Debauchery!

On Wednesday the 24th, Jaime and I took a bus from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile. This was all meant to be very straightforward after a relatively early night. However, the 'early' night didn't quite happen and after a couple of glasses of wine in the afternoon and then one and a half very strong mojitos in the evening - I was not a well bunny. This I found truly bizarre as I have drunk far more than that and been fine. I wondered if maybe something had been added to my drink but could not understand how or where that would have happened. Anyway, the outcome of this is that I had to pack with a hangover and was fighting nausea as we waited for the bus. Annoyingly it was half an hour late - typical I thought, just when I'm trying to demonstrate to Jaime how good the buses are! 

The bus itself was very comfortable but unfortunately a combination of hangover and travel sickness meant I was rather ill again. Luckily after that I was able to sleep. 

The drive through the mountains was spectacular - parts looked like a lunar landscape. 

On arriving in Santiago we were met by a good friend of Jaime's who drove us to where we were staying. It wasn't to good, so we ventured out and found an alternative. Once happily ensconced, we did manage an early night after some yummy food.

On Thursday we wandered round our local area and bought ingredients to make curry. I was looking forward to the arrival of Kevin, Karl and Mayra - good friends from Ecuador. In the evening, the girl who picked us up and her girlfriend came over for the evening - we managed to consume five bottles of wine between us - oops! They loved the curry - phew!

On Friday I was a little baffled and sad that I hadn't heard from the guys. Later on after receiving numbers via email I managed to get hold of Kevin using skype. Turned out they had been trying to call but the people at Central Suites didn't pass on the messages and their phones were not connecting properly with Jaime's. Karl and Kevin came to pick me up and we headed out for a few beers before the U2 gig (the reason why we had all decided to meet in Santiago!). Beer turned into red wine - magical! Kevin's reasoning was that you had to get drunk before a U2 gig and he's Irish, so who am I to argue! Also in the area around and inside the gig it's not possible to buy alcohol.

The gig was amazing - Jaime and I were up in the stands, but could see the guys below us. It took me through a whole range of emotions, as good music should. They played 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and it made me think of my big sis Nic. She played that album all the time when I was small and we all loved it! I wished she was there with me. It actually made me miss quite a lot of people. The stage and lights were also incredible - it really was fantastic to be there.

After the gig I met up with the guys again and Jaime met the girlies. I was expecting some debauchery to follow, but Mayra was hungry so we ended up in MacDonald's - not quite what I was expecting, but entertaining nevertheless!

Saturday was a very emotional day, the gig the night before was what started it and hormones were also having an effect. I had a real day of feeling homesick and missing people. Talked to a few friends which helped...but it was a definite wobbly day. A little shopping therapy helped, one new dress, but no bus ticket which had been my original plan, oops!

In the evening we went out for drinks followed by a private party. The majority of the people at the party were gay which was fine by me of course...although when Kev, Karl and Mayra arrived later I did exclaim about how happy I was to see some heterosexual men - hahaha! Hilariously though, one young gay guy gave me a kiss when we were introduced and then exclaimed a lot about it being his first hetero kiss! Teehee! Afterwards (around 5am...but it was all quite blurry by this point) Jaime was up for an after party, although none seemed to be forthcoming! We ended up getting a taxi and going back to the apartment of a couple of guys, Kevin in tow. At around 6.30/7.00am me and Kev departed to pass out!

As usual after a big night, I slept for maybe three or four hours. Jaime reappeared while I was in the shower with stories of fun and calamity. His wallet had disappeared, maybe been stolen; he'd also pulled though and was happy about that! Kev was our saviour and kindly offered to loan Jaime the money to pay for the suites and a taxi to the airport. Another hungover packing session commenced. 

Once packed, I wondered what I should do. Kev took over and took me to the hostel that he used to work at. While I checked in, Kev got chatting with some of the people he used to work with and we found ourselves invited to Maria's for lunch. After we finished our liquid breakfast of a beer, we headed to her apartment. More beer followed, as did lasagne. Unfortunately lasagne takes some time to cook and make and so more beer was consumed. Wine followed again. I was hilarious and brilliantly entertaining and promptly passed out at about 6.00pm. (Which may well have been very hilarious/entertaining/a huge relief to everyone else!).

Waking at about 11pm, I was somewhat baffled by the lack of people and the apartment being in darkness. I found Kev asleep on the sofa which was a relief - sort of (bizarrely) like finding your security blanket! Turned out everyone had succumbed to sleep fairly early.

