Final post, for now....

Welcome to my blog! My adventures in South America are finished for the time being, so feel free to explore my journal covering my time in Peru in Summer 2005. It's all very exciting stuff, I promise...!

A little reflection

Now I think I am almost totally aclimatized once again to life in England. I've stopped thinking in Spanish; I've learnt that toilet roll should go down the toilet; and I've started showering every day rather than once every 4 days. Though still, not a morning goes by that I don't celebrate my solid bowel movemets; gin and tonics, while still being my drink of choice, aren't quite as exciting when there is a ready supply of tonic water in this country; and I'm really missing eating rice 3 times a day (ok, that last bit was sarcasm).

So before you ask "how was your summer in Peru?" I've gotta say - amazing. I've brought back some great memories with me and made some fantastic friends. Some of the highlights:

- Going to concert for beer festival, and being tall enough to see over the whole crowd
- Teaching the young people at Chicon English with a fantastic cockney accent
- Machu Picchu of course!
- Those long nights in Pintacha's (cheesecake, mmm...!), and the mornings in Tequila
- Learning a whole lot of cool stuff in Es Salud at Calca in the lab with Sandra
- Trying to communicate with my great family; Jesus, Lupe, Yurmo and Carlos - I think by the time I left they were finally understanding a bit of what I was saying...
- Fallen Angel for dinner, Jack's for breakfast, and a bit of James Bond in the hotel room in Cusco

I've got a whole load more great pictures to put up, which I'll try and arrange in some semblance of a chronological order for posterity.

Of course, I couldn't have done any of this without the support of my friends and family, so thank you so much to everyone who made this possible for me. Loadsa love and llama kisses to you all!

Ooh, and finally the person who won the Smarties was...

...drumroll please...

Margot from Anglo (where my mum works)!!! Thanks for your help, sure you'll share with the rest of the office!

So overall, I would recommend South America, especially Peru, to anyone who is considering doing a little travelling. The people are all so lovely (I'd say hola about 20 times a day to total strangers!), and as long as you're cautious, you should have no problems with theft or illness or anything horrible like that. I'm already saving for my next whirlwind adventure, and I'm hoping, as well as going back to Urubamba, to go to Argentina and Chile also. So look out for www.anna2???.org.uk...

My journey home - such fun!

Well, I'm finally back in the UK and pretty well settled into my lovely new house, nice and close to sea level once again.

Although I loved my time in Peru, the worst part was the international travel just to get there and back, and the fact that I hate to fly with a passion doesn't help this very much. Must say, overall I had a pretty traumatic journey home; first I lost my beautiful hat in Cusco airport (sob!), and the planes got progresssively later and later... Didn't sleep at all in Lima, as was there overnight and was scared that a scary person would rob me - ended up with Jose from Papa Johns telling me how clever I was for about an hour, and eating Big Macs and pizzas all night long. And it's kinda weird how you have to pay $25 just to leave the country...

Then spent twice as long sitting in Santiago airport than I thought I would (at least I got a free meal and a bottle of cheap gin - boredom shopping), but from the little I saw of the country Chile looks beautiful, must go back to have a proper look one day. Flight to Lima was awful, as spent 13 hours feeling really ill with awful stomach cramps, and had to watch Miss Congeniality 2 (what were they thinking?!?) and something awful with Tommy Lee Jones and cheerleaders (what was I thinking?!?).

Once I finally arrived at Madrid, the had lost my bag - again!!! What is with this place?!? Is it like the Bermuda Triangle for blue Karrimor rucksacks??? So I was really late at this point, spent ages making reports about my bag, running around the most badly designed airport in the world to find the correct check-in desk, to wait for about 45 minutes while the people at the desk had a little chat. Then once I finally reached the front of the queue I was told off for being late, "it says check-in at 3:25 here, and it's now 5:45," at which point I started sobbing from exhaustion, fed-up-ness, and worry that I'd miss my flight. This scared the little Spanish man, who ran off to return 5 minutes later with a Club Class British Airways ticket for me. How nice.

Then I had to run through the terminal (to the other end of the airport again) as I was told my flight was boarding, only to be made to wait for another half an hour while more faffing and chatting went on among the staff. Was quite confused when I was handed a plastic bag with a Happy Shopper style ham sandwich and an orange as I got on the plane (found out about the BA food strike thingy later), but was grinning the whole time at all the English accents around me, and was jumping around in my nice big leather seat with extra leg room by the time we flew over the south coast.

