South America

Latest update from Colombia

kabrjb — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 03:34:00 GMT

Well, for those of you that I haven't spoken to in a while you would not be aware that Rob is back in Australia. He had to go back for a sudden death in the family and decided not to come back. He wasn't really happy teaching - I love it. Well, most of the time anyway. Yes, I have decided that I am not ready to go back yet and will be continuing my adventure 'solo'. It is certainly not a path that I would have chosen but it is the hand that I have been dealt so I need to get on with my life. I only have 5 weeks left in Villavicencio, Colombia, and then will do a trip through Jamaica, Cuba, Guatamale, Belize and Mexico. I have made the big decision to stay in Colombia next year and will commence teaching in a beautiful city called Medellin, in February. It is called the City of Eternal Spring and it is a city that is highly prized. I was only going to stay until June but when I heard where I was offered, I decided to stay until mid December. If I came back to Australia I would probably end up teaching English anyway .....

i have finally got a new camera so will start posting pictures up - it truly is a beautiful country and I feel very safe, even by myself. I have been very slack but Villavicencio isn't exactly filled with tourism but I have still got some lovely photos to share. But the people have made us all feel very welcome.

Hope that you are all well and happy.

Thinking of you, Kathy

Photos: Aques Calientes and Machu Pichu

kabrjb — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 06:24:00 GMT

Last days in Cusco and Machu Pichu

kabrjb — Sun, 6 Apr 2014 10:30:00 GMT

Well, after 4 weeks of really stressful study we have passed our TEFL course with flying colours. Looking back it's quite funny to think how stressed we were having to teach a 20 minute class - a walk in the park compared to the 2 hour lessons that I am teaching now!!!!! The school that we studied at and our teacher were awesome and we had lots of laughs. If ever you get a chance to visit Cusco, do. It is a lovely city and has lots of cobbled streets, lots of the obligatory churches and lots of characters. It was quite surreal when I first saw ladies and children in traditional dress with their alpacas or lllamas in the street. Every morning walking to school we were approached by a Frenchman asking if we spoke English. He was always asking for a donation as 'he had missed his flight home and didn't have enough money to get home'. When my response of go and speak to your travel insurance insurance didn't deter him, I resorted to 'get f'd' and don't you recognise us each day (not many blonde females with spikey hair around), to which he replied 'get f'd yourself'!!!!!! But he still continued to ask every day - I guess if you don't ask, you don't get. He was still hanging around after 5 weeks though. The altitude in Cusco is quite high and I really didn't think that it would make a difference but we had to walk up and down 67 stairs to get back to our hostel everyday and I sounded like I was dying after walking up them every night.

One of my favourite sights is seeing the traditional people carrying their babies around on their backs. They are wrapped up in a papoose and I can never figure out if they are carrying a baby or something else. They don't seem to have any air holes but the airpockets must be big enough for the bubs.

While we were in Cusco there we were 2 large protests - quite frightening as shops were closed and police lined the street with riot shields and guns. Gold and silver mining are the main industries here and apparently the taxes from these are going to be redistributed and people are not happy. They have used these taxes in the past for improvements to the areas surrounding the mines and now they won't be able to. All the transport people, as well as miners, went on strike so no taxis, buses etc. it didn't affect us too much as we walked to school everyday anyway but when we were leaving Cusco there was another strike and we couldn't go to Puno and Lake Titicaca as strikes were on there. I don't know that the strikes got the desired results but it made for interesting times. We had a security guard at school that let us in through a tiny door. Quite funny as I don't know what he would have done if he was challenged - maybe hit them with his newspaper!

After finishing our course, we visited Machu Pichu. What would a visit to South America be without a trip to this great wonder? Words cannot describe the magnificence of it and photos can only show so much. There was a wonderful feel to the place and we ended up just sitting and admiring it for a couple of hours. Of course there were the usual Japanese tourists who have 40 minutes to visit it and spend 25 minutes taking photos of each other!!! It is amazing to think that these structure were built by the Incas with no machinery or tools (apart from large rocks) and they got all the blocks interconnecting perfectly. If only we could build houses today to last this long. Windows were built so that when the sun cast a shadow ina particular direction, they could not only tell the time but also the month of the year. You don't realise how big the whole area is until you make the climb to the top to admire it. Unfortunately on the day we were there, it was a bit cloudy but it also gave it a wonderful feeling so we didn't mind at all.