Monday dawned and we headed back to La Casa Roja, where I booked another night. We also organised to meet up with Karl, Mayra and the friends that they had been staying with. The girls wanted to go shopping, but I decided it was probably wiser to stay with the guys - well, cheaper anyway!

The drinking started again at about 1pm. It was moderate and I was pacing myself on the beer, but still, quite an early start. Again more beer and wine during the course of the afternoon. In the evening we all went back to my hostel where quite a party ensued. The guys left at about 11pm ish, which made me sad as that was my last connection with Ecuafriends. I dealt with it by requesting more beer and a guitar! After playing and singing a few numbers, a Canadian guy asked to play - he was very good and I joined in with the ones I knew! I know I made lots of mistakes, but no-one minded or noticed as they were in a similar or worse state than me!

 I think the party ended at about 6am.

Yesterday I spent most of the day in a fragile state. I think it was an accumulation of hangovers from the past couple of weeks! The highlight of the day was calling Dad on skype and making him laugh with the tales of debauchery! We also compared notes on alcohol consumption.

Today I was hoping to have a trip down to the south booked and my escape plan from Santiago hatched. But, the guy who organises the tours is having bus driver issues. I'm waiting to find out what happens. I need to leave tomorrow and get on the move. I can organise something on my own but wouldn't go to as many places. If I don't get on the tour tomorrow, I will get on a bus tomorrow night.

Although, there is another party tonight...

Buenos Aires; Jaime Arrives; Mendoza!

I arrived in Buenos Aires on the 13th of March after a long and bum-numbing bus journey from Iguazu. 

On arriving at Hostel Rayuela, I had to wait for about an hour for my bed - this wasn't a problem, it gave me some time to catch up on the internet. I had been waiting to find out whether the guy I met last time I was in Buenos Aires wanted to meet up with me again - it seemed he did, we arranged to meet for lunch the next day. Have to admit that I was rather excited about this prospect and after being shown my bed and where to put my stuff, I decided to reacquaint myself with some of the shopping areas near to the hostel! I knew what I was after, a sexy top that would look good with jeans, but not too dressy for daytime. I wanted to look good for my lunch date!

I found what I was looking for in a small boutique on La Defensa. Afterwards I headed to the plaza in San Telmo and watched the same guy dance tango as just over two years ago (although I'm fairly sure the girl was different!). I felt very happy to have returned to Buenos Aires.

Tuesday dawned with slight nerves about lunch. I spent the morning relaxing and making myself feel gorgeous, but without it looking like I'd made lots of effort!! I went to meet M at his hostel and had to wait whilst he was on the phone. I deliberately sat somewhere where he wouldn't be able to see me. Eventually he appeared, but didn't spot me at first. In fact he went up to someone else first, which I found hilarious - he looked suitably relieved when he saw me laughing (and admitted later to this relief!). We wandered to a French restaurant, chatting easily and settled down for a fabulous lunch. Luckily very early in the conversation he told me about his girlfriend - I didn't mind, he's still great company and a good friend. It would have been nice for it to be more, but two years is a long time and many things change. I certainly have. We parted on good terms with him telling me to keep in touch. I emailed him to thank him for lunch and he stated that it was always a pleasure to see me and again asked me to keep in touch.

Back at the hostel I filled the lovely English girlies I met in Iguazu about my lunch and also met some of the friends they'd made in Brazil, 3 other lovely girlies. I enjoyed another chilled evening and was looking forward to a shiatsu massage the next day. 

On Wednesday I continued my lazy vibe. I felt no need to rush round visiting places as I saw lots on my last visit, I was also looking forward to Jaime's arrival on the 17th and seeing places with him. Shiatsu was amazing, just what was needed. I also found out Jaime had missed his flight and wouldn't be arriving till the following evening, rather than lunchtime as initially thought. I spent the evening having a tango lesson with the girls. Unfortunately there were no men for the lesson, so there was considerable dancing 'bust to bust', as they say up north! All good fun and I think I did quite well. Although have to admit to getting confused when eventually trying to dance with a guy as I was too used to being the 'guy'!

On Thursday I went on a free walking tour with the girls and then spent the afternoon waiting for info about Jaime's arrival. I waited and waited. I worked out the flight he was probably on and once it had landed (good ol' internet), I waited a little longer and then made my way to Palermo. I hoped that by luck we would both arrive at about the same time as I had no idea how to get into the apartment. Luck was on my side and this was exactly what happened. Phew!

