Passportless in Peru, but never fear, mother is here!

After 123 days I finally left Bolivia, although I managed to get a job in the hostel I was staying in in La Paz, it was time to go, and leave my new favorite country and head into Peru, first stop Cusco, the Inca capital! We arrived at 5am and I found a rundown hostel by the bus station until I could organize myself and find somewhere better, I had also organized my first couch surfing experience and was excited to meet my with my host Annibet a lovely Peruvian girl who had agreed to host me for a few days, after I met up with her the following day, she showed my round the town, we eat Civiche and drunk Pisco sours, how more typical could I get, I was in Peru! Then we explored the town and walked up to the ruins a bit outside of the town called Sacsayhuaman, and then got horses to explore other ruins which was interesting, first experience of Incas, of which now I am ruined out! She showed me the nightlife in Cusco which it is famous for! I then organized my Machu Picchu trek, I did not do the Inca trail as it was very expensive and I didn’t reserve it but I did a different cheaper option called Inca jungle , which involved downhill biking, hiking a section of the Inca trail, Zip-lining, swimming in Hot Springs and many other fun exciting things including opening the only bar in one of the tiny towns in which we were staying, drinking too much Inca tequila and therefore having to carry our guide home on the shoulders of one of the other group members, which was fun at the time, but not at 6am when we had10 hours to hike, no one felt great the next day!

Once we reached Machu Picchu, which involved climbing up 3000 steps at 5AM to see the sunrise which was covered by clouds anyway, we were so tired me and some other members of my group went to sleep, yes I had a nap at Machu Picchu, one of the new wonders of the world!

Once back in Cusco I had to sort out my lost passport, which I lost before Machu Picchu helped by a bad batch of food poisoning, no sleep and being in a rush, I still don’t know how I lost it, as I was sure I put it back in my bag, but the culmination of events was not the best way to start the trek, passportless! Once I had the police report I was able to keep travelling, Arequipa was my next destination, so after a night bus, I then was up at 3AM 5to start another trek into the second deepest canyon, deeper than the grand canyon, we saw condors at breakfast and went down 1000 m by lunch, it was a busy day! The next day was spent chilling in an Oasis at the bottom, followed by the inevitable assent, at 5AM, which was very challenging, especially when there were lazy people on mules which were running past you as you were sweating and using you legs!

Arequipa was beautiful, but I had a date with the UK consulate and my mother and had to head on, however my path was stopped by the Peruvian miners, who had decided they needed better working rights and more autonomy over the mines and therefore blocked the Pan-American highway with rocks, trees, telephone poles and themselves, 100000 of miners in 3 different towns! After 2 nights and one day of being in a standstill in these tiny town in the middle of the desert it was time to go, me and some gringo friends, walked through the picket line of these miners, who were all shouting and rather angry, definitely a thing to add to the experience list, and to attempt to get transport to the following towns, and repeat the escapade twice more, the last resolved in us walking about 5km in the desert to get the last transport to Nasca, and then Ica, where we finally arrived to go to Huacachina, an Oasis in the middle of the desert, this was beautiful but there are not many things to do, other than drink and sand board, which we did the next day, a lot of fun, especially going down sand dunes of board travelling really fast and being transported ins Sandbuggies! As we had done the two things to do in Huacachina, we were out, to Lima.

Arriving at nighttime I was amazed at the 6 lane motorways and Mc Donald’s signs, to me it seamed just like the US, but with a city the same size of London, what else was I to expect! I was then very disappointed by the UK consulate as it was not open on a Friday, as well ad taking long lunch breaks, they now decide Friday Is the weekend, I would usually agree to this, but when it does not work in my favors, the Latinos should get there act together, especially the British ones! Anyway, as there was nothing I could do I was then reunited with my mother after 5 months it was nice eating delicious food and staying in Hotels! She decided we couldn’t wait for the consulate to reopen on Monday so we went to Huaraz ,a mountain town, 7 hours north east of Lima! Yay, more mountains to climb! Mum was very impressed by the bus companies, of course we went with the poshest one and had nice days doing some hiking, swimming in Hot springs and seeing lovely turquoise lakes, it was a nice break, but after returning to Lima, where we stayed in the Hip, modern part, which was full of nice cafes and art galleries, there was even a Sofa café which looked more in place in Islington than Lima! Mum then left me to return to London and I am back solo, although I am never really solo, there are so many travelers, until I sort out my passport situation, then I’m headed to the beach and then Ecuador!

I am now reunited with a Camera, so if it doesn’t get stolen again you should be able to see what I have been up to, not just imagine, from my great description! Sorry for the essay, lots of things have happened; I hope to be more to the point next time!

