music and passion were always the fashion...

yeaah bazza knows the score

Oh hello again. I'm writing this from the lobby of the Milhouse hostel, a place I've become very familiar with. It's our last day in Cusco, and tonight we're getting a sleeper bus from here to the city of Puno in the south-east of Peru. The city is very close to Lake Titicaca, which is why we're going there. The lake is a huge beauty on the border of Peru and  Bolivia, and we're hoping to stay on some floating islands for a few nights. Also, it's where Copacabana is, so we can sing Barry Manilow all day (yes, I know the song's about a nightclub but let me have this yeah). Anyway, it's all very exciting, as we are also hoping to go across the border to Bolivia for a few days (which will also help me get some more days for my Peruvian visa). From Lake Titicaca we're going to go onto the 'white city' of Arequipa to have a little wander and maybe another short trek, and then to Nazca to see the famous lines, and then onto Ica for some dune buggying and then back to Lima for our last couple of days together! Then Steph sadly has to leave me, and I get to go to work at a school for 3 months until the fam arrive at Christmas. So a lot is happening!!

Yesterday was fun, we took a day trip to the Sacred Valley and saw some beautiful Incan ruins. We started the tour in Pisac, where we saw a silver making demonstration and walked round the Pisac markets (where Steph and I gave in and both bought some lovely rings - she got a symbolic three tiered one, with a condor, puma and snake on (all iconic Peruvian animals), and I got a swirl one, which is the symbol of the Pachamama (the Peruvian Mother Nature)). So we spent all our money and that was fun. We also had empanadas for lunch which were seriously delicious - like a kind of South American pie.  We then went on to walk around some ruins outside of Cusco, had some lunch, and then visited a traditional Peruvian family who showed us how they dye wool and how they make things like blankets and ponchos. They also gave us some tea, which warmed us up a lot. We also met a cool Texan guy who was very interesting to talk to and shares Steph's love for climbing things. A very touristy day really, but had to be done. I'm trying to upload some pics at the moment but my crappy laptop has given up for a bit and all the photos are on my phone, and take a painstakingly long time to upload. So it's just Bazza M for now I'm afraid.

Anyway, our bus is at 10pm tonight so we've got a few hours to kill in Cusco (which we're filling up by sitting in the bar in the hostel to protect ourselves from the rain). So it's cheap beers and nachos all round (just joking mum you know I don't drink lol). So yeah, we have two weeks until Steph leaves and are planning to do as much as possible in between now and then really! I don't really have much more to say, just that my cold is refusing to leave, but then I guess that's all part of the experience of travelling.

I'll keep y'all (Texan influence) updated when I get to Puno, or Copacabana or wherever I end up.

Hasta luego, S xx

 I'll leave you with this picture...

Sums up Cusco and how sad I am taking pictures of myself

machu picchu, baby

Hey look, I made it to Machu Picchu!! We got up at 4am to start the trip down to Machu Picchu, and although it was kinda cloudy when we got up there, it was soooo worth it. Also I didn't collapse from altitude sickness so everything went well. The others climbed up the steps from Aguas Calientes (the nearest town) to the top, but I got a bus because I didn't want to risk heart failure. The views were absolutely breathtaking (in a good way, for once) - so much more amazing than I'd imagined. We stayed until about 2pm when we got a bus back down, and in that time I walked to the Sun Gate, which is from where you can see an intense view of the mountains. It was hard to walk up but so rewarding! When we were at the top of the Sun Gate the clouds cleared and the view was beautiful. I could see the ruins so clearly and all I managed to say for about 20 minutes was 'wow' (a change from my usual inability to shut up). OH MY GOSH it was amazing!!

It was great when we got there early because it was pretty quiet and empty but then the tourists came (obviously I'm not trying to say I'm not a tourist because I did constantly have my camera out but I mean the actual real tourists came). It was raining so everyone had brightly coloured plastic ponchos on which was hilarious to see - the mountains were covered with hundreds of pink, blue, green, yellow and red sheets walking around. Any way, apart from the abundance of Americans shouting 'oh maaaay gawwwsshh' every five minutes, Machu Picchu was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We were all absolutely shattered by the end of the day though, and tried to sleep on the train back but once again the Americans were back in full force. Don't get me wrong, Americans are amazing, and generally lovely people (Leslie can you see I'm trying to dig myself out of a hole here?!), but this train had the entirety of America on it getting really excited about the food trolley and overpriced souvenirs. I just wanted to sleep. Some of my favourite quotes from the journey (mostly given by a very high voiced woman) were: 'I could just LIVE on a train oh may gawsh'; 'Planes just get you places'; 'HAHA OH LOOK WHISKEY, cheeeeeky'; 'Look at that cute little village awh look at the little Incans' and my personal favourite 'ohh it feels like I'm hiking through the mountains heheh it's so easy!!'. That was my favourite because I was with 3 people in my group who had actually just done a 5 day hike, and they looked like death.