We chilled for a while, changed, and consumed our first bottle of Argentinian wine. The suite I was in was lovely and I was very excited about my own room and a bed which wasn't a bunk bed! After the wine we headed out to find food and ended up in an Italian where another bottle of wine was consumed. After that we asked a taxi driver to take us to an Irish or English bar where we could celebrate St Paddy's. (The next day it took us a while to remember how we got there and we had to piece it together bit by bit). We were taken to Sullivan's. I hit the Cuba libres and Jaime the Guinness. We chatted with lots of people and somehow found ourselves in a club till about 5am.

Friday did not dawn early for us and was definitely hungover. We started wandering around lunchtime. We were both utterly useless at directions and I'd forgotten my map, so after some food we got a taxi driver to take us to some shops in Palermo - I'd told Jaime his penance for missing his flight was to go shopping with me! Being useless and hungover was not really the best state for shopping. We also couldn't find a working ATM and at some point decided to return home for more rest (after walking round in ever decreasing circles). Late in the afternoon we made our second attempt at Palermo, this time armed with a map, and found it was all much easier than it had at first seemed. The bank mission was achieved. Again we returned home, to prepare for going out. We had dinner locally and decided on an early night. On our return, Jaime suggested a night cap on the roof terrace. The night cap turned into two bottles of wine, dancing and getting to bed at about 3am!

Saturday was another late start and Jaime wasn't feeling to well. After lunch and a bit of a wander we headed home again for him to rest. I had been fearing that he was a bit of a hypochondriac, but this time he really did seem to be sick It was a shame as it was his birthday and I'd organised for both of us to go on a graffiti tour. Something I'd been really looking forward to. He was happy for me to go on my own whilst he rested.

The graffiti tour was brilliant, everything I'd hoped for and I got to chat to some cool people too. We even met a couple of the artists and saw their studio.

When I got home, Jaime was feeling much better and we went to see if we could get a table at La Cabrera - a very popular place for steak. The wait for a table was endless, so we popped over to the cocktail bar across the road and enjoyed a couple of mojitos. By 10pm we'd had enough of waiting and wandered round the corner to an alternative restaurant. Again we decided on a fairly early night as we were catching our flight to Mendoza on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday morning was spent reorganising my rucksack. 

The flight to Mendoza was fine, but unfortunately the hotel we'd booked the night before was not so great. It was okay, but we'd been used to our luxurious suites in Palermo. We left our stuff and took a taxi into the town. We scouted out another hotel after a glass of wine at The Hyatt. I'd suggested to Jaime that we didn't stay at the first choice and after checking out the alternatives we decided to move. We came up with a plan to say that we'd made a mistake about the hotel we'd booked so we could leave.

The Aconcagua, where we are now, is lovely. It's right near the centre of Mendoza and within walking distance of everything.

Today we went on a wine tour. It started with a visit to an olive oil factory and continued on to two wineries. We tasted some delicious olive oils and some good wine. However, the first winery wasn't good. Luckily the second made up for it. Returning to our mini bus we discovered that our tour guide wanted to take us to a church. Both of us were quite baffled and really wanted to head back to the hotel. The guide was obviously fairly religious and Jaime felt he was trying to force his beliefs on us. I knew less about this as I hadn't really been listening to his Spanish explanations. 

Finally back to the hotel to change and continue the perfect steak hunt. Eventually I got the steak I've been wanting - although I had to send the first one back as it was far to cooked! I couldn't eat it all, but we decided to take it with us to feed some of the stray dogs we'd seen last night. We found a suitably skinny mutt and both wished we had more to feed it. After a bit of a wander to aid digestion it was back to the hotel so Jaime could rest and fight of the cold he seems to be developing.

I am having the most wonderful time with Jaime. We get on so well and he is spoiling me rotten. I fear it may be difficult for me to return to the backpacker lifestyle when he returns to Ecuador on the 30th. 

I know I've said it before, but I really am lucky to have the friends that I have.

Things I have found funny and forgotten to mention previously!

