DOWN wasn´t too bad, we had a really cool and knowledgable guide called chiqui so we had some really good conversations which made the time past quicker, but it was just anything and everything up hill which KILLED me, I literally wished for an elevator to just get me to where we needed to be at times. We walked for a total of just under 8 hours the first day and walked through all these small towns where the only mode of transport was donkeys or walking, and then finished the day in the oasis at the bottom of the Canyon which was amazing. It had swimming pools and everything, all be it freezing but after 8 hours walking it was just what we needed. The stars were so bright as there was no electricity and it was just so perfect.. I took the smart option after my suffering of going up hill the day before and got a Mule up the mountain as the walk in the morning was purely up hill, it was usually s/60 but I got it for s/30 due to my charm and the fact I gave him my headtorch LOL. It was really fun going up on the mule, I thought I would fall off the mule at times as it took tight turns around the mountains and my butt now seriously hurts but it was fun. I met all the other guys including rach who had trekked up the mountain in the plaza where we had breakfast. Today we went to the hotsprings which were amazinggggg after the walking, i wsa basically a swimming pool with the heat of 39 degrees and ooooooo it was heaven!!!!
Okay so I need to go and shower now as Rachel and I are getting a bus to Puno tonight to see Lake titicaca. We are slowly but surely learning how to budget a bit better as our first few days haven´t exactly been what I would call cheap but its all a learning curve, we are keeping our budgeting books which includes writing down something as small as a s/1 inca cola to the s/105 colca canyon trek.
I´m not sure how well I will keep up with my blog whilst travelling but I will ATTEMPT to keep up with it, but not keeping any promises.
Only a few weeks till Im home now and Im shitting myself, there are so many things going through my mind that I wont dare to bore you with but I can´t wait to be with my family again but at the same time can´t imagine saying goodbye to Peru :( .
Goodbye for now and until I can be bothered to write another blog. see you all soon!!!!!
Tanya xxxxx
has passed scarily quickly and now I am left with 2 days left of work and 7 weeks of travelling to look forward to. Im not looking forward to leaving here at all, I already know that the tears are going to be streaming heavily from my eyes for hours on end, leaving some of these boys who I have became so close to is going to be SO hard. I'm welling up even thinking about it now.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
OFF TO BRAZIL TO SEE MY DADDY
Woooo The time has finally came where I am going to head off to Brazil to see my Dad. This just proves how quickly time goes, I remember when I was in Miraflores and my Dad told me he MIGHT be coming out and I laughed at him because I didn't believe that he would actually come out.
Im all packed and just hoping that my journey goes along okay so I can be picked up by my dad and my great aunt from the airport when I arrive in rio at around 6am tomorrow.
I am getting a flight from Lima to Panama, then a connecting flight from panama to Rio, all in all its around like 12 hours on a plane i think. 12 hours seems like nothing compared to my 26 hour bus journey to Ecuador.
When I get to Brazil I'll be staying with my Aunt who lives in Rio, I haven't seen her for around 12 years maybe more so it will be nice to see her again, she still thinks of me as the 6 year old child she last saw so will be in shock when she sees a grown Tanya, with a huge tattoo and nose piercing loool.
Since the last time i wrote my blog not much has really happened, everything has been pretty much calm to be honest. Genoveva the Argentinian volunteer has left to go travelling, it was really nice having her around Son risa, it was an extra pair of hands to help me with the stuff I usually get stuck on my own doing! We'll meet up with her in Argentina as she's already offered us her house to stay in when we go there, so that will be really good.
The other night the boys got a big fright, claiming to of seen some sort of ghost with hollowed out eyes etc and a few of the boys started crying and saying that because they didn't pray that night the phantom will come and get them. The older boys started to tell one of the younger ones the ghost was under his bed so he started crying and ran up to me asking to check under his bed for the monster that is supposedly going to kill him in the night. Do you want to know what it was? A pillow case. LOL. It was so cute though, he asked me to stay in his bed and sit with him until he fell asleep to guard off any monsters that might try to hurt him. I was also made to shut all the windows by the other boys and sit with them until they also went to sleep. That was a funny night, for the kids not so much, but for me it was just so amusing. Kids just have these wild imaginations, the whole "checking under the bed for monsters" thing is something I'd only expect from kids programmes or "monsters inc", but this was all real and so funny.
Im going to wrap up the blog now, I literally need to finish cleaning my room and then ZOOM off to BRAZIL....
