søndag den 27. marts 2011

The buses in Lima

Lima is an enormous city, very chaotic and very hard to navigate around if you don't know the city. I've been spending more or less all my time around here by myself, just meeting friends for a couple of hours here and there, which has been fine, but that also meant that I had to figure out the whole transportation thing here by myself.
Well, in Copenhagen they say everything is close to you because you are in a big city. Lima is such a big city that everything is far away. So you can't just walk from one part to the other. Furthermore a lot of the neighbourhoods around here are very dangerous. in generel I haven't been feeling too secure around here. Anyways, back to the transportation. There is a million small micros or buses driving around all over the city. There is 2 people working in each bus, one is driving, and the other is screaming out of the window where the bus is going plus collection money from the passengers. It is really dangerous that job though, because a lot of times they drive (and they drive crazy and very fast around here) with the door open and the person is leaning out the door and screaming. Crazy system, but i have to give them, that it seems to work.
As a tourist it is really not very logic which buses you can take though, and I think I have been taking some crazy buses around here, because it seems like it takes a million years to go anywhere, or maybe it is just because everything is so far away, who knows?

Tomorrow I'm going to Colombia, and I've been thinking about all the great things I've been expiriencing here in Peru, definately not something I'll ever forget. Gracias Peru!

torsdag den 24. marts 2011

Arequipa

Friday I crossed the boarder and went back to Peru. It was a 7 hour busride, and as soon as I got in the bus the guy next to me started talking to me. He was from Peru, worked in a mine for 60 kr. a day (8 hours of work). And as it usually is aroud here he asked about my age and if I was single and as if we had known eachother for a long time (or at least more than 5 minutes) he asked for my e-mail so we could keep in touch. And he didn't really want to take no for an answer. Bahhh. He was actually really annoying so I put music in my ears and pretended to sleep a lot of the time.

When I arrived to Arequipa I shared a cab to the center with a german couple who did not speak spanish, and we went for a beer together. And then I met up with Sarah ! I guess people at the plaza were looking at us a little weirdly, because we screamed and jumped and hugged. It was SO good to see her again. We dumped our stuff at the hostel and went to a Chifa (chinese restaurant - very famous here in Peru) and had dinner. We talked about our trips and everything we had been expiriencing. But it was kind of hard to really talk a lot, because several times guys we didn't know just started talking to us, and one of them didn't take a hint that we didn't want to talk with him. I already started missing the peace from Chile a little bit.
But we also got to talk with some guys from the jungle who were really cool. They knew some streetmusicians from the jungle who were at the plaza de armas, and they started playing for us, and we danced. It was hilarious. And we became this attraction. People started taking pictures of the musicians in their fancy clothes of course, but they also started taking pictures of Sarah and me. We found that very funny.

The next day we met up with one of the jungle guys again. He was an artesanian and he showed us a couple of things, it was really great, but I kind of sucked at doing it. We agreed on meeting up again in the evening to go out or something together. We met Christine and Emma for dinner and we all talked about what we had been doing on our trips.
After that we met up with Omar, the artisanian, and he told us that a big group of artesanians and street musicians were having a great time just a block away. so we went there, and danced and had a great time with these really cool people. The police came and said that we couldn't be there. So we packed our stuff and went to a skatepark and continued the party there. I was impressed about how they just played the drums, threw stuff around in the air and made a great party from nothing. Later we went dancing and drinking and I was home 7.30 in the morning. What a great party.
The next day was a little slow, but that was a good thing I guess. And the night as well. But Monday we went selling stuff with Omar, and later we met up with Darwin and his argentinian friend. I really found out how annoying the police is. Sarah and I were not selling anything, just trying to make bracelets, but they were up our asses all the time "you can't be here, you can't do this, you can't do that". I was kind of funny, because some of the guys were so provocating towards the police, and sold stuff right in front of the policeman, and didn't really listen to what he had to say.

I was sad that I had bought my ticket for Monday, since Sarah was staying until Tuesday, and we really had a great time with these awesome people, but I couldn't change it, so I had to go. But I really had had a great time there. I was definately gonna miss the people here.

Here are some pictures from the time there:


We found this very funny, it is bull testikels.






