The life of a travelling Elf is a hard one

Nearly 2 months have past since my last post, so I thought it'd be best to have another little update - 4ish months into my travels!

This post will be split into two important parts, both which describe what has been going on over the last two months in Peru...(just to mix things up a bit)

PART ONE - THE EXCITING ADVENTURE OF BEING A TRAVELLING ELF (or 'duende', if you wanna be all Latin American about it)

So for the month running up to Christmas, my self and the other volunteers were told that we were going to be participating in a Christmas Show, being organised by Lidia and her coordinators. So this would be exciting and everything, participating in a show, but ohhh man we didn't know what was in store for us.
Queue endless nights packing 500 sweet bags and making bracelets. It was a very bonding experience for all of us. Also, dancing elves. 6 dancing elves, that is what we were. With our red dresses and green leggings, we took Lima by storm. Okay, over-exaggeration, but whatever, we were the best elves the world had ever seen. We did these shows for the children who we teach and work with in the orphanages, and a couple of times we also travelled up into the Andes to put on the show for some school children there, which was a lot of fun. The Andes both made for interesting trips - the first was fun, very very very cold and rainy, but the kids seemed to love it so that definitely made it worthwhile. For the second trip we somehow got about 50 people into a 20 person mini-van and transported them up an extremely windy and dangerous mountain road with no injuries - but that's a very stressful and painful story I'll leave for another time. I'll just leave you with a picture of the road, and your imagination can do it's own work...

Cuy!

In the Andes, I also got to eat Cuy (or guinea pig as it's known back home), or at least a bit of it, and yep it was just like chicken. Tasty though! And we also had fresh trout, literally straight out of the nearest river and
cooked on the grill - it was delicious! All the people there were amazingly welcoming and seemed to really enjoy what we did. We had a quick look around the neighbourhood and these people really didn't have much, but still gave us a full meal. They were really amazing.

Anyway, being an elf was fun, and we rocked those costumes, even if I do say so myself. Our show consisted of making crafts with the kids (beautiful Santa cards), handing out sweet`s and presents, and us dancing 4 times, to Christmas songs. And we all know that I can't dance. Add that fact to me being at the front of the group, and you get a hilarious series of events. So yep, I moonlight as an elf now.

PART TWO - THEN CAME THE FAMILY

Now, i'm back to volunteering for another month, after a brilliant Christmas and New Years shared with my family. I got to show them round Lima, and their first day here was spent in Pacha where I work, watching
our last Christmas show and getting covered in paint! Best way to be welcomed to Peru, I think. I took them to Central Lima as well, which was crazier than ever - we visited the market which is filled with fruit stands, various different types of clothes, and meat stands which come with full pig bodies casually hanging outside. We were staying in Miraflores, the touristy part of Lima, so I thought they needed to see some of the real city!

Christmas Day lunch

Miraflores was amazing though, the weather's great here now so the beaches we packed and the blue skies made it beautiful. We visited LarcoMar, a mall built into the side of the cliff,
and we also had our Christmas meal there. Me being the complete mug that I am, I managed to miss Peruvian Christmas, which, unknown to me, is celebrated with a huge turkey dinner at midnight on Christmas Eve. However, we still had a lovely day, no turkey but a lovely meal in LarcoMar, followed by Christmas afternoon with wine and cake and the

surfing! 

volunteer house in San Miguel, which was really nice! I'm just glad I got to share it with my amazing fam. Oh, another important fact is that I visited the chocomuseo in Lima for something like the 5th time...I really should get a membership or something there.

Me and Pat also tried our hand at surfing, because that's a huge thing here in Lima. Apparently the waves are perfect for it. Well, obviously Pat was great at it, he's just natural at spot and stuff, whereas I, erm, didnt do as well. I enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun, but I guess I just wasn't made to surf. But I thought it was great to try, and I didn't drown, so everyone's a winner.

During the short 2 weeks they were here, we also made it to Cuzco, which once again did not disappoint! The only downside was we were all hit by a bit of the old altitude sickness (except Patrick, who is apparently is superman or something). Mum got the worst of it, but we all pulled through and had an amazing time in Cuzco, visiting the museums and admiring the amazing architecture - I really can't wait to return! Being in Cuzco, we had to visit Machu Picchu (second time for me, why not!), and it was once again beautiful. We were lucky because we had a perfectly clear days and got to see some amazing views! And even though it's rainy season there at the moment, we had amazing weather and it didn't actually rain which was perfect! So we had a short but fantastic time in Cuzco (oh, it did rain in Cuzco, just not in Machu Picchu - yeah, it rained a lot in Cuzco).

