I am home!!!!
I know that was a bit sudden, but although I have been planning a 14th May arrival date for some time, I was keeping that a surprise from Fleur who thought I wouldn't be home in time for her baby to be born.
So I landed very early on Saturday and was met at the airport by my lovely brother. I slept at his place for 4 hours, had a bite to eat and then went over to Fleur's. She got such a surprise with me at the door!!!
I was there for a night and then with Holly and Peter for a night and now am back with mum and dad for a couple of days. I'll be back in London for Friday which is my birthday!!!
So, this is the end of my saga :o)
I shall not be typing anymore as this is the end of the journey. Even though, of course, it's not. The future holds exciting things for me, including of course imminently becoming an auntie; a holiday with Adam in July (seeing England, Scotland, Copenhagen, Barcelona and Las Vegas!) and setting up a jewellery business once I get back to Wellington in August (I'm applying for another 12 month visa for New Zealand).
Thank you all so much for reading my blog and following me on my journey! It's been wonderful to share it with you all.
Bye!! :o)
xxxxx
Fi's Travels...
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Thursday 12 May 2011
Maccu Picchu!!!
Hello again everyone.
Right, I have just been back adding in photos to the last 6 or so posts (since arriving in Chile - go and have a look if you missed them on facebook) and suddenly realised looking back that I had forgotten to write about Maccu Picchu!! Can't think how I managed that one...
The town outside it is called Aguas Calientes and it is very beautiful although full of tourist rubbish and very expensive. Mollie my roommate and I went out for cocktails as there was not mych else to do once we arrived and she picked up a young Peruvian man who invited us, along with his colleague, to join us for drinks once they finished work at the bar we were at. We agreed and proceeded to go back and get ready. We also tried to buy dresses and giggled non-stop for 4 hours :o) We met the boys at 10.30pm and went for a few drinks. Mine did hit on me a bit but I made it clear I had a boyfreind... to be honest, that didn't seem to work and after a bit he sat closer to me and gave me a speech in Spanish about how all the world should be free to love whoever they wanted, and life was all about pleasure and living in the moment and all that stuff... and then reminded me that New Zealand is very far away... and then leaned forward, saying 'que piensas?' (what do you think?). I replied 'creo que me voy a casar con mi novio' (I think I'm going to marry my boyfriend) which may or may not be true but more importantly, had the desired effect and he backed off. He wanted to leave pretty soon after that and started to look bored so he walked me back to my hotel about 12.30am and I left Mollie to snog the face off her toy boy. She fell into bed about 3am.
Anyway, we didn't have to be up until about 7am in the end and got on the bus to Maccu Picchu about 8am. It's a gorgeous but scary ride up the side of a very steep hill/mountain.
Miccu Picchu itself was utterly breathtaking, so much more than I had imagined. It's massive and surrounded by incredible scenery. In fact, I'm just going to let the pictures speak for me:
Right, I have just been back adding in photos to the last 6 or so posts (since arriving in Chile - go and have a look if you missed them on facebook) and suddenly realised looking back that I had forgotten to write about Maccu Picchu!! Can't think how I managed that one...
The town outside it is called Aguas Calientes and it is very beautiful although full of tourist rubbish and very expensive. Mollie my roommate and I went out for cocktails as there was not mych else to do once we arrived and she picked up a young Peruvian man who invited us, along with his colleague, to join us for drinks once they finished work at the bar we were at. We agreed and proceeded to go back and get ready. We also tried to buy dresses and giggled non-stop for 4 hours :o) We met the boys at 10.30pm and went for a few drinks. Mine did hit on me a bit but I made it clear I had a boyfreind... to be honest, that didn't seem to work and after a bit he sat closer to me and gave me a speech in Spanish about how all the world should be free to love whoever they wanted, and life was all about pleasure and living in the moment and all that stuff... and then reminded me that New Zealand is very far away... and then leaned forward, saying 'que piensas?' (what do you think?). I replied 'creo que me voy a casar con mi novio' (I think I'm going to marry my boyfriend) which may or may not be true but more importantly, had the desired effect and he backed off. He wanted to leave pretty soon after that and started to look bored so he walked me back to my hotel about 12.30am and I left Mollie to snog the face off her toy boy. She fell into bed about 3am.
Anyway, we didn't have to be up until about 7am in the end and got on the bus to Maccu Picchu about 8am. It's a gorgeous but scary ride up the side of a very steep hill/mountain.
