Saw a really awful accident in the centre of Trujillo yesterday lunchtime. Given the chaos in the roads all the time and the absence of traffic lights at many busy junctions in the grid-patterned city, I'd assumed that there must be lots of crashes. But this is the first time I've witnessed a serious crash so close-up.
Already the details are a little faded. Nicky and I had literally just crossed a street at a junction when I heard brakes screeching. I turned round just in time to see, right next to us, two cars and a motorbike coming from different directions collide. The battered yellow taxi (surprise surprise) was a mess at the front, but I think that was because it was so decrepit in the first place. They weren't going too fast, and the drivers and passengers of both cars were ok. The motorbike was toppled though, and both guys fell off. One, who may have been wearing a helmet, was ok, but the other guy, wearing no protective gear whatsoever, suffered a huge impact. To my relief he got up and staggered towards the pavement from which we were watching. But a few seconds later, with blood streaming from his nose and other scary-looking places (possibly ears), he collapsed into the arms of the other.
By this time a huge crowd had gathered with their hands over their open mouths looked a bit horrified. Nothing seemed to be happening very quickly, except the swelling of the crowds, but a few people did get on their mobiles to call the emergency services. An authoritative-seeming woman that I hope was a doctor or nurse strode through. A man carried a weeping young boy away from the scene. As Nicky pointed out, there wasn't much we could do, so we left. But for the rest of the day I couldn't clear from my mind those images of the immediate aftermath of the crash: of the injured man as he staggered away, clearly in shock but as if relieved to be able to get up, struggling to get it together; and then a few seconds later the vision of his face crumpling as he lost consciousness and his body gave way to his injuries. I just discovered today that he died in hospital.
On to more cheerful things. Nicky and I went to Cajamarca this weekend, a town in the lower Andes where the last king of the Incas, Atahualpa, met and was betrayed and murdered by the Spanish conquistadors. It's a charming town with lots of pretty old buildings and quaint plazas - and less taxi traffic. It's set in a wide lush valley between green hills scattered with peasant settlements. So there are loads of cute peasants in their traditional colourful layers and odd hats working the fields and walking their donkeys accross the mountains. We took a hike up into the hills to get to a set of Inca ruins recommended in the Lonely Planet, but after 5 hours of climbing without finding it (when it was supposed to take only four), it started raining hard. After getting very wet and miserable, we decided to give up and turn back. I felt very guilty because Nicky's never really been hiking before and had no rain protection, so she was very tired and absolutely drenched! Hopefully she doesn't hate me too much for dragging her up there! It was beautiful until the rain came. The next day we visited the natural hot baths (used by Atahualpa before he met the Spaniards), some funerary niches dug into the mountainside, an touristy Alpine dairy producing Swiss cheese founded by some German dude, and a nice botanical garden with noisy frogs and a guinea-pig pen. A very nice weekend away from the noise, heat, pollution and general stressfulness of Trujillo!
I have less than a week left in Trujillo. Four days in the Benificencia, and 3 in the other institution we've started visiting, a school for kids - and adults who haven't been able to leave - with special needs and severe learning difficulties. At first I wasn't sure how I'd cope, having no experience with such people. But they're just like other kids, except that they look a bit different, are slower, more difficult to understand, and some of them are about 40. They can be really cute, and it was really inspiring playing a bit of volleyball with them and seeing how much enjoyment they got out of sport, despite being barely able to catch a ball. I do feel sorry for the kids with less severe problems though. The spectrum of severity is so broad that some kids, who to me seem compus mentus but just a bit slow, are forced to do the same tedious colouring-in activities as others who make odd noises all the time and can barely coordinate crayon with paper. I say kids, but I'm actually referring to the group of adults, aged between about 16 and 40. Mentally, they're effectively kids I suppose. They behave loads better than the little mites at the Benificencia.
I'm going to Huaraz next Weds night, since schools are closed for Easter from Thursday and I only have to be in Lima for the start of my Macchu Picchu trip for the 11th. Huaraz is up in the Cordillera Blanca, the highest mountain range in the Andes. It claims to be the best place for hiking possibly in South America, so I'm hoping to get stuck in. Not sure if I'll attempt any summits, but apparently there's a beautiful 4-day trek with amazing views that rizes to 4,900m or so, so I want to try that. Need to get acclimatised for the Inca Trail.
This weekend though Nicky and I are going to try sandboarding and surfing, and hit the beach in between! Wahey! Hopefully it won't rain like it did yesterday. It's not supposed to rain here and it pissed it down for hours, so there's been a huge fuss about it in the papers and everything. How very British to moan so much about the weather.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Trujillo and Troublesome Kids
I just want to tear my hear out! The kids are insane. They're all very cute (tanned skin and big brown eyes), and there are some absolutely adorable ones that I just want to cuddle all day, but there are some right monsters too. The worst little terror, who barely listens to me anyway, has just discovered that I'm ticklish, so there goes the tiniest fragment of control over him I might have had.
