Cusco POR FIN (finally)

So after 5 and a half months of every taxi driver asking me "have you been to Cusco?" finally I can now say YES!
I had waited so long to go to Cusco because over a year again, Shadia had organised this trip as a trip for volunteers of the VTP program.
The 23rd July we set off to Cusco, but to avoid the 22 hour bus journey we took the 1 hour flight instead. We dropped our stuff at the hostal (Marques de Saphy) which was ok for the price, it had a private bathroom at least despite Sarah's bad luck with the hot water.
We met Gian, Sarah and Jack in a little cafe off the main square as they'd arrived much earlier that morning and got some well-needed food down us!
We went for 'mexican' later on, however I use that adjective lightly as it didnt tatse very mexican to me, but it was tasty either way. Being Shadia's birthday, we headed to the bars afterwards. After entering the Irish pub and leaving pretty swiftly as it was packed full of drunk gringos in fancy dress and we definately hadnt had enough to drink yet. We ended up in a pub opposite playing 'Ive never' and downing too much fizzy beer. But we called it an early-ish night as we'd all been up pretty early.

The next day, somehow we didnt manage to get out of the hostal until 4pm but Shadia and Tulo had already been the market to grab some cheese, bread, coffee and a cheap-as kettle, breakfast/lunch was sorted! We then headed to the tour agency to see what prices we could get for tours to Sacred Valley or even water-rafting. Whilst we were asking about other tours, the guy asked us if we had bought our Entrance tickets for Machu Picchu as we were heading there the next day. DOOOOOOM. He told us there were no more left until the 28th, 3 days later! And we had already forked out 70 dollars for our train ticket...noooooooooooooooooo! What could we do?
Not only had we paid for the tickets, but Gian was flying back to England on the 28th, he couldnt postpone his trip to Machu Picchu.
The train to Aguas Calientes (the place where you stay the night before Machu Picchu) was that night at 9pm from a place called Ollaytotambo, 1 hr and a half away from Cusco, so Gian ahd to make a decision, he either had to go and risk it or not go at all. So after an evening of umm-ing and arr-ing, Gian decided to go solo and risk getting in the next day.
This was not just something that had happened to us, loads of other tourists alike had been faced with this problem and apparently there would be a protest the next day.

After all the stress of the afternoon/evening, we all needed a drink. Heather, Hannah and Lisa had all suggested a bar called Mythology in Cusco where everyone gets free drinks and dances on the bar, it sounded like just what we needed! A few hours later, me and Sarah were dancing on the bar getting Rum poured down our throats, classy birds of course!
It was a really good night, and we finally got off the bar so that Sarah could pratice her salsa moves with a few peruvians and I could teach Jack a few moves.

The next day we didnt have any plans other than to recover from our hangover and have a nose around Cusco. We actually made it out of the hostal at a reasonable lunch hour and headed to the main square to take a few photos not before munching on some amazing veggy food at Govinda despite its 45 minute wait. We then met Shadia who took me, Jack and Sarah to the market, a place of the locals and kind of out of the gringo trail. We picked up a few presents and then headed back to the tour agency to book some tours.

Sarah and Jack went that evening to Puno on a one day trip to see Lake Titicaca and so the next day, Shadia, Tulo and I headed to the Christ statue situated on a hill above Cusco, so we went up in taxi to catch a few birdseye snaps of Cusco.

The next day was the Sacred Valley trip visiting ruins in Pisaq, Ollaytatambo and textile works in Chinceros. It was just us four gringos who went on the trip but for 40 soles (about £8/9) it was really worth it. We got to pick up even more presents for family back home and saw some of the most famous ruins of Inca times, actually pretty interesting.

The next day , after having to pay 100 dollars for any train with another train company to Machu Picchu, me, Sarah and Jack said goodbye to Gian and headed off to Ollaytotambu to catch our train at 11.25am. To which we met another problem, the bus from Cusco wasnt going to leave for another half hour and would make us late for our train, we had to get a taxi. Thankfully, the taxi for an hour and a half trip only cost us £20 between the three of us and we couldnt risk missing our train. We arrived on time and full of relief at Ollaytotambu and stepped on to the lovely train. It was the best train Ive ever been on, amazing service, snacks provided and a beautiful toilet (the most important thing obviously), at least we have forked out alot of money for something worth it after all.

Arriving in Aguas Calientes, we dumped our stuff at the hostal, went to buy our bus tickets for Macchu Picchu and grabbed some lunch. The thing is about Menus including starter, main and drink for £2/3 is that its pot luck, sometimes they are amazing value for money, but other times, a pile of crap, where you get served cold veg with your meal or microwaved pasta...fail!

Later on, we headed to the Thermal Baths (its not called Aguas Calientes 'Warm Waters' for nothing) for a £2 entrance fee, not bad hey! Well I say Thermal Baths, theyre more like pools with naturally hot water in them, water which smells pretty funny too, but being able to order mojitos to the pool was definately worth it. It must have been an hour and half later when we left, slightly tipsy but majorly relaxed.
W went back to the hostel to disinfect ourselves from the grimmy water then headed to Govinda (the veggy restaurant chain that we went to in Cusco) and then went for a few mojitos and Jenga at a restaurant nearby. Note to all, 3 cocktails for £4 are never going to taste good.

We got into bed around 11 knowing that we had a 4.30am wake up call the next day for getting the bus to Machu Picchu :) Shadia and Tulo arrived around 11.30pm from Cusco and we all set our alarms for the next day.

It was DIFFICULT getting up at 4.30am, but with the thought of going to Machu Picchu and a cheese butty and coffee down us, we were ready to roll.
Even with a long queue ahead of us, we got in quite quickly, and headed up to the most famous view of Machu Picchu. (see below) We took an unneccessary amount of photos, jumping and planking and then took a time out to sit and relax and take in the amazing views! We then took a walk, sat down a few more times, took more photos and by the time we knew it, 7 hours had passed by. Machu Picchu really is incredible, the fact that nobody really knows why its there or the story behind it makes it so much more interesting. We didnt bother with a guided tour for this reason, we had Jack, his Lonely Planet Peru book and our guesstimations to entertian us.

We decided to call it a day and head back to the hostal after spending most of the day there. The day before we had bought only one-way bus tickets to Machu Picchu so that we could walk back down to Aguas Calientes. With amazing views, the aching feet thanks to wearing Converse and not walking boots and the intense heat.... we made it back down and were ready to eat asap!

Afetr eating, we were all feeling pretty tired, Me, Jack and Sarah went for a coffee then full-body massage whilst Shadia and Tulo searched for a room to nap in.
The massage was just what we needed, but Sarah and I paid a bit extra for a shower pre-massage after a sweaty day in the sun. Once we finished, it was time to get our train back to Ollaytotambo and after waiting for ages at the other end in a taxi, we finally made it back to Cusco around midnight, then popped the TV on and got into bed.