Turns out my bag was once again left to languish in Madrid Airport for a while, but luckily this time they found it in less than a week and I picked it up the next day, 5 minutes after it had been flown in.

So, that was the end of my summer in Peru. Now to get down to some academic stylee work...

I'm coming home (soon-ish!)!!!

Can't remember if I mentioned this before, but managed to change my ticket and so am coming back in a week, arriving Thursday night, September the 1st. Looking forward to a bath and some lovely food (curry!!!). Then have hecticness for a while as I move and do other crazy things, so don't be offended if I don't call the second the plane touches down. I'll be pretty shattered anyway, 3 days of travelling, 4 planes, jet-lag and all that.

So been really busy, sorry for lack of updates, but managed to put piccies up! Machu Picchu was totally amazing, had a nice nap right in the middle of the site, so sure there's plenty of pictures the world over of me slowly baking in the sun with dribble coming out of my mouth. Hopefully going horsey riding and rafting this weekend, and to another free concert sponsered by a Peruvian beer company in Cusco.

Last day of work tomorrow in the lab, which I'll miss. Looking at 5 poo samples in 3 hours is something I can't envision myself doing for a while.

Off to win a pub quiz now!

View of the valley, Rio Urubamba, and Aguas Calientes (somewhere)


















Tourists at the site













A room - hmmm.....


















The classic photo!

Machu Picchu baby!!!

Arriving at the ruins













Agh! I'm finally here!!!!













The obligatory llama photo

Mas random piccies

Me in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco - that's the cathedral in the background












The gang in Bar Cusco













Cara, Patrick, Alastair stopping for emergency hypoglycemia meal on the Plaza in Cusco...












...watching the military might of Peru amble past...












Crossing the Rio Urubamba, we were really excited by the presence of greenery - reminds me of home!

Random piccies

Posing at Moray













Casa ProPeru! Oreo central!!!













Salt collectors at Salinas













One of the 3 Moray "farms" from above













Approach to Salinas

Red and white blood cells look COOL!

Today has been a pretty good day actually. After sorting out a whole load of chaos with the people on the health project ("but you´re doing eco-tourism, aren´t you?!?"), and stumbling along in Spanish, I finally got placed, in Es Salud in Calca, about 25 mins away by combi. Tuesdays I´ll be working in the lab, and Thursdays on a project surveying the correlations between gastro-intestinal cancer and abestos in the water supply. Sounds wicked cool. So today I was in the lab for the morning, examining blood and urine samples for infections and anaemia, which was REALLY intersting! Normally I´m only allowed to look at stomata with a microscope! And I got a groovy lab coat and mask - pretty hot though.

After yummy lunch (rice soup, rice, something yummy and chicha - and papaya with lúcuma yoghurt - mmm...), went to Spanish class and learnt much new stuff - sure by Monday will have forgotten it all though - oops.

Off soon for dinner with los otro voluntarios, possibly out for a few later, but not too much as have to make a ring tomorrow.

Ooh, and British peeps, you should listen out for the "Gasolina" and "Tengo Una Camisa Negra" (yeah, Alex and Rachel! It´s playing now!) songs on Radio 1 - wicked!

Quick update - sorry!

Sorry, it´s another short and sweet one! What have I been up to...? Went to Moray and Salinaras, saw the giant plant growing circles of the Incas, and the salt mines (amazing!) - I´ll try and get some piccies up soon (I always say that!). Went to Cusco, for the BEST food I have ever had (that I remember), and to spend hours watching James Bond in hotel room instead of being cultural and going to museums - oops. Now working on health project, which I am really excited about, though haven´t really done that much yet as been feeling a bit poorly - I hate my inadequate lungs!

PLEASE email me!!!

I am so sad, and rapidly losing my Britishness, as none of my friends will email me, you buggers. So if you are feeling charitable and want to cheer up a English girl in Peru, email alien_caterpillar "at" hotmail "dot" com - my code is not that hard to figure out. If you do not email me I will be so sad. Even more. And I can give you all the goss that I can not put on the internet ;)

More views and ruins at Pisac

Chris looking way too excited



















Yeah, I really shouldn´t look down...














Kristina and Sim looking exhuberant














Some of the Inca steppes, different plants for different altitudes













A part of the ancient city of Pisac

View from the ruins at Pisac














Alistair and me standing on the edge














Yeah, I look happy, but really I´m crapping myself













Down. Far.

Fried egg on the horizon...













And the sun is up!














Josh looking less than impressed

Some pictures of that sunrise thing - pretty self explanatory

Agh!!!