Sarah and Omar's beautiful jewellery.


Omar helping me with my bracelet when I had problems.


The huge seats in the bus from Arequipa to Lima, it was really comfortable :) 

tirsdag den 22. marts 2011

Arica - part II

I took the plane from Santiago to Arica Thursday night, and I arrived in Arica at midnight. The guy I stayed with last time I was in Arica was travelling, so I had found a couchsurfer I could stay with for just one night, since I didn’t want to pay for a hostel because it is really expensive to stay at hostels in Chile.
When I came to the airport I took a colectivo (shared taxi) to the couchsurfer’s house. Or at least I thought I did. Even though I had asked the driver if he knew the place and he had said yes, he didn’t know it at all. So he ended up dropping me off in the middle of nowhere for me to take a cab the rest of the way. And then he wanted full price for the ride. I refused to do that, but at the end he said he would go get the police, and I didn’t know what that would end up with, so I ended up paying. That hijo de puta!
Well, Patricio, the guy I stayed with, was a really open guy. Besides me he also had 3 others plus his girlfriend staying over. So it was quite busy. I went directly to bed, so I could get up early in the morning and go to Peru.
This time was more “tranquilo” than last time I was here in Arica. I saw a more humble part of the city, but on the other hand I felt like I didn’t really know the city that well, since I hadn’t even been to the center.

torsdag den 17. marts 2011

Public transportation in Santiago - It is really funny

Chile is a very modern country here in South America, and of course they have a metro. It works really well. There is a very smart ticket system. I'm impressed about how they have lines everywhere (that people actually respect - it is not very accepted to try and cheat your way ahead of others). This morning I went to take the metro in the middle of rush hour. It was really funny, because the metros were so full of people that you could bare enter, and when you got in you should be careful that the doors didn't cut off a piece of your foot or something. I made me think of an article I red in a magazine once about the metro in Japan were they have people working as people-pushers - that means that in rush hour their job is to pack people into the metro - they could use that here!

Yesterday I went to take the bus back to the house, and in the bus suddenly a guy startet drumming and singing, and later his friend started dancing. What was going on? Apparently that is very normal that groups drive around on the busses trying to make money playing music and dancing. To me it was a little ironic though, because the bus was FILLED with people, and people had barely any space for themselves. But hey, it was great to have some music on the trip and to be entertained a little bit.

Furthermore they don't have any timeschedules for the buses, so you can stand and wait for a bus for a million years, and then two buses arrive together, and after that there is no buses for a long time again. That is just a crazy system ! But funny.

tirsdag den 15. marts 2011

Valparaíso (also known as Valpo)

The plan was to go to Valpo Friday, but because of the tsunamiwarning I stayed in Santiago and decided to go Saturday when I knew nothing was going on there.

Valpo is a really beautiful city, and it is known as a very artistic one as well, since there is a lot of graffitti artist who do art in the streets there. 
A volenteerfriend from Cusco lives there now, since she is in an exchange program there, so I called her as soon as I arrived (I have a cellphone now, it is so civilized :p) and she told me that her family was having a barbeque and we, Nacho and I, were very welcome to come and join them. So that's what we did. They were very welcomming, and the house was filled with a lot of different food. We also bought a fish on the street to prepare and eat there. WOW, it was amazing. It is the fish that they fish a lot just on the coast of Valpo, but I don't really know what it is or what the name is.

At night we went out with some of Isabelle's friends. And as always around here we decided to go out (to a club or a bar) like 3 o'clock at night. To me that is just silly, because the bars and clubs close like 4 o'clock, and you are already tired when people decide to go out. Anyways, we ended up not being able to get in anywhere because the clubs were too full of people. But it was not all a waste of time, because we saw a pirate bar (which is cool in it self) but outside there was a onelegged begger.That is just SO cool, and it made me think of a volenteer guy from Cusco who talked just like a pirate.

The next day we ate brunch with the very nice people that we had stayed with, and then we went out to explore the city.

The amazing view from the apartment.




At the beautiful mosaic plaza. I was impressed.





