The Final Post

So this is the final post, which means it is the final countdown until we return home to cold, miserable England. However I think to us that feels more like Christmas and after four months here in South America we are about ready to return. So here is our last week:

Day 1 Monday - This morning John's Uncle Jorge arrived in Lima. Unfortunately I was still (and still am really) suffering from a bad stomach. However with Jorge being a chef he recommended some foods that would help with my horrid tummy. So I was on soup and rice for the day. Everyone else however tucked in nicely to a huge feast of Ceviche which John enjoyed a great deal.

In the evening John's Uncle taught us a great game called 'Cukuladora'. We don't know the actual name but it sounded like that. This is one card game we are bringing back to the UK.

Day 2 Tuesday - Today we took another mirabus tour to the ruins of Pachacamac on the outskirts of Lima. On our way to the ruins we stopped off at a little cafe/resturant place where we witnessed traditional Peruvian dancing with a horse. The horses were obviously the main stars. When we arrived at the ruins we saw many ancient temples of the Lima's, Wari and the Inka people. It was very much like the ruins in Pucllana we had seen earlier in out travels. The day was lovely, sunny and hot which meant when we returned we had pink cheeks.

Day 3 Wednesday - The morning was spent roaming Magdelena (a nearby province) for spices and other food stuffs we wanted to take back to the UK. Returning back to the house with bags of Chifle and Aji's of numerous colours, we greeted Jorge with birthday wishes as today he has turned ''28'', apparently. We all were treated to a lovely Chinese lunch in the center of Lima, although a painful journey there. Unfortunately our eyes were bigger than our bellys and we ended up taking most of it back to the house.

After a little rest in the house we spent the rest of the night celebrating Jorge's birthday at his cousin Moshe's house with a bbq and TWO cakes!

Day 4 Thursday - We met up with Jorge Luis and others from the AAVAP dog charity for a lunch at a polleria resturant today. We spent the lunch discussing ways in which we could furthur help the charity when we are back in England. We also discussed what there future plans were for the Charity and we gave a few of our ideas. We are very excited about helping AAVAP and all the abused and stray dogs and cats in Lima.

In the afternoon we went to the park to have some frozan yoghurt in the lovely sunny weather. The first time we have had a sunny christmas!

Day 5 Friday - Hot again today so we sunbathed out the front of the house. When we were nice and crisp we returned for lunch. After lunch the sun had gone and so we took a stroll to the local cinema and saw 'The Hobbit', the first of three, which was as expected a great movie, but just as long as the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In the evening we took a taxi to Barranco to try out a Mexican resturant we had read about online. For John it was the best Mexican he had had, even beating one he had been raving about in St Pancras Station. The place was run by an Englishman, so concluded that English make the best Mexican burritos.

Day 6 Saturday - John's Nanny's neighbours, Gabi and Cecillia and there parents took us out for a day at the beach, San Bartolo. It was a short journey out of Lima and a little town with a big resort, including a pool, slide and beach chairs and umbrellas. It was sunny throughout the day and we even swam in the ice cold sea to the platform just off the coast. We had a picnic there and returned home brown and partly sunburnt. We showered off the salty water and were invited for dinner and drinks.

Today we have been lazing in the local park and had Chinese again for lunch. No more blogs now as we return home on Thursday night. We are very excited to see everyone! See you very soon.

Vicky and John
x

Week 16 - Relaxing in Lima

This week was fairly chilled as we are coming to the end of our time here in South America and thus our budget is on the low. Here is how we spent our 16th week here in Lima:

Day 1 Monday- Today was a fairly groggy day and with that I too felt under the weather, so the morning was spent relaxing in the house. After lunch we decided to walk down to one of the local cinemas and booked ourselves some tickets to see the new film 'What to Expect when you're Expecting' which turned out to be a less than amusing film. We should have gone to see the new James Bond movie 'Skyfall' which half of facebook had been raving about, however with popcorn so cheap we counted it still as a success.

Day 2 Tuesday -  We spent the whole day in Lima's City centre mooching around the Mercado Central. The market was quite dangerous so we held onto our bags, but there were a lot of very very cheap items, including bags, wallets, belts, clothes, food and doggy outifts. I personally was looking for a little Christmas outfit for Rocky, but luckily for him there were none in his size so I settled on a nice red leather collar instead (I hope he likes it).

We stopped for lunch at a fantastic Chinese where we tried the 'Dim Sum' which I have decided is now a personal favourite of Chinese cooking.

We ended up returning home late that day, absolutely knackered from our day at the shops, and made hot chocolate and played Jenga....or as it is pronounced in Peruvian: Heeennngaaaa! (I was terrible and ended up the ultimate loser).

Day 3 Wednesday - Today we decided to take a trip to the Parque de Kennedy to the famous diner called 'Lucha' where they claim to sell 'Peru's best papa fritas', so we ordered a large papa fritas and fresh strawberry shake. We then took a stroll around the local markets and shops.

Day 4 Thursday - In the morning we went for what was supposed to be a stroll around the local golf club, however it was far longer than we initially thought so we ended up building our appetites for lunch. We ate out for lunch at a little resturant with typical peruvian food. Good price! Only 8 soles!

After our lunch we went back to the market where we brought our final gifts for friends and families.

Day 5 Friday - We spent the morning decorating the house, successfully building the christmas tree and putting out endless 'niknaks' around the living room. Now it feels like Christmas!!

After lunch we had a nap as we were preparing for our nights festivities.

We arrived at Jose's house ready and raring to go at approximately 10PM and made our way along with the rest of his amigo's to the University. We queued up to hop onto a bus to take us to the Univeristy's biggest end of exam party of the year. At the fiesta there was plenty of free alchohol and music. After partying the night away we arrived home around 5PM absolutely knackered.