I'm working in an instution called "La Benificencia Publica de Trujillo", and to be honest I'm still trying to figure out myself exactly what it does. I was told before I came that it was a home for abandoned an orphaned children, and the description of my project was "community work with orphans". But of some 150 children in the school, very few "internos" actually sleep there, and those that do only stay during the weeks and return to their homes at the weekends. All of the children have homes to go to then, even if they live with aunts and uncles. The majority live with at least one of their parents. It seems to me that the Benificencia takes children whose families cannot afford the time or money to look after them properly outside of school hours (if they are of school age). It provides supervision, food and showers for the kids during weekdays, and all children up to the age of about 12 are catered for. I've asked several people on different occasions about how the Benificencia works, but I've struggled to understand the answers correctly, and have received different answers each time! So I'm working on it...
The kids are split up into two halves: those of school age, and those too young for school. The latter group are subdivided and cared for by year group, whilst the older ones are divided into two groups depending on whether they go to school in the mornings or in the afternoons. (There seem to be two sessions in Peru: 8am - 1pm or 1pm to 6.) In the mornings, Nicky (another English volunteer) and I both help out with the older kids, whilst in the afternoons she tries to teach English to the 5 year olds, whilst I help out with the other bunch of older kids. The mornings are dead easy, as the kids are fresh and calm and work pretty quietly. The morning teacher is nice (despite having bad headaches everyday), and the kids are too, generally. When they get bored of their homework, or finish it, they come and play with us and laugh at our English and attempts at Spanish, and I entertain them by raising my eyebrows, rolling my tongue and whistling into my hands. Their amazement makes me feel less useless for being unable to roll my Rs. Being called "Señorita Lucy" is quite nice too.
The afternoons are much more exhausting. I basically help the full time member of staff, Señorita Magdelena, supervise about 22 kids ranging from 6 to 12 with their lunch and showertime, then help them with their homework in class. I'm not so fond of Magdelena. She treats me rather like one of the other kids that she has to deal with, and speaks to fast for me to understand. I feel like I'm in school again having things yelled at me that I don't understand. She doesn't seem to have much pacience for the kids, and shouts angrily at them a lot. She's lumped me at the back of the (riciculously huge) classroom with the 3 naughtiest kids, and I have to make sure they finish their homework by hometime at about 5.
Vanessa isn't that bad, she is quite conscientious and clever and would work on her own. But she plays up when the other 2 start. And basically they never stop. Lucero is infuriating. She can be quite quiet and keep herself to herself, but she has the attention span of a goldfish with ADD. She just stares into space after writing one letter (they've got handwriting practice), and then counts how many more pages she has left to fill. Giancarlos is undoubtedly the most monstrous child I know. He is unbelievably insolent, I'm actually glad I can't understand all the bad words he uses to talk back at me. He continuously fights with the other kids around him, breaks the leads of his pencils, steals and hides others' stationary and tries to piss me off. I'm still struggling with commands to tell them to behave, sit down and do their work or their parents will get mad, but even when I do say it right they ignore me. Aaaah!
Sometimes I'm told to dictate to the kids who don't have homework at the same time as supervising the terrorsome three, which is just impossible. They seek attention all the time! What makes it worse is that the kids' abilities are so different. Even of those that are in the same grade at school, some can spell and write quite long words whilst others can barely read the most basic of words. The less able kids just copy off the more advanced ones, understanding nothing. They all plead "enseñame", or "ayudame" (teach me, help me), but when I try to help the ones that don't get it, the others get bored and start fighting. There are a few really cute good kids. Juan is 10 I think, one of the interns, is very studious and wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He always finishes his homework, and comes to me to learn some more! Unlike the other kids, who just wrap themselves round me and smother me in kisses when they're feeling affectionate, he's quite shy and just comes to sit next to me. A couple of the kids have picked up on some English words and repeat them in high pitched voices playfully when I'm around. "Okaaaaay, hello!" They all want their names translating into English...
What's sad is that a few of the kids, I've just discovered, are way behind in their understanding compared to the progress of the other kids in their grades at school. One girl today asked me to help her with addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers, but when I tried to help her I realised that she doesn't even recognise the written form of numbers greater than 10. It turns out that there are a few kids like this, whose schoolteachers seem to neglect them, or fail to realise how behind they are. A Peruvean volunteer and I are trying to help them catch up, by 5 in the afternoon, after having been at school since 8am, the kids are in no mood to learn any more. I've got a challenge now though, so I hope I can figure something out for them. Explaining language and numbers is difficult enough in English though, how am I going to cope with my feeble Spanish?
To be honest, life in Trujillo is pretty boring. I'm living with and being fed by a host family again, who are really nice. They are Monica and Jaime, in their late 30s, and their 2 children Karen, 12, and Valeria, 6. The girls are lovely. Valeria has some kidney problem, she had an operation when she was younger and has to take pills every day and see the specialist in Lima every so often. I think it may be to pay for her treatment that the family takes volunteers. Jaime is one of 11 brothers and sisters! He originally comes from somewhere in the jungle, his pictures are cool. He also has an incredibly attractive (and tall for Peruvian standards, which means just about bigger than me) brother of 22, who is sometimes around when he's not army training back in the jungle. Monica's parents live in the same block too. It's huge - and they're building more. Right outside my window, and they start at 7am every morning! Nicky and I have the 2nd floor apartment to ourselves, which is nice. It's basic though, a radio but no TV, so we have to amuse ourselves. Nicky is lovely. She's 24 and from Bournemouth, and when not in Peru works in a psychiatric hospital. So she's got loads of fascinating stories about the patients. She's been here a week more than me. When she arrived she knew no Spanish whatsoever, whilst the family know next to no English, so she's been having lessons every day too. It's still very basic. She must have been so bored before me, and dinner table conversations must have been dire! Unfortunately she's not mad keen on practicing Spanish either, so I'm having to speak English way more than I should be to keep improving my Spanish. I might try helping teach her but I don't want to appear patronising!
