More goings on

This weeks been great. Are getting more used to been here now, are actually starting to eat 3 meals a day, are able to run up the stairs with out been puffed & my teeth are almost back to normal :o) All good things!!!

Monday 19th - School as per usual, then met up with Liz & Michael and we went for a walk around Cusco & settled on a restaurant above Plaza de Armas where I drank Coca de marte (herb tea) & had papas fritas (chips). Was a nice relaxing night.

Tuesday 20th - School as per usual, as a particle my teacher took me to the Inca museum. It was really interesting & it was cool to have here there to explain a few things to me. Was supposed to go with Liz to learn how to play the traditional Peruvian flute, but we were late & her friend had left. It ended up been a very interesting night tho. I hang out at the student residence (of the Spanish school where Liz, Michael & Analea live). Get this - a huge bottle of vodka costs $11.80soles - that's like $4au!!! Can you believe it!!!! Needless to say it was a very drunken night & fun was had by all. I was actually thinking about transferring to the student residence cause my family tends to do there own thing & it can get a tad lonely but I think Ill just settle for crashing the student residence when I'm bored & be happy with that. I've only got just over another week here so its not that long & my family is really nice.

Wednesday 21st - School... Met up with a Crystal (US), Dan (Israel), Michael (Oz) & Analea (Can) about 8.30pm & firstly went to a Irish pub where we met a couple of other aussies, James & Jen, who were pretty cool. After which we went to Mama Africas which was the pub we went to Saturday night. They always seem to have excellent music & the place was pumping. Had to tear myself away at 2am was soooo tempted to do a all nighter (we've agreeded that'll be Saturday night!). Glad I didn't it was so hard to concentrate in class this morning! Walking to mama africas was interesting to say the least. Once again you have a million people trying to get you to go to their club plus people trying to sell you something. This is all normal, what wasn't normal was that the shoe shine guys were trying to hug me & kiss me, at one stage a boy jumped off a step to hug me & scared the shit out of me! I'm glad I was with a group. It was all harmless so don't go getting worried for my safety. I've been in the plaza by myself a million times at night & nothings happened it was all in fun. Just interesting.

Thursday 22nd - We had to run for the bus this morning. I'm sure it would have been quite comical for anyone watching & quit hard for the bus to miss - 2 white girls (Crystal & I) running down the road. We were lucky & the bus waited so we weren't late for class. Had a sleep this afternoon :o) I'm starting to love my nana naps! At home I never would have been abel to sleep at night but here I don't have a problem! Did my washing this arvo too. Think that pretty much brings me upto date... Email me or comment if your reading!!! Would love to hear what's happening at home or wherever the hell you are

what's next....That's what I'm trying to figure out. Tomorrow - local ruins, Saturday will do Sacred Valley then Sunday will be spent recovering form Saturday night. Next week, I think I might buckle down & study, haven't really studied that much at all this week... Will book the 2 day Inca trail for next Saturday & stay a extra night in Agua Callienties (I cant spell in English so I certainly cant spell in Spanish, k), the town at MachuPicchu, it means hot water as there are hot springs there. So maybe on the following tuestday Ill either head to Arequipa or straight to Puno then make my way to LaPaz (Bolivia) then all the way down to Chile. I have to be in Santiago by the 21st May for my flight to Brazil so Ill see how I go. I thought I had a bit more time so hopefully 3 weeks will be enough... Ill see how I go :o)


More on cusco:

* Everything on these PCs is in Spanish :) & the keyboards are a little different so its taken me a while to build up my typing speed again.

* I wash my clothes by hand, it really makes me appreciate the washing machine :o) My family have a maid that comes in & does everything but I feel bad making her wash my clothes too.

* I have to turn the hot water on for my shower in the morning 15min before I want to have my shower so the waters hot.

* you're not supposed to put toilet paper in toilet here cause of the sewage system... I keep forgetting so are probably going to bring down the whole system single handedly...

* My Spanish teacher is so cool. I feel no where near as pressured & think I'm picking up a lot more, her English is really good which helps with explaining stuff. I haven't paid for solo classes but don't think that there's any one else at the same level as me which is kinda cool cause I have my own teacher.