Back to Bolivia and Beyond!

After spending a wonderful week in Chile, and spending my birthday on the beach drinking mojitos and eating ceviche, it was time to return home to my beloved country Bolivia! I decided it was about time I got to know La Paz, the capital, after being in Bolivia so long, but I it was a bit of a climate shock, from the warm beaches of the pacific to 4000 meters in the Andes! So with my alpaca gear I went exploring, and found some interesting things, such as the Coca Museum, just to make sure Coca is not cocaine, it is the original plant which is native to the Andean region and has cultural and historical importance since before Inca times, being the Anthropologist I am, this seriously interested me! I also stocked up on all the artesania I wanted and checked out some Pre Incan ruins, which I wanted to get to know before heading to the Inca land of Peru! Although La Paz was fun, my heart was still in Cochabamba, so back I went, to see old friends, my family and to try to get rid of the ridiculous amount of stuff I had accumulated on my travels! It was lovely going back to somewhere familiar and the first day I got there my volunteering organization had a ecological celebration for world earth day! All of a sudden we were in the middle of a procession with about 30 children with stickers spreading information about world earth day, very Bolivian to be protecting the environment while producing bags of unbiodegradable rubbish, but you know, there getting there! We were the music, so I was banging a drum and shouting slogans about the planet for 2 hours, which was so enjoyable, made better by the lack of knowledge and practice we had in this field! This was then followed by a fun packed weekend of dancing, brunching, and enjoying the dia de pedeton, which was an amazing way to see the city with no cars and everyone in the streets! I even bumped into one of my kids from the orphanage, who had been adopted and remembered me from the flautas, this was so lovely and really showed that my volunteering did have some positive effects even if this wasn’t felt at the time. I had to meet up with my host family who of course cooked me a typical massive Bolivian lunch, and various other friends that I had made in Cochabamba, it was lovely going back but after almost a week I then had to move on, as there are more places to explore and I had to get back on the road! First headed to Santa Cruz, which I really didn’t like, reminded me of London in a tropical climate which is no where near as nice, London is only London with the rain! Keen to get out of the city I found the Jesuit Missions de Chiquitanos, which are tiny missionary villages created by the Jesuits in the 1700´s. It was cook just seeing amazing scenery and talking to people about their culture, but obviously not without adventures, such as getting stuck on the top of a mountain with a motorcycle taxi, which he then had to restart, and hitchhiking in the back of pickup trucks! Although being the only gringo in town was nice for a few days, I then was keep to head to the tropical paradise of Samipata, one of the nicest places ever! With perfect climate in beautiful mountains with a great hippish vibe show  that there are now 28 different nationalities living there, which was seen by the amount of cool cafes, restaurants or bars all run by gringos! A reason to why I probably liked it so much, I also saw wonderful waterfalls and more ruins did some hiking and a lot of chilling in this lovely place! But again a week was long enough and my endless time in South America is running away with me and I am still in Bolivia! So to La Paz again, the place where you have to enter Peru, I have being exploring  for the second time, about to do the most dangerous road on a bike, which is a must do, and spending some time organizing things before I leave Bolivia, hopefully by Monday, unless I just decide to stay forever which may happen! Looking forward to the delight of Peru, and also meeting my mum who is coming out to meet me which will be lovely! So, so long Bolivia, it has been wonderful and I will be back, but its time to go!

Journeys in the Southern Hemisphere

So after spending a few days in Sucre, soaking up the atmosphere, eating too much chocolate going on some great trips, one to the seven waterfalls, a beautiful place outside of the town where there are, hence the name, 7 waterfalls to swim in, explore and generally just enjoy the wonderful scenery! Another to an indigenous market village about 3 hours outside of the town called Tarabucco, which is a really interesting historically as it held one of the largest battles in the war for independence, in which the Bolivians won by pulling out the hearts of the Spanish conquistadors, a lovely statue displays this in the middle of the plaza! But I enjoyed just wondering around and admiring the homemade artisania which is all so beautiful! I finally gave in to my inner gringo and bought an alpaca sweater as the following day I was headed to Potosi, the highest city on earth, at 4,090 meters! It was pretty high and therefore my alpaca jumper was much needed! The main event in Potosi is the mines, Potosi was once the richest city in the world due to all its silver and minerals found in the nearby mountains, but all this richness was robbed by the conquistadors which left the city with nothing. The tours of the mines are really interesting especially after watching the documentary The Devil´s Miner which I recommend watching even if you don’t plan to visit the mines. We got the chance to visit the mines which were really harsh and such a difficult condition to work in, it was Hard to believe miners still spend up to 24 hours underground digging, wheelbarrowing and caring tones of rocks everyday! After two hours my lungs were full with enough dust and I really admired these miners who day in day out go down to the mines, I was talking to our guide who said how proud he was to be a miner, in all the conditions they still are proud of what they do, I can only admire them!

