Hello Everyone!

Apologies once again for lack of updates. Of course we have been very busy having fun, but also the internet is a bit rubbish here of late. Still not sure what´s going on with the photos on this site...sorry you can´t see any of them. I´ve stopped uploading them here because it never seems to work, but they are all going on facebook...so those of you who are less technologically challenged should be able to access them (sorry mum you´ll have to wait). hehe.

So last weekend, Rebecca, Mel and I embarked on our final mini-break weekend trip together (boohoo). But it was, in my opinion, one of the best and a great one to end on. We took a night bus on Thursday to a city called Arequipa, (or as we now like to say: "Arequiparequiparequipaaaa!" mimicking the staff at the bus terminals) further south in Peru. I especially wanted to go for two reasons - the main plaza is supposed to be beautiful and it is situated near Colca Canyon where you sometimes spot wild Condors flying. I wasn´t disappointed on either counts. With hope in our hearts we set off on the 10 hour journey through which we slept mostly, apart from one notable, embarrassing (but rather comical in retrospect) error on my part during the Peruvian version of Bingo. Bearing in mind that the instructions and numbers are read out over a crackly tannoy by a Peruvian lady who only spoke in Spanish, you can appreciate that we were a little unclear on the rules. Having decided that you only need to get one line of numbers to win (i think Becky told me this on purpose) i rang my little buzzer for the staff, expecting her to come down to our floor and collect my card...but NO! Instead, she announced to the entire bus my ´victory´and asked me to come up. Well there was no way in Hades i was doing that!! i didn´t even know if i had played the game right, so i definitely wasn´t going to risk the entire bus witnessing my shame if i was wrong. And i´m so glad i didn´t go up because - needless to say really - i had got it wrong!! While the whole bus waited for me to ascend, i had shrunken into a little ball in the hope that it would all magically go away (much to the amusement of Becky, Mel was asleep at this point). In the end the lady infront turned round to say that i had to go up to the second floor. I showed her my card - which she pointed out was wrong (thank you) and said i should ún-press´my buzzer...i didn´t even realise it was still on! Argh! Fortunately as soon as I pressed it again, the lady announced a false alarm and the game continued. And I didn´t win.

When we arrived in Arequipa, we took a taxi to the plaza - which was as beautiful as I had imagined. Then we found a bed and breakfast that was more like a proper hotel, really cheap and really nice. We had to wait a few hours before we could check-in to our triple room, but fortunately there was a lounge with a tv and dvd player, so we could watch movies. And guess what we watched!? YES! I got my fix of Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd and it was in English! Yay! (sorry Dave). As soon as we could check-in we went straight to bed for an hour or so - the beds were so comfy...the first (and only) sprung mattress i´ve slept on in Peru. Then we went to explore and get food.

Later that night we commandered the lounge once again to watch the Pursuit of Happyness. For a few minutes we thought it was going to be ruined by beardy-weirdy numero 42 (in our ´BeardWatch´) - a very strange American man with a massive white beard - hence the reason i have dubbed him ´Santa´s Evil Twin´. He came into the lounge (fine), sat down (fine) and proceeded to spout absolute s*** to Mel and Becky - i had gone to get a drink - until they were both so mad that it took at least 10 minutes for them to calm down after he had left (not fine). He had been saying stupid things about the monarchy and how we should care that the Queen had been upset, and why did we not carry around marmite if we were British? He also tried to guilt-trip Becky by asking what she thought the orphans were doing while we were watching movies - what an absolute idiot! I would have had a lot to say had i been there!! I think Beck and Mel were just shocked. Thankfully he left the room - having got more than a hostile reception from us - and we were left in peace to watch the film.

The following morning we got up at the crazy hour of 2am in time to get the bus to Cruz del Condor in the Canyon where you are most likely to spot condors. When we arrived the sun was out, we sat and ate some breakfast and it wasn´t long before i spotted the first condor sweeping low in the valley - a black and white male. I will never forget that. Soon they were spotted thick and fast with sometimes three or four dominating the skies together. They flew high and low and close and far - they really performed for us. It was amazing to see them in the wild - just as they should be! We never thought we would see that many or that close to, so it far exceeded my expectations! Leaving on a high, we didn´t mind the prospect of walking two hours through the valley to the next town where we could catch a bus back to Arequipa. However, it was a pleasant surprise to find the same bus that had brought us there going back the other way. We flagged it down and found seats at the back. The journey was so bumpy - especially sat at the back - that we sometimes came right out of our seats and laughed and squealed so much (particularly at my melted banana) - much to the amusement of the locals. Again, just like the bus from Puno, we were the only tourists on the bus. But this experience wasn´t as smelly as the last one, which is always a bonus.