This is typical Valpo. Graffitti on the walls, and old cars. Very nice. On the wall you can see a cat painting a portrait. It is graffitti from a very known artist around here, and his "label" is the cat, so normally he is painting this cat, but now that he is painting his selfportrait the cat paints him. Cool!



Beautiful mosaic benches. All unique.



Delicious veggie pizza at a really cool restaurant.


This is the ugliest city in all of Valpo according to Isabelle.



"Turn off the tv and live your life" - that is what it says. But Nacho told us that "apaga la tele" also means to get really drunk, so I guess you can interpret this message as you feel like.

Anyways. I had a really great time in Valpo, and it is definately a place that I would love to go back to.


torsdag den 10. marts 2011

This is what happens in a park in Mendoza with Marla

Marla and I went to the Plaza independencia and hang out under a beautiful tree looking at the fountains. This is what happens when you bring a camera somewhere like that:












something is a little odd :p




I know it is a little crazy, but it was really great fun.

onsdag den 9. marts 2011

Santiago and Mendoza

I came to Santiago on Thursdag last week, and I've been staying with a local family. That is really great, they are so open minded and they want to know a lot about Denmark and they tell me a lot of Santiago and Chile in generel.
In Santiago I went to a pool in the middle of the city. It was awesome because it had been really hot that day. And then I have been eating the most delicious seafood at the mercado central with a group of really cool people who Marla and I met in Cusco.
Marla's plan was to leave Santiago on Sunday or Monday, and when i woke up Sunday I was really sad, I guess I wasn't ready to let her go yet. She asked me if I wanted to come with her to Mendoza in Argentina, and as soon as she did that, it seemed like the right thing for me to do. So now I'm in Mendoza.
It is a great city, stuffed with hippies who are doing all different kinds of jewellery selling it on the Plaza independencia. So last night we went shopping on the marked, and I bought a lot of really beautiful and unique jewellery.
We had a Argentinian night out last night, so we went to eat some really delicious food, Marla had a steak and I had really great pasta. The problem is around here that all the local food more or less is stuffed with meat, so there is not really that many options for me.
Today is my last day with Marla, so we have just been lying around the beautiful park eating chips and sandwiches and drinking beer. That is really life as it should be.
A lot of people walk around in the streets without shoes, and I felt inspired by that, so I have been walkng around the streets without shoes all day today, that is life !

