No more Peru (two thumbs up)

We've arrived in America! The place we were looking forward to for the good food, and widely spoken English. Well, one out of two isn't bad. Over 50% of the population in Miami speak Spanish to each other, which turned out to be helpful when i accidentally kept saying 'gracious' and 'si' to our waitress.

Our Art Deco hostel.　Turns out there are 100`s of these buildings and they are all hostels!

Miami was nice, lots of old art deco buildings, bars and fun places to see. Also lots of shops selling nice black basketball trainers and big tonged skate shoes, which are a complete weakness of mine. Since my shoes now have holes in the toes as well as holes in the souls, i am in need of a new pair. Xss and I have very different styles, and whilst i am not of the opinion that a girl should change herself to suit a guy, i do believe in dressing in a way that means your guy likes your appearance. Apparently Xss doesn't care so much for the 9 year old boy style i adhere to. So starting from now, i am going to try hard not to buy any boys (or men's) clothing. This will be a tall order for me, but I'm going to try. I know that some people log on here to read about my travels, but with so much time to think I'm almost more preoccupied with re-evaluating my life than i am with the ever changing world around me.

Since America is so much more expensive than other places we are going we decided to spend less days here. This has resulted in us trying to do as much as we have elsewhere, only in 3 days. In Florida this involves a day Miami (getting off the plan at 6am having not slept), next driving the 200 miles to Key west via the everglades, then Key West for the day before driving back and flying to Minnesota for Christmas (which we are very excited about).

Miami- South beach. Only saw it in the evening but the water was a lovely colour. Still nothing beats Morro de Sau Paulo in Brazil.

Everglade alligators, i know they are alligators because they have rounded snouts, are darker in colour (olive coloured skin) and their bottom teeth protrude outside their mouths as well as their top. National park information centres are so informative. It was hard to be that excited about the Everglades having just left the amazon. Pretty blase statements were easy to come by, `Parrots? we saw 40 last week and one sat on my arm`; `Do you remember when we were in that canoe the other day and Edgar pulled that baby alligator out the water for us to hold?`

Most overwhelmingly, everything here is in order. This flower bed blew me away, all neat and tidy, and our room was all clean, with UNLIMITED hot water, and a TV!! Its wonderful to be in a place again where we can understand a menu and ask questions about things.　It was nice to see Peru, but i wont be returning.

Peru Evaluation 139.3

Peru

Likes: Lomo Saltado (steak, gravy, red pepper and chips all mixed together), sand boarding, seeing a real live sloth, the arrival of Christmas songs and decorations, Cusco coffee company (a grassroots Starbucks but better!), feeling like a giant when standing next to most people (my legs have never seemed so long!), drummer\taxi drivers trying to get Xss to discuss 70´s British rock music, 3 course meals for 2.20, JF Kennedy park in Lima teeming with nice cats, the food in general- brilliant.

Dislikes: Even though the traffic is crazy it hasn't made them any better drivers, little kids (as young as 3) working on the streets selling chewing gum until very late, panpipe music (even playing Guns n Roses on them doesn't make it any better so stop trying), looking like an idolised western clothes model, Peruvians only knowing English when it helps them to beg better, so much grey dust in parts near the coast you cant understand how anyone can live there, everyone looks the same (its true), altitude sickness.

Sunrises missed from sleeping: 23, and 1 i saw in the Amazon (and it was crap anyway)

Places visited: Lima, Huacachina, Arequipa, Puno, Cusco, Iquitos

Number of times i wanted to come home: 1 - being in one places for a long time gets boring. London is awesome.

Favourite Hostel: Hotel El Huacachinero, in the sandy oasis of Huacachina. Nice sunny swimming pool to relax around, an easy going few days!

Mowgali achievements: catching and eating my own Piranha, getting water from a tree trunk, holding a sloth (which was passed to me), Xss disciplining the monkeys who wouldn't share, getting juice from a tree, finding a tarantula, climbing a thousand year old tree (it must have received worse over its life), dancing with some ´Indians´whilst wearing face paint.

Favourite Memory: When Victor (one of our guides) stepped out of the dense forest holding a baby sloth at arms length as we had given up looking for one (and hope) and were standing chatting near a banana tree. We then photographed said sloth a lot, put it down to see if it would walk (it didn't) and then watched it try to attack us in slow motion repeatedly, how they survive is beyond me! or: Doing cartwheels and ´street dance´moves on the top of an isolated sand dune at sunset in Huacachina.

Worst day: Iquitos after the jungle, just waiting to go to USA in sweaty heat with nothing to do.

Favourite new food\drink: Ceviche! raw fish with lime, chili and parsley and a bit of sweet potato, cold. Oh its divine.

Best\worst noise: Christmas songs in Ripley's department store. Christmas is here, and luckily for us they have very few ones translated into Spanish.

Best\worst smell: The bark of the cumaceba tree smells lovely.

Best Norwich Victory: Norwich 4 Ipswich 1! a hatrick by Grant Holt!

Weirdest country fact: Everyone looks the same. The first day we arrived we managed to spot our taxi driver from the previous day over 14 times. People don't seem to try and distinguish themselves here any either. Where is the creativity and personal style?