* I'm enjoying myself but are starting to get ichy feet a little. One week left here then Ill start moving & the adventure will really begin!!!!!!

Cusco 22nd April 6.53pm

Cucsco - General Stuff I've Noticed

* To me it seems very, very polluted. The cars are quite a lot older & spew out clouds of smoke which adds to it been a the city been dirty. At the end of the day my clothes have dirty crease marks on them.

* When driving they LOVE to use their horn for any any reason at all & not many of them know how to use indicators.

* Taxis are so cheap $2sl($0.80au), I'm been so lazy & usually catch them. I'm a 40min walk form the city centre.

* Have caught the local bus (which can either be a 20year old bus or what wed call a normal van) which costs $0.50sl. This in its self is an experience to say the least. There is a person that hangs out the door as they pull up to a stop who yells out all the destinations so fast that I cant understand them, I've always had to go with someone. Then they cram the bus so full of people that everyone gets squashed. They aren't the cleanest things either but its cheap so Ill probably do it this week too :o)

* How funny is this, I think I'm losing weight! My pot belly has gone & is now flat. Go figure.
Breakfast is usually fresh fruit juice which has been made for me, then cereal, & maybe youghut with fresh fruit then coca tea.
Lunch can either start with soup, which is either a cream or clear, or salad of some sort. The clear soup has meat, potatoes & veggies in it & both soups or salad are really really filling. Next out comes the main which is a meat dish with rice & or potatoes - think I've managed to finish the second course 2 or 3 times since I've been here. Then out comes desert which is usually some kind of fruit & is usually really yummy.
Dinner, needless to say I haven't really felt like dinner. When I catch up with friends Ill have a plate of chips, I think last night was the first night I've ordered a proper meal.

* It amazes me how just about everything shuts down for 2 or 3 hours for lunch & most people go home.

* Shops are open really late & are so cheap. I'm been so good & not buying stuff - I want to though!

there's heaps more stuff but once again I'm at a internet cafe & must get moving.

* Oh & regardless if my hair was brown or black Id still stick out like a sore thumb!

xoxoxoxox to you all.

Had 2 rush off yesterday so here's the rest...

Friday 16th - School as per normal. Forgot to mention that I went back to group classes Thursday. The teacher is so much better & actually speaks some English so I got heaps more out of the classes. Was in with another girl form Australia - Debra from Perth. After class decided to miss out on family lunch so a group of us, Deb, Crystal (US) & Vince (France) went to a local restaurant for lunch. I had chicken & chips :o) how Peruvian I hear you say.... The chickens here are huge!
After lunch we did the tourist thing & went to temple de sole & the museum. The temple is pretty amazing. They actually built a catholic church on top of the Inca temple & its really cool to see the Inca with the colonial. It was just a really peaceful place to visit. Didn't really do anything Friday night just relaxed & watched TV (the English channel!)

Saturday 17th - Happy Birthday Mum!!!! & Nana if ur reading. Went to the markets with Home stay family & brought a watch for $35sl. Then we went for a bit of a drive round the city. I love seeing the differences.
Then I went out for dinner then on to the discotecas (clubs) last night. Now I have to explain something about how it works here. If you're not a local & you walk down the street, you can get anywhere up to 5 people approaching you at a time trying to get you a) to buy postcards, lollies, smokes finger puppets or anything else you can imagine or b) trying to get you in to their restaurant or shop. Last night I'm sure we made a all time record. There was a group of about 8 of us & we walked down gringo alley to go to a restaurant for dinner. We got surrounded by I swear at least 15 -20 people trying to get us into their restaurants, it was a little overwhelming to say the least but all part of the experience. Dinner was good, Mexican, although their tacos certainly didn't look like the tacos I'm used to.
The clubs are very much made for the tourists & if, once again your not a local, each & every club has people on the street offering you all sorts of things to get you into their club. The best one is the free drink. So the night starts off jumping form club to club. Some of them were really nice others really tackie. We ended up staying at Mamma Africas. All western music with the odd salsa thrown in. It was a really good night & I didn't end up getting home until 5am...