Before and After Arica

Before Arica
After Arica

torsdag den 3. marts 2011

Arica - part I

Welcome to Chile.
It has been some pretty intensive days since I left Peru. I was travelling with a girl from Alaska, Marla or as I started calling her- Alaska. We have really enjoyed ourselves and we have laughed like maniacs.
Tuesday morning we took the bus from Arequipa to Tacna. It is a 6 hour busride through the desert. It was a very long busride, because we were in the front seat with super view, but that also meant that the sun was right in our faces, and there was no aircondition or anything to cool us down in the bus.
It was kind of hectic when we arrived to Tacna. We had to find some way to cross the boarder, and there was one guy who wanted to drive us to Chile but he wanted one of us to hide in the boot because he told us that sinceit was our first time in Chile we had to pay 20 dollars each and thank god we did not do that because that was not at all true.
It seemed that the easiest way to cross the boarder was to go with one of the many cars, it was supposed to be faster and better than the buses.
So that was what we did. When we came to the peruvian side of the boarder Marla and I were taken out and were taken in to an office with this guard. "We are gonna check you for drugs" she said. Well okay. So she checked all my stuff that I had on me, and then I had to pee in front of her. The problem was, that since we had been in a bus I hadn't been drinking that much, since I didn't want to go to the really disgusting toilet all the time. So I had a really hard time peeing, and the guard watching me didn't make me feel any better. At some point I kind of gave up, and said "I can't" and the lady was really cold and just said "well, you have to". Hm, at the end I managed to pee, and I could walk out of there without problems. But the even more weird part of this was that she didn't take a sampel or anything, so it all seemed a little ridiculous.
When we came to Arica we tried to call the guy that I met in Puno who had told me that we could stay at his house. But he didn't pick up. So we went downtown and had some delicious fish and some beer, and really laughed a lot about the whole expirience we had today. But it would get even better.
We tried to call Alfredo a last time, and luckily he picked up, and he said that we could just come stay at his house. Awesome.
It turned out his house was huge house with maids and gartners. Wow. It was really orange county. But the people there were really nice.
We put a barbeque in the back of his huge car, and drove to a beachside apartment where they tried to bring the barbeque to the 11th floor. It just all seemed so ridiculous, and so surreal. They really tried to convince the guard that it was okay to bring the barbeque up there,  but in the end, I think they realized that they could not change his mind. When we came to the apartment the first thing that met uswas a mountain of different kinds of raw meat, and I just said: "I don't know how to behave around this much meat!"
Later we all went dancing, and right before that we had asked Alfredo if Arica was dangerous, and the answer was "No, it is super tranquil, and very relaxed". But when the nightclub closed and we went to get our jackets, they were gone. Damn it! Evenmore damn it because Marla had her credit card in her jacket. This was just a really a perfect ending on the craziest day so far.
We only slept a couple of hours, and then we went to the beach. I realized how hard it is to met up with people when you don't have a cellphone. Anyways, the water was great, and we really enjoyed being close to the sea and in this great weather.
We all went back to Alfredo's house after (the chileniens always travel in pack and hang around in packs) and  they smoked some pot (like they hadn't smoked anything yet today) and the maid had made us lunch. I didn't really know how to behave around the made, it just seemed a little weird to have somebody serv you.
Anyways, we had a great siesta and after they decided to make some more food, so we drove around more or less all of Arica to find exactly the meat they wanted, but I guess it was worth it, that was at least what Marla said.
We drove to this really quiet and deserted place where we could se all the stars, wow it was incredibly beautiful.
Later we went to this even mroe deserted place that actually said no entry, and there we had a barbeque and drank some beer, and they smoked even more pot. But we had a good time there. At some point Marla and I went to the roof and sat there and looked at the stars for a long time. BEAUTIFUL!
At the time we got hme from that party it was around 3.30 and we had to get a cab at 5, so we only had like 1-1½ hour to sleep before we should catch our plane to Santiago. Well, I guess that was just an apropriate way to end this stay in Arica. It's gonna be interesting to see what is gonna happen when I come back here.

onsdag den 2. marts 2011

My Last Week in Yanapay and Cusco

The last week has been very emotional. I had my last week working at Aldea Yanapay, my last week of spanish classes and I had to say goodbye to the city that has been my home for the last 6 weeks.

In Yanapay I've been working in the games room with the biggest kids in the school which has been a great expirience because they could actually teach me stuff too. I was the "jefa" of the gamesroom since I was the one in the group of volenteers in the games room that spoke the best spanish.







I was working in the family Cielo this week again, the same as all the other weeks, and it was great because now the kids new me better. This week we've been working with different parts of Peru, and my family we worked with the part Puno. So we had a lot of work to do, because none of us really knew anything about it. But it was great. But the fact that I have been working with the same kids all the time that I have been here means that it was so much harder to say goodbye to them.






 Crazy Matthieu showing the kids some cool gloves that they use in Puno for the festival there.


Friday was a really emotional day, because I had to say goodbye to my spanish teacher and to the kids in Yanapay. But Hjalte, my friend from back home, came to Cusco, and it was great to see him and speak some danish and in generel hear about his trip as well.
It was a crazy goodbye to the kids in Yanapay. We were a really big group of volenteers who had our last day on friday, so we were all called up in the end of the show, and they sang a really beautiful song for us, and after all the kids ran to us and gave us kisses and hugs. SO emotional, and that is something I will never forget.

Lydia and I in our beautiful uniforms at the Yanapay school.








Friday night we all went out eating and dancing. And we had an awesome time. It was a really great way to say goodbye to Cusco.

Saturday a lot of us went to a vegetarian restaurant to eat. I packed my stuff and hung out at the hostel. And in the afternoon all the volenteers with whom I had spent a lot of time went to an indian restaurant and ate a lot of really good food there.
But the time came when we had to say goodbye, and we were all crying our eyes out. And in the cab to the bus terminal Marla and I held hands and cried a lot. I was so glad that I wasn't leaving Cusco alone.