Lima

It would seem I was never meant to learn Spanish here. I´m not sure what I did to put her off but my teacher stopped showing up! So I decided to use the book she had given me to teach myself and I already feel like I know a lot more.


I´m in Lima now to volunteer at a refuge run by a friend of a friend, but they can´t see me until Tuesday so I have some time to discover the capital. It´s a shame therefore that there isn´t a lot to do! Luckily I have randomly ended up in a hostel in the beachside area of Miraflores with an English couple I met on Fraser Island in Australia! The world gets smaller and smaller the more you travel. Yesterday we walked around sampling the cafes, parks and street entertainment, breaking up the day with a viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean 3, and now we feel ready to jump on a tin can (a rickety old public bus) and brave the big bad centre.


I was lucky to get a chance to volunteer in Arequipa as well, at a primary school in one of the new towns with some friends from my hostel who had been given the opportunity by their tour guide. I was really impressed by the school and most of the children seemed to be very keen learners. They were so cute but a lot of them were ill so I tried not to get too close. Luckily there have been no signs of the sniffles or nits! We were introduced to all of the classes then put to work. Dara and I helped Class 2 with their Spanish lesson (as well as we could!), I taught Class 4 fruits in English with Esther and Matt, then Dara and I made paper chains with Classes 2 and 3 and tried to teach them Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sadly most of the children will not progress to secondary school, but it´s great that they can get a basic education here and learn how to behave with their peers and elders.

The other big event last week was my 3 day trek to the Colca Cañon. This is the world´s deepest canyon and for some reason I thought I and my gripless Diadora trainers would be able to walk all the way down into and back out of it! As soon as we started the big descent I knew I was in trouble, as I started to slip and altitude sickness set in. Amy was struggling too as her shoes were too small making her toenails lift and bruise - ewww!!! To cut a long story short, I passed out and chewed Coca leaves to settle my stomach before forceing myself to carry on. Thank god for the Irish girls Cathy and Coch who kept our spirits up! Amy and her man John stayed behind to catch a mule the rest of the way. Our guide could only show we 3 Cs some of the way to the village as he had to go back for the others, and by this time it was getting dark. I was sure we were going to be lost and stranded in the depths of the deepest canyon, but we eventually found civilisation, hot showers, beds and food (alpaca is yum!). The next day was easier, and at midday we relaxed for a few hours at a private oasis in the middle of an avocado grove. After lunch Amy and I faced the fact that we weren´t going to make it up on foot (by this time I was walking with a painful limp) and jumped on a couple of mules. It was the scariest but best horse trek I have ever done, as we were constantly in fear of the mules slipping but it was way more interesting than walking in a straight line down a country road. We whooped as we saw we had made it to the top and treated ourselves to some nice cold beer. The last day was trekking free and we went to see the famous Condor colony - loads of really huge birds soaring through the canyon and over our heads. My ancient Olympus brick wasn´t up to the challenge but some friends are going to email me some photos for you, Mum and Dad. The whole gang reunited again for a big night out in Arequipa, and as we´re all heading to Cusco I hope to see them all again for Part II very soon.

Arequipa, Peru

San Pedro de Atacama was far from what I imagined, but that´s definitely a good thing. It´s a dusty old city slap bang in the middle of the Atacama desert, with no tarmac, no pavements, and sometimes no electricity! It´s surrounded by volcanoes, some of which are active, sand dunes, and basically a whole bunch of nothingness. We hired bikes on our first day and messed around in the desert for 6 hours, finding an archaeological Inca site, an almighty canyon, and sunset at the Valley of the Dead (no corpses though, phew!). The next morning we rose at 4 o´clock for an excursion to the Tatio geisers and the surrounding area. The temperature was sub zero but we still managed to enjoy the geiser field (lots of gushing holes in the earth), the thermal pool (getting in and out wasn´t so much fun!), the native plants and animals (including giant long-tailed green and orange rabbits and lots of vicuñas and llamas) and a small village of about 20 people. Here we shared a nutricious and delicious llama kebab!