As Potosí does not have much we quickly moved on to start out Salar de Uyuni tour, which is one of the must see highlights in Bolivia, the scenery was amazing, the pure while for miles and the dazerling blue sky, but spending 3 days in a jeep isn’t really my idea of fun, only getting out to take photos, with no camera. It was an amazing experience, made better by the group I was with and the delicious food. Another highlight was the Laguna Colorado, and seeing 10000 of flamingos just chilling in the red lake, an awesome sight, although flamingos are a funny creature, the way they stand on one leg! From the whites of the salar we entered the baron landscape of the Atacama Desert, supposedly the driest place on earth I was told, but what bout the Sahara! Crossing into Chile was easy and we found ourselves in the hippy town of San Pedro de Atacama, which was rather touristy, expensive and not much to do! Although I did organize a bike trip to the Luna Valley, which got its name for looking like the moon with the crazy rock formations which were cool, but as it was superhot in the desert it was also kinda difficult cycling on dirt roads for 20 miles! As Chile is famous for its long and extensive cost line, it was off to the beach, either north or south and as I have to go back to Bolivia, it made sense to go north! First stop was Iquique, a cool beach town which wasn’t full of tourist, although I found it difficult talking to the locals as there accent is very difficult to understand compared to the Bolivian accent which I was now used to! I spent my first day swimming in the pacific with Sea Lions and Pelicans, which was every exciting, something I am not used to at home, and eating delicious sea food, a change from the Bolivian mean, rice and potatoes! I then took a leep, as we decided to go Paragliding, which entailed running off a cliff and falling, an amazing experience of flying, I literally was like a bird! There was more cost to explore so we continued up the cost to Arica, the northern most point in Chile. We arrived yesterday morning, and I had another fun filled day of surfing, which I defiantly need more practice at but after 4 hours was able to stand on the board for a few seconds! So its back to the beach for me, I do intend to be spending my birthday on the beach, as it is something which will not happen every year! So I will next be writing as one year older, with all the amazing experiences and skills that South America has given me!

Carnivalismo and Despedidas!

Carnival: one of the most amazing things in this world and I was lucky enough to experience it twice, the first and best which has now been rated the best carnival in the world, according to Bolivia was in Oruro, which is only 4 hours from Cochabamba. Along with the water guns and espuma (sprayable foam) attacks of which a group of about 40 gringos was the best target for all of the children and their parents in the city, we arrived on Friday safe and happy. The festivities started on Saturday and went on all day and night! The dancing, music, atmosphere was so incredible and you just have to admire these dancers who dance for about 8-10 hours, in amazing costumes, (the best have to be the osos, the bears and ositos, little bears) without stopping for out enjoyment! It was just incredible, and as the carnival progressed, so did everyone’s intoxicated level, which just turned the carnival experience into one big fiesta! The espuma fights got bigger, and we started fighting one another, to a state in which I couldn’t see due to the amount of espuma of which I was covered in! and dancing god wilder, with me almost falling of the benches many times, we carnivaled right into the night! Another rather traumatic event , in which we were trying to dance behind the dancers was being tear gassed, for the first time in my life, an experience I would not like to repeat, and then my camera got stolen, so no more pictures, sorry!

So it was a mixed experience but I just cannot explain how amazing it was, carnival is a must experience for everyone, and the Latinos do it best so just come over to this wonderful continent, I’m sure I’ll be up for it next year!

Then there was Cochabamba carnival which was on a different level to that in Oruro, the first group I saw were the tigers and babies, in which fully grown men were dressed up as babies, rather twisted but comical nonetheless! After my attempts at dancing in the carnival failed, I was still there to support my friends, who managed to make it to the practice! The Tinkus dance which is one of the oldest and most cultural dance from the Potosi region was performed wonderfully and all we could do was support them!

Since all the carnival festivities I have been trying to organize my life, which is no more organized here than in London, and therefore saying goodbye to my kids who I have been with was a difficult experience, probably more for me than them, as I was the one weeping! As well as my host family who with all the ups and downs have been lovely and I was accepted completely into their family, so that was also difficult to say goodbye. Although I have left a collection of my belongings in cocha, which is probably just a excuse to go back to my Bolivian home! I arrived in Sucre this morning after a 13 hour bus ride not made better by the crazy bus driver who kept bumping into everything, including another bus while reversing out of the terminal, and the intense rain , which delayed us even more, and the man who was sitting next to me, who would not stop snoring! All part of the Bolivian bussing experience, I am now in Sucre, which to my enjoyment is famous for its chocolate! Not sure where or what I’m doing next but it’s all part of the Adventura de Rosa which is now very much in swing!

