Agandi from Kisiizi
I am actually back in England and this my last bit of news about my time in Uganda! I returned to the UK yesterday and am settling back in, the washing is done (I tried to smuggle Peace back in my bag but she was having none of it!!) and I have been reunited with my rabbit, Pip (ahhh!).
The last week in Uganda was lovely. For a start it actually stopped raining!! I had done nearly all my visits to the various wards and departments and so spent my time working on my favourite wards. This was medical and maternity. It was great to go back to these wards and I felt that I was beginning to understand how the wards worked and where I could be most useful. It was a privilege and really rewarding to help and do some nursing. The Ugandans really like to be cared for by a white person (??!) and are very grateful for help.
I did quite a bit of teaching. It is not my favourite job (when teaching is mentioned at work, I tend to go quiet and try and blend into the wall paper!) but by the end of my time there I felt more confident.
I spent two days on the medical ward and a day on maternity. I hated maternity as a student nurse but have really enjoyed it at Kisiizi. I was able to do quite a lot. They would have had me delivering babies but I resisted and just looked after the babies when they popped out. It was great fun and I learnt lots. I have no plans to be a midwife, it was just so interesting to do a type of nursing that is poles apart from what I do in England.
I also spent a day going out with Hope Ministries. This is an department in the hospital that deals with children who have been orphaned either because of AIDS or other illnesses. They may have lost 1 or both parents. The team provide practical help and support to the orphans. They sometimes need to build them a new house if they have unsuitable living conditions, they provide financial support so that the children can get schooling (education is very expensive in Uganda) and they also provide counselling.
It was an amazing day, quite an eyeopener. We first visited a grandmother who's granddaughter is at boarding school (they are not like our boarding schools here). They had fallen out and they had not seen the grand daughter for a while. This girl was 13. The house that had been built for her to live in had been vandalised by a family member and there was a lot of family conflict. We went to talk to the grand mother and then the girl at school. Following Knight (who leads Hope ministries) talking to both parties it seems that they will try to make more of an effort to support the girl and provide help at home. Can you imagine, she was only 13?
We also visited another family to check out their situation so that Hope ministries could offer support. There were 2 orphans there, very cute children who were very happy to see us. We took balloons and little toys for them. When we arrived the family grew from 2 to about 15 as all the local children turned up to see the white people!! This family lived in very poor conditions. Mud huts with banana leaf roofs (a lot of houses have tin roofs). Its so hard to imagine what it would be like to live there, we are so wealthy in the west. There was quite a sick grandparent there who needed to go to hospital but couldn't afford the deposit to pay for his hospital admission (about £12).
It was a great day, very moving, challenging and interesting. Its so great that Hope ministries can visit these families and make such a difference to their lives. It is hard to know what else to say, I hope I remember what it is like for so many Africans when I am complaining that I don't have the latest computer or TV.
My last few days I spent visiting people. I went Peace's (the lovely lady who cooked for me and looked after me) house for supper, (but it was more like a feast) with another ex pat called Diana. Peace and her family live up on the hillside, up a mud track (mind you its all mud tracks and roads there!), in a nice house. It is still a mud type structure, but with 4 rooms, a separate kitchen hut, loo hut and shower room (with no roof so you can watch the wide life whilst you wash!!). They have a banana plantation and like most people in Kisiizi they work on the land to provide some income. They have no electricity and have to fetch their water. 3 of her children sang songs and entertained us, it was lovely.
I left Kisiizi on Sunday morning, waved off by the other ex pats there. I was very sad to leave, I felt like I made lots of friends and was beginning to feel very settled and used to the way of life there. There are so many things that I will miss about Kisiizi. My friends, the lovely singing (have I mentioned that I like the singing!!), the sound of rain on my tin roof, really sweet bananas and other tropical fruits, the birds (there are so many colourful, noisy birds around, a bird spotters paradise!), the slow pace of life, roast pork and roast potatoes (a weekly treat at Jane & Adrian's), cake (never thought I'd be in Africa eating coffee and walnut cake and chocolate cake on a daily basis, it was great!), the green hills and stunning views, people greeting you on the street and children shouting in a load excited voice 'Muzungo' (they love to come and touch a white person and will go back and tell there family all about it!).
I won't miss the rain (mind you I am back in the UK!), the internet going down and power cuts at night (its not easy preparing teaching sessions by candle light!).
I hope this blog has helped you see a bit of what my time in Africa was like. I had a great time , I'd love to go back again. Although I did feel at the beginning that I was more of a hindrance than a help by the end I felt very settled and that I was able to contribute to the work going on in the hospital.
Thank you for reading and that's all for now,
Love Penny xx
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Hello again from Kisiizi
Sorry its been a while since I last blogged, a combination of being busy here, enjoying myself and lots of power cuts during this week. Kisiizi doesn't have many power cuts as it has hydro electric power from the waterfall. It seems that a lot of Uganda suffers from power cuts regularly during the day. But here we have them only occasionally apart from this week when their have been a few problems. A few years ago they had a power cut here for 3 months, imagine that. I don't complain when it is for 3 hours!!!
I have had a great 2 weeks working on the wards. I spent a day on maternity where I saw lots of babies (funny that!). At the end of the day the sister asked me if I'd like to deliver the next baby, she was serious!! I came up with some excuse about that not being very safe for the mother or baby!!! The women here deliver their babies with NO pain relief and no screaming or shouting, they just get on with it often with no one there apart from the midwife.
I have also been out on community visits. Not like the community visits I do at home. We drove to a village, down a mud road, where they have some community buildings that are opened up. Before long the place is buzzing, with people selling and buying fruit and veg, getting their babies immunised and weighed, adults having HIV tests and counselling and also anti-natal appointments. It was great fun and interesting to see. I loved being involved in that. They also do community teaching about HIV or malaria prevention.
At the weekend I away to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We (me and a dutch medical student called Maarten) went early on Saturday morning with a hospital driver caller Augustine. It was a 4 hour drive on mainly bumpy, pot holed mud roads. It will be strange to get home to England with the roads being very smooth and relatively pothole free!! Again I was treated to some lovely scenery on the way as we travelled over hills and through valleys. We stopped on route at some hot springs. It was full of Ugandans bathing and relaxing. We didn't join them in the hot springs, didn't fancy showing all to a group of strangers!!! Just before we arrived at the park we stopped at a look out over the national park and could see the park stretch out before us as far as the eye could see. It is a large park that lies in a western rift valley, near to DRC Congo.
On the road leading to the park we saw an elephant and some monkeys. The monkeys hang around for passing cars and beg for food, they seemed to quite like kit kats!! When we arrived we booked onto a boat trip on the kasinga channel. This is a really long stretch of water that joins lake George and Edward together. On the boat trip we saw lots of hippos, it was like moving through hippo soup, they were everywhere. Mostly submerged but then there would be some bubbles and up came a hippo for a breath of fresh air. They are very large and cause the most human casualties at the park. We were quite safe in our boat! Along the edge of the water we saw elephants playing, buffalos drinking, crocodiles, antelopes and loads of birds.
There were some very strange noises outside my window in the evening, it sounded like a large person in wellies squelching through the mud. I was a little worried for a few seconds as I thought someone was trying to get in my window!! But I soon realised that it was a warthog eating grass!! They are very noisy eaters. The next day was an early start to catch the animals before they hid or took shade from the hot sun. So we were up at 6am and on the road or game drive by 6.30. We saw a beautiful elephant, they are so large and Augustine jumped and reversed the car very quickly when we bumped into him (not literally!). They are very careful around elephants as they will charge the car and squash it if they are provoked or protecting their young. We also saw many herds of buffalos, Ugandan kobs, water bucks (both antelopes), a stray hippo and lions lying in the grass about 10 metres away from our car (they were drooling a bit, thinking we looked like a tasty snack!!!). On our way back to the hostel we had to stop to let a herd of elephants cross the road, so amazing to see. It was so great to see these animals in their home as their guest!! A great weekend.
I am now getting into the swing of things here and have arranged some teaching sessions on pain control in palliative care. I have taught the student nurses and will also do a session for the doctors and the staff nurses also. This week I have spent some time in the operating theatre where I saw someones hand sown back on after he had half chopped it off cutting wood!! I also had a day in rehab where I saw them correct club foot. They manipulate the foot back into the right position, without giving the child any anesthesia. It is very painful for the child/baby and they scream the house down. Needless to say doing talks on pain control here seems a bit futile when they seem to put up with so much pain and suffering.
Thats all for now, I could carry on writting more but will leave it at that for now and put some more on soon. I have only about 10 days left here now and will be sad to leave as it is beginning to feel more and more like home.
Thanks for reading, love Penny
Sorry its been a while since I last blogged, a combination of being busy here, enjoying myself and lots of power cuts during this week. Kisiizi doesn't have many power cuts as it has hydro electric power from the waterfall. It seems that a lot of Uganda suffers from power cuts regularly during the day. But here we have them only occasionally apart from this week when their have been a few problems. A few years ago they had a power cut here for 3 months, imagine that. I don't complain when it is for 3 hours!!!
I have had a great 2 weeks working on the wards. I spent a day on maternity where I saw lots of babies (funny that!). At the end of the day the sister asked me if I'd like to deliver the next baby, she was serious!! I came up with some excuse about that not being very safe for the mother or baby!!! The women here deliver their babies with NO pain relief and no screaming or shouting, they just get on with it often with no one there apart from the midwife.
I have also been out on community visits. Not like the community visits I do at home. We drove to a village, down a mud road, where they have some community buildings that are opened up. Before long the place is buzzing, with people selling and buying fruit and veg, getting their babies immunised and weighed, adults having HIV tests and counselling and also anti-natal appointments. It was great fun and interesting to see. I loved being involved in that. They also do community teaching about HIV or malaria prevention.
At the weekend I away to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We (me and a dutch medical student called Maarten) went early on Saturday morning with a hospital driver caller Augustine. It was a 4 hour drive on mainly bumpy, pot holed mud roads. It will be strange to get home to England with the roads being very smooth and relatively pothole free!! Again I was treated to some lovely scenery on the way as we travelled over hills and through valleys. We stopped on route at some hot springs. It was full of Ugandans bathing and relaxing. We didn't join them in the hot springs, didn't fancy showing all to a group of strangers!!! Just before we arrived at the park we stopped at a look out over the national park and could see the park stretch out before us as far as the eye could see. It is a large park that lies in a western rift valley, near to DRC Congo.
On the road leading to the park we saw an elephant and some monkeys. The monkeys hang around for passing cars and beg for food, they seemed to quite like kit kats!! When we arrived we booked onto a boat trip on the kasinga channel. This is a really long stretch of water that joins lake George and Edward together. On the boat trip we saw lots of hippos, it was like moving through hippo soup, they were everywhere. Mostly submerged but then there would be some bubbles and up came a hippo for a breath of fresh air. They are very large and cause the most human casualties at the park. We were quite safe in our boat! Along the edge of the water we saw elephants playing, buffalos drinking, crocodiles, antelopes and loads of birds.
There were some very strange noises outside my window in the evening, it sounded like a large person in wellies squelching through the mud. I was a little worried for a few seconds as I thought someone was trying to get in my window!! But I soon realised that it was a warthog eating grass!! They are very noisy eaters. The next day was an early start to catch the animals before they hid or took shade from the hot sun. So we were up at 6am and on the road or game drive by 6.30. We saw a beautiful elephant, they are so large and Augustine jumped and reversed the car very quickly when we bumped into him (not literally!). They are very careful around elephants as they will charge the car and squash it if they are provoked or protecting their young. We also saw many herds of buffalos, Ugandan kobs, water bucks (both antelopes), a stray hippo and lions lying in the grass about 10 metres away from our car (they were drooling a bit, thinking we looked like a tasty snack!!!). On our way back to the hostel we had to stop to let a herd of elephants cross the road, so amazing to see. It was so great to see these animals in their home as their guest!! A great weekend.
I am now getting into the swing of things here and have arranged some teaching sessions on pain control in palliative care. I have taught the student nurses and will also do a session for the doctors and the staff nurses also. This week I have spent some time in the operating theatre where I saw someones hand sown back on after he had half chopped it off cutting wood!! I also had a day in rehab where I saw them correct club foot. They manipulate the foot back into the right position, without giving the child any anesthesia. It is very painful for the child/baby and they scream the house down. Needless to say doing talks on pain control here seems a bit futile when they seem to put up with so much pain and suffering.
Thats all for now, I could carry on writting more but will leave it at that for now and put some more on soon. I have only about 10 days left here now and will be sad to leave as it is beginning to feel more and more like home.
Thanks for reading, love Penny
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Agaandi from wet, rainy and cold Kisiizi!!!!
I hear that the weather in the UK is really nice. That’s great as England really could do with some nice weather. But here in Kisiizi it is pouring with rain (cats and dogs with a big thunder & lightening storms) and it is also quite cold. I seem to have come in the rainy season, which is usually in October (its early!). It is good because they need the rain but it does mean that the roads get very flooded and muddy and you can't go out as much. I am lucky because I have a house and can take shelter but for the Ugandans who live in huts it must be very difficult to cope with. I haven’t come prepared (apart from an umbrella) for this kind of weather (as it was not meant to rain till October!) so I am getting very wet!
My first weekend here was lovely. It consisted of being well feed by the muzungu’s (white people) who live here, going to chapel and relaxing!! I know that I have already said this but the Ugandan singing is so lovely, it sounds like a thousand piece choir, they really know how to harmonise and make a beautiful noise. I also took a walk with Hazel to see a lovely old Ugandan lady (called Marcella) and stayed for sodas (coke) and were sent off with a gift of some beautiful tie dyed material. Marcella really doesn’t have a lot and so it is very humbling when she insisted on giving us a gift. When you leave someones house they 'give you a push', which means they walk with you some of the way home.
Since I last wrote I have done my first weeks work in over 7 months and it has been a bit of a shock to the system!! I have worked on the surgical, medical and isolation wards. It has been really interesting being on the wards and so, so different to nursing in England. For a start they just don't have the medical supplies that we have and they make do with so little resources (I will try not to complain about the NHS again!!). Some of the wards are quite dirty and the level of ward cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired.
Most of the patients have an attendant. This is usually a family member who will help the patient with bathing, provide & prepare their food and generally do a lot of the jobs that nurses in the UK normally do. This leaves the nurses with jobs like giving drugs, doing dressing and other such tasks. The standard of nursing care is lower than in the UK. That is hard to see when you know it could be so much better. I have found that I do a lot of standing around, trying to find things to do. The language barrier makes it more difficult as I can't just go up to a patient to see how they are, I need to take a nurse with me. It can be very frustrating!
On a more positive note I have felt that I have used my knowledge a little with some informal ward teaching on palliative care with the nurses and doctors. It has been good to spend some time on the wards and it is a lovely opportunity to get to know the nurses. I would love to be able to influence patient care and palliative care here but I think I would have to be here for years to do that!!!
In the evenings I tend to visit the other Brits here and it is nice to spend time with them and here about their life here in Kiziisi. I hope over the next 3 weeks I will be able to visit the Ugandans too. I also went shopping (to buy some much needed food) in Kabale. It is south of Kiziisi and very close to the Rwandan border. The scenery on the journey was amazing, very hilly, and all the hills were terraces for farming. Everywhere there are banana plantations and farming-the land is so fertile here. On the way back we stopped off at a fruit and veg market which was quite an experience. You have to stay in the car and the sellers come up to the car with wicker trays full of veg. They swamp the car and are shouting at you to buy stuff!! If you are not careful they chuck veg into the car so that you have to buy them!!! It was quite a bewildering experience, but we came away with what we needed and no extra cabbages etc!!
Driving here is also interesting!! I think that Ugandans are the worst drivers in the world. They love to drive very fast which is odd because in everything else they are quite relaxed and laid back!! I have not braved the local bus or matato (minibus type taxi) yet. I may just stick to safer, slower taxis!!
Next week I will spend some time on maternity, out patients and in community outreach. I am also doing some teaching on palliative care to the student nurses. Next weekend I am hoping to go to Queen Elizabeth National Park with one of the medical students and go on safari.
That's all for now and weballi (thanks in Ruchiga) for reading
Love Penny
I hear that the weather in the UK is really nice. That’s great as England really could do with some nice weather. But here in Kisiizi it is pouring with rain (cats and dogs with a big thunder & lightening storms) and it is also quite cold. I seem to have come in the rainy season, which is usually in October (its early!). It is good because they need the rain but it does mean that the roads get very flooded and muddy and you can't go out as much. I am lucky because I have a house and can take shelter but for the Ugandans who live in huts it must be very difficult to cope with. I haven’t come prepared (apart from an umbrella) for this kind of weather (as it was not meant to rain till October!) so I am getting very wet!
My first weekend here was lovely. It consisted of being well feed by the muzungu’s (white people) who live here, going to chapel and relaxing!! I know that I have already said this but the Ugandan singing is so lovely, it sounds like a thousand piece choir, they really know how to harmonise and make a beautiful noise. I also took a walk with Hazel to see a lovely old Ugandan lady (called Marcella) and stayed for sodas (coke) and were sent off with a gift of some beautiful tie dyed material. Marcella really doesn’t have a lot and so it is very humbling when she insisted on giving us a gift. When you leave someones house they 'give you a push', which means they walk with you some of the way home.
Since I last wrote I have done my first weeks work in over 7 months and it has been a bit of a shock to the system!! I have worked on the surgical, medical and isolation wards. It has been really interesting being on the wards and so, so different to nursing in England. For a start they just don't have the medical supplies that we have and they make do with so little resources (I will try not to complain about the NHS again!!). Some of the wards are quite dirty and the level of ward cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired.
