...and tonight Matthew I am going to be...

Salsa going very well, unlike the spanish...I'm staying for an extra week of lessons! The amusing thing about the dance class is that it is, rather unsurprisingly, completely made up of women. It seems I have a bit of a knack for being the man in this dancing relationship. A little unfortunate then that two of the women I dance with are almost six feet tall, young amazonian dutch lovelies (on second thoughts ... maybe that's fortunate). As for the spanish ...the sponge that is my brain soaked words up for the first 4 days and now it is just haemorraghing excess...but my group is really lovely and we cheer ourselves up with dancing in the evenings and such like entertainment.

At the weekend I went out with Jules a couple of times. Jules was our tour guide when JuicyLucy and I came out in March. On Saturday night we went to a film theme fancy dress party at very short notice...an hour and a half's notice in fact. Now there was a challenge. I must confess to pinching an idea from my 'clever as a stick' mate Jane who managed to appear very smart whilst not looking like a complete idiot, as one generally does at these things. So one headscarf from the rucksack and a hastily concocted pearl adornment(actually a white plastic ball from a bracelet) later, and Milly is transformed into Vermeer´s "Girl with a White Plastic Bauble Earring". However, most other people there had gone to enormous effort. It´s effectively a gay night club and it was the owner´s birthday, so you can imagine. It was very Priscilla. There were actually some magnificent costumes. If I ever find an internet cafe (well actually internet laundrettes seem to be the thing here) that allows me too, I will upload some pictures.



And here is one of Andreas, the owner of the Fallen Angel, at his birthday party.

The dancing quadrant is open air and as you can see we were all soaked to the core...

It was great to catch up with Jules. She's running fantastic 9 week tours from Quito right across the continent to Rio. MMMMMM...that gets the old wanderlust juices going, doesn't it? Is that a hint of 'holiday slutdom' sneaking in there,Pierre?

Hallowe'en, not especially celebrated here, but there are enough tourists to fill the plethora of night clubs. 10 of us 'school mates' went along to dance the night away: salsa, rock, cheese...they do it all here. I introduced them to the joy of dancing to YMCA in different fonts, lower case, emboldened ( a total delight discovered by Sal and I at my brother's wedding)...you have to not care AT ALL what people think about you. Try it!

November 1st is All Saints Day so everyone was on holiday...although it seems that in Cusco there is always a fiesta of some kind. The family I am staying with did a huge family dinner with traditional pork and tamales. I helped Dad, Umberto, out with a few Pisco and cokes. They are very lovely but there's really only so often I can explain where I'm from in spanglish. Fortunately we all find the whole thing very amusing and tried a whole day communicating through the international language of mime...Grandma squeezes my face and kisses me saying, "Ah mi pequeña inglesa" every time she sees me.

November 2nd was Dia del Muerte (Day of the Dead). It's another holiday, but basically people remember their departed loved ones and take flowers to graves. Strangely, it was quite an interesting day because I did find that I thought a lot about my gran and grandad and with very happy memories. Perhaps it's a good thing to openly set aside time for this?

Anyway...H and Kate are back from Machu Picchu and full of the Gringo Trail! It is quite an experience. I ask you all to think back to the story of when Lucy and I finished el Camino Inka...Milly - 20 immodium in as many hours, Lucy - the world record for the slowest third day EVER (of which she is rightly proud) finishing the day with a right knee the size of her butt, the enormous combined weight loss of approximately 0.2kg. H and Kate looked radiant, slim, toned...enough said.

"Casa!"

Saturday night Sunday morning was the tortuous 20 hour bus journey from Lima to Cusco, heart of the ancient Inca Empire. The trip was made much more bearable by the amusing conversation of a very charming young Irishman by the name of Conor. He noticed most perceptibly, I thought, that even though we were in VIP luxurious leather seat class, we still got disgusting Inca Kola to drink and both food options smelt more than a little like something regurgitated.

So no sleep whatsoever, but at certain points during the overnight drive through the twisty turny path through the Andes the scenery was spectacular. The Andes rose 30\35 feet above us, inches separating them from our bus, and it´s so dark that the stars are almost blinding. To cap it all the bus company provides entertainment in the form of one to two year old rubbish films, e.g. the unbelievably dull Cellular with the unfeasibly untalented Ms Basinger("Are you still there?" - yes, unfortunately - "Yes, I sliced your brachial artery. Fourth grade biology. You lose 30 pints in 10 minutes" - what dialogue, and I´m thinking to myself that you don´t have 30 pints of blood... for those who haven´t seen it, don´t bother). But, la piece de resistance, spanish bingo. Conor and I giggling and snorting whilst frantically trying to mark off numbers when we don´t speak spanish. And what are we playing for??? Is it quattro rincones? Un linea? Casa completo? The pressure! The tension! If that wasn´t good enough, the winner of the bingo extravaganza, a Senor X from smalltownsville, came on the microphone thanking the bus company for his prize, at length. Stupendous! National Express should take a leaf out of this book. Richard Branson take note.