Day 6 Saturday- RECOVERED - including KFC

Day 7 Sunday - Today John's Tias took us to the Regatta Club on the beach (although the sun did not have his hat on) and we had a fantastic buffet lunch at the Chinese there, where we stuffed our faces (a bit too much I think). We then returned to Tia Nini's house where they enjoyed coffee and we enjoyed water and special digestive tea for our over full stomachs.

After our tea we went on a mission of sorts, to find John a golden star for the top of his Christmas tree. After many stops at many different markets, at around 5PM we finally found the star suitable for his majesty (he is one picky boy).

Hope to see you all soon
Only one more blog post to go...

Vicky and John

Week 15 - My Birthday!!!!

So this week John was feeling a lot better and good because it was the run up to my birthday in Peru. Here is week numero 15:

Day 1 Monday - This morning we decided to go for a stroll down to the beach, however the way we originally planned left us stuck on a road as no paths led down so we had to take another route. The second route took us down a staircase in the cliff side and onto the beach of 'death'. We named it that way by us due to the large amount of dead animals found on the beach, jelly fish, crabs and two birds. Not the nicest of beaches we have seen on our travels. We then walked back which got our appetites going for lunch.

After lunch we finally got the call that there was enough wind for us to go paragliding! So we packed the camera and headed down to the Parque del Amor were we took off tandem style. It was actually a really smooth ride but still seemed 'un-real'. We highly recommend this for anyone....they even take dogs up. (Imagine Rocky up there).

Day 2 Tuesday - Today we went for lunch at Maria's house (Johns grandparents maid) which gave us a look at the shanty towns in Lima. Apparently most people do not even have running water, and the houses reach all the way up the hillside, so we had to take a very scary coca taxi back down (rocky ride). Maria's house was by far one of the nicest in the barrio as was funded by there daughter who is now a professor at the university. We ended up getting back home late that afternoon as the journey was long.

Day 3 Wednesday - We accompanied John's Nan this morning to Magdalena, an area of Lima where shopping is very cheap. It was very good for spices, condiments and food stuff in general but we decided for the rest (clothes and jewlrey) was not as nice as other places we had seen.

In the afternoon we tried baking some cookies in the cooker where just a mere half turned out edible.

Day 4 Thursday - We were up nice and early today as were heading for Lunahuana. We ended up getting three buses and one taxi there taking us a total of 4 hours. When we arrived in the little village we were greeted by the intense heat there and surrounded by vineyards for sweet wines and pisco. The river Canete runs along this village and we found an english speaking guide to do white water rafting. It was just us two in the boat and the guide and the 50minute journey was so much fun. We even had a swim in a natural pool. After we tried some of the famous and highly recommended prawns fished from the local river which were lovely. The journey home was another 3 buses and a taxi and we arrived late in the evening.

Day 5 Friday - My birthday today and was awoken by my parents on skype singing happy birthday and some surprise birthday gifts! (I even got a gift from the monster dog). I then recieved a surprise breakfast from the parker family!

After my special lunch we went to a salon to get my nails done and hair done for the fiesta that evening and I even convinced John to get his hair done for my birthday!

In the evening I had a nice fiesta with Johns family, lots of nice food and a chocolate cake specially made bye Johns Auntie Tati.

Day 6 Saturday - Late morning we took a taxi to Parque del Amor and walked along the coast till Larcomar where we ate lunch at a chinese. We then walked up to Parque de Kennerdy where we found a handicraft fair going on so we took a look around. After our mooching we ended up at the english pub (which apparently is run by a texan) with me ordering a cafe and John with a beer.

Day 7 Sunday - In the morning we took a ride down to Palvos Rosado where we mooched around the centre full of cheap fakes. We were looking for a specific present for a friend but where un able to find it but instead purchased some music.

For lunch we ate out a little cafe with Johns grandparents. It was very cute and quiant and I managed to have a vegetarian dish! Lasagne!

In the evening we were invited to a girls 22nd birthday party, a family friend.

Miss you all
Vicky and John

Week 13 - Mancora

This week we set off to the sunny north of Peru, heading for Mancora, a town known best for its fantastic waves for those surfers and kite surfers. Here is what happened:

Day 1 Monday- It was a sunny day when we awoke and so we spent a lot of time basking in the sun outside, although by midday it was too hot and we had to vacate our grassy patch for lunch. We booked our tickets for Mancora for Tuesday afternoon and as we were saving money spent most of the day relaxing.

When evening came around we accompanied Johns grandparents and some of his relatives to a local church as it was a special day in rememberence of those family members who had died.

Day 2 Tuesday - We brought a whole bag of food from the local supermarket and then packed our bag and headed to the bus station for our afternoon bus up to Mancora. We went cama which has more spacious seats than usual for the comfort on a 18hour journey.

Day 3 Wednesday- We arrived in Mancora at approximately 10AM and hoped onto a tuktuk taxi to our hotel which we learnt was actually only a 2 minute walk down the road. Our hotel was not quite as we had expected, cold salt water showers did not exactly make us feel clean and the pool was nice and cloudy with no way out as the stairs were broken (john learnt this after he jumped in). However it was the cheapest hotel on the street so we were happy with our £5 per night deal.

After we had settled we headed to the best beach in Mancora called Los Pocitas. It was a lovely clean deserted beach however there was a lot of wind and no where for John to swim as there were many rocks. However the rock pools were warm and so you could sit and relax in one of these natural hot tubs (as long as you found one without any fish). We drew some pictures in the sand and brought an ice cream and after that decided to head back to our hotel to try out the beach in front of it. This beach was Mancora's main beach and really is only for surfers as the waves were too large to swim in. However we still managed to sunbathe a little.