After returning to Lima, it was New Years, which was spent by the parents watching the not-so-safe fireworks in a park in Miraflores, and by me and Pat in a hostel bar in Miraflores with the other volunteers. That was fun, and although I may have fallen asleep on the grass at one point, I was awake and alert for midnight, which was a success! So a lot of fun was had by all.



So guys, that's about where I am at the moment. The family left yesterday, and it was really sad to have to say goodbye again, now for nearly 6 months. But we power through, and I have one month left here volunteering before I have to pack up again and continue on my adventure! I'm currently trying to plan exactly what I'm going to be doing for those 5 months, but along the way I'm hoping to get back to Arequipa (my favourite city), get up to California for a week to see a lovely volunteer I met a few months ago, do a little travelling in Ecuador & Chile/Argentina (if time/money allows it), get back to Cuzco and maybe even do some more of the uni work I'm supposed to be doing while I'm here!

That's the plan, let's see what happens!

Hasta luego, S x

elves in the Andes! 

         
     

          more Andes scenes 

summer in lima

Hey there you! I thought it was about time to make another one of these, just to let you all without Facebook know that I'm very much alive and well!

So the sun is out and shining in Lima (finally, I mean, the grey skies had to end at some point...) and it really can get quite warm here. Also everything always looks better with a blue sky (even Lima!) so everything's looking up - hey there summer, how are you doing?!

Anyway, I've got just over a month left teaching at IVHQ (until I come back after Christmas for a month, I just can't leave!), and it's been awesome so far! Tiring, but awesome. Teaching is really rewarding, and the kids here all seem to really enjoy learning English and appreciate having us here which is great. A couple weeks ago we took some of the kids from the school to the cinema which was a lot of fun - both them and us were really excited! So we have an institute class (which is for people who pay to learn English) and we teach the younger kids in the school. Teaching institute is great, and I have a basic English class so get to practice my Spanish. Our conversation classes with institute students are fun as well, we've had a few interesting conversations with the intermediate class! The kids in the school are fun too, but are a lot more to handle! Trying to teach English to 30 9/10/11 year olds is a big task. When I was 9/10/11 and someone had come into my class to try to teach me Spanish, I would definitely have been the same - distracted and excited. It's fun but does make for some hard work! All the kids are very cute though so it's okay!

Halloween with the teachers

I have met some amazing people over the last few months, from all corners of the world, and am really settling into Lima. I love all the other volunteers so much, we've had some really fun trips and nights in Lima. I went to the fountains again on Friday, which is always entertaining (I got soaked!) and for Halloween we all dressed up (well, my costume was very last minute but yeah...) and had a good night out in Miraflores, which is a more touristy and popular district of Lima. We're also going to have a big Thanksgiving dinner next week, where we're all going to make some food. So that should be a lot of fun too!! I mean, I can't wait to start travelling around again - I'm excited to see some more of South America, but Lima is fun. Also, I think my Spanish has improved quite a lot - it's so so sooo much easy to learn when you have to speak it everyday to people who can't speak English! I know that's the obvious thing to say, but I just didn't realise how easy it would be to improve my Spanish here.

More fountain excitement

So guys, I only have about a month until the family visit for Christmas (SO excited to see them), and then I'm coming back to volunteer here for another month, just so I can sort my life out and decide what I'm actually going to do after I leave Lima. Oh, and of course, I'm starting my dissertation research, although my research will be mainly based in Cusco...so yeah, I need to get over there soon!




Well that's all there is to say for now, I'm having the time of my life over here and so far have made some friends that I will definitely not forget about :)

3 months down, 8 months to go!

Hasta Luego, S.

Institute Classes and the teachers!

Taking the school kids out for the day :) 

better late than never

Oh hey, well, it's been a while! I thought it was about time to write another post to keep you all updated with what's happening here in Peru :)

mama sara's house - miss these girls!

fountain fun!