Anywaaaay, I've decided to also compile a list of things that I could not have done without in Machu Picchu (and just Peru so far in general). So if you decide to do the crazy thing and live in Peru for a year, this is what I highly suggest you bring. Yes, I am an expert on Peru although I've only been here two weeks.

Things that will help you survive Peru & Machu Picchu 

By Sarah Halliday aged 20 3/4

machu picchu group!

• Fast drying towel - does what it says on the tin. Life saver really, especially if you're camping.
• Inflatable pillow - £1 from Wilkinsons (or any other good cheap shops). Cannot stress enough how great this has been. I like having two pillows anyway, so it's good for some extra leverage. Also it has been my saviour on transport like the bus and the train, because it's so easy to blow up and gives you so much more comfort when trying to sleep. Long live the inflatable pillow
• Socks - Steph, take note! Just take loads of socks. As Steph learnt, two pairs are not enough for a 5 day trek because they will get wet and you will be sad.
• Snacks - YES. Take snacks everywhere. Bananas for energy, chocolate for deliciousness, crisps for more snacks. Especially in Machu Picchu, where a packet of crisps was something around £100, stocking up on snacks was a good plan. Water too is a very good shout. 
• Camera - obviously. Peru's beautiful, come one, why wouldn't you want to take a million pictures like I have?!
• Ipod - especially if you get travel sickness like me. Music has helped me sleep and forget about the bumpy roads a lot. Also it helps drown out the terrible club music that some hostels are located next to. Those foamy earphone things also help a lot for this.
• As much medicine as you can carry - I've already had altitude sickness and a nasty cold, so paracetamol and lemsip (my hero) have been great. Also any sort of diarrhoea medicine is much needed, as well as Vaseline (my lips got burnt :( ). 
• Money - take cash with you at all times. Don't do what I did and rely on your card. Only big towns/tourist areas have ATMs and if you run low on water mid-mountain you're going to have a hard time buying water if all you have to offer is a plastic visa card. 

I'll probably add to this list as the trip goes on, so that was really just a taster of things to come (woo). 

So I'm back in Cusco now. Steph & I had a little walk around today, and bought lots of Peruvian Alpaca clothing in true tourist style, and visited the Inca Museum which was very cool if you're interested in the Incas like I am (saaad), or just history in general. Cusco is beautiful, and there's so much to do here. Nice artisan stalls and some cool markets make it a great city. Tomorrow we're visiting the Sacred Valley, which is another historic part of Cusco, so that should be a great day out! 

But for now, I need to get some dinner, so here are some more photos for you to feast your eyes on!

        Adios, Sarah x

3 Sarahs, 2 Germans and a bout of altitude sickness

  Oh hey. So I didn't think I'd be updating this until Sunday/Monday when I got back from Machu        Picchu, but apparently not. Instead of trekking in the Peruvian Highlands (which is what Steph is currently doing), I'm sat on the floor of a hostel in Cusco.

me and some of the beautiful scenery -
 I'm smiling but inwardly I'm dying

This is because apparently my body can't cope with the altitude here, and my heart has decided that when I was even 5 metres, it will start beating like I've just ran 2 marathons. It leaves me breathless even walking up the stairs. So I managed to do a day of trekking at about 3800m, but had to come back this morning because I would have definitely passed out/been sick/died if I'd have carried on. So woe is me really. Although I did manage to see some AMAZING scenery yesterday and coming back today, I am gutted that once again my body has failed me and I've had to change my plans. Even just sitting here writing this has left me breathless

No Corrs, it isn't the time or the place.

So anyway, the part of the trek that I have done was amazing - the Peruvian Highlands is the most beautiful thing ever. In the day there are crisp blue skies and lovely breezes, and at night everything gets cold and where we were camping you could see the difference between the part of the mountains that the sun hits and the mountains that it doesn't. On one side of the camp site was a huge desert-covered mountain, and on the other was one completely covered in snow (as you can see from the above picture) Even Cusco is such a beautiful city. It's so much nicer than Lima (mainly because of the fact it has blue skies) and the buildings are so much more colonial and old school, which I love! As well as this I've really been able to speak the language because not many Peruvians speak a lot of Spanish - this has helped me through a lot of situations. So Cusco is amazing, but the altitude really isn't!

Sarah 1 and Sarah 2 

Oh yeah, so the title of this post. Well I've explained the altitude sickness (stupid stupid stupid), but the other two things. Well, for the first time in my life I've been around other people called Sarah (both spelt with an H at the end; the proper way!!). The first was a lovely Canadian girl who was on the trek. Canadians really are the most caring people by the way!! The second I met about 2 hours ago. She's from London and is staying in this hostel with me, and she's also on her own which is cool! We're hopefully going to explore Cusco tonight if my pathetic heart doesn't fail me. And the Germans - as well as Sarah, there are 2 German guys staying in my hostel room. They didn't come together, they just met here which I found funny because I haven't met any other Germans in my time here. So they're really nice too! It's so so easy to make friends when you're staying in hostels, because I guess everyone's in the same boat! Also learning about other people's countries are amazing, we've met Germans, Canadians, French and Australian so far - maybe by the time I leave Peru I'll be able to say I've met someone from every country! So it's all good really, apart from the obvious altitude problems. I must go anyway, because I reckon typing this I've burned at least 700 calories :P I'll put some more pictures of the time I've spent in the Highlands below - the scenery really was breathtaking.