I almost cried when I had to leave Ellen because we became really good friends and I was petrified about being on my own again. With good reason too! The bus driver was very unhelpful, I temporarily thought my bags were being messed with or stolen when we changed bus, I wasn´t sure if my collectivo across the border to Peru was genuine (it was) and I was apprehensive about my destination, Arequipa. As soon as I arrived however all of my worries vanished and I have loved living in this city. It´s a beautiful place with a big square and lots of craft shops, I´m in a dorm with a nice Canadian guy who I´ve been spending some time with, our hostel has a rooftop (for sunbathing!), fluffy towels and a free breakfast and bottomless te de coca, and my spanish lessons are under way. They´re giving me a headache and I´m not that impressed with my teacher (who hardly speaks any English!) but I can always ask to change her and hopefully the lessons will become less painful. Time to catch some more rays!

La Serena

Today I leave La Serena where I have been for 2 nights. The hostel is a house with an outhouse that the guests stay in, and everybody shares the garden, courtyard and kitchen areas. We live with a lovely lady called Maria who has been fussing over us like an aunt, washing our dishes before we can protest and making us coffee and fruit salads. I´ve made 2 good friends here (a German girl and a Belgian girl) who I have seen the city with and travelled to nearby Vicuña with, and Ellen and I are on the same bus tonight which is good as it takes 18 hours to get to San Pedro de Atacama! The buses are super comfy and we are even served breakfast in the morning.

La Serena is a sweet old city with loads of churches, a nice main square, tons of market stalls and cobbled streets that it´s fun to get lost in. Vicuña was similar but we found a hill that we climbed to the top of for some great views of the Elqui Valley and the town. We could hear music coming from the main square (a mother´s day celebration I think) which made it a great place to stay and chat, then we ate empañadas (yummy pasties - I´m addicted!) before catching the bus home.

I realised how dirty Santiago is when I rode the funicular to Cerro San Cristobal on my last day. It´s a park overlooking the city with a massive statue of the Virgin Mary and a botanical garden, supposedly with great views of the city and the Andes in the near distance. I could hardly see the buildings for the thick brown smog lying heavily on the ground - yuk! As for the mountains they were only visible through a murky haze, but it was good to see them and the route home took me past some awesome markets. Chile is one of the more expensive countries on my route though so I´m saving my pesos and waiting for Peru. Paul, there are so many llama themed things here I just don´t know where to start with your presents!

Santigo, Chile

I've just come back from a great night out in Santiago (excuse any obvious errors!) and have made lots of friends and am positive I will make lots more, for all of those (Mum!) concerned about my going solo. The city gave a great first impression as we meandered through some quiet cobbled streets to our hotel, and it is yet to disappoint me (apart from the lady who insisted on charging me 10 pounds for the only Latin American Spanish phrasebook I could find, worth 6 pounds in the UK!). The hotel is an early 20th century palacial mansion which has retained all of its glamour in the form of high ceilings, original chandeliers, gardens and courtyards and a Harry Potter esque kitchen and dining area. The internet room looks a little out of place but it's free so what the hey!

Today I walked for miles doing the usual sightseeing things, discovering some great parks and musical streets but realising that the language barrier is quite an almighty one (hence the phrasebook and lessons in Peru. Though the barrier shrunk the more Cristal I drank - a beer would you believe!). Tomorrow I am going to round this off with some museums and a tour around the cathedral, perhaps. It is my last day before La Serena, unless my amigos persuade me to stay a little longer. Tonight we stumbled across a salsa lesson and swayed the night away, feeling very Chilean indeed. Some moves may have accidentally been repeated in public :S

The accomodation, transport and company here seems top notch so at the risk of repeating myself too many times, nobody needs to worry, I'm going to be just fine. Nighty night to you all!

Last days in NZ

Thank you for all of my birthday messages. They helped make it a really good day. Despite being put on a difficult horse (she was the only female, in season, disliked both of the other horses and ate absolutely everything!) I had a great time trotting through lakes and forests and cantering up the last stretch of the volcano where some great views were waiting for us (and some green grass for Mai Tai). Tom made some fancy foods for me at the bbq and we made a fire to drink around, then the group tried to ruin me in a game of Square of Death (I refused to allow them on the verge of being sick from gulping red wine punch!). We ended the night in a karaoke bar but to the relief of everyone's ears the karaoke had ended and they didn't have 'California' to make a birthday exception with.