1. The Ecuadorian guy putting face powder on, on the Ecovia in Quito.
2. The twat of a redneck Alaskan guy in Canoa. Okay not always funny, actually quite unbelievable at times. What was funny was how remarkably restrained I was!
3. The quantity of Latino men who when they have the opportunity will happily don a skirt.
4. Being the wrong sex at a bloco in Ipanema - I got shoved out of the way on more than one occasion!
5. All the people with ridiculously small dogs wearing clothes in Rio.
6. Being told at the hostel in Iguazu that I'm more Scottish than English. (Obviously the blood is, but despite this I was born and brought up in England and consider myself English)
7. The line, "Do you want to get a cheap Vespa in Vietnam?" This was from the Italian guy in my hostel in Iguazu.

There's probably more and when I remember them I'll tell you!

Iguazu Falls

On Saturday, after a day of rest and recuperation on Friday, I got the bus to the falls. Just before leaving the hostel I discovered I had just over 100 Reais that I had forgotten about - my plan was to spend them if possible.

Soon after I had passed through the gate, I organised an hour long tour through the forest followed by a boat ride. Guess how much it cost? Yup, that's right, 100 Reais! Yay, most of the Brazilian money gone. The very nice chap who booked me on the tour also showed me where I would be able to walk beforehand, as I had about an hour.

I headed for the upper walkway and on arriving there realised that I hadn't recharged my camera battery after The Sambadrome - eejit! I'm normally fairly good on that front, but I guess moving around a lot and being sick made me more forgetful than usual. I decided to pretend that I had a film rather than digital camera, so I would only have limited shots and each one had to count! (This is what I used to do when I was a relatively poor photography student - get as many shots as possible out of one film!).

My first glimpse of the falls completely took my breath away. I would like to write something poetic about it, but that would take a little more time and would probably seem too contrived. They are stunning, beautiful and powerful. The roar from them is also incredible. I made my way aorund the upper walkway with plenty of time to spare to get to my tour.

The jungle part of the tour seemed fairly normal and didn't really hold any surprises. However it was pretty and often in the shade which was very welcome as it was the hottest day yet! The boat ride was great fun - one part was for taking photos and the other part was actually getting up close and personal to a couple of the waterfalls. I got absolutely drenched (as did everyone else in the boat). It was hilarious, I couldn't see because the force of the water was so strong. Luckily a couple of girlies that I'd met the day before had warned me about the drenching so I wore a bikini and had a change of top!

I then walked some more and treated myself to some chips - I say treated, but in fact they were pretty much the cheapest item on the menu! I also bought a kodak 'chuck away' camera. Camera battery had died and I really wanted to get photos of the 'Devil's Throat'.

After lunch I got the train ride to the Devil's Throat. I was feeling quite drained and the one kilometre walk in immense heat didn't really help much. Yet, when I arrived, I was revitalized. I thought I'd already seen some amazing waterfalls, but The Devil's Throat is the most powerful I've ever seen. There were rainbows in the mist, a mist that was sometimes so great you couldn't see the falls as they churned and dove into the depths. The spray was refreshing and welcomed. I quickly used the 27 shots on the kodak camera - now I just have to hope that there are some decent pics on the film. 

After lingering by the falls for a while, I caught the train back to near the park entrance and headed back to the hostel. Exhausted and happy!

Rio to Iguazu

Tuesday was a day of sleep until the afternoon when I went to a bloco in Copacabana. It was fantastic, live music and many people dancing. There was one fantastic old lady who didn't stop dancing at all - I was impressed by her energy and wished mine was at the same level. I danced too and posed for some fairly ridiculous photos (had my hair in plaits - always makes me feel more foolish!).

I really enjoyed the musicians, especially the sax player - he was such a showman! 

Unfortunately my body was starting to ache, particularly my back - I put this down to the six hours at the sambadrome the night before.

Later that night a large group of us headed to the beach for a party - it was fun, but I was hurting more and more. When they decided to hit a very lively bar, I decided to retire as the thought of being knocked/pushed by anyone was pretty horrendous. The lovely Rhian and Simon - gorgeous English couple - walked me home. I took paracetamol, rubbed lavender oil into my lower back and eventually slept.

I was rudely awoken at 5am by the drunkiest - one of my room mates. Not being impressed and feeling like shit I told her to be quiet and fell back to sleep. At about 7am I was woken again by our new roomy's snoring. By 8am I could bear it no more and headed for the sofa downstairs, feeling pretty grumpy.

I really wanted to do a little sightseeing on Wednesday as it was my last day, but I was starting to suspect I was developing cystitis. I went for a nice lunch and then crashed. I also tried to make sure I drank plenty of water - something I'd obviously not been having enough of for a few days. 

