I´ve figured out how I can do this, Flow can open up a new office in Salvador, Brasil. The economy is booming out here and they need UX people, they may not be totally aware yet, but I can convince them. I´ll take care of doing the research for location and new business and all that....all strictly professional ofcourse. Then we can have consultant rotation every few months so everyone gets a chance to do a project out here...see? Easy. And that takes care of me having a job.
Then family, Inxs, I think the air here would do you good, you can come over and work in the office with me, or you can start doing your entrepeneur thing, there are loads of artists (musical and art) who need representation and profiling, I trust you´ll hook it up in no time! Abi, they have computers here, come and programme something and Keshia...the prisons are full and need your help! And that takes care of having my family around. My mother loves travelling so it won´t take much convincing to get her to come for a visit. Sorted.
Right so friends next; Aish and Nay, well I don´t need to work it out for you guys, just get your arses over here! In the meantime, I´ll look into opening a super cheap hostel too, so the rest of my friend entourage can take it in turns to come and visit me. Can you all see how easy it is?! This way I never have to come back to England! I can live in paradise for ever and ever and ever and ever!!
Okay so moment of madness over, coming home is creeping up on me double time. Exactly 3 weeks from today. I will admit I was homesick, but knowing that within 2 weeks of coming home I´m probably gonna have an onslaught of severe depression is kind of overtaking me! I have totally fallen in love with Brazil and I´ve probably only seen like 10%. There wasn´t enough time or money and I unfortunately haven´t been able to hook up the Brazilian uber millionaire angle...can´t imagine why?!
Salvador is the most amazing city, its cute, its huge, its full of character, it has amazing beaches, astonishingly talented people and it has business and industry...it makes it possible to work and live in paradise! Imagine! Ok so it suffers from a few issues, favelas outnumber middle class areas, security can be an issue particularly in the Pelourinho (the most fun place to be in town), but its growing and changing and like everything else in Brazil, things are improving.
Mayday in Pelourinho was fabulous, three extra outdoor music stages (adding to the usual 3) were set up for artists supporting improved working contiditions. There was Reggae, Pagode, Samba, Salsa, you name it, it was there. This was all free and nobody seemed to be bothered about the rain either. Twice this week Pelourinho has provided a fabulous night out, Tuesday night the famous Geronimo played his legendary weekly free concert on church steps in San Antonio, plus it was the international day of dance and where better to find fantastic dancers of every style than in Bahia!
Its funny, Pelourinho has a major security issue, so you normally only find Brazilians there at night, when sane tourists have gone back to the safety of areas like Barra. But the most fun is to be had at night with all the live music and entertainment on offer. I managed to strike a balance, always finding people to go with and learning how to keep notes and change in my bra!
The food here is amazing too. Mainly because it all reminds me of Nigerian food which I miss like crazy. Different types of flavoured rice, shrimp mocqueca (a stewish dish) with beans and ´farofa´which is a slightly moister version of Gari (but in powder not solid form). Then there is my favourite, Acarajé. Its beanflour, mashed into a paste and then fried into small pie like shapes (its basically what we call Acara in Nigeria but minus the tomato). Once fried, its sliced up and served with an ocra mix, fresh onion and tomato, a fish paste, small crayfish and seriously spicy pepper on the side. It is delicious and on average about R$3 which is a bargain! I could eat this all day every day.
*Sigh, I do feel I´ve found a potential home in the future. I may have to work on my Brazilian portuguese, so far I´ve managed to get away with speaking spanish with a portuguese accent; I´m a good mimic and it seems to have worked, but I don´t think that would hold out for long. But this place is seriously pulling me, I suspected it might and its definitely given me something to think about!
So, I´m off to my last destination, Thailand! I´m looking forward to having a ´holiday´now. Everything slows down and I recharge my batteries before coming home. Its gonna be a long journey getting there! I have to fly to 10 hours to Dallas, then wait 4 hours, then fly 12 hours to Japan where I gain 12 hours because of crossing the date line, so I leave and arrive at the same time but the next day. Then I spend one night in Tokyo which is only rubbing salt in the wound as I can no longer afford to spend my planned week in Tokyo, but never mind. And finally I arrive in Bangkok on Wednesday. Phrew! I´m tired just thinking about it!
Another countdown has begun though, I´ll be home soon....I´ll try and bring the sunshine with me!
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Saturday, 26 April 2008
La Vida Afro-Brasilena
What can I say about Rio de Janeiro? Well, its exactly as you would expect it to be. The Miami of South America. Beautiful people, living in beautiful homes, wearing beautiful clothes and working hard to keep looking beautiful on the beach. Then there are all the tourists, there to peek at the beautiful people, maybe pretend to be one of them for a little bit and then go home and say they went to Rio where the beautiful people are. Its great, but its also very predictable and after a few days a little sickening.
I had a fantastic time there, thanks to my wonderful dorm mates Melissa, Sonia and Jennine and Ama and Cleo who are now safely but possibly miserably back in England! A few gems Ipanema and Copacabana have to offer include the night market, on every night till midnight and the hippie market every Sunday, loads of amazing hand made jewellery and leather items, nothing is cheap here but if you`re anything like me, you could spend hours wandering and browsing and trust me there is alot to see! Plus going out in Lapa was loads of fun, save for the harrasment of kids wanting money. The beach as ever was a wonderful experience, although I did start to feel a little like I was in a glass cage where everyone wanted to see and be seen!
I knew I couldn`t live in Rio, but I didn`t realise exactly why until I got to Salvador in Bahia, north of Brazil. This place is all soul. It combines everything I love about the Caribbean with everything I love about Brazil and is making me wish I never have to go home. For one, since I arrived, there has been no shortage of a soundtrack. In Jamaica earlier this year, Aish pointed out the fact that in the Caribbean (but especially Jamaica) there is always a soundtrack, music is always coming from somewhere and its exactly the same here, round the clock. Don`t come if you`re a light sleeper!
I`m staying in Pelourinho which is the historic centre of Salvador and it is absolutely heaving with soul and talent. On every street there is art that will take your breath away, I feel like I want to buy everything. But (rightly so), the best of it isn`t cheap and you can see why. You turn a corner and right on the street there is a band complete with drums and percussion having an impromptu concert on the street. You can`t help but love it and the people who create it.
Today I took a ride in an elevator that takes you from the Pelourinho, to the `Cidade Baixo`(bottom city), can you imagine an elevator in the middle of town?! Well, its bloody good idea, because one thing you will get sick of here is hills! The markets blow Rio and anywhere else`s out of the water. I fell in love with about a thousand things in the model market in Cidade Baixo and could afford absolutely none of them! And the view of the sea and the beach.....sorry..having a slight Homer Simpson and a donut moment just sitting here thinking about it. Its stunning.
I also took a personal wander around all the museums and galleries I could spot in this area. Absolutely fantastic, my favourite was the Museu de Afro-Braseilero where you can find wooden carvings of all the Orixàs followed in Candomblè. There are also a lot of classical works (both paintings and furniture) in the various museums where you can see European influences as well as African in a few pieces. The galleries have loads of amazing modern art (I`ve decided I`m a modern art person really) and the graffiti on the streets will sometimes blow you away!
