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
Fi's Travels...
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
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...
Friday, 29 April 2011
Breathtaking
Today I went to the ANDES!!!
I am just so excited about it still, I can hardly tell you. It was amazing, awe inspiring, stunning, breathtaking.
It s only about an hour and a half driving to get from the city right up into the mountains. We climbed and climbed in a minibus, hairpin bends all the way. It´s very dry there, sort of a desert and lots of spiny trees and cactuses. The vegetation drops off as you get higher. We climbed to 3,500m - 12,000ft (I jumped out of an aeroplane at 12,000ft!!) where there are fewplants and the rocks ared just incredible. It´s so high that even just walking fast made me feel a bit dizzy and my legs went a bit wobbly (literally breathtaking!)
It´s definitely one of th most amazing things I´ve ever done and I had to keep pinching myself to believe I was really there. It was a stunning day, not a cloud in the sky... didn´t see any condors though although I looked really hard!
Photos, of course to follow. Not all of them though as I took about 200! But a few...
xxx
P.S, about all I get from people over here is this: "¿de donde eres?" "Inglaterra". "Ohhhh... la boda royal, eh? Principe William, eh??" "Si, si... (smile in a taught and stretched fashion and nod half-heartedly)"
I am just so excited about it still, I can hardly tell you. It was amazing, awe inspiring, stunning, breathtaking.
It s only about an hour and a half driving to get from the city right up into the mountains. We climbed and climbed in a minibus, hairpin bends all the way. It´s very dry there, sort of a desert and lots of spiny trees and cactuses. The vegetation drops off as you get higher. We climbed to 3,500m - 12,000ft (I jumped out of an aeroplane at 12,000ft!!) where there are fewplants and the rocks ared just incredible. It´s so high that even just walking fast made me feel a bit dizzy and my legs went a bit wobbly (literally breathtaking!)
It´s definitely one of th most amazing things I´ve ever done and I had to keep pinching myself to believe I was really there. It was a stunning day, not a cloud in the sky... didn´t see any condors though although I looked really hard!
Photos, of course to follow. Not all of them though as I took about 200! But a few...
xxx
P.S, about all I get from people over here is this: "¿de donde eres?" "Inglaterra". "Ohhhh... la boda royal, eh? Principe William, eh??" "Si, si... (smile in a taught and stretched fashion and nod half-heartedly)"
Brass Monkeys in Santiago (aka Chilly in Chile)
Yesterday I went for a guided walking tour around Santiago and apart from being a little too cold for my liking, it was really good and I do quite like the place now.
Things of note are: you can´t put toilet paper down the toilet here! Well... technically you can as I was for the first couple of dsays until I realised that´s what the bins are for. Yuck!!! There are lots of stray dogs everywhere, but they are very friendly. But they are seriously everywhere!! running up and down the streets, curled up on the pavement and in every park.... Um.... oh yes, we were shown these cafes in the business district - their nickname is ´cafes con piernas´ which is cafes with legs - this is becuase it is girls only working there, with VERY short skirts on who flirt with all the business men who come in. Not sexist at all, right? I have tried a pisco sour and it was good. It has raw egg white in it, but still tastes nice, honestly!
The architecture here is very nice, it has quite a Spanish feel to it, unsurprisingly. Pictures to follow (sorry for delay, am in internet cafe).
xxx
Things of note are: you can´t put toilet paper down the toilet here! Well... technically you can as I was for the first couple of dsays until I realised that´s what the bins are for. Yuck!!! There are lots of stray dogs everywhere, but they are very friendly. But they are seriously everywhere!! running up and down the streets, curled up on the pavement and in every park.... Um.... oh yes, we were shown these cafes in the business district - their nickname is ´cafes con piernas´ which is cafes with legs - this is becuase it is girls only working there, with VERY short skirts on who flirt with all the business men who come in. Not sexist at all, right? I have tried a pisco sour and it was good. It has raw egg white in it, but still tastes nice, honestly!