Llama attack!!!

View of valley from Yucay, next town over














Photos don´t do the size of the valley sides justice!













"Village green" in Yucay, with ancient trees

Can just see the glacier at the top there...














Mental people hike up there you know













The bathroom annexe of the eco-lodge in Chicon

Us in a truck - nice













The church in the Plaza

The trouble this is taking...

The Plaza de Armas in Urubamba













View south from the Plaza

The Peruvian pictures begin...

Due to time and computers generally being naff I'm gonna try and put the pics up just a few at a time, so avoid any more accidents where they all get deleted. By the way, I'm not in Machu Picchu due to the fact that I appear to be the only punctual person on the whole planet. Bah.

Hectic!

Ok, I´ll make it brief because of to Machu Picchu in a minute, and haven´t packed. Lake Titicaca was lovely, been a bit ill but I´l live, feel free to email me (please! I´m missing home!) at alien_caterpillar "at" hotmail.com and then I can give you my proper email address for my friends. Will write more when get back, but so busy now. Ooh, and Happy Independence Day!

It´s bloody raining!

Oh well, at least I get to use my raincoat!

OK, takes forever to upload pictures, even with a good computer....

In no particulular order...

Me and Jon on Brighton Pier - eek!













My hotel "suite" in Madrid - courtesy of Iberia - and bloody right too!












Brighton - bye bye!













Lovely Jon













Lovely Jon again













Other side of "suite" in Madrid













Sorry none of Peru yet - takes forever to upload!

Long dirty weekend

Just got ready to put up many shiny new pictures on the site, but the computers here are rubbish Windows 95 type jobs, so no luck yet I´m afraid.

Due to crapness of computer, will summarise weekend briefly, so apologies in advance for abruptness. Thursday, left at 3pm to drive to s#*thole town, to be sent up a mountain to wait until 6am for average looking sunrise. Death defying journey back down mountain, with dirt road only 2 inches wider than bus, with 200 foot sheer drop down side of mountain. Words cannot describe the fear. Back to s#*thole town, slept in dirtiest school ever before being taken to restaurant for sheeps intestine soup, which made me nearly vomit. Oh yeah, and this town has no toilets and no water, so everyone, including myself, had to wee on the floor. In the street. Classy.

Slept in school Friday night, in room with the worst snorers EVER, luckily bumped into ProPeru peeps in town on Saturday morning during the terrifying chaos they call a "fiesta," so decided to hitch a ride to Cusco with them. Uneventful journey, until stopped by police for using public toilet without their permission. Peru, corrupt? Never!

Got to Cusco at 5:30 for most heavenly (and most needed) shower ever, then to pizza place for yummy dinner. Went to UKUKUS, crazy dungeon club with attached tattoo place (SUCH a bad idea!) where they played wicked 80´s music of my whole childhood. Early night. Phew!

Sunday, up early for another shower (ah, the novelty of being clean!) and to call Jon. Then to Pisac. Thought would be beautiful ruins viewed from afar, instead beautiful ruins that had to climb bloody mountain to get to. Pisac much like Machu Picchu, but cheaper and less green. Then to modern town of Pisac, seemed to be most beautiful place on Earth compared to s#*thole Paucartambo. Ate more pizza, then spent 2 hours shopping for gifts. Harder than it sounds. My haggling skills are not great in English, let alone Spanish, so most of the time just paid full price for what would be a steal back home (fiver for lovely jumper), or walked away and came back saying "tengo veinte soles" ("I have 20 soles") and getting a bargain that way. Bought a bag, jumper and groovy gringo cowboy hat for myself, and not a lot for anyone else. Really want to get large colourful rug to hang on wall in new house, only 30 quid each, maybe could beat them down more, hope you don´t mind Jon? ;)

So overall, wicked country, nice and cheap, if a little (!) dusty. The food is usually pretty good when it´s not being scary. Wet Ones are my new best friend, highly recommended if planning a trip to Peru!

This weekend going to Bolivia and Lake Titicaca, which I am sure will be great, and weekend after that to Machu Picchu, the lazy way - train!

Pint of pee-pee

I have my luggage!!! Hurrah! Just gorged myself on pancakes and maple syrup to celebrate, so now feeling a little large, but I have clothes! Yay!