The next day was horse riding day, not that we hadnt done enough exercise in the past few days. The idea was to visit ruins but by horse, a bit nice than just being drove about. Sarah, Jack and I went for a quick breakfast then headed to the tour agency office only to be told that the horses were getting their yearly jabs that morning so it had to be postponed 2 hours, typical!
We went to the market to buy a few last-minute presents and then got a taxi to the horse place.
I was a bit nervous seeing as I hadnt been on a horse in a few years, but all the horses seemed pretty chilled until mine decided it wanted to bite Tulo's horse, but we survived nevertheless!

We got back and had lunch with Sarah who hadnt came on the trip. We went to Jacks cafe, a typical European restaurant, that has the most amazing Strawberry milkshake, huge sandwiches and WOW beans and cheese burritos.

Sarah headed to Arequipa that night to continue her travels and it was my last night. I packed up my stuff and we went for a cheap but tasty meal just off the main square before getting an early night before a 5am start for my flight back to Lima the next day.

I really enjoyed Cusco despite all the problems we seemed to have and all the money we spent. But as long as you enjoy yourself and are in good company, thats all that matters :)

Peru Luz de Esperanza volunteering

For my stay in Peru, I had set aside 6 weeks post-volunteering with VTP to travel. The volunteering I did in Lima was more aimed at helping to improve the level of english teaching in a good school, so I wanted to have a bit of a change and participate in a volunteer programme helping those in the poorer rural areas to have a deeper insight into life outside my Miraflores (gringo/tourist area) bubble in Lima. Also, im currently doing a project for uni about the education system in Peru and so this seemed to me as the perfect way to explore it a bit more.

The social volunteer project is called Peru Luz de Esperanza and is located in Chupaca, a district outside of Huancayo, a city to the East of Lima. I spent 10 days with the program, which I had found by randomly browsing google for volunteering experiences in Peru.
It is an absolutely lovely project which involves teaching English, helping with Kindergarten and even helping contruct the school that they are currently constructing.
The idea is to improve the teaching of the children in the are of Auhac, about 10 minutes from Chupaca, children who go to state schools where classrooms are unequipped and falling apart bascially. However, also, the project aims to involve the community and especially the parents to create a community spirit and connection to education.

Volunteers are housed, fed and welcomed into the family's home of those who run the program for $300 dollars per 2 weeks. At first I can seem a bit expensive but considering the delicious food, your comfort within the home and being able to see directly where the money goes (ie. to the children you work with), its certainly all worth it.

As I mentioned above, the project is not only supporting physically (teaching) and financially the various poor rural schools , but they are also currently constructing their own school to allow a more enriching and professional schooling for these children, and also for them to all be in one school together benefitting from new materials and a better environment for learning.

Within the community, the project has been helping out one family in particular lately. A family of 8 children but a house without a bathroom nor toilet, with one double mattress on the second floor for all the children to sleep on, not to mention the piles of dirty clothes heaped outside and within the house. Therefore, the program has been putting windows and a door on the second floor of the house and will shortly be creating an area for the family toilet, which is now a mere hole in the floor in view of all passers-by. (see below)



Despite the living situations of all the children who go to the schools that the program is involved with, they are all so loving and willing to learn, but most of all so thankful for the volunteers' teaching and involvement in the program. Every volunteer receives a welcome and leaving speech from a few of the children with words so lovely and so heart-warming, thanking you for coming so far to help and teach them.

The program had certainly touched the hearts of Evelyn and Werner, an Austrian couple who has managed to raise 6000 euros for the program. With the money, they were able to buy tables, chairs and whiteboards for the new school being built, something which allowed a huge progression in the construction which requires alot of time and especially money. The costs of that above itself came to around £1750!! for 50 students!

At first I helped out teaching to get an idea of the work level and also to be familiar with the kids. Teaching the present tense in English went well with kids about6/ 7/8, and as ever, when in doubt of a game to play, Hangman always works well! The next day however with more boys in my teaching group, it was a bit harder when they decided that they'd rather be under the table and/or scribbling in each others notebooks than paying attention to my lesson.

English lessons took place at 3.30pm at the 3 various schools alternately everyday and during a few mornings we worked at the construction site of the new school. And my god was it hard work!! Imagine yourself carrying sand bags (loaded with stones/rocks too) up a steep hill at 3400m altitude and in the sun, yep pretty hard work!! Thankfully it was only for 3 hours on 2 days, but at least we had the motivation that we were doing this for a new school for the kids we were helping.

On the Saturday, I checked out the local market in Chupaca where there was fruit/veg/household products and animals in bags or boxes as far as the eye could see! Then in the afternoon we went on a touristy trip to a village a few hours away taking in beautiful scenery en-route. We visited the house of a man who is making the metal window and door frames for the new school and he kindly prepared us some DELICIOUS trout and potatoes, but those typical of the area, a sort of sweet-flavored potatoes. He even took us trout fishing but unfortunately we were unsuccessful, the trout were definately onto us and stayed away.

The Sunday was an important day as I was party time at the new school. Using the money that Evelyn and Werner had raised, they wanted to have a party for the children of all the schools with games, food, drink and most importantly, fun as a treat for them. I have never saw children so happy and content with a few sweets and fizzy drinks, all of whom, as ever, were so grateful.

Monday and Tuesday were my last days with the kids at the schools so I bought biscuits and fizzy drinks for all. It was sad to leave but I know that I will want to continue to support and help the program in the future.

For my last night, I went with one volunteer and a teacher from the program into Huancayo to watch the Copa America as Peru and Ecuador were playing against each other. Being around guys meant a lot of beer drinking/downing and drunken debates but all in all a good night ending with Wantan soup to warm my freezing body up from the Highlands cold and a 3.30am return to the house.

What can I say, the 6am start to pack my stuff and jump my bus back to Lima wasnt the most pleasant but I had the most amazing and enriching (cliche I know) experience and would certainly recommend this program for anyone coming to Peru. A hard-working program of lovely people with hearts the size of the Moon.

Colombia is FIT

Sitting on the flight after being told that Quito's airport is one the most dangerous in the world already put the fear in us, and then the lift-off just topped it off. The most terrifying take-off EVER. The plane's engines roared as the plane set off down the runway (it had to get as much height as rapidly as possible due to its resdiential location...) but as it succesfully passed over the nearby buildings the engines quieted so much so it felt like they had failed and we were goin to return back to Earth with a bump. "What the fuck is happening?!" screamed Lisa, and I couldn't have put my fear in better words.

Reassured by the flight crew, Lisa continued to be petrified throughout the flight to Bogota, and to be honest so was I even though I was trying to give her constant reassurance that we were going to be fine. We arrived safely, thank god, in Bogota an hour and half later and e couldn't have been more relieved!

Thirsty and hungry (the benefits of a hangover) we headed for the ATM to get out some Colombian pesos but the machines said NO. Both of our usual cards had been declined, but thankfully I had my Natwest bank card so was able to take out some money and then we ran to Dunkin' donuts to get some food and drink down us.

