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!