An early night was required, however it was not forthcoming as the pain intensified and I felt a constant need for the bathroom. Worried about disturbing my new roomies (changed rooms on Wed) I headed downstairs to drink as much water as I could manage and to try and wear myself out more.

I eventually managed to sleep for a few hours but woke again with the pain at about 4am and didn't really sleep again.

At 7.30am I was up and dressed, ready to head to the airport at about 8.30 and cursing the fact I didn't have time to get to a pharmacy.

I said goodbye to my new and lovely friends and left.

The ride to the airport, the wait whilst there and the flight were all pretty excruciating. Arriving at the airport on the Brazilian side of the falls I decided to get a taxi across the border, whatever the cost, I just wanted to get to my hostel and find a pharmacy and something to relieve the pain.

The taxi was quicker than expected and made the two border crossings incredibly easy which was a relief. I checked in; found out about the local bus; hit the town; eventually found a bank machine, a pharmacy and the beginnings of some relief.

The Sambadrome

The rest of Monday, once I knew the girl was safe and sound, was great. The lovely Tracey cut my hair. I went for sushi with the girl on the bunk above me. I bought lovely new Havaianas. I also got extremely excited about going to The Sambadrome.

I got dressed up for The Sambadrome and even put some make up on! I headed there with the Canadian girls and a lovely Aussie couple. It was all pretty easy, unlike the previous night when apparently the metro got closed. The only minor problem was a rather over zealous Brazilian girl pushing me out of the way so that she could sit down. We found the Sambadrome and were seated by about 9pm. I say seated, what I mean is we had our own little place on some concrete steps.

The parades were amazing and everything I'd hoped for, both colourful and vibrant. Unfortunately a very tall girl decided to stand on the step below me - successfully blocking a considerable amount of my view. She was well over six foot and I was getting pretty annoyed. I sent fuck off vibes in her direction and eventually she moved and I got on with my prime objective - taking photos!

At the start of the second samba school she moved back into position. Lovely feisty Martha swapped places with me and exclaimed loudly about ignorant tall people - she was brilliant, and again the girl got the message and moved to the side.

Between the second and third school we attempted to move closer to the front - this was achieved by gingerly heading down the steps and squeezing ourselves into a space. Once again we met with Brazilian hostility and were literally pushed out of the way by an older woman who stated she'd been there since 4pm to get a good seat. We tried to plead lack of understanding, but she wasn't having any of it - I could sort of see her point, but she didn't need to be quite so aggressive about it. We returned to our steps and continued to enjoy the show. I was also trying to ignore the pain in my back and hips from standing for so long.

At the end of the third school it started to rain - a mere trifling I thought, I am English I can withstand this. Hmm, more fool me, it started lashing down and I got soaked. By the time the guys came round selling ponchos I was already wringing out my dress and there really seemed to be little point covering my all ready sodden self up! Throughout, I was laughing and dancing. I seemed to have found my second or possibly even third wind! By 3am and halfway through the fourth school, it was starting to get really chilly and with no hope of making it to sunrise so that my dress could dry, we retired home.

The Sambadrome, without doubt, was an incredible experience. I didn't see it through to the end but did have an absolutely wonderful time - tall people excepting! I also got some fantastic images - hurray for my big lens, fnar fnar!

Friends of friends!

Sunday dawned fairly early for me as I was awaiting the arrival of a girl I've met a few times, who has many friends in common with me. I knew her flight was due at about 6.30am, so when I heard the doorbell ring at 8am, I thought it might be her...but it wasn't.

I was up anyway and decided to have breakfast, I also had long chats with Tracey - a really cool Aussie woman who works at The Mango Tree. As time went on, we learnt more about each other and more of the hostel inhabitants surfaced and said hello. 

And I waited...

"Are you coming to the hippy market?" Various people asked.

"I'm waiting," I replied.

Finally, by about noon, I'd had enough of waiting and decided to sod off to the hippy market. I left a message with the lovely Tracey, to let the girl know I'd be back in about an hour. As I walked out the gate, lo and behold, there she was, walking down the street! We greeted each other fondly, she left her bag at my hostel and we pottered off to have a beer (by the hippy market so that I would be able to do that too!).

We stopped at a bar and perused the menu, as we did, a cardboard tie was lowered down from above. On it, in three different languages, it asked if we'd like to go upstairs for a beer. We looked up and saw lots of Brazilian guys looking down on us. "Brilliant!" Exclaimed the girl, "Free beer! Are you coming?"