Trujillo itself isn't that exciting. Way too much traffic (about 80% of them delapidated taxis), lots of people, plenty of street children selling sweets, and heaps of tour companies wanting business. I'm not a huge fan of cities, I'm getting a bit bored of it. There's a nice central plaza, and the food is wonderfully cheap (you can get a 3 course lunch for about 75p), but that's about it. I've been out running a few times, but have resigned myself to morning laps round a piddly little park about 5 minutes from the house, because I'm getting sick of the leery men who feel obliged to hiss or make some comment whenever us Gringas pass. Being a gringo isn't always great. I think the bar we went to on Saturday saw us as a great opportunity to get rid of their fake banknotes they'd not been careful enough to check. It worked, now I have a souvenir of Peru's false currency. It's a pretty good imitation, but the paper's starting to split, so I don't think anyone would be stupid enough for us to fob it off on.
But there are a few really cool places to see around about. There's a good beach a 25p bus ride away, which is more touristy with surfers and bars and souvenir shops. It's famous for the fisherman and their long thin canoes made of straw, which are pretty cool. There are 2 important pre-Copnquest archaeological sites close by too. Chan Chan is a huge ancient city, whose remains even today are quite impressive, though most of it has been eroded by weather, man and time, and is being reclaimed by the the desert. Without considerable reconstruction it's hard to envisage what it might have been like. More interesting, I think, is the smaller site of Huaca de la Luna y el Sol (the Moon and the Sun). They are two large pyramids, in the grounds of a now ruined city, that are still being excavated. They were religious and ceremonial sites of the Moche people, where sacrifices to the gods were made in the hope of a good harvest, for example. Thanks to the nature of their construction (every 100 years or so the Moche people conmpletely filled up the current layer of their pyramid and constructed a new temple on top) with lots of painstaking work it has been possible to unearth the original full-scale internal walls within the pyramids, and the genuine colourful murals with which they were decorated. So you can more easily imagine how things might have been.
That was last weekend. This weekend I really want to get out of the city and into the mountains, but Nicky's not a big exercise person so I'm not sure she'll be keen on hiking. I'd like to go to Cajamarca, the site where the Spanish Conquistadors met with the last king of the Incas, Atahualpa, and betrayed and then murdered him, before massacring his people. South American history is pretty violent, it helps to put the naughtiness of the kids into perspective.
I'm working in an instution called "La Benificencia Publica de Trujillo", and to be honest I'm still trying to figure out myself exactly what it does. I was told before I came that it was a home for abandoned an orphaned children, and the description of my project was "community work with orphans". But of some 150 children in the school, very few "internos" actually sleep there, and those that do only stay during the weeks and return to their homes at the weekends. All of the children have homes to go to then, even if they live with aunts and uncles. The majority live with at least one of their parents. It seems to me that the Benificencia takes children whose families cannot afford the time or money to look after them properly outside of school hours (if they are of school age). It provides supervision, food and showers for the kids during weekdays, and all children up to the age of about 12 are catered for. I've asked several people on different occasions about how the Benificencia works, but I've struggled to understand the answers correctly, and have received different answers each time! So I'm working on it...
The kids are split up into two halves: those of school age, and those too young for school. The latter group are subdivided and cared for by year group, whilst the older ones are divided into two groups depending on whether they go to school in the mornings or in the afternoons. (There seem to be two sessions in Peru: 8am - 1pm or 1pm to 6.) In the mornings, Nicky (another English volunteer) and I both help out with the older kids, whilst in the afternoons she tries to teach English to the 5 year olds, whilst I help out with the other bunch of older kids. The mornings are dead easy, as the kids are fresh and calm and work pretty quietly. The morning teacher is nice (despite having bad headaches everyday), and the kids are too, generally. When they get bored of their homework, or finish it, they come and play with us and laugh at our English and attempts at Spanish, and I entertain them by raising my eyebrows, rolling my tongue and whistling into my hands. Their amazement makes me feel less useless for being unable to roll my Rs. Being called "Señorita Lucy" is quite nice too.
The afternoons are much more exhausting. I basically help the full time member of staff, Señorita Magdelena, supervise about 22 kids ranging from 6 to 12 with their lunch and showertime, then help them with their homework in class. I'm not so fond of Magdelena. She treats me rather like one of the other kids that she has to deal with, and speaks to fast for me to understand. I feel like I'm in school again having things yelled at me that I don't understand. She doesn't seem to have much pacience for the kids, and shouts angrily at them a lot. She's lumped me at the back of the (riciculously huge) classroom with the 3 naughtiest kids, and I have to make sure they finish their homework by hometime at about 5.