Candomblè (Orisha worship, but they spell it Orixà) is definitely taking my interest, its as big here as it is in Cuba and I`ve already seen graffiti written in Yoruba as well been told that it won`t take long to come across someone speaking it here. I`m trying to go along to an Orixà house for a ceremony. Apparently you get to see them invoking the spirit of the Orixà and it can take anywhere between 3 and 10 hours. Its not a spectator show here and you won`t find leaflets floating around inviting you to it. Its a serious religion that people follow and its hard to attend a cermony, but it is possible. I`m told they sing old Yoruba songs and wear traditional costumes. I would never be able to see this in Nigeria, one because its believed only to be a negative custom these days and two because my mother would never allow it, but while here...sorry Mum, gotta try and have a look!
And finally, dropping all traces of refinement, lets talk about eye candy. My oh my are my eyes feasting!! I didn`t realise I had such a sweet tooth! Firstly before you all decide my moral standards are slipping, I`m looking not touching (I have no money to be anyone`s Sugar Mummy!), I`m happy to be a bit of a perv while I`m here as I don`t know when I`ll be back and there are just so many beautiful men to look at! (Giggle giggle!). Its for these kind of things that I wish my girls were here to salivate with me, it feels like it should be a group thing, but in your abscence I shall do my best to ogle at as many hunky men as I see! lol! ;-)
I`m exactly one month from coming home now....one month! I don`t wanna!! But I can`t afford to stay, Brazil has chewed up my budget in no time and its time to go back to earning money...*sigh. I guess I have to come back to the real world sometime, but for now...at least I don`t have to make believe I`m in Paradise, I`m actually here!!
I had a fantastic time there, thanks to my wonderful dorm mates Melissa, Sonia and Jennine and Ama and Cleo who are now safely but possibly miserably back in England! A few gems Ipanema and Copacabana have to offer include the night market, on every night till midnight and the hippie market every Sunday, loads of amazing hand made jewellery and leather items, nothing is cheap here but if you`re anything like me, you could spend hours wandering and browsing and trust me there is alot to see! Plus going out in Lapa was loads of fun, save for the harrasment of kids wanting money. The beach as ever was a wonderful experience, although I did start to feel a little like I was in a glass cage where everyone wanted to see and be seen!
I knew I couldn`t live in Rio, but I didn`t realise exactly why until I got to Salvador in Bahia, north of Brazil. This place is all soul. It combines everything I love about the Caribbean with everything I love about Brazil and is making me wish I never have to go home. For one, since I arrived, there has been no shortage of a soundtrack. In Jamaica earlier this year, Aish pointed out the fact that in the Caribbean (but especially Jamaica) there is always a soundtrack, music is always coming from somewhere and its exactly the same here, round the clock. Don`t come if you`re a light sleeper!
I`m staying in Pelourinho which is the historic centre of Salvador and it is absolutely heaving with soul and talent. On every street there is art that will take your breath away, I feel like I want to buy everything. But (rightly so), the best of it isn`t cheap and you can see why. You turn a corner and right on the street there is a band complete with drums and percussion having an impromptu concert on the street. You can`t help but love it and the people who create it.
Today I took a ride in an elevator that takes you from the Pelourinho, to the `Cidade Baixo`(bottom city), can you imagine an elevator in the middle of town?! Well, its bloody good idea, because one thing you will get sick of here is hills! The markets blow Rio and anywhere else`s out of the water. I fell in love with about a thousand things in the model market in Cidade Baixo and could afford absolutely none of them! And the view of the sea and the beach.....sorry..having a slight Homer Simpson and a donut moment just sitting here thinking about it. Its stunning.
I also took a personal wander around all the museums and galleries I could spot in this area. Absolutely fantastic, my favourite was the Museu de Afro-Braseilero where you can find wooden carvings of all the Orixàs followed in Candomblè. There are also a lot of classical works (both paintings and furniture) in the various museums where you can see European influences as well as African in a few pieces. The galleries have loads of amazing modern art (I`ve decided I`m a modern art person really) and the graffiti on the streets will sometimes blow you away!
Candomblè (Orisha worship, but they spell it Orixà) is definitely taking my interest, its as big here as it is in Cuba and I`ve already seen graffiti written in Yoruba as well been told that it won`t take long to come across someone speaking it here. I`m trying to go along to an Orixà house for a ceremony. Apparently you get to see them invoking the spirit of the Orixà and it can take anywhere between 3 and 10 hours. Its not a spectator show here and you won`t find leaflets floating around inviting you to it. Its a serious religion that people follow and its hard to attend a cermony, but it is possible. I`m told they sing old Yoruba songs and wear traditional costumes. I would never be able to see this in Nigeria, one because its believed only to be a negative custom these days and two because my mother would never allow it, but while here...sorry Mum, gotta try and have a look!
And finally, dropping all traces of refinement, lets talk about eye candy. My oh my are my eyes feasting!! I didn`t realise I had such a sweet tooth! Firstly before you all decide my moral standards are slipping, I`m looking not touching (I have no money to be anyone`s Sugar Mummy!), I`m happy to be a bit of a perv while I`m here as I don`t know when I`ll be back and there are just so many beautiful men to look at! (Giggle giggle!). Its for these kind of things that I wish my girls were here to salivate with me, it feels like it should be a group thing, but in your abscence I shall do my best to ogle at as many hunky men as I see! lol! ;-)
I`m exactly one month from coming home now....one month! I don`t wanna!! But I can`t afford to stay, Brazil has chewed up my budget in no time and its time to go back to earning money...*sigh. I guess I have to come back to the real world sometime, but for now...at least I don`t have to make believe I`m in Paradise, I`m actually here!!
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Lola hits Copacabana!!!!
Yes ladies and gentlemen, this showgirl is now in Rio de Janeiro!! Woohoo!
Brasil has welcomed me with somewhat open arms, if you don´t count the rain, the grey skies and the absolutely boring ass city known as São Paulo. No disrespect, but there just isn´t anything to do in that town. Don´t raise your hopes if you´re going there as a cold tourist. I´ve heard that if you know someone there its different (where isn´t), but I wouldn´t pay to go back! Six hours bus down the road and we arrived in Rio in a severe downpour...severe being a somewhat understatement!
I have to say that Rio has lived up to expectation thankfully, with the only negatives being some poor weather for part of every day and the fact that Brasil is very very expensive! I´m basically living on London west end prices here in Ipanema. It was maybe naive to expect things to be cheap, but I didn´t expect to be paying the same prices as I´m paying at home. You´ll be glad to know I´m managing my budget though...dinner tonight is instant noodles!
So, once again, without meaning to, I have ticked off another wonder of the world. Friday saw me at the top of the Corcovado looking up at Christ the Reedemer and down on Rio de Janeiro. It was absolutely amazing. The statue itself is actually a mosaic, did you know that? It was worth seeing up close! Plus the views over the city are stunning, the only negative would be that there are so many tourists up there it is almost impossible to get a decent picture without 17 other people invading your shot, but wow oh wow is it still worth the visit! The Sugar loaf was also fantastic, on the beach side of the island, the cable car up also provides stunning views over the city, although once you get to the top of the sugar loaf itself, there really isn´t anything to do except spend money in very expensive shops!