Hasta Luego, Sarah x

me and steph

so worth nearly having a heart attack for

p.s - i'm still going to Machu Picchu, no worries - I'm just going to get a train/car to Agua Calientes (a nearby town) to meet the trekking team on Saturday then we'll go up on Sunday morning! 

adios Lima

Hey! I eventually got my blogger to work after fighting with it all day, so I can post wooo. So tomorrow me & Steph are off on our 22h bus trip to Cusco so we can climb up to good ol' Macchu Pichu. We really didn't plan it very well, because we haven't left enough to time to acclimatise to the altitude in Cusco. We're going to stock up on altitude pills though so we should be fiiinee!!

chocomseo

Also at some point in my life I'm going to write a book called 'How not to travel around Peru' - we've already got a few good ideas on what to write in said book. 'Don't Speak Any Spanish' and 'Choose the Cheapest Option' will make an appearance.

Lima Zoo!!

So over the last few days we've had a good time in Lima - we've visited the ChocoMuseo (it's a MUST, you get to learn about the history of chocolate, and make your own delish Incan hot chocolate); had an interesting experience trying to find the Pachacamac Ruins; eaten some beautiful Peruvian food with a lovely Canadian guy, drunk a bit of Pisco Sours (google 'Pisco' if you don't know what it is - the traditional Peruvian liquor certainly doesn't dissapoint); travelled with the locals on a questionable bus (don't worry Mum it was fine!) and had a tour of the Liman (?!) History Museum that was completely in Spanish. And this is all within 5 days! The only thing about Lima is the grey fog that hangs over it all day, it doesn't make the place seem very cheery. But I have got to walk through the same streets as one of my favourite authors Gabriel García Marquez, so I'm happy!!

This is Lima

We're now in bed relaxing in the calm before the storm (doing the Macchu Pichu trek) - which I can expect to be very exciting but equally as tiring!

Anyway, thought I'd keep you all up to date with what's happening here in Peru, and as you can see I've posted some pictures (especially for you Barbie&Derek!! :) ), so you can see what's been happening too. I won't be too sad to say goodbye to Lima as I will be spending the next 8 months here, so at the moment I'm looking forward to our adventures in Cusco!!


                                                 
                               Adios chicos, S x


 

we made it!

so YES, me and steph have finally arrived in Perú!!

we arrived at 5.15am Peruvian time after a completely shattering 20 hours of travelling, and we're currently sitting in the 1900 hostel in Lima. It's 7.30am now, and we can't check in until 3pm so we're entertaining ourselves with Facebook, real books, sweets and napping. Lima's awesome so far, and although there's a constant fog hanging over the city accompanied by the loudest car horns, the small part we've seen of in from the taxi looks great. If we're not too tired we're probably going to visit the Museo de Arte across the road later, and go to the in hostel travel agents to plan more of our trip.

so Lima's our home for the next 5 days until we make our way up to Cuzco and Machu Picchu so it's all very exciting so far! (: I'll keep you all updated when something exciting happens, which I'm sure it will do very soon.

hasta luego, Sarah x

3 days and counting...

OH MY GOSH I've only got 3 days to go. 3 days until me & Steph fly out to Peru; me for a year and her for a month. So much planning has been happening, we discussed an itinerary over Starbuck's drinks and I became 10000x more excited, it finally feels like it's happening!!

When we land in Lima after our 17h journey (at 5am :o) we're going to have to wait until 3pm to check into the hostel. No matter though, I'm sure sleeping for 10 hours will not be a problem after that flight!! I've also got some Nuevo Sols and US Dollars to start me off in Peru, and I've swatted up on all my Peru guidebooks (lovingly given to me by my Uncle and my Grandparents), and have also tried my hand at a little bit of Quechua (the native indigenous language - HELP!!).

I've also nearly packed - I didn't realise how hard it is to pack for a whole year! I'm hoping my abundace of Superdrug medicines will do me well - I've got nearly every illness covered. So yeah, I've added a little picture of my packing so far - God help me with the carrying, I'm only tiny!! Also, packing so far is such a mess, in standard Sarah fashion of course.

So it's all excitement here (and of course sadness, anxiety and worrying - mainly from mum's side), but I've nearly got everything sorted so now it's just getting there!! The next post I do will most likely be from across the ocean, so I'll see you on the other side :)

Hasta luego chicos, Sarah x