Milly and The Not Very Secret Admirer

The day after the experience with Fortuna the Farting Horse I was in some considerable discomfort. The magnificent Vilcabamba, obviously set up for such foolish tourist actions by people old enough to know better, has three massage parlours. I was wincing getting onto the table, I'm not going into what happened as she pummelled the buttocks. So on Monday I decided an easy 2 hour walk in the morning would do me the world of good before a spot of light luncheon. Scenery beautiful, weather glorious, map, chocolate (emergency rations), apple and water in rucksack, off I go. I have no sense of direction. I shouldn't be let out alone.

Four hours later, I am ravenous, my arms and my nose are burnt and peeling as I stand there, I'm in the middle of unchartered territory with huge spider webs (visions of Shelob), huge piles of wet dung from who knows what fierce predatorial wild animal (no idea, not being in the presence of a Dunadain northern ranger, unfortunately). I've tried to cross the river, I know I should be on the other side by now, but it's raging and freezing cold, almost knocking me off my feet, and there's nowhere on the other bank to climb up.

I can never resist a 'Rings' moment. I stood there with my huge branch that I tried to use to traverse the river and re-evaluated. I threw it to the ground, and, because I just can't help having the Aragorn fantasy when I'm in woods, riding a horse, on a long trek of any kind really, started quoting, "We travel light. Let's hunt some orc. By my life I will protect you. You have my sword. Put aside the ranger. Become who you were born to be!"...really it's just endless how long I can go on for. I wish I could remember other more useful things so well...say, for example, spanish verb endings.

I had walked down from high ground, so I stormed uphill through the thick of the trees, bleeding as they were scratching my arms and legs, through sticky webs, insects the size of my hand, and dangerous uneven ground, and then, within 2 minutes was on a road which I recognised from the way up as being about 15 minutes walk along a really easy path to town which even had a coffee and cake shop. Disaster averted. Result.

Anyway..all that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost, from the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king. And here comes my favourite Aragorn fantasy ... Stop it now!

So...about that not very secret admirer. The guy who owns the local jewellery store, has taken a bit of a fancy to me. I told him I'm in a long term relationship with a man I love very much. I find that I've lied a few times since I've been away. The 'husband' I invented in a bar in Venice Beach I actually rather liked the sound of myself. He had a touch of the Hugh Jackman about him. It has worked well as a diversionary tactic. The Venice Beach guy did say, "Well if you were my wife I wouldn't let you come away like this." The reply is too obvious to put in print. But it only seemed to register as a challenge to jewellery shop man. After a short evening stroll I returned to my hotel to find he had left an unsigned card of flamingoes in the Galapagos (he had been showing me his snaps in the shop earlier) and a pair of earrings. The hotel manager said I should be very flattered. And DOOOINNNNGGG...you can hear that clash of cultures again ringing out for miles.

Well I've Been Through the Desert on a Horse with No Shame

Well it was mountains actually ...but more on that horse later.

I'm not even going to talk about my day in Piura. It was horrible. The town was horrible. I had a very uncomfortable situation with a taxi driver who was obviously ripping me off, but as he'd driven me somewhere I knew was wrong, but didn't know how to get back from, and where I could see no other taxis, I paid up and rather pointlessly told him I knew he was a thieving g#t...probably I didn't say anything even vaguely approaching that, and he certainly didn't care an iota.

I made it through the border and into Ecuador after a freezing cold night on a very bumpy bus ride, through twisty turny mountain roads, with all number of strange people carrying bizarre things. Chickens - compulsory. One woman was transporting 6 home-made wicker bird cages that frankly wouldn't comfortably house a humming bird ( I think they are REALLY small, maybe the smallest). One man seemed to have 10 bin liners of garden debris. Who knows? Ecuadorian border crossing - fairly simple and event free - no scary colombian type drug searches. I arrived to find that Ecuador was having Presidential elections at the weekend. See previous posts about electioneering, street parties and no alcohol. They have elected a young leftist President, Correa, closely aligned with Chavez in Venezuela. So that's Venezuela, Ecuador and Chile, and a woman to boot: maybe the tide is turning. Whether or not it makes any real difference is a discussion I am very happy to have into the early hours of the morning over a shared bottle of red wine. As you well know...

