Amazing, gorgeous place. Its starting point is 1000m in altitude, and higher than the highest point in England. Have never really been above sea level, and was amazed to fell the effects. Went to visit Sharon, who used to be in Trujillo. Bus driver was mad, and I did wonder if passing two trucks with logs, while seeing a large soda truck coming towards me was the last thing I would see. An hour before getting there I noticed thick fog or mist, and thought that all odd, but later learnt that we were driving through clouds. How amazing is that! The locals call it the "Forest of Clouds" Cool hey! So I was really above the clouds! Spent the day with Sharon at her new school, different to mine. Think I have begun to favour mine above all. Then went looking for a fleece, as it really was freezing, and I was really not mentally prepared for the difference in temperature. I still don’t understand how it can be winter in one place and summer in another, all in the some country. We even managed to walk up a very large, very very large mountain, the 15 peaks just don’t compare. It was beautiful, however, I did think I would not make it up alive. I would walk for five minutes and then have to rest, could hardly breath and my heart was pounding! Sharon was very gracious and patient. But I felt it a honour to be in such a beautiful place, seeing clouds at different levels, and having so much quiet around me that I could hear cows chewing grass from miles away! The sun at the top was so bright and strong, gorgeous views of snow capped mountains! (5000m) By the time we got home, my lungs were beyond sore, they just ached every time I dared to take more than a small breathe. Don’t think me and altitude do well...but now that I have been and am back, have been told all about this pastel that you can get and the altitude will not affect you....yes, always the way, a day to late. Was very sad to leave, and can’t wait to go back and try out horse riding in the mountains with no air.
Saturday 24 February 2007
Tuesday 13 February 2007
Sand Boarding!
What an amazing, awesome day! Apart from having to walk up a sixty to eighty metre sand dune! Lucky for us, it was overcast and we even had a few drops of rain....that really just slowed us down. I even managed to stand up on my third go! Feel like I have burnt off millions of calories, which is great, as I am definitely consuming them in cakes and ice creams. Great great day, a beautiful place, in the middle of nowhere, just dunes, dunes and more dunes. I am still finding sand in the most oddest places though! Hopefully, will attached a photo to this one if I can work it out....a goal for another day! Did it!
Tuesday 6 February 2007
I prayed that it would not happen....but
But it did! yes I got head lice! Horrible crawly, bloodsucking little creatures! No one could find them despite being convinced they were there. Well no one, until the cook had a turn! I felt like a monkey sitting in between her legs, while she scratch through my head and yanked them out. Popping the lice and pulling the eggs! The scratching and searching process took about two hours, and found some nasty lotion, that I slept with and am now lice free! Cook wanted to search again three days later.....but told her convincingly that there were definitely none left. (I hope) My children are crawling with them, if you stand above them, you can see them move....oh it is awful, I hate head lice! I feel like I have been a living host to all things possible this last month! At least I am aiding towards the survival of "gogos" in South America.
Oh yes, dog has had puppies, but not the dog I thought, she should be popping soon. They are so so cute, and tiny tiny. Ducklings have all been sold, and chicks keep following me around now, as I let them sit in my lap. Mother of animal land thinks I am nutty, and laughs when she sees three chicks walking behind me. Kids are all beginning to be kind to animals. A rare thing around here, and I am just loving fussing over them all. I am definitely having chickens when I come home!
Oh yes, dog has had puppies, but not the dog I thought, she should be popping soon. They are so so cute, and tiny tiny. Ducklings have all been sold, and chicks keep following me around now, as I let them sit in my lap. Mother of animal land thinks I am nutty, and laughs when she sees three chicks walking behind me. Kids are all beginning to be kind to animals. A rare thing around here, and I am just loving fussing over them all. I am definitely having chickens when I come home!
Thursday 1 February 2007
On my own again!
Thursday 1 Feb 2007
Today we had a meeting for all the parents in our little hut, and I had 25 children to myself in a tiny space between the front patio and house, where all their washing hangs, with two spare tyres and few cube like containers to sit on. FOR TWO hours.... Now my Spanish is really not even slightly good. We do have a white board, and somehow I managed to get them to do stuff, work in their books, play a game and learn the greater than sign, which is a new concept. (Which they even understood) The mom of the house, was behind me washing her clothes, finding it all rather amusing. While all this was happening, the moms inside kept poking their heads out in disbelief that all were quiet. I think I had a Daniel in the Lions Den moment. Survived amazingly.
Cannot believe it is February!
Computer Travel Literate, really means...