The following day we hired a boat and motored around the bay, feeling the adrenaline rush from the speed and a little bit posh, and anchored her up at a deserted beach cove before we had to take her back. In Auckland I did some last minute things including getting a well overdue haircut. This was its usual major disaster and has left me with wonky fronts that I can luckily hide while it's still curly! A poker addiction has been spreading through us (I won $25 the other day!) and Tom and Pete stepped it up a notch by playing at the Sky City Casino on our last night. Tom did quite well, which we celebrated with a drinks interval, but perhaps we tempted fate because they both left with glum faces. I had fun learning some tips from the filthy rich experts.

Happy birthday to me

Another year, another age, and today I am celebrating by sunbathing in the hottest part of New Zealand (The Bay of Islands) and going on a 2 1/2 hour horse trek to and up a volcano. It's been a while since I mounted a horse so I'm bracing myself for some very sore thighs and a ridiculous John Wayne style walk!

We all went black water rafting in Rotorua down a wicked river with crazy rapids and 3 waterfalls, the biggest of which was a beastly 7m drop! We took it at a dodgy angle, twisted and sure enough flipped it, all ending up in the water. I'm glad it happened though because we got the full experience and the water was so cool and refreshing. They were taking a sequence of photos as it happened so you'll all get to see the disaster as soon as I've *lowers voice* copied the communal CD. Rotorua was a cool little place with thermal parks displaying bubbling mud pools, steaming hot baths, sulphur crystals and steaming holes in the ground.

Hungry for some more water activities we went to Waitomo Caves where 'Rap, Raft n Rock' took us abseiling, caving, tubing through the caves and rock climbing. The caves were awesome as they were covered with glowworms and our guide knew of some tiny nooks and crannies that we could look ridiculous trying to squeeze through. We made a quick stopover in Auckland which seems like a really "happening" city and are in Paihia now, where we shall be celebrating the day with a BBQ tonight and no doubt a couple of Snakey Bs. Then it's off to South America where I start travelling solo for what I'm sure will be an incredible 10 weeks.

A big kiwi hello to you all! I'm sorry I haven't written anything from NZ yet. It's hard to think of technology when you're surrounded by mountains, glaciers, lakes, rolling hills... My biggest challenge yet will be keeping this short and mildly interesting without missing anything out! You may want to grab yourself a cup of tea...

Candi and I spent the first couple of nights with some of my Mum's friends who emigrated to Christchurch 3 years ago - the wonderful Ali and Clive. After spending our last night in Oz sleeping in Brisbane Airport (pyjamas and sleeping bags out on the sofas!) we were in serious need of some home comforts, and we couldn't have asked for better hosts. We spent our last night with them at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve where we got up close and personal with some native birds (I have the scars to prove it thank you Mr Kea Parrot) and saw some Kiwi birds in a blacked out hut. Very well fed and rested, we were collected by the boys in our hired station wagon and my first ever road trip began.

First was Lake Tekapo (aka Lake Piccachu) where Candi, Pete and I climbed Mt John for our first elevated views of snow capped mounatins and shimmering lakes. Ryan and Tom drove! The next day we drove to Mt Cook Village where we took a walk to a glacier lookout and relaxed with a drink in the world famous Hermitage Hotel, with Mt Cook disappearing into the night in the background. That night we made the huge mistake of playing the board game Risk. After 4 of the 6 hours I felt like we'd been playing for a year and wanted to die! If you've played it you'll probably understand. Dunedin was our next destination which we reached via a yellow-eyed penguin colony. They were really cute and for some reason climb the cliffs to within touching distance of the crowds that gather to see them and their fur seal friends. Everywhere was fully booked in the city so we kipped on the floor of the games room of a hostel for 2 nights! We took a wildlife drive along Otago Peninsula and went to a rugby game featuring several All Blacks players, one of whom I've seen again out in public.