Spent Monday night in local pub (bar? wahtever) with 3 other Brits, remembering all the old TV shows from when we were little, and comparing piss stories. One of the guys here was in the OTC (army equivalent of the URNU), and we both have many tales of mess dinners and such involving urine and other bodily fluids. One of the traditions that they have is that the youngest person in the mess has to at the first mess dinner drink out of a baby´s potty, which sounds wicked. Also, they have blacked out bottles, where you can´t see how much spirit is left, and the person who finishes has to buy the next bottle - sounds good! And he has heard of cheeky vimtoes! I was so excited!

Now off to buy some books and supplies for English class. Tonight is pub quiz - wicked! Tomorrow off to Salida de la Sol, some really cool thing that I don´t really understand, but hey, so not back until Sunday. Will take pictures!

My centenary (or something...)

Ooh, and just noticed I have over a hundred new visitors! Woohoo! Thanks for spreading the word peeps! :D

Me gusta el queso!

OK, imagine every swear word you have ever heard. Multiply it by a hundred. That´s nowhere near how "bleeped" off I feel right now. Now, no bag until Wednesday. I have NADA left in terms of las robas, I´m wearing men´s Y-fronts ´cause that´s all I could get hold of. Grrrr.....

Anyway, today I had my first Spanish lesson, which was wicked. I´m seeing more the differences between Spanish in all the different countries, like "Barcelona" and "Bar-the-lona." Gives me some ammunition for the yanks a hard time for their awful spelling - colour has a u for God´s sake! Spent last night sitting in the plaza chatting for ages and teaching people my oh so amusing accent, leading to a lot of "alroit chaps, would you like a cup of tea?"

Yesterday went to Yucay, the next town over, for a little hike with my homestay dad and brother Josh ("Yoss"), which resulted in much puffing and sweatiness for me, while the 55 year old ran miles ahead of my without breaking a sweat at all! The scenery was beautiful, and we saw some gorgeous art, though I don´t trust any airline enough not to lose it on my way home (grrr.....).

The food is gorgeous, though there is a tonne of it, I can´t eat it all! It´s so natural and healthy, lots of vegetables and rice, but still all very different dishes. Yesterday my homestay mum took me into the garden to hold one of the cuy (guinea pigs), then proceded to tell me that it was Wednesday´s dinner. I wanted to run away with the little bubby, though he probably would have bitten me to bits. This morning for breakfast I had small flat sweet bread rolls with melted local cheese inside - ahhhhh!

The climate is rather odd, with blistering hot sun during the day, and minus zero nights. I´m shivering with sunburn! The sun is up only from 6am to 6pm, and it sets so quickly, in literally 15 minutes. Last night I saw the stars, they are all so different here! There are a million more than at home, all so bright and so big. The moon was amazing, like a giant bowl above the mountains, and you could even see the 3/4 that was in shadow faintly, which I was really excited about!

This morning I woke up at my usual 4:30am (jet lag) and thought I would have a shower, but the water only runs between 6am and 8pm. And there´s no hot water AT ALL. EVER. It´s an alien concept here, which can be painful when you are so cold that you see your breath at 7am, then you have to get naked and stand under a rush of glacial water for a least 45 seconds to lather and rinse. Think I might just smell a lot while I am here.

OK, promise, pictures on the way!

Chao!

Agggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Righty-ho, well I am now here. Already have people nagging me for pictures, though I have had not time to take any yet! After the clusterf$*k that is Iberia I finally arrived in Peru, after a nice stay in Madrid overnight and a detour to Caracas in Venezuela. Unfotunatly, my luggage didn´t. I´ve been living off other people clothes sine Thursday, now I am totally out of knickers ans still no bag., hence the post title.

Oh well, apart from that I am having a wicked time, living with Jesus and Rupe, their son Carlos and my host brother Josh. Most of the people here are Americanos, so I´m having great fun teaching them words like "snog" and "bugger" - hehe! Everyone is great, and so enthusiatic, and I don´t feel like a total mong for not speaking much Spanish beacause few people do. Already I have helped to build a kitchen, cutting doen trees and gathering rocks, getting pretty muddy and almost passing out in the process! My body is rebelling against the altitude and the six hour time difference, but I´m still having a wicked time.

Tomorrow I begin my Spanish lessons and my project, which unfortuantely isn´t working in a helth clinic. Instead I shall be working on a eco-touism project, helping to protect the forests and glaciers and helping create an income for the local people in a variety of ways, from teaching the children English, business and computer skills to building accomodation for the tourists, to making promotional videos for the little tour company they have set up. If you could see how amazing this place is and how fantastic all the people are you would understand more how important the work that ProPeru does here is. But more of that soon....