After bumping into what we believe was the Colombian football team, we boarded our connecting flight to Cartagena, a city on Colombia's caribbean coast. After a much more smooth flight, we jumped in a taxi to the first hostel on the Lonely Planet list and hoped for the best. Luckily, they found us a room straight away so we whacked on the fans asap in the humid caribbean heat!

That night we ventured around the corner to find somewhere to eat, trying to stick to our diets always causes us problems, NO MORE RICE, a pretty hard thing to not eat in South America.

Walkign past a bar someone tapped Lisa's shoulder, it was Severin, a guy the girls had met on their travels in Cusco and someone who we had bumped into in Mancora the first time we visited. Then we found a cute, quirky restaurant which had a lovely menu so we went in, only to find a birthday party in mid-motion. But we were starving so sat there as the only un-vited guests haha! The next minute the birthday girl arrives as does some singing and dancing men with trumpets and guitars, awkward much? The best part was Severin finding us again and trying to talk to us over the trumpet guy who coincidently blew it everytime he tried to speak!!!

The next was true tourist day and after a hefty amaount of cath-up sleep we went to visit the walled city where there are restaurants, shops, etc and it was really pretty, even after a typical tropical rainstorm it was still really nice. But the men were definately intrigued by our blancita skin!

The next day was an early one, catching a boat to the islands of the coast with the plan of staying at Playa Blanca, a beautiful beach on the Baru island. Walking along the beach we took the advice of an English couple to stay at 'David's place'. We would be spending the night sleeping in a hammock.

After swimming in the gorgeous blue caribbean sea, we had a few beers with David and his friends who were all celebrating the Day of the Fisherman.

We bumped into a girl who asked if we were English and she only ended up being a scouser!!! I had only met one scouser in all my 4 and half months in South America and I ended up bumping into one, Cat, on a carribean island!! haha

Then nighttime came and the island was in darkness, David had gone back to his village and basically left us alone in his hammock place until the morning. Thats when the shit it the fan, me and Lisa got into our hammocks ready in the pitch black and got ready to sleep. This is when a big guy walked in and got in the hammock next to me.... "Alo?" I asked, He said that he had already paid and arranged everything with David, but David hadnt said anything to us.... weird!

So back to sleep we went...
THEN his hammock was touching mine as they were so closely placed together, I then felt his hand come underneath the mosquito net covering my hammock and he grabbed my arm, not with force but suggestively. I was so shocked and pushed his arm away, thinking that maybe he was sleeping and didnt realise. I then stayed wide awake to see if he attempted it and he did 20 minutes later to which I screamed "What are you doing?" He mentioned something under his breath that I couldnt understand and it had woken a concerned Lisa.

There were 2 tents next to the hammocks so I jumped in petrified, and after rustling in the kitchen and a missing said man, Lisa joined me in the tent worried that he was in the kitchen looking for a weapon or god-knows-what! We both more or less stayed alert all night and had never been so glad to see daylight. We told David all about it the next day to his utter shock as 1) he had no idea who this guy was and 2) this had never happened before. We couldnt wait to jump on that boat back the next afternoon, we were traumatised!

The next day we left on a bus for Taganga, and stayed at hostel Casa de Felipe, owned by a french guy. We got placed in a 3-bed dorm with a potential RAR after working that out from his Armani belt and shirts piled on the top of his rucksack. Our first night we took a stroll down to the beachfront, only being 5 minutes away, and grabbed a pizza.

Our first full day in Taganga we spent at the beach, we already liked Taganga better, it was more relaxed and friendly, and much less touristy than Cartagena. The next day was spent mostly the same, except for getting attacked by wasps whilst trying to eat. That night we went to a beachfront restaurant to have some local cuisine. We ate fish, rice with coconut in, plantain and salad, something we had already had on the island by Cartegena. But 3 hours later, Lisa wasnt feeling too good and spent the night vomitting continously, but she told me not to worry and to go asleep.

I was awoken at 2am by Lisa screaming for my help as she collapsed onto her bed coming back from the bathroom, she hadnt stopped vomitting all night. I tried to encourage her to drink sips of water but she couldnt keep it down, and the guy in our room was so nice, helpful and understanding too. She really wanted to go to the hospital but there was no way of getting there as there was noone at reception to help us!

I woke up the next morning andLisa was still really weak and ill. I also felt ill with the worst migraine ever and couldnt move from the bed, but i hadnt been sick. So i went to the hostel snack bar to get powerade and crisps to try and re-hydrate Lisa but it would not stay down.

That day we had planned to sort out Lisa's visa for the US. She had her passport stolen a month before so currently had an emergency passport from the British embassy in Lima but the US dont allow you to even fly through their country with this without having a visa. So after filling in an application you have to go to a certain bank (one which was in the next town) and pay for a pin which you use to ring up and get a visa appointment with the embassy in Bogota.

That day, this was NOT POSSIBLE. Lisa could hardly stand never mind queue up for this. I had to take her to the clinic, it was obvious food poisioning and sever de-hydration. As soon as we arrived, the nurse took her to the doctor straight away whilst i sorted out all the formalities. She had to be put on a drip for 3 hours.
Trekking 5 blocks from the clinic to call Lisa's parents in the burning sun was an effort but I didnt mind, I knew she'd look after me just as well if I was in her position.

We left a few hours later and went back to the internet cafe to call Lisa's mum and let her know that Lisa was much better. However, we left the internet cafe to find comotion and police cars everywhere outside. When jumping in a taxi back to our hostel in the next town, we found out there had been a shooting and a man was shot dead. Could this day get any more dramatic???

The next day we HAD to get to the bank to sort out Lisa's visa, feeling a bit better, it wasnt so hard. NIGHTMARE struck! Even after buying this pin, it wasnt activated for another 24 hours, but she needed an appointment the next day in Bogota!!! After ringing the embasy to explain the situation, the guy said she could pass through with a usual ESTA waiver visa, all seemed well until we got back and found that the ESTA visa wasnt applicable to emergency passports. The only thing she could do was risk it on Monday.

We had to pack as quick as poss and get down the bus station to catch the overnight bus to Bogota. Another cold chicken bus, but a vast improvement on the bus to Quito, took us 26 hours instead of 18 due to the tropical storms en-route. Finally arriving in Bogota at 6.30pm we went straight to the hostel after grabbing some enpanadas and coca cola at the bus terminal.

Our first day in Bogota we went to the Gold Museum, apparently the best in the world, but after one floor of gold bits we were bored already, was gold actually that interesting?! So we found a big centre of souvenir shops just around the corner and got some presents.

Trying to keep down on costs, we found a supermarket and bought pasta and chilli con carne in a tin which actaully turned out pretty tasty. We also got a load of colombian coffee to take home and I got some for my host family and Shadia.