From Cusco we changed our plans and headed to Arequipa. We weren't really sure what we were going to do or see but we needed to start heading to Chachapoyas. Once again the strikes were playing havoc with our plans. After a 16 hour bus trip we arrived - we had heard great reports about Arequipa but maybe they meant another Arequipa and not the one we arrived in!!!! Our hostel was OK but not very pretty at all - could do with a lot of upkeep on it but the old guy running it was OK and very helpful. Couldn't speak a word of English but we got by with our very limited Spanish. With nothing much to see or do, we decided to visit the Colca Canyon and the famous condors. This was a great couple of days and an unexpected bonus for us. Not only did we see several condors, there are only 40 or 50 there, but we saw lovely villages and both Inca and pre-Incan terraces and remains of buildings. We were very lucky to have a pretty good English speaking guide too.

After our visit to Arequipa we hopped on another bus for another 16 hour bus trip to Cajamarca. This was a very disappointing town too and nothing at all to do. After 1 night there, 1 night too much, we hopped on another bus for yet another 16 hour trip to our new home Chachapoyas. This trip was very scenic and we were very lucky that we didn't have any rain as the road is a one-lane road and you are hanging off the edge of a cliff in some spots. Very nerve wracking and Rob sat by the window!!!!!!! There were a couple of spots when the road had subsided and we also had to do some reversing to let other buses or trucks through.

Peruvian food. I'm not really sure what to say but I definitely prefer Asian food to Peruvian. Peruvian food is quite stodgy and starchy and it's quite common to get served on one plate potato, rice and a tuber 'yuk' vegetable, usually with chicken. Yes we have both lost weight and I need to take my jeans to a tailor to get taken in about 2 sizes - I can walk out of them!!!! I know, not a pretty thought but ........ They really like sweet things too - even in their bread rolls we can taste the sugar. Rob made his specialty, spaghetti bolognese last weekend and the to tomato paste was even sweet. I never thought that I would see the day that I would buy mince from an open-air market but it was wonderful and no fat. The fruit is OK - mandarins, oranges from the US, papaya and bananas. But I do need to mention the avocadoes - they are the size of small papayas and are huge. Everything is organic too so we like that. I just need to make mention of the Peruvian traditional dish of cuy - guinea pig. Rob ate 1/2 one the other day - said it tasted like chicken. And yes, its little paws were still attached. I still haven't tried it though. We drove through a town that the called Cuy Land - all along the side of the road were rotisseries set up with skewered cuy. Not a pretty sight at all.

Hope you are all well and happy. Till our next instalment, bye for now.

Catchup - Arrival in Cusco

kabrjb — Sat, 1 Mar 2014 23:29:00 GMT

I hope this finds you all well and happy. And no, I haven't been slack in doing updates but didn't save last week's news - and it was a great creation too!!!!!!!

Most important, yes, we did survive the 22+ hour bus trip from Lima to Cusco. No bandits either which was a huge bonus. I will admit that every time the bus slowed down for roadworks I grabbed Rob's hand. Thank goodness that is over - well for a couple of weeks anyway.

Cusco is a lovely spot and the people are very friendly. Even when you say "No, gracias" to the street vendors they leave you alone and say thank you in return. We have a wonderful hostel to stay at which overlooks some beautiful sights. The downside is that we have lots and lots and lots of stairs to climb to get to it - and our room as you can see from the photos. Altitude sickness was awful - Rob was the worst - and being out of breath is an everyday occurrence.

A couple of strange facts about Cusco (and Peru) in general:

No heating in buildings - considering how cold it gets is unbelievable. Rob got a radiant heater for us from downstairs before they disappeared.

Toilet paper is never put down the loo - there is always a small bin in the toilet for this. Apparently the pipes etc. can't cope with the paper.

The TEFL school that we are attending is awesome and we have a great teacher. We are in a class of 7 - 3 Peruvians, 1 Pom and 2 Yanks. Our first week (3 days) was very daunting as we had our very first MiniLesson to do in front of a proper class. It went for 20 minutes and we thought it would go for ever but it flew. We had to do an "How to lesson" and Rob did making and playing the didgideroo and I did the world famous chicken dance. I am now known as the chicken dance teacher on campus!!!!