Later in the day we spent some time in the cloudy one way in, no way out  pool which we were certain would dissolve our swimwear.

For our evening meal we went to a resturant on the main strip right by our hotel run by an elderly couple who were ever so sweet. It is so cheap here and being right on the seaside all the dishes were fish based so ceviche for starter and fish and rice and salad for main with fresh lemonade all for 8 soles = £2!

Day 4 Thursday- Today we decided that bathing beside the pool for the majority of the day was our best option as we had begun to get sick of removing sand from our towels and clothes. We had the pool pretty much to ourselves which was nice, but only because most people were put off by its cloudiness. We met a nice english couple who we arranged to meet later that evening with a couple of their friends also.

For lunch we went back to the main street for another meal deal along the coast with a cool beer to wash it down with. We then returned to the poolside for some more tanning.

After dinner of Burritos at a cute take away place, we headed out for a few beers on the beach and met a man named Jon (without an H) who told us about his work as a film set designer in New Zealend. He had apparently worked on The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings etc. It all sounded amazing. After a few beers we went back to our hotel room to meet the guys we had seen earlier that day and spent a few more hours out with them sipping cocktails and downing beers on the seafront. We ended up back in our room late that night.

Day 5 Friday - We slept in until check out came around as we were a little fragile from the previous night. We had all swapped facebooks and so hopefully we were to meet up with one couple again back in Lima. We packed up and headed out for lunch again grabbing a bargain meal deal. We then mooched around the local arts and crafts market. After we searched for our bus stop and waited for our returning bus to Lima (altough it was 2 hours later than we had originally thought :().

Day 6 Saturday - There was a lot of traffic when entering back into lima which made our journey another 2 hours longer! UGh. When we finally returned noone was in the house but the chocolates from Johns mum had arrived! There is no greater chocolate than cadburys so the afternoon was spent relaxing and munching on junk food.

Day 7 Sunday - Today John was under the weather....we fear it is food poisoning from either the bus food or one of the seafood dishes from Mancora, either way Johns grandparents and I are nursing him back to life...he will be soon his normal self.

Vicky and John

Week 12 Paracas and AAVAP Charity

So this week we spent the first three days in Paracas a lovely seaside town south of Lima very close to Ica, Pisco and Nazca. In fact you can see the town of Pisco from Paracas and you could even walk there if you wanted. We also spent Sunday with homeless doggys for AAVAP Charity. So here is the breakdown of our twelvth week in Peru:

Day 1 Monday- We got the bus to Paracas today; a mere 4 hours so really nothing in comparison to our previous monster journeys. When we arrived in Paracas the bus stop was nothing but a hut so not your typical station. We realised soon that Paracas is a very small town where everything was in walking distance and being by the sea there was sand everywhere, it was nice. We walked 600m down the road to our hostel 'The Backpackers Hostel', although every other hostel was similarily named, so could have been confusing had we not received previous instruction from the owner, Alberto. Alberto was a older gentlemen, fluent in English and very friendly. After we had settled into our very very basic room (but it was cheap) Alberto showed us where the best places are to go eat in Paracas. We then booked with him our excursions to the Ballestas Islas and National Reserve for the following day.

We made our dinner that night, pasta n' sauce, and then made our rolls for the following days lunch. Early night as early start.

Day 2 Tuesday -  Up nice and early today to visit the Ballestas Islands (Spanish for Crossbow Islands). We went by speed boat which was fun but pretty darn chilly due to the wind. On the way we stopped briefly to see the Candlebra. These are lines in a sand dune thought to be made by the Nazca people and have remianed in tact as the wind only blows on the opposite side of the dune and it never rains in that place either. Some say it looks more like a cactus which personally I would agree with, and apprently they used to eat cactus or drink it too at that time and so it really makes more sense. After this we carried on to the islands which inhabited thousands of species of birds including pelicans, peruvian boobys and penguins! We also saw many sea lions which were lazing about in the sun. The only down side to the island was the smell, with that many animals I guess it can be expected there be a lot of excrement.

We returned to shore at 10 and had a quick rest as at 11 we were off to our second booked excursion to the National Reserve of Paracas. This is a vast desert area home to 8 different habitats and many beaches. We first visited a museum which told us about the Paracas Boom in 19th century where the excrement of guano birds created 80% of the countrys income as it was craved by England and France for its use as fertilizer. We then visited many beaches including the Playa Roja, a beach with red sand! We also saw the Cathedral; a rock formation off the coast, however only half remains as half fell down in the 2007 earthquake.

We ate out in the evening enjoying a seafood rice dish and mussels with a yummy salsa on top.

Day 3 Wednesday - In the morning we visited the mini arts market in Paracas. Only a few stalls however but John managed to get a few gifts including Tejas for his mum. Yummy!

We got the bus back to Lima this afternoon, however we had two annoying French women in front of us so the journey was not as pleasent as the first one.

Day 4 Thursday - We went for Lunch today with some of Johns family friends or relatives....we are still unsure. It was very tasty!!

We spent the afternoon organising our trip to Mancora next week. Mancora is known for its fantastic beaches being right next to Equador!

Day 5 Friday - This morning we visited the Museo de la Nacion in Lima. It was free entry surprisingly, as it was such a grand place. We saw a lot of artistic artifacts from Peru ranging from the Pre-Colonial period (where pots and clay statues of figures were used to honour the Pre-Colonial gods) through to the Post-Colonial period where you saw the influence of the Spanish, Flemish and Italians in their artworks (where religious paintings were the main focal point). Personaly my favourite was Post Colonial where many artists stepped away from traditional religous art and begun to paint anonymous images on the famous backdrops of peru e.g Amazonian fauna and the Andeas mountain range.