Number of pictures taken of me holding a Lamb in a hat: 6!

Number of times lambs in hats became a subject of conversation: 74

Number of times lambs in hats conversations were attempted to be changed by Xss: 70

Number of words in Spanish that sound like you are speaking Portuguese with a lisp: All of them.

Number of Portuguese words that Spanish speakers admit to understanding: 0

Number of posters using western slim white models: 7 million and 43.

Number of posters or adverts with shorter stockier more Peruvian models: 1

New thing learned: When everything is always changing around you, it highlights what things are important. Funnily enough i didn't know i liked Starbucks as much as i do, or that I'm interested in running a hotel\hostel of my own (watch this space), or that Xss´s family is so important to me (i cant wait for them to come see us in Thailand), or what good, dependable friends i have in True and Tx, (Miss you both) or that i like themed restaurants and hotels, and things are always better when a canine companion comes along. I also realise that i love our tea culture and now that Xss drinks coffee, i am excited that we might be able to just sit and have hot drinks together in our house and just talk. I love that.

UNCP score: 139.3

You cant hide behind a stalk of sugercane.

So i was going to use this post to write to you, in almost meticulous detail about the wonders of staying in the amazon jungle for four days. It was going to contain highlights of hearing and seeing the warm rain approach on an isolated pond in the depths of the virgin rainforest; the moment when Victor emerged from the forest with a sloth in hand as if it were a teddy bear while it made noises like darth vadar (who`d have known?) and tried to `attack` us in slow motion; laughing in the dark whilst swinging in hammocks lit only by one small parafin light and surrounded by the noise of the jungle joking with Edgar our Peruvian guide about cultural differences; catching piranhas on said lake and eating them for dinner; of monkeys that liked Xss so much that one ran up to him, climbed up his body and rubbed his face against his forehead whilst embracing his head. However this has all been userped by the last cultural experience we encountered this morning, the Yaguas tribe.

It was awkward enough when they got all three of us visitors up to dance some tribal dances. We knew this might happen and had throught about asking not to come, but when in Rome- dance tribally. So there we were clomping about in regulation welly boots, trousers and shirts concentrating on not stamping on the poor near naked Indians who were trying to lead us around. Luckily the dance seemed to centre around going very fast around in a circle so not too much foot crushing occured. In fact nothing else happened but this Indian girl pulling me around very fast in a circle like we were doing the maypole. I was tempted to stop and explain to her that when she is on the inside (always) then i must go further and since she was going so fast this was very hard in my clumpy boots to deal with. I wasnt sure whether to smile at the bizareness that i found myself in, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest or scowl as would be my normal response.

The two following `dances`created an even more painful situation as none of the Indians seemed to want to do these ridiculously simple repetative movements and only two senior men sang, the rest by all means appeared to empathise with all primary school children who hate acting and are coxed into the play to be chorus with the words, ìt`ll be fun!`. On arriving at the villiage i asked Edgar how many people lived there, none was his reply in an embarresed way that meant i could ask no questions. These Indians come over here for the day to entertain the tourists and sell their handy craft. Thats not so bad is it?

Well, the time came to buy the handycrafts (this was after a very brief blowgun tutorial which turned out to be very easy). We were plauged. Whilst looking at one persons stuff 7 others are shoving other things at you telling you to buy them. They were in competition with each other and each selling all the same crap which we never even wanted. Having decided just to buy anything and try to spread the money out, guess what no-one has change so we will have to spend the whole of our S10 note with only one person. Now to work out which one owned which malnourished and parasite infected children.

So we were visiting dirt poor indians, who looked ill, couldnt survive without dancing some weird dance to oggling tourists and then going in for the hard sell with soveniers. This was a bad situation, but do you prefer that the lodge doesn`t send you here so they get nothing? Well, after having spent all of our money (we didnt have much) we legged it. Our guide was terrbily uncomfortable with this `cultural expereince´but bares it as it was his job, but was only too happy to leave when we were. We waited for the boat to pick us up down a little track from the village. As we were now very early, uncomfortableness forcing us to leave, after ten minutes it was decided that we should walk back to the lodge (about 45 mins). We promptly returned to the path, and whom should we see, our nearly naked Indians..... wearing t-shirts and shorts. Not only was it obvious that they got naked for the tourists, the little boy who was about 6 knew that he was `in the wrong` and stopped stock still behind a tiny thin sugarcane stalk, as if we might not see him. His father followed him, and looked also as awkward with the whole scenario.

It was terrible. I felt so bad for the `Indians`, and wished i wasnt in that situation but what was the alternative? They have no money and that is their only income, accordinjg to Edgar it is not possible to live only off of the forest, they need a little money to buy somethings. So all the way back to the lodge we spoke with him about other alternatives, a cooperative for one. As GCSE english taught me, Mans in humanity to man, is shocking. What i find worse still is the Indians inhumanity to each other, but then again i have never been that poor.