Speak soon lads
Tanya x
Im all packed and just hoping that my journey goes along okay so I can be picked up by my dad and my great aunt from the airport when I arrive in rio at around 6am tomorrow.
I am getting a flight from Lima to Panama, then a connecting flight from panama to Rio, all in all its around like 12 hours on a plane i think. 12 hours seems like nothing compared to my 26 hour bus journey to Ecuador.
When I get to Brazil I'll be staying with my Aunt who lives in Rio, I haven't seen her for around 12 years maybe more so it will be nice to see her again, she still thinks of me as the 6 year old child she last saw so will be in shock when she sees a grown Tanya, with a huge tattoo and nose piercing loool.
Since the last time i wrote my blog not much has really happened, everything has been pretty much calm to be honest. Genoveva the Argentinian volunteer has left to go travelling, it was really nice having her around Son risa, it was an extra pair of hands to help me with the stuff I usually get stuck on my own doing! We'll meet up with her in Argentina as she's already offered us her house to stay in when we go there, so that will be really good.
The other night the boys got a big fright, claiming to of seen some sort of ghost with hollowed out eyes etc and a few of the boys started crying and saying that because they didn't pray that night the phantom will come and get them. The older boys started to tell one of the younger ones the ghost was under his bed so he started crying and ran up to me asking to check under his bed for the monster that is supposedly going to kill him in the night. Do you want to know what it was? A pillow case. LOL. It was so cute though, he asked me to stay in his bed and sit with him until he fell asleep to guard off any monsters that might try to hurt him. I was also made to shut all the windows by the other boys and sit with them until they also went to sleep. That was a funny night, for the kids not so much, but for me it was just so amusing. Kids just have these wild imaginations, the whole "checking under the bed for monsters" thing is something I'd only expect from kids programmes or "monsters inc", but this was all real and so funny.
Im going to wrap up the blog now, I literally need to finish cleaning my room and then ZOOM off to BRAZIL....
Speak soon lads
Tanya x
Sunday, 22 May 2011
A dull life doesn't exist for a volunteer
Why on earth I choose to write a blog at 11pm on a Sunday night defeats me, after having a weekend off work due to "salida" you would think I would have done it then but meh, thats just me in a nutshell to be honest. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to attack this blog because even though its only been a few weeks since I've updated it so much has happened.
As you know (especially if your a friend/family member of the young family) it was Rach's birthday on the 5th May and the celebrations were never ending! The secretary of CdlN, the hermanas of Ninos Jesus (the house rachel works in) and myself all worked together to organise a suprise party for Rachel and it actually went to plan! It was amazing we had cakes, crisps, music and a hell of a lot of crazy dancing with the little kids. The secretary Jacky got Rachel out of ciudad for an hour or 2 so that she wouldn't walk in on us organizing the fiesta, Jacky told Rach she had to help her with a translation which was actually only a few lines and she drove Rachel to a starbucks in Surco which is around 15mins drive by car. From what Rachel tells me Jacky done a very good job at decieving Rachel, even acting as though she was unaware it was even her birthday that day. Very funny. When rachel came back carrying a big box she was greeted by singing from the boys and although she may not admit it, she defo had tears in her eyes, and no moment is never complete without a few tears haha.
The birthday celebrations didn't stop there, in the evening we went to the cinema with some friends and then early afternoon the next day Rach and I hopped on a bus to ICA which is around 5 hours away, we got a cheap bus for s/20 which is around £5. Ica introduced us to yet a new geographical wonder of peru, the desert. We headed off to Huacachina which is 5 mins away for Ica where we found a hostal and booked Sand boarding for the next day. I can't say enough how AMAZING sand boarding is, its also very scary but amazing all the same. One of the funnier moments of the day was when we got to the highest sand dune and this time we were to go on our bellies, the instructor was explaining how to sit on the board properly, how to hold on etc and then was like okay tanya off you go and pushed me off. I seemed like a typical Londoner as I was hurtling down the sand dune screaming "F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK" a gazziolian times until my board came to a stop loool, rachel couldn't stop laughing. It was especially funny because we were in a group of around 9 israeli men who couldn't speak hardly any english, yet they seemed to understand that word haha. The views were incredible and I have never visited anywhere quite like Huacachina, and never expected I would have, so a really good trip.
We only stayed in Huacachina for 2 days in total and we headed off back to CdlN, it was quite a calm weekend, more so because we seemed to both get hit with the flu. My flu got really bad in the week, which ended up turning into a throat and ear infection so I was off work for the best part of the week and back on the antibiotics *lets give a round of applause for my immune system on that beauty*.