Sunday 18th - So needless to say I slept most of today. We did go out for lunch, usual 3 courses, made me want to explode once again. Just chilled & listened to music this afternoon then thought I better do something :o)

Settled in... Now :o)

Cusco. Local date 17 April 4.45pm
I'm starting to feel heaps more confident with my Spanish & are understanding heaps more & can have very basic conversations.

The walk to tipon last Saturday was great but well just about killed me ;) The whole walking up steep hills with my asthma didn't really work that well. I made it to the top any way & the ruins were pretty cool. The Incas set up this whole irrigation system that's quite impressive. I took heaps of photos, it was just a really beautiful place.

I spent most of Sunday recovering but went to the black markets then town with my homestay family & watched the Easter processions. The dancers were amazing & their outfits were so colorful & interesting. There were some even dressed as bears, it was a pretty hot day so I felt quite sorry for them. We had lunch at a local restaurant (the usual 3 courses). Lunch is usually about 2pm or 3pm. After that I went home & relaxed a bit then met up with Dan at Plaza de Armuz, Gemma bailed on us cause she had the trek the next day (5.30am) and was feeling pretty tired.

Monday - School in the morning as per usual, then salsa, drinks with friends - this time at a English pub.

Tuesday - Read sore teeth entry below :o)

Wednesday - Felt like shit, teeth v sore, went to school in the morning, went home had lunch, went to bed (at 3 in the afternoon) slept for a few hours. Woke up read my book, went back to sleep.

Thursday - Teeth STILL sore, felt ok though. Went to school, went home had lunch, met up with 4 friends & did a heap of sight seeing. It was really good went to San blas, the main church - its amazing the detail that goes into their churches. Its more like a art museum that a church. It kinda feels wrong that so many tourists are traipsing around what's supposed to be a spiritual place but it really is amazing to see! Went to a museum as well then met up with another group of people went for dinner & out to a club, opps sorry discotecha ;o) It was a really good night.

Ok really do have to go now....

Love to you all!!!!!!! Miss everyone like crazy but are actually having a good time.

Sore teeth!!!

Cusco. Local date 17 April, 4.26pm

That's right, I have sore teeth.

This last week has been interesting to say the least & I think I've been a tad stressed & clenching my jaw shut as I slept on Tuesday night has resulted in sore teeth :o)

Last week, I discovered that my purse that I had about $50us dollars & my key card in had gone missing... Anyway to cut a really long boring story short I had to arrange for mum to have power of attorney over my accounts so I can get a new key card etc... There in, is where I encountered a few problems - which seem quite comical, now.

Problem no. 1 - it was Easter & everything was pretty much shut down here form Thursday & at home in oz it was shut down Friday to Monday. Not that big a deal, just have to wait - this I could handle.

Problem no. 2 - Not speaking Spanish very well & using your Spanish English dictionary to explain to your Spanish teacher that you need a public notary to sign the forms that your lawyer sent from Australia - not easy but doable.

Problem no. 3 - explaining to the public notary who speaks no English what needs to be done but them not understanding & only doing half of what needed to be done - umm, a tad frustrating but still ok.

Problem no. 4 - Asking your homestay parents if they know a lawyer that speaks English so they can complete the last part of the paper work. Homestay mum translating doc then spending close to a hour at the public notarys office asking for them to sign knowing what the doc now says cause of the translation. This was touch & go they still didn't want to sign & homestay mum had to sign her life away too - I felt bad for taking up so much of homestay mums time (most of afternoon) brought her a box of chocolates. I felt really frustrated cause I couldn't explain myself & very isolated. Still ok at this point though.

Problem no. 5 - Tried to fax document & stupid technology not working - very very frustrating!!! Felt bad for putting mum (my real mum) out cause she had to stand around & wait for fax & it didn't end up coming... By this stage finding it hard to hold it together.

Problem no. 6 - Tried to call the bank (reverse charge) to ask if a faxed copy of doc would actually do any good. Stupid international operator in Oz was engaged. Tried to get through for over a hour (this is at midnight by the way & I`d already had a pretty shit day).