Thanks once again to everyone who in some way helped me to get here (including the guys from Eastbourne College - hope Argentina is fun!), I know I wouldn´t be having this amazing experince without all of you, so cheers dudes!

As soon as I sort myself out I´ll start trying to stick some pictures up on the site, so you can get more of an idea of what my ramblings are all about. Off now for some mate de coca - coca leaf tea, great for altitude sickness!

PS - Sorry for any spelling mistakes - Spanish language technology es muy complicado para mi!

Happy Independence Day! - without the scary aliens

Oh... my... God... I can't believe I'm going tomorrow. I am completely pooing my pants (or apparently will be when I get there - cheers for the advice Jonny!), not so much about the trip in general, just about the process of getting there! I hate flying SO much, and have never flown alone, let alone in a place where English isn't the first language and, let's face it, my Spanish language skills aren't fab (though now I can say a whole range of swear words, which I'm sure will be really useful!). I'll just keep telling myself "it'll be great when I arrive!" which I know it will be. Still doesn't stop the terror though!

Just thought I should say, thank you SOOOOOOOO much to everyone who helped me out with the fundraising! Today is really rather manic, but as soon as possible I will give a grand total and when I get back and have somewhere to actually live and all that stuff I'll do the draw for the (ton of) Smarties. Thanks especially to everyone at my mum's work, Anglo Office Group, who donated a massive bag full of money! And also big thank you to everyone who remembered to give back the tubes to me - there's probably about 20 still out there in people's drawers! Don't worry, when I get back you can still give the money to me and I'll send it back to the project in Peru! Ooh, and also thanks to Jon's family, Sally and David and Jess, for the donations, and cheers to Lindle for the tips - I'll try and hold a (simple!) conversation in Spanish with you when I get back! And also to all the other people who I can't list here, but love you all too! And the cheques are still coming in! Can't say it enough - thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! But the biggest thanks of all go to Jon who's put up all of my "agh"ness and "eek"ness over the past couple of months, and has helped and advised me so much (and now has to help me pack!), thank you from the bottom of my heart, I'll miss you so much! XXXXX

Okay, better go finish packing... agh, it's all so overwhelming!

Dr Pepper and coffee - not a great combination!

All I can say is I'm swamped. Swamped swamped swamped. I have exams coming out of my ears, I've lost a whole weekend in Manchester (good fun though!), there are a million bits of paper on my floor that are screaming "File me! File me!" and I just want to sleep! By this time next week I will be (essentially) free! Hungover, yes, but with a bit of time to update my blog and other pressing stuff. So thank you everyone for your emails and messages and donations, I haven't forgotten you (honestly!), and I will get back to you as soon as I have recovered from this manic month!

All help is very much appreciated... :)

OK, now I've picked up the tickets, had my first round of jabs (OUCH!) and accumulated even more random bits of equipment like a mosquito net and a pack of Wet Ones. Only problem now is my lack of cash, which is where my wonderful and beautiful friends and family come in!

Instead of risking my spine and the spines of others by doing a bungee jump (not to mention the cleanliness of several pairs of trousers I am sure!), given that people would rather pay me to NOT jump, and also given the fact that abseiling would cost £1000 just to set up, and that this term no-one has much time to go to garden parties or video-a-thons because of exams and such, I am now running with the Smartie tube idea. Basically, everyone who offers to help gets a Smartie tube to fill with £1 and 20p coins, and once it is full they return the cash to me in one form or another, and are entered into a raffle for ALL the Smarties I collect, which after even just a few empty tubes is a lot. The label for the outside of the tubes is here in Word format.

I figure that this is quite an "interesting" way to raise money, but as in most conventional fundraising ideas there is still a chance that donators will win something back, and there is always the 20p tube filling option for my fellow poor students!

So if anyone wants to help me out with this, you can leave me a comment at the bottom of this post and I'll email you for your contact details and send you a tube (or more if you think others would be interested in helping out!). I'm hoping (in my wildest dreams) to raise £2000, though like Jon said to me, anything at all is better than a kick in the head (nice imagery!).

Thanks everyone! x

It's all turning into concrete!

In the past few days I have put down my deposit and received my welcome pack, been to sort out my flight and insurance, and ordered a "Learn Spanish in about 2 days with minimal effort" CD course, and it's all starting so sink in a bit more that I'm travelling about 8000 miles to the other side of the world - and I HATE flying!!! At least I'll get to see if water really does go anticlockwise south of the equator...