I also managed to visit Maracanã stadium and stand in Pele´s shoes for a second...or his footprint in the hall of fame to be exact, and those of a few other famous Brasilian footballers who to me could be any man on any street anywhere! But there were some quite excited men on our tour so I guess it was something special!
Topping it all off, we went to the Sambadome to check out where carnival takes place and had the opportunity to try on some costumes. I picked one with yellow flowers in the headgear! lol! Just a shame I couldn´t take it with me all the way to Copacabana! (If you don´t get the reference check out Barry Manilow!)
And the important part, the beach. I´m staying on Ipanema beach which is gorgeous, when there has been sun, its been a pleasure to sit on the beach and appreciate the...ahem... Brasilian form. I can confirm ladies that all...yes all Brasilian men wear those lovely form fitting brief shorts. This can be somewhat offensive when it is accompanied by severly pregnant bellies or bear like body hair, but 90% of the time I can only describe it as an absolute pleasure! I make no apologies if I sound just ever so slightly perverted, but I know I´m in no way as bad as the gazillions of tourist men feasting their eyes on the thong bikinis of the usually quite round bottomed Brasilian women! And before you ask...no I will not be buying or wearing a thong bikini. Full stop!
Copacobana beach is a little more rough and ready, more men and therefore lots more prostitutues! It´s also home to the famous Help nightclub which is home to your sex tourist and your prostitute of every age, body shape and quite commonly here sex, including the so called 3rd sex (Trannie central). Its a shame having your camera out would probably get you robbed cos a lot of this stuff has to be seen to be believed!
I´ve managed to meet up with my mate Ama here who has spent the last 3 months in Brazil, ´learning portuguese´(code for living it up I´m sure)!! ;-). Last night, we went to Lapa, the party central of Rio and had a fantastic time. R$3 (1 pound) caipirinhas on the street accompanied by super delicious barbacued meat on a stick followed by a lot of Samba (or my version of it anyway) in a club called Lapa 40 degrees. Live music and a fantastic DJ meant I stumbled back into the hostel at about 5.30am this morning and woke up at 10 with a stinking hangover. Their caipirinhas here have quite a large amount of rum and it really doesn´t take that much to get you seriously inebriated!
Unfortunately, there has been one giant super niggle while here in Rio. I´m staying in a hostel called Girl from Ipanema, lovely place but with some issues on the security front. It´s in a mews like alley with several houses, mostly hostels but private homes too, on either side of the alley, but there is a gate at the entrance of the alley. There are a lot of people coming in and out mainly because of the many hostels here. My hostel has three houses scattered in the alley with the house I´m in having the main kitchen and dining area for all 3 houses. You get a key to the gate and the house you stay in, but the door to our house is almost always open to allow people from the other houses to use the kitchen. Sound off key? Well yes, especially when you know that the door to the only girl´s dorm that I´m staying in didn´t have a lock on it. I remember feeling a little off put and feeling the need to put a padlock on every possesion I had in the room when I checked in.
Well, fate doesn´t like to be tempted. 3am on Friday night a man managed to get in the gate, walked to our house, came in through the open door to the house and walked straight into the girls dorm where myself and two others were fast alseep. He picked up two rucksacks on the floor and walked right out again completely unheard. All this was caught on CCTV including the part where he walked right past the now sacked security guard who asked no questions. Needless to say I was pretty much almost out the door when we found out the following morning. A man walks into a girls dorm unchallenged? Seems we were a little lucky he only walked out with two rucksacks!
Thankfully, security has now been tightened, locks changed, doors closed and new security guards, but I was hellofashakenup! Its good to know the hostel had CCTV as well and was able to pass it onto the police, but I had to ask, whats the point of CCTV and no locks on bedroom doors?!?! And thanks to my paranoia, none of my things were taken, but I have a lot of sympathy for two other girls who despite not loosing money or passports did loose their diaries and other personal books, one of them had all the contacts and stories from her 5 month trip and is only 2 weeks from going home! Depressing.
But, despite it all I´m safe and thankful and loving the Rio vibe! The fact is that kind of thing could happen anywhere and you just have to be prudent as much as possible. I decided not to move becuase given the situation I´m probably safer in that hostel now than anywhere else, plus it has a fantastic atmosphere and a reasonable nightly rate. Don´t get me wrong, my safety comes first, but it looks like they´ve bucked up their act!
Tomorrow I hit the beach again, and on Wednesday I fly to Salvador, the ultimate beach and party town in the north. Can´t wait!
Brasil has welcomed me with somewhat open arms, if you don´t count the rain, the grey skies and the absolutely boring ass city known as São Paulo. No disrespect, but there just isn´t anything to do in that town. Don´t raise your hopes if you´re going there as a cold tourist. I´ve heard that if you know someone there its different (where isn´t), but I wouldn´t pay to go back! Six hours bus down the road and we arrived in Rio in a severe downpour...severe being a somewhat understatement!
I have to say that Rio has lived up to expectation thankfully, with the only negatives being some poor weather for part of every day and the fact that Brasil is very very expensive! I´m basically living on London west end prices here in Ipanema. It was maybe naive to expect things to be cheap, but I didn´t expect to be paying the same prices as I´m paying at home. You´ll be glad to know I´m managing my budget though...dinner tonight is instant noodles!
So, once again, without meaning to, I have ticked off another wonder of the world. Friday saw me at the top of the Corcovado looking up at Christ the Reedemer and down on Rio de Janeiro. It was absolutely amazing. The statue itself is actually a mosaic, did you know that? It was worth seeing up close! Plus the views over the city are stunning, the only negative would be that there are so many tourists up there it is almost impossible to get a decent picture without 17 other people invading your shot, but wow oh wow is it still worth the visit! The Sugar loaf was also fantastic, on the beach side of the island, the cable car up also provides stunning views over the city, although once you get to the top of the sugar loaf itself, there really isn´t anything to do except spend money in very expensive shops!
I also managed to visit Maracanã stadium and stand in Pele´s shoes for a second...or his footprint in the hall of fame to be exact, and those of a few other famous Brasilian footballers who to me could be any man on any street anywhere! But there were some quite excited men on our tour so I guess it was something special!
Topping it all off, we went to the Sambadome to check out where carnival takes place and had the opportunity to try on some costumes. I picked one with yellow flowers in the headgear! lol! Just a shame I couldn´t take it with me all the way to Copacabana! (If you don´t get the reference check out Barry Manilow!)
And the important part, the beach. I´m staying on Ipanema beach which is gorgeous, when there has been sun, its been a pleasure to sit on the beach and appreciate the...ahem... Brasilian form. I can confirm ladies that all...yes all Brasilian men wear those lovely form fitting brief shorts. This can be somewhat offensive when it is accompanied by severly pregnant bellies or bear like body hair, but 90% of the time I can only describe it as an absolute pleasure! I make no apologies if I sound just ever so slightly perverted, but I know I´m in no way as bad as the gazillions of tourist men feasting their eyes on the thong bikinis of the usually quite round bottomed Brasilian women! And before you ask...no I will not be buying or wearing a thong bikini. Full stop!