In the afternoon we made pancakes or panqueques for Johns grandparents, although they preferred to smother them with manjar blanco (very sweet condensed milk) rather than the traditional lemon and sugar John and I are used to.

In the evening we went with Jose, Sebastian and Luciana to a pub in Barranco. We drank beer and played games and even got our photo on the wall (we were the only ones in there). We then went to try apparently the worlds best french fries, however nothing can compare to English fish and chips in my opinion.

Day 6 Saturday - As we returned late the previous night we had a little sleep in in the morning. We then headed to the supermarket to buy our packed lunch for the following day as we were going to AAVAP dog charity all day and would need food to take with us.

In the evening we went to Johns cousins 13th birthday party at his house on the outskirts of the city. They have a beatuful fluffy Samoyed Husky dog. She was called Luna and so friendly. We did spend a lot of the evening however trying to work out whom was related to whom.

Day 7 Sunday- Today we were up nice and early to go visit the dog shelter with AAVAP; a charity organistion run by Univeristy del Pacifico. We all met at the university and then hopped onto a bus and headed out of Lima to Callao where the shelter is held. We got off and immediately herd the barking of many dogs. We got given some rope to create a collar and lead from, and chose our dog from a selection they had out for us. It was difficult to catch some and some really did not want there collar on them! Once we had our dogs we went out for a walk down the beach in the sand dunes. It was a lot more nakering than we thought although my dog powered through, Johns kept taking breaks to roll over for a tickle. Being untrained, occasionally a dog would get loose and you would see its walker run past after it. We never lost one however because we were there pack so I doubt they would have run very far. We each carried water bottles and containers as well so we could give the dogs water at each rest point.

When we got back we were given a tour of the shelter where we met more animals like Alan the Ostrich who ate corn out of our hands. Soon we learnt all the animals brought in were badly treated in the past. We also learnt often when the dogs are not found for the shelter the government takes them away and kills them. Very sad. The government also does not help with these such charitys and there are no laws against animal cruelty in Peru and so they have very little money and the dogs live off rice most of the time. We decided that when we return to England with the information of AAVAP we would try do some fundraising for the charity, as most of the shelters' money comes out of the owners own pocket so they still lack the basics like enough food and care for the animals.

We returned home to shower as we were filthy and rest for the evening as we were exhausted!

Miss you guys

Vicky and John

Week 11 - Halloween in Lima

So this is our eleventh week in South America. It is just flying by....there are only 7 weeks left in Peru!

Here is what happened this week:

Day 1 Monday - Since Halloween crept up on us quickly we took a trip into Miraflores in Lima to try and find some sort of half decent outfit to be seen in. We searched some of the fancy dress stores and in the end settled on the idea of going as zombies. We both had white t'shirts we no longer needed that we could distress and brought some face paints for our faces.
   Later on we went back to the markets in Lima to search for more gifts for you lot! We spent most of the time searching for a very very very specific jumper for Johns mum which was unsuccessful.
   In the afternoon we went down to the beach front in San Isidro for a pleasent walk. When we returned back to the house we went straight out again for Anticucchos at apparently Lima's best resturant, serving only antichuchos and choclo....therefore I only ate choclo....John was very happy (he still claims his Nannys is better).

Day 2 Tuesday - In the morning we took a local bus to the center of Lima to visit the main plaza. We ended up at Plaza San Martin the next plaza. The two plazas however are joined by a walkway full of shops much like Avenida Florida in Buenos Aires (but with less people shouting cambio every five seconds). Once we finally arrived in the main plaza we visited the Cathedral. Very grand and inside lay the bodies of many important religious figures, including that of Pizarro the Spanish founder of Lima. We were given an english leaflet which had details of each section of the cathedral, however it was so poorely translated we could make neither head nor tail of it so our knowledge is nonethewiser.
    After lunch we spent the afternoon distressing our clothes with rocks and using a mix of kethcup and nesquick to make our fake blood stains.

Day 3 Wednesday -  We woke up to the sun shining through the fog so we thought we best make the most of it and headed to a local plaza to do a bit of sunbathing! After we were nice and toasty we came back to cook lunch for Johns grandparents...'in a bag' chicken so fairly easy recipe so really we just chopped the veges up and chucked everything together. After lunch we started to get ready for the Halloween fiesta including using up our 'Superior Ron' rum from a few weeks back (:S). We had no white paint so used talcom powder and suncream to make one... gave a creepy effect because it did made our skin look pretty dead with it flakin off our faces! We met our friend Jose and went to another Jose's house for the party. Along the way to the house party we realised that people didnt make as much of an effort if at all of dressing up and for one night we ended up being famous, cars stopped to take our photo and even kids parent hid there eyes so as not to look at us....must have been pretty scary haha. At the fiesta there were lots of sweet and lots of alcohol and even more dancing! It was a great night and we ended up home at 5am!

Day 4 Thursday - Day spent in bed nursing hangovers!

Day 5 Friday - In the morning I went with Johns Nan and got my nails done again for 2.50! After this we met Johns Tio Tito and went to the center of Lima to a certain street where they sell nothing but musical instruments! Johns Tio is very good at bargaining and I managed to get myself a present for my brother and John got his xmas gift of a guitar...which he is now obsessed with and wont stop playing (he even talks to it).
   In the evening we went to Johns Aunties house, Tio Titos daughter, for a BBQ where we met alot of family, with a lot of names! It was a fun evening and we practiced our espanol alot!!

Day 6 Saturday - Today we spent the majority of the day hoping for wind as these are the conditions we needed for paragliding...however it never came so this adventure is for another day.