Arriving back in Arequipa we had hot showers and headed out for tea. We had decided earlier in the day that this weekend we would try Guinea-Pig (cuy) and tonight was the night! Not only did we eat Cuy, we also sampled more Alpaca and some Ostrich. Sadly it was not the exciting culinary experience it sounds (putting it mildly). The alpaca was o.k. but nowhere near as nice as the steaks we´ve had in Cusco. The ostrich was the best of the bunch, but a bit tough and i didn´t finish my portion. The guinea-pig, however, was FOUL! How anyone can eat that and call it a delicacy i do not know - maybe because you feel incredibly ´delicate´afterwards! I think my mistake was smelling it first - it just smelt like a dead animal: what it is, i guess. I had one small mouthful and retched my way through chewing it until i had to spit it out. It was so gross, i don´t know why Mel and Becky ate more than one mouthful. Seriously wrong! But, we´re all really proud to have tried it. Sadly, the leather bookmark i bought a few weeks ago smells extremely similar.

The next day we got a bit of culture and visited a museum famous for housing the frozen mummy of Juanita the ice-maiden from Inca times - who, we learnt, was a sacrifice to the Gods of the mountains for good luck for the villages. She would, at the age of 12, have made the long trek from Cusco to the volcanic mountain of Arequipa where, at high altitude and harsh conditions have been emotionally and physically drained. We were told that they would have given her an intoxicating drink as a sedative and then knocked her unconscious. We could even see the small hole above her right eye. This sacrificial practice was not uncommon and several more mummies have been found preserved in the ice - but Juanita is the best preserved of all. It was moving to see her still in foetal position with hair and skin and teeth.

Now in the mood for food (as you are after seeing dead people) we found a little Turkish restaurant where Becky was uber excited about falafel. And it was really tasty! After visiting a local convent, for a little more culture, we found a place to sit in the plaza and people-watch. As it turns out, we were also being watched, we were soon approached by a young Arequipenan (Wilson) who wanted to chat and play guitar for us. We were a little reluctant knowing that most Peruvian people like this expect money in return. But, we soon discovered, he couldn´t play guitar anyway (i suspect this has nothing to do with his excuse of ´poco cerveza´- ´little beer´, but more a lack of talent). Instead, he fell head over heels in love with Mel! We chatted to him for over an hour (in Spanish - oh yeah!) and a few other guys joined in too - including one guy who spoke good English and was the biggest Oasis fan i´ve ever met. He recognised Becky´s mancunian accent - which is pretty impressive considering she is from Cheshire - and proceeded to tell us of his obsession with the band. When i told him my step-dad went to the same school, he nearly had a fit of excitement. haha. Soon it was time to break Wilson´s heart and leave the plaza for tea. We all enjoyed a bottle of red wine too - my first alcohol after my medicine.

Most of you know by now that I have a parasite (called Pete) who apparantly i picked up from an animal!?!?!...so we´ve narrowed it down to the horse-riding we´ve done. And just as i´ve finished my meds, Becky takes over with a possible ladyfriend for Pete, called Penny. She´s not had tests and such (lucky lucky) but has had the meds, so hopefully we´ll both be sorted by tomorrow. Well, we have to be really because we have organised a PIRATE NIGHT!!! Yes, our next fancy dress/general piss up is Pirate themed (my favourite, can´t wait). So i´m sure some hideously embarrassing photies will be on facebook (not here, grr) soon.

Then it´s Inti Raymi on Tuesday (Sun Festival) here in Cusco. Cusquenians go mad for festivals, particularly religious, but it´s any excuse as far as i´m concerned. So for the past week the place has been packed with locals and tourists all wanting a piece of the action. Last night was fireworks in the plaza, which were great by any standards. We now have a new motto for our time here: Drink Through, Swim Down - referring to the fact that it´s much more painless to stay pissed and the latter part taken from that educational film Finding Nemo for which we always seem to find ourselves the only tourists going against the Peruvian crowd.

In other news (haha), it was our last day at the kindergarten on Friday - well, supposedly. Now we are returning on Monday because one of the teachers is absent, so we are covering the lessons. But Friday was supposed to be our last day, so we took in flowers for the teachers and cake for the children - which they loved. It was also a celebratory day in Cusco (surprise surprise) so we took a local bus with the children to a fairground where they had animals to look at etc. It was a great ´last day´and i got quite emotional at the end when we said our goodbyes. We´re really going to miss the kids!!

It´s weird that we only have a few days left now. And we have to leave a day early from Cusco beacuse our flight times have changed, so we will be in Lima (the capital) for a day before we set off properly. We´re really going to miss Cusco, but we´re both really excited about coming home to our families.

Ok, so this has turned into another essay, but as our penultimate blog i feel it is necessary! Hoping everyone is well and we´re looking forward to being back in the UK in a week!

Big Love, Liz and Becky x x x x x x