Most of the patients have an attendant. This is usually a family member who will help the patient with bathing, provide & prepare their food and generally do a lot of the jobs that nurses in the UK normally do. This leaves the nurses with jobs like giving drugs, doing dressing and other such tasks. The standard of nursing care is lower than in the UK. That is hard to see when you know it could be so much better. I have found that I do a lot of standing around, trying to find things to do. The language barrier makes it more difficult as I can't just go up to a patient to see how they are, I need to take a nurse with me. It can be very frustrating!
On a more positive note I have felt that I have used my knowledge a little with some informal ward teaching on palliative care with the nurses and doctors. It has been good to spend some time on the wards and it is a lovely opportunity to get to know the nurses. I would love to be able to influence patient care and palliative care here but I think I would have to be here for years to do that!!!
In the evenings I tend to visit the other Brits here and it is nice to spend time with them and here about their life here in Kiziisi. I hope over the next 3 weeks I will be able to visit the Ugandans too. I also went shopping (to buy some much needed food) in Kabale. It is south of Kiziisi and very close to the Rwandan border. The scenery on the journey was amazing, very hilly, and all the hills were terraces for farming. Everywhere there are banana plantations and farming-the land is so fertile here. On the way back we stopped off at a fruit and veg market which was quite an experience. You have to stay in the car and the sellers come up to the car with wicker trays full of veg. They swamp the car and are shouting at you to buy stuff!! If you are not careful they chuck veg into the car so that you have to buy them!!! It was quite a bewildering experience, but we came away with what we needed and no extra cabbages etc!!
Driving here is also interesting!! I think that Ugandans are the worst drivers in the world. They love to drive very fast which is odd because in everything else they are quite relaxed and laid back!! I have not braved the local bus or matato (minibus type taxi) yet. I may just stick to safer, slower taxis!!
Next week I will spend some time on maternity, out patients and in community outreach. I am also doing some teaching on palliative care to the student nurses. Next weekend I am hoping to go to Queen Elizabeth National Park with one of the medical students and go on safari.
That's all for now and weballi (thanks in Ruchiga) for reading
Love Penny
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Agaandi (Hello) from Kisiizi
I have been in Kisiizi for 2 days now and am settling in.
I left home on Tuesday evening. The flight over from the UK was fine, I went via Dubai and then Addis Ababa, and so it was a long flight, taking 16 hours door to door. I met a lovely GP from Scotland, called Mary, who was going to work at another hospital. She was very helpful and gave me a lot of hints and tips, helping me to get my visa at Entebbe airport. I was met at the airport by the guesthouse I was staying at and felt well looked after. Travelling to deepest darkest Africa (although it is not deep or dark at all!) alone was a very daunting prospect, I was very apprehensive about coming but it has been fine. Ugandan people are very friendly, helpful and warm.
The next day, by this time it was Thursday, I travelled to the hospital. I was collected from the guesthouse in Kampala by Yassin who drove me down to Kisiizi (a 6 hour journey). We crossed the equator quite soon into our journey and I was back in the southern hemisphere again!! Uganda is a beautiful country and called the ‘Pearl of Africa’. It is very green, hilly in places (particularly in the west) and a nice climate.
Kisiizi is such a pretty place. Set in the hills, about 600m above sea level. It is about 30km from the Congo boarder. All around it is green and lush, there are lots of banana plants and trees. There is a big waterfall here also, which is used to power the hospital and surrounding hospital houses. The climate is pleasant, sunny and very cool at night. Today it is raining and dreary, like England can be!!
As soon as I arrived at Kisiizi I was given a warm welcome, consisting of a cup of tea and a slice of cake from Jane and Adrian ( missionary couple who have worked here for 7 years). I was then met by Hazel who gave me a guided tour of the hospital. She is from the UK and is 80 years young. She is a nurse tutor here and has been for 9 years. Since retirering has lived and served as a missionary in the Congo, Zambia, Papua New Guinea & more. She is an amazing lady.
I am staying in a 2 bed roomed house, sharing it with Heidi, a cat. It is well equipped with everything I would have at home, including a hot shower. I have a house girl called Peace, she does my washing, ironing, cooking and cleaning. She is lovely, a fantastic cook and very helpful, showing me the ropes!! It s very odd having someone do these things for you and makes me feel quite uncomfortable.
These past two days have consisted of settling in and meeting lots of people. Greetings are very important here and you say hello to everyone and ask how they are, it takes along time!! Often when I say Hello to someone, they giggle!! Ummm, that’s quite normal!! I have also been to chapel. We have to go every morning at 8am, it is part of the life of the hospital. The African singing and clapping is so vibrant, not to be missed and will help me to wake up in the morning!
I will say more about the actual hospital once I start work on Monday. I am going to spend time working on all the wards, including maternity and the neonatal unit (which is a corridor with 2 incubators in it) & going out with the community teams. As well as doing some teaching with the student nurses each week.
Thank you for reading, sorry this is so long, there is so much to say and I could go on for ages!! It is so good to be here and such a great way to end what has been an amazing time travelling this year.
I will write again soon with another truckload of info!!!!
Love Penny xx
I have been in Kisiizi for 2 days now and am settling in.
I left home on Tuesday evening. The flight over from the UK was fine, I went via Dubai and then Addis Ababa, and so it was a long flight, taking 16 hours door to door. I met a lovely GP from Scotland, called Mary, who was going to work at another hospital. She was very helpful and gave me a lot of hints and tips, helping me to get my visa at Entebbe airport. I was met at the airport by the guesthouse I was staying at and felt well looked after. Travelling to deepest darkest Africa (although it is not deep or dark at all!) alone was a very daunting prospect, I was very apprehensive about coming but it has been fine. Ugandan people are very friendly, helpful and warm.
The next day, by this time it was Thursday, I travelled to the hospital. I was collected from the guesthouse in Kampala by Yassin who drove me down to Kisiizi (a 6 hour journey). We crossed the equator quite soon into our journey and I was back in the southern hemisphere again!! Uganda is a beautiful country and called the ‘Pearl of Africa’. It is very green, hilly in places (particularly in the west) and a nice climate.
Kisiizi is such a pretty place. Set in the hills, about 600m above sea level. It is about 30km from the Congo boarder. All around it is green and lush, there are lots of banana plants and trees. There is a big waterfall here also, which is used to power the hospital and surrounding hospital houses. The climate is pleasant, sunny and very cool at night. Today it is raining and dreary, like England can be!!
As soon as I arrived at Kisiizi I was given a warm welcome, consisting of a cup of tea and a slice of cake from Jane and Adrian ( missionary couple who have worked here for 7 years). I was then met by Hazel who gave me a guided tour of the hospital. She is from the UK and is 80 years young. She is a nurse tutor here and has been for 9 years. Since retirering has lived and served as a missionary in the Congo, Zambia, Papua New Guinea & more. She is an amazing lady.
I am staying in a 2 bed roomed house, sharing it with Heidi, a cat. It is well equipped with everything I would have at home, including a hot shower. I have a house girl called Peace, she does my washing, ironing, cooking and cleaning. She is lovely, a fantastic cook and very helpful, showing me the ropes!! It s very odd having someone do these things for you and makes me feel quite uncomfortable.
These past two days have consisted of settling in and meeting lots of people. Greetings are very important here and you say hello to everyone and ask how they are, it takes along time!! Often when I say Hello to someone, they giggle!! Ummm, that’s quite normal!! I have also been to chapel. We have to go every morning at 8am, it is part of the life of the hospital. The African singing and clapping is so vibrant, not to be missed and will help me to wake up in the morning!
I will say more about the actual hospital once I start work on Monday. I am going to spend time working on all the wards, including maternity and the neonatal unit (which is a corridor with 2 incubators in it) & going out with the community teams. As well as doing some teaching with the student nurses each week.
Thank you for reading, sorry this is so long, there is so much to say and I could go on for ages!! It is so good to be here and such a great way to end what has been an amazing time travelling this year.
I will write again soon with another truckload of info!!!!
Love Penny xx
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Dear All
After a week and a bit life back in England seems more normal. It has been great to get home and to see freinds, family and my rabbit! I am really looking forward to a holiday (its been a while!!) in the lake district with all my family in about 10 days. Now I am home I making plans to go to Uganda at the end of August for about 7 weeks to work in a hospital.
Anyway thats all for now, I'll keep you posted on Uganda and hope to use this blog whilst I am in Africa.
With Love, Penny xx
With Love, Penny xx
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Hi all,
just a quick one to let you know that we arrived back at Heathrow safe and sound on Monday. I (Linda) then went back to Glos to pick up my car, staying with friends, and therefore was immedately confronted with the turmoil of floods, devastation in many ways and the water going off only 2 hours after I arrived back - and we're a "developed" nation!!
Aside form that the biggest shock was being faced with so many choices of everyday items, and also being reunited with so many possessions, especially clothes. When you've been living out of a rucsac for 6 months with very limited choice, having so much to pick and choose between is pretty overwhelming!
I'm now in North Yorks at my Mum's, being well fed, rested, taking my lovely lurcher Jake for walks and trying to prepare for RAF Cranwell......a WEEK TODAY, yikes! Running, walking, breaking my really uncomfortable boots in, reading, form filling etc is all involved, and some of it at a much lower level than I intended! Hey ho.
Thanks for following our blog, for comments, encouragements and for providing a much needed link with life back home. If I get the chance, I'll add some more Blog comments during my RAF training, but things are going to be pretty hectic and full on, and access to some parts of the internet very limited.
Oh well, at least I get a 2 week break at the end of August when the whole college has a fortnight's shut down........ so that's me off to Egypt for a week with my dive buddy Kim, back to the Hilton at Dahab.......it's a hard life, but somebody has to do it!!
Til next time, blog buddies. Do keep in touch, by e.mail or mobile, or comments here!
Love from Linda xx
just a quick one to let you know that we arrived back at Heathrow safe and sound on Monday. I (Linda) then went back to Glos to pick up my car, staying with friends, and therefore was immedately confronted with the turmoil of floods, devastation in many ways and the water going off only 2 hours after I arrived back - and we're a "developed" nation!!
Aside form that the biggest shock was being faced with so many choices of everyday items, and also being reunited with so many possessions, especially clothes. When you've been living out of a rucsac for 6 months with very limited choice, having so much to pick and choose between is pretty overwhelming!
I'm now in North Yorks at my Mum's, being well fed, rested, taking my lovely lurcher Jake for walks and trying to prepare for RAF Cranwell......a WEEK TODAY, yikes! Running, walking, breaking my really uncomfortable boots in, reading, form filling etc is all involved, and some of it at a much lower level than I intended! Hey ho.
Thanks for following our blog, for comments, encouragements and for providing a much needed link with life back home. If I get the chance, I'll add some more Blog comments during my RAF training, but things are going to be pretty hectic and full on, and access to some parts of the internet very limited.
Oh well, at least I get a 2 week break at the end of August when the whole college has a fortnight's shut down........ so that's me off to Egypt for a week with my dive buddy Kim, back to the Hilton at Dahab.......it's a hard life, but somebody has to do it!!
Til next time, blog buddies. Do keep in touch, by e.mail or mobile, or comments here!
Love from Linda xx
Friday, July 20, 2007
Hi everyone,
here we are in Pisco, home of the "famous" Pisco Sour (and not a lot else!). We´d never heard of Pisco Sour before coming to S Am, and our first taste of it was in Business Class flying on from Easter Island..... sorry, we just had to get that on record one more time...... business class, hurrah!
Anyway, we digress.... Where were we last, ah yes, Cusco. In the midst of all sorts of confusion and uncertainties involving the many strikes around Peru for different causes we found ourselves unsure whether to still try and get to Arequipa, to visit the Colca Canyon where the condors live, or to change tack and head north west to Pisco on the coast, via Nazca. Due to a certain amount of paralysis on our part we decided to leave it to a flip of the coin, and Nazca/Pisco came through.
Our night bus from Cusco to Nazca was a very posh bus, by Peruvian standards, but that didn´t save us from the horribly winding steep roads, as we came over the Andes travelling from 3,400 meters to 500 meters over night. Our ears were popping regularly and water bottles were pinging and crunching left right and centre due to the pressure changes, lovely! The bus also started to take on the resemblance of a fridge around midnight, and it took several failed attempts at telling the stewardess this before it later on turned into the inside of an oven warming up to gas mark 8!! The joys of travel...
When we got to Nazca, around 7.30 am we were taken to our hostal in a clapped out, very huge US Oldsmobile, with a "trunk" big enough to conceal an elephant (or two). We were then taken to our windowless "cell". When we asked for a room with a window the reply was that nobody ever stays more than one night in Nazca, so they never bother giving them windows!!
It then became apparent that we should book on to our flight to the Nazca lines that day, as the weather had been somewhat dodgy in previous days. So, after very littel sleep the night before, a quick shower and a cuppa (trying to find black tea was also a big challenge that we didn´t quite manage) we found ourselves being hurled and dipped about in a tiny 4 seater plane (one of the 4 seats was the pilot´s) looking at the LInes.
"What are the Nazca Lines" we hear you cry. Well, go look it up you lazy people! Just to give you a clue though, they´re ancient drawings and lines made in the Peruvian desert, discovered only when aviation began, as the only way to see them properly is from the air. The drawings include a hummingbird, monkey, spider, condor, an "astronaut" or man waving, and various other figures. It was amazing to see, but towards the end we were more intent on our "sick bags" than the Lines, shame really. One of us threw up, and one of us almost did (bet you really wanted to know that!).
It was really worth seeing, and a very important national heritage site in Peru, just a shame it was so like a rollercoaster for which we were totally unprepared! Linda´s not sure what to make of any possible RAF fast-jet opportunities in the future, given such a hair raising(!) experience in a little wind-up 4 seater!!! Hey ho.....
Anyway, the next day we moved on from Nazca to Pisco (home of the famous aforementioned "Sour") which is a rather nondescript coastal port (especially when the sun doesn´t shine) after the bright and bustling Cusco and the more quaint and sleepy Plaza of Nazca. Yesterday morning very early we went off to see the Ballestas Islands, reached by speedboat, where we saw bottlenose dolphins playing near the harbour, as well as vast numbers of pellicans. As we moved on the the islands, there were thousands of different sea birds, including cormorants, turns, Peruvian boobies (ooh er missis), not to mention many sea lions and quite a few penguins! It was a really interesting morning, and we were delighted to be told all about the local Guano (bird pooh), harvesting techniques, local uses etc.... and boy did we know when we were there...such a lovely aroma - NOT!! Amazingly, none of us got fired upon, but there were a few close calls!
From riots and tear gas to guanu assault attacks and all sorts in between we feel like joining the SAS now. Back to our sedate little travels....
We leave Pisco this evening and travel on to Lima, staying at an Airport Hotel overnight. Our flight heads out mid morning (hopefully) and we then arrive in Miama, for our last night´s stay which will be with Sue & Art, Penny´s rellies-in-law (yup, even more of em..... those Hewitts get about!).
It looks like our last entry will be from Miami, although we guess it´s only fair to sign off properly once back in England. However, we´ll possibly both use the site for some ongoing updates - Linda from the RAF training college and Penny from........ AFRICA, Uganda, Kisiizi to be precise...watch this space for more details, how exciting!!!
Well, here we are, up to date again on our blog, like good girly swats, so it´s time to sigh off and get ready to leave Pisco, which includes putting some MORE PHOTOS ON FLICKR!!
Bye for now folks, thanks for dropping by.
Til next time....
love from Penny & Linda xx
here we are in Pisco, home of the "famous" Pisco Sour (and not a lot else!). We´d never heard of Pisco Sour before coming to S Am, and our first taste of it was in Business Class flying on from Easter Island..... sorry, we just had to get that on record one more time...... business class, hurrah!
Anyway, we digress.... Where were we last, ah yes, Cusco. In the midst of all sorts of confusion and uncertainties involving the many strikes around Peru for different causes we found ourselves unsure whether to still try and get to Arequipa, to visit the Colca Canyon where the condors live, or to change tack and head north west to Pisco on the coast, via Nazca. Due to a certain amount of paralysis on our part we decided to leave it to a flip of the coin, and Nazca/Pisco came through.
Our night bus from Cusco to Nazca was a very posh bus, by Peruvian standards, but that didn´t save us from the horribly winding steep roads, as we came over the Andes travelling from 3,400 meters to 500 meters over night. Our ears were popping regularly and water bottles were pinging and crunching left right and centre due to the pressure changes, lovely! The bus also started to take on the resemblance of a fridge around midnight, and it took several failed attempts at telling the stewardess this before it later on turned into the inside of an oven warming up to gas mark 8!! The joys of travel...
When we got to Nazca, around 7.30 am we were taken to our hostal in a clapped out, very huge US Oldsmobile, with a "trunk" big enough to conceal an elephant (or two). We were then taken to our windowless "cell". When we asked for a room with a window the reply was that nobody ever stays more than one night in Nazca, so they never bother giving them windows!!
It then became apparent that we should book on to our flight to the Nazca lines that day, as the weather had been somewhat dodgy in previous days. So, after very littel sleep the night before, a quick shower and a cuppa (trying to find black tea was also a big challenge that we didn´t quite manage) we found ourselves being hurled and dipped about in a tiny 4 seater plane (one of the 4 seats was the pilot´s) looking at the LInes.
"What are the Nazca Lines" we hear you cry. Well, go look it up you lazy people! Just to give you a clue though, they´re ancient drawings and lines made in the Peruvian desert, discovered only when aviation began, as the only way to see them properly is from the air. The drawings include a hummingbird, monkey, spider, condor, an "astronaut" or man waving, and various other figures. It was amazing to see, but towards the end we were more intent on our "sick bags" than the Lines, shame really. One of us threw up, and one of us almost did (bet you really wanted to know that!).
It was really worth seeing, and a very important national heritage site in Peru, just a shame it was so like a rollercoaster for which we were totally unprepared! Linda´s not sure what to make of any possible RAF fast-jet opportunities in the future, given such a hair raising(!) experience in a little wind-up 4 seater!!! Hey ho.....