Copacobana beach is a little more rough and ready, more men and therefore lots more prostitutues! It´s also home to the famous Help nightclub which is home to your sex tourist and your prostitute of every age, body shape and quite commonly here sex, including the so called 3rd sex (Trannie central). Its a shame having your camera out would probably get you robbed cos a lot of this stuff has to be seen to be believed!
I´ve managed to meet up with my mate Ama here who has spent the last 3 months in Brazil, ´learning portuguese´(code for living it up I´m sure)!! ;-). Last night, we went to Lapa, the party central of Rio and had a fantastic time. R$3 (1 pound) caipirinhas on the street accompanied by super delicious barbacued meat on a stick followed by a lot of Samba (or my version of it anyway) in a club called Lapa 40 degrees. Live music and a fantastic DJ meant I stumbled back into the hostel at about 5.30am this morning and woke up at 10 with a stinking hangover. Their caipirinhas here have quite a large amount of rum and it really doesn´t take that much to get you seriously inebriated!
Unfortunately, there has been one giant super niggle while here in Rio. I´m staying in a hostel called Girl from Ipanema, lovely place but with some issues on the security front. It´s in a mews like alley with several houses, mostly hostels but private homes too, on either side of the alley, but there is a gate at the entrance of the alley. There are a lot of people coming in and out mainly because of the many hostels here. My hostel has three houses scattered in the alley with the house I´m in having the main kitchen and dining area for all 3 houses. You get a key to the gate and the house you stay in, but the door to our house is almost always open to allow people from the other houses to use the kitchen. Sound off key? Well yes, especially when you know that the door to the only girl´s dorm that I´m staying in didn´t have a lock on it. I remember feeling a little off put and feeling the need to put a padlock on every possesion I had in the room when I checked in.
Well, fate doesn´t like to be tempted. 3am on Friday night a man managed to get in the gate, walked to our house, came in through the open door to the house and walked straight into the girls dorm where myself and two others were fast alseep. He picked up two rucksacks on the floor and walked right out again completely unheard. All this was caught on CCTV including the part where he walked right past the now sacked security guard who asked no questions. Needless to say I was pretty much almost out the door when we found out the following morning. A man walks into a girls dorm unchallenged? Seems we were a little lucky he only walked out with two rucksacks!
Thankfully, security has now been tightened, locks changed, doors closed and new security guards, but I was hellofashakenup! Its good to know the hostel had CCTV as well and was able to pass it onto the police, but I had to ask, whats the point of CCTV and no locks on bedroom doors?!?! And thanks to my paranoia, none of my things were taken, but I have a lot of sympathy for two other girls who despite not loosing money or passports did loose their diaries and other personal books, one of them had all the contacts and stories from her 5 month trip and is only 2 weeks from going home! Depressing.
But, despite it all I´m safe and thankful and loving the Rio vibe! The fact is that kind of thing could happen anywhere and you just have to be prudent as much as possible. I decided not to move becuase given the situation I´m probably safer in that hostel now than anywhere else, plus it has a fantastic atmosphere and a reasonable nightly rate. Don´t get me wrong, my safety comes first, but it looks like they´ve bucked up their act!
Tomorrow I hit the beach again, and on Wednesday I fly to Salvador, the ultimate beach and party town in the north. Can´t wait!
Sunday, 13 April 2008
To Do list No.109. Visit 8th Wonder of the World......tick!
Okay, I haven´t actually been to any of the original 7 wonders of the world and can not claim to have had any pressing desire to do so. However, when you´re in Peru, you would be stupid not to make the trip to go and visit Macchu Picchu!
As I said in my last post I had a very quiet and relaxing couple of weeks staying with my adoptive family in San Miguel, Lima. I literally did nothing and it was bliss!!! Then I spent a few days staying down town in an area called Barranco which is right next to the super posh and very hyped (but worth seeing) Miraflores area as well as being 2 seconds from the beach. I´m sure you guys are pretty aware about me and the beach by now, so nuff said on how much time I spent there!!
When the decision had to be made as to how to get to Cusco, the town in the south of Peru from which you can get to Macchu Picchu I clearly lost my senses. I´d heard it wasn´t close to Lima, but based on word of mouth from other travellers along the way I was willing to take the 16 hour bus journey offered by Cruz del Sur; top operator in the country. The one concession I did make was to travel 1st class; it was only 6 quid more and definitely worth the money. 20 hours, motion sickness, 4 badly dubbed films with english subtitles (when the originals were in English anyway!!) and some dodgy looking hot water later we made it to Cusco. Never again in my life so long as I am in a position to choose will I do anything so foolhardy as to get a bus for that long or listen to other people when they tell me 16hours is not so bad!!!! Duurrh!
Firstly, I will say that travelling 1st class is the only way, massive leather reclining seats with footrests and only 9 people in the cabin (everyone else is upstairs on the double decker) so its nice and quiet. Other than that, it makes no difference what class you are in when you´re travelling Peru by coach. Roads that are built into mountains resulting in ridiculous meandering curves means the toilet is pretty much a nasty disgusting mess after the 1st two hours. The so called meals you get served leave a lot of taste to the imagination and only give even more reasons for you to have to visit the toilet! And the wonderful drivers, who are advertised as changing every four hours for passenger safety, clearly get bored with the whole thing and decide to test out the new traction wheels by speeding up on bends and seeing who can get the most passengers to throw up on their shift. The only person who fared worse than I was Darrell** who is not travelling on my backpacker budget and was quite openly resenting my insistance we get the bus cos it was cheaper and all part of the experience after the first 10 hours!!! Sorry!!
I am despite it all eternally grateful to have made it in one piece with no incidents! Needless to say, the budget for the return journey was added to in order to catch the simple one hour flight back to Lima! It only cost $89 compared to the bus´$65....so much for trying to be a cheap arse eh!!
Cusco has about 100% on Lima in terms of character and atmosphere. The town is cute and easy to get around, the roads, the churches and the people just seem that so much less hung up, which is in sharp contrast to Lima which is a cross between Miami and Shepherds Bush....go figure. Don´t get me wrong, I did like Lima, but when you get to Cusco, you feel the change in atmosphere, and the rivalry between the two cities (Cusco used to be the Peruvian capital hundreds of years ago) certainly maintains that!
So from Cusco one morning at 6am we caught the four hour train up to Macchu Picchu, this was followed by a 30 minute bus journey up the rest of the way and then.........paradise, the most tangible sense of history I´ve ever felt and God. I know that everyone who has seen it has the same sense of wonderment whether they took the train or bravely (I wanna say foolish but I know its cos I´m a sissy) followed the Inca Trail.
The place is truly amazing, survived for hundreds of years almost completely intact despite landslides and earthquakes that took out modern power plants and towns around it. Surrounded by astonishing drops and views of moutains on every side and roaming with llamas! I can´t express it in words and only some of my pictures actually show how fantastic it was, but I tell ya, if you can......you will never regret seeing this place.
So I did Peru, I loved it and its on my hit list of places to come back to. Many thanks to Mr and Mrs Katy and Katy´s whole family who I fell in love with and who looked after me literally like I was one of their own. I have pictures from Paulito and Isabella´s birthday which if I don´t get a chance to email to you (Paul and Katy) before I get home, will be with you asap! Mama Greta and Tia Gisela tengo amor por ustedes para siempre! Nunca puedo olvídar lo que ustedes hacían para mi. Besos, abrazos y mucho más!