I have to pay for and confirm my flight details next week, but it looks like it's going to be a LONG couple of days! I'm going from Heathrow to Madrid on Tuesday (5th) evening, then to Santiago in Chile to hang around for 12 hours, then to Lima to arrive 22:50 and be whisked off to a hotel for the night, before a (relativel) short flight to Cusco on Thursday. Phew! And I always wondered what jet lag felt like! I've also got to get insurance and an ISIC student card, which shouldn't be too much. And for an extra £60 I can change my flight dates when I'm out there, so I can extend my stay if I don't have resit exams in September (which I hopefully won't!), and I haven't run out of money, and Jon doesn't mind moving houses without me (love you!). Thank you STA Travel, I love you too!

My bungee jump idea isn't looking quite so hot at the moment. Turns out that not many people really want to tie elastic to their ankles and jump off a crane, so I'm looking into abseiling instead. No one has any excuse not to do that (except for a general terrifying fear of heights maybe), and the more the merrier! I've emailed a few companies so I should have some more information next week, but I realise that time is of the essence and all that, so need to start nagging people. And I've also got to get this Smartie thing up and running - basically you get people to fill a Smartie tube with 20 pence pieces and pound coins, and then they get a go at guessing the Smaries in the jar. Quick and easy! For a sponsored event, I want 10 people to raise £200 each, which will make me about £1400. Anything else over that should pay for my flight and general costs, which I have started panicking about since I realised how much kit I'll need - spare glasses, prescription sunglasses, a watch, a fake wedding ring to ward off scary Latino men, a massive first aid kit (this is me we're talking about here!), mosquito net, waterproofs, clothes that actually fit... I'm just glad I already got buying my sexy rucksack out of the way!

Finally, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has seen the website and not said they hated it - all 10 of you! No, seriously, thanks for your encouragement, spreading-of-the-word-of-me and offers of help, it is really all appreciated, even if I don't say it as often as I should. So cheers to you all! :)

Getting some money!

I've managed to secure a loan to cover most of my costs for the trip - hurrah! (Thanks! ;) ) But to make sure that I have enough money to cover everything, and living expenses, house deposit, furniture etc. when I get back, I'm hoping to cover most of the project fee, and maybe even the flight, with fundraising. I'm still gathering fundraisng ideas, but so far I have:

• South America theme night
• Charge entry and for food and drink

• Sponsored event
  
• Cycle Machu Picchu trek distance in a day
  
• Eat raw food for a week
• Abseil
• Bungee jump

• Garden party
• Pimms, cucumber sandwiches etc.

• Cake sale

• Sports day

• Smartie tube money collection (and Smarties in the jar?)

• University Challenge/Quiz

• Doughnut eating competition – without licking lips!

• Video-a-thon
• For 24 hours, pay per movie, discount for full session
• Star Wars /Indiana Jones/Lord of the Rings etc. trilogies

• Who’s that baby?
• Prize

• Raffle
• Prizes

• Charitable trusts
• Letter writing
  

The one I'm looking at most closely at the moment is doing a sponsored event. Bungee jumping sounds the most fun, and not too hard to organise (carrot peeling is BORING!). I've spoken to a few others and they say they would like to take part and raise money for the event too! Hurrah!

So at the moment I'm looking for a good company not too far away that's not too expensive and is, obviously, safe. The UK Bungee Club sounds pretty good, though the home page makes me feel a bit queasy... I figure the best way to do this is have a minimum amount to raise (probably £100), then the jumper can pick a charity to donate 5% of the total (minus cost of jump) to, and the rest will go to me! That way I don't feel so selfish, and people will be encouraged to raise more so more money goes to their own charity! I'll have to get deposits from and check dates with people who want to do it, and call the company, but it's all quite exciting! I could get quite a bit of money from this if enough people want to do it! And this only has to be stage one of my wicked fundraising plan...! ;)

The horrible truth...

Ok, so I have made a decision. If I manage to make it this year, I am going to go with ProWorld Service Corps. There is a ton of information on their website, and even though they are US-based they also have offices in the UK. I called them the other day and the woman I spoke to sent me some more information, which all sounds fantastic. Only problem is the clock is ticking, and if I'm going to do this I need to book it soon to get my place, and also to get all my vaccinations (yellow fever - yummy!) and to make sure that I can get a flight at a decent price.

The dates I'm hoping to go are between 05/07/05 and 07/08/05 (a good balance of 6 weeks on the project and 3 weeks travelling to see all the things that I want to see - 9 weeks overall).