Anyway, the next day we moved on from Nazca to Pisco (home of the famous aforementioned "Sour") which is a rather nondescript coastal port (especially when the sun doesn´t shine) after the bright and bustling Cusco and the more quaint and sleepy Plaza of Nazca. Yesterday morning very early we went off to see the Ballestas Islands, reached by speedboat, where we saw bottlenose dolphins playing near the harbour, as well as vast numbers of pellicans. As we moved on the the islands, there were thousands of different sea birds, including cormorants, turns, Peruvian boobies (ooh er missis), not to mention many sea lions and quite a few penguins! It was a really interesting morning, and we were delighted to be told all about the local Guano (bird pooh), harvesting techniques, local uses etc.... and boy did we know when we were there...such a lovely aroma - NOT!! Amazingly, none of us got fired upon, but there were a few close calls!
From riots and tear gas to guanu assault attacks and all sorts in between we feel like joining the SAS now. Back to our sedate little travels....
We leave Pisco this evening and travel on to Lima, staying at an Airport Hotel overnight. Our flight heads out mid morning (hopefully) and we then arrive in Miama, for our last night´s stay which will be with Sue & Art, Penny´s rellies-in-law (yup, even more of em..... those Hewitts get about!).
It looks like our last entry will be from Miami, although we guess it´s only fair to sign off properly once back in England. However, we´ll possibly both use the site for some ongoing updates - Linda from the RAF training college and Penny from........ AFRICA, Uganda, Kisiizi to be precise...watch this space for more details, how exciting!!!
Well, here we are, up to date again on our blog, like good girly swats, so it´s time to sigh off and get ready to leave Pisco, which includes putting some MORE PHOTOS ON FLICKR!!
Bye for now folks, thanks for dropping by.
Til next time....
love from Penny & Linda xx
Saturday, July 14, 2007
RUINS, RIOTS, STAMPEDES, SNOW, BLISTERS AND RUM!
Hi everyone,
Here we are, having returned from our 4 day trek, and there´s lots to tell!
We set off from Cusco really early on Tuesday morning (5.30am) and had a fairly long journey by bus to our starting point on the Lares trek, funnily enough at a town called "Lares". We had a really tough start........ a 20 min hike up a gentle hill, to some hot springs!! Some people got right in, but some of us just paddled....... it didn´t seem quite right only 20 minutes into our 4 day adventure!
After that we had a lovely lunch prepared by our porters (it´s a hard life) and that was just the beginning of some incredible meals, including popcorn, pancakes, quinoa porridge (a type of grain) and so much more besides. It was truly amazing what they managed to produce from nowhere as we trekked, and nobody ever went hungry!
Well, after our lovely lunch we then began the actual trek, spending 3 hours which was generally gentle and not too severely uphill. We passed gorgeous dirty faced kids who seemed to pop up out of absolutely nowhere to say hello and see if we had any treats to give them. There we were in all sorts of fleece and goretex layers, and they had sandals and bare legs, (but warm ponchos)scampering around oblivious to the cold and winds. There were lots of tiny hamlets that we walked through, and we often met ladies and small children with a blanket spread out on the mud, selling home produced crafts. There were many sights and sounds, colours and smells as we trekked, and all authentic and traditional. It was a real cultural experience.
When we arrived at our campsite the tents were already all up, and really warm sleeping bags, thick mats and even a small pillow were waiting for us..... our porters were the real heroes of our trek. We were given hot water to wash with, then tea and snacks, followed later by soup and a really substantial main course. Later we a had a special and very delicious fruit tea (made with fresh juices) which was turned into "Macho Te" by adding varying quantities of rum. We all went to bed that evening with glowing faces and warm toes........lovely!
After a surprisingly warm and good sleep (thanks to very snuggly sleeping bags and an llama blanket) we were up and away by 7am, ready for the hardest day of our trek. Some of our group were quite unwell due to the effects of altitude sickness, stomach bugs etc but thankfully both of us were absolutely fine, thanks probably to having been at altitude for a couple of weeks already.
Our group was a mixed bag, of different ages although we were two of the oldest there! There were people from the US, Ireland, and England..... not really that mixed (far less so than on our Kumuka trip) and we generally had a really good time as a group.
So, back to the trek. Weather so far had been pretty cold, overcast and frequent rain showers, and that continued through the second day, but it was even colder as we climbed even higher. We trekked uphill for 4 or so hours, seeing some amazing people and places again, and eating lots of chocolate bars! Imagine huffing and puffing up the hills when these tiny local scamps run past as if there isn´t even a hill......... but at least we can blame our inexperience at altitude for some of it. Apparently it takes over a year to fully acclimatise to living at altitude - that´s our excuse and we´re sticking to it!
The last part of our uphill stage was the hardest, being rather steep and at the end of 4 hours trekking up 700 meters (taking us from 3,700m to 4,400m around the same level as Everest Base Camp). When we got to the top there were great celebrations, even though we were being pelted by hailstones at the time. We built a cairn to mark our safe passage, and then began the descent part of our trek. After another gorgeous lunch in the middle of absolutely nowhere, we had another 4 hour trek down quite rocky and loose paths. We´d both hired walking poles and were very glad of them for both the up and down hill sections that day.
Camp was such a welcome sight, and there were varying degress of blisters and sore feet amongst the group, but yet again both of us were absolutely fine, for which we are incredibly thankful! After yet another great night´s sleep, we were meant to leave at 5am but weren´t even woken up until 7pm...... the reason to be explained later on........
It was amazing to wake up all warm and snuggly only to open the tent flap and see thick frost on the grass....brrrrr.......but for the first time we had blue skies and the sun was shining- hurrah!!
We then had a 5 hour trek, mainly downhill again, and it was so warm that Linda even took the legs off her walking trousers......shorts at last, hurrah. We handed out supplies of crayons, books and other items to a group of school children, which was a really weird experience because they are all so desperate for anything they can get. They were so cute, colourful and gorgeous (despite the caked on mud and grime).... if we´d had room in our packs we might have smuggled a couple home!
So, after the last major part of our trek we arrived in an Inca town called Ollantaytambo, in time for a late lunch and a final farewell to our wonderful porters, who worked so hard and did so much for us all the way along the trek. Then the fun really began.... it turned out that we´d had a lie in because the train we were meant to get originally to Agua Calientes had been delayed due to local strikes (a different stike to the one that had blocked our journey from Puno to Cusco!).
We were given some free time to look around Olló before gathering for our train, so most of us headed up to the market square. It seemed weird that every shop and cafe seemed to be closing, but we just thought it was probably to do with siesta for a litle while....but then it became clear that everyone had shut up shop and was gathering in the square for a peaceful protest. However, before we knew it, a police van arrived and loads of police in riot gear swarmed out and then things really kicked off. Tear gas was thrown, and we saw people being beaten with batons in the square. One of our group came out of a shop without knowing what was happening and got tear gas in her eyes, whilst witnessing a severe beating of one local man who was later carried away in a blanket with his face mashed in.
Needless to say the place was in uproar..... and all this was happening just whilst Linda was sitting at the side of the square attempting to zip the legs back on to her trousers....good timing. Penny was concerned that now was a good time to move, but Linda had one shoe off, her bag open and a leg half zipped...... you can picture the scene as people were running towards us screaming and shouting, and Linda carries on zipping her legs on!!
Although it was a really thing to witness it was clear that, as tourists, we were never at risk....the police knew who they were after..... but it certainly wasn´t pleasant and left a few people quite shaken by it. Before this experienec, whenever we saw groups of police on the streets it was a really reassuring site, but now whenever we see a few the pulse quickens until we see the absence of riot gear!
We then had a 5 hour, very squashed and jostled wait at the train station, because everything was in chaos (including protestors sitting on the train track to stop a train leaving). To cut a long story short, our 4.20pm train left at 10.30pm, but with about 4 trains worth of people on it...... we had a lovely journey sitting on the floor with other members of our group some of whom were half cut after drinking 5 bottles of rum between them!
We were sooooo glad to arrive in Agua Calientes, even though it was 12.30am. After getting to our hotel and finding it fully booked, then began another trek to a different hotel, where we finally got to bed at 1.30am, having travelled for 3 days with no showers, wearing the same clothes etc etc. After a really long sleep (NOT!) we were up again at 4.30 to have breakfast (at the other hotel!) before getting a bus up to Machu Picchu...... at long last, we were definitely going to get there, as it really was in doubt the previous day, because the only way to reach Agua Calientes is by train!
What can we say? It was truly amazing. Even the journey up was stunning, as the darkness started to lift and we could see the imposing Andean mountains all around us - Wow! As we arrived at MP not many people were ahead of us, so we were soon into the site and able to see the amazing views for ourselves at long last, a new wonder of the world!
Our guide, Dicber, took us on guided tour around the whole site, and then we had some free time to wander around, sit, soak up the atmosphere, and for a few mad people the opportunity to climb up Wanapicchi, a very steep prearious and slippery mountain that gives an amazing view. We decided against it in favour of actually seeing the place up close and personal rather than spending an hour watching the feet of the person in front of you!
By the end of our time there we really felt like we´d explored it well, and were so glad for our early start. By the time we were ready to leave the place was heaving with tourists and there were no peaceful spots anymore. The afternoon consisted of a little bit of shopping at the market and then a treat..... we went to the hot springs and soothed away some of the aches and pains from our trek......luvverly.
Our train journey back to Ollantaytambo was very uneventful (thankfully) with incredible scenery and comfy seats! A transfer onto a coach then had us back at Cusco last night by 8.30pm, for which we are incredibly thankful. It was straight back to our hostal and straight to bed....... and boy did we sleep!
Today we´re taking it easy, funnily enough, and might even treat ourselves to a massage later before meeting our friends Becky & Gregor for dinner. Tomorrow we´re off on a day tour of the Sacred Valley (we´ve seen a bit on our tour, but there´s lots more to see) and then off to Arequipa on Monday. There we hope to visit Colca Canyon and see the mighty condors - we´ll hear all about it tonight from Becky & Gregor who´ve been on a 3 day trek there.
Well, another long entry, hope you´re eyes haven´t crossed from yet another long entry, but we thought you´d want to hear about yet another amazing trip that we´ve experienced here. Only a week left now and then no more entries....... it all seems very sad.
Watch out for some more photos on Flickr, we´ll get some uploaded as soon as we can.
Bye for now,
Penny & Linda xx
Hi everyone,
Here we are, having returned from our 4 day trek, and there´s lots to tell!
We set off from Cusco really early on Tuesday morning (5.30am) and had a fairly long journey by bus to our starting point on the Lares trek, funnily enough at a town called "Lares". We had a really tough start........ a 20 min hike up a gentle hill, to some hot springs!! Some people got right in, but some of us just paddled....... it didn´t seem quite right only 20 minutes into our 4 day adventure!
After that we had a lovely lunch prepared by our porters (it´s a hard life) and that was just the beginning of some incredible meals, including popcorn, pancakes, quinoa porridge (a type of grain) and so much more besides. It was truly amazing what they managed to produce from nowhere as we trekked, and nobody ever went hungry!
Well, after our lovely lunch we then began the actual trek, spending 3 hours which was generally gentle and not too severely uphill. We passed gorgeous dirty faced kids who seemed to pop up out of absolutely nowhere to say hello and see if we had any treats to give them. There we were in all sorts of fleece and goretex layers, and they had sandals and bare legs, (but warm ponchos)scampering around oblivious to the cold and winds. There were lots of tiny hamlets that we walked through, and we often met ladies and small children with a blanket spread out on the mud, selling home produced crafts. There were many sights and sounds, colours and smells as we trekked, and all authentic and traditional. It was a real cultural experience.
When we arrived at our campsite the tents were already all up, and really warm sleeping bags, thick mats and even a small pillow were waiting for us..... our porters were the real heroes of our trek. We were given hot water to wash with, then tea and snacks, followed later by soup and a really substantial main course. Later we a had a special and very delicious fruit tea (made with fresh juices) which was turned into "Macho Te" by adding varying quantities of rum. We all went to bed that evening with glowing faces and warm toes........lovely!
After a surprisingly warm and good sleep (thanks to very snuggly sleeping bags and an llama blanket) we were up and away by 7am, ready for the hardest day of our trek. Some of our group were quite unwell due to the effects of altitude sickness, stomach bugs etc but thankfully both of us were absolutely fine, thanks probably to having been at altitude for a couple of weeks already.
Our group was a mixed bag, of different ages although we were two of the oldest there! There were people from the US, Ireland, and England..... not really that mixed (far less so than on our Kumuka trip) and we generally had a really good time as a group.
So, back to the trek. Weather so far had been pretty cold, overcast and frequent rain showers, and that continued through the second day, but it was even colder as we climbed even higher. We trekked uphill for 4 or so hours, seeing some amazing people and places again, and eating lots of chocolate bars! Imagine huffing and puffing up the hills when these tiny local scamps run past as if there isn´t even a hill......... but at least we can blame our inexperience at altitude for some of it. Apparently it takes over a year to fully acclimatise to living at altitude - that´s our excuse and we´re sticking to it!
The last part of our uphill stage was the hardest, being rather steep and at the end of 4 hours trekking up 700 meters (taking us from 3,700m to 4,400m around the same level as Everest Base Camp). When we got to the top there were great celebrations, even though we were being pelted by hailstones at the time. We built a cairn to mark our safe passage, and then began the descent part of our trek. After another gorgeous lunch in the middle of absolutely nowhere, we had another 4 hour trek down quite rocky and loose paths. We´d both hired walking poles and were very glad of them for both the up and down hill sections that day.
Camp was such a welcome sight, and there were varying degress of blisters and sore feet amongst the group, but yet again both of us were absolutely fine, for which we are incredibly thankful! After yet another great night´s sleep, we were meant to leave at 5am but weren´t even woken up until 7pm...... the reason to be explained later on........
It was amazing to wake up all warm and snuggly only to open the tent flap and see thick frost on the grass....brrrrr.......but for the first time we had blue skies and the sun was shining- hurrah!!
We then had a 5 hour trek, mainly downhill again, and it was so warm that Linda even took the legs off her walking trousers......shorts at last, hurrah. We handed out supplies of crayons, books and other items to a group of school children, which was a really weird experience because they are all so desperate for anything they can get. They were so cute, colourful and gorgeous (despite the caked on mud and grime).... if we´d had room in our packs we might have smuggled a couple home!
So, after the last major part of our trek we arrived in an Inca town called Ollantaytambo, in time for a late lunch and a final farewell to our wonderful porters, who worked so hard and did so much for us all the way along the trek. Then the fun really began.... it turned out that we´d had a lie in because the train we were meant to get originally to Agua Calientes had been delayed due to local strikes (a different stike to the one that had blocked our journey from Puno to Cusco!).
We were given some free time to look around Olló before gathering for our train, so most of us headed up to the market square. It seemed weird that every shop and cafe seemed to be closing, but we just thought it was probably to do with siesta for a litle while....but then it became clear that everyone had shut up shop and was gathering in the square for a peaceful protest. However, before we knew it, a police van arrived and loads of police in riot gear swarmed out and then things really kicked off. Tear gas was thrown, and we saw people being beaten with batons in the square. One of our group came out of a shop without knowing what was happening and got tear gas in her eyes, whilst witnessing a severe beating of one local man who was later carried away in a blanket with his face mashed in.
Needless to say the place was in uproar..... and all this was happening just whilst Linda was sitting at the side of the square attempting to zip the legs back on to her trousers....good timing. Penny was concerned that now was a good time to move, but Linda had one shoe off, her bag open and a leg half zipped...... you can picture the scene as people were running towards us screaming and shouting, and Linda carries on zipping her legs on!!
Although it was a really thing to witness it was clear that, as tourists, we were never at risk....the police knew who they were after..... but it certainly wasn´t pleasant and left a few people quite shaken by it. Before this experienec, whenever we saw groups of police on the streets it was a really reassuring site, but now whenever we see a few the pulse quickens until we see the absence of riot gear!
We then had a 5 hour, very squashed and jostled wait at the train station, because everything was in chaos (including protestors sitting on the train track to stop a train leaving). To cut a long story short, our 4.20pm train left at 10.30pm, but with about 4 trains worth of people on it...... we had a lovely journey sitting on the floor with other members of our group some of whom were half cut after drinking 5 bottles of rum between them!
We were sooooo glad to arrive in Agua Calientes, even though it was 12.30am. After getting to our hotel and finding it fully booked, then began another trek to a different hotel, where we finally got to bed at 1.30am, having travelled for 3 days with no showers, wearing the same clothes etc etc. After a really long sleep (NOT!) we were up again at 4.30 to have breakfast (at the other hotel!) before getting a bus up to Machu Picchu...... at long last, we were definitely going to get there, as it really was in doubt the previous day, because the only way to reach Agua Calientes is by train!
What can we say? It was truly amazing. Even the journey up was stunning, as the darkness started to lift and we could see the imposing Andean mountains all around us - Wow! As we arrived at MP not many people were ahead of us, so we were soon into the site and able to see the amazing views for ourselves at long last, a new wonder of the world!
Our guide, Dicber, took us on guided tour around the whole site, and then we had some free time to wander around, sit, soak up the atmosphere, and for a few mad people the opportunity to climb up Wanapicchi, a very steep prearious and slippery mountain that gives an amazing view. We decided against it in favour of actually seeing the place up close and personal rather than spending an hour watching the feet of the person in front of you!
By the end of our time there we really felt like we´d explored it well, and were so glad for our early start. By the time we were ready to leave the place was heaving with tourists and there were no peaceful spots anymore. The afternoon consisted of a little bit of shopping at the market and then a treat..... we went to the hot springs and soothed away some of the aches and pains from our trek......luvverly.