So, guess where I am now? Brasil!!!!!!!! Yey!!! Landed in São Paulo on Saturday morning. Already I know my 12 week Brazilian Portugese course last year did bugger all and I haven´t got a clue what anyone is saying. This is not going to be an easy leg! I´m all for it though, I´m in Brasil after all...woohoa!!! I´ll be headed to Rio on Tuesday trying to procure me a showgirl outfit to wear on Copacabana...;-)
**Darrell bless his cottons is the only person who took me up on my offer of all company welcome to join me on any part of my trip!! He´s with me for three weeks in all, his only concession being living on my super cheapie budget! Bless...as for the rest of you...you´re missing out!!!
As I said in my last post I had a very quiet and relaxing couple of weeks staying with my adoptive family in San Miguel, Lima. I literally did nothing and it was bliss!!! Then I spent a few days staying down town in an area called Barranco which is right next to the super posh and very hyped (but worth seeing) Miraflores area as well as being 2 seconds from the beach. I´m sure you guys are pretty aware about me and the beach by now, so nuff said on how much time I spent there!!
When the decision had to be made as to how to get to Cusco, the town in the south of Peru from which you can get to Macchu Picchu I clearly lost my senses. I´d heard it wasn´t close to Lima, but based on word of mouth from other travellers along the way I was willing to take the 16 hour bus journey offered by Cruz del Sur; top operator in the country. The one concession I did make was to travel 1st class; it was only 6 quid more and definitely worth the money. 20 hours, motion sickness, 4 badly dubbed films with english subtitles (when the originals were in English anyway!!) and some dodgy looking hot water later we made it to Cusco. Never again in my life so long as I am in a position to choose will I do anything so foolhardy as to get a bus for that long or listen to other people when they tell me 16hours is not so bad!!!! Duurrh!
Firstly, I will say that travelling 1st class is the only way, massive leather reclining seats with footrests and only 9 people in the cabin (everyone else is upstairs on the double decker) so its nice and quiet. Other than that, it makes no difference what class you are in when you´re travelling Peru by coach. Roads that are built into mountains resulting in ridiculous meandering curves means the toilet is pretty much a nasty disgusting mess after the 1st two hours. The so called meals you get served leave a lot of taste to the imagination and only give even more reasons for you to have to visit the toilet! And the wonderful drivers, who are advertised as changing every four hours for passenger safety, clearly get bored with the whole thing and decide to test out the new traction wheels by speeding up on bends and seeing who can get the most passengers to throw up on their shift. The only person who fared worse than I was Darrell** who is not travelling on my backpacker budget and was quite openly resenting my insistance we get the bus cos it was cheaper and all part of the experience after the first 10 hours!!! Sorry!!
I am despite it all eternally grateful to have made it in one piece with no incidents! Needless to say, the budget for the return journey was added to in order to catch the simple one hour flight back to Lima! It only cost $89 compared to the bus´$65....so much for trying to be a cheap arse eh!!
Cusco has about 100% on Lima in terms of character and atmosphere. The town is cute and easy to get around, the roads, the churches and the people just seem that so much less hung up, which is in sharp contrast to Lima which is a cross between Miami and Shepherds Bush....go figure. Don´t get me wrong, I did like Lima, but when you get to Cusco, you feel the change in atmosphere, and the rivalry between the two cities (Cusco used to be the Peruvian capital hundreds of years ago) certainly maintains that!
So from Cusco one morning at 6am we caught the four hour train up to Macchu Picchu, this was followed by a 30 minute bus journey up the rest of the way and then.........paradise, the most tangible sense of history I´ve ever felt and God. I know that everyone who has seen it has the same sense of wonderment whether they took the train or bravely (I wanna say foolish but I know its cos I´m a sissy) followed the Inca Trail.
The place is truly amazing, survived for hundreds of years almost completely intact despite landslides and earthquakes that took out modern power plants and towns around it. Surrounded by astonishing drops and views of moutains on every side and roaming with llamas! I can´t express it in words and only some of my pictures actually show how fantastic it was, but I tell ya, if you can......you will never regret seeing this place.
So I did Peru, I loved it and its on my hit list of places to come back to. Many thanks to Mr and Mrs Katy and Katy´s whole family who I fell in love with and who looked after me literally like I was one of their own. I have pictures from Paulito and Isabella´s birthday which if I don´t get a chance to email to you (Paul and Katy) before I get home, will be with you asap! Mama Greta and Tia Gisela tengo amor por ustedes para siempre! Nunca puedo olvídar lo que ustedes hacían para mi. Besos, abrazos y mucho más!
So, guess where I am now? Brasil!!!!!!!! Yey!!! Landed in São Paulo on Saturday morning. Already I know my 12 week Brazilian Portugese course last year did bugger all and I haven´t got a clue what anyone is saying. This is not going to be an easy leg! I´m all for it though, I´m in Brasil after all...woohoa!!! I´ll be headed to Rio on Tuesday trying to procure me a showgirl outfit to wear on Copacabana...;-)
**Darrell bless his cottons is the only person who took me up on my offer of all company welcome to join me on any part of my trip!! He´s with me for three weeks in all, his only concession being living on my super cheapie budget! Bless...as for the rest of you...you´re missing out!!!
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Why do natural disasters occur when you`re sleeping?
I`ve always wondered why natural disasters happen when people are sleeping, or at least at the worst possible time they could happen. Obviously there is never a convinient time for a natural disaster to occur but some times of day are definitely more inconvinient than others!
Let`s take this morning for example. For the last 3 days my hostess (shout out to Greta and all the Cruzalegui`s!!!) here in Lima has been talking of feeling tremors during the day and the middle of the night. Two nights ago, I watched her nightly routine of clearing chairs away from the dining table and clearing the route to the front door. Last night we were watching Scent of a Woman on TV (its so nice watching TV in the evenings again...*sigh) and she asked if I felt a tremor, I didn`t feel a thing. I started to think that she was maybe being just slightly too cautious, that is until this morning.
7.50am this morning, I jumped out of bed (literally in one movement) right into an earthquake. The whole house was shaking, Greta had just run into the bedroom to wake me up (I`m still not sure if it was her or the earthquake that woke me actually). It was extremely loud and the whole building sounded like a huge jackhammer was giving it a good beating. Having just woken out of deep sleep, I really cannot remember what I was thinking, I was just completely panicked thinking what on earth was going on! 10 seconds later with me holding 1 year old Isabella on the stairs halfway out the building it stopped. And that was it. Everyone had a look around, made sure everyone was ok and went back to their homes.
Isabella bless her, had no idea what was going on and was looking at me like she usually does and laughing her head off. I was only one sanity point ahead of Gigi the dog who was uncontrollably shaking and had managed to piss on the living room floor. I still don`t know how I felt at the time, on the news we heard it had been between 5.3 and 5.8 on the scale with 5.5 being the most quoted figure, but as the epicentre had been out at sea we had feared better than otherwise. I do know that I am utterly useless at disaster management! Everybody here had been through it before, knew what to do, how to act where to go, I was just a straight up liability!