So I´m going to spanish class every day and my head is going to explode, there´s no doubt about it. I thought it would be a good idea to live with a family as I would speak more spanish. This is all true, and my family is absolutely delightful, but I am attempting to access neurons and pathways that frankly became extinct at around the same time as said neurons were being introduced to the periodic table of elements (also long forgotten) and the fjords of Norway (remembered, but mainly because of Slartibartfast - the answer was 42 though and that´s what I am, so maybe that´s an ominously good sign).

Cusco is a wonderful city and should those of you who haven´t been get the chance, then go. The Plaza de Armas is a real hub, with beautiful churches and a magnificent colonial style cathedral built with stones from the ancient Inca site of Sacsayhuaman (actually pronounced sexy woman). It´s a small but lively city with lots of great bars and places to eat, clubs and dancing. I´ve had a couple of salsa lessons since I´ve been here which have been great fun, although still suffering from the altitude a little. Cusco is surrounded by Inca sites and local artesan markets. Obviously, as with all of Peru, there is the residual problem of wealth and poverty, a lot of poverty, and some of the children make your heart bleed.



View from my house on Cuesta Santa Ana, 10 minute walk to the Plaza des Armes, down tortuous and potentially lethal slippery steps...





It´s also a good meeting point as many people pass through here and spend a couple of days after the Inca Trail. I just bumped into Jules who ran the tour Lucy and I were on in March in the Plaza de Armes, so we´re off for dinner, cuba libres and dancing this evening. Over the weekend I´m meeting up with someone else who was on our March trip, and H and Kate my new Yosemite mates...it´s one long party.

Buenos Tardes de Peru Mis Amigos

The good news is that I made it 4 days before getting Peruvian Jelly Belly {compulsory travel illness for me ... see Alex's earlier blog comments about carrier bags in Eygpt, speak to Lucy about the maximum immodium dosage on the Inca Trail}. The bad news is that I spent the first 2 days here pretty much sleeping off a virus, and Andre is going to love this...was woken up this morning at 6am by an earthquake. So that's a hurricane and an earthquake notched up already.

It was very strange being here without Lucy, and it suddenly struck me how quickly I made the decision to do the course and take this break. When we were here in March it never occurred to me that I'd be back ever let alone so soon. I went to a couple of our old haunts, the beach and Parque d'amour in Miraflores which is an area where people take wedding vows and have photos taken overlooking the Pacific and against a rather Daliesque monument. I explored Miraflores further. I went back to the artesan markets Lucy, Lyn and I did earlier in the year and discovered new restaurants and pisco sour bars. I didn't buy anything because frankly there is nothing I need { except new trousers on account of splitting a second pair...Milly looking good!}. I did visit some museums, one of the catacombs and the inquisition, and the Museo de la Nacion which houses some spectacular recently discovered gold inca funerial masks.



Parque Kennedy, Miraflores.




So I was wandering through the Plaza des Armes as the President of Paraguay arrived at the Palace...which was nice. Then I bumped into H and Kate, my lovely new tent mates from Yosemite. We had been trying to arrange to meet since they arrived late last night, without success, mainly on account of my refusal to get a mobile phone while I'm away. Hoorah! So they are just finishing off their meeting about their trip which starts tomorrow. They are doing the old gringo trail, Nazca, Cuzco, Camino Inca, Macca Peachy {that one's for Lucy}. So I thought I'd post anew as I wait for them to pick me up in about 15 minutes...black russians all round!

The Last Post

I fly to Lima this evening.

Yosemite was magnificent. Tim, our guide, would say, "As we go round this corner prepare to say 'Wow'". With scepticism we approached these corners and then in unison we went, "Wow!" Over and over again. Great walking and camping and a really fun group of people. All younger than me as usual - I don't care. I had two lovely sweetie poppet tent mates, Helen and Kate, who are from Watford and doing a year long trip. We shared a back seat with Chris (second funniest person in the universe only to Mr D Wood, Esq of Huddersfield). I laughed 'til my cheeks ached, I had that wheeze thing going on (you know how I do) and tears running down my face. It took me back 20 years to being thrown out of the University library because of the aforementioned Mr Wood. Yosemite is defintely a place to return to.