The architecture here is very nice, it has quite a Spanish feel to it, unsurprisingly. Pictures to follow (sorry for delay, am in internet cafe).
xxx
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
The strangest facial ever
Now, I have managed to find an internet cafe to update you on my strange day.
Firstly it was spent in a shopping mall. Yes, I know you all think that´s odd but I have a good reason - I need to buy clothes and boots for the Amazon jungle. I have some, proper "outdoorsy" type trousers and top, with long sleeves. And some welly boots, which t'internet suggests all the locals use in the jungle. Apparently the flies and mozzies will bug me something chronic, but I´ll just be there for 2 days, I´ll manage.
Anyway, after some hard shopping I was in need of a rest... not least of all because a) my Spanish is rusty and talking, or more specifically, being talked at constantly in a foreign language is stressful and tiring. and b) the content of said talking involved a lot of asking where I´m from and if I´m travelling alone and then sharp intakes of breath and a telling of how dangerous that is. One woman gave me a lecture about how many robbers there are on the tube and how I must hold my bag close into my chest at all times. Another just told me how dangerous it was, especially as a girl, and I mustn´t get into any taxis and I am bound to be taken advantage of. None of this inspired much confidence. I kept smiling and tried to say that I´m from a big city too, and I bet none of them (it was all warnings from women) refuse to go anywhere alone and just becuase I´m a foreigner doesn´t make me an automatic target.... but then, maybe it does. So I just smiled and nodded, but my heart rate was going up by the minute.
So, I passed a hairdresser that also had beauty stuff and I asked for a massage and facial, got told yes and taken through to a back room. The first problem was that the girl then explained the massage was not by hand. She held up big plastic sheet things and said it was electronic. So I said "no thank you, could I just have the facial?".
She got me to lie on a couch and daubbed some sticky stuff on my forehard, nose and chin andthen covered my face in clingfilm (!) with a small hole to breath through adn then left for 15 minutes. She kept babbling in Spanish and I didn´t understand more than a quarter of what she said. Anyway, when she came back in, she loomed over me with a surgical mask and gloves on!! And reached for something... and honestly, I was half expecting to seea scalpel or somehting, I was ready to jump out of the room! But she just came back with tissues and I thought "how bad can it be?" so a laid still. And then..... she started viciously squeezing and stabbing and prodding at my blackheads and spots!! It was very sore and not something I would ever need to pay someone else to do. They do do that sometimes in proper facials, it´s called an extraction and is just the blackheads in the nose, but it´s supposed to after steaming and things so it´s a bit easier. I asked for it once, years ago (or at least said yes to it being offered) having no idea what it was... I didn´t make that mistake again. Until today. Anyway, she was squeezing her nails everywhere!
Sorry, that was a bit gross. Anyway, then more sticky stuff painted on my face and then left for 20 minutes. With no music and bright lights. Not very relaxing. And then she comes back in and this time she really does hove into view with two metal instruments. I nearly baulked again, but held firm having deduced what it probably was, as I´ve read about this. It was a metal roller in one hand and a metal disc on a stick in the other. The disc she moved over my face whilst simultaneously rolling the roller over other parts. The disc gave quite fierce electric shocks and it made my eyelids jump and my teeth hurt.
After five minutes of that, she stopped and rubbed more stuff on my face. Which smelled funny. As had all the other stuff. She asked how my skin was feeling as it had gone quite red and she thought I probably had sensitive skin. "Yes, I do have sensitive skin" I replied through gritted teeth. She advised me to always wear sunscreen.
Next, she came at me with a long plastic tube. I was baced for anything but actually this one was quite strange, I think it was giving off very gentle static electricity as it just fizzed very slightly on the skin and was not unpleasant. Can´t imagine what it actually did though.
More cream, some rubbish facial massage and then she led me out, all red and blotchy, and horribly overcharged me, saying she had given me the deluxe version instead of the normal express facial.
The lesson to be learnt here is possibly not to ever go for beauty treatments from a hairdressers. I know, it was a risk, but sometimes you just have to take them. I am still as tense as ever, probably more so, and need a good back massage but I shall await my return to good old blighty!