I am surprised that 10 seconds managed to feel like an age and that I woke up, panicked, ran and had the prescence of mind to help with the baby before heading almost completely out of the building. Its like time slows down and some kind of instinct automatically kicks in.
I`d like to say I never want to go through that again, I`d hope that if it happened at a more convinient time of day, I would act like a sane human being or have some sort of logical thought pattern, but to be honest, I can`t be sure and I`m not willing to put my reactions to the test thank you very much! I really hope they don`t have any more tremors or quakes while I`m here....I hope its not too much to ask!
Other than this morning my first week here in Peru has been bliss, I haven`t done much, like seriously, this has been the slowest week I`ve had this whole trip, but I think it was due! I`ve eaten a lot, slept a lot, managed to watch CSI (love cable TV) and I`ve spent time walking around this superb area of San Miguel where Ì`m staying. As I said its a couple hundred metres away from the sea, the buildings and houses are gorgeous and the local marina and shopping complexes have amazing shops and casinos to boot! Beats the hell out of a lot of classy areas I`ve seen in other countries.
I`m off to visit Lima town centre this evening, have a look at their old town, maybe try out some more delicacies, I tell ya if at any time I lost weight on this trip, I`ve managed to gain it all back this week thats for sure, but thankfully I didn`t have space in my suitcase for weighing scales! ;-)
Let`s take this morning for example. For the last 3 days my hostess (shout out to Greta and all the Cruzalegui`s!!!) here in Lima has been talking of feeling tremors during the day and the middle of the night. Two nights ago, I watched her nightly routine of clearing chairs away from the dining table and clearing the route to the front door. Last night we were watching Scent of a Woman on TV (its so nice watching TV in the evenings again...*sigh) and she asked if I felt a tremor, I didn`t feel a thing. I started to think that she was maybe being just slightly too cautious, that is until this morning.
7.50am this morning, I jumped out of bed (literally in one movement) right into an earthquake. The whole house was shaking, Greta had just run into the bedroom to wake me up (I`m still not sure if it was her or the earthquake that woke me actually). It was extremely loud and the whole building sounded like a huge jackhammer was giving it a good beating. Having just woken out of deep sleep, I really cannot remember what I was thinking, I was just completely panicked thinking what on earth was going on! 10 seconds later with me holding 1 year old Isabella on the stairs halfway out the building it stopped. And that was it. Everyone had a look around, made sure everyone was ok and went back to their homes.
Isabella bless her, had no idea what was going on and was looking at me like she usually does and laughing her head off. I was only one sanity point ahead of Gigi the dog who was uncontrollably shaking and had managed to piss on the living room floor. I still don`t know how I felt at the time, on the news we heard it had been between 5.3 and 5.8 on the scale with 5.5 being the most quoted figure, but as the epicentre had been out at sea we had feared better than otherwise. I do know that I am utterly useless at disaster management! Everybody here had been through it before, knew what to do, how to act where to go, I was just a straight up liability!
I am surprised that 10 seconds managed to feel like an age and that I woke up, panicked, ran and had the prescence of mind to help with the baby before heading almost completely out of the building. Its like time slows down and some kind of instinct automatically kicks in.
I`d like to say I never want to go through that again, I`d hope that if it happened at a more convinient time of day, I would act like a sane human being or have some sort of logical thought pattern, but to be honest, I can`t be sure and I`m not willing to put my reactions to the test thank you very much! I really hope they don`t have any more tremors or quakes while I`m here....I hope its not too much to ask!
Other than this morning my first week here in Peru has been bliss, I haven`t done much, like seriously, this has been the slowest week I`ve had this whole trip, but I think it was due! I`ve eaten a lot, slept a lot, managed to watch CSI (love cable TV) and I`ve spent time walking around this superb area of San Miguel where Ì`m staying. As I said its a couple hundred metres away from the sea, the buildings and houses are gorgeous and the local marina and shopping complexes have amazing shops and casinos to boot! Beats the hell out of a lot of classy areas I`ve seen in other countries.
I`m off to visit Lima town centre this evening, have a look at their old town, maybe try out some more delicacies, I tell ya if at any time I lost weight on this trip, I`ve managed to gain it all back this week thats for sure, but thankfully I didn`t have space in my suitcase for weighing scales! ;-)
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Fancy a game of sh*thead?
Yes folks the universal game of sh*thead that I never knew existed has filled every quiet gap I´ve had and successfully managed to breach language barriers with practically every person I´ve met. I now know that in Denmark they call it Arsehole and in Spanish its called Burro (Donkey...so basically arsehole too!). Its funny how a card game can be so universally known, although I´m pretty sure that since I didn´t know it before I came travelling, none of my closest friends do either, but anyway, once you´re out, don´t be offended if someone asks you the above!
So, how am I? I am fanbloodytastic and once again aching from crazy activites! Although this time, I have no complaints and nothing but praises! Yesterday I went to a place called Mindo which is a small town in the Amazon side of Ecuador known for its funventure type activities. We had a 35 minute trek through the jungle, albeit through a well trodden and safety roped path down to the most fantastic waterfall. I´m not a great swimmer but even if I was, I still wouldn´t understand why people would jump 20ft down into a waterfall, but they did! It was quite fun to watch. Because of the humidity its almost always raining in some shape or form in that area and that means mud and lots of it which is all part of the fun. The amount of times I and friends almost fell into mud is countless and needless to say at the end of it, we ended up looking like we´d purposely tried to get as muddy as possible....nice!
So after almost 2 hours of doing that, what did we do? We rented quad bikes ofcourse! Now that was fun! Firstly because it was my first time, but secondly because when I was allowed to drive, I faced my own death a couple of times (that´s an exxageration mother dear don´t worry!). First time was breaking too hard down a very muddy and stony hill, second time was trying to overtake on a thin part of the track with a never ending drop on one side! One of the most fun things I´ve ever done, and I came back from that with a second coating of mud to add to the first!
I must say major thanks to my newest sweetheart Dany (and therefore thanks to Deji and Jamesito too for putting me in touch with her!). The first place Dany took me to was to watch the Easter procession of the Virgin Mary and Jesus in the old town. It was amazing, there were tons of people there, not unlike the Notting Hill Carnival. And I also found out something new! When I finally get to catch up with uploading my pix, you´ll get to see and awful lot of people wearing purple Ku Klux Klan outfits!!! Now obviously that´s not what they actually were, and I´m pretty sure the Klan took the idea from them, but it was hell of a scary to watch hundreds of hooded men in a procession! I kid you not! The idea is that they are repented sinners, many of them were also carrying crosses and wore chains on their feet, a few were self-flagelating and I have it on good authority that they do it for real!
Dany then took me for a nice lunch with the family, which was lovely, she was also the one who took me to Mindo as well as taking me to an amazing Cafe in Quito from which there were the most amazing views of the whole city! I´ve had a fantastic time with her and to think we only met two days ago!
