Still at the Point

Hey everyone.

Im still at the Point hostel, working my shifts. Inka Raymi, the day of the Sun festival in Cusco just passed by.

But to my distress, I actually missed it! I was so positive that it would take place during the night, with all the parades and the sacrificing of the llama! But I was wrong. It took place in the early morning where I was sleeping away the drinks. Oh how annoying.


But the silver lining, I did get to see what went on afterwards. Just aload of market stands standing about, selling tourist stuff and food. So I bought a coconut and one fried dough. So nothing much to blog about really.

A day shift at work

Hey everyone.

Working at the Point as a bartender has been great. Unfortuantly I aint seeing much of breakfast and day light, as usually after work, we all hit the huge gringo dance club, Mama Africas. And after a night of dancing and booze, I usually wake up around 12 to 2pm. Meh.

So far, at work, I dressed up as an Incan warlord, a woman, and served in an open bar. I dont like all the staff though, as they can be abit rude at times. For example, during the open bar, I was trying to serve drinks as fast as I can, and they actually said dont serve too much! And even worst, one of them try to tell us bartenders we cant drink for free during an Open bar!!! I obviously argued against this and continued to drink.

Right now Im on a day shift. Fairly simple work. Take food orders, drinks, clean plates, stuff like that. I hope on my day off I can visit some of the churches nearby, because to get in for free I have to go in before 9 am during service.

No Loki but theres Point!!

Hey everyone.

Since my last post, I have been disappointed to find out that Sean and I could not get jobs at Loki, after being tagged along for 2 weeks. But after a quick stop at Wild Rover, we were pointed to another hostel, the Point.

As soon as we asked, we were hired on the spot. This is fantastic news as it will allow me to save large sums of money. The job will be 5 nights a week as a bartender. I will be given free accomodation, one free dinner, 1 or 2 free drinks while on the job and a 30 percent discount on all things.

So far, the work has been great. I can make most simple drinks but require help for the more difficult ones, such as pisco sour and mojitos. But thankfully, there are always veteran bartenders around to give aid. What I dont like though is that I really have to be social. Dancing, talking, yeah all that. The talking is relatively easy, as I am very used to it. The constant dancing....well...thats abit harder espescially with my dancing skills of a obese walrus.

Just recently, we had a costume party where I dressed up as the first Incan warlord. Yup. Really nice. I wore a feathered crown, Fred Flintstone dress and a cape. Unfortuantly, I later lost the hat in the dance club. But at least I didnt pay for it. Meh.

I win!!!

Hi everyone.

Sean and I are in Loki hostel now after a night out. Well, it wasnt really  night out for me, as I dont feel very comftable in the dance clubs. But Sean had a fun time though.

With only 5 hours of sleep, we packed our bags and moved to Loki. Now the best bit. I managed to beat him at pool twice, winning 2 soles!!! Its only 50p, but I hardly ever win at pool, so Im quite proud of myself!

Sexy Woman!!!

Hello everyone.

Well since arriving to Cusco, Sean and I left Loki Hostel after we found out there were no jobs avaliable. But we will be back there shortly.

Since moving to our new hostel, Amazing Brew, a nice and cheap hostel with a kitchen, I have entered one museum. The Inka Museum. Obviously it features alot of manly bits and old stuff. Also some very dead mummies. Yep. Old, dusty and bony mummies.

I was also fortunate to be in Cusco for some crazy insane celebration. Cusco flags (heavily resembling the gay pride flag) was hanged everywhere, and throughout the entire day school children danced in cultural costumes, ranging from the lower years to the higher. So the city centre was packed quite abit.

I also climbed the Incan ruins, Saesaywaman, or as I like to call it, Sexy Woman. Its basically one of the Incan fortresses that is still kind of standing. Really, we only see 20 percent of it. I also climbed up to the giant statue of Jesus Christ. And for karma points, I helped a local push his bike cart up a stoney path with Sean. Of course, between the ruins and Jesus Christ, I jumped over ruins and went through pitch black tunnels, once again fighting my fear of falling. Oh the joy.

