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YOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO From Peruuu! Ah, Chicas, Chicos I am feeling splendid as I write to you, from Arequpia, southern Peru! We arrived here after a 17hr coach journey yesterday... it was so long we watched 6 films and even tolerated a chick flick called ´No Strings Attached´that had been dubbed because we had nowt else to do! At least they fed us twice, and the lovely guy working as server gave me two free cokes instead of one and a wink to boot!
Birthday news? Well, for a start I was a very smiley lady when I received so many lovely emails, cards and photos. I left for our tour of the romantic catacombs thinking, ´my 27th year is going to be a great one.´ Not wrong either, on returning to the hostel I nearly balled unabashedly when I realised the owners had decorated the whole place with balloons and a banner for me. They even sang happy birthday in Spanish and English, with all the guests, while I stood like a lemon at the door blushing furiously. Made me feel rather special I must admit!
For those of you that don´t know, evil parasite in tummy from 4 weeks ago, hadn´t gone so we had to get to Lima ASAP (4th Nov) to be near a hospital, got admitted another twice (more scary needles and drips to reduce swelling in tummy) doc says I can´t keep food in because of small ulcers in intestine that the parasite causes. More tears! However, he gave me a strict diet (3 days of only water and stock, YES I nearly starved and then another 7 of only rice, chicken, water, bread) Those 7 days ended the day after my birthday so no cake for me... BUT, I finally have a normal sized tummy amd can eat without cramping and swelling like a pregnant woman! All of this ended up keeping us in Lima for over 15 nights, when we only wanted to go to see Pearl Jam on the 18th. (Most people avoid Lima or berate it!) To our surprise we ended up having a great time there. We did a lot of lazing about in the mornings, Mat´s on a mission to read loads of classics (ticked off 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' in Lima) and I have been writing relentlessly, which I believe has been good for the soul! Afternoons have all been filled with exploration... walking tour, art museums, parks, parrot spotting etc. Mira Flores might be crazy Americansied (Yes I did visit a TGIs the day I was allowed to eat proper food again and have a burger and brownie!) but downtown Lima was so interesting. For instance, when the Spanish took Lima, the battle was in the main square... 7000 Inca warriors and the leader turned up, unarmed, intending to talk to the Spanish, there was less than 200 of them... The Spanish massacred nearly all of them (they came armed with no intention of talking!) and stole the leader! They promised to free the leader as he bribed them with the promise of a room filled once with gold and twice in silver, he kept his promise (Incas loved silver and gold, adorned churches in it, but didn´t value it, their pots and pans were made from it!) but the Spanish still executed him. It´s no secret the Spanish are hated here, the more you uncover the history the more you can see why!
As for Pearl Jam, it´s hard to say what the best bit was... it´s a tie between the fact the Peruvians are munchkin sized so we had the best view of our lives, The crowd kept chanting, ´ole, ole, ole. ole Pearl Jam´ but can´t pronounce J (that sound doesn´t exist here) so it sounded somewhat like Pearl Ham or Pearl Sham which sent us into hysterics much to their bemusment. OR that they played ´Keep on Rocking in the Free World´ and I got an overwhelming feeling that I am going to be forever young and pumping my arms in the air to songs I love! Cool, cool, cool!
My Spanish is still a joke, our Argentinian friend Lolo, has taken to calling me Kelly Gallagher as he can´t understand a word they say either. This is appalling as he understands Mat who is a bloody Manc. BOO!!! Also, we went out for a drink with him and I ordered a Sprite and after 4 attempts of the waiter trying to understand me (using Spanish and English), with Mat and Lolo doubled over in amusement, Mat had to order it and the guy understood straight away. I am losing the will to learn at all I must confess!
What else? What else? Oh, so met a few travellers... can you work out the end of this story? 4 Brits, 1 Peruvian, 1 American go to a bar... one of them keeps spitting on the floor. The same group go to a club. One of them pulls down their pants and starts having sex with a local on the dance floor... I noticed this as I was knocked over by their escapades! Which nationality was the grotbag?!
Oh, nearly leaving out the best best bit, shame on me, after the gig we shared a taxi with a woman and her son... she turned out to be the bubbliest woman on the planet, chatted all the way back in Spanglish (45min ride) and when we got out she stuffed a piece of paper into Mat´s hands and insisted we should go over for local cuisine the next day. We pretty much skipped back with excitment from there, it´s a great feeling when people like you and go out of their way for you, especially with very few home comforts when travelling. Anyway, we called and went. Spent 5 hours eating and laughing until our sides hurt, she´s recently married an Aussie so all of the English was pretty good and he translated the difficult things. My personal highlight was when her brother tried to get us to explain the diference between b**** and beach. He honestly couldn´t hear any difference in the 2 words! I also like their names, Mabel, Patti and Wilbur... all Peruvian!
Hmmm, I can talk can´t I?! Mat has been to, and come back from, the supermarket in this time. No change there then I hear you cry! BIG LOVE!!!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- comments
Debbie Williams I tried to rate you blog with 5 stars but it only gave you one :( sorry!! this is my favourite though, pearl ham pearl ham pearl ham!!! xxxx
Howard Quinn Hi Kelly Hope you and Mat are well. I am a bit puzzled about receiving this update dated 23 Nov 11 on 11 Feb 12. SA e-mail seems slower than terrestrial mail.