Our train journey back to Ollantaytambo was very uneventful (thankfully) with incredible scenery and comfy seats! A transfer onto a coach then had us back at Cusco last night by 8.30pm, for which we are incredibly thankful. It was straight back to our hostal and straight to bed....... and boy did we sleep!
Today we´re taking it easy, funnily enough, and might even treat ourselves to a massage later before meeting our friends Becky & Gregor for dinner. Tomorrow we´re off on a day tour of the Sacred Valley (we´ve seen a bit on our tour, but there´s lots more to see) and then off to Arequipa on Monday. There we hope to visit Colca Canyon and see the mighty condors - we´ll hear all about it tonight from Becky & Gregor who´ve been on a 3 day trek there.
Well, another long entry, hope you´re eyes haven´t crossed from yet another long entry, but we thought you´d want to hear about yet another amazing trip that we´ve experienced here. Only a week left now and then no more entries....... it all seems very sad.
Watch out for some more photos on Flickr, we´ll get some uploaded as soon as we can.
Bye for now,
Penny & Linda xx
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Hi all,
here we are in Cusco, but what have we been up to in the meantime?
Our last entries were from Copacabana, a lovely sleepy town on the border between Bolivia and Peru. We stayed in a really lovely hotel, with Moor-ish architecture, a gorgeous restaurant and fantastic views (including hammocks overlooking the port/beach onto Lake Titicaca. Our friends Becky & Gregor were also there who we´d met in Australia and then travelled with on the Kumuka leg of our tour from Santiago to La Paz. After our exhilarating downhill bike ride we upped the anti to a whole new level....... wait for it......... can you contain your excitement?........ the four of us went out on the Lake in 2 SWAN PEDALOES!!!!! To say it was thrilling doesn´t do it justice..... the adrenaline rush, the thrills, the excitement...... are you picking up on the sarcasm at all? It was fun in its own bizarre way - especially seeing Gregor reduced to pedalling a swan rather than a mountain bike.....oh, how manly he looked! However, it was an authentic Bolivian experience, as we were the only "Gringos" on the Lake - everyone else was S. American!
Later on we did get a bit of exercise though, as we all traipsed up a pilgramage hill that took us past the 14 stations of the cross up a very steep, winding, cobbled path which was nearly 1000 feet. The views were amazing and the sunset stunning. Coming back down in semi darkness was interesting - that was our adrenaline rush for the day!
The next day we headed off for Puno, a "stopping off" place for people between other destinations, crossing the border from Bolivia to Peru! Although there´s not much going for the place, we found an amazing cake shop that also served fantastic "chocolate caliente" - hot chocolate to you and me. We were still stalking Becky & Gregor, and spent most of our time with them there too. They assured us that they were quite happy to have the company, and we really enjoyed spending time with them too on our own mini Kumuka tour!
From Puno we went on an overnight homestay trip to the islands in Lake Titicaca. First stop was the floating islands of Uros, where we were treated to a detailed explanation of how the islands are created and how the people live and work there. Our guide was really informative and it was incredible to think that we were sitting on what was essentially a load of reeds. People have lived on these islands since Inca times.
We then travelled on to our destination for the night, although at one point we thought we´d end up on the lake instead, as we ran out of fuel en route. Somehow they managed to find some more on board (maybe they all emptied their lighters to get us going again!!??). As we arrived on Amanati we were greeted by our hosts for the night. Our hosts were Paulino and Julia, who really looked after us and made us feel very welcome.
Lunch was a local veggie soup and then fried cheese (very like halloumi - lovely) with different potatoes and a local tea called "Muna" tea, a bit like peppermint but much nicer in Linda´s opinion! We then watched the locals play football whilst trying to converse with Paulino in very bad Spanish (thanks to our phrasebook). Penny wanted to take Paulino home ( to add to her "lovely old man" collection, but Linda wouldn´t let her!!).
After dinner in their rustic basic kitchen, our hosts dressed us up in local costume, and yes, we do have embarassing photos to prove it. We then walked up in the dark with just one flashlight between the three of us on a very thin rocky, dusty path up and down and over a stream etc etc wearing our garb, but thankfully Paulino knows the way like the back of his hand. At the village hall we had a "fiesta" where local boys played panpipes, guitars etc and the locals danced with us. It felt very Gringo and touristy, but then we are tourists, so there´s no getting away from it.
Back to our little room and the night candle, no electricity here! After a good night´s sleep we said goodbye to our hosts but then ended up stranded for an hour and a half at the jetty. Amantani is an incredibly peaceful place in the middle of nowhere, but somehow overnight our boat and another tour boat had been broken into, fuel and CDs stolen etc etc. It was unheard of, and the locals were clearly upset that this had happened...... even in the middle of nowhere crime happens, it seems.
Anyway, we eventually got going, and were then taken to another island were legend has it that the men go cross-eyed from knitting woolly hats to woo the women. Although we did see quite a few men knitting, we didn´t spot any who were cross-eyed.... maybe romance is dead?? "Tanquil" was a pretty island and we managed quite a big up hill walk (training for Machu Picchu!) before lunch, and then a descent of 540 steps down to our boat. Our 3 hour journey back to Puno went very quickly, thanks to playing charades with Gregor & Becky.... whilst lots of other people were trying to siesta we were having a laugh instead!
Getting back to our hotel, we discovered that a local strike on the main road from Puno to Cusco meant that the buses weren´t running. We had to put our lovely hot showers on hold and hot foot it down to the bus station to sort things out (in our best pidgeon Spanish!). To cut a long story short we managed to organise a bus that was going via a back route (but Peruvian back routes are a bit different to England).
So, yesterday we endured a hot and bumpy 10 hour local bus journey but at least we managed to get to Cusco (as our trek to Machu Picchu starts soon). Becky & Gregor have headed off to Arequipa, but hopefully we´ll all meet up again here in Cusco next week. Now that we´ve paid in full there´s no turning back (Penny!!) - we´re committed to our 4 day trek to MP - hurrah!
So, next time you hear from us we´ll have returned from our trek, hopefully with lots to tell and some incredible photos..... watch this space. We get back late on the 13th, so don´t worry if you don´t hear from us for a while.
It´s hard to believe that we get home on 23rd July, in just over two weeks. We can´t believe where the time´s gone, and it´s with mixed feelings that we now begin to contemplate our return to blighty!
Til next time, dear bloggettes,
love from Penny & Linda xx
here we are in Cusco, but what have we been up to in the meantime?
Our last entries were from Copacabana, a lovely sleepy town on the border between Bolivia and Peru. We stayed in a really lovely hotel, with Moor-ish architecture, a gorgeous restaurant and fantastic views (including hammocks overlooking the port/beach onto Lake Titicaca. Our friends Becky & Gregor were also there who we´d met in Australia and then travelled with on the Kumuka leg of our tour from Santiago to La Paz. After our exhilarating downhill bike ride we upped the anti to a whole new level....... wait for it......... can you contain your excitement?........ the four of us went out on the Lake in 2 SWAN PEDALOES!!!!! To say it was thrilling doesn´t do it justice..... the adrenaline rush, the thrills, the excitement...... are you picking up on the sarcasm at all? It was fun in its own bizarre way - especially seeing Gregor reduced to pedalling a swan rather than a mountain bike.....oh, how manly he looked! However, it was an authentic Bolivian experience, as we were the only "Gringos" on the Lake - everyone else was S. American!
Later on we did get a bit of exercise though, as we all traipsed up a pilgramage hill that took us past the 14 stations of the cross up a very steep, winding, cobbled path which was nearly 1000 feet. The views were amazing and the sunset stunning. Coming back down in semi darkness was interesting - that was our adrenaline rush for the day!
The next day we headed off for Puno, a "stopping off" place for people between other destinations, crossing the border from Bolivia to Peru! Although there´s not much going for the place, we found an amazing cake shop that also served fantastic "chocolate caliente" - hot chocolate to you and me. We were still stalking Becky & Gregor, and spent most of our time with them there too. They assured us that they were quite happy to have the company, and we really enjoyed spending time with them too on our own mini Kumuka tour!
From Puno we went on an overnight homestay trip to the islands in Lake Titicaca. First stop was the floating islands of Uros, where we were treated to a detailed explanation of how the islands are created and how the people live and work there. Our guide was really informative and it was incredible to think that we were sitting on what was essentially a load of reeds. People have lived on these islands since Inca times.
We then travelled on to our destination for the night, although at one point we thought we´d end up on the lake instead, as we ran out of fuel en route. Somehow they managed to find some more on board (maybe they all emptied their lighters to get us going again!!??). As we arrived on Amanati we were greeted by our hosts for the night. Our hosts were Paulino and Julia, who really looked after us and made us feel very welcome.
Lunch was a local veggie soup and then fried cheese (very like halloumi - lovely) with different potatoes and a local tea called "Muna" tea, a bit like peppermint but much nicer in Linda´s opinion! We then watched the locals play football whilst trying to converse with Paulino in very bad Spanish (thanks to our phrasebook). Penny wanted to take Paulino home ( to add to her "lovely old man" collection, but Linda wouldn´t let her!!).
After dinner in their rustic basic kitchen, our hosts dressed us up in local costume, and yes, we do have embarassing photos to prove it. We then walked up in the dark with just one flashlight between the three of us on a very thin rocky, dusty path up and down and over a stream etc etc wearing our garb, but thankfully Paulino knows the way like the back of his hand. At the village hall we had a "fiesta" where local boys played panpipes, guitars etc and the locals danced with us. It felt very Gringo and touristy, but then we are tourists, so there´s no getting away from it.
Back to our little room and the night candle, no electricity here! After a good night´s sleep we said goodbye to our hosts but then ended up stranded for an hour and a half at the jetty. Amantani is an incredibly peaceful place in the middle of nowhere, but somehow overnight our boat and another tour boat had been broken into, fuel and CDs stolen etc etc. It was unheard of, and the locals were clearly upset that this had happened...... even in the middle of nowhere crime happens, it seems.
Anyway, we eventually got going, and were then taken to another island were legend has it that the men go cross-eyed from knitting woolly hats to woo the women. Although we did see quite a few men knitting, we didn´t spot any who were cross-eyed.... maybe romance is dead?? "Tanquil" was a pretty island and we managed quite a big up hill walk (training for Machu Picchu!) before lunch, and then a descent of 540 steps down to our boat. Our 3 hour journey back to Puno went very quickly, thanks to playing charades with Gregor & Becky.... whilst lots of other people were trying to siesta we were having a laugh instead!
Getting back to our hotel, we discovered that a local strike on the main road from Puno to Cusco meant that the buses weren´t running. We had to put our lovely hot showers on hold and hot foot it down to the bus station to sort things out (in our best pidgeon Spanish!). To cut a long story short we managed to organise a bus that was going via a back route (but Peruvian back routes are a bit different to England).
So, yesterday we endured a hot and bumpy 10 hour local bus journey but at least we managed to get to Cusco (as our trek to Machu Picchu starts soon). Becky & Gregor have headed off to Arequipa, but hopefully we´ll all meet up again here in Cusco next week. Now that we´ve paid in full there´s no turning back (Penny!!) - we´re committed to our 4 day trek to MP - hurrah!
So, next time you hear from us we´ll have returned from our trek, hopefully with lots to tell and some incredible photos..... watch this space. We get back late on the 13th, so don´t worry if you don´t hear from us for a while.
It´s hard to believe that we get home on 23rd July, in just over two weeks. We can´t believe where the time´s gone, and it´s with mixed feelings that we now begin to contemplate our return to blighty!
Til next time, dear bloggettes,
love from Penny & Linda xx
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Dear All
Bolivia is the land of 'the highest....in the world'. We are now in Copacabana which is on the shores of the Bolivian side of Lake Titicacaca (the highest lake in the world). Copacabana seems like a sleepy town and we are staying a great little hostel which overlooks the shores of the lake, very pretty.
We have just come from La Paz (the highest Capital city in the world). La Paz was a great city. we weren't really looking forward to La Paz but it was a busy, colourful place that seemed to have lots of culture and was lots of fun. The best thing was going down 'the worlds most dangerous road' on a mountain bike with a group of people from our Kamuka tour.
This is a 64km (40-mile) descent from La Paz to Coroico. We set off early in the morning and had about a 2 hour drive to the top of the road (which was about 4000m, I think!). We were then given a safety chat by the "Mountain Madness" crew and kitted out in gloves, jacket, helmet and of course a bike!
The 1st part was on a tarmac road, so we all whizzed down that with ease!! There was then an uphill bit for about 4 Km (some of us hopped in the van for that bit-I didn't sign up for an uphill bike ride at altitude!!). Once that difficult bit was over the fun really began. The road is narrow, unpaved and carved out of a cliff (what more would you expect from the worlds most dangerous road!!). This road used to have traffic on it until a year ago when a new, safe (!) road was built. It used to claim a few casualties both in motorists and mad cyclists. But now it is mostly traffic free it is much safer!!!
It was great fun going down this bit of the road. Sadly it was very misty and so the views were not that great at the beginning, but at least we couldn't see the shear drops and the debris from accidents!! But the weather did improve and the end of the ride was really clear and quite warm. We got ride under waterfalls, through streams and in lush grean vegitation. We all got down mostly in one piece and had descended about 2000m from start to finish. Getting to the end was also great because it was at about 1200m and so there were no effects from the altitude, wonderful!!! A great day was had by all. The most dangerous part of the day was the drive back to La Paz. There were a few near misses but we survived!!
In La Paz we also went to the worlds highest "Oxygen Bar" and I had a go. It is a bit like a hospital outpatients where you can pay to have 10 minutes of O2. Mine was flavoured with lime. It is meant to help with the altitude and although I didn't notice a great difference it was fun to do and it was good to feel some relief from the altitude!!
Well thats all for now, after Copacabana we head to Peru and hope the do a home stay on Lake Titicacaca. So till next time.....
Love Penny xxxxxx
Bolivia is the land of 'the highest....in the world'. We are now in Copacabana which is on the shores of the Bolivian side of Lake Titicacaca (the highest lake in the world). Copacabana seems like a sleepy town and we are staying a great little hostel which overlooks the shores of the lake, very pretty.
We have just come from La Paz (the highest Capital city in the world). La Paz was a great city. we weren't really looking forward to La Paz but it was a busy, colourful place that seemed to have lots of culture and was lots of fun. The best thing was going down 'the worlds most dangerous road' on a mountain bike with a group of people from our Kamuka tour.
This is a 64km (40-mile) descent from La Paz to Coroico. We set off early in the morning and had about a 2 hour drive to the top of the road (which was about 4000m, I think!). We were then given a safety chat by the "Mountain Madness" crew and kitted out in gloves, jacket, helmet and of course a bike!
The 1st part was on a tarmac road, so we all whizzed down that with ease!! There was then an uphill bit for about 4 Km (some of us hopped in the van for that bit-I didn't sign up for an uphill bike ride at altitude!!). Once that difficult bit was over the fun really began. The road is narrow, unpaved and carved out of a cliff (what more would you expect from the worlds most dangerous road!!). This road used to have traffic on it until a year ago when a new, safe (!) road was built. It used to claim a few casualties both in motorists and mad cyclists. But now it is mostly traffic free it is much safer!!!
It was great fun going down this bit of the road. Sadly it was very misty and so the views were not that great at the beginning, but at least we couldn't see the shear drops and the debris from accidents!! But the weather did improve and the end of the ride was really clear and quite warm. We got ride under waterfalls, through streams and in lush grean vegitation. We all got down mostly in one piece and had descended about 2000m from start to finish. Getting to the end was also great because it was at about 1200m and so there were no effects from the altitude, wonderful!!! A great day was had by all. The most dangerous part of the day was the drive back to La Paz. There were a few near misses but we survived!!
In La Paz we also went to the worlds highest "Oxygen Bar" and I had a go. It is a bit like a hospital outpatients where you can pay to have 10 minutes of O2. Mine was flavoured with lime. It is meant to help with the altitude and although I didn't notice a great difference it was fun to do and it was good to feel some relief from the altitude!!
Well thats all for now, after Copacabana we head to Peru and hope the do a home stay on Lake Titicacaca. So till next time.....
Love Penny xxxxxx
Hi Folks,
Linda here. Just wanted to update you on what´s been happening, and give you my own account of the last few days.
We arrived in La Paz after a very long (12 hour) overnight bus journey on the coldest bus in the world. It was soooo cold that nobody could feel their feet, hands, legs etc even after we arrived at our hotel (at 5am!) and had all gone to bed for a few hours. Nobody really thawed out til after hot showers later in the day...brrrr. We though we had it bad, but there were even people lying down in the aisle that didn´t even have the luxury of a seat. Don´t ever want to experience that again, might as well have slept in a fridge for 12 hours. Yuk!
Anyway, various people had told us that La Paz is awful, and that we should aim to leave quickly. However, even tho I´m not really a city person, LP was a great place - full of colour, sights, sounds, smells etc and is pretty safe too, as long as you´re not being driven somewhere - then you really do take your life in your hands. LP was where our time with our Kumuka group ended, after a really diverse and incredible 2 weeks that are a major highlight of our travels.
However, our last trip together has to be one of the all time top highlights. How do you fancy riding on a mountain bike from La Cumbre (4640m) to Coroico, a 3345m vertical decent down The Death Road (mostly a dirt road, but with some fast 60kph tarmac at the top). More than 64km of pure Downhill Madness on a super fast mountain bike. From altiplano to the jungle on a glorious day, with amazing scenery and landscape changes. Yipppeeeeeee. And no, I didn´t tell my Mum I was planning to do it...best to keep it quiet til after the event (a bit like the first time I went parachuting al those years ago!!)