Miccu Picchu itself was utterly breathtaking, so much more than I had imagined. It's massive and surrounded by incredible scenery. In fact, I'm just going to let the pictures speak for me:
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Fear and loathing in Lima
I hate Lima.
Oh go on Fiona, don't hold back, tell us what you really think :o)
It is dirty, but then so are many places. It smells. Worse than a lot of places. But more than anything, it's just... the feeling the City has. It feels dangerous and unsavoury. I'm sure this is in part due to what I have read and been told by my travel company. We were given a pack on arrival with info and advice about everywhere we visited and one thing written in the lima section is "NEVER walk around on your own, you make a much easier target that way". Great. What are single travellers supposed to do then?? The advice is full of examples of the kind of tricks and scams that are common, often involving 'plain clothes police' who are not police and try to get money from you. There is severe advice about never getting into a car with people who claim to be the police and how you must just remain calm if they do force you into a car. Apparently it's common to get your bag slashed with a knife and things pulled out of it. You should not wear any jewellery as it will be snatched off you which they advise is painful. No kidding.
I have become hyper vigilant and walk around in a slight cold sweat whenever I force myself to get out of the hotel room. I really stand out with the blond hair and fair skin and the middle aged men keep saying 'hola' (hi)as they walk past or other things I can't quite make out. The slang is different here to Spain. I feel stared at a lot. There are policemen and security guards everywhere, to get cash out of a machine you have to go into a protected booth and shut the door, there's a security guard outside.
I'm generally quite freaked out. I made it to one sight today, a massive San Franciscan church which was quite beautiful and had catacombs underneath filled with bones. 25,000 were buried there. It was a bit spooky. I tired the museum of the inquisition but it is closed for refurbishment. I nearly got lost trying to find it and was down a street with no other foreigners and just got stared and stared at... it's so unnerving!! I wish I had a headscarf or something!
So, that's me. I'm trying to get out to a park of fountains tonight which has a light show on, it's supposed to be really good. But you're advised to only take taxis at night and I'm worried about catching one back. mostly they are just minicab things and all the drivers are certifiable and desperatly trying to crash and run people over all the time.
Tomorrow at least I have a bus tour for the morning so that will be OK I suppose.
Moan over.
xxxx
Oh go on Fiona, don't hold back, tell us what you really think :o)
It is dirty, but then so are many places. It smells. Worse than a lot of places. But more than anything, it's just... the feeling the City has. It feels dangerous and unsavoury. I'm sure this is in part due to what I have read and been told by my travel company. We were given a pack on arrival with info and advice about everywhere we visited and one thing written in the lima section is "NEVER walk around on your own, you make a much easier target that way". Great. What are single travellers supposed to do then?? The advice is full of examples of the kind of tricks and scams that are common, often involving 'plain clothes police' who are not police and try to get money from you. There is severe advice about never getting into a car with people who claim to be the police and how you must just remain calm if they do force you into a car. Apparently it's common to get your bag slashed with a knife and things pulled out of it. You should not wear any jewellery as it will be snatched off you which they advise is painful. No kidding.
I have become hyper vigilant and walk around in a slight cold sweat whenever I force myself to get out of the hotel room. I really stand out with the blond hair and fair skin and the middle aged men keep saying 'hola' (hi)as they walk past or other things I can't quite make out. The slang is different here to Spain. I feel stared at a lot. There are policemen and security guards everywhere, to get cash out of a machine you have to go into a protected booth and shut the door, there's a security guard outside.
I'm generally quite freaked out. I made it to one sight today, a massive San Franciscan church which was quite beautiful and had catacombs underneath filled with bones. 25,000 were buried there. It was a bit spooky. I tired the museum of the inquisition but it is closed for refurbishment. I nearly got lost trying to find it and was down a street with no other foreigners and just got stared and stared at... it's so unnerving!! I wish I had a headscarf or something!
So, that's me. I'm trying to get out to a park of fountains tonight which has a light show on, it's supposed to be really good. But you're advised to only take taxis at night and I'm worried about catching one back. mostly they are just minicab things and all the drivers are certifiable and desperatly trying to crash and run people over all the time.
Tomorrow at least I have a bus tour for the morning so that will be OK I suppose.
Moan over.
xxxx
Saturday 7 May 2011
Vomiting
What a nice title, eh?