So, since my last post (or, sorry, Lindsay's last post), I guess a lot has happened! The 6 girls who were living in the volunteer house here have turned into 2 - it's just me and Johannah left, which is fun but we miss the other girls a lot. It's not the same without Shelby, Maca, Ane or Lindsay! When we were all together we went to these fountains in Miraflores, which was amazing. It's like a themepark with fountains - all different colours and you can walk through some and it's amazing at night! I'll definitely be visiting there again. Needless to say hundreds of photos were taken (which are all on facebook although I'll add a few here for you). So I've also made the supermarket (a 5 minute walk away) my new home. The wifi, Dunkin Donuts and juice bar helped with this. Seriously, fresh fruit juice is so hard to come across here, the stuff they sell at the supermarket is full of sugar, and even when you go to the juice bar you have to ask for it without sugar in it. Never thought I'd hate sugar so much!

Oh, but talking of sugar, we also went to the chocolate museum. It may have been my 3rd visit there in a month, don't judge...

me & a cute student!

So teaching is a lot of fun - I have my own classes which I have to plan lessons for, which is challenging but I love it! I also have a new found respect for teachers, it's hard work! My classes are lovely, although the younger kids are normally quite boisterous they all want to learn English and they all also really enjoying playing games - especially when they're rewarded with sweets. The school is cute (DON'T use the bathrooms), but the town Pachacutec is sadly quite a poor place.

pachacutec - the town that the school's in

All the other volunteers who I teach with are lovely! It's cool because we're all doing the same thing so automatically have a common interest. I've met so many interesting people from all over the world! I'm also able to practice my Spanish a lot, because one of the classes that I teach are studying basic English, so I have to explain everything in Spanish. Also, Sara (whose house I'm living in) doesn't speak much English so I'm having to communicate in Spanish which is, erm, interesting! I'm trying though! Sara's lovely, and we live with her and some of her family (including little Gabriel who is extremely cute). She's like a grandma to us and we love her...and her food.

sandboarding with the volunteers!

Oh, and it was my birthday! 21, no less. Thanks to all of you who sent me lovely birthday messages, I loved them all. I had an amazing 21st! We went to a club on the night of my birthday, definitely didn't drink anything...(erm, no, nothing at all...) and only suffered a little bit on the Friday morning! That weekend we went to Huacachina for some more birthday celebrations which was also awesome. This is the place I went a few weeks ago with Steph, the little oasis in the middle of the desert. Once again we went sandboarding (SO much fun!), had some really nice meals and a lot of laughs. Seeing the sun & blue sky was also awesome. We did not want to return to Lima, but sadly we had to, so that's where I am at the moment! I've just got back from work for today and am having a little chill out before marking some exams/planning some more lessons.

So everything's going well here, I've probably forgotten a whole load of stuff, but I've had a long day and haven't had my afternoon nap yet (stop judging....!). So I'll try and post again soon, but this is just a little update on how teaching's going! I'm also getting very excited about the fam coming over for Christmas, I know it's 2 months away but these last two months have flown by so it'll come round soon!

Hasta Luego, S x

This is Lindsay

Hello everyone! This is Lindsay, a happy little Canadian, from Peru. Sarah was feeling lazy tonight and asked me to write her blog post, and I agreed.

I started my Peruvian adventure early Sunday morning, and met Sarah later that day. We talked most of the night like little school girls, and had no regrets when we had to wake up at 6:00am to head to our teaching orientation. Our housemother, Sarah, is absolutely fabulous. She makes fantastic food and is extremely welcoming. (Sarah has said that housemother Sarah reminds her of her Grandmother, which makes her miss her even more!) Each day we take the 'public' transportation to Pachacutec, a suburb of Lima, about an hour and a half bus ride away. These buses are essentially privately owned and very VERY crowded. Pachacutec is home to thousands of small shanty homes, essentially slums, that do have electricity and water, as well as our school placements. Here, Sarah has been teaching a beginners English class consisting of three students - her favourite class - and a few other classes of younger students. My placements are both a bit further away, but we all teach at Pachacutec school on Saturdays, for the adults who can't come during the week. 