Chris and colleagues / friends have produced their first feature length movie which should be touring the film festivals next year - the website is- www.cityonahillmovie.com.

...a little aside, I'm in the library and a librarian just shouted,"Is that, er, you Nick?" ... no-one else giggled...





So to 'Frisco...
It was bad enough in Santa Monica. You know how I love a good singsong. I would be walking down the street and suddenly realise I was humming, perhaps even belting, "All I wanna do is have some fun...". It's worse in San Francisco.




"If you're going to San Francisco, Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" - Milly starts off with a low key, gentle hum.

"The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gay, The glory that was Rome is just another day, I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan, I'm going home to my city by the bay, I left my heart in ..." - Milly starting to get a bit more animated as she hangs off the cable car heading to Fisherman's Wharf.

"I left my home in Georgia,headed for the Frisco Bay,I have nothing to live for look like nothing gonna come my way,So I'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away..." - Milly strutting down the street doing that bitey lip thing that Ricky Gervaise does so embarressingly in The Office.

"We spent the night in Frisco, At every kind of disco,From that night I kissed our love goodbye,Don't blame it on sunshine,Don't blame it on moonlight,Don't blame it on good times,Blame it on the boogie..." - Oh Dear Lord! Milly doing full dance routine at bus stop in Nob Hill.

Fortunately for the residents of the city by the bay I am back on Santa Monica Boulevard... Hit it! This ain't no disco, It ain't no country club either. This is LA!

Final thoughts on being in LA

I was reading that Arthur Miller said that most of us cannot easily surrender our belief that society must make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable so the evidence has to be internally denied. And to be fair I feel a bit like that about America. Governments are bigger than ever, but they only protect business interests. That is certainly true here and there are so many people with too much money who must wander through life with their eyes and minds closed not to see the injustices around them. Bush has consent without consent because most people don't really analyse, understand or care. But then I feel a bit like that at home too.

I decided to be more open to people here and I have met some wonderful and genuienly good people. There have been nights when I've been on my own, but that happens in London all the time.The last two weeks were good because I met two more women who were travelling, Petra and Amy, and we shared a few bottles of wine chatting into the wee hours (a hobby of mine as you know). I have been out with Dave and Wendy again this week - watching playoffs in a bar with someone who was in the Fast and the Furious (I'm a bit clusless about these things).

The people at the clinic were great and I am seriously going to try to get them to socialise next time (Arron be warned!). I have really enjoyed the clinic. It's a bit like being in Wandsworth in a way. I get a real buzz from working with people who work hard and are committed to what they do. Except Venice and Santa Monica are not quite Tooting Broadway. The acupuncturists who I shadowed were so kind and helpful and being in the clinical environment for 3 weeks gave me a real feel for what it would actually be like doing it for real. I know I have made the right choice. The pain management project I was working in had great supportive co-ordinators,the actual project co-ordinator and the acupuncturists who oversaw the clinical interns, and they were really principled and passionate about the work(Wandsworth lot - we know what a difference that makes - don't get too big headed SCR). I also did some work for the HIV unit, medical records and the children's play area - and if you are all reading this, big thanks and I'm really looking forward to coming back in Jan.

To the non clinic readers, Venice Family Clinic operates to provide free health care to people who cannot afford insurance. It is all funded by grants and volunteers. They sell very good cards, some designed specifically for them by artists such as David Hockney ( who we love, don't we MH?), so check out the website and maybe you will purchase: http://store.venicefamilyclinic.org.

That's enough serious and schmoozing stuff...

Top celebrity spot today in Santa Monica...A Mr.G.Clooney driving car down Main Street. Aging gracefully and not in the car with his hairdresser (Ms Fallon - I have it on V good authority that he does NOT live with his hairdresser and is in fact a bit of a bloke with the ladies).

So Venice...if it's got wheels on someone will try to propel themselves down the Ocean Front Boardwalk on it. I feel completely undertattooed and I don't look like a crunchy hippy here, I fit right in.



I really would love to stay. But, I leave for San Francisco tomorrow and I will be hiking Yosemite with the brown bears by Tuesday. I have been warned about honey and toothpaste and such like. Remember I survived the billabongs with the roaming crocs in Kakadu. Another Milly adventure!

Is my blog broken?

It has come to my notice that you're not leaving comments mates. Hopefully the mini-setbacks of last week should spur Andre on.

So I am almost at the end of my time in LA and I am beside myself with sadness. Actually that has just made me feel so fed up that I don't want to write anything else... I'm going for a cocktail.