Day 7 Sunday - At midday we went to the zoo to see the the animals with Johns nan. We saw hippo's, tigers, lions, wombats, birds, monkeys etc. It was a lovely day however the only thing that ruined it were the vast amount of children. I propose there should be a day for children and a day for adults! We went for Chinese lunch again!! After this we brought some limons and made homemade lemonade...Yum.
   Later on we packed for our trip to Paracas on Monday!!

Miss you all
Vicky and John

Week 10 - Buzios and back to Lima

So I am on the road to recovery today. I was ill for the last post as you all should know and John had to take over my station. I think you will agree he did a good job (although it did take him all day to perfect it).

This week we were in the town of plentiful beaches called Buzios and then mid week returned to Lima...so here is our week numero 10:

Day 1 Monday - Today was our second day in Buzios, which is apparently to Rio what the Hamptons are to New York. We awoke to an amazing breakfast, one much better than any other breakfast we had delved into on our travels, including exotic fruits, croissants, cakes, hot chocolate, a variety of teas, cereal which personally I had been longing for and all sorts of breads. Being on a budget vacation we also sneakily stuffed a couple of bananas and croissants into our bags to take away for lunch, after all it was a all you can eat buffet....we were just 'very hungry'.

The previous night John had rented a buggy which we were allowed for a day and a half, so when we were ready we hopped into the yellow vehicle and drove down to Buzios's natural beach, which would not have been feasible to get to on foot. We had tried to visit the night before but with my poor map reading skills and the lack of daylight we failed at our attempt. When we finally found the beach where we saw some fisherman feeding the segulls with cut offs from the fish they had caught and a few vultures were lurking around too...they truelly do look evil. The beach was very pretty but however it being deserted and the smell of fish put us off a bit so we went back to find a busier beach with less of the fishy smell. After midday we came back to enjoy a crepe in the center of town for lunch. We then relaxed beside the hotels pool until the evening where we ventured into town to eat at a nice resturant serving mexican burritos and nachos.

 

Greedy seagulls

 

 

 Our little buggy

 Brazil! 

Day 2 Tuesday - It was a lovely breakfast again today and we nicked a few more bananas and bread rolls for our lunch. We decided together that the first beach we had visited on Sunday was infact our favourite of the beaches so far, and with it being in walking distance (and we were no longer in possesion of the buggy today) we planned on spending the morning relaxing on the Azeda playa. We got ourselves a couple of chairs and a couple of beers and relaxed by the sea until midday came. After we had gobbled up our stolen rolls and bananas we headed back to the hotel. We washed off the sand and then jumped straight into the pool. Just as we did yesterday we spent the afternoon sunning ourselves at the poolside....it was actually quite nice to not worry about sand getting in every nook and cranny. After the sun dissappeared we decided we should start packing as in the following morning we were to return to Lima. An early night tonight!

 

 Basking in the sun

 

 

Photography

 

Day 3 Wednesday - We returned to Lima today, so it was a 'lovely' bus journey back to Lima followed by a taxi drive to the airpor,t where we were sent back and forth until we were finally in the right queue and on our way back to Lima. We arrived in Lima late in the evening and we were nackered. We were greeted by the happy faces of Johns grandparents and were soon back in the apartment and sound asleep.

Day 4 Thursday - After a gruelling journey back from Brazil the previous day we spent most of today relaxing. It was however, being close to november, my time of year to get ill and just on time I awoke with a horrible cold. I did feel I should have taken the lead from the group of Janponese OAPs on the plane who wore there masks during the flight. So with my iinfluenza/malaria taking over my ability to function, John had to step in and write the blog.

At lunch time I managed to get myself out of bed and to a neat little chinese place down the road. It was really tasty...2 courses each and drinks all round for a mere 40soles which is 2.50pounds per head! Now try getting a deal like that in England. We returned to the house and slept again. In the evening we downloaded a film by Oren Peli, the director of Paranormal Activity, called the Chenobyl Diaries....it was actually pretty good.

Day 5 Friday - Today I awoke with an even worse cold....I swear its malaria even though we haven't entered the Jungle. So with nothing planned today I spent the day again in bed with John at my beck and call, bless him. I slept most of the day so there really is not much to report here. In the evening however John managed to get in contact with a hockey team. Turned out to be the National hockey team! They invited him to trials that evening. When John returned he told me they wanted him to get a Peruvian passport and join the team straight away! John does want to point out there are only 6 teams in all of Peru however I could still say my boyfriend is wanted by the national hockey team of Peru. (noone needs to know they suck)

Day 6 Saturday - Took it easy in the morning as still recovering from the lurgy. For lunch we were treated to a tasty peruvian 3 course meal at a resturant called Cherry, owned by a family friend hence everything was on the house! When we returned we started to plan furthur excursions in Peru. One thing we both agreed on is that we want to go Paragliding here in Lima! Exciting!

I have been craving hot chocolate for a while so in the afternoon we ventured down the supermarket to purchase the nessecary ingredients (and some unessecary ones aka marshmallows). This was the perfect medicine for my recovery....

Day 7 Sunday -  We spent the day at the arts and crafts markets in Lima searching for gifts for friends and familys. We were rather successful and we even purchased a big round llama skin rug for our future house (12pounds each....bargain). I cannot write about much else we bought as you lot will all be reading this!

Hope everyone had a good week
Miss you all

 

Vicky and John

Week 9.... Rio is Hot and Sunny

This week’s post is unfortunately not coming from Vicky as she is suffering from a mix between Malaria and the common cold (her words not mine). So I will try my very best to keep up to the standards you all expect.
 
I would like to apologise for the lateness of the post, lack of internet access and an abundance of traveling has meant that today is the earliest I am able to do it. So without further stalling, here is what happened in our previous week.
 