I couldn't face the fortnight of planned bus trips (Plan X by this stage in the game) to see half of Ecuador in two weeks, so I just headed south to Vilcabamba. The wonderful Vilcabamba on the edge of the Podacarpus Forest, and I've ensconced myself in a really cute hotel run by an ex musician for five days. There's a garden, hammocks and a pool, and best of all, a hotel dog. Joy! I got chatting to two lovely young american women, Vicky (Mass) and Mary (North Carolina) on the bus over and we all decided to stay there. Actually when I introduce you to someone else I've met on this trip, can we take the word young for granted. So there you are, Andre, housemate, two more lovelies who will be sleeping on the sofa bed at some point.

So, Vilcabamba. It is stunning. It is surounded by dormant volcanic peaks covered in lush, verdant forests, touched by white fluffy cotton wool clouds, with fast flowing ice cold waterfalls and vibrant flowers and cacti. I can't tell you just how beautiful it is. Ecuador has more ecosystems per square km than any other country, It is a really important ecosystem. So yesterday, one slight mistranslation later, and I was on an eight hour horse trek, thereby doubling the time I have spent on a horse in my entire life, in one day. However, there are now parts of my body hurting that I didn't know existed.

Back to that horse...Fortuna (Lucky) had three rather embarressing habits. The first, well let's just say it took me a while to realise that when we were stationary there was a reason that people weren't looking in my direction as we were talking. The second, as soon as we began moving, he started fa#ting...and the missing letter isn't an S. He also liked to stick his head right up the backside of the horse in front. We rode in this order: guide, Petra, Mark, Milly. I thought it was amusing that when we tied up the horses to trek down to the river and waterfalls we walked in the same order. I didn't have the same embarressing habits as my horse though...just for the record.

The One With The Minor Setback

Trujillo over the weekend was really interesting! It was election day on Sunday so no alcohol was served in the entire country the day before. I told you they take it seriously. The plazas were bustling, bands were playing, it was awash with electioneering. After Trujillo, the next stop, a few hundred kilometres up the coast, was Chiclayo for a visit to the tomb and museum of the Lord of Sipan. What can I say...more honking taxi drivers, more bustle and dust, more men selling baby tortoises on the street, more dogs asleep outside pet stores in fish tanks with barely enough air to breathe. I suppose you just have to accept the different way of things in other cultures, to a degree. They have different priorities. What is important to me in travelling , I suppose, is that I am challenged about what I think is right or wrong. I don't ever want to become complacent in my thoughts.

However, good things did also happen. I bumped into Sabine (from school in Cusco) and her friend Claire (more dutch sweeties) who hadn't intended to be that far up north. I have never met a couple whose plans change so frequently, but that was excellent news for me. We had a lovely day at the witches market in Chiclayo. It was a wonderful bustling south american market stretching for blocks. The stalls are brimming with knobbly, ugly, but brightly coloured fruit and vegetables that smell like they're supposed to. The street sellers are squeezing beautiful juices that send the hairs in my nose crazy, my mouth is watering, but I know I must NOT be lured into the drinking of street juice. Remember what happened last time! I have a bus to catch tomorrow! And the next day...

The following day we visited the Lord of Sipan's tomb and the museum holding the finds. All I can say is that an archaeologist would train for years dreaming of being involved in that find. It was only unearthed in the mid 80s \ early 90s and the painstaking nature of the recovery and restoration of these artefacts is incredible. And the museum was excellent. So many aren't. I know we are spoiled in London, but this museum was laid out well. You could see the exhibits clearly, details were explained and most importantly, there was a really interesting narrative to the exhibit. There was tension in the air as you followed the story of the tomb robbers, the discovery of what to the untrained eye looked like a pile of rubbish, and the gradual unearthing of these magnificent artefacts. We were beside ourselves!