All in all Rachels Birthday was amazing, it was such a contrast from my Birthday in Azul Wasi. They really appreciate the work which we do here and it was shown by the birthday celebrations, I'm happy at least one of us was able to be shown what a real Peruvian Fiesta is like, just to add it was even more of a stereotypical latin american birthday as there was a pinata!
Work has had a lot of ups and downs recently, actually to be completely honest there's been more downs then ups. One of the saddest things was one of the boys I have been closest to from my house has been moved up a house as he is 10/11 years old and the majority of boys in my house are from 7-9 years old. Everyone literally only found out the decision the same day it was decided he would move houses and his little brother diego was in tears. William (i think ive spoken about him in a blog post) is one of the stronger boys who doesn't show emotion and puts on this really tough act around people. I had managed to get out his nice side and always had some pretty in depth convos with him. He was definitely like a little brother to me, and we had a tough love relationship, if he misbehaved/pissed me off I would let him know it and he would always apologise afterwards. Anyway more to the point, we were all talking to william and his brother diego trying to calm him down and we got them to hug which made a new argentian volunteer genoveva start crying, then Marisoll another hermana started crying then I TRIED to fight back the tears but I literally just couldn't stop crying. William got all his bags ready to go and noticed I was crying and came and gave me a hug to which started him off crying as well. He managed to remember "he's a tough boy and tough boys don't cry" so picked up his stuff and left. I was left there crying on the bed like a big baby LOL, so me, genoveva and Marisoll went into their bedroom where we could cry away from the boys lol. I ended up having to go back to my apartment and had to skype call 2 of my bestfriends wendy & eva because I just couldn't stop crying. haha this is such a contrast from the Tanya that left peru, I always fought hard NOT to show emotions, so wendy seemed to find it pretty funny. The funniest thing is though that William is only in the house NEXT DOOR to sonrisa but its just the fact that I spent every day with him from 6am-9pm and now I only see him for a few minutes every day.
I've been trying to help an 8 year old boy Luis through a very tough time at the moment, as you know the kids in CdlN all have some sort of family connection and so technically are not orphans but are kids from broken homes. Every weekend there is either visiting days for the family members to come to CdlN or salidas where the kids go back home. Every week without fail the grandfather of Luis would turn up for him, literally every week. Last week he didn't turn up, then Luis thought his mum was coming but she didn't turn up, and then he thought he saw his aunt but then she never came to get him. He was crying so much and all I could do was hold him, then decided hey lets go for a walk and I bought him a pack of biscuits, a bottle of fizzy drink and we went to the pig farm. He seemed to calm down by the time we got back which was good. It was in the next few days however when everything went really down hill, his aunt came and told Luis that his grandfather passed away the day before. His grandfather was like a father to him, you could tell he adored Luis and Luis adored him. Recently for obvious reasons Luis hasn't really been himself, he goes through stages of being really really naughty, really clingy or will just want you to hug him to let him cry. It's a very sensitive situation because we can't let Luis misbehave and get away with all that he wants to but at the same time we all understand he is going through a rough patch.
Things in my pabellion are/were pretty tense for the past month. There has been tension between the hermanas which has meant my working enviroment hasn't been the best one to be in. There has been a lot of conflict of authority etc and has just been getting gradually worse and worse. This weekend however all the tutoras (people who work in the pabellions) all went on a spiritual retreat away from CdlN and my hermanas seem to have reconciled their differences and I hope that this has paved the way for a fresh start in SonRisa and a new happier enviroment to work in!!!!
It hasn't all been sad here though guys, I know this is a pretty deppressing blog post. Monday last week my pabellion and San Antonio which is the one which william has now moved to, we all went on a field trip to a farm!!! (bare in mind this was before william left) anyways the trip was sooooo fun. We all let our hair down, saw tonnes of cows, literally hundereds and I became a little kid again. Feeding the llamas and the week old calves and having a pony ride looool. I know Im 19 years old now but I am such a kid at heart. I also got a big game of football going Sonrisa vs San Antonio and it was hilarious. It reminded me of when I was in primary school and kids just have no clue of any formations, passing the ball etc, its all for one and one for all and is just like a big mosh pit of legs and arms scrambling for the ball. Unfortunatly Sonrisa lost by 1 goal waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa but it was so fun, on the bus home we were all fast asleep and I was using the boys who I was sitting next to as my pillows haha.