We have had lots of fun with the ladies at our homestay. Two Mexican girls, Macarena and Ane, are a tonne of fun, along with Johanna from Windsor, Canada and Shelby from Utah, USA. On Saturday we are all going to the Chocolate Museum (at Sarah's recommendation!), and on Sunday to the ruins south of Lima that Sarah had a miserable time with earlier in her trip. 

It's been great getting to know Sarah - for some reason Canadian humour and English humour seems to meld well together, and we're constantly cracking jokes at each other's expensive. This is truly the foundation of a good friendship. 

lindsay, shelby and sarah trying to take a selfie with the moon

I'm sure Sarah will update soon... about her lost wallet and lost bank card and lost camera. Oh Sarah.Oh poor poor Sarah. Anyhoo she is alive though, which is the important part. She may be poor, but she's alive. 

Well it was nice to meet you all - I'm sure I'll find myself around England at some point or another and you'll have a chance to meet this random girl who wrote on Sarah's blog that one time. 

Cool.

Goodbye, eh

'I survived Colca Canyon'

our walking group

...okay, so maybe the title is a bit over the top. In any normal person's opinion, Colca Canyon wasn't that hard. But this is me, so it felt like a complete mission. Basically, we went on a 2 day trek into the Colca Canyon, which is about 4 hours outside of Arequipa. It's beautiful, and full of rolling mountains and tiny oasis(es??). The tour guide told us that yeah, the trek is easy, don't worry, you walk 3 hours down on the first day and 4 hours up on the second day. It'll be fine, right?! No. No it was not. Steph loves a good trek so obviously, she was fine. However, as I haven't really been able to get used to trekking (see my previous post), it was not an easy feat for me. Don't get me wrong, the landscape is beautiful. However, when you have to walk down a 1100m descent in the sweltering heat, getting a nice view is not really what you care about. Getting down alive is what you care about. I swear there were moments when I thought, 'nope, this isn't happening today, let the mountain take me, I don't care anymore'. It was SO HOT. Eventually, I made it to the bottom, which consisted of a beautiful oasis, complete with swimming pool, bar and hammocks. Yes it was worth it! Sitting in the hammocks looking at the stars was definitely worth it. So we relaxed by the pool for the rest of the day, and laughed in the face of the guide when he asked if we wanted to do a little extra trek.

having a lovely time in the oasis

hey you condor

I've forgotten to say that before we did this mission of a walk, was took the bus to a Condor viewing point - which was amazing (the con
dor is the biggest bird in the world apparently, and is a sacred animal in Peru).

So the next day, we had to wake up at 4am to - get this - walk back up the same part of the canyon again. I know. At least it wasn't as hot though. So my group powered on ahead, and I walked at my own pace with a group of German & Polish guys (seriously, the Germans are everywhere here!), which was nice. The walk, however, was not nice. It took me around 3 hours, swear to God though there were times where I was not going to make it. I demolished the breakfast at the end, best food I'd ever eaten. After we'd all collapsed into the bus to go back, we were able to stop and see some Alpacas in the wild, drink some more Pisco Sours - made with some sort of cactus, and stand at the highest point in Arequipa (well I think that's what it was...) -it was 4900m, so pretty high, and pretty cold. When we got back to the hostel, we had some delicious Mexican food then collapsed into bed.

All in all, it was an interesting/hard/fun(?) couple of days, which did make me feel great when I'd completed it, but made me wanted to have a little bit of a cry whilst I was doing it.

Beautiful Arequipa

We're leaving Arequipa tonight, which is sad, because it has to be my favourite place so far. The buildings are so so beautiful, and there are so many amazing places to explore. Also, the food is delicious. We get a bus to Nazca at 10pm, so to fill the day we're going to do a traditional Peruvian cooking course in about an hour (yes, we do love our food). I have to come back to Arequipa, it is not a place that you can leave!