Over the two days we also managed to eat in what were, hopefully, the worst restaurants in Peru.

So up the coast and inland to Piura - avoid it - to make my way into Ecuador. All that and more in next week's exciting installment of Mils on Tour.

And there won't be any new photos for a while folks on account of the new camera I bought in Boston suddenly seizing. And you know that feeling, the one you have when it's in your bones that this won't be easy to sort out. This is the stuff that the SODIT rating was invented for! Oh and I also mislaid my prescription sunglasses. Andre...score please.

I Should Have Known Better...

I have some painful experience of the 'spanish speaking' menu, so I am pretty stringent in the questioning of waiters as a rule. So when I saw 'Lomo al Macho', described as beef in a hot spicy sauce, it did not occur to me to ask, 'so that hot spicy sauce, will the sauce be not at all spicy nor hot, but in fact be composed entirely of seafood?'. So my lunch arrived and it was allergy hell on a plate. It was only prawns and squid, to which I have my least allergic reactions. Had it beens clams and mussles I would have had to wear protective clothing just to have it sit on my table. I had SOOOOO many dishes to choose from...I couldn't face explaining that I had ordered probably the only meat dish on the menu that I actually couldn't eat.

So I had a jug of hot water barely used from the coffee, and washed the steak. But I could just taste that 'prawn tail'. I picked a bit of rice and a few chips {that's fries to my stateside chums and family} that hadn't been within a foot of the offending sauce. But it had to go back virtually untouched. The waiter looked surprised and somewhat hurt...it's a pricey 4 whole English pounds...top of the menu, and Peruvians fervently desire that you love them, their food and all things Peruvian basically. So I sat a while, drank a coffee, played with a peruvian toddler and then ordered an enormous cake. The waiter looked so relieved. You could almost see him thinking, 'those senoras...they love their puds'. I had slight cramps for a few hours, but, lesson learnt. Even when ordering postres...check... 'SO that spotted dick? Does it come with a cockle and muscle coulis?'

Here's a little glimpse of the 'South American' menu - check out the spelling and completely random cases! The case confused king of the menu was - Tomatoe Based seaFood Soup.

Criolle patatoe Stew - looks innocuous, but is goats' innerds, tripe and feet
Lover with Mamiocs - had to read it in the original spanish to work out what it was - liver and yuca
Inner chicken parts stew
Criolle pork toes
Hunting chicken
chicken Milky stew
Duck stem stew
Eggs are Huevos in spanish - so in translation obviously it becomes Hommllette
An interesting breakfast option - deep fried pork with coffee
Enghlighs cake
Jerm And butter
Coffee in water
Cammonmmille tea - keep putting those m's in, there's a lot for sure, one of them's bound to be right...perhaps it's the spanish equivalent of millennium - NO-ONE in England seems to be able to spell it!
Sparragus - presumably you can order a sparragus or many sparraguses?
In the fish section - first entry - Duck Stew
Hip steak and Hop steak - given as the translation of the same spanish word - thinking HIP HOP steak is begging to go on the menu
Muchroom sauce - presumably very filling
Seafood orGy Stew - don't go there...

Another town...another Plaza de Armas

Does that title sound a little tired? Every town, by the way, has a Plaza de Armas, however small. So if you are ever here and need to arrange a place to meet people when you haven´t actually been to the town, it´s a really safe bet. I love South America with a passion almost unrivelled, but it really doesn't like me. I was just clearing the four week virus, loss of voice and chest infection and felt really healthy on Thursday. I woke up on Friday morning with a tickly nose and throat and by Friday afternoon I had a newly cultivated, top quality, sneezing cold and bright red throat, with white spots, and with an added touch of fever for good measure. I need Sass, my australian acupuncturist, to unblock my chi.