I must say that Ecuador has been a proper activity location for me, on Thurday I walked 700m up the Cotopaxi volcano. Doesn´t sound like much until you factor in the fact that we started at 4100m above sea level and ended on 4800m! I never knew it could be so hard to breathe and that was with me walking like an old lady! Plus it was absolutely freezing for which to be honest I was ill equipped (I had envisioned spending months in sunshine, shows how good my research was huh!). However, at the end of the hour it took me to get up there, bringing up the rear behind everybody else!! I was chuffed as hell! The views from up there when the clouds cleared were amazing and when you think that its still a live volcano which they think will errupt again soon....well, I´m glad it didn´t happen the day we went up!
I also went to see the Mitad del Mundo, or the monument at the Equator. Wanna hear the funny part? When GPS came in, they found out they had built their monument 240m out from the real line! lol! Now isn´t that a bummer when you´ve built a whole mini-city with shops, restaurants and museums in the wrong place! The upshot is that they won´t publicise that fact at least not once you´re inside the city. Just outside it however, you´ll find men in yellow shirts who will point you to a project called Quitsato.
Quitsato was explained to us by a Fox Moulder wannabe (complete with melodrama) as an attempt to recognise a pre-Inca monument that was built on the exact correct line of the equator over 1000 years ago, but obviously without GPS! Currently its at risk because the moutain is being used as a quarry and the government already have their equator monument...but anyhoo, I shant go into it too much, google it. Its actually very interesting and worth having a read about!
So Ecuador is over, if I have any niggle its about the cold which I didn´t expect, they are having the worst wet season ever in a long time and it goes from hot to cold and wet very quickly. But it hasn´t taken away from my amazing experience!
I´m off to Peru tomorrow to be welcomed by the loving arms of the Cruzalegui family! Can´t wait!
So, how am I? I am fanbloodytastic and once again aching from crazy activites! Although this time, I have no complaints and nothing but praises! Yesterday I went to a place called Mindo which is a small town in the Amazon side of Ecuador known for its funventure type activities. We had a 35 minute trek through the jungle, albeit through a well trodden and safety roped path down to the most fantastic waterfall. I´m not a great swimmer but even if I was, I still wouldn´t understand why people would jump 20ft down into a waterfall, but they did! It was quite fun to watch. Because of the humidity its almost always raining in some shape or form in that area and that means mud and lots of it which is all part of the fun. The amount of times I and friends almost fell into mud is countless and needless to say at the end of it, we ended up looking like we´d purposely tried to get as muddy as possible....nice!
So after almost 2 hours of doing that, what did we do? We rented quad bikes ofcourse! Now that was fun! Firstly because it was my first time, but secondly because when I was allowed to drive, I faced my own death a couple of times (that´s an exxageration mother dear don´t worry!). First time was breaking too hard down a very muddy and stony hill, second time was trying to overtake on a thin part of the track with a never ending drop on one side! One of the most fun things I´ve ever done, and I came back from that with a second coating of mud to add to the first!
I must say major thanks to my newest sweetheart Dany (and therefore thanks to Deji and Jamesito too for putting me in touch with her!). The first place Dany took me to was to watch the Easter procession of the Virgin Mary and Jesus in the old town. It was amazing, there were tons of people there, not unlike the Notting Hill Carnival. And I also found out something new! When I finally get to catch up with uploading my pix, you´ll get to see and awful lot of people wearing purple Ku Klux Klan outfits!!! Now obviously that´s not what they actually were, and I´m pretty sure the Klan took the idea from them, but it was hell of a scary to watch hundreds of hooded men in a procession! I kid you not! The idea is that they are repented sinners, many of them were also carrying crosses and wore chains on their feet, a few were self-flagelating and I have it on good authority that they do it for real!
Dany then took me for a nice lunch with the family, which was lovely, she was also the one who took me to Mindo as well as taking me to an amazing Cafe in Quito from which there were the most amazing views of the whole city! I´ve had a fantastic time with her and to think we only met two days ago!
I must say that Ecuador has been a proper activity location for me, on Thurday I walked 700m up the Cotopaxi volcano. Doesn´t sound like much until you factor in the fact that we started at 4100m above sea level and ended on 4800m! I never knew it could be so hard to breathe and that was with me walking like an old lady! Plus it was absolutely freezing for which to be honest I was ill equipped (I had envisioned spending months in sunshine, shows how good my research was huh!). However, at the end of the hour it took me to get up there, bringing up the rear behind everybody else!! I was chuffed as hell! The views from up there when the clouds cleared were amazing and when you think that its still a live volcano which they think will errupt again soon....well, I´m glad it didn´t happen the day we went up!
I also went to see the Mitad del Mundo, or the monument at the Equator. Wanna hear the funny part? When GPS came in, they found out they had built their monument 240m out from the real line! lol! Now isn´t that a bummer when you´ve built a whole mini-city with shops, restaurants and museums in the wrong place! The upshot is that they won´t publicise that fact at least not once you´re inside the city. Just outside it however, you´ll find men in yellow shirts who will point you to a project called Quitsato.
Quitsato was explained to us by a Fox Moulder wannabe (complete with melodrama) as an attempt to recognise a pre-Inca monument that was built on the exact correct line of the equator over 1000 years ago, but obviously without GPS! Currently its at risk because the moutain is being used as a quarry and the government already have their equator monument...but anyhoo, I shant go into it too much, google it. Its actually very interesting and worth having a read about!
So Ecuador is over, if I have any niggle its about the cold which I didn´t expect, they are having the worst wet season ever in a long time and it goes from hot to cold and wet very quickly. But it hasn´t taken away from my amazing experience!
I´m off to Peru tomorrow to be welcomed by the loving arms of the Cruzalegui family! Can´t wait!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Morenita leaves Mexico Town!
As you can probably guess, Morenita became my nickname in Mexico. Everywhere I went that´s what people started calling me! Its factually inaccurate given that morena means dark skinned but definitely not black, but who cares, a cute nickname is a cute nickname!
I am currently in Quito, Ecuador (moving fast now aren´t I?) but I shall summarise my last week in Mexico before I get onto that!
So Oaxaca (/wahaka/ Mexico has some of the most unpronouncable names I´ve ever come across!), one of the nicest places I have ever been to. It is absolutely stunning, a lovely little city surrounded on all sides by amazing hills and mountains. I managed to do another tour while staying in the city which took me to see the fattest tree in the world, its only 2000 years old but it takes about 40 people holding hands to go all the way around it. Then we went to see a weaving community project where they use centuries old traditions of making natural dyes and making blankets, carpets and mats. That was quite interesting, but maybe that´s the geek in me again! The high point of the trip was the trip to go and eat in a traditional Oaxacan restaurant. Top of the menu were ant eggs, worms and grasshoppers.
So quess what Lola did? Yes, I tried all of them! You can´t come to these places and not try out local delicacies now can you! So, I´d recommend worms, they don´t taste of much but its a nice texture when they´re fried. Ant eggs taste like corn with a twist, the first taste isn´t so bad, but consecutive helpings may make you feel a lil sick! Grasshoppers well, I´m still not sure to be honest. The only thing I could taste was the chilli and salt seasoning (which Mexicans put on everything!) and a bit of a crunch. These were very small grasshoppers and I had it on good information the bigger ones taste much nicer but I figured I´d leave that till Thailand.
I have to say Mexicans put salt and chilli or chilli sauce on everything. When buying fruit on the street, they´ll peel and cut it for you, but if you don´t catch them on time, you´ll have salt and chilli all over your fresh orange or melon or apple or mango....you name it, they put salt and chilli on it! Trust me, salt and chilli does not go with everything....!