End result - I cried, went to sleep & must have clenched my teeth so hard in my sleep that they've been sore for the last 4 days! Almost back to normal now though.

Problem no. 7 - Called the bank when I woke up, I got through thank god, & they then informed me that even though my mum had power of attorney she still couldn't put a new pin on my replacement card... Umm my response, "Why in the hell did the person I spoke to last Thrusday tell me that this was the only way to get my new card with in the 3 remaining weeks I had left here!". Lets just say I was a little pissed off & gave him attidue. End result he's sending a new key card to my mums place & she's going to take the card & every single piece of documentation in with her to hopefully get my new card issued so she can courier it to me before I move on to Bolivia at the end of the month...

I sent the power of attorney docs by courier on Wednesday which will take 4 working days, costing $25us. Not to bad. Forgot to include a request for the bank to let mum enter my new pin number... Tried to send that yesterday express post - would have cost me $30au. So over it all now , sent it by normal mail will take 10days....

Feels good to have had a rant. I've been up to heaps of cool stuff too. Need to write about that but think I have to go....

I've been in Cusco 5 days

8.25pm Fri 9 April

Time really does fly!! Its hard to believe that ivy almost been here a week. Don't have that much time left at the internet cafe so Ill just do a quickie run down on what ivy been up to.

- Spanish school is a little harder than I thought it would be, the teachers don't speak any English so its a bit hard when they're trying to explain something & you don't get it... Was in a class with 2 other people, Gemma (Australian but has lived in Canada for the last year) & Dan (whose form Israel). They're both really cool except they both understand & speak a lot more Spanish than me. Decided to change form a group class to one on one classes & started them on Wednesday. I'm understanding a lot more but my new teacher doesn't speak English either so all I can say is thank god for the Spanish dictionary I brought.

Tuesday night - Went to salsa lessons at the school with Gemma & Dan. It was a lot of fun. I haven't laughed so much in ages. Then we went to a neat little place & chilled out with the group of people form the salsa lessons.

Wednesday night - Met up with Gemma & walked around the shops for a bit. Brought a top that'll be great for Africa & the middle East. He wanted $25 soles for it but ended up taking $20sl. A 100% cotton long sleaved good quality top for $7.50au, not bad me thinks. Everything here is so cheap. The prices are pretty much the same as they are at home but with the advantage of the exchange rate its just so cheap!

Yesterday - Easter is pretty big here & they have both Thursday & Friday off. Yesterday was this huge lunch (bigger than normal) it was something like 12 courses as opposed to the normal 3. They said it was about the last supper... Basically how it works with lunch is that I finish school at 1pm & make my way home (so does everyone else, they all go home for lunch!) then the food starts coming out. Like I said its usually 3 courses consisting of soup, a main & desert - this is everyday! They think I don't eat a lot cause the soup usually fills me up. Anyway yesterday was 3 soups, 2 mains & however many deserts. I tried all of them which was cool & I couldn't eat a couple of them cause they had wheat in them (thank god). By then end of it I felt like I was going to explode :o)

Last night - I met Gemma & Dan about 8, went & grabbed some food then met up with some of Dans friends, that he met in Bolivia, at a Irish Pub (that's right Irish pub in Peru!). Ended up going to a Discotech (club). It was a really good night & I was happy to sleep in this morning cause it was a bit of a late one :o)

Today - my host family are so cool. They're like would you like to go to the country side today? I was like that'd be good (in broken Spanish & English as per most conversations). They took me to the markets in Pisca then to Calca where they were getting ready for the Easter procession that was this afternoon. They make these banners on the ground out of crushed flowers of all different colours. Some of them were pretty amazing. Then we went on to Urubamba & had a walk around there. It was pretty cool. I didn't see any ruins or anything like that but it was neat to see the towns & the sacred valley is pretty dam breath taking. I took a heap of photos.

Anyway must go. Having a quite night tonight. Doing a hike tomorrow to Tipon -haven't read up about it yet but I'm sure it'll be good. Lets just hope I'm not to unfit! ;o)

More on Lima

8am Sun 4 April local time.