Anyway, back to the biking..... We were given excellent bikes with suspension/shock absorbers and really great guides. How can I describe whizzing downhill at the edge of the Andes mountain range, with 100m to 500m drops right by the side of us? What can I say about overtaking lorries, cars and trucks en masse as we hurtled down the road, with hairpin bends, potholes, lots of others cyclists etc etc. One section was uphill for 4km, and it would of course be at the point where we hit cloud cover, thus meaning that we had almost zero visibility and very wet muddy conditions. All this was happening at about 3000 feet above sea level at that point, so the uphill part was definitely great fitness training. I was a bit miffed though that I couldn´t get my gears to work for the first couple of minutes, and so lost a lot of ground and momentum uphill..... oh well, just had to work even harder to get up there!
Once we got to the top of the uphill stretches, we were rewarded to the final 30km on dirt track (after very welcome snacks), even more on the edge of the precipice than we´d be on the "new" stretch of road. I was in one of the fastest groups and have to admit that it was scary at times to find myself looking towards the edge at the view, only to realise that my bike was following suit!! Quick correction required and a firm grip on the brakes! We stopped at various points where crosses marked the "departure" of various cyclists, buses, cars etc, as the guides explained what had happene dto them. It was only up until last year that heavy traffic used the road, which was the cause of many casulaties/fatalities......however, they still happen, but thankfully not to the same level as previously.
Onece we descended down through the cloud cover my fingers and toes started to thaw out a bit, I started to dry out a bit and feeling began to return to my legs. It was then that we were treated with the most stuning views of waterfalls, lush green forested Andean peaks, tiny settlements, awesome drop-off views etc as we hurtled down and round over incredibly bumpy and gritty roads. There were punctures, problems with gears, and sadly one of our fellow Kumuka group fell off his bike near the end of the route. Thankfully he wasn´t seriously hurt, and fell onto the track rather than over the edge - guaranteed to really shake you up!
Even before Mike fell off, it was weird to be reminded regularly that not a lot separated any of us from death, because it would be very easy to lose control/concentration/ get a puncture/ collide with another rider or a lorry etc etc and disappear over the edge of the narrow and precarious track. It´s no wonder that we had to sign such a big waiver/disclaimer before we started! It was one of the most incredible things I´ve ever done, and was fantastic to be out there all day, having fun and getting the adrenaline pumping. At the end, there was a very welcome bottle of beer and a lot of celebrating as a group. We were then taken to a hotel for showers, swim and buffet dinner before heading back to LP, and boy did we enjoy it.
Having survived the bike ride, it´s fair to say that the madness continued on the mini bus journey back. Our driver thought nothing of overtaking vehicles up hill on blind bends, and traffic coming the other way happily did the same. Bearing in mind that we returned largely by the same route we took, with sheer drops and narrow twisty roads - and this time in the dark - it was a very scary experience and almost more adrenaline loaded than the bike ride itself!
Thankfully, we all got back in one piece, and it was a really fantastic day out, although my trainers were sooooo wet and muddy by the end I had to come back with bare feet, because they were too disguiting to put back on....and there was plenty of laundry to put in too. We were given a DVD and T shirt as part of the day, so hopefully we´ll get some photos on flickr soon, as evidence. Fantastic. Awesome, right up there and totally recommended to anyone. WOW!
The next morning (yesterday) we had a much more sedate trip - a city tour. We go to see lots of different aspects and locations of LP, some great views and we even bumped into a friend from our stay in Santiago who was sitting on the Cathedral steps. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful, so a great morning was had there too. A bit of shopping, eating and socializing brough us to the end of our last day in LP, leaving at 8am this mornig for our 4 hour bus journey.
Here we are now soaking up the relaxed atmosphere in Copacabana, a very small and laid back little toown on the edge of Lake Titicaca. It´s very weird to see a beach and pedaloes for hire in Bolivia, a land-locked country, but this is thanks to the lake, a vast interior expanse of water (the highest in the world, I believe). Maybe we´ll go to the other extreme of adrenaline rush activities and hire a swan shaped pedalo tomorrow? - a land of contrasts and extremes.
Anyway, look out for some photos soon on Flickr, and thanks for following our travels around the world. No bones broken, all intact and happy, and about to go off for dinner at the lovely hotel where we´re staying with 2 of our Kumuka friends who are also here at the same time......it´s a hard life.
Hope you´re all well and enjoying life. Do leave your comments if you get a chance, it´s great to read them.
Bye for now,
love from Linda xxx ;-)
Linda here. Just wanted to update you on what´s been happening, and give you my own account of the last few days.
We arrived in La Paz after a very long (12 hour) overnight bus journey on the coldest bus in the world. It was soooo cold that nobody could feel their feet, hands, legs etc even after we arrived at our hotel (at 5am!) and had all gone to bed for a few hours. Nobody really thawed out til after hot showers later in the day...brrrr. We though we had it bad, but there were even people lying down in the aisle that didn´t even have the luxury of a seat. Don´t ever want to experience that again, might as well have slept in a fridge for 12 hours. Yuk!
Anyway, various people had told us that La Paz is awful, and that we should aim to leave quickly. However, even tho I´m not really a city person, LP was a great place - full of colour, sights, sounds, smells etc and is pretty safe too, as long as you´re not being driven somewhere - then you really do take your life in your hands. LP was where our time with our Kumuka group ended, after a really diverse and incredible 2 weeks that are a major highlight of our travels.
However, our last trip together has to be one of the all time top highlights. How do you fancy riding on a mountain bike from La Cumbre (4640m) to Coroico, a 3345m vertical decent down The Death Road (mostly a dirt road, but with some fast 60kph tarmac at the top). More than 64km of pure Downhill Madness on a super fast mountain bike. From altiplano to the jungle on a glorious day, with amazing scenery and landscape changes. Yipppeeeeeee. And no, I didn´t tell my Mum I was planning to do it...best to keep it quiet til after the event (a bit like the first time I went parachuting al those years ago!!)
Anyway, back to the biking..... We were given excellent bikes with suspension/shock absorbers and really great guides. How can I describe whizzing downhill at the edge of the Andes mountain range, with 100m to 500m drops right by the side of us? What can I say about overtaking lorries, cars and trucks en masse as we hurtled down the road, with hairpin bends, potholes, lots of others cyclists etc etc. One section was uphill for 4km, and it would of course be at the point where we hit cloud cover, thus meaning that we had almost zero visibility and very wet muddy conditions. All this was happening at about 3000 feet above sea level at that point, so the uphill part was definitely great fitness training. I was a bit miffed though that I couldn´t get my gears to work for the first couple of minutes, and so lost a lot of ground and momentum uphill..... oh well, just had to work even harder to get up there!
Once we got to the top of the uphill stretches, we were rewarded to the final 30km on dirt track (after very welcome snacks), even more on the edge of the precipice than we´d be on the "new" stretch of road. I was in one of the fastest groups and have to admit that it was scary at times to find myself looking towards the edge at the view, only to realise that my bike was following suit!! Quick correction required and a firm grip on the brakes! We stopped at various points where crosses marked the "departure" of various cyclists, buses, cars etc, as the guides explained what had happene dto them. It was only up until last year that heavy traffic used the road, which was the cause of many casulaties/fatalities......however, they still happen, but thankfully not to the same level as previously.
Onece we descended down through the cloud cover my fingers and toes started to thaw out a bit, I started to dry out a bit and feeling began to return to my legs. It was then that we were treated with the most stuning views of waterfalls, lush green forested Andean peaks, tiny settlements, awesome drop-off views etc as we hurtled down and round over incredibly bumpy and gritty roads. There were punctures, problems with gears, and sadly one of our fellow Kumuka group fell off his bike near the end of the route. Thankfully he wasn´t seriously hurt, and fell onto the track rather than over the edge - guaranteed to really shake you up!
Even before Mike fell off, it was weird to be reminded regularly that not a lot separated any of us from death, because it would be very easy to lose control/concentration/ get a puncture/ collide with another rider or a lorry etc etc and disappear over the edge of the narrow and precarious track. It´s no wonder that we had to sign such a big waiver/disclaimer before we started! It was one of the most incredible things I´ve ever done, and was fantastic to be out there all day, having fun and getting the adrenaline pumping. At the end, there was a very welcome bottle of beer and a lot of celebrating as a group. We were then taken to a hotel for showers, swim and buffet dinner before heading back to LP, and boy did we enjoy it.
Having survived the bike ride, it´s fair to say that the madness continued on the mini bus journey back. Our driver thought nothing of overtaking vehicles up hill on blind bends, and traffic coming the other way happily did the same. Bearing in mind that we returned largely by the same route we took, with sheer drops and narrow twisty roads - and this time in the dark - it was a very scary experience and almost more adrenaline loaded than the bike ride itself!
Thankfully, we all got back in one piece, and it was a really fantastic day out, although my trainers were sooooo wet and muddy by the end I had to come back with bare feet, because they were too disguiting to put back on....and there was plenty of laundry to put in too. We were given a DVD and T shirt as part of the day, so hopefully we´ll get some photos on flickr soon, as evidence. Fantastic. Awesome, right up there and totally recommended to anyone. WOW!
The next morning (yesterday) we had a much more sedate trip - a city tour. We go to see lots of different aspects and locations of LP, some great views and we even bumped into a friend from our stay in Santiago who was sitting on the Cathedral steps. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful, so a great morning was had there too. A bit of shopping, eating and socializing brough us to the end of our last day in LP, leaving at 8am this mornig for our 4 hour bus journey.
Here we are now soaking up the relaxed atmosphere in Copacabana, a very small and laid back little toown on the edge of Lake Titicaca. It´s very weird to see a beach and pedaloes for hire in Bolivia, a land-locked country, but this is thanks to the lake, a vast interior expanse of water (the highest in the world, I believe). Maybe we´ll go to the other extreme of adrenaline rush activities and hire a swan shaped pedalo tomorrow? - a land of contrasts and extremes.
Anyway, look out for some photos soon on Flickr, and thanks for following our travels around the world. No bones broken, all intact and happy, and about to go off for dinner at the lovely hotel where we´re staying with 2 of our Kumuka friends who are also here at the same time......it´s a hard life.
Hope you´re all well and enjoying life. Do leave your comments if you get a chance, it´s great to read them.
Bye for now,
love from Linda xxx ;-)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Altitude Sickness
As promised here is a quick and hopefully not too gory entry about the joys of altitude sickness!! I can only speak of my own experience but it is strange. Some people on our tour seemed to experience little or no effects and others were really affected by it.
When we got to San Pedro (that is only about 2700m above sea level) alot of us noticed our heart rate had gone up. This is more noticable at night when it feels that your heart is going to jump out of your chest....lovely!! Once we got higher (onto the altoplano) people noticed that they were breathless and even walking up a slight incline was tiring and quite an effort.
Altitude sickness can make you feel nauseas, sick, give you a thumping headache and your responces can be slower. Considering that we got upto about 5300m (1/2 the height that planes fly at) its not surprising that we felt unwell. However we did get used to it and the body is amazing as it adjusts and gets used to having less oxygen going round the system.
For me as a nurse it has helped me understand how some of my patients feel with sympoms of nausea, breathlessness and constant fatigue. Luckily for me it only lasts a few days and once we descend again to a lower altitude the symptoms will subside.
Thats it on the altitude sickness, not too gory I hope!!
Hasta la vista!!! Penny xx
As promised here is a quick and hopefully not too gory entry about the joys of altitude sickness!! I can only speak of my own experience but it is strange. Some people on our tour seemed to experience little or no effects and others were really affected by it.
When we got to San Pedro (that is only about 2700m above sea level) alot of us noticed our heart rate had gone up. This is more noticable at night when it feels that your heart is going to jump out of your chest....lovely!! Once we got higher (onto the altoplano) people noticed that they were breathless and even walking up a slight incline was tiring and quite an effort.
Altitude sickness can make you feel nauseas, sick, give you a thumping headache and your responces can be slower. Considering that we got upto about 5300m (1/2 the height that planes fly at) its not surprising that we felt unwell. However we did get used to it and the body is amazing as it adjusts and gets used to having less oxygen going round the system.
For me as a nurse it has helped me understand how some of my patients feel with sympoms of nausea, breathlessness and constant fatigue. Luckily for me it only lasts a few days and once we descend again to a lower altitude the symptoms will subside.
Thats it on the altitude sickness, not too gory I hope!!
Hasta la vista!!! Penny xx
Monday, June 25, 2007
Hi, yes we are still alive......... and yes, we know it´s been a while.......... but it´s been an adventure and a half since we set off from La Serena.
We managed to get onto the Observatory tour at La Serena, on a very cold, crisp night where the stars were out in full force and with great visibility (apart from some light pollution from a nearby town, which was a bit surprising). Our guide got us to look through a telescope several times at different parts of the milky way, open and closed clusters (groups of millions of stars that look like nothing much to the naked eye), we also saw Jupiter through a more powerful telescope, and were able to see some of the lines across it and also 4 of its many moons, which was pretty impressive. We then had a powerpoint presentation, which put all of it into perspective in terms of galaxies, the vastness of space, Milky Ways, Mars Bars...... Snickers..... Seriously though, it was a very informative evening and we´re glad we finally got to go on a tour.
The next day was spent trying to find more warm clothes (woolly tights etc, yum yum) for our trip into Bolivia which we were assured was going to be incredibly cold........ and they weren´t wrong!!Read on for more details....
So, after LS we had our lovely 17 hour overnight bus journey to San Pedro de Atacamba, right on the Chile/Bolivia border. SP was a little ¨Indian¨ town and was much more what we were expecting from a S Am town. The main street was just a dirt road, and very sleepy. However, having said that some of us got together and hired mountain bikes and sandboarding equipment to go off into the sanddunes to play! This was incredibly good fun and we even managed to get down the dunes upright (eventually!). One of the local dogs ran with us the entire 6km cycle ride, stayed with us whilst we played on the dunes, then ran back with us all the way to town. He wasn´t much of a tour guide though as we all got lost on the way there and ended up with an extra 30 min off-road cycle in the midday sun. Madness, but fantastic fun. We were both sad not to go skiing this year, so sandboarding has made up for it a bit - it´s a hard life, eh!?
Later that day we hiked up a major sand dune to watch the sunset over the mountains, then all ran down the other side as darkness fell. Considering we´d reached at least 2,500 meters staying at San Pedro, this was all probably a bit daft for our first day at major altitude, but it was then or never.
From SP the fun really began. We all piled into a mini bus which took us to the Chilean border, but then bizzarly we then travelled another hour and a half up hill in the mini bus before we got to the Bolivian border. It was one of those classical moments when we were in the middle of nowhere, no mans land, and on the radio came James Blunt´s song.....¨gotta ask yourself the question, where are you now¨!! How apt.
The Border post was a ramshackle hut, unlike anything any of us had ever seen. Nobody checked any bags, we could have taken rocket launchers through and they´d never have known!! Anyway, it was there that we said goodbye to the mini bus (and civilisation) and piled into our 4 wheel drive jeeps for the journeys ahead.
We continued to climb throughout that day, all keenly aware that the onslaught of some form of altitude sickness was sure to be lurking just around the corner. We saw several different lagoons: blanco (white), verde (green) and Colorado (red), as well as active volcanoes, weird landscapes, geysers and bubbling mud, and where we stopped for lunch there was a hot pool for us to dip our feet and legs in (and one brave/mad soul Rachel actually went for a swim!). Lunch was served at a mere 5,300 meters above sea level, and boy did we know it! Linda was incredibly headachy (and already suffering a bad head cold since Santiago) and Pen was sick and breathless, but she´ll delight you with more of the gory details in a separate entry (bet you can´t wait!!).
Anyway, we eventually arrived, sick as dogs, at our 5 star hotel for the night. There were 2 communal non-flushing toilets, no running water, no heating and the generator was turned off at 9pm prompt.... the joys of the altoplano.....well, it literally was in the middle of nowhere!
Most of us were still feeling the effects the next morning as we set off on the next leg of our trek. It had snowed quite a lot overnight, so was incredibly cold and required all our layers, including woolly tights!!). However, as the morning progressed it then got really hot and sunny - you can never second guess the weather, it´s so extreme and changeable. We saw lots of weird rockforms this day, and a vast amount of pink flamingoes, llamas, vercunas and donkeys. We also suffered incredibly bumpy roads, except they´re not really roads at all, just tracks made by the jeeps going both ways over the planes. Our drivers know the planes like the backs of their hands, which is just as well coz there are no road signs.....well, no roads actually!
That night we stayed at a much better hostel at the beginning of the salt flats. We all enjoyed our dinner thanks to feeling much better, but it was still 9pm lights off as the generator went to bed.
We were all looking forward to the next day (Saturday) when we were going to travel over the salt flats. The day lived up to its expectation, as we travelled for mile upon mile of compacted salt that takes on the look of vast honeycombs. It´s the largest saltlake in the world, and is amazing to think that a couple of meters beneath is just water! We took some very weird and wonderful photos because of the perspective created by it being so flat, vast and white. Watch out for photos on flickr - that´s our mission for tomorrow, honest!
We also stopped at a place called Cactus Island, literally right in the middle of these vast flats, where there are countless numbers of Cactus (funnily enough) and a walk to the top gave an amazing 360 degree panoramic view. It was incredible to see discreetly placed solar panels and a sattelite dish in the middle of this island 3,600 meters above sea level in the middle of absolutely nowhere.......WOW!
Our day included a tour of a salt processing plant, having crossed by the salt mining area, where we saw children filling and sealing 500gm bags of refined salt using a naked flame..... a very challenging and difficult process to witness, but Bolivia is most certainly way behind in terms of what we´re used to in the ¨developed¨world.
That night we reached the edge of the salt flats, and thus ended this leg of the adventure. However, given that we had a popped tyre and ran out of fuel on the salt flats it was amazing that we got there at all!! The drivers we had were fantastic and were top rate mechanics, constructing an emergency fuel tank inside the engine using a plastic 1 litre coke bottle and a piece of string. Marcello was our driver, and was totally blown away when we used an Ipod and Itrip to play the Beatles and other music through his radio....... he just couldn´t work out how we did it! Two worlds definitely collided that day.