Vanessa isn't that bad, she is quite conscientious and clever and would work on her own. But she plays up when the other 2 start. And basically they never stop. Lucero is infuriating. She can be quite quiet and keep herself to herself, but she has the attention span of a goldfish with ADD. She just stares into space after writing one letter (they've got handwriting practice), and then counts how many more pages she has left to fill. Giancarlos is undoubtedly the most monstrous child I know. He is unbelievably insolent, I'm actually glad I can't understand all the bad words he uses to talk back at me. He continuously fights with the other kids around him, breaks the leads of his pencils, steals and hides others' stationary and tries to piss me off. I'm still struggling with commands to tell them to behave, sit down and do their work or their parents will get mad, but even when I do say it right they ignore me. Aaaah!
Sometimes I'm told to dictate to the kids who don't have homework at the same time as supervising the terrorsome three, which is just impossible. They seek attention all the time! What makes it worse is that the kids' abilities are so different. Even of those that are in the same grade at school, some can spell and write quite long words whilst others can barely read the most basic of words. The less able kids just copy off the more advanced ones, understanding nothing. They all plead "enseñame", or "ayudame" (teach me, help me), but when I try to help the ones that don't get it, the others get bored and start fighting. There are a few really cute good kids. Juan is 10 I think, one of the interns, is very studious and wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He always finishes his homework, and comes to me to learn some more! Unlike the other kids, who just wrap themselves round me and smother me in kisses when they're feeling affectionate, he's quite shy and just comes to sit next to me. A couple of the kids have picked up on some English words and repeat them in high pitched voices playfully when I'm around. "Okaaaaay, hello!" They all want their names translating into English...
What's sad is that a few of the kids, I've just discovered, are way behind in their understanding compared to the progress of the other kids in their grades at school. One girl today asked me to help her with addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers, but when I tried to help her I realised that she doesn't even recognise the written form of numbers greater than 10. It turns out that there are a few kids like this, whose schoolteachers seem to neglect them, or fail to realise how behind they are. A Peruvean volunteer and I are trying to help them catch up, by 5 in the afternoon, after having been at school since 8am, the kids are in no mood to learn any more. I've got a challenge now though, so I hope I can figure something out for them. Explaining language and numbers is difficult enough in English though, how am I going to cope with my feeble Spanish?
To be honest, life in Trujillo is pretty boring. I'm living with and being fed by a host family again, who are really nice. They are Monica and Jaime, in their late 30s, and their 2 children Karen, 12, and Valeria, 6. The girls are lovely. Valeria has some kidney problem, she had an operation when she was younger and has to take pills every day and see the specialist in Lima every so often. I think it may be to pay for her treatment that the family takes volunteers. Jaime is one of 11 brothers and sisters! He originally comes from somewhere in the jungle, his pictures are cool. He also has an incredibly attractive (and tall for Peruvian standards, which means just about bigger than me) brother of 22, who is sometimes around when he's not army training back in the jungle. Monica's parents live in the same block too. It's huge - and they're building more. Right outside my window, and they start at 7am every morning! Nicky and I have the 2nd floor apartment to ourselves, which is nice. It's basic though, a radio but no TV, so we have to amuse ourselves. Nicky is lovely. She's 24 and from Bournemouth, and when not in Peru works in a psychiatric hospital. So she's got loads of fascinating stories about the patients. She's been here a week more than me. When she arrived she knew no Spanish whatsoever, whilst the family know next to no English, so she's been having lessons every day too. It's still very basic. She must have been so bored before me, and dinner table conversations must have been dire! Unfortunately she's not mad keen on practicing Spanish either, so I'm having to speak English way more than I should be to keep improving my Spanish. I might try helping teach her but I don't want to appear patronising!
Trujillo itself isn't that exciting. Way too much traffic (about 80% of them delapidated taxis), lots of people, plenty of street children selling sweets, and heaps of tour companies wanting business. I'm not a huge fan of cities, I'm getting a bit bored of it. There's a nice central plaza, and the food is wonderfully cheap (you can get a 3 course lunch for about 75p), but that's about it. I've been out running a few times, but have resigned myself to morning laps round a piddly little park about 5 minutes from the house, because I'm getting sick of the leery men who feel obliged to hiss or make some comment whenever us Gringas pass. Being a gringo isn't always great. I think the bar we went to on Saturday saw us as a great opportunity to get rid of their fake banknotes they'd not been careful enough to check. It worked, now I have a souvenir of Peru's false currency. It's a pretty good imitation, but the paper's starting to split, so I don't think anyone would be stupid enough for us to fob it off on.
But there are a few really cool places to see around about. There's a good beach a 25p bus ride away, which is more touristy with surfers and bars and souvenir shops. It's famous for the fisherman and their long thin canoes made of straw, which are pretty cool. There are 2 important pre-Copnquest archaeological sites close by too. Chan Chan is a huge ancient city, whose remains even today are quite impressive, though most of it has been eroded by weather, man and time, and is being reclaimed by the the desert. Without considerable reconstruction it's hard to envisage what it might have been like. More interesting, I think, is the smaller site of Huaca de la Luna y el Sol (the Moon and the Sun). They are two large pyramids, in the grounds of a now ruined city, that are still being excavated. They were religious and ceremonial sites of the Moche people, where sacrifices to the gods were made in the hope of a good harvest, for example. Thanks to the nature of their construction (every 100 years or so the Moche people conmpletely filled up the current layer of their pyramid and constructed a new temple on top) with lots of painstaking work it has been possible to unearth the original full-scale internal walls within the pyramids, and the genuine colourful murals with which they were decorated. So you can more easily imagine how things might have been.