Final stop on the trip was a visit to a mezcal factory. Mezcal is a strong spirit made from a cactus; Tequila is a type of mezcal made in a place called Tequila in Mexico (go figure!). Some of these come at 80% alcohol which is nuts! There are some smoother ones which come as liquieurs with passion fruit (Maracuya) top of my list, but the fact is, going on a trip where you taste 10-13 different types of mezcal in about 5 minutes (their shot glasses are a lil bigger than ours as well!) really isn´t good for you!
I have to say at this point of my trip, kinda halfway through, I´m feeling a little homesick and quite tired from the long list of things that you "absolutely have to do" everytime you get somewhere, so I decided to give myself a holiday. I booked a couple nights in a small hostel up in the hills outside Oaxaca city called La Villada Inn. Talk about 5* experience on a no star budget. I paid $13 a night to be treated like a member of a family (I needed some mummy love), amazing views of the city from up the hill, a swimming pool (a proper one!) and amazing food. I couldn´t have asked for a better place to spend lazy days! It was perfect! I even got to spend some time with their new born grandson who was only a day old! It kinda made me miss my family a little bit more (don´t let that get to your heads folks....you´re just alright! ;-) but it was very nice to be in a family atmosphere for a bit and from the reviews I saw on Hostelworld.com they´re like that all the time!
So, I arrived in Ecuador on Monday and talk about depressing. I landed in 12 degrees and rain rain rain, I felt like I´d gone back to England. They´ve had loads of rain and floods here recently, but yesterday the sun came out! Lets hope it stays around for my week here! I´m staying in another family hostel which is great. Yesterday they threw a party for their first year anniversary of being open and the 23rd birthday of their son and it was fabulous. Great way to meet all the other people staying here and the free pizza and dancing was well received by all! lol!
I have no real niggles this week (hoorah) but I do have some praise to give to ......Miami Airport Immigration. I never thought it possible! Basically although it´s quite silly, I had to fly from Mexico to Miami then catch another flight to Ecuador as there are no direct flights from Mexico City. I expected the worst, only a 2 hour stopover and my last experience 3 years ago of 3 hours of queues to pass immigration in Miami was still fresh in my mind!
So I prepared to have my bags lost (flying American Airlines), I wore very comfortable shoes and was prepared to miss my connection. But to my surprise, flights were on time and after managing to clear immigration AND customs in just 20 minutes I had a whole hour and a half to myself. Plus, on arrival in Quito, my bag was just there waiting for me! Well credit where credit is due folks, I have one more transfer through the US (Dallas), I won´t get complacent, but I won´t expect the worst either!
So I´m off to visit the equator today, a volcano tomorrow and I´m gonna be here for the Easter processions which are a big deal round here, should be good!
I am currently in Quito, Ecuador (moving fast now aren´t I?) but I shall summarise my last week in Mexico before I get onto that!
So Oaxaca (/wahaka/ Mexico has some of the most unpronouncable names I´ve ever come across!), one of the nicest places I have ever been to. It is absolutely stunning, a lovely little city surrounded on all sides by amazing hills and mountains. I managed to do another tour while staying in the city which took me to see the fattest tree in the world, its only 2000 years old but it takes about 40 people holding hands to go all the way around it. Then we went to see a weaving community project where they use centuries old traditions of making natural dyes and making blankets, carpets and mats. That was quite interesting, but maybe that´s the geek in me again! The high point of the trip was the trip to go and eat in a traditional Oaxacan restaurant. Top of the menu were ant eggs, worms and grasshoppers.
So quess what Lola did? Yes, I tried all of them! You can´t come to these places and not try out local delicacies now can you! So, I´d recommend worms, they don´t taste of much but its a nice texture when they´re fried. Ant eggs taste like corn with a twist, the first taste isn´t so bad, but consecutive helpings may make you feel a lil sick! Grasshoppers well, I´m still not sure to be honest. The only thing I could taste was the chilli and salt seasoning (which Mexicans put on everything!) and a bit of a crunch. These were very small grasshoppers and I had it on good information the bigger ones taste much nicer but I figured I´d leave that till Thailand.
I have to say Mexicans put salt and chilli or chilli sauce on everything. When buying fruit on the street, they´ll peel and cut it for you, but if you don´t catch them on time, you´ll have salt and chilli all over your fresh orange or melon or apple or mango....you name it, they put salt and chilli on it! Trust me, salt and chilli does not go with everything....!
Final stop on the trip was a visit to a mezcal factory. Mezcal is a strong spirit made from a cactus; Tequila is a type of mezcal made in a place called Tequila in Mexico (go figure!). Some of these come at 80% alcohol which is nuts! There are some smoother ones which come as liquieurs with passion fruit (Maracuya) top of my list, but the fact is, going on a trip where you taste 10-13 different types of mezcal in about 5 minutes (their shot glasses are a lil bigger than ours as well!) really isn´t good for you!
I have to say at this point of my trip, kinda halfway through, I´m feeling a little homesick and quite tired from the long list of things that you "absolutely have to do" everytime you get somewhere, so I decided to give myself a holiday. I booked a couple nights in a small hostel up in the hills outside Oaxaca city called La Villada Inn. Talk about 5* experience on a no star budget. I paid $13 a night to be treated like a member of a family (I needed some mummy love), amazing views of the city from up the hill, a swimming pool (a proper one!) and amazing food. I couldn´t have asked for a better place to spend lazy days! It was perfect! I even got to spend some time with their new born grandson who was only a day old! It kinda made me miss my family a little bit more (don´t let that get to your heads folks....you´re just alright! ;-) but it was very nice to be in a family atmosphere for a bit and from the reviews I saw on Hostelworld.com they´re like that all the time!
So, I arrived in Ecuador on Monday and talk about depressing. I landed in 12 degrees and rain rain rain, I felt like I´d gone back to England. They´ve had loads of rain and floods here recently, but yesterday the sun came out! Lets hope it stays around for my week here! I´m staying in another family hostel which is great. Yesterday they threw a party for their first year anniversary of being open and the 23rd birthday of their son and it was fabulous. Great way to meet all the other people staying here and the free pizza and dancing was well received by all! lol!
I have no real niggles this week (hoorah) but I do have some praise to give to ......Miami Airport Immigration. I never thought it possible! Basically although it´s quite silly, I had to fly from Mexico to Miami then catch another flight to Ecuador as there are no direct flights from Mexico City. I expected the worst, only a 2 hour stopover and my last experience 3 years ago of 3 hours of queues to pass immigration in Miami was still fresh in my mind!
So I prepared to have my bags lost (flying American Airlines), I wore very comfortable shoes and was prepared to miss my connection. But to my surprise, flights were on time and after managing to clear immigration AND customs in just 20 minutes I had a whole hour and a half to myself. Plus, on arrival in Quito, my bag was just there waiting for me! Well credit where credit is due folks, I have one more transfer through the US (Dallas), I won´t get complacent, but I won´t expect the worst either!
So I´m off to visit the equator today, a volcano tomorrow and I´m gonna be here for the Easter processions which are a big deal round here, should be good!
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