I am not feeling creative as I have spent the whole day throwing up. I got up and felt a bit weird but put it down to the altitude sickness still. However, after a yoghurt, muslei and fruit breakfast I was feeling wven worse so went to lie down again. From there things got steadily worse, I started to shake and shiver and all my muscles really ached. I got into bed fully clothed in jeans and a jacket, had a sheet, 2 blankets and 2 bed covers on me and I still couldn't stop violently shivering. My skin went super sensitive and sore and then I started throwing up.
It is now about 8pm and I am glad to say I feel better, they have great drugs over here. I've never heard of these in England but if we don't have them I reckon we should get them. Our tour guide Carla just went to the pharmacy and explained that I had a stomach bug and I got one pill to fight the virus causing it and another with anti nausea and pain relief. I took them about 3 hours ago and by 7pm I was suddenly really hot insterad of cold and felt much better.
This is a relief as it is a 6.50am pick up tomorrow to get to Agua Calientes (warm springs) where we spend the day and then the day after it's a 6am exit up to Maccu Picchu. We have a full day there then back to Cusco in the evening and Lima the day after.
Carla (our tour leader) ordered some soup for me so I am going to attempt dinner now.
What else can I tell you? Our arrival day was a complete write off, I had no idea that altitude sickness could make you feel so bad! Like I was about to pass out all day. I still managed a bit of guinea pig for dinner (we all got to try a bite) - it's not that nice really, and llama steak as well, which was nice.
Wednesday we had a full day seeing Inca ruins in Ollantaytambo, Pisca, the sacred valley and Saqsayhuaman. It really was breathaking... when I can get the uplink to work I'll be adding photos... hopefully not more than a week or two - sorry for the delay! I don't know quite what's wrong..... but do check back for them anyway, it's worth seeing! The terraces were incredible.
Thursday (yesterday) was a relaxing day in Cusco luckily, Molly (my yankee roommate) and I got a massage (which was pretty good!) wandered around town and hit the markets. It was present buying day so all the Macs and ex-Macs can get little smiles on their faces :o)
Today, as outlined above, was a write off! Shame as it was another free day and Molly and I were going to do the cultural thing and visit the museums and art gallieries and churches. Never mind, you can't do everything.
By the way, I've been really impressed with the food here, it's very good. At least the stuff for the tourists is anyway.
OK, so I am not going to die as I feared this afternoon! These pills are amazing.
xxxxx
I am not feeling creative as I have spent the whole day throwing up. I got up and felt a bit weird but put it down to the altitude sickness still. However, after a yoghurt, muslei and fruit breakfast I was feeling wven worse so went to lie down again. From there things got steadily worse, I started to shake and shiver and all my muscles really ached. I got into bed fully clothed in jeans and a jacket, had a sheet, 2 blankets and 2 bed covers on me and I still couldn't stop violently shivering. My skin went super sensitive and sore and then I started throwing up.
It is now about 8pm and I am glad to say I feel better, they have great drugs over here. I've never heard of these in England but if we don't have them I reckon we should get them. Our tour guide Carla just went to the pharmacy and explained that I had a stomach bug and I got one pill to fight the virus causing it and another with anti nausea and pain relief. I took them about 3 hours ago and by 7pm I was suddenly really hot insterad of cold and felt much better.
This is a relief as it is a 6.50am pick up tomorrow to get to Agua Calientes (warm springs) where we spend the day and then the day after it's a 6am exit up to Maccu Picchu. We have a full day there then back to Cusco in the evening and Lima the day after.
Carla (our tour leader) ordered some soup for me so I am going to attempt dinner now.
What else can I tell you? Our arrival day was a complete write off, I had no idea that altitude sickness could make you feel so bad! Like I was about to pass out all day. I still managed a bit of guinea pig for dinner (we all got to try a bite) - it's not that nice really, and llama steak as well, which was nice.
Wednesday we had a full day seeing Inca ruins in Ollantaytambo, Pisca, the sacred valley and Saqsayhuaman. It really was breathaking... when I can get the uplink to work I'll be adding photos... hopefully not more than a week or two - sorry for the delay! I don't know quite what's wrong..... but do check back for them anyway, it's worth seeing! The terraces were incredible.
Thursday (yesterday) was a relaxing day in Cusco luckily, Molly (my yankee roommate) and I got a massage (which was pretty good!) wandered around town and hit the markets. It was present buying day so all the Macs and ex-Macs can get little smiles on their faces :o)
Today, as outlined above, was a write off! Shame as it was another free day and Molly and I were going to do the cultural thing and visit the museums and art gallieries and churches. Never mind, you can't do everything.