Chan Chan

I'm in Northern Peru at the moment, an area where the Moche and Chimu left there greatest mark. The Moche were the major force here around the BC/AD era for about 700 years and the Chimu from around 1000 to 1500, when they co-existed in a less powerful form with the Inca, until the Spanish colonisation. The Chimu built the city of Chan Chan. It's the largest pre-colombian city in the continent, adobe built, so whilst there has obviously been a lot of erosion over time and destruction due to devastating looting by the colonising Spanish, it is still very very impressive. I also went to the Rainbow Temple (La Huaca Arco Iris) and the Moche temples of the Sun and Moon. The spiritual history of the people is very interesting. These ceremonial pyramids are really impressive. Renovations and archaeological excavations are going on at some of the sites and they are uncovering some very well maintained temple buildings, brickwork and friezes. There is an area called Human Sacrifice Square. Whether it was actually called that in the Chimu A to Z ... the jury is still out.

There is the perennial problem here of poverty. More than half the population live below the poverty line, so taking care of antiquities is not high on most peoples agendas. As with so many important things, in terms of history, environment and conservation, they become the remit of the worried middle classes, because the poor cant afford to worry about it. What a tragedy in so many ways.

I had an afternoon at the beach. The bright young things were surfing. This battered old body sat and read a book of Pablo Neruda poetry (it is one of my fervent desires to read it in the original spanish), people watched and ate ice-cream, with an occasional paddle in the cold pacific, thinking rather wistfully of doing the same thing in Venice 6 weeks earlier. The waves were powerful and dark, dark grey with huge foamy white horses and the undercurrent was very strong. I love the sea. Perhaps it comes from being brought up land locked, but it would make me really happy to live within walking distance of the sea.

I had a very interesting lunch yesterday. Thinking a healthy piece of fish would serve me well with my new found illness, I went to the Lonely Planet recommended De Marco for a treat. The spanish is stretched at the best of times (always) but food somehow throws me a curved ball...as they say...all the time. This was a kind of fish patty, a bit similar to very substandard fish finger content...Kwik Save not ´Cap'en Bird's Eye´, obviously. This 'fish' patty was then battered and fried and then double fried with a battery fried egg coating. This came with a bowl of rice, bread and some double fried potatoes. I don't know what clogged up first but I'm thinking there weren't a lot of vitamins in there...I also had a rather amusing lunch companion who took a fancy to my straw laces.




I am completely tennis starved! This morning at breakfast...oh joy! The cafe was showing the second Shanghai Masters semi-final on ESPN. Did I mention that I LOVE ESPN... My plan to go to the Archaeological Museum and the museum in the basement of a garage was slowly going up in smoke. And it was James Blake and David Nanpatten and I'm not even that keen on their styles. The clip of Roge and Rafa looked like that should have been the final. No chance of me watching the Roge /Blake match. I'll be on another bus. Nanpatten is David Nalbandian, by the way. Sally's mum, the most avid tennis watcher, and formerly player, I have EVER met, doesn't much like the 'cut of his jib'. Consequently, she can never remember his name. So he has become David Nanpatten, named after a small village in north west Leicestershire, UK. The great Mrs.C thinks that Roge is probably the greatest player who has ever lived and I am inclined to agree.

While I'm on a roll with this moaning (see afflictions paragraph above)...there are two things that annoy me here. It is impossible to walk 2cm, no kidding, without a taxi driver honking at you. Sometimes they swerve across the road, cutting straight across traffic lanes, just to check. Considering Peru is set up for tourists, you would think they might have cottoned on to the use of the international taxi hailing gesture. The other thing is the way men suck their teeth at you. Call me an old hippy / 80's feminist type but... Today a taxi driver swerved over to the pavement (actually scarily just on the pavement) sucked his teeth, and then checked if I wanted a taxi for good measure.