Some places I recommend in Arequipa -

• The Cathedral - we haven't actually been inside the 'widest cathedral in Peru' yet, just because of timing, but from the outside it's beautiful. Apparently its amazing on the inside too. 
• Juanita - Juanita is a 12 year old girl who has been perfectly preserved in the mountains for 500 years. She was discovered accidentally but climbers in 1995, and has since then been in a museum in Arequipa. The history of her is amazing, and she still has all her organs and blood preserved inside of her. 
• Crepisimo - food, food, food we love food nom. This place is amazing. They have over 100 types of different savoury and sweet crepes, as well as delicious salads (I have a lettuce, avocado, tomato, walnut and goats cheese salad). Steph had an avocado, chicken and cheese crepe which was beautiful too). 



casually stroking a Llama

• Alpaca World - I patted a Llama in the face. We fed some Alpacas. We were surrounded by Alpacas and Llamas and it was amazing. As you can see how the Alpaca/Llama/Vicuña wool is made and dyed. It's really interesting. And you get to pet real live Llamas. Everyone's a winner. 

So that's where I'm up to about now guys, I'm sure I'll do another post when I get to Nazca/Ica - so you can look forward to that! Yaaaay Peru!!

Hasta luego chiquitos, S xx

I'm Sarah, but you can call me Maize.

Fun fact of the day - 'Sarah' means 'maize' in the indigenous language of Quechua. 

Amantani

Oh hey again, haven't seen you for a while guys. It's been ages since I've had enough internet to make a post, so this is going to have to be one huge, book like post. Wooo! Whoever makes it to the end wins a prize.

I'm actually going to have to write this in chapters because so much has happened since we left Cusco...we've visited tiny reed islands, stared at the milky way and discovered the best restaurant on the face of the earth. So yeah, good luck with reading this one - you're going to be here for a while.

P.S - I'll highlight the really interesting bits for you lazy bums out there, because I'm just that nice.

Puno

After we left Cusco, we took a night bus and arrived in Puno. Puno is a nice town, and the fact that it sits on Lake Titicaca makes it a lot nicer. Traffic, as usual, was a nightmare, but we are pretty much half Peruvian now with our insane traffic-dodging skills. The hostel we stayed in, Marlons House, was lovely, except for the huge amount of stairs which, with my hundreds of suitcases, are not fun to climb up. On the first day in Puno we visited the Coca Museum which was absolutely amazing. The history of Coca leaves is so incredibly interesting (and I'm actually not being sarcastic). I've even decided that I'm going to write my dissertation about the fight between North and South America about criminalizing the Coca leaf (yay for having a topic). The Coca leaf is an amazing thing, and has so many medicinal properties, as well as serving as a very important part of the pre-colonial (pre-Christian) religions. The people here regard it as a kind of god, and I think without it a vital part of their society and history would be lost. Anyway, less about Coca, more about food. The museum was really amazing (as well as being able to dress up in Incan masks), but afterwards we were hungry and asked the hostel receptionist if she knew any good restaurants. Oh man, she did. We went to a grill. And it was beautiful. I had lamb. Yum. Puno served us well in the food department.

Floating Islands

on a reed boat

Puno is the prime place in Peru to visit the islands on the great Lake Titicaca. The lake is of huge importance in South America, and especially in the history. Isla del Sol is of hugeeee religious importance (but we'll come to that later). So we took a two day, one night tour to some of the Islands from Puno, and started off on some floating reed islands, which are literally islands made from reeds. And people live on them. It's incredible. We were shown how the islands are made, and told that every 15 days the inhabitants have to put fresh reeds on the top of the islands so that they don't rot into the lake. I find it amazing how people live on these places! The islands are so small, and have about 5 huts on them. They obviously make their money mainly from tourism, but I was breath taken by the whole thing. The views were beautiful as well; the lake is stunning! After the floating islands, we went over to another island, called Amantani. Oh my gosh, it was beautiful! So serene, and full of the terraces that are so iconic in Peru. We did a house stay here, so a few of us went with a local to his house, where we were fed delicious Quinoa (corn) soup, and discovered so more amazing mint-type tea. We also had a little hike to the top of two mountains, called Pachatata (father of the sky, moon and sun) and Pachamama (Mother of the earth), where we saw the sunset and just generally had an awesome time. After dinner, we were taken to a town hall, where we dressed up in traditional Amantani clothing (the COMFIEST thing I've ever worn) and had a brilliant few hours dancing and drinking with the locals. When we left the stars were out, and oh wow. We could see the milky way. Steph and I literally just stood on the balcony of the house for about half an hour, dressed in the Amantani clothing, staring at the stars. I've never seen anything like it, I really wish my camera could have taken some nice photos of it.

traditional clothing, beauts

The next day we went to Taquile, another island, and had a little wander. We walked from the boat port to the Plaza de Armas (main square), and saw some more beautiful views. In the main square there was a communal shop, which sold all sorts of knitted items. Taquile is famous for its sewing, so I had to buy something from the shop! It was a headband (which I know have waaay too many of), but it was pretty and cheap so I had to really. We then had a traditional lunch of trout (oh my gosh so good) and walked back down to the boat. All in all it was a great few days, and watching the sun set and seeing the stars really made it amazing.