For the saturday night, we had planned on going out, but still knakered from the overnight bus to Bogota we couldnt face it. Well-rested the next day we took a walk around the centre of Bogota, all shut off from cars on Sundays. Between the Edward Scissorhands statue man and people randomly paying for gos on karaoke machines in the street, the sun was shining and we were loving Bogota. We stopped at the park and had a cheeky sunbathe before going back the hostel to have some lunch. Later on we packed and got into bed at 9pm for our 3am start to go to the airport. I was flying back to Lima and Lisa was flying back home!

I checked-in and me and Lisa had our last breakfast together, both of us crossing our fingers for her to be accepted to fly through the US.

I returned to rainy Lima to find out that the US had refused Lisa to fly!!!
After being stuck in Bogota for a further 2 days and paying for another flight home going through Spain and not the US, this morning (my time) she finally got back to London!!! Thank the lord for that!!!!

Quito, Ecuador : a bizarre city

After swapping buses twice and successfully crosssing the Ecuadorian border, it was chicken bus sleeping time and thank god for Lisa's sleeping bag to protect me from not freezing from the ice-cold air con!

We woke up at 6.30am in Quito only to realise that my iPod had gone AWOL, shit! I searched down the back of my seat to find only my headphones, so it seemed as if my iPod had detached itself from them during the winding bus journey and flew across the floor giving someone on the bus a lovely present...brilliant!!! Lisa was shocked at my calmness but after all her trouble having her passport, iPod and bankcard stolen a month earlier, this was only a mere material loss.

Then we realised that we had no dollars (money used in Ecuador), oops. So we shared an over-priced taxi to the hostel with 3 swedes we had befriended on the bus all who had shockingly perfect English! When we were told that we couldn't get into our room until 12pm, we napped in the lounge, had some brekky, tried to keep ourselves awake in a coffee shop and found an internet cafe before checking-in for another 2 hour nap. Having a bed was heavenly!

We didnt want to waste one fo our 2 days in Quito so we took a taxi (despite heavy rainfall) to the Old Town to have a look around. And my god was it dead, everything was shut, even the cathedral. So we had a sandwich and the best jugo (juice) ever, Naranjilla, in a small cafe under the cathedral. But after two creepy men following and even police officers asking if we were alone, we decided to head back to the hostel.

We got to chat to the lads in the next room to us, 3 English and 1 Canadian (who was still high form crazy jungle juice) and they certainly didnt hadnt been creeped on, oh the joys of being a female!

Later on, we decided to go out for dinner to a place we had spotted earlier that day, named an Absolut Vodka restaurant, we were curious to try it out. We saw cuy (guinea pig) turnovers on the menu, a typical meat eaten in Peru especially, and after months of resistance not to eat an English home pet, we got 2 to share accompanied by mushroom curry which ended up as a literal plate of mushrooms covered in a drizzling of yogurt and curry powder, no wonder it was named "Most Healthy" on the menu.

In the restaurant, once again, we hit a drinking barrier, an unknown drinking law, no alcohol after 3pm on Sundays apparently to stop Ecuadorians drinking all weekend long. But just like Peru's 'no drinking on election weekend' law, it was easily broken for us gringos, beer in a cappucino cup for disguise...ok then.

After a long day we called an early night at 10.

For our second and final day in Quito we ventured to the equator. Tired after an hour and half bus journey, we finally arrived there. I didn't really know what to expect, just a line on the ground I guess, but it was much more than that, with restaurants, souvenir shops, a huge monument and even a bullring. Through the entire area there was a yellow-painted line indicating the equator.

Then we jumped a bus back to the centre of Quito where we got a taxi to the Teleferico, the cable cars which permit amaxing views of the whole of Quito. Despite her fears of heights, Lisa still joined me. When we arrived we thought we were at the wrong place, all we come across was a pretty dead theme park playing 60s creepy theme park music. Thankfully, we then found the cable cars and jumped on. After pausing at the top for some photos, we descended back to Quito.

Back to the hostel later on, it was nearly free rum and coke time. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the hostel gives out a huge bucket of FREE rum and coke to all and fill it back up for only $1 each, not bad hey?! Also its a really good way to get everyone soacialising in the hostel. Afetr the rum and coke had dried up for the third time, Lisa, I and the lads from the next room decided to go out.

The night then was filled with spinning around the pole positioned in the middle of the dancefloor, refusing cocaine numerous times, getting salsa-ed by numerous people, getting on th bar for body shots, finding Lisa asleep in the corner of the club and listening to the most tragic story ever in the toilets.
A lady about late 30s old me how her English husband had been killed whilst being mugged in Quito 9 months earlier and nothing was being done about it, so so tragic! :(

NB: body shot : when a girl lies on the bar and others take shots from their belly button.

After a razy and actually emotionally-ending night, we were up early to catch our flight to Colombia, hangover.com! But at least we got to the airport on time...

Why am I always drunk in Mancora

The 14th of June came around in a flash and it was time for mine and Lisa's travels to Colombia and we couldn't have been craving the sunshine more, autumn had well and truly hit Lima.

The first stop in our travels was a return trip to Mancora and back to the Loki hostel. This time, however, was different, it was just the two of us so we had different intentions, we refused to be absorbed into the Loki way, moving only from the beach to the pool to the bar and not actually doing anything in Mancora.

After the usual 18 hour bus journey up to Mancora from Lima, we arrived to the baking heat. After popping our rucksacks in our room, we had our bikinis on quicker than you can say 'sunshine' and out in the sun we went suncreamed up and sunglasses at the ready.

There was an Irish girl, 2 Aussies and a Frenchy, the latter 3 being travelling friends and thankfully all seemed really nice and easy-going.

After a few hours in the sunshine, we munched on our fave Loki prawn cocktail salad and later 4pm cocktail went down lovely, our new favourites being strawberries and cream and Oreo shake both containing adequate amaounts of Baileys and icecream.

Whilst laying around the pool, some guys came around offering us wristbands for the 'Full Moon Party' at The Point hostel that night, therefore, our plans were set, not decision-mkaing required.

But before the party, we HAD to visit our favourite restaurant, the Mexican around the corner and a few Pisco Sours, Moquitos and burritos later, we were ready for the party.
We bumped into the girls from our room at the entrance and so we stuck together all night.
Party....what party? We arrived to about 15 other people, so we did what one has to do, drink plenty of rum and coke until everyone arrives! And before we knew it, it was ram-packed.

Then I had a wardrobe malfunction, my flip flops called it a day and snapped so I had to spend the rest of the night barefoot dancing to the constant electro music, what a hippie!!

The next day was obviously hangover day but nothing a strawberry and banana smoothie couldn't fix, and a day in the sunshine too of course!

That night, we went to another of our favourite haunts of our last visit, the Sushi bar, but eating too much ended up with u falling into a deep sleep rather than having a 2hour nap and waking up at 8.30am the next day bright-eyed and bushy tailed, whoops!

Our 3rd day was our good deed day as we'd signed up to do some local volunteering painting at a childrens home not too far away. This was a full-time home for 4 disabled children and 2 part-time kids. These kids had been taken away from their abusive and neglecting families and offered full time love and attention in this wonderful place. Its a British-Peruvian organisation but solely funded by the British charity.