I did make it to the archaeological museum by the way...some fine examples of the ceramics from the temples I saw yesterday.



The road to Huaraz...apologies I cant turn the photos and its a little difficult to try and work it out in spanish...I also cant find the apostrophe. Now that must be driving you crazy!

Something I forgot to tell you about Huaraz...It is the stationery capital of Peru, more envelope and printing shops than I have ever seen in one small area, and I am positive that the local government stipulate in the terms and conditions of the lease for the setting up of hairdressers that you must use an old photo of Brad Pitt to advertise your hairdressing services to westerners. I saw 10 hairdressers and EVERY one had a Brad photo...evidenced below...



Peak District Jules has just taught me a rather interesting spanish phrase (I think it's from Butch Cassidy). So if you see that I´ve been arrested for a bank robbery you know that I successfully tried out 'Esto es un robo. Pongan los manos en al aire!'

"We're half way there... Oh, Oh, Livin' on a prayer"

In the words of the ever youthful Mr JBJ...

As I prepare to leave Peru (by next Monday or Tuesday I should be in Ecuador) I can hardly believe that I'm (rather than We're) almost half way through my time away.

I was back in Lima very briefly. I ended up staying a day longer than I anticipated. A lovely Canadian woman, Caroline, was back in the same room we had shared three weeks before. She had just been mugged in Puno and lost pretty much everything, waking up on the floor having been unconscious for who knows how long. She was waiting for the Canadian Embassy and her parents to get her a new passport, cards, plane tickets. We had a couple of beers and a lovely evening out. So fingers crossed for Caro! And...note to Caro, good on you for not letting this ruin what is almost the end of what has been a brilliant year away, your feelings towards Peru and the people. Enjoy BA and give D more thought!

I am now travelling up the coast to Ecuador on the next stage of the trip. The bus journey to Huaraz from Lima (9 hours) was beautiful. The journey is through the mountains of the Cordilleras Negra and Blanca. I wish I had more time but you know what I'm like...I do something completely or not at all. I am not doing a 2 day trip most of which is spent on a bus or in a cafe gift shop. You need 7 to 10 days here to do these mountains justice by going high into the mountains, passes and lagunas, and certainly a few days to acclimatise to the altitude. This just has to go on the list of things to do in the near future - with a spot of paragliding thrown in if I can conquer my height / flight combination fear. There are over 200 summits here, the highest of which is over 6,000 metres. Even the view from my room is breathtaking: summits, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls.

I almost had my first travel disaster...I am booked into a rather nice hotel for two days (it was a bit of a treat). I went off this morning to book a bus to Trujillo for tomorrow: apparently it's very easy to do this as it's not high season. But no, I can go tonight, i.e. overnight on very uncomfortable seat, or on Saturday. So tonight it is. SODIT rating, Andre or not?

You only stay here for walking and I can't do a five day trip. I couldn't get on one until Saturday which would take me into the middle of next week. I'll never make it to Ecuador, Trudi and the Galapagos Islands! Decisions have to be made. So Kate...perhaps one year a trip here for one of our infamous two week treks? John S maybe you'll join us?

Final thoughts on my time in Peru. The people are very warm and open, and intensely proud. It is very easy to believe the initial impression of the street vendors who are after the tourist pound or dollar, and of course there's the muggings...But they have an incredible history and they are great people. The family I stayed with were wonderful. It was very sad to leave. I miss Marienala coming up to me every morning, kissing me on the cheek, leading me to my breakfast and saying, "aah Milly...¿Que tal?". I booked a plane ticket to Lima and it became obvious that in fact the travel agent comes with you in the morning to try and get the cheapest flight possible, i.e. you do not ACTUALLY have a ticket. He said that I might have to stay an extra day, but when I told him that was not possible he went to Lan Peru straight away and bought me a ticket that cost more than I had paid him.