Machu Pichu Baby!

Hello everyone.

Sam, Luke, Jess and Jo decided to go to MP (Machu Pichu) one day earlier than I and Sean. Which is no biggie really, because as luck would have it, I ran into Carielle again. This was amazing as I simply adore my abuela (grandma). This resulted in a day of drinking and going out dancing with Claire, Sean and Carielle. All good, all good.

The next day Sean and I embarked for MP with a new group, Paul, Jasper, Marcello and more people I can't really remember.





Day 1 - The guide was actually late to pick us up, 30 minutes to be exact. This means I could have had 30 more minutes of sleep! Alas, things did not become better. After being picked up, there were still further delays as we waited at a checkpoint to load the bikes and get into a new van, one that can accomodate more people. I also had stomach issues, which prevented me from eating anything. The delay also meant we didn't get to spend time in the first town, Ollytambo (possible incorrect spelling here). The bus ride to the top of the bike route took around 3 hours I reckon. Now, I love to ride bikes, but the fun here was taken out completely because after doning the helmet and pads, we had to ride in formation. Yep. Formation. Slow.

Reaching the bottom of the mountain, I had to ride through dirt and rock paths, which is due to the construction taking place along the path. Reaching the finish line, we all boarded the bus to get stuck in traffic for many hours. Fantastic fun that was. Reaching the hostel in the second town, Santa something, we recieved lunch, dinner, and no shower. This really does get better doesn't it. No it doesn't. I was attacked by a severe headache because of the cold high altitude wind.

Day 2 - Day 2 was a typical hike through the jungle. First we took a pickup truck to the beginning of the path, then we started climbing. Highlights were, eating the local delicacy, cuy. Which is guinea pig.

I was also painted on my face using a paint berry plant that the Incans used to use. After ascending the mountain, going through treacherous paths where my fear of falling made my progress stupidly slow, we then had to cross rivers using a rope and lift system. I did the pulling while Sean just sat back. After doing this a few more times, I had to trek through river rocks and jump from one to another whilst hugging the wall as to not fall into the river. It was dangerous, but it was extremely exhillarating. At the end, we were rewarded with the natural hot springs. Unfortuantly, I cut my foot deeply here as I fell into the pool. Totally sucks. Sean and I then got a bus to the hostel with the guide, ate dinner and went to sleep.

Day 3 - Today was a hard day for trekking. The cut I recieved was deeper than I first thought, so it hurts like hell when trying to walk. Luckily, the path wasn´t too difficult, and with the help of pain killers, I was able to power through the pain. Sean, thankfully, decided to walk with me, so I wasn´t without company. He must have noticed I wasn´t walking properly when I was 10 minutes behind him. My stomach still hasn´t played down yet, but I am able to eat more now. Eventually, we arrived to the train tracks, which would lead us directly to Agus Calientes, the last stop town to Machu Pichu. We had a lunch of soup (I been eating alot of soup on this trip), rice with chicken, and ice cream for dessert. It may sound nice, but all the food I have had so far sucked. After a few hours, we arrive in Agus Calientes, where I visted the local marketplace, which was unfortuantly full of touristic crap. But the dinner here was very good however. Chicken cream soup for starters, and beef fillet with rice and chips for the main. I also got to shower, which was great as I only bathe in the hot spring so far.

Day 4 - Had to wake up at 3 30 am. Had crappy breakfast. Then started a major hike up the mountain, racing against everyone else to the top so we can get tickets to Hyana Pichu, another mountain next to Machu Pichu. It was very hard too, as it was just insanely steep stairs. We managed to reach the top in 40 minutes, where we then waited in a queue.

Machu Pichu is a very beautiful place, which makes it more of a shame that the Incans got totally smashed by the Spanish. The structures are amazingly pieced together with blocks of rock. Stairs are dotted all around MP, connecting the different parts of the city together, seemingly creating a maze.

