It´s that time again!! It´s been a looong time since I last wrote, but I am writing you from a new place so I have some new impressions to share!
But let's start with my last days in Arequipa...

After so many warnings about how dangerous Peru is, I guess it was almost bound to happen. But just as I started to gain trust in Peruvians (and thinking those warnings were just exagerations) I got robbed!! The b******s took my phone! Yes, there were two of them, they always seem to work in pairs, I later heard..the story..:

Robbery
Guillermo and I were walking in the city centre, broad daylight, 4 PM with many people around. I was on the street side (left side) with my phone in my left pocket (ok, that´s a no-no, I knew that)..in the corner of my eye I saw a person very close behind me and I didn´t feel very comfortable so I stopped, moved a bit to Guillermo´s side to let him pass, but instead of passing, he aggressively started to grab into my pocket! As we realized this, I tried to prevent him from getting it, while Guillermo (still on my right side) started to hit the guy on the back! But he got the phone and started running (this was all really fast, I´d say 4 seconds, no more!) We had just bought some bread, and with the whole commotion, the bread was thrown all over the ground. Guillermo had my backpack on his back and wanted to chase the guy, so he threw off my backpack and started running, but all of a sudden there was another guy in front of Guillermo. He was well dressed and broader than the other guy (the grabber was a little one-they tend to run faster) who sort of pushed Guillermo back and started to scream that he would kill him if he´d try to run after them or do something...and then started running as well! I have absolutely no recollection of all of this happening, as I was more concerned about my wallet in my other pocket, thinking they would get that too. I saw Guillermo had thrown the backpack on the floor and I was afraid that other robbers in the neighborhood would take it and started running with my packpack! Not realizing that there was nothing of value in my backpack, I quickly picked up my backpack and then joined Guillermo in the race..well, no I didn´t actually run..but as I was too preoccupied, I missed all those things that Guillermo had experienced..it all went so fast! Guillermo remembered all the details quite well, and I was glad he was there, because on my own I wouldn´t have known anything about those guys! There were many people around us who saw it and some people came up to us telling us that they saw the guys running into a certain direction...we went in those directions, but the cops there hadn´t seen anyone. I was not too upset about the value, because I figured I have insurance for this, so we went to the police to claim it. As it turns out now, the insurance won´t cover it! Damn..that really sucks, because I had great camera on that phone and now I have to use my big SRL cam every time I want to take a pic (which I am sort of hesitant to do now).

Goodbye Arequipa, Hola Lima!
Well, so far the robbery...I was pretty scared the folowing few days, especially because I was leaving Arequipa and from there traveling on my own. Leaving Arequipa was not that easy, because I got somewhat attached to the family. I felt sad to leave, because I had a great time and really felt close to them. Though, I knew I had to move on and see more of Peru, meet other people and after all, I would return to Arequipa at least twice before going back to Holland. Nevertheless, it was a little difficult to say goodbye. I was doing OK, but when the father (unexpectedly) started to get tears in his eyes I couldn't help but get a little emotional too.

The plan was to go to Lima (14 hr busride), stay there for a few days and then head to Trujillo (8 hr busride). After hearing so many things about it, I decided to finally try out Couchsurfing, an international network of people wanting to meet, host or stay with other "couchsurfers". It's really a great project and using couchsurfing is the best way to meet locals, and see or experience things you would never have if staying at a hostel. All couchsurfers have a profile in which they state their basic info (name, age, location), what they offer (a bed, a room, a couch, dinner, or just a meetup for a drink,,..) but also their interests, where they have traveled to (if anywhere) or where they would want to go. Also, if they have used Couchsurfing before, and you can read about how other people experienced spending time with them (references). This last one is really most important of course, when choosing who you want to stay with..if someone has 10 good references from different people from all over the world who also have many good references, it is fair to say the person is trustworthy, but you always need to be careful with these kind of things I guess. I felt pretty good about it though: the girl I was going to stay with, Sara, seemed very nice. She had studied in Holland, and traveled and lived in many other places in the world (not common for Peruvians). She has a degree in environmental policies and was very passionate about nature and photography. Her profile looked good and she had some great references so I wrote her and before I left Arequipa we had agreed she would pick me up and I could stay there for few days. However, In the bus to Lima I sat next to a guy who had traveled many times between Lima and Arequipa and without having said anything about my plan to couchsurf, he started to tell me about this girl from Australia who met a girl from Columbia on the internet and this Columbiana invited the Aussie to stay with her. Not expecting anything bad to happen, the Aussie accepted and went off..but when she arrived to Columbia, the Columbiana took her hostage and wanted a big ransom for the Aussie's release! Hmm, nice to hear such stories just as you are about to arrive and be picked up by a stranger you met..over the internet! I felt a bit uncomfortable therefore, but kept telling myself that all those great references couldn't have been made up, or else all her friends and all their friends would have been up to...or maybe she was just being a good host to get a great looking profile and NOW was the time to change and go for that big ransom (went through my head real quick)...!!