Our hearts were touched completely and so we got painting the fences of their garden to provide a bright and colourful environment for them. We bought some keyrings the kids had made especially to raise money for the home and then made our way back to the hostel.

Our last night was filled with Fernet (an Argentinian herby/minty liquor) and coke and to end the night we were invited to a discoteca on the beach, how could we refuse...

Whilst I was being taught salsa moves from the locals, Lisa was attempting to avoid male attention by chain-smoking outside haha! The crazy men didn't stop there, we went to a bar around the corner full of locals but thankfully we befriended some canadians who acted as our bodygurads for the rest of the night, problems solved!
After helping Lisa escape the moves of one of the canadians we got back to the hostel and snacked on some left over quesadilla from our second visit to the Mexican restaurant that night.

We met quite a few lovely people that night but getting Lisa out of bed the next day was a challenge, I was feeling fine however, Fernet must agree well with me.

We spent a few more hours in the sun before catching our chicken bus to Quito, Ecuador.

NB: chicken bus : overnight coach in South America, small, cramped and full of staring locals, not forgetting poor air-con = a freeeeeezing night's sleep!
The best description of this kind of bus was told by an English lad I met whilst in Quito : buses where a family of 5 share two seats.

Chosica : Colegio Mayor

Around 2 months ago, Shadia mentioned about helping out at a school in Chosica, a place 2 hours outside of Lima. She wanted us volunteers to help with the teaching of English in a school called Colegio Mayor. But it was not until about a month after we agreed, that we found out about more about what this 'helping out' would involve. The initial idea of having English topic speaking classes had turned into all 4 of us standing infront of 800 14-16 year olds talking about the enviroment, linking to the forthcoming World Environment Day, so not quite how we had imagined.
1) We are no geography experts
2)Public lecturing is not our forte.

However, after the panic had simmered, we stopped to listen about the real cause behind the presentation, the kids that go to Colegio Mayor.

Colegio Mayor is the first of its kind in Peru. The school is for 14-17 year olds and was setup 3 years ago as a governement initiative to allow the top students (only one per school) from schools across Peru, regardless of its location or standard of teaching/reputation. This school allows these children to learn together atr a school offering a high standard of education and more importantly, important links to universities (even Havard) and so greater opportunities for future careers. Students from far and wide board at this school during the week, sharing dorms and can return home at the weekend be it Puno or Iquitos.

Bascially we would be lecturing to genius kids, those who would grow up to be the future leaders of the country. No pressure then...

So we all prepared our sections of the presentation ; pollution, global climate change etc. and set off from Lima at 7am to do our best not to fall over whilst speaking infront of all these kids. We arrived at the school after scoffing down some breakfast en route and were literally thrown at the front of this school hall full of 15 year old glaring faces.

It was Lisa who was in charge of 'breaking the ice' so to say and the closer my turn came, the harder my heart beat in my chest. We were petrified as silly as it sounds infront of kids, but its always harder than it seems..

After 3 continuous presentations with 3 different groups of kids, we had finally did it, it was OVER! They answered our questions and even understood us, despite two of us being scousers haha! The best part was being interviewed like a celeb by the school magazine!

The most hilarious part...? Being individually introduced as lecturers before every presentation, apparently Heather, Hannah and Lisa are fluent in Italian.... haha, news to them!

What's incredible is that the majority of the kids didn't even speak English before arriving at the school, some of whom had only arrived mere months before!

What a brilliant school with even more brilliant kids!

A trip to Arequipa

Arequipa is a city on the Southern coast of Peru, the 2nd largest city after Lima known as the white city due to the white rock used to construct its buildings.
I decided to spend 4 days in Arequipa so that I would be able to have time to visit the famous Colca Canyon just outside of the city.

The beauty about being part of the VTP volunteering programme is that you get to meet so many people, especially other volunteers.
Shelley, a girl from Warminster, England, arrived in Arequipa to volunteer at the end of May and thanks to facebook, I'd already gotten to know her pretty well, so when I mentioned my trip to Arequipa, we organised to meet up. As with all volunteers Shelley was staying with a host family who kindly offered to accomodate me in Arequipa until Shadia arrived on the Monday on VTP business.

I arrived at 8am Saturday morning the 4th June, sleep-deprived at a very modest Arequipan airport but warmly welcomed by Shelley and her host family. Then came my favourite part, checking out the family house and I was BLOWN AWAY, it was a mansion. In their Jeep, we pulled up the drive to their house fronted by a huge garden, something I hadn't seen for a while coming from a small 3 bed flat in Lima, it was such a shock!

With 3 sons and 1 daughter, the family seemed perfect after just 30 minutes of knowing them and just so so welcoming! Shelley was definately going to have a good stay with them.

Shelley took me on a tour of the house and we chatted and chatted, even showing the kids some typical English Youtube videos, classics such as Harry Potter puppet pals and Charlie bit me, there English was so good and they were loving the vids!

By the time we knew it, it was lunchtime and my favourite was being served, Lomo Saltado and it was delicious!!!

In the afternoon, the Mum and Dad took me and Shelley on a trip to the city centre, we walked around Plaza de Armas, the main square, and obviously nosed around a few souvenir shops. Then we tried the local Picarrones, fried dough with honey sauce, with a side of Arequipan cola, how very cultured of us!

That night was an early night, 8.30pm, we had to be up at 1.30am the next day for the Colca Canyon tour. Dazed and confused after our middle of the night wake up call, we got on the bus at 2am for our 3 hour journey. 3 hours on the coldest bus of my life, it must have been minus numbers and the window next to me kept opening everytime I attempted to shut it. But thanks to bubbles jackets borrowed from Shelley's host mum, we just about survived.

Despite the unbearable cold journey, it was all worth it in the end, we saw the deep canyon (apparently the deepest in the world) and the famous Condor birds! We even took a trip to the local baths despite feeling like we were interrupting the fun of the locals there haha!

I found a hostel for the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights in Arequipa as Shadia was arriving Monday morning and I would be helping her out visiting schools for the VTP programme. 45 soles (£10) for both of us with a private bathroom, hot water and cable TV wasnt bad at all!!
So between visiting schools, we nosed a bit more around the city. We visited the Monastery, a monastery with a bit of a difference... seeing the monks and nuns was prohibted and only allowed via paintings post-death! Also, we ate at a roof-top restaurant in the main square, poor service but beautiful trout salads and amazing views across the city!

Tuesday evening was our last night in Arequipa and with Shelley so of course we found an Irish pub and a few baileys went down a treat but the 5am start back to Lima the next day was looming in mine and Shadia's minds.

I really enjoyed Arequipa, a really pretty and friendly city with cheaper taxis than Lima too haha! Not forgetting to mention its delicious Ricotto Rellena : an Arequipan dish of pepper stuffed with meat and vegetables.