This week we had a bit of excitement in Cusco - the transport people went on strike for 2 days (no taxis, buses etc). We even had the riot police out with their shields lining the streets. There were street marches and the businesses lining the main street were closed. We could only get into our school via a very small door and security let us in and out. Apparently it is set to escalate but one plus was that it was very easy to walk to school.

We haven't really been doing much as we have been busy studying and studying. Last Sunday we did venture out of Cusco and headed to the sacred Valley - absolutely beautiful scenery and the weather was lovely too which also helped. More about that next week. We have got a huge week coming up - a MiniLesson on vocabulary tomorrow and a paper on Grammar to be done too - as well as 3 observations of other qualified TEFL teachers at our school. The following week is really our last full week and we do prac teaching for the 5 days! I think that the most stressful thing is that we don't know the classes and what they have done and it will be easier with our own classes.

I think that we will be doing CV's this week too, which leads to another problem - where do we want to go. Our teacher has told us that we can get a job at our school in Guaetemala but I think we would rather step out of their protection and do our own thing. We can start applying for jobs now but please don't think that jobs are well paid - I think that we will be looking at $2-$3 USD/hour but as long as we can cover our accommodation and food we will be happy. We have decided that we want somewhere in South America, warm,somewhere that we can be together (not necessarily the same school) and somewhere that we can do weekend trips away to see the sights. All suggestions gratefully received.

Talking about food, we were going to cook while we are here but we have found an excellent veggie restaurant on the way home that we can get a delicious meal each and a freshly squeezed juice or Chai for /20 sol which is approx. $7 for both of us so no cooking!!!!!! There are a few restaurants that serve cuy, yes guinea pig, but we haven't gone in. Talking about this little delicacy though, on our trip to the Sacred Valley we did drive through a place that is fondly known as Cuy Land and they were cooking guineau pigs on individual skewers like rotisseries - the skewer went lengthways. Eeww!!!!!!!!!

stay safe and be happy. Talk to you later xxxxooooxxxxx

Arrived safely in Cuzsco

kabrjb — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 15:47:00 GMT

Just a quick note to let you worriers, you will know who you are!!!, that after 22hr bus trip we are in Cuzsco. Will add more tomorrow as we are pooped and everything they say about altitude sickness is true. Went for a short walk and we have seen alpacas in the street and you pay to have your photo taken with them. You guessed it - Rob said no but I think I am going to have to. I think I will lose weight while we are here - very hilly. rob saw a lady pull down her pants and have a wee right in front of him - I thought I could smell weed and not wee!!! Not sure how we get where we do actually - a bit like dumb and dumber sometimes. Hope you are all well xxxx

Mira Flores

kabrjb — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:03:00 GMT

Hola, hope this update finds you all well and happy. We are staying in a great hostel in Mira Flores which is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Lima. This is so very clean and not what I was expecting. There are no strange smells and haven't seen any rats - which I am very surprised about. Not what I was expecting at all. The weather is glorious and quite warm.

We are walking everywhere but tomorrow we are going to catch the bus into Lima as they have some great sights to see. We have also booked our bus tickets to Cusco and will be heading there on Friday so mum, please don't worry too much. We will let you know when we get there.

Language is a bit of a barrier and we have never felt it like we need to know the language like we have here. We are trying to speak a bit each day and will need to start thinking in Spanish too. On Sunday we were given a very warm welcome to Lima by a lovely old woman - I thanked her in Spanish and Rob said merci. I don't think he even realised that he said it but I had tears rolling down my face.

Traffic is well controlled and the cars are pretty well looked after but we are surprised that there aren't many motorbikes. We saw a guy run out of fuel so he proceeded to fill it up with a plastic container that he had in the car.

Food is reasonably well priced and I saw my first packaged guinea pig last night - just nestled in amongst the other meat. We can buy a six-pack of beer in the supermarket for about $5. Bottled water is very cheap too.

Arrival

kabrjb — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:52:00 GMT

Sunday: We have finally arrived in South America. After 30 hours on the road we have arrived in Lima. We are definitely going to have to brush up on our Spanish and start thinking in a different language. But my curvaceous body has found its way home I think and is appreciated. Accommodation is pretty central and we will be doing lots of walking - after all it is cheap. Beers come in 2 sizes - normal or grande which is more than a tall bottle. Nothing to report and no photos but will hopefully do something a bit more exciting later today or tomorrow.

Photos: February 2014

kabrjb — Sun, 2 Feb 2014 14:52:00 GMT

Photos