What a little day. Nessie and I took a tour with a tour agency called Yama tours so that we could explore the Illahra Valley. We customed designed part of the tour so that we could get to hike the whole valley insted of the 3 km that you do with the group. Our guide packed our lunch so that we could take it with us. I think we ended up hiking a total of about 12 km. We were both exhausted by the end of the day and I am not ridiculously sunburnt. I was wearing 30 but managed to [View Full Entry]

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Today Nessıe and I had vısıted a museum up ın the moutaıns and went on a 10 kılometer hıke through thıs valley. Nessıe ıs quıte an adventurous lıttle bear and although I probably would have quıt a whole 5 km ın...she kept us goıng. We rewarded ourselves wıth ıced coffees at the end of that lıttle trek. The weather was nıce except for a lıttle afternoon raın whıch we managed to hıde from ınsıde of a cave... so prımatıve. I am fınally gettıng some sun w [View Full Entry]

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Ness and I arrived in Ankara today and we are currently visiting an internet cafe that is playing some bumpın musıc...serıously ıts lıke a club ın here. Ankara ıs a bıg cıty that comes along wıth all the other joys of a bıg cıty...lots of people, loud noıses and STARBUCKS! I never thought a starbucks could be so comfortıng. An Amerıcano ın Turkey from Sbux tastes just lıke home. Its amazıng. Today we went to the Museum of Anotalıan Cıvılısatıons whıch was very ınter [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday Ness and I made our way on the bus to Safranbolu which ıs quite possibly the cutest town that I have been to since Cuzco. The bus ride went well. We feasted on turkish deliıght and gum... clearly my ıdeal meal. I also enjoyed the fact that Tukish buses provıde better servıce than most Canadian aırlınes. I must have been offered tea about 4 tımes. I also discovered that ıt takes 6.5 hours to go 300 kms because you stop every 30 mınutes to pick people up and take a 45 minute break when you are half way. Tomorrow we [View Full Entry]

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Hello hello, Just a quick note tonight. Nessie and I are about to book our hostel for Safranbolu. This morning we had another glorious breakfast and made our way by tram and bus to Chora Church. This is a very old church that wwas converted to a mosque at some point throughout history. Plaster was put over all the murals and all the gold was torn off the walls. Years later, it was converted back into a church and the murals were preserved. It is still very interesting to see. In the afternoon we went to the grand bazaar and the [View Full Entry]

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Hello Hello, After a lovely 12 hour sleep Nessie and I went for breakfast at the hotel. It was very similar to Peruvian breakfast in that it was incredibly delicious. There was 100 g fat yogurt with cherry jam, bread, hard boiled eggs, and tea. The other fabulous discovery about Istanbul is that they have NESCAFE!!! I never thought I would get to experience the glory of hot milk and Nescafe again. After breakfast Nessie and I made our way to the Blue Mosque where they handed us sheets to cover our legs as we walked in. The mosque was very [View Full Entry]

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Hi All, Just thought that I would post a quick note to let everyone know that I made it here okay. My flight was largely uneventful with lots of food on the plane. I had a special meal (it's always better and you get it first, which is a bonus). Istanbul is really cool. Not as traditional Muslim as I thought it would be. This has to be by far the most liberal part of the middle East. Five times a day there is the call to prayer, which is basically an annoucement that comes on from all the speakers everywhere [View Full Entry]

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Hola Everyone, I am off to Chile tomorrow. I am really excited to go to Chile and have a fabulous time, but I am also really sad to leave Lima. (side note- no blog yesterday because I was temporarily bed ridden after vomiting in the early morning and having to miss my placement. I also had to miss my goodbye dinner on the pacific ocean with all my friends. The good news is that I am feeling better today and that I was able to go to my placement. It only took 24 hours of sleep, 8 cups of coca tea,10 [View Full Entry]

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One last thing... I am REALLY REALLY REALLY far away from the jungle area where the government has declared an 'emergency state' because aboriginal groups are protesting. Aboriginal groups are simply blocking highways and oil and natural gas installations in protest of laws that facilitate the sale of their lands. Sounds reasonable to me. Seriously though, not to worry I am about a 4 hour flight with an additional 28 hours bus ride away. xo [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, It feels like it has been a while since Ive had the chance to sit down at the computer and reflect on my trip. I have also been seriously falling behind in my journal writting, so hopefully in the next couple of days Ill be able to catch up. Yesterday I went to my placement early in the morning as usual. So far every morning this week I havebeen working doing laundry at Mother Theresa's. We wash everything by hand and then rinse it in three different buckets of water. Then we ring it out and hang it out [View Full Entry]

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