"Um no, I want to go to the hippy market." (Yes I know I'm starting to be rather like a dog with a bone on this one, bear with me!)

We made a plan to meet later at my hostel and to find the girl a place to stay as she had arrived in Rio with no bed for the night. I happily perused the stalls in the market for about an hour and managed not to buy anything - quite an achievement for me!

Heading back in a hostel direction the girl called me from the boy's apartment and asked if I wished to join them now. I thought, 'What the hell, why not?'

There were many boys to meet (all about 23 I think and obviously all from a fairly privileged background), beer and cocktails to be drunk. The girl seemed to have had a few cocktails already, I decided it was safer to stick to the beer, pace myself a little. 

From the apartment, we watched a bloco gathering below, which was very cool. We also chatted, laughed and listened to Florence and The Machine - all was good. Well apart from the fact that the girl had nowhere to stay still - but she seemed to be getting on pretty well with one of the boys and we both thought her problem might be solved. We danced; sang; blew kisses to the crowd below; drank; okay I was also getting slightly inebriated at this point - but you know me, love an audience!

I suppose this is the point to admit to enjoying the attentions of one of the young men in particular.

As the afternoon wore on, the girl got more drunken. 

We made our escape at about 6pm and returned to the hostel so I could make curry - I felt it was very necessary at this point to have some food. I happily cooked while the girl loudly entertained some of the other folks at the hostel. Food was eaten and more was drunk. We were joined by two lovely Canadian sisters who found the girl to be very funny - which she was and sweet too. We all decided to venture out onto the piss ridden streets of Ipanema. 

Walking along the front and the beach, the girl tried (sometimes successfully) to make friends with all who crossed our path, we steered her away from some and got talking to others. I learnt about Bianca, who is from Rio, but lives in Spain. She is unhappy in her marriage and doesn't want to go back - she stressed this many times to make sure I understood. I assured her I did and told her the only thing to do was to make the decision to change her life, if that was what she really wanted. Haven't had anyone giving me their life story whilst drunken for a while and parts of her story didn't quite add up, but she was clearly unhappy. Meanwhile her brother attempted to snog all of us. Again (with the help of the wonderful Canadians, we made eventually made our escape and decided to head back for a necessary pee break - we were not planning to join the locals in pissing on the streets.

Back at the hostel, tiredness overcame and the girl still had nowhere to stay. She tried hiding in the hammock, but the over night guy knew she shouldn't be there. I was faced with the dilemma of feeling responsible but also kind of pissed off for feeling like that. I talked to the girl about it and she assured me she'd be okay. In the end I decided to head to bed and leave her to her own fate. Sometime later she came to retrieve her bag. I didn't sleep for a while because I was worried and thought maybe I should have done more to help her find a bed - however I'm not her mum and she is a grown up who should make her own decisions.

Next morning she returned after a night on the beach - she'd left her things at my hostel after all. We found some hostels on the internet and she went off to sort herself out. She was also fairly mortified and very apologetic. I accepted all of this and was happy to draw a line under all of it. We made a tentative plan to meet the next day - she would send me a message.

I never did manage to see the girl again, she did leave me a lovely message at the hostel and she was also seen with another very drunken girl not being allowed into one of the local supermarkets. At this point I'm afraid I washed my hands of her - there is a reason why I travel on my own. I hope this doesn't seem mean, but she was on a completely different vibe to me and I knew she would be okay.

Another note about a friend of friend - I met one on Friday too. She was forty-five minutes late; didn't apologise; told me I was 'big like her'. Obviously I was not overly impressed by her either.

*Note to self: friends of friends can be great and in the cases mentioned above, not! Trust yourself to meet good people wherever you go!

Contrasts

On Friday night there was an early party and BBQ in the hostel with live music. A really good time was had by all, especially me when I got to have a samba lesson!

After the party, we were going to head to Lapa to a bloco, but got separated from the rest of the group and went round the corner to find a bloco in progress in Ipanema - fantastic we cried, this is nice and easy!

We got chatting to some local people - who all seemed very happy to practise their English, which is good as my brain can only cope with Spanish at the mo. Suddenly I found myself being kissed by a rather attractive 20 year old Brazilian guy - who am I to complain, after all it is carnival!

It was a great night and ended about 3am.

Yesterday, it was raining - again! However, a group of us had arranged to go on a favela tour in the afternoon - I was not sure what to expect, but was interested to find out. 