My 21st celebrations in Lima

Since November 2009, I knew that I would be spending my oh-so-important 21st birthday in Peru; an idea that both excited me and made me kinda anxious.
1) I would be spending my birthday away from family and friends from home for the first time AND on the other side of the world!
2) Even more so, it was my 21st so it HAD to be special!

BUUUUUT, One thins I was sure of was that it would certainly be a birthday that I would remember and I'd have a slightly interesting story in years to come of how I spend my 21st in South America. And also, in March of this year, Hannah, Heather and Lisa had to decided to come and volunteer in Lima being here for my birthday = amazing!

So how does one celebrate their 21st in Lima???

Originally, I had planned to get 'dolled-up' and spend the night at a casino (something I'd never done before) or hire a party bus.
When talking about a party bus in Lima, I'm not talking about the infamous Boogie buses in the UK, filled with 18 year olds or hen dos screaming girls and Smirnoff Ices; Lima's are far more sophisticated. It's all about £12 each to get drunk, entertained and toured around Lima for a few hours, clearly more classy....
but I thought 'what the hell' everyone has to have a drunk 21st, no?

BUT after signing all the guys and gals up for a night on the bus, the company told Shadia that they were all booked up for the weekend when I wanted to celebrate my birthday, the weekend before, Saturday the 28th= MEGA FAIL.

So after a long think, I conjured up a plan to go to my 2 favourite places in Lima on the Saturday night in question, San Antonio, a gorgeous restaurant, followed by Sargento Pimiento, a really nice, relaxed 'rock bar' which feels like a step back into an English indie club, PERFECTO.

The plans being set, the next and most crucial issue was... THE DRESS. I HAD to find a beautiful dress to wear didn't I?!

My friend Shadia suggested going to a place called Gamarra, a large set of shops based in a shady area of Lima but selling dirt-cheap clothes which come straight from the factory line.
With money saving tucked away in our bras, and the dress mission set in our minds, off all 5 of us went!
And there she was... hanging there so beautifully... THE dress!! cream lace and hot. So then it was crunch time, was it going to fit. And BOOM she fit, with a cheeky help of spanks underneath, it was perfect and just what I had wanted! Just don't tell anyone that it was only £8 as it could pull off as a Topshop number ;)

The week before the celebrations, we decided to add some extra activities onto my birthday celebrations, the Zoo! I had been wanting to go since I arrived in Lima, and Shadia suggested we bring all our host family siblings, most of us having siblings between 10 and 13.
So I brought along Henry, Hannah brought the maid's daughter, Heather brought her 2 'sisters', Lisa brought Valeria and her friend from school and Shadia of course wanted to join in the fun too!
It was a really lovely afternoon, but the park was so big that we didn't get to see everything, much to Henry's disappointment haha! We had to get back and get ready for our night out!!

The night flowed perfectly, I got ready in Lisa's (just like being back at uni!) with some dodgy red wine called Gato (translation : cat) which explains it all.
Good food, wine, cocktails, the best company, the perfect music accompaniment and not such a bad hangover the next day made the perfect night out : SUCCESS!

But the celebrations didn't end there, my birthday wasnt until the follwoing Tuesday, the 31st.

Afetr manic attempts to receive my birthday parcel from my family, I woke up bright and early at 6am on my birthday to finally discover its contents afer 4 days of it sitting in my room. Galaxy chocolate, PG Tips, clothes, PJs and cards filled with emotional messages; made me feel at home for half an hour.

Then it was celebration times with my host family with lots of love and kisses at the breakfast table and so I didn't feel so far away from home at all! Even in school all the teachers (some who I'd never even worked with) all wished me 'Feliz Cumpleanos' and the kids were singing to me all day.
At 11am, I was called to the reception to find chocolates and flowers that had just arrived for me sent from my Mum, Dad and sisters, could this day get any better??
Then I received a phone call from Sam all the way from Liverpool, I was wrong, my day was well and truly made.

After school, I skyped my parents really quickly thanks to crappy internet then joined Heather, Hannah, Shadia and Tulo for our favourite frozen yogurt in Miraflores. Then Heather and Hannah treated me to a manicure before coming back with me to my flat for the most important part of the day, my 'party' organised by my host family.

Shadia, Tulo, another volunteer, Shadia's mum, Violeta from school, Heather, Hannah and my host family were all there. Lisa had to miss out on the fun because she was so ill :(

The home-made Pisco Sours (Peruvian cocktail) were flowing and the meal was fantastic, duck with a special type of rice and all my guests were given a special chocolate souvenirs, how sweet!!! Not forgetting my birthday cake especially made by the family and Hernan's (my host dad) emotional speech of how happy they were to have me with them.... tears were definately very near!

Then 10.30pm arrived and everyone was pooped! Bedtime came after a long and wonderful day!

And Lisa, managed to help me consume a lot of chocolate and cake the next day :)

ABSOLUTELY PERFECT DAY!

Mancora ..... paradise....

Mancora is a place renowned for having the best beaches in Peru and the best climate also. Being summertime all year round its a slice of paradise for us Brits!
Again we stayed in the Loki hostel, 7 dollars a night for a view like the above, not bad hey!
Me, Heather, Hannah, Lisa and Chay (Hannah's boyfriend who was over visiting ) had already decided that our week in Mancora was going to be a week of nothing but pool, beach and seafood, and thats what it was!

Each morning we would get up and ask : beach or pool today? and each night ask : what cocktails do you fancy?

We ate so much Ceviche (raw fish, Peruvian style sashimi but spicier), prawns and salads.
We ate AMAZING mexican food, sushi and thai, all three restaurants being with 200 yards of each other. perfection.

And of course, Mancora is a mean surfing spot, so of course we had to try it out!
Plus, an hour lesson each with our own instructor for ten pounds, we couldnt say no!
Surfing is definately a 'its looks easier than it is' sport, because i couldnt even get myself kneeling on the board for the first 15 mins! but eventually i managed to surf a wave 3 or 4 times, a very proud moment indeed!!!
Even with a bit of blood leaking from my thigh after scraping the sea bed, its something i will try again.

The only thing is to be aware of the local guys on the beach, who decided it was normal to take photos of Lisa, Heather and I whilst sunbathing and when Heather got irrate with them (which I loved), all they replied was that it was for 'their collection', oh thats ok then isn't it?! Strange men!

Mancora is beautiful and there is so much more to do that I didn't get round to, such a parties in the clubs on the beach etc / getting to see outside the hostal/restaurant/beach area.

However we did make it to the local mud baths, 20/25 minutes away in a mototaxi from Loki hostel. A mototaxi ride I'll never forget! Me, Hannah and Chay were in one mototaxi and Lisa and Heather in the other. A mototaxi is basically a Tuk-Tuk which is a motorbike that has a rear covered seat back at the back and can fit 3 people in. So off we went on the bumpy road, every limb of ours vibrating along with the motion of the mototaxi, and to pass the time Me, Chay and Hannah thought of as many songs as we could to sing along the way, the guy must have thought we were nuts. From the Beatles to YMCA, me and Hannah were the perfect backing singers to Chay, a taxi ride to remember for sure!