That was last weekend. This weekend I really want to get out of the city and into the mountains, but Nicky's not a big exercise person so I'm not sure she'll be keen on hiking. I'd like to go to Cajamarca, the site where the Spanish Conquistadors met with the last king of the Incas, Atahualpa, and betrayed and then murdered him, before massacring his people. South American history is pretty violent, it helps to put the naughtiness of the kids into perspective.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Uh-oh?
Well, I did feel safe, until last night 4 British guys got back to the hostal after being mugged by 3 guys with guns on the same beach on which I'd been out running a few hours earlier. They've lost their passports, wallets, driving licences, flight tickets, everything. Although to be honest they should have read their guidebooks, which always say not to take anything with you to the beach, and not to visit at all at night.
I'm also starting to notice in loads of buildings signs that say "Zona Seguro en Casos de Sismos" (secure zones in case of earthquakes).
It'll be fine!
I'm also starting to notice in loads of buildings signs that say "Zona Seguro en Casos de Sismos" (secure zones in case of earthquakes).
It'll be fine!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Being a Backpacker in Lima
Lima is huge compared to Quito. With over 8 million residents, and on the coast not far south of the equator, it's hot and busy. Feels really different from fresher Quito, high up in the mountains.
I had a bit of an adventure when I arrived in the city. I'd found a hostel I wanted to try from the Lonely Planet, in an area of Lima recommended by Carlos, but the phone number wouldn't work from Quito. When I arrived in the taxi at midnight at the address, it turned out the hostal no longer exists any more. So I had to again refuse the hotel suggested rather persistently by the taxi driver, and find the next one on the list. The Barranco Backpackers is ok. I guess it's kind of cliched. It's run by a Spanish woman and her two daughters who help out, and owned by an expat Londener. He's a character: tall, skinny, and fidgety, and always seems to know someone who knows someone who can help if you have a query. Despite living here for 15 years he still has only very basic Spanish with a strong Cockney accent. But he's really friendly, and there are plenty of fellow travellers to stop me getting bored. I've been wandering round Lima with an Australian guy called Chris. Not sure how old he is but he's at least 30, and because he's a little more than 6 feet tall gets cramp from sitting in the colectivos (minibus-style public transport) and at restaurant tables. Fortunately the beds in the hostal are the best he's found so far, he actually fits.
We've wandered around Miraflores, the posher touristy area of Lima. It's full of restaurants and bars and shops, lots of them American. It's home to the first Starbucks I've seen so far, as well as classy looking KFCs, MacDonalds and Burger Kind (with gold-coloured signs...). It seems, from when we were searching for a place to get lunch, that the prices increase in direct proportion to proximity to the centre of Miraflores. We took a street leading out from the main square, not being too keen on forking out 25 soles for lunch, and after walking past a series of 5 cafes whose prices decreased incrementally, settled for a 3 course lunch for 5 soles (about 60p). Bargain! And haven't been sick yet. There are very few indigenous people, everyone is (relatively) taller and tanned, and there are lots of gringos wandering round in board shorts, thongs and dreads. Mainly Aussies, I've not met too many so far. Maybe Carlos's stereotype is true - they don't stray far from the beaches. Though the beaches here aren't great, and apparently the sea is too dirty to swim in if you want to stay disease-free.
We went into 'downtown' Lima yesterday. First stop was el Museo de la Nación. As with all museums, all that standing around for hours is really tiring, but it was quite interesting. Though maybe not as much for Chris, whose level of Spanish (limited to greetings and cocktail names) didn't allow him to read any of the explanations next to the exhibits. There were a few translations into English at the start of each exhibit, but it seems like the translator got bored after the first few paragraphs and stopped. Or maybe the money ran out. After room after room of simplistically sculpted and painted ceramics, I got pretty bored, so we sped up to get to the Incas. It was good to get a sense of the history of the people of Peru though, it will put the ruins I visit in context. There was a special display organised in association with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee of Peru displaying photos and memories from the decades of terrorism in the country between 1980 and 2000, the most infamous and important of which was initiated by the Maoist movement Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. Hundreds of thousands were killed and many fled the highlands to the cities or other countries. The pictures were pretty harrowing and gruesome. It was interesting to see. Then we wandered round the centre of Lima. There are some impressive old buildings round the nicely kept main squares, and the Church of San Fransico (I think there's one in every South American city) was very elaborate. A glimpse down into the catacombs revealed a pile of human bones - bit gross! Outside of the immediate centre, things are a little less aesthetically pleasing. The river through the north of the city runs a murky brown (definitely don't want to swim in the sea if that's where the water comes from), and the pavements seem in need of renovation. But pretty tidy and neat compared to African capitals, I would say. The same machine-gun toting military men wandering around though, even a few big tanks sitting in the middle of the city. I assume it's all for show. Most of them were falling asleep on duty or fiddling with their mobiles and MP3s.