The project is an NGO Internship with Ministry of Health in the Sacred Valley. The project fee will be £1,550 for 6 weeks, and will include:

• 24 hour access to ProPeru Home Base and Support Staff


• Communications and medical assistance constantly available


• Organisation and administrative cost for project and excursions


• Individual Internship and Development Projects


• Very hard to get in UK/Europe


• Intensive Daily Private and Small Group Spanish Classes


• Would cost £1500 with Teaching & Projects Abroad for 4 week language course


• Family Home Stay Immersion


• Only other way to have this experience is if knew people abroad or with a more expensive scheme


• Cultural and Adventure Excursions


• Once in a lifetime opportunity to see and do things in Peru

But unfortuantely that isn't all that I need.

Return flight to Cusco £ 700.00
Airport taxes and visa £ 78.00
Insurance £ 82.50
Equipment, clothing, vaccinations, spare glasses etc. £ 300.00
3 week expedition to Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca £ 500.00
Spending money £ 400.00
Contingency money £ 150.00
TOTAL £3760.50

Don't like big numbers. Unfortunately this doesn't take into account my lost earnings for the summer that I really need to get me through my last year of uni, given that the loan for the final year is about £1000 less than the other years - bah. Luckily the fact that I don't need to pay housing costs over the summer (as I am moving house) will help a little, but not very much. :(

Back from Spain

Over Easter my family, Jon and I went to Gran Canaria for a week. We had a fantastic time, went swimming in the Atlantic (SO cold!), got a wee bit burnt, ate loads of gorgeous food and went camel riding! See my other website Life at 41 Above Sea Level for some great pictures. I love my Sony camera!

Unfortunately I didn't get much chance to speak Spanish, everyone either spoke English embarrasingly well, or spoke Spanish too fast to understand! I think all I managed was "dos botellas de vino tinto por favor", obviously the most important phrase of all!

Other exciting news is that I'm on the A team for my university in University Challenge! Have to go to an audition/screen test in London in May, and then I'll hopefully be on television! Agh! Hope it isn't filming over the summer!

Open day

I went to an Open Day today for Teaching and Projects Abroad to find out about their volunteer projects in Peru. They made it all sound absolutely amazing! I am so excited, I will die if I don't go to Peru! I want to see llamas and eat guinea pigs (well, maybe not the last bit, but I do wanna see llamas!). The company sounds like a really good one, and they are locally based too, but they don't do the health project that I am interested in in Peru, so I'll have to take a look back at some of the other research I have done. ProWorld Service Corps sounds really good, they do exactly the kind of thing that I am looking for, and it is a little cheaper, which is always good!

I broke into my personal savings account for the first time today, and bought a great rucksack. It may seem like a massive buy, but I did have a 20% off voucher, and it's the best, and I'll use it everywhere I go, and it's a great investment, and it's soooooo pretty!

Selling my books

I hate money. My financial situation is dire, so I have decided to part with many of my well loved books (*sob!*) and attempt to sell them on amazon.co.uk, though whether anyone will want to but "Principles of Feng Shui" or any of my other odd titles is another question.

I'm starting to worry about the whole money situation. Having just my student loan to live on and a little bit of money from the URNU, with no time for another part-time job or to do any serious fundraising, I'm having trouble even justifying the little amount I am putting into my savings account. I can't extend my overdraft any more, and have even considered taking out a loan to fund the trip, but aside from the fact that I couldn't even start paying it back for about 18 months, I have an awful credit rating (becasue none of the b$*&!^"s will give me any credit!) and couldn't actually get a loan even if I tried, let alone something as crazy and outrageous as a bank account!

Anyway, on a lighter note, my Spanish teacher spoke to me after class and said that she hopes that I carry on studying the language after this year, as I have a natural talent! Cool, eh? :)

Getting fit after the holidays

Christmas, Yule, Hannukah and New Year have been and gone, and I got some fantastic presents. My favourite and probably actually the most useful is a cute little Sony camera. It'd be damn stupid going halfway across the world without one, and I can link it to the computer and post photos on the blog - cool!

Spent New Year in Switzerland, whcih was great. It was the highest I've ever been (outside a plane, obviously), and made me appreciate how much I'll need to acclimatize to high altitudes in Peru. On top of that, the (attempt at) skiing made me realise just how unfit I was, so I have gotten myself in haste to the local gym (good deal for students). Just gotta remember to actually turn up though... It should also help me shift the holiday weight - I blame the fondue!