Well, it turned out I had a great time with Sara..she picked me up from the bus station, we went to her house, had lunch and she showed me around for the next few days. I met her family and friends, and it was really a fun time. I got along great with her 6-year old niece who asked me why I looked like a chinese if I was from Holland (smart girl!). As we were walking around Lima she told me about a Canadian and a Brazilian who wrote her to stay with her and she then received a call from the Brazilian who came into Lima a little earlier. No problem, it wasn't like we had any fixed plans, so we picked her up from the airport and went to have Ceviche, a typical peruvian dish with raw fish in lemon and onions (it really really tastes much much better than the way I just described it!). It was good fun exchanging (travel)experiences and finding out it was all of our real first time couchsurfing experience! Lima, btw is not as nasty and ugly as I had thought (that´s the benefit of being with a local!) Sara showed me some really nice, cozy places and I definitely want to return!

Huanchaco
OK so far as for leaving Arequipa, arriving in Lima and couchsurfing...let's go to the real surfing! I am now in Huanchaco, in northern Peru: a real small, but cozy fishervillage right on the beach! The weather is SO much better than Arequipa's (it's summer here and rain season in AQP), about 25-30 C during the day and 20-25C at night. Everyday around 18.30hr I walk 3 blocks to the beach to watch the sunset and I enjoy being able to walk home in shorts and on my flipflops at 22.00hr as the streets are fairly calm, with a some local kids still playing on the street. Since I wanted to be at the beach, live affordably, have some time left to teach English I googled ¨beach, peru and volunteering¨ and as it turned out, I was not the only one! I found the website of the Dutch organisation ¨Otra Cosa¨, a vegetarian restaurant that also has contacts with 7 different local projects. The projects range from volunteering at the restaurant to teaching English to helping out at a local surfschool that teaches streetkids for free. In exchange for the volunteerwork you are offered all kinds of benefits, including cheap housing. Check it out if you want to know more: www.otracosa.nl.

I live with the cook of Otra Cosa, Roza, a real nice, tranquil woman who lives with her son, Nilo (18) and her daughter Eliana (21) and Eliana´s son Gabriel (1.8 yrs old)! The little one is a bit of a screaming monster as he cries EVERY time he doesn´t get his way..and Eliana gives him what he wants immediately! Quite annoying.. The house and my room are simple, I have a bed and a closet, and that´s it. I don´t really need a lot more, as I am not spending a lot of time in the house. See pics for a real impression!

I chose to volunteer at the restaurant with the idea of maybe volunteering at other places and teach some English to cover my expenses. The first day I had an orientation talk and met a Dutch girl, volunteering at the surfschool..I thought, how nice, a fellow Dutchy! Not knowing what was ahead of me! It turns out this place is full of (foreign, but mostly DUTCH) volunteers, all with their own story of how they came to Otra Cosa. At times I feel like I am at Scheveningen beach, taking food-orders in Dutch! I am now working 3 times a week, tue through thu from 8.30 to 14.30 and the rest of the time I can do whatever I want!

So far I really enjoy it here, the village is so quiet, although it gets really busy on the weekends as crowds from Trujillo come in to enjoy the beach. I am meeting lots of interesting people, all volunteering here for 1 to 3 months and then continuing their travels to wherever! I was planning on staying here for 3 months, but I committed to one month and will see if I still like the small village after this month. It is so small that you run to all the other volunteers constantly! As I am working at the restaurant I also meet lots of them there as well! Lots of get-togethers, which is great for now, but I wonder how long it will take before it gets irritating..the advantage is that it is great to exchange ideas and travel experiences but a big disadvantage is that no one is practicing Spanish!

The rest of my time I am going to teach private English classes and I started taking surfinglessons! It´s so much fun, but I am not sure if what I did can be counted as surfing..I was standing on the board alright, the balance was not a big problem..but to actually catch a wave and paddle as fast as the wave...that´s the hardest part. Most of the time I am not paddling hard enough and I miss the wave...and the paddling gets exhausting. So in my lessons the instructor gives me an extra push and tells me when to stand...and then I stand! And then it looks and feels like I am surfing!

Well people, for now, this is it again! Don´t forget to check the pictures as you get an impression of HOW relaxing it really is here!!

Hope you enjoyed the reading! Hasta la proxima!

¨Chaukita¨