It's definitely different to my impression of Quito. I miss it. It was good to get to know the city. At the weekend, I had a bit more of a chance to wander around Gringolandia and the old town, as well as revisit the school and my host family in the north. I'll definitely miss the people. After a nice final supper with my tour group (good old Magic Bean again), when we had to say our final goodbye to Carlos, who'd been fantastic, I caught up with Karen, AnaSofie and Rebecca for a night out. It was soo good to see them again. We got drunk on Cuba Libras and Mojitos and danced the night away in the sweaty bar they always go to. I practiced my Spanish with a few of the local guys. The following day I met up with Sam, a guy from the school, on Sunday in the old town, and we visited the Basilica (biggest church in the city) and had lunch in the central plaza. I caught up with an Ecuadorean guy I'd been in contact with for a while in the afternoon. I wish I'd had more time to see more of him, but sadly not. Had dinner with the remainder of the tour group, and met up with Brad a little later for a drink, since I'd missed him the first time I left. On Monday, I popped into the school to see some of the students and collect my glasses from Aldis (I'd left them in the hostel in Ambato). I hardly recognised anyone, lots of the students that were there when I was had left and been replaced by new ones. It was nice to see the ones I knew though. Then I returned to the flat of my host family for lunch. I'd told them I was going to be in Quito for a few days again, and they'd told me to get in touch when I returned, so I did and they invited me for lunch. I'd been feeling a little lost in Quito, not being part of the schoolgroup any more and with the tourgroup disbanding. When my real family and friends are so far away it felt great to have a subsitute family. Albarro had told me he had to leave for the jungle on Monday morning so I would miss him again, but it turned out that he postponed his departure so that he could see me for lunch! It was so lovely to see all them again. I hope we stay in touch. Finally, I packed my bags to leave. But after such a lovely lunch, and with Karen insisting on accompanying me to the airport, I didn't feel to lonely!
So these next few days I'm going to be cooped up in internet cafés trying to complete my bloody TEFL course before I leave for my volunteer placement on Sunday, and figuring out how to fit in a week or so in Columbia without having to cancel too much of the itinerary I'd got planned. I'm loving my trip so far but I am slightly regretting having planned it out so tightly. It could cost me a lot to fit this in. Or maybe I'll just have to stay out here a little longer... If anyone's on MSN during the next day or 2 maybe I'll catch you!
I had a bit of an adventure when I arrived in the city. I'd found a hostel I wanted to try from the Lonely Planet, in an area of Lima recommended by Carlos, but the phone number wouldn't work from Quito. When I arrived in the taxi at midnight at the address, it turned out the hostal no longer exists any more. So I had to again refuse the hotel suggested rather persistently by the taxi driver, and find the next one on the list. The Barranco Backpackers is ok. I guess it's kind of cliched. It's run by a Spanish woman and her two daughters who help out, and owned by an expat Londener. He's a character: tall, skinny, and fidgety, and always seems to know someone who knows someone who can help if you have a query. Despite living here for 15 years he still has only very basic Spanish with a strong Cockney accent. But he's really friendly, and there are plenty of fellow travellers to stop me getting bored. I've been wandering round Lima with an Australian guy called Chris. Not sure how old he is but he's at least 30, and because he's a little more than 6 feet tall gets cramp from sitting in the colectivos (minibus-style public transport) and at restaurant tables. Fortunately the beds in the hostal are the best he's found so far, he actually fits.
We've wandered around Miraflores, the posher touristy area of Lima. It's full of restaurants and bars and shops, lots of them American. It's home to the first Starbucks I've seen so far, as well as classy looking KFCs, MacDonalds and Burger Kind (with gold-coloured signs...). It seems, from when we were searching for a place to get lunch, that the prices increase in direct proportion to proximity to the centre of Miraflores. We took a street leading out from the main square, not being too keen on forking out 25 soles for lunch, and after walking past a series of 5 cafes whose prices decreased incrementally, settled for a 3 course lunch for 5 soles (about 60p). Bargain! And haven't been sick yet. There are very few indigenous people, everyone is (relatively) taller and tanned, and there are lots of gringos wandering round in board shorts, thongs and dreads. Mainly Aussies, I've not met too many so far. Maybe Carlos's stereotype is true - they don't stray far from the beaches. Though the beaches here aren't great, and apparently the sea is too dirty to swim in if you want to stay disease-free.
We went into 'downtown' Lima yesterday. First stop was el Museo de la Nación. As with all museums, all that standing around for hours is really tiring, but it was quite interesting. Though maybe not as much for Chris, whose level of Spanish (limited to greetings and cocktail names) didn't allow him to read any of the explanations next to the exhibits. There were a few translations into English at the start of each exhibit, but it seems like the translator got bored after the first few paragraphs and stopped. Or maybe the money ran out. After room after room of simplistically sculpted and painted ceramics, I got pretty bored, so we sped up to get to the Incas. It was good to get a sense of the history of the people of Peru though, it will put the ruins I visit in context. There was a special display organised in association with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee of Peru displaying photos and memories from the decades of terrorism in the country between 1980 and 2000, the most infamous and important of which was initiated by the Maoist movement Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. Hundreds of thousands were killed and many fled the highlands to the cities or other countries. The pictures were pretty harrowing and gruesome. It was interesting to see. Then we wandered round the centre of Lima. There are some impressive old buildings round the nicely kept main squares, and the Church of San Fransico (I think there's one in every South American city) was very elaborate. A glimpse down into the catacombs revealed a pile of human bones - bit gross! Outside of the immediate centre, things are a little less aesthetically pleasing. The river through the north of the city runs a murky brown (definitely don't want to swim in the sea if that's where the water comes from), and the pavements seem in need of renovation. But pretty tidy and neat compared to African capitals, I would say. The same machine-gun toting military men wandering around though, even a few big tanks sitting in the middle of the city. I assume it's all for show. Most of them were falling asleep on duty or fiddling with their mobiles and MP3s.