Other than that not much has been going on this month, work tends to be the same day in day out, the routines are the same, the work is the same but as you can see from this blog there can be a few things that shake it up a bit. No matter how stressed I can get in a day I know its all worth it in the end and especially from the small gestures the boys/hermanas show you. Tonight I haven't been feeling to well, i've got a bit of a stomach bug passing through so I've been a bit homesick. My hermana carmen who is definitely like a mother figure to me here (to the point of buying boxes of lactose free milk so I can eat/drink anything/everything she cooks-VERY sweet gesture) just randomly gave me this big strong hug and I almost (yet again) started crying (But didn't might I add) as it made me realise how much I miss my mums hugs, here I am the one giving the hugs to the boys so to recieve a big mummy style hug was lovely. When I was tucking the boys in to bed and kissing them good night, one of the boys henry who I have a very love hate relationship with because he is just SO cheeky, gave me the hugest cuddle and whispered in my ear "Te quiero mucho hermana tanya" which means "I love you so much sister tanya" and that was just what I needed after feeling a bit down today.
Its time to wrap up this blog I've been babbling a lot and have now realised I've written a long blog which is what I've been trying to avoid lol. I'm literally counting the days down now until I see my dad in Brazil, 9 days and counting. Im so excited but really anxious at the same time lol, its a weird feeling knowing I'm going to see him after not seeing him for 10 months.
Thanks again for reading the blog, I'll attempt to put on a few pics for you guys and who knows when the next time will be when I write a blog?
Simply signed, simply compas
xxxxx
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Gracias Jesus, but why is the time flying by?
Im sorry 2011, but why are you passing by so quickly?
As CdlN is a catholic run orphanage Semana santa was HUGE here, every day brought something new, it was really interesting to actually celebrate easter (Pascua in spanish) in church, its the first time that I have actually based easter around God normally my main aim is to stuff my face with as much chocolate as possible with my lactose intolerence lol. I honestly really enjoyed it and church with the boys is always a good fun time where everyone can let their hair down and forget about any of the days problems. There was a few funny moments of the week mainley based around the boys lack of concentration in church, there was one day when each of the pavillions had specific times where we all go to church equally to pray and say thanks to God. As I was attempting to pray every 5 minutes I had a boy telling me "can you take me to the toilet", "he just called me a poo head" or trying to bounce my afro lol. Then there was one service when I was sitting to a boy called Brian who finds it IMPOSSIBLE to sit still, first he was moving his hands so i held his hands, then he started flinging his feet so i also held his feet, he gradually kept moving every body part in a seriously "special" way until I was basicall holding his whole body, so then he just started shaking his head up down left right and his mouth and his tongue looool. I actually couldn't stop laughing, it was such a lost cause thats all i could do, laugh.
Its been just under a month since I updated my blog and I don't know whether it feels longer or shorter, I just have no concept of time at the moment. Everything just seems to merge together here in Ciudad de los ninos, its like this big bubble where the world just seems to pass by before your eyes. To be honest the only reason I even have time to write this blog is because Im off work today due to my glands in my throat resembling golf balls. So Im just lazing around in bed, dosing up on paracetemol and hoping that Im better tomorrow!
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| Casa de los locos |
So from what I remember the last time I have updated you guys was on my return from my VISA run which feels like ages ago even though its not even been a month. We had an EXTREMELY busy period in CdlN recently it has been Semana Santa which is basically Easter week, the boys had Thursday to monday off of school which meant work was VERY intense and Rachel and I didn't even get a day off because they needed as much help as they could get.
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| Brian |
Here are some pics which Rach took from the church service
I've been getting to know the boys in my pavillion a hell of a lot better with a lot of them opening up to me about stories of their parents etc and some things that has happened to these boys literally shouldn't ever have to happen to ANYONE!! Its the small things that the boys do that really touch my heart (in the least cheesy way that line could be said), like when they are in bed and Its my home time and a boy called Jesus runs out from his bed in his pyjamas to give me a kiss and question me to make sure that I am coming back and not running back off to England.
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| Jesus |
Or William who is the "hard nut" of the group who I get on well with, I took him to the lavandaria to help me as he had been asking for weeks for me to take him but the hermanas in my pavillion kept sending someone else. So this time i was adament that I was taking William and they let him come. That night when I left he came and gave me a kiss and hug goodnight, i was SO suprised and it really touched me!