We stayed at a really lovely hotel that night, run by a guy from the US who made the most incredible pizza - we had spicy llama flavour, which was actually really tasty. Next day we piled onto a local bus for what felt like a very long 6 hour journey from Uyuni to Potosi. It was a bone shaker ride all the way, and the loo stop was a very interesting experience involving a couple of bushes and not a lot else. Locals are very happy just to squat by the side of the road in full view, but we westerners couldn´t quite bring ourselves to ¨go native¨.
Potosi used to be a very rich city due to silver mining but now all the reserves have been bled away leaving only tin, making it a very poor and depressed area. We could have gone on a mine tour but all decided to boycott it because of unsafe practices and appauling worker conditions.
We´re now in Sucre, a lovely white city where we´ll stay for a couple of days, get washing done, see the sights etc.... more to come hopefully before wemove on to La Paz on Wednesday night.
Well, if you´re still awake at least you´re now up to date. That´s all for today, but hopefully more to follow tomorrow.
Bye for now. Love from Penny & Linda :-)
We managed to get onto the Observatory tour at La Serena, on a very cold, crisp night where the stars were out in full force and with great visibility (apart from some light pollution from a nearby town, which was a bit surprising). Our guide got us to look through a telescope several times at different parts of the milky way, open and closed clusters (groups of millions of stars that look like nothing much to the naked eye), we also saw Jupiter through a more powerful telescope, and were able to see some of the lines across it and also 4 of its many moons, which was pretty impressive. We then had a powerpoint presentation, which put all of it into perspective in terms of galaxies, the vastness of space, Milky Ways, Mars Bars...... Snickers..... Seriously though, it was a very informative evening and we´re glad we finally got to go on a tour.
The next day was spent trying to find more warm clothes (woolly tights etc, yum yum) for our trip into Bolivia which we were assured was going to be incredibly cold........ and they weren´t wrong!!Read on for more details....
So, after LS we had our lovely 17 hour overnight bus journey to San Pedro de Atacamba, right on the Chile/Bolivia border. SP was a little ¨Indian¨ town and was much more what we were expecting from a S Am town. The main street was just a dirt road, and very sleepy. However, having said that some of us got together and hired mountain bikes and sandboarding equipment to go off into the sanddunes to play! This was incredibly good fun and we even managed to get down the dunes upright (eventually!). One of the local dogs ran with us the entire 6km cycle ride, stayed with us whilst we played on the dunes, then ran back with us all the way to town. He wasn´t much of a tour guide though as we all got lost on the way there and ended up with an extra 30 min off-road cycle in the midday sun. Madness, but fantastic fun. We were both sad not to go skiing this year, so sandboarding has made up for it a bit - it´s a hard life, eh!?
Later that day we hiked up a major sand dune to watch the sunset over the mountains, then all ran down the other side as darkness fell. Considering we´d reached at least 2,500 meters staying at San Pedro, this was all probably a bit daft for our first day at major altitude, but it was then or never.
From SP the fun really began. We all piled into a mini bus which took us to the Chilean border, but then bizzarly we then travelled another hour and a half up hill in the mini bus before we got to the Bolivian border. It was one of those classical moments when we were in the middle of nowhere, no mans land, and on the radio came James Blunt´s song.....¨gotta ask yourself the question, where are you now¨!! How apt.
The Border post was a ramshackle hut, unlike anything any of us had ever seen. Nobody checked any bags, we could have taken rocket launchers through and they´d never have known!! Anyway, it was there that we said goodbye to the mini bus (and civilisation) and piled into our 4 wheel drive jeeps for the journeys ahead.
We continued to climb throughout that day, all keenly aware that the onslaught of some form of altitude sickness was sure to be lurking just around the corner. We saw several different lagoons: blanco (white), verde (green) and Colorado (red), as well as active volcanoes, weird landscapes, geysers and bubbling mud, and where we stopped for lunch there was a hot pool for us to dip our feet and legs in (and one brave/mad soul Rachel actually went for a swim!). Lunch was served at a mere 5,300 meters above sea level, and boy did we know it! Linda was incredibly headachy (and already suffering a bad head cold since Santiago) and Pen was sick and breathless, but she´ll delight you with more of the gory details in a separate entry (bet you can´t wait!!).
Anyway, we eventually arrived, sick as dogs, at our 5 star hotel for the night. There were 2 communal non-flushing toilets, no running water, no heating and the generator was turned off at 9pm prompt.... the joys of the altoplano.....well, it literally was in the middle of nowhere!
Most of us were still feeling the effects the next morning as we set off on the next leg of our trek. It had snowed quite a lot overnight, so was incredibly cold and required all our layers, including woolly tights!!). However, as the morning progressed it then got really hot and sunny - you can never second guess the weather, it´s so extreme and changeable. We saw lots of weird rockforms this day, and a vast amount of pink flamingoes, llamas, vercunas and donkeys. We also suffered incredibly bumpy roads, except they´re not really roads at all, just tracks made by the jeeps going both ways over the planes. Our drivers know the planes like the backs of their hands, which is just as well coz there are no road signs.....well, no roads actually!
That night we stayed at a much better hostel at the beginning of the salt flats. We all enjoyed our dinner thanks to feeling much better, but it was still 9pm lights off as the generator went to bed.
We were all looking forward to the next day (Saturday) when we were going to travel over the salt flats. The day lived up to its expectation, as we travelled for mile upon mile of compacted salt that takes on the look of vast honeycombs. It´s the largest saltlake in the world, and is amazing to think that a couple of meters beneath is just water! We took some very weird and wonderful photos because of the perspective created by it being so flat, vast and white. Watch out for photos on flickr - that´s our mission for tomorrow, honest!
We also stopped at a place called Cactus Island, literally right in the middle of these vast flats, where there are countless numbers of Cactus (funnily enough) and a walk to the top gave an amazing 360 degree panoramic view. It was incredible to see discreetly placed solar panels and a sattelite dish in the middle of this island 3,600 meters above sea level in the middle of absolutely nowhere.......WOW!
Our day included a tour of a salt processing plant, having crossed by the salt mining area, where we saw children filling and sealing 500gm bags of refined salt using a naked flame..... a very challenging and difficult process to witness, but Bolivia is most certainly way behind in terms of what we´re used to in the ¨developed¨world.
That night we reached the edge of the salt flats, and thus ended this leg of the adventure. However, given that we had a popped tyre and ran out of fuel on the salt flats it was amazing that we got there at all!! The drivers we had were fantastic and were top rate mechanics, constructing an emergency fuel tank inside the engine using a plastic 1 litre coke bottle and a piece of string. Marcello was our driver, and was totally blown away when we used an Ipod and Itrip to play the Beatles and other music through his radio....... he just couldn´t work out how we did it! Two worlds definitely collided that day.
We stayed at a really lovely hotel that night, run by a guy from the US who made the most incredible pizza - we had spicy llama flavour, which was actually really tasty. Next day we piled onto a local bus for what felt like a very long 6 hour journey from Uyuni to Potosi. It was a bone shaker ride all the way, and the loo stop was a very interesting experience involving a couple of bushes and not a lot else. Locals are very happy just to squat by the side of the road in full view, but we westerners couldn´t quite bring ourselves to ¨go native¨.
Potosi used to be a very rich city due to silver mining but now all the reserves have been bled away leaving only tin, making it a very poor and depressed area. We could have gone on a mine tour but all decided to boycott it because of unsafe practices and appauling worker conditions.
We´re now in Sucre, a lovely white city where we´ll stay for a couple of days, get washing done, see the sights etc.... more to come hopefully before wemove on to La Paz on Wednesday night.
Well, if you´re still awake at least you´re now up to date. That´s all for today, but hopefully more to follow tomorrow.
Bye for now. Love from Penny & Linda :-)
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Hi all,
just a quick one to say that we´re now in La Serena, having set off from Santiago on our Kumuka tour. It´s a bit warmer here but only slightly, and we´re hoping to go to the Observatory tonight, which is meant to be one of the best places in the world to view the stars. Will let you know what it´s like.
We´re not sure what internet access we´ll have over the next 2 weeks and are aware that we haven´t put ay photos on for a while, so will try to do this in the next 24 hours before we leave civilisation. Watch this space............
We had 3 Spanish lessons and so can now speak a tiny bit, but at least we´re trying. Our new phrasebook has already helped out too - especially when we both went to get our hair cut and nobody spoke any English......that was fun!! My blue rinse perm looks lovely and Penny´s mohican is growing on her.
Well, that´s all for now - hasta luego, or as Penny recently said to a street seller.....¨Hasta la vista¨
Chao
just a quick one to say that we´re now in La Serena, having set off from Santiago on our Kumuka tour. It´s a bit warmer here but only slightly, and we´re hoping to go to the Observatory tonight, which is meant to be one of the best places in the world to view the stars. Will let you know what it´s like.
We´re not sure what internet access we´ll have over the next 2 weeks and are aware that we haven´t put ay photos on for a while, so will try to do this in the next 24 hours before we leave civilisation. Watch this space............
We had 3 Spanish lessons and so can now speak a tiny bit, but at least we´re trying. Our new phrasebook has already helped out too - especially when we both went to get our hair cut and nobody spoke any English......that was fun!! My blue rinse perm looks lovely and Penny´s mohican is growing on her.
Well, that´s all for now - hasta luego, or as Penny recently said to a street seller.....¨Hasta la vista¨
Chao
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Hi there Amigos
We are still in Santiago and enjoying staying at Happy House. It is a bit like being at home, with a comfy sitting room and free cups of tea, lovely!! However because it is in a listed buiolding it does not have double glazing, so the street noise is bad and sleep is depleated.
The last couple of days in Easter Island were fun. We seemed to spend alot of time just catching up, but did manage to go to the museum and also to an Umu (I think thats how it is spelt?). It was a traditional polynesian meal which is cooked in the ground will very hot rocks and banana leaves. It was very tasty and consisited of lots of meat and sweet potatoes . After the meal there was a traditional Poynesian/Rapa Nui dance. This consisted of lots of Haka's, guys wearing not alot and lots of singing. It was great fun and we laughed alot!! Watch out for the photos.
Our flight from Easter Island was great because we were upgraded. How good was that? The flight was over booked and when two people turned up to sit in our seats we were asked to move. But were amazed and very pleased to be taken into business class and not chucked off the plane!! It was lovely and the flight was taken up with eating lots of yummy food, playing with the seat that reclined into a bed and watching films. Shame it was only a 5 hour flight, time just flew by!!
We have been in Santiago for 3 days now, it is quite cold and very smoggy. Neither of our mobile phones have a signal here so can't send or receive texts but will endeavour to check email regularly and keep you posted. We have free internet here, so it is much easier to keep in touch.
Thats all for now,
Adios, Linda & Penny
We are still in Santiago and enjoying staying at Happy House. It is a bit like being at home, with a comfy sitting room and free cups of tea, lovely!! However because it is in a listed buiolding it does not have double glazing, so the street noise is bad and sleep is depleated.
The last couple of days in Easter Island were fun. We seemed to spend alot of time just catching up, but did manage to go to the museum and also to an Umu (I think thats how it is spelt?). It was a traditional polynesian meal which is cooked in the ground will very hot rocks and banana leaves. It was very tasty and consisited of lots of meat and sweet potatoes . After the meal there was a traditional Poynesian/Rapa Nui dance. This consisted of lots of Haka's, guys wearing not alot and lots of singing. It was great fun and we laughed alot!! Watch out for the photos.
Our flight from Easter Island was great because we were upgraded. How good was that? The flight was over booked and when two people turned up to sit in our seats we were asked to move. But were amazed and very pleased to be taken into business class and not chucked off the plane!! It was lovely and the flight was taken up with eating lots of yummy food, playing with the seat that reclined into a bed and watching films. Shame it was only a 5 hour flight, time just flew by!!
We have been in Santiago for 3 days now, it is quite cold and very smoggy. Neither of our mobile phones have a signal here so can't send or receive texts but will endeavour to check email regularly and keep you posted. We have free internet here, so it is much easier to keep in touch.
Thats all for now,
Adios, Linda & Penny
Hi folks,
just a quick one to say that we're now safely arrived at Santiago, Chile and staying at an absolutely GORGEOUS hostel called "Happy House". It's newly rennovated and the most comfortable hostel ever - thanks Kitty for the recommendation! We've met some lovely people here but sadly they all moved on today - but it's a great place to meet and chat to people from all over the place - let's see who arrives over the next three days......
We've seen only a little bit of Santiago and are hoping to take some spanish classes over the next few days, but we'll just take one day at a time. On Saturday we begin our 15 day overland trek with a company called Kumuka, using local transport and with a group we travel up through Chile and into Bolivia, ending at La Paz. Should be good - will keep you posted.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Til next we blog,
Hasta lluego (see you later, but probably the wrong spelling!!)
love from Linda and Pen xx
just a quick one to say that we're now safely arrived at Santiago, Chile and staying at an absolutely GORGEOUS hostel called "Happy House". It's newly rennovated and the most comfortable hostel ever - thanks Kitty for the recommendation! We've met some lovely people here but sadly they all moved on today - but it's a great place to meet and chat to people from all over the place - let's see who arrives over the next three days......
We've seen only a little bit of Santiago and are hoping to take some spanish classes over the next few days, but we'll just take one day at a time. On Saturday we begin our 15 day overland trek with a company called Kumuka, using local transport and with a group we travel up through Chile and into Bolivia, ending at La Paz. Should be good - will keep you posted.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Til next we blog,
Hasta lluego (see you later, but probably the wrong spelling!!)
love from Linda and Pen xx
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Hola, buenos dias.......
Here we are in Easter Island, and I (Linda) am trying to remember the few words I learned 20 years ago in Madrid - needless to say there´s not much Spanish going on!
We arrived here around 10am after a night flight, hence hardly any sleep! But..... what a difference! There was an info desk, and several people from different hotels/hostels etc all waiting to help us out, including a lovely guy from the hostel that we´d already hoped we could stay in. We were whisked away immediately in a taxi and arrived only a couple of minutes later at our new home. It´s a Youth Hostelling Interntional place, and is really clean, comfortable and homely (yes, we have a loo seat and even hot water twice a day!). The resident puppy (Titano) is really cute and there is a real extended family feel (and lots of extended family that live around the premises).
It took us a while to catch up on sleep, and then we explored the town. It´s only really one main street but is so laid back and relaxed that time just seems to disappear by itself. We went on a guided tour yesterday around the island to see the Moais (the stone statues that make Easter Island famous) and heard about their history, clan interaction and warfare, the arrival of missionaries etc. We took soooo many photos, but then how often do people get to come to Easter Island, assuming they even know where it is!?
Our hosts were having a big BBQ for their family and some friends last night and asked us if we´d like to join them. For 5 quid we got to scoff as much meat, salad and wine as we could manage - it was lovely. Although we had limited conversations due to language barriers we still managed to laugh and smile a lot - the people here are really lovely and welcoming. We were even treated to an impromptu local dance which was very special.
We´ve also had some great chats with fellow travellers - including a couple with 2 yound kids who gave up the rat race of London 4 years ago and have been sailing around the world ever since (they didn´t even know how to sail a year and a half before they left!!). They´re curently about half way around the world and have no immediate plans to go home..... it´s the floating "Good Life" as they have to bottle all their own food, wash their clothes by hand (using sea water) and have to take 3 hour shifts during the night at the helm, as well as home schooling, doing repairs etc etc. Because Easter Island is so small and the pace is so slow it really does lend itself to long chats, comparing notes and swapping stories....fantastic.
Today we had a much needed lie in, caught up on e.mail stuff and as you can see have now spent hours updating blogger and flickr. We hope you appreciate it! Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming....it´s lovely to hear news from home and to know that you´re following our travels (even when we seem to drop off the planet for a while!).
We´re off to a special local meal and show tomorrow evening which should be good. We then leave on Saturday for Santiago. Apparently it´s much warmer here (and here we are in fleeces and jeans compared to Tahiti) so it´s going to be a real shock in Chile. However, we´re told it´s also about 3 times more expensive here than it is on the mainland, and given that Easter Island is a third of the price of Tahiti we´re looking forward to spending a lot less money for the rest of our time travelling :-)
Well, hopefully that´s brought things up to speed, and given you a flavour of life over the last couple of weeks. We should be able to update things much more regularly over our remaining weeks, but only time will tell.
Our love as always, from across the miles,
Penny & Linda xxx
Here we are in Easter Island, and I (Linda) am trying to remember the few words I learned 20 years ago in Madrid - needless to say there´s not much Spanish going on!
We arrived here around 10am after a night flight, hence hardly any sleep! But..... what a difference! There was an info desk, and several people from different hotels/hostels etc all waiting to help us out, including a lovely guy from the hostel that we´d already hoped we could stay in. We were whisked away immediately in a taxi and arrived only a couple of minutes later at our new home. It´s a Youth Hostelling Interntional place, and is really clean, comfortable and homely (yes, we have a loo seat and even hot water twice a day!). The resident puppy (Titano) is really cute and there is a real extended family feel (and lots of extended family that live around the premises).
It took us a while to catch up on sleep, and then we explored the town. It´s only really one main street but is so laid back and relaxed that time just seems to disappear by itself. We went on a guided tour yesterday around the island to see the Moais (the stone statues that make Easter Island famous) and heard about their history, clan interaction and warfare, the arrival of missionaries etc. We took soooo many photos, but then how often do people get to come to Easter Island, assuming they even know where it is!?