Then we arrived to the mud baths around 5pm, the water was gorgeous and warm and Chay's diving skills provided us with lots of mud to lash on our faces and upper bodies, you just had to be careful of the odd stone or hair in the mud clay. Only the photo below can explain our beauty at the mud baths.



The only thing we didn't like about Mancora, was the fellow travellers in Loki at the time, RARS. Aka posh gap yah kids travelling on daddy's money. Sometimes we felt a bit out of place surrounded by all these bellends but there was 5 of us, so we had such a good time anyway!!

Mancora is a definite recommendation, so much so, that Im going back there on my way to Ecuador and Colombia!

Bolivia: La Paz and Peru: Lake Titicaca

So it's about time I updated this blog of mine about my recent travel adventures.

In April, a few uni friends (Hannah, Heather an Lisa) were travelling up from Argentina through Bolivia and would be eventually arriving in Peru in May. So when I was asked if I fancied meeting up with them for a week to do a bit of travelling in La Paz and Peru, i jumped at the opportunity to see some familiar faces!
After a pretty unreasonably priced flight, I arrived in La Paz a bit breathless, literally! with an altitude of over 4000m, the altitude was definately evident, even talking made me breathless.

So we arrived at the hostel around 2am after the girls picking me up in a taxi at the airport , and La Paz already seemed different to Lima.
We were staying in the Loki hostel, and i would recommend it! (However, be warned, La Paz is very much a drug spot, so any hostel is going to have coke/pill heads drinking water at 8am after just getting back from a club. Fair enough if thats for you, but in fact, I dont even think they got to actually see the city other than its through its bars and clubs. What a shame!)

Anyway, after a few hours sleep on my first night, the first day was exploration day, we had a nose around the centre of town and it was nice, however, the poverty in Bolivia was certainly evident and worse than Peru. But despite this, the people in Bolivia were so friendly and helpful!!

Then the illness hit, my friend Lisa wasn't feeling good at all! Be it the food, be it the altitude, who knows in South America, unfortunately its part of the travelling package, mysterious illnesses. But on her taxi ride home, she got caught up in the protests (see BBC news in april) and had to get out the taxi due to tear gas and ended up vomitting en route, the poor girl just wanted to get back to bed!!!

So whilst all this was happening to Lisa, me, Heather and Hannah visited La Paz's contemporary art museum. At first, it seemed a bit boring on the first floor but the other two floors were so good, particulary works of an artist called Hansmann, check him out! Here is one of his pieces.




That night me and Hannah decided to try out the La Paz nightlife, so in an attempt to avoid the 'line of coke with a shot' kind of places, we went to a club called Mangos (apparently a foreigners hangout). When we turned up it literally looked like a house party, the club itself is located in a converted house, very nice inside though however. And two very large cervezas and two tequilas later (all for a tenner), me and Hannah were certainly enjoying ourselves.

But it may have been the tequila which forced me to make the worst decision ever: to break the number one travel rule. DO NOT EAT STREET FOOD.
And plus it was Anticuchos which is basically a kebab of cows heart. But as disgusting as that sounds, cooked well, its delicious tender meat! A must for all meat lovers!
However, this was from a stand outside a club. BAD IDEA. because sleeping on a bunk bed and the drunken room spinning seems to encourage vomitting. Thats right all over my bed, EUGH. And this meant snuggling up to Hannah in her bed but not before a non-stop 10 mins of her laughing at my behaviour. DO NOT TRY THIS EVER.

So the next day, we kinda chilled, went to a few shops, bought a few souvenirs, and went to the best Mirador in La Paz (a viewpoint where you see all over the city), pretty impressive!

The next day we signed ourselves up for : Death Road. Yep pretty much as scary as its name.
Th death road involves mountain biking on the most dangerous road in the world *cue dramatic music* .
The road is mostly all downhill with one uphill part but most get taken up this in minibus, an option we took happily!

The scenery itself of this bike ride is so worth the fear. The road itself is about 12 feet wide with a possible 600 foot drop on your left side pretty much the whole ride. The ride starts in the mountains at over 4000m, cold but beautiful. Then the further you descend, the warmth hits, until you reach the Bolivian jungle. Breathtaking views throughout.
After hours of biking in contrasting climates, the relief of a cold beer at the end was fantastic!

The next day was leaving day from La Paz, next stop Copacabana, the town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titcaca. After good reviews of Isla Del Sol which you can only visit from here, we ended up enjoying the boat trip more than the island! the trip being only a few hours, we were only left with 50 mins on the island after an hour's boat ride, we didnt have time to see anything and climbing up the steps to reach the Inca monuments was just impossible at altitude, especially for Lisa who i quoe 'felt like her lungs were going to explode'.

Then we jumped a bus to Puno, the Peruvian Lake Titicaca point where we reached our basic but ok enough hotel, no bad for £5 a night!
Then before catching my 2pm bus back to Lima we managed to visit the most famous islands on the Lake, los Uros which are floating islands made from straw which they have to add extra layers to every 2 weeks.
A lotof tourists complain that they don't enjoy these islands because they are very commercial and exploitive of its inhabitants, and to be fair this is true, but all in all, they are worth the visit just to see this way of life! And the girls got to try their first sip of Inca Kola! A yellow but delicious Peruvian fizzy drink!
Lake titicaca is pretty and worth a visit but its just like a big lake basically, Lake Windermere in Peru perhaps?

I would recommend this trip, Bolivia and Peru are so cheap, Bolivia especially!!! Just don't eat the street food please!

Ica / Huacachina

So after a week here, i was invited my two of the other volunteers to take a trip to Ica.
I knew absoutely nothing about it but happily agreed to have a little adventure.

Coach trips are so cheap here, it only cost about 11 pound for a return journey to Ica, a city four hours away. Nice!

So we actually stayed in a place called Huacachina (please google) its a natural oasis in the desert 10 minutes outside of Ica and my god is it beautiful. We stayed in a hotel called el Huacachinero, a fab hotel which for us was cheap as chips. We stayed in a 10 bed dorm which cost about 7/8 pound a night and the facilities were soooo good. It had its own pool/restaurant/bar etc!

So being in the desert we HAD to do some sand boarding, no?
So we jumped in a buggy and off we went into the dunes.
It was everything that you could imagine it to be, just breathtaking, dunes upon dunes, beautiful.
Then for the sand boarding...
I thought there would be more rules or safety regulations to it but no. Just a lie-down on a board and being told to keep your elbows on the board (to avoid what would be horrible sand-burn).
And it was incredible!!!!
It really was that feeling of freedom just WOW im sand boarding down a ridiculously high dune!!

Experiencing the sunset in the desert. CHECK.
It was unbelievable, a true kodak moment (ill have to work out how to upload photos onto this!!)

