Addicted to Inca Kola
Lima is rather groovy. Having recovered from the initial jet lag and tiredness (I can't remember writing that last blog, amazing it isn't a load of gobbledegook), this now feels like a holiday... which will end at 4am tomorrow when we take to the skies for Cusco and the hard work really begins. As a group we're really close now and it will be quite sad to all go different ways but I'm soooo excited to see Azul Wasi and get stuck in. The rep for us here rang the director of the project and he was like 'Yes we want them now, we have been expecting them for months, everything is prepared' which is funny because they only found out we were coming about 6 weeks ago. Ally at PT said they were desperate though. Who knows?!
On the Saturday we went on a bus tour round Lima. The traffic here seems to have a death wish, not paying any attention to anything including each other, lanes (if there are 3 lanes on a road, there will be at least five across in the same space, all hooting at each other), traffic lights, road signs, nothing - every man for his own. If the cars and buses weren't so decrepit and old, and could move at a normal speed, it would be very dangerous! The bus stopped at various intriguing places, including Huaca Pucllana (an adobe pyramidal structure from AD400), the casa de the author Ricardo Palma, the Cerro San Cristobel (a hill that looks over Lima), Plaza San Martin and the Plaza de Armas - both of which are very colonial, baroque Spanish but just so dusty... The whole city is bathed in a weird fog the locals call garua which comes in from the Pacific and mixes with the smog. We passed the President's house, Alan Garcia, but the best stop on the tour was the Monastario de San Francisco. Lots of monks came over from Spain with the conquest in the 1500s and built this huuuuge monastry (it still houses 30) Underneath the impressive libraries made of wood from Nicaragua, beautiful dining halls and intricately tiled Moorish-styled floors are the catacombs. About 70000 monks, martyrs and saints were buried in the basements, and when discovered the scientists(?) decided to organise the bones by their type so there are literally huge piles of skulls, a tonne of femurs, a stack of metatarsals... etc etc, all covered in dust and half buried. The place has survived 3 massive earthquakes. It was nice to get back out into the light :)
There are some elections going on in Miraflores at the moment. All the contestants profess to love Peru and BE Peru, they go around on multi-coloured covered trucks with balloons and hooters, throwing things and making lots of noise. It's good fun, like all elections. Across the road from the hostel is a market in a park which sets up at 6pm every evening. On Sunday we slept in after a night out at the salsa club across the road (the fuse blew at one point! Everything went black.) and went to the beach. There were surfers and paragliders out in force, and tonnes of graffiti. We also took a trip to the supermarket to get food and supplies like shampoo (surprisingly expensive compared to everything else, about £4 for the supermarket's own brand which is the same I paid for a big lunch...) I keep forgetting to drink water because you have to go out and buy it - Inca Kola is very cheap at about 50p a bottle and I have some new bracelets for the collection which were 25p each... will send some back soon chicas. There is quite a lot of machismo attitude here but it is bearable. Taxi drivers yell and honk the car to see if you want a lift. If you say no gracias, you have no money, they reply 'just pay me in the night'. Um, no thanks.
Hmmm I hope this isn't boring, adjusting to Lima is fine and relaxed, it's relatively wealthy and doesn't feel like the real Peru yet, though there are children begging on street corners trying to sell you gum, sweets, pencils, matches and flowers etc. It's heartbreaking but there are too many to help and I know we'll be getting going soon and making a difference. Today is a bank holiday (called the Santa Rosa de Lima) here so the city is marginally quieter. We met up with our Rep Maria on the 22nd floor of an embassy building. The views of the mist and city were awesome, I'll get some photos up soon when we get to Oropesa and I can properly unpack - the cable is right at the bottom!
Not much else to report, feeling so carefree - we have no rules or deadlines, there is cheap food/shops right on the doorstep and the company is grand :) Everyone in the backpackers is nice. I have started taking the altitude sickness pills in preparation for tomorrow! Nervous and excited to meet everyone we'll be living with for the next 11 months.