Other than Semana Santa work has been just that work, early mornings and late nights, I count down the minutes until my breaks lol. Dont get me wrong I do love what I do, but I really love my breaks, even though the majority of the time I just sit and relax in my bed with my laptop on my breaks I really cherish them. Watching an episode of Inbetweeners really takes me away and back to London! Im planning on signing up to a gym some time v.soon as I need to do something to get me out of ciudad on my time off and just let off some steam. There's one around a 10 minute walk from the orphanage at very cheap peruvian prices so I'll hopefully go there today or tomorrow to sign up. Rach has been busy training for her 21k race which is on the 15th May, we also need to get our butts into gear and plan her birthday weekend as we are planning on going to Ica which is like a sand desert area to do sand bording and all that jazz, also to Pisco which is where the famous peruvian alcohol was first made so we will be going there for some vineyard tours, wink wink. I also can't believe how soon it is until I go to Brazil to see my Dad either, time literally flies.
I don't really have all that much to write about I don't think, I'll attempt to upload some pics of me and the boys from my pavillion and Rach's pics from Easter. Until then everyone take care and I shall probably update the next blog in the next 2 weeks before I head off to Brazil and after all Rachels birthday madness.
Ciao xx
I also have 1 Random fact to leave you with. The hermanas son Fransisco (panchito) who is mi bebitooooooooooo, has made MY name one of his first ever words. Very proud moment. I have now also taught him to say "Hi". IMMENSE
Friday, 8 April 2011
Ecuador & Mancora, Peru!
I kept on saying to myself "I'm going to write a blog as soon as I get back from Holiday" but I have been avoiding it since I have got back to Ciudad de los ninos, I am still trying to catch up on sleep!
So it all started with a 26 hour bus journey from Lima with Cruz Del Sur to Guayaquill in Ecuador. It wasn't actually a bad journey if I'm honest with you and it seemed a lot shorter than our journey to Bolivia which was easily around 11 hours shorter. We must admit Cruz Del Sur is the most expensive bus company you can go with in Peru, but it is also the safest and most reliable company. Seeing as though this was a 26 hour journey crossing borders we went with this option and we weren't dissapointed! We got the cheaper seats which were basically bed seats they lent back almost completley and had a great space of leg room. There were DVD's playing through out the journey and Breakfast, Lunch and dinner was all included (yes we were on the bus that long to get all of these meals). It cost s/194 each which is like £50 which yh is pretty steep BUT we arrived all in one piece and very safely. Might I add that this time I did get through immigration without any problems (although my heart was beating at 1000mph when the guy checked my passport).
We arrived in Guayaquill at the bus station which is connected to a shopping centre, so the first thing we did was go to the food court and get something to eat. Funnily enough you can't find very "cultural" food in a food court so I ended up getting a KFC and Rachel got a Mc Donalds lol. At that point we hadn't sorted out our accomodation so it was a quick search through my Lonley Planet "South America on a Shoe String" book and we found one of the "cheaper" hostals called DreamKatcher (or something along those lines and yes spelt with a K). It was actually a nice hostal, we paid for a double room which was $23 for the both of us, but seeing as though it wasn't very busy in the hostal we got a room with around 4 beds. It was in a really quiet area, not the nicest of areas but still quiet. We got a cab there for $3 but we later found out you can get buses for $0.25, so funnily enough we used buses for the rest of our time in Ecuador.
Guayaquill was pretty chilled out to be honest, there isn't a whole lot of "touristy" stuff to do in the biggest city in Ecuador but we done about all there was to do. We heard about this place 'Malecon 2000' so we got a bus to the street nearest to it. It was a bloody long street filled with tonnes of shops and resteraunts. Malecon 2000 was just basically a really big peer, with a few things to look at, a nice walk way bit filled with all these tropical plants and all that stuff. Wasn't hugely interesting but it was nice. After a stroll through there we went on the look out for lunch, it involved walking up a hell of a lot of stairs and we found out half way we were walking towards some tourist sight which happened to be right up the top. Every resteraunt on the walk seemed to be closed which was SO annoying, we found one which looked open. Went and sat down and asked for the menu to which we got the reply "all we sell is beer" LOL so we ended up getting one each and enjoyed the view. We walked all the way to the top and it was like some watch tower and info about the pirates of guayaquill. Yet again not the most exciting Rach and I have ever done but I'm glad we did it.
