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...