It's definitely different to my impression of Quito. I miss it. It was good to get to know the city. At the weekend, I had a bit more of a chance to wander around Gringolandia and the old town, as well as revisit the school and my host family in the north. I'll definitely miss the people. After a nice final supper with my tour group (good old Magic Bean again), when we had to say our final goodbye to Carlos, who'd been fantastic, I caught up with Karen, AnaSofie and Rebecca for a night out. It was soo good to see them again. We got drunk on Cuba Libras and Mojitos and danced the night away in the sweaty bar they always go to. I practiced my Spanish with a few of the local guys. The following day I met up with Sam, a guy from the school, on Sunday in the old town, and we visited the Basilica (biggest church in the city) and had lunch in the central plaza. I caught up with an Ecuadorean guy I'd been in contact with for a while in the afternoon. I wish I'd had more time to see more of him, but sadly not. Had dinner with the remainder of the tour group, and met up with Brad a little later for a drink, since I'd missed him the first time I left. On Monday, I popped into the school to see some of the students and collect my glasses from Aldis (I'd left them in the hostel in Ambato). I hardly recognised anyone, lots of the students that were there when I was had left and been replaced by new ones. It was nice to see the ones I knew though. Then I returned to the flat of my host family for lunch. I'd told them I was going to be in Quito for a few days again, and they'd told me to get in touch when I returned, so I did and they invited me for lunch. I'd been feeling a little lost in Quito, not being part of the schoolgroup any more and with the tourgroup disbanding. When my real family and friends are so far away it felt great to have a subsitute family. Albarro had told me he had to leave for the jungle on Monday morning so I would miss him again, but it turned out that he postponed his departure so that he could see me for lunch! It was so lovely to see all them again. I hope we stay in touch. Finally, I packed my bags to leave. But after such a lovely lunch, and with Karen insisting on accompanying me to the airport, I didn't feel to lonely!
So these next few days I'm going to be cooped up in internet cafés trying to complete my bloody TEFL course before I leave for my volunteer placement on Sunday, and figuring out how to fit in a week or so in Columbia without having to cancel too much of the itinerary I'd got planned. I'm loving my trip so far but I am slightly regretting having planned it out so tightly. It could cost me a lot to fit this in. Or maybe I'll just have to stay out here a little longer... If anyone's on MSN during the next day or 2 maybe I'll catch you!
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Rain in the Rainforest
I'm now in Otavalo, a nice town to the north of Quito. It's located in a lovely area of Ecuador, in a green valley between (you guessed it) several volcanos. We took a hike yesterday afternoon round the rim of one such volcano, that contains a beautiful large blue crater lake, with a couple of islands in the middle. The town itself basically functions as a giant tourist market, especially at the weekends. It's Saturday, the busiest day, and the streets are blocked by lines of market stalls selling ponchos, alpaca scarfs and clothing, jewellry of all colours and styles, Andean flutes, handbags, pirate music and DVDs and just about everything else you can think of. I'm trying to avoid spending more of my rapidly-diminishing cash on souvenirs that I'd have to lug around in my already bulging backpack for the next 5 months.
Rafting was really good fun. The company that took us rafting were a family originally from Ireland who moved over here about 14 years ago. They are a couple of about 50 and their 4 children, in their 20s. The boys work as rafting guides, the girls in the office and cooking the food. It's a great set-up, and they were very professional. The first day we rafted through the tropical forests near Tena, one of the biggest jungle towns in Ecuador. Because the water was a bit high, after the first serious rains in over a month (thanks to global warming, the rainy season doesn't see much rain any more), it was too dangerous to raft the normal river, so we had to take an alternative route. Half-way along there was a waterfall, way too rocky and rough to send the rafts down, so we had to get out and climb up the steep riverbank and around the side of the waterfall before continuing in the rafts. It was a bit scary, the guides had to set up ropes for us to steady ourselves with on the rocks. So we got a bit of rockclimbing and abseiling thrown in to the package. One girl fell and slit her elbow open, which was a little gruesome! But the rafting was great. Not quite as extreme as in Uganda: there were no flips. But I was quite glad of that. Instead we had fun pushing people off the rafts and ambushing other boats. One of the guys in our boat managed to pull one of the guides into the water, hehehe. He was pissed off though, because he lots his sunglasses. Oops!