The next day we went to the Nasca Lines which are figures in the ground that have been there for centuries, nobody knows how or why they are there (kinda like crop circles i guess, but in the ground not crops). At first I wasnt too fussed, but it was actually quite interesting to hear all the theories surrounding them.

Then to the wineries...my favorite part of the day.
We got taken to two wineries, and got given soooo much wine to taste.
There is a very famous alcohol called Pisco here and its like 40% volume, its good but my god, strong! But there are also variations of pisco wine which is delicious sweet wine!! A must try!

We also ended up tastign wine with a famous Peruvian comedian (apparently), everyone was made up to see her etc and he bought us chocolates ... always appreciated!!

The next day I went to Paracas to see the Islas Ballestas, which are islands out to see which beautful birds, sea lions and penguins!! gorgeous!!

All in all, after only 3 days of trip, we managed to do and see quite alot and have a pretty amazing time.
I'd highly recommend Ica for any tourists to Peru.

Oh Peru!

So i am finally getting around to my 'hello ive arrived in Peru blog' only 3 weeks too late, but considering my track record for blog neglect, i havent done too bad, so lets begin...

The beginning
So after a mammoth 20 odd hour door to door voyage, i arrived in Lima airport bricking myself, not of what was to come but the fact that I had been waiting over half an hour for my suitcase to worm its way around the baggage turnstile, oh whatever we call those things. I was sure that all the new summer clothes / half of primark would never see the light of day. but of course they did eventually. panic over!

You know you see those T mobile adverts of about 100 people waiting at the arrivals, well its true, that does actually happen! Sooo many people with sooo many signs, however, the girl from the volunteer organisation thankfully enough had a bright pink dress on so i spotted her straight away!

then for my host family to arrive...
the most worrying thing was knowing that i'd have to speak spanish, a skill that requires alertness and knowledge, the two things i was definately lacking after a pitiful amount of sleep.
However, thanks to a english-speaking neice, we arrived home to a large chocolate cake to celebrate my arrival which i thought was really sweet!!

The school im volunteering at is pretty sweet too, modern, snazzy and the teachers are well friendly!! Classes start properly this week (its the beginning of a new school year) so im actually pretty looking forward to helping out, though the talk of the children learning from my pronunciation is humourous with my scouse twang still lingering despite my best posh voice, oh well!

All in all im getting more settled now, despite the craaaazy bus system (jump on jump off bascially anywhere) and the constant hustle and bustle, im quite enjoying it!! Im definately getting my bearings alot more now, so i can go wander and discover a bit more especially in the big gringa area (gringa = foreigner) of Miraflores, where i dont feel as though i stick out as much.

Ive discovered starbucks and alot of amazing food so far.... let the discovery continue....

Shit me, Im a sensitive soul today

My name is Emma and Im major in-limbo ponderer.

Its better to love and get hurt than to never love at all.

We've all experienced heart-break and if you haven't, then you're a lucky soul!
Heart-break, it can happen after a rough or even not so rough relationship break-up, missing the one you love, having to leave a loved one or even realising you can have what you want to happen with a certain person.

But this is not my point of discussion, what is, is that I believe, and you do not have to agree, is that if you don't try or throw yourself into it, then how can you ever know 'what if' or 'waht might have happened' and learn from the experience.
Of course everyone has at least one experience of going out with an idiot or simply a person who is not right for you, but it is definately all part of the learning curve, because these idiots make us realise that the nice ones are in fact NICE ones.

Love is pain, love is joy.
But if you don't let it in, how will you know?

Life motto

Ne rêve pas ta vie, vis tes rêves

The blog of all blogs: The male comparison : France V England

In July, before leaving the pool of life (liverpool) for the city of lights (Paris), my cousin jokingly said that I should base my Year Abroad project on comparing French men to the English, which at the time I laughed off, but now that is exactly what I am going to attempt to do..... Wish me luck!

Before France, I was never “I would love to marry a Frenchman” kind of girl, to be honest, they were just never my cup of PG Tips, therefore I was shocked to admit that near enough every day in Paris I “fell in love”, be it in the street or on the metro.

To be fair, Paris is full of beautiful people of all nationalities and races, so even if you’ve had a hellish day in work, somebody’s beautiful face can just make it a little bit better...

This aside, the crunch time... What are the differences about the men in France and England. But please take it with a pinch of salt as not ALL men in France act the same, and the same can be said for English guys too.

The big debate : Relationships in France

Les Francais , les romantiques?

So i’ve whittled my debate/analysis on two main areas of men behaviour, behaviour in clubs when attempting to pull and relationship behaviour.

Pulling behaviour

French men are forward, FACT. In a bar or on the street, they see no harm in a flirt or even a face rape. I have had the unfortunate luck of experiencing the particular act of facial rape which ok, is an over-exaggeration; however, this still involves the forceful measure of a guy attacking your face with his lips WITHOUT consent. Not fun. This has happened twiced, and twice I have explained my utter disgust and anger to the two said ‘mecs’.

One very interesting fact for those single ladies/men out there, if you need a cheap night out, it is possible to worm your way in with a guy in a bar and gladly receive free drinks all night. Tested and proven by various friends of mine!

Relationship behaviour

This is the BIGGY!

The French society loves relationships, a good majority of people are in relationships, the infamous english single life just doesn't exist!

The most remarkable thing I found was the quickness into relationships! I've known people who have been on two dates and the guy has popped the question "Do you want to go out?"

So why:

1) why is everyone in relationships?

Another thing Ive noticed is the dependance that girlfriends have on their boyfriends and the male dominance in many relationships ,STILL in 2011. Also, French guys have actually told me that a guy can cheat on a new girlfriend and its not seen as a big deal and it's just 'normal' and accepted HOWEVER, no way Jose can a girl do the same!! What year is it again?

But it has to be said, France has been and possibly may be seen for a long time as the country of infidelity and mistresses...

2)why the quick "let's go out"?

Maybe this links back to the previous question, and its just the way society works. People like to be in relationships, maybe as security or is France really the country of romantics?

My mate split up with her boyfriend whilst in France and then suddenly found herself surrounded by all her guy mates declaring their undying love for her! maybe just trying their luck??

But then sometimes I think to myself, maybe French guys aren't afraid to take risk, whereas english guys know that asking a girl out is seen as a big commitment. Or do we return to the infidelity issue and they are not afraid to commit because in fact, they don't initially see themselves as truely commited.

However, these are all big generalisations of French men, but I certainly have evidence to back this up!

So the perfect man???

Personally, the perfect man would be imperfect as if I didn't find an imperfection, that would seriously worry me, we all have ou faults, big or small.

My criteria:

Funny

Charming

Laid-back

Ambitious : they must have aims and ambitions of what they want to go in life.

A good eclectic music taste

A bit of a babe, well we all like a nice face don't we

And just generally a nice guy with good morals?

It'd say that's pretty fair, no?

Well this is just my opinion.....