Tomorrow I shall go on a walking tour of the city and I hope to get out to see the andes the day after.
xxx
Firstly it was spent in a shopping mall. Yes, I know you all think that´s odd but I have a good reason - I need to buy clothes and boots for the Amazon jungle. I have some, proper "outdoorsy" type trousers and top, with long sleeves. And some welly boots, which t'internet suggests all the locals use in the jungle. Apparently the flies and mozzies will bug me something chronic, but I´ll just be there for 2 days, I´ll manage.
Anyway, after some hard shopping I was in need of a rest... not least of all because a) my Spanish is rusty and talking, or more specifically, being talked at constantly in a foreign language is stressful and tiring. and b) the content of said talking involved a lot of asking where I´m from and if I´m travelling alone and then sharp intakes of breath and a telling of how dangerous that is. One woman gave me a lecture about how many robbers there are on the tube and how I must hold my bag close into my chest at all times. Another just told me how dangerous it was, especially as a girl, and I mustn´t get into any taxis and I am bound to be taken advantage of. None of this inspired much confidence. I kept smiling and tried to say that I´m from a big city too, and I bet none of them (it was all warnings from women) refuse to go anywhere alone and just becuase I´m a foreigner doesn´t make me an automatic target.... but then, maybe it does. So I just smiled and nodded, but my heart rate was going up by the minute.
So, I passed a hairdresser that also had beauty stuff and I asked for a massage and facial, got told yes and taken through to a back room. The first problem was that the girl then explained the massage was not by hand. She held up big plastic sheet things and said it was electronic. So I said "no thank you, could I just have the facial?".
She got me to lie on a couch and daubbed some sticky stuff on my forehard, nose and chin andthen covered my face in clingfilm (!) with a small hole to breath through adn then left for 15 minutes. She kept babbling in Spanish and I didn´t understand more than a quarter of what she said. Anyway, when she came back in, she loomed over me with a surgical mask and gloves on!! And reached for something... and honestly, I was half expecting to seea scalpel or somehting, I was ready to jump out of the room! But she just came back with tissues and I thought "how bad can it be?" so a laid still. And then..... she started viciously squeezing and stabbing and prodding at my blackheads and spots!! It was very sore and not something I would ever need to pay someone else to do. They do do that sometimes in proper facials, it´s called an extraction and is just the blackheads in the nose, but it´s supposed to after steaming and things so it´s a bit easier. I asked for it once, years ago (or at least said yes to it being offered) having no idea what it was... I didn´t make that mistake again. Until today. Anyway, she was squeezing her nails everywhere!
Sorry, that was a bit gross. Anyway, then more sticky stuff painted on my face and then left for 20 minutes. With no music and bright lights. Not very relaxing. And then she comes back in and this time she really does hove into view with two metal instruments. I nearly baulked again, but held firm having deduced what it probably was, as I´ve read about this. It was a metal roller in one hand and a metal disc on a stick in the other. The disc she moved over my face whilst simultaneously rolling the roller over other parts. The disc gave quite fierce electric shocks and it made my eyelids jump and my teeth hurt.
After five minutes of that, she stopped and rubbed more stuff on my face. Which smelled funny. As had all the other stuff. She asked how my skin was feeling as it had gone quite red and she thought I probably had sensitive skin. "Yes, I do have sensitive skin" I replied through gritted teeth. She advised me to always wear sunscreen.
Next, she came at me with a long plastic tube. I was baced for anything but actually this one was quite strange, I think it was giving off very gentle static electricity as it just fizzed very slightly on the skin and was not unpleasant. Can´t imagine what it actually did though.
More cream, some rubbish facial massage and then she led me out, all red and blotchy, and horribly overcharged me, saying she had given me the deluxe version instead of the normal express facial.
The lesson to be learnt here is possibly not to ever go for beauty treatments from a hairdressers. I know, it was a risk, but sometimes you just have to take them. I am still as tense as ever, probably more so, and need a good back massage but I shall await my return to good old blighty!
Tomorrow I shall go on a walking tour of the city and I hope to get out to see the andes the day after.
xxx
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