Our hosts were having a big BBQ for their family and some friends last night and asked us if we´d like to join them. For 5 quid we got to scoff as much meat, salad and wine as we could manage - it was lovely. Although we had limited conversations due to language barriers we still managed to laugh and smile a lot - the people here are really lovely and welcoming. We were even treated to an impromptu local dance which was very special.
We´ve also had some great chats with fellow travellers - including a couple with 2 yound kids who gave up the rat race of London 4 years ago and have been sailing around the world ever since (they didn´t even know how to sail a year and a half before they left!!). They´re curently about half way around the world and have no immediate plans to go home..... it´s the floating "Good Life" as they have to bottle all their own food, wash their clothes by hand (using sea water) and have to take 3 hour shifts during the night at the helm, as well as home schooling, doing repairs etc etc. Because Easter Island is so small and the pace is so slow it really does lend itself to long chats, comparing notes and swapping stories....fantastic.
Today we had a much needed lie in, caught up on e.mail stuff and as you can see have now spent hours updating blogger and flickr. We hope you appreciate it! Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming....it´s lovely to hear news from home and to know that you´re following our travels (even when we seem to drop off the planet for a while!).
We´re off to a special local meal and show tomorrow evening which should be good. We then leave on Saturday for Santiago. Apparently it´s much warmer here (and here we are in fleeces and jeans compared to Tahiti) so it´s going to be a real shock in Chile. However, we´re told it´s also about 3 times more expensive here than it is on the mainland, and given that Easter Island is a third of the price of Tahiti we´re looking forward to spending a lot less money for the rest of our time travelling :-)
Well, hopefully that´s brought things up to speed, and given you a flavour of life over the last couple of weeks. We should be able to update things much more regularly over our remaining weeks, but only time will tell.
Our love as always, from across the miles,
Penny & Linda xxx
Hi everyone,
yes, we are still alive, well, and generally happy!
Sorry it´s been so long since our last entry, but life has been a lot more remote (and at times very expensive) since we left New Zealand. Our last few days there were fine, a little bit more time at Christchurch, giving Maisy our motor home back :-( and then flying up to Auckland overnight. We flew out early on the Saturday morning to Tahiti, and then the "fun" began!
On our flight there was a large contingent who were Tahiti´s women´s handball team - we´d never heard of handball, but as I was sitting next to the team´s interpreter I got to understand a bit about it!. We arrived in the afternoon and were welcomed at the airport Tahitian style with guitars, singing and flowers....... but sadly that´s where the welcome ended! After a very long wait in diosorderly queues to get through passport control we discovered that our usual "ritual" wasn´t going to work. First stop is always the ATM for local currency, but neither ATMs would work, which meant that we had no money, and therefore were unable to make any phone calls. The bank couldn´t help us, the airport is tiny and things only open when flights first arrive (including the info desk) and basically we had absolutely no way of sorting anything out (we didn´t even have the money for a trolley).
To cut a long story short we eventually managed to get things sorted (thanks to some emergency dollars) but it was a real test of our patience and imagination that day. The next day, the ATMs decided to work (phew) so we got lots of money out just in case it was our only chance! We then flew off to Moorea, which is only a 7 min flight, so it´s a bit like getting the local bus and they go every half hour! Unfortunately, our frustration only increased at the other end, because there were no buses running and again nobody would help us - they seem very very reluctant to pick up a phone unless they absolutely have to! Cutting another long & frustrating story short, we eventually had to get a very very expensive taxi and stay in a place owned by the taxi service.
It was a really lovely view of Cook´s Bay, and we had a really nice room given that it was a budget place, but again we weren´t really made to feel welcome - more an inconvenience. As time went on we realised that Tahiti, Moorea etc are just not set up for independent travellers. All will be lovely and great if you are part of a package tour, with transfers, gorgeous hotels etc (at hugely expensive prices) but the infrastructure and info just isn´t there for budget backpackers. After a couple of nights in Cook´s Bay we decided to move further around the island where there were more options for supermarket & places to eat - Hauru, or "Le Petit Village". Having booked by phone, we were told to catch the 8am bus "Le Truck" from outside where we´d been staying. By 10.30am we were still waiting, and all the buses that went past just waved to us every time we tried to flag them down. We didn´t know what the bus looked like, just that it was a bus!
We were sitting outside the posh hotel opposite our "pension" and it all wore a bit thin when all these "helpful" American and Moorean people kept walking past and remarking "oh, you´re still here"! What a shame, and then got into their nice hire cars or trucks and drove away...
Eventually, frustration gave way to hiring yet another very expensive taxi, only to later learn that our new host, Billy, had discovered that there were no buses running that day (due to insufficient numbers travelling over by ferry!) and had set out to come and collect us. Unfortunately, we´d already left by taxi (which apparently he later reaslied he´s passed, with us in it) and then whilst he was en route managed to get his truck stuck in a ditch!
Anyway, when we arrives at Chez Billy, we at long last felt welcomed. Through some very "Franglaise" chat and lots of sign language we got settled in to our beachside bungalow. Once Billy had got out of the ditch and returned home, he brought us coconuts as a welcome. I´ve always wanted to eat coconut straight after it´s dropped from the palm tree, so my dream came true....it was delicious.
Because French Polynesia is sooo expensive we had to pay about 20 quid each a night (but had an amazing view) for an incredibly basic dwelling. We had no toilet seat, no hot water, and had to share with several noisy geckos and an army of ants (that got into EVERYTHING) but we always felt welcomed and at home. They even reduced the price once they knew we were staying longer, and did some washing for us free of charge, gave us bananas and more coconuts and were generally really lovely. It again goes back to welcome and hospitality making or breaking an experience, and Billy & Ugene and their staff were a real saving grace in what otherwise was turning out to be a less than idylic setting.
The views and sunsets from our bungalow were breathtaking, and we also hired a car for 2 days and got to see all of the island, sat on the best beach, snorkelled in a very large warm bath of an ocean (or fish tank!) with the most incredible visibility. The biggest highlight had to be our 2 hour trip onto the crystal clear blue lagoons to swim with stingrays and black tipped reef sharks!! The stingrays were the most gentle creatures ever, and would often clamour up to give our guide, Serge, kisses (as much as a stingray can kiss!). It was absolute paradise, and something that we´ll never ever forget, just breathtaking. However, because of the expense, we decided to reduce our trip by about 5 days, but were still there for over a week in total.
So, although our time in French Polynesia started out as a bit of a nightmare, by the end it had been totally redeemed by the amazing beauty of Moorea and, most importantly, the hospitality we received at Chez Billy. Our return trip to Tahiti was smooth and orderly, because Billy had helped us and we knew what we were doing by then, such a different experience to our arrival.
We then had a 10 hour wait at Tahiti airport for our onward flight, but because we were so relaxed by that point the hours went by and midnight came quite quickly for our departure. Moorea was amazing, but if either of us ever went back it would probably only be if we had lots of money, a package deal and a hunky man in tow....... so we won´t be holding our breaths for a return visit just yet then, on many counts!
So, from very rusty and peice meal French to virtually non existent Spanish..............
yes, we are still alive, well, and generally happy!
Sorry it´s been so long since our last entry, but life has been a lot more remote (and at times very expensive) since we left New Zealand. Our last few days there were fine, a little bit more time at Christchurch, giving Maisy our motor home back :-( and then flying up to Auckland overnight. We flew out early on the Saturday morning to Tahiti, and then the "fun" began!
On our flight there was a large contingent who were Tahiti´s women´s handball team - we´d never heard of handball, but as I was sitting next to the team´s interpreter I got to understand a bit about it!. We arrived in the afternoon and were welcomed at the airport Tahitian style with guitars, singing and flowers....... but sadly that´s where the welcome ended! After a very long wait in diosorderly queues to get through passport control we discovered that our usual "ritual" wasn´t going to work. First stop is always the ATM for local currency, but neither ATMs would work, which meant that we had no money, and therefore were unable to make any phone calls. The bank couldn´t help us, the airport is tiny and things only open when flights first arrive (including the info desk) and basically we had absolutely no way of sorting anything out (we didn´t even have the money for a trolley).
To cut a long story short we eventually managed to get things sorted (thanks to some emergency dollars) but it was a real test of our patience and imagination that day. The next day, the ATMs decided to work (phew) so we got lots of money out just in case it was our only chance! We then flew off to Moorea, which is only a 7 min flight, so it´s a bit like getting the local bus and they go every half hour! Unfortunately, our frustration only increased at the other end, because there were no buses running and again nobody would help us - they seem very very reluctant to pick up a phone unless they absolutely have to! Cutting another long & frustrating story short, we eventually had to get a very very expensive taxi and stay in a place owned by the taxi service.
It was a really lovely view of Cook´s Bay, and we had a really nice room given that it was a budget place, but again we weren´t really made to feel welcome - more an inconvenience. As time went on we realised that Tahiti, Moorea etc are just not set up for independent travellers. All will be lovely and great if you are part of a package tour, with transfers, gorgeous hotels etc (at hugely expensive prices) but the infrastructure and info just isn´t there for budget backpackers. After a couple of nights in Cook´s Bay we decided to move further around the island where there were more options for supermarket & places to eat - Hauru, or "Le Petit Village". Having booked by phone, we were told to catch the 8am bus "Le Truck" from outside where we´d been staying. By 10.30am we were still waiting, and all the buses that went past just waved to us every time we tried to flag them down. We didn´t know what the bus looked like, just that it was a bus!
We were sitting outside the posh hotel opposite our "pension" and it all wore a bit thin when all these "helpful" American and Moorean people kept walking past and remarking "oh, you´re still here"! What a shame, and then got into their nice hire cars or trucks and drove away...
Eventually, frustration gave way to hiring yet another very expensive taxi, only to later learn that our new host, Billy, had discovered that there were no buses running that day (due to insufficient numbers travelling over by ferry!) and had set out to come and collect us. Unfortunately, we´d already left by taxi (which apparently he later reaslied he´s passed, with us in it) and then whilst he was en route managed to get his truck stuck in a ditch!
Anyway, when we arrives at Chez Billy, we at long last felt welcomed. Through some very "Franglaise" chat and lots of sign language we got settled in to our beachside bungalow. Once Billy had got out of the ditch and returned home, he brought us coconuts as a welcome. I´ve always wanted to eat coconut straight after it´s dropped from the palm tree, so my dream came true....it was delicious.
Because French Polynesia is sooo expensive we had to pay about 20 quid each a night (but had an amazing view) for an incredibly basic dwelling. We had no toilet seat, no hot water, and had to share with several noisy geckos and an army of ants (that got into EVERYTHING) but we always felt welcomed and at home. They even reduced the price once they knew we were staying longer, and did some washing for us free of charge, gave us bananas and more coconuts and were generally really lovely. It again goes back to welcome and hospitality making or breaking an experience, and Billy & Ugene and their staff were a real saving grace in what otherwise was turning out to be a less than idylic setting.
The views and sunsets from our bungalow were breathtaking, and we also hired a car for 2 days and got to see all of the island, sat on the best beach, snorkelled in a very large warm bath of an ocean (or fish tank!) with the most incredible visibility. The biggest highlight had to be our 2 hour trip onto the crystal clear blue lagoons to swim with stingrays and black tipped reef sharks!! The stingrays were the most gentle creatures ever, and would often clamour up to give our guide, Serge, kisses (as much as a stingray can kiss!). It was absolute paradise, and something that we´ll never ever forget, just breathtaking. However, because of the expense, we decided to reduce our trip by about 5 days, but were still there for over a week in total.
So, although our time in French Polynesia started out as a bit of a nightmare, by the end it had been totally redeemed by the amazing beauty of Moorea and, most importantly, the hospitality we received at Chez Billy. Our return trip to Tahiti was smooth and orderly, because Billy had helped us and we knew what we were doing by then, such a different experience to our arrival.
We then had a 10 hour wait at Tahiti airport for our onward flight, but because we were so relaxed by that point the hours went by and midnight came quite quickly for our departure. Moorea was amazing, but if either of us ever went back it would probably only be if we had lots of money, a package deal and a hunky man in tow....... so we won´t be holding our breaths for a return visit just yet then, on many counts!
So, from very rusty and peice meal French to virtually non existent Spanish..............
Monday, May 21, 2007
A name for our van
We have had quite a few entries into 'name the van competition' After great deliberation and discussions we have decided that the name will be..........(drum roll please).........Maisy. So Becky Marshall is our winner and gets the auspicious prize of....... a mention on our blog (wow that's a prize worth winning!!!).
Thanks for everyone who put on a comment. At least our van will have a name for the last few days of our rental!!
Bye for now, Linda & Penny
We have had quite a few entries into 'name the van competition' After great deliberation and discussions we have decided that the name will be..........(drum roll please).........Maisy. So Becky Marshall is our winner and gets the auspicious prize of....... a mention on our blog (wow that's a prize worth winning!!!).
Thanks for everyone who put on a comment. At least our van will have a name for the last few days of our rental!!
Bye for now, Linda & Penny
Church and Travel
It's been really interesting and also challenging re: travelling and trying to get to church. Sometimes we've just not been anywhere near one on a Sunday, or have booked onto a trip because that was the time and date it was available. Sometimes we tried to get to an evening service having arrived somewhere new, only to find that there was no evening service going on anywhere in the town.
On average, we've managed to get to church about once every two weeks, mainly in the morning, which isn't bad going given all the challenges to getting there! It been a real mixed bag. A couple of times we've felt very welcomed and have been able to worship God, but some of the time it's been a bit more difficult. One time I had to sit on my hands and zip my mouth up, because I was so riled by what the preacher was saying (he was very "health wealth & prosperity" meaning that he was promoting a Christianity whereby if only you were a good enough Christian then everything in life will go well, and if things are wrong then it's your fault...grrrrrr!!!). Another place we were excited to find that the 20s-30s group was leading the service, but it was sadly very stayed, conservative and reserved in every way, and nobody said hello or even tried to make conversation, before or after the service which was held in a small room where there was no excuse for not noticing visitors!
I was really moved when attending a lunchtime Taize style communion service in Christchurch Cathedral. It was simple, moving, we were all welcomed and it really was a special time of worshipping God and being held in the "communion" of sharing with others. Certainly, welcome (or lack of) really sets the tone for visitors, something I'm quite passionate about and this has definitely been highlighted by travelling.
I know that there are many factors concerning what contributes to a service, and that a lot of it is subjective and a matter of taste, but there have certainly been very differing degrees of experience, largely not helpful (sad to say) but thankfully also some opportunities to really draw close to God and his people.
As we've travelled, there have been some incredibly spiritual moments seeing God at work in His world, through creation in its many forms. A small part of my MA dissertation considered some aspects of those who find God in creation and the outdoors more than in churches, and gain spiritual energy and growth through those means rather than through collective worship. Therefore, it has been, and continues to be, interesting to find myself in a similar situation for a relatively long period of time, and noting the ways that I too continue to draw spiritual nurture from "the elements" and creation (as well as daily Bible study, personal prayer, and praying each week with Pen).
Anyway, this is now in danger of turning into some sort of thesis, but for those of you who know me well, you know that I have many questions about church services, accessibility to visitors, being relevant in the world and open to change/challenge etc so these travels have added food for though! Maybe I'm missing preparing sermons, so you lucky blogetts get my thoughts instead!?
By the way, it's been really interesting as we've travelled when we get to the inevitable "so what do you do " questions with people we meet. I've had a range of responses, all of them positive, some quite disbelieving, a few expletives, lots of apologies for swear words and blasphemies. Bar none, this has led onto some really interesting chats about spirituality, the role of a priest, being at the younger end of the scale, not "looking like one" etc etc. It's a real privilege after such encounters (sadly not normally whilst still with them) to be able to pray for these new friends, asking God to bless them and be at work in their lives. We can sow seeds, it's the Lord and his spirit at work that does the rest. Every time I have the "job" conversation I still expect someone somewhere to be really negative or suddenly stop talking to me, but there's definitely an interest and a hunger out there amongst many people who have no formal or regular links with church in any way. There are a lot of bridges to be built, one plank at a time!
Anyway, now signing off, and wondering what the next few weeks will bring.......exciting times ahead, as always. Apologies for those of you who're now asleep after my little sermonette!
Love n prayers, Linda xx
It's been really interesting and also challenging re: travelling and trying to get to church. Sometimes we've just not been anywhere near one on a Sunday, or have booked onto a trip because that was the time and date it was available. Sometimes we tried to get to an evening service having arrived somewhere new, only to find that there was no evening service going on anywhere in the town.
On average, we've managed to get to church about once every two weeks, mainly in the morning, which isn't bad going given all the challenges to getting there! It been a real mixed bag. A couple of times we've felt very welcomed and have been able to worship God, but some of the time it's been a bit more difficult. One time I had to sit on my hands and zip my mouth up, because I was so riled by what the preacher was saying (he was very "health wealth & prosperity" meaning that he was promoting a Christianity whereby if only you were a good enough Christian then everything in life will go well, and if things are wrong then it's your fault...grrrrrr!!!). Another place we were excited to find that the 20s-30s group was leading the service, but it was sadly very stayed, conservative and reserved in every way, and nobody said hello or even tried to make conversation, before or after the service which was held in a small room where there was no excuse for not noticing visitors!
I was really moved when attending a lunchtime Taize style communion service in Christchurch Cathedral. It was simple, moving, we were all welcomed and it really was a special time of worshipping God and being held in the "communion" of sharing with others. Certainly, welcome (or lack of) really sets the tone for visitors, something I'm quite passionate about and this has definitely been highlighted by travelling.
I know that there are many factors concerning what contributes to a service, and that a lot of it is subjective and a matter of taste, but there have certainly been very differing degrees of experience, largely not helpful (sad to say) but thankfully also some opportunities to really draw close to God and his people.