The first favela, as my friend Jim told me long ago, was rather like south Quito. It was interesting and our guide was very good at explaining the situation in favelas and how they've changed over the years. Contrary to popular belief there is no crime within the favelas as most are controlled by drug traffickers who do not want any police coming into the favela. Therefore they have their own rules.

The second favela was a much smaller community and we visited a school, Para Ti. I found I was more affected than I expected to be at the school and was almost in tears. The classrooms were tiny and because of the lack of building regulation, have had no natural light since a new house was built next door. We were able to buy souvenirs and I chose a book of photographs by the children of the school. It seemed appropriate in many ways, especially as I didn't feel entirely right about taking pictures myself.

The feeling of sadness stayed with me for a while after returning to the hostel and so last night I retired early.

Rio, first impressions.

Leaving Lima, I flew to Panama to get a connecting flight to Rio. This did seem fairly bonkers, but I was happy to find moisturiser form The Body Shop in the duty free (especially as I have almost run out of mine). Also, shortly before boarding the flight to Rio, I went to get some water and was persuaded to have a shot by a group of Americans who were also heading to Rio. I took both of these things as good omens that things would good in Rio.

I arrived horribly early after two nights of fairly crap sleep and made my way to my hostel (after spending some time feeling slightly paranoid that my bag was missing as it took ages to appear!). I was met by Tracey on reception, who was kind, sweet and understanding. She pointed me in the direction of breakfast and the showers.

I didn't plan to do much on Thursday and was pleased with my achievements of getting clothes laundered and finding the bank - ok so they're both within a block of the hostel, so it wasn't that difficult!

I also made my way to a supermarket where I was utterly overjoyed to find sheep and goat's cheese; soya milk and lots of lovely vegetables. More good omens.

My hostel is full of lovely people, mostly Brits and Aussies and I am very glad to be here. It is definitely much easier than northern Peru.

Journey to Lima

On Tuesday afternoon I got on the bus to head to Lima with a lovely girl called Su, from Chile. As I was travelling with Su, we got a cheaper bus than I had originally planned. 

Initially everything started well, although there wasn't as much leg room as I'd have liked. The views were stunning and I managed to sleep a bit. The bus stopped quite a lot and there didn't seem to be much air coming out of the vents, but I told myself it was okay and not overly surprising as it had been more than half the price of the bus I originally considered.

Eventually I managed to get into a fairly deep sleep. I suddenly became aware of a knocking sound and have to admit that my first thought was that we were about to be robbed. Luckily Su was there and explained to me, in my befuddled sleepy state, that the bus had broken down and the air conditioning wasn't working. The lack of air con had been apparent from the start, so it surprised me that it wasn't till sometime after midnight that the bus driver also decided it was a problem. All we could do was wait for the replacement bus which would be at least an hour (it was actually over 2 hours). 

We decided to wait outside as it was horribly lacking in air on the bus and very hot. Trying to keep positive, my first thought was that the stars looked beautiful. We were so far from civilization that there was no light pollution - which was lovely and also quite concerning.

I was very glad that I was with Su as she could translate for me what was happening. However, I have to admit that on more than one occasion I wished I'd bought a ticket with one of the better companies. I was also fighting my own fears that we would be robbed, or worse, as we waited.

I kept having little chats with myself, doing my best to find the positive. The company was good; the stars amazing; all part of the adventure. I also calculated that even if we on the side of the road till 5am, there would still be time for me to catch my flight to Rio.

At about 2.30am the replacement bus finally appeared. I made sure that my rucksack got on to the new bus (actually carrying it myself). 

Finally we could sleep, I thought. The air conditioning certainly worked on this new bus and to prove the point, the bus driver made sure he chilled us all to the bone with it. Therefore I didn't get to sleep as quickly as I'd hoped - thank goodness for my alpaca shawl.

We arrived in Lima at about 9am and I got to the airport by about 11am. 

Once at the airport I discovered that many earlier flights had been delayed or cancelled - I hoped that mine would still be okay. Although considering some of my recent luck (or lack of it) I wasn't overly hopeful.

I managed to check in much earlier than I had expected thanks to information provided outside the airport. Also, as I hadn't realised I would need to, it gave me time to get the information about my onward flights and my flight home at the beginning of June.

I finally boarded the plane just before 4.30pm and to be honest was really quite glad to be leaving Peru.