After the guided tour, Sean and I climbed Hyana Pichu. Going up was the easy part. Going down was just hell for me. My fear forced me to take it extremely slow, but luckily Sean helped me down. But by the time I got down, I was exhausted. The hyper ventilation and lack of water slowed my body. My foot injury still hasn´t gotten better either.

So after a rest, Sean and I climbed to the Sun gate. What a waste of time that was. It was exhausting and there was hardly anything to see. But we took a picture nonetheless. By now, we both were tired, so we called it a day and went back to Agus Calientes on the highly priced bus, decided to screw the MP mountain and not climb to its peak. Returning to AC, we went to the hot springs to wash our exhausted bodies, then we took a train to Ollytambo, then a bus to Cusco and back to Loki. I had to say good bye to Marcello unfortuantly, but it was just nice to have a decent bed after being awake for 20 hours. But I ran into Luke, Sam, Jess and Jo in the bar. So naturally, I drank, danced on the bar and slept 2 hours later. Who needs sleep when you have friends and booze?

Goodbye Arequipa, I will always love you

Hey everyone.

Its a sad time. My stay in Arequipa will end soon. Its been amazing here. All the friends I made amongst the GVI crew. Brap braps to Sam, Luke, Jo, Carielle, Michael, Claire, Patrick, Kat, Katrien, Ben and so much more.

On my last night in Arequipa, I went to Michael´s cervichi party. Cervichi is a South American dish, but in the peruvian style, its raw fish cooked using the acidic lime juice. The fish is then mixed with large quantities of various hot peppers and herbs. This creates an intense sour and spicy flavour. In a sense, it taste like sour spicy tuna. I also drank a fudge load and took up the hot pepper challenge. Those were the hottest peppers I have ever eaten and I will never do that again. The burning sensation is absolute killer.

Afterwards, we did more drinking.  Fun.

To prepare for the bus to Cusco, Sean and I purchased crisp, chicken and chips and water. Unfortuantly, Sean had his food carried off by Luke. I still had my food though. But some annoying child and mother took my bag of grocceries that I have been saving, consisting of cooking oil, spices, spaghetti and etc.

Arriving to Cusco was without trouble, and I got to look foward to spending more time with the GVI crew, Sam, Luke, Jo, Jess and Claire. We all went to Cusco and stayed in the same hostel, Loki. During night, we all drank, slept and our plans for Machu Pichu assembled.

Colca Trekking Mayhem!!! Part 2

Greetings to my adoring fans. Or fans. Or just people.

Here is where the hard part starts. Waking up from the much needed sleep, I obtained 4 chocolate bars and 2 small bottles of fizzy drinks. We started our climb out of the canyon around 8ish am. That was our first mistake. The second mistake was not having any breakfast. The third mistake was not having enough water and food to get us out.

With the Sun blazing on our sweating backs, we climbed for hours. Eventually it became such a hard and exhausting climb, I literally hugged any shaded walls, giving myself a few minutes of rest. Or more. We consumed all the chocolate before it melted, and the worst occured. We both ran out of water. It now became a mission of survival to climb out of that hell hole and get something to drink. I eventually had to start crawling my way up because it was so difficult. We did make it out obviously, after 4 hours I believe. It was by sheer will power we managed to achieve this. Reaching the top, we were greeted by a nice cold stream, where we soaked our heads in the revitilizing water. I also drank some of it, putting my Steripen to test.

Things only got worse however. Reaching the small town, we found out we would have to wait until 9 30pm until we could get a bus out of the bloody place. That left us with 6 hours to kill, where all we wanted was a nice shower and some decent food. But no, life decided to punch us in our groins. At least I managed to solve the mystery of the apaca meat. We ordered steaks at the same restaurant, and I was relieved to find that the steak did not look like the apaca meat at all. So Sean didn´t eat my apaca meat.

Finally reaching Arequipa, life decided to further stamp and stomp on us as we discovered that our hostel no longer had any spare rooms. Even worse, the hostel was lacking staff! We were just lucky that the door to the hostel was actually open, so we quickly collected the rest of our bags and trekked to the famous hostel, Wild Rover. Here we finally got to sleep in fairly decent beds.