Day 1 (Monday) - Today was undoubtedly the most exciting experience yet! We were still on the bus......
 
The bus taking us from Foz do Iguaçu to Rio de Janeiro should have only taken a mere 22 hours (I know! what am I complaining about) BUT due to traffic and an incompetent driver we were on that dreaded bus for an extra 2 hours. To make matters worse the chairs "reclining system" moved back by no more than 20 degrees, apart from the chair of the gentlemen sitting directly in front of me who managed to reach an angle somehow greater than that of my bed at home.
When we arrived in Rio, we ran for the street and paid a London priced taxi to take us to iPanema which is where the lovely Isabel (friend of my mother’s) lives. She was very welcoming and even invited us out for dinner that same night. We went to a restaurant with a system new to me and Vicky, you pick and choose from a buffet filled with different random foods, then have your plate weighed and pay an amount representative to the weight, and we came to find this system very popular in Brazil.
 
Day 2 (Tuesday) - The beach

We woke up nice and early to get a jump start on the famous Rio Beaches that we have been longing for since we planned our trip. Ipanema was on the agenda today, this was decided because the beach is only 2 blocks from Isabel's house. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was hot! We had breakfast, gathered our things for the beach and headed out. We found the beach and now had to make the decision on where to set up camp, we had to be careful with this decision, on the left was the "gay section" in the middle was the "beautiful area" and finally to the right was the "family zone". We opted to find the family zone but I’m still sure we didn't walk far enough and ended up sitting on the border of the gay and beautiful beach, the abundance of banana hammocks and thongs referred to as bikinis made me think otherwise.
 

The beach was amazing! The water was tepid (Vicky would describe as freezing), sand was...well sand and the waves were HUGE. There were many people walking around selling all kinds of rubbish, including hats, authentic "Ray Ben" sunglasses, Biscoittos (strange but delicious donut shaped biscuits) and even a few people walking around with BBQ's under their arms. We stayed here for the majority of the day which didn't work out so great. Unbeknown to us the sun was much stronger than we initially thought, the combination of only factor 15 sunscreen and malaria tablets that cause you to have incredibly sensitive skin meant that both Vicky and I were bright red. Me on my stomach and poor Vicky on her behind. So after a bath of aloe vera we went to bed with the air con on and the fan at max power!!!

Day 3 (Wednesday) - The Beach part 2

You would think that 3rd degree sunburn would be enough to stop the pasty Brits from stepping out into the sun again, but no it wasn't! The desire to tan outweighed the common sense we had, so we had our sights on another round with Ipanema beach, only this time we would hire those umbrellas we saw everyone using the first time round.
We left the Ipanema beach early today, we wanted to venture over to Copacabana beach and see what Barry Manilow had been singing about. On the way Vicky and I got to talking about the choice of clothing worn by the natives, discussions went back and forth; "we don't want to stand out", "but isn't it a bit revealing?" and "wont I look stupid?". We found a swimsuit shop and both bought the traditional attire, Vicky with a bum bearing bikini and myself sporting a dashing Speedo.

Copacabana proved to be an amazing sight, we both agreed that tomorrow would be a day for Copacabana. While there, we bought some snacks from the vendors along the path, sweet corn covered in butter, and a mixture of sweet and salty popcorn. It was approaching dinner time so we searched for a restaurant and luckily found a tiny place that specialised in Mexican food, It was here that I had one of the best Burritos in my life and Vicky ordered a burrito with pineapple and turned out that she didn't like cooked pineapple..... We headed home and after a quick chat with Isabel she convinced us that we should try and head to Buzios for at least a couple of days, the plan was made!

Day 4 (Thursday) - The Beach.......part 3 (yawn)

YES, again we decided to go to the Beach! it’s what you do in Rio when it’s hot. Today was the best day out of the 3 in terms of weather, 33 degrees and a cool breeze as well. Vicky Preferred Copacabana purely because she didn't feel like the whitest person on the beach anymore, we heard a lot more languages instead of just Portuguese which felt more reassuring. One of the sales people that stroll up and down the beach sells drinks out of 2 large metal canisters, one contained lemonade and the other contained a drink that should never be sold.... apparently it’s called Moche, basically tasted like coffee that had been left out in the sun for a week, needless to say that drink "accidently" got knocked into the sand.

Not much more to report for this day, went home at the usual time of about 6pm, watched TV and made a dinner of salad, pasta and fruit for pudding. The Fruit in Brazil is out of this world, I think we managed to have watermelon every day.

Day 5 (Friday) - Something different.

Today we went to the beach............ only joking, the sun wasn't shining so we felt it was time to explore Rio further than the coast line (for the record, if the sun had been shining we would have been on the beach again). We strolled about 3 blocks to the Lagoa, a huge salt water lagoon that is behind the accommodation and shops in iPanema, from here you could just about make out Christo Redentor in the distance keeping watch over Rio. We walked about halfway around the Lagoon then turned off into Leblon. Leblon is basically the same as Ipanema, lots of high class shops, restaurants and big multistory housing with sea views. In Leblon we searched for a Sushi restaurant that our travel book recommended, it was delicious! I enjoyed their famous salmon skin wrap, and Vicky ate Philadelphia salmon rolls which to my surprise she enjoyed! After that we headed back to the house but not before I bought a tub of frozen yogurt covered in chocolate for the journey home.

