To get to Paracas I got a bus from Lima and arrived early evening. I stayed in the tiny little village overnight and spent the evening playing with kids who seemed to live at the hostel. I think that rather than paying for a room I should have been paid for babysitting as their parents dissapeared! But it was really good actually as they taught me lots of Spanish, including my numbers (the shame of being taught your numbers by a 4 year old who clearly thinks you are really thick!) which is useful for bartering in shops! They also taught [View Full Entry]

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I have had a VERY crazy morning. I arrived in Nazca yesterday and booked a room at the ´Friend´s house´hostel and also booked a flight over the Nazca lines through them. This morning I waited at the hostel for my tour of the Nazca lines at 8.30am as arranged, but no one turned up and there were no hostel staff around. Eventually the hostel guy turned up and was like, ´oh yeah - it isnt happening now´! Luckily, I have a rule of never paying until I do something so I didn´t lost any money, but flights are only widely available [View Full Entry]

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An update on my weekend, which was eventful to say the least! On Saturday I got up really early and went to the butterfly farm alone, as to go with a guide was 25 pounds, more than my budget for a daytrip. The Lonely Planet guide had basic directions and I got an article from a local newspaper so I had figured pretty much how I was going to get there and how much money to pay. I had to get a mototaxi from the hostel, basically a tuktuk, a motorbike with a box on it, and go to the port [View Full Entry]

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Hi all! Just arrived in Iquitos in the Amazon, north of Peru. I flew here from Lima this morning and got in around 1pm, have spent the time since trying to acclimatise to the VERY hot weather conditions, apparently it is about 32 degrees today and that is normal. Got to my hostel in one piece, took recommendations from a Canadian girl I spent time with in Lima - thanks Tanya! Hostel is great, certainly the word rustic comes to mind but there is a central courtyard garden which you look out on from each room and is full of jungle [View Full Entry]

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After a 26hr journey I finally arrived in Peru at 7am on 16th Nov your time, 2am Lima time. My flight was delayed so I was a little concerned that the taxi scheduled to collect me from the airport would have left and I would have to arrange another in my broken Spanish while exhausted but fortunately the driver was there waving a board with my name on when I arrived. (I have always wanted to be met by someone with a nameboard, I don´t know why but it was very exciting!) The Spanish I have been trying to learn paid [View Full Entry]

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Hello and welcome to my travel blog! I have two weeks until I set off on my adventure, and I am therefore hastily trying to learn Spanish and collect everything I need to go, while panicking about how on earth I am going to fit everything in one teeny little rucksack!! I am particularly looking forward to my voluntary placement in an Ayacucho orphanage. When I told my friend I was volunteering in URPI, she said 'poor kids'... Next week I am going to the primary school in the village I live in. I am talking to them about my plans [View Full Entry]

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