Have decided to try and join the world of Bloggers....but that seems so much harder than what it is made out to be! Eventually, Steve did it for me, so I can really take no credit. However I did manage to delete it all on my first day...so yes, Steve did it again. To my credit, it was all in spanish and now that I have learnt how to convert it all to english, can see the "DELETE BLOG" button. Unfortuantely all my little stories are slightly out of order, but should be all go from now I hope!
Have moved into my own room, so exciting! Yet will feel odd to sleep all by myself, I really enjoyed sharing, even at thirty two, gosh I am a teenager trapped in an adults body!
Have moved into my own room, so exciting! Yet will feel odd to sleep all by myself, I really enjoyed sharing, even at thirty two, gosh I am a teenager trapped in an adults body!
Dido would like this!
A Million Angels Around
Huanchacho beach, with black and white sand mixed, freezing Atlantic water, great surf and the most amazing sunsets. Every sunset is beautiful, there is no doubt about it! Watching all the surfers wait till the sun had almost set before heading back was amazing. It feels like their are angels all around. Friends found it quite amusing and then later on the bus ride home decided my description was well suited!
Managed finally to get another digital camera, a second hand one without a charger or scart lead....we all know what that means. Hopefully will take a picture of next sunset and stick onto this blog, if I can work it out...
Huanchacho beach, with black and white sand mixed, freezing Atlantic water, great surf and the most amazing sunsets. Every sunset is beautiful, there is no doubt about it! Watching all the surfers wait till the sun had almost set before heading back was amazing. It feels like their are angels all around. Friends found it quite amusing and then later on the bus ride home decided my description was well suited!
Managed finally to get another digital camera, a second hand one without a charger or scart lead....we all know what that means. Hopefully will take a picture of next sunset and stick onto this blog, if I can work it out...
One Week in with minibeasts!
One Week in with minibeasts!
Monday 15th January 2006
I can{t believe only a week has gone, it feels like months and months ago, I still have bouts of missing everyone and my mini comforts but am getting used to a wired shower and fleas!
My first week has been very very entertaining....First of all I teach in the most dangerous part of Trujillo, everyone has a classroom, I have a hut with four black ducks, one pig and a chicken running around, and I must not forget the dozen of stray pavement specials that wonder in and out during the morning! (pavement special...is a dog or cat that is not a breed.) The floor is a sand dune, and my bus rarely comes, as not many go in that direction...the main title if you look quickly says slavery....but actually it is meant to read salavery...often the first a is not there. The others have 9 to 15 children and have a clean floor, cupboards and I won{t go on. I have 30! so much for a slight break of it all. But i love it. My children seem to be the best, maybe because there are so many. They really work hard and are so good. It{s amazing, they have nothing, live with hardly anything yet are really happy. and so good in a classroom! )these are supposed to be problem children in Peru terms...)My bus is held together with wooden boards and has the look of an old american school bus. It also has the thickest tyres you have ever seen to get over the sand dunes. Tends to topple more to one side now and again, but going as slowly as we do, I am sure we will only be slightly squashed should we actually fall over.
I have started taking a group of children for maths and writing...and art, and p.e. They are very gracious and even bring me my dictionary now if I don{t understand a word!
The bad news is I have been bitten everywhere, at first everyone thought they were fleas from my school, but no, they were creepie crawlies that were in my my cupboard and therefore in my clothes! So the only parts that have no bites are the uncovered bits...I was near tears as I saw myself become a resemblance of a chicken pox person! So our whole house has been fumigated and all my clothes have been washed in boiling water...what a mission. But no bites since, so am feeling slightly better.
Went to see the temple of the moon, amazing stuff, with a gay couple from the Lima branch, they were very entertaining. Am working as a tour guide tomorrow and getting paid for it! 20 dollars...great. They need someone who can speak english to take a bunch of americans from the port to the airport. Crazy hey. My conversation class in the evenings are great fun, they have learnt loads in one week, and are so eager to come, Everyday seems to be one more person...surely there is a limit.
Going to an aerobics class this afternoon, joing in with a different group, any spanish is good spanish I hope, plus all those ice creams and cakes need a bit of work.
Oh yes, am going sand boarding next weekend...how cool is that. Dunes that are 80 metres high! very excited.
Monday 15th January 2006
I can{t believe only a week has gone, it feels like months and months ago, I still have bouts of missing everyone and my mini comforts but am getting used to a wired shower and fleas!