After no luck in the food department along Las Penas we got something to eat underneath this bridge next to the exotic plants and this little lake in a nice little resteraunt, I got my favourite EVER dish, Ceviche, which is basically raw fish cooked in Lime; EXTREMELY TASTY! That kind of brought an end to our day and we went back to the Hostal and chilled out.
The next morning we got up early (not early as in Ciudad de los ninos standards) at 8am, packed our stuff and got on a bus back to the bus station as we wanted to go to this beach town called Montanita which we had heard so much about. Its around 3 1/2 hours from the bus station and we could've waited until 1pm to get a direct bus or gotten 2 buses at around 10am so we chose the earlier option. This was a locals bus and whilst the bus itself was fine, after getting off the second bus we found out that someone had put their bag of fresh fish ontop of my bag, now I had a wet and fishy bag which was horrenouds. That joint with the heat has left my bag smelling absolutely hidious.
Montanita was beautiful, the beach was amazing and the cocktails even better! The hostal wasn't 5* to say the least, we did go for one of the cheaper options $7 each and we shared a bed to get that cheap price lol. It said it came with its own private bathroom and to be fair it did. Although the bathroom was so small that you couldn't even sit on the toilet with your feet all the way round, and the shower had a huge clump of hair in it, big enough to make a wig. And oh yh lets not forget that it didn't have a door! So number 2's were banned in that room and Rachel and I did not use that shower for our stay there instead used the shared one.
We spent the day on the beach and the evening in the bars, they weren't jam packed because the busiest surfing season has just finished but it was busy enough. We got dinner first in this resteraunt/bar called Hola ola, my meal was absolutely MASSIVE i proper enjoyed it, but if I ate like that every day travelling, I would come home a very fat Tanya. The next club I can't even remember the name had a magic show on and one of them shoes were theirs the material tied to the ceiling and they do all this gymnastic stuff on it, can't remember what its called but it was really cool. We danced the night away to some reggaeton & salsa then came back to the room well into the early hours of the morning and conked out. As soon as we woke up we headed back to Hola ola for a cholestoral filled breakfast, I had a yummy omelete stuffed with EVERYTHING and Rachel ate a heart attack inducing breakfast of fruit pancakes and ice cream yummmmm!!! The rest of that afternoon was spent nosying around the stalls then at around 1pm we got on a direct this time to Guayaquill.
After the 3 and a half hour bus journey we had to wait 2 hours until we could catch our 9 hour bus to Mancora. Yet again we got on a very cheap bus which was a locals bus. The amount of stuff these locals try and bring on the bus is actually hiliarious, and they dont even bring it in suitcases. This woman actually filled up a washing basket with stuff! I mean is she honestly for real???? The bus was either really hot/really cold and windy due to the fact the air conditioning didnt work so the only way you could get ventilation was through the windows. There was a serious lack of space with the seats and rachel had a huge fat columbian sitting in front of her who was ademant he wanted his chair lent all the way back and more leaving rachel squashed to the point her bag was now at her chin. Anyways we got through Immigration fine and got 180 days this time and arrived in Mancora at 2am after around a 10 hour bus journey. We immediatley caught a moto taxi to Loki hostal and got our room which I had reserved a month before.
The Mancora Loki Hostal is more like a bloody resort than a hostal it is HUGE with a swimming pool and bar and everything right on the beach. Me and rach just chilled out on the beach and went swimming. Whilst we were getting ready and I was showering I heard a voice call my name that wasn't rachels, after a few seconds thinking who the hell is it I realised it was Claire and Tamara two of the other Project Trust girls who are working in Piura they came down to see us yayyy, then they told us that 3 more were coming, Hannah and Jenny who are working in Chiclayo, and Izzy who is working in Trujillo. The next few days are self explanatory to be honest, 7 18-19 year olds out on the beach in the sun with alcohol? Yh so we won't go into details but it was SO much fun. After 3 days in total it was time for us all to head off on Sunday, Rachel and I were first and it was actually really sad saying bye to the girls, some of them we may not see again. It was so good being with them because they are the only people who can honestly understand what it is we have gone through, we exchanged horror stories of work and all that. But yh it was a wicked time overall.
This VISA run was defo more of a holiday than the Boliva one, not because we didnt enjoy the bolivia one we absolutely loved it, but this time we spent the majority of the time on a Beach LOL, literally i think the only time we werent on a beach was when we were on a bus or that one day in Guayaquill haha.