Fingers crossed for next summer

I've been thinking about when I am actually going to go to Peru, and I think the best time will be next Summer, before my final year at uni starts. This will mean that I have a good two month gap between the end of term and potential resit exams (always the optimist!) to do some volunteer work and a few weeks of travel afterwards. The problem with waiting until the summer after I graduate is that the graduation ceremony will be at the end of July, and I'm hoping to have a good graduate place by early September, which doesn't give me much time, especially if I have to move house and buy smart "grown up" clothes and such in that small period of time also. As well as that, if I am going to use this as a point to future employers it will already be too late to sell it on my application forms to them, as all the applications are usually due in early that year i.e. January 2006. And dammit, if I've spent this much time, money, blood, sweat and tears at uni getting this degree I am damn well going to wear the silly hat and cape and shake Richard Attenborough's hand and have awful pictures taken at my graduation!!!

I think that this will really do an awful lot for my CV, especially if I can get some good experience in the field of health whcih I wouldn't be able to get in this country at all. Even the fact that I have done some time abroad, volunteering and travelling independently will be a great asset. As I never did a gap year between school and uni like many people, which is something I have always regretted, employers are more likely to hire me on a long-term basis if I have done some travelling at some point before starting work as it means I won't get all flighty like while I'm working for them and want to go off round the world and dump them. Well, that's one way of looking at it anyway.

Phew, that's a couple of long paragraphs! Off to do my proper work now - ick.

Very busy!

Everything is a bit manic at the moment, loads of work at uni, trying to be a "mover and shaker" in my role as Mess Secretary at Sussex University Royal Naval Unit and still trying to have a little bit of a life at the same time - hmm... So this has all had to go on the back burner a little untill I can catch up with myself.

One of the courses I'm doing towards my degree is Spanish, which is great as I've always wanted to get taught properly, and it'll hopefully give me a boost when I'm applying for volunteer positions - and give me some help when I land in Lima and haven't got a Scooby about what's going on!

Next steps

I've been doing more research on the internet and have accumulated a ton of bookmarks and sent off for what seems like hundreds of brochures. Reading a lot of other peoples testimonials I am becoming more convinced that this will be a brilliant experience, I just have to keep focused on it and not get sidetracked like I tend to do! I haven't been able to find any other personal blogs belonging to people who are doing a similar kind of thing as this, so maybe one day someone will read this and think "if a muppet like Anna can get herself to Peru, then maybe I can too!" Or not... :)

I've started to save a little bit of money, and have opened a saving account for my Peru money, which will in theory soon be bursting at the seams! I like keeping my money organised, and this way it is easier for me to see exactly how much I have as I go along, and I can make a little bit of interest along the way!

Also, my lovely Jon has managed to get me a proper domain name for my blog and room on his server - not quite certain what that means, but I'm assured it's all good. I am now a .org!

Reasoning and research

After reading some of my snazzy new Lonely Planet book I've been doing some internet research on how I'd actually get to Peru and what the hell I'd do once I actually got there. My three main options were:

1. Work
2. Volunteer
3. Travel

I decided in the end that I would probably go for a combination of volunteering and travelling. I found that it is meant to be very hard to get employment as an unskilled person in South America, like many other places. I would of course love to do some travelling to see the country, but couldn't realy justify the cost if that was all I was going to be doing. Volunteering sounds like a fantastic opportunity as you get to do something for the country as well as getting a great amount of experience out of it. I'm already a volunteer in my local hospital, and have done some work experience in hospitals as well, so volunteering in health care sounds like the best choice for me, and will also hopefully give me even more valuable experience as I hope to work in health when I graduate. Now I guess it is just a case of doing lots more research to try and find a programme that suits me - and that I can afford!

First post

Ever since I was young I have dreamed of going to Peru. I don't know exactly why Peru, maybe it's the ancient Inca civilisation, my interest in learning Spanish (I've been trying for a long time, but I keep forgetting it all!), the mix of mountains, beaches and jungle, or just the gorgeous pictures of Machu Picchu I remember seeing in encyclopaedias, but it has always been top of my list of places I want to visit.

After a recent impulse buy in Borders of the Lonely Planet guide to Peru (special deal of travel books!) I have decided that it is something I would like to do sooner rather then later. It will be a lot easier for me to go before I settle down in a career and a house, and while I'm young enough that I don't creak while I'm climbing those mountains(!). It would also be a great experience that might help me to get a good job when I (eventually) graduate.

So this little blog will hopefully be a record of my progress to one day in my lifetime getting to Peru, and as a diary for my friends and family to see what I'm up to when I eventually get there!