A quick recharge in the flat and we were out again, only this time we wanted to visit Santa Teresa, the old part of Rio. To get there we had to take the metro, wasn't difficult got there without any trouble. We were told that Santa Teresa was on a hill and there were 2 options to get to the top, car or by walking. We walked because the staircase was a must see attraction, it’s called Escaria de Selaron, " the most famous staircase in Rio, a lengthy work in progress by an eccentric Chilean artist who since 1990, has been covering some 215 steps with over 2000 tiles from around the world", not my words, that was taken out of my travel book. We walked up this staircase admiring all the different tiles and then up a very steep hill to finally reach Santa Teresa, old houses, cobbled streets, very nice but unfortunately it did feel almost unsafe to be there. We took out photos and headed for home, on the way back Vicky and I tried Tapioca wraps, Vicky went for Banana and Chocolate and I chose the cheese and beef option.

Day 6 (Saturday) - Christo Redentor

Our last day in Rio before heading to Buzios, so to avoid ridicule from both our families, we thought it wise to go see the famous Statue of Christ today. We got up from bed very early so that we could get a head start on the day of sightseeing. Isabel kindly offered to take us to the tram that you take to see the statue. But to our surprise she took us on her own personal tour of Rio, we were able to see the sugar loaf mountain, several other beautiful beaches and some amazing old buildings etc. When we arrived at the tram, we immediately noticed a huge amount of tourists waiting in line; it seems a sunny Saturday wasn't the best time to choose. No matter, we got straight in the queue and booked our ticket to the statue at 3pm, only a 3 hour wait!! We filled this time with a quick lunch followed by sitting doing nothing. It was all worth it.

When we finally got on the tram we saw some amazing sights, including monkeys, fruits, and some jaw dropping views, but none were as outstanding as the views from the top. We saw Christ himself up close and personnel, taking many photos (which was difficult with the shear amount of people around), spent an hour admiring the views, then took the tram to the bottom and jumped in a bus to go home. We had to pack our bags for our bus ride in the morning to Buzios, which both myself and Vicky were very excited about. Before the day was done I took a trip with Vicky to the Havaiana shop just down the street and bought 12 pairs of the famous flip flops (not all for me though). I managed to persuade Vicky to get herself a pair, she is very happy with her choice.



Day 7 (Sunday) - Buzios Beaches part 1

We arrived in Buzios after what felt like a 10 minute bus journey due to the fact both Vicky and I were able to sleep the whole way. It was overcast :( but also hot, so the day could be promising. We had no idea where our hotel was so we had no choice but to get a taxi to our destination, turned out it was 2 minutes up the road...oops.

Greeted by Gabriel at the front desk of our hotel, he assured us that the weather always changes, and he was right! The sun came out by midday so Vicky and I wasted no time in getting to the beach, however there were 26 different ones to choose from, we wanted to visit a secluded natural beach called Azeda which was only a 10 minute walk away. This was by far the best beach we came to discover in Buzios, the water was warm and calm, sand was yellow and red, drinks being served by friendly locals. We loved it here.....
This is how I remember the week, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Vicky should be back next Sunday to do the next post.

Sorry for no photos! they will be coming soon, just having some technical difficulties.

Lots of love to you all!

John & Vicky
Xxx
P.S Hi Jack, Fergus, and Hamish

Week numero 8

Sorry again for the lateness of this blog however we have been travelling a lot this weekend and therefore had no access to the internet...I hope you all can forgive :)

Day 1 Monday - Today was a bank holiday and so everyone was off work and school, however it meant a lot of places were closed. We visited another little market (on Sunday we went to Santelmo a really large market but mostly for tourists so expensive) in costarenasur which was cute however the bad weather and bank holiday again meant only a few stalls were open.

Day 2 Tuesday - We visited the Reserva Ecologica today which is full of many species of birds and we even saw a giant lizard. John decided to climb a tree and got stuck up for a while...silly boy. In teh evening we were invited to see Esteban's (a family friend of Johns) play called 'El Caberet de los Hombres Perdidos' which means the caberet of the three lost boys. It was very good with lots of singing and dancing...very gay adn fabulous. We did struggle to understand the plot but with Lucia, Johns cousin with us we had a interpretor. We then joined Esteban, his girlfriend and our hosts for dinner at a Indian....we have to say that altough South America have far better Chinese, Indian is definately better in England!

Day 3 Wednesday - Today we woke up very late as we were out late the night before and fancied a morning in. In the afternoon we went on search for aleather handbag for myself, and eventually after 5 hours or so found one I liked and John helped me buy it as a early birthday present. After all argentinian leather is supposed to be the best!

Day 4 Thursday - Esteban, Rosita, John and I took a trip to Tigre today which is a town off the coast of Rio de la Plata, apparently teh worlds widest river! We saw some fo the famous Mercado de Frutas the fruit market (not just fruit btw). We walked around the rivers and the weather proved very nice. Tigre is a very beautiful place. We took trains back as Rosita had to go to her work midday and we then stayed at Estebans house until the evening where Rosita picked us up and treated us to dinner out as it was our last night here.

Day 5 Friday -  Today we spent the day packign and relaxing before we left for Puerto Iguazu in the evening.

Day 6 Saturday - Most of today was spent on the bus and we eventually arrived in the evening in Puerto Iguazu. As soon as we got off the bus we felt the heat...finally heat!! Our hostel was not far from the bus station and was very nice...full of dogs and cats which we loved...however when we tried to make our food they all sit at your feet making puppy dogs eyes.

 Day 7 Sunday - Today we got up early and crossed the border of Argentina to Brazil to Foz de Iguazu. Here we saw the amazing waterfalls. One of the seven natural wonders of South America apparently. It was amazing! In the evening we got a bus to Rio....a gruelly 24hours but when we arrived on Monday it was worth the wait!

Missing you all
Vicky and John
x

Week number 7, Argentina!

So this week we entered into Argentina, the land of meat, unfortunately for me. This is what we have got up to so far this week...