So I've been at work for over a week now and it doesn't even feel like I've had a break, we are literally thrown right back into it! Still loving it as always but it is a hell of a lot of work I must admit. Im just in my room doing this blog as I have had to sneak away from work as the past 2 days I've had these bad migraines waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa but meh all is good.
Once again thanks for reading the blog, the next one will be written whenever I can be bothered to be honest, nothing exciting should be happening in the next few weeks. Rachels birthday is in under a month now so I need to start planning something AND RACHEL IS RUNNING A MARATHON on the 15th May. I can't say I'm going to join her LOL, running is not my thing, tell me to dance for 24 hours straight I'll do it, a naked bike ride you know anything LOL but you will never catch me doing a 21k run unless I was running for a charity with about a years notice loool. I'm going to look into renting a motorbike or quad bike to follow rachel and take pictures of her hahaha.
7 weeks exactley until I head off to Brazil and see my dad :)
Simply signed, Simply Compas
xxxx
So it all started with a 26 hour bus journey from Lima with Cruz Del Sur to Guayaquill in Ecuador. It wasn't actually a bad journey if I'm honest with you and it seemed a lot shorter than our journey to Bolivia which was easily around 11 hours shorter. We must admit Cruz Del Sur is the most expensive bus company you can go with in Peru, but it is also the safest and most reliable company. Seeing as though this was a 26 hour journey crossing borders we went with this option and we weren't dissapointed! We got the cheaper seats which were basically bed seats they lent back almost completley and had a great space of leg room. There were DVD's playing through out the journey and Breakfast, Lunch and dinner was all included (yes we were on the bus that long to get all of these meals). It cost s/194 each which is like £50 which yh is pretty steep BUT we arrived all in one piece and very safely. Might I add that this time I did get through immigration without any problems (although my heart was beating at 1000mph when the guy checked my passport).
We arrived in Guayaquill at the bus station which is connected to a shopping centre, so the first thing we did was go to the food court and get something to eat. Funnily enough you can't find very "cultural" food in a food court so I ended up getting a KFC and Rachel got a Mc Donalds lol. At that point we hadn't sorted out our accomodation so it was a quick search through my Lonley Planet "South America on a Shoe String" book and we found one of the "cheaper" hostals called DreamKatcher (or something along those lines and yes spelt with a K). It was actually a nice hostal, we paid for a double room which was $23 for the both of us, but seeing as though it wasn't very busy in the hostal we got a room with around 4 beds. It was in a really quiet area, not the nicest of areas but still quiet. We got a cab there for $3 but we later found out you can get buses for $0.25, so funnily enough we used buses for the rest of our time in Ecuador.
Guayaquill was pretty chilled out to be honest, there isn't a whole lot of "touristy" stuff to do in the biggest city in Ecuador but we done about all there was to do. We heard about this place 'Malecon 2000' so we got a bus to the street nearest to it. It was a bloody long street filled with tonnes of shops and resteraunts. Malecon 2000 was just basically a really big peer, with a few things to look at, a nice walk way bit filled with all these tropical plants and all that stuff. Wasn't hugely interesting but it was nice. After a stroll through there we went on the look out for lunch, it involved walking up a hell of a lot of stairs and we found out half way we were walking towards some tourist sight which happened to be right up the top. Every resteraunt on the walk seemed to be closed which was SO annoying, we found one which looked open. Went and sat down and asked for the menu to which we got the reply "all we sell is beer" LOL so we ended up getting one each and enjoyed the view. We walked all the way to the top and it was like some watch tower and info about the pirates of guayaquill. Yet again not the most exciting Rach and I have ever done but I'm glad we did it.
After no luck in the food department along Las Penas we got something to eat underneath this bridge next to the exotic plants and this little lake in a nice little resteraunt, I got my favourite EVER dish, Ceviche, which is basically raw fish cooked in Lime; EXTREMELY TASTY! That kind of brought an end to our day and we went back to the Hostal and chilled out.
The next morning we got up early (not early as in Ciudad de los ninos standards) at 8am, packed our stuff and got on a bus back to the bus station as we wanted to go to this beach town called Montanita which we had heard so much about. Its around 3 1/2 hours from the bus station and we could've waited until 1pm to get a direct bus or gotten 2 buses at around 10am so we chose the earlier option. This was a locals bus and whilst the bus itself was fine, after getting off the second bus we found out that someone had put their bag of fresh fish ontop of my bag, now I had a wet and fishy bag which was horrenouds. That joint with the heat has left my bag smelling absolutely hidious.