Being a Cochabambina and the adventure into dinosaurland!

After being in Cochabamba for over 2 months, I now consider it my home; I roughly know how to get around the city and which truffi (minibuses which operate around the city) I need to take me to where I need to go. Although I am never prepared for the ever-changing weather,  in a day we can see a verity of all weather types and I never seem to be prepared,  but I think that’s not just me! I have really upped the volunteering so in addition to working at the orphanage I now work with kids who are in hospital, just helping them enjoy themselves, painting, reading, playing games. It is really rewarding but like any NGO in Bolivia very disorganized and so I just have to organize my own time and itinery with the kids. My Spanish has improved which I am very happy about; both my teacher and my host mum commented on the fluency of my speech so shows that something is definitely going right! After spending many weekend just chilling in Cochabamba, doing exciting things like going hiking in the local Parque nacional Tunari which has wonderful rivers to walk up and peaks to climb, as well as exploring local towns, of which we exploited during a national holiday for the Bolivian pluri-cultural state (thank Evo Morales) and found that we were the only people in the town with no way of returning back to the city except by fitting 9 people in a taxi which is always fun!  

I finally to the opportunity to travel with some others to Torro Torro, which is about 150 km from the city but takes 6 hours due to the wonderful roads(yes torro does mean bull in Spanish but it also means dinosaur, or maybe that’s just in Bolivia) so hence the name, torro torro is dinosaurland! We saw many dinosaur footprints, interestingly the carnivores have 3 big toes with a longer middle one and the herbivores have footprints similar to an elephant without defined toes! We also explored an amazing canyon and swam in waterfalls which were seriously beautiful, as well as my first experience of caving in which I had to wiggle my body between crevices that were about as big as I was lying down on my tummy! Serious fun but no good if you’re claustrophobic! After all this fun and adventures we hired a truffi to take us back to the town. The driver assured us that the trufi was in good condition but as we got out tof the torro torro it kept stopping every 5 minutes and the driver was playing around with the gas pedal and had to completely reorganize the engine at one point with no luck.   It got serious when we had to push the van out of the river and climb hills as the van couldn’t go up go up the hills with us in it, when it finally collapsed we ended up sleeping in a potato barn until 2 in the morning when we found a taxi to take us to the city arriving at 4 am, serious adventure!  

After my adventure from last week I have just been relaxing in the city getting ready for carnival which is so exciting, I have also had the opportunity to dance in the carnival in Cocha but after a few practices I’m not sure I will master 13 pasos (dances) in 20 days! But dancing or not it will be super fun!

 (more photos to come I promise)

Christmas and New Year Bolivian Style!

It feels strange that I have now been in Bolivia almost a month now, and I can now roughly get myself around Cochabamba with little difficulty. My Christmas was defiantly different and felt nothing like the normal Christmas at home, this was helped by the wonderful weather here although it is the rainy season. They hate the rain here and don’t go out when it rains, should definitely take a trip to the UK and see how it is always rainy season!. As I am living with a family I wanted to experience the Bolivian traditions, like learning how to make empanadas and cooking the pork that we would eat at midnight all day. We could not eat until midnight so it was almost like a waiting game, which I filled by singing Christmas carols to their amusement, especially the grandma who also sang some Bolivian songs. The meal was delicious; we eat Pork, plantains, potatoes, vegetables, followed by red wine. The grandma insisted that I had to drink the wine to kill the pig otherwise it would run around in my stomach and I would not be able to dance or sleep at night, which I found kind of amusing! I then did go to a Christmas party with the other volunteers, kind of strange going out on Christmas Eve! Christmas day was relaxing, speaking to my family, and then we had an afternoon tea of various Christmas traditions, like eggnog and mulled wine.  I made the mistake of not travelling between Christmas and new year so I was just at home, with my family, taking day tips was fun but I would have like to go somewhere. I then spent New Year’s with some Bolivian friends in this eco house in the mountains which again was different, but with all the normal amounts of drinking and dancing. After New Year I travelled to a wonderful place about 150 Km outside of Cochabamba called Villa Tunari, which was in the jungle, with all the jungle features such as humidity and beautiful landscapes. We swam in rivers, saw waterfalls and went to national parks to see animals, which was a really nice break from the city. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and new year, with all best hopes and wishes for the year ahead!