Copacabana

beautiful sunset

HER NAME WAS LOLA, SHE WAS A SHOWGIRL...etc. This was sung a lot, not going to lie. So we went to Bolivia for a bit, and it meant I got more stamps on my passport so everyone's a winner. On the day we went (1st Sept), it was Dia del Peatons (pedestrian day), so getting the bus over the border wasn't easy. Luckily we only had to wait about an hour, but we did see lots of processions which was cool. Also, I like the fact that there's a day for pedestrians, that's pretty nice. We also met three Germans that we'd been to the floating island with, so we hung around in Bolivia with them. The first thing we did was go to the shops, obviously - come on guys, this is me we're talking about. Bolivia is extremely cheap, it's 10 Bolivianos to the pound, so we had a whale of a time. I bought another beautiful ring, more bracelets, socks and some legwarmers. As you do. In the evening the 5 of us sat on the lake front and had some beers while the sun set. That was pretty perfect. 

Isla Del Sol

hiking time!

We had high hopes of IDS to be honest, but when we arrived it was quite bare. The views were truly beautiful, but there's not really much there. We arrived in the North, which is the less-touristy bit, so we could do the hike to the south. It was also very very hot, so we had to take a lot of layers off and carry them. We had a little guided tour at the start, and I got to practice my Spanish some more with the tour guide (he said I spoke good Spanish, woo) and we also learnt about some of the sacred parts of the island. The IDS is supposedly the birth place of the Incan mother and father gods, so it's extremely sacred. After the guide, we started the 3 hour hike to the South. Apparently, it was a flat walk. But no, no it was not. It was a 'South American flat' walk, which means it's pretty much huge hills all the way. This was good for Steph, who loves climbing to the top of things, but not so much for me. However, it did make for some great views. We were all very tired by the end, and went in search of a hostel, which wasn't hard to find in the south. After finding a bed for the night, we needed food. Walking down to the port, where all the restaurants were, was great, but walking up wasn't so much fun. We all pretty much collapsed when we got back to the hostel, and had some of the best hot chocolates ever, which were very gratefully received!  The stars here again we beautiful, but as there wasn't much on offer at the islands, we decided to get a boat back to the mainland at 10.30am the next morning. 

Arequipa

We had another afternoon in Copacabana, and did some more shopping and ate some more food, and got the boat back to Puno. There wasn't really much left to do in Puno so we had a little walk about, and got up the next day to get a bus to Arequipa, which is where we are now. The bus journey was uneventful, and we got to Arequipa in the evening so couldn't see much of the 'White City'. We got into our hostel (Wild Rover, highly recommended by me) and settled in. So this was at about 9pm, and we weren't especially tired so we thought yeah, we can go checkout the bar and get a quite drink. 5 hours and numerous rums and cokes, beers and (god help me) tequila later, we went to bed, ever so slightly tipsy (don't worry mum/dad/nan I'm still alive and well.  This morning definitely wasn't as fun as last night was, but a bacon and egg sandwich made it A LOT better. After we'd recovered this morning, we took a walk around the city. Arequipa is such a beautiful place, with huge colonial style buildings, blue skies and backdrop of mountains. It's also really hot, which was nice for a change. Today we found a French cafe, which was so perfect for lunch and so delicious. But I really do have to stop talking about food. We also booked a tour to the Colca Canon for tomorrow, so cool things lie ahead! 

Arequipa is lovely

 And that's where I am now, Chicos. It's been a great week, and I'm slowly falling in love with Peru. I've also uploaded loaaads of photos on Facebook, so have a look if you haven't had enough of my travels!! 

I feel like I've written enough now, so, erm, yeah. That's all. Hopefully I won't leave such a long time between the next post, but who knows what's going to happen! 



Love you all, hasta luego! S xx

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