As we've travelled, there have been some incredibly spiritual moments seeing God at work in His world, through creation in its many forms. A small part of my MA dissertation considered some aspects of those who find God in creation and the outdoors more than in churches, and gain spiritual energy and growth through those means rather than through collective worship. Therefore, it has been, and continues to be, interesting to find myself in a similar situation for a relatively long period of time, and noting the ways that I too continue to draw spiritual nurture from "the elements" and creation (as well as daily Bible study, personal prayer, and praying each week with Pen).
Anyway, this is now in danger of turning into some sort of thesis, but for those of you who know me well, you know that I have many questions about church services, accessibility to visitors, being relevant in the world and open to change/challenge etc so these travels have added food for though! Maybe I'm missing preparing sermons, so you lucky blogetts get my thoughts instead!?
By the way, it's been really interesting as we've travelled when we get to the inevitable "so what do you do " questions with people we meet. I've had a range of responses, all of them positive, some quite disbelieving, a few expletives, lots of apologies for swear words and blasphemies. Bar none, this has led onto some really interesting chats about spirituality, the role of a priest, being at the younger end of the scale, not "looking like one" etc etc. It's a real privilege after such encounters (sadly not normally whilst still with them) to be able to pray for these new friends, asking God to bless them and be at work in their lives. We can sow seeds, it's the Lord and his spirit at work that does the rest. Every time I have the "job" conversation I still expect someone somewhere to be really negative or suddenly stop talking to me, but there's definitely an interest and a hunger out there amongst many people who have no formal or regular links with church in any way. There are a lot of bridges to be built, one plank at a time!
Anyway, now signing off, and wondering what the next few weeks will bring.......exciting times ahead, as always. Apologies for those of you who're now asleep after my little sermonette!
Love n prayers, Linda xx
Hello from sunny Dunedin!
Here we are again in a place where internet doesn't cost an arm and a leg for 10 minutes - back in "civilisation". Been having a wonderful time on the rest of the west coast then down through the south coast and now heading back up the east coast.
Our travels continue to be breathtaking, it's just incredible to see the diversity of this island and the changes that take place very quickly as we travel. Where have we been since Queenstown..... let me see if I can remember! Well, before we left Q'town we went on a trip called "Shotover Jet" which was basically hurtling through canyons and gorges on the Shotover River at great speed in a jet boat. There were about 12 of us given protective macs (one size fits none!) and a life jacket, then we all got into this very fast, very innovative jet boat that only requires 4 inches of water to operate, and then we zoomed up and down the river. At different times, the "driver" did a 360 degree hand signal and spun us around a high speed, getting us very wet and very exhilarated! They had great attention to detail, as the bars that we held on to were heated. Just as well coz it was freezing when we got sprayed with icy gorge water and were travellign at such high speeds!! It was a fantastic trip and certainly got the adrenaline pumping - lots of squeals and shrieks and laughs.
From Q'town we travelled down to Manapouri and Te Anau, waiting for reasonable weather to travel out to Doubtful Sound. The first day we were booked onto the trip was the first day of the year that it had to be cancelled due to really strong winds! We waited til the next day and were able to go, but the conditions were rather overcast. We were taken over Lake Manapouri in a small boat, then visited a hydro-electrc power station which is situated a long way underground, with a fascinating history to its construction, ecological issues surrounding it etc etc. From there we were driven by small coach over to another boat and then began our journey around Doubtful Sound fiordlands and its various "arms". It was named Doubtful by Captain Cook as he was unsure he'd be able to navigate back out of it! Australia & New Zealand are steeped in Cook and everything to do with him - he's such an important part of their heritage. It's interesting coming from the other end of his journeys and then seeing so many places that he named (many of them with very morose names, like Mosquito Bay, Cape Tribulation, Doubtful Sound etc etc).
Anyway, despite the lack of visibility, the sounds were amazing, very dramatic and pretty. There were many lovely waterfalls and it was a very special place to be. We met some lovely people too, and had a great day - somewhere we both really wanted to see.
We were also very thankful that a couple of people recommended going to a tiny cinema in Te Anau to watch a film of the fiordlands, taken by a local helicopter pilot with two cinematographers from the Lord of the Rings. The helicopter pilot had built the cinema specially to screen it and it's the only place in the world that it's shown publicly! The seats were like armchairs and the film was absolutely incredible, beyond words....so good that we both bought the DVD afterwards.
From there we journeyed down to Invercargill, and onto Bluff, to get the ferry over to Stewart Island for the day. Normally the ferry tends to make people heave at it's such a rough crossing, but we managed to pick the calmest day they'd had in a long long time - result! Stewart Island is very remote, but just to make things even more interesting we then got a water taxi over to Ulva Island, a nature reserve where we were treated to lovely beaches and forest, wildlife in its natural habitat, free from European imports such as rats, bunnies, international flora and fauna etc. It was lovely and peaceful and the birds were so entertaining with their different calls, some of whom were very inquisitive and cheeky!
We then drove on to Curio Bay, part of the Catlins area on the south coast. The drive there was stunning, as sunset approached we had amazing blue skies with pink fluffy clouds, and the air was so still the reflections of the hills was so clear over the beaches, rivers etc...beautiful! We spent a night in Porpoise Bay, where Hectors Dolphins, penguins and others live. The site was very vary basic but the view and location really made up for it. We had hoped to be able to get to church yesterday, but realised we were in the back of beyond so it wouldn't happen!
The next morning we went dolphin & penguin spotting -they must have gone out for the day as we didn't see any :-( actually, it was very windy and that had made them move away from their usual spot. Up the road was an amazing beach, full of fossilised trees from the Jurassic period - incredible to see. As we arrived there we saw a sign for a church service literally next door to the beach, but it was half an hour in by then, so we decided it was too late to go in :-(
Driving on from there, we were praying hard that we wouldn't run out of diesel before we reached the nearest petrol station (they're few and far between in the middle of nowhere!). Thankfully we got there in time (Praise God!) and were also treated to a walk on a beautiful beach in sunny blue conditions (except for the biting sand flies - the only blight on this otherwise perfect island!). We spent some time there, praying and praising God (our own little impromptu service) and then journeyed on.
Next stop was a lovely waterfall, where we bumped into one of the guys we'd met on the Doubtful Sound trip! After a coffee & chat with him it was onto Dunedin, where we stayed last night at a lovely site by the river, just a little out of the city centre.
We only have 5 nights left with our van (thanks for your suggestions for a name) and it's been great having the freedom of moving around so easily. We'll really miss having it, and it's going to be hard leaving New Zealand - there's so much to see and do and I'd love to come back here again soon.
Will try to get some more photos on Flickr soon - but as we've been in this internet cafe 2 hours already it's time to hit the road and get on to our next location....... "we're on the road again, Shrek & Donkey on another whirlwind adventure......"!
Til next time,
Linda (& Penny too) xx
Here we are again in a place where internet doesn't cost an arm and a leg for 10 minutes - back in "civilisation". Been having a wonderful time on the rest of the west coast then down through the south coast and now heading back up the east coast.
Our travels continue to be breathtaking, it's just incredible to see the diversity of this island and the changes that take place very quickly as we travel. Where have we been since Queenstown..... let me see if I can remember! Well, before we left Q'town we went on a trip called "Shotover Jet" which was basically hurtling through canyons and gorges on the Shotover River at great speed in a jet boat. There were about 12 of us given protective macs (one size fits none!) and a life jacket, then we all got into this very fast, very innovative jet boat that only requires 4 inches of water to operate, and then we zoomed up and down the river. At different times, the "driver" did a 360 degree hand signal and spun us around a high speed, getting us very wet and very exhilarated! They had great attention to detail, as the bars that we held on to were heated. Just as well coz it was freezing when we got sprayed with icy gorge water and were travellign at such high speeds!! It was a fantastic trip and certainly got the adrenaline pumping - lots of squeals and shrieks and laughs.
From Q'town we travelled down to Manapouri and Te Anau, waiting for reasonable weather to travel out to Doubtful Sound. The first day we were booked onto the trip was the first day of the year that it had to be cancelled due to really strong winds! We waited til the next day and were able to go, but the conditions were rather overcast. We were taken over Lake Manapouri in a small boat, then visited a hydro-electrc power station which is situated a long way underground, with a fascinating history to its construction, ecological issues surrounding it etc etc. From there we were driven by small coach over to another boat and then began our journey around Doubtful Sound fiordlands and its various "arms". It was named Doubtful by Captain Cook as he was unsure he'd be able to navigate back out of it! Australia & New Zealand are steeped in Cook and everything to do with him - he's such an important part of their heritage. It's interesting coming from the other end of his journeys and then seeing so many places that he named (many of them with very morose names, like Mosquito Bay, Cape Tribulation, Doubtful Sound etc etc).
Anyway, despite the lack of visibility, the sounds were amazing, very dramatic and pretty. There were many lovely waterfalls and it was a very special place to be. We met some lovely people too, and had a great day - somewhere we both really wanted to see.
We were also very thankful that a couple of people recommended going to a tiny cinema in Te Anau to watch a film of the fiordlands, taken by a local helicopter pilot with two cinematographers from the Lord of the Rings. The helicopter pilot had built the cinema specially to screen it and it's the only place in the world that it's shown publicly! The seats were like armchairs and the film was absolutely incredible, beyond words....so good that we both bought the DVD afterwards.
From there we journeyed down to Invercargill, and onto Bluff, to get the ferry over to Stewart Island for the day. Normally the ferry tends to make people heave at it's such a rough crossing, but we managed to pick the calmest day they'd had in a long long time - result! Stewart Island is very remote, but just to make things even more interesting we then got a water taxi over to Ulva Island, a nature reserve where we were treated to lovely beaches and forest, wildlife in its natural habitat, free from European imports such as rats, bunnies, international flora and fauna etc. It was lovely and peaceful and the birds were so entertaining with their different calls, some of whom were very inquisitive and cheeky!
We then drove on to Curio Bay, part of the Catlins area on the south coast. The drive there was stunning, as sunset approached we had amazing blue skies with pink fluffy clouds, and the air was so still the reflections of the hills was so clear over the beaches, rivers etc...beautiful! We spent a night in Porpoise Bay, where Hectors Dolphins, penguins and others live. The site was very vary basic but the view and location really made up for it. We had hoped to be able to get to church yesterday, but realised we were in the back of beyond so it wouldn't happen!
The next morning we went dolphin & penguin spotting -they must have gone out for the day as we didn't see any :-( actually, it was very windy and that had made them move away from their usual spot. Up the road was an amazing beach, full of fossilised trees from the Jurassic period - incredible to see. As we arrived there we saw a sign for a church service literally next door to the beach, but it was half an hour in by then, so we decided it was too late to go in :-(
Driving on from there, we were praying hard that we wouldn't run out of diesel before we reached the nearest petrol station (they're few and far between in the middle of nowhere!). Thankfully we got there in time (Praise God!) and were also treated to a walk on a beautiful beach in sunny blue conditions (except for the biting sand flies - the only blight on this otherwise perfect island!). We spent some time there, praying and praising God (our own little impromptu service) and then journeyed on.
Next stop was a lovely waterfall, where we bumped into one of the guys we'd met on the Doubtful Sound trip! After a coffee & chat with him it was onto Dunedin, where we stayed last night at a lovely site by the river, just a little out of the city centre.
We only have 5 nights left with our van (thanks for your suggestions for a name) and it's been great having the freedom of moving around so easily. We'll really miss having it, and it's going to be hard leaving New Zealand - there's so much to see and do and I'd love to come back here again soon.
Will try to get some more photos on Flickr soon - but as we've been in this internet cafe 2 hours already it's time to hit the road and get on to our next location....... "we're on the road again, Shrek & Donkey on another whirlwind adventure......"!
Til next time,
Linda (& Penny too) xx
Sunday, May 13, 2007
We need your help.
We've had our motor home/campervan for quite a while now and we still haven't managed to give her/him/it a name. We haven't put a picture on flickr yet, but it's basically just a big white tin can type thingy. The registration is AHW689 and it's a Mercedes.
We need some inspiration, so would be VERY GRATEFUL if you blog readers could help us out. Please leave your comments and suggest a name for our home.....answers on a postcard to......
go on, enter our supa dupa competition and you could win.......erm.....a mention in one of our Blogs! What more incentive could you need. Go on, make our day and make us laugh..... and give us a name for our tin can (no rude ones please!).
Thanks friends,
Linda & Pen xx
We've had our motor home/campervan for quite a while now and we still haven't managed to give her/him/it a name. We haven't put a picture on flickr yet, but it's basically just a big white tin can type thingy. The registration is AHW689 and it's a Mercedes.
We need some inspiration, so would be VERY GRATEFUL if you blog readers could help us out. Please leave your comments and suggest a name for our home.....answers on a postcard to......
go on, enter our supa dupa competition and you could win.......erm.....a mention in one of our Blogs! What more incentive could you need. Go on, make our day and make us laugh..... and give us a name for our tin can (no rude ones please!).
Thanks friends,
Linda & Pen xx
Hi all,
as Pen said in her post, I was off y'day on a heli-hike! What's that? I hear you cry? Well, it basically entailed getting a helicopter flight (my first ever - FANTASTIC) up into the middle of the Franz Josef Glacier, a place that otherwise only experienced mountaineers would get to, and slip sliding around on a hike for a couple of hours wearing something like crampons on rented boots.
It was an amazing experience. The helicopter ride took us for a scenic flight over the glacier, swooping, turning and generally giving us an unforgettable view of pinnacles, crevasses, different ice formations etc and at times making it look as though we were about to crash into the mountain side before swiftly turning! I couldn't get over how instant take-off is, and how swiftly we were able to move and manoeuvre. I've wanted to ride in a helicopter for as long as I can remember, and I've finally got there.....and not only that, but I also got to experience the glacier.
It was awesome to walk through the ice fields led by our experienced guide, slide into caves and scrabble out the other side (my knees have the cuts and bruises to prove it!) and generally walk on a landscape that's constantly on the move, altho' you're not actually physically aware that it is. The weather could not have been better (after a torrential horrid day the day before) so I was treated to a crystal clear blue sky, blazing sunshine, 100% visibility and warm enough to wear shorts.... it doesn't get better than! Another major highlight to add into the bag... and still 10 weeks to go!
Although it's early winter here in NZ, our weather here on S Island has been incredible. We've had a couple of cloudy-ish days and a bit of rain, but generally the conditions have been amazing. Our journey from Franz Josef today to Queenstown was breathtaking, as we passed aqua blue rivers reflecting the snow capped mountains in perfect stillness, a beautiful green gorge (of LOTR fame) gushing and roaring down the rocks, vineyards and rolling barren hills and all sorts in between. The landscape and scenery of the west coast into the southern area is so varied and changeable, hard to describe the diversity and beauty....and we've not even hit the fjord land of Milton & Doubtful Sounds yet.
As you might have gathered, I'm absolutely loving being in the south island, and sooo thankful that we have our motor home for flexibility and independence.... and now I have my purple hot water bottle I'm a very happy camper!
As we arrived in Queenstown as it was getting dark, we're looking forward to seeing how it looks tomorrow - impressions so far are that it's a great place. We had a fish and chip supper at a cafe run by an English Peter Kay look-alike (with the same comedic timing) so we're feeling very British and "at home". We'll let you know more soon. Being back in the land of internet cafes and phones we should manage to get some more photos and blog entries on fairly soon - we really have been staying in some quite remote places this last week.
Anyway, that's it for this entry, more to follow soon.
Linda xx
as Pen said in her post, I was off y'day on a heli-hike! What's that? I hear you cry? Well, it basically entailed getting a helicopter flight (my first ever - FANTASTIC) up into the middle of the Franz Josef Glacier, a place that otherwise only experienced mountaineers would get to, and slip sliding around on a hike for a couple of hours wearing something like crampons on rented boots.
It was an amazing experience. The helicopter ride took us for a scenic flight over the glacier, swooping, turning and generally giving us an unforgettable view of pinnacles, crevasses, different ice formations etc and at times making it look as though we were about to crash into the mountain side before swiftly turning! I couldn't get over how instant take-off is, and how swiftly we were able to move and manoeuvre. I've wanted to ride in a helicopter for as long as I can remember, and I've finally got there.....and not only that, but I also got to experience the glacier.
It was awesome to walk through the ice fields led by our experienced guide, slide into caves and scrabble out the other side (my knees have the cuts and bruises to prove it!) and generally walk on a landscape that's constantly on the move, altho' you're not actually physically aware that it is. The weather could not have been better (after a torrential horrid day the day before) so I was treated to a crystal clear blue sky, blazing sunshine, 100% visibility and warm enough to wear shorts.... it doesn't get better than! Another major highlight to add into the bag... and still 10 weeks to go!
Although it's early winter here in NZ, our weather here on S Island has been incredible. We've had a couple of cloudy-ish days and a bit of rain, but generally the conditions have been amazing. Our journey from Franz Josef today to Queenstown was breathtaking, as we passed aqua blue rivers reflecting the snow capped mountains in perfect stillness, a beautiful green gorge (of LOTR fame) gushing and roaring down the rocks, vineyards and rolling barren hills and all sorts in between. The landscape and scenery of the west coast into the southern area is so varied and changeable, hard to describe the diversity and beauty....and we've not even hit the fjord land of Milton & Doubtful Sounds yet.
As you might have gathered, I'm absolutely loving being in the south island, and sooo thankful that we have our motor home for flexibility and independence.... and now I have my purple hot water bottle I'm a very happy camper!
As we arrived in Queenstown as it was getting dark, we're looking forward to seeing how it looks tomorrow - impressions so far are that it's a great place. We had a fish and chip supper at a cafe run by an English Peter Kay look-alike (with the same comedic timing) so we're feeling very British and "at home". We'll let you know more soon. Being back in the land of internet cafes and phones we should manage to get some more photos and blog entries on fairly soon - we really have been staying in some quite remote places this last week.
Anyway, that's it for this entry, more to follow soon.
Linda xx
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