At present I'm in the airport again, this time waiting for my flight to Cusco. I have a much better impression of the apart in daylight , they're refurbishing it. Yesterday afternoon was great! It seemed like it lasted forever. I went on the city tour as planned & thankfulness got to see quite a bit of Lima. It would have been interesting to see some of the poorer parts areas though but we didn't eve go near them. The places we did go to were; Waka Hula, which is really old temple ruins that were built before the Incas time. Cathedral of Lima, main square, the church of San Francisco & Catacombes & San Isidro. There were heaps more places but I cant remember the names. My favorite was the catacombes which are underneath San Francisco. It was really interesting to have a look & see all the bones & how they buried their people. You actually get to see all the bones & grave structures which was cool.

Central lima is nowhere near as clean as miraflores but still pretty reasonable. There were heaps more beggars & people trying to sell you stuff. I ended up buying a painting for 15.50sl. The tour finished about 6pm so I went back to my room & crashed for a hour of so. I was suppose to meet up with a couple of American guys but they had a change of plans which involved a really late night & I was pretty tired & had a early flight... I ended up getting some food & went to the night markets. Dinner only cost me 12sl for a huge meal, just under $5au. I looked through the shops too. You can buy tops & jumpers from 5sl - 20sl ($1.80au-$7.5au) so tempted but I'm been good :o) The money thing - easiest way for me to work it out is 1sl = $0.38au or 10sl = $3.78au. Thus far I've spent $165au since I've left oz which isn't to bad. Oh, that's not including the duty free perfume but I got that in oz so it doesn't count :o)

Cusco....

6.30am Mon 5.04.04

The flight here was great, it only took 50 min. Most of the way I looked out the window at the mountain ranges, they're amazing. It was interesting to see the transformation between the dryness of the coast & the green the closer we got to Cusco.

I got picked up at the airport & dropped off at my host families house. The house is really nice & in a really good area. I can look out my bedroom window & see the park next door & the mountains in the background. My host family is really nice & with the little bit of English that the mother speaks & my tiny, tiny bit of Spanish were doing ok. They have a 11 year old son (Diego) who speaks pretty good English which is great. I'm asking him what all the words mean in Spanish but the problem is remembering them & my mind is pretty much like a sive at the moment....

I start Spanish school today.

Yesterday I went to mass with the family, the churches here are amazing. After church they drove me around & showed me the city. Cusco is really beautiful, I love it! The buildings are so old!

We stopped at a restaurant for lunch , it was really quaint & had Inca stone work on the back wall which was pretty cool. I wasn't really that hungry, so had steamed fish. We we got home I was feeling quite tires so had a sleep. Then I went downstairs & had some coca tea, wasn't hungry so didn't eat.

Some of their friends came over & it was quite interesting just listening to the conversation, before it just used to sound like blah, blah, blah but now I can pick out the odd word. Then we all played cards. Ocho Loco - crazy eights. It was a lot of fun. Diego helped me out.

They really liked the presents I gave them & loved my photos of Oz.

don't think that my sleeping patterns are quite right yet. I woke up a few times during the night then was wide awake at 6am...

I start school today...

Made it to Lima in one piece!

Wow, what can I say. Firstly local date & time 3 April 1pm.

Going through customs & stepping in to the arrival lounge here in Lima blew my mind! There were so many people making lots of noise & every second person offering me a ride/taxi, all in Spanish of course so I didn't understand a word! It didn't take me long to find the sign with my name on it & a lovely man called Mireno, who spoke very little English, drove me through Lima to the Olimpus hostel in Miraflores. I still cant get over the amount of people or the number of cars that were at the airport, not to mention the noise! I think the airport itself is either been refurbished or a new ones been build cause it was pretty much a tin shed, not quite what I expected.

The hostel I'm staying at is really nice, the people are lovely but don't speak much English. I'm picking up more Spanish than I thought I would already. It makes it hard when no one understands what you're saying or what you want, i.e a day tour of Lima - note to self need to buy a more comprehensive English-Spanish dictionary. I've got a single room, which I was very thankful for last night. I basically got changed, washed my face & crashed out at about 1am local time. I woke up at 6.30am so only 6.5 hours sleep but its all good, just means Ill sleep well tonight.