We used Te Anau as a base before taking an overnight cruise on Milford Sound in the Fiordland, via Nugget Point on the South Coast - nothing more than some big rocks and very distant seals but pretty nonetheless. The cruise was ok but lacking in people our age. We sailed up to some waterfalls, warmed up with some hot soup, went on a kayaking tour, had a massive dinner, swapped expensive drinks for free tea, coffe and cocoa and card gamed the night away. We woke up to a proper tour of the sound then drove up to Queenstown - extreme sports capital of the world. My limit was the gondola and luge with some crazy golf and a mountain hike on the side, but between the others there was a bungee jump and 3 canyon swings. They all came off smiling but you should have seen some of them before! Wanaka was so beautiful that we made an unexpected overnight stop, visiting Puzzling World (games full of puzzles and illusions and a massive maze) and having a BBQ on the first day. We hired bikes in the morning and I took mine around the lake having shied away from the ridiculously tough mountainbike track (Pete took a voyage over his handle bars!). I have even greater respect for you now Hayden!

Next came my favourite experience on the South Island - a 3/4 day hike over the enourmous Franz Joseph Glacier. Dressed in boots and crampons we were led over ice plains, up ice staircases and through ice caverns until we were half way up the tongue of the glacier and high up in the valley. It was incredible to be standing on such a gargantuan lump of solid ice and seeing how the glacier moves and evolves, though I did feel a bit bad hacking away at the poor thing. As if global warming isn't enough of a problem!

For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to drive through the night to Kaikoura and spend the night in the car. It got so uncomfortable that I unzipped my sleeping bag, threw it down on the tarmac and slept in the carpark alongside the car. The boys went fishing in the avo and caught loads of cod and perch, an octopus and a lively crayfish (especially when he was heading for the boiling water!). It all tasted really good but smelled pretty bad and lingered for a good few days. Kaikoura was a lovely town with lots of art shops and a nice beach, and a massive fur seal colony that we walked around the coastline at low tide to see. There was literally about 100 giant males basking in the sun within metres of our feet and they hardly seemed to mind.

We caught an overnight ferry from Picton to Wellington, wasting ten bucks on a film called '300' and being forced again to sleep in the car. It didn't seem safe enough to hit the tarmac this time so I made a bed of our bags in the boot and slept like a baby! Wellington is a fantastic city with lots going on - museums, modern art galleries, shops, lots of coffee, theatres, botanical gardens, a busy harbour and a buzzing nightlife. When it was time to leave we headed on up to Taupo, but cursed by his desire to get there asap Tom was pulled over by a cop (my first and hopefully last time being pursued by blues and twos!) for speeding. He handed over a ticket and more or less told us not to bother paying it. The jury is still out. Pete continued the drive and was stopped again by the cops! But this time it was only a random breath test which luckily he passed. A third night sleeping in the car ensued, and I have promised my back that I will never do that to it ever again. The weather was gorgeous the next day so we lazed in the park for a while and threw around a frisbee, but it was terrible yesterday so we went to some natural hot springs for a therapeutic and remedial soaking. It was so unimaginably nice and warm! But maybe a little too hot for poor Pete who turned a brilliant purple! We were joined by a very interesting bunch of people - one guy got in naked, another wore bright red nail polish, 2 girls (one topless) made it quite clear they were a threesome and that guy is the founder of CouchSurfers.com. Despite nearly fainting from the heat when I stood up I still took on the free sauna in the hostel last night, and today we have swam in the hot outdoor pool of our new hostel in Rotorua.

This morning I watched nervously from the ground as the other 4 signed their lives away and took off in an aeroplane to do a skydive. They were stupidly scared beforehand but enjoyed it massively and we got to see a dvd of them all jumping and landing which was really cool. I sound like such a wimp missing out the extremist of the sports but I was too indifferent about the skydive to think it worth my while and bucks. I plan to do it properly when I'm a tad older, maybe with the red devils or something like that, and now that I've said it you can all feel free to hold me to my words.