- LOVEEEEEEEE Rach xx
p.s. Update on the address:
Azul Wasi
Chinicara Basa Distrito de Oropesa
Cusco
Peru
On the Saturday we went on a bus tour round Lima. The traffic here seems to have a death wish, not paying any attention to anything including each other, lanes (if there are 3 lanes on a road, there will be at least five across in the same space, all hooting at each other), traffic lights, road signs, nothing - every man for his own. If the cars and buses weren't so decrepit and old, and could move at a normal speed, it would be very dangerous! The bus stopped at various intriguing places, including Huaca Pucllana (an adobe pyramidal structure from AD400), the casa de the author Ricardo Palma, the Cerro San Cristobel (a hill that looks over Lima), Plaza San Martin and the Plaza de Armas - both of which are very colonial, baroque Spanish but just so dusty... The whole city is bathed in a weird fog the locals call garua which comes in from the Pacific and mixes with the smog. We passed the President's house, Alan Garcia, but the best stop on the tour was the Monastario de San Francisco. Lots of monks came over from Spain with the conquest in the 1500s and built this huuuuge monastry (it still houses 30) Underneath the impressive libraries made of wood from Nicaragua, beautiful dining halls and intricately tiled Moorish-styled floors are the catacombs. About 70000 monks, martyrs and saints were buried in the basements, and when discovered the scientists(?) decided to organise the bones by their type so there are literally huge piles of skulls, a tonne of femurs, a stack of metatarsals... etc etc, all covered in dust and half buried. The place has survived 3 massive earthquakes. It was nice to get back out into the light :)
There are some elections going on in Miraflores at the moment. All the contestants profess to love Peru and BE Peru, they go around on multi-coloured covered trucks with balloons and hooters, throwing things and making lots of noise. It's good fun, like all elections. Across the road from the hostel is a market in a park which sets up at 6pm every evening. On Sunday we slept in after a night out at the salsa club across the road (the fuse blew at one point! Everything went black.) and went to the beach. There were surfers and paragliders out in force, and tonnes of graffiti. We also took a trip to the supermarket to get food and supplies like shampoo (surprisingly expensive compared to everything else, about £4 for the supermarket's own brand which is the same I paid for a big lunch...) I keep forgetting to drink water because you have to go out and buy it - Inca Kola is very cheap at about 50p a bottle and I have some new bracelets for the collection which were 25p each... will send some back soon chicas. There is quite a lot of machismo attitude here but it is bearable. Taxi drivers yell and honk the car to see if you want a lift. If you say no gracias, you have no money, they reply 'just pay me in the night'. Um, no thanks.
Hmmm I hope this isn't boring, adjusting to Lima is fine and relaxed, it's relatively wealthy and doesn't feel like the real Peru yet, though there are children begging on street corners trying to sell you gum, sweets, pencils, matches and flowers etc. It's heartbreaking but there are too many to help and I know we'll be getting going soon and making a difference. Today is a bank holiday (called the Santa Rosa de Lima) here so the city is marginally quieter. We met up with our Rep Maria on the 22nd floor of an embassy building. The views of the mist and city were awesome, I'll get some photos up soon when we get to Oropesa and I can properly unpack - the cable is right at the bottom!
Not much else to report, feeling so carefree - we have no rules or deadlines, there is cheap food/shops right on the doorstep and the company is grand :) Everyone in the backpackers is nice. I have started taking the altitude sickness pills in preparation for tomorrow! Nervous and excited to meet everyone we'll be living with for the next 11 months.
- LOVEEEEEEEE Rach xx
p.s. Update on the address:
Azul Wasi
Chinicara Basa Distrito de Oropesa
Cusco
Peru
posted by Rachel at
15:25
2 Comments:
ahh Rach, sounds like you're having an amazing time already! It all sounds really interesting & exciting. Hope the altitude sickness isn't too bad tomorrow (today?) and Azul Wasi is good :) Gnome xxxx
Glad to see you're enjoying a carefree life. As we would all shout (loudly and in public): YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Thinking of you lots. Max up the funtimes!
Love You. TE QUIERO MUCHO.
Katelli
XXXXXXXXXXX
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