Marino, the guy who picked me up at the airport, was going to the beach today with a few other guys form the hostel & offered for me to go with them. I was tempted just to see the beaches (I didn't realize that I'm staying 2 blocks form the beach anyway) but decided that unless I did a day tour Id miss out on most of lima cause I'm only here for 1 day. I've booked into a 4 hour tour for $20us that picks me up this afternoon. This morning I Went for a bit of a walk about to explore Miraflores. I love the feeling of knowing you're not going to bump into anyone you know & everything been completely new. The hardest thing to get used to though - looking the right way when crossing the road i.e right then left not the other way round like at home. I just about got myself killed (just joking!).

Firstly I walked down to the tourist area where you can look out over the beach & ocean from the cliffs. Its cool, quite different to the landscapes that I've seen before. After that I just went for a walk up the main street, stopped in at the bank & changed some traveler's cheques to soles. I'm not confidant with the money yet. I don't have anything to compare prices to so don't know if I'm been ripped off or not so I haven't brought anything - not that I need to but the urge is always there ;o) I sat in the park for a bit then went in to a church. It was beautiful, the stained glass windows the high arches & statues at the front, once again quite different.

Umm better hurry up cause my times running out. Things I've noticed about Lima thus far:

-There are a huge number of beggars or people trying to sell you something. On the way form the airport the car was approached twice & I noticed so many more waiting by the side of the road for the lights to change. I was also approached today by a little boy selling lollies, then a old lady & I was like no, no, no & kept walking away. The little boy then came up to me a second time so I gave him a small coin to get rid of him. Then when I was sitting in the park & guy who spoke some English started shining my shoes & he's like for free, for free - whatever. I knew he was going to charge me but it was cool to have a conversation with someone who spoke English. At the end I asked him how much & he's like 20 soles - I said its to much & gave him 10. Cause I don't know the money I haven't worked out how much I've been ripped off by yet :o)

-This area is very very clean, every where I look there's a Gardner or street cleaner.

-There are police men everywhere. I saw one with what looked like a machine gun earlier. I thought it would either make me feel safer or freaked me out - but it did neither really...

Well better go, need to eat before my tour plus I want to check out the exchange form Australian dollars to Peruvian Soles.

I'm so happy to be here!!!!!

I´m in SOUTH AMERICA!!!!

Oh my god. I´m here I´m really here! I may be in transit at the airport in Chile but hey I´m still in a completely different country & that´s a tad exciting!!!! I managed to get a few hours sleep on the plane so aren´t actually feeling that tired.

The flight took about 16ish hours. I got here at about 2.30am Sydney time considering we left Sydney about 10.30 I think that makes it a pretty long flight. Local time now is 1.35pm, on Friday 2nd of April, so it´s the middle of the day. I wondered around the airport for about 20 minutes but there wasn´t much to do so decided to shell out for the VIP guest waiting lounge. It cost $15us but I can´t think of anything worse than sitting on thoes crapy seats in the departure lounge for 8 hours waiting for my flight. At least here I get to use super fast internet, take a shower (which I´ll do shortly) & get free food, bottled water & drinks :o)

It only hit me as I walked through the passengers only departure area in Sydney what I´m doing... I felt very much alone... I´m over that now & are just plain EXCITED!!!

Thoughts running through my head while waiting to get on the plane in Sydney: This is it!, I´m doing it, I can´t believe I´m doing it...

Ummm, whatelse... Sat next to a nice enough guy on the plane - except he had bad breath... not so nice. Watched 3 movies, ate some food & slept. The airline was Lan Chile & I have to say they have the coolest personal touch TV screens for you to watch movies & play games on. It´s cool too cause you can decide when you want to watch a movie, so everyone can watch something different at the same time. Quite impressive I thought!

Well don´t really have anything else to say at the moment, must be a bit sleepier than I thought. Think I´ll go for a shower then watch some tv :o)