Day 1 Monday

We got to the bus station a tad early today as we had to check out of our hostel in the morning and our bus station was not until 8PM (7 hours of waiting). However whilst at the bus stop we met a friendly dog who slept under our bench for a while, this was the highlight of our day. The evening was spent on the bus to Buenos Aires.

Day 2 Tuesday

We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning and were greeted and picked up by our hosts (Rosita John´s Aunt) daughter Lucia and her boyfirend. It was very cold and windy which is apprently unusual for Buenos Aires in Spring. We did not let the weather bother us however and once we had unpacked and freshened up we went to Florida street in the city centre which is the main strip for shopping. We searched for Toms but unfortunately were unsuccessful in our quest (apprently Argetina do not do Toms anymore). We then visited the Plaza de Mayo and Madero Harbour. We also found out that Buenos Aires invented the Tango dance so we want to try and catch a show before we leave. In the evening we sampled Rositas singing which was very good.

Day 3 Wednesday

Today we returned to the town centre with a bit nicer weather and a camera! We visited a museum in an old ship which displayed items and maps and pictures of the Armada. We also visited a number of other sites in the city center. We got attacked by pigeons in the plaza. They got so close they would rest on our arms. For lunch we found a really nice little Chinese buffet take away which was a real bargain! On the way home we got terribly lost as we managed to walk past our street and walk approx an hour in the wrong direction! Silly us!

Day 4 Thursday

The sun has got its hat on today and Rosita has the morning off from work so she took us to Recoleta which was very pretty, lots of green parks. Whilst we where there we visited a designer furniture shopping mall, a big white church and a large cemetory only for very very important people like presidents and generals. The graves where massive and grand and John managed to accidently open one which terrified us.We also witnessed a semi naked man sunbathing on a very important statue (that is one way to get a tan I guess). Rosita left for work and we were introduced to a close family friend called Julio who is a 70 year old Jewish man who we quickly learnt was a tad racist. He showed us around a neighbourhood called Palermo, which was very nice, in the car and we then were dropped off back at the house early evening.

Day 5 Friday

We slept in a bit in the morning. Rosita took us to La Boca, a working class neighbourhood not to be visited at night. We visited the museum of art dedicated to Benito Quinquela Martin, where the museum itself actually used to be his house! We visited the famous stree of Carminite where the houses are multi coloured and  people dance tango on the street. There are many cafes and markets lining the street and me and John invested in some hand made Mate cups and straws (the traditional drink here) with our names on. We had lunch at a grill which had asado for Johns meat cravings. I had salad and chips...yum! In the evening we went to a Peruvian sing and dance show celebrating 25 years of a certain gentlemans career in music. We had Peruvian food and saw Rosita singing live.

Mate the drink

Day 6 Saturday

Today was a Lazy day as were trying to save some money so we just planned the next part of our journey.

Hope everyone is well still!
Lots of Love
Vicky and John

Week 6 - Santiago

I would just like to apoligise at how late this post is, however we have not been with a computer for a couple of days and therefore could not do it :( I am sure everyone missed it. Anyways here is our 6th week in South America:

Day 1 Monday - Today we went to the Plaza de Armas in the center of Santiago. It was very pretty and there was street performers much like in covent garden. We pent the day mooching around the center. We attempted a traditional Chilean drink called ´Mote con heusillo´which was a kind of peach nectar with ebly in it. Unfortunatel we did not like the drink. We returned to our hosts house about 5PM and had a little siesta. In the evening we went out for dinner to Ruby Tuesday where I tried BBQ chickend wings for the first time and have fallen in love with the sauce!!

                                                                      Plaza de Armas

                                                                       Mote con Huesilla
                                     
Day 2 Tuesday - In the morning Roxana took us to a grand shopping center where we looked around all the nice (but far too expenive for us on this holiday) clothes shops. John did discover a fast food chain in the mall which made proper burritos (meaning with rice) which made him a happy chappy. It was a really hot day so in the afternoon we sunbathed in the back garden and John braved the ice cold pool (I managed two feet which diserves some recognition surely?).

                                                               John in the icey pool!

Day 3 Wednesday - We awoke early today to visit a local beach town called Viña del Mar 2 hours from Santiago via bus. Unfortunatel although nice and sunny and hot in the city, as soon a we approache the beach town we entered into overcast and cold, wet and windy weather. So instead of our sunbathing day we had planned, we found some hot food and then hopped back onto the bus and headed back to sunny Santiago.

                                                            I was too cold for this!

Day 4 Thursday - Today was rainy and cold outide and therefore we spent the day saving money by doing not a lot. In the evening we met up with Stephanie, one of the englih students from Iquique and went to a province called bellavista where we had some beers and pizza! It was a really nice area, so lively and cheap!

Day 5 Friday - In the afternoon today, John and I went with Stephanie and her friend to a rock climbing center. It was much harder than I had orginially expected. However I was proud of myself as I made it fairly high up the wall! We came back and made dinner at Stephs, then brought some alcohol for a couple of house partys we went to. It was so much fun although we felt a little stupid as everyone we met knew at least 2 languages fluently. We then crashed at Stephs house that night as it was far too late to go back to our hosts.

Day 6 Saturday - Woke up early to return to the hosts housde and packed, cleaned and said our goodbyes before we left Santiago to Mendoza.

Day 7 Sunday - We arrived in Mendoza very early in the morning and took a taxi to our booked hostel. Unfortunately a it was a sunday we had no luck booking a vineyard tour as everything (unknowingly to us prior this trip) closes on sunday. We did manage to visit the plaza´s, one with lots of mosaics which was very pretty. We also passed a cycle festival of some kind which was very odd.

Missing you all as always
Love from
Vicky and John