By the way, I've been really impressed with the food here, it's very good. At least the stuff for the tourists is anyway.
OK, so I am not going to die as I feared this afternoon! These pills are amazing.
xxxxx
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Woozy
Today I am very woozy! I have altitude sickness.
I'm in Cusco which is at 3,300m above sea level. It's just the oddest thing. I felt it within 20 seconds of getting off the plane... as if suddenly I was on a boat, it felt like the ground was moving really strongly under my feet. I felt dizzy and short of breath and got slight pins and needles in my arms, legs and face.
It's hard to do anything today, even walk. We got to the hotel and had coca tea, which is supposed to help. And that is coca as in cocaine, yes, not as in chocolate! It's in everything here. Not big quantities though I guess.
It's guinea pig for dinner tonight!!
That is all for now as I feel quite ill.
xxx
I'm in Cusco which is at 3,300m above sea level. It's just the oddest thing. I felt it within 20 seconds of getting off the plane... as if suddenly I was on a boat, it felt like the ground was moving really strongly under my feet. I felt dizzy and short of breath and got slight pins and needles in my arms, legs and face.
It's hard to do anything today, even walk. We got to the hotel and had coca tea, which is supposed to help. And that is coca as in cocaine, yes, not as in chocolate! It's in everything here. Not big quantities though I guess.
It's guinea pig for dinner tonight!!
That is all for now as I feel quite ill.
xxx
Eaten by a giant spider
OK, I wasn't eaten by a giant spider, much as a feared it!
Here is where we stayed: http://www.ecoamazonia.com.pe/. There are 8 in my group, all Canadian apart from one American. All very nice and our tour guide is awesome.
I'm uploading pics as I type and hope I can post a few on here at the end as pictures are better than words, but here I go anyway:
The first thing to say is that we arrived during a cold spell!! Can you believe it?! The day before it had been 30 degrees and 100% humidity but it must have dropped to about 16 degrees on our day and no humidity. Very overcast. In a way maybe it was good. It's incredibly rare apparently, but all the staff were saying how wonderful it was to be able to move around without sweating and to sleep well at night. So our treks were fine, not that difficult, and we were even a little cold at times! I am sad I missed out on the steamy jungle excperience though...
So far we have been up at 5 or 6 am every day, it's a bit difficult for me!
Anyway, the first day we went out to Monkey island, they have a reserve for rescued monkreys that are too used to humans to be released back into the wild. Got some amazing film from that, they come pretty close. There were spider monkeys, capuchins and howlers I think.
Next day we had a 4 hour trek in the morning when we went right into the jungle. We saw lots of instects, including a tarantula!! Lots of amazing trees and plants as well, our guide was great. In the afternoon we went to a lagoon and saw a caiman that was 1.5m long.
The lodge was great and the food as well. I'm sharing with the American girl and she is nice as well.
I'm also trying to upload some videos I took, I hope they work...
Here is where we stayed: http://www.ecoamazonia.com.pe/. There are 8 in my group, all Canadian apart from one American. All very nice and our tour guide is awesome.
I'm uploading pics as I type and hope I can post a few on here at the end as pictures are better than words, but here I go anyway:
The first thing to say is that we arrived during a cold spell!! Can you believe it?! The day before it had been 30 degrees and 100% humidity but it must have dropped to about 16 degrees on our day and no humidity. Very overcast. In a way maybe it was good. It's incredibly rare apparently, but all the staff were saying how wonderful it was to be able to move around without sweating and to sleep well at night. So our treks were fine, not that difficult, and we were even a little cold at times! I am sad I missed out on the steamy jungle excperience though...
So far we have been up at 5 or 6 am every day, it's a bit difficult for me!
Anyway, the first day we went out to Monkey island, they have a reserve for rescued monkreys that are too used to humans to be released back into the wild. Got some amazing film from that, they come pretty close. There were spider monkeys, capuchins and howlers I think.
Next day we had a 4 hour trek in the morning when we went right into the jungle. We saw lots of instects, including a tarantula!! Lots of amazing trees and plants as well, our guide was great. In the afternoon we went to a lagoon and saw a caiman that was 1.5m long.
The lodge was great and the food as well. I'm sharing with the American girl and she is nice as well.
I'm also trying to upload some videos I took, I hope they work...
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