Montanita was beautiful, the beach was amazing and the cocktails even better! The hostal wasn't 5* to say the least, we did go for one of the cheaper options $7 each and we shared a bed to get that cheap price lol. It said it came with its own private bathroom and to be fair it did. Although the bathroom was so small that you couldn't even sit on the toilet with your feet all the way round, and the shower had a huge clump of hair in it, big enough to make a wig. And oh yh lets not forget that it didn't have a door! So number 2's were banned in that room and Rachel and I did not use that shower for our stay there instead used the shared one.
We spent the day on the beach and the evening in the bars, they weren't jam packed because the busiest surfing season has just finished but it was busy enough. We got dinner first in this resteraunt/bar called Hola ola, my meal was absolutely MASSIVE i proper enjoyed it, but if I ate like that every day travelling, I would come home a very fat Tanya. The next club I can't even remember the name had a magic show on and one of them shoes were theirs the material tied to the ceiling and they do all this gymnastic stuff on it, can't remember what its called but it was really cool. We danced the night away to some reggaeton & salsa then came back to the room well into the early hours of the morning and conked out. As soon as we woke up we headed back to Hola ola for a cholestoral filled breakfast, I had a yummy omelete stuffed with EVERYTHING and Rachel ate a heart attack inducing breakfast of fruit pancakes and ice cream yummmmm!!! The rest of that afternoon was spent nosying around the stalls then at around 1pm we got on a direct this time to Guayaquill.
After the 3 and a half hour bus journey we had to wait 2 hours until we could catch our 9 hour bus to Mancora. Yet again we got on a very cheap bus which was a locals bus. The amount of stuff these locals try and bring on the bus is actually hiliarious, and they dont even bring it in suitcases. This woman actually filled up a washing basket with stuff! I mean is she honestly for real???? The bus was either really hot/really cold and windy due to the fact the air conditioning didnt work so the only way you could get ventilation was through the windows. There was a serious lack of space with the seats and rachel had a huge fat columbian sitting in front of her who was ademant he wanted his chair lent all the way back and more leaving rachel squashed to the point her bag was now at her chin. Anyways we got through Immigration fine and got 180 days this time and arrived in Mancora at 2am after around a 10 hour bus journey. We immediatley caught a moto taxi to Loki hostal and got our room which I had reserved a month before.
The Mancora Loki Hostal is more like a bloody resort than a hostal it is HUGE with a swimming pool and bar and everything right on the beach. Me and rach just chilled out on the beach and went swimming. Whilst we were getting ready and I was showering I heard a voice call my name that wasn't rachels, after a few seconds thinking who the hell is it I realised it was Claire and Tamara two of the other Project Trust girls who are working in Piura they came down to see us yayyy, then they told us that 3 more were coming, Hannah and Jenny who are working in Chiclayo, and Izzy who is working in Trujillo. The next few days are self explanatory to be honest, 7 18-19 year olds out on the beach in the sun with alcohol? Yh so we won't go into details but it was SO much fun. After 3 days in total it was time for us all to head off on Sunday, Rachel and I were first and it was actually really sad saying bye to the girls, some of them we may not see again. It was so good being with them because they are the only people who can honestly understand what it is we have gone through, we exchanged horror stories of work and all that. But yh it was a wicked time overall.
This VISA run was defo more of a holiday than the Boliva one, not because we didnt enjoy the bolivia one we absolutely loved it, but this time we spent the majority of the time on a Beach LOL, literally i think the only time we werent on a beach was when we were on a bus or that one day in Guayaquill haha.
So I've been at work for over a week now and it doesn't even feel like I've had a break, we are literally thrown right back into it! Still loving it as always but it is a hell of a lot of work I must admit. Im just in my room doing this blog as I have had to sneak away from work as the past 2 days I've had these bad migraines waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa but meh all is good.
Once again thanks for reading the blog, the next one will be written whenever I can be bothered to be honest, nothing exciting should be happening in the next few weeks. Rachels birthday is in under a month now so I need to start planning something AND RACHEL IS RUNNING A MARATHON on the 15th May. I can't say I'm going to join her LOL, running is not my thing, tell me to dance for 24 hours straight I'll do it, a naked bike ride you know anything LOL but you will never catch me doing a 21k run unless I was running for a charity with about a years notice loool. I'm going to look into renting a motorbike or quad bike to follow rachel and take pictures of her hahaha.
7 weeks exactley until I head off to Brazil and see my dad :)
Simply signed, Simply Compas
xxxx
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