Shouldnt the ones who dance and sing loudest get more money, than those who shuffled at the back? Shouldnt those with kids in need get more? But as no-one had any change, one Indian became significantly richer whilst the rest got nothing. Why can`t they all put their products in together and share the profits equally? I guess im grasping at straws at i cant beare to think that i am partly responsible for making people get naked and dance to feed their children. And there wasnt even any beer or salted peanuts involved.

P.S i´ve mever been in a strip club so am not actually sure the accurate type of peanuts they have. Perhaps they have pork scratchings instead?

Peru

This cant be long as i am sitting in an Internet cafe sweating away in a town called Iquitos in the Amazon jungle. Its the kind of heat you can only feel after dark, and its kind of surreal as in this crowded little cafe the `person` sitting next to Xss is actually a family of nine squeezed onto one seat, looking at someone on the computer screen, it is obvious that they don't know how to communicate with them though and keep making random noises (like trying to coax a cat) to see what happens. Xss looks like he is part of it all, like a long lost cousin, if they are lucky he might even wave hello to the person too.

So we arrived in Lima having loved Santiago and found another lovely city in Lima. We enjoyed the Starbucks in the park, the arrival of Christmas ushered in by the big department store (Ripley's) which not content with cheerful Christmas music and decorations inside even had a snow machine beckoning us to come in. Clothes are cheap here so we both almost have full stocks again now. Just trainers to go. There was so much nice food in Lima, really brilliant different tastes to home and i hope that one day i will be able to return again, just for the food if nothing else.

We had been looking forward to Peru for a long time as it offered us a decent amount of time to travel independently, not booking anywhere in advance and going wherever as we choose. However, time passes very quickly and we soon discovered that we had to hurry in order to fit in Cusco and Machu Picchu.

After taking the bus south and stopping at Ica (Hurachina) for the sand boarding, which was awesome. Since we liked living in a sandune so much we stayed another day to sunbath by the pool and relax with our elephant style towels. We then re-boarded the bus and headed to Arequipa. We stayed here for a couple of days as well, enjoying the old town and visiting a convent which was really like a small, tranquil, walled city.

We then went on to Puno, and it was only at the moment of getting off the bus we both questioned why we had come up here. Not only was it at high altitude and not on our way to Cusco, but we knew of nothing to do in the town and could already see the grey and non-mystical Lake Titicaca on the drive in. Altitude sickness hit me, and has never managed to catch Xss. So i spent a day laying down as i felt very dizzy and with a high temperature (this is not a listed side effect of altitude sickness, what are the chances!) In the afternoon we went to see the floating Islands of Uros, where people supposedly live on little reed islands (5-6 families per island) and eat reeds and make boats out of reeds and sleep on reeds, and sell reeds; however i am sceptical that this is nowadays much more than a job people do to attract tourists and sell their crafts, there were no teenagers on the islands and no sign of cooking having gone on ever.

We are increasingly finding faults with our `rough guide` and finding ourselves thankful that we did not follow some of its advice. One such example is that it suggests going out to the Uros islands by yourself. We have now had many a conversation about how awkward it would have been to turn up on a tiny floating island with only a few tribal people on, with no language in common and nothing to do. ermm... Uno anyone. (everyone knows Uno don't they!)

So onwards to Cusco. Unfortunately everyone loves Cusco, so i was expecting a lot, and since they had no Starbucks i was deeply disappointed (really Xss was, he has become quite an addict). Luckily i had an Incan McDonald's instead. It rained whilst we were at Machu Picchu, and one of us forgot the hood to their coat (luckily it kept the clothes under it back in the room nice a dry). I did not receive the Butterfingers chocolate bar and kiss for hurrying up at the end as i stopped to take a few photos and went the wrong way onto a dead end path. Luckily, it was all fine and we enjoyed it. It was very similar to the photos so this made it a little odd. I don't really understand the Inca´s or the wonder of their talents yet, i might have got it wrong, but Machu Picchu was only abandoned in 1400s and Hampton Court Palace (per say) was made in 1514, am i missing something but i know who i would want to build my holiday house.

So we flew back through Lima and caught a flight out to the crowded Amazon city we now find ourselves in. Time has gone very quickly, but in some places it seems to go very slowly. We are now faced with the brilliant decision of how far into the jungle to go and how many days to go for. It all looks pretty exciting and i cant wait.

When i see an Elephant towel.

Sometimes its the places you see that make you excited, at other times it is the way that they fold the towels. We got into Huacachina last night and as we walked around the hotel picking our room from a selection i really wanted a downstairs one as it had a towel folded in the shape on an elephant. However, upstairs (with a swan) was a nicer room.

In order to remedy this in my perfect Spanish i wrote a note to our room attendant stating, ´Elephant towels, por favour´. He didn't disappoint, and look at the elephant! I left him a tip and thought that would be the end of it as i couldn't ask for clean towels 2 days running. However, not to be losing out on a tip, he then made a sea turtle out of clean towels, including using my pen and paper to make little black eyes. Brilliant. But not better than the elephant.

We came to Huacachina to try sand boarding, and it didn't disappoint. Living in an oasis in the middle of the sanddunes was amazing! Here is a picture of Xss mucking around at dusk.