The scenery was just breathtaking. It's hard to describe, but imagine a roaring river rushing between and over protruding rocks, flanked on either side by high rocky banks covered in dense, lush green vegetation. In the distance, you can see the jungle spreading out over hills and mountains, with clouds so low they look like giant cobwebs in the valleys that need sweeping away. The diversity of the flora and fauna is incredible. No two trees or plants seemed the same. We saw giant bright blue butterflies, and smaller orange and yellow ones, as well as tiny birds of all colours. Climbing across the rocks, we spotted centipedes and caterpillars and giant ants. Naturally, we got bit by the mozzies and sandflies. Well, some of us did. Haha.
The second day we rafted a river higher up in the Andes, where the world rafting championships is often held. The scenery was different but just as stunning. On Thursday we headed to Papallacta, a little town with hot springs in the cloud forest. I'm not good at relaxing, so I got a bit bored whilst the others were pampering themselves in the hot spa pools and paying stupid money for a massage. I took a hike up into the mountains nearby, which was really cool - I saw waterfalls and plunge pools and loads of flowers. However I also came across, along a deserted track, at least 5 skeletons of horses, in varying states of decomposition and consumption, some so fresh that the colours of the coats were still distinguishable. That was a bit gruesome. When I got back to the town I asked the guy in the Tourist Information centre about them, and he said the bears had eaten them. Which was puzzling, since the information on the display boards said that the bears here are vegetarian... I wasn't sure whether he was suggesting that the bears catch and kill the horses themselves, or whether dead horses were taken up there and dumped for the bears to eat, or maybe whether the horses had fallen from the cliffs above.
It's the last day of my tour today, we're heading back to Quito after lunch. It's been fantastic, I've seen and done so many things I'd never have been able to on my own, and I'm very glad I've done it. But I do miss being around people my age. It's not that I haven't got on really well with the rest of the group, I have, and it's been really interesting and fun to mix with people of such different ages and backgrounds. But it'll definitely be good to see some of the students from the Spanish school later tonight and tomorrow. It'll be great to catch up. And then on Monday I leave for Peru....!
Rafting was really good fun. The company that took us rafting were a family originally from Ireland who moved over here about 14 years ago. They are a couple of about 50 and their 4 children, in their 20s. The boys work as rafting guides, the girls in the office and cooking the food. It's a great set-up, and they were very professional. The first day we rafted through the tropical forests near Tena, one of the biggest jungle towns in Ecuador. Because the water was a bit high, after the first serious rains in over a month (thanks to global warming, the rainy season doesn't see much rain any more), it was too dangerous to raft the normal river, so we had to take an alternative route. Half-way along there was a waterfall, way too rocky and rough to send the rafts down, so we had to get out and climb up the steep riverbank and around the side of the waterfall before continuing in the rafts. It was a bit scary, the guides had to set up ropes for us to steady ourselves with on the rocks. So we got a bit of rockclimbing and abseiling thrown in to the package. One girl fell and slit her elbow open, which was a little gruesome! But the rafting was great. Not quite as extreme as in Uganda: there were no flips. But I was quite glad of that. Instead we had fun pushing people off the rafts and ambushing other boats. One of the guys in our boat managed to pull one of the guides into the water, hehehe. He was pissed off though, because he lots his sunglasses. Oops!
The scenery was just breathtaking. It's hard to describe, but imagine a roaring river rushing between and over protruding rocks, flanked on either side by high rocky banks covered in dense, lush green vegetation. In the distance, you can see the jungle spreading out over hills and mountains, with clouds so low they look like giant cobwebs in the valleys that need sweeping away. The diversity of the flora and fauna is incredible. No two trees or plants seemed the same. We saw giant bright blue butterflies, and smaller orange and yellow ones, as well as tiny birds of all colours. Climbing across the rocks, we spotted centipedes and caterpillars and giant ants. Naturally, we got bit by the mozzies and sandflies. Well, some of us did. Haha.
The second day we rafted a river higher up in the Andes, where the world rafting championships is often held. The scenery was different but just as stunning. On Thursday we headed to Papallacta, a little town with hot springs in the cloud forest. I'm not good at relaxing, so I got a bit bored whilst the others were pampering themselves in the hot spa pools and paying stupid money for a massage. I took a hike up into the mountains nearby, which was really cool - I saw waterfalls and plunge pools and loads of flowers. However I also came across, along a deserted track, at least 5 skeletons of horses, in varying states of decomposition and consumption, some so fresh that the colours of the coats were still distinguishable. That was a bit gruesome. When I got back to the town I asked the guy in the Tourist Information centre about them, and he said the bears had eaten them. Which was puzzling, since the information on the display boards said that the bears here are vegetarian... I wasn't sure whether he was suggesting that the bears catch and kill the horses themselves, or whether dead horses were taken up there and dumped for the bears to eat, or maybe whether the horses had fallen from the cliffs above.
It's the last day of my tour today, we're heading back to Quito after lunch. It's been fantastic, I've seen and done so many things I'd never have been able to on my own, and I'm very glad I've done it. But I do miss being around people my age. It's not that I haven't got on really well with the rest of the group, I have, and it's been really interesting and fun to mix with people of such different ages and backgrounds. But it'll definitely be good to see some of the students from the Spanish school later tonight and tomorrow. It'll be great to catch up. And then on Monday I leave for Peru....!
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