My first week has been very very entertaining....First of all I teach in the most dangerous part of Trujillo, everyone has a classroom, I have a hut with four black ducks, one pig and a chicken running around, and I must not forget the dozen of stray pavement specials that wonder in and out during the morning! (pavement special...is a dog or cat that is not a breed.) The floor is a sand dune, and my bus rarely comes, as not many go in that direction...the main title if you look quickly says slavery....but actually it is meant to read salavery...often the first a is not there. The others have 9 to 15 children and have a clean floor, cupboards and I won{t go on. I have 30! so much for a slight break of it all. But i love it. My children seem to be the best, maybe because there are so many. They really work hard and are so good. It{s amazing, they have nothing, live with hardly anything yet are really happy. and so good in a classroom! )these are supposed to be problem children in Peru terms...)My bus is held together with wooden boards and has the look of an old american school bus. It also has the thickest tyres you have ever seen to get over the sand dunes. Tends to topple more to one side now and again, but going as slowly as we do, I am sure we will only be slightly squashed should we actually fall over.
I have started taking a group of children for maths and writing...and art, and p.e. They are very gracious and even bring me my dictionary now if I don{t understand a word!
The bad news is I have been bitten everywhere, at first everyone thought they were fleas from my school, but no, they were creepie crawlies that were in my my cupboard and therefore in my clothes! So the only parts that have no bites are the uncovered bits...I was near tears as I saw myself become a resemblance of a chicken pox person! So our whole house has been fumigated and all my clothes have been washed in boiling water...what a mission. But no bites since, so am feeling slightly better.
Went to see the temple of the moon, amazing stuff, with a gay couple from the Lima branch, they were very entertaining. Am working as a tour guide tomorrow and getting paid for it! 20 dollars...great. They need someone who can speak english to take a bunch of americans from the port to the airport. Crazy hey. My conversation class in the evenings are great fun, they have learnt loads in one week, and are so eager to come, Everyday seems to be one more person...surely there is a limit.
Going to an aerobics class this afternoon, joing in with a different group, any spanish is good spanish I hope, plus all those ice creams and cakes need a bit of work.
Oh yes, am going sand boarding next weekend...how cool is that. Dunes that are 80 metres high! very excited.
Magic FM Alive and Well in Peru
I have become slightly attached to my bus ride home, especially when I have magic FM to listen to! They still speak in Spanish but the songs are those good old classics. I think the driver quite likes them, at least we have one thing in common! Nevertheless I know look forward to my journey home on a very old bus! Have noticed that the gear stick is made from a hose pipe and the seat belt a piece of string with black tape around it! I love my bus. It is the only time, where I just get to sit and stare out the window and contemplate life. No I really am not that deep, but it{s good just to be lost in my own thoughts now and again.
One Hundred Miles
I will walk One Hundred Miles... on a Sunday
Sara, a student from my english class, invited us all to spend a day with her, sightseeing.... We left home early sunday morning, walked for about 40 mins before catching a bus, then a combi and then a bakkie. 3hours later we were at the temple, Huaco El Broche. The place was deserted, and because of Sara, we could go into places that were not open to the public. Very Similar to Huaco del Luna y Sol. But still amazing to see. We then had to walk back along the path to catch a combi back into town. Sara convincing told us all it was a 30 minute walk.....One and a half hours later....in the midday sun, we arrived, burnt and heated out. We then got a lift from one of the local people, to the beach where there would be alot of combis leaving. We climbed on the back, and watch ourselves drive down the whole route we had just walked!!! To make it worse, the beach is a ten minute walk from the Temple....Unfortunately, I still have not figured out any of the logic. To question it, would just have made me cry. Had lunch for 3 soles, 50pence, and finally caught a sixteen seater back into town. When I say 16 seater, I mean 16 seats, but 32 people squashed inside. Very entertaining. Luckily I had the front seat with three others.
Sara, a student from my english class, invited us all to spend a day with her, sightseeing.... We left home early sunday morning, walked for about 40 mins before catching a bus, then a combi and then a bakkie. 3hours later we were at the temple, Huaco El Broche. The place was deserted, and because of Sara, we could go into places that were not open to the public. Very Similar to Huaco del Luna y Sol. But still amazing to see. We then had to walk back along the path to catch a combi back into town. Sara convincing told us all it was a 30 minute walk.....One and a half hours later....in the midday sun, we arrived, burnt and heated out. We then got a lift from one of the local people, to the beach where there would be alot of combis leaving. We climbed on the back, and watch ourselves drive down the whole route we had just walked!!! To make it worse, the beach is a ten minute walk from the Temple....Unfortunately, I still have not figured out any of the logic. To question it, would just have made me cry. Had lunch for 3 soles, 50pence, and finally caught a sixteen seater back into town. When I say 16 seater, I mean 16 seats, but 32 people squashed inside. Very entertaining. Luckily I had the front seat with three others.
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