There was an old man sitting next to me on the plane. Now that I speak a little bit of spanish it makes things easier and much more pleasant. There was no possibility of him carrying the packs he had brought onto the plane. He had a walking stick! So I carried his things off for him until at the luggage carousel I found a trolley and a strong airport man to help him. I was waiting for my pick up and suddenly this woman came running up to me with chocolate in hand thanking me for looking after her father. Across the room the old man was there waving at me!

People criticise Peru, just as they do London and those of us who live there, and I think we all know it's not such a bad city, don't we? LA has the same bad rap (and I did have my iRiver stolen), but as you know I met some great people there. People I want to know always and who were incredibly kind to me. Not to mention some of the people at the clinic...and you know how I feel about them and the work they do there.

The recent political history here is one of Dictatorships and corruption. But the people have a fervent belief that politics is important, that the right to vote, and to use that vote is vital, and that they can improve the situation for the poor.

That's it for now. More from Trujillo and Chicalyo at the end of the weekend adn perhaps some more photos. Take care all.

Dear Family, Great Mates and Andre

If you care to look back through to Washington DC (California Dreaming: September) I have put relevant photos onto each posting. They are different pictures to those on the flickr page. I hope they give you a better feel of the trip.
Millyx

Back to Cusco...
Saturday was a typical November Cusquenian day: poured down one minute, got sunburnt the next. I went with the dutch lovelies to four inca ruins, beginning at Tambo Machay (Inca bathing site), and walking the 8 km back to Cusco visiting Pucapucara, Q'enko and finishing in Sacsayhuman. Sacsayhuman is constructed to represent a puma, a sacred animal to the Incas, with walls built at a certain point in a zigzag to represent the teeth and a small amphitheatre representing the eye. I believe this site was the Inca equivalent of Eaton. The young princes from surrounding tribes were sent here for education and training. The young man who shone became the Inca (Leader). Hopefully they had better stock to choose from than we do at our hotbeds of priviledge minus actual intelligence or talent. Back to the Inca Empire...The construction and intricacy of the Inca ruins is spectacular, unbelievable in fact, but of the four, Sacsayhuman reigns supreme with the Christo Blanco overlooking the city, like a Rio de Janerian 'mini-me'.



Unfortunately, I caught a cold, and even stopping in Jack's cafe for steaming hot chocolate and a gigantic portion of carrot cake (carrots = vitamin c) did not ward off the germs which eventually led to me losing my voice completely. It went high, it went low, it went... Not big or clever, but it did mean that I couldn´t answer any tricky spanish questions in class for a whole day.

And here's a photo of the dutch amazonian lovelies, Corinje and Maryn, on our walk re-enacting a scene from the dutch fable of Peter and the Dyke. There isn´t one of the three of us together because frankly the height differential is too tricky for most cameras...















I saw off H and Kate...I mean that in a nice way, possums. I went out with them and their friend Jimmy (or Himmy as he has affectionately become known in spanish speaking territories). They will be back in Watford in July.

I must tell you about an email I got concerning someone I know in Stafford (and it's not Peter...in fact he's the `spreader´ of this story...). This person thinks she is on the edge of dementia. She had an appointment at her hairdressers who is called Glenn Caddy. Realizing she had forgotten to get cash out of the bank (stage 1 of dementia duely noted), she asked of she could pay by cheque. Glenn replied, “Yes, of course, that's no problem, it's 2 N’s and 2 D’s". Transactions over she went home. The next day she opened her cheque book and realised that she had made the cheque out to Glenn Hoddle (stage 2). I was trying to have an afternoon nap and I woke myself up laughing!

Just a little taste...

Hi all,
I have eventually got round to putting a few snaps on line to give you a taste of the trip so far. As always I have taken hundreds which you will no doubt have to endure in the future in their entirity as some form of slide show celebration ... national groan ... and for once, there is one of me to prove that I was really here.

The photos are at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/milsontour (click here)

Millyx